Chapter 14: Rescue

The monstrosity leering down at me paused, and its eyes softened before it snapped its hand shut. Silas had cut the restraints from the jacket, causing me to fall to the ground in a heap. Shakily, I grabbed one of the talons and used it to pull myself to my feet.

Try not to think about it too much… Like how I know this is Silas, not some random monster! What the hell!?

My senses were slowly returning to me as things calmed down, and I could hear a few distant shouts along with a blaring siren.

“HMM.” The monster snorted and tilted its head at me.

…I don’t speak Monster. Did Eira speak monster?

“I, I don’t know what’s going on. It’s... You’re Silas, right? That, That doesn’t matter! Michael knows you’re coming; he was counting on it!”

There wasn’t time to explain everything, and seeing him now, I wasn’t sure how that would work out. When he heard my question about his identity, the monster froze. Then, it shook itself and lowered its shoulders. The implicit message was straightforward; “Get on,” he was saying.

Oh boy, this is going to suck.

The remains of the crash and further damage from Silas ripping one of the walls apart to get to me made the footing extremely treacherous. But before getting out of there, there was something I wanted to do. Quickly patting myself down, I confirmed that my lightsaber and earpiece were missing. That was not unexpected. Surprisingly, it felt like my clothes were still under the straight jacket.

A quick look around the cell confirmed there was no place where the stolen items could have been kept.

Losing those is a bit of a pain, but it isn’t like I can expect them to leave them behind for me. Oh well, I’ll find replacements somewhere—time to go.

Carefully, I walked over to him and grasped one of his arms. Then, using it as a handle, I climbed up, so I was being carried piggyback, “All right, let’s go. Before anyone…”

My voice caught in my throat when Silas turned around and exited the hole in the wall.

What the hell did he do…?

The sounds had made it somewhat evident what had occurred but seeing it directly painted an entirely different picture. We were in some sort of parking garage thing with several dozen vehicles. At the far end, a large opening in the wall was outlined by a soft yellow glow. A few buildings were visible through the portal, only much larger and more immediate than they had been from the elevator in the cult’s building. What wasn’t visible was the street; it appeared that the opening was to a sheer drop.

I can’t say how long I was unconscious, but it doesn’t look like I’ve left Corgas.

The vehicles in the garage were different from any I was familiar with. Some were like the one we were exiting; large and bulky. Others were smaller and gave off a similar impression to a sports car. A few smaller bulky ones had very obvious guns mounted on them. The one thing they all had in common was that none had wheels. Or any visible means of locomotion that I could spot. And all of the ones nearby us had been damaged or outright destroyed.

So, they fly then. So, that explains the lack of street, and I did see flying cars as well.

I might have been a bit more excited if not for the other assault on my senses and the immediate danger we were in. The air was pungent with the smell of burning electronics and thick with black, tar-like smoke. Though the former seemed to be getting drawn toward vents near the ceiling.

I knew my transport was forced down, but what the hell is this…? And that… that’s a hand poking out from that one.

There was even a bit of blood dripping down the fingers, forming a small pool on the floor. It was graphic, and I felt bile rising in my throat.

I, I don’t think that… is this Eira? Timothy wouldn’t have been bothered by something like this. I mean, it sucks that people died, but…

“There…! Fucking demon! Command, we nee-” Whatever the unfortunate man staggering out of the smoke was about to say was cut off. Silas had leaped the nearly thirty feet in a single jarring bound and torn his head off his shoulders. My head cooled off instantly at sight.

Right, that insignia on his uniform; Refletech. So he works for them then.

“Silas, you do have a plan, right?”

He swiveled his head around enough to fix one of his eyes on me. The look it was giving seemed to imply a sort of incredulous scandal.

Of course, he doesn’t have a plan.

It was beyond me now to wonder how I knew that; Eira knew, and somehow that knowledge had made its way to me. A sort of instinct.

Well, not much I can do about it now. I don’t have my weapon, and I don’t know where the hell I am.

To my surprise, we did not move toward any of the vehicles. Instead, we headed toward the opening of the wall.

Wait, no, really? That’s…!

A moment later, he charged toward it.

“Wait! What the hell are you-!” As we passed the area illuminated by the yellow light, I felt a strange tingling over my skin as though passing through a field of static electricity. A moment later, there was an abnormal pressure. If not for the fact that I had been in the process of screaming, I might have died. Instead, there was enough presence of mind to empty my lungs fully. Then, there was nothing. We were falling, but there was no sound. No wind and no air.

I, I can’t breathe!

A few seconds passed in complete silence as we fell, and my vision began to turn hazy. A few seconds longer, I was on the verge of unconsciousness. Then, all at once, it felt like my head had been ducked into ice water.

“IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?” An unfamiliar woman’s voice screamed something, but I was too delirious to make it out. Then the world shook.

“DAMNIT! Eira, are you ok? Fuck!”

There was a sharp prick in my chest, and my focus rapidly began to return. A woman was hovering over me, holding a large needle that she had, evidently, just stabbed me with. There was a sensation of motion as well, indicating that we were in one of those flying car things.

“Focus! Eira, are you there?”

Groggily, I tried to sit up and nodded.

“No, don’t sit up. Fuckin’ dumbass dragged you through decom. I’ll get you somewhere safe, but promise me you’ll yell at him, all right?”

So… I know her? Well, Eira knows her. But, damnit, it sounds like they were close…

This would be a bitter conversation, but it would have to wait now. I nodded slightly and slumped back. My muscles felt sore, so her instruction was rather agreeable.

That was vacuum exposure, wasn’t it? She called it “decom,” so decompression. It’s a damn good thing I had been yelling before going through that barrier! Fucking hell, Silas nearly killed me!

The barrier itself was one thing, but the revelation that we were surrounded by a vacuum was entirely different.

Then, if I assume that I AM still in the city, that means the city is in a vacuum. Everything is located centrally in that building, not just to control people but also because it’s more of a hassle to leave in general… But, this is the future, or an alternate world or whatever, the scale of technology to build a city in space… What in the world is going on….?

My assumptions about what was going on had been, once again, thrown off. Still, it looked like I had gotten away from the cult, even if things were messier than I would have liked.

So, Silas probably knew this woman was out here and left me in her vehicle before departing. To the casual observer, it would look like he just landed on the car and then jumped off again… Not a bad plan, except for the fucking space walk part.

And the part where we aren’t dealing with a casual observer.

The blood drained from my face, and I sat up with a jolt. That woman, who had been attending me, was now sitting in the vehicle’s driver seat, “Floor it! He won’t have gotten their attention for long!”

The woman looked back at me wide-eyed, but seeing the expression on my face, she didn’t question anything and accelerated. Not a moment too soon, as two vehicles broke from the lane to our left and right on an intercept course. They were dull, muted colors and of a model that seemed to blend in with the other vehicles around them, but there was no doubt in my mind that these were being piloted by Refletech agents.

And it seemed the woman agreed because she shot a fearful, incredulous look at them, “I highly doubt we’ll be able to outrun those in this… Damnit, Silas! I fucking told you that it was a trap! Well, do you have any ideas?”

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Do I have any…? No. Frankly, I have no idea what the hell is going on.

“No. Nothing. I barely remember Silas, and I don’t remember you at all! And, no shit, it was a trap!”

Her face instantly contorted, but not from anger. Instead, “You, I see. But, then, he must have known… All right, let’s see what I can do.” Her voice caught a bit, “I recommend you fasten your crash harness. It’s the yellow pull tab.”

Following her advice, I located the yellow bit sticking out of the side of the backseat. After situating myself, I pulled it. A harness swung down and secured me in place; no sooner had it finished than the woman dropped us into a nose-dive. Any pretense of following any semblance of traffic law was utterly abandoned. Looking out the back window, I could see our two pursuers immediately dive in pursuit.

Ahead of us, visible through the viewscreen, the ground was swiftly rushing up. Well, “ground” was a nominative word. Instead, it was more like a sheet of metal, the outer hull of whatever passed as the superstructure of this place. A moment later, warnings began to blare inside the cabin of our vehicle.

“Hold on! This isn’t going to be pretty!” Several panels slid open on the surface as if in response, revealing what looked like guns. They swiveled around in a rather worrying direction until they faced us and began tracking our descent. Then, they stopped.

“Fuck! …Ok, plan C!” The woman’s exclamation touched something of a nerve.

“That, that was a plan!? Getting us shot down!?”

“Well, I never said it was a good plan; I can’t improvise as Silas does. Now, I suggest you hold to something!” She flashed me a frighting smile with a mad glint in her eye.

We pulled up hard, and I felt myself getting sucked into my seat. Half fighting against and half following the pull of inertia, my head rotated around to see out the back window. Neither of the cars pursuing us had trouble making their own course adjustment. Then, our engine cut out as well as both the interior and exterior lights.

For a moment, I panicked slightly.

The guns as well… Did Refletech do something to the system?

But my driver seemed to have everything under control; she wasn’t panicking. Then, it sunk in what was going on. We were in a vacuum. There appeared to be gravity inside the buildings, so during my brief spacewalk, I assumed I was falling. But that wasn’t the case. It had just been inertia; Silas had jumped out of the opening. Then, outside the buildings, there was no gravity, only inertia. Further confounding my senses was the presence of gravity inside the vehicle. But if the technology for it was small enough, why couldn’t there be?

