Lynn’s breath was heavy and ragged. She struggled to stay behind Tack and Lug while fighting the floating eye. Lynn mostly stayed behind Lug since he was much larger and easier to stand behind, but she still had trouble keeping up with his surprising speed and agility. The eye attacked with a flurry of whip-like tendrils and fiery beams shot from the center of the eye.
Lug deftly maneuvered through the tendrils like a dancer, hacking away at each tendril that shot past him while Tack continued firing his laser pistol at the orb.
At first, their attacks appeared to have no effect, and Lynn then realized that the tendrils were dwindling with each hack from Lug or shot from Tack. Tendrils began lining the floor beneath the floating eye. Tack continued aiming at locations where the tendrils protruded from the enormous orb, and Lug continued to hack away.
No matter how many tendrils fell to the ground, the creature continued to grow more, and the three started feeling the pressure. The hair on the back of Lynn’s neck suddenly stood on end. Her senses were tingling, and a cold sensation washed over her body. She peered out from behind Lug’s massive frame and saw that the eye was fixated not on Lug but on her.
One of the creature’s prehensile tendrils had snaked across the ground through the pile of dead and broken tendrils and wrapped itself around Lynn’s ankle. Lynn shrieked as she was hoisted up into the air by her ankle. Lug tried to swipe at the tendril, but it was too high up, while Tack tried to shoot at the tendril’s base only to be blocked by other tendrils.
The creature held Lynn aloft in front of its massive glowing eye, and two other tendrils snaked up behind Lynn. Tack cried out, but it was too late. Both tendrils shot toward Lynn and pierced her body through the torso. Lynn, upside down, looked in shock at the blood trickling down to her head as she hung. The world around her began darkening, and Lynn again lost consciousness.
Lynn’s eyes shot open, and she sat bolt upright. She winced as her sudden movement caused pain to course through her body. She looked down and saw two holes ripped through her clothing and two wounds that were mending.
”Lie back down,” Tack ordered.
Lynn did so slowly and looked around. “What happened?” she asked weakly.
”A stroke of luck if I say,” said Tack gratefully. “Normally, a gazer is easier to kill, but this was an elite one. Much tougher”
Luck… Lynn thought to herself. She didn’t feel fortunate since she’d just been skewered like a shish kabob. She turned her head toward the creature and saw two severed tendrils protruding through the middle of the gazer’s eye. The eye was no longer glowing and was slightly glossed over. Lynn’s blood covered the tendrils up to where they had been severed.
”It was quite amazing,” admired Tack. “It must have misjudged how squishy you are and drove its tendrils right into its core. I think it died instantly. Fortunately for you, its attack didn’t kill you, though we had to use our last mend potion on you.”
Lynn gave Tack an apologetic look and glanced around some more, “Where’s Lug?” she asked.
Just then, Lug stepped out from the other side of the creature. He was covered in purple slime and was carrying a ball about the size of a basketball with entrails attached to it. Lug tossed it over to Tack, and he caught it with a loud squelching sound as the entrails whipped around aimlessly, covering Tack in purple goo.
Tack shot Lug a glare, and Lug just chucked and went back to work on the creature. Tack sighed and stuffed the ball with all the entrails into his pocket. Now Lynn knew for sure something was going on with Tack’s pocket. She quirked a brow and looked at Tack quizzically. Tack noticed the look on Lynn’s face.
”Low-level spatial compression,” Tack answered before Lynn could ask. “There’s a great deal of empty space in objects, and the compression pushes all molecules into neat little packages. Here, have a look,” and reached back into his pocket, pulling out a tiny cube and handing it to Lynn.
Lynn took the cube and looked it over. It fit neatly in her palm and was metallic with purple and cream-colored swirls. “What is it,” she asked.
”That’s the gazer core which Lug so brazenly flung at me just a few moments ago,” he said, glaring in the direction of the gazer. “It would likely be smaller if we’d cleaned it off first. Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of goop mixed up in there.”
