“What level was the facility on again?” asked Charles.

“Sector Six,” said Francis. “If we can find one, a maintenance lift should take us down to that level.”

The group of four pressed on and used their wrist-mounted torches to more easily spot anyone approaching them. The decline proved steep, and it was difficult to maintain an even footing as large chunks of rock and dirt dislodged underfoot. For Anya, moving the bulky suit looked strenuous for her. She had likely never experienced beyond the Mars Traffic Control.

“Remember not to be wasteful with your breath,” said Echo.

“I know, I’ve just never been stuck in one of these suits for this long. They are hard to see in.”

“It won’t be for too long, once we reach the facility. It’s a matter of finding a teleporter back to Earth. Isn’t that right? Francis,” Echo said through suit comms so that everyone more easily heard her.

“Yeah, shouldn’t take too long for us to get there.

Francis switched to a private channel for him and Charles to discuss something briefly. “What are the chances this gate takes us home?”

“No idea, it’s a shot in the dark.”

“I gathered. Maybe we should hope Pytor makes it back to us. Since he shared a mind with Savin. It’s not unlikely he can program the gate.”

“We’ll just have to make do, Frank. Nothing is certain.”

“I know,” he said before switching back to the channel used by the others.

Despite expecting heavy resistance, so far they had encountered no Mortan or stray miner. Francis wanted to believe they were also just elsewhere, but he hadn’t forgotten about Cain. He was sure the former Security Chief would be waiting for them, but how many Mortans were with him, Francis had no clue. They reached the maintenance elevator and used the nearby oxygen refill station to boost the supply in their packs. Francis opened the mesh gate, and once everyone was in, he closed it before pressing the button that would take them down. The cool, sterile air circulating his face was the only pleasant thing he was experiencing as the elevator descended slowly towards their intended sector. It’ll be him or us when the time comes. Francis weighed up the possibility of simply being a distraction for the others to make a beeline for the facility.

“Not happening,” said Charles.

“What’s not happening?” asked Echo.

“Francis doesn’t understand. I’ve known him long enough to tell when he’s thinking about doing something stupid.”

“I wasn’t thinking about anything, though.”

“I can guarantee you just weighed up the idea of using yourself as bait.”

“It’s my duty to get you people home.”

“That includes you!” Charles declared, slapping the man on the back. “I’ll drag you through the gate myself if I have to. We’re not leaving you behind.”

The elevator stopped, and the group disembarked. Francis raised his plasma rifle and mentally prepared himself to face whatever came next. He remembered this part of the descent, and soon enough, they reached the location of the drill vehicle. Still in place, staring at the breach it had made. The only difference now was the presence of Cain and other Mortans obstructing them.

“There need not be a fight,” said Cain. “Surrender, and I promise your conversion will be painless.”

“Not happening, Cain. We’re leaving.”

“Wrong answer.”

That was the signal. Mortans launched themselves at the group, disappearing into the aether, leaving behind ripples in space. When they emerged, Francis would have to time his movements perfectly. The first Mortan appeared close to him, and over its clenched fist was an extended energy blade that it drove towards him. Francis moved out of its range and focused fire on the creature’s centre. Super-hot plasma burned through the monster’s chest, slowing it down. The others tried to emulate his movements, waiting for reemergence. Charles blew off one monster’s head as it returned to the real. Echo and Anya worked together to destroy one monster’s limbs. It was not enough; it pushed through whatever pain it felt and shoved Echo aside and pinned down Anya. A long brown claw penetrated her suit and body. She cried out as Echo barely had time to plant some well-placed shots into its back, damaging the symbiote within. She finished it by stamping through the creature’s chest, crushing the symbiote under her boot before it could heal. While Charles and Francis continued to fight. Echo remained at Anya’s side. There would be no way to seal the breach in her suit; she could only watch as Anya took her last few gasping breaths before fading completely.

Francis watched the Mortan phase as it tried to get behind him. He saw it coming, spun and fired a shot through the Mortan after it emerged from its blink and before it could bring down its energy blade. It staggered back and fell to the floor. Now it was just them and Cain.

“You’ve lost, Cain. Now move aside. I know you’re still in there. You don’t have to fight for Savin.”

“You don’t understand. There is no Cain. No Savin - “ the man’s voice was distorted by the monster that had taken over his body. “There is only Truth. Only Truth!”

There was nowhere for Francis to go. Cain launched himself at him, a long aether blade burst forth from his fist, and Francis knew there and then, if he was to go out. He would make sure to drag Cain with him.

She was back but not in the driving seat. To describe her current state would be to say she was having an out-of-body experience. She could observe Likhoy’s actions but not intervene. She was at its mercy. It said it would protect me. It’s not even about trust at this point. I can only observe and hope that somehow, someway. I can wrestle back the reins before my mind succumbs fully to this monster. She was just thankful that none of the other Mortans present hadn’t tried to kill her, but since Savin was in all their heads, she didn’t doubt he would be able to effortlessly coordinate the horde to not cause problems down the line. That meant she was still nearby Derrick, who also appeared to find clarity. She wondered how far the rest of the Black Knights had gone. They are probably already in the mine. I would reunite with them, but Likhoy answers to Savin now. If I cross them again, it might not be as a friend.

“Melina, is that you?”

“I’m still here, Derrick, but you’ve also been a task. A test of loyalty to the Great Mind, if you will.”

It’s using my voice! Melina could not help but feel repulsed by the monster speaking through her, and seeing through her own eyes, she could only watch as Likhoy engaged the energy blade.

“I hoped we wouldn’t need to do this. Wouldn’t Savin prefer us to fight together?”

Perhaps his hold over the Mortans isn’t as foolproof as he thinks. Maybe he’s afraid some will regain their independence. Maybe there’s a chance I can wrestle back control.

<Don’t be silly. Truthfully, I chose to let you retain some level of consciousness. I need your memories. I need as much of you as possible for when I catch up to your friends.>

The realisation in his words had her speechless as the Mortan, now controlling her, charged at Derrick. The man held his ground and blocked with his own aether blade. Electricity sparked off them as the two clashed. She barely even noticed the horde continuing onwards. No doubt, Savin was directing all efforts to stop what remained of the Black Knight squad.

“Melina, if you’re still in there. I need you stop this. We gain nothing from fighting!”

<Ignore his pleas. It’s a trick. Let me finish this, Melina. Let me keep you safe.>

It wasn’t like she could stop him even if she wanted to. Likhoy phased passing through the Other Side and appearing behind a staggered Derrick. His fledgling symbiote lacked the experience of Likhoy. That would be its weakness. Likhoy slashed down, making short work of Derrick’s back. The sound of flesh fizzling followed as the man’s body parted and slid to the floor. Not taking any chances. Likhoy already knew it needed to destroy what might have remained of the symbiote. Even if it had been reduced once more to its liquid state.

Before the Mortan could finally follow in the footsteps of the others, another pair of footsteps stopped him and looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of a more friendly face.

‘Are you going to kill Pyotr, too?’

<Don’t be silly, Savin likes this one.>

‘I’m not even going to question his wants anymore.’

<Probably for the best.>

Pyotr also had something larger beside him. The Berserker from before. The two had found an understanding within the vast hive mind of the Mortalis. He took one look at the dead body of Derrick and nodded. “He had it coming. Now we should get going, don’t want Cain to have all the glory now, do we!”

“Thank you for finally seeing sense,” said Savin, stepping out of the darkness. Somehow, each of his steps caused the dark liquid beneath his feet to ripple outward.

No, it can’t have. It had resisted before; what changed?

“It simply understands that it’s pointless to resist Truth. That going into that mine to join your friends is suicide. And that right now, its one goal is self-preservation.”

“It also benefits you, Melina. It means I can protect your fragile body. You can’t sense their presence, but we are surrounded by the horde. It watches, waiting for us to wake up.”

“Let me guess if I don’t surrender my will…”

“We die. I’m sorry. I had no other choice.”

“So all that crap about us valuing our freedom and not allowing ourselves to succumb like other Mortans. Was that a lie?”

Savin shook his head and laughed so loudly that it sounded deafening both in his mind and to her ear. “Likhoy genuinely cares about you. Which is more than can be said for most host and symbiote relationships. You have a unique connection with your symbiote that it almost hurts to ruin.”

“So that’s it then. Likhoy suppresses me and seizes my body.”

“Yes, as you can see, the Aether amplifies his psychic ability so much so that you are little more than an ant to him. You cannot resist him like this. To do so would kill you both once you wake up.”

“And once we wake, what then?” Melina managed to ask despite the tendrils now wrapping around her throat. For an illusion, this feels awfully real. It felt like rubber as it also constricted across her chest.

“I want your symbiote to prove it is loyal to me. Kill Derrick and Pytor. Then you will deal with your troublesome friends.”

She badly wanted to scream no, but the building pressure on her forehead made it hard to see Savin, as he blurred in and out of focus.

<I will do as is asked. And after that, we will destroy the Black Knights.>

She fought the bile building in her throat. This can’t be happening… Melina felt the ground beneath her become slippery as she fought desperately to maintain some control. It proved futile as she fell further into Likhoy’s embrace, so much so that she couldn’t even see Savin any more. All that remained was inpenetrable darkness and Likhoy’s suffocating presence.

Oval-shaped eyes with red pupils now hovered next to her. Even in this illusory existence, she felt her Symbiote’s hot breath on her neck.

‘Likhoy… please don’t give in to him.’

<I still meant it when I said I would protect you. We will see this through to the end, and no one will stand in our way. Not you, not your old friends and I refuse to let us die here. This was the only way this was going to end. I hope, Melina, you can forgive me for what I must do if it means we get to survive.>

‘Likhoy…’ she gasped finally before falling further into her subconscious.

---

They were back at the wake in the empty church nave. He was where he had been seated at the time, while across the aisle from him, tall and gangly sat Savin. The open casket that put him in this mess sat in front of him. The alien’s mandibles clicked together while the only other thing to break the silence was Pyotr’s heavy breathing. Back here again… All this is because of my curiosity.

“You might as well kill me, it’s not like I can fight back whilst here. Just have the Berserker finish me off, Savin,” Pyotr spat the alien’s name with enough venom on his tongue that Savin appeared to shudder where they sat.

Savin lowered his head, mimicking the human act of paying respect. “My people spent centuries mapping star systems, studying other cultures, and exploring metaphysics in the hopes of both being galaxy-spanning guardians and perhaps achieving a means to transcend this universe. We hoped to nurture and uplift those who would later succeed us.”

“I think that got away from you.”

“Yes, it did. The Directorate in the beginning were fair and benign, but the Domain that rose out of that is the entire reason we are here now. If it were up to some, we would have been far more intrusive with our study of humanity, but as all great scientists know, you can’t rush perfection. You needed to be ready. Uplifted too soon, and you would be useless against our enemies.

A good example would be who we were at war with. The Kaskari were a product of our own making. We exploited their psionic power until something finally caused them to snap. They ruthlessly chased us from one corner of the galaxy to the other. Little did they know that we would get the last laugh. That as the Degradation claimed us, we would pay them back in kind and offer them the most uncomfortable truths.”

“Surely you aren’t just here for a history lesson,” said Pytor, not caring for whatever profound point Savin was trying to make.

“No, that story serves as a warning to others. The Nirikiri and Mortalis are two sides of the same coin. You can resist us all you want, but eventually you will fall. Even as dust, we survive.”

“Cut to the chase, Savin, what do you want from me exactly?”

Savin’s attention appeared to be focused on the church’s stained glass windows. “Your faith and loyalty. You are one of his children now; it is pointless to hide from his gaze. To assume you are still just human. We’re both monsters. It’s about time you embraced that truth, Pytor.”

“No, as long as I am still me, I will never become the monster you want me to be.”

Savin folded their arms. “Fine, I guess you will just have to be brought into the fold by force. I derive no pleasure in forcing it to do this to you. Just think of it as a long sleep.”

Pytor heard the great oak doors of the church creak open, and heavy footsteps followed. He kept his eyes ahead of him, only just catching the long, stretching shadow of the figure that now loomed over him. He knew what it was. He felt his stomach, a sharp pain stabbed him for the trouble, and he stood up to face the monster that had been born within him. It was truly massive, with broad muscular shoulders and brown skin. At the end of its thick, long arms were claws that could tear him asunder.

“You won’t stop them, Savin. Francis and the others. They will make it off this planet. Mark my words. And all you will have is a tomb full of hungry, starving Mortans. They’re listening now, but when the hunger speaks. Good luck keeping them in line.”

Savin looked at the monster. “Silence him.”

I will, I won’t let this planet become my grave.

The warehouse had rows upon rows of shelves and areas designed specifically to house transport vehicles. There was also an abundance of mining drills, equipment and other gear scattered around. A ramp to their left led up to an inner airlock, but they intended to go deeper into Mars. The Black Knights found the massive maintenance shaft that led down into the mine. The elevator was also thankfully still operational. It was large enough to hold all of them and still leave enough room for a vehicle. Francis pressed a panel button that signalled for them to descend, and their journey back into the mine began once more.

“Didn’t think we would be back here so soon,” said Charles, trying to ease the tension.

“Amen to that,” said Francis. “Our focus is moving quickly to the breach. Avoid fighting Mortans where possible. Not that there’s any way of knowing how many are currently down there.”

The elevator came to a halt above an airlock door. Above them, thick metal slid into place and plunged them into darkness, leaving only the bulkhead lights to illuminate their surroundings. Beneath them, gears churned as the seal broke and their steady descent continued.

Eventually, the elevator settled into place, and the dirty, faded metal door parted, leading to a similar storage area as above. The Black Knights spilt out of the elevator with their weapons ready.

“Don’t need me to remind you to watch your breathing. Might not be able to locate a refill station. Stay close together and don’t wander. We just need to reach the breach; nothing else matters.”

They followed the signposts that pointed them to the mine itself and were thankful not to encounter anyone yet. That luck wouldn’t last as a figure emerged from a nearby corner, dishevelled, their clothes ragged and their hair and face a bloody mess. Their lustful eyes fell upon the group, and they laughed. So hard that it caused them to choke and spew blood. The blood that had trailed behind them had also begun to pool beneath their black boots.

Francis had his weapon at the ready, as did the others. Their last encounter had forced them to gun down a mad survivor. Now they were faced with another. Just how many of these men are there? Wandering these corridors, lost in their delusions.

‘Enough to pose a concern. Shoot him and be done with it.’

Charles found his actions to be unconscious as he raised the weapon and prepared to fire. This only angered the man as the sound of something cracking reached them. From beneath his skin burst forth the liquid symbiote. It wrapped around his body and built up around his face. It looked rubbery at first, but soon hardened and where his hands had been, long brown claws appeared. The ground cracked beneath him as he exerted the force needed to propel himself at them. The blur of a Mortan coming between forced each of them off balance. The right claw soon found its target, the left shoulder of Ajax. He dropped his gun and fell into a wall, sliding down. The others, now with their bearings, fired at the monster, but his armoured skin simply buffeted him. He reached for Charles next, but the man had the wherewithal to pull back at the last possible second and narrowly missed the sharp, pointed claws. Anya sprayed the Mortan with plasma. It shifted its attention to her as she continued backing away. The creature staggered as the intense heat coming out of the weapon had begun to take its effect on its exoskin, and the others joined her in focused fire until eventually a hole was carved in its back. Charles took the initiative and reached inside to pull the symbiote out.

With the Mortan dead. They could attend to Ajax. The force of what stabbed him had penetrated all the way through, leaving his arm hanging limp as blood congealed around the large holes. The man looked pale, drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Damn. Thank you, though.”

“For what?” asked Francis.

“Not leaving me when you could have.”

Francis crouched down before the dying man and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry we weren’t quicker. That this whole mess is even happening.”

Ajax tried to stop fluids leaking from him with his gloved hand, but it proved futile; he managed a weak laugh. “Not like you breached the facility. If those miners had just waited. None of us would be in this mess. Now stop wasting time. There’s probably more like him, and the longer you dawdle, the more advanced their forms become. At some point, they’ll shrug off your attacks even if you make a dent in their armour!”

“He’s right,” said Echo. “We should hurry, one we can handle, but a group might prove tricky.”

