Vortex, Part 9.1

VORTEX Part 9

The battle began! DEON and ALPHA raced at breakneck speed through the seemingly motionless enemy ships and finished them off one by one with crossfire. The poor Ectomorphs had no time for defense; they lost one ship after another. Our attacks were always precise, lightning-fast, and deadly. From below, one could clearly observe how one ship after another broke through the dense cloud cover and crashed into the ground. Some of the enemies tried to flee into space, but that too was the wrong move, because even up there they didn't stand the slightest chance—only the explosions didn't look as pretty as in Earth's atmosphere.

Three minutes after the start of the battle, it was all over already—just in the nick of time, because the rapid thinking had already exhausted me and I could not concentrate. I landed the ship next to the crowd of people and said to the crew:

"—Vahanara's ship has already passed its baptism of fire with flying colors. Now I want to fly to Melcon to finally rid that world of the humans. I'm not forcing anyone to come along, so whoever wants to stay behind should speak up now."

Selina raised her hand and asked me:

"—I thought you weren't evil anymore since you decided not to kill me after all. Why do you want to wipe out the humans on Melcon now? Can't the Sekrans and humans live together in peace?"

I glared angrily at Selina:

"—Kid, you're slowly getting on my nerves. You have no clue about the situation on Melcon, so get lost before I change my mind and kill you after all."

She ran away crying. But could she really be right? Had I truly turned into a hideous, heartless monster like the Ectomorphs after all? I had to do something to eliminate my evil nature.

"—Dean, haul your ass over here right now!" I yelled, startling myself—I normally never used such language.

Dean came running over and asked me:

"—What on earth is wrong with you? I'm not your servant, I'm a friend, and if you keep treating me like this, you can write off our friendship right now."

"—Please, examine me and find out why my character is changing so drastically. Until you're done with that, the expedition to Melcon is off."

* * *

Dean came out of the ASO lab with a troubled look on his face. That could not mean anything good!

"—I have good news and bad news for you, Var!"

I gasped audibly and asked:

"—What?"

"—Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

"—Cut the foreplay, get straight to the point. Tell me the good news first."

Dean sat down next to me, waited a moment, and once he was sure he had my full attention, he said:

"—The good news is that ever since you activated the chip in your brain, you are completely immortal. Nothing can kill you. But unlike the Ectomorphs' chips, yours doesn't need a main computer. It uses a completely different system to store your memory and initiate a rebirth. I didn't understand much of it, but it has something to do with the MEMORY OF GOD."

"—I'm relieved. So what's the bad news then?" I asked ironically.

"—The bad news is that a great deal depends on chance during your rebirth. You are reconstructed based on the genes of the last living being you transformed into, but you lose all other genes. Your character can also vary from benevolent to deeply evil, though there can be variations from that norm as well. Unfortunately, I don't suppose you received an instruction manual for the chip, did you?"

"—So if I kill myself, can I become benevolent again?"

"—Yes, but it's just as likely that you'll turn out even worse than you are now. The risk is simply too high!"

"—Is there any method to turn me benevolent again?"

Dean thought for a moment and then muttered:

"—Maybe through hypnosis."

"—Hey man, you know that hypnosis doesn't work on Genomorphs. Come up with something better."

"—You're not entirely wrong, Var. However, there is a way to put you into a hypnotic state."

Now it came back to me too: the drug HEG 2, whose effects had been discovered by humans during the war.

"—Do it right now!" I ordered.

Dean went into the lab and returned shortly after with an enormous syringe full of HEG 2.

"—Hey, does it really have to be that much?"

"—It's supposed to work, isn't it?" he replied and shoved the needle deep into my arm.

Slowly, I began to feel sick to my stomach. My surroundings suddenly turned orange, and then the visions began—likely what they list as side effects of HEG 2.

Vahanara was standing opposite me. Aside from the two of us, no light fell upon our surroundings; around us, it was pitch-black.

"—Vahanara, what do you want from me?" I asked the figure.

"—A-Kara," he replied, laughing demonically.

"—What? But I thought you wanted me?"

"—Your mistake, Mastermorph, is that you think too much. So stop it. I want both of you! I will transfer part of my energy to you and the other part to your daughter. That way there will be two Vahanaras—this is how I reproduce!"

