Spacebound Chronicles

Chapter 23: Asher-117

Scott was pissed at Joey, that much had not changed.

The difference now was that he was pissed at Tony too.

“You did what?!” Jane’s piercing scream rang in Scott’s ears, and he decided he was pissed at her as well.

“I met with the Evergreen directors today, and I showed them the campaign we’ve been working on, with the skates and the graffiti,” Tony repeated. “They looked less than enthused about it…”

“Less than enthused,” Jane huffed, but went on ignored.

“Then,” Tony proceeded, “I mentioned Scott’s space-fantasy idea, showed them a picture or two and they absolutely loved it. They want that campaign instead and were… rather emphatic about it.”

“I will tell them what they can do with their preferences…” Jane snorted. “What the hell were you thinking, Tony? We are two weeks away from delivery, we have two months of work put into their stuff ready to go, we can’t restart from scratch now.”

As flattered as Scott was, and as excited to see his work being well received, he had to agree with Jane. They were a bit too close to the deadline for them to be comfortable about changes, but he was not about to take sides in that discussion. Not today.

If he did, chances were someone would leave that room with a broken nose.

“The client is always right!” Tony said. “And we aren’t starting from scratch, Scott’s been working on art revolving around that concept all along.”

“You what?” Jane turned to him, and he felt his face grow red. Not in embarrassment or hesitation, but in a very dangerous lack of patience about that bloody day. First Joey, now these clowns. “You have been working behind our backs on an unapproved project all this time?”

“Scott can do whatever he wants with his free time!” Tony interjected.

“He can also talk for himself, you-”

With a slow and painfully loud grind of the metallic chair legs against the conference room floor, Scott pushed himself away from the table, interrupting the argument. He stood up with an impeccable posture, cracked his neck, stared at Tony, then at Jane, then a quick glance at a scared Amanda, and left the room at an even pace.

Usually when those two lashed out at each other, Scott’s mind would drift to the peace of Fantasy Stars and wait there until the storm soothed. Now, thanks to the episode with Joey, not even the stars were a safe place. He did not bother clocking out, instead he just left and went straight home.

He was by all means stuck in the whirlwind, but maybe Logan Spacebound could find a cozy spot in the void to reflect all by himself. Without Joeys or Snorris, without Tonies or Merons… Without Carols and Karyns?

Maybe, but first he needed to talk to someone, and that someone was most clearly her.

***

“This was Brisk’s favorite meeting spot,” Lady Parly Zin said as she and Napper stood side by side staring out of the viewport at the dichromatic whirlwind of Asher-117.

“Where you said I should be removed from the Chimeras because of my daughter,” Napper replied. “Do you miss Brisk?”

“He was there with us when it all began,” she said coolly. “But he also stopped being useful a while ago. Failing to kill Snorri Gian further proved that.”

“Do you still believe in our plan?” Napper asked.

“Always!”

“Even after we pushed you away? Even after we led Snorri to kill your protégé, Meron?”

She bit her glossed lips, eyes lost in the blackhole ahead.

“My faith was shaken, true. But I see now, you did what was needed to keep us safe. I was a liability at the time, and so was Meron,” her voice was even, her resolve never faltered. That was why Napper always trusted her more than the others, and why regretted the upcoming decision. She proceeded: “I just wonder how we will conduct the raid in Megafleet, having lost him and The Glimmer flight computer.”

“Do not worry, Zero and I are working on an alternative,” Napper’s voice was even flatter than hers, absolutely calculated. “Tell me, you know raiding Megafleet is of utmost importance, but do you know what we plan to get from it.”

“The Dark Matter Heart,” she answered, eyes locked into Asher-117, the only other place where one could find said object, and where whoever tried ended up dead.

“Did you know that only six people have ever risked entering Asher-117 in order to retrieve a Dark Matter Heart?” Napper’s words carried a musing tonality.

“I’ve been told. Brisk obsessed with that story. He also said only one person ever succeeded.”

“Indeed,” Napper turned to her. “Me.”

Now Zin failed to keep up the impartial façade. Her jaw dropped. She turned to him. Were it anyone else, she would have assumed that to be deceitful gloating, but not him. Not Napper. He did not care for glory or admiration; he was a pragmatic to the bone, and if he brought that up, there was a reason.

“You? How?” she babbled. “Why don’t you just take it from there again? Why do we have to raid Megafleet?”

