THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 153

Reality came back to her. Slowly at first.

“Ugggnnnh...” she groaned, gripping her head in an effort to keep it from spinning.

Sight came next, giving the surface dweller a real good look at the destruction and carnage she had wrought within just a few minutes time.

Dead bodies lay everywhere...some still wrapped in their armored red and white shells.

Machines of great destructive power were nothing more than a few scorch marks, or melted hulks of fiber steel and metal composites. Three levels and the many quiet buildings that inhabited it, remained shattered and broken shells in some places, wrecked and leveled in others.

The Starchild had destroyed lives, taken them heedlessly without conscious thought or regret.

Isis was stunned by what she had done.

Is this what I am capable of...? Just being able to destroy things without a whim?

No!

The Starchild clenched a fist tightly, calling forth the power that was her keepsake, but also harboring a terrible responsibility.

This is what I have within me: A duty to defend the weak, side with the strong, erase evil in its tracks.

That ancient oath still resonated within her. It was a timeless pledge, a reminder of what she was and what she represented to the universe at large.

I won’t allow the destruction of my planet be brought about by my own hands! I must exercise control over my emotions somehow, even if it takes me years to do it! But I won’t let those who are in positions of power exert their control over me through the ones I love either!

But she sensed that Calis had been right all along. About people of higher power trying to gain control of her through her family and friends, that is. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she didn’t believe him. She was woefully ignorant, believing that Rayna’s beef was with her, and her alone; no one else.

But the note...the note remained the only evidence that told her things weren’t always a simple fantasy.

Real life had a cruel way of biting her in the ass when she at least expected it.

Isis glanced at each of the dead bodies in turn; seeing the deaths that she had inadvertently caused by her own hand.

Rayna’s responsible for this, she concluded. Not me. It is her fault for sending them against me, knowing that they would fail. But I also share a measure of blame for this, simply because of my decision to become the Starchild.

The city would heal, but some people would not. That was the way things had always been in the past...from conflict to conflict.

Rayna’s pain must run deeper than a simple clash with me or my family and friends. If that’s the case, I wonder what’s really driving her towards self-destruction?

* * *

“Place looks secure,” Barc ventured, the second the lift stopped at their next destination.

“Lights are on. At least in this part of the level.” Bayen added.

“Why do you say that?” Rachel asked.

“Look,” the sky dancer indicated with his staff. The woman did, seeing that there was actually life on this level. There were crowds of people milling about, conducting their share of business inside the various shops and plazas that dotted the place.

“Odd,” Barc commented. “You would think that the Praetorial Guard would’ve had this place policed as well.”

“A trap,” Lara chimed in, somewhat nervous by the change. “It has to be.”

Tayna didn’t see it that way. “If it is a trap, then we’ve not seen any obvious clues. I should know. I used to be a Praetorial Guardsman.”

“How convenient.” Tristen was heard muttering sarcastically, as the small group ventured out of the protective confines of the sky tube, and out into the open air of Level 5538.

“The prison’s just one level away now.” Bayen pointed out to the immense structure that was just within arm’s reach.

“You realize that the Praetorial Guard is going to be on us the second we get there, right?” Leona said, stating the obvious.

“Who said that life wasn’t one of risks, dear sister.” Lara impugned.

Rachel and Tanya both felt the electricity being given off by the group’s overwhelming nervousness and anxiety.

“Easy guys. This isn’t the time to start falling apart now. Not when we’re this close.”

Bayen sensed the truth in the Tayna’s voice. They were close to their objective. If they didn’t pull it together, the plan was sunk, and his mother was good as dead.

Looking up at the night sky, he thought, I know you’re out there somewhere, Isis. If you can hear me, we are here, ready to go. Just give us a signal.


The Starchild felt the sky dancer’s telepathic call tug at the edge of her consciousness.

Bayen? She thought, then concentrated on the sensation. It wasn’t one that spelled doom and despair, but rather one of the half-buried excitement and anticipation.

A signal...? She wondered, then figured it out.

The group was there, ready to go ahead with the diversion.

Where’s Calis? She thought back, but the sensation had already faded.

Isis stared once again at the scene of death and destruction.

This is a lesson in life. Mine. I must make sure that this doesn’t happen again. But in order to carry that promise out, I will have to go directly to the source.

She vanished in a bang of cold white light.

* * *

Rayna stared out at the courtyard, adjoining the building that she was in.

The prisoners were already in their orange-white jumpsuits; the ones that signified to the general public that they were to be executed.

They are here...waiting...a silent voice intoned quietly. What are you going to do?

“Destroy them...” she whispered in a daze. “Destroy them all...”

Then do it.

The odd feeling she had been experiencing as of late had faded like it had always done so in the past, allowing the captain of the Praetorial Guard to act on her own violation.

She did so, believing that she was doing this in the name of justice.

“Have the weapons’ emplacements been charged?” She asked the woman behind her manning a lit console.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The Cyclone-class pulse laser batteries?”

“Yes.”

“What about the hover tanks I’ve asked to be placed around the compound, hidden from view?”

The woman checked. “They’re in place, just like you ordered.”

“And the Praetorial Guardsmen?”

“The prison’s reserve forces are in position, ready and willing to repel any intruder during the execution.”

“Excellent.”

The plan was coming together quite nicely. The pieces were here, just like a chessboard. Each one poised to move.

But since the enemy wouldn’t make their first move, she would have to make hers.

* * *

Calis saw them first, before Trell could raise the alarm.

“Stealth Mode activated,” the old man quietly replied, touching a switch on an overhead control panel.

“Stealth–?” the boy started to question, before Calis silenced him with a hand.

“Quiet!” he hissed. “Those guards will hear us, if you’re making noise!”

The surface dweller covered his mouth, watching on the forward screen as a large squad of Praetorial Guards made their way towards their position.

The tank was safe behind a thin cloaking shield that cast no light, or any energy oscillation that would reveal the war machine’s presence.

Trell held his breath, but remembered to take a breath once in awhile.

The ruse worked. They were safe for now.


The Starchild reappeared on a building scaffolding that sat overlooking the prison at a distance, but so close to her, that she could almost reach out and touch it.

There. There is my next objective and perhaps my greatest test.

That is your belief, isn’t it? But perhaps, it should also be considered not a test, but a trial. One that will challenge you like you’ve never been challenged before. Keron coached. Do not let down your guard for whatever reason.

Isis nodded silently, seeing where things were going to come together.

Well, Rayna. Here I am. What are you going to do? She challenged silently.

* * *

The cam tracked her every move as she strode out into the spacious courtyard unopposed.

“As you can see,” she said out loud for the invisible audience’s benefit, “this is where most of the prisoners would be, if there was to be an execution, like tonight's. But in case any of you would-be heroes have any ideas of trying to perform a rescue, I would think twice about it; since most of the prison’s armaments are still very much intact and wouldn’t hesitate in stopping you cold...”

Calis sat there, stunned. “Gods....” he whispered in cold astonishment. “That isn’t possible...”

“What isn’t?” He heard Trell ask.

“The weapons...!” He sucked in his breath for a moment and then exhaled sharply. “They’re still there!”

Heart pounding, he opened a link to the diversion group, praying like hell that they hadn’t started out.

“Ready?” Barc asked everyone, as he checked his holo-watch briefly and found that it was closer to eleven-thirty than he had first thought. A half-hour before the execution and it was considered–in his book–a close thing indeed.

Good thing we got here in time. Now if only the Starchild would show up, we’d be ready to go.

The others in the group nodded, Bayen electing to hang back with Lara for a moment. The others proceeded down the stairs to the next lift and hopefully, freedom.

“What’s up?” Lara asked, once the others had gone.

“I think Isis is nearby, but I’m not sure.” The sky dancer said.

“Here?”

“Possibly.”

Lara scanned the dark skies for the surface dweller, but didn’t spot her.

“She’s probably gone.”