"—Kara is still a child, she still has her whole life ahead of her. Why don't you take another Genomorph? Are you really that evil?"

"—Evil? Then I'm in good company here! You have done terrible things; in cold blood, you would have killed another Genomorph if a small chip hadn't saved her life."

"—Selina wanted to kill Kara!"

"—Don't be so sure about that. Lucifer had her under control and wanted her to capture Kara. Her weapon was only set to stun."

"—Why didn't she tell me then?"

"—She had no memory of it, and if she had, you would have called her a liar! She was created from you, she is a clone of you! Varlon, come to your senses at last!"

"—A clone? That's impossible, because she's female!"

"—As I said before, you think too much! Selina was created from your Genomorph cells; their genetic material was removed and replenished with the genes of a woman. She is not a machine!"

"—So I wronged her?" I asked, almost in tears.

"—Not just her. You have also driven away several friends, some very good friends like Dean Rho."

I buried my face in my hands, but realized that I could still see everything, as two new eyes were growing out of them.

Faces slowly emerged from the shadows, shouting:

"—Varlon, you are evil," repeating it over and over.

Vahanara laughed at me, then pulled out a disperser and aimed it at me. Then a door appeared out of nowhere and A-Kara stepped out. Vahanara wrapped her in his cloak, and after a few seconds, Kara stepped out of his shadow again, dressed exactly like Vahanara.

"—Stop, I'm not evil, I will change, I promise. Give me Kara back."

I woke up drenched in sweat. Dean put his notebook aside and asked me:

"—Have a nice trip?"

"—Oh yeah, thanks a lot. Please get this devil's brew as far away from here as possible. I'll never let myself be talked into something like that again. How long was I out?"

"—Two hours, but as I can see, it was worth it after all. You're not swearing anymore, and you haven't killed anyone for a whole half-minute. How do you feel?"

"—Thanks a lot, wiseguy. I had the worst nightmare of my life. Where are Kara and Selina?"

"—They're waiting outside. Do you want to see them?"

"—Sure," I replied, standing up.

When the door opened and A-Kara came rushing in, I hugged her tight. Selina watched from afar, and only when I waved at her did she come closer.

"—Selina, I must apologize to you. I almost made an unforgivable mistake."

"—Do you still intend to liberate Melcon?"

"—I'll do something else. It won't cost any lives, I promise."

Yes, I had a new plan.

Lucifer got up and brushed the dirt off himself, then his hands plunged into the ground and pulled Mivis out.

"—Lucifer, what are we going to do now? Our main computer is destroyed, and another attack like that will kill us!"

Lucifer pushed Mivis aside and walked over to the ruins of his fortress, searching around there for a while until he found a communication device. Without hesitating, he switched it on and spoke into it:

"—To the flagship of the Imperial Fleet of Draal, this is Lucifer. I order an immediate large-scale assault on Earth!"

A beam of light appeared, generating a three-dimensional image of the top villain, who merely said:

"—At the present time, I decline. Our Soul Gatherer fleet has been decisively defeated, and we do not know if our flagship could repel the attack."

Lucifer smashed the device in a rage. With the Ectomorphs' flagship, which was twice the size of Earth, the planet would have been devastated within minutes—cowards!

"—Mivis, we are returning to the flagship and deposing Rokita. I want command."

"—Rokita? Our ruler? I may be on your side, but I won't go that far!"

Lucifer punched Mivis in the face, but the latter gritted his fangs and said:

"—You are obsessed with the fixed idea of destroying Varlon! That is personal and has no place in your work."

Having said that, Mivis turned away from Lucifer and walked off calmly.

Furious, Lucifer headed into the hangar that had remained intact, where his spacecraft was located.

I had truly changed, for my desire to kill was thoroughly gone. However, the situation on Melcon did require a bit of force. Even so, I decided to travel there alone and without a warship, using a wormhole as usual.

Unfortunately, A-Tya absolutely insisted on coming along!

