OSMOS V
July 8, 05:12 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
I was under no illusions that I was safe.
A potentially hostile alien power with technology that vastly outstripped our planet's own resources was working with the government of the most powerful country in the world. Even if they were actually allies now, the tentative alliance between them was only one mistake on either side from turning into all-out war. The cultural, political, religious, and technological differences between the two cultures were likely too different from one another for true partnership to exist long-term.
The situation reminded me of arguments against a Middle Eastern refugee crisis from my first life, but the Reach were not simple Osmosian refugees from an Osmosian cultural background. There was no shared sense of identity as the same people between us. Many of the hallmarks of what makes us us were exceedingly different.
The Reach evolved physically with the conditions of their planet. I'd studied some of the information they made public about their physiology, and they were closer to Earth insects than Earth mammals. They had roughly humanoid shapes and shared some similar features, such as limbs or eyes, but their version of skin was a thin layer of cells atop a thick layer of exoskeleton. What musculature they possessed was not at all similar to an Osmosian or even a human, and, worryingly, they laid eggs to procreate. The idea of a human-shaped thing laying eggs terrified me, and I failed to not wonder about the winged human aliens that once warred with the Triarchy.
The Reach developed culturally with the conditions of their planet. As far as I can tell, the Reach had kept mostly quiet about the political landscape of their home planet. They were similar to us in that they had a kind of ruling council, but one that valued science, progress, and it sounded exactly like the kind of thing that I'd tell my new neighbors about my home country if I were trying to keep them in my good graces. They spoke little of religion – something that was not particularly popular on Osmos V either, but it existed – and they claimed they valued education above all else. There was talk that envoys would be coming to teach children who entered schooling about the Reach language, something that was still a mystery to all but the most expert linguists. Part of me wondered why I couldn't be reborn into a universe where everyone conveniently spoke English.
The Reach developed technologically with the conditions of their planet, and whatever those conditions were, they'd far outstripped the demands of Osmos V. They'd shared some of that tech so prolifically that it had even reached remote areas like Sanitas, and from what I can tell, Reach devices were in the hands of people throughout the Capital. Powerful sensors on vehicles to make them safer to drive. Better generators to increase efficiency to the power grid. Enhancements in robotic tech to increase longevity before obsolescence. It was the latter that worried me, considering where my Mother and I were staying. I had never been a tech-head on Earth, but I couldn't tell if Jula's company were using Reach products in their designs or not. I'd been increasingly careful with what I said around them, then, just in case.
No – I knew that it was only a matter of time before this alliance exploded into violence. We were too different, ultimately, to work together for long. All of what they represented was too good to be true, and I feared for the safety of the little folks. The Triarchs had practically invited them, and there was no doubt in my mind that the wealthy elite had vested interest in continuing the partnership. Would the ones with the resources to actually stand up and fight be ready to do so when the time came, or would they roll over in the hopes that they kept getting more and more out of the aliens like goddamn parasites?
So, while I waited for information on Father, I prepared.
I had a few bug-out bags ready if the bugs attack. Nonperishable foods, containers of water, a handheld purifier, the equivalent of a battery-pack, and a firestarter. Several copies of printed maps with marked routes out of the city that would, hopefully, not be packed when the time came for any kind of mass evacuation. A canister of fuel that could, in an emergency, be enough to get a vehicle moving if we managed to scavenge one. A small offline robot drone that could act as a guide, one that predated any potential Reach tech additives and had been sitting in one of Jula's private closets. I still had some distrust of it, but I'd confirm with my aunt if and when the time came.
The only things I really felt I was missing were weapons. I'd placed a lightweight metal rod roughly the length of a baseball bat in each bag, and they could serve as clubs in a pinch. It wasn't a blaster, and that worried me. I'd searched through the apartment for any potential gun safes or lockers, but Jula had none. She lived alone in the most crime-filled city this side of the continent, and she seemingly had no form of self-defense. Back on Earth, I'd lived like her with the assumption that I didn't need one, but there was nothing like a potential alien invasion apocalypse to change my mind.
I told no one about the bags, not even Mother. Since our conversation the other night, she was seemingly looking at the world with fresh, suspicious eyes. I think I'd really gotten through to her, at least to prove that paying any damn attention to what her son was saying or doing had value. I knew that I was pressuring her too much, and one day, I'd apologize. For now, I was just grateful that she was giving me a chance.
During the stay in the Capital, I did not neglect the Gift. Each night, even after Mother showed me her best friend's condition, I practiced. As far as I was concerned, not developing it was tantamount to suicide. In the event of a brewing war within the next few weeks, months, or years, I knew that I would need to foster this ability in order to survive. Everyone with any additional abilities would be called to use them to defend their loved ones, and I wasn't going to fight the Reach with one limb tied behind my back.
I had no teacher. Mother was understandably concerned about the Gift, but she had been far too worried about Father to focus on showing me the pitfalls. I used what resources I could gather online, with potential guides others had created, and the whole process was amusing to see. If it were so easy for people on Earth to gain powers as prolific as they were on Osmos V, there would be countless how-to video essays on YouTube. Most I had found were based in text, and what few videos existed were hardly illustrative of the inner-workings of the mind.
I pulled an effective guide I'd uncovered, one so effective that they'd been banned within some areas of the Triarchy. Manifest Your Mutability: On Accessing the Varied Potential of the Gift. I'd read one particular passage so often that it had become almost a mantra, and it had become particularly easy to remember once I'd translated it into a hidden notebook in English.
"Your DNA contains the instructions for how to adapt. As such, each cell of your body knows how to change its structure. Each tissue of your flesh awaits mutation. These instructions initially consist of subconscious processes, but with a dedicated mind, they can become consciously activated and consciously controlled. Dedicated practitioners of the Gift can adapt their bodies to mimic any environmental condition – living matter, nonliving matter."
Conspicuously missing from this author's passage were the abilities we possessed to absorb energy. Throughout what excerpts of this complex text I'd translated, there was not one mention of energy absorption as a feature of the Gift. Perhaps it was a flaw in my translation or I was seeing things that were not really there, but I could tell that certain segments had been edited out of the document. Whomever had done it had not done it cleanly, and context that should mention the ability was still present, and it was all but alluded to directly.
I understood the reasons for censorship, especially with something of this magnitude for abuse. Mother had shown me where it led, and I had no personal desire to lose my sanity on the same slippery slope. From everything I had read and everything that I had seen, a Gifted Osmosian who stuck to absorbing matter was a powerhouse on any battlefield. In a potential war with the Reach, a hundred soldiers who can become as strong as stone, as durable as steel, as hard as diamond? Surely the bugs would be hard-pressed to stop us.
But I couldn't bank on that. Could the future of Osmos V bank on its Gifted soldiers using matter only either?
I renewed my efforts to test the Gift, utilizing its safer pastures. The right mindset was difficult to perform, but my cells knew what to do. I'd absorbed stone during the fight with that alien, completely without thought. The book suggested ways to compensate, and throughout these past weeks, it had been difficult to gain any significant progress.
But I had made progress.
My palm had become tin. My wrist had become copper. My fingertips had become glass. Not all at the same time, but I had done it. The real trick would be to take that effort and make it faster, make it last longer, and make it cover more of myself. I'd feel more comfortable in my chances against the Reach if I could manage even a forearm of more durable material. Something like Greed's armor from Fullmetal Alchemist, without even the full body, would be an ideal place to start.
