Allison hopped up the liquid metal ladder and climbed into her starfighter’s cockpit. She hugged the control console and squealed with teenage delight.

“I’m so glad to be home.”

Bit seemed happy, or at least her voice did.

“Did you find any answers in the Temple? How is your project coming along?”

Allison’s pale hands danced over the holo-controls for the fighter doing a system’s check and preparing for takeoff.

“Just more questions. I cannot wait to get home. I got the project handled though, got plenty of images of the art. There must be millions of carvings in there. I wonder if anyone’s catalogued them all.”

Bit didn’t answer immediately, she did a few moments later.

“No, there is no full catalogue of images. It would appear some of the walls shift revealing extra carvings as time goes on. Strange. Did you see anything that would indicate she is manipulating us?”

Allison made a face and got herself cleared for take off by space control. Once she got clearance she lifted off and started a slow flight to the city of light.

“No. Everything that happened to us was because of the choices we made. It is as simple as that. A priestess asked me a question when I asked her about it: Two meteorites are going to collide with two planets. You have one defense missile. Which statement is true? Planet one is destroyed, Planet 2 is destroyed, or Both Planets are Destroyed, Both Planets survive.”

Bit sounded annoyed.

“What a nonsensical question.”

Allison nodded.

“That is exactly what I thought. She told me the correct statement is, both planets are destroyed and both planets survive.”

“That makes no logical sense.”

Allison nodded again.

“Yep, exactly what I thought, but then she told me that all possible pasts and futures have occurred. So, in one possible reality we made the choice to abandon Aryna, in ours we didn’t.”

Bit considered for a few minutes before responding.

“The theory of Eternalism. Alternate realities, mirror universes. It has been disproven.”

Allison shrugged.

“Bit, I have no idea, the whole talk gave me a headache. She told me the Dark Mother showed her the multiple realities. Of course, she also apparently cut her own eyes out so she could see better. Anyway, you’re being paranoid, no one is manipulating us. Take today as an example. There is no way someone arranged this mess. Like, if some idiot in PR hadn’t released top secret information, I wouldn’t have had to call Miles to help me get away from reporters. How could anyone predict I’d do that? Or that Miles would get a job after we met that would need a pilot like me? Huh? Tell me that. Not to mention, Miles randomly showed up at the apartment looking for another girl. So totally disproven. Unless you’re saying you believe the whole a butterfly flaps its wings, and a hurricane happens a month later on the other side of the planet.”

“A sufficiently advanced computer could in theory with the proper predictive algorithms predict that chain of events. It stands to reason a being of divine nature would be able to do so, even two decades ago.”

Allison held up her hands.

“I’m done with this discussion you’re being weird and paranoid.”

Allison received clearance to land on one of the solid stone buildings that populated the city of light. She found it easily due to SA placed beacons. If she didn’t have them, it would be quite challenging due to the massive trees that acted as camouflage. She brought Bit in for a gentle landing. Allison hugged the control console again.

“Keep the fusion core hot for me. Once we’re done here, we’re going home. Did we get wormhole clearance yet?”

“We do not need wormhole clearance, we just need to exit the Sauroid system proper. There is a wormhole generator integrated into my systems.”

“Say what? How? You’re… tiny, they’re huge.”

Bit flashed the control interface for the wormhole generator.

“The only limitation on its use is the same as any craft equipped with them. Wormhole entry points may only be generated outside the heliosphere of a star system. Wormhole exits may only be generated at authorized points. Wormholes may not be generated to calculated coordinates and must utilize a wormhole beacon.”

Allison touched the new holographic control for wormhole generation.

“Geez. The president really knows how to take care of her friends doesn’t she?”

“It would appear so. Please, enjoy your stay in the city of light, Allison. Given your recent proclivity for imbibing alcohol, might I suggest you show restraint with your intake of Lofufu Juice.”

Allison was unstrapped herself Bit continued.

