“You really going to drop something like that on him and then refuse to explain?” Elyria asked, some ten minutes later. The elf was as mad as Ronin had ever seen her, and for once, she was angry for him, instead of at him. It was a nice feeling if a little disconcerting. Though at the moment, Ronin was more focused on Leo than Elyria. Since, he really wanted to know what the older man was hiding from him, and if it had anything to do with… no, he didn’t want to think about them.
“Listen, I’ve already told you, now isn’t the time. I wouldn’t have said as much as I did if it wasn’t for the odd circumstances, we find ourselves in. Now, drop it already.” Leo said patiently, for the fifth time.
“Like hell I’m going to…” Elyria fired back, before she was interrupted by an anxious Doctor Mycroft who rushed through the library door, carrying her laptop in both hands, and being trailed by her nephew, Locke. Ronin was sure she had at least one of her abominations of thorned tentacles nearby as well, so he refused to look through the door they’d just entered.
“I’ve just got through to the damned too-smart machine, it wanted to talk to Ronin pretty badly. So, I rushed over.” The woman’s ample chest heaved as she fought for breath, Ronin not needing to look to feel the glare Elyria was already throwing his way, or the sympathetic look Leo cast him, followed with a sly wink that had Ronin’s cheeks glowing.
“Oh, knock it off you two,” Mycroft said with a snort. “You can ogle me later… or I guess now is fine too, but do it quietly, ok? The android is on the line.” Ronin held back a face palm at how ridiculously overconfident the red headed scientist was. Though, he supposed if he’d lived for over two hundred years, survived the fall, and who knew what hardships in between, he’d probably feel a little cocky too.
“My lord, would you like me to synthesize a sexual inhibitor for you? They have worked wonders on the military population in the valley.” The monotoned voice of Owl Two said through the laptop’s speakers, causing everyone in the room, apart from Ronin, to burst out laughing.
“No, thank you Owl Two.” Ronin said through gritted teeth. “What has you contacting me in such a hurry? And have you been messing with our dreams?” He added, wanting to know if it had been a real warning, or just his tired mind conjuring up new fears for him to worry about.
“If some software accidentally found its way into your crystalized body, designed to keep you focused on what’s important instead of wasting valuable time. I wouldn’t know anything about it, my lord.” Owl Two said, deadpan. Ronin couldn’t help but growl deep in his throat, but what else could he do? He’d long since realized he couldn’t control the android. Heck, if Mycroft and Leo were to be believed, then he might not actually be under Ronin’s command at all. A thought so terrifying he’d repressed it nearly as soon as he’d had it.
“I’m glad to hear that, Owl Two.” Ronin said, voice overly calm. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind telling us what’s so important?” Ronin didn’t miss the worried looks Mycroft and Leo shot each other at the android’s words, but he put it from his mind, knowing there wasn’t anything he could do about it anyway.
“I accessed the Doctor’s files when I connected to her computer, and on the walk over here I linked into the tablet I gave you and downloaded everything you’d been working on. I am pleased to see you have been working diligently since the last time we talked. Also, the number of resources you were able to gather between the two government ships is simply astounding. There is enough to get us off the ground. Now all you need to do is find a way to get the dropships down to the lizard’s ship. Since, we no longer have the time to ferry the equipment down through a tunnel.”
No one paid any attention to Doctor Mycroft as she spluttered in indignation at her computer files being hacked again. Everyone was too busy thinking about what Owl Two just said. Were the enemy really almost here? If so, then it was already too late for them to leave. A thought struck Ronin then and he locked eyes with the laptop.
“Owl Two, what are the lizards most likely to do once they arrive?” He asked, trying to get a better feel for the situation before voicing his concerns.
