Chapter Three

Nothing happened, and then it did. The screen flashed and then changed.

Showing my just my name. I had to laugh at that. I needed some more instruction here, but I didn’t want to ask, not yet. Steve looked busy, very busy, and very upset. As much as I needed to know everything right now. I also wanted to give him space.

Yeah, this just seemed like any other game I’d played with Steve as a kid.

I read over my name again and again.

My mind drifted, to Alli, to home.

How far am I from home?

You are in the Alpha Centauri system, approximately 5 light years from Earth.

I wasn’t expecting an answer… that just made me want to ask more questions.

“Kade?” Steve said.

I looked up at him. He’d stripped himself out of the suit. His eyes were soft, though his face was tear-stained. “How we doing?” I asked.

“We’re okay for now,” he said. “We’re stable. You can take the suit off.”

I shrugged, “How?”

He stepped forward and clicked my collar. “Pretty much the same as you did putting it on.”

There was a hint of smoke when I breathed in this time. “We’re not on fire?”

“Not anymore. A few core systems are fried, though.”

“Yeah,” I looked around, stood, and slipped out of the suit, instinctively moving to put it back where I’d gotten it from.

“Still like to keep things clean?” he asked.

I turned back to him. “I guess so. Still like to keep things dirty?” I motioned to his suit on the circular desk.

He moved, picked it up, and returned it to the panel too. “Yeah, bad habits.”

He stood there and looked at me. “Your clothes are weird,” he said.

“I can say the same about yours. What are you, a Captain?”

“Technically, I was. Now we’re the last of the Hollow Division. I’m technically Overseer for the division.”

I shook my head. “Somewhere we can get a drink. While you explain more?”

“Mess halls back that way, foods all automated by Jen, so anytime you want to eat, just head there. A couple of units are dotted around the ship for fluids, basically water or herc juice.”

“That doesn’t sound so nice.”

“Enhanced nanite water,” he said. “You’ll get used to it. You’ll need it if you get tech.”

“Tech?”

Steve tapped his arm, and to my horror, his hand shot forward, and inside was a pure metal bone… “Yeah, I lost my arm a few years ago. This is nite fuelled.”

“You’re a cyborg? Fuck, that’s wild. Does it feel exactly like your real one?”

He smiled at me, “Better than the real one.”

Steve approached a door ahead, and this one opened automatically, exposing a nice-sized room with several tables. He moved to what looked like a large fridge at the far end of it and spoke clearly. “Two strong coffees, triple stacked bacon and cheese barms, and some fresh toki fruit with cream.”

“That sounds amazing.” I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I’m starving. Feels like forever since I ate.”

“It’s the travel between universes,” he said as the trays of food appeared, the steaming mugs of coffee on another. “Essentially, it takes over a day from one side to the other, so yeah, you haven’t eaten in a while or drank. Which is why I gave you that other before.”

“Water as well, then, please. Don’t want to overdose on your coffee before I know what’s in it.”

He laughed, and we waited as a pitcher of water appeared on the tray with two glasses. Then he directed me to one of the several tables and sat. I sat opposite him, still not believing anything about what we’d just been through. The food won, though.

“Where do I start,” Steve said, pouring us a glass of water.

I picked the coffee up first and drank. It wasn’t too hot, but damn, it had a rich, full-bodied flavor. “That’s amazing.”

“Only the best stored in Jen’s memories.”

“It’s not real?”

Steve shook his head. “Just be glad it tastes like it is.”

I drank more and let out a sigh. “Oh, I am glad, just don’t tell me if it’s made out of insects or something.”

He choked.

“It’s made out of insects, isn’t it?” I almost died coughing.

Steve laughed then and couldn’t stop himself from turning bright red. “You should see your face.”

“Asshole,” I said, picking up the water to down it.

While we both calmed down, I couldn’t help but see the man in front of me, warts and all. It was clear he’d been through so much.

“What happened?” I asked this time; I meant it. My tone was totally serious.

Steve pulled some bacon off his barm and popped it in his mouth; he chewed before he answered. “You’ve never been back to the fun fair, have you?”

The smell of bacon won, and I had to take a huge bit myself. I could then, of course, only shake my head. I swallowed the bit down too fast and had to drink to get it to settle. “I couldn’t. There was no way you could have got out of the hall of mirrors. They’d cameras everywhere. But you never came out. The police eventually said someone had disguised you, gotten away with you, kidnapped you, and the hunt continued for months. Eventually, they and everyone around us presumed you were….” The barm didn’t seem a good idea right now, but I knew I needed it. “I got counseling for a while, my parents insisted. But they never let me go back. In the end, I screamed at every mirror we came across. I then pushed it to the back of my mind. I was there by… my fiancé forced me.”