If we coast only on our inertia, it leaves her free to make adjustments with maneuvering thrusters…

Sure enough, we were rotating around until we were facing one of the approaching cars. Facing it head-on.

“Put this on.” With a start, I realized she was offering me a mask.

“No, you’re not going to….”

She grinned from behind her own mask. I snatched the one she was offering and scrambled to affix it to my face. It wouldn’t protect my body from the effects of prolonged exposure, but it would allow me to stay active a bit longer. As soon as it was on, we accelerated.

It was surreal, in a way; to ram them, we had to cancel our own momentum in the opposite direction. It made for a fascinating spectacle where they first went from hanging in midair to slowly approaching and finally to swiftly approaching. The other vehicle promptly figured out what we were about to do and tried to evade. But at the speeds we were moving, any change in vector would not be able to avoid a collision in the time it took to close the distance.

For her part, my driver elected to maintain her course and allow them to take evasive measures. There was another cacophony of screaming metal, then complete silence. The only difference between this and my last exposure to a vacuum was that I could hear my breathing this time.

Spinning. The surrounding buildings were a whirl of lights; if I was not so utterly terrified, I might have thought that it looked rather pretty. That said, I had no idea what the flying fuck plan was, and my vision was beginning to go dark again. Then, a sudden jolt tore me from the ship at large, and between spins, I could see it pulling further and further away from me.

What the fuck!?

A synthetic voice sounded in my ear, “Emergency ejection triggered. Stand by for rescue.”

Then, my consciousness faded for the third time today.

I woke up slowly and with a throbbing headache.

…I think I might have been better off with the cult… Ugh! What happened?

Very carefully, to avoid aggravating anything, I began to take in my surroundings. It appeared that, against seemingly all odds, I was in a hospital or infirmary. At least, there was what looked like medical equipment stuck to the walls and an IV in my arm. The room was a double, and the other bed was occupied by… that woman. She had her arm in a cast but was otherwise seemingly unharmed.

How!? I think my being a demon might have helped in my case, but how the fuck did she only break an arm!?

“…Eira. Silas stepped out for a bit; he’ll be back soon. Glad to see you’re awake.”

And she’s conscious as well!?

“…Yea, you as well….”

There was a bit of mirth in her voice, “You’re wondering how I survived that, aren’t you? Oof, it hurts to smile.” Then, after a short pause, “That makes sense, given you don’t remember me… Don’t worry; you can help it.”

Her voice had taken on a bit of a bitter tone, making me doubt that she really didn’t blame me, “Well, I’m Adeline, and we’ve known each other for our whole lives… And I’m still conscious right now because I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to; the synaptic regulator makes sure of that.”

Synaptic what…?

Then I saw it; her arm wasn’t actually in a cast. What I had assumed was white plaster was, in fact, some form of artificial material. Her arm was a prosthesis and a relatively advanced one by the looks of how all the little moving bits interacted.

She’s an Aug.

Adeline sat up in her bed and flexed the arm at me, “Well, no need to silently stare; what do you think? I got it for you after all."

“…Does it hurt?” My question was rather childish, but at the moment, it was all I could think of saying.

For me? Then, in that crash, she lost her arm…

My thought trailed off. Strangely, I felt genuinely guilty about that, despite never feeling anything for anyone except myself since I woke up in this body. For Adeline, I felt guilty.

Is it because it was something she did specifically for me? Or is it because Eira’s feelings were still strong enough to influence my own despite not being strong enough to remember her?

“Ha! No, the pain regulators make sure of that. Damned things won’t block pain below a certain threshold, though, so in a way, I guess it hurts like a bitch? What about you…? I… I only sort of know what’s going on with you. Silas won’t say much… But you got decamped twice in one day, knocked out twice, and it only took you a few hours to wake up… Eira, the fuck did they do to you?”

I fell silent then and took a moment to consider how to answer.

Silas, I can trust him. I know that instinctively, but as much as I care about Adeline… I don’t have that same inclination…

“I don’t want to talk about it more than I have to; can you wait until I tell Silas?”

Her eyes widened, “I thought you would want to speak alone with him… Then, not only me but also…?”

Gritting my teeth, I nodded, “I know his name, and we were a couple at one point, but beyond that….”

Adeline fell silent as my words sunk in.

-Shwing!- The door hissed open, and a young man appearing to be in his early twenties entered the room. He had black hair like mine and a slight but well-toned frame. Beyond that, his most striking features were his eyes and his ears. His eyes were a strange pink shade, and his ears were gently pointed at the tips.

Despite having never seen him before, I recognized him instantly.

Silas. Then, he’s a shifter type, like me.