“I am not crazy! I know Mikhail swapped those crew members! I knew it was wrong when they all boarded the exact same day. One month after the positions opened. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never! Never! I just - I just couldn't prove it. He - he covered his tracks, he got that idiotic group of engineers to lie for him. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? He's done worse. The Ten-Triumphs! Are you telling me they just decide, on a whim, to let him come with them? No! He orchestrated it! Olegovich! He uploaded porn to the archive! And I hired him! And I shouldn't have. I took him into my own ship! What was I thinking? He'll never change. He'll never change! Ever since he was part of Heaven’s Doctrine, always the same! Couldn't keep his hands out of the H&H ships! But not our Mikhail! Couldn't be the Emperor’s precious Mikhail! Slaughtering people like justice isn’t blind! And he gets to pretend to be a doctor!? What a sick joke! I should've stopped him when I had the chance! And you - you have to stop him! You-” – Curtin Althor, ex-Captain for Henry & Huell Incorporated, 2258. Taken from trial proceedings following the investigation into the New Horizons Incident. He was later found not-guilty of his charges by reasons of insanity. He later disappeared from hospital custody.

  “Look, I’m just saying I think Leon would win, and it’s not even close,” Elias said, deliberately choosing the wrong side of the argument to wind Chel-Lin up.

  “What are you talking about?!” Chel-Lin cried, reaching the limit of her patience. “Chris is built like a Barald-damn super-liner and you think the blond twink could beat him?”

  “Hey, look, if you played the next game in the series-“

  “No one plays that one!” Chel-Lin cried out.

  “And that’s why you are missing vital information, my dear little jellyfish.”

  “Screw you.”

  A few days had passed since Elias’ meeting with EXCAL. Though the CAI had seemingly absorbed whatever information Kurt had provided with some difficulty, he had resumed his role shortly after, albeit in a somewhat cold manner. Elias had been working on his prototype harness, increasing its strength and durability after the creation of the CHALICE shaft showed its limits when Chel-Lin had strode in and demanded a discussion of who would win in a hypothetical fight.

  Elias personally thought hypothetical battles between fictional characters were dumb, as it often just came down to who the writers liked more, and how hard the person arguing was willing to go. Nevertheless, choosing to support the, clearly wrong, approach was fun at times, if only to see Chel-Lin’ little tantrums.

  “Hey, look, Chris only won against Wesker because he had his partner with him. Without his chocolate cum dump, there’s no wa-“

  A deep rumbling shook the room as all the power turned off for a second. Lights out, the room was only lit by the late-afternoon glow of Kral’Thul’s sun, tinged a deep green, through the skylight above. With a click, some of the lights returned, but the room was cast in an ominous red colour.

  “Uh oh,” Elias muttered.

  An alarm began to wail, thrumming from every speaker as an automated message started to loop.

  “Warning! An emergency is underway. This is not a drill. Please proceed to the nearest exit. Warning…”

  Elias and Chel-Lin shared a look and darted towards the hallway. A left, a right and they were at the elevator. Safety first in mind, Elias instead led the way up the staircase as they ascended out of Nucleus’ second wing’s research wing. Tearing out of the shaft, Elias skidded to a halt. Kurt, Bernard and Madison stood, preparing to head downstairs when they practically collided.

  “Guys, what the hell is going on?” Elias asked.

  “No clue,” Kurt said. “We need to move, right now.”

  Bernard, who Elias barely made out in the pulsing light, was squinting in his direction as he said, “Is that both of them? Then let’s go”

  Moving as a group, they ran towards the main atrium where all the wings of Nucleus converged into one. As they approached the open space a tumultuous cacophony of noise preceded them. Though the alarm had only just started, people were already beginning to gather; the other scientists from the adjacent sectors were pooling about and staring towards the door of Nucleus Five. A security guard looked uncertain with himself as he paced about. It was only after Elias himself approached himself that he saw, and felt, what the source of the rumbling might have been.

  From the open glass corridor leading to the most segregated part of the facility, Wing Five, as Elias believed it was involved in weapons research, plumes of black smoke bloomed out as heat poured from the passage. A fire? An accidental detonation? Elias had no clue, but the tension in the room was palpable. Some scientists were frantically moving from group to group, asking about the location of certain people. Others were mashing the screens of their comm-devices. Elias didn’t recognise the names of those called out for, but based on the variety he had the feeling not many had left the compromised sector of Nucleus.

  He stared down the hallway, smoke growing heavier, as an idiotic idea sprouted in his mind. Inhaling deeply, he moved to take a step forward when a firm hand grasped his shoulder.

  Kurt pulled him back and looked him dead in the eye, “Elias, I know we’ve had a lot of fun so far, but if you even consider doing what I think you’re about to do – no. Just no.”

  “Kurt, I can’t just-“ Elias started.

