{Earth}

“And through this way is the Faraday Cage.”

John stepped first into the nacre-glass atrium, murmuring, “Wow.” Unbreakable alien tech coated the walls, floor, and ceiling in amber glass. His steps resonated unevenly in the unfurnished space as the weather affected his limp. Storms agitated his amputation site like a bitch.

Caedes followed behind him and commented with the closest thing to awe the gruff Icarus could muster, “Hmm.”

Trailing a hand over the nearest wall, John assured, “That means he likes it.”

Lynn smiled in a shadow compared to her usual beam. Exhaustion stole the sparkle from her brown eyes and the glow from her deep complexion. Drained, she waved them to the only other door in the cage. “Come on. I’ll show you to the observation lab. This is what your top secret clearance amounts to, fellas.”

The room was a modest lab with Smith monitoring some security monitors, disassembled weapon prototypes, and an entire ancient Progeny.

Stunned, both John and Caedes stared with slow blinks at the hybrid elephant in the room.

“Are you… Are you Devis?” John couldn’t imagine the width of his own eyes, but they felt enormous. He caught a glance from the Icarus, who looked more than a little suspicious.

“I am.” The handsome black man wore Reipon dress, robes and loose pants tucked into combat boots. The green of his eyes contrasted against the almost violet depth of his complexion. His black hair was twisted into locs long enough to brush his elbows. And the guy was built like an Olympic swimmer.

Smith glanced between them before returning to the monitors, unphased.

John held out his hand and gave his best congenial smile. “I’m John. They call me the Educator.”

Devis’ gaze scanned him before explaining, “I don’t shake hands.” He held them out, palms up, and grinned so friendly that his eyes sparkled with humor. “Let’s avoid putting you in a coma, John. I just met you.”

Did he mean that to sound like a threat?

The monitors stopped holding Smith’s interest as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the console.

Caedes laid the gravel in his voice on thick. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Dressed in all black tactical gear, he towered over the mysterious Progeny, who stood more at John’s height.

Throwing her hands in the air, Lynn headed for a desk and groaned in frustration. “This room is too small for all this testosterone. Elden, deliver me from stupid men…”

Defensively, Smith argued, “I’m not being troublesome, Chief.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean you.”

Keeping to human, male customs, John knew how to resolve this. He gripped the bald Icarus’ broad shoulder and assured, “Big guy. I already told you. I’m straight. But if I weren’t, you wouldn’t have to fight over me with the pretty ones. I like my partners—when I want one anyway—I like ’em burly.” He even booped the astonished Icarus on the nose. “Like you.”

“Fuck you, John,” Devis and Caedes grumbled. Simultaneously.

John barked out a laugh and kept going until he doubled over and hugged his ribs. Smith heartily joined him in the gutbuster.

The other mens’ faces. As they glared at each other, they both looked abashed and begrudged.

“How can you laugh?” Lynn rested her elbows on the desk, gripping her locs in frustration. Stress and sleep deprivation weighed down her voice. “Sagan is M.I.A. Andrew and Kyle are seeking guidance from our imprisoned King for Silence who just rebooted several million years of her memories. As an Imminent agent. Meanwhile, Celindria is no doubt coordinating another attack now that she’s seen how aimlessly we run our operation. And look at us… I killed a copy of me only last week. We still don’t know what they’re capable of. So, explain to me, what’s so funny?”

Not angry. Exhausted.

Her reprimand sobered John and Smith. It left the other two looking sheepishly around the room. He gripped his chain with a pendant of Rayne’s blood. To some extent, she was right. But… “Lynn, you’re right. And a perspective check was absolutely in order. I’m sorry if you feel I made light of the situation. But I won’t apologize for taking a moment to enjoy my family’s company and find some way to cut the tension. We’re all tired. But you… you’ve been on the front line this entire time without a break. Thank you for all your hard work. Let’s get to a stopping point and turn in early tonight. Does that sound good to you?”

