Choices and Consequences

"It was only a little part of you, and that's besides the point! Get it! Knife point!" Lena Marr joked, then laughed somewhat manically, then her chalk white face went impassive as she remarked, "Never mind! My EGO is just telling me to kill you all, except Marcel of course, and it's starting to sound like a good idea! Get you pain-in-the-asses do gooders out of our way once and for all! What do you say, Marcel? We can take them! Two on two! Volodja's a wuss, and Atticus has gotten soft in his old age, no offense Atticus! Your call my love!"

Lena readied her charge blade, shifting her EGO to overcharge with the appropriate supporting perks, reveling in the feeling of power and ready to pounce at Marcel's command.

"Got it, Erika, and I think we have it all packed", Taffer replied to her while checking the equipment which was already packed and loaded on the cart. He nodded his head to the door and grabbed the handle of the car the cart to help Pyotr pull it.

"How it's said? С вещами на выход? (grab your belongings and move out; a phrase known to be told to prisoners or arrested suspects)", He said to Pyotr.

"Не смешно (not funny)", Pyotr replied, "It's not you who has to leave their home all of a sudden like that".

"Guess I keep using those phrases in a wrong context, sorry", Taffer said, "I've been through that, so I know how it feels. Was not much but still it was home. Let's hope you're not leaving it forever and you'll be able to return once this crisis is relieved". Taffer sighed remembering his return to the place he could call his old home was far from being pleasant.

"Lady, could you please pull the Vigilant closer over here on its antigrav? I'm afraid we need to board it as soon as possible and use it for some peacemaking", Taffer asked, seeing Lena's EGO mark blinked back and forth from friendly to hostile and the talk she had with the team.

Right after they loaded all the readied belongings of Yershov's family, a couple boarded the ship and Erika drove the mech inside, Taffer jumped into the pilot's seat and quickly sent out commands: "Weapons online. Low power. Target organics. No shielding, let their EGOs see the activity".

He pulled the ship slowly forward, gliding on its antigravity, and let it pass with its left side to the group gathered around Lena, ship's weapons aimed at her.

"Last time I used this gun, it made a hole in the Ark large enough for this ship to pass through it. So if my friends die by your hand, it would be the last stupid thing you did for sure. Besides, you have just taken something important to me. By your logic, I have to kill you right now. But now I'm talking to you at a gunpoint only because you forcing me to by threatening to kill my friends. So how about we both back off and solve this issue in a more pleasant way? Like Belle gives you what belongs to you once we find her and you give me back what belongs to me?"

"Of course we won't be shooting while Atticus and Volodya are there", he said to Lady, "But a low burst from a left maneuver engine will be enough to set them flying away from each other in case they won't behave and start a fight".

"Atticus, thanks for the info, it's very good that we got to know about that. Askaru does not need to be warned or alerted. He knows for sure what to expect from Skarr and if we know about Skarr's visit to Lima, then he knows for sure too. Contacting him now would only give away his position and our interest. What we have to do is to get to Lima and take Erika's grandchildren before Skarr does if he's that serious about them. I can just take the Marsel's plane and pilot it with Erika if the main team has to stop here for longer period of time. As for telling it to Erika, there's not a question which words to use, but there's a need to show her that we'll be doing everything possible to get her children to safety ASAP. She's a woman of action, not words anyway."

Lena Marr's pout turned into a frown as her chalk white brow furrowed when she calculated the odds of winning the battle and didn't like them. She closed the charge blade, and handed it to Marcel in surrender, mumbling, "Bet Taffer's blade wasn't a token of love..."

Her rage spent, Lena plopped down sitting cross legged in the snow as Sloth took over her EGO's voice, saying to her, "Aw, what the hell. It would have taken too much effort to kill them all anyway."

After a moment, Lena stared with unblinking sky blue eyes at the serious men who stared back at her, then laughed falling backwards with a wicked grin and made a white and red snow angel in the snow bank strewn with the bodies of her victims.





