Blockbuster

[GLKnight]

By the time I woke up, I was in a white room with a massive mirror by the door. But I'm not that stupid to think that. Even though I felt like I had just gone 25 rounds with Sarzo Lavanazzi, the current Nat Galactic Heavyweight champ, I had seen enough screens to know that had to be a window. Putting my feet on the floor, I stumbled my way towards the window and gave it three slow and loud knocks. Enough time to let whoever was on the other side know what was going on.

"Enough Xandoshit," I told them as I rubbed the back of my head where I was struck. "Where the fuck did you take Brandy?"


It was a long few minutes before I heard the door hissing as it opened. Soon enough, four armed goons walked in, followed closely by a balding man trying way too hard to follow some marketing team's advice to look "executive casual".

"Mr. Mercado," the executive told me, giving me a wry smile that did nothing but make me want to punch his weaselly looking face. "I'm glad to see you're up. We wouldn't want my little Gener's favorite boy toy to be damaged before your big fights."

"Where the fuck am I," I spat at him. "And where's Brandy?"

The exec started to walk back and forth, smiling and acting like this didn't fit right in with a shitty action screener.


"I'm hurt," he said, giving me a puppy dog look. "You ask for pertinent details, but not the most important one?"

Fuck me, he's got an ego. I HATE guys who have an ego. Mouthy, narcissistic little bitches who are all talk and no walk. I should know, I used to be one before I learned better. So I just rolled my eyes.


"Let me guess," I told him. "you want me to ask you 'And who would you be', right?"


"Well if you're going to rude about it," he said, looking hurt. "Then I won't tell you about Bustamante's kid..."

Damn it! This is why I HATE guys with egos...


"Fine," I said, clearly exasperated. "Who is the man responsible for all of this to happen?"


He began to clap with glee before gently pushing the armed men he brought with him to the side.


"I knew you'd get it," he told me, giving me a look that weirded me out. "My name's Emil Chalansky, and I'm Tekalmor's Chief Operating Officer. Without me, nothing happens. Like you being brought to one of our drop worlds to train with a superstar and his... special little girl."

"That's all well and good," I told him, glancing at his guards before glaring back at him. "But you still didn't answer me. Where the fuck am I, and where the fuck is Brandy?"


Chalansky slowly gave me a smile that was a mix between a cult leader and a child who was up to no good, chuckling the entire time.


"I can answer both," he said, before wagging his finger like a child trying to tell a pet to follow him. "Come along!"


As soon as he began walking, his guards moved into position around me. A perfect square of two by two so that I was perfectly flanked at all times.

"You heard him," one of the guards behind me said, pushing me forward. "Start walking!"


Knowing I was in no position to oppose the order, I started following Chalansky. The men boxing me in kept in perfect step as we walked, their footsteps perfectly echoing mine. I don't know if it was by accident or on purpose, but the perfect synchronicity was effective at scaring the crap out of me. Whoever these men were, they were perfectly trained. As we turned down the hallway towards some elevators, Chalansky began to speak again.


"Over 100 years ago," he said, sounding like some sort of tour guide. "Tekalmor developed the First Generation of genetically altered beings that would be categorized as superhuman by more... primitive standards. In truth, it was by some small miracle. Or should I say... BIG miracle?"

Once again, his weasel laugh burrowed its way into my head. Did I mention I hate guys with fucking Egos? Because yeah. Of course, Chalansky just kept on talking as he pressed the call button.


"Anyway, in the beginning, we marketed Geners as 'the ultimate workers'. We let them live their lives, naturally. And we let them have families. But soon, those kids grew up! And we saw something unexpected."

The elevator arrived with a ding. Chalansky boarded first, followed by the two guards in front of me as they made themselves a wall to defend their C.O.O. Then I was forced on board, followed by the two guards at my rear, who flanked themselves once more. A box within a box, as Chalansky slipped a card into a reader which beeped and flashed a blue light. And soon, we were going down.


"Geners kids started turning into Geners themselves," I told him. "Blockbuster told me, yeah."

"Exactly," Chalansky said, smiling and wide eyed. "But some of them just kept growing! Soon, they started looking less like their papas, and more like their progenitor! The source of the DNA itself!"

"I already knew that," I said, trying to figure out where the Hell he was going with this, or just where the Hell we were going at all.

"But there's something you DON'T know, Marco! We learned an ABSURD amount about how the human genome REALLY works! For centuries, we spent some much time and effort figuring out how to bond anything to a human cell! But with these Second Geners, we learned something wildly different!"

I looked at Chalansky like he had grown a third head, utterly confused by what the Hell he was saying.

"And what would that be?", I asked him.


That's when all pretense dropped from him, as he stared at me like I was a product that wasn't selling well.

"There was an ancient saying that 'humanity is a parasite feasting on the resources of the world'," he said, staring directly at me as the elevator slowed. "And with the Second Geners, we found that instead of attaching things onto our DNA, it was far more effective for us to attach OUR DNA onto that of others."

As the doors opened, I heard the sounds of something slamming loudly, and felt the vibrations of each impact. The walls shook and the lights flickered with each concussive force as we travelled down the hallway to the blast doors on the other side. It was the sounds of something angry, something powerful. Something that was trying to fight its way to freedom.


"What are you saying," I shouted at him, the din of the clambering rattle of metal and stone deafening all but the traumatic sounds of violence. "Humanity really IS a parasite?"


Chalansky just smiled that insidious, empty smile once more before using his card once more.

"Humanity is NOTHING,  Mr. Mercado! Especially not a parasite!"


The doors roared to life as a yellow light began to flash. They slowly opened with a hiss as we all felt a pull of air rush around us, pulling us slightly in. And as soon as I saw what was on the other side of the door, I audibly gasped.

Inside were a team of scientists, busy as ants as they checked on the things inside the chambers within. There they loomed, quiet and unmoving except for the occasional blinking of the fifty foot tall statue beings. Their skin was a dark blue, and while they each had differing expressions of gender, every single one seemed to be perfectly chiseled from stone itself. All were hairless. All had no pupils. All bore a physique born from time and effort, perfectly proportioned and sculpted to maximum definition. Giant, stone gods that resided in translucent chambers, watching with passing interest as their smaller, naked sister, Brandy Bustamante, rallied and raged as she continued to scream and strike at her cage that was the front middle chamber. Each blow shaking the very foundation as she threw them. Her face and chest still torn open from her fight with the Galger Beast. The tears flowing down her face as she threw combo after combo at the walls surrounding her, screaming to be let out.


"Humans DNA is the key for EVERYTHING ELSE," Chalansky said, laughing in disturbing glee as he raised his arms as if in praise to the gigantic children of Tekalmor's mad experiment.

[GLKnight]

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[ArkhamAsylum]

THhs story keeps getting better and better.

[jcboyd]

What remains exceptional about this story is that it is a spectacular work of speculative/science fiction on its own - independent of it's lace on this board as a niche genre of FMG, etc.  Just awesome awesome work GLK!

[GLKnight]

As Chalansky gleefully cackled like some cel screen villain, my eyes couldn't help but look up at the Second Geners who had fully destabilized. The way their deep blue stony skin rippled, twitching in need of activity as they stood completely still. The way their eyes seemed transfixed as some of them watched Brandy, screaming and lashing out in a desperate bid for freedom, or watching Chalansky and his soldiers as they had me surrounded. As I stared back at them, I noticed that every one of them seemed to be holding their breath. It was only a second later that I made my first realization about them.

None of them, not a single 50 foot tall being in any of the containment cells, was breathing at all.

My heart began to hammer in my chest at the implication of a being that didn't need to breath. Every living thing needed to breath. So why not them?

"They are BEAUTIFUL," Chalansky said, turning back towards me with the beatific look of a fervent supplicant on his face. "Aren't they, Marco?"

"They're... something," I told him, my eyes not coming off of the Second Geners for a single second.

Walking towards a console, the fanatical C.O.O. brought up a Nano-filament screen in my line of sight which began to display the names and faces of every single destabilized Gener in every cell.

"To think," he said. "Every single one of these children has been collected over 100 years. And these aren't even MOST of them!"

My focus broke, turning my head to look at Chalansky.

"What do you mean 'MOST of them'?", I asked him. "I thought Second Geners were supposed to be extremely unique?"

"Please," he replied derisively, rolling his eyes as he waved his hand at me as if to brush me off. "If it's got genitals and it wants to fuck, then it's super easy to reproduce something. I mean, we've got our Golden Calves like Bustamante. But we've got other chattel to work from we don't show."

I couldn't help myself as I charged at Chalansky, ready to beat him within an inch of his life. But his guards were even quicker, laying into me before I even had a chance. I went down to my hands and knees as all four of them proceeded to kick the ever loving fuck out of me. After a few seconds, Chalansky whistled for his guards to stop. And like well trained dogs, they quickly went back to standing around me as I was left gasping and coughing. Groaning as blood poured out of my mouth from where I lost a tooth after I ended up eating the tip of a steel toed boot.