At any rate, I'd feel safer with ready access to the Gift.
OSMOS V
July 8, 14:01 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
I released the hold on the doorframe and allowed the mimicked state to fade, my fingers becoming flesh and blood. A second later, I pushed open the bedroom door to see, exactly, why everyone in my house had suddenly started shouting. I couldn't tell if it was out of fear, excitement, worry, or something else, and part of me was afraid to look outside the nearest window for fear of seeing the Reach glass the city.
Grandfather paced quickly back and forth, while Mother frantically cried in apparent shock, a hand firmly clasped over her smile. "- akthrough, yet we don't know for certain if this man will be-"
"We can find my husband!"
"Mother?" I pleaded, rushing over to meet them in the living room. Aunt Jula sat somewhere behind her father, gripping the side of the kitchen table so tightly that her knuckles glinted in the light above. "Good news?"
Finding my Father could mean lots of things. It could mean that he was safe, in hiding, and that he would be coming home soon. It could mean that he was not safe, in hiding, and that he needed rescue. It could mean that he was dead, gone, and that we would have closure. Any of that could be good news, if you looked at it through the right lens.
"Cassian!" Mother shouted as she rushed forward, gleeful, grasping onto my shoulders with gusto. The excitement was electric, and I matched her energy quickly. "We have a lead! Tell him, Maximus!"
Grandfather looked uncertainly at me for a moment and then cleared his throat. "Last night, a young man named Gabriel approached me. He's an investigator, and he claims that he's noticed a pattern of people who wind up missing."
My eyes widened and meet Mother's gaze, her face filled with pride.
"My boy's a genius!"
My ears burned at that comment. A guilt I thought I'd vaulted over remained in the pit of my stomach, and I wondered if Mother and Father would prefer a normal eight year old kid. They'd be just as stressful to raise, but for different reasons and without the worry, conscious or not, that their son was lying to them every minute of every day by not explaining the truth. I wasn't a genius.
"Gabriel is investigating the connection that the missing people have, and he says he's close to figuring out what that connection is. It's why he approached me – he's contacting family and friends of the missing to uncover what kind of person that the missing are. To see any commonalities."
Aunt Jula tapped her fingers loudly on the table. "Does he know how or why they've disappeared?"
Grandfather did not know how to answer that. "He's looking into it. Once he knows the connection, figuring out the reasons why will be easie-"
"Where is Father?"
A long pause sucks the air and excitement from the room.
"He doesn't know, Cassian, but he's the best lead we have."
"I wanna meet him, to help him!"
Jula scoffed far too loudly, earning a sharp glare from Mother. "I'm sure there are ways you can help, son. This is great news!"
The first forward momentum in months of nothing. How could this be anything but great news?
OSMOS V
July 29, 19:08 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
When Gabriel walked through the door of one of Jula's private conference rooms, I almost fainted. There was something unmistakably familiar about him, and the longer I looked, the more certain of it that I was. Frustratingly, I could say nothing in the moment, because no one in my family would goddamn understand.
The investigator placed a black canvas bag atop the table and gestured to the open windows. "Before we get started, close them please."
Mother, with fingers shaking and full of hope, pulled the curtains tight until only light from the fixture above remained. "Thank you for coming! Have you learned anything new since you spoke to my father-in-law?"
Gabriel hesitated, his eyes fixated on her and then me, but he did not form the question he must have possessed for me to be here. "Ma'am, there is much to discuss. I understand asking you to be patient is difficult, given the circumstances, but please, if you would?"
The accent…?!
"I apologize," she finally said. "You just have to realize that I am-"
"I understand completely," he assured us. "I can promise you that, if I were in your shoes, I would be fighting tooth and nail to get my family back."
Tooth and nail.
Huh.
Something about the way he said that only confirmed exactly what I was thinking already. It sounded off in Osmotin, using the wrong words for the idiom.
"I am going to show you some of the data I have collected from other conversations I have had and visits I have conducted," Gabriel explained carefully. "Before I do, you must promise that nothing I say here leaves this room, without my permission." The intensity of his eyes could bore a hole into my head. "Am I understood?"
Each of us agreed swiftly – anything to get Father back. He signaled to Grandfather, who turned out the lights. For a moment, the room is in near complete darkness. Mother grasped onto the back of my hand, fingers wrapping around mine, on instinct. I return the gesture, my nervous toe-tapping audible in the silence of that moment.
Gabriel activates something from his bag, and the room alights with green light. A hologram flickers over the table, in shades of dark green and black, detailing information in text, video, and images. It was difficult to parse what was important to read and what was not, or what images were the most useful to view and what were not.
"What you see here is the sum total of what I've uncovered about this issue."
Jula's eyes were aglow as she studied it carefully. "What publication did you say you were with?"
"I didn't," he dodged. "I have visited three of the sites where missing individuals were last seen." At his words, the hologram shifts in focus until a looping video began to play, of what may as well be body-cam footage of Gabriel walking through the desert, filtering through the dunes for details. "Given the conditions of the desert sands, I was unable locate much physical evidence that might be from the missing, apart from strands of fabric consistent with clothing." An image highlighted and expanded, showing a twisted thread stained in something dark. "On exactly one strand, I found signs of blood."
Was this guy a forensic investigator?
"Did it match any of the missing?" asked Grandfather.
A different image became the focus of the hologram. The picture displayed two images that were similar in shape but were unmistakable to what I remembered of DNA models.
"My tools are limited, unfortunately, but from what they could tell me? The blood wasn't Osmosian."
My mind whirled with activity, jumping to several potential conclusions at once. From the intense looks of everyone else in the room, they had followed similar patterns of thought. "Was it Reach?" I jumped to ask.
Gabriel waved a finger through the hologram, and it shifted to show an image of the Reach Ambassador. "The blood did not match anything in my limited databases, which include samples from the Reach and common wildlife on Osmos V. It's not foolproof, but…"
Oh.
"A different alien, then? Something brought in from the Flux?" Jula suggested. "I find that hard to believe when there are already other aliens in our midst. Father, how did you manage to find someone who sounds crazier than Horatio?"
Grandfather moved to argue, but Mother gripped my hand more tightly, impressing a message of realization upon me. I met her eyes, and she jerked her head toward the door. "We'll be back in a moment." Wiping tears from her cheeks, she escorted me to the hallway and closed the door tightly, then stepped away several yards and out of earshot.
"The alien attack!" I muttered, remembering the freak of nature cross between a canine and a feline that attacked me. I still had a small scar on my arm from the deepest of the cuts that did not heal properly.
"Yes," she answered carefully.
"Let's tell him!"
Mother frowned. "We can't just tell him. We don't know him, Cassian."
"He needs to know what I saw, what I lived through!" I argued. "We have to trust someone. He's our first and only shot at finding Father. If we don't open up to him, we'll miss our chance to find real answers."
After a long, pregnant moment, Mother finally relented. "Only speak to him when he asks you a question directly. A few months ago, and I wouldn't be allowing you to be party to this conversation at all."
"A few months ago, we'd be with Father in Sanitas, and none of this would even be happening."
