If my back wasn't spasming, my knees would have buckled and I would have vomited blood. Relics are rare and nobody was meant to talk about them. Being able to enter any founder zone meant that I could go to the Zyl Syndicate and delve into their most important zone without fear. Maybe, I hope the Relic doesn't say they can't kill me after. Still, this was massive. I essentially have a get-in for free card. Many zones in the Hegemony are company-exclusive. I needed to ask Master about this. He would know how I could best leverage this ability.

Willow and Beauty lift me into Suri's drone so that I can rest. My healing for the first time ever was going to be longer than I thought. It was impressive though if I am reading my Seeker System correctly, I have three fractured backbones, one hairline fracture in my neck, and a complete break at the lower back. It will take a few days to heal conventionally, but I will be walking in a few hours.

I really wanted to go to the last do but I can't risk it. I have more than enough. I only have a major decision to make, which is the ship type. Gemini looks at me and for a moment, I think I see him smile. It is odd seeing yourself in the bio-droid. However, Gemini is the only bio-droid meant to replace me.

All Seekers have one major complaint, at least as far as I have seen. The endless meetings with people who wish to sponsor or to meet company reps and royal visits. It was incredibly rude if discovered, but it was not unheard of for a Seeker to send a replicated artificial life in their stead. I am already tired of Batz, and I have only known him for a few weeks. If they are all like that, then I can't wait to leave Hegemony space.

A supreme Symbiont has me thinking of a dreadnought or a carrier. I don't let the thought of the other type it could enter my mind not trying to jinx myself. I am giddy with excitement. I am hidden in my drone when we make our way out. Willow, Gemini, and Beast in front. While the rest of my bio-droids are huddled around me.

The others, chiefly Pierce and Mercy, are waiting on her ship. The eyes of the others I am floored she not only pulled a carrier but a variant carrier. A standard carrier configuration is always one kilometer long. Hers was twice the size, but that's not the shocking part. It was part organic. The ship was almost done when she saw Gemini. This contradiction to what I saw before makes me wonder if she had an accelerator. This is super rare tech and is often used to make a ship stronger. I'm sure now that Batz and the others have used their considerable wealth to get system-recognized accelerators it would explain a lot.

Batz pulled away from Mercy and walked towards me, "Foster you are still alive. How did you make it out?" Gemini not able to speak back glares at him and folds his arms. I really need to get that brain pack for them. In truth, I wanted to him know that as a True Seeker, I got given my own special way out. Where I got to the names and faces of other true seekers in my generation. There are only four of us in this galaxy.

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One was a severe-looking woman from Earth called Hunso. She was all corners and tight braids. I didn't wonder about her body, only what her life must have been like to make her look like that, even with modern medicine. The scar running from the top of their head hasn't healed right, and the skin was disfigured and her head has a dent like she is missing some skull.

The other ones were all aliens that I hadn't seen before. The mostly metal-looking ball with arms had a designation so long that even I with all my memory can't remember it all. It as not something I wish to meet in the future.

The last one, though, was an Erenge, sleek, beautiful, charming, and backstabbing pricks. The lot of them. I marked him off immediately with smouldering grey eyes, sexy sleek black hair, and a jawline so perfect you could use it as a spirit leveler.

The Erenge have been at war with humanity as a whole. They saw us as a delicacy. In Erenge space, we are prized for our large intestines, which they eat raw. They also started a few breeding worlds which doesn't sit well with us. They even used the term, humanely killed. Erenge are reckless lovers and have been the Juilets to Romeo for over Thirteen centuries now. Except, this Romeo sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and deep fries your heart. When you break up with him. This particular divine specimen is called Opal.

I may or may not have spent a few minutes cursing the human gods for making me look like I would be a tick on his face. However, that is the world we live in. Batz, tried to push but Gemini didn't take a step back. Yeah, it would have shocked me too, but bio-droids are still droids and these are specifically meant to operate with Seekers so they are quite sturdy.

"Foster I should just," Mercy put her hand out on Batz. Her eyes sneering in a way I haven't taken as sinister before. Mercy is a lot of things but she isn't in my previous experience cruel. This look sent my pain-filled shivers spiking up my back. This pain she carries can't be from me, yet I feel her hate even through Gemini's eyes.

She whispered to him clearly thinking I wouldn't hear them, "Don't he must have gotten a shipping package. We can kill him in space and take his ship as salvage. You said your mom was coming right. She will help us. We have to prepare the others." I don't care what she thinks I have done to her. The vileness she has done to me is unacceptable and frankly still really stings. The acquisitions of Seeker technology was really the only keeping me sane at the moment. I am sure she heard a shout from the drone as they both looked at it while the others held me down.

I may be having a meltdown, but I know I have to hold myself back because if they find out I am injured. I don't think anything would stop them once we are in the central gathering hall. Sam punches me in my lower back, bringing a different kind of throbbing pain to the forefront.

I glared at him, shooting daggers with my eyes. This went on for about three minutes. It was really painful, and I had stupidly made everything worse by trying to move. I whimpered in the drone. As I was the last to arrive, our platform moved toward the central gathering hall. Where all successful Seekers on this planet would wait for the Declaration.

"Foster, what you got there?" Peirce has always felt entitled to people's things, or personal information using his family name like a club to get around the resistance. So When Beast and Willow, who were using my repeater, aimed our weapons at him. He was confused, then took a few steps as it registered in his tiny brain. I wouldn't stand for his intrusions.

"Alright fuck, it doesn't matter. See you out there." He shot me with his finger guns and I purposefully made Gemini look like he was pressing buttons on his forearms, then all the other bio-droids gave Batz the middle finger. I did make Gemini smile. The ploy probably won't work, but I was rash and didn't think to make it look like I am using a controller until a certain punch hit me in the back. It was like Sam was Master Wilson and said, "Where you are strong appear weak, and where you are weak appear strong."

An hour later...