Scion Corporation Headquarters
Tokyo, Japan
Noriko Null looks up to the top of the building. Brand new, old-fashioned and imposing: Scion couldn’t ask for a more accurate image.
<It’s much bigger than our skyscraper> Kari says with her typical enthusiasm.
<It’s not that big> Noriko tries to minimize.
<Leiko always did like to show off> her father Bob chimes in.
Kari and Bob take a step forward, but turn back when they notice Noriko is still looking up. Her hands are clenched in fists, and she’s visibly shaken.
<You don’t have to do this> Bob tries to reassure her.
<Yes I do. It’s just…I haven’t seen her since the lightning strike. Since I was…normal.>
<If it makes you feel better, I haven’t seen her since the day you were born> Bob says.
<It doesn’t> Noriko answers coldly, entering the building like she owns the place. Kari doesn’t waste time to ask Bob:
<I know you said Leiko left you when Noriko was little but…on the day she was born!?>
<You need to know only one thing about Leiko Tanaka, Kari. She doesn’t have a heart.>
Bob follows his daughter, leaving Kari to look around. First New York, now Tokyo…she thought Earth was a paradise, left untouched by the evil gods that slaughtered her people.
<What kind of a planet is this?> she wonders out loud.
The Twin Dragon, Demeter’s former mothership
Over the years, Kari Zel wondered how her first travel in outer space would be like. It was just a child’s dream: only males could become soldiers and leave Myridia. And they never came back.
But she could hope that space was a simpler place, where gods left people in peace.
<Take this. You’ll need it> Talas Khanos says, handing her an Oracle lance. The mere sight of it brings back painful memories of people being killed to appease Demeter.
<What do you need me for!? Can’t you use your freaky mind powers to stop them or, I don’t know, the ship’s defenses!?>
<Think, you pathetic carrier of genetic material, think. Harpies are strong enough to survive in the vacuum of space, but they can’t fly faster than light. And we’re years away from the nearest system.>
<You mean somebody brought these things out here!?>
<Would you please just go ahead and die?>
The first harpy rips the hull apart. The air is quickly sucked out of the spaceship with enough force to lift a person off his feet. Talas Khanos uses his telekinesis to avoid this fate, but Kari is in much more trouble. She plants the lance firmly into the floor and holds on to it, fighting against the decompression. Khanos watches her for a few seconds, chuckling as she gasps for air, before sealing off the wall.
<Couldn’t you do it earlier?> Kari asks, exhausted.
<I prefer specimen that are hard to kill off.>
Kari doesn’t have time to recover: the creature is spreading her bat-like wings. It’s far more alien than Kari imagined…the bird legs, the talons that could crack her skull, the thick reptilian blue skin, wings where the arms should be…and that horrible, horrible head.
Curved horns. Four bulbous eyes. And half a face filled with white, sharp fangs.
<I was talking about the Harpy, of course. But if you survive, you’ll do fine as well.>
Scion Corporation Headquarters
Leiko Tanaka enters her office, followed by her assistant carrying a holographic tablet. Noriko, Bob and Kari are sitting on the three chairs in front of her desk.
<<What do you want?>> she asks in Japanese, without even looking at them.
The resemblance to Noriko is striking. Mother and daughter seem to have done everything possible to look different from one another…traditional versus rebellious, long versus short hair, expensive office suit versus cheap leather jacket, skirt and high heels versus jeans and combat boots…but the similarity still shows.
<<They can’t understand you>> Noriko answers, pointing at Bob and Kari.
Leiko sends off her assistant with a hand gesture and asks again, this time in English:
<What do you want?> Leiko asks again, this time in English.
<We haven’t seen each other for eighteen years. And you tried to kill our daughter. Don’t you have anything else to say!?>
Leiko doesn’t say a word. She just stares at Bob blankly, waiting for an answer.
<I wanna know what you think you’re doing. Stealing my technology, installing reactors all over the world, infiltrating the Blue in foreign governments and, yes, trying to murder me in my sleep> Noriko says. Her silver eyes flash briefly when she raises her voice.
It’s the only moment when Leiko shows any reaction; it’s the first time she sees this. But she doesn’t look surprised…just awestruck, even if it’s just for a second.
<Have you read the Odyssey?> Leiko asks.
<Of course> Noriko and Kari answer simultaneously.
The Myridian girl gets astonished looks both from Noriko and Bob.
<What? It’s popular on Myridia. Of course Demeter didn’t want us to read about a guy flying around the Galaxy when every other god wants to kill him, but we read it anyway.>
<There is no interstellar travel in the Odyssey, Kari.>
<I…don’t think we’ve read the same version, Nori.>
<The Odyssey…the original one, not the bastardized version we read on Earth…talks about the attempt to organize a human resistance against divine dictatorship after the end of the Second Trojan War> Leiko explains.
