“This is Lieutenant Commander Naron Shamla.” The Clone angled his hand to indicate a small humanoid with moist green skin wearing the blue and silver of the crew. He carried the rank insignia of four silver bars on his left shoulder. A large, toothless mouth gaped at them, and a forked tongue shot out to lick his bulbous green left eye. The lieutenant commander bowed slightly and blinked nervously at Sen and Josh.

Sen whispered in Josh’s ear, “His species is Vergei. An amphibious people who have made homes of most wetland planets in almost all mortal iterations.”

“He is the officer in charge of maintenance in the forward sections of the Hegemon-4. There is a problem with invasive organisms near a maintenance area in an infrequently used section of the Hegemon-4. Expunge the beasts and expand your cultivations– And this is for free, gentlemen. The Hegemon-4 is an expansive ship for mortals of your limited capacity. Bring any necessary supplies with you.”

The Clone turned to the Vergei, whose tongue shot out nervously twice to moisten each of his eyes before the Clone spoke.

“Lieutenant Commander, please take them to the Quartermaster of the Forward Section.”

Naron Shamla bowed deeply to the Clone, and in a voice so deep that it shocked Josh, he said, “By your command, Lord Clone.”

The Clone disappeared without further comment, and Josh and Sen turned to the Vergei.

Still wiping sweat from his face, Josh asked, “How can we help, Lieutenant Commander?”

“Please, call me Naron. Neither of you are crew. Formalities are not required.” Naron walked them out the door and led them down a passageway they hadn’t arrived through.

Naron spoke again once they entered a lift. The vector of the elevator moved in felt like a 45-degree angle to Josh’s proprioception. Despite his small size, Naron spoke with grand gestures of his hands and arms, reminding Josh of his Italian uncles after they had had several beers and were excited about the ballgame. “Well, this whole mess started about two Ka nexus cycles ago when we got the Hegemon-4 out of its cradle for active duty.”

Josh looked to Sen. “Ka nexus cycle? I’ve heard that more than once, but I don’t actually know what it means.”

“It is an Immortal timescale that Zenyak must have the crew use. A Ka nexus cycle is approximately twenty-five earth years.”

“Twenty-five point two, to be exact.” Sen corrected.

“So, it was about fifty years ago... okay.” He turned back to Naron.

The Vergei continued. “You know”—Naron lifted his left hand palm up—“up until then, the ship had been in its stasis cradle for... well... longer than any of us has been alive. Maintenance logs indicate several billion years if that makes any sense...”

Josh blinked, and Sen nodded for Naron to continue.

“Right... so... the Hegemon-4 is still staffing up to its full complement of two billion crew and two point five billion support staff. We are at almost seventy-five percent presently. A long way of telling you that there are still parts of the ship not reconnoitered and that have lain unoccupied for as long as...” Naron held his thin green hands palm up and shrugged.

Sen and Josh nodded for him to continue.

“Anyway...” Naron circled his hand to include the whole world in his speech. “As we expand the crew, we populate these unused sections. Before we open them up, we send scouting crews of four ship-stationed space marines. These are some tough hombres if you don’t mind me saying. Some of the toughest we have. The section in question, Epsilon 97, has swallowed eight of these scouting crews over the last Ka nexus cycle. A further complication is that the area is near one of the Stargen Tier power conduits. You know, one of the big ones that power the main engines. Its shielding must be damaged because the electromagnetic fluctuations from there interfere with our communication and sensor data from most of this section.” Naron, whose hands had been flapping like he was performing a shadow puppet show, put both in his jumper pockets and shrugged his shoulders. “... So, we don’t know what happened to these eight teams.”

The lieutenant commander pulled his hands free and clasped them together, pleading with them. “I need you to go in there and eliminate the problem so we can reseal this conduit breach and reclaim Epsilon 97. But, because of the lack of sensors and communication capacity... when you go in there... we won’t be able to help you.” Naron finished with an embarrassed toothless smile on his giant mouth, and his hands held out to his sides, indicating his helplessness.

