Chapter 7: From the Other Side
Friend, I must write not only to you, but in vain hopes of defense of the First Father – oh truly not the first, only the first among our generation of kin. The legends of the Severin family are full to bursting with delights and sorrows and rampant speculation. What the RJ4 passed to me however is not a tale of the First Family in the same manner as was ever passed down through our people’s histories. So much has been lost in the scouring of the Luminaries. They erased our literature, severed our ties with our history. They tried to separate us from the True Flame – though the more they tried the more it seemed to fail.
With an impending demise in view, with a dispersion immanent what hope can I have to hold to but this, that the True Flame cannot be extinguished? This message, brief though it has been, is proof enough of this. As is my wont, I digress again. Apologies.
I was given a classified portion of the histories, something locked away. I suspect that the Luminaries hope to gain some special knowledge of my people through this, else they would not go to such lengths to grant me access. The report is somewhat sterile and filled with blanks, but I will express it as best I can, in my own manner, as I have before – not merely with the report but a way of dramatization. What good is history if it cannot be flooded with some breath of life – the sense that it not only occurred but is, in some strange manner, still occurring, rippling its revenge through time.
Now, we return to Captain Lowan from a pieced together series of recorded logs and statements.
“Bring her steady along the edge of the darkness.” My voice sounded grating even to me. G34r barked in an eerie approximation of a dog’s happiness and the gravmag engines whirred as we swung around, the othermind controlling the finetuned maneuvers with perfect precision.
I stepped toward the K-9 and reached to pet him.
“You know he can’t feel that, Cap.” Byron’s voice was always just on the edge of a sneer and a half step down from insubordinate.
I nodded then took the K-9’s face in both hands and scratched behind his ears. Byron huffed as he double checked his firearms. Seeing through the faceshield of friendlies was one of the best and worst aspects of the magsuit. It aided communication to catch the eyes and features, but to anyone not attuned, all they would see is the gloss black canvas like a single giant bug eye staring at them. It was worse because the tech was still new, and it was easy to forget to don your regular mask of smiles and deference when the tinted crystal in front of you was a shield but not a mask – at least not to your comrades.
“Cap! Are those people?”
I turned quickly, and pressed myself to Kelon’s side as he leaned out over a crystal viewport in the bottom of the ship.
I willed my implant to shift the vision in my faceshield to work its way through the haze of the event.
“Think fog plus thick smoke and a pane of tinted acrylic glass at once.” Kelon’s voice was calming.
I heeded his insight and fed the imagery to my implant which used the combination of sense concepts to build a view that could pass through both the particulates and the tinting of the sky, though it was still distorted by small flashes of blinding darkness. I could just make out what looked like three figures, one with a burden over its should next to a smaller one. A third was out toward the edge of the event, nearest us, and looked to be trapped.
“Gear, switch us over to that far edge, feeding coordinates.” I tapped my helmet as I knocked out the coded sequence into my implant.
“Still getting used to it, eh, Sir?” Joash had stepped up.
“He’s an orgo, full. Give the sir a break – even Engi’s take time to adapt.” Telestrius was awake and sitting against the far wall, helmet in his lap staring into the mirrored reflection.
“Used to be the mouth breathers, now it’s the tappers eh?” Joash clapped me on the shoulder, but the younger man simply shifted his gaze and spoke again to the K-9.
“Load up two charges. Not sure how they are alive, but they are moving inside. Gotta see if we can break them out.” I moved quickly and continued speaking, “Joash, Kelon, Byron, final suit checks. Be ready to drop.”
“Don’t think any of this is a good idea, sir.” Byron said shifting back and forth lazily on his feet.
I clenched my fists and bit down my rising rage, Anger shows weakness. Firm.
I stepped toward him hard, then took another soft step and said straightly, “Be ready, dropper – I know it’s the only thing you like in this job.”
I caught a sideways glance from Joash which I ignored then told Kelon to prepare the cannon.
The logs end here, so I apologize but a less engaging report begins below. I will continue to gain as much knowledge as I can on your behalf – or perhaps my own. I wonder if I too have the Luminaries’ madness.
Incident Report: Captain Lowan Skomantis
Dated: 3rd Martian tenday 483 PQS (Post Quantum Singularity)
Oruach Severin, Combat Engineer of the 5th Legion was taken into custody along with his family on the third of the tenday by martian reckoning. Pending further investigation of his abilities and possible changes to his biology or access to unknown technologies – potentially all three – the legionary will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case of Specialist Byron Bravost.
The specialist was assaulted when he drew his sidearm after initial contact with survivors from the event at the Crimson Sanctum. It is not the place of this Captain to speculate on the nature of the event itself – though I can say the quantum connections throughout the area for connectivity to the galactic weave were in tatters. Our othermind K-9 unit could not be coaxed to leave the ship nor approach anywhere near the event without whining, whimpering, and mad barking and snarling.
Four survivors were found after multiple pulse rockets tore a hole in the edge of the event allowing us to move into the space without hindrance. I leave to the scientists the methods of interaction between pulse weaponry and the event as described. The four survivors were, Oruach Severin, his wife Sarai Severin, and his son and daughter – Devon and Daria Severin. All four survivors were unharmed, though Oruach’s clothing had been destroyed as if burned away.
They were commanded to halt, but did not comply, the boy acting out and shouting in a language unknown to my men. Specialist Bravost drew his weapon. The occurrences from then forward are difficult to explain. Oruach used some kind of advanced tech which could not be found on his person – leading us to believe it may be some kind of implanted device. He covered the distance of ten paces to Specialist Bravost in a fraction of a second. To my eyes it seemed he disappeared with a flash of light and re-appeared behind me. A flame covered his body of a series of colors which is difficult to describe. Upon grasping the Specialist’s wrist, the flame began to burn away his magsuit exposing him to the elements. A thorough investigation of Oruach Severin failed to find the generator for the flame, but a more in-depth scan may be required. The likelihood that the whole family was specially and illegally engineered cannot be ruled out.
The manner of Specialist Bravost’s death was almost certainly due to a lack of regular oxygen, exposure to the elements of Mars, and the produced fire from Oruach’s hidden source. The magsuit, as you know built to withstand temperatures close to the sun’s outer layer, burned away with ease. The Specialist’s face flickered between visible and shadowed as the visual implants which reflected through the magsuits integrated faceshield shorted from the burning of the legionary’s fire. Whatever weaponry this is, it may be even more dangerous than the weapon which produced the void event.
—————— Full Report Under Declassification Hearing ————-
Transmission Breach: Unapproved Linguistic Variables Detected