The Star 8

Two naps and two meals of unhealthily hormone rich food later and Sonny had gotten them past the caldera wall. In his strained delirium, he had deviated from the crack for nearly a mile. But in a fortunate twist, an old irrigation channel connected to a lava tub nearby. The caldera had once held a rather larger lake than it currently did. The slow carving out of the channel had been initially responsible for its drop in level. It appeared that there had been some time since water had last flowed through it directly. But close to the bottom, the local water table had leaked filtered water into a smaller underground creek.

Unlike the slightly murky and tepid water at the edges of the caldera lake, the creek ran clear and didn't have a particular smell. Better yet, when a short 'true night' fell and the temperatures dropped drastically for a meager two hours, the temperatures inside the tube stayed in a relatively comfortable range.

After taking some time to insure that there was an exit on the other side and that the tube was stable, Sonny took one of the blaster caps from the six pack he seized to collapse the relatively more fragile irrigation channel entrance. It ended up taking three.

From what he'd seen through his manifested cat, the first tube skylight was a handful of miles away surrounded by seriously rock terrain. It was perfect for what came next. And after sharing the good news with Grant, he took another exhausted nap.

Although he ended up sleeping a bit longer than he had intended, Sonny woke up with a renewed sense of hope. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. When he went to wake up Grant, he immediately noticed the lack of 'life' in his augmented sight.

In a state of bewildered shock, he noticed something else. There were two separate consciousness signatures lingering around the body. The one that belonged to Grant trailed into himself. The other streaked off into parts unknown.

It took a moment to place why the second streak seemed familiar. As soon as the connection clicked, he felt a burst of anger that threatened to kill him. His already burdened heart thumped like a large drum as sharp pains streaked from it with every beat.

He didn't know why or how but Glenn had been wearing Grant's outer soul shell like a suit. With a dead body and a spiritual center forced hollow by the intrusion of a large and strong foreign core, the artifact spirit who had only been human for a very short period of experienced personal years had collapsed. The steak of that soul to an inner part of himself he couldn't follow gave Sonny the idea that Grant wasn't truly, completely gone. That gave him the strength to not completely lose it.

"Dull Eyes, you better be dead before I can reach you. I promise that hell can visit the living too. I'll be more than happy to prove it to you!" he said as he made a solemn vow with himself.

Pushing his intent into the corpse, Sonny tried to find out what had caused Grant's death. A part of him laid that blame at his own feet, wondering if his nap had been the end of it. Not knowing what to feel, that didn't seem to be the case.

Close to the center of Grant's brain was a spreading network of necrosis. The spiritual seat that Sonny had found out about a little more than a couple of months prior, showed signs of erosion from what he could only assume was psychic vampirism. Like a worm in an apple, Glenn had been eating Grant from the inside out for probably quite some time. It made him a whole lot more worried over the fate of Cole.

It also suddenly made a sick kind of sense why Glenn had been equally interested in yet cautious around him. He guessed that the man had scouted him as a potential prey only to discover somehow that his soul would have been the predator instead. Glenn might have guessed the danger of disrupting the fragile equilibrium of his soul and body as well. Forced maturity mixed with a somewhat expensive supplement to keep him the 'right' age and in a constant string of contracts away from Terra Ninkasi fit into that theory nicely too.

All those thoughts didn't distract him very long from one powerfully crippling truth. He was alone. Not only that but he was alone on a world that was filled with dangerous phenomenon and people. Unless he got stronger, he wouldn't ever be leaving it either. What had felt tough but doable with a trustworthy friend by his side suddenly felt daunting and impossible.

The child inside who he'd never really had a chance to move beyond was wailing at the unfairness of it all. He hadn't asked for any of it and every unhappy moment of his life since the day he had lost his father had been pushed and pushed upon him by people who didn't care about his well being or safety. But this, being on this world, it had been his decision and his consequences to bear.

"Time to grow up, Sonny. Let's bury our friend and maybe say something nice... Then... let's pack it away, tightly. And if we ever see Dull Eyes in person, we throw it at him... Send him to the deepest part of whatever darkness exists after life... as vapor," he muttered through blurred vision as he wrapped up Grant's remains as best he could.

He didn't have the strength or energy to spare for a proper burial. He had to make do with the loose rocks and pebbles cut loose and smoothed by ancient lake drainage and creek water. So that Grant didn't have to be alone, he snapped open his irregularly thick dog tag and removed the small diamond from it.

