Glassport
He woke up to the sound of the new alarm. Chirping birds, the gentle, soothing flow of a small stream, and leaves rustling in the wind. Stretching his arms, he relished in just how light he felt.
"Good morning," the holographic box popped up, dispelling the magic of the moment.
"Morning."
"You look like you feel great."
"I am feeling great."
"Sorry to rain on your parade then; I did not get much from the AI."
He raised his hands to the back of his head, resting. "The databank of a combat unit was unlikely to be able to hold much besides the software."
"Yep. Only the basics necessary to not start from scratch. It could give us insights into different approaches to energy directing and power generation, but not much else."
Life was life, synthetic or not. The AI's first instinct was to save itself, leaving everything else as secondary.
"Better than nothing. What about the AI itself?"
"Adaptive programming similar to mine. It was created to evolve rapidly. The creators didn't think it would be beyond what they could control."
"Did you destroy it?"
"I was just about to. You see, it is kind of raging right now, and I want to see how it ends."
"Raging?" he raised an eyebrow, pushing himself forward.
"Kind of. It has never been this close to death, making it experience new feelings. I am just observing them."
"Just get rid of it. We have work to do," he said, pushing the covers to the side.
—
He fixed the sleeves of the lab coat, swallowing the last morsel in his mouth.
"What's on the list today?" Nax asked.
He tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling. "No idea."
"We can finish the singularity reactor," his assistant suggested, projecting the half-complete design.
"It's not urgent." The fusion reactor was sufficient for now.
"A new power armor?" The reactor blinked away, and a sleeker power armor appeared. "With the data from the battle in Seteres, short as it was, we can construct something far more deadly."
"The current models are sufficient." He could have handled the matter of Seteres without the armor; it was just convenient to have.
"What about the weapons? More upgrades are always possible." Muzzles, barrels, and power relays to resist higher temperatures, and a new power source glowing with pink and purple hues revolved around him.
"They are good enough for now."
"Sheesh, tough crowd today."
"Oh, I know," Nax said, his holographic avatar snapping fingers. "How about you take a small trip? Go to the beach, enjoy yourself."
"Good idea."
—
Aurum City
Golden Finch Beach
He marched to Kael's office, feeling the warm, salty breeze wash over him. He stopped, turning to watch the tides. It brought memories of the times his youngest brother learned surfing and the often ingenious pranks.
He missed those days.
Now, that little boy had grown up, showing great management skills.
He continued on his path, careful to avoid children running and squealing around. The sliding doors opened, and he had to slightly bend down to avoid a collision. He was still adapting to the increase in height. Small incidents still took place here and there.
Kael was out of his office, near the drink bar, speaking to someone on the phone. He waited until the call ended before approaching.
"Hey."
"Bro?" Kael whipped around. "You didn't tell me you were coming."
His little brother took his hand, pulling him forward for a pat on the shoulder.
"Thought I would surprise you."
"You certainly did," he said, inspecting his beach attire, which consisted of blue shorts, a button-up wave shirt, and beach shoes. "Taking a vacation?"
"Didn't feel like working today." The usual desire to work was not there for the day. It happened every now and then, leaving him to spend the day relaxing.
"Of course. Great heroes like you need to rest too." Kael patted him on the back, turning to the barmaid to order a non-alcoholic drink for him.
Dragged to the office for privacy, he watched his brother's eyes sparkle.
"So how did it go? I want to hear all the juicy details."
"There really isn't much to say. The AI gathered most of its forces in one sector for the invasion. I appeared in another sector, activated the weapon, beat back what forces it could redirect, and left."
His lackluster tale dulled the shining eyes. "And uh, the one that escaped from the RIC and ran to Hetel?"
"A last-minute desperate attempt to upload its mind into the AI server. I ripped it out of the arachniform for study."
"Anything interesting?" Kael asked. He thought the tale of his brother's deeds would be great to hear. However, in a very Thairon manner, he had efficiently and quickly taken care of the matter.
