The Life, Death and Life of Amelia Hollow

  ***

  I daydreamed as I walked through the dark corridors. Many USM personnel questioned what I was doing out in the danger as the battle for the station continued. I did not give them an answer, I kept walking. I was not exactly sure where I was supposed to be going. I just drifted off and let the dark voice at the back of my mind lead me to where I had to go.

  I don’t have much time. I thought as an image of the comet/ship flashed in my mind. The thing was soon to reach its destination. It was as if I had a telepathic connection to the creature in the bowels of the disguised ship. I was going to have to have a damn fast ship to stop it. Mayb with a bit of pain pressuring her, Tamarax would reveal which of her ships was the fastest. I doubted the witch-like lady had a ship fast enough to catch up with the comet by the time I really needed it. Oh well, I would sort that out when the time came. Killing the woman who controlled the 4th dimensional creature inside the comet was the best thing to do.

  I came to a point where the corridor forked into three different paths. Without even thinking I chose the one on my right. It’s strange to find the USM most feared enemy standing impatiently at an alien vending machine. Her nails tapped the glass irritably as she waited for her can of alien liquid to become available. That was all for show. She had been waiting for me to turn the corner to put on this scene. While watching Tamarax suspiciously, I noted the red cross on the floor further down the corridor. That was not the only strange thing in the corridor with the on-going equation running across the walls, but I noticed the red cross because I had a feeling it had to do with moi.

  This is the woman all the build-up’s been to? I thought as a question for the dark voice in my mind. I got no reply.

  “You like glivarks or reggens?” Tamarax asked while continuing to stare into the vending machine. I was a little surprised when her voice was more pitchy than expected.

  “I’m not a fan of either.” I replied calmly. I didn’t know what either of those products were, but I was sure I would not enjoy them.

  The corpse-like woman looked up when she realized that the vending machine was not going to give her the food she wanted. Her insane eyes paralleled my own even though we were different species. It was quite obvious that there were certain features that separated those who had looked into the space time continuum from those who hadn’t. Tam and I were both rabid women that could not explain the things we knew no matter how hard we tried. If I had the time to live as long as Tamarax had then I would be exactly like her. Luckily, that was not going to happen.

  “So you’ve come to die, then?” She asked in a prideful hiss. How Tam wished I would take my helm off so she could see my face as I died at her hands. – That wasn’t gonna happen.

  “No,” I shook my head, “I’ve actually come to kill you.”

  “With a stun gun?”

  I looked down at the pathetic little gun in my holster. Yeah, how did I intend to kill her? She was little and scrawny so strangling was not out of the question. Then again, I did not want to get too close to her. Tam’s jagged black nails were not to be trifled with. For humans it was easy to break nails and they did not make great weapons, for hekkits they were harder than bones.

  We circled each other like we were about to Lambada. We weren’t, of course. I was not exactly sure how to start the fight. I just wanted to kill her quickly and then take-off to go stop the freaking comet Tak was aboard.

  “Why are you here for me when you know very well that there is a comet heading for your solar system’s star?” She asked semi-mockingly.

  I had to think about this for a moment. I did not understand why the Sun had to do with time energy… I did not understand time energy, but I didn’t bother to think about that. I thought it was just a conveniently natural occurrence that time energy appeared around the Sun.

  “Because you’re the one who wants to reconstruct the universe, not your 4th dimensional friend. What’s Tak gonna do if you’re not giving them orders?” I asked semi-sarcastically.

  Tak shook her head. I did not realize that she was walking backwards and I was following her towards the red cross on the floor. I was keeping an eye on the red and silver gun in the holster on her thigh. It appeared to have been especially designed for her fingers and nails. She could have whipped the gun out at any moment and tried to kill me. No, she could only kill me on the red cross. If she tried anywhere else I would win this fight and kill her. – I did not know this of course at the time as I was more distracted by the various other thoughts swirling around in my head.

  “No. You see, even if you somehow manage to kill me, Tak would still reach the time energy before you stopped her. And if I don’t tell her what to do with the universe when the ‘big bang’ happens, then the universe will simply stop existing.”

  I felt a little lost when Tamarax told me that. Tak was a she; noted. Now I really knew why I had to save the universe from Tak and Tamarax. The universe would either be rebuilt in Tam’s insane image or it would simply stop existing if I didn’t stop Tak.

  “How did you capture Tak?” I asked curiously. If the 4th dimensional creature was all powerful then how did a lunatic get a hold of it?

  Tamarax stared at me blankly for a moment and stopped walking backwards. Despite the impenetrable blackness of her eyes, I knew her eyes were running back and forth like a Kit-Cat clock as she looked for the answer in her mind. She had no recollection of how she caught Tak. Did she even catch Tak? One day she was planning the destruction of Mel and then the next she had Tak locked up in a cage deep in the bowels of her station.

  “You don’t know how you caught her?” I asked, a little surprised.

  Tam seemed less like the threat. It was Tak I really had to worry about. The 4th dimensional creature was using Tam –and possibly moi– as pawns in her little game. I did not understand the point of the game, but I would never understand the mind of Tak… I had never even met Tak. Maybe Tamarax sensed the faultiness in her plan when she realized she was missing some crucial memories, but she had dug her grave too deep to climb out of now.

  “How much of this is real, and how much of this is just our own insanity?” I asked aloud. Even though we were enemies I knew Tamarax was asking the same question. “Tak’s fucking with us, Tamarax. The Bennu element messed with our brains and now Tak is taking advantage of our insanity. Stop her, tell her to leave the universe alone.” I pleaded weakly. I felt pity for the insane woman and wanted to reason with her.

  You’re wasting your time. One voice said in my head.

  The woman is insane. Said another.

  Wait, there were two dark voices in my head?

  Yeah?

  Didn’t you know there were two of us?

  I had bought a first-class flight to kooky town. That meant there were three voices in my head: My own, the dark voice at the back of my mind, and I presume Tak or someone involved in the 4th dimension was the third one. Wow, that was three too many voices speaking in my mind.