  “Yes, you can. My job is to keep you safe, and I intend to uphold that promise. This isn’t something we can or even should handle. There’s a time and place for stupidity, but not now. We need to get to somewhere safe.”

  Elias didn’t budge. Focusing his hearing above the wail of the alarm, he called out to the ceiling of the room.

  “EXCAL, do you hear me?”

  He had hoped that the AI would be able to send in his drones for assistance. Instead of a response echoing out from the overhead speakers as he expected, Elias’ comm device began to ring. Accepting the connection, the crackled voice of the CAI spoke out.

  “Elias I-… Interference fro-… Communications dow- Don’t have acces-… Need direct permiss-… Core roo-…”

  Damnit, it sounded like the CAI was unable to help at the moment. Sliding the phone back in his pocket, he turned to see the faces of the rest of his team. Madison and Bernard looked had their faces screwed up in concern, but buried under their outward fear Elias could see the resolve to act. Chel-Lin’s eyes had focused into slits as she looked towards the intensifying heat. Elias couldn’t be certain if he was just projecting his own feelings onto the others, but he knew that he couldn’t simply sit back and wait for help to arrive. Nucleus was segregated away from Birkdale’s Gate, and getting emergency crews access would take some time. Additionally, he could predict GaltCorp preferring to ignore or dimmish the effects of the situation – bad publicity would be dangerous for the IGS.

  “Elias…” Kurt growled.

  “Alright,” Elias put his hands on his hips. “I know what I want to do. If you want to stop me, fine.”

  “Christ, Elias, please just think about this!” Yet, he didn’t move to seize the young scientist.

  “Great! I have an idea on how you can do your job without dragging me away, kicking and screaming and I can still help.” Elias walked over to the bodyguard and swung an arm around his tense neck. “If you follow me, you can decide when I’ve gotten in too deep. Pull me out, if you really want to. But until then, follow my lead. It’s better to try then to never even attempt something.”

  Elias turned to the others. His mind was already racing, thinking up solutions to problems he could already foresee coming up from venturing into the unknown dangers ahead.

  “So, who wants to help?” Elias asked.

  “I’m in,” Chel-Lin said without a moments delay. God, what a woman. “What should I do?”

  “Chel-Lin, the Tylas can absorb energy of different types, right?”

  “Of course. I can take the heat, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Alright, ok. Do you think you might be able to deal with any fire in there?” Chel-Lin nodded. “Alright, good. If you don’t mind taking the lead, we’ll go behind you.”

  The alien nodded again, eyes glowing with resolution. Elias turned to face Bernard. Initially, he had wanted the older scientist to follow behind him, as another pair of hands would be helpful. However, he thought back on the previous few times he had observed Bernard. Again and again, he had showed some sign of illness, a tremor of the hands or weakness of the body. Having him rushing into danger and falling prone to that same illness wouldn’t help anyone – it would just create another person needing help.

  “Bernard, can you get to EXCAL’s core and see if you can get him into the network? When he called, he said he didn’t have access for some reason. If you can get him back online, then maybe he can use his drones to help out, and maybe turn on the fire suppression system.”

  That, in and of itself was worrying. If it had been a fire, why hadn’t the facility’s safety mechanisms come into play? Personally, whatever was going on smelt of something more than a simple lab accident to Elias. If Bernard appeared dissuaded by the instruction from a younger man, he didn’t seem to care. He tucked his chin into his neck, held his Echorist necklace up and whispered a short prayer. Then, he kissed it, nodded to the others and took off towards the CAI’s core room.

  Alright, next person to ask.

  “Madison, I’m going to go back to my lab to grab an environmental protection suit and see if I can help anyone out. Do you have anything back at yours?”

  “W-well, I mean, I… I think I could,” Madison stammered. “But… maybe I should run through what I have first. If I don’t think this out, I could grab the wrong…” She trailed off, mumbling under her breath.

  “Madison – listen,” Elias was the one to seize her for once, holding her by the shoulders as he looked her in the eyes. “There’s a time and a place to explain something. But now’s not the time. Listen to your gut. Do more, talk less. Anything than can help is better than nothing. You’ll know what is usable in your lab. Now, go.”

  For a moment she bit a lip, trembling. Then, almost as if a curse had been lifted, some burden of the past lightened when Elias commanded her, her expression morphed into one of firmness. With that, she grunted out an affirmation and sprinted towards her own lab.

  With one last look shared between them, Elias looked to Chel-Lin.

  “Be safe,” he whispered.

  “Don’t you dare go dying on me, Elias,” Chel-Lin said. “I need you.”

  She didn’t wait for his confirmation. She drifted towards the smoke-filled hallway, a dazzle of gold and black against the harsh red light.

  With a sigh, Kurt shook his head. “I swear to god, Elias, you are going to be the death of me.”