I could not tell her why I truly already trusted him. She would not understand what the man and I shared, and why we could get along far better than the Reach and Osmos V ever could. Like ReplyReport Reactions:CrabbitBlake, Bga20, FlashyAli and 74 othersHmmasterJul 18, 2023Add bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 0.8 View contentHmmasterKnow what you're doing yet?Jul 27, 2023Add bookmark#29OSMOS V
August 03, 12:16 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
I had yet to get a chance to be alone with Gabriel. I could not blame my family at all for trying to isolate a small child from a stranger. Even if he turned out to be a hundred percent legit and was the one man who would lead Father to salvation, trying to keep him from interacting with the kid was a smart move.
It was annoying in so many ways, but I would not let it hold me back forever. I wouldn't be passive in this, but I had to do it the right way.
The past few days have been a whirlwind, both internally and externally. While the family prepared a trip with Gabriel to the site outside of Sanitas where I encountered the alien, I could not help but contemplate exactly what it would mean for Gabriel to be here, now, and what I already knew of him.
He was unmistakeably human in physical appearance. Osmosians and humans were not too different from one another during our earlier years of life, but even at only eight, I was physically different in one major way: thickened ridges around the eyes, the skin so dark they appear almost pitch black. An average Osmosian man would have these markings, but it varied rarely. No one likely thought anything of it the way that I did, but that sense of uncanny valley did not activate when I looked at him.
The man had a Southern accent – Texan perhaps. Accents were a funny thing to contemplate on Osmos V. There were linguistic differences between my family and those of the Capital, and video or audio broadcasts often held different ways of speaking that were unique to hear and not dissimilar to accents on Earth. But a Southern U.S. accent? I was originally from the South! I hadn't heard anyone on Osmos V speak the way that I used to, and it made perfect sense.
His name was Gabriel, which is a different enough name than most I'd heard on Osmos V. For reasons that trouble me, many of the names of people living now and of ancient figures from history books were almost Latin in origin, or perhaps followed some Roman conventions. Horatio, Lucrecia, Maximus, Jula, Cassian -the list goes on and on. If I remembered correctly, the Triarchs themselves held similar names to figures from Earth's Roman history: Seneca, Gordia, and Cato. I was not sure what to make of it, and I suspected there may be some actual historical connections between the two planets. Or there was something else going on that was much larger than that, and more difficult to philosophically wrap my head around.
I suspected it was the latter. The sheer statistical anomaly it must be for a human to meet me on an alien planet that might be millions of light-years away? That was not a coincidence, and it flew in the face of my belief in a deterministic universe.
Added together, Gabriel's existence heavily implied a few things that I was certain were true, even without talking to the man further.
1. Earth existed.
2. Earth had humans.
3. Earth was in at least the modern era, and likely far beyond it.
4. Earth had interstellar technology.
5. Earth sends humans to space to get involved in the affairs of other planets.
If Gabriel had a ship that could get me to Earth, I could live out the rest of my days in a place that was truly home. I could not help but feel giddy at the thought.
I had spent hours contemplating exactly how I would approach him, how I would ask him, until finally, I settled on writing an explanation and delivering it to the man in secret at the first opportunity. It would be a simple note, written in English, that would no doubt catch his attention. If all else fails, he might be a confidante during these tumultuous times, and I could rely on him to listen to my story.
If someone else found it, I'd play it off as a message in code or perhaps as a made-up language. I had thoroughly-cemented a reputation among my family as an exceptionally weird kid – they may actually accept that as enough.
When Gabriel approached the family again, the blue-eyed brunette was geared up for a long trek to Sanitas, and I'd packed carefully. We were not staying long – it was far more likely to all of us that Father was somewhere near the Capital. Our family packed light, and so did he, throwing a simple bag around his shoulder and another into the back of the vehicle alongside the rest of what we'd deigned to bring.
I didn't tell anyone I'd done it, but the night before he was supposed to meet up with us to leave, I placed a bug-out bag among the provisions we were bringing, just in case.
"Thank you for agreeing to take us," I said truthfully.
The man stared for a long moment at my mother, who gripped onto my shoulder tighter. "Truth be told, you might have more of an idea of what we're looking for than I do, kid. This was not where I expected the investigation would take me." His Osmotin was still strange – I'd inwardly applied the context that was missing, but it was more confirmation that he was not from around here.
"We're just grateful you're still including us," Mother added. "You could have taken our information and left to see it yourself."
Grandfather stepped forward in acknowledgement of her words. "Did you hear anything more from other houses?"
We were not the only families from the area of the Capital with missing family or friends, and he'd spent the last several days investigating them until the day of our trip. I suspected that, unless he finds exactly what he was looking for with us, he'd move on to even more on the list of recently missing that fit the bill.
The man – a human man, my brain excitedly reminded me – nodded only slightly. "I will debrief you all on the road. Is Madam Jula coming with us?"
Maximus shook his head. "She could not get away from work."
Jula's company were launching a product this week, and she was the spearhead of its design. I didn't blame her for wanting to see it through, but it still bugged me that she wasn't willing to step away long enough to come with us. This was her brother!
"A shame, but I understand." Gabriel paused for several seconds, his eyes sweeping over each of us and then settling on me for even longer. "Lucrecia, your son is coming?"
My throat tightened with nerves. Mother moved to speak, but I cut her off as I regained my nerve. "I, uh, am the only one who knows the direction to the crash site."
It was a hail Mary to keep myself involved.
Mother was resolute in her clear discomfort at my presence and the continued annoyance at that fact. "It's not too late to tell us, Cassian. Jula will ensure you're safe until we get back."
The day after the attack, I'd explained to Father exactly where the ship had crashed, where the alien had attacked. I was so heavily medicated during that first week to fight off an infection that I'd spilled the beans to him, and I could barely remember what he did as a response. Mother had not heard the explanation, at least from me, and Father did not speak of it again. A few weeks later, and he left for business in the Capital, something at the time I had not suspected was strange. Had Carnifex done something with the information about this alien crash?
Suffice it to say, Mother was not happy with me that I had yet to tell her. And, truth be told, I was glad that I hadn't. It was the leverage I needed to be included in whatever this mess was.
"I could not miss the chance to do something, Mother."
OSMOS V
August 03, 14:52 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
Jula grabbed the make-up stylus from the assistant and hastily began applying the enhancer to make her eyes pop for the cameras. "You're not remotely useful. First time?"
"No ma'am, I have been-"
"I'm sorry, but I don't care," she finished quickly. The mousy-haired assistant, likely decades her junior, forlornly disappeared amid the throng of other assistants and technicians. Part of her felt guilty about that, but it was only a small part. She allowed others to sweep into the scene and assist her in other ways, to prepare for her big moment.
"Jula!"
Someone she hadn't seen before pushed through the crowd, a man with an unfortunate pattern of horn growth that led to only a single horn that was so long it curved over the top of his head. From the looks of his clothing, she knew exactly why he was here, and she cursed as she tossed the stylus haphazardly onto a nearby table. A technician hastily apologized to her like it was his fault that it had fallen.
She cupped her hand over her mouth and shouted, "Security! It was made very clear that there was to be no press before the announcement!"
Three chrome robotic guards marched in lock-step behind a pair of guards dressed in similar coloring. The journalist blanched as he spotted their hasty approach, black batons in hand and ready to apprehend the stranger if he should try something dangerous. "Please, Madam, it will only be a moment-"
"Save your questions for after the announcement, as was arranged prior."