  I fretted when Tamarax looked right past moi. Her smile was not a happy one… more sadistic. Chorst was standing at the start of the corridor, stun gun in hand pointing right at Tamarax.

  “Wai–” I tried to tell him.

  Too late. Two shots were fired. One from Chorst’s stun gun, but he missed when he tried to draw back his arm when Tam whipped out her own gun and fired. Time slowed down as I witnessed Chorst’s stun gun and hand being disintegrated. Luckily, his cadet armour stopped the laser from burning off his left entire arm so his arm was only disintegrated to the end of his wrist. My mind flashed to the dream where he and I stood together in a field and his left arm was smouldering. The image only lasted in my head for a moment before the dream disappeared into my subconscious again. But now I knew the dreams I had had were becoming reality. The only question was would the second part of that dream be fulfilled? Would be and Chorst stand and watch the universe die?

  “Yeah.” Tamarax began haughtily. Now she really wished she could see my face becaus
e my look of shock was priceless. “So I think I’m gonna stick to my plan of recreating the universe instead of sussing out your idea with Tak. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  I was surprised that Chorst was still standing. His body language suggested he did not really care about the loss of his hand as he looked down. The great thing about being a trinard was that he felt no obligation to protect his body. I couldn’t tell the pale boy actually felt any pain. Even if he was not wearing his helm, his impassive expression would make it impossible to tell what he was feeling.

  Before Tam could squeeze the trigger again to finish off Chorst, I charged at her like a bull and tackled the scrawny woman to the ground. Screw her sharp nails. She had already been the cause of Nis, Kel, Jhan and Merr’s deaths. She was not about to take the trinard out of my life.

  “Bitch, I’ll kill you!” I barked after striking her across the face with my fist.

  Despite all her insane knowledge and awareness of the future, Tam had not predicted that I would attack her so aggressively. She stared blankly at my dark mask for a moment as I drew my fist back to hit her again. Quickly, she snapped out of her state of shock and rammed her knee into my midsection.

  Why did that hurt? I thought to myself as became paralyzed by the pain. The USM cadet uniforms really needed some sort of codpiece. Yes, I know I’m a girl, but I still wanted one!

  While on the floor, Tamarax strained her thin neck to the point of almost snapping it just so she could see what was behind her. The red cross was mere feet away from both of us. If she could just get me there then she could kill me properly. She could try to shoot me even now as I lay in agony on the floor, but something would stop the laser from her gun from killing me. Even if I was immobile she still would not be able to kill me if I was not on the red cross. The universe worked in mysterious ways. She had done the crazy calculations in her head. The universe would not let her kill moi unless I was in the perfect spot.

  Her heavy boots made a clunking noise as she jumped to her feet. I quickly followed so that we could start ‘round two’ of our duel. The trinard was trying to sprint toward us, however he was having a balance issue now that he was missing a hand so he had to take it slow.

  I realized I was a little screwed when I noticed that Tamarax was pointing her gun at my head. She was actually bluffing because she knew I could only die on the red cross, but I didn’t know that.

  “Take another step and I’ll blow her head off.” The witch-like lady told Chorst. Her smile bared her sharp teeth that were covered in black blood from the previous blows she had sustained.

  Chorst halted instantly. I don’t know how he thought he was originally gonna help me fight her. The man was missing a hand. How much fighting could he do one-armed? Then again, I recalled how he had stopped Zand’s boneless, but powerful, fist with nothing but his palm back when I fought her in the cafeteria. All trinards were ambidextrous so Chorst could probably still pack a hard punch despite his missing appendage.

  My eyes followed Tam’s sharp black nail as she pointed at the cross on the floor. “I’m going to have to ask you to go stand on that red cross if you don’t mind.” She said in a mockingly polite voice.

  “I do mind.”

  “Cram it and go stand on the cross.”

  My haughty darker voice kicked in. “Why should I. If I don’t you can’t kill m–”

  I tried to step back as Tamarax’s claw-like hand came at me. She grabbed my arm, tearing the fabric of my jacket while doing so, and hurdled me like discus at the red cross. I could not gain my balance as I stumbled towards the deadly mark. Embarrassingly, my hind landed right on the target. – This whole situation seem kind of crazy to you or is it just me?

  BANG! I closed my eyes when the shot was fired. Had I really just died? I had spent so long mentally preparing to save the universe and now I was dead. Tamarax had won and the universe would be hers unless there was someone out there who was just as crazy as moi and knew what to do. Never in my short life had I felt like more of a failure. Not even that time I got a B- in English compared.

  (Long story short about the bad grade in English: I wrote an entire essay about the character of Ross from Macbeth being a bad omen and probably a demon sent by the devil to fuck with everyone. Trust me, my English teacher wished she could’ve given me a lower mark, but I had all the evidence to support my claim.)

  It was a strange moment when I realized I wasn’t in any pain… and I was still very much alive. It was possible that Tam had not actually shot moi and had gotten Chorst instead in which case I was going to throttle her.

  Opening my eyes, I quickly learned what had happened. Chorst was on his knees beside me while Tamarax stood above us with a look of moderate surprise on her face. I questioned why she was not trying to shoot me or Chorst, and then I saw the large hole right through the centre of her chest. From what I could see, her innards were disgusting. Like a thousand black beetles throwing their legs around in a panic as they tried to figure out why a part of them was missing. It suited the woman to be made up of thousands of insects, but honestly rats would have suited better.

  Now there was one great question: who had shot Tamarax? It could not have been either me or Chorst. There was only one stun gun between the two of us and that pathetic little gun would basically have no effect on a deranged woman like Tam.

  I followed Tam’s eyes to the source of the laser shot. To all of our surprise, metres away stood a woman wrapped in grey bandages and wearing a blue tunic that had a black outlining. A bird that looked like a phoenix was printed in white on her chest. Her open red silk robe seemed to defy gravity as it hovered in the non-existent wind. It was Mel. The most powerful woman in the universe had come to my aid.

