MILO

“I am telling you, the video feed has not been tampered with. It cannot have been,” Diego said, leaning back on the mess hall’s bench with a food bar in his hand.

Milo gulped down the coffee from his mug. “Worst case scenario: Saif is able to learn or steal other people’s powers. He was the first one to manifest and we have not really been given the opportunity to study his power. We cannot ascertain if he can absorb or if he cannot. Which means he will keep growing stronger. We need to end this. Now rather than later. Before he is too powerful.”

“One all-in-attack to slice off the snake’s head. Everyone he has seeded will stop in their tracks and start to wonder,” Sam said.

Claire, who had calmed down since her ptsd outburst, poured more coffee into Milo’s mug. “There are four of us. Saif has virtually all of humanity behind him, just look at how they worship him! His empire is vast and strong. What can we possibly do?”

“We need Beth and Tern, and the Celeste clan behind us. Then we can punch through their defenses,” Milo said. “I will burn Saif’s influence away like last time and give Beth the opening to punch his face in.”

“What if it doesn’t work? He is learning new powers. What if he is able to resist you?” Sam asked.

“Then we figure something out. We are clever people and the last hope for mankind to be rid of him. We cannot give up now, we have surrendered and sacrificed too much.” Milo looked down, avoiding eye contact. “Sam, we need Beth. I know how you feel about her and Birgitta and Leo. And Tern. But we need them. Our crew, our family needs to be together.”

Sam grunted.

“I am on your side, Milo,” Diego said. “But how do we find them?”

“Space is big,” Claire added, resting her head on Diego’s shoulder.

“We reconfigure our sensor array to be able to send a message to Tern’s mental connection with Beth directly. I think I can do it. During our last longer voyage, I spent time with Tern and Beth, we built modules. I studied the bond they shared and made some experiments. It can be done,” Milo said. “I need my tools, some time and lots of coffee. And Claire, too.”

“Me?” Claire said.

Milo stood up. “Yes, your skills in material science and welding. We need to boost the sensor array to be able to throw the biggest and widest net in the galaxy.”

“Now?” Claire said.

“The board is set and the pieces are aching to be put into play. Our goal is on the horizon and if we want to reach it, we cannot linger, we cannot stay still. I will swing by Birgitta’s old lab, then meet you in your workshop,” Milo said.

Sam stepped up. “You are speaking like a battle commander. What do you want me and Diego to do?”

“Prepare for war. Upgrade and reinforce your rig and the ship. We cannot have the Final Sight fail us,” Milo said.

“I can do that,” Sam said, holding up his mug. “To the end.”

Milo raised his empty mug with Claire and Diego. “To the end!”

-

Milo had been correct. Tern and Beth had left all their projects in Birgitta’s lab. Finished and unfinished, it didn’t matter. Every piece of hardware and software were neatly categorized. Even his own little experiments had been archived in their stacks. He found the box of equipment he sought after and left for Claire’s workshop.

As always Claire’s door was open already and the sounds of her working, tools clinking together and power tools spinning up.

He placed the box on Claire’s workbench and lifted up the jumble of circuit boards and wiring, and even the makeshift antenna he had built.

“Not that impressive looking. All of mankind is leveraged on this project of yours,” Claire said.

“It will work,” Milo said. “I need you to help me connect it to the sensor array. To make them interact with each other. I guess it needs some protective casing if we are going to weld it onto the array outside.”

Claire nodded. “I will fix that. You need it to be electrically insulated, I guess? And radiation proof?”

“Of course.” Milo smiled.

Milo pulled up the schematics on Claire’s work display, which hung above the workbench and was almost as big as the bridge’s main view screen, and started to rebuild and enhance the needed components.

“You didn’t tell him. Why is that?” Claire said, working on the other side of the wide bench. A proper workbench had enough room for two workers and all their tools and hardware.

“About what?” Milo asked.

“You know. That your lightning doesn’t work. You will have to tell him,” Claire said. “He used to train you, maybe he can solve it.”