“Maybe,” the boy said, but didn’t sound convinced.

Then his comm link beeped insistently and the sky dancer answered it.

* * *

“Very soon,” the woman was saying, “two prisoners from Cell Block G-36, East Wing, will be executed for their crimes against the Praetorial Guard. There would have been a third, but I’m afraid he’s already dead by now.”

The cam continued to follow her movements, but didn’t say anything in return.

“Bitch!” The old man swore under his breath as he continued to try Barc’s comm frequency. But the surface dweller didn’t answer him, so he tried Bayen’s.

“Go ahead.” Came the sky dancer’s cool voice.

Relief flooded Calis’s body and he gripped the sides of his acceleration chair tightly for a second before he hunched himself closer to the comm panel.

“Bayen. This is Calis. Are you making your diversionary run right now?”

“Yep. We’ve just got started. Why?”

“The prison’s defenses are still intact!”

Silence.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes!” Calis exploded, fear gaining a hold of him for a few seconds.

“Then wish us luck, then, old man. We’re about to test them.”

The link died, leaving the auto-frame mechanic gaping at the comm panel for a moment.

Trell looked at the old man with uncertainty in his young eyes. “Now what?”

Calis sighed. “Now we’re committed.”

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 152

“Clear!” Lightstrom yelled out for the rest to hear, as the group made their way out of the sky tube, then onto a ledge that overlooked Level 5443.

Rachel Jesson covered the southern flank; sweeping from left to right in an effort to make sure that no one would be sneaking up on them unexpectedly.

“Here, too.” She piped up, snapping to in order to follow the group moving down the stair level and out onto the narrow street.

“Let’s move,” Barc said to everyone. “Two by two formation, recon only, no stragglers.” he indicated, signaling out the proper signs. The group separated smoothly and then spread out evenly, covering all possible avenues of attack or surprise.

“Nothing,” Leona called back.

“Same here.” Tristen added.

Barc glanced at Rachel who was peering intensely at her arm. He walked over quietly and looked down. A small screen was embedded smoothly into her forearm’s armor, which she closed up with a touch of a button.

“What was that?” He asked.

“Sensor pack,” the woman explained. “According to my readings, this place is barren of any Praetorial Guard activity.”

Barc looked around him, noting that the shops were dark and the lights out.

“It appears that the civilian population of this level are absent as well.”

Hit upon by an idea, Rachel accessed her forearm sensor pack and made a sweeping motion with it, before bringing it back to her face for the results.

“Mmmm...” she murmured, then frowned, not liking what she saw. Before Barc could ask what was wrong, the woman smacked the screen soundly and then shook her head–giving up entirely.

“Damned thing must be on the fritz or something. I can’t get a clear reading.”

“Then it’s jammed,” the desert bandit confirmed with great unease. “Your Praetorial Guard buddies must be around here some....where...” he quickly scanned the darkness and found nothing threatening.

“Shit,” the teenager swore. “I can’t see a damned thing in this murky darkness.” Bringing his fingers to his lips, he let out a shrill whistle.

“Security wheel! Point-defense formation! Weapons hot!”

The large group scrambled to obey, leaving Rachel amazed that these kids could be so well trained in combat maneuvers.

“Let’s move people! We don’t have a whole lot of time left!” The teenagers went single file down another flight of stairs at the end, and then reformed back into another security wheel.

Unexpectedly, a shaft of bright light pinned the group in place.

“Open fire!” Barc shouted, raising his pulse rifle and taking aim. Squeezing off a shot, he managed to extinguish the light’s source, but that just made things worse.

Much worse.

Whoever returned fire did so with pin-point accuracy, the ensuing explosions throwing everyone off balance, not to mention off their feet as well.

Rachel was the first to get up, followed by Lightstrom.

“Typical Praetorial procedure.” The first woman heard her companion mutter angrily. “Don’t these assholes ever check to see who they are firing at?”

Another series of shots ranged in and the two former Praetorial Guardsmen dove for cover.

Glancing over at Tanya, Rachel managed a weak smile. “Apparently not,” she said.

* * *

Just when Bayen thought it was safe, more hover tanks showed up.

“Not again...” he moaned with half-spent frustration, praying like hell that someone would hear his soft cry of distress, and come in and save both him and Lara.

Before they could do anything, the area was suddenly inundated by high frequency whines followed by giant explosions that ricocheted all around them.

The would be reinforcements were taken out with shocking ferocity.

Before Bayen could take another breath, the Starchild was right there in a blur of movement;
grabbed both him and Lara, then teleported out.

Seconds later, the three reappeared three levels closer to the prison, but on the wrong side of the street.

“Level 5541,” Lara read on the sign above them. “What in the world–?”

Bayen glanced up into the face of his lover and found hardened determination set in her face. It wasn’t that difficult to make out in the bright overhead light.

“Isis...?” he started to ask, before the Starchild vanished again, leaving the pair in the dark (sort of), not to mention in her dust wake as well.

“Great,” the sky dancer complained. “Just what the hell is going on here anyway?”

Lara stared at the sky dancer appraisingly with an amused smile. “You’re complaining? Geez...”


This madness has got to stop! Isis thought furiously, seeing just what kind of trap the Praetorial Guard had set for all of them. There were positions set up every two levels up to the prison itself.

There was no way that they would be able to get there in time. Every encounter they had with the Praetorial Guard served to slow them down even more.

Time is such a precious commodity...the girl thought as she spotted her diversionary group under heavy attack by a plethora of Praetorial Guardsmen and hover tank divisions.

Even from where she was, she could see the bright flashes of weapons fire in the solid darkness, heard the loud percussion of explosions registering nearby. The somewhat scattered group of human figures below her scurried around in a vain effort to engage their enemy, but it was becoming apparent that they could not triumph even the slightest. Not with the odds so heavily stacked against them.

The Starchild decided then that more intervention would be required. So she intervened.

Throwing her hands back, Isis briefly channeled her powers into one spot; her hands crackling and sparking to life—a deep crescendo caterwauling up the decibel scale to a barely perceivable whine that would set anyone within range of her on edge.

When she thought she had enough, Isis thrust her hands out; allowing the power to surge forth on a yellow-gold beam of intense light—striking her targets without mercy.

Seeing the destruction she had caused, something inside her snapped once more, the Starchild cried out in pure rage before vanishing.

* * *

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, once they saw that the threat had been ended in one fell swoop.

“Let’s go!” Barc ordered as every teenager picked themselves back up and started for one of the lifts that happened to be near by.

The desert bandit wasn’t too sure that he wanted to stick around and wait for reinforcements to show up and lay claim on them again. Just as the last of the teenagers entered the lift, did someone shout, “Hey! I think I see a couple of people coming!”

It was hard to see exactly who it was, since most of the level was still enshrouded by a smoky haze and pitch black darkness. But the figures approaching didn’t seem to exude the same personal characteristics as that of the Praetorial Guard.

Rachel shook her head as if to confirm something.

“Definitely not Praetorial Guard. DNA scans are saying their both surface dweller and sky dancer.”

“The Starchild?” Leona wondered out loud.

“Bugged out,” one of the raiders informed her. “So it ain’t her.”

The two shadowy silhouettes become more solid as everyone held their breath—some of them with weapons at the ready.

Barc was the first to shout, “Bayen!” as he instantly recognized who the person was.

“Bayen?” Lightstrom queried in bewilderment.

Leona felt relieved to see that her sister was only shaken up but otherwise okay.

“Lara!” she cried out, bolting from the safety of the lift and swept her sister up in her arms.

Lara smiled at the welcome she had gotten from her own sister and hugged her back. The atmosphere suddenly turned festive as everyone started talking, offering their congratulations on surviving the onslaught.

Bayen didn’t follow some of what was being said. “You don’t understand. We missed out on whatever went on here.”

That statement brought forth another round of confusion by many of the surface dwellers.

