Decima

Karmmrak

Gideon

He awoke.

Gideon had little awareness of his surroundings, his mind slowly coming to.

Did I die?

It was a fair question as he felt himself float along in a sea of unfocused grey. The angel Lucifer had shattered him with just her voice. Gideon didn’t know what to think of that. No pointy tail or horned head. The first one, the imposter, was more stereotypical. And dead. The one who was imprisoned was actually a she. A terrifying, horrifying she. He had felt his willpower emptied upon seeing her; as if another voice commanded him. Her voice. The way she acted towards the golden mote implied a motherly affection. It was also apparent she either hated demons or those posing as her. Or both.

That was her. The enemy of God and man.

How can that be Lucifer? Everything describes it as a he. I mean it did say he was beautiful- Wait, really? It was describing a feminine being?

A comforting voice halted his thoughts. The voice of a loving father.

“You needed to see her; to witness her. The great betrayer. You are not dead, for you only viewed her in vision. I needed you to see her in a safe environment, as with the others.”

“Safe environment? What does a dangerous one look like?” Gideon shot back, his voice echoing into the grey. There was a pause as if the voice contemplated the answer.

The voice replied, tinged with sadness. “A pain beyond understanding, a pain beyond existence,” it was the voice of a being that had experienced just that, “Gideon, my beloved son, you will be the vessel for my strength. Now, get up!”

Gideon blinked, aware he was staring at the white ceiling of the medical room. He glanced around the ward, searching for the one who spoke.

He was alone.

He thought back to what was said.

“Wait. What was said?” he muttered.

Nobody answered, apart from the thrum of the facility. The dream was gone. Whatever it was.

Strange dreams. Damn Dusk.

He was still in the medical bed. It had been twelve hours since he spoke with his family. He had dreamed, but it too vanished like smoke in the morning light, just like the others. His mind went to the events of yesterday, the Empire of Dusk and their complete domination of the facility. The Dusk had deposited the massive and mysterious item while being given the task of delivering it to Low-nine, the destination of the test flight with the Decima. To him, it sounded more like an execution than a delivery.

What will they do to me once it’s delivered? Vanish me like the others? Why not deliver the damn thing themselves? Were they going to do tests on our own IIT Drive? Nothing makes sense!

He glanced up at the ceiling, thinking through their logic.

Can they not use IIT flight like we’re attempting? No, of course, they can, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to move so quickly wherever they pleased. They have this tech; they must. They probably have no idea how it will affect humanity. Maybe the radiation from the flight will evolve us to their level; I don’t know.

military application of being able to travel anywhere within supposed minutes was obvious as was the major advantage of exploration.

He glanced to the table on his right, seeing his jumpsuit, boots, and treasured QSD.

That’s right, I’m being released today. A clean bill of health.

A flash of glowing blue light appeared in front of him. A tiny floating cybernetic eye greeted him.

Prosine.

“Good Gideon, I have run daily scans and you are in tip-top shape! Your Father has advised us to begin the flight immediately,” the Machine Father explained.

Gideon’s stomach leapt into his chest.

“What?”

“He advised that we should waste no time and I am in agreement,” Prosine added as he bobbed up and down, “so let’s prepare you now. I will see you at the Decima,” The AI valedicted as he vanished in blue light.

He did as the AI ordered, wasting no time getting out of his medical gown into his flight suit and QSD. The device clicked in place along his spine, his mind updating in a wave of mental information. He felt his stomach knotting, his appetite fleeing far from him. No libations today or the foreseeable future. He would have to confront the issues ahead.

A voice grounded his thoughts. A voice of reason. Shindow.

“Good morning Gideon. The flight is prepped, security is tight, decoys are deployed, and I’ll be waiting for you in the briefing room!”

“Well, you’re more peppy than usual,” Gideon chided.

“Of course, who wouldn’t be?” she shot back.

“Gideon, Shindow, and Baxter, the first three individuals to fly IIT! Go us!”

He caught himself smirking.

The door slid open, revealing Father and one very energetic corgi in his arms.

“Gid! You are awake!” Baxter greeted with a bark.

Father let out a grunt as the dog wiggled with all his might to be free. He reluctantly placed the dog down, with Baxter scampering to Gideon and jumping to lean on his leg.

“Gid, are you just OK?” Baxter asked with a whine.

Gideon let out a quiet chuckle as he squished the dog’s face. “Of course. We just need to get ready,”

“But I am already ready,” Baxter replied as he pulled back, glancing between Gideon and Father.

Baxter was suited up in his vest and attached QSD. Father took control of the conversation, smiling gently.

