The next day passed without incident, and Jace took cover in an abandoned building that evening. "We are almost there," Ollie said as he floated up and swam in the air above Jace.
"Map please?" Jace asked as he set to fortify the entrances and windows with whatever furniture was lying about.
Ollie nodded and waved his paws. The projection of the world appeared, hovering in front of them both. The dot representing them was about a half-day travel from the destination of the Quest. "Did you still want to hit them at night?"
Jace nodded as he lay down, "Yeah. A few hours of sleep. Hopefully, they have water. I’m almost out."
"They should," Ollie replied. "If they plan on installing this engine into the planet to then defend it. Many species across The Cosmic Corridor require water or something that you could drink that would pass for it."
Jace nodded and shut his eyes, "If you end up seeing Quinn or Greg’s Wayfinder, tell them to steer clear of that one city with the zombie hordes. I want that Stardust to myself."
"Yup." There was a pop, and Jace tried to relax and let sleep take him.
Ollie appeared in the Starlit Sea. Almost immediately, Xera’s screen opened a private communication channel with him. "Oh, hi!" Ollie said with a wave. He saw Josie behind Xera, and...she looked concerned.
Xera looked like a mess. Disheveled hair, unkempt clothing. Normally, she was a bit run-down looking; but this was uncharacteristically messy. "Been putting out fires all day," she muttered. "We’ve got a problem. My other four Aspirants from this last batch who became Signers...they were killed."
Ollie frowned and crossed his arms, "What? How?"
"It looks like the Nebula Alliance. They’re completely invested in Earth. And my other Signers went back almost right away – despite my trying to warn them that their Tier was too low." She grimaced and he could tell that she was holding back tears as she was talking to him. "You and Jace are my only option now. You have to get to Tier 3 as soon as possible. Get back to Earth. Stop the Nebula Alliance from taking over."
"How do we stop a whole faction?" Ollie asked with genuine curiosity. "That will be, what, tens of thousands of Aspirants?"
Xera swept her hair out of her face, "We have an ally in that capacity. The Star Council has already been making moves with one of the most powerful government entities of that world. I’ll be allying you with them, once you’re at Tier 2 and start getting the diminishing returns from Velenar Prime."
Ollie nodded. He knew well enough that once Jace reached Tier 2, all Stardust income from a Tier 1 world would only reward 50% of the possible amount. Once he achieved Tier 3, then he would get nothing from the Tier 1 world. "What about the Planetary Independence Pact? I thought they had a stake in Earth as well."
"There isn’t a singular, strong Aspirant that can achieve Tier 3 or higher and pass their Ascension Trial fast enough to step up and take the reins of the world. We have a month, maybe. The Planetary Independence Pact is going to support the Star Council in their endeavors. And so is the Dark Between Stars."
That means we will not be dealing with the Black Hole Conclave on Earth – too many moving parts. And since they will not show interest, the Pulsar Coalition will also be staying out of it. "Earth joining the Star Council. Sounds like a plan." Ollie saluted, "We will get to Tier 3 as fast as we can, and then head to Earth." That way he will suffer far less harm than he would if he was Tier 2.
Her face relaxed slightly, but there was still a look of concern. "How is he doing?"
"Jace is doing just fine," Ollie replied. "He’s committed to the cause. We took out – well, they took themselves out – a group of Conclave members."
"And he didn’t raise any qualms about that?"
"Nope. He was fine with it."
"Good. Just make sure you keep his sanity in check. I don’t want him going into some psychotic break from what he’s going through."
Ollie chuckled, "If what he has already been through has not given him that break, then I do not think anything we come across will shake him. Heck, he even dealt with a betrayal of some type of code from a Broker."
"Oh! That’s Valerie’s Aspirant," Josie said as she filled the screen in front of Xera – much to The Architect’s annoyance. "I’ve seen Quinn a few times in the System, perusing files."
"You were successful at it, yes?"
Jace finished packing up and left the building, "I was a freelancer, so, yeah. I was good enough I could have gone onto a corps’ payroll. But I liked the freedom to choose my own gigs." He smiled fondly, recalling his early evenings back in the small lean-to he had constructed as his and Chroma’s makeshift home in an alley. "I could always get back to her every night. I couldn’t do that if I worked for a corp. I’d be working all the time. Just like my mom did."
Ollie floated around Jace’s shoulders and settled on them like a scarf. Jace couldn’t feel him, but the closeness was...soothing, in a way. They had grown comfortable enough with each other at this point that there was not any lingering hostility. "Your mom, did she want to give you up?"
Jace nodded and recalled the memory as if he were reading it from a historical text – devoid of emotion. "She was part of General Logistics. She had us in a small apartment owned by the corp. When I was...six? She put me into the orphanage run by the corp. Well, they called it ’long term daycare,’ but I was effectively abandoned. She never visited. I got out of there when I was twelve and learned from street folk how to survive."
"And Chroma?"
Jace felt sadness at her name. "She...mom had Chroma when I was fourteen. I got her out of the orphanage when she was five."
Ollie winced, "It was that bad, huh?"
"Yes. That place was an indoctrination school to make us into workers for the corporation. I got her out of there as soon as I could. Mom didn’t even care. She was working higher up in the chain and focused on her career." Jace felt anger run through him. Burning him up from the inside, nestling into a small, writhing knot of heat in his guts. "She fucking abandoned her kids for her career ."
"I am sorry."
"Don’t be," Jace snapped back. "She’s a bitch that left us."
"...Are there any good memories you have about her?"
"Why are you pushing this?" Jace asked.
"I am your lifelong companion. I think I should know as much about you as possible."
Jace nodded, "That makes sense." He smiled slightly as the anger faded into a less tangible feeling in his chest. Still there but pushed aside as the one happy memory of his mother resurfaced. "She would let me sit on the bed with her and would scratch my head and run her fingers through my hair. She called me something, but I don’t remember what..."
He frowned as he realized...he didn’t even remember her face. Not that he wanted to, but the fact he didn’t know her face anymore was just a further testament to how insignificant she was in his life.
"You could find her. Back on Earth, I mean. Give her a piece of your mind."
"No," Jace replied. "I want nothing to do with her."
Ollie nodded, "Understood. Thank you for being open with me."
Jace frowned, "They can’t just worship oblivion and destruction," he said wanting to redirect the conversation. "What else is the Conclave about?"
"Their sales pitch is that paradise exists beyond the singularity at the center of the universe."
Jace had heard of paradise before; some person came to the orphanage when he was younger and tried to convert them to something called Neo-Christianity, claiming that if he believed, he would go to some place called ’heaven’ which was a paradise.
But few believed in religion anymore. And they were very...peace-oriented. A far cry from these Conclave people.
That does make me wonder though...is this ’heaven’ place really beyond a singularity?