"You're not in a ring," Chalansky said, squatting down and grabbing my hair to look me in the eye. "This is the real world, kid. And the real world is war, Marco."

I waited a moment to let some of my blood pool in my mouth before spitting on Chalansky's expensive looking shit.

"I know that," I told him. "My brother died in The Zavaran Conflict, asshole! You'd have known that if you actually read my file!"

Letting my hair go, Chalansky snapped his fingers. And then I felt what seemed like thunder through my veins as 50,000 volts shot through my system. I cried out in pain as I was left twitching and spasming, but still conscious on the floor. My breath was ragged as my eyes drifted back towards the Second Geners. It was there that I had my second realization.

Every single one, except for Brandy, was looking directly at me. Every completely white, stony eye burrowing deep into me. And in my stupor, I realized that they were able to actually see BEYOND the boundaries of their one way mirrored cells. Every single gaze judging me, evaluating me. I could feel their eyes deep within my soul. Telling me to rise. To get to my feet. To not give Chalansky the satisfaction of staying down.

"That's the problem with you consumers," Chalansky told me. "We tell you the truth, and you act like you heard a lie. We really know what's best for you! War is a product, after all! And we're the best in the industry."

"What do you mean by 'war is a product'?", I spat out trying to catch my breath.

"The Zavaran Conflict," he said. "Us. The incident involving Brandy's mother? Marvellus trying to keep our satellites out of their restricted sectors. The Vezzazi Wars? Locutos needing to increase market shares. Culture War is just a form of Market Competition, Marco. And it's all about branding!"

"You... fucking MONSTER," I growled, looking up at him as he laughed. Then, like if he was dancing, he kicked me in my face once more.

"Same old song and dance," he said. "We do the right thing, guide humanity along and someone automatically wants to play hero. Ah, well. What are you going to do?"

As he turned away from me, laughing like only the mad do, I turned towards the Second Geners, still staring directly at me. But slowly I saw their looks change. Before it was a look of indifference or pity. But now I knew they had finished judging me. And with a nod of their heads, they all lifted their heads upward. And in one unified voice, released a song in multi-tones. A series of harmonics impossible for the human voice to replicate, timbered in crystalline notes too resonant for any natural tone to mimic. A song of support. Music of the spheres expressed in fifty foot tall living chambers. Every voice, filling the room with sound and sending those attending them into a massive panic.

"Wait," Chalansky said, spinning around in confusion as his scientists were running back and forth. "Wh-What's going on? I thought they were all MUTE? I THOUGHT THEIR CELLS WERE SOUNDPROOF ON OUR COMMAND?!"

But as he was left blind, Brandy slowly ceased her raging in her cell. Looking around as the song permeated every corner of her containment. A look of understanding on her face.

"What?", Brandy asked, looking around as she listened to the song of her siblings. "What do you- Marco? Marco's HERE?!"

She turned towards where she had been lashing out before, steadying herself as she focused on where she wanted to strike. Cocking her hand back, she swung with every ounce of energy she had. Striking the side of the cell and causing the whole room to shake violently.

"MARCO!", she screamed before swinging again. "I'M HERE!"

As she kept calling my name, I knew I had to rise. To stop laying there on the floor like a worm. If Brandy was willing to fight back, then DAMN IT! SO WAS I!

With a mighty groan, I began to push myself upright. The blood from my mouth pouring down my chin as I slowly got to my knees. Chalansky watched with concern as I pulled myself together, slowly getting my feet beneath me. Stumbling and swaying as I spat a long string of blood, wiping my chin and mouth as I stared Chalansky in the eye.

"HEY, ASSHOLE!", I shouted.

Chalansky began to scurry backwards, knowing that he was actually in mortal danger as the wall of Brandy's containment cell loudly fractured as she continued fighting her way to freedom.

"GUARDS," he screamed. "PROTECT ME! STOP HIM AND PROTECT ME!"

I raised my hands to fight, knowing it had to be either him or me. And I wasn't planning on making it that easy for him.

"MY GIRLFRIEND AND I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A FUCKING WORD WITH YOU!"

[Sounder9-]

A very intense update! Really want to see Chalansky get his comeuppance!

[GLKnight]

A very intense update! Really want to see Chalansky get his comeuppance!

Trust me, this is going in a direction that might be very surprising. I've found that as I've written Blockbuster more and more, it's been shaping into a setting that's pretty much WH40K but Corporations.

[GLKnight]

The thing about Products is that sometimes, it takes a long time for them to develop. A lesson Quasar Jump Engineer Tobias Mercado knew all too well on his last flight home on the Stelladonna, a Class Five Freighter with Corporate clearance of all seven of the Megacorporations that was over one million, two hundred and seventy eight thousand, nine hundred and forty three lightyears from Earth.


In all his years, he had never wanted anything more than to get home. He missed his wife, Shanie. He missed his sons, Rico and Marco. And most of all, he missed being on solid ground. He had enough of the day to day life on ships, jumping through ports, dealing with the day to day on a tin can powered by a theoretical engine that could explode at any given moment, producing enough energy to quickly convert it into matter, then collapse into a black hole the size of three clones of Jupiter, causing a Dark Event before eating itself. His five years of duty for the Hilston Transport company was nearly up. Which meant the ten year deal he made with that shady company in order to have kids in the first place was up, too. And he could go home with no one knowing of the corporate espionage and product sabotage he had committed to fulfil his end of the bargain.


Laying in his quarters, his mind turned to logistics to keep himself from getting too worked up. Only Earth two days, he reasoned. That was four jumps. That was the real maximum number of safe jumps for a freighter as big as The Stelladonna could take in one go. 24 hours to get to the first port gate, then six hours between each subsequent gate. And he'd be home. Back with his family. Very well compensated for all his work. And he'd never have to work with any company ever again. And never have to take any orders from the CEO of the Alva-


"Engineer Mercado," the voice of Cpt. Salvagno blared through his intercom setup in his quarters. "Please report to the bridge. We have a situation that needs your attention. Engineer Mercado, report to the bridge ASAP."


Pushing himself upright with a groan, Tobias's mind began to run over sccenario after scenario as he was left wondering why he was being called to the bridge. Did they know he was working on behalf of another company? Did they know about the sabotage he committed in the name of financial obligations and corporate equity? Did they know he had agreed to undisclosed treatments that broke the terms of his contract several years prior before the birth of his youngest son? As he left his quarters to begin the long trek to the elevator to the bridge, all these and more burned in his mind.


As he walked down the hall, the sound of his boots on the floor reminded him of an ancient ticking clock he had to fix for a mechanical engineering class decades ago, counting down to his own doom. The vulcanized metal tinking on the metal support beneath his feet, measured out in perfect seconds that burrowed into his head like a metal nail slowly hammering into the most tender of his organs. The personnel blurred into one another as he passed by them, faces blanking out as he knew his time and freedom was up. He actually loved being on the freighter. The friends he made on here, the places he had been to. Every experience was amazing beyond words. But he knew that even if he somehow escaped, his memories would be wiped. Corporate orders, after all. No secrets got out, even if it meant some potential long term damage that not even a dip in a nano-gel tank could fix. And being a jump engineer meant you knew some of the best kept ones in any corporation.


Suddenly, the fog he found himself in was broken when a hand belonging to the voice that he had not been hearing grabbed his shoulder. Turning around, he came face to face with a towering, physically imposing redhead with four arms, each crossed in front of her as she smiled down on him.


"What's with you today?", she asked him.


"Huh?"


She crooked her top left arm towards an open doorway, jabbing her thumb at the crewmates inside.


"It's game night," she told him, her smile disappearing when she realized he looked out of sorts. "Hey, are you okay, Toby?"


Figuring out that he must look out of sorts right now, he put on his bravest goofy smile and scratched the back of his head.


"Got called to the bridge. They wanted me for something."


A jolly, gruff voice called out from inside the open room.


"Camille! Iz dat Toby I hear?"


Camille and Toby looked back at the open room in time to see a pair of eyeballs attached to eyestalk round the corner. Toby knew that Jenson, the crab stitcher that was also a notorious card shark, was free to play that evening.


"Was wondering when you were gonna poke your eyes around the corner, buddy!"


As Camille put her right arms around Tobias, the balding crab man rounded the corner. His giant claws swinging through first, his fingers perfectly segmented to replicate his genetic familiar's pincers, twitching and clicking with incredible dexterity for how large he is, towering larger than Camille's six foot five by a good foot taller. His orange and red chitinous skin covering his arms and shoulders as he ducked through the door frame.


"C'mon," Jenson said, crooking a shark's smile at Tobias. "I'm feelin' lucky tonight and I wanna bilk ya out some creds, compadre!"


"No can do," Camille told him. "Our boy got called to the bridge!"


Quickly scuttling over, Jenson began to laugh and playfully jab his buddy in the torso. Lightly tapping him knowing full well if he unloaded, he would hurt his nat friend. But truth be told, if Camille wasn't holding him up, Tobias would have been on the floor after the first tap anyway.