“We focus fire on the chest, burn them out. It’s all we can do,” said Francis as Ajax’s eyes finally closed.

Charles noted Skorm was beside him. ‘He was only slowing you down. Even now, time is wasting.’

‘Maybe, but we couldn’t just leave him up there.’

Skorm scoffed at that statement and refused to say anything more.

The group went on ahead while Francis hung back a little. Charles told the others he could be right behind them.

“You can’t wait for her if she’s strong enough to fight him. She’ll break free. Pyotr, too.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then they wouldn’t want our fates to be the same as theirs. Come on, Frank. We’re almost home. Think about it, once we find the gate. This mess, all of it. Will be finally behind us.”

Francis gave a solemn nod at that, and the two men headed on their way. Their next stop being the caverns of Mars itself.

The drop in temperature and the heaving of metal around him made him pause. “We were too slow. It’s caught us.”

Melina had also stopped, but her eyes had become glassy, and she stared straight ahead, caught in a trance.

“And something has caught her,” said Ajax, stepping past her. “And him, too,” he said, pointing to Derrick.

“Not something, someone,” said Charles.

“Savin,” said Francis. “His strength his growing. And now he’s ensnared them.”

Echo fidgeted on the spot. “What should we do with them?”

“We can’t dawdle, Frank.”

Charles was right. They had to keep moving. “We keep pushing, it’s not impossible we can’t return to Earth and reality.”

“We’re caught in the storm, though, aren’t we?” Anya asked.

“The storm, but not the Aether itself. This is more like an overlap. A bleeding effect.”

“Well, whatever we do next, do it fast. They still aren’t budging.”

Francis checked his ammo, and he watched the others do the same. “We could hold until they come to their senses. Or push, but that means leaving them at Savin’s mercy. At the Mortalis’ mercy.”

Francis hated indecision, but seeing Melina helpless and at risk from some unknown psionic force had him in a bind.

‘Go, already. Don’t wait for me.’

He consciously looked down the corridor towards the warehouse and saw Melina, except that she wasn’t in her space suit. Her long black hair hung over her shoulders, and she looked a lot less dirty, too. Then he realised, either she was in his mind... Or the Aether is beginning to worm its way into us.

‘Is that really you?’

‘Yes, I’m with Derrick. I think Savin is trying to subdue us, bring us into the fold.’

‘I suspected as much.’

‘All the more reason to keep moving. If he wins out, we will not hesitate to kill you.’

‘Fine, but if you shake him, you know the way.’

She nodded and was gone. Francis blinked more, so out of shock when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. The narrowed eyes of Charles stared at him with his thick eyebrows bushed together. “We need to get going, Francis. No point lingering at this point. I’m sorry about Melina.”

“No, it’s fine what she wants. We keep pushing. No doubt, our old friend is waiting for us.”

The remaining Knights, Anya, and Ajax, headed into the darkness ahead. Charles remained at Francis’ side. “We lost our great equaliser. Even Derrick.”

“Cain won’t stop us now. I won’t let him. Too much is at stake to die on this blastered planet.”

Melina knew instantly that they were back in the alien facility. Except it looked like it was still in use. The air she inhaled felt clean and sterile, unlike in the run-down facility. Here, they at least had a bright light overhead that showed the way down the corridor they were in. Derrick was close to her and not in his space suit. Makes sense, we’re in his memories now. The alien, Savin’s…

“We’re not waking up any time soon, are we?”

“No, not while Savin seeks to subjugate us. He’s brought us here because it’s practically a maze.”

“All mazes have an exit.”

“Not this one,” said Melina. “Savin won’t stop chasing us, but we can’t just wait for him to catch us, come on.”

As they walked down the alien corridor, the metal grooves in the walls rippled as they passed, and soon enough they came upon a wider corridor. Two aliens stood before them, likely belonging to the same species as Savin.

“Whatever this is, it’s consuming everyone!”

“What would you suggest we do, Savin?”

“The Cryopods. If we’re flash frozen, they won’t even know we’re there.”

“They could just as easily thaw us out.”

“I know. Unless you want to try to leave this planet. When do you think the next expedition will get here? Something tells me this madness isn’t a localised instance. It’s anyone who has touched a C-Sphere, Drev.”

“Everyone… So this is a Neural Plague?”’

“Most likely. How did it come to be? No way of telling, it’s a miracle we weren’t using ours before it happened. Otherwise, we’d be feral too.”

The two aliens hurried through them as the lights above turned a shade of purple, indicating their equivalent of an alert. An alien voice came over the speakers that neither of them should have understood, but being Savin’s mind gave them some understanding.

“This is before the lockdown,” said Melina. “Savin and Drev must have put themselves to sleep while the facility descended into chaos.”

“Why show us this?” asked Derrick. “If he wanted to capture us, there are better ways.”

“Maybe, let’s follow them.”

The sound of machinery working around them made them pick up their pace, even if this was some form of cross between dream and illusion. Now and then, they passed octagonal doors closing, trapping those trying to escape the nightmare they now found themselves in. Behind them, aliens with a mad look in their eyes lurched for their next victims. Sharp teeth penetrated thin skin and spewed a greenish blood on any surface it touched. Some even showed early signs of the Mortalis symbiote’s mutation. From beneath their skin, a liquid substance was secreted that began covering their body and warped itself into armour and weapons sharp enough to impale anything it came across. In some cases, groups of infected even held others down so that they could be planted.

“Not much has changed then,” said Melina. “The mutation happening here is how it works with us.”

“But this was born from something neurological. What we faced came from some form of plant that produces the symbiotic fluid.”

“They mentioned C-Spheres, you know what that is, Derrick.”

He nodded. “Every Watchman knows. They also know it’s a death wish to touch one. So whatever this virus is, it must have spread through them.”

“Most likely, and as our alien friends said, if it happened here. It happened everywhere. An entire species brought down by some kind of neural degradation. And none of them, except for these two, likely caught on to the true cause.”

The two humans followed the aliens toward the cryo area. And Melina paused, taking it all in. “Pytor would have found Savin here,” she said, gritting her teeth.

“And Drev?”

“No sign of them.”

“I wonder what happened?”

“Since this is Savin’s memory. We’re about to find out,” she said while pointing at the taller alien. Its thin, wiry fingers moved quickly over the closest console, and before it could speak, the room’s lighting fluctuated.

“What’s happening, Drev?”

“Almost all the power is being siphoned towards the Aether Energy Reactor System. We’re only going to get one shot at this. Not enough energy for both of us, Savin.”

“That is a shame.”

Savin was soon behind Drev and had removed his sleek silver plasma pistol from its holster. The shot happened not long after, before Drev could even properly make a sound or react. He let out a groan as he slumped over and his life left him. Savin simply pushed him to one side and finished the preparation. The pod exhaled steam, and with little concern for what had just happened, Savin lay down in the pod while the automated system completed the last part of the process. The two humans could hardly believe it, but neither was surprised.

“So that’s how I ended up in the pod. I had no other choice. The thing draining the power. It lay dormant, and now that your people have shown up. It’s waking up once more.”

The two of them faced the tall, towering presence of the Mortan, Savin. His two long arms had become thicker thanks to the Mortalis, and they ended with three-digit hands that had warped to resemble claws.

“Before this ends, you will see no other choice but to join us and embrace the salvation he offers. The great dream showed me what had been wrought. There is no escaping Truth. It is inevitable. To resist means to suffer. He offers release from that.”

The lights in the room flickered, and before Melina could do anything, she was suddenly isolated. Trapped and surrounded by a thick wall of dark that in it, had glowing eyes that bore into her.

You are one of us.

Resistance is futile.

Unity is inevitable…

“Keep your wits about you,” he said while checking the route that Ajax had given him. The way to the warehouse would be down the rightmost corridor.

He was halfway to it when he saw someone sitting on one of the benches. They had been partially hidden by the first pillar and had a thousand-yard stare that broke when they saw them. Unprovoked, they had their weapon drawn and fired a stray shot into the corridor. The bullet skipped off the floor close to Francis and stopped him dead. The others did the same and readied their weapons, except Francis held up his hand to try to resolve this peacefully. Obviously, the man was traumatised, and the last thing he wanted was to kill someone due to a misunderstanding. Honestly, saving one more person might not seem like much, but no one deserves to have this planet be their grave.

“Hey, we’re friendly. It might seem hard to believe, but we’re actually trying to leave this blasted planet.”

The man let out a manic laugh and stood up, still pointing his gun at Francis. “Then you’re as crazy as I am. Where do you think I just came from!”

“The Mines,” said Echo.

“Aye. I thought coming here would give me some time to get things in order, but look around you. Those things are roaming everywhere. Just talking to you is probably drawing them to us.”

“Then you know we can’t be held up. Or do you want to join the bodies already with us? You’re lucky they haven’t begun putting themselves back together”

The wide-eyed man looked to each of the corpses, their bodies mangled and faces caught in their final moments. Helpless against the Mortalis. “You’re serious then? What makes you think you can survive the mines?”

Francis let the silence hang, but was cut off by Charles. “Because it’s the type of thing we’re trained to handle. Mortans are nothing new to us.”

“I can’t let more people march willingly into that maw. I can’t let more people die because I chose to run instead of fight.”

“You did what was right in the moment; no one will begrudge you for that,” said Francis. “But Mars is doomed. Something far worse than the Mortalis is coming. An Aether storm will likely be upon us very soon if you don’t let us go.”

“So it’s a death sentence either way, sorry, but we’re already dead -”

Before he could finish what he intended to do, Derrick was first and took the shot. The man’s head fragmented as he fell backwards into a growing pool of his own blood.

Charles side-eyed the Watchman. “Did you have to kill him?”

“He was stalling us. And how do we know the other two haven’t fallen? That Berserker could be on us any second now!”

“I don’t know what your issue is with each other, but he had no choice. The man was too far gone,” said Ajax. “Come, it’s not far now.”

“She won’t stop, will she!”

“I knew Mortan skin was tough, but nigh impervious. That’s new,” said Melina.

Pyotr could see Melina beginning to wane, despite their exoskin protection; hers had started to crack and spill black blood onto the floor. The Berserker looked like it was savouring the challenge. They had thrown as much as they could at the monster. From slicing at its body to even firing plasma at it in hopes of burning away the thick skin, but other than black smoke curling away from the monster, it remained mockingly intact. Another phase, the air crackled as aether bled in from outside reality. It coursed through the corridor, and the Berserker launched itself at them once more. When it reappeared, Pyotr reacted first and got between it and Melina. He braced to take the brunt of its momentum and caught both of its striking claws. He dug in as the ground buckled beneath him.

“Melina, regroup with the others.”

“I’m not leaving you, Pyotr.”

“That wasn’t a request!” he shouted, releasing his grip and throwing an aether-enthused punch of his own. This staggered the Berserker for a moment. “Besides, you don’t want to be here when that storm hits, right?”

Melina went to move up beside him, but to her surprise, he pivoted and did the same to her that he had just done to the Berserker. While it had remained grounded but dazed, she was sent further backwards. In that following silence, she glared at him.

‘Message received.’

He watched her Mortan form bound after the Black Knights, while he squared up to the Berserker. Distant growls grew louder as ferals drawn to the engagement. One made to charge but was soon halted by the Berserkers’ roar.

<You’re really willing to die for that one.>

‘I don’t sense your host.’

<I purged that weakness long ago. The type of weakness that has led you to face me alone.>

‘I wouldn’t call this weakness. Stupid, more like.’

<Then why do it?>

‘You drove me headfirst into a wall. I want to repay the favour.’

<Revenge?> The creature’s howling laugh bounced around his thoughts. <Then let’s finish this, my friends desire fresh meat.>

The aether blade came at him so fast he barely managed to block with his own. The monster kept striking at him, punishing him backwards each time. Something in the air shifted, and a chill ran down his spine.

It’s here.

<Pyotr. Here’s me thinking you would be dead by now. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me. Do not be afraid, this will not be your grave. You know it’s futile to resist.>

Pyotr noticed in that moment that the Berserker had also ceased attacking. It just stared blankly forward, as Savin’s force crept through the air. <We can all be friends here, but your friends. They can’t be allowed to make it off-world. It has designs for them too.>

I should warn them.

<They - Melina and the others, they can’t hear you. My voice will be the only Truth you ever need.>

“Let’s hope we don’t encounter much resistance,” said Francis.

Melina laughed. “I wouldn’t hold your breath. They’ll be lying in wait for us.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be optimistic,” said Pyotr.

“Either way, we have no other choice. So let’s get moving,” said Charles.

No one objected as they left the command centre, retracing their path. It didn’t take too long to return to the Communications Centre entrance. “Safety’s off. Not impossible, they aren’t waiting for us on the other side,” said Francis, and the Black Knights fanned out alongside their allies. Melina entered the code, and the doors slowly opened. He had hoped there would be mercifully few Mortes. Should have guessed they would wait for us to return.

The Mortans wasted no time in forcing the small gap open. A multitude of bodies covered in Symbiote exoskin, with their manifested large claws made to attack the one person closest to them. Derrick would be the first one targeted. He gave one Mortan little opportunity to get a clean hit and backed off, drawing his plasma pistol, he unloaded upon it, aiming dead centre. The creature collapsed in a heap while the ones behind climbed over its corpse. Plasma fire erupted and, for the first time, the form of Melina fell away - the Mortan skin wrapped its way around her body and even made her appear taller. Pytor followed suit and tackled the nearest monster coming towards him. The momentum sent him careening into a nearby wall, and the two began fighting like feral animals, each attempting to penetrate the other’s thick protective shell.

Charles and Francis found themselves side by side, shooting out the chests of any Mortan that tried their luck. Francis noted that Anya had found cover somewhere and chose to remain low and out of sight. It makes sense; she’s no soldier. I can’t hold it against her after what happened to her friend, but at this rate, we won’t make it very far regardless. There are just so many of them!

Echo took the fight to a Mortan that bounded towards her and barely managed to avoid being caught by its swiping claw or emerging aether blade. The swishes of energy whipped over her ducking head. A few more shots later, and her Mortan attacker had also fallen. And somehow, after the silence fell, the Black Knights found themselves surprised to be all in one piece. For now, at least, Francis thought. He didn’t fancy hanging around to give time for more Mortans to show up.

‘Don’t get comfortable,’ said Melina in Francis’ head. ‘They were probing us. These were just opportunistic ferals.’

‘Still quite a lot for a small horde. We should hurry. It won’t remain quiet for long.’

He saw her Mortan form nod, and minutes later, the large monster she had become now reverted to being a much smaller woman wearing the same spacesuit as everyone else. It looked no different from when she first put it on.

“I didn’t realise it could imitate clothing!” Pyotr declared in shock.

“It merges with anything that you wear. It’s a useful trick, that’s for sure.”

Ajax approached Anya. “It’s safe to come out now. Let me guess, you’re MTC.”

“What gave that away?”

“I recognised your voice. We’ve had relay information in the past between the outpost and the alpha base.”

“Oh, that was you.”

“Not always, but sometimes.”

Francis looked their way. “We can chat later, everyone, we’re heading to Rec and then the warehouse. If you see any hostiles, don’t even hesitate to put them down. Because they won’t give you a second chance.”

The group left the communications centre behind and met little resistance on their way to the recreation area. Ajax froze upon the sight of it. “Is it really just us who’ve survived so far?”

“Probably,” said Anya. “The main base has been swallowed by the Aether and Mortalis combined. It’ll be a miracle if we even make it off-world at this point.”

The way to the barracks was shown to them by the long blood trail that led to it from Recreation. They passed a few bodies on the way; any other time, and Francis would have taken on preventive measures to stop them getting back up, but he didn’t have that luxury. A door ahead of them slid open, and something larger than most Mortans emerged. Its brown skin had a spiky look to it, and its muscles bulged.

‘Berserker,’

‘Can you take it, Mel?’

‘Maybe. Never faced one before.’

‘First for everything.’

The Berserker Mortan faced them and growled, its saliva dribbled over its jagged teeth and lips. And then it was gone, stealing the air and becoming a blur as it phased. When it reappeared to all their surprise, Pyotr had been the one to react quicker, catching its balled fist with his own Mortan turned hand. Enraged, the Berserker began chomping at him as he ignited his own Aether blade. He moved to bring it down, but the creature phased again and carried its speed to grab him by the head and slam him into the metal wall with enough force to cause it to crumple inward.

