Nanites
crawled through Slylera's spinal plugs and burrowed into her nervous
system She could feel them like needles threading razor-wire through
her flesh. Somewhere far away, she knew, her body twisted with
tortured cramps and her mouth opened in a reflexive scream that would
go unheard inside her liquid prison.
Sylera withdrew further into the
deepest recesses of her mind. Or was she pushed? Evicted from her own
consciousness. She almost wished it to be over so she could curl up
in that dark isolation and stop feeling this agony. But here it was, where what remained of her would make it's last stand against the onslaught.
They had taken her sight and replaced
it with a blinding storm of hypnotic patterns that razed her
awareness. They had deafened her ears to everything but tortuous
psycho-acoustics that shredded her mind. All her tactile senses had
been turned into conduits for agonizing pain. Now they had sent
machines into the very core of her nervous system.
For Sylera it had been a fighting
retreat. Further and further away from that world of agony she had
withdrawn, enduring as much as she could at every step. By now she
had lost her sense of time. She found it hard to remember what it was
like to have a physical form for anything else but to be a source of
suffering. Her self-awareness flickered like a dying ember in the
ashes of a scorched landscape. As if fanned by an invisible wind, her
imagination suddenly flared into a manifestation of memory.
***
'May God help me with this.' Sylera
prayed as she faced Sandrielle yet again on the practice floor.
The Gallente woman rose from her stance
of readiness and glared at the young Amarrian. 'This is why you keep
failing!' she berated her. 'You rely on a supposed force outside of
yourself to help you, while you need to have the will and discipline
within.'
Sylera frowned offended. 'My faith
lends me strength and guidance.' she exclaimed defensively. 'Besides
that, it offers me broader view of existence than your bland
atheism.' she accused the other woman.
Sandrielle shook her head and continued
in a more benevolent tone. 'You mistake my lack of faith in your god
for a lack of spirituality.' she said in an attempt to bridge the gap
between them. 'Have I not taught you many things that are deeply
metaphysical.'
Sylera relaxed her stance as well, now
that their sparring session was diverted from the physical to the
mental. 'That may be so, but none of them have to do with faith.' she
conceded.
'My intention is not to convert you or
undermine your belief in god.' the older woman explained soothingly.
'Still, to master the skills I teach, you need to find the strength
within yourself.' she paused when Sylera still looked at her
defiantly. 'Doesn't your own scripture tell you that it pleases god
if you develop yourself?'
'It is also written that excessive
self-absorption leads to the sin of hubris.' Sylera retorted.
'And I would caution you against the
same.' The Gallente woman readily answered. 'This does not have to be
an argument about theology or faith.' Sandrielle continued after a
pause. 'All I am asking of you, is to learn to focus your mind to
fully control your body's actions. The earlier you realize that this
has to come from inside of you, the more you will progress.' she
smiled disarmingly then. 'Or do you think your god helps me of
all people?'
'Clearly that can't be.' Sylera replied
dryly.
***
Prakevi's dark eyes dispassionately
regarded the lithe body contorting inside the pod under agonies he
could only muse about with curiosity. He smoothed his shining black
hair back with a slender hand, and looked at the readouts of his
instrument console. 'What is the magnitude of pain those peak
oscillations really represent' He wondered to himself. Questions about such extreme experiences always jabbed at his inquisitive mind.
His reflections were interrupted when
he heard the heavy steps of the Lictor approach from behind. Prakevi
straightened his thin body and turned to bow to the imposing robed
figure. 'Your eminence.' he greeted deferentially.
Lictor Kel-Udar drew his bushy eyebrows
together in the shadow of his cowl. 'How far is she?' he
demanded curtly.
The Ni-Kunni scientist took a step to
the side. With a graceful, sweeping gesture he presented the wide
instrument panel with it's various reports and collected data. 'There
is only very little of her that remains inside that body.' he
announced with a voice as smooth and cultured as a silk scarf, and as
deadly as the same article of clothing would be when used for
strangulation.
'How long until you have achieved
complete menticide?' the Lictor's grating baritone inquired further
while the tall man leaned closer to check the readouts.
'It can't be longer than a day or two.'
Prakevi replied with quiet confidence. Again he stroked over his
black tresses with subconscious pride. 'I have begun to introduce
nanites into her spinal cord, rebuilding her reflexive responses.' he
continued and directed the attention of the Lictor to a particular
status monitor showing the invasion of Sylera's vegetative system.
Kel-Udar reached into a pocket of his
robe and retrieved a storage spindle of obvious Matari design. 'See
to it, that you can make use of the schematics contained on here.' he
commanded. 'They were used in the original experiment.'
The Ni-Kunni scientist looked at the
storage-unit. An affronted expression cast a shadow over his
bronze-skinned features. 'Your eminence' he began 'I must most humbly
protest. Those are most certainly the inferiour results of those
unsophisticated …'
'Enough.' Kel-Udar boomed at him and
Prakevi seemed to shrink visibly before the large, broad-shouldered
Lictor 'Those unsophisticated Matari managed to succeed with this. I
order you to find a use for their results.'
Prakevi bowed deeply and presented his
hands to receive the spindle. 'As you wish your eminence.' he
replied. His face softened in obedience.
***
“That must be it. The sensor readouts
point to this location” Shisei broadcast a three dimensional
rendering of his sensor-scan across the channel.
“Looks like a mining colony.” Keram
replied sceptically when he saw the cluster of interconnected
asteroids dotted with several small constructions materialize before
his mind's eye.
“It may seem so.” the Achura
replied “But the thermal readouts indicate no significant
industrial activity.”
“It probably was one, but has been
re-purposed.” Cedrien agreed over the line. “Shisei, see whether
you can bring us in closer.”
Slowly the long, flat shape of Shisei's
Orca command ship began to turn and align on to a trajectory through
the slowly rotating masses of mineral-rich asteroids. The three bulky
mining barges floating close-by mirrored his maneuver while they kept
their powerful drill-lasers trained on different drifting rocks,
melting ores from stone as they went. For all intents and purposes
the Awakened Industries fleet looked like yet another mining crew out
to make a profit in this dangerous but rich environment beyond
CONCORD controlled space.
“Why could we not have the mining
ships flown by baseline-crews?” Alira complained over the
fluid-router link. “I feel defenseless in this thing.”
“Because that would put too many
lives at risk.” Cedrien reminded her. “We discussed this.” he
added brusquely.
Inside her pod Alira's face displayed
only a slight frown. As a result of the nerve-impulses diverted from
her brain to the ship, the interiour lighting of the mining barge
darkened significantly, but nobody was present in it's deserted halls
to notice.
“It's your fault that you learned how
to fly those rock-skips.” Keram taunted “If you hadn't, you could
be out here with me trying to dodge asteroids and avoid getting
decloaked.”
“Quiet! We have been spotted”
Cedrien interrupted the Amarr pirate's provocations.
Casting fleeting shadows on the
asteroids, a squadron of baroque-styled Amarr navy ships swooped in
from behind one of the largest space-borne rocks. Weapon systems rose
from recesses along their hulls and targeting sensors locked on to
the ponderous mining ships.
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