"Someone got in trouble! Ya know fer what, Toby?"


Shaking his head, Tobias tried to hide that he knew he was a dead man walking.


"Probably need me for some calculations or something," he said, forcing himself to smile to not worry his Stitcher friends.


Camille's top left hand began to ruffle his hair as she laughed, knowing that something was bothering Tobias but letting him keep it secret.


"C'mon," she told Jenson. "We shouldn't keep him away from the Captain for very long. We don't know how long he's got left before they use a Marvellus Blanker on you and port you into deep space or something!"


"Yeah," Jenson added with a laugh, turning Tobias around by his shoulders before gently kicking him in the butt to get him moving. "I'll win yer money later! Make steps before ya get in real trouble, Toby!"


Rubbing his ass playfully, Tobias laughed it all off and waved to his friends as he walked off. But as soon as they couldn't see his face, his smiled faded into a frown. If they knew what he had done, the acts he committed. He knew they would disown him, and most likely swiftly and brutally kick his ass within an inch of his life. As he walked down the hallway, his eyes kept drifting to the varying ads that kept shifting from one company to another. From Xando Joy Bubbles Gum to the Shay 9 smartcom from Marvellus, to the latest Tekalmor sponsored Gener fights with their new superstar, Braden Bustamante. In fact, the very product currently in transit on the freighter was a shipment of Tekalmor and Didanto Cross-tech Medical Engineer equipment in order to help create a new planet that Tekalmor had ordered to make it more hospitable.


The Seven Corporation Of Man. He had betrayed every single corporation, one of the cardinal laws. All so he could have the family he wanted. Pressing the button to call the elevator, his stomach felt like it was eating itself as he waited for the voice.


"Level 28," a synthetic feminine voice called out. "Personel Quarters."


Taking a deep breath, Tobias waited for the lift to empty before climbing on. Looking down the hallway, he saw someone near the far end beginning to hustle towards him. And in a panic, he closed the doors before pressing the button for Level 213. When he felt the elevator shift, he unknowingly found himself still holding his breath. So, not wanting to be found passed out on the floor, he grunted as he exhaled as much at one time as he could, doubling over and coughing as he rubbed his chest. His burning lungs reminding him that despite his worries, he was still alive... for now.


"Your vitals seemed stressed," the elevator's voice said to him. "Would you like to hear some advertisements while you wait to help you relax?"


"No thanks," Tobias replied, stretching to try and calm his nerves. "Silence preferred."


"I cannot comply with that," the voice informed him. "Would you like an ad for Kiianis Relief Consoles, XeXe Torque Techy Adapts or Jiman Pro Note Rigs?"


Tobias' face screwed up at the options, looking at the onboard camera in the corner.


"A sex toy, Cybernetic Impant Surgery or Musical Equipment? Hard pass. Can you at least play some music?"


"I cannot comply with that. You must chose at least one advertisement before I am allowed to play music. Charter policy, you know."


Groaning at the options he was given, he needed SOMETHING to distract himself from the fate he was walking towards. With one hand on his hip and the other pinching the bridge of his nose, he made his decision.


"Fine," he said. "Gimme... a XeXe Torque Tech Adapt ad."


Within a few beeps, the advertisement began. As he listened to it, he was thoroughly uncaring about the message he was being given about "the folly of flesh", how his body could break down but they had the tools to "build him back up again", and how time "meant nothing to the wonders of cybernetics". Not realizng just how long the ad was, he soon felt the elevator come to a stop and jostle him slightly before the voice spoke up again.


"Level 223: Bridge and Officer's Deck."


As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, the doors slammed shut behind him. Turning to look at the lift, he immediately saw that the lights were off and the camera was turned off. Making that gnawing sensation inside his gut only grow more.


"What the fuck?"


A voice shouted out, causing Tobias to jump in his own skin. A voice that was far too familiar.


"Engineer Tobias Mercado!"


Turning to look, his panic only mounted as his eyes befell two people. A Gener and his partner, a female stitcher whose features were mixed with those of some kind of feline he had never seen before, with a blue and yellow pelt with black stripes that went down her fur.


"Corporate Affairs Investigation," she told him. "On behalf of both The Charter and The Ledgers, you are here under your own free will for questioning."


The Gener quickly moved in, clasping a pair of stasis tech bracelets onto him. Before he could even do anything, the bracelets released a field that quickly covered his hands, sending a charge to each other that slapped his hands together and prevented him from even moving a finger in response.


"Marvellus Stay-Holds on," the Gener told his partner.


"Now please," she purred as she and her fellow officer grabbed Tobias' arms. "Do try and not break the terms. I'm feeling... playful today."


A sudden piercing sensation caused Tobias to cry out as the officer dug her claws into his flesh enough to let him know she was serious.


"I'll comply," Tobias shouted. "I'LL COMPLY!"


As the pair forcefully began to drag him off, Tobias knew that he was right.


He was a dead man.

[GLKnight]

As he was dragged into an interrogation room and thrown into the chair, Tobias had to curse his luck. Of all the people in the entire universe, he had to stumble into the hands of one of the most noted Executive Resource Security Investigators in all of the Seven Corporations Of Man.


"So," the Feline Stitcher said, sitting down across from him with a warm smile. "It's been a while, Tobias."

The nat breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. It's hard to keep your composure when the one who's questioning you is not only a notoriously efficient Corporate Agent, but also your last long term ex-girlfriend, after all.


"Amarie," Tobias said, forcing himself to smile convincingly. "You look good. Definitely a new look. Did you get put into a stitched clone?"


Agent Dryler smirked as she waved her hands in front of herself.

"You like? Dursarian Leopard Stitch. Got the reasoning of a human and some of the sharpest claws in five sectors. Security Policy has its perks!"

Her massive Gener partner coughed and cleared his throat, getting her attention.

"I know," she told him. rolling her eyes before motioning towards her partner. "Tobias Mercado, this is Agent Lomanz. We will be asking you some questions pertaining to unusual circumstances surrounding various bits of Sabotage and Corporate Espionage that investigations led to The Stelladonna."

The two men gave each other a quick wave as Agent Dryler continued, sliding a screen in front of Tobias for him to read.


"I want to stress that this is merely a formality, as you are one of the lead engineers on The Stelladonna. And as such, we will be going from the top down. Do you comply with this investigation?"

Tobias' eyes drifted towards her, looking for a bit of sympathy. But as they looked at each other, he saw he would get nothing. He hadn't seen Amarie for over ten years. But in that time, he could tell that her new Stitcher form wasn't the only thing that had changed. He had wanted to beseech her for clemency, to ply at their time together. But in those ten years, the sweet, kind woman she was had become a hardened Agent, well known for doing what it took to get results. Her fingers tapping the table, she knew he noticed them. And ever so slowly, as they continued to tap out their rhythm, she reflexively extended her claws. Letting the soft tapping become a sharp tack.


"Do you comply, Tobias?" she reiterated.


Knowing he was in a no win scenario, Tobias slowly lifted his manacled hands and gently tapped "Comply" on the screen. Agent Lomanz quickly scooped up the screen with a smile before putting his hand on Tobias' shoulder.


"Thank you for complying," he rumbled before straightening his back and standing at the ready.


"So before we begin," Amarie dryly said, looking him directly in the eye. "How's your family? I heard you married Shanie? She's a nice lady."

Tobias raised his hands, breaking eye contact as he knew this trick of hers.


"No," he said, shaking his head while making sure he wasn't looking at her. "You're not doing this."

"Not doing what?", she asked coyly as she gave her partner a sly smirk.

"You're not going to bait me with getting wistful about my family," her replied. "I'm the ONE PERSON who knows you that well, Amarie. So no tricks, and no using my family against me!"


"You wound me," Amarie told him, pointing at something as Agent Lomanz walked over to that side of the room. "I would never do that to you, Tobias! I still care for you, which is why I asked for this case! Better me than someone who doesn't care-"

The sudden sensation of a hand on his head caused Tobias to cry out as Agent Lomanz slammed his head into the table, smashing his face beneath the giant's powerful palms and causing one of his teeth to fly out of his mouth.


"For example," Amarie said, gesturing towards her partner. "Agent Lomanz."

"Yeah," Lomanz growled, letting his sadistic enjoyment slip through. "I don't play nice."


Tobias squirmed, unable to fully comprehend just how strong the man holding him down was. All he knew was the pressure that was crushing his skull and the taste of blood welling up in his mouth.

"Don't do this," he begged them. "I said I'd comply! You don't have to kill me!"

"Maybe it wasn't US that killed you," Amarie said, getting out of her seat to lean forward over the table. "Maybe it was some random jackoid on a stim high due to overclocking his systems? Or a fight broke out and you were just unlucky?"

