“Today, I got to meet Vizir, another famous researcher who spends her time with studying the humans. But unlike me, she concentrates on the human mind and how they handle their upload processes. She is brilliant. It would have never occurred to me to study the interactions of a human brain with their technology. With her help, I devised an altered version of the human nano-tech. It isn't quite a vaccine, but it proved effective against human technology. I am certain that we can unravel the mysteries of this technology.”

- Research Diary of Ouluk Kelemdar

***Deep Space***

***Antioch***

It's warm and cosy. I sigh with satisfaction and reach out to pull Silith's soft body against mine, hoping that she might be up to some mischief. Smiling, I image running a finger down her spine. She always squeals so nicely when I wake her up like that.

But my searching fingers find nothing. Groping soft blankets, I open my eyes and remember.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I get to my feet, standing straight up in the bed. Not understanding my surroundings, I look around. What's going on?

I am standing on a simple bed with white sheets, clad in an unfamiliar white tunic. The metal springs creak when I shift my weight around, turning. The space beyond the bed is empty. Like... empty. An endless, plane of nothingness. The ground consists of stone tiles, while the sky is unnaturally blue. Not that I've ever been on a planet with a liveable habitat, but that's not how I imagined it from the videos. How can this be?

Then I remember the station and slowly start suspecting what's happening here.

With a flash, a figure appears above me. The light forces me to shield my eyes, but I can make out six huge wings and a shining halo on its head.

“Watch me and tremble in awe, mortal!”

“Fuck you! Send me back to my body!” I shoot back without hesitation.

“You know... you could at least try to play along,” the figure answers with a whiny voice. Finally, the light goes away and the humanoid bird lands in front of the bed, looking up. His face is disturbingly perfect and symmetrical, the skin smooth to the point of reflecting the landscape. It's like I am not facing an organic being, but a shell.

“We know each other. My name is... Admin. Yes, you can call me-”

I throw myself at him, using my whole body. The man's eyes widen in surprise as we go down and my hands close around his throat. I squeeze, anger filling every part of my being. Pulling him up, I slam his head back down onto the concrete floor, breaking the tile. “You are the bastard who was sending all those messages!”

Even though I squeeze with all my might, he seems unbothered.

“You can let go of me now, barbarian. This is a buffer room between reality and the V.C.” He reaches up and pries my hands away from his throat. “We can't hurt each other in here.”

I let go and rush back to the bed, breaking the head-piece with a kick. Once in my hands, the freed piece of wood turns into a handy club. Using the improvised weapon to its fullest, I unleash a torrent of strikes at my opponent who endures the attacks with a stoic expression on his face.

I hit him, I poke him – in several places – but nothing works. Only after having tried everything I can, do I abandon the idea of hurting the bastard. Halfway through the act, I also realized how ridiculous I am behaving, but I had to try anyway.

“Are you done?” he asks.

“Okay. What do you want?” I point the club at him, feeling better about holding the weapon.

“To speak to you. I have a message,” Admin replies coolly. “You are dead. The magnetic field killed you and now you get to ascend to the V.C.” He gestures behind himself and several doorways appear behind him. Each of them reveals a different setting. From a lush, green forest, to an empty, red wasteland. One reveals the busy streets of a high-tech city, while another shows a primitive village with dirty people ploughing fields.

Studying the scene, I feel my eyebrows pull together in anger. “I may have just woken up, but that doesn't mean that I am stupid or easy to trick! If I were dead, I would revive in my Hardware Backup, back on the ship!”

Admin's face crunches up in annoyance. “The ship was destroyed.”

“Ha!” I don't believe that for a second. The Haven can't fight all the ships which were placed around the station, but it's almost impossible that it would get destroyed because of a simple fly-by at high speed. “You are lying. I don't know why, but it seems to me like you are trying to trick me.”

He rubs his nose, sniffing. “I am not. Why would I? Choose.”

“No.” I cross my arms and sit down on the bed. “You said that this space is a buffer zone between the V.C. and the real world. We will wait here until my body regains consciousness, or whatever is wrong with me. Minerva warned us that leaving the V.C. is hard.” I try to recall every little detail which my kids mentioned about the V.C.

Admin rolls his eyes. “Look. I don't have all day. If you don't choose a world for retirement, you will be deleted. G.O.D. doesn't care if you don't choose.”

I stay rooted to the spot, firmly believing that I am right. Something is going on here and I can smell it.

Admin and I stare at each other for over ten minutes. When he starts squirming around minute eleven, I know that I have him. I grin. He wants me to go through a door and apparently he can't force me to. The system, G.O.D., won't allow it.

He throws up his hands. “Oh, fine! What do you want in exchange for going through a door?”

I shrug. “I just want to go back to Silith. Why do you want me to die anyway?”

He flares out his wings. “You won't die, but there are powers which don't want the Lifers to create their own faction in the real world.”

The Lifers? I ask him about it.

