Chapter 26

Lost in Space, Not the Series.

An unending wave of black death encircles my ship. In an instant I am reliving my last death over in my mind. It was something much like this. I was alone, floating in space far away from the help of others.

“FUCCCKKKKK!” I scream.

A wave of force reverberates in my cockpit. As the wave expands, I see a slight crack form in the super reinforced glass. I focus too much on the crack and hoping that it will just remain a tiny indentation and lose track of the alien scourge that are surrounding me.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I hear dozens of tiny objects bouncing into and then off my ship. Then I feel the unmistakable force of inertia pushing my ship, and me by extension into space.

I am about to say what gives, when I realize that all the tiny little minds that had been surrounding me a moment ago suddenly winked out of existence. I feel a sudden headache coming on, as my mind feels like it is overtaxed beyond its limits. At least this time I know I can die in my sleep. With that sad comforting fact, I shut my eyes and hope that the next lifetime is better.

Even for such a short time frame I did learn a lot. I learned about Mel and Mave. I also learned that I might be able to hide amongst normal society, if I don’t drink the stupid overpowered potions. This time I’m going do things differently, and correctly. I also plan to buy the lottery ticket again. That or get Mel to buy the ticket for me, well for us.

So many thoughts and compulsions go through my head. I even feel a faint trickle of slime run down my nose, eww snot. I think to myself as I once again realize the terrible part of wearing helmets. For a second, I think about taking off my helmet to wipe my face at least, but then think better of it. Instead, I just close my eyes, surrounded by another swarm of my sworn enemies, and wait for the inevitable.

Darkness.

I awaken to find that I am in a veritable asteroid field of dead scourge. I don’t know how much time has passed, but I am at the point where I can feel the minds of the emergency life forms all scourge carry awakening. With minimal effort I focus on destroying the tiny parasitic minds and then relax.

My mind is still blurry from everything that happened to me. I still somehow expect to find myself at the beginning of the Awakening Trials, but nope still here stuck in space.

A quick glance shows that even with most of my ship covered in space guts, I am at near full power. Turning on my equipment I double check the crack, making sure it hasn’t grown any over the past, however long. It looks to be the same size, but I am hesitant to test. I want to reach up and touch it, but then soon think better of that bad idea.

A read out of my instrument panel shows that the cockpit is still hermetically sealed, so I let out a sigh of relief. Again, I am more than capable of surviving in space for an extended period of time, especially with my Air and Water affinities, but it is a lot easier to survive on more than a lungful of air at a time. Realizing that I for the better part of me am stuck here. I reattach my breathing and water tubs to the craft and begin looking for signs of habitation.

There are two modes to keep your sensors in, active and reactive. With active your ship actively sends out pulses of energy that will then generate a response. With so many scourge around, the general rule of thumb is to keep your systems on reactive mode only. This means I will be able to pick up distress beacons and signals from command and control, but I will not be able to respond back. Then again there often isn’t a reason to respond back without knowledge that a friendly will hear you. So, I glide.

My navigation helps me realize that I am not too far off from my home planet. The only problem is, once I get there, to my planet I realize the planet is dead. Not just dead, but completely devoid of life in all measurable ways. The water that had covered most of the surface of the planet was gone. The Academy was left to rubble. A quick scan of the planet showed the only thing still standing was the temple. To my surprise the surface of the planet is completely devoid of scourge. Or at least that is how the planet appears for the moment.

My chest starts to tighten as I get a real bad feeling, though it might be gas. I do get a little, upset stomach when I am well out of my element.

Rrrumblllee.

Definitely gas. I think to myself as I am thankful for the different sealed off sections of the space suit.

After a few minutes of searching, I see green glowing lights appear off in the distance. In my mind I see a vision of the past. I see an endless wave of scourge coming to this planet, devouring it whole over the course of years. Then I see the first few waves begin to break away from the surface of the planet repeatedly. The first few seem to be deep expeditionary forces; the others are different. There are giant amoeba like monsters that look similar to the one I ran into with my vehicle. The one that seemed to create the spatial rifts. I am still watching the vision of the past, when I see one of the amoeba generals go off in the direction I just came from. I watch as waves of scourge go through at first, then I see one ship come through the portal, make an impossible blind left turn that it then uses to bisect the amoeba general.

