Vortex Part 8
No way! I was still alive after all! Barely had my energy been depleted, when I was already regenerating like an Ectomorph. So that's what the "Legacy" could also be used for. My rebirth began a bit differently than with Ectomorphs. Instead of simply reappearing, I was reborn as a little human boy and grew up within a minute. But the shock only came afterwards: while I was still a Genomorph and had my previous form back, all other genetic blueprints were no longer present in my cells. To morph again, I needed to acquire new genes.
I found myself in the cave where I had found "The Legacy" back then, but in this universe, there was absolutely nothing here. The chip also created my clothes out of air atoms, but without the wormhole expander or the Battlemorph chip, I was almost completely defenseless. When I stepped out of the cave, the bright, yellow sunlight initially blinded me, but I quickly got used to it. In the distance lay a destroyed city; if it was the same one as in my universe, its name was Salzburg—great, I never liked it anyway. Smoke obscured my view, but even so, I could detect in the infrared spectrum how the Ectomorph ship launched after a job well done. I ran as fast as I could into the nearest house. There was no sign that it was still inhabited.
Thanks to the rebirth, it suddenly came back to me: my sister wasn't actually missing at all; she was researching the Helios solar system on the asteroid IKARUS. In that case, Selina couldn't possibly be who she claimed to be. Luzifer had probably implanted false memories in me when he almost killed me. Since I was born anew, I finally had the correct memories and wouldn't lose them again every ten years.
From the window, I watched the Ectomorph ship fly over me toward a smaller city, when suddenly a wormhole opened and a modified ASO attack cruiser flew through. A firefight between the two ships began, from which the Ectomorphs did not emerge victorious. Their ship crashed helplessly against a mountain and shattered on a slope.
Now was my chance: I took a flashlight and shone it directly at the ASO ship—they simply had to notice me.
"—, Mastermorph, what are you doing there? I thought you were in Luzifer's fortress," Master Four called out in astonishment, but I shoved him aside without a word and climbed into his flying saucer.
Luzifer had truly gone too far this time—the final drop that caused the bucket to overflow. I didn't even notice that my character had completely changed; firmly determined to kill Luzifer, I programmed the course for his fortress. Through the wormhole, my journey was over in just a few seconds.
I arrived just in time, as Kara and Selina were just leaving the fortress. Selina stayed a bit behind, then drew a weapon and aimed to shoot Kara, but I leaped from the flying saucer right between them. A red beam of light struck me with full force, yet my self-healing abilities worked faster than my body substance could vaporize. After a few moments, the laser's energy was already spent; now it was my turn.
"—, Selina, you have disappointed me greatly," I said very slowly as I approached her.
She tried to flee, but tripped over a root. I grabbed her by the hair, snapped her neck, and smashed her head against a tree.
Kara cried out in horror: "—, You killed her? Why?"
Only now did I realize that I wasn't acting like myself. Without trying to sugarcoat my action, I explained to my daughter: "—, Otherwise she would have killed you."
"—, Wrong, I am immortal, or have you already forgotten how Vahanara reshaped me back then?"
How could I! Luzifer of course didn't know that Kara was immortal too, so his plan would have failed either way. Knowing him, though, he had certainly implanted one of his chips in Selina as well to regenerate her. I turned around and had to discover that my suspicion was correct: Selina was just trying to stand up.
Somehow I felt changed. Killing didn't bother me at all—on the contrary, it even brought me pleasure. I was turning into the monster I used to fight, and with each rebirth, it could get even worse. This was not the purpose of my life. I hid my face in my hands.
Luzifer came to the clearing where it had all taken place. He was visibly pleased with his work and shouted:
"—, Well, loser! This round went to me!"
That was what I had been waiting for the entire time. My adrenaline level shot up instantly, and I straightened up.
"—, Luzifer, there's one thing you never understood: NEVER MESS WITH A GENOMORPH!"
My fury was immense; I could bet that the moment I spoke, Luzifer's heart sank into his boots—if he had a heart at all. But just as I was already mentally preparing the most gruesome ways for him to die, he simply snapped his fingers, and Mivis stepped forward. He held A-Tya tight with two hands while the other two held weapons against her temples.
Attack was still the best defense. I suspected that the regeneration computer was also hidden in this fortress and waited for the best moment to play my trump card.
