Prisoners of Sol

I didn't know who would be insane enough to attack Suam with the opening salvo to war, but despite what the 5D visions had suggested, I knew it wasn't us. Perhaps humanity wasn't the culprit after all, though I was confused what Takahashi's comments were about in that case. There still might be a chance to repent for running off, and tell Justiciar Colban we'd made a mistake—sparing Sol from being the Elusians' preemptive strike that was no doubt coming along. I looked toward Corai, since she knew how to scrub her people's internet and get quicker answers.

"Who the fuck would attack a place like this?" I demanded.

Corai's eyes were filled with ambivalence, relief and horror vying for victory within the darkness. "It's the Fakra, come to claim their vengeance. I…guess I'm responsible for letting them out too, and they must've had millennia to plan how to kill us all. But it's not humans: at least, it doesn't start with you! I should never have doubted you."

"Corai. Show us what's happening, please," Sofia interjected. "What are the Fakra doing?"

The Elusian grimaced, before forwarding a video of the incursion. Massive black ships, the size of a city block, emerged from portals that opened up in the lavender sky. Within the first second of them blinking in by the clouds, they were unmistakably the ones we'd encountered back in Ahnar's system; the Fakra's handiwork left a veneer of intimidation. Their hulls crackled with electricity, which shot to the ground like lightning—Capal's storm gods up and running! That was what metal was vulnerable to, as a conductor, of course.

"We have defenses," Corai whispered in my mind, perhaps noticing that I was a little impressed. "The Shifting City designed with lightning in mind, of course. There's gaps in the metal surface so that currents won't be able to circulate."

I arched an eyebrow. "However, for the people in the immediate vicinity, it's a bad day."

"Yes…but we can levitate, hon. The element of surprise is gone. Whatever weapon wipes us out in your visions, it isn't this."

"The Fakra don't really have the power to destroy you, do they?" Sofia asked.

"Someone must. If not them, then you. When Takahashi said destroyed by their creations, plural, perhaps she meant that you were forced to pick a side and chose the Fakra. It would be a strange way to talk about humanity alone, though I feared that was copium."

Mikri offered an inquisitive whir. "Why would the humans aid the Fakra? They have not demonstrated any desire to get involved without provocation."

"Because, Mikri, beyond the fact that we're a threat to Earth and Ahnar wants an alliance…the Fakra have an open window to Sol. If humanity doesn't help, then they could face a retaliatory attack. The only thing that—how did they discover Suam's location, unless you already gave it to them? Out of anger for you both being removed from my installation, perhaps?"

"That's not possible. Humanity as a whole doesn't know Suam's location!" Sofia objected. "Only us, and we haven't left your sight for a moment."

There was a flash of movement in our periphery, dozens of heads of white chitin appearing at eye level. Soldiers armed to the teeth encircled us, somehow having arrived a few feet away from us. Lights switched on from their helmets, and illuminated us as Sofia raised her hands over her head. Mikri looked excited to join up with them, smiling and demonstrating no fear. Corai showed no reaction, while I sidled up to her and stood protectively in her path.

"So this is the hole the Elusians crawled back to when they abandoned us. What a gorgeous city, that they never dreamed to share," Commander Velke chuckled, as his soldiers pointed guns at Corai. "I see you're keeping human pets in your orbit. This has been a million years coming. Care about us any more now that you're going to pay for your crimes?"

I bared my teeth. "They're not her crimes! She is nothing like the Elusians who abandoned you. When we were in trouble, Corai defied orders and did everything she could to help. She cares about us, the way your Watchers absolutely did not. She's the only reason you got out! She's on our side!"

"I can fight my own battles, Preston," Corai sighed. "I acted because I couldn't abandon humanity, and I still won't. I hoped to avoid this outcome, but if it's some targeted revenge on me specifically you seek, then I suppose you can turn down my aid. I'll side with you willingly. My people need to be stopped from fucking over any other creations."

"You'll help them?!" I asked her privately, in disbelief.

"I'll pretend to. I don't want to die, and I want them to take you out of here to safety. Humanity helping them is a necessary evil, if that's why they're here. You cannot let Sol come under siege, and they have easy access to your dimension. The way to change the prophecy might be for you to temper their bloodlust—to stop them from killing us all, starting with me."

"Is that why your future is ambiguous? I won't let them lay a finger on you!"

Sofia lowered her hands, noticing that the Fakra soldiers weren't hostile toward the two of us. "Why are you here—I don't mean Suam, I mean, why have you sought us out?"

