Chapter 62: Your Loss

With Fal having what was basically a full-blown breakdown, my mood had been worn down somewhat. 

I had been running high, both due to rescuing Pax and Akash as well as my victory against Yr'Arl in our training battle. But learning what Fal had just told me, it took me right back down to a hard level of focus. 

Lara was a threat. 

She was already making plans to move against the Guard. 

In fact, she had already made major moves against the Guard, not that Belana was planning to do anything about it himself. He was more content to just sit back, relax and let us do the heavy lifting. I was more than happy to oblige. 

Did I think I had the ability to properly take on a supremely powerful opponent as well as their legion of hybridized Null Space Invaders, and maybe a couple of Humans to boot? No. I didn't, not yet anyway. But I didn't have a choice. I couldn't just let Lara run rampant against the people of Prespian city. 

I was going to do everything I could to stop her dead in her tracks, and even if I failed as long as I survived I'd get stronger and stronger until, eventually, I had the power to take her out. 

<I'd say, at this point, you're probably at about five per cent of Lara's actual ability. Or at least the ability she displayed as a member of the Guard. Let's say one per cent, just to be careful,> BB cut in. 

I wasn't sure if the AI was being funny or not, because to me those numbers simply didn't add up. If she had that much strength and power to make me somewhere between only one and five per cent of her maximum output, then how had I been able to take out the Null Space Hybrid so easily? Surely he was having me on. If she had been that powerful her father was a fool not to send her out to the front lines.

BB didn't comment on that, but I got the distinct feeling through our connection that he hadn't been joking. Maybe she had been experimenting on herself just as much as she had been experimenting on other alien life forms and had found some way to untap her power to levels that were unimaginable. Maybe she was from another world like me. 

"I shall go and purchase a round of beverages," Yr'Arl announced, breaking me out of my thoughts. 

"I'll take whatever you're getting, despite the chilli debacle I'm pretty sure our tastes are similar enough that I won't mind," I said, glad that someone else was picking up the tab. I had no idea what the money situation was like in this society, it was something I hadn't even thought about. 

Yr'Arl gave me a curt nod and walked over to the bar, which had become considerably busier since the two of us had sat down at the table. 

I wanted to ask about Pax, but at the same time, I didn't want to be insensitive. 

Fal was still sobbing, and I didn't want to bring the other Lyrin up because that would probably only serve to set her off even further. But the fact of the matter was, I was worried about the other lizard-like alien. Was there a procedure for if one of their race lost their ability to connect telepathically, or was it something that never happened? The thought of him all alone when he needed to feel connected with people the most wrenched at my heart. 

<I don't know how to tell you this, Jacob, but Pax is either dead or about to die,>  BB said, sorrow evident in his tone. 

I tried not to react to that revelation, I didn't want Fal to clock onto the fact that I had worked out why Pax was no longer with us. What I didn't understand was why such a drastic act was going to be taken, why did Pax have to die?

<In your culture it would be considered euthanasia, assisted dying,> BB explained. <It may not be the best way to deal with disabilities, I can already tell from your revulsion that you disagree with the practice entirely, but for the Lyrin, that mental connection is absolutely everything. If they don't have it then, in some ways, they're already dead. The prevailing thought is that it would be kinder for a Lyrin to pass on than it would be to subject them to a life where they can't truly meaningfully connect.>

The beginnings of tears bit at the corners of my eyes and I tried futilely to blink them away. 

"I… I'm sorry for your loss, Fal," I said, just as unable to meet her gaze as Akash had seemed to be when we first entered the bar. Now I truly understood why. 

"It wasn't your fault, Jacob. You fought as hard as you could," Fal replied through the sobs. "I don't blame you… I blame Lara, for taking away that part of him, but I don't just blame her." 

She stopped, and I looked up to meet her gaze for the first time. Her pupils were doing something I had never seen from a Lyrin before, one was red hot which symbolised anger while the other was such a deep shade of blue that it was almost black. She was angry, angry beyond belief, and grieving as hard as she could. 

"I blame the Guard. I blame Squadron Leader Belana. I blame this entire institution for their inaction against both the Humans, no offense meant to you Jacob, and against the Null Space Invaders," She snarled, before fixing me a look straight in the eye. "After the tournament tomorrow, after whatever plan it is that you're enacting, I'll be leaving the Guard, and I'll be striking out on my own."

Her next words evoked a shiver, setting in stone my path going forward. Solidifying the journey that I was going to take. 

"And I want you, Akash and Yr'Arl to join me."