“It is an alcoholic beverage fermented from the Lofu berry, it is the primary good exported from Sauroid Prime, it comes in two varieties. The light side variety is known for its warm fruity flavor with woody undertones, due to water being provided from Talss’ura trees. The Dark side variety is known for its higher alcohol content, and its earthy tones provided by the fungus that grows on the dark side berries.”

“I know what it is, mom always has a bottle in case Sister Silra and her husband come over.”

She put her fingers to her lips then pressed them on Bit’s liquid metal armor.

“If I get drunk, I promise I’ll bring something to throw up in. See you soon.”

Bit flexed her wings by sending a ripple through the liquid metal armor.

“If you’re planning on seeing your mother when you get home you may want to avoid coming back smelling like alcohol.”

“Thanks mom.”

Allison went down a set of stone stairs and started following the directions her AR HUD was providing to the coordinates sent by Miles. She didn’t hurry. She had never been to Sauroid Prime. She was amazed at how bright they had managed to make the city, and still conceal it. Every building exploded with color. Lightsider Sauroids were going about their daily business. Many greeted her as she passed. She gave them a polite Sauroid greeting. Her route took her through a street market. Her passage was blocked when a group of children who had just gotten out of school rushed towards her when they saw her. Mostly girls. Though she pondered if calling female Sauroid children, girls was the right way to say it.

“You are Allison of the Eden Sphere!”

Allison laughed and crouched down to meet the bright turquoise scaled girls gaze.

“Yes, how do you know that?”

“On the holo in school. They showed the President of the Yellow Sphere’s speech. When I grow up I want to be a starfighter pilot just like you!”

Allison smiled at the girl. She spoke in Sauroid. Her parents had hired Sister Silra’s husband to tutor the whole family in the language. It meant a pay raise for their father and another farming colony was being planned for the Eden Prime equator, populated by Sauroids. They were immune to the solar radiation on account of their scales and were adept at farming the d-weed, the turquoise grain native to Sauroid Prime.

“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, what is your name?”

“S’slara.”

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“Well, S’slara, I will look out for you in the squadrons.”

Allison answered a barrage of questions from the children giving each of them a high five before moving on. A nearby merchant who had heard the whole exchange approached and offered her a primitive sword.

The blade was a couple of feet long, and white. She’d have to scan it to figure out exactly what it was made of, but she was pretty sure it was the carved from an incisor of one of the predatory megafauna that would sometimes find their way out of the twilight rift. She had images of Godzilla from one of the twentieth century vids she consumed way too much of while younger. She held her hand out. A hilt had been carved into it and wrapped in h’sak silk. It was harvested from h’sak spiders that also lived in the twilight rift. They were giant arachnids, the size of her starfighter. It was strong enough if woven into armor it could repel most small arms fire. It was not so good against edged weapons. Around that was a cord made of some fiber. The outside of the curved incisor was sharpened to a razors edge. Sauroid symbology was etched into the material of the blade. Compared to the weapons she had access to, primitive, but it was also beautiful in its own right. She spoke in Sauroid.

“I have no money, I’m sorry. It is a beautiful weapon, sir.”

The Sauroid, who had fading red scales shook his head. His tail slapping the ground.

“It was meant for you.”

He motioned to the carvings. It was imagery from the prophecy in the temple, specific to her. He touched his Dark Mother pendant.

“In her name, Chosen Daughter. May it protect you when the darkness finds you.”

Allison took the offered hilt after thinking it over. She wondered what it was worth here. The Sauroids had adapted to human weapons over the last two and a half decades. They no longer used spears and bows for protection. They had been replaced by rifles. If they used swords or knives, they were likely made from durasteel, the same thing starships armor was made out of before the President had developed liquid metal. Though Allison now realized it wasn’t so much developed as adapted for human use. Her biological mother had provided all the specifications. Then she wondered if she had inherited that knowledge and just couldn’t access it. She bowed her head.

“I am honored to receive this gift. Did you craft it?”

He bowed his head, his tail slapping harder. Allison looked it over. She wasn’t skilled in swords yet, but she was pondering taking up the art.

“I will try to be a warrior worthy of it.”