“Gideon, my son. How are you feeling?” The older man asked.

“I’m...” Gideon paused as he thought it over, “I’m doing better than yesterday, thank you,” He felt mentally stiff since his chastisement, and his cheeks burned at the reminder of being caught.

Father gestured for him to follow as he exited out of the medical ward, “Gideon, I know I was harsh, but the fear of losing you- I don’t know what I’d do if they took you,”

Gideon caught up beside Father with Baxter clacking along the plasticine floor.

“Yes, your brothers are strong and mighty, but you have your strengths, too. Your identity,” Father added.

“And that would be?” Gideon asked, frustration building.

“Wanderer. Explorer,” Father replied without pause, his cybernetic eye narrowing to a pinprick, “you desire, more than all the others, to roam the galaxy. To travel and explore. That was why I quickly sent you to Magara, to test in as many possible vocations that the planet could offer.” The gaze of the unmodified portion of his face was nostalgic as he glanced into the distance.

“I know you haven’t had much interest in the religious,” Father began.

Here we go, Gideon’s thoughts turned glum.

“-Before you go writing this old man off, I love you all the same, belief or not-” he started as they traveled down a slight bend in the hall towards the terminal lifts.

Gideon interrupted, his face betraying his troubled heart.

“But I have seen you all hear from Adonai, change and react to what he supposedly says and does. But I’m an observer to all of that,” Gideon replied in a sullen fashion, “uninvited,” He added.

“Nonsense!” Father retorted with an upturned cybernetic hand, “you just haven’t figured out how you hear him. It took me half my life to understand that,” he cleared his throat as he continued, his pace quickening, “you first need to understand covenants.”

Gideon cocked his head, trying to keep up as he only had a bare understanding of covenants, but it had been a decade ago. The older man was still energetic in his hundreds.

“Covenants? Why?” Gideon asked.

Father smiled warmly as he replied, “that is one of Adonai’s most powerful abilities.”

“More than creating everything?” Gideon retorted.

Father tapped a finger into his palm, Gideon felt his intense stare lock onto him.

“Equal to. It has the power to affect reality itself. Adonai bent and broke the rules of nature to gather us into his kingdom. It changes those who follow it.”

“And how does that change anything?” Gideon replied.

“Once it was in place, it began to change mankind. Those who accepted it changed,” Father replied, pointing a cybernetic digit at Gideon, “and that was where the real power lay, covenants have the ability to change someone from old into new; Or if you’re an originalist from new back to their old original self. Old in that we’re reverted to the divine beings we were intended to be from the start,” Father finished with a chuckle.

“Why tell me all this?” Gideon asked with a furrowed brow.

“Because you need not stick to your old ways, the habits you use to cope. The false identities you’ve picked up. You can change.”

“And lose all sense of who I am?” Gideon retorted. The struggles and pain made him who he was. What would he be without it?

“No. You would lose the sense of who you are if your identity was based on what you do,” Father replied, gently brushing aside the argument as he continued, “but it’s not the case. Your identity is not what you do, but who you are naturally. You do because you are, not you are because you do.”

“What?” Gideon asked, squinting at that.

“You wish to travel because your identity is a Wanderer. An Explorer! It’s built into you,” Father replied.

Silence spilled into the hall, only Baxter’s tap-clacking interrupting Gideon’s thoughts.

“And what is your identity, Father?-” Gideon asked, half trying to trip him up, and the other half trying to understand.

“Innovator,” His Father answered without hesitation as he briskly marched down the hall.

“But I thought that was just a title?” Gideon asked as the realization settled in.

“Well, yes. It became a title because it is my identity,” Father retorted with a smile.

“So how is identity tied with covenants?” Gideon asked in confusion.

“Ah, now you ask the pertinent question. The power of covenants is that it can take what was a foe, and turn them to an ally. Changing them. Redeeming them. All without the use of force. Not only that but with their newfound identity, they can fly higher than they ever could. Far more powerful than pacifying or warring against them. Accepting the Redeemer’s covenant can change someone into who they actually are.”

Gideon glanced down, his eyes darting in the thought of what he just said.

“Gideon, I say this all to you, not in an effort to win you over, but to help you understand that you are powerful. Not because you scored well in a test, but because it is fundamental to who you are,” he added with a smile, “I would speak more on this, especially the insecurities you feel towards your siblings.”

Gideon disliked speaking on the topic of his brothers and his journey of being stuck in their shadow.