"The unit was built for battle; it couldn't take more than just the AI itself."
"You got those on video, right?" At the least, he could see some of the action.
Thairon rolled his eyes, and Kael's bracelet pinged. He turned around, checking what the notification was. His eyes shone; he flashed a thumbs up.
He played the beginning of the footage, jaw dropping at the sight of Seteres. "Man, this is the coolest thing I have seen since Master Halgen's usage of his module."
"Speaking of the modules, have you decided yet?"
"Yeah." His throat bobbed. "The Continuum Strand Segment."
He chuckled, already having an idea on what Kael would choose. "Dimensional manipulation? Just like before, huh?"
Kael looked down at his desk, fingers digging into his palms. "I failed last time. Maybe I didn't train hard enough; maybe I just wasn't good enough then. I want to succeed now."
"I know you will. What about after that though? He had gone as far as a master's degree. Leaving it all behind now would be a radical change.
Though as long as he was happy, it did not matter.
"I always wanted adventure in my life, you know that. Fight the bad guys, win the day, save the damsel in distress, and uncover great mysteries. The Module Hunters was my chance, and I screwed it up."
Thairon winced at the memory. The population at large did not know, but the world had truly come close to total chaos that day.
"But I won't lose my chance this time. I am going to go on those adventures I want, and across other dimensions no less." His brother spoke too fast and looked ready to scream.
It made him happy to see Kael smile like this, like the troublesome kid he used to be. Always seeking something fun to do, always finding himself in hot waters because of it.
"It will be dangerous. There is no telling what you will find." An infinite number of universes meant danger in equal amounts.
"The guy who almost died due to his experiments and hid it from us says what?"
Thairon blinked and slapped the back of Kael's head gently.
"The beach is great and all that, but I want more from my life," he explained, rubbing the back of his head.
"Fine, fine."
"And if I ever come across something interesting, I'll bring it to you. Tech, samples, whatever you need."
He froze, not having considered the idea. Studying technology from different universes could be a great source of inspiration.
"As long as you don't get hurt, it's fine."
There was a knock on the door as his drink came in. The barmaid put the glass with the bright blue drink down. Kael thanked her, and she left with a curt nod.
"I was also wondering. You know how great I was with pranks, right?"
Thairon rubbed his eyes. He did not like where this was going. "Yes."
"And how I can't prank people with my more creative ideas anymore because of the court order?"
"It was the first of its kind. I doubt anyone will ever forget it anytime this century," he scowled. The ingenuity of the prank was offset by the fact that it had almost started a full evacuation of the city.
"Yeah. Would it be possible for you to give me the Veil Sequence Segment?"
He took a breath, remembering what that particular gene strand was for. "Illusions in addition to manipulation of space."
Kael raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "I mean, if you think it's too much power, I get it."
"What?" His brows furrowed. "No, I am just thinking about how to combine those two without side effects."
"Awesome."
"By the way, what's with the names? You are usually less theatrical."
"It was Nax. I told him to name and catalogue the strands. He took," he stopped for a brief moment, "liberties with the task."
"I mean, the names are really cool. You would just call those some functional letters and numbers."
"My sense of naming is entirely acceptable."
"Yes, but not fun."
—
Meltral
RIC Central Base
She clicked the send button for the last files. Checking the state of his comrades, she felt free to drop her head on the desk. Sometimes, the idea of fighting monsters was more appealing than paperwork.
Not always, but enough.
Her eyes sneaked a glance at what the officers had named the Doom Clock. The rectangular, red LED watch screwed to the wall was inactive. Half the office was already out to rest. She just had to hold on for two more days before blissful rest waited for her.
"Lunch break," the automated system announced. She pushed herself up, heading out to get her phone. She entered the code, and the small glass door on the wall opened. She fished out her phone, calling the most recent addition to her contact list.
She blinked at the sight on the screen. "Are you at the beach?"
He winked, shaking a half-empty glass, showing her the view of the pristine sands and the ocean.
"Huh, nice."