“If they follow standard operational procedures, they will first board the beetle ship in orbit and kill every living being. Then wipe the crystal matrix of all files, including the crystalized copies of the originally organic life forms. Then…”
“Wait,” Ronin said with a frown. He knew now wasn’t the time to get sidetracked, but something the android said had captured his attention. “You said copies of the originally organic life forms. That’s all of us, right?” He asked, indicating Leo, Locke and the Doctor. At Owl Two’s affirming ‘Yes,’ he continued. “Does that mean I’m not the original me? If I’m a copy, then what happened to my original self?” All kinds of thoughts were now whirling around in his head. Was he even human anymore, was he a living being, were there more copies of him running around inside other pocket worlds on the ship, completely ignorant of what was happening to him out here?
“The original Robert Jones is dead.” Owl Two said in his flat emotionless voice. “The crystallization process destroys the body while copying the memories and thought patterns that make an individual, an individual.” Owl Two said, going quiet after he answered the question. Elyria moved closer to Ronin, resting a hand on his shoulder while he delt with the revelation. He supposed he should have known this already, after all he knew the body was destroyed during the crystallization process. It just never occurred to him it would mean his original’s death.
“Don’t worry about it kid,” Leo said quietly. “It hits us all at some point, even though we thought we knew what crystallization meant. If it helps, the beetles and lizards did this to their entire race. Every one of them is loaded into a computer system somewhere. With the ability to have a new body grown at will. Virtually immortal, unless their file gets deleted… Oh, and don’t worry about multiple copies of yourself running around. The elders made that impossible, some kind of seal put on our digital souls when we got copied. I’m not saying it’s impossible, someone with enough knowledge could do it. But they’d have to do it before crystallization took place, for us humans who were saved through the standard crystallization pods. There will only ever be one copy of each of us.”
That both did and didn’t, make Ronin feel any better. He struggled to rein in his emotions, grappling with the idea he wasn’t actually himself. He was saved from having to continue his questioning by Doctor Mycroft, who got the conversation back on track.
“Ok, so they kill everyone on the colony ship, then what?” She asked, crossing her arms under her breasts. “Isn’t your copy on the ship, what will happen to it, and all the supplies its been gathering?” Her questions were a little antagonistic, but the android had been stealing her data.
“My Xerox will leave the colony ship in a drop ship filled with everything its been gathering for the escape attempt, as soon as the lizard’s own landing crafts make it onto the colony ship. As a cover, it will launch all the remaining drop pods on the ship simultaneously. That won’t bother the lizards overly much, because the drop ships are too short ranged to go anywhere other than this planet. Once they have cleared the ship of life, they will then send them down to capture the drop ships and kill everyone on board.”
“Why do everything in person?” Elyria asked, hand still resting on Ronin’s shoulder. “Why not just blow up the ship, and shoot the drop ships from orbit… and what about the humans in the caves?” It was actually Leo who answered this question.
“They were created by the elder race to secure and prepare new homes for them. It would have been counter-productive to allow them to destroy the worlds with nuclear or biochemical weaponry. Both lizard and beetle ships are well defended, giving them the opportunity to run should they be attacked, but not armed at all. Except the Beetle’s AI sabotaged the engines when we captured it, so we can’t leave that way… As for the humans, they’ll know they are there by now. Between radio waves and the teleportation pads in several of the larger cave systems. Their troops will ferret them out and kill them.”
“That’s why it is so imperative you get to the ship soon. My Xerox will only be able to evade them for so long, we have to get down to the ship. As it stands, we won’t be able to leave before they find us. We will be forced to engage the lizards in the tunnels, while we buy time for the repairs to take place. I have a comprehensive idea of the damage; thanks to the ten years I spent studying the ship in my lord’s pocket world. We have a guide to follow, but the repairs are still going to take time.”
“What about our four ships here?” Ronin asked, finally able to drag himself back to the conversation. He wasn’t done grieving for himself yet, but he could hold it together long enough to help save his pocket world, and the few humans they’d managed to gather. “They have all the resources we’ve gathered so far, and the suits, two full growth vats we could use to create new bodies for more soldiers. Not to mention the SWAT troops we captured. There are seven more bodies there between my and Leo’s teams. If we leave them on the surface they could be targeted before we even find the Ship.”