I then watch as the ship turns around trying to go through the portal, only to find that it is stuck in space. Then the next second a wave of force explodes out in all directions from the ship, killing all scourge in a large radius around it. Then the ship floats lifelessly.

In a second, I know this one ship is me. I am about to think that all hope is gone, but I then see the trail end of my vision. While my ship is floating a final group of scourge led by an amoeba general leave the planet from the other side.

Desperately I begin pumping full energy into the ship. I don’t quite know what is happening around me. My mind is banking on the infinity universe theory, the one where there are billions of identical universes next to each other. The one happens to be a universe where my home planet was destroyed. This also brings up more thoughts, like what if my other lives were spent in some of these alternate universes. That the lives I lived there, would then be transferred to my current consciousness.

I let these thoughts go through my head, so long as they distracted me from the present. From the fact that I am seemingly trapped in a parallel universe. One where the scourge has not only conquered everything, but are now spreading out to other parallel universes.

There are a few things that still confuse me. The first is, if this is a parallel universe, then does this mean that the scourge have conquered others? Also did this mean that rather than defeating the scourge that come to our universe, the Endarians just fought off that one invasion?

Also, what is the difference between the spatial sacks that eventually get lanced, and the tears that are being generated by these?

Badump.

My heart races as I wonder if the scourge are evolving? Or worse, what if they too are leveling? Leveling so quickly that they can evolve the rarity of their classes? I’ve seen all types of scourges, but I have never seen one that could rip a hole in the fabric of reality. As I come over the horizon, I see a glowing green neon light off in the distance.

I watch in horror as a massive swarm of monsters are all waiting to enter. They look like robot statues that are standing, waiting to receive an order to turn on and kill. Seeing them about to enter my universe I make a bee line for them. Striking down all the monsters I can in my wake.

The more I kill, the more the snot in my nose begins to run. Although I am beginning to wonder if that is not something other than snot. Still no time to focus on anything other than two things. The first and likely most important thing to do is to fly. The second and equally important piece is to strike down and kill every scourge I can. Well, everyone but the amoeba one. At least not until I am fully through the rift in space and back home.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Bodies of creatures crash into my ship. Over and over, but nothing happens.

Crack.

Shit, never mind, I think to myself as the small crack in my vision plate begins to spread as a dead body of a larger scourge crashes into it.

Hold on, just a little bit longer.

“Ship, apply emergency seals.” I say. Now that the system is up and operational, I can do this. Thinking back, I realize only now that I could have had my ship do the same thing earlier. I am going to say I was a bit distracted by the lack of mobility of the ship, along with staring down a giant death shaped rift in space as to why I didn’t think of this earlier.

Shh.

I hear the seals get applied just before I hear the pop of the cords coming free. This is good, as it means I can now make an emergency exit quickly if needed. As I enter the edge of the rift I look back, find the mind of the space amoeba that is generating this inter-dimensional rift. Once again, I am surprised by the complexity of the spell being wielded by the creature. The bright green glow of the spell is mesmerizing in the way I imagine watching your death would appear. Then with the patterns and images firmly burnt into my mind I lock onto the mind of the amoeba. I am a quarter through the rift by now.

Snap.

The mind of the scourge cracks like a walnut under my intense focus. Then the power fueling the great rift slowly begins to fade, before it seals shut.

Phwoom.

I feel a wave of energy that feels like a sudden summer breeze on my skin blow past me before it ripples off to die in space. In the wake of that blast, from the closing of the rift, all the scourges in the local area die.

This time I feel an even larger stream of liquid roll from my nose.