“I doubt that,” Milo said. “But you are probably right, I should tell him. But not right now.”

Claire nodded. “It’s so great that you are back. The influence you have on the Capt’n is astonishing. He has been so much nicer and friendlier since you returned, and he had said more words in these last hours than he had done the last couple of months after the last battle against The Breach.”

Milo inputted the circuit board he wanted to the printer, which wound up and started outputting the design. “He gets quiet sometimes. He has always done that.”

“This was not the same. He went on a killing spree. A rampage towards everyone that helped Saif’s cause in any way. No matter the injuries or risks towards him or us, he wanted to cripple Saif’s great machinery of war.” Claire shook her head. “Me and Diego, we have been afraid of him. We still are. And there is nowhere for us to escape to. In hindsight, it would have been better for us to have run away with Beth, Tern, Birgitta and Leo when they jumped ship. We hesitated, thus we were caught here. Well, in double hindsight, it was good that we stayed. Since, without me in the right place and at the right time, you would still be trapped in that circuit board.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Milo watched and listened to the printer as it worked.

“And the cybernetic augmentations and implants that Diego has done for him and to him. It’s like they have made him even meaner and more violent. He looks more dangerous, he looks like a cyborg. A killer cyborg hellbent on murdering,” Claire said.

The printer finished the first part of nine. Milo inputted the next piece.

“You want me to fix him?” Milo asked. “I don’t know how to fix people.”

Claire sighed. “There is no fixing him. After his change, he has one purpose left. To kill. But with you back and here with us, you will act as a buffer between him and us. Maybe he will not lash out at us or put the ship in unnecessary risk again. Just think about what we can do.”

“Lash out at you?” Milo hesitated. “It has been so bad? You have really been afraid of your lives.”

“Didn’t you not hear what I said?” Claire said, she rolled up her sleeve and showed a scar that went along her shoulder and arm. “I told him to calm down, maybe with a bit too much energy put into it. He hit me. My shoulder dislocated and the bone shattered. Diego fixed me back up.”

“Sorry, I just couldn’t believe it,” Milo said. “Sam has been my best friend for a long time. I can see that he sometimes grows more violent. But he would never lash out at his crew or put his crew, his family in unnecessary risks.”

Claire stared at him. “Start seeing it. This is how it has been for us. For weeks on end.”

“Fuck,” Milo said, removing the second print and started the third.

“Fuck, indeed,” Claire said.

Silence took the place of their conversation and it was for the better, because it gave Milo time to think through what Claire had told him. Of what Sam had become and how he had behaved. But Milo also knew that when Sam made up his mind on something, there was nothing in the world stopping or changing him.

The eight print finished and Milo started the ninth, the last one. After that he would have to assemble the pieces and fit them inside Claire’s insulated container. Test it. And then weld it to the sensor array. Test it again. Then transmit the message.

-

Assembling the components of the box was easily done and finished in under twenty minutes. Milo stepped into a vacuum suit, grabbed his equipment and the box before going out the airlock. Claire followed with him.

“So what should we do about him?” Claire asked.

Milo came up to the antenna and chose the placement for the box. “I don’t know. When Sam’s mind has been made up, it has been made up. He does whatever he wants.”

“I know. But he is hellbent of killing the entire world to cripple Saif. Is that really worth it? Is that the ideology we should strive for? If yes, what then separates us from Saif himself?”

Milo held the box in place so Claire was able to weld in place. “That is not true.”

“We could compare body counts if you like. We have managed to kill civilians, especially Sam has managed to kill civilians in our wake. As we have opposed Saif, innocent people have been caught in the crossfire. And he keeps rambling on about how ‘dead is dead’,” Claire said. “He has turned into a killing-frenzied cyborg.”

The weld was finished and Milo started connecting the assortment of cables between the box and antenna. An access hub provided the access he needed. Power supply. Network.

“I don’t like the way you talk about me friend,” Milo said.

“I am pretty sure he is no one’s friend anymore. Killing-frenzied cyborg,” Claire said.