“If you would join us for morning prayer…” Father asked sensing the mood and changing the

subject. He turned his head as he idly adjusted his robe. The walk was quiet as Father awaited an answer. Gideon went elsewhere in the conversation.

“Will you tell me about the Empire of Dusk?” Gideon asked. He needed to know about Father’s time fighting those horrific beings.

The hall went quiet again. Father narrowed his eyes, his cybernetic oculus scissoring to a pinpoint with a soft click.

“I haven’t spoken of it to anyone,” Father said like a shut door.

Gideon scoffed at the answer.

“Well, now you have someone to speak to,” he retorted.

Father replied with a soft chuckle.

“Quick as ever. Alright. Ask.”

“What do they want?” Gideon asked worriedly, the thoughts that bothered him most floating to the surface.

“We don’t know,” Father answered. He held out a finger before Gideon could press him, “As far as we can tell, they are simply observing. For now. Planets rich in the amorphous metal compound 8-8-1 are kept under tight lock by them. That was the major goal of the scouting parties, as what we have here now in the facility is around thirty-five percent of the total galactic supply.”

“Jesus…” Gideon swore quietly.

“It is no small saying that a fortune is riding on you,” Father replied, “I had wished to make the vessel’s outer shell completely out of the AMC-8-8-1, but there was not enough for an order from the Mars Technocracy. I had to make do with what they could spare.” He explained, waved his hand at that. “Their other purpose, the kidnappings, I have a theory. We investigated the correlation between the kidnappings and discovered one thing; there is no good common link between the victims.”

“What theory?” Gideon inquired, his stomach twisting in knots.

“The victims did not know of one another, didn’t have the same line of work or hobbies, were different species and sexes; I mean yes, that is a common link, but their statuses were all different and their property ownership was different for each individual. Even their political preferences were wildly nonlinear. The big similarity is they were different. No more than three matched up in any one category,” Father explained, “my theory is they are studying us. For science or war, I do not know,” he stated as he rubbed at his temple, “If it is for science, we can breathe a sigh of relief.”

The lift came into view, the discussion came to an end.

“Now, if you excuse me, I have a decoy son to escort to the Decima,” Father stated wryly.

“What about war?” Gideon asked, getting nervous at the answer.

Gideon’s Father went silent as he arrived at the terminal. He gestured for Gideon to enter first, staying outside. They with Gideon swallowing nervously as he turned to look back at Father. The older man held a clenched fist to his mouth as he cleared his throat. He straightened his robe, giving a well-worn smile, but his eye betrayed sadness. He gave no answer, but Gideon knew what that meant.

The lift closed, leaving Gideon and Baxter alone.

We die, Gideon thought, filling in the blanks that his Father refused to say.

The lift closed, leaving Gideon and Baxter alone. The dog let out a soft whine at the lack of a verbal answer. Gideon turned, viewing the hangar bay from up above. His face scrunched in thought over his Father’s comments. Glowing orange light announced Shindow’s arrival. She floated off to Gideon’s side at eye level, a look of concern plastered to her face.

“Are you alright?” She asked quietly.

“I’ll be fine. Can’t think of that now. I suspect that was only scratching the surface of what he experienced,” Gideon explained, clenching his hand. He could feel that burden emanating from Father.

“Kraken Nebula…” Baxter whined.

“It’s OK, Baxter. We don’t need to worry about that, We need to go fast!” Shindow exhorted.

“Oh! Oh boy! Yes!” Baxter barked as he began his happy tappy dance.

Gideon was thankful for the lift from the medical ward was closer to the hangar than his family’s quarters. He spotted an armed escort near the bottom. Four armored personnel carriers, floating antigrav gun drone platforms, and groups of individuals all sat guard outside the lift terminal. Normally he would feel at ease, but armed guards wouldn’t help with the flight. Or The Dusk. The decoy strategy appeared to be a way of obfuscating them, sending many different APCs on a merry chase to the Decima. Gideon shook his head at that. While effective towards human or anform aggressors, this tactic would do nothing to an enemy that could potentially appearify on the Decima after Gideon arrived. The security PMCs needed their win, though, so Father gave them that.

The lift gently halted on the final floor with a pleasant jingle. Baxter scampered out, barking up a storm. Gideon glanced around, seeing the well armed and armored PMCs, sporting the latest in Primetech military technology. He felt his pulse racing at being around such hardened men. And not to mention Excertius, the third anform entity. The first creation between The Machine Father and Machine Mother. Their massive power armored forms surrounded a smaller figure in the center, one he knew and one that grounded him from the rest of the escort. Shindow rushed off in excitement, ignoring the vanguard.