<Wait wait wait, time out> Bob interrupts her <How did we jump from attempted murder to the freakin’ Odyssey!?>
<Don’t interrupt> Leiko and Noriko answer at the same time; neither of them seems to be proud to use the same words of the other one. Then Leiko continues:
<Before dying of old age, Ulysses managed to recover several Drylon artifacts and hide them on a planet forgotten by the rest of the galaxy, hoping that someday the mortals of that world would rise against the tyranny of Olympus.>
<The Legend of Lethe, yeah, everyone knows about that. Wait, you mean to tell me that Lethe actually exists and we’re standing on it!?> Kari asks, dumbstruck by the notion.
<So you recovered the original version of the Odyssey and learned about the Heart of the Universe. It doesn’t explain much> Noriko complains.
<I’m not trying to explain anything. I’m just stalling you> Leiko answers calmly, looking at her watch. She presses a hidden button under her desk, and the whole room is filled with a diffuse light.
Quantum appears suddenly, collapsing on the floor. Bob does the same. Kari creates a couple of duplicates to lift herself, but they also fall under the immense pain they are feeling.
Noriko is the only one capable to remain conscious for a while. She can feel the circuitry of the N-Watch and the N-Phone being fried, and crawls to the desk to lift herself up.
<Took you long enough. I almost thought you weren’t going to make it> Leiko says, opening a small box on the desk.
A ball of metal, not much larger than a baseball, rises up and talks with an inhumanly deep voice.
<If you were sufficiently evolved to use primitive technology to generate an anti-neutrino field that also stimulates pain receptors, you wouldn’t need me> the Core answers.
Noriko manages to stand up, but it takes all of her strength. And just looking at the Core makes her silver eyes burn.
<Just knock her out. If she keeps this up, we risk damaging the Nexus.>
These are the last words Noriko hears before passing out.
The Twin Dragon, Demeter’s former mothership
The Harpy tries to bite Kari in the neck, which given how massive its jaw is would probably decapitate her. Kari is quick enough to avoid her; then she unstuck the lance from the floor and uses it to fence off the alien creature.
<Having fun!?> she asks Talas Khanos, who is just a few feet away.
<Not really. Needs more disemboweling> he answers sincerely.
In an open environment, Kari would be dead by now. The Harpy would take flight and strike with its powerful talons; she’s already seen that the creature’s legs are strong enough to rip the hull to shreds. But there’s not enough space to fly here, and the Harpy doesn’t have arms: it can only bite, and the lance keeps it at a distance.
<It’s really something to see one of them in the wild, isn’t it? One of the few truly alien species of the galaxy. They’re almost extinct; we’re close to Artemis space, so this one probably escaped the reserve with her family.>
<“Her”? You mean this thing’s female?> Kari asks, poking the Harpy in one of the eyes; the creature lets out a chilling scream, like knives on a chalkboard.
<Of course, all harpies are female. Since she came inside alone, the others are probably her children.>
<Great; I can deal with mommy here, but what are we gonna do with the rest!?>
<What indeed> asks another female voice.
A woman comes through the wall like a ghost. She has blue skin, no nose and large bat wings coming out of her back, and her blue hair barely cover the trimmed horned crest on her forehead.
Other than that, she could easily be mistaken for a stunningly beautiful woman. The harpy roars again, waving her wings; she looks really pissed.
The blue woman spreads her own wings, hissing. The harpy groans something and steps back, crouching and wrapping herself with her wings.
<What the Hades just happened!?> Kari asks.
<I told her not to eat you. I am Elytra Elater, captain of the Distant Horizon. Who is your god?>
<Null.>
Kari’s answer doesn’t seem to satisfy the blue woman, who draws her gun and points at her.
<Can we trust her?>
<She’s just a Myridian and I gave her an Agony Ring. She’s harmless> Talas Khanos answers.
<Wait, you two know each other!?>
<Oh yes, Elytra and I go way back. Her family’s been providing me new specimen for over 60 generations…which for a Lampyrian like her means about thirty years.>
<You’re a Lampyrian? But I thought…>
<That my people were only cheap prostitutes? I heard the same thing about Myridians. Khanos, what is going on? I’ve heard all kinds of rumors coming from Demeter space.>
<The fall of the gods is arriving, Elytra. Soon we will rule the galaxy. Well, not you personally, since you’ve got only a few months to live but…>
<Why do you always bring up my lifespan?> she asks, putting the gun away.
It’s Kari’s only chance: she jumps at the blue woman with the intent of knocking her out and stealing her gun. Instead, she just goes through her intangible body.
Her first thought is that she’s just a hologram, but the punch in her stomach is definitely real.
<Unless you want me to punch you in the brain next time, don’t do it again> she threatens.
Sensing the anger of her mistress, the Harpy roars.
“I’m starting to think Myridia wasn’t so bad after all” Kari thinks.
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