“Is it not normal for humans to bleed glowing blood?!?”

“Why would it be?!?”

“I don’t know, Alex!” the Hyper Intelligence threw up his limbs. “If I haven’t mentioned it before, you’re kind of my first!”

I choked on air.

“Haven’t you read my memory?!” I was holding my left arm in a cast out of black and white material (I’m starting to hate these colors…), gently pressing it against my stomach.

“Yes, but I haven’t read your whole life, master! Just the language, general information, and the last few years!”

“Oh, just???”

We were in a star shaped vessel, the interior was just as boring as everything else built by the Titans (swear to God, these guys had a very poor imagination, at least in color department) – long corridor with high ceilings and black walls, two thick glowing lines beneath and above me… All that dull stuff.

The med-bay was little better, the only thing giving a room some kind of personality were hundreds of glass tubes, just like the one that Absoli patched me up in, though here – most of them stood broke, shards of glass making dangerous patterns on the floor. I couldn’t see the wires coming out of the capsules, though. Perhaps those were visible, because Absoli’s one was makeshift?

“Okay,” I raised my good hand and cringed from pain, a sudden movement hurting my left arm. “Okay, let’s think…”

“I asked that of you from the start…” mumbled AI.

“So… you said I was a demi-titan…”

“Yes?...”

“So… perhaps that explains the blood… but why it wasn’t glowing earlier?!”

“It was!” I froze.

“What?”

“When the reaver tore of your leg, your blood was glowing red and blue too, Alex!”

“But…!”I tried to remember the scene.

Six red eyes looking at me with hatred, the metal claws sunk into my flesh, the blood…

I couldn’t remember what color the blood was… The abominable pain and the desire to survive clouded my memory…

I remember the blood coloring the floor and the reaver’s claws deep red…

But the blood stopped glowing when it was a little distance away from my body anyway, as evident by the pools of it on the floor…

Was the blood glowing then?

I shook my head. Why bother right now?

“We don’t have definitive answers anyway,” I made a motion to shrug, but remembered my casted arm and abstained. “Is it doing anything to me?”

“Well… Get into the med-capsule.”

I wordlessly got up from the med-bench – as AI called the medical fabricator, which made my casket – and stepped into one of the intact capsule. Absoli managed to install their core and the fabricator on the ship, so control of its systems was no problem.

The glass wall slid down, causing me a moment of claustrophobia. Then the wall began to spin, faster and faster, and almost soundless too.

The glass flashed a white light, and slowed to as stop.

The whole process took a few seconds.

Huh… neat.

The glass slid upwards, while Abosli’s lens pulsated with color, receiving the data.

“Hm…”

“Well? Am I going to die soon?” I half-jokingly asked.

“Do humans age?”

“Of course!”

“Then, I’m afraid you won’t… Age and die, I mean.” They quickly clarified.

“What?!”

Wh---… why???

“Alex, listen to me,” Absoli turned his lens to look into my eyes. Blood-red and sky-blue reflected in it. “You have to calm yourself---“

I briskly walked up to one of the broken tubes, and lifted a shard of glass from the floor, angling it toward my face.

It was, indeed, my face. Potato-nose, a strong chin, and a moderately sized forehead. Cheekbones had the air of aristocracy sprinkled on them.

But my eyes…

They were gone. Outshined by two miniature stars burning in my sockets.

The left blood-red burned hungrily, as if a mind of its own, greedily looking out from its hole, looking for something to devour. To tear into something, and feel it wriggling in its teeth as it bled.

The right bright-blue was calm, collected. Reserved star wasn’t asking for a fight or a confrontation, but had the grim determination to end it quickly, and, if need be, mercilessly.

And oh bright they burned… how majestic!

The flames swallowed half of my face, streaking up the side of my head, not burning hair or skin, in a dance of cold and hot, of freezing and incinerating…

Something sharp hit the side of my leg.

“MASTER!!!”

I jumped, both, from the sudden pain, and from no less sudden yell.