  But I thought I was the one who was supposed to kill Tamarax. I thought, slightly annoyed. Then I noticed that Tam was still standing. The laser had not killed her. Mel had intentionally missed because she had wanted her to be completely aware of her failed plan before she died.

  Mel’s bandaged hand placed the black and red gun back in the holster that had been hidden by her robe all this time. Only then did I notice the saber on her other thigh. That woman was really armed. As an immortal, she was an unstoppable killing machine. Tam had not stood a chance even if she had not already been shot.

  “But she’s on the mark.” Tam stammered like a confused little girl. “I did the math. I should have been able to…”

  Mel had the strut of a proud cat. She would not need weapons now to finish of Tamarax. The corpse-like woman was not going anywhere. The hole in her chest and the shock of seeing Mel had paralyzed her. She could not have seen the god-like woman coming. Having a 4th dimensional mind-set far more advanced than Tam’s, she could not be foreseen coming as her mind did not necessarily follow the laws of time and space. Mel, also had a better understanding of what was to come. A far better understanding. That was why she had come to save moi.

  “You rounded the decimal places in your head.” She said in a disturbingly calm, almost amused voice. “Never round the decimal places in the middle of an equation. Am should be here.” Mel used the toe of her black boot to point to the spot on the floor mere inches from where I had been sitting. I was certainly standing now that woman who put the ‘M’ in ‘USM’ was here.

  “Shit.” Tamarax muttered. I doubt she actually said that, but that was what my translator picked up.

  Mel turned her head slightly to look at Chorst and I. Our helms hid our faces, but she knew how measly we had to look.

  “You should get that checked out.” She said to Chorst, gesturing to the remains of his left arm.

  “The veins were cauterized by the laser from the gun.” The trinard said impassively.

  “Does it really end this way?” Tam asked curiously with a hint of childish annoyance in her tone. She looked at both Mel and I as if either of us would know the answer. Honestly, I had so many questions that I could never answer. For example how was Tamarax still standing with a gr
eat big hole in her chest?

  “Afraid so.” Mel replied... She was one of those biatchy people.

  “Well… the universe is still gonna end.” Tam smirked pitiably. She doubted that any part of her plan would be fulfilled.

  Oh, what the hell? The insane woman thought as she decided to go out with a bang. She pointed her gun at Mel’s head, but the bandaged woman was quicker than lightning. She looked like an elegant ballet dancer as her leg flew up and struck Tam in the chin. Without hesitation, her foot then pushed the scrawny woman back onto the floor. There was a tragic moment when the corpse-like creature looked up at her assailant with the knowledge of death in her eyes. If I was Mel I would have hesitated to kill such a sad woman, but I was not Mel and Mel was not me. Using the same foot, she kicked Tam onto her back on the floor before drawing her leg back and then ramming the sole of her boot down onto the pale face. I felt nauseous when a splattering noise came from Mel’s boot crushing Tamarax’s face. The site was more horrendous and I have chosen not to describe it in great deal. All you need to know is that Tam no longer had a face. All that remained was a bloody black hole.

  Tam was awful, she had had Nis tortured to death after all, but nobody deserved to die that way. Mel had intentionally humiliated her in her final moments. Now the only people who remained in the corridor had their faces hidden while the hekkit had no face at all. There was something very cruel about Mel, and not just based off this once incident. She seemed to enjoy the pain of her adversaries despite the fact she seemed so impassive the rest of the time. Maybe after you had lived as long as her you would become so depressed that only the pain of others could make you feel anything.

  “What ship did you arrive on?” Chorst asked in a tone that felt like he was addressing her as simply a commoner. That may have just been his usual dull tone, however I believed that he resented Mel because she had let his people suffer for so long. He would never say a word to her about it, he literally couldn’t.

  Mel did not seem to care that the pale boy was not treating her specially. She had so many other enemies that adding Chorst to the deck would not be an issue. She understood his mind far better than I ever would. The god-like woman had watched how the trinards had developed to hate her and the USM over the years. Most species loathed her, and those that didn’t still feared her.

  “I took my own ship.” She replied calmly. “Took me half a second to get here.”

  “That is impossible.”

  I elbowed Chorst in the stomach to hush him. It was not wise to question the immortal lady who had just kicked in Tamarax’s face. He looked down at me, yet remained quiet.

  “Not when you have my ship.” She said sassily. Mel was more teasing Chorst than anything. Everyone in the USM was patronizing to cadets. They thought kids like us didn’t know anything.

  My eyes popped when something clicked inside my mind. Mel’s ship. If it was as fast as she said it was then I needed her ship to reach the comet in time. My mental timer had nearly run out. You would think now, I’d be in a huge rush to save the universe for nonexistence. No, I would take my time because I was a douchebag.

  “Excuse me.” Mel lifted up the frail corpse of Tamarax and threw it over her shoulder like she was carrying a dead animal home after the hunt. “I must be going. The USM will be happy to learn that one of the greatest enemies is dead.”

  “Understood.” I felt like doing a curtsy, but resisted.

  I need to ask her where her ship is! I thought.

  “We will follow.” Chorst said.

  Mel turned back and looked at us. Not us, just me. You already know where my ship is. A voice said in my mind. I was not sure if Mel had spoken to me telepathically, or if that was just the dark voice in my head.

  The bandaged woman said nothing as she strode away. Chorst tried to follow her, yet when he understood that I was not going anywhere he walked back to moi. It was good he couldn’t see my eyes. I had a Jack Torrance look going as I tried to access the database in my brain to understand where Mel’s ship was.

  “We need to go back to hangar four.” He said demandingly.

  “You go back. I haven’t finished my mission yet.” I thought for a moment and then snapped my finger when I remembered something. “The Bennu Bomb. Give it to me. I need it now.”

  Chorst did not move his hands anywhere near his belt. Gosh, I wonder why he did not want to give the semi-insane girl the Bennu Bomb.

  “Chorst,” I began slowly, “there is something I need to do. I really need that bomb.”