Lynn marveled at the object in her hand. It had been a ball covered in purple slime and entrails just moments before. “How do you turn it back to its original state?” she asked.
”The spatial manipulator makes a schematic of how the object was before compression. To reconstruct an object, you can transfer that schematic to any other spatial manipulator. If the schematic is lost, reconstructing the object becomes very laborious and time-consuming. Something this size would take ages to reconstruct by a very skilled spatial reconstruction specialist.” said Tack taking the cube and placing it back in his pocket.
Lug came back with his arms full of entrails and mechanical parts. He gave them all to Tack, who stowed them in his pocket bit by bit. Lynn got the idea that the low-level spatial compression was only part of the trick since the pockets had no visible bulging or indication of anything in them.
Once Tack finished pocketing everything Lug had brought, he reached into a different pocket on the inside of his jacket, pulled out a small green pill, and handed it to Lynn.
”Slip this under your tongue. It will dull your pain and help you mend a little more quickly. We need to keep moving,” he said.
Lynn took the pill and slipped it under her tongue. It dissolved immediately, and Lynn felt something warm moving through her body. The pain from her wounds began to fade from sharp stabbing pains to a dull soreness. She stood up slowly and waited a moment to ensure she wouldn’t fall over again. Once she was sure she could move around without issue, she gave a thumbs up.
”Lug, and I looked around this room already. It looks like this was a meeting hall of some sort, but there’s nothing of interest here,” said Tack.
Lynn nodded, and they went back through the door they had come in. Once back they were back in the hall, there was another audible chime that came from Tack and Lug. They turned toward the unexplored portion of the hall and began walking again.
”What was that chime sound?” asked Lynn.
”It’s a locator notification that warns us of void entities and gives their relative direction, like the gazer we just fought, and it’s also how we found you by tracking that nyline. We try to take down as many as we can because they have valuable resources in them,” explained Tack.
”So, are we going to hunt down another one?” asked Lynn.
”No, we’re going to try and head deeper into this facility. Right now, our priority is to recover technology that may be useful,” Tack replied.
They continued walking on in silence. Lug stopped abruptly at one of the doors, and Tack examined it closely.
”There’s an immense amount of security on this door,” he said, surprised. “I think there might be something good in here!”
Tack tapped the door, removed a pair of goggles from his pocket, and put them on. He started poking his finger at spots on the door and the surrounding wall while murmuring. Finally, he swiped his finger across the door, and there was an audible sound of a heavy metal bar sliding through the door.
The sound stopped, and Tack turned the handle pushing the door open. They peered inside and found another stairwell leading down. The stairwell wrapped around the walls with an opening in the center. Lynn looked down the center of the stairs and, to her surprise, could not see the bottom.
”That’s a lot of walking!” exclaimed Lynn.
As she finished her sentence, Lug picked her up and, without warning, jumped down the center of the stairwell. She was too stunned to scream as the two quickly reached terminal velocity. Lynn’s hair whipped around wildly as they descended deeper into the facility. After an eternity of freefall, they abruptly stopped as they landed on the ground.
Lug’s monstrous body absorbed most of the impact, and Lynn hardly felt any shock. He gently set her down and ushered her to the side. A few moments later, Lynn could Tack come into view with the soles of his shoes glowing a radiant blue. As he drew closer, Lynn had to look away from the intense light bathing the stairwell in an otherworldly blue glow. Tack landed effortlessly, and the light dimmed quickly under his feet.
Lynn turned angrily toward Lug and shouted, “are you crazy?”
Lug just stared at her, and she smacked her forehead. “Of course you are.”
She couldn’t tell but thought he might have been grinning inside his helmet. Lynn let out an exasperated sigh and slumped her shoulders. Lug patted her on the back.
There was a door at the bottom of the stairwell. Tack inspected it and found there was no security on the door. He tapped it and opened it, revealing a large room with enormous steel sliding doors set into the far wall.