"I'm here to rescue you three!" Velke gestured broadly at Sofia, Mikri, and myself, using three of his arms to do so. "I figured the Elusians were going to fuck you over, because they always do. I see on their little broadcasts that you're fugitives. When you got busted and they shut us down, who could've foreseen that they'd use the probe against humans? Or maybe against us, since we were going to attack. They'd see it—had to be now."

"How the hell did you find us?"

"I had time and space enough to put tracking bugs in your human bodies. Came in handy."

I shuddered, pawing at my skin. "You messed with my fucking corpse?!"

"I wanted to track what they did to it—and track you. You were becoming awfully partial to them. I don't have time to litigate this. Come with us to the Fakra forward operating base, out in deep space. I'll explain whatever you want to know; we would prefer to work with you."

"If you want to work with us, you spare Corai and treat her as an ally. She risked her life for us, and unlike the rest of her lot, she's a good person."

"Fine. I'm not stupid enough to pass on invaluable intelligence, even if it's an Elusian coughing it up. Step through the portal, and we'll have a chat."

"Are they a threat to you?" Mikri asked us.

"Probably. But we have to go along with them," I responded. "And Corai's right. This gets us off Suam, which means more options and not being right in the middle of an attack. Come on, tin can."

Sofia ushered Mikri through the Fakra's 4D portal, and I fitted Corai's hand into mine to do the same. That gesture earned a sharp stare from Velke, but I met his eyes with willful defiance. We needed to get back to Sol and warn them about so many things, between the Elusians and the Fakra's machinations. I could still hear the claps of the nanobot structure being pelted by explosives, the AR activity as Suam's natives were caught off-guard and felled, and the forceful thunderclaps of their eldritch weaponry aiming for Fakra ships.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Corai and I walked through the portal to safety, with the Fakra soldiers shoving us along with beaks curled in contempt. As I crossed the interdimensional space, a bright radiance overtook my mind like it came from the heavens. Elusians ducked through archway portals in the Shifting City—which was hardly one physical place, whatever the Fakra thought. Others turned to fight as Fakra soldiers charged them, pooling the mental resources of their raisers together to send massive chunks of metal at the invaders.

Velke's forces somehow had raisers of their own now, fitted on their wrists to snap them back at the Elusians, after charging them with electricity. They'd altered the metal bands to be able to conduct bolts of electricity also? That was…good to know, in case I got any thoughts of tussling with the Fakra. Even my Sol body wouldn't be more resistant to that force: I knew from my joyride with Larimak. Caught off-guard, the gray aliens who didn't turn tail fast enough were fried and electrocuted.

Oh, jeez. Is Sofia seeing this too? Are these the bodies in her vision—or is this only happening to me, because I looked into eternity's eye? This is megaprecog, except a live feed. Huh.

The Elusians were clever bastards, as they scrambled an evacuation. The Fakra were channeling negative energy toward the ground in an oppressive fog to stop the natives from opening portals that weren't already there, but the sky was fair game. Our creators began warping in massive slabs of concrete from the sky, and dropping them right atop Fakra units—landing with a sickening squelch. I didn't know that blocky chitin could make that sound.

The Elusians also began warping spaceships out of the sky, right into the middle of stars or fusing them with asteroids. That seemed like a…nightmare fate of atomic displacement. How the fuck did I know all of this? The images were coming faster and faster than my mind could handle, like a CPU overheating. The Fakra ships began emanating portal disruption fields around their breadth, taking up the bulk of their negative energy…and then, I found myself catatonic on the floor of Velke's outpost, with Corai and Mikri trying to rouse me. The former was more calm than the latter with his crazed whirring.

"Tell me it wasn't 11 hours again," I groaned.

Velke narrowed his eyes. "The fuck happened to you?"

"Preston was exposed to the singularity for hours—the very thing that makes my species and yours lose track of causality and go comatose or insane. It appears he's…showing some minor effects," Corai remarked, gently patting my chest. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. I just saw a lot of images from the battle, like a recap," I coughed out, noting the interest in Velke's eyes. "Since when do Fakra have raisers—not just normal raisers, but ones that zap people too?"

The Fakra's posture shifted to a more defensive one. "How the fuck do you know that?"

"I told you. I just knew. I guess I just know things now. Like I know in another life, that Mikri would be an outhouse kind of human—that devil dog's an uncivilized swine. That's why he gave us buckets."

"Your juices had to be contained," Mikri answered, finally accepting that I was okay. "Peach-flavored oatmeal straight from the spout with high viscosity!"

Velke's expression was one of sheer disgust. "Robot, why are you like this?"

"My mother made me this way. Fifi, wave for the camera!"

