Ouroboros Episode One

  Chapter 29

  Cadet Nida Harper

  It felt unbelievably good to have a shower. It felt like she was washing the past away.

  Once she'd dried herself and dressed in a clean but overly large Academy uniform, she felt ready to face Carson again.

  Before she did, she reminded herself firmly to stop acting like a complete freaking idiot around him.

  She was being a total goose, and she didn't know why.

  Okay, that was a lie; she knew exactly why.

  Carson was turning out to be different from the man she'd assumed him to be.

  And that was throwing her off guard.

  He was kinder and funnier and subtler and gentler than his reputation allowed for.

  As she walked onto the bridge, he turned to face her. He was standing in the center, with his hands clasped firmly behind his back.

  He was also wearing a particularly incredible set of armor.

  It was black with gold and red trimming, and the insignia of the Academy on his left breast, with the insignia of the United Galactic Coalition on his right upper shoulder.

  He wasn't wearing a helmet, but she knew he could force the armor to produce one with nothing more than the press of a button or a single thought.

  "You ready?" he asked with a flash of a smile as she entered. "And where did you??find those clothes? They are about three sizes too big for you."

  She looked down. Yes, okay, so the sleeves hung over her hands, and the pants trailed a little bit past her boots, but she just shrugged. "This was the smallest size I could find in one of the lockers."

  "You're going to trip over your pants," he announced with a snigger.

  "Then I'll tuck them into my boots," she retorted as she got down on her knees and tucked the hems firmly into her socks.

  This elicited a chuckle from Carson. "Fashionable," he teased.

  She finished tucking her pants into her boots and stood. She stared at him and crossed her arms. "I really don't think it matters whether I'm fashionable, do you?"

  He shrugged, clearly conceding her point.

  Then it happened again.

  The awkwardness set in.

  It was coming fast and thick every time they spent more than a couple of seconds in each other's presence.

  He went from looking sure of himself to looking like a lost puppy. He brushed his fingers through his hair while rapping his other hand on his armored thigh, then promptly distracted himself with a panel several meters to his side.

  She didn't know what to say, so she simply stood there, twiddling her thumbs.

  Yes, she was actually twiddling her thumbs.

  She was about to return the entity to Remus 12 before it became corrupted, and here she was playing with her fingers.

  She felt remarkably like a child, and not at all like a cadet of the Galactic Coalition Academy.

  "We'll be entering orbit soon," he announced, his voice dipping low.

  She stiffened.

  Every single muscle in her body tensed.

  And then she heard it - the presence in her mind, the entity - it practically sang to her.

  It chanted an indescribable tune, yet it was the most pleasant sound she'd ever heard.

  It occupied her attention, and after a long pause, she glanced over to see Carson staring at her curiously.

  "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

  It took a lot of effort to nod, but she managed it. "I'm just?" she trailed off. There was nothing more to say.

  She was almost home.

  No, the entity was almost home, but sometimes it was hard to distinguish where she stopped and the creature began.

  "We're going to enter the planet's atmosphere in approximately five minutes," he announced.

  She turned sharply on her foot and regarded him as surprise shot through her flickering gaze.

  They were that close already?

  "Is there anything else??you need to do?" Carson asked. There was a different note in his voice, a far more diplomatic one, and she quickly realized he wasn't talking to her.

  "I don't think so," she answered, realizing that if the entity really did want to do something, it would do it without asking.

  Again, silence descended, but this time it was less awkward and far more expectant.

  The past several weeks had been leading up to this point, and now it was almost here.

  It would all be over soon.

  "I've been careful to scan and rescan this system to ensure there aren't any surprises," Carson typed something on a panel then pointed at the screen. "Though I doubt the Barbarians have too many more of those ships, we can't be too careful."

  She nodded, feeling a little ill as she did. She placed a hand on her stomach, pushing her fingers hard against the loose fabric of her uniform.

  She stared fixedly at the viewscreen.

  It showed space, flecks of stars, swathes of colorful constellations, and then, in a flash, a planet.

  Remus 12.

  Home.

  She started to shake.

  Her whole body convulsed.

  She couldn't stop it.

  "Nida?" Carson pushed away from the console he was working on and ran to her side. "Are you okay?"

  It took her a long time to answer yes. "I think the entity is just excited," she tried.

  "Right," he answered slowly. "Right. Well, hold on. I just engaged the landing sequence, and the computer should take everything from here. I'll set us down in the same compound we were investigating two weeks ago."

  She nodded.

  Then she waited.

  And it was, categorically, one of the hardest things she'd ever done.

  The closer they neared the planet, the more frantic the energy within her became.

  She could feel the entity's desire to return home. And it was unfathomable.

  She kept on shaking until finally Carson reached up and actually wrapped an arm around her shoulders, standing by her side as he did. Together they stared at the viewscreen.

  She could feel the bulk of his arm pressing into her back, and it was strangely reassuring. Though she still shook, it no longer bothered her.

  "Nearly there," Carson said needlessly.

  He kept saying the same statements as if simply repeating them would make the situation more manageable.

  She didn't point this out to him. Instead, she let him stand there and hold her in place.

  As the ship plunged into the atmosphere, her eyes drew wide.

  The scant clouds on the skyline rushed around the Farsight as it rushed toward the surface of the planet, and they reminded her exactly of her dreams. Standing on Remus 12, all of that rubble and dust swirling around her in a powerful vortex of destruction.

  ?.

  She forced her eyes closed.

  As if on fast forward, she saw a replay of every single vision the entity had ever given her.

  Soon it would be over, she told herself.

  Then she would see them no more.

  With that reassuring thought, the ship gave a shudder, and she snapped her eyes open to see that they had landed.

  "Come on," Carson said from her side, giving her arm a squeeze.

