Stranger From the Sky, chapter 13

Blind

Kitten was reading in her room, when Athena burst in on her as if the building were on fire. "Kitten. Get down here to Omega's room, immediately." Such was the urgency in Athena's voice that Kitten threw her magazine onto the floor and practically raced down to her lover's room, halfway expecting to see him lying on the floor, either dead or dying. But instead, she found him sitting on the side of the bed where she'd left him, looking completely miserable. "I asked you not to do this," he said, accusingly, to Athena.

"Do you truly think she would not find out, anyway? And besides, if what I understand of these sorts of things is accurate, you should not keep such a thing from her anyway."

"What are you two talking about?" Kitten's alarm was mounting.

Omega hesitated for a moment. Then, "I…..seem to be unable to see."

Kitten dropped to her knees in front of him. "Ohmigod. What…when-wait a minute. It was when Athena was convulsing there on the table, wasn't it? She let loose with a dose of heat vision right into your face!" She moved to touch his face…..

"It was an accident, Kitten. She was having a convulsion. I made the quite logical deduction that the only thing that could be counted on to stop the destructive effects of the beam was…me. It worked. Had the beams encountered the roof of the chamber, I'm sure it probably would've brought the entire mountain down upon us. That would've helped no one."

"Well, it sure didn't do you any good! Omega!" She looked up at Athena, who couldn't meet her gaze. "What can I say, Kitten? Just another one of my many screw-ups, since I've come here."

Kitten stood up and gazed upward at the taller girl. Athena seemed to shrink in upon herself; she already had enough guilt. Now she'd gone and blinded the one person who'd continued to stick by her, ever since her arrival.

Kitten strode towards the Osiran. Even though Athena knew there was nothing she could do to her, physically, she still found herself backing up, just a bit. Didn't she have enough pain already? Did she really need any more?

But instead, Kitten put her arms around Athena. "It's alright, Athena. You, you couldn't help yourself. I see that. I don't blame you for it." She turned angrily towards Omega. "You, on the other hand, Mr. I-don't-know-what-to-call-you-right-now, you've got such a tongue lashing coming….."

"EerrhUM," Athena cleared her throat, a theatrical gesture she'd picked up from her human colleagues, "If one may, might one suggest a bit of a more productive approach?" They waited, with Kitten of them looking at her, and Omega in her general direction. "I suggest we speak with Alpha. I am sure that, given Thinker, excuse me, Kindred science, regeneration of the eyes should pose no problem."

….

"Hm." Said Alpha's vocorder, from around his neck. "This…could pose a bit of a problem." He was examining Omega's eyes with some sort of binocular-type arrangement, which examined the structure of the eyes far beyond any merely visual apparatus.

Both Kitten's and Athena's anxiety levels went up at least ten points. "What, er, is the problem?"

"Apparently, the heat beams were focused through his eye's lens. They went into the eye—and were focused upon the optic nerve, in the back of the eye itself."

"No," whispered Athena.

"Huh? What? What's the problem?" asked Kitten.

"The problem is that, as in humans, optic tissue does not regenerate. Any damage done to it is permanent."

"But—but, I thought you guys could do anything!"

Alpha put down his instruments, and turned to her. "Child, there are limits to everything. We will, of course, try everything we can think of, but there are no guarantees in this matter. His own nature, as a Prime warrior, may actually be detrimental to him in this matter; Primes exuded—excuse me, exude-certain force-fields as a natural by-product of their metabolic processes. That, too, could complicate matters. But we will try."

Later, in Omega's room, both Kitten and Athena were sitting there, Kitten, on the bed beside him, Athena in her traditional Osiran kneeling posture. Nobody was saying anything; Kitten was wondering if the two Osirans might be communicating via Link, but she didn't think so. "I'd like to take this opportunity to say," began Omega, "that I am glad you are finally free of the Lord's control, Athena."

From the floor. "I, too, am glad of it, Omega." It still seemed strange to refer to him by name, rather than through Link. "Though I must admit, I am still having difficulty with….some things. Some…memories."

"That's in the past, Athena. The you that did all those things…that allowed others to do all those things to you….no longer exists. You are yourself once again."

Athena turned to Kitten. "Might I…..take hold of his hand?"

"No, go ahead."

Athena wrapped her fingers around Omega's. "I am truly sorry for…injuring you as I did. Please forgive me."This last no more than a whisper.

He reached over and touched her head in a gentle manner. "My friend. It was an accident. You couldn't help it. There is nothing to forgive.

"But if it makes you feel any better, I do forgive you. I would forgive you a thousand times over. More, even."

This was making Kitten a bit nervous. But then Omega said to her, "I am sorry I did not come to you right away with this…problem. But I suppose I…have a certain amount of pride that I was not exactly aware of, until it happened. I didn't want anyone to think of me as a cripple. But that is exactly what I am." He sighed. "I just didn't want to admit it."

"Well, just for the record, yeah, maybe you can't see. But that's all that's changed about you. You're still the greatest guy in the whole universe. And I don't mean just in bed, either. Though now that I think of it, you're pretty good there, too." She glanced at Athena, whose face was glowing silver. Ah hah. Maybe a little jealously there? And Kitten grinned, just a little.

…

Brainiac approached the third planet with extreme caution. His stealth mode was fully engaged; even had someone been standing right in front of him, they still wouldn't see his cybership, of which he was, of course, an integral part.

In order to fulfill his program, to absorb all knowledge and then to archive everything, the entire universe, he first had to defeat the enhanced power beings of this planet. They had been a major obstacle in his way towards doing that, in the past, and there was no reason to believe that would change in the future. His intellect, second to none, began working on a logical solution to the matter.

Of course. In order to assimilate this world, he first had to assimilate those beings who'd thwarted him in the past. Simple. That shouldn't be too difficult. He began gathering data on the most powerful….

To be continued…