As he struggled with the Gener bastard holding him down, he could see something that showed the old Amarie was long gone. The look of a predator toying with her prey, her twitching tail accompanied by an amused smile he had seen when they watched her favorite Celluloid in the middle of a snowy January eleven years ago. Back when he thought she was the one and was preparing to propose to her before she let him know she had been offered a job working for the Megacorporations. A job she quickly and happily took without even giving him a reason why she applied and leaving him with an empty apartment and a broken heart.


"You would really... kill me?", he asked her through grit teeth.


"We know about Dusari 246," she coldly said, getting serious. "About the sabotage to the drills. And Yuzal 017, with the leaked equipment plans. And the Hyzon leak on Upani 066. And everything else, Tobias. You're at every location, and have security clearance for every important situation."

Reaching out, he could see her claws come out as they came closer to his face. He began to kick and shout for help, but was unable to move as she brought her fingers closer to his face. Letting the tension build as he realized what she was about to do. But he was unable to get free from the Gener agent's grasp as the feline stitcher gently placed her claws right above his eyes. He knew why they were doing this. They wanted an answer to why. As he felt Amarie's talons slowly sink into the flesh around his eye, a dam inside his heart burst.


"I'M STERILE!", Tobias screamed as the tears began to flow, catching the two agents off-guard.


"Wait," Lomanz said, letting go of Tobias' head. "But you have two kids! How? Unique stitchers or clones?"

"I don't know how," Tobias answered, sobbing. "But Shanie and I wanted kids so badly, and we got approached with an offer ten years ago! And I took it! And-"

"Hold on," Amarie said, confused at Tobias' sudden admission. "Who gave you the treatments?"

"I can't tell you," Tobias said, shuddering. "If I tell you, they said they would know and take my kids away! I can't lose them! It would kill Shanie! And... And I-"


Amarie quickly stood from her seat, a snarling growl escaping from her as she bared her fangs at her former lover.

"TELL US WHO, TOBIAS!"


His breath growing ragged, he hung his head in shame as he felt the bile in his stomach slowly start to fill his throat.

"It... I was approached by the Al-"

The ship cantilevered to the right as an explosion rocked the core of the ship, sending a massive shockwave throughout the massive freighter. The lights flickered from their common halogen glow to a frightening swirl of orange and red as the emergency alarm blared and the sound system crackled to life.

"ALERT," Captain Salvagno's voice called out, worried but focused. "THIS IS CAPTAIN SALVAGNO! THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPLOSION ON LEVEL THIRTY EIGHT! I REPEAT, THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPLOSION IN THE QUASAR JUMP ENGINE! ALL AVAILABLE ENGINEERS, REPORT TO THE ENGINE BAY ASAP! ALL CIVILIANS AND NON-ENGINEER PERSONEL, READY FOR POSSIBLE EVACUATION IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

[GLKnight]

As the alarms blared and the ship balanced itself out, the three people in the interrogation room quickly righted themselves as they stood up.

"What the fuck is going on?", Agent Lomanz shouted, rushing to the console by the door.

"I don't know," Amarie replied, pulling out her Shay11 and quickly swiping back and forth. "Schematics say there were explosions on Decks 18, 35, 119, 132 and 174. Starboard, bow, starboard, port and bow. We must have a Rival onboard."

Tobias, knowing the urgency of the crisis, ran around to Amarie's side.

"You gotta let me out of these," he pleaded as he held up his hands, still encased in the Stay-Holds' stasis field. "They need me down there!"

"You are going NOWHERE," the feline Stitcher growled at him, pushing him to the side and onto his back as she joined her partner at the console. "Marcel, why isn't the door opening?"

"I think it's protocol," he said, gently pulling off the panel and beginning to work on the wires. "Give me a minute, and I can rig this to unlock it."

As the two agents anxiously worked on getting the door open, Tobias laughed at how much danger they were all in. If they had actually cared about letting him out of the cuffs, he could have put in the override code to let them all out. But if they didn't want his help, then he wouldn't give it to them. He had to get down to level thirty eight, figure out what caused the explosion and contain any possible leaks. And if he was delayed, then the problems would exacerbate until there was a complete core implosion. Leading to a Black Event that would wipe out not only their ship, but every celestial body within a quarter light year. As he gathered his wits, he noticed a window of opportunity. Or, more appropriately, a vent of opportunity.

As the Gener tried time and time again to jerry rig the wiring for the door, Tobias scuttled on his hands and knees towards the vent, making sure to keep an eye on his interrogators. Gently lifting his hands, he slipped his pinky and ring finger into the latch on the side, making sure to use the rest of his hands to catch the metal grate so it wouldn't fall. And easily pushing to the left, it came undone, allowing him to quietly place it on the floor. Turning back to his captors, he noticed that the console was beginning to light up. So, taking that as his cue, his quickly ducked into the vent and made his escape.

"Almost... GOT IT!", Lomanz cheered as the console lit up and the door opened wide.

"Finally," Amarie said, relieved. "Now, let's grab Tobias and get out of-"

As soon as she saw the open vent, the decorated Corporate Affairs Investigators released an inhuman roar as she swiped her claws at the door console, tearing it off the wall with deep gashes as she ran out of the room to begin her manhunt for her former lover. Blood on her mind as her massive Gener partner had to sprint to keep up with her.
_______________________________________________________________________

Having intimate knowledge of the vent systems of the ship, Tobias quickly made his way down to 211 in  the hopes that Computations would provide him some space, given how empty that level usually was. But as soon as he popped out from beside the Didanto Neural Maximizing Calculatrix, the most insipidly named but powerful system money could buy, the mechanical engineer realized that was not to be. The room, filled with every possible Science Engineer the ship had, was a flurry of activity as every Sci-Tech was on hand to download every spec, every file, every important piece of data they could get their hands on, wiping drives as they went. Nothing was being left to chance. If the ship was gonna vaporize, then they would make sure there was nothing that could be recovered or stolen before then in a blind panic.

Quickly maneuvering out of the room, Tobias ran down the hallway, away from the elevators he had used and Amarie and her brute were going to take to find him. He knew he couldn't take the stairs, as that would take too long. He could risk taking the far side lifts, see if he could run the chance of the security system not seeing the Stay Holds on his hands. But he knew that the quickest way to get directly to the engine room was through the All-Hands Tunnel. Or as the crew called it, "The Drop to Hell", mostly due to the fact that you fell fast, you fell far, and you ran the risk of killing yourself if you weren't careful.

Slamming his elbow into the console by the tunnel, the system sprung to life.

"Emergency Protocol activated," a synthetic woman's voice resounded. "Which level is the emergency on?"

"Level 38," Tobias told it. A second later, the console beeped and turned green.

"Acknowledged. Please step inside and prepare for transport."

Stepping into the drop shaft, the automated system kicked on as the drop floor lit up. Various mechanical arms sprung out, startling Tobias a bit as they proceeded to hook him up to the safety harnesses that dropped down around him.

"Come on," he begged the machine. "Hurry! Hurry, hurry, hur-"

"STOP," he heard someone shouting. But before he looked he already knew who it was. Amarie and Lomanz had spotted him, even from down the far hallway. Absolute panic taking hold with an icy grip as he could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

"Drop me now!"

"You are not fully attached," the system replied. "By all regulations, you must be fully connected in case of catastrophic-"

"I don't care," he screamed, watching as both the Stitcher and the Gener sprinted down the hallway, Amarie on all fours as she ran. "DROP ME NOW, DAMN IT! NOW!"

With a click, the floor gave way, sending Tobias into a freefall right as Amarie yowled ferociously, her claws barely missing the top of his head. As he screamed while he plummeted, Amarie deftly turned her body in mid-air, planting her feet on the wall and jumping back to safety out of the All-Hands Tunnel and landing next to her partner.

"Let's go," she commanded Lomanz, not even giving him a moment to catch his breath as they immediately began their run back to the elevators. Knowing that he would reach the engine room level before they even got to the lift.

The sound of his screams echoed all around him, unable to hear himself as the wind roared in his ears as he fell fast. The numbers were a blur as he fell, but given how fast the large, blocky stencils were counting down, he knew he'd be there soon. If he was right, then he was in the lower 100's, meaning the system should be activating by floor 95.

Imagine his surprise when he saw the fuzzy outline of a 95 whiz by in front of him, with no sign of him stopping.

"STOP," he screamed.

His words meant nothing as he rapidly fell through the 80's.

"I SAID STOP!"

The 70's were a blur as he continued his descent. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he looked down as a little doorway of light opened. He knew he was near his stop, but if he didn't, then he'd be nothing but meat and blood smeared upon the floor of level 01. Looking up, he saw the number 64 blow right by him, causing him to look down. A plan came to mind. One that was incredibly stupid and extremely dangerous, but he knew that he was in freefall from a catastrophic failure from improper safety connections.

So, with only once chance, he began to swing his legs back and forth. Letting the wind catch him to give him extra leverage.

"56," he said, keeping track of the levels.

His momentum grew as he shifted his body.

"52!"

He centered his mass, letting air pressure push him up more as it caught his back and legs in an arc. Trajectory swaying him more as he actively began kicking back and forth.