“Yeah,” Lara added. “We were sort of busy ourselves.”

“Then how did you get here?” Tristen asked.

“Isis dropped us off after taking out the hover tanks that had us pinned down.”

“Did the same here,” Barc encompassed with a hand. “But why did she scream afterwards?”

“I don’t know,” the sky dancer admitted. “But we had better not hang around here to find out why. The Praetorial Guard might be back to investigate what’s happened.”

“Maybe we’ll find the answer when we get to the prison.” Lara interjected thoughtfully.

* * *

“No sign of any of them,” Trell said, studying a portable scanner readout. The small, circular device beeped softly as it continued to ingest raw data at a phenomenal rate.

“Do you think it is possible that something came up?”

Calis shook his head, not sure himself. Even a telepathic conversation with Tarnek yielded nothing. The spirit deity had nothing substantial to offer since this whole operation was mostly human conceived with some advice from both Keron and himself along the way. But he did mention that there was something wrong with the Starchild. Again, he had lost contact with both the Source and Keron. Again, he reportedly sensed a great wall of anger, fear, and frustration coming from the young girl.

Calis was deeply concerned by this. Clearly, Isis’s emotional control would take more than just some well defined effort and will power if she was going to perform and function adequately as the Starchild. Unfortunately, no one knew where she was at the moment.

Turning his attention back to the conversation, he replied, “Possibly.”

“So we’re going to wait then?”

The old man nodded. “Yes.”

* * *

Conflicting impulses had taken hold of the Starchild; driving her towards one thing rather than another.

Unconsciously, she had rolled through the first line defenses of the Praetorial Guard; hitting hard and fast. So fast in fact, that in a couple instances, she was in there and gone before anyone could do anything.

Her body had taken hits that would’ve killed a normal human. Even her shields were strained to the breaking point once again after a short recharge period.

But it was really her mind that was the focus of yet another battleground.

One that she kept seeing over and over.

A dead and destroyed world...once beautiful and serene, now reduced to floating fragments...

Keron appeared, floating in the airless void of space.

“This is what has happened to many worlds all over the universe, thanks to the acts of many who were once Starchilds’ themselves. Your civilization has an old saying which states, ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Now you see what price your actions have wrought. The destruction of your world...your...Earth.”

Isis McGowan appeared, firing one shot after another at random, her slender body flexing and moving with speed and fluid grace, her face and eyes showing signs of rage and anger. Confusion set in almost immediately when bodies started to appear around her as an errant fragment collided aimlessly with another, but that was all which had been left of a once great world.

Keron stood next to her, watching as she flailed at first to get her footing, then froze in place as she summoned her strength of will to keep herself immobile.

“Now you see what your emotional turmoil has brought you, Isis: A dead world, and a legacy that is nothing more than a forgotten legend.”

Isis McGowan didn’t know what to do.

“Can this be avoided?” She asked quietly.

Keron nodded. “Your emotions are the key to your successes. So far, you’ve done well. But you have a long way to go, Starchild of Earth. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget what you represent to this universe as a whole.” Keron’s hand touched the girl’s cheek unexpectedly, before she faded away back into the center of Isis’s own consciousness.

The cold touch of the spirit deity’s hand was an unpleasant reminder of what could happen if she had lost complete control. What she had seen so far was just a tip off the old iceberg.

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 151

Rayna’s interlink buzzed insistently and she raised her right arm.

“Rayna here. What’s up?”

“This is Sergeant Epstein, captain. One of my men reported seeing a bunch of kids about a half-mile from the prison...um...Level 5231.”

The woman paused for a moment, thinking about how to best deal with this one.

“Any positive identifications?”

“Just a moment.”

Silence on the open comm-net was her reply before Epstein reported back.

“Scanners indicate that there are two Praetorial Guardsmen with them, but I can’t make out their identification tags.”

“Keep an eye on them, and don’t–I repeat–don’t make any moves against them, or let them know that they’re being monitored.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Rayna broke the connection, still a pit pissed about losing most of her best hover tanks to that bitch. She was somewhat relieved that Epstein had survived the attack by sheer luck. Fayler turned up later with only a few of his units intact, most of his powerful force wiped out by the Starchild’s insane counterattack.

Well, she’d show her a thing or two about power, even if it meant destroying the entire Praetorial Guard in the process.

* * *

The Starchild plunged through the wispy atmosphere, feeling each cloud’s cold caress, but ignoring it. There wasn’t much that she could do about the chill until she reached the prison.
She could’ve easily reached her objective by teleporting, but the element of surprise would be lost.

Time was on her side for the moment, but that could change in such a subtle way if anything went wrong.



Bayen was the first to see that something wasn’t right.

Even as they reached the first sky tube that would take them closer to the prison, the sky dancer couldn’t shake the feeling that this all felt somehow wrong.

For one thing, there was no sign of any other living soul around and normally in his book, there should be. The shops on this part of the level were closed, lights were off and the only illumination came from the hover lamps overhead.

At this time, there should be a few places open. He questioned himself, while checking his watch. Yep, it’s 9:34:31. Closing time is usually in an hour.

Bayen kept his eyes peeled on the darkness behind him, on the now deserted walkway that they had just come from. Nothing.

Not a–

A soft flash of metal followed by physical movement grabbed his attention and the boy groaned.

We are being followed!

Great...

“Hey, Leona. You think that your sister would be pissed if I took her with me to go check something out?”

The woman shrugged. “That depends...”

“I believe I have just the thing to work out that aggression complex she has inside her. Might do her a world of good too.”

“What do you want us to do?” She asked

“Continue up as planned.” Bayen advised.


The Starchild touched down on the far side of Level 5231, believing that she had spotted something on her way down to the prison.

Doesn’t make any sense, since Calis should be at the outer defense parameter of the prison by now...I should be right there with him and the others as well. I think this is what the old man would refer to as being slightly ‘sidetracked.’

The shop behind her was ominously quiet, all its lights darkened and its door locked. Looking around, she could see that other shops were also in a similar state.

That’s when all of her mental alarms went off.

This doesn’t feel right, she mused, walking over to a railing and peering over the side. Three levels down, she could see lights and shops that were still open.

Looking back, she saw a noticeable difference.

This entire level has been blacked out. Why?


Bayen was again wondering the same thing, his mind sharpened by the sense that again, something wasn’t entirely kosher.

Both the sky dancer and Lara had both traveled quietly for more than 1500 feet away from the nearest sky tube access, and still there was no further sign of human life anywhere.

The shops here were closed as well, including a popular hangout a bunch of his friends called the ‘Zero G Express’. The place had various games, entertainment, music and giant chambers that was retrofitted a while back for the express purpose of simulating zero gravity conditions; hence its namesake.

The building was quiet too, where there should have been teenagers running rampart all over the place, using their money and what influence they had to have a good time.

“This is creepy,” Lara whispered, her dark eyes alight with worry and anxiety. “Where is everyone?”

Bayen didn’t know. “Something isn’t right,” he said out loud, taking out his quarterstaff and extending it. “There should be activity here, but there isn’t. That’s not right.”

“I wouldn’t know,” his companion chimed in. “I’m not from around here, so I wouldn’t have a clue as to what is or isn’t right.”

“Your sister knows.” Bayen responded, activating the light implement at the end of his staff and playing it around them in a casual sweep; lighting their path here and there where the hover lamps could not reach.

“She never told me.”

Bayen knew they were getting sidetracked from their task, so he didn’t say anything that would cause a full-blown argument. Instead, he concentrated on the problem at hand and continued his own investigation.

He panned his staff up and down the darkened windows of a few of the shops and didn’t like the creepy feeling that they elicited with the way they cast back their reflections.

Dark and foreboding...the sky dancer flinched inwardly.

“Nothing here,” Lara broke into his thoughts, after visually inspecting another shop a few feet downwards from him. “Just what are we looking for anyway?”