Looking around I can see a gathering of Space Force ships. “Oh thank the gods, the space force are here.” I say, as I flip on my sensors. Seeing their ships, I instantly relax, knowing the hard part is over.

“I’ve made it back. Repeat, I’ve made it back. Cadet Goldman reporting in.” I say, panting as the entire episode is now over. I shudder at the thought of what could have been. My Precognition paid off immeasurably, without it, I would still be stranded in alien space.

Garbled.

“Cadet Goldman, what protocols are you using? Also, what manner of ship is that?” The voice asks.

I blink for a second, then look at the ships that are before me. Ships that had clearly been deployed to fight the scourge. They look familiar, almost painfully so. Then I realize why. These are the old models. These are the ships I died in twelve times in my past lives. Only this life had been different, though that was because the scourge had broken through thousands of years ago.

“Cadet Goldman, can you give your class identifier?”

“032522.”

“Please stand by.”

Silence.

There was a lot of static on the lines. I adjusted my sensors, trying to figure out what was happening.

“There is a Cadet Kyle Goldman in class right now. He is still in his control phase. He is a powerful dual classer.” A voice that sounds like DI Wagner says, but that’s odd. Why would DI Wagner say I was still learning to control my powers? I did that my first day on campus.

Shit. I think to myself as I see what is happening. The reason I can pick up the personal transmissions is because they are on unencrypted lines. Or lines that are using such dated communications that they are literally bleeding over to my system. This means, well it could mean a lot of things.

“Cadet Goldman, we have a few questions for you. First is can you confirm your identity?”

Shit. I think to myself again. This is so fucked up.

“I think it would be better to speak in person. This is the first fleet, so is this Fleet Commander Lemitov that I am speaking to?” I ask.

There is a pause on the other end.

“How do you know that name boy?” An older man cuts in. Suddenly I realize this is likely the real Commander Lemitov who was listening into our conversation the entire time.

Sighing loudly.

“So, this is likely going to sound odd, but what do you know about the scourge or the Prolaxians, or whatever this universe calls the creatures we just killed?”

“Not a whole lot, other than they just appeared about two hours ago.”

“All right, first thing, these can come back. There is an emergency sack within each that contains an exact replica of their chromosomes. Over time that sac will burst, and the monsters will use their original host body to incubate themselves again.” I say.

“Are you saying they are some kind of space zombies?” He asks.

“I guess that is one way to think about them. You either need to zap them or burn them to get rid of the emergency sac now. But killing the monster again after this will be enough to permanently destroy them.” I answer.

I realize I am likely going to sound crazy, at least until the first one starts to wake up and re-weaponize itself.

“Perhaps you should come aboard and explain yourself.”

“Thank you. Know that my glass is shattered and likely won’t last re-entry into orbit.” I confirm.

“Re-entry? What type of space craft do you presume to have? You know what, never mind just land in docking bay four. If you would…” He trails off as there is a muffled conversation on the other side of the line.

“Never mind. While your ship does seem to have the standard numbering of a student ship, we cannot take control of it with automated controls. How is your flight skill cadet?”

“Ninety-nine percent affinity.”

“Ninety-nine percent?” He says incredulously.

Still, I notice the docking bay and lay out easily. Layers of past lives all come to mind as I remember these exact scenarios.

I land and am immediately surrounded by dozens of armed guards who hold me at gun point.

“Please follow us… cadet.” The security officer says. He looks familiar in a way I can’t quite identify, but I follow him where I am taken to a room that is clearly a holding cell.

This is going to be a long day. I think to myself, as I begin to take off my suit, and sit down in a seat. Instantly restraints come out and thrum with a form of energy that should be disconcerting for a Psychic, or at least a normal powered psychic. For me, they are just a mild inconvenience, a mild buzzing sound at the end of my periphery.

I instantly begin to meditate, not wanting to ruin the cooperation needed. Right now, I have two main concerns. The first is repairing my ship. The second is hijacking an amoeba general and forcing a ride back to my home universe. Because like Dorothy, I don’t think I’m home anymore.