PARALLAX - SILAS

"You mind chiming in to let me know what's going on down there?"

Parallax skids to a halt in the middle of running over toward the incline where Silas and Razor just dropped out of sight. She dismisses her mask, panting.

"Nothing." She reaches out to grab her staff as it comes spinning back to her while she catches her breath. "It's all under control."

"That's what I thought," Artifice says over the comms. "Until you started burning yourself at both ends."

"You're being dramatic."

"Am I? It requires tremendous strength and focus to maintain so many illusions convincingly. Not to mention the toll on your Nanobit reserves."

"My Nanobits are fine," Parallax says, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. "And I'm more than capable of of doing this. Don't worry about me."

"The question isn't whether you can. It's whether you should. We're smack in the middle of a Sector Nine desert. Where are they supposed to go?"

For Parallax, it's not so simple. The faster she can capture her quarry, and take charge of the situation, the better. Or so it feels, in the heat of this moment. In the midst of her anger and grief.

That's why Artifice is perplexed by this. She already thought it was weird that Parallax wanted to fight Silas head-on. Let alone fighting the two Biodroids at the same time, expending all her resources as she does so, chasing after them with seemingly reckless abandon.

"Let's regroup," Artifice says over the comms. "Board my ship. We can reassess from there. Set up a new point of contact, on our terms."

"What do you mean, 'point of contact'? They're- they're right there!"

"Pace yourself, Parallax. The situation is still evolving. Did you know Razor was going to turn on us? Because I sure didn't."

A pit opens up, somewhere in the bottom of Parallax's stomach. There's something about hearing someone else say it. Affirming that it's real.

This has to end now. The sooner the better.

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"Also, this just happened. There's a vehicle headed this way, at a southeast trajectory. It's moving at a pretty fast clip. I think it's...oh."

"Oh?"

Not exactly normal. Artifice usually isn't at a loss for words.

The moment hangs, nothing but silence over the comms.

"...Artifice?"

A flash. Somewhere in the distance to the West. A white beam of light, moving at great speed, descending from the stratosphere, drawing downward in a straight line.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

*****

It seems silly now, thinking I could set aside my feelings for the sake of 'posterity', and the greater good.

It was different when I looked at him and saw 'Ethan'. That's what I do, I project. Trapped in a strange, traumatic circumstance, stuck behind glass, submerged in fluid, I see a girl, and I think, 'my sister'.

Only, it's not. In an unfamiliar place, I seek the familiar. And I find it.

This Biodroid. The other one--Parallax--called him Razor. That's his real name.

Maybe it's nerves, or adrenaline from the fight, but when I look at him, all I see is the girl he killed, falling to pieces in front of me. Things coming undone that can't be put together again. And what am I supposed to do about it? Something has to happen. There has to be some recompense.

He eyes me. Wary, but not afraid. He has the hard eyes of someone who's risked his life more times than he can count. Gauging his options, like a cornered animal who's so far managed to maintain their calm. Just another thing to set him apart from Ethan, despite looking exactly like him--Ethan was a people-pleaser, a chronic conflict-avoider. When I got into a fight with those kids in school over my dad, Ethan was nowhere to be found. He'd vanished, though I seem to remember him standing right next to me just moments before the altercation occurred.

Meanwhile, this guy literally put his life on the line for me. He protected me. And not just to save his own skin. If all he cared about was his life, he would have sided against me rather than being my shield.

I don't know why. And I can't seem to convince myself that it means anything. And I'm kicking myself at the same time, because what the hell is wrong with me? I literally asked for this, fought for this, and thank God it worked.

There's no time for this. Not now. Later, I can-

Something's wrong. I no longer have Razor's attention. His focus has shifted completely. His eyes are looking to the distance, beyond me.

Oh, sure. 'There's something behind you.' Oldest trick in the book.

Only, I can't help but sense his genuine concern.

"Um," he says. "Silas..."

That's when it hits me. An ominous feeling of...wrongness. Suddenly, everything's gone quiet--no hum from the Biodroid airship, or chitters and scuffling from the exploding beetles tracking us through the sand. Suddenly, the air is strangely cool, and eerily still.

A warning box appears in the middle of my HUD, outer edges red and blinking, with big, bold lettering in the middle.

SERAPHIM INCURSION DETECTED.

INCURSION GRADE: FIVE.

POTENTIAL NUCLEAR-LEVEL THREAT.

THREAT ASSESSMENT: DO NOT ENGAGE. SEEK SHELTER. AVOID DETECTION IF POSSIBLE.

DO NOT ENGAGE.

DO NOT-

A blur of movement.

A shock of pain in my head and neck.

My vision blurs. Fractures.

Goes dark.