Chapter 13 - Awareness Of The Bound-Self
The Flytrap had engaged hyper drives, transporting itself to the coordinates labeled on the computers.
As the ship flickered into existence, the sensors began to shut down.
Qu'jet sat in his fighter, watching row upon row of lights go out.
He flicked a switch and turned on internal lights, the confines of his own craft are lit dimly by several tiny fluorescents.
Suddenly the comm goes on:
"We are the Bentusi. You have broached our space, violated our confines. You cannot be allowed to live. You may be bound to the Destroyer, and then it would find our home. This cannot come to pass...we shall sing and mourn your lost songs, but your songs must come to pass to allow ours to be heard. Farewell bound ones."
The bridge crew sits there, paralyzed in fear at those words, suddenly power returns to all systems, the recently produced fleet around them begin to bring power back on.
Sensors: Sir, we got ONE GIANT READING! I repeat, We have a type 2 Dyson sphere!
Admiral: On screen!
The screen flickered to life, displaying the image of a Dyson Sphere, a giant "eggshell" around an entire solar system. Thousands if not billions of sensor readings flooded the scanning arrays, ships of exotic designs and power readings were everywhere, giant power spikes that registered off the chart were detected. Surface scans of the sphere showed trillions of structures.
Qu'jet looked out the flight bay, admiring the beauty of order, of harmony, the Bentusi had over their homes.
Its beautiful...he thought.
Suddenly Trade ships began circling around on approach pattern. A Ring-ship began approach as well...and another vessel, designed almost like a more...horrifying cousin of the Qwaar-jet heavy cruiser, began approach.
Soon the sensors picked up a giant sphere, moving...slowly...
Admiral: ALL CRAFT! LAUNCH! BATTLE STATIONS! PREPARE FOR HYPE-
Sensor: Inhibitor Field detected!
Comm: Skaal-Tel TF 4 reports range of Bentusi fighters. 'Tel Task Force 4 has engaged.
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Aboard a Bentusi Super Acolyte there was silence. Inside was a large stone, a psychic beacon for a mind of the Unbound, to put a small part of his psyche, to focus on piloting this craft. An Unbound had a powerful mind, and could control several dozen of the Acolytes at the same time. Some of the best could control several hundred.
The craft hummed and purred, suddenly a energy pulse flew by.
The craft became angry, its "soul" raging with fiery anger, the Unbound piece-psyche struggling to keep the unruly vessel in line.
Before it broke free.
Suddenly like a swarm of raging bees the Bentusi fighters swarmed over the Skaal-Tels, firing madly, gouging giant holes into the destroyers, which began reversing away.
The missiles of the Skaal-Fas flew left and right, knocking the Unbound's fighter swarms away...suddenly the giant shapes of Trade ships, Ring ships, the Assault Barges, and a Battle Sphere arrive, the Trade ships firing their triple rapid fire ion beams, angry beams ripping through composite like tissue, firing again and again, the weapons of the Unbound shredding through the Imperial fleets, hordes of fighters rushing to do battle with the enemy.
Qu'jets fighter launched into the maelstrom, a Super Acolyte shooting past at break neck speeds, he turns around and gives pursuit, firing several times as the craft performs high-g maneuvers, nearly impossible to mimic.
He closes in on a Trade ship and fires.
Young one...why do you fight the Unbound? asked the Bentusi.
Out loud he yelled.
"YOU GIVE ME NO CHOICE!"
You have a choice...tainted one. We sense the Destroyer within you...come...
He fired the afterburners and flew in for a attack run, flying directly between the two sides of the "horseshoe" and firing his plasma bombs, finding that he could no longer move.
"THIS COMMANDER 'JET, I HAVE LOST CONTROL OF MY FIGH-"
A bright light, and nothing more.
He became acutely aware of his heartbeat.
He awoke in his fighter, looking around, in a white room. He was dimly aware of a battle. Looking into the cockpit window he could see the battle still raging, the Skaal-Fas pouring missiles as the rest of the fleet moved into a battle sphere around the Flytrap, determined to sell themselves dearly.
He opened the canopy and jumped out, his feet hitting the hard floor, the ground feeling...slushy? Hard concrete...slushy?
He could hear whispers.
Indeed, one of the lost Unbound, the Progenitors-
Ah yes what do we do?
He listens...!
But he has no song.
What of? He has potential-
AS ONE OF THEM! screamed the last voice.
His hands found their way around his ears, as if the sounds originated from outside, but no...they originated from within.
