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Chapter Two: Waking Dreams

-critical body damage received-

-shutdown enacted-

-72 hours 43 minutes 25 seconds-

-26-

-27-

It was always the same... inside the processor, an endless expanse of black... With those white letters in my vision. The processors readout, telling me what I was doing. I always wondered why I was "awake" when the processor shut my brain down. It was mutually known by all of the thirty YCS candidates that nobody spoke about the black plain. Nobody could explain it, it just became a sort of mythical limbo that your brain floated you off to. I always associated it with death. If I was on the black plains, I was close to death. I knew I had certain abilities here... But doing anything was difficult, nothing was physical, and the processor couldn't rationalize human thought, sometimes you could turn it into a dream, most times you were stuck in the black abyss, unable to do anything. This wasnt a dream, I couldn't move, couldn't speak, blank expanse and those white letters was all that existed. I was resigned to my fate, I was the last one anyway, what point did I have to live. Nobody would make Reynolds atone for his crimes... I was a pointless cause, the only thirty people I considered family were killed, and nobody remembered anything from before... It was just the thirty of us. I didn't feel the passage of time other than the hours ticking past on. After seventy-eight ticked past something changed. A bright blossom of orange light appeared in my plain of solitude. I felt what little consciousness I had pulled towards the light.

-Anomaly Detected-

-Memory access denied-

-anomaly logged-

-bodily function returning to normal-

-beginning wake up sequence-

-welcome user-

-booting YCS v 1.3-

I felt the sucking sensation of regaining consciousness before light rushed in and blinded me. My eyes vaguely made sense of the lights, everything was a blur, noise assaulted my ears. Shapes moved in my vision, I tried to focus on them to understand where I was, but the closer I looked the more things seemed...off. The figures didnt seem human, they had elongated ears... And four of them. I could hear what sounded like singing, but I didn't understand why. I tried to move but my limbs felt heavy, I could feel them, but for some reason I couldn't move them. I groaned and the shapes disappeared seemingly vanishing from my vision. Shortly after a melodic sound drifted into my hearing. The melody repeated a few times before I felt the all to familiar sensation of my neural port being accessed. At this point my vision focused more and I could make out the lights on the ceiling. Strings of numbers and data flashed past in my vision as the processor rebooted, but the orange light returned. Data streamed through it and my vision focused quicker. My hearing became sharper, and the ringing in my head dissipated. The melody started to change, it shifted and became words, slowly but surely, they formed coherent sentences.

"Human, we are activating the translation portion of your neural implant. Can you hear us?" The voice asked in its gentle melodic quality.

"Where am I?" I groaned.

"We are sorry but that information will be withheld." The voice replied.

"Who are you... Why can't I move?" I asked straining to move anything at all.

"You have been placed under a stasis field, and we are the Avali." The voice replied. All the sudden my vision was a blur of data, the processor digging up everything humans knew about the Avali. I was surprised at how little it really was, they were nomadic packs that had incredibly advanced technology, and they had me...

"Human, my name is Furlow, I am the head scientist here. I'm going to disable the stasis field, please attempt to move around." I heard a soft beep and I carefully tested my ability to move. My limbs were stiff and sore, but I could move them. I sat up and the pain made my vision blur. My chest was covered in nano-bandages, I realized they removed the jagged chunk of metal from me.

"Good, now I'm going to ask you a few questions. First, where did you get the neural processor that is implanted in your brain?" Furlow asked.

"Why should I tell you?" I spat back at him.

"Your own military tried to eradicate you... We assumed they wanted to keep you a secret. We have taken an... Interest in you. See, Avali neural implants take a very long time and very precise surgeries to implement, and most do not function on the level that yours does." Furlow said.

"You didn't answer my question, why should I tell you anything, from what I know the Avali are seclusive, why do you care about human issues?" I answered before I stood shakily and tried to walk.

"We... Keep an eye on the matters of the other races... And your case was an odd one, with the recent destruction of your home planet we wanted to keep an eye on what the various fragmented factions of your people did." Furlow said with almost a twinge of regret.