Lynn dropped her hands to the table and looked between them. After a long minute, she sighed. “You’re right. You wanna give me a hand? I have to assemble three more nacre-disabling rifles. Then we can head to bed. Devis, can you recount the details of your time before coming to the arsenal again? These two…” She waved a finger between Caedes and John. “…Weren’t privy to it.”

“This should prove interesting,” Smith muttered as he went back to taking the monitors seriously.

John took up one desk beside her, and Caedes sat at the lab table. Three pairs of hands were better than one exhausted pair. He grinned warmly at her, and she repaid with her own slightly wilted smile.

Devis sat on a cot in the corner with his legs folded under him. He watched them work a while before closing his eyes, as if in meditation.

Well, how could Devis recount the tale if he took a nap—

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

{Enki | One Year After Volcano Day}

“You’ll have to kill me first, Celindria. I. Will. Not. Help. You.”

Andrius always impressed Devis with how much he thought of others before himself. For three nights, the oldest Progeny sliced him apart and cauterized each piece with gold. An unmendable loaf of partitioned meat. The smell…

Devis drowned in his own retch the first night. She left him lying in it, strapped to a slab, all this while. The horrors contrasted starkly against the beautiful cave of black rock, sprinkled with red waterfalls, and orange-blossomed flowers. Occasionally, their scent provided a reprieve from the carnage.

As for T.a.o., Celindria feared her freedom the most. So, she kept the woman stored in her nacre within a resurrection casket. Only retrieved for experiments before being reduced to the pearl again.

Every day and night for a year they lived like this. Endless Hell. But she paid special attention to Andrius. His power of suggestion eluded her the most; thereby fueling her intrigue with it.

Something broke Celindria this time. Some deadline poised. Pressure applied. All her careful interrogation tactics and patient research of the last year withered and died. Leaving behind a mad woman determined to ply the secret out of her captive specimen. This time, she would kill Andrius.

Bound in nacre glass, Devis was helpless and forced to watch. Reduced to begging, he cried, “Please, Celindria. I know our making affected you the most. For that, I am sorry. If I could take on the burden you shoulder, I would. Please, don’t punish Andrius for Xelan’s crime.” Terrified of his last resort, Devis closed his eyes and prayed to Elden that he finally reached her.

The blade thunked when she stabbed it into the table. He opened his eyes to find her staring at him with cruel pity. But not mercy.

“I’d hardly call it a crime. Men have always wanted to create life when it’s not his place. Xelan was successful.” A smirk twisted her kind mouth. “Well, depends on which definition of success we wish to apply here.” Celindria took a step toward Devis with her blue eyes burning bright flames of ambition and power. “Your outburst brings us to Phase Two.”

Probably not a good thing.

Devis shot a questioning glance to Andrius and… stopped breathing. Behind her, his brother looked more terrified than when she cut into him. Why?

“Andrius. You’ve no doubt deduced what I’ll do next for my solution. Have you not?” Victory rang through her regal cadence as she gloated.

What victory?

Tears fell from the other Progeny’s eyes. For the first time in a year, Andrius looked lost and afraid. “Please, no. Celindria, I beg you. As your brother—”

“WE ARE NOT A FAMILY. You are projects. Experiments. And you belong to me. Now, you take part in my research on volition, or I carve up my secret admirer. Understand me?”

Devis winced at her barb even as his heart stopped from her threat. Softly, he pleaded, “No…” But in his desperation to remove himself from this position, he screamed, “No! Don’t let her do this! Don’t let her use me like this, Andrius! Never give in. Do you hear me?!”

All the while, Celindria ripped the knife from the butcher block and crossed the room where Devis lay helpless. “What will it be?”

Why these horrors? Why this life?! Dear Elden, Devis never asked for this. His brother and sister deserved better. Even Celindria deserved better—

“Stop. Celindria. I relent.”

Andrius, no.

The smirk on her face could only be described as foul. Soulless. Impervious. Immortal.

“We begin immediately.”

{Enki | Six Months Later}

“Officer of the Third, you have no business coming in and out of my lab as you please. Without announcing yourself. And without my permission.”