“I’ve already considered that, my lord,” Owl Two said from the laptop speaker. “Take yourselves and the equipment you can carry into the mine. I’ve reworked the software on a few of the doctor’s drones to help map out the tunnels on your tablet…”
“You did what to my drones?” Doctor Mycroft screeched, though for all the good it did her she might as well have remained silent as the android continued to talk over her.
“It isn’t as good as your mini map function in the pocket world, I’m afraid. However, you should be able to save a lot of time by mapping out the best routes as you go further down. While you do that, I’ll take control of the ships and land them in the nearby lake. Scans show it’s very deep, so hiding them underwater should keep them out of sight, for a time at least. You will have to hook up the crystallization pod on your end and leave the injured lionids in the ship to help send through the prisoners. I’ll replace them with trustworthy people, before bringing the lionids through so I can work on their injuries.”
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“Right, their injuries…” Elyria said meaningfully, “I’m sure mentioning them, has nothing to do with adding their genetic line to your breeding programs?” A comment Ronin wished she’d kept to herself, because it had Leo and Mycroft looking either interested or annoyed.
“Lady Elyria,” Owl Two said in as sincere a tone as he was capable of, that being none. “I assure you I no longer have to do any breeding programs at all. In the past ten years, with the help of the lizard technology I recovered from their ship, I’ve set up an entire laboratory filled with embryonic tanks where I do all my experimenting now. In fact, apart from the military who are required to use sexual inhibitors to maintain proper military discipline, everyone is free to mate with, or marry whomever they choose. The syndicate has become quite a melting pot in recent years. I think you might be surprised at just how easily love can bloom between two separate races when given the chance. Then again, perhaps you wouldn’t be.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” The elf said, snatching her hand away from Ronin’s shoulder as if she’d been burned. That got dry chuckles from the older pair in the room. Ronin even squeezed out a small grin through the emotional turmoil he was still dealing with. He clutched the goat hide cloak in his hands, using it as a reminder of far happier days when he was still ignorant of just how big the world was.
“And the growth vats?” He asked, taking a deep breath. “Will you be able to access them while the ships are hidden?”
“Of course,” Owl Two said. “I will have my initial batch of transfers to the government bodies start them printing. I plan to use the formula Mycroft came up with, along with the plans I’ve stolen from the human government to make them as strong as possible. It will more than double the time it takes them to grow, but I believe it will be worth the added time investment. While they grow, the team will be fixing the armored suits and fabricating armor and weapons for the new batch of troops. Now… can you please quit asking questions and get moving my lord? I’ve forwarded a list of instructions to your tablet and this laptop. I am signing off now, please don’t stall any further. We can’t afford any more delays.”
“I really hate that program.” Doctor Mycroft said the second the line switched off. “It’s unnatural, shouldn’t exist. I even tried finding a path to it, but it’s like it was everywhere at once. Small parts of it were everywhere inside the ship. As for the Xerox copy of that thing? That shouldn’t be possible either. Living beings can’t be copied like that. It’s against the elder race’s rules… I mean I guess technically it isn’t alive, but it’s so smart that… gah, I hate that program.” She continued to curse and rant for nearly a minute before she calmed down enough for the four of them to continue the conversation.
“…then we are in agreement.” Leo said some twenty minutes later. “We’ll do as the android suggests and get into the mine ASAP. The list he left us is easy enough to accomplish too. Besides, I agree with most of the gear it wants us to bring with us. Let’s call everyone back now. We should be able to move within six hours if we start now.” Everyone nodded, and the meeting split up. Ronin, getting on the comms with K3 and Karr right after he left the library, told them what they would need to do. The fire was lit under them now, it was time to finally find the ship.