"How is it over there?"
She sighed at the question, imagining herself on the beach now.
"Surprisingly calm. Once that last unit got demolished, it was just a matter of cleanup. We do have a small mountain of paperwork though."
"I didn't feel like working today and took a vacation."
"I am free in two days. Got time?" This time, it was his turn to pick up the slack while she handled the details, a neat little unspoken arrangement they had reached.
"I always do."
"It must be great to have your own business, so to speak."
"It is the best. I can do whatever I want without answering anyone."
She huffed, turning the camera off once inside the mess hall, switching to her earbuds, and listening to the details of what had happened on the other side of the rupture and to the arachniform that had escaped.
There were worries that the AI might have uploaded itself to the servers, even with the assurances that the facility was destroyed before it could do so. The entire situation raised more questions than problems it solved.
The invasion through the rupture, which marked a first in the history of the planet, terrified the people. The data retrieved from the S-12 synthetics, purely to understand the reason behind the incursion, had revealed the planet on the other side was facing total destruction. The AI's invasion was an attempt at escaping that fate.
A science experiment gone awry had created a gravity well that was tearing the planet apart. Amusingly, it also offered salvation.
The waves from the anomalous well had latched on the weakened barriers between Haven and other universes, which had allowed the AI to send an invasion force through.
The fact that it had appeared near the RIC Central Base was nothing more than a random freak event.
Which was all fabricated.
Even if neither acknowledged it, she knew he had a hand in what the research teams had discovered on the databanks of the synthetic invaders. The constant bombardment had not left anything functional behind, and the sole memory core in one piece had thumb-sized shrapnel through it.
The mysterious benefactor's offer of a miracle device to repair and extract information through advanced technology for this instance to ease the worries was kept silent for the most part.
It wouldn't be an issue for him to fabricate a fake reason for this invasion so the planetary population would not descend into panic.
It was so surreal to her to know a man who could influence the events on a planetary scale without even leaving his home.
She did not know what to feel. The stability and the peace it afforded made her grateful. She couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of chaos the fears that ruptures could be opened on purpose to bring calamities on this world would cause.
The fact that he could deceive RIC, which she was certain he could replicate everywhere else, made her uncomfortable.
At least she knew he wasn't malicious. The planet would have been done for otherwise.
—
He ended the call, laying back on the chair. Appreciating these peaceful moments was all the more important now. He still had moments when a persistent feeling gnawed at his mind, urging him to check if his body was in one piece.
He would get over it, eventually.
The perfection of the moment was broken by screams from the drink stand. Taking his sunglasses off, he got up to see what the commotion was about. Just as his feet touched the sand, his bracelet flashed a warning sign, displaying Kael's spiking vitals.
His eyes snapped wide open.
He ran, pushing the beachgoers aside without a care. A crowd had quickly gathered around the first aider, but it did not stop him from barreling through, pulling the young woman away.
His brother was on the ground, foaming at the mouth, convulsing. The neural connection showed what had happened.
Narcotic overdose.
He pressed his hand over the racing heart of his brother while connecting to the hive. The nanobots surged through his palm and fingers, accessing the bloodstream directly through the heart.
The microscopic machines reached for the particles overstimulating the brain, absorbing each one and working to neutralize the damage. He waited, wiping the foaming saliva, while the first aider administered a neutralizing agent.
He snatched the spilled glass, touching the contents of it with the tip of his tongue, and spat it out.
"Who touched this glass?" he asked, feeling the heart rate return to normal.
"Uh, it was Arlene." Someone from the crowd raised a hand. "She added something to the glass, but I didn't think she would try something."
"Where is she?"
"I saw her running away!" Another beachgoer exclaimed, pointing at the exit.
He took a deep breath. Chasing this, Arlene would have to wait. Even as Kael stabilized, he wouldn't leave his little brother's side.
He sent a mental order to Nax to locate Arlene. His AI flinched, acknowledging with a quiet "yes."
Someone was going to die very, very painfully.