“Amelia!” Shindow shouted as she swooped in to plant a kiss on the figure’s alloyed cheek. Gideon strode to her, seeing all of Excertius’ eyes were on him. The figure practically glided to him, her robes of white and gold glinting in the light. She moved with grace and elegance, unlike other anforms.

“Gideon!” Amelia greeted as she raised her arms to embrace him. Shindow floated off to the side, sporting a large smile.

Gideon embraced her, feeling the solid metal of her body and her firm embrace.

“Hello brother,” she whispered as she pulled back, the LED of her visor eye tracking him.

“Amelia, I thought you’d be at the Decima?” Gideon asked, cracking a smile at seeing his surprise escort.

Amelia explained, her soft voice sporting a digital edge. “Not yet. You’ll be traveling with me and Excertius, while Primetech’s PMCs will act as a decoy.”

Gideon began to protest, but was halted by her gentle hand upon his shoulder.

“I think the security need a morale boost and good exercise for their stale muscles. What do you say, brother?” she asked, her fully alloy face flexing to a smile as she gestured for him to follow.

She glanced down to a sitting Baxter, bending over to pick him up.

“And how is the best doggy?” Amelia asked coyly.

“I am doing good- wait. What is better than best?” Baxter began to say, stumbling on a question that was never meant to trip him.

“Awesome would be one,” Gideon replied.

“Awesome-would-be-one? That is a made up word!” Baxter protested with a bark.

Gideon put his finger to his lips, trying to decipher the indecipherable family pet.

Amelia’s laugh rang like a silver bell.

“Come along you goof! And Baxter,” she shot snidely.

Before Gideon could retort, the lead Excertius belt out a bassy rumbling trumpet that sent chills down his spine. It was their language that it had invented to speak to external beings. The drone platforms rushed upwards, with their smaller subjoined dronelets taking off, filling the sky. The security squads moved out, rushing to their transports. The larger military anforms hemmed Gideon and his group in, escorting them to the APC. They were as wide as they were tall, standing above Gideon with thick power armor and reactive energy tower shields forming a beryllite fortress with Gideon tucked snugly inside.

They boarded their APC, each vehicle looked identical with their armor plating, antigrav drives, and bristling with weaponry. He sat down, finding only seating for three. Excertius trundled inside, with enough room for all six military anforms. He heard the thrumming click as their magnetics initiated, clamping themselves to the floor and walls. They were always disquieting to Gideon. Their mannerisms, their bizarre external language and unknown internal language, the way they always stared at you, their imposing presence, and their singular entity were off-putting. He theorized it was all on purpose, studying mankind’s almost natural fear of the automata uncanny valley to create machine monsters. And they were all protecting the fruit of the Primetech and Mars Technocracy Alliance.

Amelia turned to Shindow, a smile forming.

“Are you excited, Shindow?”

Shindow landed atop her shoulder, tapping her cheek.

“Of course! If you told me last week I’d be a sloop AI for the first IIT drive, I’d tell you to go kiss an asteroid!” she shot back.

They both laughed together at that. Shindow and Amelia got along well together, almost like sisters.

“It is a sad day that mother couldn’t be here, though,” she added, her face turning neutral as she glanced to Gideon.

“Stepmother- You mean Tangence wanted to be here?” Gideon asked, eyebrows rising at the idea of the two leaders of the Mars Technocracy occupying this little moon.

Prosine and Tangence. The Machine Father and Machine Mother. Father to AI and Mother to Anforms respectively.

“The machine mother planned to arrive?” Shindow queried while adjusting her glasses, swinging her legs as she sat atop Amelia’s shoulder.

The LED of Amelia’s eye rushed along her visor from the Excertius back to Gideon.

“Yes. Mother had it in her schedule for a surprise visit, however, the begging cries of the Federacy for a peace treaty drew her away.”

Amelia was not only the main shipwright engineer for the Decima, but she was also the child of the diplomatic marriage between Primetech and Mars Technocracy. A mix of Father’s mental map and of Tangence’s mind matrix created the first half-human-anform.

Relationships were a strange thing in the ninth millennia.

Gideon got along well with her, as did Shindow. She appeared as an anform, but the differences were telling. She had an ego; a protective sense of self. She could get tilted or frustrated. She had a deep passion, hope, and what Gideon could only describe as an almost tangible soul.

Human.

Amelia continued.

“But that is alright, as once the tests are finished, we shall all meet for a vacation. How does a year-long venture sound? Father’s idea.”

Gideon raised his brows at that. A year-long vacation was unheard of.