“People.” The boy replied, feeling clearly uneasy about the way the situation was developing.

* * *

Isis hovered over the level at a height of 200 feet, keeping her eyes peeled for an obvious signs of danger. From her point of view, this whole thing fairly screamed the word, “TRAP!”, and she knew that she would be right eventually.

The Praetorial Guard has to be behind this. But why? Why would they black out this one level and not others, unless....

Unless Bayen was here!

Adrenaline seizing a hold her, she quickly put her senses to work, searching for any signs of him.
A minute later, Isis found her boyfriend.

He’s here! But I thought he was supposed to be with the others, making preparations for the diversion...?

His thoughts, she saw, centered on the problem as to why there was no activity on this level, and also on the suspicion that he had seen something.

Lara’s there with him as well. That’s surprising.

Still concerned, she flew silently as she good, her mind still attuned to the area around her. Another minute passed before she came up to the spot where she knew he would be and spotted both Bayen and Lara.

But a tickle in the back of her mind alerted her to something else.

* * *

“Hello?” The sky dancer called out, seeing a light in a shop they investigated. “Is anyone home?”

The light’s owner never showed up, but the teenager’s growing impatience did.

“Shit.” He complained under his breath, not believing the luck they were having.

“Nothing?” Lara asked.

“Nope.”

“Cripes,” she moaned softly. “Now what?”

As of in answer, the window next to them exploded in hail of tinkling glass and diamond-like shards.

Neither Bayen or Lara had time to react as the next shot ranged in on them from afar. An explosion of heat and light nearly bowled them over, but by some measure of luck, both of them still remained standing on their feet.

“Move!” The sky dancer yelled, pushing Lara out of the way just in time.

The follow-up salvo gleamed bright yellow as Bayen repositioned himself.

Spinning his staff, he struck out; connecting with the shot and sending it away from them.

“Nice one, Bayen.”

“Not done yet.” He said, waiting for the next one to show itself.

A series of shots came raining out of the sky directly on top of them and the sky dancer swore, before launching himself out of the range of fire. the resulting salvos struck the area where he was just standing only a moment ago.

But the effects of the close-ranged blasts left him a little stunned.

“Gods...” the sky dancer groaned. “This isn’t fair at all...”

Lara agreed, while helping the teenager off the ground.

“I wonder who’s shooting at us?”

Bayen shook his head for a second to clear his head. “I’m not sure, but I can tell you already that it’s someone who doesn’t appreciate us snooping around.”

* * *

“A few more shots like that and they’ll be eventually killed...” The Praetorial Guardsman lieutenant said softly, while was overseeing the action from inside his hover tank. Then he glanced over at the hover tank’s weapons officer. “I said to go easy on them, Private Third Class! This isn’t the time to start showboating!”

The blond-haired woman shrank from her CO’s blistering words.

“S-sorry, sir. I just got carried away! Both of them are carrying weapons, so I just thought–” but the lieutenant silenced her.

“If we kill these two, then the others will come to investigate their disappearances. We don’t want that, now do we?”

“No sir,” the woman replied automatically, chastised.

“Then contact Green Division and tell them to round these two up.”

“Yes, sir.”


Isis had been this close in unloading on the hover tank below her, but found that after a few bracketing salvos, it had stopped firing and resumed a more, leisurely stroll back the way it came.

Puzzled, the girl was about to follow, when another hover tank showed up, followed by another.
Then, unexpectedly, four at once appeared on her left flank.

Noooo...she grated silently, feeling a moment of pure helplessness, sensing that there would be no way that Bayen or Lara could survive this new wave without some assistance from her. But the itch to do so was laced with hesitation. The fact that she had problems while dealing with Calis’s hover tank was an obvious sore point; with regarding her abilities as the Starchild.

However, her recent...explosive episode showed that she also had the power to overcome odds that would be calculated as an impossibility under more normal circumstances.

But I’m not normal. What I did earlier, wouldn’t be considered normal either.

The choice of allowing the deaths of those she loved didn’t dampen her spirits. Instead, these emotional outbursts made her realize that she was a lot stronger than most gave her credit for.

It was this strength that allowed her to do the impossible.

I am the Starchild. I am peace.

She focused on what she needed to do, allowing her emotions to spill over and fill her up; one feeling after another, but in concert with each other.

Then she acted.

* * *

Both Bayen and Lara looked at each other, once they had seen the hover tanks.

“Now we know.” Lara commented dryly.

“Don’t be too sure. These guys weren’t the ones that attacked us.”

“How can you be sure?”

The sky dancer shrugged. “Gut feeling. I think these jokers have some other purpose in mind.”

Then a bright light suddenly illuminated the area, before the hover tanks could act.

It got interminably bright forcing the pair to shield their eyes.

“No!” They heard a voice say. “No more! The city doesn’t need the likes of you terrorizing those who only seek to end this madness! I won’t allow it!”

The hover tanks started to vibrate like tuning forks and Bayen found himself looking at the war machines in sudden disbelief.

They weren’t moving...! They...they’re frozen in place...?

The vibrations got worse. Bayen’s ears were beginning to fill with sounds of screaming and tortured metal. The teenager cringed from the horrendous noises that reverberated agonizingly throughout the small street.

Then as if someone had popped them a giant pin, one of the hover tanks exploded outright in a hail of metal and carbonized fuel chunks. The tremendous explosion sent debris clattering all around them, shattering some of the windows with its own brand of self-propelled missiles.

A second one detonated in a similar fashion, the third not being too far off.

Men in that tank managed to escape and run before it, too, met its demise.

The other remaining tanks struggled to bring their missile systems to bear, to temporarily drive off the one responsible for their predicament. However, the onboard systems refused the commands that were being hastily punched in with remarkable accuracy.

One missile managed to leave its topside launcher, but its engine died a few seconds after launch, in a showery belch of fire and squelched response of what might’ve been surprise. Then it crashed to the ground and exploded in a hail of molten metal and sparks.

“Yow!” Lara cried out as one aberrant fragment hit her in the leg. Thanks in part to her body armor, she wasn’t injured.

A fourth tank vibrated itself into oblivion—there was nothing left afterwards except chunks of metal here and there.

Bayen didn’t know what to do. This situation was beyond anything he experienced in the past.

Another crew also managed to get clear before another blew up, but this time, one of the Praetorial Guardsmen had a shoulder-mounted energy cannon; which he used.

Or would have, had Lara not taken the initiative and fired on the man; stunning him into unconsciousness.

“Don’t.”

The man’s companion gave the woman a frosty look.

“Stand aside, bitch, and let us do what we were called upon to do.” Bending down, he proceeded to remove the man’s weapons’ harness.

Bayen was there in a split-second with his quarterstaff, stinging the man in the cheek with a quick jab; forcing him off balance.

“No. This isn’t what you were called upon to do,” he said in a quiet, but earnest tone. “Scaring people into stepping in line isn’t the way things are done around here. I am not going to let you destroy something that I have worked hard for. And I will do whatever it will take to make sure that you don’t do it.”

The man’s eyes bulged out, but he didn’t say anything, but listened to the boy’s words instead.

A fifth tank a short distance away erupted in a column of fire, but was quickly snuffed out.

“Now she,” he pointed up with his other hand, encompassing the Starchild with his forefinger, “will not only stop you, but destroy you completely. Without mercy.”

The officer’s face betrayed the fear he felt, but answered with confidence, “We shall see, sky dancer.”

In reply, the sixth tank also blew apart, a small testament to the Starchild’s awesome power.

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 150

Captured


“Let me go!” Kelin ordered as a Praetorial Guard made a grab for him and tried to force him off the bunk. “The execution isn’t for a few more hours! Or are you guys this blood-thirsty?!”

The man in red armor looked at him apologetically. “Sorry, but I have orders from Rayna.
Everyone in this cell is to be escorted to the prep room before the execution at midnight. It will take a couple of hours at any rate, so really isn’t much time to dawdle.”

