Aetheran Child (30 page)

“We have good relations with both the Man of Land, soon to become the Emperor of Peace, as well as the Main Converser, who will become the Emperor of Harmony,” The octid GrandMaster Korah
 
mentioned.

“Yes, but the Upper-Man, the Emperor of Serenity if you wish, cannot stand the Aether community. He will try to blame us for the Nether invasion.”

“The Upper-Man has the most influence and power at the moment. He can persuade the others to join his cause.”

The conversation went on like this, full of doubts and opinions. Each argued their point. Another flash of conversation slowed down for the standing duo to see.

“The United Galactic Nations, how will we deal with them?”

“We do not have to, they are none of our concern.”

“It is possible for the Nethers to gain territory, permanently, if we do not stop them and drive them out completely, it can prove to be disastrous.”

“The UGN plan to send out a special commando, an isolated group of individuals fit for unusual tasks.”

“With their military power, they could significantly lower the casualties and collateral damage done by Nethers.”

“We cannot depend on their help, our Commandos are being organized for similar deployement.”

The conversation fast-forwarded again, the counselors discussed the individual powers of each Empire or State in terms of military abundance.

“The Outlaw Alliance will be completely destroyed.”

“It was doomed from the beginning, it has no structure at all, no government, nothing. Only few simple regulations.”

“What do you expect? They are a trader's confederation. Some of the systems that joined, simply joined to receive the benefits. They are large simply because of the simple rules and governing they provide, as well as their representation.”

“But now, they will reassemble into numerous and different nations, just as they were before.”

“That cannot be helped nor does it matter to our own stance. It might even be useful to us.”

The men fell silent, the conversation continued on and on, but neither Remu nor Lexan heard it. They, naturally, recorded the whole meeting to their NCCs to be viewed later.

The meeting took on a life again.

“Do we know anything about what the Nethers want?”

“No, we do not.”

“Are there any news about their structure?”
“We know that they have a superb new general that leads their special operations team. We need to be wary of him and his group of associates. His size of trained militia is growing.”

“We will discuss the details of this later,” GrandMaster Kosig said and the Council agreed.

“Our Aether community, this school in fact, needs to create a counter-commando.”

“Yes, we have given this a substantial amount of thought,” said GM Kena, “the other schools are forming their own military. They wish to be protected in case the galactic empires fail.”

“They are right to fear, and they are right to create a military base of their own.”

“If we fall into chaos as we have times before, Aether schools become as much of haven as they will targets. If Nethers succeed to penetrate the United Republics' defenses, we are the only ones left to stop them.”

All members agreed.

“We, then, agree to convert our school's activities to be military-oriented with the intent of self-preservation and to help the war effort.”

All agreed once more.

The recording finally caught up to the live feed.

“I propose we move to the issue of the Cardinals,” an unknown GrandMaster spoke at which point GM Korah stopped him.

“But first, let's show our guests the exit,” the octid spoke and turned to the invisible figures of Remu and Lexan. Four or five shadowed figures sprang up from nowhere and they walked up to the duo.

Remu's eyes widened and she immediately jacked out of the network, Lexan did too but the shadow figures remained. The NCC identified them as GM Korah's anti-bodies.

When the couple disconnected and reappered in the central room of the maze, they saw that the shadow figures followed them.

Lexan quietly swore and the two ran but the anti-bodies could not be outrun that easily. Their shadows merged with the walls and accelerated toward the two escaping figures. The boy wielded his sword and tried to cut at the creatures but instead he managed to scratch the stone and nothing else.

“We need to get out, to our bodies,” Remu yelled as she ran. Lexan nodded but did not know what to do.

“We're Nodes away, and the police droids occupy that space, waiting for us!”

Remu frowned and activated her NCC.

“When we run through into the next Mandala, we can do an emergency force close on our link.”

The shadows gained considerably and started attacking the two but they never hit. It looked as if they were programmed to scare the two but never harm them. Lexan made a mental note to discuss this with Remu once they got out.