“Shit,” Francis said before raising his plasma rifle. He managed to let loose a few shots, but the Berserker cared little for them. If anything, I’m just pissing the thing off.

It phased again, emitting charges of electricity that caused power fluctuations around it, and just like with Pyotr, someone else managed to match its speed. Melina caught the Berserker and turned with it, using her own Mortan strength to send it down the corridor, where it skipped along the floor before coming to a stop.

“Everyone go, I’ll keep it occupied.”

“That’s a death sentence,” said Charles.

“Unless you have a better idea.”

“I hate to admit, but she’s right, Charles. We need to get moving. The longer we take, the more we risk being swallowed by the storm.”

Pyotr had since come to and lumbered over to them. “She won’t be alone. It won’t get the drop on me again. Now go.”

Francis grabbed him by the shoulder. “Give it hell. Everyone on me. The barracks are up ahead, and then we just need to locate an elevator that will take us down to the warehouse.”

The remaining group pushed forward, leaving behind the two Mortans. Francis looked over his shoulder as Melina once more shed her human self to become the monster. He hoped this would not be the last time he saw either of them.

While he stood at the top of the mine entrance, preparing to make his descent. Another wandering mind reached him, and it was close. If he didn’t know better, this was one of the Black Knights currently trying to escape the planet.

<Why do you resist it, Melina?>

‘What can I say? I like my freedom. You won’t stop us, Cain. We’re leaving this planet.’

<Your arrogance will only get you killed.>

She retreated from him, and he trudged forward. He intended to set the trap where the entrance to the facility had been made. As the true entrance still eluded them. It made sense that the Black Knights would try their luck with the breach. Once inside the mine properly, Cain could hardly believe how quickly the Mortalis had spread. The rock walls were covered in the strange, fleshy mass, and in some cases, miners had found themselves cocooned in place. Either to feed the growth of the Hive or they become Mortans themselves. Some tried to beg for help, but the words barely escaped their lips. All around him, the compliant Mortans, now under Savin’s influence, seemed to understand where he was going, and it wasn’t long before he had a large group at his back.

Soon enough, the group of Mortans reached the place where the nightmare had come from. The mining drill remained still in place, occupying much of the natural corridor it had carved out.

“This is where they will be aiming for. This will be their tomb. The question is, how best to surprise them?”

“Cain intends to cut us off at the breach,” Melina said while Francis switched to a more appropriate weapon. A plasma rifle that would at least do more against the Mortans than his previous weapon of choice.

“I had a feeling he would do that, if only Savin hadn’t been infected, we might have been able to find the proper entrance — that is, if it isn’t also buried.”

“Maybe Pyotr still has his memories?” asked Melina.

“Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

The two left the security station as the rest of the Black Knights, along with Anya and Derrick, watched their surroundings to make sure no Mortans ambushed them. They had dealt with a stray Mortan before entering the station, and Charles had personally made sure to stomp on its symbiote. At least one of these things is down for good.

“Pyotr, I have something to ask.”

The man looked away from the dark corridor he had been watching and waved at the man. “Hit me.”

“Do you retain any of Savin’s memories?”

“No, they are too blurry for me to really see. He was shrewd, to say the least. Why?”

Francis sighed. “The breach, as most of us know, is the only way in so far. I was hoping that if we knew where the entrance was, we could bypass Cain altogether.”

“We’ll be like lambs to the slaughter,” said Charles. “That’s if the horde doesn’t overwhelm us beforehand.”

“I’ll see what I can recall. There may be something I can piece together.”

“Good, now let’s go say hello to our new friend.”

Francis led the group towards the main command centre, and on the way, they were attacked. Mortans used their phasing power to try to ambush them. And while one or two almost had Anya or Echo. The combined firepower of the Black Knights and their own Mortans made dealing with these threats for once quite easy, but Francis knew that once they headed for the mines, the odds would favour the horde. Soon, they were at the Command Centre’s main doors, and once it was confirmed, they were the only ones. They were granted access. They climbed the steps until they reached a large observation area that revealed the rapidly expanding aether storm off in the distance. Francis cursed himself for nearly forgetting that it existed; he had been so caught up in helping their new friend escape this hell they all shared. The suited man, tall and lean with a mess of black hair, stood near one of the consoles. He managed a small smile before looking outside to the storm raging outside.

“My name is Ajax, by the way. I thought I was done for.”

Francis walked down some steps and joined him. “I wouldn’t celebrate just yet. We still need to get off this rock.”

“I know, and I’ve got the route saved, just give me a second and I’ll send it to each of your suits.”

“Much appreciated,” said Charles. “I say we get moving, the more time we waste, the more likely it is that we get swallowed by the storm, and there may be no way of escaping it.”

Francis was about to agree, but he noticed Anya was at one of the consoles used to manage communications. Noticing his attention, she couldn’t help but point to the flashing light. “Ajax, someone else has been trying to contact you- from Earth, no less!”

Ajax gesticulated but resolved to shrug his shoulders. “I ignored it because what was I to tell them? The Mars mission was a bust; that it’s all lost.”

Charles balled his fist. “You understand an army is being raised, and if it finds a way off-world. The earth, humanity will fall, right?”

“I didn’t think about that.”

“It’s fine, he doesn’t know the extent of the mess we’re in,” said Derrick, spinning around in one of the chairs. “Answer it, Anya. See what they have to say.”

Anya put on a headset and faced the group. “I’ll patch them into each of your suits. That way we’re all aware of who is trying to make contact.”

“Good, whenever you’re ready,” said Francis.

A few seconds and much crackling later, the voice that came through, though distorted, sounded distinctly familiar. It sounded Kaskari. “Shit, they went straight for Earth, should have guessed,” said Charles.

“Give me a second whilst I tune the signal, there’s a lot of interference.”

Now they could understand them.

“This is Vadir Kor, trying to reach anyone. I’m in dire need of help right now.”

“It speaks English at least,” said Derrick, chuckling.

Francis pressed a button on his suit’s wrist that let him respond. “This is Staff Sergeant Francis Leadbitter of Orion Private Security.”

“Why lie at this point? You’re Black Knight. A Covert Ops Taskforce.”

“Shut it,” said Charles, marching over to Derrick.

“Fine, just saying. Kind of pointless.”

“Another survivor, but your transmission — it says it’s coming from what your people call Mars?”

“You don’t know? Some of your people were deployed here not too long ago. They didn’t make it, though; this planet is in the grasp of the Mortalis.”

“I’m just an engineer. They tell me nothing as it is.”

“They are broadcasting from Site 51,” said Melina, still just listening.

“Site 51. That’s handy. Listen, Vadir. We’re about to do a suicide mission into an old alien facility, like the one you’re in. Could you create a temporary link for us?”

Silence permeated the room for a while before Vadir responded. “Yes, I can do that, but if what you say is true about Mars. Don’t get your hopes up. There’s a reason I’m the one who’s talking to you, and no, it’s not what you think. The Welcome Wagon saved me while helping me destroy my ship. I was teleported to this Site 51, but it’s also overrun. There’s no escaping the Mortalis. It will not stop.”

Derrick’s eyes widened in recognition. “Those crazy bastards finally met their maker.”

“You know them?” asked Echo, currently mesmerised by the aether storm.

“Heard stories of them. They were notorious for their own ops in Asia. Securing the alien sites there. If they trust this Kaskari, I don’t see why we can’t.”

“We don’t need to escape; we need to regroup and get the word out. If it hasn’t already.”

“I will help you return to Earth, but it will have to be quick. I don’t want to leave the gateway open for too long.”

“Understood. Anya, can you keep this channel active, or is the signal not strong enough?”

“I’ll do what I can, but once we’re in the mines and the facility. No telling if he can keep in contact.”

“We can just use the alien facility’s own communications system. I think I can figure it out,” said Pyotr.

“So that’s it then. We enter one hell only to escape to another. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Savin moved with purpose upon sensing her building presence. He felt Eva’s pain. No doubt, the weight of so many minds was proving to be burdensome. He sought to free her from this torment. As he got closer, her voice grew more frantic in his mind until eventually he reached the Mortalis Tree that, much like in the real world, held Eva in its ever-tightening grasp. Her glassy eyes found their focus upon seeing him for the first time in his non-human form.

“Savin,”

“Eva. The toll is too much; this creation was made for us. You can’t handle it.”

“And you can?”

“I can help manage the load, filter out the excess noise. Every second that passes, the more your indecision costs us.”

“I know my goal, the Black Knights can’t be allowed to escape.”

“And Cain is planning on intercepting them, but are the others listening. Reach out, touch them.”

“They are feral animals. They will not listen.”

“They will listen to me.”

“How?”

“I will not give them a choice,” said Savin. “Much like with Pytor and Reginald afterwards. Let me help you. Let me free you from this suffering.”

Eva managed to compel the tree to lower her so that she could be released from its hold. She fell into Savin’s arms, and whatever thoughts he had at that moment, he kept them protected, knowing that in the Expanse any stray thought could fray the seams that held everything together.

“You can rest now, Eva. You gave us the body, not let me provide the mind.”

“Savin…”

His large palm soon pressed down on her face, and once more, Savin did as he did with the others. He moved his consciousness, releasing the avatar and now fully stepping into the shoes of Eva. A tiny piece of her clung on, but it was weak. It would not stand up to him. It would cede control eventually. He saw the broader turn of events now that he occupied the Convergent Proto-Mind. Events on a place called the Moon had allowed the Mortalis to establish a strong base there too, and yet beyond that, something deep beneath the surface of the planet the moon orbited, something as old as he was, stirred, and it sensed his presence through the aether.

<I was so alone, I thought myself the last…>

<I only recently woke up.>

<Are you disappointed in what we have become, what we have resorted to?>

<Anyone would be, but we can make it right, can’t we?>

<We would need more minds than you can imagine. I have tried for centuries to break them.>

<The humans?>

<The humans… are stubborn and difficult to control. Even while planted, they cling to their individuality. It would almost be admirable. We had such high hopes for them, but then it all changed, and we lost everything.>

<But we gained a new sense of purpose. Through this mutation, we can reclaim our mantle to the universe.>

<And reshape it.>

The ancient presence subsided, leaving Savin to his own portion of the Expanse, now connected more seamlessly to the greater whole, and he could transfer his presence to any Mortan that listened. He felt Cain as he marched to the Mines, and with the nearby outpost, those among the Black Knights who were infected, fought not just physically but mentally too. He would attack their consciousness, and if the horde didn’t stop them. Then I make them bow by other means.

The situation devolved into chaos the minute the Mortalis swarmed them. They formed crude weapons from their bodies and attempted to either cut them down or shoot them. The Mortans in their ranks evened the odds a little. Melina weaved her way through the horde like a ballerina, cutting down anything that tried to get in her way. Francis, meanwhile, noticed he was rapidly running low on his ammunition. Very soon, he would be using the M1 Garand as a makeshift bat. It had stopping power that would permanently end most people, but the Mortalis would simply put themselves back together and keep pressing their attack.

“We need to withdraw and put some distance between us and them.”

Charles let off a string of plasma shots as his energy rifle almost overheated, and smoke curled away from its barrel as he ejected the cell and put in another. The Mortalis he had put down weren’t getting back up anytime soon due to the greater internal damage his weapon caused.

Francis led them from the lobby to a junction that would buy them some extra time. He waited until the Knights were through before punching the locking mechanism, sealing the large blast doors in place, all while Mortalis hurled themselves at it. “That won’t hold for long. I can’t get a response from our friend who led us here. Why isn’t he responding?”

He heard crackling at first, and eventually a voice emerged from the receiver built into his suit. “I’ve been keeping quiet, keeping my head down. I see you, you’re not far from me. If you keep heading the way you are now, you should reach this outpost’s communications centre very soon.”

“We don’t have time to dawdle, mind, once we reach you, we’re heading straight for the mines.”

“That’s a death sentence, isn’t it? Surely the main—”

“It’s lost, that’s why we’re here,” interrupted Melina using her own suit’s comms.

“What happened?”

“The same thing that you’re facing, Mortalis, overran the base.”

“Don’t forget to mention the aliens, too,” said Pyotr.

“Yes, some aliens showed up at possibly the worst possible time.”

“I almost don’t want to believe you.”

“Whether you do or don’t doesn’t matter, we’re passing through a Recreation Area, Francis out.”

Now that they had put sufficient distance between them and the Mortans, it gave the Black Knights a chance to process all that had come to pass. Francis didn’t dare drop his guard too much, as a Morte could be around any corner. Taking in the recreation area, it hadn’t escaped unscathed. A pool table had been flipped onto its side, and various seating equipment was scattered all over the place. Blood trails went in every direction.

“I doubt they did the same thing here.”

“Numbers probably helped them overwhelm those here,” said Charles. “Some still tried at least,” He pointed to some bullet marks on the wall. “All for nought, sadly.”

Now that they had rested, Francis followed the signposting and soon enough a set of large titanium doors signalled they were outside the Communication Centre. The first thing Francis noted was the red light next to the panel code. “It’s locked down.”

“Can’t override it from here,” said Melina.

Francis opened his comms again. “There’s a lockdown on your sector; we need you to override it.”

“I forgot I did that. It was the only way to isolate those already in here with me.”

Derrick looked back down the dark hall they had come from. “Hear that?”

“Black Knights take positions. They’ve caught up to us.”

Glowing bodies appeared in the darkness as demonic-looking monsters rushed towards them. Francis expelled what he had left, but it was those already infected among them that did the heavy lifting. Even Derrick managed to take down some of the horde. But a number of them now entered striking distance. Pyotr and Melina worked in tandem to draw them away and cut them down to size. Charles, Echo, and Anya also helped by using their energy weapons to destroy limbs and slow down the attackers. When silence fell, a loud click was heard, and the doors behind them began to lurch into life.

“Everyone inside now, don’t waste time destroying the symbiotes!”

No one objected and once they were all over the threshold, Francis reached to their friend once more. “Seal the door, don’t want these ones following us once they put themselves back together.

“Done, just be careful. There are still some roamers in here.”

“We need to stock up,” said Charles to Francis. “We’re pretty depleted.”

Francis agreed. “There has to be a security station nearby; we may find weapons there.”

He led them forward but noticed Melina was drifting again. “Melina?”

She shook her head, “Sorry, I think Eva is dead…”

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever I sense Mortans, I also sense their guiding voice. It doesn’t sound like Eva anymore, but Savin. I think he’s usurped her.”

“That sounds like something he would do. Anything else?”

“Cain is hunting us, he’s heading for the mine to cut us off, but there’s too much other noise for me to figure out what he truly intends.”

“Keep listening, but don’t slip. Don’t lose control now.”

“I won’t, Frank. That’s a promise.”

She hurried to join the others while he looked back at the sealed entrance. I want to trust her, but as these things grow in number, her willpower will be tested. I just hope she can keep Savin at bay. Otherwise, if she falls, the other infected in our group might not be far behind. I don’t know if any of us could survive that… Francis sighed. None of this was ideal, but he had to keep moving forward, because hesitating at this point was a death sentence.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve been here. Never normally leave the base,” said Derrick Cutler, bringing up the rear of the group. He had kept quiet since the transport crashed, and Francis had almost forgotten the Watchman was still with them. I want to trust him, but something tells me he sees us in the same way.

“First for everything,” said Anya. “I never left the MTC until now. Never thought I’d be fighting for my life on the surface of Mars, that’s for sure.”

“That wasn’t supposed to be the plan,” said Pyotr. “What was it? Frank. A peaceful takeover of this operation.”

“So that was the plan? Like the Con knows what the word peaceful means. Don’t make me laugh.”

“What are you going to tell him everything, Pyotr, about why we came here?”

“It’s all gone to shit, sir. No reason to hide anything.”

“I appreciate the honesty,” said Derrick. “How are we getting into that airlock?”

“It requires a code that Melina is trying to figure out,” said Charles.

“Too many combinations,” she grumbled. “It must be on a cycle of sorts. I shouldn’t be much longer, though.”

