FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Among The Stars

Chapter Twelve

By Roofles

Isaac was glad there wasn’t any heavy security they had to go through to get to the spaceport. Isaac had double checked to make sure, but sure enough, Raphael had all their ships transported to a secure area of the ship unsupervised. Locking their ships away, claiming they wouldn’t “need them” during their stay here. Not exactly reassuring.

“We have our eyes on them.” The Motha had reassured Isaac during their communication link. Raphael was so busy these days setting up the showcase that he didn’t even have time to visit Isaac.

They hadn’t seen each other in years and here Raph was ignoring the chance to visit. To talk. To go shopping, vent how rough things had been going with his museum of a ship. Raph should’ve been calling Isaac every five minutes wanting to bitch about all the Celestials on board.

His silence was worrying in itself. Let alone the lack of security down here on the lower levels.

For something that was supposed to be secure, there were hardly anyone down here. Just a few check stations to make sure they were who they said they were. All mechanical, unlike the security up above. An odd change that Isaac couldn’t figure out as he scanned each of his fingers on the scanner provided for them.

Fingerprints, eye scans, blood tests and-

“Isn’t this excessive!” Typhon swatted a mechanical hand away as one tried to pluck a tuft of tail fur off him as if it were made of feathers. The pinching motion it made for his rear end was the thing scaring Typhon. “I said… step off!” The Saberwolf shouted as he judo chopped the hand. He let out a muffled whine, holding it after from smacking the metallic grabber.

In his distraction, Typhon didn’t even the other one sneaking up from behind until it plucked out a strand of fur. With a yelp, Typhon covered his rear end, jumping into the air as he turned around with a growl. The mechanical hand withdrew back into the wall, the panel it had come out of sliding shut as it process the single strand it had managed to snag.

Collecting their genetic data for storage.

“Security wasn’t this strict before,” Isaac noted as his tongue was scanned following the procedures without incident. “At least we were able to talk our way out of an anal probing.” He gave Typhon a cheeky smile at that. “Pity. I do love seeing you on all fours.”

Typhon covered his rear with both hands, shaking his head vigorously back and forth as he flatly refused that.

“No one is going anywhere near or around my rear end with that thing!” Typhon pointed at the metal phallic shaped device with a bulbous head that had come out of the wall. It wasn’t the size that was frightening, it was the fact it came with gizmos.

“I like the vibrate feature.” Isaac noted and Typhon swatted the thing away with one of the nearby trays where they were supposed to lay out any weapons. Weapons that had long since been confiscated from them.

Isaac noted that as Typhon beat the alien dildo with the tray until it stopped vibrating.

“Yeah, you like it rough don’t you?” Typhon snarled at it as Isaac inspected the empty table nearby.

“Why would they want us to put down our weapons when we they were confiscated to begin with?”

There were many small, yet odd things like this that Isaac noted. It was as if Raphael had planned it all out months to years in advanced and, at the last minute, someone else had come in and changed all the perfectly laid out plans. Raphael was a stickler for routines and schedules.

There was no way the Motha would’ve changed this without a reason… right? No, not Raphael. Isaac knew the Motha that much.

It wasn’t just that he was methodical, no. Isaac knew that Raphael was crazy OCD about this kind of thing. Needing to flip the light switch on and off ten times or the ship would explode. The small things could be overlooked, but such a drastic change was…

It was, for lack of a better word, crazy. Insane to think that Raphael would suddenly do a one-eighty like this. Isaac just couldn’t figure out why or how he could change so drastically.

“Drugs? Multiple personality disorder? Was he bipolar? I don’t know his mental health history well enough to diagnosis him.” Isaac muttered.

It was another reason for Isaac to be on edge. That and the uncomfortable sense of déjà vu he’d been having since arriving here. Raphael might’ve looked the same, but he wasn’t the same. Isaac had been seeing that a lot lately, making him doubt his own memory.

Things kept repeating. Thoughts, memories that weren’t his own. Feelings that Isaac felt and, yet, weren’t his. Little things that added up until they were impossible to all just be coincidences.

Isaac took a second, focusing on what he did know. Or rather, who he knew.

Raphael had been one of the transfers during at the flight academy Isaac had attended with Kaira and Bai’Tai. He was an outcast from the start. Not because he came from a wealthy background like Bai’Tai, but because he was the other side of things. Raphael was a poor Motha from an unnamed sector of space.

Being of an insectoid race didn’t help.

The Flight Academy might’ve been built for Terran’s, yet it was designed to help those going there to adapt to the vast changes throughout space. Such as bumping into the numerous alien races out there. It was the major reason why the exchange program had been initiated to begin with. It, in itself, was a test to see if you were worthy to become a member of The Fleet. To be able to talk to, work with and communicate with other alien species.

There was just something missing… Pieces of Isaac’s memory that weren’t there. Like puzzle pieces removed from a picture. He knew what the picture was, yet, couldn’t tell every specific detail. Blank, dark voids left where the pieces were missing.

“What is it?” A voice crackled and Isaac touched the spot where the shard was in his chest.

“Just, ever since you helped me spew that stuff out of my system,” Isaac said in a soft voice, not wanting Typhon to hear him. The Saberwolf was currently battling the mechanical hands trying to frisk him from the wall ports. Another came up from behind and, with a startled yelp, grabbed Typhon’s ass. “Ever since it’s been gone I have been feeling… better? I don’t hear the whispers or have the oppressive doubt weighing me down. Yet, I still don’t have my full memory of everything that’s happened to me.”

“The void parasite feeds on those of this reality to sustain itself in this reality. They aren’t compatible with every living organism, or the entire universe would be infected.” Raiju said, the spark working through Isaac’s mechanical ports to talk with him. It was a crackling sound like an old radio picking up a station it hadn’t been design for. “They need to find hosts of the same wave length as they are to resonate with them. To be let inside.”

“Like opening a door…” Isaac felt like that was significant but couldn’t explain why. It was hard enough to talk with the shard as it was to get all the details he needed to piece his broken memory back together.

Isaac hoped Samson could figure out a better means for them to communicate.