Kelin stared at him evenly, before he got down himself without any assistance.

The guard bent down to get Fran, but the woman was more injured than Kelin had thought, despite the medical treatments.

“Hey! Ouch!! Let go, will ya!” The woman screeched, holding her right arm. “Jeez! You apes ever thought about being more considerate towards your prisoners? It would make things go a hell of a lot easier than roughing us up.”

Another voice cut in suddenly, this time sounding both cold and harsh.

“That’s not your call to make, Francis Yelou. But mine.”

Both prisoners looked and found Rayna standing in the doorway leading into their cell, with a hardened look of contempt and something else.

Something that bordered on...madness?

Uh-oh. Kelin thought. She’s definitely gone off the deep end. But from where?

Fran didn’t see what Kelin saw and decided to stick in her two cents’ worth.

“Being a tight-assed bitch wasn’t good enough for you before, was it? You’ve just got to go and make things worse, didn’t you?”

“Captain’s prerogative,” the woman answered in an emotionless voice. “But what do you have to worry about? You’ll both be dead in a matter of hours anyway.”

Fran didn’t like the sound of that. “What about Pulver?”

Rayna glanced over at the comatose man still lying on the cot. “He’ll be dead anyway in a couple of days. But just to make things more interesting...” she went over and examined his neck and promptly removed the emergency life support chip which was at present, keeping him alive.

“Now he’ll be dead in several hours’ time.” She confirmed.

Both prisoners were aghast.

Rayna walked out before any knife-edged expletives could be hurled against her.

The guard gestured to the pair to start walking. Kelin went first.

Fran stopped at the doorway, sparing a pained glance back at Michael.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered. “Tanya’s never going to know what happened to you.”

* * *

Pulling the huge laser-proof blast curtain across the large alcove, Leona went over to Bayen, who had been quietly waiting for Isis to show up.

“She’s asleep for now,” the woman whispered.

Bayen acknowledged her with a slight nod, before replying, “There must’ve been a lot of pain and anger floating between you off an on for those eight years you were apart.”

“Yes,” Leona admitted. “More for her than me. But I’d be a liar if I said that I didn’t feel anything too.” Then she sighed. “I guess living up here has changed my perspective on many things.”

“You’ve all been holed up in this place for as long as I can remember.” Bayen suddenly smiled. “So why is it you guys never get out and do something anyway?”

Leona chuckled, then thumped the teenager on the back playfully. “You know why...!”

“The Praetorial Guard’s never stopped me from having a life.” Bayen said in all seriousness.

“Mmmm....” the woman droned, thinking over that piece of truth. “But it is just something we had to contend with on occasion. Now suddenly, we have.”

“You’ve told me this. Is there a chance they’ll be back?”

The woman’s dark eyebrows were raised in question. “Probably.” She admitted sadly.

Bayen saw an opening and he took it. “Then join us. Help us take the fight to the Praetorial Guard and stop them once and for all.”

“You sound like you want to put the Praetorial Guard out of business for good.”

“In a way, but not permanently. The Praetorial Guard is one of our few remaining sources of defense against the unknown. I want to knock out a few key elements and allow for other, more respectable, figureheads to take their place.”

“By yourself?” Leona asked with open admiration for the sky dancer.

Bayen laughed. “No. Not by myself. That would be sheer suicide. That prison is armored for bear–if you’ll pardon the pun–and there’s no way I could penetrate the prison’s defenses on my own. I’m good, but not that good.”

The woman nodded, her mind ticking like a well maintained clock at the same time.

“If I said yes, what would you have us do?”

“Huh?”

“The joining up part. What would you have us do?”

“Play the diversionary part. We’d go in and raise hell, while my girlfriend goes in and performs the actual rescue.”

“What’s the time-table?”

Bayen tapped something on his wrist chronometer and the thing beeped.

“Three hours. Actually two, plus a half-hour for a comfortable safety margin.”

“We’re in,” the woman declared. “Although I don’t think Gravis is going to be very happy about this. He wanted to sit this one out.”

“He’ll be in for a real shock then,” the sky dancer said, thinking, and so will Isis.

* * *

The view from above was absolutely breathtaking.

Wispy clouds illuminated by a backdrop of stars and the moon made this particular area in the Upper District seem like a romantic place to be.

“We are about six hundred levels from where we are supposed to be. However, I don’t see any of our support teams.” Calis said after glancing at a couple of his surveillance monitors.

Isis stood there, projecting her senses outwards and on a fleeting edge of her consciousness, found Bayen’s.

“They’re in the Arena.” She reported.

Calis looked at her and then nodded, while tapping in a frequency that he knew by heart. “Barc? This is Calis. Come in.”

A moment of static and then a youth’s strong voice resonated over the hover tank’s internals.

“This is Barc. What’s up?”

“We’re only a few miles from where you are. How are things where you are?”

“Good. Bayen’s informed me that Leona’s group is joining us. Is Isis there?”

“She is.”

“Tell her that her boyfriend is a damned good negotiator.”

The Starchild blushed somewhat at the forwarded compliment. “I heard that Barc.
And...thanks.”

“See you at the prison, then. Barc out.” The connection was severed after that.

Calis leaned back in his chair. “Well, that’s it. Everything’s up to you now.”

Isis nodded heavily, feeling the world spin slightly out of control. It was a heady feeling, knowing that the whole operation hinged entirely on just what she did next.

“I won’t let you guys down.” Then she vanished in a bang of cold white light.

Trell looked at the old man and smiled. “Man, I hate to be the Praetorial Guard’s shoes right now.”

Calis turned around and started up the hover tank. “I wouldn’t put too much confidence in your sister right now, Trell. The biggest test of endurance lies just ahead.”

* * *

“All clear?” Tristen asked, as Barc took a look, first left, then right.

“So far.” The desert bandit replied, keeping his rifle at the ready.

“You don’t sound so sure, bro.”

Barc looked at his older brother (who was just a year older, but sometimes not so bright), before shaking his head.

“Hey, you think this is easy? I’ve never been up here! I’m going by what Bayen’s been giving me for directions!”

“Pipe down, you two!” Tayna whispered in back of them, as Rachel elected to take point.
Lightstrom was favoring her left leg, because her right leg had suffered a little bit of a muscle pull from her previous encounter with the Praetorial Guard.

“Your jabbering’s likely to give us away!”

Rachel Jesson signaled the all clear with a circling motion of her forefinger.

“Why does she get to go on point?” Tristen complained.

“She’s Praetorial Guard, that’s why.” Bayen said, tapping the teenager on the shoulder with the end of his quarterstaff. “Now spread out like we discussed in the tunnels and keep your voices down.”

“Probably leading us into a trap,” the sky dancer overheard one of the others say under his breath.

Bayen didn’t waste any more energy trying to deflate the rising friction that was going on between them.

At least Leona and her group are quiet. They probably know the value of silence better than any of us combined.

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 149

Lara stared intently at Bayen, anger smoldering in her eyes.

“I told you: I didn’t want to be in here!”

The sky dancer just sat there on the bleachers, patiently waiting for calm and order to restore themselves. Fifteen minutes had passed since the two parties had been led through a series of access tunnels; different from the ones that Bayen had guided Isis through once.

Five more minutes had elapsed after everybody present pulled out an assortment of weaponry known—from old-fashioned hand-lasers to high-impact energy cannons. And aimed them at each other.

Only a select few had specialized pulse rifles and blasters.

Glancing at her, Bayen said, “Too bad. She’s there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Bullshit!” the woman barked, whipping out her pulse rifle and taking a bead on her sister. “I can kill her for what she’s done!”

Bayen sighed heavily. “Do you think that taking your anger out on her is going to solve anything?”

Lara sputtered in shock, unable to shake the blind astonishment that she felt towards the sky dancer.

“Bastard...” She bit out.