They ran as fast as they could, Lexan made vague attempts to fight off the anti-bodies. A few minutes later, the portal appeared in front of them. Remu gave a command and the door opened wide. With a giant leap, Lexan grabbed Remu's arm and they fell through. The boy gave a backward swing, destroying the door terminal from the outside. The door slammed shut, leaving the anti-bodies inside the enormous maze.

“Good, we're through,” Remu got to her knees and stood up only to meet face to face with a Police Droid program. A large shiny robot with a blue uniform. Few guards stood by him with their red-golden outfits.

Lexan reacted instinctively, and threw himself over Remu, who in shock, could not even do anything.

“Get us out!” he shouted but Remu's whole body was frozen.

“We're done for,” she whispered with fear. Around them stood a whole army of Police Droids, twenty different officers at least. Lexan ground his teeth in frustration, he took ahold of his sword hilt tightly. His knuckles went white, his whole body seemed to explode with energy. I will fight them, they can't take us, he thought, they will send me back to Earth. He could not bear going back to Earth, back to that old world. He could not bear the restriction and the blindness he had to endure.

A few of the closer Police Droids took out their weaponry as a precaution. I can't leave, he thought, especially now that I know where Alary is. The energy around him burst once more, the main Police Droid called to the others and they moved in to apprehend two.

“Emergency Log Out,” a female voice said. The droids did not seem to hear it but the two motionless students did. With an exclamation and a short shriek, they disappeared.

V

“Good, you're finally awake,” a voice spoke out. Firm hands gripped Lexan's barely conscious body.

“Wha-? Where?” he struggled to piece together a few words, “am I?”

“You're out of DomeStem. You're here. Now get up and help me with Remu,” the voice had an edge to it. It sighed with exhaustion and deep labored breathing.

The boy opened his eyes to encounter bright lights, the immediate shock turned the brightness into darkness. A pounding headache paralyzed him.

“Hold on, this might help,” once again the voice spoke, giving mild guidance. A hand touched the boy, it seemed to be poking his wrist.

“Stop that,” the boy said but the voice ignored him.

“Booting...” Another voice spoke, it seemed to speak from within Lexan's had, it was familiar, “Body chemistry reset in process.”

Lexan felt the chemicals spread through his body and awaken him. The darkness disappeared in front of him stood Romul. With the headache gone, he could concentrate on what was happening. They were out of the Inner DomeStem. A list of information automatically pulled up, informing the boy with the acquired information as well as the status of the Main Personality Interface. Looks like Joshua is up and running, Lexan thought and smiled at the print out of the information. He had everything on Bloo, and on Alary, as well as Master Raki.

But what had happened?

He turned and saw Remu lying unconscious.

“I can't wake her up,” Romul cried exasperated, “We need to get out of here.”

The tall boy tried to lift his sister but seemed too tired. His usual slick pony-tailed hair fell into his face. He straightened up, his hair fell to his shoulders, and looked at Lexan. The smaller boy stood up and helped Romul.

“You grab the legs, I'll get her arms,” Romul said and both of them heaved, she was light enough, thought Lexan, I could probably carry her alone.

“I think I can carry her alone,” he said and the other nodded. They put Remu down and Lexan lifted her over his shoulder.

“Where are we headed?” he asked as he gripped Remu's legs firmly with one arm so as not to let her slide down.

“To the dorms. Here's the map. The trip should take about half an hour. I know it's long but we don't have a choice.” Romul said and sent Lexan the maps. The trip went through some of the familiar Spheres.

“How about we make a stop at a closet?”

Romul stared for a second and nodded. The boys left, watching out for flying sentry droids. They ran down to the transport station, which obviously enough, had twice as many sentry droids circling it. There was no alert, no visible known alert, in place, the droids just circled. The school bulletin explained that they were at all transport station for security.

“How are we gonna get out of here?” Lexan asked Romul.

“We'll have to run up behind the diagonal lines over there. Then, we'll have to jump on a transport.”

