Chapter 35

xX Dream sequence Xx

All around Loyd was darkness with small ribbons of light appearing and disappearing. It wasn't cold here but it wasn't warm either. The only sound came from his own breathing and heartbeat. Gravity pulled in all directions as though he was surrounded by planets. A strange feeling kept coming from behind him but as soon as he felt it, it would disappear.

This place wasn't a physical place. He didn't know where he was, or how he got there, but he knew it wasn't a place he could have found on his own. Was it some higher reality? A higher plane of existence? Could this be limbo?

Loyd took in a deep breath and called out to the strange void around him. "Who's there?!"

The ribbons of light all turned and came closer as though curious. What were these things?

The first to arrive changed in front of him to look more like a genie but its face was long and lacked both nostrils and a mouth. Its eyes were a piercing blue with an almost golden pupil. It had what looked like arms that ended in four digits like fingers. Its lower half remained a ribbon of white smoke as it crept even closer to Loyd. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before in his entire life.

"What the hell are you?!" Loyd bellowed, trying to lean back away from it.

The ghostly creature recoiled, almost as though it was confused as to what Loyd was saying. It let out a quiet psychic squeal that was so high pitched it hurt.

The rest of the strange ghosts did the same until Loyd couldn't bear it anymore. He let out his own psychic shriek that was louder than all of the ghosts together.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

The ghosts stopped and retreated away from him as though they were afraid. Acting almost like children.

Loyd stared angrily at them until something smashed against his back. The blow sent him flying through the void spinning.

The being that had attacked him was much larger than any of the other ghosts and wore a brass colored metal breastplate and bracers. Its face and eyes were identical to the rest of the ghosts.

Loyd slowed his spinning, using the air and called to this new enemy, "Do that again and you're dead!"

"You are not one of us, how did you get here?!" the being demanded in a voice that sounded like hundreds of people.

"How should I know? And what's up with all you guys attacking the first new thing here?!" Loyd demanded gritting his teeth in rage.

"Because you should not be here. Your race of parasites is listed for annihilation along with the failed weapons," the armored ghost said, getting closer to Loyd. "You are powerless to stop us. We control the very gravity around us."

"You sure about that?" Loyd said trying to figure out how he was going to fight air in zero gravity.

The creature stopped confused. "Of course, I'm sure that we can control the gravity around us! We've used our power to drain the nutrients from stars!"

Loyd felt something solid brush against his hand and he grabbed it. The black metal rod was just the right size for him and had a dial on the base of it.

The armored ghost shrank back and raised its fists. "You are a monster! You will be erased from the cosmos!" it screamed, flying towards Loyd.

Loyd flicked the rod's dial in desperation and shot past the ghost as the rod lurched forward along some invisible cable. He flicked it back in the other direction and sped back towards the ghost who just barely managed to block the rod as Loyd bounced off the creature's arm.

Loyd flicked the rod back to neutral and stared at the ghost as it clung to its sparking arm.

The ghost let out a wail of pain and ripped its damaged arm off to stop the pain. The arm was turning black and the bracer was dissolving.

"Alright, I'll joust with you," Loyd said aiming the gravity rod.

"You truly are nothing but a demon!" the ghost spat.

"So, I've been told." Loyd flicked the dial to forwards again and shot towards the ghost whose eyes widened as it was impaled. "Got ya!" he hissed in its face.

The ghost tore the rod out of its chest and threw Loyd away. It tore into its chest plate screaming. The wound was turning black like the arm had, and the creature started putting off a crimson aura as it tore into its chest. Finally, it just clutched its remaining fist as the changing process finished. The armor turned into more of a cloak and its amputated arm reattached itself. The bracer on the newly reattached arm, had turned into a gauntlet. With eyes glowing like they were on fire, the ghost charged towards Loyd again, enraged, intending to possess him.

Loyd raised his rod to block but the ghost went straight through it and grabbed him by the throat.

It thrust its gauntlet into his chest and fell into the wound as though it were a black hole.

xX Back to reality Xx

Loyd sat up with a yelp clutching at his chest where the ghost had stabbed him. It didn't hurt but he knew something was there.

Sara picked herself up off the floor where she had fallen from the bed when Loyd bolted awake. "What happened?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her hip where she landed.

"I don't know…" Loyd said still clutching his chest. "I think I just met one of the things that made the Crystalids and the Swarm."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I need a scanner. Now!" Loyd said getting off the hospital bed and rifling through the cabinet, ignoring his naked state.

He found a scanner and put it to his chest. It found crystal along his spine and ribs as well as an anomalous material that had integrated into his heart.

"What's wrong?!" Griffon asked running into the room. "I heard someone shout. Wait, why are you naked?"

Loyd grabbed Griffon by the shoulders. "You need to replace my heart! I've got something in it that shouldn't be there! And my bones are turning to crystal!"

Griffon stared at Loyd blankly.

Sara crouched and readied herself before punching through Loyd's back and ripping out his heart.

Loyd turned around confused, blinking at the heart she held in her hand, before collapsing.

Griffon continued to just stare blankly. "What just happened?"

"Surgery. That's what happened," Sara replied calmly, watching the wound in Loyd's back heal. "It's a good thing we ate before we went down to the crater yesterday or I might've just killed him."

Griffon crouched down and examined the wound in Loyd's back. "Well, that's not how I would've done it but it seems to have worked."

Sara looked down at Loyd's heart and watched as it continued beating, even after it was removed. "Griffon! This isn't right!"

Griffon looked up at the heart and gagged. "Put that thing in a biohazard container. If it did have a foreign object, then we're not going to reuse it."

Sara put the heart into the container and closed its lid. She looked down at the blood on her hand and felt nauseous. "What's wrong with me? I've seen blood plenty of times! Why am I feeling sick?"

"It's my blood," Loyd groaned sitting up. "Is it out?"

Grabbing the scanner, he scanned his chest again. The foreign object in his regenerated heart, was still there, in the exact same place.

"What does it say it is?" Griffon asked looking at the scanner.

"A mass of the stuff that Tiny has running through him. It seems to have a different crystal structure, even though it's not crystal..."

"So, it's silicon-based? Then, it should be easy to pull out of your DNA cause that's the only way I could think of it still being there," Griffon analyzed.

"No, because there's nothing in the heart inside that container," Loyd said, pointing to the box Sara still held with the beating heart.

Sara tore into the box, ripping it open to get to the heart. She then proceeded to tear the heart apart looking for anything that wasn't supposed to be there. "He's right. There's nothing here," she said horrified, looking at the mess she had made of Loyd's heart.

Loyd clutched his chest wondering how long until something happened.

xX back at Greeley Xx

The sun was setting as the elevator cable drew closer, leaving a shadow that cut the colony and farms in half.

Argenti, the little girl from Loyd's younglings, was sleeping with her head in the lap of Reinhold, Loyd's dad, who just stared at the elevator cable wondering if Loyd would save the colony as he said or whether he felt it was too much bother.

"So, what's your plan, Loyd? Are you going to be a hero or stay the villain?" he wondered quietly.