  “Explain.”

  I brought up my hands and clenched them into fists. I could not get the words out. I understood why I needed them, but the logic would not make sense to Chorst. “I-I can’t. But if Frek and Mel trust me to do this task then you should trust me too.”

  “Mel did not say she trusted you.”

  “Not aloud.” I said icily. “Trust me. If she knows what I have to do then she will not stop me.”

  Chorst remained unmoving. I honestly wasn’t making sense to him… or to myself. I sounded like Tamarax. Hopefully, I was not going to make a mistake she did and have my entire plan ruined. Dear God, how had that woman rounded her decimals in the middle of an equation? Honestly, she deserved to have her plan fail miserably with that mistake.

  “I will assist you in completing your mission.” He said, although I knew he was actually saying ‘I will keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t take a first-class trip to kooky town’.

  “Heh.” I smirked hesitantly. “No… Just give me the bomb, and then go get your arm fixed.”

  “No.” He said sharply.

  “Chorst,” I sighed, “you can’t come because…”

  I’m not coming back. I admitted in my head. The words hit me like a shockwave. Even though I had been aware of my future for a while now, I had just realized that it was actually going to happen. Time was up, my brain had almost turned to mush, and now I was going to die. I refused to allow Chorst to die with moi. His death would be pointless.

  “I will return this Bennu Bomb to the USM unless you allow me to assist you.” He said firmly.

  “Bastard.” I muttered. I could have just shot him with my stun gun and made and stolen the bomb from his belt, but maybe he would not die if he came with me. Also, that way someone could return Mel’s ship to her once the deed was done. “Okay… You’re not allowed to ask any questions, though. You just have to go with my craziness.”

  No reply from the trinard, so I gave him a hint about how crazy my plan was: “I’m gonna steal Mel’s ship.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “And I’m going to need you to return it once I’m done.”

  “You will face execution.”

  “I’m not going to worry about that.” I muttered.

  “Mel did not say where she had parked her ship.”

  “I know where it is… I hope.” My eyes shifted, but the trinard could not see them through the helm.

  Poor Chorst. He did not like being confused. He just chose to be completely silent and watch how my insane desolation played-out. In honest fact; he was going to have to trust me. – I can see why he was hesitant.

  33: Saving Life, the Universe and Everything

  It was quite obvious that the USM had taken Tamarax Station swiftly. The USM Naval spaceships had already obliterated half the station. Luckily, they had not destroyed the hangar I was heading for.

  Chorst said nothing as he followed me through the station. Even when I jumped on the conveyer belt he followed. I was truly following my gut instinct. All of the henchmen ignored Frenchy and I as we walked down the final corridor. They were all far more worried about their own lives. For good reason. Despite the fact that most of the personnel at the station were not exactly there by choice for various reasons, the USM would kill them all the same. If Cacey had not been travelling with us, then he would have likely been shot. USM marines were allowed to be ruthless. The phrase ‘we don’t negotiate with terro
rists’ was taken to a whole new level and was changed to ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists. We wipe them out remorselessly’.

  Even the rhino-like creatures were running for their lives. It was unfair that I associated their species with evil as they appeared to be giant dumb grunts. In true fact their species tended to be very peaceful and intelligent. Sadly, they were a third-class species who had to make a living in the galaxy so half the soldiers here were poorly paid creatures while the other half were slave clones sold on the black market. Even if they survived the demise of Tamarax Station, they would still have to pay the price of working for one of the largest terrorists in the galaxy. That could either be with their lives, or with jail time that would take away their lives. That was what Sven, with the help of the MCIAA, was going to have to fight when it came to Cacey. The blue boy had been with Tamarax, but they had to prove he had actually been held there against his will and that he had never committed any major felonies. In the USM it was never easy to predict how the cases would turn out. Sven knew that which was why he was happy that Della was his friend.

  “Confused?” I asked Chorst as we reached the giant doors. He was looking at the map on his wrist computer and could not find the hangar we were at. “Of course Mel would park in a place that wasn’t on the map.”

  I looked up at the camera sensors above the large doors, and then I noticed the panel to the side that was flashing red. The sensors had been made only to allow access to Tamarax and personnel of her choice. Obviously, the screen was flashing red because Mel had changed this setting. Once we were in range the giant doors opened. The dim lights came on slowly as we entered, however I did not need them to see. I was drawn to the small square in the centre of the hangar. All that protected Chorst and I from getting sucked into the vacuum of space was the thin electromagnetic field in the square.

  “There you are.” I muttered triumphantly as we reached the edge of the square. The overhead entrance to a lustrous silver spaceship was just barely inside the field with its hatch wide open.

  I could now see the whole exterior of the ship, but I got the feeling that Mel liked to travel in style.

  “She left the hatch open on purpose.” Chorst said as he walked across the plank that led to the hatch to get a better look inside. “Otherwise it was imprudent of Mel to leave the fastest spaceship in the galaxy with a hatch open.”

  “Told ya she trusted me.” I said in a childish tone.

  The poor trinard was probably screaming inside his head. He had so many questions to ask and yet he couldn’t get anything out. I watched him for a moment as he looked down at the ship from the plank. It was strange to think that he would probably be the last person I ever saw. I thought about the mind meld we never got to have… I thought about everything we never got to do or say. I wondered if after today Chorst would miss the experiences we never had. Maybe not. I didn’t understand anything about his mind. I just made assumptions that I knew what he was thinking. I gave him human emotions when I thought about what he was thinking. Maybe he did not feel the same emotions humans did. Maybe Chorst actually hated moi and was only drawn to me because of the red blood in my veins… Maybe I was overthinking this.

  “You sure you want to come?” I asked him seeing as he had made no attempt to jump in ship. As soon as I said that he leapt in.

  I hopped on the plank and followed him down. The hatch closed instantly as soon as I got in. I can now see why he was intrigued by the inside of the ship. Like the outside, the interior was lustrous and silver. What was interesting was that the walls had a strange decorative border that almost looked like writing. You would think that my earpiece would translate the writing into English for moi to understand.

