Fall of Icarus

galaxy. Soon, he would be beyond the Cair Ilmun’s radar range and would be unreachable. She knew that they should begin pursuit, but depression weighed heavily on her shoulders. She couldn’t bring herself to activate the engines and begin the chase. Even if she did, Keryn wondered what the result would be. Would they catch Cardax on another of his bribed planets? Would she lead them into another trap? Would she have to watch the rest of her team die before she finally died herself?

The responsibility of leadership was a burden to Keryn, one that she had to bear alone. Except, she realized, she never should have had to bear it alone. There should have been someone supporting her, keeping her from trouble, and protecting her every step of the way. Had it been there for her, she might have been able to avoid the trap on Pteraxis and Rombard and Keeling would still be alive. McLaughlin wouldn’t be in the medical bay, fighting for his life. Keryn might have cut herself off from the rest of the team, but she was abandoned long before they ever reached Pteraxis.

Her pity quickly turned to anger as she yelled out into the empty cockpit. “Where are you? I know you’re here! Answer me, damn you!”

I’m here, the Voice replied coolly. I’ve always been here.

Keryn bared her teeth in a snarl of frustration. “Don’t you give me that condescending tone! Where have you been? I needed you and you abandoned me!”

I can’t abandon you any easier than I can create my own body and walk away. I’m a part of you, whether we like it or not.

“My team was ambushed,” she replied, feeling her anger grow at the Voice’s blase attitude. “Some of them died. I could have died! You don’t care about that, do you?”

But you didn’t die, the Voice hastily answered. You are still alive, aren’t you?

“That’s not the point, and you know it! My team needed you and you weren’t there for us.”

Let us clarify some things, the Voice said angrily. Keryn could feel its irritation in her mind. You wanted me gone. You cast me out of your mind when you severed the merger between us. I may be a part of you, but I am also a sentient entity with the memories of hundreds of your ancestors in my consciousness. And I have never been as insulted by a Wyndgaart as I was by you. You used me for your own gain when you were in danger, but once that danger had passed, you cast me out. Banished me to a hell you can’t begin to comprehend. So I’m sorry if I’m not overly sympathetic to your plight.

Secondly, I’m not here to support your team. I don’t give a damn if every member of your team dies. I only care if you die, and you didn’t. If you had been in any real danger, I would have been there to save you. You don’t have the prerogative to call on me whenever it suits you then belittle me when I’m not needed. I have helped generations of your family and never have I been treated with such blatant disrespect.

If you want me to be there for you, we need to reevaluate our relationship.

“I don’t want you here,” Keryn said softly, much of her fire burned out.

Yes, you do, the Voice replied. You forget, I can see everything you think. You’re going after Cardax, which means you’re intentionally going to try to get yourself killed. You’re going to need me.

There was a pause before Keryn replied as she tried to gather her thoughts. “What makes you think I’m going after Cardax?”

Because I know you better than you know you. Because you’ve never failed at anything you’ve ever done. You’ve stumbled along the way, but you’ve always overcome every challenge. Because no matter how insulted you felt about the assignment when the High Council gave it to you, it is still your mission to complete. And, even if it kills you, you will get the information out of Cardax.

“So just like that, we’re friends again?” Keryn chided.

We’re not friends. We’re more of a… symbiotic relationship. What I need from you, I take. What you need from me, I give.

Keryn felt the flare of anger again. “You make it sound like you have all the power, dispersing your well wishes whenever it suits you.”

I told you we would have to reevaluate our relationship.

Standing quickly from the pilot’s chair, Keryn turned toward the doorway leading into the rest of the ship. Though she couldn’t escape the Voice, she knew the Voice was aware of the metaphorical turning of her back. “You may have to be in my head, but that doesn’t mean I ever have to listen to you.”

You are correct about that, the Voice calmly replied. You don’t have to listen to me. In fact, I’ll do my best to stay quiet. But I’m never going away again, no matter how much you want me gone. I’m going to become more a part of you than you could have ever fathomed before.

Angrily, Keryn stormed out of the cockpit and made her way back to the medical bay. As the door slid open, the faces of the surviving team members turned toward her. After their fight against Cardax’s second ship, the entire team had been in the medical bay, checking on McLaughlin. Grimacing, Keryn looked each of the teammates in the face. She expected to see their condescension. And there was a look in their eyes, but it wasn’t accusatory. It was concern, both for McLaughlin and, unless she mistook their intent, for her as well.

“How is he?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Cerise slid out of the way, her body no longer protecting the Pilgrim on the table. Keryn’s stomach twisted at the sight. A number of smaller shrapnel holes were being patched by the mechanical surgery arms that extended from the medical bed. His right arm had already been amputated, leaving a smoothly sheered stump where the strong arm had once been. She could see the strata of the bones and muscles, exposed to the ship’s recycled air. The burns on his face marred his once handsome looks. Much of his hair was burned away, leaving scarred and twisted flesh beneath. Though sedated, Keryn could still see the pained expression on his torn face.

“Is he…” she began, before the words caught in her throat. “Is he going to make it?”

Adam shrugged. “I don’t know. The wounds aren’t too severe. Though he won’t be the same man when the surgeries are done, none of his wounds alone should be enough to kill him.”

“However?” Keryn asked, sensing there was something Adam wasn’t telling her. Judging from the saddened expression on Cerise’s face, Keryn guessed that everyone else already knew what Adam was going to say.

“However, there’s more to his injuries than just the damage from the grenade. Look at this.”

Adam turned the medical console toward Keryn so she could see the screen. The blue tinted screen showed a series of near transparent cells, tightly packed against one another and elongated. Muscle tissue, Keryn realized. She turned toward Adam inquisitively.

“Just watch,” he said.

As she turned back toward the screen, Keryn noticed invasive black cells, only a tenth the size of the muscle cells, sliding between the membranes. Almost as one, the black cells turned and punctured the outer membranes of the muscle cells. Keryn watched a fluid transfer occur between the cells as the black viruses deflated and died. The fluid, however, immediately began breaking down the structural integrity of the muscle cells. Within seconds, the majority of the muscle cells had ruptured, genetically degrading into a primordial soup.

Keryn turned sharply toward Adam, her surprise evident on her face. “Were those…”

“McLaughlin’s cells,” Adam finished. “They were a sample taken just minutes ago from his damaged arm. The grenade was lace with something; a biological agent that I can’t identify. Once it gets into a person’s system, it breaks down the body on a cellular level.”

“You said this was from his arm,” Keryn replied hopefully. “Maybe we stopped its spread when we amputated his arm.”

Cerise sobbed loudly from the other side of the room as Adam shook his head. “We did scans at random points throughout his body. Whatever this is, it’s aggressive. We’ve already found signs of it in his liver and kidneys.” Grabbing Keryn by the arm, Adam pulled her close so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Listen, I can give him a regenerative cocktail of chemicals that will greatly slow the break down in his cells, but I am way out of my league with this. This is Terran biological technology. I wouldn’t even know where to start searching for a cure.”

Keryn closed her eyes and frowned. “We may not know where to find a cure, but I know someone who might.”

Without an explanation, Keryn left the medical bay and walked back to the cockpit. Closing the door behind