Stymied, the journalist left before the guards could properly escort him out of the staging area. She felt the stress of the moment relax her shoulders only slightly. The words of her superiors rang through her head, reminding her that the success or failure of this product relied on her, in this presentation. It was to be broadcast throughout the Triarchy, and if people did not know her name before today, they had a chance to learn it soon.
When the time was right and all of the parameters were set, she stepped onto the stage. Clouded sunlight descended overhead, and a brisk wind brought some comfort to the heat, clearing away the sweat forming on her brow. Awnings for the crowd caught the brunt of the climate, providing additional shade, and shadows from some of the taller buildings of the Overcity covered the public area. A line of guards and hastily assembled barriers of metal protected her – and the new product – from the assembled crowd, a mixture of press and potential customers.
"Welcome, one and all. I am Jula, vice president of technological development for Vir Actus. For four decades, I have weathered the highs and lows of this business, and I can guarantee after today, that all you will see is success."
Cameras caught her prepared speech, and she continued the address, unabated. Assistants and interns brought out the prototype, nearly ready for market, and she marveled at the creation she had largely developed single-handedly. Her team had helped in their own small ways, and she thanked each and every one of them publicly, before she launched into a demonstration.
Placing her hand carefully into its outstretched palm, automated processes began within the device's programming. Code turned to movement, movement turned to brilliance, brilliance turned to profit. Within a few short seconds, a metallic layer of blue plates covered her entire arm, fingers to shoulder. It flexed with her knuckles, it shifted with her palm, it bent with her elbow, it swayed with her forearm. A string of stylish lights flickered with each movement, designed to indicate the mechanical output of energy.
"This product, as you can imagine, has many potential applications within many fields of life for our people. It can act as prosthesis, it can act as a weapon, it can act as an invaluable tool for construction, it can carry your groceries… the list goes on."
She continued her prepared presentation, demonstrating the additional lifting strength, the potential durability, its waterproof design, its resistance to heat, its reactions to voice commands, its viability for eventual direct integration into the nervous system.
"The product will hit the shelves-"
The crowd exploded into noise, and for a moment, she prepared to tell them to be quiet and save their questions.
But they weren't shouting for her.
They were shouting for him.
With a rush of air, the scarlet armored Triarch diplomat to our alien partners waved to the crowd as he landed. Xandros stood beside her, smelling of fuel, as the wings of his suit melted away into panels along his back. His footsteps were surprisingly silent, Jula realized, and she pondered how they managed to make such an impressively adaptable suit of power armor so light.
Armor far beyond what she had achieved with this prototype, tentatively titled on internal documents as "Automail."
"Scarlet Scarab, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
The helmet similarly melted away, revealing the handsome face of the Osmosian who represented our interests to the Reach. Jula had no idea why this man was here – this was not part of the plan, this was not part of any discussion the company had, and this was not how she expected to interact with anything of the Reach for the first time.
"You've made an impressive tool. An invention worthy of praise!"
The crowd lit up, and Jula couldn't remember a time when she felt more confused.
"Thank you. That, uh, means a lot, coming from you."
She could not wrap her brain around what, exactly, he was doing here. At a product launch announcement for something that could, one day, develop into powered armor, a man with far better technology interrupts it? Why was Xandros trying to upstage their company's efforts?
"I apologize for the unprompted entry, Madam Jula, but I must take advantage of your broadcast for an urgent message."
She shared a look with the acting producers of the announcement for guidance, and they were clearly fuming. She considered what her father would say and did not move away from the podium. "Diplomat, sir, we are in the middle of somethin-"
He ignored her. "I have important news to share from our partners from beyond the stars. The Reach ship's sensors have detected an influx of violent alien attackers from across the cosmos."
Jula's heart stammered in her chest.
"They have landed in pods only large enough for a single individual assailant, and they threaten any and all that they find in the area upon arrival. I, myself, have intervened in the most recently detected landing and have apprehended the alien before it could do harm to others."
The crowd was not complacent upon hearing that news, and faces were stretched with worry as questions flew.
Jula could not keep herself from spiraling with worry, her family's excursion fresh on her mind. They were heading to the site where an alien crashed? Something that she had believed, before, was nothing more than a story from her brat of a nephew. A fanciful tale to cover up the clumsiness of a child who fell and scratched their arm. Now? Now she knew it to be true, and that worried her more than anything she could imagine.
The press within the crowd hurled questions at Diplomat Xandros, but the armored Osmosian neglected to answer any of them individually. Instead, he offered, "I understand that you are confused, and that many questions are unanswered. More information will be coming within the official channels in the hour. But rest assured, I will work with the Reach to ensure that our planet remains safe from those outsiders who deign to do it harm."
Before anyone could object, Scarlet Scarab blasted off into the air, leaving Jula alone on the stage, unsure how to possibly continue even while the cameras continued to roll. Her producers were clearly agitated, but there were far more questions than answers. It took all of thirty seconds before she lost a third of the audience, their retreating forms scampering through the streets to return home. Another minute, and she had barely a few dozen who remained, though their attention was on the skies, their thoughts on the aliens, and their actions ignoring her.
Jula ordered an assistant to carry the prototype behind her as she disappeared backstage. Vir Actus had not prepared her as its employee to talk to the public after an upstaging like this, not with much larger news in the background apparently happening. If Xandros was accurate, this information would likely force all-day coverage, something that hadn't happened since the Reach announced their arrival on the planet and partnership with the Triarchy.
"Any chance they're talking about Automail?" she asked weakly to one of her team, who was eagerly shifting his hands across a monitor to locate a news broadcast. A few had hastily started, their coverage detailing Xandros' sudden announcement, and it would only be a matter of time before more official news broke directly from the Powers That Be.
The answer to her question was no. Her prototype was barely mentioned. The product she'd spent years developing was a footnote in a larger story. A story ultimately involving her damn brother.
OSMOS V
August 04, 02:23 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
The long ride between the Capital and Sanitas was the perfect time to speak with Gabriel, so long as I could do so while no one else was awake. We'd been trapped in the "station wagon" for hours, and conversation had lulled at various points once the human had revealed many of his more recent conversations with the missing's families had proven fruitless. We had quickly become the center of his investigation, if only thanks to my experience with the alien, and I wanted so desperately to make myself useful on this trip. I wasn't going to be the little kid in a road trip movie that annoyed the hell out of all the adults.
I had not taken the slip of paper burning a whole in my pocket and passed it to him yet. Openly passing it in front of the others would be a mistake. A confident mistake, perhaps, but I was not sure that I could trust the man well enough to play it cool for my family. I did not want to field questions about reincarnation, about lack of trust, about deception. There was just… a lot that had to be considered, so I held off and continued an anxious loop of indecision.
Two hours into the drive, Mother had reached over and touched one of the windows near Grandfather's head, while he had continued to drive. Gabriel had watched with interest as her hand had become like glass, and then she had placed the hand above my lap.
"Try it."
I had blinked. "Mother, you-"
"Before I change my mind, I want to see what you can do."
Excitedly, I had followed her example. It had taken me much longer to produce any meaningful effect, but after nearly thirty-seconds, I had some success as each finger up to the second knuckle became as transparent as the window. It had lasted a whopping ten seconds before the effect had faded, but it had been one of the proudest moments of my second life.