Milo connected the last cable and the box came online with a distinct click. “Power and network. Let’s get back inside and wait. Hopefully the ping is answered.”

The whole crew was gathered in the bridge as they arrived. It was quiet, there might have been an argument between Sam and Diego. They were turned away from each other and Diego held a stern face.

“Diego, put the box’s sensor data on the main,” Milo said. “Like I showed you.”

A new window flowed onto the main view screen.

“The left side of this window represents the request we are sending to Tern and the right side is his response. Or anybody’s response, since we can only do minor encryption if we want Tern to be able to understand it. Since we don’t know the omf’s and Tern’s encryption protocols, we have not made any arrangements beforehand or swapped keys with each other,” Milo said.

“How long?” Sam grunted.

“Any moment now. Even lightspeed communication needs some time to cross the emptiness of space,” Milo said.

Diego leaned back, Claire came to his seat and kissed him on the forehead.

It was so clear. Sam on one end of the bridge and Diego and Claire on the other. The crew was divided, and the rift between them deep. Maybe Claire was telling the truth, how she and Doc just wanted to get out, but there was no way to go.

Milo turned to Sam. A giant of a man. But the cybernetic implants and augmentations that Diego had added to him made him look more of a cyborg than a human. A giant of a cyborg. His organs would be reinforced, to be protected against violence. There was armor plating over his skin, across his entire body with few exceptions where the joints needed space to be able to allow proper movement. His arms had signs of the embedded weaponry and the mountings for heavier weapons on top, like that acid shotgun of his. He could probably click on the weapons from his combat suit directly onto himself. He was a man turned into a combat suit. Claire was right, Sam had changed.

“We have something!” Diego said, interrupting Milo’s thoughts and breaking the silence in the bridge.

A stream of random numbers and letters flowed into the display’s right side.

“It’s a response. But why is it looking so weird? And from whom? If our request arrived to Tern, why would he respond with this string of random data?” Milo said.

“Goddamnit,” Sam said. “Okay, you have tried and failed. Let’s continue on the mission. We don’t need Elizabeth and her clan to fight back Saif. An infiltration mission works better if fewer parties are involved anyway. Doc, set the destination. Earth.”

“Earth? Are you stupid? And she wants to be called Beth, not Elizabeth. Is it really that difficult for you to remember?” Milo blurted out.

Sam stepped up, his anger was clear. “My ship, my command, my orders, my missions.”

Milo noticed his hands, they were twitching, as if they were pulling at weapon triggers.

“What do you say?” Sam asked.

Milo stepped back. “We need time to translate the response. There might be useful data in it given the right perspective. We need time.”

“Like you said. We don’t have time to sit still. Saif is growing stronger by the hour, gaining power after power. We have to go for his throat while we still can,” Sam said.

Milo sighed, there was some merit to what Sam said, but he hesitated. “What is your great plan? A one-man assault on Earth?”

“Me and a nuke. I just need to get close enough. If his body is incinerated completely, he cannot heal himself,” Sam said. “His last known location is Earth, New York, as that video feed showed. We can pick up his trail when we arrive. He has created a religion around himself, in their eyes he is God. Finding him shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“You and nukes. Earth has a lot of innocent people, New York especially. You cannot detonate a nuke there,” Claire said.

Diego turned around. “Capt’n, millions would die. We cannot do that.”

“But the remaining billions would be free from his goddamn control. Mission successful,” Sam grunted. “A sacrifice for the greater good.”

“You sound just like him,” Milo said, remembering his conversation with Claire. “Those words might as well be coming from Saif’s mouth.”

Sam raised his right arm, a hatch slid away and revealed a spinning, circular saw blade underneath, it was ready to be ejected.

Milo paused. “What are you doing?”

“Set the course, Doc,” Sam said. “Claire, scramble some reactive material from the core. Give me one last nuke and all this will be over with.”

“Don’t do this, Sam. Please,” Milo said.

“Be quiet and follow orders. I will end Saif’s control,” Sam said.