But with the way this IIT drive test will change everything, I guess it’s deserved. Let the other engineers and shipwrights build the vessel line once we’re finished.

“Will there be naps?” Baxter asked the all-important question from Amelia’s lap.

“As many as you like,” Amelia chimed.

“That’s- As much as I like? That’s- How much is that?” Baxter asked, cocking his head back and forth.

“It is more than nine,” Amelia teased.

Baxter’s ears and brows perked up at the ludicrous number.

He heard a loud series of popping bangs from outside, his heart skipped at the sudden combative noise. Amelia placed an alloy hand upon his, calming him.

“It is all part of the exercise. Look,” Amelia gestured with another hand, bringing up a holographic projection of the outside. A large column of smoke gently drifted as the other APCs took off in different directions.

“Which one is us?” Gideon asked, confused by the maneuver.

“There,” Amelia pointed to the empty ground.

Gideon knew right away.

Hide in the smoke, then use the cloaking technology to hide in plain sight while we wait for the other APCs to leave. Then we can sneak away. Basic escort tactics.

“Veiling?”

“Now we enjoy the ride,” Amelia confirmed with a nod.

The energy-based cloaking system known as veiling was a sophisticated system to dynamically bend light around the user, making one invisible to the naked eye. He felt his stomach lurch as the vehicle took off, unescorted as it would have appeared as little more than vapor due to the veiling field. The trip was short, lasting only minutes to reach the vessel. He felt a slight shudder as the APC landed.

And then he was suddenly blinded by glowing green light. He squinted, putting his forearm to his eyes. Within moments, the APC and Excertius had vanished into Amelia’s QSD, leaving just the seating structure they occupied. Gideon blinked in confusion as Amelia stood up, daintily hopping to the ground, gesturing to him to come along.

Show off, he thought humorously. He had more to say, only to have his thoughts derailed over the looming shadow. Gideon balked as he was suddenly in front of the vessel he was only moments away from flying.

The Decima.

His breath caught at the beauty. It was sleek, its shape resembling an ancient marine animal. The phthalo blue metal ran from the ship’s nose to the spine. The glinting titanium white beryllite under armor was dense with designs. The vessel was ornately decorated; a mastery of art and science. A cloud of mist surrounded the darker metal, swirling about from the air currents. He felt a hand gently pulling at him, leading off the remains of the APC, which then vanished away.

Gideon spotted Father, standing by himself.

He shook from his stupor at finally seeing the sloop-sized vessel. Father sported a large grin, with none of the previous conversations of The Dusk apparent. Gideon had more questions, but would save that for the vacation. Baxter trotted away to Father, sitting at attention.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Father announced with a booming voice.

“I can’t…” Gideon started to say, losing his tongue.

He noticed the three IIT engines were exposed in a trident formation with triple rings nestled inside one another, creating a gyroscope. Father explained the science behind it, but like many heavy topics, it was too weighty for his mind to clasp.

“Gideon. Thank you. Thank you for doing all of this. I’ll be praying for you,” Father spoke somberly, with a tear in his eye. He embraced Gideon, who returned it.

“Father, thank you for letting me do this. You have no idea how much it means,” Gideon replied.

“Oh, I have an idea,” Father said with a wry smile.

Amelia squeezed them both together for a group hug. Shindow joined in, hugging Amelia’s neck. She pulled back, glancing to both of them.

“Gideon, Shindow, Baxter, please come back safe. We’ll have the best vacation!” Amelia announced.

Father hugged Amelia from the side gesturing to the vessel, “go on, she’s waiting for you!” Father exhorted as he hurried Gideon to the ship.

Gideon paused, searching his inventory for the libation still present. The bottle of champagne materialized in his hand. Father and Amelia looked wide eyed at him. Gideon turned the bottle, seeing the vintage.

“A pretty good year,” he announced.

And then Gideon slammed it into the landing gear, the pop shatter splatter rang out in the hangar as the vessel was christened with the expensive drink.

Father nodded to him with an approving smile.

“For luck!” Gideon announced as he valedicted.

The ramp extended down, with Gideon, Shindow, and Baxter making their way inside the belly of the vessel. The massive storage bay greeted them, capable of holding cargo of all sorts. Not to mention its thirteen DOM storage could hold a planet’s armory without issue. He walked to the bridge, admiring every tiny detail his sisters put into the ship.

As he walked to the bridge he felt something. Like he bumped into someone. He quickly turned, staring at an empty hall, with Baxter lagging behind, sniffing the new smells and Shindow riding atop him. Someone was looking at him.

Why do I have that feeling?