  If she'd been her usual self, she would have pushed him away and pointed out she was perfectly capable of standing and walking on her own.

  She wasn't though, and she enjoyed his presence far more than she was willing to admit.

  Together they walked from the bridge, through the halls of the ship, and toward the hangar bay.

  Once they were in the hangar bay, Carson took a moment to shake his head at the completely broken Coalition cruiser she'd flown into the Farsight.

  It was still sitting there in the center of the hangar bay, leaning on one side, an enormous gaping hole in the cockpit.

  He appeared ready to say something, but he quickly pressed his lips shut, and concentrated on opening the hangar bay doors instead.

  As the doors opened, Nida couldn't help herself anymo
re.

  She ran forward, straight at the barren wasteland of Remus 12.

  The dust and rubble were like open arms, waiting to embrace her.

  "Nida, wait up," Carson commanded from behind.

  She heard him jog down the ramp; his heavy, armored boots making the whole thing shake and reverberate.

  Soon he was by her side, but he didn't pull her back; he simply matched her pace.

  "Where are we going?" he asked eventually.

  She couldn't answer.

  All she could do was search for it.

  Home.

  That one word was all she could think of. Home.

  Home.

  She stumbled forward, searching.

  It was dusk on Remus 12, and slowly the day gave way to night. Above her that beautiful, almost luminescent starscape glittered.

  She stared at it as she ran forward, and as she did, she felt something.

  She understood something.

  Something terrible.

  The stars were not right.

  They were different.

  She stumbled to her knees.

  Instantly Carson leaned down, trying to help her up. "Nida?" His eyes flickered with concern. True, genuine concern. "Are you okay?"

  She couldn't answer.

  Instead, she began to shake again.

  "Nida?" He drew his arm around her shoulders once more.

  The move appeared to be easier for him now. She could still remember when he'd been hesitant to touch her - now he did it with ease.

  "Something isn't right," she finally managed to move her lips and make her voice rattle from her parched and constricted throat.

  "What are you talking about? Is there a problem with the entity?" He shuddered, but still held an arm around her shoulders.

  "This planet?. Something isn't right," she managed again.

  Carson pulled away from her, typing something on his wristwatch. Then he turned a full circle, surveying the dust and rubble around them. When he faced her, he simply pressed his lips together and shrugged. "I'm not detecting any enemies. It's just you and me. No other life forms, no buildings, no other ships, no other power sources. We are alone."

  She wanted to be reassured by his words, but she couldn't. Because he didn't understand.

  "They aren't right," she pointed up to the sky.

  He followed her move, then narrowed his gaze. "The stars?"

  "They don't match the ones I saw in my dreams. Something's wrong," she flattened her sweaty palm over her implant protectively.

  He placed a hand carefully on her shoulder, looking into her eyes as she finally raised her head. "We'll find that statue. We'll return the entity. Come on."

  She let him pull her forward.

  They walked and walked, looking for those stairs that led down, but they couldn't find them.

  As dusk settled into night, desperation kicked in. Nida stumbled forward, pushed on by the frantic fear of the entity.

  Though Carson was by her side and picked her up every time she fell over, there was nothing he could do.

  Just as it appeared she would never find the stairs, she found them.

  She did so by tripping over a stone, landing on her knees, and rolling.

  "Nida," Carson called from behind, lurching forward and grabbing her arm before she could roll face first down the stairwell.

  He tried to help her to her feet, but as soon as her eyes locked on the dark, descending shadows of the stairs, she lurched forward.

  "Be careful," he begged.

  She didn't listen.

  She ran down.

  It didn't matter that it was dark down here; she was glowing, after all.

  She saw the other set of stairs.

  She ran up them as fast as she could.

  She made it to the room.

  It was dark in here now. It wasn't how she remembered. It was different because the blue glow that had encased it now encased her.

  Carson called her name again, then finally ascended the stairs to stand next to her.

  For several seconds he was silent.

  Then she began to walk forward, and he immediately reached out to grab her shoulder. "We need to be careful," he hissed.

  She simply shrugged out of his grip.

  Then, once again, she was drawn toward the statue. It was as if invisible tethers were pulling her closer.

  She reached it.

  The glow from her body was now as vibrant as it could be, and it threw out so much light it lit up the room completely.

  The statue stood before her, but in a moment of powerful confusion and fear, she realized it was different.

  It was falling apart.

  Whereas once it had been beautifully carved, depicting a woman in vibrant health, her hair and dress flowing in an invisible wind, now she could barely recognize the form of a head, torso, and several crumbling hands.

  "What is this?" Nida gasped.

  "How do you return the entity?" Carson asked quickly from her side.

  She couldn't.

  She simply couldn't, because something was terribly wrong.

  "Nida?" This time Carson seemed hesitant to place a hand on her shoulder, and he ducked to the side, bringing his head down until he stared into her eyes. "What's going on?"

  It took all of her effort to draw her gaze off the statue and onto his. "Something happened to the statue. It's??broken."

  His expression crumpled. It was clear he didn't understand. Quite possibly because she had no idea what she was talking about herself.

  But she understood one fact as clear as day. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

  "What do I do?" she whispered - not for Carson's benefit, but for the entity's.

  She tried to reach out to it; she tried to conjure up its presence.

  But all she felt was its shaking, palpable, terrible fear.

  "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked the entity out loud.

  Then she started to twitch again, but this time pain shot through her body as she did. With a terrified gasp, her knees gave way from underneath her, and she fell down.

  She didn't strike the cold, carved, stone floor; Carson caught her.

  This time he wrapped both arms around her and stared directly into her gaze. "Nida, what's going on?"

  She tried to answer. Tried to cobble together an explanation that would make sense.

  But she didn't get the time.

  For, at that exact moment, something rumbled on the surface of the planet high above.