Celindria perfected it. Volition. Devis watched her subject T.a.o. to horrifying tests. The nightmares she forced on her own sister for the sake of her research. She told Devis he was next.

As for Andrius, Celindria carved away both his legs and arm before he gave in. Tough bastard. The best.

The Officer of the Third took umbrage with her mistreatment of her research subject. He demanded the Primaries provide their Progeny ward advanced medical treatment. They agreed primarily due to Wiw and Lance. Tumu came and went at his leisure to transport Andrius for treatments. Regardless of Celindria’s absence. Eventually, they reconstructed a shiny body mixed of Pil platinum and tissue grown from his nacre. He walked again. It brought tears to Devis’ eyes.

During one of his visits, Tumu and Andrius finished a discussion within Devis’ hearing range. Andrius muttered to Tumu, “Tomorrow. Please.”

The Tritan promised, “I will. Tomorrow.”

The next day, Celindria went away for some assignment or official work. Tumu appeared immediately. “Devis, can you walk?”

Befuddled and exhausted, Devis confessed, “I have no way of knowing. I was strapped to this table for over a year.”

“I’ll carry you, if I have to,” Tumu offered without hesitation. Applying a capsule of blood to a seal, a mechanism released Devis’ nacre restraints. Tumu reached to help Devis out of his confinement. “We have to go. Now.”

Devis stared into the Tritan’s voids, lost. “But. Andrius and T.a.o.”

Sincere concern drowned Tumu’s otherwise flat features. Gently, he urged, “You are more independently capable than them. Therefore, it’s your place to leave them behind and return for them later with an army of help. Do you understand me?”

Andrius rounded the cave wall and elaborated, “Seek the other Progeny. I’ll keep sister safe.”

“She’ll kill you. Both of you—”

Solemnly, Andrius shook his head. “No. She needs us. And Tumu is too important. We will survive without you. Save us, Devis.”

Tears choked Devis. Freedom frightened him. He spent most of his life confined and helpless. The sudden notion of power in his hands… “I don’t know if I can do this.”

The Tritan pressed with some urgency, “I’ll help you on the outside. But we don’t have long. It’s time now. Let’s go.”

{Pil | One Week Ago}

Devis held a capsule in his hand. The technology Celindria derived from him and distributed through Imminent and the Vast Collective. Inside it, he kept a memory of his own. He meant it for her. One day, he’d ask or force her to experience it if necessary. He hoped the genuine warmth of it would awaken any love or kindness within her.

Gray pavers covered the plaza’s ground. It matched the gray brick of the surrounding buildings. A fountain of purple water splashed behind him. He waited for the contacts Tumu told him to expect. They should arrive any moment—

There.

Andrius’ descendant Andrew and a human ally named Smith. The Tritan prepared Devis for this moment over the last six months. Fighting. Planning. Overall normalizing him to the worlds of the present. Hard work, and all of it thanks to Tumu.

Now it was time for Devis to join the mission and save his family.

{Earth | Now}

John came back to himself so abruptly that he dropped the rifle assembly in his hands and stood from the desk. He gripped his short hair, trying to place his head back in his own brain.

Smith chuckled. “Quite the doozy, ain’t it?”

“Thanks, John. I’ll work on this one while you get back in your own body.” Lynn spoke as if she experienced it herself. She took the parts and went to work.

Devis opened his eyes across the room and offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I understand it can be quite disorientating.”

“You can say that again.” Caedes flexed his jaw and shook his head as if treating an inner ear problem.

The ancient Progeny added, “There’s one other thing.”

John groaned. “Please, no more memory manipulation.”

Caedes chuffed his agreement.

“No. No. Nothing of the sort. We believe, based on Tumu’s consults and Andrew’s experience, that Celindria also touched the black fire. She can see and follow the Probabilities. She knows of things that happened long ago. And speaks of things yet to happen as if they are within her grasp.”

Lynn snorted. “You’re just an endless source of optimism, aren’t you, Devis?”

“I am blessed to find myself for the first time with any idea of what that word means. You are my determining source. Don’t fail me.”