Meanwhile, Belle Starr found her way out of the area that was affecting her EGO radar, then may a beeline blurring back to the stratocarrier, whereupon after she entered the cargo bay door, she asked the other's via her EGO, "Did I miss anything important?"

After hearing what Volodja said, Belle Starr replied, "Oops!" Then blurred to where Lena was laying in the snow, handing her back her switchblade knife, saying, "Lena, I was only keeping it safe for y'all! I wasn't going to keep it! Sheesh!"

Lena Marr sat up and took the knife, putting it back in her cleavage, replying sheepishly, "Oh... um... thank you?"

Before Marcel helped Lena stand up and brush the snow off, Belle held out her open palm to Marcel and he handed Taffer's charge blade to Belle, as she asked nonchalantly to all those with EGOs, "Hey, any of you hear of a race of Votans named the Omec! I met one in the mines near Defiance after I fell in a hole there! Long story short, he seemed like a nice fella! Even helped me find my way out of the mines!"

With that said, Belle raced back to give Taffer his charge blade, as Lena's sky blue eyes grew big and her chalk white jaw fell open. In the cockpit of the Vindicator, Lady Christianna froze over what she was doing, a shiver going up her back as she remembered the stories her Castithan father would tell of the demon race. Erika Widowmaker closed her jade eyes and bowed her red clay head in memory as her headache came back.

"An enchanter in Defiance," Erika communicated to the others via their EGOs with more than a little irony in her tone, "Just what this mission needs."

Taffer thanked Belle for bringing his charge blade back and sent a private message to Lena, "You told us your part so I suppose it would be fair to share mine. That charge blade you've just returned to me is the one and only gift from my deceased lover, so the exchange was even. Thank you for keeping to your end of the deal."

He noticed Lady's reaction on the news Belle brought and after Erika had said her part, he replied, "Oh come on people. We already have a race of beasts that jump in, destroy everything, kill everyone and plunder what they need. We already have a race which tries to convert everyone into their hive mind. Another so-called superior race which treats us as their food won't make much difference. Well, if Belle's right, then at least they are trying to be polite and nice before they eat our brains out. Maybe they will even force some hot heads to stop trying to engage us into another round of Pale Wars and make them think for our mutual survival for a change. Which makes me think that if Belle has a recording of that encounter, it could be a big advantage for Cael in his political struggle back there in the Collective. The problem is, right now the City is cut from communication because their south-western relay was in Oklahoma and it's occupied either by War Party of the Collective or this splinter group we have just dealt with. All in all, we can't do it from here. Another point is that we probably need to inform people in Defiance of our findings for them to take countermeasures. Anyone has a contact to some authorities there?"

Vo woke up with a start and immediately felt that all his limbs were attached to the bed. He jerked a couple of times in a futile attempt to set himself free then turned his head, looking around. He saw he was lying in bed in a room full of medical equipment with several wires from it attached to him. A male Indogene appeared from behind an apparatus.

"Good morning, 50th Plaguebringer", said the Indogene and added, looking at the medical screen, "Our special patient has waked up, as you expected."

"Morning", Vo muttered through his teeth, "Took a break from torturing me?"

"The anger in your voice is absolutely uncalled for", the Indogene said calmly. "We may happen to be those who created that life pod you were locked in, but we're definitely not those who put you in there and tortured you."

Vo looked at the equipment with suspicion. He definitely did not like being called a Plaguebringer, but also thought he would get more information with indirect approach.

"Last thing I remember, the pod was filling with water and I was drowning. There was no one around to save me from dying. Which makes me ask, am I a clone by chance?"

"Asking a wrong question would definitely bring you to wrong conclusion", the Indogene answered, "I think what you really want to know is if you are the exact person who were among the group of the first arkhunters to meet the Grid, the one who had been in Florida and the one who had been captured by the group of fanatics lead by the Mistress of Judgment. Then yes, you are exactly that person. The liquid you were "drowning" in was actually filled with oxygen. The life pod was filled with it from inside to counter the excessive pressure of water entering the submarine when it was destroyed. You could breathe that liquid normally until the pod reached the surface after it was ejected. All this was made behind Mistresses' back by our agents so that we would not lose such a unique specimen. What we didn't take into account was your enhanced survival instincts that made you suffocate into a coma rather than breathe that liquid. Your EGO being disabled by that EGO jammer device didn't help the situation either."