Luzifer leaned confidently against a tree, crossed all four arms, and shouted:
"—, Loser, now you will kill yourself, or we kill your wife."
That was exactly what I had hoped for! From my pocket, I pulled out the flying saucer's remote control probe and rammed it into my brain. Luzifer had to think I was dead, so I gasped for air a little longer and then collapsed to the ground.
"—, I never expected him to actually do it!" Luzifer said admiringly to Mivis.
However, the two couldn't enjoy their victory for very long, because suddenly a massive explosion shook the entire island. Luzifer turned around in terror and realized that where his fortress once stood, there was now only a gaping crater in the ground.
I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore and sat up. Luzifer just stood there, horrified, muttering some incoherent nonsense about the regeneration computer. My ears weren't going to be bothered with that any longer. I steered the remote-controlled flying saucer toward him and Mivis, selected a precise laser beam, and removed the two from the face of the Earth, forever and ever.
A-Tya came limping closer and then said:
"—, Varlon, you have changed a lot. In the past, you at least said something nice before you killed someone, and now you seem to really enjoy murder."
Selina was still alive. I actually wanted to kill her again, for good, but A-Tya was right: Luzifer was the worst evil, and he had already been defeated; there was no reason to kill anyone else. Wordlessly, I took the Battlesuid belt off A-Tya, landed the flying saucer, and sat down on its edge.
I was certain that I would regret this decision one day, but I couldn't kill Selina. I had only grown this old because I always made an effort to have no enemies, or to liquidate those who were my enemies—but she was still a child after all. She just stood there, staring at me in fear; without Luzifer, she hadn't the faintest idea what to do.
"—, Get out of here!" I shouted in her direction, but she only began to tremble and, after a short while, said in a tearful voice:
"—, But where to? I have absolutely nowhere to go!"
Tya and Kara looked at me so pleadingly that I simply couldn't refuse:
"—, All right, then you can come with us, but a warning: if you do anything that might harm us, you can say goodbye to your life."
Selina nodded several times in rapid succession. I had overcome my dark side, but what would happen during the next rebirth? I simply didn't want to think about it; I could remain evil until the end of time.
When I returned to Master Four, I first apologized for my behavior and told him, with a few exaggerations, how heroically I had finished off Luzifer and Mivis. Then I asked him:
"—, I saw that our base exploded. Are there any other survivors besides you, Master Four?"
"—, We managed to evacuate the base in time. Everyone is still alive, but otherwise you can count the humans who survived the attack on one hand. All the Sekrans are fine and their ship is too. By the way, there's a little surprise."
Dean sat down in the pilot's seat of the HOFFNUNG. He had created a co-pilot's seat for me, but I didn't feel like sitting.
"—, So, what kind of surprise do you have for me?"
Dean closed his eyes and concentrated deeply, then said:
"—, Varlon, may I introduce you? This is DEON. DEON, this is Varlon Traas, aka Mastermorph, say hello."
"—, DEON?"
"—, Good day, Varlon Traas, Mastermorph. It is an honor to meet you. Dean has already told me a lot about you," a female voice spoke.
I looked at Dean questioningly.
"—, DEON is this ship. It is alive. I reawakened it during the repairs to the neurocomputer."
"—, Does DEON know where it comes from?"
"—, Unfortunately, its memory is still not restored, but I am working on that right now."
"—, If I can't defeat the Ectomorphs, we'll need DEON and the PROTON to find a new home."
"—, And the BATTLESTAR ALPHA!" called out Vahanara, who suddenly appeared inside the ship.
I was truly glad that he was finally lingering in this universe again. I was close to hugging him, but suppressed my joy very effectively.
"—, Vahanara, what do you mean by BATTLESTAR ALPHA?" I asked, very surprised.
"—, Using my knowledge from both universes, I had the most powerful warship built. Nothing can match it in terms of armament or speed, and the deflector shields are impenetrable as well."
"—, And you're giving it to me
...so simple?"
"No jokes, please. Sometime in the future I will ask a small favor of you, which you shall grant."
"Fine, and where is the BATTLESTAR ALPHA?"
Vahanara winked and then replied:
"It will land right here in a few minutes. With it, you will be able to destroy the Ectomorphs—and permanently at that." With these words, he vanished through a wormhole that dissolved shortly thereafter.