  “It is an artistic version of the Destin-Hey language; Hey. That is why it does not translate.” Chorst explained.

  The writing looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics mixed with Mandarin Chinese characters. I bet you thought those two could never mix, yet the product was quite beautiful and curious. It was even more interesting when I found myself being able to read it despite the fact it had not translated. The effects of Bennu were obviously why I could read the artistic language. From what I could tell, it said nothing important. I believe it was a Hey-monk poem or hymn. It would make sense for Mel to have the decorative border of the walls in Hey. She was very close with the people of Destin-Hey. I do not know what species Mel was, but she likely associated herself with them the most. In the history of the USM class we learned about the monks of Destin-Hey. I knew Mel was not of their species as the creatures had four arms and long prehensile tails. They kind of looked like lanky hairless monkeys.

  The ship was not that large. It was only about the size of an Earthling airplane of old except according to the silver model of the spaceship on a podium we walked by, it was a delta-shaped ship. It was a very aerodynamic shape that did not seem very necessary seeing as we were in space.

  The cockpit must have drove Chorst insane. There were no panels, no buttons, nothing electronic. Just below the windscreen (or that’s just what I’m going to call it despite the fact there is no wind in space) sat a sat a blank desk. The top of the desk stirred like a silver ocean. As soon as Chorst tried to touch the surface the stimulated silver went rigid and smooth. The trinard was displeased that the metal would not react to him.

  “This ship is un-flyable. Only Mel and Hey-monks could fly this.” He complained in his usual bland tone.

  I took off my helm as he said this and attached both sides of it to my belt. The muggy atmosphere inside the helm had made me sweat and I hated the feeling when my hair felt damp because of it. Looking down at the metal surface I saw my reflection. Dry blood painted my nostrils. Quickly, I licked my glove-covered thumb and index finger –a disgusting taste– and tried to discretely clean up my nose. Chorst did not seem to notice. He was too busy running his only hand across the smooth silver and trying to understand why it would not respond to him.

  I took a seat at the silver egg chair associated with the desk. The silver rippled under my finger accompanied by what sounded like a harp being strummed. It was surreal. I placed my whole hand on the surface. This time the ripple was larger and the harp sound was louder and a little harsher.

  “Mel programmed the ship to respond to you.” Chorst stated.

  The logistics behind how to fly this ship would not make sense to anyone with a normal brain. Luckily, I did not have a normal mind. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew how the ship worked. This was an artistic ship not based on math or physics as we know them in this universe. Chorst would not understand that. He thought ships had to run in a particular way. Mel had a 4th dimensional mind that did not obey space and time, so why would her ship obey space and time? It did not for the most part. Her ship did whatever the hell it wanted to. It was like it had its own mind.

  “Can you fly it?” Chorst asked demandingly after I had been silent for so long.

  A smile cracked my complexion. “Chorst… guess what?”

  No answer from the trinard as my hands dances across the silver surface. I did not think, I just acted. Literally, I was making music as the harp noise became more elaborate.

  “Guess what?” I repeated.

  Again, no answer, so I continued. “I’ve got the need, the need for…”

  Too late. We were already there. ‘Where’ you may ask? Why, right next to the giant comet/ship Tak was in. When Mel said this ship was fast, she meant it was damn fast. This ship had no dega-drive. It did not need one because it could travel at any speed it wanted. After going far faster than the speed of light, the ship was now travelling at the same speed the comet was. We were so close to the giant rock that through the fire surrounding it that I could make out its details. Right next our left wing was a small, barely visible hatch.

  “Where are we?” Chorst asked.

  “Flying alongside a dangerous comet.” I replied as my hands continued to dance across the silver surface. Even when I took my hands away the musi
c continued to play. I had just told the ship to keep its current speed and stay as close as possible to the comet.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m gonna go inside that comet with the Bennu Bomb and then blow the crap out of it before it reaches my system’s star.”

  Chorst did not look at moi. He just stared at the spaceship/comet. And he thought that he had been confused before about what I was doing. Now he was really confused.

  “Why does it need to be blown up?”

  “Because it just has to be.”

  “Elaborate.”

  “No. But once I’m inside I need you to drive this ship back to Tamarax Station.”

  “You are coming back with me.”

  I sighed. The trinard was a little confused when I stood up on the egg chair so I could look at him at eyelevel. Surprisingly, he did not stop me when I cracked his helm like an egg and put both parts on the silver surface. I wanted to see his eyes one last time. They were beautiful if that has not been made clear by all the previous times that I complimented them.

  “I’m not coming back with you.” I said in almost a whisper.

  “Why not?” He asked coldly.

  “Because I have to go inside that comet with the Bennu Bomb.”

  “Explain the task, and I will do it for you.”

  I shook my head. “Chorst… you’re missing a hand.”

  “What is the purpose of this task?”

  “Nothing big.” I laughed hesitantly. “I just need to save life, the universe and everything.”

  “From what?”

  “That comet.”

  “That comet will not affect the universe.”

  Oh Chorst, I thought as I leaned forward and kissed him right his pale lips, if only I could explain it all to you. No shock that the trinard did not kiss back. He just followed my eyes. Now he could see how insane I looked. A part of me was still the Amelia he had originally met, but the other half was something more mysterious that even I did not understand.

  The kiss meant nothing to either of us. It was cold and passionless. I was just wanted to do it before I died. I now understood why father had warned me to never have sex with a trinard. Physically, they had warm bodies, however they were very icy on-touch. So when Chorst had sex with Nor or Sven had sex with Jac it must have been terrible and not enjoyable. It would only serve one purpose (you know what that purpose is) and nothing more. Kind of like the current kiss.

  Oh well, the kiss was mainly a distraction while my hand went to my holster. I pulled back just as electricity ran through Chorst’s body. His expression did not change as he fell. I tried to stop his falling, however that was difficult whilst standing on the egg chair. All I did was slow the fall.