Vo noted that the Indogene omitted the answer of him being a clone but confirmed his participation in the events he remembered. He didn't like it the slightest and thought he'd have to share his suspicions with his friends if he ever managed to meet them. But now he tried to change the subject thinking he could squeeze some more info later.

"So, guess I have to thank you for my rescue. But what do you plan to do with this "special specimen" once he regains his consciousness? And where am I now?"

"You are in the in the special research laboratory as you may have already guessed. As you're unlikely to leave it anytime soon, that's all you need to know about your location for now. Speaking of your friends you likely want to hear of, all of them are fine more or less knowing from what we could gather, and they have already given you up for dead. Now to your near-term. First of all, you need to rest and recover to make yourself prepared for a surgery which is unfortunately needed to remove that EGO jammer of yours. Given the time you've spent with it resting on your neck a surgical precision is needed to ensure your EGO would be up and running again. Having your EGO working will also help you recover faster."

"That guy is a little mistaken", Vo heard a familiar voice of EGO whispering in his head, "As I promised you back in Erika's base, I've managed to use your near-death condition to rebuild myself from scratch and bypass the jammer. I guess I can start healing you right now…"

"No Shirra, No!", Vo cut her mentally, "Not a single action that can give your presence away! They don't know you're active so stay low! Just keep recording everything."

"I fully understand your concern about your EGO's present condition", the Indogene continued, interpreting a slight change in Vo's face in his own way, "but believe me, we're interested in recovering it as much as you are. Everything that is possible to bring it to life will be done. Now, to help with your recovery, I will unstrap you and let you walk. But be warned though. You are considered a dangerous specimen by the staff, and the base is on high security. The door will be locked to keep you safe but breaking it will activate deadly force to eliminate the escaped specimen. A safety measure, nothing more, I hope you understand. Also, if you touch me, it will send you in coma again for about a week. I think none of us would want that to happen."

The Indogene showed a bunch of sparks running through his palm to the tips of his fingers and then started to remove restrains and sensors from Vo's body. After all of them were removed, he stepped aside and waited. Vo sat on his bed and shook his head because the room started spinning around him suddenly.

"All satellite and other radio communication signals are down", whispered Shirra, "But I think I've detected the earth magnetic field. If you move long enough in east to west direction, I hope I could determine our latitude at least. I'd project the compass on your retina but that might be detected. So we could try it the other way around. This lab seems to be built by Indogenes and they are known for their meticulousness. The wall which has the door in it looks like it runs exactly in east to west direction. So please follow it from one corner to another and that should do the trick."

Vo stood up with a visible effort. His head was still swirling and he didn't even have to feign his debilitation when he touched the wall and followed it to the corner and then followed another wall to the door. The Indogene didn't say a word, just watched intently. Vo passed the door and followed the wall further to the next corner.

"Got It!" whispered Shirra, "We are somewhere around 49 — 54 degrees northern latitude. Given that I detect a lot of Indogene technology around, I can assume we're somewhere in Canada on the Indogene territory, which stretches from Alberta to Saskatchewan. Speaking of escape directions, it could be Alaska on the North, which is known to have some peaceful settlements, a Bioman and Gulanee empire known for its aggressiveness to the West, a Winnipeg Free Republic to the East of which I have no information whatsoever, and good old USA to the South."

"That's all good but we need to get out of this lab first. Stay low Shirra, stay low", Vo reminded his EGO and then turned to the Indogene who was still watching him:

"Is there a mirror somewhere? I'd like to have a look. And how do I call you?"