“It, they, these things hitch a ride on one of us to see the universe. I kind of understand that, heh…” No wonder why Isaac felt pity for the thing that had attached itself to him. It was basically what Isaac had wanted to do. To get his pilot license and fly. Fly away from it all. See the vast universe, meet new people, have new experiences… All the things The Academy had promised them. “It wasn’t much different from me at the end…”

“The thing that attached to you might’ve not wanted to cause you harm, but, it even being here, will inadvertently do so.” Raiju made sure to remind the Terran about. “Pity, sympathy? Empathy for it? Whatever you choose to call it, it was dangerous. Those feelings, along with your doubts and insecurities, help it latch onto you.”

“I know.” Isaac clutched the spot on his chest. “You are too, don’t forget. A hitchhiker along for the ride. Latching onto me the first chance you got,” Isaac noted. It was hard not to compare the two. Just because one was dark and icky, the other bright and warm, didn’t separate that fact they had in common.

Both needed a host to exist in this reality.

“Yes, well, you have no core for me to be contain in…” The lightning sparked in agitation. “It is a miracle you are still in one piece.”

“Good thing, or you’d be stuck as well… like that void parasite had been. Unable to do anything but exist... without existing. Waiting to hitch a ride on someone to see something new.” Isaac could feel the shard vibrating with a low growl.

“Do not compare me to that thing!” It warned Isaac who chuckled in response.

“What’s so funny?” Typhon asked after tying up all the mechanical hands with each other. Tangling them up so they could stop with the groping pinches.

“Oh, just… It could be fun to bring it with us to the bedroom.” Isaac teased, gesturing to the metal dildo. Typhon quickly pushed him through the glass blast doors as they finally opened for them, not wanting to risk Isaac taking the thing with them.

“Nope, nope, nope!” Typhon was having none of that. Isaac only laughed at his over-the-top reactions. “I have had enough robots for my lifetime!”

“Fine, but you owe me one.” Isaac winked before looking around the docking bay for their ship.

The bay was vast and large. A curved ceiling looking much like a hangar. It had metal walls; support beams up above that kept everything from collapsing in on itself. The thing was? It was dark in here. Almost pitch black. Isaac couldn’t make out the ceiling or the far wall as he scanned everything over with his left eye, only able to get a rough outline of its structural layout.

The light from the corridor behind them was cut off as the doors sealed shut with a hiss and Isaac flipped on the flashlight in his left eye for them to see with. It was unnerving being back here, in the dark. It wasn’t like the mouth of the whale ship they were in, the place they had landed at. This was a massive room filled with ships from all the different passengers.

All the ships had been gathered and collected here. Not horded or protected, but… dumped. That was the word Isaac had been thinking of. Some of the other spacecrafts didn’t even have their landing pads down. The ship tipped over onto it’s wing or side.

Some of them looked years old. As if they’d been here for ages.

Then there was the question of the dust in the room. It was as if no one had been in here in months. Cobwebs drifted through the air and more than once Typhon had to swat some of the loose strands of thread away.

“Typhon,” Isaac said as he pressed the button on his suit. Instantly, a transparent mask appeared over his mouth and nose. Typhon copied him, getting something similar to cover his mouth with.

“Danger?” Typhon asked the single word, keeping a watchful eye out. His ears perked up as he reached for the gun that wasn’t at his side. He growled low, agitated at being caught disarmed again.

“I’m not sure… it feels like this place is… older? Than the rest of the ship.” Isaac slowly walked into the room. “It’s hard to say. It doesn’t really feel like this place belongs here. Not in Raph’s ship. It was so beautiful and bright above… this place looks like a graveyard.”

The idea of leaving this place came to mind, the entire ship, but Isaac knew that this couldn’t all be just some kind of coincidence. They had been brought here like the others for a reason. If Bai’Tai was on board the ship, it could only mean that the Tigeron was up to something.

There was something very strange going on here and Isaac wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Isaac didn’t want anything to spoil Raphael’s big showcase, let alone abandon the rest of his crew just to save his own skin.

“The showcase,” Isaac shivered just thinking of the thing. He wasn’t sure as he rubbed his arm, looking around as if trying to spot where the cold breeze had come from. The room was still, devoid of life. No one had been in here to check on their ship since they’d arrived.

Or, if they had, they weren’t any longer here…

“I know it’s soon since we arrived, but the others arrived here far earlier than we did. It’s just… strange. You’d think someone would need something from one of their vessels. Medication or a coat, at least? Celestials don’t exactly take no for an answer. Maybe someone forgot their purse or wallet… but no one has been here in… years?” Isaac scanned the surrounding area. He couldn’t even see footprints on the dust covered floor. “Filthy… The ventilation here sucks. The air could be dangerous to breathe in. It was like this part of the ship had been turned off. Left to rot.”

Isaac shuddered again.

“It doesn’t belong here.”

“What is it?” Typhon asked, noticing Isaac’s reactions.

“Just an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu again.” Isaac frowned. He hated that feeling. As if he should know something but didn’t. He rubbed his chest, but the shard remained annoyingly silent and dim. Isaac wasn’t sure how Raiju worked. There must be limits to its power, being only a fraction of it’s former strength.

“What are we going to do?” Typhon would follow whatever Isaac suggested in this unfamiliar territory, knowing Isaac would figure something out. Like always. He always did. As long as Typhon had Isaac, the Saberwolf could remain confident in his, in their, future together.

“This is why I wanted to get Sphinx.” Isaac motioned towards the ship after spying it at the other side of the hangar. He tried to activate it from where they stood, to turn it’s lights on. It didn’t register and the two of them were forced to walk through the empty space dock. Between numerous other vessels that had been brought down into the bowels of the ship.

It was cold down here. Cold and dark. There was a chill in the air and Isaac shivered. This place was a ship graveyard, not a place to park.

“You cold?” Typhon asked. It was amazing that Typhon wasn’t.

“Space is very cold, Typhon. Ship’s are designed to keep those inside them protected from the outside elements, or lack thereof. It’s not like a submarine in the ocean… Space is vast, empty, and cold. A ship,” a vessel, “keeps those inside them safe from the outside…” Isaac hesitated as he said, thought, that. “Was that why the void parasite needed me? I was some sort of ship for it to ride in to protect it from the outside? What about you, Raiju?” Isaac touched his chest and felt a dim warmth there. “Are you forced to use a vessel as well I wonder…?”

“How will Sphinx help with this?” Typhon’s ears were perked up, looking around the room. He tried to sniff the air but the mask on his face prevented him from picking up any distinct smells of any kind. “Old.” He said the word, glaring now. “This ship is far older than we were led to believe.” Typhon noted. “Not just the other ships. Some of these vessels are from other centuries… this ship, the one we’re all in? Is too old.”