"I put you here on the side close to the edge of the cave in so that if they ever dig through to this place, you'll just get a thicker blanket. I'll come up here every once in awhile until I leave. After that, you'll have to keep each other company. I can't promise that I'll come back for... I mean these are your bodies...just the dirt and stuff.

"I'll keep the important things with me for as long as my mind lets me, okay? Sorry I didn't notice how bad things were for either of you until it was too late. I'll try... I'll try harder to notice. I'm sorry..."

After the improvised burial ceremony, Sonny lost track of time. As he acclimated to the gravity, practiced meditation and tried to dislodge the large black orb in his head space, he did so in nearly constant darkness. The strangely tranquil trickle of the nearby creak was the only source of noise outside of what he might generate himself.

Eventually, he did get the black orb free. There wasn't much of a sense of accomplishment but there was relief. There was a bit of resistance but after passing through the black barrier, he saw a cabin. According to the note Cole had left behind, there were cupboards with important things inside but he would have known that from the scraps of inherited memories.

What neither his memories nor Cole's notes warned him about was the temporary and fragile nature of the thing. Once fully exposed to the outer world, the barrier and the energy that ran the place were dissipating into the ground at an alarming rate. Until the cabin and its protection collapsed into leached out and inert dust, he spent the next unknown period of time in a state of constant intoxicated and medication induced delirium. All of which left him too miserable to derive any enjoyment or satisfaction from it as he binged the perishables.

He worked through what couldn't survive and what was needed from the consumables that could with a grim determination. At one point or another, he had voided and sweated, even shed, most of his original physical self. He wasn't sure but it almost felt like he had become hazy and undefined for a little while. That was blamed on the mental after affects of the intoxicating supplements and soon forgotten.

By the time that he had recovered and packed up the surviving supplies, two things had changed dramatically. He felt completely comfortable in and accustomed to the environment. There was also a presence of some other force in his body that was not only the new dominant energy but had pushed the psionic energy into a tightly packed area of his head. The force had squeezed it back into its origin of source and solidified it into a speck that was growing outward in a new, extra-dimensional direction.

He felt like, in that other space, it was being studied and played with by the larger part of himself. That was good. It seemed like there should be a way for the two forces to get along but they weren't exactly friendly with each other at the moment. To help his inner self get a grip on it, he finished eating one of the special ration bars. Between chemical and paranormal, the ration bar held both energies and much more with no problem.

There were other things he noted but didn't know what to make of. The Cole impression seemed to have unsummoned itself and was going through some sort of change. Loaded with more of the colored stones made from the dissipating magical objects, the growing pattern of Cole's impression was becoming stronger and more complex.

The suit he had woken up from one delirium wearing was obviously not normal either. It had a patchwork aura that was smoothing out into a singular whole. Having twisted and braided together in such a manner, he couldn't readily tell what had come from what within it. But, there was a subtle sense of security and familiarity weaved into its every fiber.

It defied description on close inspection but at a glance it merely looked like a sleek and streamlined space ready apparel with a dark, light as clouds over robe added for style. Look longer and it would play tricks on the eyes. Shifting esoteric geometry that confused and entranced could be seen on the robe. Ever changing scenes would raise like nightmarish day dreams on the nearly light devouring suit's surface.

Like the Cole impression, it was separate yet also a part of him. The rest of reality saw him as a dual sensory and manifestor talent. But the cat, and now the suit, they were something that had been attached to him by spiritual means. He had always known that he was a sensory esper with no actual active powers.

At least, that was until the supplement binge. Due to a synergy between his natural talent and some kind of inborn comprehension, he was capable of some basic but useful things. He spent some time investigating while he readjusted his plans.

"Red level pyro and cryokinesis, meh... Orange level telekinesis, useful. My sensory ability has been yellow level since the moment they took me in but I guess it could be considered green level now, if barely.

"The orange level metabolic enhancements have been replaced with storage of this other energy... It seems more suited to the task anyway. My calorie consumption has slowed down. But, if anything, I feel stronger and more energetic."

After deepening his connection with the suit, he discovered two absolutely staggering abilities. He could use the strange energy to enhance his active psionics and direct passive restores on a broad spectrum of things at a molecular level. There were some fairly large limitations, however.