The two ran behind the angled runways and hid. The sentry droids did not notice them. Or acted as if they had not. Lexan could not shake the suspicion that the Council let them go, and let them be, but for what reason? A couple of lights flashed but none stopped by the runway where Lexan and Romul stood.

“We'll have to transform into Aetheri. Otherwise, I don't think there's any other way to get up there. I did not realize how fast the transporters accelerate.”

Lexan closed his eyes and concentrated. He could hear his heart thump too loudly, the stress peptides flooded his system. His whole body shook. The adrenaline beat through his veins too fast, too much.

“Who would have thought it'd be this hard under pressure?” he said awkwardly, trying to relieve some of the built up stress. Lexan sat down, and crossed his legs. Suddenly, the thoughts in his mind unraveled and smoothed. His whole body vibrated and he became an Aethe. It's not supposed to be this easy, painless, without a hitch, he thought, but then let the matter go. He had other important things to worry about, transforming too quickly and too easily was the last issue he’d want to confront.

“It's your turn,” he spoke but Romul did not respond, “hey, come on Romul, transform.” The boy did not respond at all. He seemed nervous, very uncomfortable to be in the situation, Lexan noticed. The Aether took off his helmet and looked around, in this form, he did not need the rebreather.

The surroundings changed. Everything had a clear blue haze over it, some objects glowed with a peculiar aura. Romul glowed with a distinct white blue, and so did Remu. Although her aura seemed to be fainting. Somehow, Lexan was able to see through walls, but barely. The tubes that ran across the transport station showed its hidden serial markings. Sentry droids that flew around, exposed their electronic innards, including their motors that kept them afloat.

Lexan spoke at the boy looking out for danger again, “Romul, hurry up. Transform.”

The boy finally turned around, but looked right past Lexan, “Where did he go?” he asked himself.

“Lexan,” he called out
 
and Lexan responded, “right here Romul!” the other ignored him as before.

“Damn boy skipped out on us, sis,” Romul said and threw an awkward grin over to Remu's direction. The sister, of course, did not respond, which wiped the smile off the boy's face. He took a couple steps back toward the wall where his sister lay. His hands came together and in a couple of seconds he became an Aether.

Once again, Lexan's vision of the boy changed, he seemed more real than anything around. His strange aura became brighter, stronger, more visible.

“There you are, where were you?” Romul asked as he walked up to the other Aether. He stopped suddenly and looked Lexan over, “Why do you look so strange?”

“I was here the whole time. And what do you mean by strange?” the Aether responded, looking at his hands, he could not see anything wrong with his body.

“You're just, less visible. It's kind of eerie.” Romul answered and made a strange face.

“Let's just go,” Lexan cut him off and headed for Remu. He stumbled a few times because he could not recognize the difference between the floor and what was beneath. The floor seemed to be a light white, a transcluscent color with blue objects behind it. All the colours around the boy seemed to flatten into shades of blue with white lines representing outlines of objects. Everything except for Romul who still, seemed more real than anything else around.

Shadows floated aimlessly around, Lexan did not know what they were. The shadows seemed to waver and follow no physical laws, nor any goals. They just floated around. As confused as he was, Lexan did not ask Romul about the shadows for he saw a transporter heading their way, the right way.

“Look, we can get on that transporter.” he pointed ahead, only to realize, he pointed at another transcluscent wall.

“I don't see anything,” Romul answered but just in case, he got ready. Both boys walked to the side of the track that run diagonally up and away. A transporter light deccelerated to a stop, two people walked out, and the twisted light sped ahead again.

With Remu over his shoulder, Lexan ran out to the track and jumped on the light, that Lexan now realized was actually a small world, a universe on its own twisted through dimensions higher than the third or even the fourth. The tiny universe closed off from the outside every time it passed over a marker situated all around the transport level.

The trio fell toward the closed off bubble and actually made it just in time before the portals all around the material light closed off. Lexan still stayed aware of his surroundings inside the bubble but noticed Romul’s and Remu’s bodies stood motionless, suspended within the tiny world. The boy looked outside and saw the blurry outside world move with super speed as the bubble traveled from one sphere to another.