“How so?” Isaac blinked; surprised Typhon noticed before he did.

“Raphael might’ve remodeled the outside of the ship, but the inside is still the same guts it originally had. Even if you slap a new coat of paint on something, it’s still the same thing underneath. This ship, this spacecraft is far older than above.” Typhon jabbed a finger upwards, pointing towards where all the glittery hallways and ballrooms were.

Raphael had seemingly redesign the top of the ship to be modern and sleek. Down here, it felt cold and industrial like most ships were inside.

“Interesting, I wonder if we could trace back the original design of the ship? We’ll need Sphinx for that. Sphinx is an advanced AI. Something that Terran’s are still trying to create. Even if, uh, it’s illegal to do so… If anyone can process and figure out what the hell is going on? It’s him.” Isaac swallowed, touching his throat. It felt like ice. “That’s why we need him, Typhon. To help us make sense of any of this.”

There was a sound of something crunching behind them. Like frozen grass being stepped on. Isaac stopped at that, turning around quickly to scan the area with his eye. The flashlight of his eye swept over the spot like a flashlight. Isaac could see where their footsteps had left a trail in the dust. Nothing else but more of that silky thread. Then he noticed it. Their previous footsteps, after the past ten, were gone. Untouched dust remained where they were.

“You see anything?” Typhon prepared himself. They were still unarmed but he’d fight tooth and nail to protect them if he had to.

“No…” Isaac said as he looked around the room. “But, I noticed something.” Isaac touched the side of his head, zooming in on the spot. He scanned over the thread. “The stuff dangling from above? It’s spider silk. Or, rather, Arachnid silk.” He clarified scanning the thread. “They were once a group of arachnids that had helped make this,” Isaac tugged on the spacesuit that he bought from up above. “That’s… unnerving.”

“Why?”

“The people who made this? They’re gone, Typhon. The Arachnid people were pacifists. They were almost like Buddhist monks back home. A peaceful group that weaved their threads and created elaborate tapestries while living a very humble life. Their silk was highly coveted by the Celestial Nations for being the finest in the universe, or so they claimed. Some say they could even predict the future with their weaving.” Isaac shrugged as he continued forward. “They’re extinct now, though… The art of their craft was lost after a natural disaster wiped them out. Sad, really. They were isolationists that refused help when they needed it most. Even refusing to sell their silk. It just wasn’t their ways. Against their very culture.”

“How did Raphael get hold of it then?” Typhon asked, pointing at Isaac’s outfit.

“Black market, most likely. There were reports that some of their eggs were stolen before their fall and the Arachnid people that had been taken were forced into slave labor. To produce their silk endlessly… If I recall correctly? I believe it was their sun that ended them. It was going super nova. The core collapsed. They refused to leave… even knowing their fate. The entire sector went dark.” Isaac shook his head. “Something, uh, similar happened to Terra One. That was why we Terran’s were forced to jump planet and move.”

Typhon’s ear flicked at that. “Lucky.” He grumbled. It might’ve sounded rude to say but Isaac understood. Typhon was upset that his people refused to leave their barren world. Inevitably leading towards their people’s end if nothing were to change. Even if it took another couple centuries, the Saberwolf people were heading for destruction. “I just don’t know why the ship is like this?”

“Well, we’re at the farthest point from the top of the ship.” Isaac’s left eye looked upward. All he could see was thick webbing hanging from the ceiling. It made him shiver. “Dozens of floors above us, is where that strange light is coming from. That soft white light…” Isaac felt as if he knew it. A familial bond to it. Almost like a father and son would have. “Raphael must’ve spent his vast fortune repairing that part of the ship first and… I guess forgot about down here? Where all the trillions of credits worth of ships and parts are being kept…”

Even Isaac didn’t believe such a poor excuse.

“What does that mean for us?” Typhon took a step and Isaac matched his pace. The two keeping an eye out as they quickly headed towards the ship. Picking up speed as they went. Going from a slow walk to a brisk jog, to an almost run as they drew closer.

“Where there is the brightest of lights, there is also the darkest of shadows.” Isaac swallowed again. It hurt to do so. The saliva in his mouth practically freezing from the cold. He broke into a dead sprint, and Typhon easily kept pace. “I’ve been thinking since we got here?” He panted, working up a sweat. “There’s a lot of spooky, unnatural, almost paranormal shit going on, right?”

“You can say that again.” Typhon’s fur began to glow. A warning in itself the two had discovered.

“Whenever that shit happens to us? The void has been involved. Somehow. It’s just strange to see it here of all places,” Isaac said, yet wasn’t sure why he knew that. “This place should be a beacon in the dark. A light. A sanctuary for others to come to. To stay safe from such a thing… ever since I got here? It’s felt more… active, inside.”

“You mean?” Typhon whined.

“I’m fine. That… that part of me is gone now,” Isaac shook his head without elaborating. He was talking about the spark. How reactive it’s become. If the void was one side of the coin, the spark was the other. “Yet, I can feel it’s icy claws trying to grab hold of me again once more. The void wanting back in. I almost gave in…” Isaac wasn’t sure what he had almost given into. “And I’m not just talking about the void. Not anymore. There was something else that tried to… take me?” Whatever it was, it had been warm and comforting. A pair of arms waiting to take him in and protect him from this creeping cold. A soft white light wanting to shield him from the dark, while blinding him in the process. “But I’m here. Not… there.” He said the words aloud and the thought of those comforting arms retreated.

Isaac came to a stop in front of their ship. He typed away on his arm to unlock it. The ship didn’t budge, and he frowned at that.

“Figures, should’ve known better. It wasn’t just distance.” Isaac cursed as he bent down to fiddle with his shoes. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of Sphinx or the others since we’ve arrived on the ship. It’s why I brought these bad boys along,” Isaac tapped his shoes with a finger. “I figured there was some kind of interference or disturbance going on. Or maybe, I hoped that was just the case… instead of someone actively blocking our communication network.”

“It isn’t?” Typhon kept an eye out as Isaac activated his hover boots. Lifting off the ground, Isaac floated upwards. They were mostly used for outside the ship for routine maintenance. They gave him just enough lift to touch the door with his left hand. Immediately, Isaac began to hack into the system. Using the universal key that Sphinx had created for him to use. “Sphinx isn’t just sleeping, again, is he? Even though he can’t sleep he still uses that excuse.”