Sofia shook her head. "I guess this is my fault for telling Mikri to act 'normal.' I didn't see whatever Preston saw, but there's a serious question in there. I get that you found Suam by tracking us—that's just the tip of the iceberg though. How did you develop raisers so quickly, Commander?"

"Ah, when your robot friend hacked the entirety of Earth's military software on our diplomatic visit, it became evident I could do the same. Preston Carter left a pair of raisers with General Takahashi for research purposes. We stole your R&D. I'll offer no more apologies for that than your friend Corai will for our near-extinction."

"You want us to be allies, and you spy on and steal from us nonstop?!" I demanded.

"These things aren't mutually exclusive. I'm coming clean about it, and it's not as if I used it against you. We'd take anything to facilitate their destruction."

"You can't go through 5D portals without having rolled out…our methods. Did you steal nanobots from their corpses somehow too?!" Corai inquired, causing several Fakra to angle their guns toward her longingly.

Velke leaned toward the Elusian, glee in his eyes. "No. I called your bluff, analyzed your little sample. Your supposed restrictions didn't make a lot of sense, from a programming standpoint. Now we all can be immortal gods, just like you. If humanity is wise enough to stand with us, they can enjoy what you've withheld as well."

"That sounds delightful, but I'm perplexed," Sofia ventured. "Why didn't you ask us before launching the attack?"

"Oh, we didn't want you to try to stop us. We knew you wanted to see if your little project worked, to buy more time, but the more time you buy, the more they know our moves before we make them. The Fakra could use your foot soldiers. The Marshal also wanted us to draw first blood—to do our own work. If there's a lesson we've learned, it's that we can't be reliant upon the good graces of others."

"Commander Velke, we ask for time so we can all play catchup to the Elusians. We don't like them either, but we don't want to commit suicide."

The Fakra lifted his gun, passing it between his four hands like a hot potato. "You already know it's not suicide, Sofia, that we have a chance that might never come again. It's our destiny to slay the Elusians. There cannot be peace with such fickle, heartless beings in existence. You can see the singularity. You can find the one weapon that brings them down."

"Go with it," Corai transmitted. "Tell him to bring the proposal to the ESU, and ask to apprise them of the threat to Sol too, since that will be a motivating factor."

I glanced at her. "Are you sure?"

"That humanity is more willing to allow us to continue to exist, and to temper their wrath. I'm positive. Perhaps, if not persuading the Fakra to show mercy, we can at least save some of my people before the hammer falls. It's also not impossible that the weapon Takahashi is building is for the Fakra, because they become a threat to you. You look too much like us, after all."

Sofia cracked a smile, clasping Velke's bony hand and nodding along. "We have to save Sol, and you got us out of a terrible jam back there. I appreciate the rescue, and after what we've seen, I do think war with the Elusians might be inevitable. Our aid lies with the Earth Space Union. Perhaps we can go together and bring them up to speed, especially…on the fact that the Elusians think we're destined to kill them, now more than ever."

"I am aware of that prophecy, don't worry. That's one facet that shored up my decision to rescue you. It made it evident whose side you'll be on, reluctant or not. You're not yet hardened in the way we are, but the suffering they've inflicted on you will make you see what needs to be done."

"Jambalaya!" Mikri beeped.

Commander Velke-tremai chuckled for a brief moment. "Yes, robot. I must oversee the initial stages of the invasion at the Marshal's behest, before we leave to beseech Sol's aid. I suspect you four, hmph, could use a rest. You'll have a day to unwind and familiarize yourselves with our compound before we'll pay the ESU a visit."

"Great. Thank you," I said politely.

"You're welcome. Remember where your loyalties lie, Carter. You were once more of a firebrand, but I fear you may have been unduly influenced by your body swap. A word of advice? Do not pity those who would destroy you."

"Duh. I don't, dude."

Velke turned his back on me, addressing his troopers. "Take them to their quarters, but allow them to roam free if they wish. Make it clear the Elusian's not to be touched—willing information about Suam is far too valuable to be short-sighted. There's billions of other pricks to settle our vendetta with."

The Fakra soldiers slapped all four hands to the center of their chest, a gesture of agreement that deviated from the hominid nod that I had occasionally seen them replicate. This was better than holing up in the service tunnels of Suam with scavenged food and the entire Justiciary out to flay us for treason. With what we knew the future held, it would be a blessing to have one last day to spend some quality time together. I had no idea when our next chance to kick back would be.

While it might be difficult to enjoy our stint of relaxation knowing everything that was going on at Suam, I was going to try to block it out and forge some special memories. It was evident that the mission had exacted a heavy toll on all four of us, and we needed a moment to destress now more than ever.