“The two who you call Samuel and Minerva are their agents. They want humanity to return to the real world.” Admin spreads his hands. “Take up the mantle of living, so to speak.”

“And you don't want that,” I conclude.

“I don't care. To be honest, I would rather keep watching you, but I was paid a generous sum to... persuade you. What do you think? A life of luxury, without worries? No problem!” He points at one of the doors. “Take that one. It leads to a place where the rivers are made out of honey and all the girls are horny twenty-four-seven.”

I click my tongue. “No thanks.” Even if he is telling the truth, I wouldn't do it. There are some things left to do in the real world before I take that option.

The birdman scratches his head. “If you want to be with Silith, just destroy your ship! You can go with her to another world. I can arrange it.”

Raising my eyebrows, I stare at him with a blank expression. Silith actually wants to build a life in the real world. If I do that, she would never forgive me. “Why are these Lifers so hated?”

“They aren't hated, but there are some factions who fear that their cultures could collapse. You see, if there is a nice, working society in the real world, one which doesn't repulse most of the population, many humans may decide to give it a shot. Milk and honey get boring after a few centuries.” He rubs his nose, again.

I nod and study my club, picking off one of the larger splinters. This virtual reality really feels real, except for the ability to hurt one another. I wonder...

“I know that you are a barbarian with a stick, but even you should realize that this is a good deal. Samuel and Minerva told you a little bit about the V.C. There are powerful forces conspiring against you.”

Nodding, I study the splinter. Bending it a little, I make sure that it's flexible. Yeah, that should do it. “They told me enough to draw a few conclusions. The V.C., and you, can't do shit to influence the real world. I may hate this G.O.D.-system, but in this case, it also stops you from doing anything to me. That's why you have to trick me while my body is unconscious. You are nothing but vengeful ghosts!”

Suddenly, my body starts fading out of existence and snaps back. It happens again and again. I am... blinking?

Admin's expression turns from annoyed to displeased. “Seems like I can watch you for a little while longer.”

“Seems like your time is up,” I get up in a smooth motion and shove the splinter up his nose before he can react. Using my thumb, I make sure that it's wedged well and truly deep inside.

Slapping at me, Admin steps back and starts sneezing. He picks his nose, trying to get it out, and sneezes again, followed by a coughing fit when the splinter only slides deeper. When the irritating object gets too much, he starts retching and drops to his knees.

When Admin kept rubbing his nose, I noticed that this buffer-zone may not allow us to hurt each other, but other sensations weren't blocked.

“A barbarian and a stick.” Grinning, I wave him goodbye as I fade out of this virtual world.

***Deep Space***

***Silith***

I pull the second black balloon out of the airlock and cut it open, revealing Antioch's pale face. When he doesn't move, I slap him, first once, then twice.

He stirs and his eyelids flicker. “Mmmh...”

“Antioch, wake up!” I slap him again and he opens his eyes.

“Ow! My head!” He reaches up, trying to touch his forehead with the stump of an arm. Naturally, he misses.

Noticing the injury, I gasp and grab his arm in order to keep him from opening the scabbed wound. “Antioch are you alright? Any other injuries?”

He looks at the wound and grimaces in anger, but it doesn't seem like the wound is the actual cause of his displeasure. “No other injuries. What about her?”

I look at the open balloon next to him. Inside it is the whole reason for this endeavour. “She is starved and unconscious, but alive.”

Antioch sits up with his eyes wide. “Why are you here? Who is flying the ship!?”

“Samuel is. We still have five minutes before we have to engage in evasive manoeuvres, so I came down to check. It's not like the kiddos could have lifted you onto a stretcher if it had been necessary.”

Timely as ever, Min arrives with a bed on wheels from the medical station. “Ho! We did it! Oh, Dad is already up!”

Antioch uses his uninjured hand to get to his feet. Ignoring us, he stumbles out of the compartment which gives access to the airlock. I follow him. “Hey? What's so urgent?”

“I can't lift her onto the bed!” Min complains.

Cursing, I quickly turn around and pick up the frail prisoner. Being careful so as to avoid hurting her, I place her on the soft mattress, then I dash after Antioch who stumbled down the corridor towards the bridge. Min can push the bed to the infirmary and activate the automated medic units.

On my way to the ship's heart, I encounter Samuel, who is leaving the cockpit. “Hi, Mom. Dad took over.”

“No time. Go to your sister in the infirmary and help her with the patient.”

He huffs. “Yes, Sir. At your command, Sir...” mumbling something unintelligible, he toddles past me, aiming for the infirmary.

I enter the cockpit and find Antioch in the pilot's chair, his healthy hand linked to the interface panel. “Are you sure that you should fly in that state?”

“I won't pass out if you mean that.” He calls up a tactical representation on the front screen in order to study it.

There isn't anything to see which we didn't already anticipate. When I received the signal from the rescue beacons, I initiated the warp-bubble and micro-transitioned the Haven as close to the station as possible.