Smiling was a recent habit picked up by Sauroids. It was usually the younger ones, but some of the older ones had picked up the habit. Showing teeth used to be a sign of a battle to come. It was yet another way the humans had influenced their culture. The Sauroids who spent more time watching holos and vids on the Alliance-Net, or dealing with humans tended to have more human body language. Allison bowed her head.

“My friends need my help to awaken a servant of the Dark Mother. I thank you for this gift, Wise One.”

He bowed his head and moved back to his stall; His tail was slapping on the ground the whole way. Wise One was the respectful way of saying grey-scale, not that saying grey-scale was rude it was the difference between just saying hey you, and hello, sir.

As her trip through the market continued, she was offered a few more gifts. She wasn’t sure why, she’d have to ask someone, maybe Sister Silra about it. Their gifts weren’t anything on the level of the sword. There was a ring made of a red metal indigenous to Sauroid Prime, a carved wooden animal she did not know the name of, and some Lofu fruit still on part of a vine. They appeared to be bumpy grape like things. She devoured the fruit hungrily after thanking the woman who handed them to her profusely. Eating them made her realize she was starving. She silently cursed not eating more MREs on the ship. Miles had been right.

Her destination was apparently the sun temple of the City of Light. It was the tallest structure in the city. It was covered in a rainbow of colored paint. Brightly dyed banners rippled in the gentle breeze. They had solid circles of various colors representing the spheres, or celestial bodies the lightside Sauroid’s held sacred. Before the Dark Mother arrived the light and dark side Sauroid’s entire belief structure revolved around Seraph, their savior and the various spheres. The spheres still featured prominently in their individual identities. They didn’t have surnames, they just had a name, and the sphere they were born under.

The star of the Trappist system featured prominently in the light side temple’s iconography. A portion of the Sauroid population were able to perform feats of telekinesis. Being out of the sun’s light robbed them of this power. Rather, being in the dark robbed them of it. Any sun would do as far as Allison was aware. Sister Silra’s husband seemed to use his just fine on Eden Prime. He had often performed shows to entertain the children of Eden Prime. She walked up the stairs.

Most of the art on the sun temple walls was old. She noticed some new paintings as she moved closer to the top. One was of the Dark Mother defeating an army of dark side Sauroids. Another was of her first telling, human’s first contact with the Sauroids. Another one showed her brokering peace between the Light and Dark side Sauroids. The war had lasted longer then human civilization had existed. The last she saw showed the Dark Mother walking between the dark and the light

Allison realized why the Dark Mother’s religion had taken root so easily among the Sauroids. The story paralleled Jesus’s and that had spawned a religion that still had believers even three thousand years later. She brought water to the light side, she brought healing grain to the dark side. She brought peace to a world that had been at war for almost twenty-thousand years. A war so old neither side remembered what it was about. She lifted the twilight rift curse. She had shown the Sauroid people the path to the stars and helped them dig up their long-buried history.

She paused at the image of the Dark Mother walking a line between darkness and light. She touched her pendant and remembered what the kiss on her forehead had felt like. She wondered if she’d had an epiphany or had just passed out from the stress of the day, then had a wild dream. She shook her head. The blood had been real. She had tasted the Dark Mother’s tears.

Allison was pulled away from her musings when she heard Dimi and Miles arguing loudly up ahead. She sighed and hurried up the stairs. Pinto was still nowhere to be seen. Miles was holding Dimi at bay. Dimi had a plasma cutter. Allison tapped her comm link to Bit.

“Bit, could you check through military channels on the status of Pinto?”

Allison didn’t get an immediate answer, she hadn’t been expecting one. Sometimes Bit was extremely talkative others silent and broody. Usually broody when Allison disagreed with her on something, like say Bit’s manipulation theory. She walked up to the group.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”

Miles turned to her.

“You’re part vampire, tell him how flammable you guys are.”

Allison looked at the metal tube.

“Uh, well I’m pretty sure everyone is flammable where plasma torches are concerned.”