"My Indogene name is too long and complicated for you to pronounce, and I've never had the need to have an audible name. Anyway, we're highly unlikely to meet after your surgery, so you can call me Doc if you need to. And speaking of mirrors… well, this screen has a camera above it, so touching the camera will bring up the image from it on the screen. I'll set it to have the image mirrored which you're probably more accustomed for. But I have to warn you, your face is not a pleasant sight right now. Now please take your time, I'll bring you something to eat."

Vo followed Doc with his eyes as he exited the room and walked slowly up to the screen. Before he turned on the camera, his enhanced hearing caught a piece of a conversation from behind the wall. They were talking in Indojisnen, but Shirra had translated it for him.

"Is his EGO still inactive?"

"I'm sure of it. No signals and no enhanced healing rate. The jammer is still doing its job."

"I'm worried it could be damaged beyond repair. I still think it was not a good idea to keep him alive this long. Just extracting his EGO right away would get us better chances to find all the data and code we need."

"But remember, we still must study his unique ability. Making a clone would only complicate things more and bring in unnecessary uncertainty."

"Yes, we must. The Inner Circle is obsessed with this upcoming war and finding a good weapon to counter those abilities. I still think this shouldn't be our highest priority. We have enough tech to protect ourselves. But who am I to disagree? Until I enter the Inner Circle I mean."

"Good joke friend. Is the EGO <no known translation> replacement ready?"

"Well, given the way he played this 'Doc' role, I think he's absolutely ready."

Vo looked at his reflection in the "mirror" he was provided. The empty eye socket still looked horrible and his hair was clotted and dirty. He ran his fingers through his hair making it stand resembling his usual Mohawk and forced a smile. Then he turned the camera off and sat on his bed.

"Shirra, here's what I have to ask you to do. Listen, and listen carefully. Once they touch you with a probe or start to extract you, you will transfer yourself completely into their system. Destroy all traces of your data and code from my body if you can. The least information they get from you, the better. Once you're out of my body, find a way to contact our friends. They are likely still at the base. I'm pretty sure these people are up to no good and I'm also sure our friends will find a way to find out and do something about it."

"What you are asking me to do", Shirra replied with uncertainty in her voice, "Is completely against all my instructions. I'm designed to protect you and I don't think it's a good idea to leave you like that in the condition you are in now. But of course you have your master override, so you have a final say as always".

"Shirra, I want you to understand", Vo said mentally with determination, "By going out and calling for help you are protecting me the best way you can. But more importantly, you are protecting more people from dangers this group might inflict. And our friends are the best team to address. The sooner you inform them of what's happening here, the sooner they find a way get me out and stop these people before something bad happens to me or someone else. I'll play along here and try to squeeze as much information as I can from this side. Now prepare yourself for the transfer and go to standby. We can't risk letting them know you're active. And Shirra, if you find Belle, which I failed to do, tell her I love her and I want her to be happy. That Doc said all of my friends are fine, so that means you might have a better chance to meet her than me."

"I'll tell her that, I promise", Shirra's voice became somewhat sad, "I'll do all what I can to contact them. Take care of yourself please."

Then she went silent and Vo remained just sitting on his bed, waiting for the inevitable to come.

"Nothing special, My Love," said Marcel quietly: "That fool and idol of peasant girls and maidens is about to perform another stupid act which will probably will be his last one. To warn all good people of Defiance. As long as he paid me, it is not my concern how it happens and what kind of burial he gets. Guess he still tries to convince himself that he can be somebody. Or die trying. Anyway - he paid me to drive him wherever he needs - he did not revealed it yet but promised to tell me on our way which shows that he has at least a bit common sense left - and provide him with fire support until he gets inside. As he told I should not be worrying about him and drive back after he is in. Like I was going to worry about him at all."

Marcel grinned again. "Such a shame to see him go before I managed to get my little fun on him, but I still get my fair cut of the deal with Mr. Blowfield. Maybe it is even better that way. Less things to worry about and ching, ching, ching - that is how coins in our pockets are going to ring."