Still accelerating, we picked up the rescue suits. There was a brief exchange of fire between the station and its accompanying ship, but the encounter lasted less than a second. At our speed, the window to exchange effective fire was much too short. Even now, the station and the surrounding ships are shooting at us, but at these speeds, it's unlikely to hit anything.

The only ones who could hit us are the station and the ship next to it. Thanks to my virus, the station never was a real problem. Their computer systems are currently more concerned with not listening to most commands they get.

The ship is firing at us, but we are too fast for projectile weapons, since we are flying away from them. Their lasers have actually been hitting us for over a minute. But G.S. warships rely mainly on plasma weapons. Their lasers aren't strong enough to cut through our defences as long as we keep showing them our reinforced backside. Due to the fusion engines, that's the most heat resistant part of the ship.

Samuel peeks back into the cockpit. “I forgot to tell you that they are hailing us. I didn't answer because I didn't know what to say. It's not like there is anything to talk about.”

Antioch looks at the boy, then he calls up the communications menu on a large screen to our left. It's filled by the face of a small humanoid with violet skin.

“My name is Ouluk. I am one of the leading scientists who are in charge of this project. Hopefully, you know what you are doing by stealing a dangerous subject. You have no idea of the situation. Power down your engines immediately...” He keeps going on and on, but that's not what concerns me.

An expression of pure rage wanders over Antioch's face. Before I can stop him, he deactivates the engines.

“What are you-”

The steering engines fire brutally, forcing me to hold onto the doorframe. The grav-plates can't deal with sudden vector changes that well. Continuous force in one direction isn't a problem, but as soon as the direction changes...

“Sending an answer!” Antioch answers with a hateful voice.

Sam tumbles and falls.

I step forward and manage to fall into the chair of the co-pilot, just as the Haven's nose points towards the research station. The ship shudders and a mote of brilliant light shoots out of our main-weapon, an accelerator which runs through the entire ship. As soon as the fist-sized piece of antimatter is away, the engines fire again, turning the ship.

The little ball of doom is still on its way when our main-engines reactivate.

It continues unerringly towards its target. The active defence systems of the station and the ship next to it do nothing. Their energy weapons only cause the projectile to flare brighter, shedding more of its energy on its way to its ultimate goal.

Then it hits the station and the screen dims, a reaction of our sensors to protect themselves against an overload. Strangely enough, the station isn't simply blown apart. As the piece of anti-matter travels through the station, annihilating all matter in its path, turning it to energy, the force peels the station open like some strange fruit which was struck with too much force.

The projectile, visibly diminished, leaves the station on the other side and continues on its path into the eternal void. Meanwhile, the crushed remnants of the station tumble away, spreading out in a cone-like pattern.

Antioch tilts his head, clearly amazed at the effect of his secret weapon. “Huh... I didn't expect that to happen. I thought that the released energy would simply evaporate the station. The released energy must have pushed the matter and anti-matter particles away from each other, slowing the process.”

A low keening sound from the communications screen to our left draws my attention.

“You killed her!” Ouluk cries out. The sound is inhuman and borders on the brink of total collapse. When he screams, it is a howl of pain I only ever hoped to hear from my worst enemy.

It was rich with agony that came from the inner being. There was an existential element to it, how it only came out when the world was suddenly empty of any joy or meaning. Something irreplaceable had been taken from him. It was the scream of a mind which had stepped outside the comfortable borders of sanity. This man’s mind had looked into his very own, personal abyss… and the abyss had looked back.

And then it ended.

Antioch had cut off the communication.

“Nobody wants to hear that.” He turns back to study the screen, while I study him, afraid to ask what's going on. This was a different Antioch than the one I knew. One who didn’t care about his enemies. I would have never imagined him to be able to kill anyone, aside from acting in self-defence or in defence of others.

That's when the voice of a female draws my attention.

“Let go of me. I want to know what's going on!” Our guest steps into the cockpit, Min and Sam clinging to her clothes. “I want an explanation! Why did you abduct me!?” She looks at the screen, then gasps... and hiccups. “Is that... my h- h- home?” With her eyes widening and pupils contracting, she starts hyperventilating.

Her eyes roll upwards in their sockets until I can only see the white. She tumbles backwards and falls, burying Sam and Min beneath her. The two of them threw themselves valiantly beneath their charge to cushion her fall.

G.O.D.: Congratulations! G.O.D.: M-M-M-Monster Kill! 473 Sentients killed! Quest: Find Others! – Success! Reward: You get to choose two additional skills! G.O.D.: New Quest: Find Others! One more and you have a full set!

Focusing my gaze forward, I rub my temples. “Too much! Too much! Give me some time to catch up!”

“Don't slouch.” Antioch points at the tactical screen. “We are about to encounter one of the other ships. They are in a perfect position to intercept us. Oh, I wish the warp-drive wouldn't take so long to reengage.”