* * *
Seven hours later, they stood outside the recently barricaded entrance to the old mine. They’d missed their original estimate by an hour, thanks to Jackson. The gangster had dropped the gatling gun some fifty feet from the ground on the way down. Ronin didn’t think he had a choice but to repair the weapon. Since they would need it in the days to come. It hadn’t taken too long to fix after he’d printed the part, and by the time he’d reached the mine, everyone was gathered.
“We tore off the metal doors they installed pre fall and sent the drones in while we waited,” K3 said at Ronin’s approach. “Stone, whisper, and Dandelion already went down. They’ll scout the path ahead for us and let us know if there are any problems. You good to go, boss?”
Ronin took that opportunity to check his gear loadout. A gallon of enhanced nutrient fluid, a bag full of large crystal cores, his normal bag of campaign gear. He also carried his PCP 1.0 and PCP .25, both rifle and sidearm versions as his personal gear. In addition, Ronin had a huge crate strapped to his back as well. It contained a portable fabrication unit, and a decent chunk of raw materials for its use. Having secured his own gear, Ronin did a quick scan of those around him.
Leo and Doctor Mycroft sat on the back of Leo’s personal gryphon. Where the others only had colors, this one had a name, she was called Alice and wore a white collar. Locke shared the red collared gryphon with the only unnamed lionid woman and Gnash rode on the blue collared gryphon Leo had lent Ronin. That only left the green collared gryphon alive after the SWAT battle, and it was loaded down with gear. Ronin shook his head at just how depleted Leo’s pride had gotten after that one battle where the odds were stacked against him, only two of his pride survived intact. As for the tentacle beasts with their pulsating fluid sacs in a rainbow of nightmare fuel colors… Ronin definitely didn’t see the four of them hulking behind the Doctor’s gryphon. Nope, he sure didn’t.
That only left his own people. Himself, K3 and Elyria. Then there was Stone and Whisper, already down in the mine. After that was sergeant Karr, and his remaining people. Ronin had finally learned all their names, they were Jack, Jaya, Zak, Lori, Scott, and Greg. Ronin had four of the Exo-suits they’d gotten from the color force working. Along with the second armor suit that Jaya was driving. That only Left Karr and Jack without a suit. Ronin smirked when he remembered overhearing Jack complaining he’d gotten overlooked because of the comment he’d made. Karr had heard him too, and the number of laps the man had been forced to run bringing bodies to the ship was almost too comically painful to watch.
Next was Jackson and Knuckles, both decked out in chitin armor to make them look like everyone else. Scar hadn’t made it through the battle with Leo, so they were the only survivors. Each was armed with a PCP .25 and a matching pair of bad attitudes. Where Jackson was vocal and angry, Knuckles had gotten quiet and sullen. Apparently, the older man had been something of a mentor to him and he hadn’t taken the news of Scar’s death well. They were little better than humans, Ronin felt a little disgusted with himself for even having that thought, but they were a pair of hands to hold a weapon, and they needed those.
Last were the members of Yokai team 01. K6 and K12, the two kaldarr. O17 or Tank, the Oni. Liana and Vaira, two of the bugbear girls he’d taken from Lily and the final member who was scouting, Dandelion. The first child refugee he’d knowingly taken into his service. Ronin hadn’t spent much time with the yokai team since they’d arrived, but he had a good impression of them, and had still managed to get in the odd card game or conversation, since they’d come on board. The kids were wonderful soldiers; laughed and joked with each other in their off time, obeyed orders without question, and had an all-around positive attitude. Ronin hoped he wasn’t leading them to their deaths, but even if he did, he knew they would follow him there willingly. He didn’t like Owl Two’s methods, but he could never argue with the results.
“I’m all set.” He said at last, turning back to K3. “We have a direction?” He’d originally thought to just get a map of the mine from pre fall times, but the government had sealed them. Whatever they’d found down here had been important enough for them to hide everything about the mine. Ronin was sure some of the mining town’s members still had maps drawn up in their homes, but if so, they had likely long rotted away. So, they would just have to do it the old-fashioned way, by trial and error.
