Chapter 17 - Messages
He fell through the sky and gazed around peacefully. He smiled until he looked down and found himself rocketing towards the ground. He caught sight of a blot that quickly turned into a spider.
It looked up at him and held a rapier up above it. He screamed as he fell onto the sword, smashed into the spider, and tore through the ground as if it were made of fabric.
His eyes snapped open and a brilliant white room confronted him. He blinked and steps echoed through the room. He turned his head and found a Pyritian woman walking towards him.
He stopped for a breath, then realized he had been screaming. The Pyritian stopped beside him and examined something behind him. He finished his breath and coughed a racking cough that shook his body and hurt his throat.
He felt his eyes grow wet and pulled up his hand to wipe them. He stopped as he felt a tug and saw that his arm was wired up to tubes that had blood pouring through them.
The Pyritian pushed his arm down, and looked him in the eyes. "Calm," A soft voice said in his head. "You are safe." As she placed he hands on his chest he realized that she hadn't moved her lips either time. He felt a warmth spread through his body from his chest and fell into a dreamless sleep.
He turned in his chair as faint footsteps echoed and a familiar presence drifted into his awareness. He gazed out the window and waited as the Rulixe entered the room.
"Achilles, If you wanted to speak to me you could have asked instead of wrecking my office with your suicidees."
He gazed out the window, not yet acknowledging the others presence. Then he waved with an appendage. "I felt that you needed more of a message. You ignored my first one and foolishly sent more after me."
Nodding he directed his little surprises out into the open. "Cognit, Cognit, Cognit... Bowed under the weight of the Rulixe. Never to reach the summit. Cognit, Cognit, Cognit." He sang softly as several bent and twisted Cognit pranced and danced into the open. "Headmaster? Was this not your plan?"
The Headmaster stared at the grotesquely mutilated creatures before him and shook his head. "You don't know our plan. You couldn't! It is beyond your comprehension."
"Ah, wait. Darn, should've called your Trademark Rulixe arrogance before you went there." He spun in his chair and faced the Headmaster. "Thats why you blew up the city. Thats why Cognit have been at war with the humans all this time. All I am doing is pushing it to the next level."
The Headmaster shook his head. "We needed an independent Cognit race. Not one lying under the bones of the humans. We had nothing to do with Shiloh's death! It was a tragic event!"
"Tragic event! Is that why you took me afterwards and tortured me?" The Headmasters defenses came crashing down. "I was en route to Spawn when the barge overstepped its boundaries!"
He ignored him and stood. "Goodbye Headmaster. I have a new movement to set in order." He walked out of his office and caught a running Cognit by surprise.
"The towers are finished." He said.
"Y-yes." The Cognit stuttered, caught by surprise. "The globe is en route, and I have a brute waiting outside for you." The Cognit said in an attempt to redeem himself.
He walked off following the Cognit as he heard the Headmaster scream in horror as the mutilated spiders cried their-selves to a final sleep.
He opened his eyes again and found the Pyritian nurse standing above him.
"Miss" He rasped, through a sore throat. Her melodic voice drifted through his head.
"Do not speak," She turned towards him. "I can hear you just fine." Her lips didn't move, but he refused to accept those implications.
"How long have I been out?" He thought, Moving his lips to format the words.
"This would have been the eighteenth day, and our estimation is about seven hours from that."
"Eighteen days? What about Dominic?"
"Worried, asked a lot of questions..."
"Asked?"
"We had to put him back to work." He closed his eyes and leaned back in the bed.
"Did you answer his questions?"
"We weren't going to do so without your conscious confirmation."
"I give that confirmation. Please tell him."
"What happened... Before?"
"The specialists are amazed, your mind broke again."
"That's n- It Broke again?" He looked at the Pyritian. She nodded,
"It has realigned several vessel in your brain. Now it has a viable pathway through your mind."
"I will be able to use it again?" He asked incredulously. She nodded and walked over and picked something up from a table he hadn't noticed before. She turned and walked back towards him with a tray covered in a strange white substance.
"Your telepathy is derived from a genetic modification while ours is a mutation, yours is times stronger than a Pyritians would be able to reach. You accident proved that." She explained as she rested the tray on his legs and eased his torso into the air.
