14: Mysterious Friend

We left the hill heading north, the direction that Virginia was facing. The planet was empty beyond us, Dark, and the seed. To test functions of the regulator, Vela pressed the two buttons on hers. It flashed and we could hear a tone, but it did nothing.

"What the hell?"

"Maybe hold those buttons, the tones pitch may be related to the infusion action of the regulator."

She held down the buttons which caused the tone to raise in pitch over the course of one second. After that second, the device flashed again, this time sending a blue aura throughout her suit. Her breathing became more laboured and her pickup mic amplified her heart beat so I could hear it, like through a subwoofer. She shot off a line of phazon energy, the phazon replaced her normal beam functions. She shut down her phazon state by holding on the buttons.

"What a rush. I felt truly invincible, like a true goddess."

"Keep your ego in check, we don't know if there are any adverse affects to using this phazon state."

"Be a goddess, just try it. Let your ego feel its power."

I pressed on my regulator and felt the phazon rush through my suit. In addition to the laboured vitals, I noticed heightened senses, although colour vision was odd. The background was mono-chrome but that just amplified the colours of Vela. Visor and beam selection were offline. All other systems were phazon enhanced. I fired off a missile, which had been infused and became even more powerful. The ball system still works, but bombs were replaced with electrical discharges. I was in phazon state for so long that the regulator had shutdown on its own.

"Quite a rush, eh?"

"Honestly yes. Wait, look at your energy level, its dropped. Those attacks use our energy, so be cautious with them."

We continued through the hilly terrain, keeping the seed in our vision. The seed impacted on a hilltop and the nearby slope was littered with spaceship debris. On one of the larger pieces, I saw Ridley's symbol and knew that this was where Rodney made his final stand. We saw a human figure orbiting the seed. As we approached, we found it was a man.

"Sir who are you and why are you orbiting the seed? It's dangerous."

"We are many people with many motives, all of which want the precious. You can call us Justin Bailey as of right now."

"Justin! I'm Samus Aran, from our childhood. How did you survive?"

We are no longer Justin, we are Samuel and do not recall a childhood with a 'Samus Aran.'

"Samus, he's gone insane from years of isolation and phazon exposure. He's not going to recognize you for very long. I vote we end his misery."

"Jacob says, kill us and another childhood friend, in the precious Samus."

"At least one of his people want to die, we should honour that. If you liked Justin even as a friend, you would end his sad existence as a deranged man. Let the spirit of Justin escape its many-faced prison, or I will."

"I'll make it quick Justin. Vela give me your pistol. I know you have it because it is part of your structure "

She dissolved her right leg's armour and materialized her pistol. I cocked the firing lever, placed the barrel on his temple…

"Goodbye Justin."

Closed my eyes, and pulled the trigger. I cried as I handed Vela her pistol.

"He should have last rights. I suggest a pyre of the ship parts and the dry prairie grass ignited by the plasma cannon because we can't dig him a grave."

"I can't burn him, even indirectly. I just shot him."

Vela used her plasma cannon to ignite the prairie grass around him.

"Justin Bailey was my first friend. We were born on the same day, although I was a few hours older. Although I knew him only for three years, I can't remember not being near him. This brave man and I were the only survivors of Ridley's attack on this colony. The Chozo took me away, while Justin was left as a three year-old to fend for himself. Over the next 22 years, he was driven insane from isolation. Phazon exposure for the last part of his life caused him to develop at least two additional separate and complete personas."

I became much too sad to offer his body to this earth and spirit to his god.

"As his body burns to this earth he has never left, we pray that you will keep his spirit, O' deity of Justin's choosing. To his friend Samus, we hope that you will keep Justin alive in your memory. Amen."

"Amen."

She hugged me and cried as Justin continued to burn.