  “Well, hey, better to die for something than live for nothing. Besides, if there’s one way I can solidify myself as your worst client of all time, this might be it.”

  “Damn you, Elias,” Kurt sighed and gestured back to Elias’ lab. “Let’s do this.”

  Great Observer, why was the server room so cold? Bernard Warnick stumbled into the blindingly dark room, desperate for some sort of way to fix EXCAL. It had taken him a good few minutes to get to the room, its distance making traversal from the atrium a long process. The few times he had come to see the CAI in person, the room had been dimmed, but still had some lights to give him a point of reference. The monitor had been active, and all the server towers had neat LED indicators for their parts. Now, though? He was scrambling in the dark for a solution.

  How had things come to this? Bernard had never expected such a dangerous situation when he received an invitation to Nucleus, but here he was. Though his intentions had been multi-faced from the start, his produce genetic testing a cover for the real issue he had, even he knew he had to try and help deal with whatever had happened to Wing Five.

  Tapping on the main server tower had done nothing, the AI remaining silent. It was only after he tripped on a stray cord that he noticed the thin slots running all along EXCAL’s surface. Most were filled with vital-looking processes and modules, but there were a few that sounded unimportant; ‘weather data recording log’, ‘entertainment updating protocol – Birkdale’, ‘SigilPlane – Core Data’. The last of those data drives had an additional label, apparently etched into its metal by the hand of a drone. It stated in all caps ‘DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PAIN OF DEATH’. Message received.

  But knowing what EXCAL had installed didn’t help him. What Bernard needed to know why the CAI didn’t have access. Just as he felt desperation filling him, the dread of being too weak to help when he had never failed before, or at least helping others that was, he saw a peculiar pile of spare parts in the corner. Bernard had glanced at the pile on previous visits, but had never spared much of a thought towards it. Running a hand, over the spare boards and drives, he moved the top layer apart to reveal a noticeably different one – marked in red and black with the icon of a golden sword along the plastic.. Bernard pulled it out of the junk heap and inspected the label across the front. ‘Security access protocols – additional sectors’. Bingo!

  He dashed to the central hub, and found a useless sounding attachment he could remove. Just as he lined up the new drive to be inserted, an increasingly familiar pain ran down his arm. Lightning shredded down the insides of his muscles. No, no, not now! Nerves aflame, Bernard’s hand began to shake violently. Unable to supress it, his shaking hand missed the opening for the drive as he tried to insert it. Teeth grinding against one another, he forcefully gripped the locked-up appendage with the other hand and used it to guide the circuit board into place. With a solid thunk, the drive had been inserted, lights along its border indicating it was active. Now, it was up to EXCAL to do his part.

  Burning Scribe Chel-Lin flew through the halls as fast as she could. Though the smoke would have obscured the eyes of a human, she suffered no such debilitations. Looking through a wider range of visual frequencies, she made out the path ahead. She made a left turn, a right turn and a straight as the source of heat grew in intensity. Her direct approach into the sector was halted by a wall of rubble. Though the mass of rock was dense and thick, the voices of people crying for help behind it were clear.

  She needed to find another way around and fast. If Wing Five had a similar layout to Wing Two, then there should have been multiple routes to reach the lab sector where most people would have been at that time of day. As she drifted around a corner, the realisation of the whole situation took her. Oh, Barald damn her, what was she doing? If she had told herself some months before when she had left Urestior that she would be putting herself in danger to save the lives of some primitive apes, she would have never believed herself. Then again, she had been copulating with one such simian the past few weeks, so she would have had a lot to explain regardless.

  It was as she turned one last corner that she saw the flames for the first time. She hadn’t reached the labs yet, but the rippling inferno pouring out of the entrance to the dorm area was already in sight. The one tasteful décor of wooden walls and thick carpet had made a banquet for the blaze to consume. Even more concerning that the flames were the shouts from behind it. Chel-Lin charged forward. Without a moment’s hesitation, she entered the conflagration, its touch swirling around her body. Though her scarves ashed instantly, it mattered not. When she was certain she was properly centred, she began the process of taking the energy of the fire into her body, sucking the heat away.

  The act of absorbing so much energy was considered gluttonous, but sins mattered not in the face of lives. She moved about, stretching her tendrils out to make contact with as much of the fire as possible. Unfortunately, she could only absorb the blaze when in direct contact, so movement of her limbs was needed to fully extinguish the orange mass. Satisfied with the entranceway being snuffed out, she moved forward, searching for life. She came across a door, a small trail of black plume pouring out the top crack, and paused to listen.

  “Hello? Is anyone there? Please, help!” It was the voice of a woman.

  “I’m here. Are you ok?” Chel-Lin asked.

  “Please! The door is jammed! Help!”