It was strange. Just this morning Isaac had wanted to take the entire day off. Yet, as they were walking out of their room? He had grabbed these shoes just in case. As if knowing that they would eventually run into trouble.

He blamed that déjà vu feeling.

“No, I wish that was just the case. We’ve been locked out of the ship. Not just physically. I can’t even connect or access the ship remotely!” Isaac was glad Sphinx had talked him into giving him the digital key. Although it was called a universal key, it was mostly used to get back into their ship with.

Maybe it was partially thanks to Sphinx that Isaac had become so cautious? Sphinx could run simulations of every possible conceivable variable that could come up. It allowed him to prepared for the unexpected. AI could be extremely useful.

Yet, even Sphinx had limitations.

The ship itself was Sphinx’s body. Without it? They had no Sphinx. The AI core was part of the ship itself and Isaac suspected it was one reason why he was so willingly to keep the rest of them around. At least in the beginning. The ship was Sphinx’s cage, containing him.

It, Sphinx, this AI had needed them just as much as they needed it.

“Can you get us in?” Typhon’s fur began to glow brighter, and he turned around quickly, crouching low with a rumbling growl like building thunder in the distance. “We aren’t alone here.”

“You’re never alone.”

“What did you say?” Typhon’s ear flicked and he glanced back at Isaac who was still working on the door.

“I didn’t.” Isaac met Typhon’s eye before focusing on the job at hand. “Cover me while I get us inside.” He said as the sound of skittering increased around them. Rustling, like fabric, moving in the rafters above them.

Too many legs all moving at once. Bodies shifting in the dark, scurrying from the light that Typhon’s body emitted. One too many beady eyes staring at them as their fangs glistened.

“Is that you?” Words became mixed together. Voices overlapping each other. “Where are you?” “How long has it been?” “Am I… here?” “Can you see me?” The bodies continued to move, making the very shadows around them appear like living, moving walls. “I can’t…” “It hurts…” “Where is…” “Who am I?”

“Uh, Isaac? The voices are getting louder.” Typhon backed away, stepping underneath where Isaac was hovering. He tried to peer into the dark room, to find the sources of those voices. He couldn’t. There was nothing there. “I can’t see anything. There is no one there!”

“You get used to it,” Isaac bitterly laughed above as he continued to focus on the lock. It wasn’t so much as releasing the lock as releasing the door itself. Sphinx had explained that there were many ways to open a door. It was just about finding a way to turn the right key.

First, Isaac traced the outline of the door. Feeling it with his mechanical hand and mapping it out. He created a hologram over the doorway, where the steps should’ve descended from. From there, it was simply releasing each of the specific mechanisms that kept it sealed shut. One step at a time. It was more like unscrewing the door than unlocking it. Whatever worked, Isaac thought. He’d need to apologize to Samson for damaging their ship.

“I guess you could say it’s like unlocking a door,” Isaac’s left wrist twisted and turned, making a whirling sound as bits and pieces of his arm began to glow with blue energy. His left eye glowed brightly, shining a light before him.

A beacon in the dark. Drawing the things that lurked and slept within that darkness closer.

Typhon glanced up, seeing the display. The light also illuminated the thing dangling from the ceiling right above Isaac’s head. Furry covered fangs wiggled as eight beady eyes stared at Isaac hungrily, the feelers wiggling towards the top of Isaac’s head as the Arachnid descended.

With a startled yelp, Typhon pulled off his shoe and threw it at the multilegged arachnid. The boot connect with the things head, making it swing on the web it had been descending silently from back and forth.

“What is it?” Isaac asked, still facing forward as he concentrated on his work. If he accidentally jammed the door, they’d have to blowtorch their way through the ship’s hull.

“Nothing. Just keep doing your thing.” Typhon crouched down, building up the energy throughout his body, the Saberwolf focused it in his legs. From the core in his chest, the energy began to form. Radiating outwards, Typhon forced it down into his legs and feet. Lightning crackled from his legs, trailing out along the floor. “A one, a two,” Typhon swung his arms forward and backwards preparing to make the leap. “A three!”

Like a bolt of lightning, a blue streak shot upwards behind Isaac as Typhon released the stored energy and shot into the air. Typhon soared into the air, floating there for a second as his fur violently reacted to the metal ships around him. Lightning crackled, arcing outward to touch the metal, strands of electricity beginning to hit the metal like a blue plasma ball radiating in the air.

It also illuminated the otherwise dark room.

Sparks flew from Typhon’s fur revealing all the things that had been with them the entire time. Arachnids. Multilegged aliens with large abdomens and spinnerets. It was exactly how Isaac had described them. Humanoid like tarantulas that had once been weavers and silk spinners back in their prime.

Now, they looked as if they’d all been drowned.

Black watery substance dripped from their sagging bodies. Thick ooze seeped from where missing legs or wounds had been cut or puncture marks had been left behind. Countless arachnids that had lost their lives, slaughtered and yet returned here and now before them dripping with some foul substance that sent Typhon’s fur on end.

“Where the fuck did you lot come from?” Typhon landed on the ship and bolted forward, crashing through one of the massive tarantula like creatures and spraying goop everywhere as he shot through the thing. He hadn’t expected it to explode like that. “Ah fuck, that’s so nasty!” Typhon wiped his face off as he landed against the side of another ship, indenting the side of it. He threw the gunk to the side before aiming for his next target.

His lightning easily conducted through the metal, sticking his feet to the surface as he faced towards another set creeping down from above. They ignored Typhon, focusing on Isaac for reasons the Saberwolf knew he’d never understand.

Isaac was acting like a beacon. Calling these things out from hiding. Drawing them forth, towards the light, with begging legs. Looking as if they’d come to pray. Typhon didn’t believe in that to begin with. His people were atheists for a reason.

They had slain gods, not worshipped them.

All he knew, was to keep Isaac safe.

A flash of blue lightning flashed out, a streak that made the dark room glow before fading. Lightning in the night sky, briefly revealing all the things the darkness hid within it. Crashing thunder hit another ship, leaving indented paw prints behind as Typhon sailed forward. Typhon was already pushing off again as the wolf pinballed around the room through the bodies. Bouncing from one metal surface to the next. Building and releasing the energy as he went. Easily cleaving through any of the squishy aliens as he went as he conducted himself towards another landing pad.

