They had made up a mental map of everything they could, but in the end it was useless as they probed every avenue of escape and found that Star Force had them all locked down with countermeasures. They could tear up the levels they were in, but beyond them were shield walls and Essence-negating material that would soak in their attacks and feed them into machines that would fight back using their own energy against them.
So the Neofan had stopped playing along and sat…except for a few that continued to learn the lessons offered to them in the hope that something would change. The hope that they would have something new to do. Walking the halls in the same pattern, going the same places, day in and day out without even a night cycle to break up the time spent here wore on them. There not even any clocks to mark the passage of time. Only alerts when they were needed, and never any countdowns.
It was torture in a way that Kelmaran had never thought possible…and Star Force wasn’t doing anything to them. They were tricking them into doing it to themselves, for they even offered a way to leave the prison someday, if they converted to Star Force’s philosophy. The Neofan had to choose to reject it and any hope of escaping not only the prison, but the useless existence they were forced into.
And some of them had cracked under that silent pressure. None were embracing Star Force philosophy, for that would mean the end of their lives as Neofan. But they were doing some of their training exercises, if only occasionally, to break up the doldrums.
Others tried to provoke the red tails to come in and fight them…which proved more entertaining, but equally pointless. Most had grown tired of that as well, and had taken to squabbling with each other…but even their infighting was taken from them as the red tails would intervene. She was intent on destroying them in this void of freedom that no Neofan should be forced to exist within.
One of them had tried to kill himself to escape, expending his Essence to the critical level where his Core would detach…but the prison sensors detected it and rendered him unconscious before he could deplete himself to that level. And attempts to physically kill themselves were too dishonorable to contemplate, though a few had tried. The red tails had them revived, then punished them by putting them into semi-stasis in holding cells that kept them awake but unable to move.
Those did have a countdown in them, at the end of which they were released back into their normal confines. Apparently not being able to move was worse than their current state, for the suicide attempts stopped shortly after that punishment was experienced.
Lack of eating was also countered, as the red tails would not let them die. She intended to break their will, but Kelmaran would not oblige her. He would defy her to the end, and used what Essence he had to train with the others and gradually increase their abilities…but without recharge from the Vargemma or their servants they had to wait between sessions as their bodies rebuilt their previous Essence levels after each exertion.
The red tails rarely came into the prison without a reason, but today the main doors issued a summons pulse throughout the facility, and Kelmaran responded out of curiosity only. Whatever the reason was, it was unexpected, and the irregularity of the beacon sound was a breath of fresh air to his stagnant mind.
But when he got to the doors the red tails was not there. Instead there was another Neofan that walked through as they opened, and with him a small Hadarak avian flew over his head. Kelmaran was so surprised to see a Hadarak he didn’t take in the fact that he recognized the Neofan’s face until one of the others spoke his name aloud.
“Plausious?” one of them said in disbelief. “I thought you were dead.”
“A lie,” the former Reignor said. “The Diem marooned me on a Hadarak world I was engaging in single combat on. They expected me to die, as did I once they left me behind with no means of escape. But I did not, and when I found a way to return to Star Force I discover you launched an attack against them. Why must you be so helpless without my leadership?”
“Why is there a Hadarak with you?” someone else asked, drawing an intimidating glare from Plausious.
“This Hadarak is my loyal companion. Anyone who harms it I will kill instantly. I want that understood clearly so there will be no mistakes. This Ren’mak is more valuable to me than all of you combined.”
“Are you a prisoner?” Kelmaran yelled out from behind a row of other Neofan who were all crowding into the small room to see the new arrival.
“I am not. I am here to free you.”
“You defeated the red tails?” someone else asked, only to hear a faint laugh from far off past the still open doors, and everyone knew her voice as synonymous with utter contempt.
“Director Davis is my friend and ally,” Plausious said firmly. “When I was betrayed by the Diem, I was in the process of negotiating an alliance with them. I was also learning from them, and have since learned a great deal more in my solitude on that Hadarak planet. I have seen the Endgame, and I know now we were wrong about the preborn. We are not the trigger, merely useful tools in the attempt. The Endgame can only be achieved