Sen spoke, “I understand the difficulties of communication you are having is because of your exposed power conduit—”

“Stargen Tier conduit! The big, big ones!” Naron waved both hands around his body to indicate as-far-as-he-could-reach big.

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Sen’s brows scrunched down, “Yes, the big ones... but despite that, is there anything you can tell us about what you or the space marines might think is going on?”

Naron looked ashamed and became subdued in his gesticulations.

His tongue flicked out and licked both eyes before he spoke again. “I wasn’t going to show you this because I didn’t think it could help you much. But if you insist... one space marine was tough enough to make it back to a checkpoint and was picked up on sensors. When the checkpoint detected him, a search and rescue team was detailed to go in and get him, as sensors showed he was still alive. He was unconscious by the time they got to him. As they were evacuating the section with the marine in the back of the rescue unit... something... something killed him. We don’t know what it was. But I can assure you. The records are clear that the vehicle was sealed. Nothing got in there with him when he went in... but something sure came out.

“These are the pictures taken by the autopsy team.” Naron flicked his wrist three times like a Las Vegas dealer.

Large digital images appeared before Josh, and Sen. Josh’s eyes bugged out when he saw the second picture: a Beast Affin with a very lion-like appearance and a full mane of golden hair. He had large fangs and claws and was wearing what looked like a suit of modular Kevlar-plate armor—only much larger than the ceramic and Kevlar plates that most US Army soldiers wore on deployment.

But what caught Josh’s attention and was likely to give him nightmares for the foreseeable future... was the sight of the entire chest cavity of the marine ruptured from the inside out. The Kevlar plates over his chest completely chewed through, with the metallic portions bent back on themselves toward the outside. Several of his splintered ribs were jutting out, and only a fragment of the sternum and xiphoid process remained. The rest... gnawed off and eaten.

* * * * *

The rat squealed and scurried for its hole, seeming to move faster than its four-clawed legs should have allowed it. But there was no escape from the platted and hulking figure that had burst from the darkness stabbing with a long, thin chitinous limb that pierced the small mammal through the center of its abdomen and then raised its writhing body to the pair of enormous side-mounted mandibles. A blunt, crushing demise stopped the rodent’s struggles as the creature pushed the rodent sloppily into its gullet.

In obvious disgust at the less-than-savory eating habits of its new chamber partner, the black-scaled dragon head of the chimera geysers another torrent of ropy, angry-red liquid combustion directly at the monstrous-sized vermin. But as had occurred several times before, the burning death, which this close–was much more akin to flaming napalm than fire, cascaded harmlessly against the transparent blue-white barrier that separated them. After a steady stream that lasted much longer than necessary to prove the chimera’s agitation as well as the non-permeability of the barrier, the dragon’s head stopped and joined its lion and goat heads in sleep. Turning away, the beast turned its gaze and body away from the cavern’s new occupant to face the stone wall.

Well, I’m not very happy about being here either… but he didn’t give either one of us a choice, did he?

The giant cockroach stood as tall as its barrel-shaped torso and 90-degree slanted head allowed it to voice its disagreement with their current situation.

While the thoughts had come clearly in his mind, physically they were translated to a series of clicks and pops accompanied by the stiff waiving of widely separated upper limbs–

The massive insect stopped its rant, and confusing thoughts filled its small mind.

What am I doing here?! Who am I? Why does the promise of vengeance against the image in my mind of a short and tall fleshy being hold such a strong desire for me?

A small pop echoed in the now silent chamber. A searing blue-hued ultraviolet light triggered the insectoid’s instinctual flight response. It flopped down on its flat abdomen and unsuccessfully ran on stiff legs, looking for a small enough crevice to force its freakishly large body into. Suddenly, it became paralyzed before being lifted before the shifting blue being who was talking with the chimera.

“... Yes, we will be going. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for sharing your space– Yes, I’m sure that Gaia does owe you a terrific boon for this affront.” All three of the chimera’s heads turned away and went back to sleep.