"47! Come on!"

His momentum grew as he grew more desperate, letting centripetal force aid him.

"44! COME ON!"

He swung his legs once more, kicking as hard as he could to force himself forward. Crying out in joy as his feet made contact with the wall, planting his feet and kicking off with a laugh as he swung back fast. His back slamming against the wall, jolting him out of his joy as he saw the level 40 stencil. And with a mighty push, he leaped downward, watching the 39 stencil fly breeze past him as he approached the door. He was overjoyed that he had gotten his momentum and spatial awareness calculations correct.

The only problem was, now that he was approaching the door, he had gotten his angle of re-entry figures wrong. Slamming his face into the top of the frame of the doorway, he tumbled directly onto the hallway floor dramatically and painfully instead of sliding in like he had hoped. The air was knocked out of his lungs as engineers ran back and forth past him, too dazed to properly move as his side ached fiercely and his head bleed profusely. At this moment, nothing mattered to Tobias. There was no explosion. Agents were not out to get him. All there was, was the pain and the dull roar of his adrenaline still pumping in his veins.

As he was caught in a stupor, he suddenly realized he was being put upright. Looking over to see who it was, he instantly saw orange and red, and the body of a very large person.

"TOBY," Jenson said, surprised to see his friend in his current state as he unstrapped Tobias from the harness. "What da fuck HAPP'N'D to ya, buddy?!"

"Doesn't matter," Tobias mumbled, already on the move. "Gotta... Gotta help with the engine..."

Jenson quickly grabbed his friend as he began to fall, holding him up with an arm/claw around his back.

"Yer not gonna go nowhere," Jenson said. "We're gonna lay ya down, and yer gonna tell me what da fuck is going-"

Tobias fell to the floor as Jenson let go of him, causing the Nat to groan as he fell on his side once more. Looking over, his blood ran cold as he watched his friend being held high by his neck. Held in place by Agent Lomanz as Amarie circled around her partner.

"You shouldn't have run," she taunted him, smiling cruelly as Lomanz slammed Jenson into the nearby wall as hard as he could. Crumpling the foot thick metal paneling as Jenson fell to the floor, unresponsive.

"Gotta... save the SHIP," Tobias said, trying to get to his feet. But for his efforts, all he got was a swift kick in the ribs from Agent Dryler as she cackled in glee.

"You fucked up that chance," Amarie said, stepping on his back as he screamed in pain. Feeling the shifting of his broken ribs as she jammed her foot down upon his spine.

"There's... still a cha-HANCE! Still a chance I can... stop the leak!"

With another swift kick, Tobias rolled onto his back as Amarie quickly stomped on his abdomen. Grinding her boot in as she looked down on him.

"Fuck'em," Amarie said, leaning down to gloat. "The Seven Corporations have a life insurance policy for everyone onboard. Sole beneficiaries. So it's not like they'll be losing money, Bee."

"You can't call me that anymore," Tobias said, grimacing in pain. "Only Shanie can, Amarissa."

"You know I don't like to be called Amarissa, TOBIAS!"

Grinding her foot into his ribs once more, he began to hyperventilate as the pain grew more and more intense. He knew that if she kept this up, he would require complete Med-Tech Surgery. Possible artificial osteo-implants. Well, if he survived. As his head lolled, his eyes happened to catch the sight of someone hiding behind Agent Lomanz. Someone with two right arms, holding the harness for the All-Hands Tunnel.

Looking back up into Amarie's blue and yellow and black fur lined face, he defiantly smiled as he stared into her bright yellow feline eyes.

"You know what else you don't like to be called, Amarissa?"

"What's that?", she asked.

"STUPID! Because that's what you are!"

With a snarl, she raised her leg to stomp on her ex that she had trapped beneath her once more. But the sound of an energy weapon firing, followed by her partner falling to the ground, twitching and grunting and groaning caught her by surprise. Seizing the opportunity, he pushed Amarie's leg, toppling her to the side towards his savior. Camille, deftly dropping a strange gun to her side, caught the Corporate Agent. And before Agent Dryler could even react, had hooked her up into the harness.

"Mind the drop," Camille told her before tossing the feline Stitcher agent into the shaft, causing her to fall down towards the lower levels.

Catching his breath in short bursts, Tobias lay on the floor as Camille sauntered over. The buff four armed redhead leaned over, grabbing the Stay Hold controller and turning it off. Freeing his hands before extending her two right ones out to her friend. Laughing, the Nat took the invitation, crying out in pain as she lifted him off the floor and onto his feet.

"You okay?", she asked, genuinely concerned.

"Broken ribs," he said, grimacing as he stiffened his back while taking off his cuffs. "Maybe a concussion, too."

"I could see why," she said, moving his hair a bit as she looked at the gash on his head.

Looking down at Agent Lomanz, Tobias' eyes drifted to the gun by his Stitcher friend's side.

"What the fuck did you do?", he pointedly asked, his eyes drifting back to the fallen and twitching Gener, still laying on the ground. The buff woman he had known for almost a decade just put the gun on her shoulder.

"Neural Plugger," she said, smirking. "Experimental. Meant for use on Geners."

"I don't... WHAT?", Tobias said, very confused by her answer.

"Alvajji tech," she said, nonchalantly. Suddenly, Tobias knew what she was implying.

"You're part of Alvajji, too? The explosions! You did that?"

"No time," she said, switching the gun to her other arm so she could help brace Tobias. "We gotta go, Toby!"

But as soon as she wrapped her arms around him, he pushed her away.

"NO," he screamed. "This isn't what I signed up for! Sabotage, yes. But killing thousands? Even MILLIONS?!"

He began to stumble away from her, walking down the hall towards the engine room.

"Tobias," Camille shouted, running up to him and grabbing his shoulder. "Don't! It's suicide if you go in there and you know it!"

"I won't have a damn Genocide on my hands," he told her, his eyes filled with an intensity she had never seen before. "Grab Jenson and go. You may be fine with it, but someone needs to prevent the Black Event. And I'm already a dead man."

With that, he pulled himself from her grip and began walking towards the overwhelming fury that was building in the engine room down the hall.

"TOBIAS," Camille screamed as he approached the door. "What about your family?"

Turning around, he thought about what would be best for his family. With a sorrowful look, the tears began to run down his face as he accepted his fate.

"Tell them I died doing my job."

He pressed his hand against the security console, silhouetting his body against the intermitting flashes of white and negative light before he walked into the cacophonous room. The door closing behind him ominously, leaving Camille, Jenson and the unconscious Gener alone in the hallway.

[GLKnight]

The room was hotter than Tobias would have believed, in spite of him knowing more about the engine than anyone else on the ship. Being the lead engineer for the Quasar Jump engine itself, he was the one given the strictest access to its secrets. He knew how it had been modified, he knew the schematics and overall tech components used to build and keep the engine working. He was the one who everyone went to when it came to making the day to day operations run smoothly. But he had never been involved in the midst of a Black Event in progress. He expected the room to be so cold, he would freeze in seconds. But it was simultaneously so hot and so cold, it was like he was wrapped in cold fire in the midst of the blaring alarms, the roaring of the engine as it was beginning to overload and the disorienting strumming flashes of light both bright white and negative.

"Gotta prep," he thought to himself, scrambling to minimize exposure to the steadily climbing levels of cosmic radiation. Pulling open a locker, he breathed a sigh of relief as one last rad suit was waiting. Quickly climbing in, he sprinted over to the magnetic harness relay by the main console. Latching it onto his suit, the ambient field travelled over his body, granting him some guarantee that if things went wrong, he would remain tethered until the final moments to give him as much time as possible to reduce the catastrophe.

As he began the shut down routines, he couldn't help but look up at the Quasar Jump engine as it screamed. The violently active twin chambers designed to create a Mobius track, the only way to create a Shayler Tunnel, the next evolution beyond the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. The ambient quarks being mass converted into hadron particles as they create a continuous loop of power, moving at just under the speed of light in order to normally punch a hole through sub-quantum reality to create a proper channel in order to minimize the disruption of space-time and slip an entire vessel safely through segments of the universe. But if the energy flow to collect the quarks needed to fuel the hadron conversion process were ever disrupted, pushed towards dangerous levels, then the entire process would begin a catastrophic system failure that resulted in either one of two outcomes.

The inexorable collision of mass and energy, thus creating enough explosive energy to create a new star dubbed a "White Event".

Or the most frightening outcome, a complete implosion of sub-quantum space, creating a massive tear in our universe. The creation of a supermassive black hole that would quickly consume several lightyears of matter and material before collapsing in on itself and a gravity well so powerful, it could shift entire portions of known space before creating a gravity bomb that could destroy at least one quadrant of a galaxy as the waves cascaded outward into further reaches of space.

This is the Black Event. This is what Tobias feared the most his entire time on this ship. And as of this moment, looking over the current worrying readings and measurements on his screens, he knew that this is what the engine was building up to unleash. An apocalyptic event so massive, it would shift the known cosmos. Accepting his fate, Tobias knew what he had to do.