He stood for a time, staring at the empty hall. He shook his head, turning back towards his destination.

“Come on Baxter, let’s go,” Gideon ordered, Baxter perked up and fell in line.

They arrived at the bridge, the doors silently sliding open. He let out a slow sigh upon seeing the craftsmanship, or craftwomanship, as the detail of engravings stood out as each their own artistic masterpiece. The bridge sported two chairs, one for Gideon in the center and one for Baxter off to the side. Gideon sat down in his captain's chair, feeling the comfort of it; he could sleep in it. Baxter hopped in his seat and let the belt clamps wrap around him for safety.

“This is the time! To go fast!” Baxter announced with chuffing excitement.

“That it is, Baxter,” Gideon replied with a smile.

The pilot and captain’s chair was of pure comfort. There were three types of controls, manual for emergencies, holographic feedback, or pure mental interface. The hardware for flying was stored in the vessel’s QSD, leaving the bridge barren apart from the captain’s chair. And Baxter. He glanced ahead, seeing only the decorated wall. There would be no windowed bridge for the Decima; no weak point that Gideon could suddenly be vacuumed into space. The vessel’s bridge was snuggly nestled in the nearly indestructible nose of the ship, the safest place in the entire craft. The large holographic display materialized, showing him the expansive hangar bay. He linked up to the Decima’s outer hull cameras, his mind processing the different views, four at once due to his mind’s internal processes.

This is what got him up in the morning.

Exploration was the passion that drove him. After a time of simply sitting to absorb the reality of this flight, Gideon acted, “Shindow, let’s fire it up.”

“Understood. Beginning thrusters test sequence,” Shindow replied with a salute as she vanished in orange light.

Gideon felt the ship tremble for a second as the mini-thrusters fired up in a machine gun procession. He couldn’t hear the thrusters testing but knew they were firing off due to Shindow’s AI interlink showing him readouts.

“Test complete. We’re all good for thrusters. Testing IIT drive,” Shindow stated over communica.

The three gyroscopic rings began to spin with a thrumming that increased in intensity to a snap crack as they reached full power, the spheres inside the rings glowing and growing to their full miniature-sun size and intensity. One of the drives abruptly ceased, as per the test. The other two rings continued to flow at full power. Another ring ceased, leaving only one of the IIT drives running. Then the third ceased and powered down. She ran the engine tests several times.

“OK, Gideon. IIT drive test successful. Prosine, all tests completed, we’re ready for takeoff,” Shindow finished with a gleam of excitement in her voice.

This is it.

“Gideon, good luck. I love you, son,” Father chimed in.

“I… Love you too, dad,” Gideon responded. He hadn’t called him that in a long time; It had felt right too.

“Shindow, taking manual control,” Gideon announced.

He needed to control the Decima, just to see how it felt.

“Understood, try not to scratch the paint,” Shindow snidely remarked.

“You should buckle in for this,” Gideon retorted.

He touched the controls and felt his mind link to the ship, getting a third-person view of the ship. He was able to switch at will for different circumstances. In the confined area of the hangar, first person to the ship’s nose was best. He fired up the IIT drive and thrusters. He felt a tremble and slight shudder from the snap-crack of the drives reaching full power. He revved the IIT, producing a deep rumbling thrum with a background squeal.

“Liftoff,” Gideon announced.

The Decima slowly rose, the feedback to the surrounding area was almost nonexistent. Anforms, Gnats and other recording devices were all zeroed in on the ship, capturing every detail.

Shindow chimed in just as he felt something was off.

“Thruster misaligned. Recalibrating. There. I love easy work,” Shindow relayed. Lab tests were one thing, but field exercises were a category all their own.

Gideon pressed forward on the controls a hair's breadth, the ship responded immediately to the input and began to accelerate slowly at first until. There wasn’t much piloting needed as it was a straight shot out to Karmmrak’s surface. The circuit board structures rushed passed on all sides as he exited the hangar. He then pushed the engines twenty-five percent. There was lightning crack as the IIT drive responded, shooting the ship forward like a bullet. It was a testament to the vessel’s design that he couldn’t feel the g-force pressure of acceleration, even in the lower atmosphere of Karmmrak. The hangar had already become a dot in the distance as they flew off into the horizon. The area inside the planet had a red hue to it. Gideon gave off a loud cheer as the ship responded to his controls like a partner in a dance, the perfect follow. Baxter was barking, irreconcilably excited.

As he began his first rotation around Karmmrak in low orbit, he tested the agility of the ship. The Decima spun on its roll axis without issue. He made several orbits around Karmmrak, each time was faster than the last. He pressed the engines harder, breaking out of Karmmrak’s atmosphere and then its gravity well.

