Emergence: Chapter 29

The Hive-Ship was much more spacious than necessary; the original Hive-Ships were just large enough for 5 Hive-Stones in the main ship body, and the rest of the bugs were in a containment chamber behind it. Now, they were roughly the same size as any small human transport ship. However, unlike other transport ships, this Hive-Ship was simply one large room, with the pilot at the front, and the other two Pyrkagia wandering around in front of Devilclash in silence; fear was a great silencer.

“Are we close now?” Devilclash broke the silence.

The pilot, Pyrious, turned to her and simply said “yes”, before turning back away again. He was never one for conversation.

“How much further?” The gruff voice of Amnich blared out, sounding annoyed at the pilot.

“A couple of minutes, if that.” Pyrious too seemed annoyed, but at the questions.

Devilclash despised most other Pyrkagia; on the surface, they seemed too shallow, emotionless. While she knew that they weren't like that on the inside, she couldn't help but feel a growing distance from them as she further integrated herself into the human-dominated society on New Orbus. She assumed that humans must see her as she sees the rest of her kind, but her hatred now stemmed beyond that; they brought about the downfall of a race, and she still had no idea how. When she had first heard what the Primary had said, she assumed that it was just firing the World-Burner at Oblivion. But his tone, and his phrasing, implied that they had done more to influence events; what else had they covered up in the locked-away sections of the Swarm. She hated the lies; they pained her like a knife twisting in her Hive-Stone.

“There's a ship there!” Pyrious's surprise pierced her thoughts, and she jolted to attention.

“What type of ship?” Amnich walked up to the pilot, as did Devilclash.

“Titan-Class, Xaosian.” Pyrious was back to business.

“Stay back.” Devilclash ordered. “The Adjeti I encountered is almost certainly on that ship.”

The screen in front of the pilot zoomed in on the Oblivion Gateway, as he ran his hand over an embedded sphere in the control panel. “There.” The other Pyrkagia, Lutun, pointed at the screen. Devilclash looked closer and saw what she had feared; Otor, and he was inputting codes into the Gateway.

“Kill them.” Devilclash ordered. “Now!”

“No,” Amnich commanded, “we have our orders; we follow them to Oblivion. If there is any foul play, it seems to be being undone right there.” The Gateway shimmered, and Otor went back into the ship. “Continue towards them. Follow them through the portal.”

The Titan disappeared into the portal, and the Hive-Ship followed slowly behind. They travelled in silence, as if the smallest sound could give away their position. Devilclash watched as the stars disappeared when they entered the portal. The darkness, while it should be fear-inducing, was actually quite beautiful in a strange way. Perhaps it was the shimmering nature of it, or the fact that it vaguely reflected the Hive-Ship's light. Through the Swarm, Devilclash could sense that Amnich, despite his brave front, was just as afraid as Lutun. Surprisingly, Pyrious felt the same as her about the darkness; he just stared out the front window at it, encapsulated by its random movements and ripples.

The darkness cleared to reveal Oblivion.

The Titan had disappeared into an ever-growing cloud of space-traffic around the golden planet. Devilclash gasped involuntarily and took a step back; the Adjeti were alive.

“Get us out of here, Pyrious.” Lutun ordered softly, his voice trembling.

“Of course.” Pyrious grabbed the nav-sticks again and the ship began to turn.

Something struck the ship, knocking the Pyrkagia apart. The Hive-Stones called them back together as the ship continued to rock. “What was that?” Amnich was terrified; it showed in the Swarm.

Three ships came into sight; red and gold boomerangs bristling with weaponry unlike any Devilclash had ever seen. They had no propulsion system that she could see, but she could see the single Adjeti in the cockpit; even from this distance, she could see the hatred on his face. And she understood his hatred, because she felt it too.

Calls for the Pyrkagia to surrender were answered, and the ships released some sort of laser-tether and dragged the Hive-Ship towards Oblivion.

*

As the Hive-Ship was dragged through Oblivion by the three Adjeti ships, Devilclash and the others sat in silence; they knew that they had nowhere to go. Escape from the ship would be easy, but the Adjeti would be upon them straight away: dead. Stay on the ship, land with the Adjeti: dead. The only thing left to them now was the Swarm.

As Devilclash entered it, she could feel the Primary watching them. The Swarm felt warm, as if agitated; understandable. “Primary!” She figured that her call must have sounded desperate, but she didn't care right now. “Send help! Please!” She could her cries echoed through the Swarm by Amnich, Lutun and Pyrious, word-for-word.

And the answer was “no”.

Clear and plain, Devilclash knew she was going to die. As she exited the Swarm, she glanced over at the others with all of her eyes, and she saw that they all did the same. Fear was a great bonder.