To do this in front of her? It was magical.
"I can do more!" I had explained. "I'm working on it. There's this book I found online, and it has these passages that explain the inner-workings of the…"
I had rambled for nearly ten minutes, with only the occasional interruption from Mother. She finally had let the effect on her own arm go, becoming flesh again. "You have some control. That's good. I don't expect you to be in any danger, Cassian, while we are there, and I want you to promise me that you won't do anything foolish if we somehow find ourselves mired in it."
I had wanted to ignore the request, but I eventually had relented. "Yes, Mother. I promise."
For the next few hours, until long after night had fallen, she had fielded questions, had provided support, had tried to quietly coach me on the use of the Gift. I had clung to every word she spoke, every idea she possessed, every piece of advice she offered. Grandfather had listened in amusement, and Gabriel had focused primarily on the environment around us. He had played it cool, and if this was his first trip to Osmos V, perhaps this was the longest conversation about Osmosian powers he'd witnessed.
I had made progress in both the length of time I could maintain it and the amount I could transform. It was not enough to fight off that alien, but it was enough to maybe find use in a really condensed pinch. I could reliably transform up to my wrist in both the glass of the window and the treated leather of the seat, though other materials had been more difficult.
"I read somewhere that changes can be permanent. Is that true?"
Mother considered the question for a long moment, but it was Grandfather who answered. "Usually the changes last a few minutes. Matter, energy, DNA – it doesn't matter. I've known friends who can push it longer, but it's more taxing. Permanence? Haven't heard of that."
"Do you think it could be done but just has not yet?"
Mother had no answers for that, and I wondered exactly what was happening molecularly to allow this to happen to the composition of our bodies. I didn't know a lot about physics in my first and certainly not my second life. Different chemical composition also meant different subatomic forces holding material together. Wood, stone, metal – they were each held together differently, and I could make my body like them without somehow losing control of them?
Mother broke my reverie with a hand on my knee. "Using the Gift should only be for emergencies, Cassian. Never take unnecessary risks, or you'll push yourself too far. I don't- don't want to lose you, son."
I gripped her hand tightly.
"Y'all seem close," Gabriel commented from the equivalent of the passenger seat.
"Of course," Mother lied. "We are-"
An audio broadcast began playing on the monitor within the console, announcing an emergency bulletin. These did not happen often, and Mother's voice trailed off entirely as her attention honed in on the words.
"Good evening. This is Elder Gordia of the Triarchy."
My stomach churned. The human was tightly focused on the words, and Grandfather pulled the vehicle to the side of the desert pathway. The technology for this was kind of broadcast was not perfect, and the message was scratchy this far into the desert.
"Earlier today, Diplomat Xandros announced that the Reach have uncovered a new and dangerous element to our planet. I will confirm the veracity of these statements: aliens walk among us, and they hold hostile intent for our people."
Everyone locked eyes with Gabriel, whose shock was palpable. Before we even made it to the site, the Reach announce this?
"A series of crash landings have been happening throughout the past several months," they've known about this for months and said nothing? "and we have been working tirelessly during this period to handle the situation with care and to avoid panic."
"This is it," Grandfather muttered, eyes wild.
"We cannot jump to conclusions," Gabriel stated, lips in a thin line.
"- iens have arrived. From what intelligence we have been able to gather, these aliens are hostile and without the ability to reason. Communicating with them has consistently failed to gain positive results. They are incredibly dangerous, incredibly violent, and incredibly cruel. Rest assured, they are few in number – we cannot give exact figures, but we can confirm that the number of detected landings is somewhere in the upper twenties."
I shot a pleading look toward Gabriel, the implications astounding. "Is that number accurate? To those that are missing?"
A long pause as Gordia's voice continued. "It could be," he explained carefully.
"If you notice anything strange or abnormal, contact your local authorities. The Triarchy will do everything in our power to put a stop to this dangerous threat, root out these alien dissidents, and dispose of them before they can do any more harm to ourselves or to our partners. Thank you."
Panic swept through Mother and Grandfather, and fear erupted into demanded questions. The human had no immediate answers for us, but he met my gaze anyway.
"Kid, I have a feeling we're going to crack this case wide open, with your help."
OSMOS V
August 04, 11:51 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
Gabriel did not know what to make of this developing situation. The planet was already the latest in a long, uninterrupted line of conquests from the Reach within Frontier Space. All without shedding a single drop of blood, from the looks of it. Why had the Osmosians simply rolled over? And now, the Osmosians were under threat of other aliens, and he wondered how much of their territory they would lose to these assailants before they decided to stop their cowardice.
They had power. A substantial minority of their population held fantastic abilities that put them firmly in the camp of superhuman, and each of them was nominally physically stronger and tougher than humans even without their Gift. Gabriel was convinced they had the potential to do damage to the Reach's presence on this planet, and they could easily handle twenty-odd aliens, just from sheer manpower alone. There were plenty of species in space that would still be a theat even to them, and Gabriel hoped for their sakes' – and his own – that these new enemies were low on the cosmic hierarchy.
Gabriel ordered Maximus to stop the vehicle just short of the crash site, almost two clicks out. Their young boy had been guiding them throughout the journey through this section of the massive continent-wide desert, only a few miles outside of their hometown of Sanitas. He was surprised the kids had traveled that far outside of their town at the chance to see something cool, and he wondered idly to himself if Kyle had the same adventurous spirit. Considering what had happened to Cassian and his friends, he hoped that his son would be smarter than that.
"How are we going to approach this?" Lucrecia asked, as though afraid of the answer. She gripped her son's shoulder, thumb idly running through some of his shaggy blonde hair.
"Y'all are not going to approach anything," he explained quietly.
They objected, each for their own reasons. Maximus looked offended that he wouldn't ask the man to come with him. Lucrecia was merely surprised at the insinuation that they would just sit idly by. Yet, it was Cassian who had the most interesting reaction: he scrambled out of his seat and slipped outside.
Gabriel watched the family deliberate for a solid thirty seconds before he turned his attention away and allowed them the space to work through their issues while he opened his pack to gather his gear. This kid was too precocious for his own good, and he'd convinced himself he was important to this whole thing.
In retrospect, perhaps the statement he'd made a few hours ago hadn't helped.
Gabriel could tell that this was not an isolated incident, from the tone of their argument, and it felt strange that he'd bothered to bring them this far. He could have found another way that did not leave false hopes in their eyes.
"Lucrecia, Maximus, I know this is unconventional," he muttered, exasperated that it was going in circles, "but I could take him with me-"
"Are you out of your mind!?"
"Yes! Please!"
The argument continued anew, and he was caught right in the middle. He was mature enough to recognize that it was foolish for him to get involved, but, well, Cassian reminded him of Kyle, at least in spirit.
"I don't expect any harm to come to him, but I have something that can help assuage your worries."
It was a risk to show them, but he was already revealing more than he should about his role in the grand scheme of everything by dragging a family into a potentially dangerous location. If things were done correctly, they would not be able to connect the dots to his true benefactors.
He reached into his bag and pulled a small emerald capsule. With a click of one end, the object expanded in a burst of green light until a thick armored vest emerged within his grip. It was lined with interior plating while its ultimate flexibility remained, a conforming armor piece for someone of any build.