“IIT Drive A is flickering. Patching,” Shindow announced.

Gideon continued flying along in space, he felt the vessel lagging on one side until the ship’s drives were patched.

“She feels good now. Let’s head to the coordinates,” Gideon stated.

He kept up tests, using thrusters to maneuver the ship in different directions, checking the stability and handling.

“Starboard thrusters are still unstable. Give me a second,” Shindow replied.

Gideon received updates that the patching was complete. The vessel felt more stable than anything he ever flew before.

“OK, Gideon. Everything is looking good,” Shindow added.

“Control, all tests completed. Preparing for the jump to Lo-Nine. This is our final broadcast, Adonai bless our craft and lineage.”

The transmission ended. Gideon sat and simply breathed. Like getting ready for a jump into the pool’s deep end. He had a heavy temptation to take the vessel and leave his caged life behind.

Gideon slowed the ship down in deep space and observed what surrounded the dead planet. He saw the greens and yellows of a neon gas nebula, beautiful and deadly. In the center was a swirling dark center, Gideon knew that was the only visible black hole in this sector due to the activity. Further around it were dwarf stars in orbit around one another in a ballroom dance. There were several detonating stars further in space. They were in the eye of a galactic storm. Gideon turned the cameras around back to see the tiny Karmmrak silhouetted by that massive super red giant. This was why the phthalo armor plating was so important.

“Temperatures stable, heat absorption of AMC-8-8-1 is normal; that is to say absolutely incredible,” Shindow explained.

“Alright, Shindow. Activate IIT drive.”

There was a pause as he held his breath. He could see a black portal opening, the vessel stretching and twisting inside it. Suddenly a surge of speed rumbled through the Decima that the dampeners could not prevent. Gideon felt like he was stretching as the ship hurtled through the blackness. It was the same feeling as being in a room and occupying every square inch of it at once and not existing at all. Gideon was and he wasn’t. There was no light outside of the ship, no stars or galaxies. Complete blackness. For a brief second, Gideon could see something through the camera uplinks.

It looked like two eyes and a mouth. Watching him slowly pass, despite the speed. It had a simple curiosity. It flowed through the ship into the bridge. It glanced at Gideon, sporting dead eyes and a wide grin; its body was the color of black holes in darkness. It did something unexpected.

The being made of darkness licked him. He felt an instant revolt at that, the tongue felt like nothing he could describe. He heard a child’s giggle as the face shied away to the outside of the ship, the darkness abating.

The dream. It looked like that face in the first dream.

“Shindow-Shin! D-do you see that? Jeeeesuuuuus Chrissssst!” Gideon's voice came out distorted and slow.

Gideon couldn't hear an answer as the ship stopped in open space. The ride was complete. Alarms rang out from dozens of sources.

“Shindow! Where did we drop off at?” Gideon shouted over the alarm.

Baxter barked excitedly at the claxons.

“That was fast! Let us go again!” He barked, oblivious to the change as he undid his seat harness and began loping around the room, making his strange chuffing laughter.

“Gideon, we’re near a planet. I don't recognize it in our database. Scanning the stars and comparing to all known star charts.” Shindow paused, giving Gideon immediate concern, “no… This isn’t right…” Shindow murmured.

“Wait, what's going on?” Gideon got out of the chair and was looking through the viewport. His mental link also gave him an entire sphere view of the ship. He just needed to see with his own eyes.

“Gideon, The stars… It’s all wrong!” Shindow cried out.

“Shin, What do you mean? The stars are right there.” Gideon retorted, his breath coming shallow. His stomach dropped.

He knew the answer.

“Gideon... I... Can't get a reading on the star positions. Our relative position in space,” Shindow sounded slightly defeated.

“Shin, talk to me,” Gideon ordered calmly, wiping the sweat bead forming along his scalp, “where are we? How far off track? How long was it?” Gideon asked as he swallowed, feeling his throat dry as sand, “it just felt like a second...”

He was getting nervous.

“Right, I could track star movement and get an approximate date. However, many of these stars have not moved. At all. Many have moved backwards compared to the star chart. Some have disappeared completely. None of this makes any sense. I don’t know where we are, or when we are. All I know for certain is we’re orbiting a dead moon in empty space,” Shindow explained hurriedly.

“What the hell... Shin, are there any stars that have the correct predicted movement pattern?” he asked as he felt the beginnings of panic.

“Our star chart is completely off. I don’t have a relative position...”