“Nasty, nasty, nasty!” Typhon wiped off his face after the last one exploding all over him. The energy emitting from his body caused these things to erupt in the most volatile and disgusting of ways. His energy reactive to their bodies, or rather the goop dripping off them. “Dammit, there are so many of you bastards!” He snarled out seeing a dozen more creeping down.

These aliens weren’t warriors. They weren’t fighters. They had been poets and crafters. Even Typhon could see that.

The issue was their numbers.

“Never alone,” they chittered as they landed on the ground, approaching Isaac from behind. Reaching up with hairy legs, staring at the Terran with countless beady black eyes. “Together in the weave. Connected by the strand. Forever as one…”

“Isaac!” Typhon landed behind them. Several of the creatures swarmed in front of the Saberwolf, blocking him off from sight.

“Join us in the web. Trapped in its strands. A tangled fly waiting to be devoured…”

With a swift punch, Typhon tore apart the first arachnid. Then grabbed hold of the second. With a roar, he ripped the thing in two and flung it’s body to the side. Claws flashed; electricity erupted from his fur. Striking at any that drew near, frying them from the inside out.

Bodies hit the floor. Mounds piling up around him as Typhon pressed forward through the gunk and goop left behind. It clung to his arms and legs. It weighed him down, making the twenty feet feel like eternity.

It was like trying to walk through a swamp. The thick tar like substance pulling him down. The very floor beginning to fade away as Typhon howled out. Legs, hands, reaching up from the tar like substance to grip and hold him back. Preventing him from reaching the light calling to them all.

“Isaac!”

Channeling the energy inside through his body, Typhon released it in a mighty explosion that tore apart everything it touched, leaving a miniaturized crater behind with him in the middle of it. He panted as he slumped to one knee, feeling drained after the release.

“I am so sick of insects!” Typhon stood on one foot, glaring forward as he focused that energy inside. Letting it flow through him, down into his lifted leg before kicking it out.

Blue energy released in the shape of a blade. It shot forward, cleaving through all the spiders before him. Slicing them in two. Then their bodies erupted with electricity, finishing them off for good. They collapsed in fried bits and pieces, breaking apart into ash and fading away.

Even after killing twenty, thirty more of these things there were still others gathering to take their place. Countless beady eyes staring at him from the dark. Surrounding them. Filling the hangar with strands of silk they all were connected to.

“Dammit. Isaac!” Typhon shouted but got no reply. Swarmed by these hairy bodies, Typhon closed his eyes. He could hear his heartbeat thundering in his ears and tried to ignore it. To forget about it. Letting out a breath, Typhon focused on the spark inside Isaac’s body.

Listening to the beat of the Terran’s heart above everything else.

It hadn’t been on purpose. It had been an accident. Typhon worried it would have hurt the Terran, but it didn’t. It hadn’t. That spark he’d given Isaac. Typhon had given a literally piece of himself to the Terran. Isaac adapted to the shard far better than Typhon had ever hoped he would. He could feel it’s glow. Even in the darkest of nights, in the middle of these things. Even in the swamp he was sinking into.

Typhon could feel where Isaac was. “My starlight.”

One point connected to another; Typhon let the energy flow. Letting it drift outwards from himself and towards the shard embedded inside Isaac body. Connecting the two like a conductor and it’s energy source. Once Typhon felt that connection become secure, Typhon let his body go.

Matter became energy and Typhon felt the surge of his body shooting forward as he floated there within it.

Typhon’s body was consumed by this energy. A ball of electricity that shrunk in on itself before elongating. Reaching forward, reaching out like a hand towards Isaac and in an instant, was released. A band that snapped. A gun that fired. Clouds that roared and released their fury.

Typhon had become a comet of pure energy that closed the distance between them in a flash of light, a blink of an eye, a beat of a heart... A shooting star in the night sky, finding it’s way home.

Typhon body zig zagged forward in coalesced energy that tore through everything in his way. The energy exploded as Typhon released his hold on it. Streaks of blue lightning chained outwards, sweeping through the mass of bodies around them.

Flesh sizzled, their arachnids husks smoking as their charred bodies fell to the ground.

Panting, Typhon looked around the room. At the slaughter he had done, then turned back towards where Isaac was. He could feel the Terran even before he saw him.

Isaac was on the ground, one knee down as he held the face of one of the arachnids.

“The door…” It spoke to Isaac, who just looked into the two largest eyes of the creatures tired, dripping face. “The door is open… it… close… Let us finally rest... Let us go… Our time is done… Don’t keep it open. It was never made to be… open.”

“Are you alright?” Typhon asked wearily, eying the creature as he approached. He wanted to kick the thing away but waited for Isaac to finish whatever the fuck he had been doing with it.

“Rest…” It spoke, feelers wiggling as it stared into the Terran’s eyes. “Let us rest…” It slumped against the ground, unmoving. It didn’t have the aggressive look in it’s eyes as the others had.

“Yeah…” Isaac stood up slowly, releasing the things face and looked upwards. “They came from above… right?”

“Yeah. You should’ve seen them! Dangling like that. Creepy as fuck.” Typhon laughed, grinning proudly as he flexed one arm. He was beat up and exhausted, but still boasted in front of Isaac. “I took them all out. Squashed those bugs.”

“Arachnids aren’t bugs,” Isaac muttered as he continued to look around the room. “Nor are they insects. Just letting you know.” Isaac reached up.

For a second, Typhon thought he was about to shoot lightning as well. Instead, the Terran simply grabbed a strand of the hanging silk and handed it over to the Saberwolf.

“This was their ship…? I think. That’s what it was telling me. The vessel they had used to flee with… lost in space, without food or water. Left to die… I guess the stories about them were wrong,” Isaac looked around them at the bodies. Of their scarred, injured, weeping bodies. Injuries they’d sustained long before Typhon came around. “They hadn’t died from a natural disaster… they had been slaughter. Fleeing in their ship that later became their tomb. From one hell to another.”

“Right… Uh, what am I supposed to do with this?” Typhon held up the strand of silk.

“All the Arachnids are connected. That silk is connected to them. All you have to do is…” Isaac didn’t need to finish as Typhon gave a single nod. “Please, Typhon.” Isaac said. “Let them rest.”

