Chapter 8. Escape

Thaum sat in a dim cave system. Bleeding from stumps that used to be his left arm and foot. He left them behind in the last-second escape. He had no time to sit down and meditate or focus his magic properly.

He sighed, cutting off the ability to feel pain. Then lit a flame and slowly melted his open flesh together. With his wounds, cauterized Thaum hopped up onto one foot, and began hopping through the cave system.

Each breath pulled in chaotic mana into his system. He could feel it seeping into his skin and bones. This plane was unstable at the best of times. He only used it because it was practically empty of threats and it was close, magically speaking to the physical plane. So he could shift here easily and quickly.

He hopped for a dozen minutes before he hit his limit. Any longer and the chaotic mana would overpower his own and prevent him from shifting back.

Thaum sat down and concentrated. The caves faded and were replaced by a dim room. He had no idea where he was. But he was probably far enough. By the time the authorities found him he would have recovered enough to teleport away.

Time slowly passed. He listened to the faint sounds of tracked vehicles outside and the occasional yell. They were searching buildings. Thaum chuckled to himself, he would probably leave another limb behind if they found him and he had to teleport.

He shifted about and got comfortable in whatever he was laying in and prepared to teleport to the cave he set up on this world before starting this whole limb losing mess.

Suddenly what he thought was a wall in front of him was pulled away plank by plank. A familiar face appeared. She was the woman who was ordered to serve him while he plodded away on the galactic net. She was holding a bundle of papers and a surprised expression, “who are you.”

Thaum smiled back, “small world” and before she finished turning he said, “don’t scream for them. Your little stash room will be found.. Well unless you can heft me out of here heh.”

She turned back around and yell whispered, “and what if they find you anyway, I would be harboring a fugitive”

Thaum shifted on the pile of now illuminated papers and books, “what makes you think I’m a--”

She cut off, “it’s obvious, The military running about like dogs chasing their tails, that projection in the sky. Then a man shows. Well, half a man shows up stashed in my wall. Tell me why I should help you.”

Thaum casually replied, “Well this little hidey-hole looks recent and poorly constructed. So I assume you did it judging by the dust collecting in the corners of your room. You have been here longer than the hole. There are only things here for a single woman so it wasn’t someone else. And you not only knew about this place but were actively stashing things in it. Hence finding me.”

She huffed, “smartass… wait a minute you are the ship captain what the fuck happened to you. Weren't you already off-world doing pirate things, and what happened to your face.”

Thaum touched his face, “I’m not a--”

She cut off again, “your face is different and your voice is too, but I’ve never heard anyone speak like you except you”

Thaum scratched his head, “well you got me. Congratulations not many could, but I’ve been hearing the door knocking and disgruntled shouts getting closer to your front door. Choose quickly.”

She frantically looked to her front door and back at him. Then started placing the planks back, not forgetting to give him the occasional glare and saying, “fuck you” as she place the last plank.

Half a minute later she opened the door wide before the officer could even knock. She heard doors being broken down and didn’t want hers to be one of them. The officer walked in with raised brow, “routine chec.. I mean we are doing a thorough search for the murderers that are believed to be in this area.

She just sat down and waited as they threw her stuff around. Only standing for when they wanted to flip the couch. She caught an apologetic grin on one of the soldiers and he flipped the chair back upright before the group left to the next house. Bang, the door was broken down.

Half an hour later she opened up the wall and peaked in, “smooth” said Thaum.

She opened up the wall and helped Thaum get through. She held up a box with an outline of a heart on the lid, “I’ll patch you up enough that your friends might find you alive. In exchange, you forget about me my name, and this house.”

Thaum slumped onto the couch, “Well firstly I don’t need any medical aid, second I don’t work with anyone and lastly I don’t know your name anyway.”

“sure” she rolled her eyes, “you killed all those highly guarded men by yourself. Now let me have a look at those wounds. You wouldn’t feel much with adrenaline coursing through your body even if it was damaged, and I see a missing limb.”

Thaum chuckled. Waving his stubs at her he said, “See, they are fine. Melted the flesh together myself.”

She gasped, taking a step back, “what the fuck.” Thaum could see a little fear in her eyes for the first time.

The room was silent until Thaum said, “do you want to come with me?” She just stared at him. He continued, “you either come with me and live a colorful, but possibly short life. OR you could stay here, become a brothel plaything and live a long and dull life after they throw you away.” He flicked through a book he took from the wall stash. It was handwritten. Full of notes about various things and places. “and I doubt you are satisfied on this world.” He handed the book back to her.

She snatched the book back, “it's not as bad as you make it out to be.”

Thaum layed down, “the brothel or the world. Because someone who makes such notes is rarely the homesteader. The brothel is another matter, the woman you talked to chose that life. And that makes all the difference.”

She put the medical supplies away and snapped, “you sound experienced in such scummy practice”

Thaum smiled, “I would say knowledgeable. Anyway, you don’t have to reply today. I’ll be back once the investigation is on the way. So if you refrain from turning me in and keep your ears open I will come back and take you away from this world... Goodnight.”

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Thaum woke up cringing from pain. He opened his eyes and stopped the pain. The room was empty. She probably went to work early to avoid being seen together. Thaum left a little spy magic behind before teleporting to the cave system.

He sat around in the dark cave for two days before using the array to teleport back to his ship.

The ship's AI said, “captain has returned aboard, would you like to look through the log or would you like me to read them to you?”

Thaum said, “Send them to my console I’ll look at them later. Also delete any logs of my leaving the ship.” he heard an affirmative beep and the logs appeared on the cockpit screen. Thaum ignored them and asked, “can you remake a lost limb?”

[Biological micro 3d printing is beyond this ship's capabilities. You will have to visit n tier-one medical facility as that technology is restricted]

“of course it is” Thaum muttered. He hopped over to the replicator. Fiddled with the settings until a roughly human flesh chunk of meat come out. There were a dozen ways he could get his limbs back magically, but molding already made flesh was easiest.

He mashed the chunk of meat against the stub. Double-checked his pain receptors were completely nonfunctional. Then sculpted and merged the flesh into new limbs.

Thaum took several days to fiddle with the new flesh so his body didn’t reject it, but he was now whole again. He contemplated modifying his body to be tougher before going back, but he wasn’t certain how obvious that would be here.

Instead, he grabbed the galactic terminal and searched the internet. Thaum was in a proverbial rut of his old ways. They worked, but he now had several blind spots. He would have to figure out ways of detecting sensors and cameras. Perhaps a magical missile warning system too.

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Several days later.

Thaum went into the storage room and spaced everything in there bar the cryo chamber. Then went to his room and teleported back to the planet.

He sat in the dim cave for an hour to replenish his mana. He looked through the little spy in the woman’s room. She was out, probably working. Thaum spotted an “I’m leaving home bag” if he ever saw one. The bag was so overstuffed that all the stitches would snap if you stuffed anything more than a toothpick inside.

Thaum chuckled, The magical eye moved through the false wall and saw the book collection. It was no longer a pile, but a neatly tied stack. She wanted to bring them with her.

Thaum teleported to the room using the eye as a locator and comfortably sat on the couch.