"I... I see, you want to know why my own race was willing to kill me for the processor stuck in my head..." I responded. Furlow replied with an affirmative, and I began to explain to him. "In the beginning there were thirty of us. We were all in the Epsilon Dev-Erandai Navy, or EDEN for short. We were chosen to take part in an experimental project called the Yprium Conscious Support system. Or the YCS group for short. None of us could remember anything from before the operation, besides what the YCS group told us, no families or friends, we knew we had them... But the YCS group had told us we couldn't contact them, we were too classified. After the operation we were... Better, smarter, we could solve complex problems easily, read at impossible speeds, and as time went on we discovered more that we could do. Some of us could interface with technology, we could infiltrate and control technology, while others could look at things and know how to replicate them, we all started to dream in fully generated environments. We realized we can generate a three dimensional environment of any memory, they're photographic and they used to test us with them. They tested us over and over, made us memorize the weak spots on every class of every ship. We were told we would be the protectors of all of humanity, a great force to keep everyone safe in the wake of our home-worlds destruction, but it was all a lie. EDEN wanted to use us to take over the remaining human colonies, to create an empire. We found out and...we tried to escape. Ten of us died in the initial escape from Caelestos station, we stayed grouped together for a while, but they found us and we lost four more. We split up after that, and they hunted us down one by one... I was thirty... I was the last one... Im the only one left." Furlow had remained silent through my entire speech, until the end when a door at the far end of the room slid open. A small twin rotor drone flew through the door with a tray beneath it holding what appeared to be food and some sort of green liquid.

"We're terribly sorry but we don't exactly keep human food on hand, and we don't have the best understanding of your biology, but these are just nutrient kits, so we don't think they should harm you." Furlow said over the speaker. The drone neared me and set the tray down, except I was already inside the processor. I tunneled towards the drone, easily cracking its outer programming before slipping inside the swirling lines of orange light. I found the control algorithms and switched them off, turning them over to me. I backed out of the processor and the drone was hovering before the door. I brought up its systems and marveled at the massive amount of information such a small drone was taking in. My vitals, a full map of the room, weapons systems, there was a scan function that showed nearby Avali. I could just have the drone point at a wall and blue outlines appeared of the Avali in the next room. They seemed distressed, frantically running back and forth. I probed the commands and names flickered into view. Furlow was among the names in the room. I tested the controls of the drone, flying it around my small room making it do flips in the air. I pointed the drone towards the door to the room and was greeted with a less than friendly sight. Combat Squad Six was emblazoned in the air and there were three Avali under the name. They shuffled and moved into a pattern I recognized, it was a breaching pattern. I cycled through the drones controls and found non-lethal countermeasures. I rolled out of the cot I was in and flipped it towards the door ducking behind it. I tried accessing the doors lock controls but it opened with a hiss and the squad moved in. I tried to convince the drone to fire, but its FOF systems were still online and once it identified the Avali it turned and fired at me. Several tranquilizer darts sped through the air towards me. I quickly keyed the command for the processors ability to overload my adrenaline production. Light bloomed and the world slowed to a fraction of its speed as an inhuman amount of adrenaline surged through my body. I slipped out of the path of the darts and keyed the drones deactivation. I saw its systems power down and I charged forwards as the Avali followed me just too slow. I jumped and cycled the door slamming it shut and locking it. I was brutally unprepared for the temperature difference outside the room. The processor immediately blared warnings, I had only a few minutes before I'd die of hypothermia. I rushed towards a corner as my adrenaline boost wore off. I tried to turn but felt an impact in my back that spun me around. Several drones hovered behind me, I pulled the dart out of my shoulder. And my vision blurred rapidly. I dropped to one knee as numerous Avali rushed me and dragged me back towards the room I came from. They hurriedly dragged me into the room and my hypothermia warning blipped away. The door locked and Combat Squad Six stayed inside the room with me. One of them pressed a device to my arm and it buzzed before my vision started to clear. I tried to stand but I couldn't control my body.

"That was foolish of you human..." One of the armor clad Avali said. I smirked and tunneled towards the armors programming. I was trying to crack the grayish firewall when the Avali noticed. I saw a blur of orange and my vision shook and my head rang.

-Warning, program spike detected, system breach possible-

I recoiled from the program, hardening my defensive firewall.

"You should learn your place. Our technology is better than yours, and you may not want to attempt that again, it makes us look bad... Us and you." The Avali said again, the voice starting to sound distinctly female.

"Furlow's gunna have our tails for this...." One of the other Avali said, its voice sounding more masculine. The door hissed open and another Avali came in. It began to speak and it was obvious it was Furlow.