“Right.” Typhon removed his mask, placed the silk in his mouth and clapped his hands together. Like an idiot, he began rubbing his feet back and forth on the ground building up the static electricity inside. With a wink, Typhon lifted his muzzle upwards and took hold of the strand of silk between his fangs.

The saber fangs began to glow. Streaks of blue energy ran down them, bolts of electricity connected them together before Typhon closed his eyes, and let it go.

Sparks. Blue sparks crackled from his fur. They began to move inwards, towards Typhon’s chest. His fur color began to change. Growing dull and gray, almost lifeless as the spider’s bodies had been from the tip of his fingers and toes. All his energy channeling inwards, removing it from the strands of his fur that felt limp and flaccid as the energy was stolen from them.

Then, with a crackle of energy, Typhon released it with a mournful howl.

From his lips, through the thread, electricity ran up the silk towards the webbing above. The blue streak of energy filled the silk, making it smoke as it spread throughout the canvas they had made of themselves. Spreading like wildfire, it consumed everything it touched.

Numerous, countless, threads illuminated with that energy. Each thread connected to a Arachnids body. Each one felt Typhon’s touch and were released as they, too, became consumed by that raw destructive force of nature.

“In their last moments,” Isaac realized looking up at the silk tapestry above them. He thought it was just a spider nest. Looking at it, he realized that in their last moments these things hadn’t just created a tomb for themselves. They had created their final piece of art.

In doing so, they existed without existing.

Even after they were long gone, they had left their mark on the universe.

“I’m sorry,” Isaac felt the need to apologize as Typhon destroyed their final effort. Watching as it burnt to a crisp. “At least now you can rest,” Isaac looked at the nearby Arachnid lying there on the floor. It didn’t move. All eight of its eyes had grown dim and, with what sounded like a sigh, a release of a final breath, it and all the other bodies around them began to fade away.

Just like the void parasite that had been inside Isaac.

The two stood in silence as the electricity ran through the webbing like live wires, frying and burning everything, they touched. The smoke dissipated like the bodies did. Every piece that had been, every reminder that these arachnids had existed here was gone.

Nothing was left.

Only the memories of them remained. Isaac couldn’t help but wonder, if that was enough. To have a memory of what once was.

He reached out a hand, wanting to touch the silk one last time. But, like everything else, it vanished before he could take hold of it.

“Is that enough,” Isaac opened his empty hand. “Memories of you?”

“Isaac,” it spoke, and Isaac flinched at the voice. “Death isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes, it is an end to suffering and a start for something new to bloom in it’s place.” The voice began to fade, drifting away as everything else in Isaac’s life had. “It’s okay, to let go. When you’re ready. Let it go…”

“Were you ready?” Isaac asked.

Only silence met his question. Somehow, that in itself had been the answer Isaac had wanted to hear.

He blinked back the tears, finally looking at Typhon. Isaac covered his nose, turning away as he gagged. “You look like a mess.” Isaac tried to laugh. To make a joke of the goop covered Saberwolf. It was only to hide his own weakness from Typhon’s concerned eyes.

“Well… you should see the other guys!” Typhon laughed, still breathing heavily as he looked at the destruction he had caused. If it weren’t for Isaac, Typhon might’ve ended up destroying the entire hangar bay. The bodies around them began to sink into the floor. Swallowed away in pools of their own bloody shadows. “What… are they?”

“Remnants… shades of their former selves, I’d imagine. Memories and nothing more... Somehow… trapped here, in limbo. I guess.” Isaac knew he’d never know the truth for sure. “Unable to pass on. Something… someone wouldn’t let them.”

“No, not that.” Typhon rolled his eyes. “Why were they in here? Isn’t this where the ships are being kept?” The Saberwolf snorted.

“They were released in here. Most likely to target us. Or, rather, whoever came to get to their ship to try and escape.” Isaac muttered his thoughts aloud, still thinking it over. “I thought it was strange that there was so little security here. They must’ve locked the doors behind us. Releasing those aliens in here from above with us and expected to be their meal… or captured. Arachnids are peaceful… were a peaceful people.”

“Right. Right, I thought so too.” Typhon nodded. Isaac gave him a look, but Typhon would take that lie with him to his grave. “We’re always on the same wavelength, huh?” Typhon grinned, spider guts dripping off his fur still as he motioned between the two. “Aren’t I the best partner to have around?”

“Speaking of wavelength, how did you do that?” Isaac motioned towards where Typhon had come from. “I thought someone had activated a freaking tesla coil!” Isaac tried to force the hair on his arms back down. They were still standing on end.

“I don’t know.” Typhon shrugged. “I just wanted to get to you and, well, it was the quickest way through that swarm.”

“Right…” Isaac took a second to ponder over it. He turned back to the thing he’d been talking with. The alien arachnid had disappeared with the rest. “Without the light,” he looked upwards then shook his head. “Sorry, no. I’m speculating again. I need to get ahold of Sphinx. Exchange information and hope he can come up with some kind of explanation for all this. How… how it was even possible? The things that have been happening to us have been physically impossible and yet…”

“You seem rather… unphased by the fact we were attacked by shadow spiders.” Typhon frowned. The Saberwolf felt the need to point this out as he placed his fingers together and pointed both hands at the Terran. “Shadow spiders, Isaac. That’s not normal.”

“They aren’t spiders. I mean, tarantulas are, but these aliens are technically not spiders. We call them arachnids because it’s a close comparison to what they actually are… or were. Something familiar for us to help understand them. Even if it is a bit… offensive to call them such.” Isaac bit his lower lip. “These things, Typhon? They’re… they’re dead.”

“Right. You mentioned that.” Typhon nodded.

“No, I mean,” Isaac sighed with a shake of his head. “These people don’t exist any longer. Like the Silken Cat race.” Isaac waited for Typhon to catch up to his train of thought. “I don’t know how, but Raphael has resurrected extinct species and races of… people! This is like fantasy stuff,” Isaac stammered out, feeling a bit hysterical. Biting a finger, he thought it over. “Necronomicon bullshit. I suppose, if he had gotten the genetic material he could’ve used Tigeron tech to bring back extinct species. It’s not like he actually did black magic, no, because THAT would be the insane part about this. There’s no such thing as magic, just things that science hasn’t been able to explain yet… Tigeron’s have been researching this stuff for ages I bet. Trying to figure out the truth of the universe and all that bull crap…”

Isaac continued to mutter to himself as Typhon rolled his eyes at his panic attack. Walking over, Typhon dropped a hand on the Terran’s head. He shook Isaac, snapping him out of it.