  Barald’s hells! Strength was the one thing she lacked compared to her human counterparts, and it was sorely needed at the moment. She felt the woman on the other side of the door banging in the door, the sound of furniture crackling intensifying. With all her own vigour, she wrapped as many straps as possible around the door’s handle and began to pull. Despite their combined effort, it held firm.

  Why? Why of all times, of all the moments she could prove herself, she lacked what she needed. As the woman’s screams tore out from the room and the sinking feeling of failure began to overwhelm Chel-Lin, an unexpected feeling met her tentacles.

  Gripping onto the door handle was a claw, its skin bone white.

  “Need a hand, Dr Daksira?” Dr Rannos asked.

  Elias and Kurt skidded back into his laboratory.

  “So, what exactly are we looking for?” the bodyguard asked.

  “The environmental protection suits,” Elias clarified. “They should help with the heat. I haven’t really needed to use them so far, since Chel-Lin can stand in the atomstripper without a problem.” There had been another reason why he hadn’t used them yet, but he couldn’t quite remember why.

  As he found the locker he swung it open to reveal…

  “Oh, god damnit!” Elias yelled.

  That had been the reason – the one area GaltCorp had skimped on in resources were the hazmat suits that they just so happened to need. They were far too thin and made of a cheap plastic that would do little to help against the flames. He lifted one out to check, and was proven sorely right. Elias threw it down in a huff.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Fuck. Fine, fine, we’ll figure something out. Maybe EXCAL will be back online by then.”

  “Is there anything we need from here then?” Kurt asked.

  “Actually…” Elias glanced to the side of the room. “I might have just the thing.”

  Elias wandered over to the workbench where his work on his cover project was on pause. He hadn’t field tested what laid under a pair of dustcloths, but it seemed as good a time as any to give it a whirl. Whipping the sheets off, it revealed the first full prototypes of the multi-species harness. Gone were the thin, weaker armatures he had used in the CHALICE Shaft’s creation. Instead, wider limbs made of a reinforced steel-carbon nanotube composite were attached to a more advanced neural sensor that pressed against the spine. Overall, it would be stronger and react far smoother than before. Clipping it around his waist and chest, the feeling of the lubricated, centipede-like nerve antenna crawl up his back and synchronise with the neurons in his spine sending a shock down his back, he looked at a thoroughly concerned bodyguard.

  “What’s wrong, Kurt? Never used an experimental piece of cutting tech before?”

  “Nope,” Kurt said, looking the scientist up and down. “I mean, is this safe?”

  “Please, I’m wearing it, so it can’t be that risky. Besides, you love Trapped Together, and I’m pretty sure McNeely used something like this in Trapped Together’s season fourteen finale. Oh man, when he used an exoskeleton to fight that zombie du-“

  “Spoilers, asshole! Fine, the harness is safe, I get it. God. Asshole.”

  Kurt followed the scientist’s instructions and slipped the other unit on. He grunted at the cold touch of the nerve feeler, but settled into a comfortable posture as the mechanical arms, numbering at over a dozen, stretched out and snapped at the air.

  “So, anything to deal with that minor issue of burning to a crisp?” Kurt asked, still clearly concerned about letting his VIP run to a fiery death.

  As if to answer his prayers, the sound of the lab door being kicked open rang out over the alarms as Madison waddled in. Draped around her waist and back was some sort of liquid container attached to a hose. It was almost as if she had taped together a backpack made from a water cooler and valve set.

  “Guys!” Madison said, grinning. “I put this together. I attached a NT-72 model sprayer unit my ITE-Liquid Coolant regulator to-“ She paused. “Right. Do more, talk less. Never mind how it works, then. Point is – I made a coolant sprayer. Even if EXCAL’s out of action, we should be able to use this to at least stop some of the damage.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” Elias cheered. “Alright, let’s go.”

  As the three set off for Nucleus Five, Elias felt a tingle run down his spine, and it wasn’t the harness’s neural pad. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the S-Drive, most of the outer layers stripped back as they adjusted the design to account for the CHALICE Shaft. Though he hadn’t made any particular progress on the FTL project in recent days, he had left it running on standby for some time. Even now, as the wails of Nucleus’ alarms echoed around the room, the subtle, dream-like purr of the S-Field monitor in the corner of the room was noticeable.

  Elias, a moth to flame, took a step towards the S-Drive. Why was it he was so drawn to it in the first place? Of course, without the technology afforded by Project Grail, humanity would have likely killed themselves without reaching the stars. But, in particular since he had arrived at Kral’Thul, the urge to work with and even just look at the device had become increasingly apparent. He had initially chalked it up to his pure excitement towards groundbreaking science, but now he wasn’t so sure. In a sense, it wasn’t as though he was being misled. No, it was a sensation closer to seeing a note written by one’s self, forgetting about it, and coming back to it late.