The vermin heard the blue man’s words and somehow understood their meaning but had no idea why he understood them. Then, the terrifying blue man stared at him with a callus and dispassionate gaze. Once again, the urge to flee as far away from him as his five-jointed legs could carry him nearly overwhelmed the insect’s instincts.

The blue man spoke to the vermin, “Your memories have only just begun to infiltrate your current consciousness.” A statement, not a question. “This lack of progress is at the lower end of probability predictions for your awakening in this form.” The blue man’s face briefly twisted in disgust as he eyed the vermin’s body. Then spoke again as if answering a question in the vermin’s mind. “— Yes, you disgust me…but even this is more than you deserve— Yes, you will have the chance to eat both the tall one and the short one. I know that you want that as much as anything.”

It was true. The vermin wanted to tear its mandibles into the faces of the tall one but even more so the short, hairless one for reasons that it didn’t understand. But that didn’t matter. The vermin was driven by pure instinct, just as it was with everything. The vermin was going to kill them and eat them afterward, of course.

The glowing blue man spoke again. “But to do the job I need you to, you’ll need this.” He reached toward the wall and pulled a golden-orange multifaceted gem from it that filled the chamber with the ring of a pure crystalline note as it snapped free from its formation point. Holding it up to his eye line, the powerful being spoke as if to himself. “... And it will not only help you remember why you want to devour the ‘Tall’ and ‘Short’ one, but it will also give you the strength to do so.”

The blue man's hand was enveloped in white light, and he easily crushed the crystal in his grasp. With his other hand, he pointed, palm out, at the vermin’s lower thorax. A golden-orange light shot directly into its carapace… and the vermin began to remember.

* * * * *

Hantal woke from a nightmare only to realize that he had not been dreaming. He was indeed a three-meter cockroach currently being held paralyzed before the consciousness clone of Zenyak Marztanak. The Penultimate Combatant. The most purely powerful Immortal in existence. And oh yes, my murderer.

Differing thoughts and emotions surged for preeminence in Hantal’s thoughts. But Hantal had always been a practical being and he let abject fear win out. The Chaotic stayed motionless, letting all ten of the paired and segmented limbs hang loosely from his rounded thorax as his black lidless eyes burned in the Clone’s UV shielding.

The Clone wasted no time. “Good. Your task is to slay the newly incarnated mortal, the sole Heir of the Marztanak Hegemony, Senyak Marztanak. Along with the mortal cultivator Joshua Elias Tanner.”

Clicks and pops came from Hantal’s pharynx. “Of course. I will do so immediately.” There was no arguing with the most powerful warrior in existence, but perhaps there was some room for negotiation… “Please return me to a sapient form, and I will comply without delay–”

“No. You will remain in this form and current power level until the task is finished. Consider it a necessary challenge to achieve redemption.” The Clone eyed Hantal’s insectile form with renewed revulsion. “... But do not be overly worried about your appearance'– where you are going, you will fit right in– Accept this task and your current means or be consigned to immediate expungement.”

Blue-white Ka surged around the Clone’s open right palm, and Hantal knew there could be no more attempts at negotiation. Still, all jobs required the worker to be properly motivated if it was to be done right. What’s the point of doing anything if he is just going to ‘expunge’ me afterward–

The Clone overrode Hantal’s rapid conjecture. “Yes. This is the only allowable question. I require your best efforts and that you are properly motivated.” The Clone straightened his posture minutely and spoke to the only authority that could begin to reconcile the power discrepancy between the two of them – He began the ritualistic words of a Karmic Oath.

Hantal couldn’t help but smile as the flowing words promised everything he needed to hear in order to do his absolute best to expunge and devour both Senyak and the troublesome anomaly Joshua Elias Tanner.

“Before Karma, Balance, and Reality, I bind all my Immortal Ka to the agreement between us. In exchange for expunging Senyak Marztanak and Joshua Elias Tanner, I will return your Immortality ...”