  “I gotta do this, Chorst.” I told him as I stepped off the chair and kneeled down next to him. I did not feel great about stunning a one-handed man, but he would have tried to stop moi from completing my task otherwise.

  I sniffed as I felt blood running through my right nostril. This was accompanied by a throbbing headache. I was breaking down. The condition of my body would not matter providing that I confronted Tak with the Bennu Bomb in-hand. Do not question how I intend to use a 4th dimensional element to destroy a 4th dimensional creature. It makes sense in my head so I don’t need to explain it to you!

  There was now just one problem with my insane plan. The ship. With Chorst paralyzed how were he and the ship going to make it back to Tamarax Station? I needed to control the ship automatically so that I could drive it close enough to the hatch on the side of the comet, then I needed it to turn around and fly back to the station.

  “Data?” I asked as I heaved Chorst into the egg chair.

  “Yes Dub First Off Am?”

  “Can I use you to fly a ship automatically?”

  “Yes. Please state the liscence of the ship and the authorization passcode.”

  “Eh?”

  Chorst had planned to automatically control a ship before… How had he planned it? He had known the liscence of Mar, however dub spaceships did not have authorization passcodes. What would the passcode to Mel’s ship be?

  Once Chorst was securely in the egg chair, I went to the little silver model of the ship on the podium. Thankfully, the liscence was on the model ship. It was a strange liscence. Actually, just a very egotistical liscence.

  “The liscence is M-E-L-0-1.”

  “Confirmed. State the authorization passcode.”

  I bit my lip and thought. What would Mel’s passcode be? It could be something personal or just a random bunch of letters and numbers.

  “Bird of fire.” The voice that was not my own stated.

  “Confirmed. Accessing ship controls now.”

  Bird of fire? That was the passcode to the fastest ship in the universe? Anybody could guess that! But that was not the only interesting thing about that passcode: Mel had what looked like an Earthling mythological phoenix printed on the front of her tunic. Could that be the ‘bird of fire’? Then again, Bennu, the 4th dimensional element was also the name of a mythological heron that was considered to be the Egyptian version of a phoenix and the decorative writing on the walls resembled hieroglyphics while Mel was wrapped-up like an Egyptian mummy and… wow. I really sound like a conspiracist on cannabis don’t I?

  “You’ll understand why I have to do this… someday.” I told Chorst as I waited for Data to access the ship’s controls. “Ask Frek… or Mel. They’ll tell you.”

  “Error.” Data said calmly. “Unable to access MEL01 automatically.”

  “Explain.” I said while going into the pocket on Chorst’s belt for the Bennu Bomb. I sat there for a moment toying with it, but then snapped out of my ‘power crazed’ moment and put it in the pocket on my belt.

  “The system cannot be controlled wirelessly.”

  I thought for a moment. “Okay, what if I could plug you into the ship somehow and then give you commands from my earpiece? Would that work?”

  “Possibly, however the ship runs on different software to mine which may cause difficulty.”

  “Let’s give it a try anyways.”

  The real question: how did I plug Data into this ship? I knew he had a pull-out plug, but there were no jacks to plug it into. Damn it, I should not have stunned Chorst so early. He would have known what to do.

  I took the black cuff off followed by the wrist computer and then put the cuff back on. Unsurprisingly, there was no ripple or harp sound when I placed the computer on the silver surface. I had not expected it do anything. I really hadn’t expected the wrist computer to be absorbed by the silver liquid. My hand reached out to grab it, but I was too late.

  “Data?” I asked. “Are you connected to the ship?”

  “Yes.”

  “Righteous.”

  Had I really just said that?

  I put my helm back on as I headed for the door closest to the comet. We were down to mere minutes before Tak collided with the time energy. I patted my pocket just to make sure the Bennu Bomb was still there. It would be horrible to travel into the comet and meet Tak without even having the bomb.

  “Data, expand MEL01’s atmosphere to the comet we are closest to.”

  By doing this, I would not be left behind when I tried to hop from one ship to the other. Both ships were going so fast that even a second out of the atmosphere and I would be lost alone in space forever.

  “Warning: The nearest body is not a comet. It is a non-USM spacecraft.”

  “Understood.” I nodded. “Expand MEL01’s atmosphere to the non-USM spacecraft.”

  “Task complete.”

  I walked back to Chorst for the last time. I was surprisingly calm about the fact I was going to die. Then again, I would probably be more terrified when I stared death right in the eyes. I mainly felt guilt around my father. I had hugged him goodbye and told him I would be right back. When Chorst returned to Tamarax Station Sven would learn the truth: he hadn’t even seen his daughter’s face one last time before I left him.


  “When you return to Tamarax Station… tell everyone I’m dead.” I told Chorst with a hint of sadness. “Also, tell them I’m sorry.” When I said ‘them’ I meant my father, but everyone else probably needed to know that I had died too.

  Chorst just stared up at moi. Even though I was wearing the helm, his amethyst eyes still somehow managed to meet mine. He could not say anything, though I doubt he would have said anything even if he could have.

  Okay. Time was up. What were my final worlds going to be to Chorst?

  “Live long and prosper and may the force be with you.”

  Yes! I can die now. I did not even have to care about how much dignity I lost by saying that because I was going to die within a few minutes anyways! Damn, if only I could have watched Star Wars and Star Trek one more time…

  I left the trinard alone in the egg chair without another word. I do not think much needs to be said after you go full nerd and quote two retro icons.

  The door made a sighing noise as it opened. A blinding light filled the cabin of the ship due to the white fire that surrounded the ship. Luckily, my helm acted as a visor and protected my eyes.

  “Data, can you move this ship closer to the non-USM ship?”

  “Yes. How close do you want the ship to get?”

  “As close as possible without damaging this ship.”

  “Confirmed.”