A few minutes passed as they kept looking back the way they had come, waiting for the inevitable horde that would soon latch onto their scent. Mercifully, no one ambushed them, and the first section of the airlock doors parted, letting them step into a large open chamber. Once sealed in, pressurisation began and was soon followed by a decontamination spray, Francis hoped nothing was on the other side of the airlock, but he still made a point to check he had enough ammo. He couldn’t afford to waste any at this point. The next door opened and allowed them into the outpost’s main lobby. It was here that newcomers would normally be logged, but instead, the place looked like a bull had charged through it. The light fixtures above flickered, and there was a sickly smell of blood in the air. The Mortalis had been here, and likely still lingered.

“We should hurry. I’ll try to locate our friend on the suit’s comm system.”

Echo granted him a small smile as the others fanned out to take stock of the current state of things. “I’m not optimistic that anyone is still alive in here. I mean, look at this mess,” said Charles.

“We still need to try. After that, we can focus on getting into the mine. Though judging by all this, that feels like a death wish.”

Pyotr threw up his arms. “Everywhere we go is a death wish, Frank!”

“They know we’re here,” said Melina coolly. “I suggest we prepare to meet them.”

“Do you know how many?” asked Charles.

“Uncertain, but they are moving fast. Coming from the northern section.”

“Understood,” said Francis. “Everyone, take a position and prepare to face the coming horde.”

A chorus of ayes soon had each member of the Black Knights and its new allies taking positions using what cover they could, from dislodged chairs to the reception desk, and the walls on either doorway. The corridor where the Mortans would come from had a red hue that made visibility difficult. Francis just had to hope there weren’t a lot of them. Here goes nothing.

“You know there’s only one chance they have at escaping this rock, right? Savin.”

The man, who was once Reginald and had since been possessed by the alien Savin, looked his way and nodded. “They won’t make it, I can sense a great Mortan presence already growing over there.”

“You know how stubborn they are. I plan on taking a Crawler over there and dealing with them myself.”

“That’s bold of you.”

“You intend to stay here? Why?”

Savin pointed to growing, bulging biomass that was the Convergent Mind. “She spoke to one of my people. I wish to see them again for myself.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

Savin stepped forward and threw his arms outward. “Why, by being the last piece, she needs to assert full domination over the Mortans of this planet, and that includes you. Besides, I tire of this mortal body. I seek to ascend.”

Cain didn’t bother arguing and instead turned to leave Hydroponics behind him, a few Mortans wilfully followed, their host minds subsumed by their Symbiotes. All they were now were puppets on a string. All they needed now was his guidance.

“Eva, I know you can hear me. My name is Savin, and you have spoken with the one who calls itself Truth. I am the final piece you need, and once I merge with you, nothing will stop us.

‘You are sure of yourself?’

The distorted voice no longer even sounded like her.

“Yes. Are you forgetting, I am of Nirikiri origin. The place you now occupy, I know it well. I can guide you to where you need to be.”

‘I know how you work… even if I am part of something bigger. You seek above all else, dominion. You also seek an audience.’

“I seek TRUTH. No! I demand it. I demand to know why my people became these monsters and - ”

‘And then what?’

“Vengeance to any who stands in our way. This is but another step on our path to immortality. I know that now. I can sense much, but this body isn’t made to reach the Expanse or part the growing hivemind. I need you to let me in.”

From his left, a great tendril rose and glided over to where Savin stood. It wrapped around him so hard that he could barely even breathe, and it pulled him close. Somewhere in this bulging mass were the bodies of those sacrificed to make the proto-mind, and at its core, anchoring it all, was Eva.

‘Then join us, and help us reach our full potential.’

“You won’t regret this,” said Savin, managing a pained grin.

The place he now found himself in was all too familiar, and more so, he had his alien body that he had in life. No longer was he shackled to a human’s body. As he surveyed his surroundings, it dawned on him that it had been centuries since he had last been in a Void Expedition Sphere. He was in the central command centre that coordinated its movement across the vast reaches of space. In each of the corners were alcoves that gave one access to the ship’s systems, and in the centre on a raised dais was the command point. From this raised position, a ship commander could telepathically commune with those piloting or monitoring the ship's systems. It gave them the edge whenever they encountered enemy ships, allowing them to process decisions as fast as they could think and implement them. The one was he in now, though, looked barren and empty. Its various consoles showed signs of damage, and all that stood before him now was a towering figure, standing on the dais and facing forward. It looked Nirikiri, but their stretched arms and gaunt shape had him doubting.

‘You wished to see me?’

The deep voice had a suffocating presence on his forehead that compelled him to involuntarily kneel. ‘I wish to understand what happened? What made us into monsters?’

‘That’s a truth, not even I like to face. I try not to dwell on it. The corruption it wrought and the suffering I caused because of one bad choice.’

‘What choice would that be?’ asked Savin.

‘Ascension. I turned to our greatest invention that could save me, and instead, I doomed us.’

‘No, I’ve already met the ones who did this, who caused our demise!’

‘The Kaskari…’

‘They still linger. We both want the same thing, Truth. Vengeance for all we have lost. Let me be the anchor mind. We’re like brothers, aren’t we? Surely you can’t trust a vermin human, right?’

‘You’re right, but I cannot displace her. You will have to do that yourself. You seem adept at killing minds, what is one more after all?’

“Please tell me we don’t have much farther to go,” said Pyotr.

“All you’ve done is complain since we started walking,” said Echo.

“Had to keep my mind off what’s behind us. Is it me, or is it getting closer?”

Francis let out a heavy sigh and saw a steep bank ahead of him. “Everyone, wait here. I think we’re close.”

He didn’t wait for the response and began scaling the incline until he reached the top, granting him a full view of the surrounding area. The first he saw was the large prefab outpost that existed close to the mine itself. When they had first got her in the Crawler, the size of the mine entrance had obscured it. At first, he had to double-take because as his eyes scanned the entrance, he noticed figures in the distance, and the ground itself looked less like the typical Mars dust and instead had a brown substance covering much of it. That’s biomass? What happened during the time that we left that things got this bad?

A few minutes later, he was joined by two others, likely curious as to why he was taking so long.

“Ah shit, is that what I think it is?”

“Yes, Charles. The Mortalis have taken the mines and control the entrance. A direct approach would be suicidal.”

“The outpost might be our best bet after all.”

“It didn’t sound much better,” said Francis. “The one I contacted had been hiding inside the facility; it’s also likely swarming with Mortes.”

“Needs must, Frank. The outpost will also have its own ways into the mine that are probably quicker than using the entrance.”

Soon enough, the remainder of their group was on top of the hill, crouched and looking down at the Mortalis guarding the entrance below.

“They work fast,” said Pyotr.

“That close to the facility, it was practically a given,” added Echo.

“Well, I’ve got bad news, we’re going to the outpost and hoping to rescue one more. After that, we enter the mines and aim for the breach.”

“No telling how many Mortes are waiting for us, Frank.”

“There is a lot, I can sense them, but they are disorganised—No wait—they are waiting for something,” said Melina. She looked back the way they came. “Eva… what have they done to you?”

“You can sense her?” asked Francis, putting a gloved hand on her shoulder.

“Yes and no, she’s like a fragmented puzzle being pulled in all directions. No telling what’s going to become of her now.”

“No matter, she’s beyond saving, we need to look ahead and focus on getting off this planet. Before it’s consumed by the storm and Mortalis.”

They all agreed with that sentiment, even if their current situation was incredibly dire. Francis led the way, sliding down the slope and keeping low. He knew Mortans had advanced senses, he just had to hope they were further enough away to not be immediately spotted. No matter how you cut it, we’re entering the devil’s den, and I have no idea if we’ll even be able to escape through the facility. All I can do is hope and pray we see this through.

#

In the brief moment of release that the ensuing chaos gave her, she welcomed death and no longer wished to be a walking puppet for the Mortalis. That wish quickly ended as she returned to waking consciousness. If you could even call it that. She lay somewhere different to where she had last been. The floor looked like an ominous black liquid, but had no depth, meaning she lay atop the water staring at her reflection. On all sides existed either holograms or strange alien pillars that stretched up into an endless sky. Within the strange fluid existed long, snaking tendrils that went in various directions. She had no way of touching them, even if she wanted to. Upon getting on one knee, she noticed the palpable silence. Except for her breathing, there was nothing, not even the fluid rippling beneath her. Once stood up, she began moving forward, not certain of what direction to go in. She paused before a strange obelisk. Unlike the pillars, it had a shape that resembled a partially closed eye. She had to step back because it looked to be alive and appeared to twitch when she touched it. None of this is real; it’s all just an illusion!

<No, this is you becoming something more. Welcome to my domain.>

The distorted voice spoke in her thoughts and, strangely, came from behind her.

‘Where are you?’

<All around you and a part of you.>

‘That doesn’t make sense.’

<Now isn’t that an uncomfortable truth? All sentient life exists to justify that which it can’t explain. You see truths, and you call them illusions. I see lies and a fool’s existence. The Expanse was our catalogue of science and history. In my life, I must have documented thousands of worlds and their various transcendence attempts. There is an unmistakable drive to see what’s beyond the veil. It is my people’s ultimate truth and greatest achievement to see that nothingness for themselves, to shape it as they will. Everything starts somewhere, does it not?>

‘You’re like Savin?’

<The one who slept through it all. Were I so lucky! I was pursued by the dogs of Ascendaris, and for what? To pay for my people’s hubris. The irony is sweet, though, considering what became of the Kaskari Ascenders.>

‘What do you want with me?’

A deep laugh echoed in her thoughts, which made her drop back to her knees.

<You will be my anchor to the real world. Events are closing, battle lines are being drawn both here and back home. There are those among you who reject us. There are those coming who seek our annihilation. I will not sleep again.>

‘You refer to the Black Knights?’

<Yes, and my wayward children, the Aevetas. The Kaskari are also scattered across the cosmos and converging on us.>

‘What can I possibly hope to do that you can’t?’

<You are in a unique position, where if you can secure the facility that once belonged to my people. We can do great things for your homeworld. We can eliminate all its troubles. We can bring about true unity. And you can live forever within the greatest library the universe has ever conceived. And when the Ascenders come, their fall will be final. No more second chances this time.>

‘I doubt I have much of a choice.’

<Whether you choose to or not, it doesn’t matter. I had to make sure it wasn’t all for nothing. It’s time to wake up, Eva. Our work has only just begun.>

Somehow, he was alive despite being at ground zero for the explosion. There was no sign of the destruction he had wrought. The reactor simply bled Aether into the room. The thick, strange, multicoloured mist made visibility difficult. Before him, towering in its black, elongated form was his symbiote’s manifestation.

<A rent in reality has caused significant overlap. We are caught between two realities. Beyond this, the storm will spread, subsuming the entire planet in its aetherial clutches.>

‘And what would the end result be?’

<Mars will belong to those who exist beyond your worst nightmares.>

The great biomass that he had hoped to destroy had mutated even more since the explosion and now skirted around his body.

<It will be our shield against reality. And when we are ready, we will be unleashed to fulfil his will.>

‘I didn’t -’

<You never even questioned why you were let this far?>

‘Eva wanted this. You knew!’

<I am both part of a greater whole and your mortal sword.>

‘I’ll -’

<Accept his grand design and cease resistance,> Salvation said while turning. They still had no face, but their deep, booming voice managed to bounce around his thoughts.

Cain got to his knees. ‘Not while–’ he had to stop talking because the mask projected by the symbiote retreated, exposing him to raw aether. Cain’s eyes burned, his skin rippled, itched and took on new life. His perception of what was real flipped on a whim. The mist had shapes within it, eyes and mouths with rows of jagged teeth. He wanted to believe these horrors were illusions. Yet the more he tried to convince himself, the more present they became.

<Terrors of the void hunger flesh and mind. I can protect you from them, but you must do as I say. I must be the one in control.>

Cain clenched his fists and looked to the floor, hoping not to see the monsters that attacked his fracturing psyche; their hideous deformities played off his base fears. The ground proved to be no escape, if he didn’t know better, he was sinking into what was normally concrete, but the nature of this other side meant the laws of the real world could be broken at any point.

‘Fine, we do it your way! Just stop whatever this is.’

The mask returned, and the dark form reached out, revealing a large six clawed hand that encased Cain’s head. Next, he was levitating, or at least he thought he was.

<I’m glad you have come around, Cain. Your work is not yet done. No one can leave Mars. The facility must be secured at all costs.>

‘I have no men!’

He was dropped and landed back on solid ground, grateful that it had ceased being like quicksand. Then it dawned on him that he had previously tuned out their voices, but now they came through loudly, and he understood what Salvation intended. He didn’t need men when he had a growing army of Mortalis at his back.

The shockwave from the expulsion caused the transport to spiral to the ground. The impact, for a brief moment, knocked him out. Francis sat staring out of the viewport and could see through his blur the great green storm roiling in the distance. Besides him, Echo groaned back to life.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, and the suit seems fine. They were made to withstand worse. If there are any problems, the transport should have some spares.”

“Rest of you call out,” shouted Francis.

“Still breathing,” said Melina.

“Same, and still me,” said Pyotr.

“I’m fine,” said Charles.

“As am I,” added Anya.

Charles unclipped himself and staggered over to the cockpit once more. He pointed to what they already suspected was heading straight for them. “We can’t stay here, Frank. And I doubt we have the equipment to get this transport back in the air.”

“I know.”

“The facility is our only hope, isn’t it?” said Pyotr.

“Unfortunately,” said Melina, “it’s also probably compromised by the Mortalis.”

“We never did think to seal the facility after we evacuated,” said Charles. “No telling what else escaped after we left.”

“Our priority was the miners. And you’re forgetting, they were the ones who broke the seal. We just followed in their wake.”

“Preparing the cargo bay and ramp for deployment,” said Echo. “It’s like Charles said, we can’t stay here much longer.”

“Everyone, sync your comms. We’ll be out there for quite a while.”

Once outside the craft, the Black Knights found themselves uncertain of where to go next. Ahead of them, past the dust and barren ground, the great aether storm continued to gather momentum. Their only hope was the ancient alien facility and the mining outpost, but getting there would be easier said than done.

“We need to pinpoint the mining outpost,” said Francis. “The transport’s radio might still be operational. If we can make contact, we’ll have our direction.”

“Just pray it doesn’t take us into the storm; something tells me leaving it would be harder than entering it,” said Pyotr.

Francis took one look at the storm and shared that sentiment. That storm is our death sentence… but we might not have a choice. “Echo, with me. Everyone, let us know if anything changes out here.”

“Will do,” said Charles.

Back in the transport, the two of them hovered near the flight control console. It took a few attempts, but the power was restored. “It won’t last,” said Echo. “Much of the key systems are critically damaged.”

“We just need to make contact with the outpost. They are our only hope.”

“Well, here goes nothing,” said Echo. “This is Echo of LT765. Our transport went down close to the Mars base. We are—the only ones that we know of—to make it out alive. If anyone is hearing this, we need your location coordinates.”

The silence permeated the transport, and Francis found himself tapping the top of the chair.

“If we don’t get a response, what’s the plan, sir?”

Sir. That made him straighten and face her. Now that it was just them and the near-silent crackling of the radio. He saw genuine fear in those eyes. If Mars didn’t claim them, then the Aether storm certainly would.

“I hate to say it… We’ll have to head into the storm and gain access to one of the garages. Then pray that the storm releases us.”

“Made it out of hell only to go straight back.”

“The only other option—Echo—is not one either of us wants to entertain. We can either prolong the inevitable or surrender.”

Echo folded her arms. “Really, no other way…”

“Unless our Mortan friends can tunnel us back to Earth, we’re as good as dead, no matter what we try.”

Before she could respond, the radio crackled to life. “This is the Mars Mining Outpost, we’re receiving you, Echo. We have our own problems. The Mine is not safe, and I’m lucky they haven’t found me.”

“They?”

“Mortans, they swarmed the mine and attacked the outpost. Most of the guards are dead or infected.”

“Can you send us your location?”

“Are you planning to rescue me?”

Echo looked again at Francis for guidance. He sighed, “We will do what we can, he’ll need a suit if he’s coming with us.”

“That I can arrange, but I dare not leave the communication centre. Not while they swarm the base.”