"Wearing this will keep him safe, even areas that aren't covered by the vest."
Their awe was palpable. Osmos V had nothing like this – they were nowhere close to Level Fifteen technology.
"Can I test it?" Maximus asked, and Lucrecia looked outraged.
"You can't be seriously considering this!"
"I'm curious!"
Cassian stared excitedly at the vest as though it were the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "How does it work?"
Gabriel slipped the object on over his street clothes and felt the aura settle into place, a warble of light visible for a few seconds before fading into transparency. There was a limit to its maximum output defensively, but if they were near a lone alien that could threaten its output, then they were already unsafe being this close to its last known location.
He offered himself to Maximus for testing, and the older man took a swing with a haymaker, much to his daughter-in-law's chagrin and his grandson's delight. The punch collided uselessly against the energy construct, and he did not flinch nor was he pushed by the impact. The Osmosians were each wide-eyed at the prospect, but Lucrecia recovered first.
"That's impressive, but you can't just expect us to trust you to watch-"
Maximus full-body tackled into Gabriel, and the force of it pushed the human back several feet. But he felt none of the impact, and not for the first time, he wondered how much the NFL would fork over for just this tech alone.
The Osmosian pulled back in surprise, and Gabriel made a show of dusting himself off as though it had done anything at all. "I promise you that it's effective."
Lucrecia could not accept it, and he didn't blame her.
"Come with us, then," Cassian argued. "You've got the Gift, Mother. You can keep me safe."
"This is not even-"
"What if Father is out there?" The question unmoored the adult Osmosians, and Gabriel could feel the boy's exasperation. He wondered idly if the adults were going to budge, and he knew what he would do if he were in their shoes. "You're not going to waste a chance to save him, are you?"
Gabriel doubted seriously that their missing person was here. Assuming Horatio ever made it to the Capital, that is, he was far more likely to have gone missing somewhere near the city. Despite that thought, Gabriel was not ruling anything out.
The situation with the aliens, with Horatio, with the missing – it was all linked. He could not put his finger exactly on how, nor on what connection the missing all have. The only connection he'd been able to find so far is that the missing were far more likely to be poor or lower-middle class, but there were some that broke that mold. Could they have just all been isolated people in the wrong place at the wrong time for an alien attack? It sparked of coordination, he realized, that these disparate crash landing sites throughout the continent were all attempting to target people. Perhaps they'd been eaten, but he'd not found any evidence of non-Osmosian bones.
Gabriel would never forgive himself if Cassian was there when they confirmed the missing were dead.
"Fine," Lucrecia finally shook her head. "When I tell you to run, you run."
Cassian was overjoyed, a beaming smile etched onto his face. He held out a small hand for the jacket, and Gabriel slid the armored clothing off and passed it to the boy. The man leaned down to help the boy into it properly, so that the shielding aura would hold over his form in the event of an emergency. It shrunk in several places to conform to the eight-year-old's torso.
"You're all set." He turned to the other man. "Stay here, make sure that we have a way out. If I contact you, be ready to drive to us in a hurry."
Maximus agreed with some clear concern in his voice. Lucrecia hugged him after a moment, and the older man returned the gesture. "We'll be back soon."
As Cassian prepared to lead his mother and Gabriel further into the wilderness of the desert, the man tapped the belt hidden under his clothing three times in quick succession. A complex program activated and integrated into his vision, a faint flicker of green light swimming across his field of view and flooding his sight with information from his implants and the environment around him. With the benefit of constant scanning, he was certain that if there was anything to be found, he'd find it with this.
OSMOS V
August 04, 15:32 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
We were fortunate that the area of the Magnus Desertus around Sanitas was not a complete sand pit. On a scale of "dunes for miles" and "dry, cracked wasteland," it was far closer to the latter. Searing sunlight, blazing heat, and blistering winds were still difficult pills to swallow, but at least the land was mostly flat terrain with almost even footing.
The ground around us was a webbed network of breaks, dips, and valleys – evidence of a lake that had long since dried. Grandfather used to tell me stories that life in town had revolved around it, when he was young. Centuries ago. It was a wonder that my hometown still thrived without it for so long. Perhaps Osmosians were similar to humans in that regard – families tended to stick together in places that were familiar, even if they could often be suited to any environment. Add in the longer lifespan, and it made for a closer family unit than most.
Or perhaps even longer held grudges.
"You sure this is the place?"
I wanted to ignore Gabriel's question – the man had shown remarkable aptitude to move through the desert without complaint, for someone less suited to the environment. Sheets of sweat poured from him, but he merely chugged water from containers at his side to keep himself moving. Mother, on the contrary, was starting to grow weary, and I was propelled along through sheer willpower to see it through.
"I'm sure we're not far."
The human – and what a trip it was to call him that – continued following the ridge, stepping deftly over small crevices and spots of weakness. "You boys were lucky you had that drone to plot your path. Without it, I don't think you'd have ma…." His voice trailed off.
No one wanted to be reminded of how close I had come to dying.
I banked on the idea that if we could somehow find the remains of the weather drone, then we'd be real close. Gabriel could study the crash site, could report back to whatever organization he worked for, and could point us in the direction toward Father. Assuming all of the pieces I thought were connected were legitimate, then we could do something.
Mother sighed as we rounded another bend and found nothing. Another strip of blank, barren land under a baking sun. "I'm calling Maximus, this is ridiculous-"
"No!" I barked. "We're not far now."
She did not stop reaching for a communicator, and I pushed through exhaustion to reach her side quickly. "We can find another way, Cassian."
"I'm telling you! It's close!"
It had to be close.
It had to be.
"For all we know, we're moving in circles-"
Gabriel cleared his throat loudly and raised his hand, revealing a compass. The most basic compass I'd ever seen, one that could have easily been bought in a Dick's Sporting Goods store. To pull such a simple device from his pocket while I am wearing a sophisticated piece of armor he created from a capsule smaller than his pinky finger? I suspected nanotech was at play, or perhaps hard-light, and I don't even know what to think.
"We're not going in circles," he promised, then leveled his attention on me. "Kid, we're gonna want to start a radial search pattern soon if you can't lead us there directly. Then, we'll be going in circles." He chuckled to diffuse the tension, but it didn't make Mother feel any better from the look of her face.
I scoured the surroundings even as Mother groaned and typed on the communicator.
… Oh.
I dashed ahead as quickly as I could, nearly tripping over loose stones, and skid to the ground. Mother and Gabriel were fast at my heels. I pulled at the upper layer of dust until finally, something familiar came loose.
A piece of metal. Thin, faded lightly on one end from exposure. One that matched the shaped frame and color of a familiar weather drone.
I held the heavy debris aloft with vindication. "This is it! I told you! We're close!"
Mother and Gabriel passed the drone piece to each other, and while she held it in her hands, her eyes softened as they glanced over its surface. Fingers traced over a serrated edge. "You… encountered something that did this?"
That alien's snarling maw haunted my dreams. Its lack of eyes, its horrendous breath, its sharpened claws, its flashing tail…. It was almost the shape of a xenomorph in its stature, and it moved like one too.
I never wanted to be that helpless ever again.