"GET OUT OF MY MINDDDDDDD!" he screamed, falling to his knees, a gripping sensation of pain and then blackness.
He woke up and looked around.
It was dark, like the Naggarok...almost...it was humid and hot, though. Very. Maybe 90 degrees Centigrade ; 70 percent humidity.
Getting up he turned around to see his Triikor parked quietly where it once was. He looked out a porthole and watched the battle.
A Skaal-Fa was fending off enemy fighters, and the Battlesphere lurched in, firing dozens and dozens of heavy ion beams, shredding the hull into bits, the ship began to explode-
And suddenly the battle paused.
And he watched the battle play back.
And then a voice called.
He watched the battle pause and turned around, walking forward again, arriving in a giant open space. He was in the front, he could see from one part of the front of the horseshoe to another.
Like a twist on a dark novel, he saw rows upon rows of Bentusi, on countless levels stacked high up beyond counting.
All were hooked up to giant machines, quiet humming machines.
The dampness was nearly unbearable. He wiped some moisture off of his brow and yelled.
"WHY DID YOU BRING ME HERE!"
And almost as promptly the reply.
You are one of the Lost, the Progenitors they called themselves. They were once with us, they lived for science, technology, to analyze data, to bring order to chaos. They were once bound, like you, and became Unbound, transcending the need for politics, for prejudice...for feelings, of hate, and greed...
But their sciences turned to darkness...they destroyed the Bound...attacked their fellow Unbound...they ruled once a great Empire, forged new star systems and universes with their thoughts and dreams, once they were great and mighty...but they became evil. They destroyed the Order around them...and threatened to destroy us...they waged war upon nature itself, Outside...we worked with Outside against one of our own, we engineered the Ultimate Weapon, one that could defeat technology, adapt, assimilate! And destroy our enemy for all time!
He listened...did he believe what he had heard...
"You created the Beast! Didn't you! The Beast! That is why it does not harbor love to you! That is why it wants you! It wants answers!"
Yes...but we cannot. It would bind us to itself, in anger, in quest of perfection. The soul of the Lost lives within the Beast, driving itself to perfection, the bringing of order, to chaos. The galaxy was in chaos. It sought to bring order. In itself it brought what it feared.
We feel and sense your thoughts too...like all Unbound, we are one. We saw that you saw what the Beast had to show you...
The Naggarok was their home...one of many, harboring civilizations within its bowels. It harbored you...as the Beast told.
The Beast has become powerful. It is dangerous...it has warped itself into a twisted being so dark, darkened ever more by the ones it was meant to save us all from! It must be destroyed...it cannot live.
Now do you understand why we fear so?
The Destroyer...it senses...it knows. It comes for us! It comes to bind us, it has found us here! We must flee...
20 Trade ships began powering up hyper drives and leaving.
You must return to your Bound. We have searched your thoughts. You are correct. The Tyrant lives, has bound himself in ally with the Beast. He must be destroyed.
We will summon the Council. We must hold our home. The Beast will be here, any minute, to bind all our souls to its essence.
He looked around the confines of the Tradeship, dark shadows creating a interplay of light and shade throughout the vessel.
He turned around and prepared to leave.
The battle must end. We must not kill each other, and leave ourselves to die and be bound to the Destroyer. We have ceased fire. We know of your situation. The Bentusi will watch for your song through the void.
And suddenly he woke up again, the Triikor drifting away from the Tradeship, which engaged hyper drives and was gone. Turning his craft around he saw the destruction first hand wrought by the Bentusi.
Nearby other Council vessels emerged from hyperspace, the incessant chatter of the Unbound minds pervading and echoing in his thoughts.
He saw the fleet, broken, the Flytrap herself had suffered heavy damage, very few wrecks of the Unbound were present. Only Super Acolytes, and a few bits of armor plate, and that was all. A Assault Barge flew past his craft, resembling the hapless Cargo Barges, but many more times infinitely dangerous.
He flicked on the nav beacon and hailed the Flytrap.
"Flytrap, this is Wing Commander Qu'jet, requesting permission to dock."
"This is Flytrap Harbor-master, Triikor 001 is cleared to dock in Flight Bay 3 on the port side."
He sighs and presses a few buttons, setting the craft to autopilot, sending a private message to the Admirals quarters:
"Admiral, the Beast is on its way here. The Bentusi have agreed to stop firing on us...and I have more answers onto the origins of the beast."