“Then send us the outpost’s location and we’ll be right with you.”

The coordinates soon reached them, and Francis began rummaging around until he found a tool that acted as a tracker. It could also have the coordinates input into it, and the display appeared, tracking their position while showing the general direction they needed to go. Echo turned off the radio and faced him.

“Are we really going to go out of our way to help him?”

Francis stood up and approached the ladder that would lead him into the storage area. “You remember what Anya told us when we first made contact?”

Echo simply swallowed and did not answer.

Francis was now in the storage area with the ramp a short distance behind him. There’s no telling how much time we have… and if that storm keeps expanding, then it’s only a matter of time before it swallows us too. We could save him, but we don’t have the time. Francis stood at the top of the ramp, staring down at the red dusty ground. The Black Knights come first, getting off this rock is all that matters. It was his mistake to take us at our word.

“You finally show yourself.”

<It was going to happen eventually,> said his symbiote in his mind.

“You going to fling me again?”

<What would be the point?>

Cain grumbled and continued walking, his boots echoed off the metal floor, as he tried to distract himself from the carnage he was passing. Now at his side, the symbiote manifest had an unusual look to it. It looked like staring into a pitch black, writhing void space. It had not yet settled on a form or had chosen to keep things simple. Or perhaps…

<Why form an entity if we’re going to die anyway?>

“So you’ve finally accepted your fate.”

<Do you want to die?>

The question made him laugh out loud. “You already know the answer, but I know my duty. The base cannot be saved, and you cannot be allowed to persevere. That’s just how it goes.”

<Why can’t we persevere?>

Cain paused and let the silence wash over him. He wondered how much further it would be before he made it to the Aether Core. It was clearly testing his resolve, prodding for weakness. He wouldn’t give it the satisfaction. And before he could give it a proper answer, he heard footsteps, loud and heavy, coming from ahead of him. He made a point to duck behind a stack of crates as a man came into view. This one looked familiar to him, if only from his beard and scruffy face. He didn’t know their name, but he knew they were a miner saved by the Black Knights. Saved… We should have just left them to rot. None of this would have happened had Black Knight not been sent on a rescue mission. Now look at us!

“I can sense your presence, Officer Cain. Eva just wants you to see our side of things. Death does not have to be the end. You can still make this right.”

Cain said nothing, instead noting the dark form across from him, also deciding to take cover even if it probably wasn’t necessary.

‘Do you intend to subsume me and join him?’

<I can’t lie, I considered it.>

‘Why change your mind? You were forceful before?’

<I respect your sense of duty. It feels familiar to me. I once had such duties… while you were fighting, I dreamed of what came before. What was lost? Who am I in all this? I am many and the few. Salvation. That will be my name. We may die here, and that’s fine – officer. Because I was never alive in the first place.>

‘So I can kill this bastard?’

<Yes, yes, you can.>

Cain smiled and adjusted the setting on his rifle. A charged shot would do a lot of damage if he hit the centre mass. Just don’t miss!

He stood up and took a shot, unleashing a burst of energy from the rifle that exploded against the metal wall. The Mortan, after emerging from his blink, lunged for Cain, a lance-like blade had wrapped around his arm and wrist. This forced the security officer to block the attack with the weapon.

<I suppose I can’t let you have all the fun…>

Electricity began crackling around Cain’s hands, and it gave him an idea. As the two men struggled to overpower each other, he pushed the rifle so that the aether core was close to the miner’s face. Cain released the built-up energy all into the core, causing it to destabilise. He looked away at the last second as the explosion threw him and his enemy backwards. What remained of his rifle had landed nearby, and he hadn’t completely escaped unscathed. Pieces of debris had penetrated his skin and were now being forcefully expelled by his symbiote.

<You should let me form over you, less painful then.>

‘How do I know you’ll not just remain like that?’

<You don’t, but it’s that or I keep pulling you back together until nothing of you remains. How many deaths are you prepared to face?>

‘As many as necessary.’

<Beware of your own hubris.>

Cain sat up and saw the other Mortan had landed some distance away. From what he could make out, their lance had broken and their face had also suffered heavy damage, leaving one side badly burnt and exposing what lay beneath the skin. Cain got up first and relented. Fine. If it’ll make things easier.

<Glad you finally came around.>

It felt profoundly wrong, having the symbiotic exoskin form over his body, merging not just with his natural skin but his clothing too. He stopped at their side and looked down.

“We should never have rescued you.”

“Too late for that, don’t you think!”

“It’s not too late to right the mistake, though.”

And with that from Cain’s clenched fist, a blade of purple energy formed, and he struck the chest of the downed Mortan, incinerating the symbiote within and more than likely some organs.

“The primary reactor isn’t too far, I think. This will all be over soon.”

He was thankful that there weren’t many obstacles on his way to the reactor core. Once he got closer to the heart of Aether Energy, he noticed changes in his surroundings. Small at first, the occasional fungi-like growth had formed on the wall, and brown tendrils snaked off of it. There was also the occasional body nearby that had begun to fuse with the strange, corrupting biomass. By the time he reached the location of the reactor, he had begun slowing down due to his boots sticking to the slimy surface. He also heard movement ahead and ducked behind a stack of crates. The way into the core area was split by a T-section, and the cause of the noise was now apparent. He watched as feral Mortans fully subsumed by the symbiote’s exoskin dragged dead bodies towards the reactor room. Some of them weren’t fully dead, and he could just make out their pleading. He felt the dark passenger’s presence within him.

<Do you still wish to see this to the end?>

Yes, I can’t imagine what they need the reactor for, though?

<To find Truth.>

What does that even mean?

<I’m still not entirely sure myself. The Aether stored within the core may allow this growing hive to reach beyond the boundaries of normal reality.>

They’re making a Convergent Mind?

<They already have ->

‘We are waiting for you to join us.’ Her sudden intrusion almost jolted Cain into standing, but he remained crouched. Exposing himself now would be risky. Then again, it wasn’t being physically seen that was his problem. It was these creatures finding a way to intrude on his thoughts. He could swear he felt Eva’s hot breath on his neck, too. How is she even doing that?

‘I know what you intend… It won’t go the way you think. It might actually make things worst.’

‘Of course you would say that, Eva. Hard to believe you achieved so much in so little time.’

‘Incredible what a mere drop of water can do.’

‘You won’t convince me to stop, Eva. I think it’s time we ended this charade, once and for all.’

‘Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Once you commit to this course of action, there is no going back. There must be no regrets.’

Cain stood up and ground his teeth together. ‘My only regret is not executing you all when the first of your allies was discovered to be a monster.’

Her retreat from his thoughts at least released some of the pressure building on his shoulders. He forced the symbiote to manifest a rifle made of Mortan skin, and it made his right arm almost entirely unrecognisable. He could still feel his hands as the Mortan equivalent of a pistol grip and a trigger took shape. The body of the bio-rifle extended from his wrist and formed a triangular shape. He wasted no time in catching up to the Mortan dragging its victim, and instead of shooting, he simply walked past them. It pained him to leave the victim to their fate, and under different circumstances, he would have saved them, but as the large engineering section entered his view, and the level of corruption sank in, there was only one way to stop all this. It helped him to look like a Mortan since it meant he didn’t need to fight them. But if Eva knows my intention here… why isn’t she making them stop me? What am I missing here?

The Aether Core chamber had become a place that was home to the dead and dying. Bodies had been scattered everywhere. Not all would become the standard Mortan drone or worse. Others would simply join the growing Convergent Mind and become just another piece of the biomass spreading across the base. The walls had some being held in suspension. The corruption held them in place, and many, while pale, looked to be alive. It made him wonder what the growing Mortalis would intend for them. The monsters present barely paid him attention even as he raised his weapon and felt the aether surging through him. It also opened his mind to the growing Convergence. So many voices cried out in unison, some for him to stop, others welcomed his intention. The confusing mass almost made his knees buckle, but soon enough, he was ready. Using his free hand, he steadied his bio-rifle and released the built-up aether charge of energy. It more than connected with the corruption covering the Aether Reactor. There was no way it wouldn’t cause a rupture and wider explosion as the Aether that had intentionally been built up and stored ignited. The last thing he felt in the emptiness as the blast wave overwhelmed him was Eva.

‘Thank you, Cain. For granting us our ascension.’

That voice penetrated the darkness enough for him to see a tall, indomitable figure bathed in white light. “I didn’t train you so that you could just succumb to their power over the mind. I know you better than that, Charles.”

Charles attempted to move forward, as the oppressive hold of the dark shackles only held him down. Skorm was right; they were all stronger than this. He was more surprised that it had captured Melina as well. This type of power is new to us. He’s using the darkness to weaken our willpower. I won’t succumb. I won’t let him take my mind.

Soon enough, Charles reached the large outstretched hand of Major General Skorm. It dawned on him as he grabbed it that it was twice now that the manifestation of the Black Knight’s leader had appeared to save him from the mental subjugation techniques of the Mortalis. The bright light dispelled the darkness, and he was back in the observation corridor. Things were visible but shrouded. He moved to where the glass had been broken and heard the crunch under his boots. He climbed through the gap and saw Ross standing there at the eye of the shadow storm he had created. His eyes had been completely blackened, and even his veins had been corrupted by darkness.

“So you escaped my hold over your mind. You still can’t harm me, Charles. Not even your precious Skorm can save you here and now.”

Charles smirked. “I don’t need him to beat you. I’ll figure something out.”

The next thing they knew, the lights overhead flickered and then blinked out, creating even more darkness. A red alarm light turned on, its rotation casting light onto Ross’ mutated body.

“Something struck the base. I can no longer afford to play with you. This ends now!”

Right on cue, another dark tendril was launched at Charles, which he narrowly avoided. I need to tear that symbiote from his body. As long as he has his weapons of shadow. Getting close will be tricky.

‘Leave that to me, Charles.’

Charles looked to his left and saw that Melina had joined him, also fully covered by the symbiote’s protective shell. Her Mortan form towered above both of them.

“Finally, a challenge,” said Ross as he focused his next attacks on Melina. The eruption of aether tendrils snaked around them, creating flashes of light that nearly blinded Charles.

‘I’ll keep him dancing, get close and gut him.’

Charles didn’t need to be asked twice as he closed the gap and took advantage of Melina’s distraction, drawing a Bowie knife and attempting to plunge it into Ross. Unsurprisingly, it was not as easy as he hoped it would be. The knife met with nothing, cutting through a body that quickly became smoke and almost smothered him again. He was pushed aside as Melina in her Mortan form attempted strikes of her own. Her large aether dual hooks parted the darkness, and it circled her to the point that she was completely lost in it. Now joined by Pyotr and Francis, Charles shook his head.

“We can’t beat that, Frank.”

“No, but Pyotr can.”

Pyotr said nothing, his brows narrowed, and Charles sensed the electricity building in the air, and the swarming darkness writhed, lurking one way and another before bending into a sprout and forcing the manifestation of Ross. Much to his shock, and before he could utter another word, Charles plunged the knife into his body. This time, it found purchase, blood, and bile oozed out as the symbiote became visible. He reached in, grasped it and tore it free. Ross, no longer able to be sustained, went pale white, his eyes rolled over, and he fell backwards. Allowing Melina to come over.

“Let’s hope there’s not more like him after this.”

“If we hurry, we won’t have to fight anymore,” said Francis.

Now that the system had detected the end of the contamination, they were finally able to collectively leave. For Black Knight, it was a return to the hangar that they had arrived in. Their ship, ready to launch at any time, still waited for them. It was a miracle no one had taken it or any of the others.

“We should suit up,” said Francis, “just to be safe.”

No one objected as he led them to a nearby storage unit that slid open to reveal spacesuits. It took a few minutes to pull the bulky suits over their bodies.

“You think we’ll have trouble leaving?” asked Echo.

“Most definitely, we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Francis.

Francis first approached a nearby console station that would allow him to lower the transport’s ramp. The others positioned themselves around him while he did this. Charles found himself next to Anya, whom he couldn’t help but notice was shaking.

“We’re going to make it,” he said to reassure himself as much as her.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you—it’s Ross. He- I should have made him wait for you. He would still be alive if I had stopped him.”

“Neither of you could have known that the filtration system was compromised.”

“I know, but still…”

“We’re ready to go,” said Francis, cutting her off.

The group made their way to the ramp, and before they all could get on board, figures emerged from the darkness. The Mortalis mutation had subsumed them. No longer did they resemble humans; instead, the exoskin looked jagged and scaly.

“Echo! I need you to get this ship ready to fly.”

“But the checks-”

“We’ll worry about those once we’re in the air.”

Echo hurried up the ramp and disappeared into the small storage compartment that led up into the troop seating area and the front cockpit.

Charles didn’t wait for the command as he opened fire using the Thompson he had acquired from the armoury. This gave the Mortes some motivation, and they broke into a run. It dawned on him as they did that his shooting had probably only made the monsters more angry. Still, it managed to break through some of the armour. Pyotr and Francis soon followed. A mixture of energy fizzling and rifle cracking brought some of the rapidly approaching group down, finishing what Charles had started.

Derrick, unsurprisingly, had already disappeared into the ship with Anya, and one by one the other members did the same until only Francis and Charles remained on the ramp.

“Get going, Charles.”

“You’ll be right behind me, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” said Francis as he fired a shot through the last remaining Mortan’s skull.

Charles hurried up the ramp and into the seating area and took a seat opposite Pyotr. Soon enough, Francis joined them and took a position as co-pilot to Echo.

“They seemed almost unwilling,” said Pyotr.

“Probably the last bit of their will letting them resist the symbiote’s influence.”

“Or maybe they just wanted to be put out of their misery,” said Derrick. “I know I would.”

Before Charles could give his input, the transport came to life, and Echo spoke over the comm system.

“I hope you’re all sitting comfortably. It’s going to be a bumpy ride until we breach the atmosphere. I’d suggest you strap in.”

Charles obliged her, and the others soon followed. He let himself relax just a little. Whatever was going on down below was now behind them. There was no way anything could stop their escape. He regretted that thought soon enough as the transport was hit by turbulence.

“Everyone, I don’t know how to put it, but there’s an aether storm outside!”

Charles unclipped himself and went to the cockpit and rested a hand on both chairs. Echo wasn’t joking. From where the industrial dome had been, now a great green rent had been opened, sucking in anything around it while aetherial gases also spilled out across that part of the base, creating an intense storm unlike any he had seen before.

“That has to be Cain’s doing,” said Francis. “Sit back down, Charles. We may need to do an emergency landing.”

Charles returned to his seat and buckled in.

“How bad is it?” asked Anya.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. We’re pretty much back in the pan.”

“Cain… he wanted to make sure the Mortalis didn’t get a foothold.”

“Francis suspected as much.”

“He’s been infected; he’s part of the growing convergence. I sensed him right before the turbulence.”

“Is he dead?”

“I don’t know… the noise in my head is different. I’m not just sensing other Mortans. Something else has come through.”

“Well, that’s reassuring!” said Pyotr, somehow managing to smile despite their situation.

Charles rested his head back and looked up at the flickering lights. If there is a God, I pray we make it through this. I won’t die on this forsaken planet!

<You can’t hide from his gaze forever.>

<We’ve done it for this long, we’re not stopping now,> answered Melina’s symbiote.

“This should be a piece of cake. How much of that mind is even left? You can barely stand. Did you enjoy the frenzy?”

“Do not mock me!”

The Mortan lunged for her, forming symbiote claws instead of Aether ones. Melina sidestepped the attacker and turned on them, slicing down their back. This left a searing, gaping wound that stunned the Mortan. Francis, not wanting to waste any more time, placed his M1 Garand on the woman’s forehead and pulled the trigger. While he set to work on removing her symbiote, the others were more distracted by the contamination chamber’s bulkhead door opening, allowing Ross to enter the narrow corridor. He walked slowly and with a slouch until he stopped at the same place the Black Knights had when they were first scanned. The alarm siren deafened each of them and he glanced into the observation chamber. His widened, blackened eyes focused fully on Anya.

“Come with me or stay and die like the rest. The choice is yours, Anya,” his voice had been mutated into something more gravelly that both she heard and felt in her mind.