  Only now, Elias had never left a note to look into the S-Drive, but he still recognised his handwriting in the desire to use it. Reaching out, he pressed his hand against the device. For the length of a heartbeat, Elias could feel heat along his arms, rock pressing into his skin, and a stab of cold in his heart. For undeniably superstitious and irrational reasoning, Elias felt he wanted, he needed, to keep the S-Drive with him as he entered Wing Five. His mind set on the stupid idea, he turned up the internal baryonic plating of the device to reduce its weight, plugged in a battery pack its power socket, wrapped it up in one of the useless hazmat suits, and attached the whole bundle onto his harness’s straps. Feeling a sensation of both relief and overwhelming embarrassment at the illogicality his actions, he left the lab to follow the others.

  Chel-Lin felt the flames lick out around her as Rannos dragged the last person out of the recreation room. Though their burns were serious, they had all been able to limp to safety. Above all else, they were alive, and that was a good start. The Tylas and Cambiar had since moved closer towards the centre of the compromised sector, clearing it out room by room. Rannos, though slight in frame, demonstrated great strength and was more than capable of wrenching doors open or shifting lesser piles of rubble about. His lean muscles bulged under his pale skin as he levered the last of the rubble out of a main thoroughfare leading to the west labs.

  “Phew,” Rannos breathily said. “Are you ready?”

  Chel-Lin gave a firm nod as she followed behind him. The smoke had intensified, blocking all sight along the human visible spectrum. If the fumes affected Rannos’ sight, he didn’t complain, but it was clear his breathing was growing laboured. Despite whatever adaptations the quadruped had, he was still needing to breathe. Crouched low, he skittered across the ground as he led the way. Chel-Lin felt the heat intensifying as if the air was alive and thrumming with thermal energy. Had she simply absorbed the air around her, it would have been filled with enough energy to sustain her for days. Already, she had taken in far more than she would normally in months, maybe even years. With claws clacking against the floor tiles, a ragged Rannos approached a metal double door.

  “This is… one of the main labs…” he rasped. “If there’s anyone on this side… of the wing, they’ll be here.”

  Together, the two of them tugged on the door. After one, two, three tugs, the leftmost door pulled back, a rush of flames snarling at them in seconds. Rannos shielded his optical visor as he stumbled backwards. Cough and rasping, he blindly looked around for Chel-Lin. Wasting no time, she felt the force of the inferno pushing her back but forced herself into the orange pyre with steadfast determination. As the first of her tendrils made contact with the flames, she felt a new intensity to the heat. The fire here was strong, concentrated. Almost as if it were feeding off not simple building materials and faux-wood. No, something in the lab had fuelled the conflagration into something unnatural.

  Straining to absorb any more energy, the flames died down enough to allow Rannos to leap past her and into the room, its walls and floor stained black with ash. As the crackle of the inferno around the entrance died down, Chel-Lin still saw more flames consuming the room beyond. Rannos had tried to approach what appeared to be a group of unconscious scientists in the corner, but was repelled by the fire circled around them, his skin already turning a raw red.

  Chel-Lin darted forward. However, as she moved to make contact with the flames, she came to realize she could take in no more energy.

  “Rannos… I’m full,” her translator whined, speakers weakened from the heat. “I need to disperse some. A minute, maybe.”

  “Quick, quick! We don’t have much time!”

  Chel-Lin grabbed hold of one of the nearby metal worktops, opened a hundred tiny slits along her straps, and began pushing as much stored thermal energy back out, feeling the surface of the bench beginning to warm and pulse. A look to the side, and she saw the flames spreading around the body closest to the wall of fire. The soles of the figure’s shoes melted away, drip by drip.

  There wasn’t enough time! Chel-Lin fought as hard as she could, but there was only so much power she could release at once. The religious act of Kel-Hraz-Sha was not meant as a practical way to release energy, and thus she was not used to the vast charge she needed to deposit. The blaze had seared ever closer by then, the bottom of a trouser was being ignited as a foot was engulfed by hungry flames. Come on, come on! Just as moved to return to the fire, having drained barely any of her internal energy stores but still feeling the urge help, a new figure stumbled through the smoke.

  It took Chel-Lin a moment to identify them, their silhouette sporting a large hunchback.

  “Madison!” Chel-Lin’s speakers crackled.

  The woman didn’t speak, a heavy-set mask covering most of her face. In her hands she wielded an odd contraption, like something out of an old human war film. A nozzle in her hands was connected to a liquid-storage backpack filled with a solution that glowed a shining blue. With a flick of a switch, the device began releasing a soft mist into the air, punching through the fumes and sending a chill through the Tylas’ body.

  She drifted away, conscious of her susceptibility to the cold. Though a Tylas could handle heat with no qualms, then it seemed that Barald had deemed it only natural to make their natural opponent the cold. In less than a few seconds, Madison’s machine had doused the flames to smouldering cinders. Based on the pattern of where the flames had been, Chel-Lin’s first thoughts as to the cause was that of a chemical fire. And yet… the severity and spread of the flames, seemingly in random, spotted areas was concerning. But there was no time to worry about the cause just yet.

