{Earth}

Anxiety riddled Pablo. Something felt terribly wrong since the foreboding mention of Imminent. As if they could summon the ghostly entity from the ether to wreak havoc on their sanctums. But as a physician, he couldn’t help but notice Sagan’s growing fatigue with each transport. He kept quiet and let her go at her own pace.

Meanwhile, he hugged everyone. It helped. He even took a sample from Jack. Sure, the gargantuan blood diluted in his system if not completely neutralized, but it made for interesting research. The symptoms and effects reminded Pablo of a project Lynn mentioned, and it bothered him.

A pang hit him in the chest. Just an anxiety attack, surely. They weren’t uncommon since the invasion.

“Ready to go?” Sagan made her way over to him while rubbing her temples.

Pablo wanted nothing more but… “Do you need to rest? Let me look at your vitals.”

Her pretty smile reminded him of their younger days. “Doc, I got this. Let’s get you to your girl.”

“Don’t forget the pit stop,” Kyle called from behind.

“How could I? I’ve got a thing for shackled Icari.” Sagan’s grin held a secret.

Pablo and Kyle exchanged a look before they transitioned through the Seam.

The observatory looked the same since the last time Pablo visited. Cypher stood from one of the many leather chairs and nodded to the arrivals. “Hassle free, Story Taker.”

“Thanks for the report. At ease.” Kyle took another hit before turning around as if he needed it.

A woman waited behind them with crazy features and what a smile. Her unusual attributes agitated Pablo’s hereditary studies brain. “Wow. I’m Dr. Suarez, and I’m very pleased to meet you, Silence.” He held out his hand and waited.

The woman with a blue stripe in her hair looked at it before holding up both her hands, cupped. She bowed over them.

Pablo smiled and bowed at the neck.

Sagan trailed her fingers over Kyle’s desk. Softly, she commented, “You haven’t read it.”

“And I won’t.” Couldn’t miss the “end of discussion” finality of his tone.

Her eyes flashed before she skipped back over. “Right. Everybody ready?”

“See ya after a bit, Cypher.” Kyle toasted him with his joint as they transported once more.

Into a war zone.

And Pablo fought on a proper battlefield. He knew what one looked like. The small stretch of grassy cliff between the Ecology’s entrance and the Arsenal’s conduit lit up with bizarre weaponry and screams.

“Get down!” Sagan shouted as she Seamswalked them out of danger.

Pablo immediately hauled up and took off. They called after him, but he couldn’t hear anything. Only his heart beat wildly in his chest.

Never endanger this. Never risk yourself without me. Never leave without coming back.

“Lynn!” He broke the line and dropped for cover. “Lynn!”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Someone fired a bizarre cannon over his head. It dispersed an electrical discharge into the pre-dawn night.

“God damn it, Doc!” Kyle slid through the dirt and stopped beside him. “Don’t take off like that again.”

Across the way, Sagan cried out Lynn’s name. Her voice changed location occasionally as she Seamswalked around.

Silence glided, gracefully, into the fray. Slow. Sure. An assailant attacked the Icarean female. She wrenched the rifle from his grip and smashed his face in with it. Teeth fell from his gums, soaked in blood. In a blur, she pounced on another opponent. He screamed until he fell… silent.

“Do you think that’s how she came by the name?” Pablo asked Kyle.

Surprisingly, he found the normally laid back Progeny straining to monitor her. “I don’t know. The way she moves… it’s familiar—”

“Dr. Suarez!”

Twenty-One.

He bolted toward the Icarus. This time he was smarter about keeping close to the ground.

Sagan appeared at the cliff, waving him over. “I found them!” Before he took another step, the Seamswalker popped him to the scene. They both hit the dirt.

“It’s been a hell of a night, Dr. Suarez.” Twenty-One lay on the rocky edge of the cliff beside his warden. He wielded another strange rifle, prepared to aim at trouble. The Icarus was protecting Lynn.

In the light of the rising sun, her normally dark skin paled to Pablo’s shade of medium brown. The pupils of those beautiful brown eyes blown wide open. She was breathing too fast as she searched his face uncertainly.

“Baby, let me check your vitals.” Clammy skin. Rapid pulse. She couldn’t focus. “Lynn, I don’t know how, but you’re in shock.”

“Here.” Sagan pulled her sweater over her head, revealing a white a bra he tried not to notice. “Will this help?”

“Yes. Thanks.” Such was Lynn’s state, that Pablo pulled the sweater over her head, and her hands through the sleeves with no reaction from her. He kissed her hair. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out—”

“It was me. It was me…” Lynn muttered.

He exchanged a worried glance with Sagan, who shrugged, shirtless.

Twenty-One explained, “The enemy played some kind of mind trick. It left us all quite disturbed.” He even shuddered.

Pablo lay next to his wife, curling against her for added warmth. “I’ve got you, baby.”

Sagan stared in the Ecology’s direction. “Do you see Silence? She’s moves like…”

The fierce warrior decimated her opponents in a fight of agility and raw strength. The woman had plenty in spades.

“Like a Valkyrie.” Kyle nonchalantly walked over to them. “She reminds me of Para, Karter, and the rest.”

Three assailants tried to retreat across the plain. Silence tied them together, linking them with their broken arms. With a single blow to their throats, they fell unconscious to the ground.

Kyle announced, “I think it’s safe to head over.”

“Where’s Smith?” Pablo asked while coaxing Lynn to stand.

Twenty-One kept the weapon at the ready. “He went for reinforcements.”

Sagan hopped up. “I’ll go find him—” She screamed.

They all screamed. A bright white light, not unlike Rayne’s ability, blanketed the cliff. Lynn’s shrieks broke, and she trembled against Pablo in terror.

“No, no, no, no! Not again!” She cried into the void.

His Lynn. Terrified.

Silence stood beside them. Sagan apparently Seamswalked them to the Ecology entrance. Before they ran inside, the light dissipated.

In the quiet of its wake, Silence whispered with steely eyes lit in reverence, “Inanis.”

“What the fuck is Inanis?” Kyle asked, scanning their surroundings.

Sagan rubbed tears from her eyes. “What the hell just happened?”

“We need to get inside,” Smith called from the conduit to the arsenal. He approached Twenty-One cautiously. “Hand it over.”

Twenty-One handed the gun to the human slowly. Once finished, he clasped the back of his head with both hands. Unarmed. Harmless. Honestly, kind of a hero.

Once inside the Ecology entryway, everyone’s body released an enormous sigh of relief. Home. Safe under the sign of Iona.

Pablo chafed Lynn’s arms. She quit muttering repetitively. But her silence concerned him. He whispered against her hair, “I’m here for you. I won’t go anywhere.” To Smith, he asked, “What happened?”

Smith looked Silence once over and almost did the same to Sagan, but stopped himself. Clearing his throat, he explained, “It’s hard to answer that question. Everything went sideways. Fast. But weird shit happened like the light. And…”

“Me,” Lynn muttered.

“There’s no body, Lynn. I already checked,” Smith announced.

“She didn’t imagine it,” Twenty-One reassured. “She was here.”

Kyle pressed his palms out. “Whoa. Whoa. Somebody please explain. I’ve had way too much pot for this guessing game shit.”

Lynn finally focused on Pablo. And even though he smiled for her, she still looked terrified. “A woman that was me… another Lynn… came. And I killed her.”

“Inanis.”

Everyone turned and looked at Silence, who smiled beautifully as if she said something helpful.

Kyle actually snuffed his joint out on the palm of his hand. “Okay. I’ll take the bait. What’s Inanis?”

“In the void, you will know yourself. Within Inanis is us.”