Admittedly, I was a little uneasy, because when Vahanara asks for a small favor, it could very well cost someone their life. On the other hand, it was the only way to get rid of the Ectomorphs once and for all and then return home.
"Am I no longer needed?", DEON asked.
Dean stopped his soldering work, stood up, and told me:
"If I were you, I wouldn't take that deal. He might want your soul—figuratively speaking, of course!"
Master Four carried in the remains of Master One and placed them into a container of the DEON computer.
"What's that supposed to mean?", I asked Dean.
"DEON said he could accurately recreate any living being from its genes, so I thought we should regenerate Master One and Memphisto."
"Leave the thinking to me, if you please. I know now that this regeneration comes with certain drawbacks."
"DEON, regenerate Master One," Dean said, ignoring my direct order.
Just a moment later, Master One stood before us without the Iron Mask. I could hardly believe it—he was a Tricon.
We had discovered the planet of the Tricons in our universe, an extinct world completely wiped out by the Ectomorphs. When we explored that world four hundred years ago from Zer II, we discovered the high cultural value of that civilization; unfortunately, we only knew its inhabitants from photographs. Unlike humans, the Tricons were not a breed created by the Ectomorphs, but an independent race with highly concentrated life energy—a beacon in space for every Ectomorph. Their appearance was almost human, but they were built much more precisely, were stronger, faster, and more intelligent than humans. Using their non-decayed genes, we were then able to endow one of our own with these powers. Unfortunately, he later died during a mission on Terra Prime.
Master One looked into my eyes and then asked:
"Who am I? I can't remember anything."
Resigned, I dropped into the pilot's chair and banged my head against the control console several times. It was so typical of my luck. Master One was regenerated, but of course only from the DNA strands—how could DEON have known what his memory contained? Suddenly, THE idea hit me: the prions that hadn't decayed yet—I could transfer them back into his body and thus regenerate his memory.
When the BATTLESTAR ALPHA landed next to the DEON, I saw a cheering crowd outside. Quite obviously, more people had survived than I had initially assumed. Externally, the ship looked like the BRIGHT STAR, a cross between a firefly and a bat. Nothing compared to the RED GIANT, our flagship that had unfortunately been destroyed back then. We only noticed the changes once we went inside. The wormhole jump coils had been replaced with completely new models that probably didn't even need the Vortex for interdimensional jumps; the antigravity drive now glowed blue instead of red, and the bridge also looked somehow more modern. Even the electron dispersers had been replaced by multidispersers, which could operate in far more modes than I would have ever thought possible.
The former crew of the BRIGHT STAR 3 took their stations on the new ship, while the remaining ASO personnel went aboard the DEON under the command of Master One. The regenerated Memphisto joined us on the BATTLESTAR ALPHA.
The ORBITAL EYE showed me all Ectomorph ships on Earth. Unfortunately, there were still thousands of them! I gave the order to launch. Master One launched the DEON at the same time.
It kept running through my mind what Vahanara might want in return; after all, next to God, he was the most powerful being in the universe. I simply didn't know, but it certainly wouldn't be a trifle, that much was already clear. Memphisto noticed my thoughtful expression and asked:
"What's troubling you, Mastermorph?"
I leaned back in my chair and turned toward him. Silence reigned for a while, but then I replied:
"What do you think Vahanara will want for this ship?"
"If Vahanara were one of us and you were a human, I'd guess he had his sights set on your soul. That's what I always did."
"As you well know, I don't even have a soul that he could buy..." Suddenly, the penny dropped! Vahanara wasn't an independent being at all; to exist, he needed a host body, a Genomorph! Well then, I was already hundreds of thousands of years old—if he wanted to use me as a host body for a certain period of time, let him! I wouldn't mind being Vahanara for a few centuries.
Reassured, I turned my chair toward the main screen and put on the control helmet. Two or three probes shot into my brain and anchored themselves firmly to remain irremovable during combat.
All the Ectomorph ships ascended into the upper atmosphere; some even came in from outer space. They were probably the ones who had faked their departure for Melcon. Whatever—they were all firing everything they had at the BATTLESTAR ALPHA and DEON. With the armor we had, however, the barrage had no real effect. It was like an ant trying to tickle an elephant to death.
I put up with it for a while, but when it finally got boring and I had to yawn, I decided to teach them a little lesson.
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