“Well, I’m glad she did,” he said. “Basically, and take it as you will. The stars aligned, and one of the mirrors in there is planted, and only certain people can activate it. It did so when we were there together, but it wouldn’t activate again till you came back. When they do, those who control the mirrors know there’s people on that planet that can be harvested.”

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“That sounds awful.”

“Usually, yes. I was very lucky. The Hollow Division intercepted the signal that gave Earth some time.”

“But now…”

“Well, that’s blown that. And as last of the Hollow Division, the system has given us one chance to stop the Rallis getting to Earth.”

“The system… one chance?” I picked up my barm and ate some more, needing to swallow his words as much as the food before me.

“Imagine the whole of our planet plunged into a world where fantasy monsters lived, and you had to fight them to survive.”

“Shit,” I said, chewing my food even though nausea spread through me.

“Yeah, like your worst games on steroids.”

“I liked fantasy…. You liked—“

“Sci fi,” he chimed in.

“That would suck,” I could only agree. “What does it mean for me, though, now?”

“According to the Captain, I took over from, there’s usually only one chance to stop the Rallis, one person that can cross to them who can stop the invasion by becoming their champion.” He shrugged. “They thought that was me. They were clearly wrong. We were losing against them. Today was the final chase, and we were getting away. There’s usually not another mirror alert… but I hoped…, and I had to see if you were there.

“You didn’t just see,” I said. “You dragged me through it.”

“I helped, didn’t I?”

“I’ve had nightmares for years about those mirrors,” I said. “I couldn’t ever catch my reflection, let alone go back there… Those last words you ever said to me, do you remember?”

“Mirrors can’t eat people?” he paled. “Shit, you’ve never looked in a mirror since?”

“Oh, they tried to force me, but I couldn’t. Every time I thought about it, all I could see was some horrible monster coming out of the mirror to do exactly that and eat me.”

“You need to see what your mission requests are. I can bring them up for you.”

I nodded and carried on eating.

Steve reached out, took one hand off my barm, and put my wrist to his. A little silver spike shot out, and though I never felt it, it connected with skin and then vanished inside.

“There we go,” he said and smiled. “Now, this might feel weird, but I’ll run through it as I would check off things. Show you the most important bits.”

“If it’s like most games, health, mana?”

“You think there’s magic here?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Is there?”

He nodded. “Not quite what you would find in a computer game or how you’d think it might work for real, but there is. Let me take it one step at a time.”

“Okay,” I said. “Help?”

My HUD flashed up with a screen over it we both read.

Name - Kade Webster

Species - Human

Class - Druid

Level = ??

Respawns = 3

Health = 89%

Mana = 4%

Nanites x 1

Healing Speed = Nil

Engineer = Level Ten.

System Acclimatisation = 8%

System Knowledge Level = 5%

System Disadvantage 1 88%

Aligned with - Steve Rash and the Goliath,

Bound to the Renegages - The Hollow Division

Crew members - Fourteen Alive - 1 Deceased

That seemed easy enough.

He glanced me up and down. “So you really twenty-three?”

I cocked my head at him. “Yes,” I replied. “You?”

“I lost sight of that a long time ago,” I thought it was a lie; something else was going on there. But he just shrugged and finished his coffee off. “Engineering?”

“Scientific Engineering, really.”

“Designing?”

“Yeah, I work for…”

“Hopefully, Nasa,” he said with a wicked grin.

I laughed, “I wish. I mean, maybe I could have one day.”

“Your level will show, and all the other details when your body has got up to 100% acclimatization. It’s so you’re not overwhelmed.”

“Makes sense, so will I see all the usual stats, Strength, Dexterity…”

“Yes, but they won’t move too much. You can improve them, but mostly you’ll concentrate on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Constitution. Everything that will push you further up that design ladder.” Steve let out a sigh. “Could do with a space engineer or two.”

“Your friends?”

“They had to be put in stasis a while ago; we’ve had some issues for a while. The tech that feeds into the atmosphere, the extra component they breathe, failed. We had no choice but to stasis them while I tried to figure out what was going on.”

“And then this.”

“Yeah,” he sighed and pushed his plate away. “I feel sick.”

“Me too,” I said, but I forced the rest of the food down. I needed it. I knew I did. “How can I help here, now. You have twenty-four hours to fix everything?”

“Yeah,” he said and deflated even more.

“What do you need?”

“Components to fix the ship,”

“You can get them from around here?”

“No, only one place we can get them now.”

“Earth?”

“Bingo.”

“You think that mirror will work again so I can return.”

“I’m hoping so both of us can go back.”

“You don’t want to stay, though?”

“Hell no, with what might come for it, not a chance. I’m getting this fixed up and back out there if I can.”

I thought to all the people I knew, my job. My friends, only one person mattered, though. “We can’t bring anyone else?”

Steve frowned. “Got someone on the other side you love?”