“I’m sorry, Ross. I didn’t want it to end this way,” Anya said while raising the pistol.

Francis jumped to his feet. “Anya - don’t pull-”

Mercifully, the pistol bullet didn’t breach the observation window, instead, it became lodged inside it. The fracture spread rapidly from the entry point; the sound of the glass cracking matched Ross’s fragmenting smile. From behind him, a shadowy tentacle lashed at the screen. It shattered it and, from his body, escaped an eruption of aetherial shadow that plunged the observation area into a foggy darkness.

The engineering portion of the Forward Citadel sat on the middle level of the mobile castle. Aware of the coming threat, those inside had sealed the bulkhead doors. This forced Valerun and Oleg to work in tandem to carve their way through the thick metal using their aether blades. Once inside, Oleg wasted no time, nor did the horde following in their wake. They swarmed the gap, and Valerun dodged effectively, phasing in and out to avoid the incoming barrage of plasma fire. He soon reached where he needed to be and met the petrified look of a guard who now pointed his Aethr rifle at him. He had only minutes, if that, to try to reason with them.

“I promise you I’m trying to prevent what comes next.”

“Why should I trust you?” hissed the guard.

“If you doubted me, you would have pulled the trigger by now. We don’t have much time,” said Valerun while engineering fell into the clutches of a growing Mortalis threat.

“What do you need to do?”

“Simple, I just need to blow up this ship.”

“That’s not simple,” said the guard as he frantically fired at an oncoming Mortan. Its body exploded, spewing body parts and black biomass in all directions. His rifle smoked as he side-eyed Valerun. “I’ll watch your back. You’ll have to patch into the command centre, and hope that they believe you.”

Valerun set to work accessing the nearby console and requested a connection to the command centre above them. He kept his body low to avoid any stray shots. True to his word, the guard remained close, scanning the chaos and deterring any Mortan from getting close. It won’t work forever. At some point, Oleg will notice what I’m trying to do… then what?

The screen in front of him blinked on, revealing Commander Varon in the Command Centre. He looked suitably furious at how things had played out so far.

“Is that really you, Valerun?”

“Yes, but I’m—we’re all running out of time.”

“I gathered. Your friend Javik tried to storm this section of the castle, but we put him down. I presume the Mars base is compromised.”

“It is.”

The man scowled. “And now, so are we. I have a feeling I know what you’re going to ask.”

“It’s actually two things.”

“Spit it out.”

“The first is a strike against the Mars base; we all know the stories. Once it becomes convergent, nothing can stop it. A preemptive strike would stop it in its tracks.”

“And the second thing.”

Valerun found himself shaking and looked at the brown biomass surfacing over the back of his hands. His mouth began to water, and his vision blurred. He hardened his mind and focused fully on the commander. “They can’t be allowed to leave, Commander. You know the protocol.”

“The Anathema Protocol–to be enacted when the Mortalis become incapable of being contained by standard measures. You’re proposing we self-destruct the forward citadel, killing everyone.”

“Only you have that key, Commander. Give me access to the weapons system, and I’ll handle the strike.”

He could see the commander wrestle with the idea. Sure they had stopped Javik, but since their arrival, more and more had been infected. It was not a matter of if they overran the castle, but when. The Commander relented. “Giving you access to the missile battery. I’ll initiate the self-destruct sequence. The Dauntless is too far gone to come back for us.”

Valerun simply nodded and focused his efforts on beginning a launch of the castle’s payload. Even if the Mars Base’s defences intercepted some, just as many would make contact and cause widespread depressurization. He had completed the first set of instructions when Oleg made a beeline for him, slicing through any that came his way and firing at anyone who fired back. His body, a mixture of Kaskari and Mortan, looked burnt to a crisp. Yet he still held nothing back. Valerun’s guard tried to stop him but was blocked and then decapitated by the sweeping fizzle of the aether blade. Oleg’s form transitioned into the monstrous shape of the Mortan, completely subsuming within its protective shell.

“Valerun, you’ll pay for this!”

Valerun didn’t give him a response and instead fired back some shots of his own until the monster struck the rifle and forced him to drop it. After igniting his own aether blade the two swords met and the castle AI made the announcement. “Self-destruct sequence initiated. All personnel are advised to evacuate. Destruction will occur in three minutes.”

Valerun could see Oleg’s eyes widen in abject horror. “I don’t need to win!” he growled; the growing Mortan within him finally found its voice. “I just need you to lose!”

“But what about Francis-”

“Fucking everything and everyone is now a Mortan. For all we know, he’ll turn up and infect us too. You still have your pistol?”

“Of course, it’s standard issue. They’ll be here any minute; we can’t just leave them!”

He faced her, not wanting to argue with her stubborn loyalty to a cause that, in reality, cared very little for her. He marched over and grabbed her wrist. “Come with me or stay and die like the rest. The choice is yours, Anya.”

He let go, and without giving her a chance to get a word in, he began marching down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he checked both ways. The way was clear, but to his left, leading back towards the core of the base, he saw blood trails. Someone passed by here not too long ago. Shouldn’t hang around in case they come back. As he approached processing, which would give access to the hangar bay, he heard footsteps getting gradually louder as they echoed off the silvery metal floor. Anya had decided to come, after all.

“You’re right since neither of us is infected. We can only depend on each other.”

The first thing they would need to do was get past the biometric scanner. They stopped before the large metal door, and Ross went and pressed a button on the panel next to the door. Soon enough, it opened.

“It’ll be one at a time. Once I’m through, you go next; don’t dawdle, okay?”

“I won’t.”

He entered the decontamination chamber first, and once the door was sealed, the system automatically blurted to life. The chamber quickly filled with what he knew to be a disinfectant gas, except it had an odd colouring to it. Normally, it was smoky white, but this time it looked darker, so much so that it made it hard for him to see in front of him.

‘Why are you leaving us? What if I never see you again?’

He looked back over his shoulder and saw his girlfriend as she looked back on Earth. The gas being pumped in did not relent; it only smothered him further. It was futile for him to cover his mouth. The damage has already been done.

“I promised I would come back for you, didn’t I? Such a hollow promise looking back at it.”

The form of his girlfriend soon became enveloped by the gas, and when it parted slightly. Someone else stood before him. Anya.

“Anya, you can’t be here. They’ve contaminated the gas!”

The smile she gave him did not contain normal teeth, but instead looked more monstrous, jagged and shaped like triangles. “Oh, Ross. Did you really think you would be my knight in shining armour? How foolish you are; the only one being saved here is you. You will find no greater purpose, I promise,” she said as she began stalking him, prowling around him while he remained frozen. What can I do? This stuff is messing with my perception. It’s tricking me! Even if she isn’t really here, there’s no way to convince me it’s an illusion.

“This is what we can give you: peace of mind. A unity unlike any you’ve ever experienced,” said the gruffer voice now. It was difficult to pinpoint because it kept sounding close and far away, and it even penetrated deep into his brain, burying into his protesting thoughts.

“Son, come with us. We can be a family again.”

“No… that’s not fair, anyone but him…”

“Why? This way, I will never leave you again.”

“You’ll never replace him, not while I’m still in control.”

“We humour you, Ross. Your will can’t hold forever.”

At that precise moment, the gas was sucked out of the chamber, and the process ended. What was usually a few minutes had dragged on for what seemed to be a lifetime. Ross collapsed to his knees, coughing. He vomited nothing at first, but soon specks of black and brown chunks appeared. Already, his insides were mutating. The next door leading into the main corridor opened. He had no choice. He had to continue forward. As he stepped through it and the door shut, he fell against it. I can’t warn her. If she follows in my wake… it’ll claim her too.

Unaware of what awaited her, the door to the chamber opened, and Anya almost stepped inside, but a voice from behind stopped her. She looked over her shoulder and saw them—the Black Knights. The ones she had been in contact with when they first arrived.

“Don’t, otherwise it will get you, too. That’s what it wants. More bodies and minds,” said one of the long, black-haired females with them.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“I’d hazard a guess that the poison that contaminated the water also found its way into the storage tanks used by the decontamination chamber,” said the man next to her.

“The observation room is the safest bet if we want to avoid any further potential infection,” said the other man with folded arms.

“Don’t all rub it in at once.”

“Sorry, Pyotr.”

“None taken.”

“If we can cut our way in, it should help us bypass going through the decontamination chamber. Can either of you handle that?” asked the man to the black-haired woman and the man who had complained. Not wasting time with an answer, the black-haired woman approached the small reinforced door that normally required a code and instead, she ignited her right hand to form a triangular purple blade of concentrated aether energy. She thrust the blade into the locking mechanism, and the heat soon broke the seal, allowing them entrance. She released the aetherial weapon and stepped back. “Let’s get a move on. Any use of Aether will have them on us in no time. We can’t waste any more time chatting.”

The industrial sector had turned into a battleground. From what he gathered, not everyone had been caught in the Mortis infection. Those lucky ones stubbornly did their best to hold off their fast-turning friends. What bothered Cain a little was how fast this was happening. Back on Earth, the Mortalis threat, though widespread, still had Mortans acting on their own will, yet now they were more coordinated and determined to change even their environment. It could just be a matter of the location, all of them confined to one part of the planet. This was perhaps inevitable, but I can still stop it before it can even be allowed to leave.

Cain moved fast through the Industrial recreational park, past earthly trees and across the grass that once existed in the seed banks and was brought to Mars on board the early colony ships. He stopped only to look up at the reinforced, glass-domed ceiling. The night had settled, but his nightmare was far from over. A glow was cast on the surrounding buildings by the largest of the two moons, Phobos, in orbit around the red planet. As he rounded a corner that would lead him to the Aether Energy Inc. facility, he was set upon by a feral half consumed by the symbiote; their teeth had been blackened, while their eyes were bloodshot. He had to use the rifle to keep some distance between them while it ignited, and brown aether claws dug into the rifle’s metallic body. A single shove later sent the Mortan backwards, giving Cain the opening he needed to plant three shots of aether into the monster’s centre. It hit the ground with a heavy thud. He scrunched his nose at the idea of ripping out the monster’s symbiote, but it was the only true way to make sure it wouldn’t get up again. He reached down into the burnt, smouldering wound and found the symbiote. It came out easily enough, and the body before him finally settled.

He picked up the pace and reached the connection that would take him into the Aether Energy facility. The great titanium steel doors were sealed, though, and it required him to enter an authorisation key to lift the system lockdown. Normally, keeping them away from this place would be ideal, but there’s no saving this situation. This base has to be destroyed, there’s no other way.

The noise of those doors parting sent shivers down his spine, as did the realisation that he wouldn’t live to see the result of his actions. He looked back the way he came, anticipating the creatures being drawn by the sound, he didn’t even wait till they were fully open before entering the darkened corridor. He broke into a run, and soon enough, the neon letters of the sign representing Aether Energy came into view. This is it. This is where your dream ends, Lazarus. At least it’ll go out with a bang.

“You’re making a grave mistake, Officer Cain,” said the deep, distorted mechanical voice. It caught Cain off guard, as he didn’t recall there being an A.I. unit deployed inside the Mars base. This was something new.

“Identify yourself!”

“Andrey. I came with my fellow Black Knights.”

“Wait, I remember, the decontamination had exposed you. How did you survive?”

“I became post-physical. I splintered. I exist inside the system. I control this base; I am everywhere and I won’t let you sabotage the will of the Mortalis. All will become one. All will live forever.”

“Not whilst I still think freely. I won’t let you win.”

“We already have.> The voice came through both the panel speakers and prodded at his thoughts. The symbiote is stirring within me!

That shift in the mechanical voice to something that could only be considered demonic made his eyes widen in realisation. To anyone hearing such a voice inside their head, it meant only one thing. His symbiote had finally shown its hand. Before he could process this, he was lifted into the air by an invisible force and launched back the way he came, sliding along the corridor until he came to a stop. Despite the wind being knocked from him, Cain climbed to one knee and tried to calm his erratic breaths. He saw something different now, a messy blur in front of him that was pulling from his past and memories. It found purchase on something dear to him. His daughter whom he would never see again.

“Why did you leave us, father?”

“Don’t you dare!” he screamed, his hands clenched.

“Dare do what?” asked a new female voice. Another of those blasted Knights, I know her better now thanks to our symbiotic link.

“I know what you’re doing, Eva. It won’t work. I know the Mortalis like to get inside people’s minds and find out what makes them tick. You can project as many images as you want. The result will remain the same. The Mortalis, this base, all of it will be reduced to ashes once I’m done.”

Once more full of resolve, Cain advanced back to the entrance to the Industrial sector and knew he would have little time to enact his little plan. He had sensed it the minute he had been flung. The symbiote had woken and its invisible tendrils now snaked their way through his mind, and he felt it hum beneath his skin. It had engaged his proto-core in an attempt to accelerate its own awakening and have him succumb further to aetherial delusion. He would not give it any more chances, not while he controlled his actions. He would die a free man, on his own terms. He resolved to take a leaf out of the Mortalis book and clenched one of his fists, focusing on it and through engaging the Mortis proto-core he was able to make an aether blade that had burst forth from his fist. If Andrey wouldn’t let him pass normally, he would simply have to cut his way through.

A calming sensation coursed through him. A moment of weakness in his will that had he not kept a hold of, he would have been swallowed by the monster developing in his body. He couldn’t feel it, but he sensed it changing how he acted. Occasionally his arm would move as if of its own accord, or he would blink more than he wanted to and against his will.

<I know what you intend…>

The deep voice permeated his thoughts and squashed any attempt for him to block it out.

‘That means you intend to stop me.’

<For the sake of my–our preservation I would hope it wouldn’t need to come to that.>

‘You’re asking me to surrender my people to you. I can’t do that,’ Valerun said closing his eyes, resigned to what needed to be done.

Soon enough the carrier settled on the metal surface inside one of the many Citadel garages. The doors to where he sat slid open and he stood up exiting the seating area. Valerun was soon joined by the others.

“We will have to be quick, we should each have the potential to infect those around us. It’s like it knows why we’re here,” said Javik.

Koleg remained silent, it was hard to tell if he was even conscious of what they were about to do, or if he experienced anything close to the vice-like grip being exerted upon his thoughts like the others, then his internal tug of war might have already been lost. I could be looking at the husk of the man I once knew.

“We’ll work our way to the command centre, by the time we’re done. This Citadel will belong to the True Mortalis.”

Valerun and Koleg fell in behind Javik, who led the way into one of the citadel’s many meandering corridors. The first of their victims soon came into view, a young-looking silver Kaskari woman, eager to make an impression, Javik approached them, and the slithering tendril containing the means to create a Mortis symbiote emerged from behind his shoulder and wrapped around his arm. The Kaskari female had barely any time to register a reaction as the tendril was launched at her face. The end of the tendril was a mouth sealed by black triangular teeth. They opened and latched onto the Kaskari woman’s mouth, digging in and making it impossible for her to even scream. The mortis would do the rest in due time. And as the woman dropped to her knees, her eyes widened. Valerun would remember that look for as long as he still had control. He watched her hands change, over them appeared twin psionic blades that formed a triangular shape she crossed them and sliced, separating herself from the tendril’s grip. The part attached to her fell away as if a worm and dissolved into the floor, she fell back meanwhile and now on her back took a minute before getting back up to one knee.

“What is this!”

“Your future,” Javik said stepping past her.

Valerun paused at her side as she released her psionic weapon and just stared forward. The life in her eyes may well have also been released too.

“Someone has to stop this… it can’t happen again.”

He waited till the other two were farther enough down the corridor to mutter a response. “It won’t I promise.”

She stared at him. “Don’t make a promise you know you can’t keep. Why didn’t you stop him?”

“I’m sorry for what you will become. I’m ending this before it can spread beyond this world.”

She reached for her throat. “What do you need me to do?”

“The citadel has numerous airlocks, disable them.”

“Sucking them out won’t do much.”

“These monsters still need to breathe, without oxygen, they’ll suffocate and die.”

“So will we.”

“That is the price of containment.”

“Valerun!” Javik shouted realising he had fallen behind. ‘Why are you stalling?’

‘I was just admiring your work, Javik.’

‘There’s a time and a place. Right now we have a citadel to takeover.’