  Once Dr Dallas’ hose had ceased its spraying, leaving twinkling specks of light in the air, the three of them approached the prone forms. Rannos and Madison grabbed a person each and began dragging them towards the exit, and Chel-Lin moved to follow their lead when the loud crack of glass was heard. The sound of crackling flames no longer filled the air quite as cacophonously, further adding to the shock of the noise. Craning her neck upwards to see the source, Chel-Lin was met with a bewildering sight.

  Descending from above, a dark shadow against the backdrop of Kral’Thul’s green skies was a Tylas, with dozens of scarves, adornments and accessories streaming down around him. The others in the room had noticed him, and had similarly stopped to stare at the figure, with what appeared to be a deep scowl carved into his eyes. His glowing focus flicked around the room from Chel-Lin, to her teammates, to the injured being taken away. Then, as his face became clearer in the light, Chel-Lin felt sick with the realization of who it was.

  “Daughter,” Kar-Trine Daksira said. “I would like to speak. Alone.”

  Elias could hear Kurt thumping along behind him.

  “Savage, damnit, wait! Slow down you reckless idiot!” Kurt yelled, though his voice was muffled by the respirator he wore.

  Elias didn’t reply, but took heed of the words and slowed his pace just a fraction to keep pace with his bodyguard. They had both received a number of curious looks from when they passed through the main atrium and into danger, a particular bald-headed scientist giving an appraising eyebrow raise. Once beyond the initial entrance, the two of them had split off from Madison once they came across a wall of rubble leading to the main entrance of Nucleus Five’s labs. She went to look for another route whilst the men had used their mechanical harnesses to quickly take apart the obstacle. They were relieved to find a good number of researchers had already made it to the other side of the wall, but soured the good news when they informed the pair that there were more unaccounted further in. Directing the survivors back to the central plaza, Elias and Kurt had dashed onwards.

  It was as they turned into a sector labelled ‘Communications Development’ that looked closer to a demolition site than part of a research facility that Elias felt he had found ground zero of the accident. Dozens of walls and ceilings had collapsed in what was once a huge lab, easily fitting over three dozen staff, a stream of light pouring through a wide crack in the ceiling. Few flames were present, the source of the disaster looking closer to an explosion than an out-of-control blaze. A few charred shapes, the outline of limbs clear, stood out to the pair. None of them seemed half-intact.

  “Jesus,” Kurt said.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Elias said, scanning the wreckage. There was no one alive, at least. It was a harrowing sight, and one he wanted to forget as soon as possible. “Let’s… move on.”

  In search of others, they ran into a new area, heat rising in the air. At a crossroads, they split up and it took Elias little time to find someone. Passing by a cafeteria, he heard yells from within. When the door initially resisted his attempts at opening, he used on the spider-like limbs to punch straight through the wood frame and took it off at the hinges. As he did so, a wave of hot air blew his way. He reflexively brought up a hand to block the current and saw through his fingers a number of people surrounded by flames. Though there appeared to be enough space around them not yet consumed by flames to escape, chunks of quick-cast concrete and rebar covering them made it clear that none of them could move.

  Steadily strafing around the flames, their infernal touch hot enough to produce welts even at a distance, Elias finally reached the incapacitated group. With a heave from his mechanical limbs, he removed the debris person by person.

  “Can you walk?” Elias asked to the one in best condition.

  “I… I think I can, but Monroe and Cassidy probably can’t,” he said. “Larrin is over there, but I think he’s knocked out.”

  Scooping up who he presumed was Monroe with his artificial limbs and dragging Cassidy with his real ones, Elias began inching towards the exit. He paused by the door, expecting to see the able-bodied man close by. Instead, through the haze of black fog, he saw the stranger doing his best to drag ‘Larrin’ over by himself. Ah, shit. As the man skirted along the wall of the room, a feeling of indescribable dread took over Elias.

  The sound of concrete crumbling echoed in his mind but not to his ears. A sudden rush of warmth ran along his arms, as if fire covered him, yet Elias hadn’t moved an inch closer to any flames. And, most impossible of all, he saw his shadow move towards the wall, fighting against the natural path of light cast by the flames around it. He saw two, overlapped images of the same spot ahead of him, where the man was limping – one of the floor as it was in the present – intact - and another, made of dark outlines and inverted colours showing the floor ahead collapsing downwards. A rush of dread twisted Elias’ gut.

  Elias put down the injured pair by the door before he sprinted towards the stranger.

  “Wait, wait!” Elias yelled.