* * *

It was a matter of sheer survival; the devastated Sekran Empire offered no shelter whatsoever. It was even worse than back then on Malkor, because there the humans had kept almost all Sekrans alive and enslaved them; here, on the other hand, neither I nor the terrified A-Tya could discover any sign of life. From time

From time to time I could see a corpse along our path, but my visibility was not great enough. Billowing clouds of smoke blocked our view, and only thanks to infrared vision did I not have to constantly stumble like Tya.

"Damn it, isn't there anything living left here?" I asked, but a dull bang behind me made me shudder. Apparently there were still survivors here after all.

A-Tya whispered into my ear: "We are being watched, we'd better head into the sewers!"

That was an excellent idea. I grabbed a manhole cover and tossed it several meters away, then we jumped down together.

Down here things looked a bit better, although I could see a few shadows fleeing. Tya decided to follow them while I took a turn based on instinct. We stayed in touch via a Hypercom radio.

In front of me I spotted a flickering light; it was a hopeful light, so I ran towards it, but arriving there I saw two humans walking through the sewers with flamethrowers, firing their weapons every few paces. It almost always hit a rat; I had no pity for these giant beasts, but I knew what would happen if they ran into Sekrans down here.

"Hey, you there!" I shouted as loudly as I could.

The humans turned to face me, aimed their flamethrowers at me, and asked:

"Who are you then?"

"I am Mastermorph, and I won't allow you to wipe out Sekra."

"You're too late for that, pal! Sekra no longer exists."

Crap! I had forgotten that my morph chip was no longer in my brain and all genes other than my current ones had been erased. That really wasn't very good; I almost used the word that refers to excrement. But instead of using such bad words, I drew my Dispersor and was on the verge of killing them, but the thought almost made me throw up—I had simply become too good-natured.

I holstered my weapon again and took up a combat stance instead. One of the humans aimed his flamethrower at me, but he never got around to firing, as a gigantic flood wave took us all by surprise and swept us away. Since I hadn't lost consciousness, I managed to hold onto a steel hook and wait until the water receded. When the water still hadn't subsided after ten minutes, I had finally had enough. I didn't need air that urgently, but my patience was wearing thin. I fought my way forward against the rushing torrent, latching onto every indentation or loose brick I could find, until I reached the ladder. From there it was easier: I climbed up and pushed the cover off.

Now A-Tya crossed my mind again—by the Eternal! What if the flood reached her too!?!

I immediately turned on the communicator and asked:

"Tya, is everything alright with you?"

"Yes, I was almost swept away by a flood wave, but luckily I managed to save myself and will be at the surface in a moment."

Using radio direction finding, I could immediately see where A-Tya would surface, went there at once, and helped her climb out.

A plume of smoke rose a few meters away from us; a fierce fire was raging there. We headed in that direction very cautiously, taking cover behind every wall until we got close enough to see everything clearly. Those bastards of Agarians were burning the corpses of cat-people, by the heap with flamethrowers.

One of the humans, apparently the commander, kept having new corpses brought in and assigned the soldier squads, deciding who should burn whom. We couldn't save anyone anymore, but I was disgusted by how the humans were acting like rulers here, so I decided to give them a proper scare.

Granted, I could no longer transform into a terrifying Battlebeast myself, as the necessary genes had since been lost forever, but luckily I had my Dispersor and a miniature replicator with me. That was enough material to build a hard-light holo-projector. Child's play for me!

Chuckling softly, I inserted the neural probe and activated the projector. In the middle of the square where the corpses were being burned, a monstrous grimace appeared. It tracked my facial movements, making it very easy for me to control. A small "Boo!" was all it took for all the humans to take to their heels. Faster than hares, they fled the square by the shortest route, and I could hardly contain my laughter.

Once the probe was removed, I immediately felt better—which made total sense, after all I had succeeded in driving the humans away without any bloodshed, and besides, the neural probe was quickly getting uncomfortable. Horrified, we walked across the square where several piles of ash lay, some corpses were still burning, and many cartloads of other cat-people were still awaiting cremation. These scenes reminded Tya of the Malkorian War, although things hadn't been quite that brutal there.

Suddenly, a very specific corpse caught my eye. It was a young Sekran female with a head wound. Her physique reminded me of A-Tya. That gave me a rather crazy idea.