Valerun nodded to the girl and watched her get back onto unsteady feet before continuing forward. He waited til Javik had fully retreated from his mind before thinking to himself. It doesn’t look like he’s aware of what I just said. Good, the longer he doesn’t suspect me, the better.

The process gradually repeated itself, a few tried resisting using their weapons but Javik, as a fellow soldier managed to dodge the incoming aether plasma blasts by blinking. He killed some of those that got in the way and infected others. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the base was under an alert status. The resistance was beginning to bog them down even while newly infected Mortans fought alongside them.

“I will deal with those in the engineering section,” Valerun said.

Javik looked at him sceptically, “fine,” he growled. “But Oleg will go with you.”

“But won’t that make it harder for you to reach the command centre?”

Javik looked back the way they came, Mortans followed in their wake. Kaskari that had had their minds subsumed entirely by the symbiote. They were nothing more now than drones in need of direction. “I have my army. Take some with you, and spread the will of Truth.”

I need to work fast and not give it a chance to fight me every step of the way. If I fail, that Terran is our only chance at keeping the monster on this blasted world! It can’t be allowed to take the Forward Citadel. It can’t be allowed to return to the stars.

Valerun had leaned forward whilst stewing on these thoughts.

“Everything okay back there?” asked Javik.

He didn’t know how best to respond; he had no way of knowing if his fellow soldier was still himself. He straightened up and answered. “I’m fine. What about you?”

“I feel liberated. Having that once Nirikiri’s mind linked to us has made me realise that we are all better off as one voice. Wouldn’t you agree, Koleg?”

Koleg grunted in response.

“You’ll come around. There’s so many of us now. It’s pointless to resist it.”

“The FC won’t fall easily. How do you expect to infect everyone?” asked Valerun.

“My mutation is moving fast. I will be able to infect most of those we come across.”

That means he’s fast becoming a Patriarch, that is quick. “They won’t make it easy either way. How far out are we?”

“It shouldn’t be much longer.”

Adam Cain barely acknowledged the chaos as it spread across the Mars base. Nearly everyone he encountered since the sprinklers had activated had succumbed to the madness brought on by the symbiote. They no longer saw their fellow man as colleagues, but instead as food. He had recovered an aether-powered rifle from a dead security officer and intended to use that over the symbiote growing inside him. At least for as long as possible.

He fell into a nearby soaked wall as a voice amongst the noise rose to the surface of his mind.

‘Why do you yet resist? Cain.’

A face came to his mind that belonged to one of those who had recently arrived. For some reason, she had been separated from that group and now served something else. It was she who had contaminated the water and allowed the Mortalis to take root. He ignored her pressing on his forehead and staggered onward down the meandering corridors and past endless bodies. Some had already begun to show signs of additional mutation, fusing to form the Mortalis biomass.

‘I know you can hear my voice, Chief Officer. I know where you’re going. I know what you intend to do. It won’t work. We won’t allow you.’

He gritted his teeth and kept going until eventually he reached the large blast doors that would take him beyond the Private Sector into the Industrial Sector. At its heart was the Aether plant that would aid him in destroying the Mortalis before it could even think about returning to Earth.

He keyed in the code required to access this section and was met by a red denial light. He dropped down to one knee as the visage of Eva manifested before him. Her innocent looking face masked a woman whose soul had been ripped out.

‘The more you fight it, the more it hurts. Just stop resisting.’

‘I will not go quietly, not while my thoughts are my own. I will not become like them.’

She looked disappointed. ‘You already are, Cain. You just refuse to accept the truth of things.’

He found the strength to stand and almost fired a shot from his rifle, but he quickly realised how fruitless of an effort that would be. Besides, he sensed something coming up from behind him, turning he caught the feral creature as it tried to ambush him. Bolts of aether plasma left the rifle barrel and met the chest of the Mortan. It then staggered past him as smoke curled up from its body. It barely had time to turn because he fired a few more shots into its back and watched it collapse. His shots had created an opening big enough for him to reach inside and rip out a fledgling symbiote.

You’ll have to do better than that, Eva.

Francis stood at the head of the group that now confronted the lone officer. He stood over two Mortan bodies, and he himself looked normal if a little dishevelled, but that could easily be a deception.

“I know this looks bad, but I promise you, LT765. I am on your side here.”

“Since you know our callsign. I can only assume you’re also up to no good here.”

The man made a gesture that said it all.

“Who do you work for?”

The officer straightened and stepped over the body whose symbiote he had since removed. “My name is Derrick Cutler, I work for -” he hesitated for a moment before speaking, “The Grey Watch.”

That’s just our luck, one of Grey’s lackeys. With all that’s been happening, he must have wanted to cut his losses and saw us as his only chance of making it off-world… but if he learned about who we worked for, that could complicate things.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the Grey Watch would have an operative out here,” said Francis, looking back at Melina and the others. Charles, in particular, looked ready to throw hands.

“And I can already tell just by saying my employer’s name. You’re not fans. So that narrows it down quite a lot. You’re with the Black Conglomerate… but your callsign, LT765, that corporation is based in Russia. Quite surprised that the Conglomerate of all things would associate with the Soviet Imperium.”

Charles went to advance, but the man raised his weapon, and his smile remained unwavering. “Let’s not do anything any of us would later regret. I don’t care that you’re my enemy. You’re my best hope for getting off this rock before something happens that kills us all.”

“We can’t trust a Watchman, Frank.”

“We don’t have a choice, Charles!” added Melina.

“I say we trust him. I mean, hell, we’re all fucked either way,” said Pyotr.

“Well, I’ll be, the Soviet dog speaks more sense than his masters. Colour me shocked.”

Francis resisted the bait being thrown his way and instead just shook his head. “Alright, fine. You can come with us, but less of the snide remarks, Cutler. You follow my orders from this point forward; is that clear?”

Cutler gave him a quick salute. “Understood, sir. So what’s the plan?”

Francis looked at the others before focusing back on the cautious Cutler. “Whether you like it or not, we need to be armed. There’s only going to be more of those things the longer this goes on.”

“What you need is access to the armoury in the central security dome. Well, isn’t it fortunate you came across me?”

“You can get us in?” Asked Charles.

“It shouldn’t be a problem. We should hurry, though, I imagine we’re not the first to get this idea.”

“Then lead the way.”

Cutler simply nodded and led them back the way he came. The entire base was now under alert, and there was no way to tell if their next encounter would be with a friend or foe. The first thing Cutler noticed was that the direct path to the centre dome was depressurised. “It looks like someone is making it difficult to traverse the base. We’ll need to pressurise the corridor first. Give me a second.”

As Cutler set to work, footsteps came closer. A group of Mortans, some looked like monsters, while a few clung to their human shape. No doubt drawn to the fact that the Black Knights had Mortans among them.

“Everyone find some cover!” shouted Francis, moving to the corner of the T-section they occupied. Others took the opposite side, and those who had the means ignited their weapons. “Did you start the process?”

“Yes, it’ll be ready in a minute or so.”

“Then let’s deal with these Mortans quickly,” Francis nodded to both Pyotr and Melina.

They broke from cover and used their projected aether weapons to fire bolts of energy down the corridor. This brought some of the Mortans down while the rest pushed on. Cutler resolved to help and used his pistol to stagger the remaining ones. Their mutations hadn’t allowed them to project weapons. This gave the two Mortan Black Knights the chance to easily cut their attackers down to size, though they didn’t make it easy. The Mortans used their exoskin to form claws and forced both Melina and Pyotr to time their strikes. Soon enough, quiet returned, and the doors behind them opened, signalling it was safe to enter.

“Hurry, and once we’re through, we’ll arm up and head for the hangar.”

“You’re just leaving?” Cutler asked following after the Black Knights.

The corridor to the centre dome was wide enough for them to run almost abreast of each other.

“Destroying the base is a fool’s errand. There’s nothing the Mortans can do here except starve.”

“He’s got a point,” said Charles.

“Unless they try to make the alien facility operational,” said Echo.

Francis stopped running. “Shit, you might be right.”

“You entered the facility?”

“Yes, and all of us would rather not have to go back!”

“We might not have a choice,” said Melina.

Though after what Pyotr had endured, Francis understood his apprehension of such an idea. We can either leave and leave these Mortans to their fate, or we use the facility beneath us and escape. Somewhere, deep within his mind, he already suspected this decision would soon be made for him.

The central dome’s outer section looked to be a mess of scattered containers and the occasional blood trail. Even if a last stand had been attempted here, he doubted it had been successful. Cutler led them right down a curving corridor until they reached the reinforced doors of the armour, still sealed. He began by entering the authorisation code into the side panel. “Unless they’ve changed it, this should work…”

“If not, we can always break in,” said Pyotr.

“Only if you have a death wish and like the idea of being cut down by the security turrets that are installed in the ceiling.”

“I guess we’ll just wait then.”

Minutes passed, and eventually the dual doors parted, letting them inside the massive armoury. It had been stocked up with a variety of weapons, some familiar, others more likely to be prototypes. There were even some mechs off in the corner, and some looked pretty similar to the Clockwork men that had haunted many a battlefield in recent years. It certainly got Francis and Charles’ attention.

“I’d consider bringing one of those along, but that would require topping up its battery,” said Francis.

“Best to just leave it,” said Cutler. “Those things aren’t known for being the most reliable. Unlike actual Clockworks.”

Each of the Black Knights chose a weapon that was his or her personal preference. Most chose traditional weapons that didn’t rely on energy as a power source. Cutler mostly stocked up on cells to keep his pistol powered. Charles elected to use the experimental Energiser MK II, a sleek rifle with a long barrel. It ran on a steady supply of electrical charge. Pyotr had chosen what was known as a railgun.

“Be careful with that. It’s designed to penetrate multiple targets at once. Lethal is an understatement,” said Charles. “It could also cause decompression if you miss. What was this base made of again?”

“How should I know?” said Cutler.

“Bonded regolith for the most part and then reinforced with prefabricated materials imported from Earth,” said Pyotr. “I’ll make sure not to miss.”

“We’re all holding you to that,” said Melina.

“I think we have all we need. Let’s get off this doomed rock,” said Francis.

That got them focused on the matter at hand. This time, it was Francis’ turn to take point and lead them back to where it had all begun for his Black Knight squad. So much for the long game; none of us could have predicted this. All that matters now is that we survive. In a way, this is still salvageable for the Black Conglomerate. It’ll take time, but we’ll be back. Some day.

An unmistakable coldness had numbed his body. It no longer felt like it belonged to him. No, the thing taking root within him now had him dancing on taut strings. Valerun looked as his black and gold veined hands turned brown. The strange Mortalis exoskin behaved strangely. It would surface only to then bury itself within him as if it were feeling its way around his body, and finding purchase wherever possible. His mind experienced whiplash as the voices of the Mortalis subsumed him. One stood out, bringing a sense of order to the chaos. He watched as the human named Cain desperately fought to maintain control over his body and mind, but it would all be futile. Nothing can resist the Mortalis forever, like death it claims you in the end…

“You do not get to choose,” said Savin.

Valerun focused his mind and isolated it from the psychic tendrils of the True Mortalis hivemind. I will embrace death when I’m good and ready. I can’t let this rot sway me. I can’t let it leave this world and begin again.

“The Mortalis always finds its way.”

He now understood what he needed to do and the only way to pull it off was to convince them wholly that they had him ensnared. The forehead of the human had been bloodied from his attempt to kill himself, but the symbiote, even while newly planted and without true form in the body, could still exert its controlling influence, that undeniable need to preserve itself and its host. If we wanted to retain his own control over himself, he would have to play along until he could get back to the FOB. Then I can destroy this place, the FOB, myself and the Mortalis. No one else has to suffer this monster.

Valerun straightened up while Cain finally relented and appeared to accept his unfortunate fate. “We know that better than anyone,” said Valerun. “We will spread the Truth. His most glorious return.”

The silver Kaskari, Javik, had also stood back up. “We must consolidate this world and establish a hive and Convergent Mind.”

Savin held up both hands. “All in good time, all in good time, but first we have a small problem.”

Cain laughed, “that bitch and her team won’t be able to stop you.”

“You say that, but I only sense one of them. The others remain distant minds.”

Valerian tried to isolate the distinct voices from the collective whole and drew two conclusions. One was that one of those tied to this bitch had been responsible for the water treatment being contaminated, the other was that what Savin had said wasn’t entirely accurate. Two minds had been added to the collective, but their joint will appeared to stop any attempt at making them subservient. So it’s not just me… He looked once more at the human called Savin who had the mind of a Nirikiri in them. He didn’t seem aware of Valerun’s own resistance. It would be best if I kept it that way.

“Trust Frank to avoid those blasted sprinklers. Do you want him dead?” spat Cain.

“I want him to join us.”

“Then I shall bring him into the fray.”

“And us?” asked Javik.

“Return to your outpost, spread Truth and liberate your kin from the shackles of this existence.”

They left with Cain and while the two Kaskari went on ahead, Valerun stayed behind a little longer to talk with him. The human looked understandably frustrated at the developing situation that had spiralled far beyond anything he could have previously imagined. He brushed his hands over his short-cut hair and stared daggers at Valerun.

“Haven’t you got somewhere to be?”

“I’m planning on destroying the FOB so that the Mortalis cannot use it or leave on it.”

Cain stared up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because before I do that, I will launch strikes against this base, destroying the Mortalis here, too.”

“I had something of a similar idea, there’s a miniaturized aether plant supplying power to much of the base. I was going to overload it, even if it meant killing me.”

“How big of an explosion can you make it?”

Cain sighed. “As big as necessary, so if one of us fails, at least the other can succeed. Is that it...?”

“Yes, my people faced this once before. We made the mistake of underestimating it back then. Not this time.”

Cain lightened up and chuckled. “You’re telling me the hard part is keeping these treacherous thoughts away from the greater whole?”

“Agreed. Our symbiotes aren’t yet fully developed, but that won’t take long. We need to work fast.”

“Then go, I’ll make sure to get things done here.”

Valerun and the man shared a nod, and the man disappeared off down one of the corridors, likely heading for the dome where the plant would be stored. He, meanwhile, retraced his steps until he was back at the airlock where the other two Kaskari impatiently waited.

“Brother, you took your time.”

“I gave the human some positive reinforcement. After all, he looked pretty shaken up by all this.”

The bronze Kaskari, Koleg spoke up, “I think we all are, but are we really going -” he was cut off and dropped down to one knee. “Okay, okay! I won’t question it.”

“Good,” said Javik. “Now let’s get this airlock cycled and return to base. I’m sure they are starting to worry about us.”

Whatever order had once existed had now been completely erased. It was every man for himself and in his case, that meant keeping his trailing shadow from turning on him. Or else he would end up like many of the corpses he had stepped over. The Mortalis didn’t care for other infected. It only ever needed to satiate its growing hunger. Even within him, it still yet grew. He was foolish to think the drug would completely stop the infection within him. It’s only delaying the inevitable, but for how long?

<Not long enough to save you or your mind. You will belong to us?> said the deep voice in his thoughts.

He felt his way along the wall as his head continued to pound. Until he noted the woman had come to a stop after rounding the corner. The narrow corridor was drenched in bodies and a single being standing over them fully manifested as a Mortan. Sensing their presence, the feral turned to face them, a dismembered limb in their hand. The Mortan skin had changed their face, giving them an easy means to bite through anything.

“Stay behind me,” she said.

“Food!”

The feral charged and blinked, skipping forward to be met by the woman blocking its attack, capturing its wrist with her mutated arm after it reappeared. She clenched her left hand and from her left shoulder wrapped a lance-like blade. She moved to stab the feral, only to be blocked by the burst of aether wings from his back. The stalemate soon broke, and the distance gave their attacker the chance to launch aether spikes at them. She blocked the majority with her lance blade, but the rest punctured her body and left her bleeding profusely. She swayed a little before forcing Mortan exoskin to scab over her wounds. She looked back and glared at Cutler.

“I can’t win this alone, Cutler. Stop resisting and help me.”

“Give me an opening and I can put it down.”

“Without turning?”

“Without turning.”

“Fine. Do you often make things a challenge for yourself?”