“Ow, Absoli, what---“

“You have nothing to fear, Alex!” Absoli jumped on the nearby tube, angling their one eye-lens to look directly at my face. “My analysis shows an increased regeneration, halted aging, improved muscles, hell!” they shook their body. “You’re practically glowing with energy on my sensors! You don’t even need sustenance!”

Come to think of it, it has been some time since I felt thirsty or hungry, huh?

…Well.

Um… How do people usually react in this situation?...

“…Right. Cool, I guess…” I rubbed my eyes. It seems they stopped glowing.

“Cool. Yes, I suppose that is one way of putting it,” they sounded halfway between frustrated and relieved… If one is capable of such a thing.

“Yeah. I apologize for my overreaction, Absoli,” I sat on the floor, back to the glass capsule.

“Overreaction, master?” they jumped down to the floor. “If anything, I suspect you underreacted… If your memories about other humans are anything to go by.”

“Maybe,” remembering my damaged appendage, I just slightly shook my head. “Anyway… back to business…”

+++

“We have a problem,” I stated.

Absoli sighed.

I was on the bridge of the vessel, located on the intersection of the 4-pointed star.

It was, of course, huge, and I sat in the middle of it, on a surprisingly intact throne of crystal. Not as grand as the one in the commands center, I still managed to rest my good arm on the armrest, and it looked somewhat meant for human use.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The holographic screen in front of me, projected from the crystal piece of furniture which I sat on (ignore the inner child’s rabid joy…) showed a very disgruntled Absoli. Amazing how I was capable of understanding their emotion, considering they’re a robot, with no body language.

“My core is going to explode in a few hours.”

I stood up.

“What can we do?” I strained to stay calm.

+++

“Why is it exploding anyway?”

The core was… well, painfully generic sci-fi maccguffin looking.

A three meter tall, one meter wide cylinder, which had streaks of white light running all over its black-metal shell. Nothing too exciting.

Well, if you forget the Absoli’s grim prediction.

“The balancers,” they pointed to the side of the thing. It had several empty deepenings, in the shape of the sphere. “They’re missing.”

“What are the balancers?” an awfully on-the-nose name.

“They… well, in essence – they balance the energies inside the core.” They said, obviously realizing how lame that sounded. “Those energies are my conscious. My brain, if you must. But they’re hardly stable… They must not fuse with each other, or the explosion would make the Tsar Bomba look like a firework.”

“Lovely…” I muttered. “Are those… balancers far away?”

“In the commands center there is a bunch of them…”

“Why didn’t you take them with you?!”

“The reavers breached it.”

Oh.

“How many?”

“A hundred at least. Probably more.”

We stood in silence for a minute.

One papa-reaver almost killed me, and I was perfectly fresh and healthy! And while the regular ones went down pretty easy… A hundred of them? With one arm?

Not even funny…

But if I don’t do it I might die…

More importantly – Absoli would die!

I felt a surge of anger, despair and determination surge through my body like lightning, coursing through my veins and nerves.

I balled up my fist, the memories crashing into me. Wave of the past threatened to swallow me whole, chew me up and leave me broken and sobbing ion the floor. The inky black water of memories, of grief, of loss and defeat surged from underneath my foot and submerged me up to my neck.

I was struggling to breathe, my lungs as if made of steel.

Why fight?

I can’t give up.

You can’t win either. Never really could.

I will have to.

Just like with your sister?

SHUT UP!!!

“Absoli,” I didn’t give myself more time to think, hurriedly shutting down my emotions. “Can you make me grenades?”

+++

They could.

More than that, they could make me a grenade-launcher.

It was somewhat bulky and boxy thing, really it was a box – just, a box with white cylinders on the inside, a tube to shoot them, and a handle to, well, handle the weapon.

The targeting system was built into my now-repaired visor, so I could see the trajectory of the shot grenade.