“Lower the rifle, Lara. Your sister isn’t the enemy. Someone else is.”

The young woman held her gaze on her sister, then turned her attention on the others that had gathered around one of three access tunnels.

Barc and his group had covered the others and vice versa.

A classic Mexican stand-off.

“All of you,” he instructed, waving the end of his quarterstaff. “This isn’t the time to start a chest-beating contest. The biggest conflict is only a few hours away at most and we don’t have time to fight amongst each other.”

“Says you.” Barc retorted.

Lara shot an icy glare that silenced her boyfriend. “He’s right. As usual.”

Bayen didn’t buy into that remark, keeping his peace for the moment. The others lowered their weapons, with Leona being the first.

“Stubborn bitch as always,” she murmured under her breath.

Lara’s snapped around suddenly. “Say what?”

Leona stared at her sister. “I said you were a stubborn bitch. You always had been. Even since the time we were cast adrift after our parents died, you felt that your way was the correct way and to hell with everyone else.”

“It worked too!” The other woman defended hotly. “Just because you live up here, doesn’t mean you have to treat me like the inferior child in the family!”

“Spoiled is more like it.” Leona interjected, forgetting her own personal fears about her reunion with her sister. But privately, she was amazed that her sister shared similar feelings about this as well.

Were we that close that we had inadvertently created some kind of...bond with each other?

Apparently so.

“Spoiled?” Lara’s eyes widened, her beautiful face melting from surprise back to anger. “How dare you say that to me!”

“It’s true. You were the favored one that Mom and Dad always doted on.”

“And what about you?” she shot back evenly. “You have finally found a place up here in Stratos City, and...”

“And fighting for my existence as you are right now,” the other sister cut off, knowing what she was going to say. “There is nothing cushy about living up here, when you have nothing but a meager existence from which to go on. What money I have, we spend it on food and medicine that is extremely hard to get here.”

“I’ll bet sex is not out of the question.” Lara baited.

Leona’s face flushed red. “Sometimes, but not lately. We have other means in which to procure stuff.”

“Not like the last time, huh? I’ll bet that cargo captain didn’t mind what you were offering.”

“It wasn’t by choice. I was desperate to get on board. He even agreed to take you on as well, but the Praetorial Guard interceded and he bolted prematurely.”

Lara’s eyes misted under the recollection of the painful memory. “I remember.”

“And you know what? I can never go back to the surface again.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a hybrid, dear sister. I’m both a sky dancer and a surface dweller.”

“Impossible! Our parents were both surface dwellers!”

“Mom wasn’t. That was something she never told you. But dad knew. However, that never stopped him from loving us both.”

Even Bayen was stunned by this revelation. “Genetically altered at the cellular level...?” he murmured. “I didn’t think that was possible...”

“What?” Barc asked, confused as the rest of them. He had only heard the tail end of the conversation.

Lara smacked the teenager on the arm, telling him in no simple terms to back off.

Barc did so, while the others decided then and there that a silent truce had been called and started to break up in individual groups; low conversations filtering amongst them.

“Then I must be a hybrid as well.” Lara concluded.

Leona shook her head. “No, little sister. You’re not. You are a full-blooded surface dweller. That’s why you’ve been able to pass back and fourth from Stratos City to the surface unhindered.”

Lara nodded slowly, suddenly able to recall the few times that her parents had trouble getting Leona up to Stratos City. She had always wondered why, but neither her mom or dad said much on the subject whenever she raised the question. Instead, they patted her on the head and was told not to worry.

Things will work out, she recalled her mother saying. She was a beautiful person, with a delicate face with high cheek bones, covered by dark, tanned skin. Her smile is what Lara remembered the most. Her lips were full and red with the occasional green lipstick. But she also had those piercing hazel eyes that spoke volumes and sometimes knew what you were going to say even if you didn’t.

Lara also enjoyed the luxurious feeling her mother’s rich brown hair felt, as she ran her small hands through them, wishing her own was like that.

Tearing free of the memory, Lara blinked a couple of times when she sensed that Leona was standing next to her.

“What–?”

“It’s okay, Lara,” her sister said soothingly. “You were out of it for a little while.”

“I was...I was just remembering the way mom used to look before she died.” Lara replied, before taking a shuddering, deep breath.

“I know.” Leona said knowingly taking her into her arms and cradling her.

Lara felt an intense wave of sorrow and pain overcome her and she started crying.

* * *

“....up, Isis. Wake up.”

The girl moaned as her vision was flooded with low lighting, the sounds of humming machinery, and fuzzy shapes.

“W-where am I?” she croaked.

One of the fuzzy shapes came slowly into focus, while the other one walked away for a moment–presumably to retrieve something, then felt something cold press against her neck, followed by a slight hissing noise.

Isis managed to slap away the hand that held the hypo spray, but was too weak to do anything else.

“This will help speed you along, Isis.” Calis indicated with the device. “That heavy sedative I gave you earlier should wear off in a couple of minutes.”

The girl took a sense of herself and found that the old man was right. She felt like death warmed over.

“What happened?” The surface dweller asked.

Calis sat down next to her. “From what I can tell, you went mad. Utterly, completely. For a time, your power surpassed anything I’ve known. Tarnek couldn’t do anything, nor could Keron, or the Source of Chaos. You used that power against the hover tank division whom tried to destroy you; wiped them out too; save for a few stragglers.”

The girl closed her eyes, relieved that some survived. “But that doesn’t excuse what I did. I killed people out of revenge.”

“You killed, yes,” Calis nodded in agreement. “But you killed out of self-preservation.”

Something snapped inside the girl, causing her to bolt upright.

“What’d you say?”

“I said, you killed out of self-preservation.” Calis repeated, a little confused by her question.

“Mmm…” Isis murmured, wondering if that was the truth.

“You don’t believe me?”

“It’s not a matter of belief. It’s a matter of personal points of view.”

“You think that you killed for some other reason then?” Calis asked.

Isis nodded. “It certainly felt that way. Like none of you really mattered. To me, all of you were insects to be crushed out of existence…”

Calis tried not to show it, but he just couldn’t help himself.

He shuddered.

“–but I didn’t want that. I’m a preserver of life, not an instrument of death! I don‘t kill for pleasure!”

“Sometimes we don’t like the choices we’ve been given, Isis,” Calis consoled her. “That’s just the facts of life.”

Isis McGowan fell silent. Then she said, “Well, what if we all could change all that in an instant?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if we didn’t have to follow the same laws governing our way of existence?”

“You mean if you were given a different choice apart from the one you have now?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’d imagine that the results would be different.”

“Good–” Isis started to say, but caught the old man shaking his head. “What?”

“The end results may be different, but that doesn’t mean the outcome will easily follow suit.”

Isis didn’t like that supposition.

“So nothing changes as a result. No matter what happens now or in the future, nothing will change.”

Calis shook his head in amusement. “You’re selling yourself short there, Isis. In the time you’ve been the Starchild of Ancient Lore, a lot has changed. Both for good and bad. But that is something we all have to live with. It isn’t something we can drastically affect by a wave of the hand or a magic wand. The outcome you want, I want, and everyone else wants will be different, but it may or may not come to pass in the same vision you imagine it to be. That is the nature of the universe. Nothing is set in stone, because everything is still in motion.”

Isis stretched. “This is going to suck either way,” she declared knowingly, before getting up. “But I suppose I have no real choice in the matter, right?”

Calis chuckled. “You misunderstand me. You’ve always had a choice. But because of your ongoing struggles and development, you’ve been inherently blind to that fact.”

“Somehow, I feel I should be bothered by that. But I don’t feel anything coming on. Why?”

“Because you’re dealing with this problem head on,” the old man said. “But once things calm down, you’ll be able to see it clearly.”

Isis snorted and then laughed softly, an arm draped over her face. “Yeah. Like that’s ever going to happen!”

Calis smiled, before reaching down to help his young charge up off the ground.