She let go of him and he was surprised to find that he was still being held. He looked questioningly at her.
"This is the limit of our most powerful minds." She motioned towards the tray. "Imagine the shape of an object. Any object."
He looked warily at her then shut his eyes and thought.
His mind focused on an abstract shape, modeling a large orb exquisitely covered in inscriptions and diagrams. A small gasp made him lose concentration. He blinked and looked at the Pyritian.
"You are doing good," She said with new-found interest in her eyes. "Focus on something you know a bit better. Try to maintain the image then open your eyes. Okay?"
He nodded and thought of his ship. He drew it from his plans and combined the multiple profiles of it. He followed the scales all affixed in his mind and smoothed out the image.
Finally he creased the last bit of the outer section and solidified it in his mind. He cracked his mind and shook his head, It was colorless. He changed the edges slightly and tinted the ship a luminescent bronze.
Satisfied, he looked at the Pyritian. She looked at him for a moment with unbelieving eyes. Then he looked back upon his creation and put its inner workings into actions. It rose from the table and churning rumbled in its gut as it puttered away and rode the air currents round the room.
Dawning realization hit him when the ship floated behind the Pyritian. He shook his head. "What?" Then his ship shuddered violently and fell to the ground, a mass of white featureless goop.
"what is that?" He asked incredulously.
"Condensed Void particles, bound together after the fashion of most of the things in our universe." She continued. "It is also lighter than anything even when amassed into rigid constructs."
She held out her hand to the goop and it floated from the table. Quickly, it coalesced around her hand and shaped a sleek gauntlet. She flexed her fingers for a moment before flicking and it returning to the board.
"Wow, That could be very useful." He said, as he watched the goop rest on the table.
"Even human have a slight control over this concentrated mass. Not enough to form an object, but definitely to break one." He finally broke his gaze from the goop and looked back at the Pyritian.
"What happened to the ship? At least the base of the tower exploded." Imagining the force it would've took he looked back at the goop and found it replicating his thoughts. He called up the many blueprints he had seen for this ship and solidified the new construct.
Then he reenacted the explosion, "Some sort of artillery burst." He said watching as the construct mimicked his fall. "You guys were lucky. If the blast was anywhere else then the whole ship would have gone down."
"Minds sharper than mine are investigating the cause of the explosion. But in truth, You should be grateful. Without it, you would be less than a normal human. Now you are for more than anything else."
The brute stumbled and crashed to its knees under Achilles. He looked up in thinly veiled irritation, the tower they were headed towards was still several hundred blocks away. The Cognit ahead of him beat on the brute with a rod, He yelled over at the fool to stop.
He dropped down into rest position and placed two of his appendages on the shell. Instantly he was flooded with pain and pure hatred. After a second it faded and recognition surrounded him.
"Sky Child. You survived the Cognit." The age-old voice whispered through his head. He nodded, Conscious of the Cognit staring unabashedly at him.
"Yes, It seems you have not fared so well." The Brutes mind twisted at this,
"I fight for my freedom, Now I will receive my reward and my body will soon return to the earth."
"I can release you," He offered as he sensed pain welling up inside the Brute.
"Release me? Even you Sky Child could not have obtained that much power." He sighed.
"But I have." He turned through the Brutes vast mind and touched through its myriad of memories. He re-engaged the muscles and the Brute stood. Then a low bellow resounded from it as he released its energy and its mind went blank.
The body of the brute stayed on its feet and carried them the last several hundred blocks. He couldn't help but feel that now he was truly alone.
The Base of the broad stone tower finally came into view as they forced their way through the ever-present fog. It elongated and shot up towards the clouds before splitting to form an open circle.
Wrapping around it was a wooden platform that ascended Parallel. The Brute's body shuddered as they neared the tower and crashed to the ground. He held on tight but the Cognit driving it went flying off and smashed onto the ground.
He climbed down from the empty shell and strode towards the tower as a group of medics ran to take care of the broken Cognit and deceased Brute. He stood and let the cool sun. He mounted the wooden pathway and began walking.
A Cognit approached him around halfway up. "Liege Achilles," It said, dictating his newest Honorific. "We have completed the six sets of these towers, and the globe is currently en route to be caught by this tower."