Gabriel pressed something in his jacket lapel – a camera, perhaps, or some other type of scanner I couldn't recognize. Whatever tech it was had a lens, but it was small and not attached to anything else I could make out. "All right. You got us this far, kid. I'll take it from here."
As he walked, he turned his torso in as many directions as he could. Mother followed slowly behind him, uncertain. A sense of relief invigorated me – we had found the area, and now, someone else was taking the burden of responsibility. The adults – the other adults – likely felt they had had it for the last two and a half hour hike, but it was me. It was exhausting and exhilarating in equal measure.
"Should we stay here?" Mother prodded as she clutched onto my arm, daring Gabriel to challenge her.
The man sharply shook his head once. "That ship sailed a long time ago, my friends. I would go on ahead myself, but I don't know what's out there." He looked Mother up and down. "You're the strongest of us here, Lucrecia. I want you watching my back."
Left unsaid was that neither one of them wanted me left alone.
That served me well enough.
Begrudgingly, she urged me forward.
OSMOS V
August 04, 16:29 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
The Ambassador knew his role and he knew it well. Preparations were well underway for a meeting with the Triarchy's enemies in the far-flung continents across the oceans. Within the week, the Osmosians would be deep in discussions over sovereignty, conflicts, and eventual assimilation. The Ambassador's agents had already been in talks with important pillars from each of the independent city-states, and it would be only a matter of time before they, too, came to the table and were ready to deal. The Reach stood to gain the most from any negotiations, and the Ambassador was looking forward to sharing this new world with the rest of the empire once their machinations were complete.
A panel of data floated at his mental command – substantial blackmail material he would only use against one of the more stubborn resisters if necessary – but he had no time to review its intricate details before someone barged into the room, uninvited.
He softened slightly as he saw her. The Enforcer and her golden scarab armor gleamed under the artificial light of the chamber, details from the monitors displaying a stunning view of the Triarchy's Capital glittering across her feathered wings. Her body language was tense – not at all like what he expected to see. Behind her entered two of her guard, red cloaks billowing under plate and plasma spears at the ready.
Old paranoia gripped him – perhaps this was a power play. It would not be the first he had endured, and it would not be the last. This was the perfect time, too – on the cusp of victory, without the Reach having to lift a single appendage against the populace. All it would take is a single stroke, and she could take all of the credit.
Instead, the Enforcer spoke with haste, offering only a faint amount of the mirth that she normally held in conversations with him. "Amby, there has been a breach in planet sector B24, near crash site seven."
He winced at the nickname said in mixed company but did not deign to admonish her.
The Ambassador thought carefully of where that might be, before she ordered her scarab to take command of the security panels. The display of the Capital marked with points of interest shifted to that of a desert environs. A map of its perimeter, the site of the crash, and its proximity to an outlying Osmosian town joined the displays.
"Why is this of urgent interest to me? Protocol dictates that-"
"Preliminary data indicates one of the three who have breached the perimeter is not Osmosian, nor of any species among the Reach."
The Ambassador could not hide his curiosity. "Fascinating. And we are certain it is no fluke of our sensors? Perhaps they are merely one carrying the genetic factor for Osmosian Exceptions and reading incorrectly in our systems."
Scanned data from perimeter probes raced onto the screens, and the Ambassador studied them with interest. No… this man was no Exception, and no native, despite sharing many of the same morphological structures. The Reach held no data with a cursory glance of their archives that could reveal his nature, and that was of interest.
"I can perform a more thorough analysis at your command, Ambassador," the Enforcer's scarab offered as it broke the silence of the grand meeting chamber. "Perhaps the Enforcer and I can investigate in person."
The Ambassador shook his head. "Negative. Enforcer, send Xandros."
"But Amby, he's in a-"
He waved her off. "Never mind. I'll do it."
The Ambassador reached onto a carapace-like console and interfaced with the only other infiltrator-class scarab in the system. A live feed revealed that Xandros and his wife Camila were mid-coupling. With the command of a button, the armor slid over the nude man's form, and Xandros yelped as he lost control of his body. The Ambassador spoke for Xandros through the connection. "Camila, I have an urgent mission."
Xandros begged for this to stop, but his wife could not hear him. The commander of the Reach operation on Osmos V had little care for what their pawn wanted, and it brought the insect a great satisfaction that he could witness Xandros' most private moments.
The Ambassador took control of their Osmosian asset for the second time in twelve hours. Without much more fanfare, the Scarlet Scarab rocketed high into the sky, a crying wife left behind amid broken skylight glass.
OSMOS V
August 04, 18:47 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
Maximus hated waiting in the vehicle for a sign that they needed him. He had never been a patient man, in youth or in his now older years. He had a lot more life to live, and he doubted that mindset would change any time soon.
He had no shortcuts to make his role in all of this easier. He'd constantly sought ways to make things simpler, to make things faster, to automate what he could so that he could focus time on his children. But now? His son was missing, and he had no Gift to try to fix any of it.
Lucrecia did. Cassian did, too, for all the good that would do for the boy without experience. The boy's mother – Maximus'd have to pin all of his hopes on her, for the woman had years of power under her belt, even muted after all the time of a desk job.
During those early years of their relationship, Horatio must have seen something in the woman that Maximus hadn't. She was pretty, but pretty doesn't excuse bad behavior. It was clear that she was trouble for others or was in trouble herself. Maximus wasn't sure when Lucrecia evened out, but it was long before Cassian came along. The boy probably had no idea that his parents both held some pretty rough patches in their past.
She had some fight in her, at the end of the day, and that fight would have to be enough to get them through anything dangerous they might find. Maximus hoped they wouldn't see anything, of course, but well, they'd be fine with her there.
Still… he considered what he'd uncovered in these trying weeks, what he'd been trying to create. He desperately wished to make contact, to set plans into motion that would only be necessary if the worst comes to pass, and he was close to making the call.
A tone alerted his attention, and he activated the communicator to hear Jula's voice cutting into the din of the car. Maximus sighed slightly, not quite sure if he was prepared to hear whatever this was.
"Father, how goes the search?"
Distracted from his desperate thoughts, the sound of his daughter's voice brought him some amount of calm. "I'm on vehicle duty, while the others go out there to see what they can find."
Jula hesitated. "How's my nephew doing cooped up?"
Maximus wanted to chuckle when he realized she was trying to talk louder, to prod at the boy if he were here. Instead, he focused on the grim reality that their eight year old was out there. "He's not. He went with them."
A pause. "Did he sneak away?"
"No, but I wouldn't put that past him."
Jula sounded exasperated. "Listen – Cassian wasn't lying about the aliens. They're real. The Reach confirmed it!"
She played an audio recording of the interrupted product announcement broadcast, and Maximus felt every muscle grow taut with tension. None of this was a coincidence.
"I didn't think the boy was lying," he muttered, more to himself than to her, "but I don't like any of this."
Jula's voice shook. "I-I don't either. Father, you have to listen to me. Don't stay out any longer than you have to. Honestly – bring them home as soon as possible. We're hearing a ton of things in the Capital, and things don't look pretty if even a quarter of it is true."
Maximus sensed the seriousness in her plea, and it was not like her to be so worried about any shift in the state of affairs. She was more collected in moments where it counted. "I'll give 'em some more time. But only some."