“It will. Nothing like this lasts forever.”

Isis thought back on the past conversations she had with Keron and the Source of Chaos. On everything which had gone down since the Realm of Dreams.

“In some cases, it may as well have.” She replied softly.

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 148

Calis suddenly slumped over the controls of his tank, as the unfathomable power of the Starchild pierced his consciousness without warning.

Isis! No! You mustn’t lose control!!! The old man screamed inside his mind. Tarnek! You must do something! Quick!!

But Tarnek was way beyond helping her, and he even said so.

I am sorry, old friend. But there is nothing that I can do. The power–


Power on a scale never before known showed itself to the hover tank operators, simply because the Starchild had lost what control she had over her emotions.

This made her not only twice as dangerous as before, but also twice as unpredictable. But it wasn’t because of past incidences where frustration, anger, fear and doubt that had played a vital part in her growth as the Starchild, that made her this way.

No, it was something else. Something more...precious that she couldn’t bear to live apart from and this is what was tearing her apart from the inside out.

Of course, if the hover tank operators knew what it was, they wouldn’t have made the terrible mistake of opening fire in the first place. But they did, only because they saw her as a definitive threat, one which needed to be dealt with immediately.

Isis McGowan screamed. But not because of the pain that would wrack her body any second now.

No. That wasn’t it at all. The reason was the pure, blind, and unchecked rage that now consumed her mind, transformed it into an indescribable power that surged through her body, and threatened to explode into something else...unless someone interceded.

But no one could. No one dared.

The changed girl–now a woman–turned her attention on the metal monstrosities that sat below her as she hovered over the battle site, then unleashed her full power on the hover tanks.

Her hands burned white-hot as power on a scale unimagined surged forth like a wave that could level whole cities with just one precise hit.

A wave of energy so blinding and so...unbelievable, that all those that bore their eyes on it for the last few seconds of their short lives...all thought they were looking at some kind of god-like being hell bent on visiting upon them a vindictive-style of judgment.

A death so painful as it was swift.

Energy trails surged and cracked like thunder along the ground and arced up to meet the Starchild, before repeating their infinitely quick cycle. Contrails of power surged in and out of the surface dwellers body, seeking out those unlucky enough to get in her way and wipe them from existence.

Hover tanks crumpled and vaporized in the scant second that the wave touched the outer defense parameter that the Praetorial Guard had hastily set up.

Others–including Sergeant Andrew Epstein—barely made it out of the range of the destructive force that casually consumed nearly two-thirds of the Praetorial forces which had been assembled against her.

Nearly four hundred of the six hundred and twenty-three hover tanks were no longer there, leaving most of the survivors to fend for themselves in a hapless gaggle of firing and more retreating.

One tank–a Zeus–stood its ground; its armor flayed, scorched and torn in many places, but the vehicle in question was still able to hammer out one round of destructive firepower after another, equivalent to twenty Demos-class hover tanks put together.

The attack barely got Isis’s attention, but she decided to end the potential confrontation by diving headlong at the thing and brought the strength of her entire body down upon it; her fists driving a solid wedge right down the middle of the tank–the screams of the unfortunate wailing in her ears as the crippled power cells breached, and then exploded all around the Starchild—even though her tightened fists inadvertently created deep fissures in the solid flooring construction of Level 1409.

* * *

Calis arrived on the scene some minutes later, stunned by what he had witnessed in the final moments of the most of the war machines’ instantaneous demise. He had known that this was possible, but somehow...somewhere, he didn’t give much thought to the idea that if pushed far enough, the Starchild could reach levels that were inconceivable. Even if only for a moment.

Now he saw the results and he knew that he had to somehow stop her. But the solution to the problem became more complex and dangerous than it looked.


The Starchild turned her attention and saw one lone tank left. One that had somehow eluded her assault.

This ragged thought pissed her off to no ends, so she decided right then and there.

The Source and Keron were both powerless against her raging emotions and could do nothing to subdue her. The choice in stopping this destructive spree was her choice and hers alone. But the cataclysmic power that she had unleashed was something to behold and entirely frightening on a scale not imagined in a very long time.

Each wondered if they had been given birth to a monster—a creature that resembled a tortured woman in the guise of a very troubled teenaged youth.

* * *

“Trell,” Calis finally said, seeing Isis’s attention focused on his tank. Only a few moments remained before she attacked. “I need your assistance.”

The boy strode up to the pilot’s chair and plunked himself in the co-pilot’s acceleration seat next to him.

“What?”

“I need you to go out there and talk to your sister.”

The young boy’s eyes widened with both concern and fear, then he adamantly shook his head.

“Uh-uh,” he replied. “No way am I going out there when she’s about to pulverize us!”

Calis didn’t argue on that one. He knew that to be the complete truth. His tank had withstood a few with the tests against his young charge. But at full power?

This was something he didn’t want to find out personally.

“Go! Now!” He ordered hurriedly, while preparing his hover tank against the girl’s potential fire. The tank wasn’t equipped with a shield generator because of its size. No, thick armor would have to suffice. But given this machine’s refractive capabilities, the old man privately wondered just how much he could withstand, before the war behemoth finally caved in.

Trell blew out his breath in exasperation, silently wishing against fate itself, then grabbed the pulse rifle his mother had loaned him and left the drive section; climbing an adjacent ladder to the overhead hatch. Opening it, he heard the strong whines of the engines cutting in as the tank slewed sharply to the left, as the Starchild began her run.

Climbing even higher, he found himself going toe to toe with his sister; as if he was the one remotely piloting the tank, like some bygone war general directing his troops from a steel leviathan.

With his hair being ruffled by the sudden gusts caused by the tank’s deft movements, the boy shouted, “Sis!” and prayed like crazy that she wouldn’t make the mistake by killing him.

* * *

Isis McGowan raised her hands in preparation to fire; white snakes of pure dark energy whipping and entwining themselves around her Chaos generators.

Her fingers fanned out slightly to allow the energy contrails to dance more fiercely, as she concentrated everything into a small space for an immediate release.

A part of her registered the opening of the hatch, even as the tank took up a defensive posture.

But Isis chose to ignore that as a possible ruse, instead bringing her hands forward in a straight line in front of her chest, arms taunt and quivering intensely at the incredible strain placed upon them.

Then a head emerged, followed by half a body of a young boy Isis thought she recognized at first, but dismissed it; thinking that the Praetorial Guard had started using civilians to fight their battles for them.

Then the boy screamed a single word that froze her right then and there...

“Sis!”

...and the surface dweller screamed in pain and recognition, before dropping from the air and crumpling to the hard steel deck of the cargo transfer terminal.

* * *

Trell clambered out of the tank even as Calis shouted, “Wait!” and jumped down; racing towards her sister in hopes that she was okay.

The old man popped his head out a minute later, just as he was bent down to touch her and yelled, “You fool! You don’t know what she’s capable of yet!”

The young boy ignored him and looked down at his sister, seeing the perspiration running down her face, her hands twitching and clawing spasmodically as her body settled into a convulsive-like state, her costume following suit–fluctuating back and forth.

“Sis!” Trell said fiercely. “It’s me: Trell!”

Isis McGowan screamed in pain, her face contorted in sheer agony.

Calis was at the boy’s side thirty seconds later, whipping out his med-kit in one fell swoop.

“Damn.” He muttered softly, before taking a hypo and selected an ampoule of heavy sedative and inserted into the injection slot casing. Pressing it against the girl’s neck with one hand and holding her head still with the other, he injected the medication in and then stood up.

Almost immediately, the drug worked its magic on the tormented girl and her body gradually relaxed its uncontrollable spasms as she finally slipped into a peaceful unconsciousness.

Her costumed appearance finally stabilized and her modified black and gold outfit returned.

Trell and Calis both shared a grateful sigh of relief, before the twelve-year-old started asking questions.

“What the heck happened?”

