Outsider

[Laowai]

CRACK!!!!!!!!!!


The insurance policy suddenly kicked in.

From the interface Ben had placed his crystal within a sharp bolt of raw electricity shot out and struck him squarly in the chest. He flew backwards through the air and landed with a heavy thud on the crystalline floor, whisps of smoke rising up from his chest and the smell of burnt fabric and flesh scorching his nostrils....
He lay there in shock for a moment, trying to clear his head, he felt dazed... even so however, he knew immediatly what had happened.

There was something here... and the moment he had connected with it when he touched his crystal it had overwhelmed him. His head throbbed with pain, from the contact, or the electrical discharge he wasnt sure. He felt... different somehow.... as if...
He knew things.

Knew things he had not known before.

In the few moments he had been connected to whatever it was that remained in here information had been exchanged, how much he had no idea, but he could feel already his thoughts trying to process whatever had entered his mind. The interface was his escape, he had set it to do exactly what it had done if it detected the same kind of energy that Zarita had used to destroy the light diodes all that time ago, outward energy that he had determined over the course of his studies had only one purpose: to manipulate and to control.
He had no idea what "it" had tried to do exactly, however its intent was clear, evidenced by the smouldering burn mark that now stung his chest.

He quickly gathered up the crystal from where it now rested on the floor, being careful not to touch it directly, and leaving the smouldering remains of the interface on the ground he turned to leave the room.
A whisper crossed his mind.
He turned swiftly blaster in hand and scanned the room.

It was empty, though he knew, he could feel that he was not alone.

Not wasting time now he returned to the spot where he had entered, there was an indent on the floor and he touched it with his foot. Sure enough, the room about him blurred and he shot quickly upwards until he found himself standing once again in the main room above the chamber.
The whisper had not left, in fact, he felt it more tangibly now, whatever it was was close... and it was trying to do something.
He ran towards the crack in the facing door but as he did so a thought crossed his mind.... Chamber..... active.... code sequence.....shape

"By crete!" he gasped, he knew, knew immediatly what he needed to do to accomplish what he had come here to find. "Haha! you bastards!" he yelled triumphantly, "you let it out, you let it slip, you told me exactly what i wanted!" Whatever it was that was here had tried to reach out into his mind for its own purpose, yet that reach had not just been one way, and while it had tried to control, Ben using all the strength and discipline he could muster from the years he had practiced using this technology had doggedly sought but a single piece of information "How do I get her our, How do I get her back".

He had found the answer and as he dashed out of the room the way of doing it became clearer in his mind.

Squeezing through the crack in the large door to the outside he heard an audible movement behind him, turning momentarity he saw... something, a shimmer, a shifting in the gloom. Whatever it was, was moving, and it was coming for him.
He fired a half a dozen blaster bolts back into the chamber, the loud CRACK of the weapon shattering the silence of the room and echoeing across its walls. He had no time to lose, he had no idea what was following him and he did not intend to stay to find out.
Another sound now, this time closer and he felt something else, tangible emotion - emotion that was not his own, and it was not happy. It raged, it boiled with seething anger and hatred that must have been pent up over millenia, who knows how long whatever it was had been in that place? Who knows if it had even been conscious before he had glanced its thoughts - but it was coming for him. He sprinted from the building and into the open heading quickly towards his Gladiator. He ripped his comm unit from his tunic jacket and swtiched it on, running and short of breath he yelled into it "Venganza, this is Laowai, arm all guns and fire on my comm location!" A voice began to respond but he cut it off hurriedly "Dammit dont ask questions just do it! Do it now!"
Turning quickly he tossed the comm as far as he possibly could back towards the entrance of the structure and for the first time he saw something real and tangible. Something was moving through the crack in the door, it seemed firmer now though still somehow non corporeal. His comm unit landed just in front of it and skidded towards the door.
He leapt up into the Gladiator and didnt wait to suit up, arming its engines he entered the emergency thrust command and it suddenly leapt into the air, its canopy not even fully sealed, he grabbed the controls and began to back as above him he heard a faint and distant crack. High in the sky, glowing lights broke the thin layer of atmosphere and raced towards the ground - and him at a terrifying speed - Panic gripped him and he kicked the trust into boost, swinging the ship around as fast as he could. Its computer howled in protest, its warning systems going off simultaneously as he pushed the unshielded hull of the ship well past its stress tolerance levels.
Yet up she went, swinging it around he narrowly avoided one of the now huge bollts of light streaming down around him that had been fired from the Venganza's guns, he swerved another as the canopy closed and below him he could hear a deafening roar as the energy weapons slammed into the ground where he had only moments before been standing. He banked the ship upward and away to avoid more of the fire and felt a wave of relief hit him as the ships systems began to calm down, indicating that the Gladiators shields were now active.

Banking her slighly he looked over his shoulder. Below him, now moving further away into the distance he could see a pall of dark black smoke rising up from the ground, small flickers of flame occasionally breaking through the rising cloud.

"Elder" a voice broke through the whine of the ships engines "This is the Venganza... are you....?"

He clicked on the comm unit and laughed "Laowai here, im allright.... and good shooting lads.... im on my way home!"

He set the ship to auto and it targeted the docking beacon on the Venganza. He slumped down into his chair.... the adrenalin he felt now slowly starting to wear off and he became aware of how fast his pulse was racing.
That.... had been close.


Yet the gamble had worked, he had against all odds found what he was looking for. He knew what he had to do - he would return to Tangier and to her... and soon, very soon Zarita would be free of her bound immortality, free to live and breathe as any other human.


"Fire up the engines" he called out to the battleship in orbit; "we're heading home!"

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