The steel had chipped paint and small cuts. It appeared they’d been trying for a few hours by this time, and nothing was working. Allison pulled out her vibro knife and tried to cut into the metal. It was working but they’d be here for hours. The tube was basically tank armor turned into a sarcophagus. She thought of the monoedge blade from earlier, she realized it would probably lose its deadly edge after the first few cuts. Allison stood up and scratched the back of her head. She made a face looking at the primitive steel that was causing them so much trouble.

“This would be so easy if someone wasn’t inside. If only I’d loaded swarm drones in Bit before we left she could use one to do a precision cut. They would slice through this like it’s a liquid. I’m not sure how they managed to make it without welds and weak points.”

Miles laughed. She looked around and saw the crate with what she assumed were the vampires’ belongings. She tapped her chin. Something was there at the edge of her consciousness. Something helpful. What was it?

“My pistol could definitely make a hole; It shot through a ship hull. Unfortunately, on that setting it’s a disintegrator so I’m not sure what it would do if the beam hit the vampire. Miles is right, the plasma cutter is a bad idea. It might boil the vampire… alive? Ugg. I need to make a call.”

Allison moved away from the group slightly and tried calling Eyre. Eyre did not answer. Allison left a message: Hey, Auntie Eyre, so umm I kind of helped rescue a vampire, but she’s in some sort of armored Nazi sarcophagus, if we were to say use a plasma torch, would that kill the vampire? Umm, bye, and stuff.

Allison rubbed her forehead and bit her lower lip. She could try and reach Isis. She looked at her display. The Tribunal was back in session today, likely that was where Maria, Isis and Eyre were all located. She walked over to the crate and used her knife to pry the lid open. Miles, Zebra and Dimi were arguing about what to do next. The Church of the Dark Mother had apparently offered them a twenty percent bonus if they could get the tube open. The church felt unequipped to deal with the armored sarcophagus, or a hungry vampire.

Allison leaned the lid on the crate and looked at the contents. She pulled out her scanner and ran it along the sword again. Her scans showed the swords molecular density and hardness were off the charts, literally her holo-phone app just read Unknown Error. Most importantly it was a monoedge. If her suspicions were correct, it would likely cut through almost anything not protected by a force field. She stood up and walked over to the armored sarcophagus. She looked up at the sunlight streaming through the giant trees and frowned. Opening this in the sun could end up with a crispy vampire.

She approached the group who were still arguing about the best course of action. She held up the sword.

“We can try this, but erm, sun is bad for vampire’s health. So anywhere dark we could take her, here?”

The high priest of the sun nodded to her. He had bright yellow scales with red and orange highlights.

“Please, bring it this way.”

Allison grabbed one end, Dimi grabbed the other. Miles put the lid on top of the crate haphazardly and the entire group moved down to the lower levels. It amazed Allison how the Sauroids had managed to minimize shadows in their city. It would be impossible anywhere else but here. The planet wasn’t rotating on an axis it was tidally locked to its sun. The priest unlocked a cell and motioned to a darkened room. Probably the only truly dark space in the entire city. Allison and Dimi put the tube down inside the room. Allison offered him the sword and backed away. Dimi scratched his head as he looked at the sword and the tube.

“Uh, whatever.”

He started slicing it lengthwise. While that would weaken it the group would still have to pry it open. He got to the far end and smiled proudly.

“Hey no blood, I did good here.”

Miles groaned.

“You need to cut it in half you idiot.”

Allison spoke up.

“I’d just cut the end off then we can pull her out. If she wakes up, she’ll have to wiggle out which will give you plenty of time to run.”

Dimi waved the sword at Allison nodding.

“Yeah, yeah, I like that idea. Not getting eaten sounds good.”

Miles smirked.

“Like you have anything remotely like blood in you still you chromed up toaster.”

Dimi gave Miles the finger before angling himself to slice the end off the sarcophagus. He kicked it.

“Hey vampire girl, you awake in there?”

He kicked it again. There was a feral snarl. It sounded like a hungry predatory cat. Dimi had weakened the structural integrity of the vampire’s prison with his lengthwise cut. The armored steel was wrenched apart.