  The silver ship tilted as it moved forward as if Data intended to park us on the side of the asteroid. There was no fire where the ship’s atmosphere expanded to. The white flames went around the atmosphere which meant I had easy access to the hatch. Just to for precaution I commanded Data to turn on my rocket boots as I leapt toward the rock-covered hatch. It was only about a metre and a half away from Mel’s ship, but with the atmosphere came gravity.

  Clutching the hard handle of the hatch, I managed to get the thing opened before requesting that Data turned off my boots. The inside of the comet was completely pitch black and without my wrist computer I did not have any light. Oh well, I knew I would find my way.

  I swung the hatch closed and was completely engulfed by the blackness. It was a little scary being in a cramped dark space that I could only crawl in. It was scarier knowing that I was in the same ship as the murderous 4th dimensional creature.

  “Data, close MEL01’s open door and contract the atmosphere back to default.”

  “Task complete.”

  I sighed. “Now, take the ship back to hangar…” I thought for a moment. If Chorst landed right in hangar four then some USM personnel would reanimate him immediately and then I knew that trinard would find a way to access my wrist computer from his earpiece which meant he would come right back. “Five, take the ship to hangar five at Tamarax Station.”

  Hopefully hangar five had not been blown to bits or that would be awkward.

  “Dub First Off Am,” Data began in a concerned robotic voice, “we will lose connection. The earpiece and I cannot keep connection due to the distance.”

  “I know… but do it anyways.”

  “Goodbye, Am.”

  I heard a clicking noise as Data cancelled our connection. Had my wrist computer really just said goodbye to moi? Wrist computers had probably been programmed to say that whenever they loss connection to their keeper, but it was still endearing.

  I did not see the MEL01 leave, yet I could sense its departure. By now, it was already back at Tamarax Station.

  The small tunnel sloped downwards as I crawled. Strangely enough, this ship was not hot like the exterior was. It was cold, icy. What surprised me was the fact it appeared to have an artificial gravity. You would think that when this ship was first detected by the USM on their scanners they would have noticed something like that. They probably had, and Mel had probably told them to ‘ignore it’. Man, wouldn’t life have been so much easier if Mel had just stopped this freaking ship herself?

  I put my hand out and shuttered when it didn’t land on anything. I pawed in the blackness in search of a surface, but nothing. Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek that seemed to shake the whole comet. It sounded like angry, scared cry, and not one you would hear from any humanoid. I lost my balance in the small tunnel and gracelessly fell out of the tunnel into deeper blackness. I thought I would fall forever into nothing. No, I hit the ground in one second. There was enough space for standing now.

  “Where are you?” I whispered as I slowly walked around in the blackness. The shriek had sounded like it was coming from a hundred places at once due to the echo.

  You know where I am. A dark voice said. Telepathically, of course.

  I’m not sure if what happened next was all head or if it physically happened: Bright white spheres of fire appeared above my head in a line going deep into the spaceship. Their brightness illuminated most of the area. There were so many different paths. This was a labyrinth that was not made to be solved by mere mortals. Soon enough David Bowie would arrive –stuffed crotch and all– and start singing.

  The rocky walls themselves were terrifying. I could not find one inch that was not covered in strange symbols that vaguely resembled the ones I had seen in Mel’s ship. They appeared to have been scratched into the wall by something sharp. Possibly Tamarax’s nails had created them, yet I knew that the creature deep in the bowels of this ship had carved them into the rock.

  Again, these symbols did not translate. They did not need to. A part of me already understood what they said. There was no proper way to translate it to English, but a vast majority of the symbols were talking about the universe. My nose instantly started bleeding from both nostrils and not all the sniffing in the world could stop it.

  I’ve got to start carrying tissues. I thought as the blood ran over my lips, down my neck, chin and pooled at the base of my helm. – Nasty.

  I was not elegant as I followed the floating silver orbs through the ship. In fact, I ran as fast as I could. There was no point in wasting time by wandering slowly through this place leisurely. The fate of the universe was in my hands and I was not going to have it sacrificed for my own slowness. Also, if I had walked slowly I would have had more time to contemplate my fate and would have most likely chickened-out. Not that I am a coward, but how many people can actually be brave when it comes to saving the universe from a greater force that none of us will ever truly understand?

  My footing was lost as I went stumbling forwards and down into the large dark hole. I was not too afraid. The balls of light had stopped directly above the giant hole which probably meant I was supposed to be going this way… even if it would hurt when I landed. Why didn’t I just turn on my rocket boots? Because I needed Data to do that. Hopefully the armour would protect moi.

  After a few seconds of falling I hit the ground with a loud thud followed by a crack as my left wrist broke. I grunted as pain swelled in my wrist, however all of that was soon forgotten when I looked up and to the side.

  The orbs illuminated the dead-end hole I had fallen into. There was no way out unless you could fly. I did not care about that. I had no need to leave this whole. Tak, she was right in front of moi. The massive creature stood up on its pipe-thin legs and stared down at moi with black soul sucking eyes. No human would ever believe how much this creature resembled an Earthling bird. Not just any bird; a heron.

  Standing up, the 4th dimensional creature was over three metres tall. Most of its height was in its long legs. They looked so thin, yet I knew they had to be incredibly strong. I saw the remains of the force field cell that had been installed to keep her inside the ship… That force field had been broken a long time ago. The shattered bits of metal suggested the bird had simply crushed the field projectors with its foot.

  The fact that Tak resembled a heron was not the most interesting thing about the bird. I was intrigued by her colouring. The legs, beak (which was also yellow) and eyes were black, the primary feathers on the body were white while the head and feather crest were red and the wings were blue with the tips red. This heron had al
l the colours of the USM emblem on it. I had no doubt this creature was somehow associated with Mel. With the Bennu element, the phoenix on her shirt and the ‘bird of fire’ passcode to her ship they had to be close. The real question that remained was what did ancient Egypt have to do with all of this? C’mon, Mel dressed up like a mummy, Bennu and the 4th dimensional heron plus the alien hieroglyphics? This was all too uncanny. There was no way the ancient Egyptians were around before Mel and Tak so why did the USM have Egyptian elements? Or maybe the ancient Egyptians had USM elements…

  Do you always query this much? Tak asked telepathically in a bitchy voice, if I say so myself. Oh, I already know the answer to that.