“Yea, we should be good to go for a while. Those drones of the Docs are really fast, we’ll likely be the ones slowing them down, and not the other way around.” Ronin nodded, glad to hear that.
“Alright then, sergeant Karr? You’re in charge of the march.” He said, having already talked to Leo and K3 about it before he offered Karr the leadership role. Ronin had learned so much watching the man work that he didn’t want to let go of another opportunity, even if it was just seeing how he maneuvered the group through the tunnels.
“Yes sir.” Karr said with a salute, before turning to the unit at large. “Yokai team 01, you take the lead. Jack, K3, Knuckles and Jackson, you’re next. Then I want the gryphons followed by the four Exo-suits. My lord, you and Jaya take up the rear please. Elyria can move around as a roaming supporter, assuming there is enough room for her to fly. Ok people let’s go.” Just like that, they were marching.
Ronin’s mind wandered as they moved through the ancient mine. Back to his first day in his pocket world, where he killed an innocent goblin woman in his world’s version of this very place. His first day of real life, since he was finding it harder and harder to recognize the man he had once been. The man he never was, only shared memories with, since Robert Jones had actually died that day.
He’d died, playing the hero. Going after three armed thieves with his father’s old pistol. In a way, it was fitting. At least his miserable life had ended on a heroic note. Of course, that also meant Ronin’s life had started with him stealing everything from his home cave, including the identity of the man who was supposed to be crystalized. His macabre musings were cut short when he heard a crunch beneath his suit’s boots.
Looking down, Ronin found the withered corpse he’d just stepped on. It was long dead, but thanks to the lack of fungus or insect life, and the sun’s absence, it had only dried out, but not decayed much beyond that. Ronin looked down at the body, leaning against a support pillar, and his mind went blank.
How could this be happening? The worlds were different, this wasn’t the goblin woman. Still, it looked so small and frail, having had all the moisture dried from it over the centuries. Ronin crouched down, cradling the crushed corpse to his chest. He didn’t cry, no, he’d shed far too many tears for a past filled with mistakes.
Instead, he bowed his head over the body, and sent his thoughts out into the vast reaches of the universe. He’d read books on God pre fall, much like everything else he’d read, without the context it was difficult to tell reality from fiction. Still, at that moment, he desperately hoped someone out there was listening.
“I’m going to let the past go here.” He said aloud, looking down at the body that was so withered he couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman. “I can’t change my mistakes, but I can work to correct them. I don’t know if anyone is listening, but if you are, please help give me the strength to shoulder the burden I’ve been forced to carry.” Still crouched, Ronin reached out and gently laid the corpse against the tunnel wall. When he looked up, he wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not.
“I’m listening, White Flame.” Elyria said, standing over his crouching form, with her hand resting lightly on his suit’s shoulder. The image of Owl Five doing the same thing, so long ago overlayed the elf, before she spoke again. “And you don’t have to carry the burden alone. I’m with you now. From now until the end. I’ll help you carry your burdens. Just like you’ve unknowingly helped me carry mine.”
The pair stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, which seemed to last for an eternity. Ronin wasn’t sure what Elyria saw when she stared at him, but when he looked at her, he saw hope. Hope that, this time, he would get it right.
The moment was broken when the hulking form of Jaya shifted her position beside him. Ronin blinked, clearing his throat, and climbed back to his feet. He probably should have been embarrassed, but for some reason, in that moment he could only feel contented for the first time he could remember in ages.
“Thank you.” Was all he said to the now blushing elf, the one word causing the tips of her ears to go red as well, but she only nodded. Feeling, he hoped at least, as contented in that moment as he did. “Thanks for waiting for me Jaya,” he said, turning to his mute companion. “Come on, let’s catch up with the others.”