“I’m not sure,” the old man replied, baffled by what took place. “She shouldn’t have acted like this at all.” He went silent for a time, before he added, “Tarnek tells me that the Source and Keron were powerless to intercede. He says that her emotional control somehow...slipped dramatically and she lost it. They don’t know why.”

“I’m glad that whatever you gave her had taken effect. A sedative, right?”

Calis nodded. “Won’t last long though in her current state. An hour at most. Usually good for a full eight.”

“Then let’s hurry before the Praetorial Guard shows up. What’s the quickest way to the others?”

Calis shrugged. “I sent both teams ahead, so they should be near the prison at this moment. That’s about three hundred levels I believe.”

Puzzlement set in.

“Sky tubes,” the old man illustrated with a point of finger; directing the boy’s attention to the cylindrical construct just twenty yards in front of them.

Trell saw immediately that the hover tank wouldn’t fit and told Calis that.

“Don’t worry,” he assured the surface dweller. “This is a cargo transfer terminal. There’s a cargo lift one hundred feet this way,” gesturing in the general direction behind him. Afterwards, he picked the Starchild off the ground and proceeded back to the hover tank.

He stopped once he sensed that the boy wasn’t following.

Glancing back, Calis saw that he had a troubled look on his face. “Coming?”

Trell nodded reluctantly. “Yeah.…”

THE STARCHILD--CHAPTER 147

Calis contacted Barc. “Barc? I want you guys to go ahead of me. The Starchild is going to find out what’s up. Over.”

“No problem. We have a few injuries, but nothing major. Tristen says the same over in his end. You want me to have him take his group too?”

“Yes. I have Trell here with me, so go and scout out the parameter of the prison. I won’t risk another confrontation with the Praetorial Guard if I can help it.”

“That’s understandable. Neither do I. Not after what happened a few minutes ago.”



Isis didn’t even see what came at her until it was too late.

A few seconds disorientation was what usually proceeded her instant teleportation technique, and this was no exception.

She was caught off guard by the first hundred or so salvos that appeared out of nowhere on the next level (Cargo Transfer Terminal 1409), and she paid dearly for her folly.

The ability to resist so many hits was taxing to the Starchild and she found her shields weren’t up to the task of protecting completely; flaring dangerously close to the point of terminal shutdown.

Isis fought blindly for a time, trying to punch a hole in her foe’s incredibly tight defenses, but only came to realize that what she was against wasn’t human beings at all, but hover tanks.
Everything from Demos to Zeus-class hover tanks. The only ones absent were the Orpheus and Spartan’s, but that mattered little in her book.

With this in mind, the surface dweller found herself fighting for her very life.

Uggh–! Isis grunted silently as more fire was directed at her. So much so, that she quite literally couldn’t see straight. Every successive hit had managed to disorient her even more with each passing second.

This is nuts!

You didn’t think about what would happen, did you? Just teleported blindly into an unknown situation without seeing what your up against. How typically mortal.

The girl cowered, striving to turn her flank towards them, to give herself a few more seconds of breathing space. But whatever these hover tanks were using for base firepower was temporarily beyond her ability to cope.

You’re not thinking. Both the Source and Keron chided. That’s why it is hurting more now, then it would have if you had given it more thought.

Pain lanced in the girl’s side as her starboard shields gave out, followed by her port ones. Then she felt the whole defensive grid go like a soap bubble.

It wasn’t a loud pop! that was associated with her loss of her offensive capabilities that made her wince in agony, but the silent knowledge that if she didn’t do something soon, she would die.

Getting up under the most strenuous circumstances, she managed to stumble and then walk unhinged towards a towering transport container and then get behind it, just as a monstrous salvo of light and energy exploded in front of her.

The flash blinded her. But the following concussion wave pinned her against the metal walls of the transport container like a helpless butterfly.

Noooo...! she cried out silently. I can’t fail! I won’t fail!!!

Keron appeared next to her, a feminine shadow of light and energy.

“Then think.” She insisted. “You can do that, can’t you?”

“I...” the girl gasped, as her sides were on fire from the pain she now felt. Breathing was becoming more and more difficult. “I don’t know. I wasn’t prepared.”

“Of course you weren’t. Wanted to go and investigate this by yourself, did you?” The spirit deity gestured with a ghostly hand. “Now you know the fatal cost of your mistake.”

“But...I’m the...Starchild!” Isis protested harshly. “I can take...” she coughed loudly for a moment, before finishing with, “this!”

“Then you’ll fail!” Keron said with disapproval. “And the legacy dies with you. Here and now!”

“But I’m not dead! Just injured!”

“Then heal yourself and try again. But this time, go in with a clear head instead of rushing into things. Otherwise, you will be dead.”

Keron faded away like she always did, but so had Isis McGowan’s consciousness.

* * *

A thread appeared, both neither long nor short, neither its own beginning or ending. But short nonetheless.

Strange, looking at one’s life in such an arcane manner, she wondered with puzzlement.

Why things weren’t simpler, she wouldn’t know. But the length of the thread which drifted before her, gave the girl a clue as to what her life was going to be like.

It wasn’t in her power to cheat death, like it or not.

But she did have latent abilities that weren’t going to be accessible until later.

Much later.

My death at the hands of the Praetorial Guard. My life cut short before I could realize my full potential.

The implication was just as terrifying as it was real.

“Now you know. But you see, it doesn’t have to end that way, does it?”

Isis’s consciousness spun around, simply because she had no body in which to follow suit. It felt like that part of her didn’t even exist now.

But the strange voice that constantly dogged Isis in her dreams, was close enough now to vibrate in the back of her mind, but still remain hidden insanely in the shadows.

The consciousness of the Starchild was now at a serious loss.

“I don’t understand,” she began, only to realize that she had lost the power of her Changed Voice. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“Death is always a subjective thing. It could mean a physical death, like the one you are about to experience, or a spiritual death, like those who had come before you and those that have yet to pass.”

Terror filled the empty space that would generally signify where her heart would normally be.

Being a disembodied entity was fast becoming a really unnerving experience.

“But I’m not dead!” The consciousness protested. “I’m not dead!”

The strange voice chuckled. “Of course your not. That’s what makes this situation so unique. You only think you are.”

The consciousness was confused. “I’m...not?”

“No. But you’re close.”

The consciousness’ attention drew back to the thread that hung in the middle of the nothingness.

“See this? This tells you how much longer you have to live.”

The thread showed the past and the future of the girl that had once been Isis McGowan, and once been the Starchild. Both neither, and yet both the same.

“But the thread can also be...altered if you will and be allowed to lengthen, should events dictate. Not by my choice mind you.”

“Mine?” The consciousness asked, rapidly becoming degraded as time sped up.

“Yes. You choose whether to live or die. Simple as that.”

But I don’t want to die, the consciousness’ last coherent thought was, I want to–


“–LIVE!!” The Starchild screamed in a voice so loud that the entire level shook from the intense power of her Changed Voice. “I WANT TO LI–HUHN–LIVE!!”

Isis’s eyes snapped open, her eyes blazing so bright that all anyone could see was a ball of intense light coming from behind the transport crate, followed an explosion that tore a hole into the floor of the level; everything around starting to vibrate very badly.

Then another–more horrendous–explosion sounded off that atomized the three-story transport container.

The Starchild was airborne in a flash, her whole entire body crackling, snapping, and even hissing from the power buildup that was rapidly accumulating past the point of no return–as her costume briefly shimmered from black to the snow white variation of Chaos.

Everything about her began to change as well, as the years sped up and she began to age ten to twenty years in the matter of a few seconds.

The tanks opened fire almost immediately on their target, but the Starchild didn’t even feel the effects. Didn’t even care what was happening around her.

Isis brought her hands together slowly, not even bothering the power to be willed, to be brought to life, it just was simply there for her to mold and shape as she saw fit.

And what she saw fit to do was obliterate these...insects out of existence.