[https://i.imgur.com/GWtPOAd.png]
Concept art for the stone gate.
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Zac sat there in his clarity, watching concrete slab close behind the captain. They seemed genuinely sympathetic to Lucy. He guessed that everyone in a cocoon would eventually wear this new suit and feel enlightened like Zac was.
Is this tough love? He wondered. Give a harsh warning, and then given boons to those that comply?
He looked back at Lucy, lying calmly on the floor unconscious.
Memories flooded his mind. The sound torture, the gruesome deaths of the traitors, the pain of the water from the showerheads. Zac shivered. Even though his body and mind had recovered, his memories did not quickly disappear.
No, nothing had changed. This feeling of peace is fake. Zac smacked his face. They're still bad people. I have this suit because I remain useful to the citadel. He was still only a tool.
He held his fist up and snapped it forward in a fast jab. He left his fist hanging, arm in full extension.
The captain mentioned something about the path of transcendence. I need to find that power and take it for myself. Power to decide my future. Power to force the captain to struggle to breathe like he did to me. Dominate the field and not even look. Only then can I be free. Zac decided to closely follow Lucy. He would see what the captain had done to her. She would bring him to his answer.
A drop of water fell from the showerheads and landed on his outstretched fist.
On queue, water began to gush from the showerheads again. Thankfully this was just regular water, running down Zac's face and arms. Quickly a puddle formed by his feet. The water wasn't draining. Above, the flow from the showerheads intensified. Zac stood up and soon he was wading in knee height water. Then he was swimming, unable to touch the floor.
Looking around, Zac could see all the cocoons were buoyant, and Lucy also in her black suit was floating but with her face down. He swam over to her and turned her around, holding her head up.
More and more water entered the room and the water level kept rising until the surface was above the shower heads. Zac was scrambling. Soon there wasn't enough space to keep his head above the water. He poked his mouth out and took one gulp of air, pushed it into Lucy's lungs, sucked one last gulp of air for himself and dived under the water holding Lucy's nose and mouth tightly shut.
Calm down Zac. Zac's heart was pounding in his chest. Lucy is safe. The captain chose her. So by extension you are too. What's the next step!? Next step! How do you get to safety? Lucy remained unconscious. He cradled her head in his right arm and squeezed her lips and nose with his right hand.
Zac looked for an exit. He touched the ceiling. The air must leave somewhere. He felt around and found a groove with water flowing into it. He pushed, squeezed, slid, twisted. Nothing worked. Under the water, his actions were incredibly weak. He kicked his legs in slow motion towards one of the shower heads and then tried to dislodge it with a few hits of his shoulder.
It stood firm.
Zac coughed and air flooded out of his lungs. He was running out of oxygen. The concrete slabs opened before. He swam back to a wall and began tapping it. Open damn it. Open! Zac coughed again and water entered his lungs. Reflexively, Zac gagged and coughed, trying to clear the water and instead more water entered, filling all the spaces in his lungs.
He swam back up to the ceiling. He desperately needed air. Once again, Zac tried to smack the ceiling with no effect. He began to convulse. Just like the people in the spaceship. His brain was running out of oxygen. Zac opened his eyes in defeat.
Cold. The water is so cold. I'm sorry Lucy.
One side of the concrete room began to glow, and suddenly Zac was pulled with the current towards the glow as the water drained through this new hole in the wall.
Zac's head surfaced above the water. He expelled some water and his body rejoiced as he took an urgently needed breathe of air.
Zac was still being dragged towards the glowing hole. The current saved him, but he didn't want to join in whatever the captain had in store for them. He tried to swim the other way but was obstructed by all the cocoons floating on the surface. Zac succumbed to the current and was sucked past the glow and down a dark passage. Through the twists and turns, Lucy was pulled from his grasp. He tried to swim towards her but the cocoons and current blocked his way.
Suddenly he was flushed out of the passage and into a bright world.
It was a bumpy landing. He slammed into hard rock and grass and was pushed forward by the oncoming water into a pile of human cocoons.
It was there Zac realised that his suit was special. It anticipated the impact and Zac had felt his suit protect him as it hardened around his groin area and blew up slightly, distributing the impact across a larger surface area and giving him a small crumple zone. The result was that Zac was unharmed by the impact and rolled along the ground, hitting the cocoons. He coughed up a small puddle and felt fresh air enter the deep recesses of his lungs. But that was short lived as he was pushed over and winded by incoming cocoons leaving the dark passage.
Zac quickly extricated himself from the pile and jumped out of the way of more incoming cocoons. The combo was too much for his oxygen deprived body and he collapsed on the wet ground to the side of the oncoming traffic, coughing and heaving.
The captain is definitely not forgiven.
He lay on the ground, recovering. While waiting, he could taste wet dirt in his mouth. It had an unmistakable crunch inbetween his teeth.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Looking up, Zac found himself in the middle of a grassy plain. Nearby was the ending of a temperate forest. He could hear the buzzing of insects, scurry of small critters hidden by the nearby tall grass, and the occasional screech of birds high above. The sun was setting and everything was cast in a golden glow, even the two giant worlds high above that filled half the sky.