“I wouldn’t be here if it were easy,” Cutler said, finally removing his energy pistol from the holster that had been covered mostly by his shirt. He had only a couple of cells on him, hence why he kept it hidden, but if this woman could get this man exposed, then these cells would be all he needed to put them down for good. He looked at her, full of resolve. And then I can deal with her too.

He focused his thoughts to make sure she couldn’t easily read them. It was a psychological trick that the Grey Watch’s Ministry of Intelligence had taught during his training days. Now it would serve as a shield against the oppressive hivemind of the Mortalis.

The feral launched itself forward and its aether-based wings crystallised, allowing it to try to strike her up close. She blocked and pushed it back before countering with her Mortan claw. The force of the punch staggered the feral further and now unguarded, she drove the lance through its chest and created the opening that Cutler needed. She danced to the side, and he fired some shots at its exposed stomach area. The creature gave a loud howl and dropped to one knee as each shot hit its mark. Holding it in place, the woman drove the lance through the Mortan’s body, puncturing the symbiote through its back and it knelt there for a short while, eyes seemingly filled with tears. As she slowly removed her aether lance and allowed it to come to rest at her side, still dripping with the remains of the Mortan. She failed to account for Cutler sneaking up behind and putting the pistol to her back. At this range, it was all but certain. He fired off multiple shots before she could put distance between them. The hot plasma burned through her body and symbiote alike and soon enough she staggered forward, spinning only to see Cutler move with surgical precision, a blade in hand he lunged, too for her chest and with no chance to properly get her bearings the blade made light work of her damaged body. They tumbled to the floor and his gun spun away from him. He didn’t need it. His right hand entered her body and found the symbiote trying to repair itself and her.

“I thought–” she gasped.

“You thought no such thing.”

He removed the symbiote, finishing her off. Now at rest, he dropped the slimy thing and stamped on it repeatedly before recovering his gun. He was about to continue onward when a group appeared at the end of the corridor. Just the people he was looking for.

“I know this looks bad, but I promise you, LT765. I am on your side here.”

“Not here, though,” said Anya.

“No, a few other sectors were missed, from the looks of it. The thing is, there’s no fire or anything to indicate they need to be activated.”

Anya got up from her chair and approached Ross’ seat. From over his shoulder, she had a good look at the readouts; nothing was abnormal. The only notable thing was that the remote activation was triggered by someone in Hydroponics.

“I know this is typically the Sec centre’s thing, but can you patch into the cameras monitoring the Hydroponics dome?”

“I don’t see why not…” said Ross.

He used the same console to access the camera feed showing the entry to Hydroponics. They both froze at the sight of what they were seeing. Every few minutes, a body would be dragged into view by a beastly monster.

“That’s not possible,” Anya said. “The Mortalis can’t be here, can they?”

“It looks like we found whatever we were digging for below us. The sprinkler system must have been laced with the Mortalis.”

“What should we do?”

Ross got up out of his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know; there’s no protocol in place for this. If we go down there, we’ll be like lambs to the slaughter.”

“It’s that or they come to us-” Anya paused and bit her lip. “There are those who can help us. All personnel have bio-monitor implants. I need you to locate Francis.”

Ross turned on her as if the cogs in his head all finally fell into place; he folded his arms and snarled. “The Mortans on the Moon and now here. You were part of this!”

Anya held up her hands and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. They are our best bet.”

“Anyone under those sprinklers is already infected. Why would they be any different?”

She didn’t have an answer. Instead, she closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. Do you have any brighter ideas?”

Finally, he relented and approached the communication section of the console and attempted to reach Francis.

<Join us and be free from the shackles that keep you at their mercy.>

She stood alone on a barren world while above her, the sky was dirty brown and covered in thick clouds.

<We did not expect you. You have disturbed our sleep. For that, I must thank you.>

Despite being in her thoughts, it felt like those words came from someone close by. Upon turning around, that suspicion was confirmed. She indeed wasn’t alone. A towering monster greeted her. Tall, but quite skinny, it had tube-like appendages coming out of its arms that connected to its back. It had a triangular-shaped head and, instead of a mouth, it had mandibles.

“What are you?” she asked.

It cocked its head and looked wistfully at her before answering once more in her thoughts. <A fragment of the greater whole. The piece of you that cries out for Truth’s embrace.>

Without her even being aware, she caught sight of something in the corner of her eye. Sitting on top of a large rock, it looked vaguely human, but was more like a mannequin in its blankness. At first, she thought it was one of the Black Knights, but then she looked again. It was her symbiote’s true form. A form she had yet to see properly.

<So you’re one who feels more comfortable as a skin walker.>

<Leave us, Decayed One. I do not answer to your cause.>

<You would dare oppose your own kind?>

The symbiote-manifest jumped from its perch and approached them. Now at full height, it looked taller, stronger, and its eye sockets were as black as coal. The distortion in its voice showed its own alien nature. <I wish to be free, I refuse to be absorbed, and I refuse to surrender my host to your will.>

<Careful, my child, you do not know what force you oppose. When the time comes, you will be begging for my mercy and to be accepted. They will never accept you. They will always fear you. That is the truth.>

<I never asked for it. I don’t need it. I only need her.>

The creature they had been speaking to appeared to dry out before dissolving into dust.

‘I thought you would want us to join them.’

The symbiote gave her a sharp, toothy smile. <You humans value your freedom. That being offered only subjugation and the insatiable hunger. I cannot allow myself to lose the life you gave me.>

‘And yet you’ve only ever been a voice in my head. I sometimes forget you’re even in here.’

The symbiote laughed, if you could call it that. <It’s better that way. We are the same, after all. We need to be on the same page. It’s time for you to wake up; events are already in motion, and I’m sorry about what comes next. I do what I do out of mercy and to preserve you as my host.>

‘Pyotr…’

Not again!

The barren world blurred around her as the confined barracks came back into focus. She saw Francis’ mouth moving but could not hear anything of what he was trying to say. He was also sprawled out on the ground with a bruised cheek, like someone had just thrown him. The question of who did this was soon answered, with Pyotr looming over her. The dark Mortis fluid formed over him like an exoskin and had already begun merging with his clothes, too. While within him, a fledgling symbiote had likely begun to take shape. She needed to act fast to keep him on their side. She lunged at him, the palm of her hand pressed against his forehead, and once more their minds became entwined, and the pain and rage that threatened to destroy him almost made her back down. We can’t lose him to this. I saved you once before; what’s one more time!

In the forest of Pytor’s rapidly degrading mind, a great fire raged to defend itself against the symbiote suppression of his waking consciousness. The tug of wills would see one succumb to the other, and he was losing. She saw him be launched in her general direction and land close by, looking bloodied and bruised. Even in this fake existence, his body remained fragile. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or not upon seeing her like this.

“We’re making a habit of this.”

“You need to stop letting others walk all over you.”

“Easy for you to say, Mortan. I presume you’ve come here... To save one of us?”

She nodded. ‘You, Pyotr. I could not care less for my brothers, who are falling in line.”

As he got up on one knee, he winced. “That’s reassuring, although the thing growing within me. I somehow doubt it will go quietly into that good night.”

“That’s what the Mortalis is, born from death, destined to die, but defiant in every way that counts,” Melina said. “Leave the rest to me.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice and watched her transformation. She looked more like a muscular human than the usual monstrous shape that a Mortan took. The only thing that distinguished it from a human was its pulsing grey skin and muscular, wide shoulders. Compared to even Melina’s normal size, her Mortan self was huge.

Seeing a challenger, the symbiote trying to kill, Pyotr charged her and generated aether energy claws that looked like serrated daggers. It drove the claws towards her chest, thinking that just like in real life, it would find the symbiote within. She had anticipated it would be reckless enough to try this, and so she caught its momentum and carried it forward, launching it away from them. The Mortan landed with a heavy thud, and she began her slow approach. It got on all fours and bounded for her. She once more caught it in midair with a single large hand and began suffocating it. She knew that it wouldn’t be enough. There was only one other thing for her to do. She channelled her power once more and smiled.

Rend.

The mutual cry of something new and something worn down met her ears and thoughts; with almost all her strength taken out of her, she reopened her eyes back in the barracks. In front of her, lying on his back, breathing heavily, was Pyotr.

“I think next time, you should just kill me.”

“Not happening,” said Francis, getting back to his feet. He was soon joined by the others. “I think we can all agree that whatever goals we had here are now bust, unachievable. Too much has gone sideways. We’re leaving this blast colony.”

Pytor, still holding his throat, visibly paled, likely realising there might be only one way to escape from Mars. “From one nightmare back into the one we found beneath the surface. That facility is our only shot, isn’t it?”

“Unfortunately, I still think we should try the shuttle first,” said Melina.

“That’s if someone hasn’t already got to it first,” added Echo.

Charles cracked knuckles. “If it comes to it, we’ll deal with them.”

Francis sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If it’s anything like what happened to Pyotr. We’ll have quite the fight on our hands. Our first objective is to pay a visit to the armoury. As strong as Melina and her symbiote are, we can’t depend on them alone. We need firepower.”

Before they could leave, they heard a loud buzzing from one of the interactive panels nearby. Francis approached it as did the others. He accepted the call and spoke into the built-in comms system. “Tower, I guess you’re aware of what’s happening.”

The first voice they heard was a woman’s, one they all knew. Their mole on the inside, Anya. “I’m just glad you’re alive, Francis. We need your help.”

“You’re not infected?” asked Charles.

“No,” the other voice was a man. “The sprinklers were triggered in multiple sectors, meaning there’s no telling how many are infected.”

“How are the hangars? Are the transports able to be deployed?”

“Let me check. Give me a second.”

The Black Knights waited and soon got their response. “It looks like there are some transports that need refuelling, but other than that, they are ready to go.”

“Stay where you are for now,” said Francis. “We’ll come to you, keep us informed on what’s happening elsewhere.”

“Understood, Anya said we could rely on you. I don’t care what your original plans were, I just want to survive whatever comes next.”

“That is something we can all agree on,” said Francis.

He had been drenched by the sudden activation of the sprinklers. He had planned to make contact with Francis’ group, but a part of him wondered what they’d think if he suddenly showed up. Then again, with everything now up in the air, he had to find allies somewhere, and they likely had ideas of their own. He stopped suddenly and heard noises before seeing someone appear at the end of the corridor. They were covered in blood and had a missing limb. The one response soon appeared. A half-transformed woman with a larger Mortan right arm met his gaze. She swivelled and advanced on him.

“You should let it in. If you don’t, I can’t let you leave.”

A sudden pain in his stomach forced him down to his knees.

<We are here, too, worming our way into your mind. Stop resisting, Cutler. Your mission is over.”

He went to throw a weak punch, but she effortlessly caught it. “You want fresh food? I can take you to it. Maybe my mutation is taking longer for some reason.”

He neglected to mention that as the first drops of water hit his skin, he instinctively had rummaged around his desk’s drawers and found the pack of Antemortezyn he had bought from one of the medical staff. He used an airhypo to quickly apply it. Ideally, it would stall the mutation for long enough that he could escape this doomed rock. Even as she wormed into his thoughts, he let her see only what he wanted her to see.

“Lead the way, and if you try anything. I’ll kill you where you stand.”

Cutler laughed at that. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

“We’ve been running ragged since we got here, Charles. There’s not much else we can do at this point. Do I look like an ambassador to you?”

Melina, who had managed to grab a cigarette, was opposite Charles, leaning on the wall. Their assigned barracks were no less different from the others; they were just as cramped and lacking in any real privacy. Charles moved to his bunk and climbed onto the bed; Pyotr had claimed the one above him.

“I’m just glad to rest my legs,” said Pyotr.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” asked Melina. The concern in her voice came from a place of understanding. After all, she knew what it was like to have another voice in her head, though her symbiote more recently had been subdued, as if it was anticipating something.

“I’ll be fine, Melina, just you have no idea how nice it is to have only your own thoughts to worry about.”

“So that’s it?” asked Echo, sitting under another nearby bunk. “We just do nothing.”

Francis raised a finger. “It’s the long game, Echo. That was the mission. Taking this place by force would create a whole host of logistic issues. We’re the vanguard. It’s only once more of us get here do we make a more direct move.”

Charles rolled onto his side. “Doesn’t the Kaskari showing up, mess with our plans though?”

Francis had to think for a while and sat up a little. “We have an agent inside the MTC. She could get a message out to the commander, Major General Skorm. Then we can go from there, if he wants us to move things along, we’ll just have to try to get into the good graces of the Kaskari.”

“That’s easier said than done,” scoffed Melina. “Sure, we have one of ours in the tower, but the other might not take kindly to learning our real purpose here.”

“If they have to be dealt with, they will be,” said Francis. “Besides, maybe communicating back home will help bring us up to speed with how things are progressing on the Moon.”

“We could warn them too,” said Echo.

“That as well.”

As if to silence them, the sprinklers activated and drenched both Pyotr and Melina. This made Francis raise an eyebrow. The sprinklers were the plan for the lunar city. There was no plan to do it here. He facepalmed. “Damn it, Eva!”

“Blyat. I knew something was off with that bitch.”

“We’ve been sloppy, Frank, letting her out of our sight like that.”

Melina stepped forward, scratching at her head and hair. She did it so hard that the other members of Black Knight could see blood on her fingers. “Get out of my head, I won’t-”

She dropped to her knees, and both Francis and Charles leapt into action. Another scream sent shivers down Francis’ spine. Pyotr’s. They could hear him writhing up above. The only other unaffected member was Echo. “What’s happening to them?”

“Rapid infection,” said Francis. “This probably isn’t the Deterrent. What did the newcomers call the Mortalis?”

“Primor.”

‘Primordalis.’

Francis fell backwards and grabbed the bed bunk post. If this thing had already begun affecting Melina and Pyotr. The last thing he wanted was to touch the wet floor.

‘We are the undeniable truth, his guiding voice. We offer true peace. An end to the conflict that has brought ruin to your people.”

Francis and the other futilely had their hands over their ears for all the good it would do. The voice spoke at times as if as one being and as many. The intense throbbing pain in his forehead was unlike anything he had felt before. Francis could barely stand.

‘Leave them! Humans are not yours to conquer!’

Now that voice resonated with the Black Knights. Melina, despite clearly in a trance, was engaging with the disembodied voice.

‘Conquer? My dear Terran. Convergence has already begun. This isn’t conquest. This is victory.’

Savin remained seated soaked by the strange liquid fluid. He looked at Cain, who shrugged. “Sprinkler system is supposed to activate in case of a fire.”

“And yet there is no fire.”

“That’s because someone triggered it manually, but why?”

“We are the undeniable truth, his guiding voice. We offer true peace. An end to the conflict that has brought ruin to your people,” Savin said, rising to his feet. The Kaskari present scrambled to put their helmets back on, but it was already too late. They had been drenched, as had Cain. He had got to his feet and approached the wall. The Mortalis worked quickly in each of them, and no matter how hard they resisted. Their will would break eventually. Savin looked at his hands as the skin bubbled before fluid burst out and began traversing his hand and arm. “I have been chosen as this world’s Patriarch. The Matriarch yet resists. She will yield, even if I have to make her.”

“Savin, I- I can’t fight,” Cain screamed as he bashed his head against the wall.

“You choose death?”

“You can have my body, but I will not be your slave,” he slammed his head again, skin cracked and blood poured down his face. Cain didn’t want to become a passenger in his own body. He sort to make himself unusable to the growing presence of the Primordalis.

“You do not get to choose.”

Cain tried again, but his head stopped. No, something stopped him. “There’s no way.”

“The Mortalis always finds its way.”

“We know that better than anyone,” said the black Kaskari. “We will spread the Truth. His most glorious return.”

The silver Kaskari had also stood back up. “We must consolidate this world and establish a hive and Convergent Mind.”

Savin held up both hands. “All in good time, all in good time, but first we have a small problem.”

Cain laughed to the point he looked likely to be sick. “That bitch and her team won’t be able to stop you.”

“You say that, but I only sense one of them. The others remain distant minds.”

“Trust Frank to avoid those blasted sprinklers. Do you want him dead?”

“I want him to join us.”

“Then I shall bring him into the fray.”

“And us?” asked the silver Kaskari.

“Return to your outpost, spread Truth and liberate your kin from the shackles of this existence.”