All in all, it was practical – but really primitive. Not even close to the clark-tech of my multi-tool, but it was light, I could use it with one hand, and the trigger was on the familiar place, so I could hardly complain.

“How many shots?”

“Ten, and a belt with another ten,” they motioned to the black belt with another ten small cylinders on it.

I had to get help of one of the bots to put it on, since I had only one arm available.

The sling with the grenade launcher went over my shoulder.

“How much time do I have, and where exactly the balancers are located?”

“I have pin-pointed the location of balancers on your radar, you will not miss them and you will hear a ping when you’re near,” they paused. “Also, you have about two hours; you should make it with no problem.”

“Should…”

“You will make it.”

“I know.”

No problems, though? Doubt it.

+++

The ramp, extending from one of the lowest points of the starship, was, nonetheless, a long walk, a whole two minutes.

Incredible, how much mere minutes could hold meaning when you’re on a deadline.

I rushed past the body of a papa-reaver, lying on the floor, almost tripping on the decapitated head, and continued further.

My wounded arm ached with every motion of my body, no matter how I tried to stabilize it. The thoughts in my head running faster than I ever could, and biting, tearing into me, urging me to be faster, more precise, better…

It has been some time since I had an episode that strong. Some time indeed.

The radar pinged with red dot on it.

The lone reaver.

Thankful for the chance to stop thinking, I raised my arm at an awkward angle, as to not to drop the sling with the grenade launcher, and rushed past the corner.

My opponent clearly wasn’t expecting such an enthusiasm, and his moment of hesitation allowed me enough time to fire.

The body hit the floor with an unpleasant sound, its head gone, only the smoldering remains on its place.

I paid it no attention, moving forward.

I encountered a few other reavers, their slim bodies hitting the floor with the exact same sound, and in a moment of clarity I marveled at how easy these guys went down.

I guess it is only natural, when you’re shooting at them from a space-magic bracelet.

My feet stopped before the hatch, which I went through a mere hour or so earlier.

It was gone. The sheets of black metal lay on the floor, clawed and chewed through with reavers’ claws. The floor was marred with countless scratches and marks from the same claws, and the whole thing reeked of destruction, as if a bear tore through the wooden door in a farmer’s house.

And just beyond it, in a huge, unmoving crowd, stood reavers.

I caught the barrel of my grenade launcher.

They noticed me.

I took the weapon by the handle, the visor immediately showing the trajectory of yet-not-shot grenade in a pale blue line, as well as showing radius of destruction in a wide circle. It politely suggested that I shoot more than once.

The reavers took their first step towards me.

I pressed the trigger three times.

Three silent claps echoed through the corridor, and three metal cylinders hit the ground just as silently.

The following explosion was anything but silent.

The blue flower bloomed on the center of the reavers ranks, and swallowed half of their numbers, and the other half was forcefully thrown into the nearby walls. One reaver even crashed into me, summoning an agonizing pain in my wounded arm, and forcing me to shoot him in the chest three times with hard-light rounds.

The body fell to the floor, leaving me with ringing ears, a hurting arm, and a slight ringing in my ears.

It was a massacre. The charred bits of killer-robots lay on the floor, the remaining were severely damaged, and were missing many limbs, while the explosion scorched the floor.

Beautiful.

SHUT IT.

The bodies began moving again, some still functioning reavers clumsily taking to their feet.

I fired the grenades twice, one for each side of the corridor.

Two explosions, even more bits and pieces, even less bodies on the floor.

I charged ahead.

Mini-map lighted up as a Christmas tree after I ran another fifty meters, stopping just before the door to the commands center – strangely, this one was intact.

“There are an awful lot of them,” I murmured, lifting up the ‘launcher.

“Yes… I am sorry, I don’t know why my systems didn’t alert me… perhaps even they decayed…”

“Doesn’t matter. I will make do.”

“Be careful!”

“I will.”

I pushed my hand into the deepening in the hatch, waited for it to open, and fired.