He only prayed he had enough time to make sure the Black Event didn't happen.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Strapping her gun to her back, Camille moved to grab Jenson, currently crumpled on the floor.

"Come on," she told him, gently tapping his face. "Up and at'em, Jens! We gotta get moving, big guy!"

Jenson shook his head, groaning as he rubbed his dome with one of his claw hands.

"What hit me?", he asked, reaching out so the four armed redhead could help him up.

"Given the situation," she replied, pointing at the Gener agent on the floor. "He's the one who knocked you out."

"Yer dustin' me," he said, wide eyes as he looked down at who she was pointing at. "A fucking GENER AGENT?!"

Jenson couldn't believe it. He began to wonder who would send a Gener out as Enforcement. Then he noticed the insignia on the Gener's shoulder.

"Wait a minute," he said, ripping off the emblem. "An Investigator? There's only one reason dey send Investigators out, Cammi! Why were they-"

"They were looking for saboteurs," she told him. "Specifically, Tobias."

"Tobias?", he said, unable to process what she was telling him. "Nuh uh! No way in HELL! Tobias is a good man! He ain't the kind to-"

Suddenly, his memory caught up. His eyestalks swinging towards the engine room door.

"THE ENGINE! It's revving to blow! We gotta-"

Camille, however didn't say a word as she grabbed her friend to drag him towards the elevator.

"No time," she shouted, hurryingly. "Tobias is in there! He told us to go, so we gotta go! NOW!"

The Crabman Stitcher, however, was having none of it as he pulled his arm out of her grip.

"I ain't leavin' my friend to die," he shouted back, moving towards the door. But when he heard the sound of a gun being cocked, he stopped moving. Slowly raising his arms, he knew what was going down.

"Is dat how it's gonna be, Cammi?"

Carefully turning, he saw the large red gun she currently had aimed at her friend. The four square chambers lit up by the glowing blue barrels in each slot. An energy weapon he had never seen before in his life.

"Cammi, there's something you ain't telling me, is there? That's not Corporate issued, or else I'd a known."

Frustration and anguish was etched on her face as the built engineer stood her ground.

"This is non-lethal," she said, on the verge of tears. "So please, as my friend? Let's just do what Tobias wanted us to do, and get off this fucking metal casket before we all die!"

"Cammi..."

Lowering her gun, there was a brief pause as every conflicting emotion washed over her. And in one primal scream, she kicked a nearby waste disposal bin with all of her might. Sending it tumbling end over end as she spun in place before sinking to her knees. Crying out every bit of pain in her heart as she could.

"It's not FAIR," she sobbed. "I don't want to lose you, too! Tobias wants us to- to..."

Jenson quickly moved to hug his fellow engineer as tightly as he could. Rocking her back and forth, trying to soothe her worries.

"It's okay," he whispered. "If it's what Tobias wants, then let's go. But you're gonna explain what the Hell's goin' on, alright?"

Camille gently nodded her head as she put her arms around Jenson tightly.

"...Y-yeah, okay. But only when we're off the ship."

Helping her to her feet, Jenson's eyestalks turned towards the unconscious Gener once more.

"What're we gonna do wit him", he asked. "Are we just gonna leave biggun here ta get dusted?"

Wiping her eyes, Camille looked up at Jenson, trying to gauge if he was being sincere or not.

"Do you really want to take him with us?", she asked, strapping her gun once more to her back.

"Ya know it ain't right ta leave a man ta die," Jenson said, carefully shuffling over beside the lowed Gener. "Besides, ya know da protocol. Can't leave any personnel on da ship. Let alone a Corporate man."

Moving to the other side of the massive man on the floor, Camille strapped the gun to her back once more and joined the crabman in gently picking him up. Taking their collective strength to handle his dead weight as he occasionally spasmed.

"Fucking heavy," Camille said, spinning them all towards the far elevator.

"He'd-a been lighter if you DIDN'T lay him out," Jenson groaned as they began carrying the agent down the hallway. "What kinda gun IS dat, anyway? I never seen- NGH! ANY kinda non-lethal work on a Gener!"

"Synaptic Static gun," the four armed stitcher grunted as they stomped along the hall. "Designed to- URGH! Overload the senses, like a small seizure! A prototype"

Slamming her palm against the pad, the elevator doors opened for the pair and their unconscious companion. Scrambling in, they breathed a slight sigh of relief as Jenson hit the emergency button to take them to the escape ships.

"Whoever made it," Jenson said, looking straight at Camille. "Dey got a bone to pick wit the Corps, don't they?"

"Yeah," Camille replied, glumly. "My employers really do."

The doors closed and the lift began its descent to level eleven, where the hangers resided. Their minds turned towards Tobias, and the fact that they had abandoned their friend to his doom.

For a split second, in the hallway filled with warning lights and blaring klaxon tones, a chaotic serenity filled the level. Devoid of life and other sounds, an odd variation of active stillness took hold.

But such stillness could not last, as the torn flesh of a clawed hand outfitted with metal lacing came into view from within the All-Hands Tunnel as it swung up and out towards the floor. The sound of metal giving way as it was punctured. And the pissed off growl of someone who was no longer concerned with doing her job, but instead focused on what she was going to do to the next person she saw.
__________________________________________________________________________

As the light inside the chamber of the Mobius track proceeded to intensify, Tobias smiled to himself as he continued to adjust the settings.

"If I can just divert this flow into essential capacities," he said to himself. "Maybe into life support or mass conversion units in the lower levels, then I'll be able to shunt it into weapons or the regular engines and expel it in a non-destructive way!"

Being so focused on the engine, Tobias did not hear the sound of something falling behind him as the room roared in his ears and the floor rumbled beneath his feet. As he watched the variables steadily decline, elation grew within him.

"I DID IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I-"

His joy was cut short as something pounced on him, slamming his face into the console and causing him to mash upon the virtual keys. Causing every calculation he was working on to go out the window as every meter began to skyrocket. As he looked at the screen, he saw the field slowly vanish. Removing the one thing that would give him the most time.

"No," he screamed as he struggled to stand up. "NO! NO NO NO!!!"

"Aw," he heard Amarie say to him, mocking him as she held him bent over in front of herself. "Did Bee make a boo boo?"

"You bitch," he cried out. "I was trying to SAVE everyone! And you just guaranteed their deaths!"

Flipping him around, Amarie looked down at her former lover with a cold smile. Enjoying the look of pure panic and terror in his eyes as she brought a claw to his face once more.

"Do you think I care?", she asked him, licking her claw. Showing Tobias the torn flesh that hid a servo laced endoskeleton and enhancer mesh interwoven through bones and muscles and sinew in her hand.

"Torque enhance-"

Swiping her claws lightly across his suit, Tobias cried out in shock and pain as the suit was quickly torn open and the right side of his neck began to bleed, cutting off his question.

"You know I loved you," Amarie said, licking his neck to savor the blood seeping from his wound. "But when you get called to be an Agent, you must abandon your old life. I would have loved to be your wife, but you're just a pitiful saboteur."

Raising her claw into the air, an evil look gleamed in her eyes as she stared down at her ex.

"Now please, do make a lot of noise. I find that to be one of my favorite things about this job!"

Raising his hands in a panic, Tobias looked away as he tried to shield himself.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!"

For a split second the room went silent, drawing the attention of the former lovers. Amarie stood still, her eyes gauging what was going on. But Tobias knew what was about to happen. He quickly reached for the magnetic harness on his belt, slapping it as hard as he could as the Mobius track went ultraviolet before an explosion of negative light burst out from the heart of the engine's chamber as the hadron particles collided with each other. Having absorbed enough energy to have grown weighted enough to cause a small tear from their point of impact.

"What just happened?", Amarie demanded, standing still as worry ate away at her.

"WHAT I WAS TRYING TO PREVENT," Tobias screamed at her as he resumed his duty. "You just fucking killed potentially MILLIONS by trying to kill me instead of letting me stop a fucking TEAR IN REALITY!"

The feline stitcher could say nothing as the full weight of what she had just done hit her all at once. She now understood why Tobias had been begging her to let him go. He was the Lead Engineer for this engine. It was his job to make sure that the engine ran smoothly. She knew that if it worried Tobias so badly, then it was soemthing that was truly worth the concern. And in her hubris, she had just doomed the profit shares of several worlds.

"Is there anything I can do?", she asked.

"No," Tobias flalty told her, with a look of pain and desperation in his eyes. "Just... let me do my job."

Fighting back tears, Tobias was as efficient as possible as he worked out the variables. He knew the amount of energy needed to overload the tear in space and fill it in with enough matter would have to be astronomical. By his best guess, the ship might tear itself apart before he could-

The sound of something creaking pulled him out of his thoughts as he looked at the chamber once more. He noticed it right away. The thin little splinter in the walls of the chamber.