"Just as I commanded?" He Queried.
"Yes my Liege, To the letter."
They approached the top of the stairs and He felt a slight breeze as they crested the top. "How long till interception?"
"Minutes Liege."
"Minutes?" The Cognit nodded and pointed off to the side.
He turned and was partially blinded by the light lancing off the metallic egg that was gliding towards them through the air. From the bottom up the globe was cradled by a metallic shell that creased off at the top to let light into the cultured living areas.
"Brace yourselves!" A voice cried out from higher above them. They latched onto some sturdy railings as the globe smashed into the tower.
The tower rocked and shook as the globe tried to break free of its newfound barrier. Then Loud metallic screeching echoed as it pushed itself further through the gap. He looked up with a chuckle and watched as Cognit rained down on the unprotected globe from above.
-
"Andrew?" He felt a hand on his shoulder and he dredged himself from the pleasant darkness of sleep. He slowly cracked his eyes and looked out into the white hospital room. "Andrew." The hand shook his shoulder and he wearily looked over.
A pair of green eyes stared worryingly from behind a wreath of Dirty blonde hair. He moved to speak but felt a bubble surface his lips with the effort he was putting in. He looked around and bit his lip frustratedly.
The Pyritian Nurse wasn't there, but he saw the tray of void particles. He focused and the particles floated into the air. The rushing resounded in his head but he ignored it as he drew the particles across the room.
He formed it into a dark board then super-imposed another set of material on it to create the words. He looked back over to find Dominic talking. "-They said you might not be able to talk and for me to not try to make you." He turned and looked back at the board.
"I am alright." It broadcasted. But Dominic kept babbling. Getting irritated, he streamed a small bit of void particles out and tapped Dominic on the shoulder. Dominic jumped and turned around. He looked at the board and then back at Him.
"This is you?" He nodded, and motioned back towards the board.
"If I remembered how to make vocal circuits then I would use those." He broadcasted.
"Vocal Circuits?"
"Nevermind. Have the Pyritians told you anything?"
"Uh... They told me something about you being Spider-Kissed."
"True, Did they tell you anything else?"
"They said that our little adventure nearly killed you, but you were 'Fixed' Now..."
"I Caught us, Talked to the machine and can control things up with my mind."
He descended a long white staircase, made from long strands of string. Around him were clustered a group of elite Rulixe guards bearing long swords that glowed with a dark luster. He refused to trust the Cognit with his life.
He looked down and a fragment of memory crashed through his mind as he saw a firefight going on between the Cognit and the Humans. The Cognit were advancing but the fragment smashed through.
Two Felic stumbling from broken Iron doors. "They are locked in." One of them said with a hacking cough. He looked around him and saw the area covered in blood, fire, and corpses.
He spun and looked at a Rulixe beside him. "They have a seal-able control system capable of wireless transmissions and controlling this globe! It is imperative we get in and stop them from sealing it off before they do it themselves."
The Elite Turned and jumped from the stairway. He fell for a short distance before casting a web and floating towards the battle. He turned back towards his guards. "We need to hurry." They rushed down the staircase down towards the land.
They Dropped down through a tunnel and scurried past a vast array of engineworks. Finally they confronted a smaller tunnel leading into the wall.
"Through here" He said, Cutting forward in front of the Rulixe.
The Pyritian nurse burst through the door. "Dominic." She said, voice crisp yet melodic. Almost a perfect match to the voice he had heard in his head. "You are needed."
She walked forward and glared at him as Dominic walked behind her and out the door. She grabbed the board out of the air and affixed him with a death stare as it folded into featureless colorless goop in her hands.
"Play later." She said as walked forward and shook the goop from her hands. She reached out and placed her hands on his chest and he fell into the darkness once more.
He burst out the end of the tunnel and found himself in a well lit room covered in webbing. A plaque lay before him. "This is where the inhabitants of Globe #13 Repelled an invasion by Spider forces." He shook as he saw bodies strewn across the floor.
Nailed to the far wall were several bodies speared with a diamond blade. He turned towards the Rulixe. "We are going to make them suffer. We will make them watch themselves die off one by one until there are none left!"