“It was a long time ago, Parly. Many years. I was the first to try it, so I had an advantage. Asher learns from everyone who enters it, every success and failure. It is now much more dangerous than when I went in,” he said, then paused. She had never seen him flustered before that moment. “And I’m old. When I succeeded, I was not a father. My days and nights were spent here, in the stars, flying, improving. I cannot do that anymore. And I cannot take that risk. If I die and leave the Top 500…”

“I understand…” Zin whispered. He was indeed the most important of them all. Brisk had been a pointless loss, his absence would not compromise the grand plan… but Napper? He was the beating heart of the Chimeras, as a player and character alike. He could not be gambled with. “If I may ask… what did you do with the Heart you got?”

He had regained composure but still pressed his dry lips as if forcing a bitter medicine down his throat. Only then did he speak again:

“Back then, there were no Chimeras, I still did not dream about the return of Shay. I was a naïve player still thrilled with the shining ships of the Solar League, loyal to their speeches of unity across the stars. So, I gave the Heart to them. That is how Megafleet was formed, united around the energy of the Black Matter Heart I retrieved from Asher-117. To this day, it fuels every League ship in the galaxy. Once I set myself free from them, it is obvious I could not take the Heart with me.”

“So…” Parly Zin frowned. “Retrieving the Heart from Megafleet would not just be useful. It would be a perfect vendetta.”

“Please, I do not concern myself with such petty sentimentalities,” Napper spoke. “It is simply a less risky route to our objective.”

“But for that we would need a high-ranking member of the Solar League on our side, and yet you have killed Meron,” she said. “So, what is this plan you and Zero are coming up with?”

“We will recruit someone else. Someone with… unique skills. However, that someone else is not yet within the Top 500,” Napper took a deep breath, his robotic eyes flickering as he chose his next words. He had to choose them carefully. “The issue is, it might be a while before the intended individual reaches a level of power or reputation to organically ascend into the T-500, and the developers’ choice, as well as impact levels, are beyond our influence.”

“Then we must invite them into the Top-500,” Zin concluded, and, although she did not say it, he could tell she understood the implications of that.

“Do you understand what I am asking of you?” Napper asked, even thought he knew she did. She knew he knew. If he asked, that was because he wanted her to say it.

“Among the Chimeras, only you and I have the right to invite someone,” she said. “But we have already used those invites, and can only use them again if the people we already invited permadie. I invited Zero Guy…”

“And I invited you,” he said flatly.

They looked at each other, both gazes loaded with an equal amount of commitment and sorrowful farewell.

“We cannot sacrifice Zero, Parly. I wish we could, but we cannot.”

Parly Zin heaved, fists clenched.

“There must be another way,” she hissed, returning her eyes to beyond the viewport.

“There is. If you fly into Asher-117 and return with the Dark Matter Heart, the Megafleet raid becomes unnecessary. If you die in the process, we will have the spot open to recruit who we need to pull the raid off. Either way, it solves our problem.”

“We can send someone else before me! Ares!”

“Ares dying would not allow me invite someone else,” Napper said.

“But if he succeeded I wouldn’t have to…”

“No!” Napper raised his voice, an uncommon occurrence, then returned to his usual tone. “Ares is amassing a fleet for what comes next. For you to live, you must retrieve the Heart. Trust me. Trust the plan. You can rise again in another body.”

“I am Lady Parly Zin!” she grunted, her eyes slowly shifting to a deep purple, dark tendrils raising from her back, Dark Matter creeping into the starship they were in, surrounding her. “No other character will stand as Parly Zin does! I will see Shay’s return in this body, or no body at all!”

Napper watched impassive as her feet departed from the ground and she used both hands to unleash upon him a river of Dark Matter. To him, the permadeath warning was no surprise. This had always been a possibility, he just did not want to believe it.

In response to her attack, Napper effortlessly raised a robotic arm that shined with blinding blue lightning, attracting the power emanating from Zin. Black tentacles and azure thunder danced in the room. Slowly, the darkness was drained into the open metallic palm, and Napper’s arm was gloved in pure electrified Dark Matter.

He remained as he was, while the woman collapsed to the ground, drained. As he paced towards her vulnerable form, her own power held around his clenched fist, she tried shooting a Dark Matter orb, one last futile gesture of resistance. As she outstretched her open hand, however, only three lonely smoke strands fluttered out and quickly faded in the air.

“I am sorry, Zin, I really am,” he closed his Dark Matter enveloped fist around her neck, lifting her a foot from the ground and squeezing. Slowly, the darkness and electricity flooded her withering body. “I hope to see you reborn when our day comes.”

And he knew it would come soon.

When Zin’s body finally turned to ashes in his grip, he dusted his hands on his pants and reached out for the ship’s long-range communications. Zero Guy appeared before him in a hologram, wearing Chimera robes and holding his Snake Mask.

“It is done, Zero,” Napper spoke pensively. “She tried to navigate Asher-117, but she failed.

“You may proceed in recruiting Logan Spacebound.”