"Amarie," he said. "Get a fucking harness on before-"

His voice fell short as the sound of the chamber wall began to sunder struck him cold. Both watched as the cracks quickly raced along the translucent titanium walls, filling out into a starburst shape before imploding inwards. A great vacuum unleashed from within the chamber, hungrily seeking to claim as much as it could to grow.

"TOBIAS!"

Turning to look, he could see Amarie struggling to resist the pull. Her blue and white Agent's uniform pulling open as the buttons on her jacket were pulled out of the cloth. Reaching his hand towards hers, he tried to inch closer to her.

"Take my hand," he shouted. "I can try and pull you to the magnetic harnesses!"

Agent Dryler reached out with her left hand, trying to keep her arm as straight as possible while she tensed herself. Terror in her eyes as she fought to reach out to the last person who loved her. The last person she loved before her training began. Her mind flashing to the happiness she felt with him before her career liquidating troubling assets and routing saboteurs and competitors in the name of the Seven Corporations Of Man. Her tears pulling away from her eyes as they were sucked into the void within the engine.

"Tobias," she cried out over the howling sound of the miniscule black hole. "I'm sorry. For leaving you."

"We can talk later," he begged her, straining to grasp her. "Just grab my hand!"

"I was told to abandon you," she sobbed. "They said having a past would compromise my value. And I hurt you. Just like I hurt you today."

Tobias' fingertips danced across hers as he continued to inch closer.

"I forgive you," he shouted. "Now please! TAKE MY HAND!"

As their fingers began to hook around each other, Amarie's other hand, bloody and skinless, slipped across the metal safety bar she was pushing against. Her body juked forward, causing her footing to slip as she was pulled over the railing and towards the now opened Mobius track. Her arms flailing as her scream was swallowed by the void. Calling out for Tobias as she tried to swim against the vacuum. Tobias watched as her body began to stretch and thin, putting Amarie into an incalculable amount of suffering as the black hole spaghettify her matter. Her eyes wide, her face a mask of agony and horror as flesh and metal and bone was pulled more and more taut. A nightmarish existence of suffering and terror as her vision of Tobias, horrified by what was happening to her, narrowed more and more until all she saw was a single point of light into the distance... and then, nothingness.

Sinking to his knees, Tobias wailed and screamed as the last of Amarie's essence was sucked into the void. His tears stung his eyes as he shouted everything out of him before rising to his feet once more. Brokenhearted, he went to work once more. He knew that the engine was beyond the threshold. An Event was guaranteed, at this point. But which one, was the real question. As he looked at the engine for answers, he noticed that the tear wasn't growing in size. In all honesty, it had yet to consume enough material to warrant more growth. At that moment, Tobias knew what his answer was.

He needed to overwhelm the black hole and cause a White Event. Instead of a tear in space, he'd create a new star.

Restarting the engine, he was assaulted by untold amounts of radiation. The searing pain was great, but the father of two had to do all he could. Putting the engine into overdrive, he could feel himself cooking as he activated the engines. Watching the meter rise, he knew he only had a few seconds before the tear would cross the point of no return and consume the engine entirely. Cranking the energy outputs as high as possible, he counted down the seconds as the engine screamed.

"Forty seconds."

The chamber glowed brightly, filling the room and highlighting the black hole.

"30 seconds."

He turned on the Quasar Jump Engine guidance system, pushing the computer to find enough empty space.

"20 seconds."

A notification appeared on screen: a patch of normally empty space had been found, several thousand lightyears away in the outer known reaches. A quadrant that had yet to be explored, with one habitable world that was far away enough to not worry about the impending explosion of brilliance and energy.

"15 seconds."

His hands were a blur as he finalized the coordinates before looking at the readings for the engine.

MAXIMUM OUTPUT, it read.

"10 seconds," he said, slamming his hand into the console to activate the Jump Engine.
_________________________________________________________________________

Outside the ship, on one of the mmany escape shuttles trying to escape proximity, Camille was looking outside the port side window. Her brow was furrowed as she looked back at The Stelladonna, her home of several years.

"Tobias...," she quietly mourned, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You said it's what he wanted," Jenson said, leaving Agent Lomanz to sleep on a cot that could barely contain his weight. "That he was a dead man?"

"Yeah," Camille said, sighing powerless against the wishes of her friend.

"And this whole sabotage business," Jenson continued, asking. "Da two a you were involved, though neither a ya knew?"

Camille raised one of her left hands to her lips, shushing her Stitcher friend as she pointed to the unconscious Gener laying nearby with the other.

"Yes," she told him before noticing the glow quickly surrounding the Stelladonna. Jenson looked out the window, noticing that same glow before running for the comms.

"All ships," Jenson shouted over the comms on the open communications line. "Quasar Jump active! Brace for turbulence!"

A cascade of pressure, visible to the naked eye, roiled out as the ship glowed and blinked out of existence in a brilliant white burst. Violently rocking the escape shuttles, sending some into spirals that they quickly leveled out from. Within their own vessel, the two Stitchers were pulled this way and that, holding on for dear life as the Gener passenger was thrown to the floor, none the worse for wear. Once the ship had settled, they looked at each other in disbelief.

"Did Toby REALLY...?!", Jenson asked, trailing off as he looked out the window once more.

Camille just nodded her head as she looked back at where the Stelladonna once was.

"Farewell, Tobias."
__________________________________________________________________________

Once the ship had moved into the slip between points of reality, Tobias' vision was filled with stars that glowed in negative. Even if he tried to close his eyes, the glow of subreality overwhelmed his senses. The tear glowing a bright purple as the engine glowed blue, the hadron particles a bright green as they moved in a perfect figure eight while the black hole slowly grew bigger with the energy being fed into it.

"Nine seconds," he said to himself, nearly losing himself to the splendor as the ship returned to regular space. Without fail, he began to adjust the levels of output needed in order to collapse the tear. And for that, he needed one thing.

"Five."

He took a deep breath as he cranked the hadron conversion process into overdrive, collecting as much as it could to feed into the Mobius track.

"Four."

He could see his suit beginning to burning. He could his neck blister and swell, the small tear allowing in the ambient radiation. His hand slammed into the console once more, activating the final sequence.

"Th-three!"

His blood began to boil as he pushed the engine into overload once more. Watching as the machine grew bright, then the world went dark.

"TWO!"

He screamed as he felt his eyes explode. His flesh catching fire. His muscles crumbling as steam escaped from wherever it could. His mind turned to his family, and his wish to see them once more.

"ONE!"

In an instant, his entire body vaporized as every particle the engine had collected collided into each other in the center of the track. The force of the nuclear fusion enough to create a mini-Big Bang Event that overloaded and consumed the tear in reality as a brilliant ball of light quickly exploded out of the ship. Level by level, metal and plastic and more were vaporized, as well. All fuel for the growing orb of nuclear fusion that grew brighter as it grew larger. And within seconds, The Stelladonna ceased to be and a new Giant was born in the vast emptiness of the area of space the ship left subspace for.
__________________________________________________________________________

Several weeks later, on Toljara 238, a world known for Corporate freedoms granted by the Charter, a lone CEO was waiting inside their office. Overseeing the city by the sea, they smiled as they sensed someone approaching their door.

"Come in," she told them before they could even knock. As the door opened, a doll like Torque led Camille into the sparsely decorated office.

"Your afternoon appointment," the secretary said, bowing her head before quickly exiting the room.

"Ms. Tosana," the CEO said. "I'm glad to see you made it back. How was Tobias' funeral?"

The four armed stitcher sighed heavily as she walked forward. The black and pink sand crunching underneath her feet.

"It was... hard," she told her boss. "Tobias was a good man. His family took things very hard."

"He had no other choice," the CEO replied. "The Corporations made sure of that."

Camille watched as a blue and gold tentacle undulated towards a nearby bowl full of a weird type of fat grey and yellow slugs. She kept her eye on it as the tentacle scooped one out, bringing it around behind the chair before a shrill squeak and the sound of something wet and chewy being gnashed between teeth filled her ears. Camille closed her eyes and tilted her head, trying to not be perturbed by the preferred delights of the delicacies of her boss's people.

"I have to know," Camille asked, shuddering slightly. "Why did you keep me in the dark about Toby?"

The CEO once again scooped out another slug and quickly devoured it, as well.

"Need to know," she told the Stitcher. "But I can sense you need to know more. So I'll be honest with you. He was part of an experiment."

"An experiment?", Camille asked, shuffling as her boots sunk into the sand some more.

"I know you've been briefed about Geners, so this will make it easier to explain. The K'nzaric race was in decline before Tekalmor found one of them hibernating. Recent negotiations have given us the info we needed in order to help them repopulate their species."

"Repopulate," Camille said, realizing where her boss was going. "So, you mean to tell me you were going to... what, turn humans INTO K'nzarics?!"

"Tekalmor was already doing that," the CEO said, scooping out another slug. "What we did was make sure that any potential children of any Geners that came across the children of our test subjects would be viable."

Camille's eyes lit up as she grasped the full scope of what she was being told.