Looking back to where everyone had washed out from, he could see a small gate whose glow was rapidly diminishing. Inside the gate was a black tunnel and far in the distance on the other side he could see the concrete shower room. The glow diminished and the tunnel slowly disappeared in tandem until it was gone and the gate was just a regular stone gate.
Zac stood up, coughing, and walked over to the gate and touched it. Stone. It just felt like stone. He put his hand through and saw it on the other side. He poked his head through and snaked it around the gate and sadly could see the rest of his body.
It must have been some form of wormhole, he concluded, and now his way back was gone. They were still very much under the captain's control.
His attention was redirected to the pile of cocoons. There were coughs and vomits. The rough ride had woken a number of people up and they were expelling their goop.
"Lucy!" Zac exclaimed. He remembered his companion and ran around piles of cocoons searching for her.
He found her lying on the ground. She was still unconscious but was breathing and had a pulse. Zac sighed in relief. He had saved her.
He had some time before everyone collected themselves and adjusted to their senses after the slumber in their cocoons. Zac looked at the sleeping Lucy for a while before walking around the camp and scoping their surroundings for threats. On one side of the grassy plains there was a forest. On the other side was arid desert and in the distance, rocky mountain ranges with sparse vegetation.
Something buzzed on Zac's arm. Looking down, there was a blinking red light on his forearm. Touching it, a square transparent hologram appeared over his arm. It showed a topography map. On it, a golden arrowhead was pointing at a particular section with a number of other golden dots clustered around each other. This must be us. A dotted line showed their journey, ending in an X. Orienting himself, Zac saw that the map wanted him to walk into the mountain ranges.
Another buzz rang out and a side panel on the hologram blinked red. Pressing it, a video message popped up. It was the captain.
"Welcome to Planet X1147Y."
"This previously was an outpost that humanity used to collect vinabrutium, a precious metal used in the creation of your suits. The planet is now infested with riftwalker spawn. The X on your map is the location of this solar system's major mining facility for vinabrutium ore. Purifying vinabrutium needs specific conditions that only Planet X1147Y's environment naturally satisfies."
"Your first mission is to enter the depot and bring back some vinabrutium. Inside the facility is an emergency portal that is connected to the launch pad in the Citadel. Together you will have to find vinabrutium ore within the storage facility, produce 10kg of purified vinabrutium, start up the portal, and return. The Goddess will award you contribution points along the way based on your performance and fighting ability."
"There is a smaller mine that has already been cleaned out of vinabrutium, but should have a stash of batteries and defensive equipment that you can use in case you contact riftwalker spawn."
"Good luck recruits."
The video ended. On the map there was a new red dot that appeared on Zac's map. It was nearby. Looking at the scale, it was maybe 3km away.
Zac sighed. More instructions.
He looked around. This place seems so peaceful. What if I stay? He thought.
Ping. Another message. It was the captain again.
"Don't think of mutiny, we have trackers installed in your bodies. One whiff of insubordination and we will release poisonous contents, leaving you to die a horrible death."
"Should you survive 3 years of service, as part of an honourable discharge we will remove the tracker."
Zac's head dropped and he looked at his feet. The captain had impeccable timing as always.
He walked back to the others. Everyone had awakened and a pile of goop lay on the tall grass. The mood had lifted compared to when they were in the citadel. They had energy in their movements and were jumping, stretching, and testing the supports of their suits. Some talking, some smiling. They clearly weren't aware of the messages yet.
Zac ran through the crowd. People weren't avoiding him and he had to weave around them. He found the woman he was looking for. Lucy was awake. She was looking around, observing the world. He ran over to her.
"Lucy, thank the Goddess you're okay. After what the captain did to you, I was worried."
Lucy didn't turn around.
"Lucy?"
He tapped her shoulder. Nothing.
"Lucy!" Someone else called her name. Turning around Zac saw a girl walking over. Lucy had also immediately turned around and walked over to greet her.
“Elizabeth.”
Zac followed, frowning.
"Lucy, did you see the message?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes, I did. So much for peace. I was so happy when I woke up, but the moment I saw the captain's face I wanted to puke. All these memories came flooding back."
"Me too. What are we going to do?"
She pondered. "I don't want to go back, but this sounds like a dangerous planet. The Citadel might actually be a safer place than here. We get this ore and leave, as soon as possible. Erica, get everyone ready, we can't stay in one place for too long, especially without defences."
Zac stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders and tried to stop her from walking. "Hey Lucy, sorry, do you remember in the shower room? I helped you with your hair. What about when you were crying? Actually you might not remember because you were unconscious, I kissed you, aha sorry, ButItWasOnlyToGiveYouSomeAir you know... because you were drowning."
He nervously laughed, but Lucy looked right through him. She didn't respond to Zac's questions and kept walking straight, pushing into Zac. Zac pivoted as she brushed past and stared at her as she walked away.
He walked up to another person.
"Hey man, what's Lucy's deal?"
This man also didn't respond to him.
"Hello?" He walked right in front of the man and waved in front of his face. "I'm right in front of you. Hello! What's going onnnn?!" The man kept walking after Lucy, looking straight ahead, through Zac.
Zac ran in front of more people. Shaking them. Grabbing their faces and forcing them to look in his direction. Asking them questions. No one answered him. No one even registered his interactions.
What's going on?
"Am I invisible?!" He yelled out aloud to the world.
Apparently he was.