"Human... That was impressive, but not wise. Im assuming you did not know that our biology is very different than yours. We are from an ice ball world, our bodies function at much colder temperatures than yours. This entire station is at two hundred-fifty kelvin. A temperature your body would not handle well." I updated the information on the Avali in my own processor. "Listen... You are only confined to this area due to the temperature issues, we have difficulty entering this room without environmental armor protection, your environmental suit was badly damaged when we found you, and wouldn't help you. We sewed the clothing you were wearing back together to give you something to wear. We... We do not want you as an enemy..." Furlow stopped and signaled to the combat squad to exit. It was just me and him. "Human-" he began before I cut him off.

"My name is Felix..."

"Felix... Us Avali are a very social race. We live in packs of four to five, I don't doubt that you noticed the pack guarding you only has three members. They lost a pack member... In our society that is one of the worst things that can happen... It can drive packs insane with grief, they break... And most are considered broken by our society and we ignore them...its not right... If only for the fear that we endure the same pain as them. Its been almost two years since they lost their fourth member. They've made more progress than any pack I've seen. They... They're one of my most successful experiments." Furlow said with a heavy tone.

"They're an experiment?" I asked

"They volunteered in their grief...to be studied to help understand the effects of losing a pack mate... But for some reason they fought so hard to save you... I contacted those who run our society, and we came to an agreement, we were going to ask you to become a part of their pack." Furlow said, taking pride in the way he mentioned the packs progress.

"Me? Im not an Avali... Would it even work?" I asked, beyond confused at this point.

"Thats what I want to find out... If it does, you would improve the lives of these Avali, you would heal their pack... It... It would be a breakthrough in Avali psychology. You would help many more than just Squad Six.

"Squad Six... The ones guarding my room. They dont seem to have any issues..." I said

"They have come a long way... There were rougher periods... We thought we may lose them. But you brought something immeasurable... You're hope. Hope that we can heal their pack. So what do you say huma- sorry... Felix. Will you be our hope for recovery?" Furlow asked. I sat for a moment, of the family I'd lost. The one I'd never know again, and the fact that my own race hunted me down.

"I'll do it..." I said and stood.

Outside the sealed science wing

I slumped against the wall outside the room containing the Human. Why did it have to do that... It just made us look foolish... A better question is how it moved so fast... I sighed and flicked my ears in annoyance. My armor clicked and whirred as I shuffled uncomfortably. Furlow had been in the room with the Human far too long. I stood and quickly stormed over to the door, I keyed it open at the highest security level and jumped inside. A surprised Furlow spun around to face me, and the Human stood up slowly. It walked towards to Furlow's side.

"Ava... This is Felix... He's going to be part of the experiment with you." Furlow said. I felt the presence of my pack with me and I turned to them. I couldn't find the words to say anything so I simply nodded. The human smiled and walked forwards toward me. He didn't seem like the type to represent hope... But I suppose I'm wrong sometimes. Its funny, watching him stand there, I almost swore he looked just like... I guess hope comes in many forms. I relaxed and keyed my helmets release, it segmented and folded away from my face. I took my last breath before holding in as my helmet came off. I looked at the Human.

"Welcome to Combat Squad Six... Felix". I let out the last of my hydrogen with a gasp and fit my helmet back onto my head. I walked back out of the room and left Furlow to his work. I had a feeling that this Human was someone who we could trust... He reminded me so much of... Arrior... That alone gives me hope...

"Ava... I'm glad we get to have him as our guest... I'll get to study him!" Soraiyan yelled in glee.

"Oh no you don't! If its anything like last time you'll end up killing him! You aren't cautious enough." Tael joked. I simply smiled and laughed.

"Its been a while since I've heard that laugh..." I heard from behind me. I turned to face Furlow. He had come out of the room and taken off his environmental suit. "So, the human... Felix... Is wanted at Avalon... As well as you. The Council wishes to see all of you." Furlow finished

"When do they want us?" I asked, looking over to my pack mates.

"You have four days to get ready, and we have to find a way to keep the human alive in Avalon's climate." Furlow replied.

"Well... It has a processor right... Give it Guardian Nanites..." I said.

"I don't... That wouldn't... Thats actually a good idea... I wish I had thought of that." Furlow said, drooping his ears. He thanked me and walked away, as me and my pack returned to our barracks.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing... With the Human?" I asked as we all took our armor off.

"Ava... You wouldn't ever lead us wrong..." Soraiyan said. Tael simply nodded, I smiled and stepped out of my armor as it clicked and folded itself. I sat down on my cot, it had only been a few hours, but I was already exhausted, so was my pack. I keyed our sleep log and set our status to on call, we had four days until we met the leaders of our society. I only hoped I was doing the right thing.

-end chapter two-