When using the suit as a focus, a rather limited circular field was erected and the strange energy his greater self called magic could only be used within it reliably. He didn't have a lot of this 'magic' at the moment either. Burning the physical reserves stored in his body had some pretty large drawbacks too. The alleviated hunger and thirst would return with a weakness inducing vengeance.

During his last round of rest and meditation before facing the wide and dangerous world, he discovered the sense of another impression he could draw on but the cost was higher than he could pay. Whatever it was, it seemed strong but there was no real telling what it was capable of without drawing it out first. There wasn't much use in dwelling on it for the time being, however. Instead, he said his last goodbyes to his friend and father before beginning to dismantle the caved in channel mouth barely covered by the extravagant use of three blaster caps.

***

When the first group arrived at Enigma Field's twenty-third drop site, they had already been informed that two rogue volunteers had arrived nearly a week before them. They had expected to show up with the best supplies squirreled away and subordinating themselves to get food and whatever adjustment supplements the first two saw fit to give but that hadn't been the case.

The majority of the 'starter packages' were still unopened and scant little of the provisions had been touched. It was the same with all the other supplies. Seeing that the two anomalies were gone, the first group pulled the very moves they feared were going to be pulled on them and business continued as usual.

The first couple of weeks were fairly standard. The first and second group of arrivals were playing power games and struggling to assert a crude hierarchy while the few who came after struggled to set up shelter and establish basic living standards. It didn't take long to find out that their situation wasn't all that standard after that.

As more people arrived, they needed to find local sources of food and water. The lake was an easy first target. With the help of filters and solar heaters, it didn't even seem like the challenge that most groups faced when starting out. Sadly, there was a dweller in the deep of the lake that had laid dormant for long enough that the sediment covering it had kept it from being noticed.

The giant cephalopod like creature was delighted upon waking from its long slumber to a corral of game to choose from. Fortunately for the game, after nearly losing half of their numbers, they found the safe distance to be from the lake. Unfortunately, after stirring the sediment from the lake bottom, its water was filled with unpleasant and even deadly things.

For those who followed, some were lost to disease while others where lost to health complications from being pushed to work harder than they could handle under the very short time they had been given to acclimate. To keep the venture from being scrapped, a better prepared group brought some fresh supplies and medicine. They spread the warning that the previous arrivals needed to start getting along better or the next few drops would be erasure methods to restart things.

By the time that Sonny showed up close to the middle of the third month, the settlement didn't look a whole lot different than a forward camp for any relatively peaceful colony. The male to female ratio was far worse and the people were a lot meaner looking. But other than that, the spirit of cooperation and a sense of order were relatively similar and a lot more firmly established than the young man had anticipated.

"Security is crap, though. I'm less than a thirty second dash to the drop site before the first barricade," he thought out loud, a bad habit he'd picked up after spending so much time alone.

One of the two men carrying a sack of pebbles activated his telekinesis and said, "And who the deep space are you?"

"Not important. I'm here to send an acquisition to HQ, share some information with your camp and wait for any replies that might come with the next group. It's been what, a couple of weeks since you started dropping?" Sonny said through the one way transparent helmet visor.

The man smiled wickedly. "Leave the cart and wait for the camp chief to call for you. We'll take care of the drop. He might answer your questions depending on the worth of your information."

Faster than the man could follow, Sonny was standing helmet to nose with him. "Switch to needles. They're more naturally intimidating, orange level insect. Move before I crush you."

Out of pure reflexive instinct, the second man darted to put the head of his makeshift spear through Sonny's neck. In horrified awe, the first man saw the spear head disappear like a magic trick before reappearing wedged into the mouth of the second through the soft underside of the second man's jaw. Sonny was still holding the broken shaft. And unknown to both, he channeled just enough healing to close the clipped vein in the man's tongue so it wouldn't be life threatening, only painful.

"Eclipse is a security firm, not a sponge cake factory, gentleman. That was your second and last warning," the young man said coldly.

Several other camp folk making their way to the barricade suddenly decided they had more important things to do until someone made them find what was happening there their business. A young man with a recurve bow was about to let a shaft fly when the older man next to him put out a restraining hand. Sonny was too far away to hear what was said but it seemed their leader wasn't stupid.

The first man politely asked to help the second one to the medical station and Sonny politely obliged. Hands once again free, he finished pulling the cart to the drop site. Any future dealings he had with Blue Zone staff would greatly depend on how they treated what he had uncovered. It had little to do with the metal and mineral samples he brought back and a great deal more to do with the written message anchored on top.