Gideon was silent at that answer. Their worst nightmare. He canceled the alerts and was met with silence. Baxter’s ears perked up as his hackles raised, finally catching on that something wasn’t right. Gideon walked through the bridge door to inspect the ship. Baxter tagged along behind him, his paws softly clacking against the alloy floor. He made his way into the main power room, the Tachodine nacelles appeared to be in working order. The large parallelogram rectangles glowed with a healthy purple light.

“Gid, the sound and smells are not right. These power things are not right,” Baxter announced as his ears perked up.

“The nacelles? They look health-” Gideon didn’t finish. He saw the purple drop a shade, getting closer to violet.

“Shit,” Gideon swore, “Shindow, what’s the status of the nacelles?”

It turned a slight shade darker, becoming a deep blue. An orange globe of pixelated light announced Shindow forming. She floated over to the Nacelles and inspected them, her tiny arm holding her glasses.

“Gideon, the nacelles… They’re dying- Not draining, but dying. These are their last moments,” she quietly stated.

She turned to Gideon with a look of shocked sorrow. The cell turned a deep teal with a slight keening sound emitted from the nacelles. Baxter whined as he backed up, his ears flattened and posture stooped.

“Ow ow ow! Too loud! Ayee!” Baxter cried and fled out of the engine room with a shrieking whimper.

“Shin… What can we do?” Gideon asked, at a loss. His own personal nacelles would be worthless in this position; like bathing a whale with a cup of water.

“I’m trying to scan the moon now. The grey albedo is interfering, almost like a shield. There are satellites in orbit, but they appear dormant. We have thirty minutes until power failure,” Shindow answered.

They needed hope right now.

“Get us closer to the planet, but not enough to get caught in the gravity well. If there are old satellites, then there must be something on this moon. Even just a listening post would be good enough for a rescue,” Gideon ordered as he palmed at his head, trying to keep calm.

Shindow responded with more dire news.

“Gid… Those satellites… They’re Primetech. I don’t recognize the make and model,” Shindow began to explain as she dragged an image from thin air, showing the vessel, “They look too sophisticated, too… futuristic. They look like-”

“Empire of Dusk,” Gideon rasped he sucked in his breath, eyes wide.

The Empire of Dusk… That cube… Did it really direct our flight... To them??

Did they really just kidnap me? Is this how they did it?

“No, no, no! Bullshit!” Gideon shouted.

Why work hard when you can simply redirect… Shit, it was all an act to get this vessel. To get me.

“They didn’t need to take me! I just delivered myself to them!” he bellowed

“Gideon, we need to be calm!” Shindow replied.

The satellite looked similar to the Titan Observatory that humanity met up with so long ago. It was spherical in design, sporting four thick bladed fins on the sides, top and bottom, giving it a four-pinned starfish design. The metal looked foreign, black obsidian mixed with a silver sheen. It had a red visor viewport bent at an angle to give it an angry sinister look. Gideon could see Primetech designs of armor plating, and signature engravings. It was all the telltale signs of The Dusk, mixed with stolen Primetech designs.

“What the hell is that?” Gideon whispered.

“I don’t know. My guess is a defense satellite gone cold,” Shindow replied, just as confused as Gideon.

Perhaps moreso.

“My only theory is we flew off course- So off course we ended up inside the Empire of Dusk’s massive territory. We overshot by millions of light years. Perhaps billions…” Shindow explained to a whisper, “we’re in position now. If we have any luck, we could use some of the stored minor nacelles to push towards the moon,” Shindow announced as the lights began to flicker.

The teal nacelles turned to a green and the volume of whining suddenly increased. Gideon’s head and ears ached from the constant droning. Gideon moved to the bridge with Shindow tagging along. He paused as an idea occurred to him.

“Shin, can we communicate with the satellite?”

Shindow palmed her cheek, eyes darting as she thought, “I will try. They are armed, and this could backfire. If they open fire on us we’ll-”

“Have a quicker death,” Gideon finished.

“OK, starting communication. We should hurry back to the bridge in case anything- EEEH!” Shindow shrieked in a distorted digital scream as she fell to the floor.

Gideon rushed over to help.

“Shin! What happened?”

Shindow peered back up at Gideon, her form flickering and distorting, orange pixels crumbled away from her. “Oh Gideon- I’m sorry- I’m sorry... They’re not dormant- not dormant… Security protocols… Please don’t wait for me-” Shindow couldn’t finish as she exploded into pixelated light, the fragments drifting serenely throughout the cabin.

“SHIN!” Gideon cried out seeing his AI, his best friend, die.