I nodded, then I thought about what she’d done to me. What kind of person forces the one they love to face their fears like that?

If I saw her, I’d like to ask that at the least. Right now, though. I was beyond pissed.

“We only have twenty-four hours, though, we don’t have time for visiting, and she’d probably have me locked up if I started sprouting the mirror ate me.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said. “I never meant to do any of this.”

I looked at him, really looked at him. He wasn’t a big man by any means, tall and thin. Maybe just not a lot of protein out here? But he was 100% still Steve. When he joked, his eyes had that shine, that humor. “I know,” I said. “I do, it’s not your fault at all, and it’s not your fault now.”

He went quiet again, then something else flashed up.

First Mission Arc - tasked to Steve Rash and Kade Webster.

Join with Steve and the Goliath to stop the Rellis from invading Earth

Use any means possible.

Yes/No

I didn’t need to be told what to do there. I said - Yes.

Steve let out a sigh there. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure you would.”

“You’re kidding me, my best friend in trouble. My fiancé on Earth… I’m never going to say no.”

Held his other hand out to me, and I almost growled and put my food down. We shook. “Welcome aboard, goliath, and to the team.”

“Thanks, next.”

He hesitated and pulled the little silver needle out of my wrist, withdrawing his hand. “Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

“Only a billion questions,” I said. “I want to know everything you’ve done for the last fifteen years.”

“Same,” he smiled. “You have a Fiancé?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But, complicated.”

“Been with her long?”

“Nearly eighteen months.”

“Wow, that’s fast, isn’t it, to propose?”

“I guess when you think you love someone, it matters little.” Steve looked down. “Someone you like in those pods?”

He flushed. “Yeah, though she doesn’t know.”

I don’t know why, but I had to ask. “Is she human?”

“No,” he frowned. “Not at all. I think that’s why I’ve been a little hesitant.”

“Well, I can’t wait to meet her.”

Steve stood. “If we go to Earth like this, what do you think will happen?”

“You look like you’re off a Sci-Fi film set, and I prob look like I’ve been up all night.”

“You do,” he replied, giving me the once over.

“So I’ve been here how long?”

Steve checked his wrist. The time flashed up, and I could see it. Two digital numbers. “4.30.”

“Four and a half hours.”

“That’s long enough for Alli to get home and scream bloody murder at the police.”

“If I recall, they don’t do anything if you’ve been missing for less than 24 hours?”

“Yeah, they’ll take notes, etc.; push it to forty-eight hours. They only took yours so seriously because of your grades, and you were thirteen.”

Steve indicated the dishes to be moved and showed me how to clear them. “Yeah, my parents?”

“They moved on long ago; sorry, they split up too.”

“I always thought they would well before I even went missing.”

“Yeah, you got a few hidings off your ma,” I said. I hated that for him. “Was it really better here?”

I observed his reaction. His brows furrowed. “There’s a lot to talk about. Was it better? Maybe. But it took a lot of work, a lot of communication issues. I’d sooner forget some of it from both sides, if you get me?”

“I do,” I said. “I get it. I won’t ask again. But if you want to, I’m here.”

Steve nodded, but his shoulders weren’t as straight as before.

If that was what you could call it, the bridge showed the view out into space. I just stood there while he sat down. “I’ll work through the rest of Jen’s reports, and then we’ll see about finding that mirror hole again.”

“It moves?”

“No, now you’re here though. It means I can activate it from this side. Once I’ve a little more energy off the ship.”

“I have managed to secure you another six hours. I might be able to get more by the time you go through back to Earth.” Jen said.

“Twenty-four hours is not a lot of time,” I said.

“It’s all I can do,” Jen replied.

“Let’s hope we can get what we need then.”

“Get me a list,” I said, turning to Steve.

“Already got it. The rest of the ship isn’t too bad. If we can get some more time after we’ve picked up the items off Earth, I can move systems and pick up the rest. It says at a planet nearer here.”

“What will you need to do when you get the items back here?”

“A little space welding, some engineering marvels you’ll have only dreamed about.”

“That I’d really like to see.”

“Then you shall.”

Steve stood. “Jen, you have conn. Look after him.”

“Of course, hurry back. Captain.”

Steve motioned to the doorway where I thought I’d come through when he grabbed me. “Is it there?” I asked.

“It will be, yes. Give it a moment.”

The wall shimmered, and another box appeared in front of my face.

Mission log - pick up all the missing and required items to fix up Goliath.

Reward - Basic understanding of the Hollow Division vessel.

Hidden Rewards - Will be revealed when complete.

Y/N

Again I clicked the yes.

“Then let’s see how much Earth has changed,” Steve said. And in the blink of an eye, he vanished.

What faced me though was that mirror, again.

Memories flooded through me, how could I go back through it.

"Mirror's can't eat people," the voices.... they were everything of my nightmare. Could I follow....