Chapter 170: 172: Meeting of The Resistance

One by one, other figures flickered into life thanks to the hologrid. 

I was surprised by how realistic it all looked. 

Of course, I had been in some pretty realistic holo-simulations since I had been transported to this universe. 

Heck, I had fought in them, and they had been brilliant. 

However, they had also been powered by manna in some way. They didn't just rely on technology to work as these did. 

In other words, I was being blown away by the ingenuity on display here, and it made me wish that the humans I had encountered so far in this universe hadn't all been marauding madmen.

There were five people who had appeared throughout the hologram, and all seemed incredibly different from one another.

One was short, his jaw had been replaced by metal that seemed to leave his face in a permanent grimace. 

Another was tall, impossibly tall, and was more muscly than any man I had ever seen before. I wasn't sure how, but I knew they had to be fake somehow. 

Another of the people joining the holographic call wasn't human at all, they were an alien. In fact, they were an alien that I had seen for years throughout various forms of pop culture of the years, with a small and skinny body paired with a large bulbous domed head. A grey. 

The fourth newcomer was… difficult to get a read on. Their head hung low, and a cowboy-style hat was pushed down over their brow. Out from underneath the hat, two pink eyes blazed brightly. Other than that I couldn't really see anything from them, but something about that gaze was… familiar. 

The final person was another young woman, well that or they were a child. Once more it was hard to tell. Their features looked youthful, far too youthful to be natural. 

"The meeting of the Undercity Uprising has commenced," came the grating voice of the short figure whose jaw had been replaced by metal, that replacement clearly went down to their voice box and throat. 

"I would like to bring up our first piece of business for the day," the woman who had brought me to the Ice Box said, stepping up next to me and resting a hand on my shoulder. 

"I thought you might," The short one replied, his voice grating in a way that almost made him sound amused. "Who is this newcomer that you have brought so abruptly before us, Tessa?"

The woman, who I now finally knew was named Tessa, gave my shoulder a light squeeze, "This is… Actually, haven't asked his name yet, but that's beside the point. He came from the topside tonight, outran two dranes on the way down, and claims he's here to help kickstart a revolution. He gave… a pretty crazy story to the drane who runs the dranes arms up on the high street in my area." 

The short guy who had spoke before narrowed his eyes in my direction, "A topsider with a crazy story, eh? Finally had enough of supping on those who are lower down than you, have you?" 

It took me a moment to realise what I was being accused of. 

"Oh, hey no, you're getting the wrong end of the stick here," I blabbered, trying to rescue what already felt like an opportunity slipping through my fingers, "I came from the topside, sure, but I'm no topsider. I actually came from… outside the star system. Crash-landed on the surface moments before the starstorm." 

That caused the short guy to narrow his eyes even further. I was half certain that he was trying to scan me, and if that were the case he was probably getting some pretty anomalous results from whatever device he was using to record his data. 

Right now his scanning instruments, depending on how good they were, would be detecting a colossal build-up of energy that this galaxy had never ever encountered before. 

If I were a cautious, paranoid territory owner on a world where me and my kind were constantly being pushed down into the dirt, that was the sort of thing that would immediately have my suspicious raised. 

"And how did you manage to survive the starstorm if that is the case?" He asked, to the approving grunts and jeers of the others who were in the holo-call. The only one that stayed silent was the one with the glowing pink eyes. 

"A human working in the security station let us in at the very last moment. If not for him, we would likely be dead," I explained, to which he nodded slowly. 

I chose that moment to continue my story. Explaining that I had in fact crash-landed while trying to get somewhere else entirely, I explained the situation away by claiming that our navigation had failed while we were travelling faster than light.

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I also told them that, back where I had come from, I was the sort of person who tried to look out for the little guy, a leader of many who protected even more. 

That seemed to interest the group a lot. 

"It is unusual to hear of humans from outside of this system living hand in hand with alien lif forms," The grey spoke up, their long fingers steepled under their chin, "My mind detects a great many half truths within your story, but no lies as such. I would accept your assistance in matters." 

I nodded, respectfully, toward the Grey. It felt like a solid step of forward momentum. 

"If Dalask would accept Jacob's help, then so would I," the tall man agreed, it felt like the tides were changing in my favour. The suspicion that had been levied against me from the start of the meeting, however valid, was starting to drip away. 

"And well, you already know my opinion," Tessa said from my side, giving me a grin from the side, it was infectious and I couldn't help grinning back at her, "Which makes things a 50/50 split so far, unless someone else wants to accept some much needed help over here." 

"I dunno, guy looks shifty," The girl with the pink glowing eyes said in a voice that made my blood run cold and my hair stand up straight on its ends. 

<But that's not possible,> BB hissed from the back of my mind, <She died. We know she died. And even if she didn't die, why on Prespia would she be here?>

"Actually, looks like someone I might have known in a past life, a long way away from here," The voice continued, those pink eyes flashing menacingly. 

It couldn't be. 

But it was. 

But it was impossible. 

But it was happening. 

The voice, a voice I had never expected to hear again, not in a million years. It was the voice of Lara. The girl who had destroyed Prespian city. The girl I thought I had failed to save. The girl who went insane and killed both herself and her own father. 

Or so I had thought. 

<There are theories about singularities and their interactions with manna,> BB stammered, something rare for the AI to do, <They say that, if the conditions are just right and the manna used is perfectly in tune with the frequency of the singularity… it can become a spatial cannon, launching whoever is nearby to somewhere else in the universe.>

It looked like that theory held a lot of weight. Though why the girl's eyes were suddenly glowing pink instead of the green that they had been the first time we had crossed paths was beyond me entirely. 

Whether it was due to body modification or some reaction to the arcane space cannon she had crafted out of a black hole, Lara had changed completely. 

<Hard to get a read on her through a holographic display, but… she feels different, spooky,> BB said, <Stronger than she was before, definitely stronger, and definitely stronger than you. We'll have to figure out what she's doing here… and hope that she's no where near us.>

But that wasn't what I was hoping. It wasn't what I was hoping at all. Because a thought was percolating in my head and it was making more and more sense the more that I thought about it. 

All of a sudden, I didn't think that I'd been dragged half way across the universe for Dan the human from my own universe at all. Why would this universe and my powers care about anything like that? 

No. 

I was beginning to think that the real reason my powers had dragged me out here was to deal with her, and whatever she was planning. Because whatever it was, it wouldn't be good, and it would likely lead to the deaths of very many people, both on this world and likely very far beyond it. 

I wasn't about to let that happen. 

"You would say something like that, wouldn't you… Lara," I said, venom on my tongue.

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