As she ended the call to make preparations of her own, he adjusted his communicator and engaged in paranoia. He prayed they would not be needed, but he hoped that they would be ready in the worst possible outcome.
OSMOS V
August 04, 19:22 UTC
TEAM YEAR NEGATIVE SEVEN
The moment I stepped around a particular rock formation is the moment I knew we had arrived. The sun had begun to set in the distance, and the way the shadows fell around it reminded me of that night. Mother clutched onto my arm when I abruptly stopped, and it did not need to be said that we had found it.
Gabriel immediately dropped into what should be the impact crater, something that was much deeper several weeks ago. Sands had largely pooled within the space, coating the bottom, though not evenly. A bit of digging, and we should be able to uncover the ship. I hurriedly moved to follow him, but Mother held tight and shook her head.
"I'm trusting you to stay right here," she answered my pleading eye. "I'm going to help him dig. If you spot something, shout us a warning and then run."
I started to complain, but I soon realized that it was the best I would get out of her. I had a nebulously strong piece of intergalactic tech covering my torso, and she probably thought it would be enough to stave off injury until help arrived. It would have to be enough.
Mother slid down into the crater with an almost unnatural ease. Gabriel began directing her to help him uncover the earth in several places, while he pulled a chrome rod from the back of his belt and brandished it before him. Every few seconds, a flicker of light would emanate from its widened tip. Once he performed a seemingly full sweep, he reached for a pair of thick-rimmed goggles hidden in a jacket pocket and slid them over his eyes, looking nearly every bit an emerald version of Cyclops.
"What do those do?" I called out to ask him, curious about whatever tech a human would bring with them in this likely futuristic society. One that apparently still used a compass for navigation, but perhaps had a spaceship somewhere hidden. I still wanted to ask him so many questions.
He seemed to consider the question for several seconds before he cleared his throat, the goofy device so tight around his head that it pulled his cheeks taut. "Both are scanners for types of radiation. If we find an ion trail, or something like it, it can tell us a lot about where the alien came from, or perhaps even where it went."
"Why ions? What's that mean?" Mother asked. I doubted anyone here did not know what ions were, but I was also at a loss for why that would be relevant.
"When ships move through space, they tend to leave behind a trail of material you can track. Not with your eye, but with tools like these."
"You have devices that can track spaceships?" I prodded. "Where'd you get them?"
"Took them from an engineering lab a few years back," he explained casually. He was a good liar – might even be true. "A buddy let me use them to look some things over, and I figured they'd come in handy during an investigation like this."
"You getting anything helpful?" Mother asked, impatient. "Where am I digging?"
He gestured for Mother to start in a different place from himself, and the two began sifting through earth as quickly as they could. Mother had a significant advantage after turning her hands into something metallic, fingers and palms acting almost like shovels to break apart the more packed earthen chunks and dig deeper. She was determined.
"When you looked through the other crash sites," I began, "did you ever find the ships?"
"No," Gabriel admitted, "but the big difference here is that this one happened much more recently than the rest, and it's in such a far-off place. It'd take days to get into position to retrieve it."
Mother was confused, even as she swung her shoveling hands further into the dirt. "You think the Triarchy has the other ships?"
"Who else?" He shrugged. "Them or the Reach. No one else stands to gain as much, and that's a big question you have to ask yourself when you investigate anything."
On that somber point, the digging continued. Gabriel's tools were curious and multi-purposed, and contemplating why he would be carrying such a strange collection of gadgets kept me entertained throughout the long, arduous process. It did not take long before they allowed me to assist with the digging, to give one of them a break while they watched for danger. Throughout each moment of intense exertion, I posited a few potential scenarios in my head for Gabriel.
One – the man worked for NASA, or a futuristic equivalent of it. Perhaps he was a scientist sent into space to investigate alien life. The tools he carried were meant for exploration, discovery, and research.
Two – the man worked for a space-age arm of the military. A lone scout sent to infiltrate a potential hostile planet. Maybe we were close enough to Earth that it was feasible we could be a threat, even without the planet having access to interstellar travel. These gizmos could easily just be for threat assessment.
Three – and the more likely option – I didn't have enough information to guess. I didn't know how to ask him outright without tipping my hand, and that paralysis just kept me from-
"Got it!"
Mother's shout broke my hour-long reverie. Torso covered in strange metal, she pulled and pulled at a large, protesting piece of the same substance until it finally lurched in a whine from the more solid base. Beneath the panel she bent into two pieces with impressive strength lay a container capable of holding a single one of those canine aliens. Sand trickled into the interior of the pod from several spaces, and a bit of light emanated from machines that were still running, weeks later.
Gabriel moved so quickly he nearly tumbled, end over end, down an incline. "Incredible! We found it."
I joined them a moment later, and Mother did not turn to look at me when I clapped her on a metallic arm. She stared in horror at the pod, as though surprised to see the ship and having all of what I'd said confirmed.
"We're the first to find this?" I asked. "Can you tell?"
Gabriel ignored me and climbed into the space, adjusting the lip of the ship so that the sand would stop pouring into the interior. Mother took the moment to clear some of it away from the edge, but I didn't want to miss anything that the human was going to do. He tried interfacing with any of the tech that seemed to still work, and it was difficult to tell what was meant to look like it was cracked into pieces and what was not. Perhaps he knew better, because he began taking things apart and adjusting switches and knobs.
"Are there any clues?" I finally asked. "Things you think will lead to Father?"
I had placed a lot of thought into how Gabriel would know what to find to lead the two of us to the missing people. It would not be as simple as finding a trail in the sand, but I did not have much of a gauge for how much more complex it would be. There could be any sign in the data here. I couldn't read the man to see exactly how well or not he understood what he was studying, but he seemed confident.
The man barely responded, still adjusting anything he could touch and applying various implements that he had yet to explain from his pockets. "When I find something, I promise you'll know. This is going to take us some time."
A whine sounded throughout the area, painful almost to my ears.
"I don't think we have it."
Mother's comment confused me until I heard a sizzling bolt of plasma strike against her metallic side.
She threw me to the dunes so quickly that I had little time to react. A grunt of pain from her heavy torso slamming into me escaped my lungs, but the sound of it barely reached my ears above the din of super-heated material splashing against the impact crater. She rolled atop me and covered my smaller frame with hers, and each wince on her face was as painful to me as a dagger to the chest.
"Gabriel!" she shouted, turning her head long enough to try to see what's happening. The smell of charred flesh was overpowering, and I couldn't catch my breath long enough to sense if that was me or her.
From the angle she had me pinned, protecting me with her transformed upper body, I couldn't see much. Choking from smoke that billowed up where the hot material touched, and the crunch of hot glass beneath my fingers, I clawed for some free space to move, but she held me tighter.
"No, no, no, no!" Mother croaked. "S-stay down!"
I reached for something – anything – that could get me an idea of what the hell was happening. Pushing hard against Mother's chest, I barely managed to move her a fraction of an inch – or perhaps she merely moved out of the way enough for me to see – but I caught a glimpse of something in the air above us.
High in the sky, amid billowing black smoke, was a familiar man coated in scarlet armor. A single arm pointed down, a circle brimming with light the same color as the oozing plasma where his hand should be. A moment later, another volley fell from the flying Scarlet Scarab, and it was all I could do to shout a warning to the human nearby before concentrated heat glassed everything in sight.