“Look. That’s all interesting and I’m sure you nerds will be debating this stuff for decades to come,” Typhon dry voice said otherwise. “But they’re gone now. We need to get Sphinx and continue our investigation into Bai’Tai, correct?”

“Correct…” Then Isaac snapped his fingers. “Bai’Tai! Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Turning back towards the door Isaac gave the thing a good punch and stepped aside.

The walkway fell open, and Isaac quickly ascended the steps to get inside the ship.

“What does that cat have to do with all this?” Typhon followed behind. He stopped long enough to pull up the steps to make sure it was sealed shut until they could power up the ship.

Isaac used his mechanical eye as a flashlight again for the two as he headed towards the front of their vessel. All the lights were off, the holographic plants weren’t even being displayed. It was as if someone had cut all the power to the ship. Which was saying something, seeing as how the power source to the ship was an artificially contained sun.

“Well, it’s more to do with what Bai’Tai was trying to do before. Back at The Flight Academy… That, and the fact he’s a Tigeron.” Isaac jumped into the captain’s seat, spun around and began tapping at the console trying to get the thing to start up. It was amusing seeing Isaac push the on button several times as if he pushed it more than once it would magically work. “Bai’Tai was fascinated with what he liked to call ‘the other side.’ It’s silly, really, thinking of what’s after death. It’s a research that always came up empty. The only way to know what’s after death is to, well, die.” Isaac laughed uncomfortably. “Something you can only do once.”

“Bai’Tai was interested in all that?” Typhon found that hard to believe. “How could he do that at the academy though? That sounds very… advanced. Even for a Tigeron.”

“Well, no… but yes? The Immortal Tigeron Emperor-King was interested in the subject matter about life and death. Immortals always claim to be such but fear death all the same. Bai’Tai, being one of his many, many children must’ve been trying to help his father with the research in hopes of being noticed by the Immortal King.” Isaac rolled his eye at the name. “Amusing, really, if insane.”

“Why amusing?”

“No one is immortal, Typhon. That isn’t how things work… Sure, we’ve managed to stop the aging process. Several races have! It’s not that hard, really. The real problem comes after that. You can still be shot or stabbed or, you know, beheaded.” Isaac laughed at the disturbing topic. “Or… if not? If you live for hundreds of years? Even the strongest of minds will slowly go insane. We… we aren’t meant to live forever, Typhon. Too many memories can clog the system up and make it… break down.”

“And this has to do with Bai’Tai how?” Typhon watched as Isaac fiddled with the console panel before popping it open. Crawling underneath, Isaac began working things out to try and figure out why the ship wasn’t getting any power.

“The Tigeron’s are the most advanced race known in the universe. They hold themselves above everyone else, even if they act like the peacekeepers of the universe. They’re gigantic assholes in the end. Thinking they know what’s best for everyone. They want the most advanced tech like immortality research, or cloning? You name it! They want to control all advanced knowledge to “Safeguard” and “protect” it from us stupid races.” Isaac grumbled at that. “Bai’Tai would constantly remind us about how much we needed to be thankful for Tigeron and all they helped us achieve. That all our advancements as a species was thanks to them. Able to hold it over us… hold it over everyone. A true Celestial. They were always obsessed with what they themselves have deemed forbidden knowledge.” Isaac connected two wires and frowned. They didn’t even produce a spark. “Hey Typhon? I need you down here.”

“Sure,” Typhon crouched down, trying to fit underneath the console with Isaac. “Wait. They made the knowledge into immortality, AI and who knows what else forbidden after already doing the research? So that… what? They were the only ones to have been able to work on it?”

“Exactly.” Isaac smiled at Typhon figured it out. He reached out a hand and plucked two of the Saberwolf’s whiskers from his muzzle.

The Saberwolf yelped, jumping up and ended up bashing the back of his skull on the metal panel above them. Rubbing the spot, Typhon crawled back out, cursing.

“At least warn me next time.” Typhon growled.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. They’ll grow back, probably.” Isaac said twisting the two whiskers together. “The Tigeron’s have been researching what we dubbed forbidden research for ages. Or Void research,” Isaac said as he tied the strands with the wires. Using the natural energy, they produced to give the console a jump start as if it were an average car engine and not a spacecraft capable to travel between galaxies.

The wires glowed a soft blue before there was a beep, a click and finally a spark as the console turned on in emergency mode.

Joining Typhon, Isaac sat back down in his seat and began running a diagnostic scan on the ship to see if they could figure out what the issue was.

“Void research…? As in,” Typhon blinked, looking at Isaac. “How do you know this? Isn’t this like top super-secret information?”

“Bai’Tai would go on and on about it if you got him drunk. Going on about how Tigeron’s were the universes only hope. That there was no chance against the dark without them. How much we needed them, how great they were, yadda yadda… You think Terran’s can be arrogant? We have nothing on them.” Isaac shrugged, resting back in the chair as he waited for the computer to do its thing. It was strange that Sphinx hadn’t activated yet and he feared the AI’s cube had been disconnected from the system or damaged. If someone had unplugged it, it would be like literally unplugging the AI from the entire machine.

Without arms or legs, Sphinx would be trapped inside that cube. What did that feel like? No sound, no light? Nothing. Just darkness. Empty, quiet, darkness… A fate worse than death.

“Tigeron’s have always pushed the limits of what was and wasn’t okay. Changing the rules as they please over the centuries. I’m sure they had a hand in what happened during the AI wars. It was why the Terran Armada gained such traction with my people. Fear. Fear of what the Tigeron’s would do next. What they would look into? What would look back when they did…” Isaac actually shuddered at that, holding himself. “It wouldn’t be the first time something happened because of one of them... When your entire race of people thought themselves superior? It was only a matter of time before one of them did something even more outrageous than before.”

“You mean those spiders from before…?” Typhon looked behind them, just to make sure they didn’t have any more unwanted guests.

“Raphael always wanted to preserve life. To preserve knowledge, rather. The history and memories of the past. That’s why he became a curator. What if… what if he found a way to bring these things back to life? Mockeries of what they once were? For his museum or who know what other purpose he had in mind… To exist, yet not exist? Even if they’re in artificial bodies… I mean, you saw those things. That isn’t natural!” Isaac shivered again, more violently this time. He needed a big hug. “To be alive, yet not alive. It’s not… natural.”