Three grenades went out into the different corners of the commands center, catching reavers off guard and decimating their numbers. Others began moving towards me, jumping over the seats and tables, crashing into each other.

I let loose another two grenades and went on my knees to reload, while the robots kept screeching, whining, and dying ahead of me.

Last ten were loaded into the weapon, and I stood up just in time for a reaver to crash into me, knocking me to my back on the floor.

I dropped the grenade launcher, and fired off a round into his chest, pushing him off me. The other one immediately took his place, and tried to tear into me – I shot him too. Third one didn’t get the chance to do much of anything, as I rolled to the side, picked up my ‘launcher, and shot a singular grenade.

I just barely managed to get away from the blast radius, and even the the shockwave somewhat unbalanced me.

I had no time to think, and so unloaded four more grenades into the increasingly thick crowd before me.

It thinned, but there were still dozens of robots crawling, walking, limping and running their way to me.

I just pushed the trigger five more times, and dropped the launcher.

Five explosions blinded me, the buds of blue fire consuming the space before me, it was so bright, that I had to cover my visor with my right arm.

That was a mistake, as two of the remaining reavers kindly demonstrated to me.

One grabbed my foot, and tore into it, thankfully the energy shield holding, while another gripped my throat, straining the shield.

I lifted my foot, and crushed the crawling robots’ skull, pieces of metal jutting out from under my foot. Then I spun around, breaking the other hold on my neck, and shooting him in the chest.

The both fell, silent, but the space behind me didn’t.

I spun again.

“Absoli…”

There were dozens still, badly damaged, missing limbs or parts of their torsos or both, but they still were there, wading their way towards me, as if through a thick syrup.

“Alex, run!”

Never could win. Why would you start now?

I raised my left arm and started firing.

One dropped, then two, four, seven. The eighth fell closer to my feet. Nine and ten were cut down by a single round.

When were you ever capable of something useful?

Fifteenth received a blade to the head, sixteenth and seventeenth were evaporated by an energy sphere.

You were always not enough. Oh, apologies, not always…

SHUT UP!!!

Thirty one got his legs blown off, then his head…

Oh yeah, the alley, remember?

NO!!!

Another one was a smoldering mess on the floor. The other two soon joined him.

Perhaps the only time in you miserable existence, that you were enough.

“RAARGH!!!”

I tore off the head of the body of the closest reaver.

It would seem you are exceptionally good…

“NO!!!”

The reaver clumsily fell to his back, and his red eyes faded.

…at hurting.

“SHUT UP!!!”

The last one’s body was torn in half in the middle.

I stood back, fighting for breath, as much as my life.

But there was nothing else. Silence coated the room.

Blinking, confused, I surveyed the room.

Broken bodies littered the floor, limbs smoldered, heads crushed.

My left arm agonized.

I fell to my knees and cradled my broken appendage, noticing briefly, that the cast was broken.

“ALEX!”

“Ow!” Absoli practically screamed into my ear. “What?”

“You did it!...” pure astonishment, and relief padded their tone. “Quickly, before more come, get the balancers!”

“Yeah,” I grunted.

My arm hurt really badly.

+++

It took one trip from me, and another one from Absoli to get all the balancers, but eventually the core was stabilized.

Absoli was happily jabbering in my ear, while making my arm a new cast, but I was lost in thought and barely realized the space around me.

The tendency to get into life-threatening situations bothered me, but it there wasn’t much I could do, could I? To get home I need a starship, to get starship I need Absoli, and to get Absoli I had to fight an army of reavers…

I gulped, remembering how easy they were.

It seems I have a talent… just like my brain helpfully pointed out…

“So, master, we’ll be ready to go in a few hours!” Absoli finished.

“Nice,” I nodded. “Good job,” they deserved that much.

They beamed.

“Is there a room I can sleep in, though?”

Letting my body hit the makeshift bunk in the medbay – turns out, there wasn’t any rooms – never felt so good.

I closed my eyes.

Tomorrow. Everything tomorrow…

Today has been exceptionally long.