"So... you did something to the children of the test subjects, ensuring that the K'nzarics wouldn't go extinct?"

"As long as the two children meet," the CEO said, eating another slug.

"Is there something you're not telling me,", Camille asked, suddenly serious. "Especially about Tobias' children?"

The CEO wagged her tentacle.

"No, Ms. Tosana! Let's just say there's something about Tobias' boys that just have my attention. Let's just call it "a vested interest" and leave it at that."

The door opened once more as the doll like secretary came back into the room.

"The family will be well taken care of," the CEO told Camille. "Although one thing that must remain purely confidential between us is that Tobias' boys will notice some interesting effects as they grow. Certain cognitive or physical aspects will be much more improved than others like them. Even I don't know how far along, but it's enough to keep an eye on them."

"Ms. Tosana," the secretary said. "Your office is ready for inspection."

Camille shot one more worried look at the CEO before turning towards the door.

"I want to be put in charge of the oversight for Rico and Marco," Camille told her boss.

"You may," the CEO continued. "Now, take all the time you need to settle in. And Ms. Tosana?"

The strong Stitcher paused in the doorway, turning to look at the CEO once more.

"Welcome to the Executive levels of Avajji Industries."

Camille nodded her head, smiling.

"Thank you, Madame Xyn'qhp."

With that, she was led out of the office, leaving the Avajjin Executive to think on the visions she had of Tobias' sons and their fates. An aura of satisfaction emanating from where she sat as she raised her tentacles into the air and meditated on Marco's future.

[Sounder9-]

Nice! I was wondering why there was a sudden left turn in the story but now it makes sense. K++

[GLKnight]

As I stood there, ready to throw down and meet my end, I looked around the room as the tension mounted. Chalansky was scrambling, panicking as things were slipping from his grasp. His guards, each pointing their rifles at me, stood silent as the energy chambers of their weapons pulsed and flashed. Brandy continued to hammer away at her cell, causing it to crack and splinter more and more as she called out my name in a mad desperation to get to me. And me, unusually calm as I waited to make the right move, the tingle in my brain that I've strangely felt in my brain my whole life slowly growing stronger.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE," Chalansky screamed at his personal guard. "FUCKING KILL HIM! IN THE NAME OF THE LEDGER!"

I heard the short whine of a rifle come from the guard to my right. My eyes turned as the barrel lit up, ready to discharge a plasma bolt my way. But as soon as I saw it them fire at me, something happened. It was like everything slowed down. Not in the adrenaline sort of way, either. I could literally see and feel everything moving far slower than it should. The brilliant white burst of light inched forward, aimed directly at me. I looked at it, then back at the guard, unable to process what I was seeing. I initially wondered if something was slowing them down. But as I looked around, I realized they hadn't slowed down.

I had SPED UP.

I laughed to myself as I moved out of the way of the bolt, letting it slowly move past me before going back to where I was standing as the tingle in my brain let up. I watched as things seemed to go back to normal, hearing the sound of intense heat strike the guard to my left as the smell of burnt flesh and cloth assailed us all.

With a smile, I raised my fists once more. I knew the guards and various scientists were left baffled by what I just did. To be honest, I have no clue how I did it, either. But one look at Chalansky, the look of terror on his face and the fact he visibly had pissed himself in fear on his pants? That was all I needed to know.

Suddenly, we heard a scream from one of the scientists. Drawing our attention back towards the captive Geners.

"Their eyes," she screamed. "Their mouths!"

We were all held by the sight before us. One by one, they each called out in multi-tonal chimes and frequencies, nearly impossible to replicate. And as one, they began to free themselves from their prison. A legion of fifty foot tall stone beings, marching as one. Their eyes and mouths aglow in kaleidoscopic spectrums, lit with hues that should not be visible to the naked eye. Bluish stony carapace atop powerful frames. Each collective step enough to shake the entire facility. The one who had been staring at me, judging me, urging me to rise bent down to grab the front of Brandy's cell. And with one smooth motion, gently ripped it in half. Her eyes locking on to me as she was released.

"MARCO!!!"

It was at this point that the entire lab fell into chaos.

The guards turned away from me, aiming their rifles on the fully transformed Second Geners. Firing away in order to halt their march, only for their blasts to harmless hit carapace. Scientists, in a blind terror, scrambled back and forth. Some not watching where they were going before finding themselves underfoot and being crushed like bugs. Brandy, meanwhile, quickly ran towards me. Picking me up in her arms as she dove between Chalansky's soldiers. Rolling off to the side as she let the carnage take its toll.

"I thought I'd lost you," she cried, holding me tight. "The Galger Beast, then Tekalmor-"

It's at that point I kissed her. Nothing needed to be said. It felt right to be there, in her arms. Like I belonged there. Let the world be torn away. I want to stay with my girl.

"You know it'll take far more than a nearly omnipotent company to kill me," I said, breaking the kiss.

We turned towards the Second Geners as they created absolute mayhem for Tekalmor's on-hand staff. But out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that more guards had arrived. And several were extricating Chalansky to freedom.

"Brandy," I shouted, pointing. "Chalansky's escaping!"

Suddenly, a giant foot came down on top of guards that had initially surrounded me. I followed it to the face of its owner, the one who had judged me. His face was still before slowly turning into a smile.

"GO," a deep and powerful voice in our heads told us. "HELP IS COMING. DO NOT WORRY, SISTER AND COMPANION. WE WILL SURVIVE."

He dragged his foot out of our way, smearing the remains of the guards he had smashed in order to clear a path for us. Getting to her feet, Brandy held me in her arms. She smiled at me, determined to do what was needed to survive on her face.

"Hold on tight," she told me. I didn't need any prompting, wrapping my arms around her thick neck as she took off. Running at full speed across the lab and towards the hallway. Even with their head start, Brandy's long, powerful legs made incredibly short work of the journey. Leading us to an industrial elevator, where Chalansky and his entire unit of guards were waiting for his path to freedom to open.

"CHALANSKY," I screamed as we approached, Brandy putting me down as she slowed down. "We're not done, here! I told you my girlfriend and I would like a fucking word with you!"

Chalansky began to laugh and clap, catching us off-guard.

"Congratulations," he said, snidely. "The Companion has finally been revealed!"

Brandy and I just looked at each other, not know what the Hell he was talking about. But I found it extremely odd that both he and the Second Gener had called me that.

"What the fuck are you talking about?", I asked.

"Don't play coy," he replied. "We've had the intel on this litle project for a couple YEARS, now! We know about the revival project to keep the so-called 'K'nzaric People" alive!"

When he saw the confused looks on our faces, his mood had soured.

"You mean they never told you?"

"We don't know who 'they' are," Brandy replied.

Chalansky, never even entertaining the possibility, suddenly and boisterously began to laugh like a madman.

"I'm sorry, but that's so fitting! We made her, but no one knows who made YOU, Marco!"

I took a step forward, causing every guard between us and Chalansky to reflexively raise their weapons.

"Made me? But I'm a NAT! I've always BEEN a Nat! Now you're saying I'm, what... a Stitcher or something?"

"Mr. Mercado," Chalansky said, sucking air in through his teeth as he seemed to enjoy this whole situation far more than I thought he would. "You ARE a Nat! But it took us months to figure out what was so special about you! Why you, in particular?"

I laughed at what he was saying.

"Months? I've only been here a few weeks."

Chalansky just shook his head.

"Mr. Mercado, you've been on-site in a tech-induced coma for almost three months!"

I felt my gut drop. I looked back at Brandy, finally realizing that her hair had indeed gotten longer. Her skin across her chest had a very slight bluish tint to it. That she had indeed gotten taller. I was just so caught off kilter than I hadn't properly noticed it.

"No..."

"YES," the mad exec said. "And those three months gave us ample time to find that teeny tiny, itty bitty little piece of genetic coding inside your DNA. Hidden deep within the junk parts of your genomes. And what we found was something that shouldn't have been possible: a symbiotic gene! You, Marco! You represent the pinnacle of our theory! You represent The Genetic Key!"

"Elevator open," a synthetic voice called out.

"Now if you'll excuse me," the fanatical C.O.O. said as he straightened his tie. "I have a ship to ca-AGHK!"

As soon as he turned to make his exit, a giant hand shot out and wrapped around his throat. Lifting him off the ground, the being who held him in the air walked out of the elevator. As soon as we saw who it was, Brandy immediately broke into tears.

"DAD!"

I felt intense relief as Braden walked forward, accompanied by tall and built young woman with short purple hair and four arms that each held a pistol, and an Asian woman strapped into what looked like a Torque Tech enhancer exo-suit that was retrofitted with multiple arms and hooked up through her own metallic arms and neural interface.

"You're coming with us," Braden told Chalansky. "Now tell your clones to stand the fuck down, or I'll dust you here and now!"

[jhunter]

Great to see more. Keep up the great work.

[Sounder9-]

Nice Update! The detail in this story is great!

[phil123]

Again a great chapter. So I hope for more.