“Natural…” Typhon toyed with the word, rolling it around in his muzzle before the light bulb turned on above his head. “Oh! Oh, oh, oh! That’s it!”

“What?” Isaac asked, the one left out the loop for a change.

“My people. My people are obsessed with what is and isn’t natural,” Typhon even pointed a finger rudely at Isaac’s artificial eye. “They must’ve been worried about this shit happening! Worried about what the Tigeron and other races would look into and do with that kind of forbidden knowledge. To push science to the point that they could open the door to what should never be, uh, opened!” Typhon grinned at the end; glad he had thought of something like this first.

“Open the door…? That thing, that arachnid I mean mentioned something similar.” Isaac did not like where this all was going. “It must be a device on the ship, then. It has to be! Some sort of… doorway? That connects to the void? Or afterlife or whatever someone wants to define it as. It’s all connected, when it shouldn’t be.”

“A device?” Typhon tilted his head to the side.

“Well, it’s not like they have a spell book!” Isaac laughed, before apologizing. “Sorry, sorry. Samson, Sphinx and I have been playing a lot of DnD, dungeons and dinos, during our downtime. Space travel takes forever, and we needed something that took a lot of time to do.”

“Ah, right. The dice game.” Typhon hated all the numbers and math involved. He didn’t understand why he had to roll a dice to see if he hit someone or not. It was easy to hit someone! He didn’t understand why it didn’t always work or solve every problem.

That was an issue for another time that Isaac would deal with later.

“Raphael must’ve joined forces with the Tigeron, or maybe bribed them…?” Isaac didn’t have enough details to go on and hated to make conjectures about such things. “Whatever. I’ll figure that out later. The main point is, they must have a device or an ancient piece of tech that allows them to do… whatever this is.” Isaac bit his lip again. “Elegan, that Silken Cat? He shouldn’t… be alive. It should be impossible for such a thing to happen but there he was in the flesh and blood and…”

“And?” Typhon’s ears folded back.

“He wasn’t insane. Or at least, I don’t think so?” Isaac chewed on his inner cheek now, his worry increasing. Back when he was a member of the Terran Fleet, Isaac was responsible for reporting such things to his superiors. It was his duty at the time to inform others to the illegal activities others were up to.

Isaac was finally beginning to understand why that was.

“Why would he be insane?” Typhon scratched under his chin.

“Well, I thought maybe he was a clone.” Isaac shivered again at the thought. “Cloning, teleportation, self-evolving AI? All these things are illegal for a reason, Typhon. They aren’t just that way so that someone else can have all the power or knowledge about it… these things come with a cost. An extremely dangerous cost. That can threaten the very order of the universe. As your people put it, it’s unnatural.”

“I understand AI, why is teleporting or cloning bad?” Typhon hoped this wasn’t on the test.

“Teleportation is dissolving the self to then recreate it elsewhere, essentially. Like 3d printing yourself. Obviously it’s far more complicated, but at the end? You are still killing the thing you are teleporting and recreating it. It’s like scanning something with a 3D printer and then recreating it elsewhere. That doesn’t make the thing you recreate the same thing. It’s just a copy. Even a very well-made copy, even with all the same memories? Isn’t the same thing. It’s… wrong.” Isaac looked at Typhon. “You are essentially killing the original and replacing it with something that isn’t… natural.”

“Unnatural.” Typhon nodded, beginning to understand why his people were so zealous against such research and ways. It also explained why they were constantly at war with the nations and groups that did these things.

“Cloning is somewhat similar… Have you ever heard of a doppelganger?” Isaac asked and Typhon shook his head, wanting Isaac to explain it all so they were on the same page. “A doppelganger is based on a mythical monster of the same name. It’s an apparition of someone who already exists. A double. A warped reflection. Cloning is somewhat along the same lines…”

“Why is that bad though?” Typhon frowned.

“Clones don’t retain their sanity for long. Especially when you make them intelligent. The more of the same person you have? The higher risk you come across one going… insane.” Isaac grimaced. “There are case studies on this. What if a copy met the original? Can you imagine the horrifying results? Two of the same thing can’t exist in the same place. It would be like meeting yourself, yet both think their the original because the clone is essentially you… but isn’t you. It creates an adverse effect. The two have an almost hostile response to the other,” Isaac said trying to put his hands together. “See how my hands keep the other from entering its space? A doppelganger is the same thing. It’s trying to exist in the same space, or universe, as the original. The same world. Only one can remain, though.”

“What happens to the one that fails?” Typhon asked. The silence Isaac gave him was enough of an answer. “Oh. Oh, that is bad.”

“Exactly.” Isaac sighed, feeling exhausted again. “Back home? The sailors? The ones who go out on boats on the sea? They used to tell stories of similar things… stories about myths and monsters they’d come across. Legends of the deep. Sirens luring them in with beautiful songs or mermaids that looked like people but feasted on the flesh of humans, uh, I mean Terrans. There is another matching story about reflections.”

Typhon took a seat, kicking a leg up as he rested back.

“A reflection is something bouncing back of yourself in, like, a mirror, right? Light, sound, heat… there are several forms a reflection can take. The old fisherman story goes that he took his boy out to sea one late night. He heard a splash and ran out to see what the noise was, only to find his son on the deck sobbing wet. He asked what the problem was, and his son looked at him and said ‘I saw myself drowning…’”

“Sounds like a moron to me.” Typhon snorted.

“It doesn’t end there. The father takes his son inside and asks him if he’s alright. The son stops again, looking at his father and said ‘don’t worry, I’m not drowning anymore…” Isaac finished dramatically with Typhon just gave him a look. “Oh, come on, that used to scare the crap out of Kaira.”

“Yes, but I am, over, seven feet of alien canine awesomeness with electrical saber fangs. It takes a lot more than that to scare me.” Typhon smirked, crossing a leg over the other.

“What’s scary is the fact you can sit there covered in alien guts and not have an issue with it.” Isaac said.

“What?” Typhon looked down at himself.

“Go take a shower!” Isaac ordered and a disgruntled Typhon headed for the shower room. Isaac rested back in the captain’s chair, wracking his brain for what was missing. There were too many things to figure out.

All he wanted to do was take a long nap and wake up from this nightmare.