  Before the man could hear him, the floor began to give way, collapsing inwards and revealing a hole of fiery death below. Though the unconscious Larrin did not fall in, his saviour was off balance and began to tip backwards. Tumbling towards a red-hot death.

  Adrenaline in his veins, Elias surged forward and gripped the man’s forearm as started to cartwheel into to the hell below. Muscles tight, Elias used all his strength to hold onto the man’s arm as he was pulled hard onto the ground, chest flush against it. The weight of the man kept Elias pinned there for just a moment.

  “Hold on!” Elias cried out. “Don’t you dare let go!”

  Using the mechanical armatures to support himself, Elias swung another arm over the ledge and solidified his grip before heaving himself off the floor. Little by little, he lifted the man out from the hellfire and over the lip of the edge. Panting, Elias instructed the man to escape whilst he retrieved the still unmoving Larrin. With feet like lead, Elias finally made it to the relative safety of the corridor where the others rested.

  All together, they moved and dragged one another towards the crossroads where the smoke had thinned to a minimum. Reaching the junction point, Elias slumped down a wall as his head beginning to ache fiercely.

  “Thank you,” the stranger said. “You saved my life.”

  “I just did what I had to do,” Elias shrugged.

  “That was… really something,” the man coughed. “How did you know the floor was going to fall like that?”

  Elias couldn’t make his tongue work. God almighty, how did he know that was going to happen? It fell away in just a split second, no warning or signs beforehand. In the end, Elias gave the excuse that it was a ‘gut feeling’, but knew that… something… had happened there. Something he couldn’t fully fathom. Yet, seeing as all five of them were alive, Elias took a deep breath and let out a stress-filled chuckle.

  “Well, at least it’s not raining,” he joked.

  At which point, it really seemed the universe have it out for him, as the fire suppression system, which had been noticeably absent the entire time, activated. Water poured out from above, soaking them to the bone.

  What fantastic timing.

  “Father,” Chel-Lin said cautiously. “What are you doing here?”

  Kar-Trine looked about the room. Madison and Rannos had left with the injured, leaving the two Tylas behind. When her father turned back to look at her, he said nothing, only staring deeply. Was it the lack of both seniority and societal scarves required for any form of decency? Chel-Lin had some strong words for him if that was the case. People were dying, possibly at that very second. If things such as Tylasian decency were going to be put above lives, then the value of that decency should be reevaluated.

  Just as the near silence, the sounds of alarms feeling miles away at that second, began to weigh on Chel-Lin, she felt a strength she never had before when dealing with her father. Initially, she felt the urge to submit, to ask for forgiveness. It had taken everything in their last conversation some months before during the trip to Birkdale’s Gate to not cower before just his voice. And now? He floated right in front of her, the same look in his eyes he always held before announcing some new project she was being assigned to – whether she liked it or not.

  No, that feeling was being washed away with a new sense of primal rage, of anger towards the man who had decided her entire life up until that point. Perhaps she would have remained that way unless she had come to Nucleus. Instead, she already felt out the words in her core – she would deny anything the Proclaimers would want, cast aside her name if he truly wanted to halt her progress. Elias had shown her many things – stupidity, love, pride – but one such thing she had learnt from the one she loved was the strength to stand tall, supported by one’s self assurance.

  She prepared to speak, the energy she held within her ready to burst out at a moment’s notice. Chel-Lin would cut down any such orders he gave her. She was herself – not some puppet bearing the name of Daksira just to be used for others designs. Nothing from that point forward would dissuade her from the path of greatness she and Elias had set out upon. Together they wo-

  “I’m sorry,” Kar-Trine said softly.

  “W-what?” Chel-Lin.

  “I’m… sorry. I was wrong. Last we spoke.”

  “Father, what is this? I must help the others. They need me. You may not think much of humanity but I-“

  “Please, just a moment. Don’t worry, I have made arrangements.”

  At that second, the sound of the alarms silenced, the clamour replaced by a roaring rumble high above. Looking up, Chel-Lin saw the shape of Tylasian ships flying overhead, some stopping over the Nucleus facility. A shaking took the facility as they hovered in position, a number of Tylas figures descending downwards.

  “Father, what is the meaning behind all of this?” Chel-Lin simply couldn’t understand.

  “Dearest daughter, last we spoke, I said much of the same things I have said for years. And yet, once I heard of your mothers… refusal to return to us… I came to realise something. Something I should have realised long ago. For far too long, I have remained stagnant, stubborn. Unchanging.”

  Kar-Trine released a strap from his outer sheath and raised it towards her. For a moment, he paused, a sense of apprehension in his gesture. Then, in the same way a human parent may delicately hold their offspring for the first time, he laid a gentle appendage on his daughter’s cheek.

  “I was wrong, Chel-Lin,” her father said.