The other walls were lined with pipes, wires, lights, and other mechanical devices that Lynn had never seen. She also noticed several wall-mounted and ceiling-mounted machine gun turrets placed around the room, which sent shivers down her spine.
Despite her anxiety about the turrets, she was excited to see something most people could only dream of. The two men took no heed of the weapons pointing in their direction and walked up to the giant metal doors.
The doors were large enough to fit at least two jumbo jets side by side. A service door was also built into each of the massive steel slabs. The enormous steel slabs made the room look smaller. Lynn was surprised at how long it took to simply get across the wide-open space to them. Upon reaching them, Tack inspected the doors again and put his goggles on again.
”Well, there is significant security on them, but even if we disable it, the doors are much too large for us to open. Let’s take a look at the smaller door,” Tack said.
They walked over to the service door, and Tack inspected it. He tapped on it a few times and slid his finger across the door again, and there was a smooth sound of metal sliding through. Tack turned the handle and pulled the door open. Lynn could barely contain her excitement as she stepped through the threshold behind Tack.
Lug followed behind, barely squeezing through the door. Once again, they were in a pitch-black room. The dark empty space felt massive, even though they couldn’t see anything. Lug tapped his helmet again, and light poured over their surroundings. Even with the light, however, they could not see anything except the massive doors behind them.
”Time to shed some light on things. Don’t look up, and it’s best to close your eyes first,” Tack said with a grin.
Lynn closed her eyes, and Tack pulled out the laser pistol he’d used earlier to fight the gazer and pushed a button on it. There was a soft beep, and then he aimed it at an angle up and in front of them.
Tack pulled the trigger, and there was a hollow fump, and a dim ball of light shot out. The ball quickly gained altitude and then exploded into a massive halo of bright light. Lynn slowly opened her eyes, and as her eyes adjusted, her mouth opened in awe. Directly beneath the glowing halo of light was an enormous object held up by dozens of support structures.
”Spaceship,” Lynn whispered under her breath. She turned to Tack and Lug excitedly. “Spaceship!” she yelled to the two of them and started jumping up and down.
Tack also had a broad smile, and even Lug seemed visibly excited.
”This,” Tack started in awe, “This is no ordinary ship, but a Shangar ship. I’m not sure what it’s doing here, but the Shangar people are a notoriously brutal species and hire their talents as bounty hunters and exterminators. They’re one of the few species possessing the technology to jump between realities, making them all the more deadly. Rumors say that no one has been able to take a Shangar alive or capture any of their technology.”
Lynn looked back at the ship. It was shaped like an enormous egg with a highly reflective light red-tinted metal surface. Other than the noticeable red tint on the outside, there were no other distinguishing markings or features about the ship.
”Are we in danger?” Lynn asked anxiously.
Tack shook his head and explained they would likely already be dead if any Shangar were anywhere nearby, so they should be okay. Lynn’s anxiety lessened, and her excitement started to show again.
”Can we go inside the ship?” she asked, nearly shaking with excitement.
”I’m not sure,” said Tack. “This is the first time I, or anyone, has come across a Shangar ship without a Shangar nearby. Anyone that’s tried to pry into the secrets of the Shangar has been immediately executed. This is quite a find. Let’s inspect what we can and stick it.”
Lynn looked at Tack and quirked a brow. “Stick it?” she asked.
”It’s manually sticking something to our sticky reality that we want to absorb. Shifters get merits and money for new tech or interesting finds, which they manually absorb into our reality,” Tack explained.
”Things that were already stuck to the reality, however, aren’t claimable by a Shifter and therefore won’t garner any merits. We can only take some things, of course. The code I told you about before dictates what we can and can’t capture.”
”Will this get you a merit?” Lynn asked.
”My dear, this will likely get us special commendations along with a crate of money and merits,” Tack said, grinning.
”Well, let’s go check it out!” Lynn cheered.