  “Oh, cram it.” I replied aloud to the most powerful creature in known existence.

  A long, painful, silence followed. Tak cocked her head to one side and stared at me with a single eye. I knew now that I could not be spontaneous around this bird. She anticipated everything I would do.

  “So…” I slowly got to my feet while clutching my broken wrist. “You’re Tak. You’re the dark voice that has been in my mind the whole time.”

  I am one of the voices in your head.

  “Yeah. Whatever.”

  More silence. Only the humming engine of the ship could be heard.

  “Are we supposed to have a big fight or are you going to try and stop me or…” My hand crept to my belt where the Bennu Bomb was.

  Why? Tak asked.

  “Because… you were working with Tamarax to end the universe as we know it.”

  Really?

  “Yes,” I nodded, I was suspicious of this condescending bird, “Tam and you had a telepathic connection and she was telling you what to do and…”

  You honestly think Tam had any control of me? The bird cocked its head again. I took a step back when she strutted towards moi. She was a vulture circling her prey. Even her s-shaped neck was bobbing haughtily. I stood my ground, but her calmness suggested that she had had ulterior motives all along.

  If you have not noticed, Lady Tamarax Deloro is now deceased. If she had been my associate don’t you think I would have had the power to prevent her death?

  I did not answer. I had been right, Tam and I were both just pawns in Tak’s strange game. The heron had never intended to let Tam to recreate the universe. I questioned what Tak wanted to happen to the universe. Did she simply want it to stop existing?

  “Well… so you won’t mind if I save the universe then?”

  Go ahead. Try.

  Hesitantly, I pulled out the Bennu Bomb and held it in my one good hand. My thumb gently massaged the trigger, warning Tak I would do it. There were still so many questions I wanted to ask the creature. Sadly, there was no time. I would predict that we were just over one minute away from colliding with the time energy surrounding the Sun.

  What would you say if your flesh suddenly combusted? No, not my armour, clothing or body-glove. I meant my flesh and more. I screamed ‘holy fuck’ like any human would. The pain involved with the exterior of my body being engulfed in white fire was excruciating. My USM uniform could not take the heat. The fabric parts disintegrated while the armour began to melt. Even my helm had become like hot glue on my face. The Bennu Bomb was lost in the chaos. For obvious reasons, it had fallen out of my hand.

  Before any damage serious damage could be done to my internal organs the white fire snuffed. Pain. Nothing but pain. Even my delicate eyes had been scorched, blinding me.

  Fight fire with fire and you just get burned. Tak said calmly, yet proudly.

  I was not sobbing or screaming. Just making muffled inhuman noises. The white fire had been so hot that my helm had shrunk in size and was now glued to my skull. I did not care though. I was in so much pain that I didn’t care about anything.

  You have a job to do. I told myself aggressively. My body was a horrible wreck, but my own pain was not allowed to affect the fate of the universe.

  There was no point in acting tough anymore. I whimpered as I moved my right arm. My flesh had almost been entirely burnt off. In normal circumstances I would have to get medical treatment immediately if I wanted to survive, but I had no intent of surviving. I felt around the ground, wincing every time my delicate hand made contact with the harsh floor.

  How’s that going? Tak asked. My ears were ringing. Predicting exactly where she was in the comet as she strode around on her thin legs was impossible.

  She’s testing you. A calm voice said in my head. I was not sure if it was my own or if it was the third voice in my head. Prove yourself to her.

  I had no idea why I had to prove myself to the bird, however I did not really need an explanation. As if I could see everything clearly, my hand quickly found the Bennu Bomb. It had not been damaged in the fiery chaos. – Good.

  The bomb’s affects, although powerful, only had a limited impact distance. Tak and I would have to be close enough that the explosion –or whatever happened when the switch was flipped– affected her too. I went with my gut feeling and predicted that Tak was to my right… and just far away enough that the bomb affects would not reach her unless I got a little closer. She was not going to move further back or further forward. This was a test. I don’t know why I was being tested, but the fate of the universe was not worth my questioning.

  My inhuman cries would startle anyone as I rolled myself onto my stomach. Even with all my will power, the pain was unbearable. It is surprising that I did not pass out from the pain. That was possibly because Tak was intentionally keeping my mind awake. She had that sort of power.

  I lay there on my chest whimpering for a moment. I would have probably been sobbing if my tear ducts had not been singed off. The timer in my head urgently informed moi that we were down to mere seconds before the comet reached the time energy.

  Come on, you can do it. Tak said followed by a soft croak which I could not hear due to the ringing in my ears. I was not sure if the 4th dimensional creature was being sarcastic or actually trying to motive moi.

  I may have wiggled an inch forward, but that was enough movement to make it feel as if thousands of needles were repeatedly jabbing themselves into my body. With a horrible groan, I put my arms out and dragged myself forward. I had briefly forgotten about my broke wrist due to all the other pain. I then I quickly remembered once I started putting pressure on it. I continued to whimper as I etched my way forward.

  At one point I thought I was still moving, however when I came to my senses I realized I was just limply laying on the rocky ground. It was impossible for me to move any further forward. My body was a depleted wreck. The fact I was alive and conscious seemed to be working against the odds.

  Now or never. I thought as my seared bloody thumb found the switch on the Bennu Bomb again. Let’s hope this works.

  Mercifully, Tak took a step closer to moi as I flipped the switch so that she was properly within the radius. Why hadn’t she done that right off the bat? Who knows? Her thinking would never be understood by any creature in this universe.

  With not a second to spare, both of our bodies were engulfed in the white ball of fire and sucked into the 4th dimension. No thoughts cluttered my brain as I died. I was simply peaceful.

  The white portal of flame was gone within seconds, taking Tak and I with it. A second later, the comet/ship passed harmlessly through the invisible time energy and burnt up as it neared the Sun and then it was gone from existence.