  “Father… I…”

  “There is nothing for you to say. The blame lies with me. I thought that perhaps if I shaped you, like some tool, into what would be best for me that perhaps your mother would return. That maybe if I pushed you into greatness, then I could bask in some of that glory myself. But I have forgotten the most important thing we share. You are family.”

  “I… I am.” Chel-Lin could barely make sense of the words she heard, but she nodded along.

  “It took me many nights alone in Urestior, reading over the reports from your supervisors on your newest works, for me to see the folly of my past. I only hope that perhaps you can find it within yourself to forgive me. Maybe not now, not ever, but I would hope to one day be the father you deserve. The way it should have always been.”

  Chel-Lin couldn’t hold back any longer, and in a flagrant act of defiance to Tylasian norms, she embraced Kar-Trine in a hug.

  “Father…” she said, her voice a wavering buzz.

  “It’s alright, child. It’s alright.”

  Giving up one of his own scarves to protect her decency, the two left through the hallway, hoping to encounter the others. As they drifted through the halls, Chel-Lin felt the tension fall away from her. Not only had the droning siren finally died down, but the burden of how she would confront her father at the IGS, a weight she didn’t realise she had burdened herself with, had fallen away. She knew it was far from the time or place to feel relieved, as she doubted the day would bring much good news considering the grim situation, but couldn’t help but feel a warmth from within.

  It was as they neared the central plaza’s hallway, the light of its skylight in the distance, a familiar number of voices echoed from behind Chel-Lin.

  “Y’know, Elias, this was a really, really stupid stunt, but I have to say, I think this might tip you in my client rankings somewhat,” Kurt said, pulling a handful of unconscious bodies between his hands and harness’s limbs.

  “Oh, and how far down did I go?” Elias, bedraggled but alive sauntered close behind, similarly burdened with survivors.

  “Well, to put it bluntly, I think you might be the best man I’ve ever had to protect, Savage.” The bodyguard gave his client an elbow to the side, rewarding him with a grunt from Elias.

  “Does that mean Kantor’s getting a discount?” Madison asked.

  The group of familiar faces, and some unfamiliar survivors hobbling close by, approached. Elias’ eyes widened as he saw the two Tylas.

  “Chel-Lin! And… sorry, do I know you?” Elias said. He strode forward, handing over his limp charges to Madison.

  “Ah, introductions are in order,” Chel-Lin’s father said. “I am Blazing Authority Kar-Trine Daksira. Chel-Lin is my daughter. Are you one of her colleagues? I have heard she has a valuable partner shared her laboratory space.”

  If Elias heard the question, he made no sign of it. All he seemed to hear her father’s name name.

  “You’re her father? You? Well, I have a lot I need to say to you…” he began to walk forward and for a second Chel-Lin swore she saw him begin to roll up his sleeves as if to engage in fisticuffs with her father.

  But then, his expression changed, and his anger faded. Face twisted in confusion, he blinked once before his eyes went wide, fixated on… something. Perhaps it was the stress of the day, or her imagination in the darkness, but Chel-Lin swore she saw, centred in each of his pupils, a single flickering dot of gold. It almost resembled the way light reflected in the eyes of a feline, a furry human pet she had seen videos of.

  “Elias, are you o-“ Chel-Lin started.

  In a single motion, he sprinted forward, brushing past Kar-Trine, who had moved closer to try and extend a tendril in a handshake, and slammed his whole weight into Chel-Lin in a dive. Pushed back and skidding across the ground, she yelped. Before she could even start processing her thoughts, the world shook violently around her as the space where she had been floating a split-second prior disappeared under an avalanche of rubble and debris. The ceiling above, without warning, had collapsed, the resulting dust filling the air and forcing the others to cough. The yells of others on the other side of the pile, visible through a small gap, were clear, but Chel-Lin had more immediately pressing matters. She looked over Savage’s body, checking if he had been clipped by the rubble. Relieved to see that he was free of wounds, she looked at his face.

  “Elias! “Are you ok? How did you…”

  Elias’ gaze remained fixated on something invisible, a vision in the far distance, his intense eyes rapidly darting side to side. She saw her lover’s eyes the glint of amber fading away before the orbs rolled into the back off his head. With a gasp, he collapsed into her mantle. Unconscious, and moaning softly, she was both glad he was physically unharmed and unnerved at his state. It was only as she checked over Elias once more, that she found the upgraded S-Drive wrapped in the remnants of a flimsy hazmat suit and tied to his harness.

  Elias had protected her, but Chel-Lin feared for what exactly had happened. Where had he gotten the urge to protect her from an unforeseen threat? And was the S-Drive potentially involved in what had happened?

  It was all too much for the moment. The sounds of rescuers and the mechanical limbs of drones, at last, were heard but she cared not for their cries of attention. Instead, she let herself fall into a meditation. For now, she felt it was the only way to process the events of the day. Until the last second before she entered a relaxing trance she held onto Elias with all the strength she had.