The three walked closer to the ship to begin the inspection and sticking process. Lynn felt a very slight tingle as she drew closer to the ship. She looked around but could not see anyone or anything that might be focused on her. She continued toward the ship, and the tingling sensation grew more substantial.
Lynn stopped and looked around. “Do you feel that?” she asked hesitantly.
Tack and Lug stopped and looked around. “Feel what?” Tack asked, turning to Lynn.
”It’s a sort of tingling feeling. I can’t really describe it,” Lynn replied.
Tack and Lug both shook their heads, and Lynn shrugged her shoulders. She was still a little concerned but figured it was just her nerves and the excitement overwhelming her.
Tack motioned for Lynn to stay a short distance away in case any defense mechanisms were still active on the ship. Tack hesitantly tapped the ship, and nothing happened. He put his goggles on and examined the exterior.
”Fascinating,” he said, walking around the large ship. “I can’t glean any information from the exterior at all. The shielding on this is magnificent! It should be safe to approach now,” and motioned for Lynn to come closer.
Lynn stood underneath the ship, looking up at it. The tingling was even more potent, and it caused goose bumps to appear on her skin. She started climbing a ladder on one of the support columns, looked at the reflective surface of the ship, and anxiously reached out a hand and touched the ship’s hull. A string of electricity shot through her body, and she gasped.
Suddenly she could see everything around her, including herself touching the ship’s hull. She wondered for a moment if she’d just died and was having an out-of-body experience. She saw Lug and Tack race over to her body.
Lug reached the ladder first and bounded up, and grabbed Lynn. Everything was back to normal as soon as she was pulled away from the ship. She was looking up into Lug’s wide-open, bloodshot eyes peering at her through the holes in his helmet. She blinked a few times and looked around.
”What happened? Are you all right?” said Tack breathlessly.
Lynn nodded and touched her face gently. Everything seemed slightly surreal, and she couldn’t tell if she’d lost her mind or if her nerves were finally frayed to the point of breaking.
”I just touched the hull,” she said gently, “and suddenly, I wasn’t in my own body anymore. I’m fine, though. I felt…safe.”
Tack quirked a brow and looked up at the ship. “Do you want to try it again?” he asked, looking at Lynn. “Of course, only if you’re up for the task.”
Lynn nodded at Tack and then looked at Lug. “Can you hold me up there?” she asked.
Lug nodded and hoisted Lynn up to the hull of the ship. She reached out a hand and placed her palm on the cold reflective surface and could immediately see everything in a full-circle view. The tingling in her body was even more pronounced, except this time, it felt alive and familiar.
Electricity tickled the back of her neck, causing the hairs to stand on end. She tried to concentrate on the feeling, and to her surprise, it reacted. Lynn was so startled she pulled her hand away quickly and looked up at the ship.
”I think it’s alive!” she said excitedly.
Before Tack could ask any other questions, Lynn put her hand back on the ship concentrating on the electric feeling again and mentally reaching out to it. She imagined stretching out a hand to a timid animal to pet it. Her mind connected with it, and then she heard a woman’s voice.
”You’re not him, but you are of him,” the voice said.
”Who are you talking about?” Lynn asked.
”The one that is bound to this vessel. His life aura disappeared so long ago. Yours is like his, but you are not him.” the voice replied.
”I’m Lynn,” said Lynn introducing herself. “Lynn Mason.”
”I am called Neural Interconnect System Avatar, or NISA,” the voice introduced. “You are of him, and since he is no longer here, NISA is at your command.”
”What?” Lynn yelled, jerking her hand away suddenly.
The yell startled Lug, and they toppled off the ladder. Lug neatly somersaulted in the air and landed like a gymnast performing at the Olympics. He deftly caught Lynn before she landed on the ground and looked at her as questioningly as a giant, helmeted behemoth could.
Lynn pointed at the ship, yelling frantically, “It’s alive! It can talk! It talked to me! We talked! That ship is alive! NISA is alive! It’s alive!”
