Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Epilogue Pt. 2 "Adventure Never Ends."

He almost felt sorry for the predator sneaking up behind him, for if they had known anything about the thin line of metal that ran its way up the back of each of his arms, and onto his hands, it would have known he was no ordinary scientist.

His HUD blinked.

A small cartoon dog popped up superimposed over his vision, and it growled.

His early warning system was going off now, just a few seconds shy of his human instincts.

The forest around him had gone silent, never a good sign.

His hand closed more firmly around the cold of the weapon

And then the bushes behind him erupted with a roar.

He spun in place, whipping the collapsable spear from his bag and diving to the side, fast as lightning.

The shape came charging into the clearing, nothing more than a streak of blue chitin, impossibly fast, the blade of the spear it held even faster.

He slapped the blow aside with contemptuous ease, falling into an easy pattern of blows, spinning the spear this way and that to defend from a flurry of attacks so quick it shouldn't have been possible. Metal sparked and clashed filling the silent forest with the sound of sudden battle. Small animals fled from the brush in all directions sending up a cacophony of scurrying.

Caught up in the ease of his defense, he moved forward with confidence, ready to-

And then his arrogance caught up with him.

The attack switched up suddenly just as his foot came down on a loose pebble, and before he knew it he was on the ground, something hard and heavy pinning him in place. A large hand was clamped around his throat, and something hard and painful jammed itself into the junction of his thigh and pelvis. Both of his wrists had been pinned. The hand holding his wrist squeezed forcing him to drop the spear which rolled away across the dirt.

He looked up, finding himself face to face with two large golden eyes.

Sunny hummed in amusement, "You know, you're cute when you're helpless." She said pressing her knee down just that much harder into the junction of his leg.

Adam tensed slightly causing her to laugh again.

"Well, are you just going to sit there and gloat, or are you going to teach me a lesson?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

Sunny looked him over with her cool golden eyes, one of them suspiciously more metallic than the other. She hadn't changed much in the past decade and a half or so. Violet light spilled down from the canopy brightening her electric blue chitin in burning pools of blue. The smooth gray skin of her exposed throat rose and fell in time with her breathing.

She leaned in a little the edge of her mouth brushing ever so lightly against the line of his jaw. He shivered once but then she pulled back, cutting the moment off abruptly, "No, I don't think I need to."

He frowned, "Now you're just being mean."

She hummed, "Unfortunately for you, the interns are looking for Dr. Vir to ask him a question."

Adam smirked, "I like it when you call me doctor."

Sunny huffed and stood, pulling him to his feet with one of her free hands, "I know you do." Adam reached over, and snatched his pack from the ground, accompanying Sunny through the tropical foliage and back towards camp. Overhead, little patches of blue sky could be seen through the violet canopy. Adam took in a deep breath of fresh air and closed his eyes.

Who could ask for more than this?

Adam had once worried that one day, his adventures would be over, that he would be forced to settle down to a stuffy nine to five and stare up at the stars with longing. The possibility of that future had plagued him for as long as he could remember, but now, when the future had finally come, he found himself still armed with a fleet of ships, and a new job that gave him every excuse to go out and touch all the weird alien things.

It had taken him a few years after Armageddon for him to acquire his doctoral degree, but he had needed something to do while recovering from the injuries sustained at the hand of Kazna. The nerve damage to his spine alone had been horrific, and were it not for Krill, Adam might not have regained feeling in his lower extremities.

Even so, his human leg below the knee sometimes felt oddly numb, and his left fingers tingled sometimes when it got cold. Following the battle, he had stepped down from politics and moved on instead founding a private xenoexploration company for hire, specializing primarily in planetary first contact. Generally, he advertised their non-sapient collection capabilities, but there was a reason they had both an active diplomat and xenolinguist on the payroll, not to mention private security that doubled as a small army.

They came out of the trees just then and into the camp a little to the south west of the security shuttle. The ship was large for a shuttle and had Big bold letters running along one side reading: Seraphim Security.

Seraphim's co-director was standing next to the ship, as annoyingly handsome as ever, barely having aged a year despite the past decade and a half. He had tousled dark hair, honey amber eyes, and had no compunction about telling anyone and everyone about the two silver medals he had won in the winter olympics.

Angel Ramirz had been Arcadia's first medalist in Arcadia's history and did not want to shut up about it.

"Ah we were beginning to think you might have been kidnapped." Ramirez said with a smirk.

Adam frowned, "It has been over fifteen years since I was last kidnapped thanks.

The smirk did not go away, "Wrong, there was that time on Scorpius b."

"That was a misunderstanding and they apologized."

"A polite kidnapping is still a kidnapping." Ramirez said, stepping aside to allow Adam into camp, where the interns were waiting nervously around the campfire. Meezin, as per usual, was waiting nervously at the edge of the group, clutching his field bag.

"Alright, where's the fire?" Adam asked as he walked up.

Meezin looked behind him towards the flames and then back at Adam with a puzzled expression. It wasn't that the Thoruks didn't understand sarcasm, it was just Meezin. The big intern had four left feet, and a left trunk, if Adam was honest. At seven feet tall, and well over three hundred pounds, Meezin was a health and safety hazard and had a horrible habit of nearly tripping into the fire every other day. The Thoruck was tall, and built like a tree, with two sets of thick legs, the front set longer than the back set, with bright orange skin, and two trunks he used for articulation. In a way he reminded Adam of an elephant.

"What's the problem?"

It wasn't Meezin that answered, instead Adam's head was turned as a light thud alerted him upwards to where the second Co-owner of Seraphim Security had just dropped from a nearby tree, and onto the shuttle roof.

Maverick's short blind hair caught up in the wind as the four, bone white, spidery, articulated legs retracted back through her suit. Her gray/gold eyes were eager as she crouched, low to the shuttle rooftop.

"Remnants, the intern found his first remnants."

Adam's eyes widened a bit, "Sapient?"

"Unless you know of any sloths that can build a thatch hut, then It might just be."

Adm smiled, an eager gleam entering his uncovered eye, "Ah, first contact it is then." He cracked his knuckles, "This is always my favorite part."