Planatae

Prison

Erin seemed to falter for a moment, her expression flickering. Then it went hard again, and she pulled away from him, opened the case. She carefully selected one of the pills nestled within and held her hand out. They were steroids - Fac-boosters. Soldiers who were stationed in non-planet combat used them when they needed their Factors at full strength.

"I need you to take one," she said. "This station's built within an asteroid, but it still doesn't have the same properties of a planet."

Lukas eyed the little gray pill. "You need me to use my Factor? I don't understand..."

"Snap out of it!" she hissed. "I need you to focus. Take the pill, and then use your Factor to bind the Purists before they wake up."

"Bind them," Lukas echoed, suddenly incredulous. He was still petrified, but natural stubbornness was fighting its way to the surface. "What are we doing here, Mother? Why did you do this?"

She shoved the pill at him. "That man was lying, Lukas. Those rumors about the camps are true. These people do take prisoners for their own aims - and we're here to free one. So, please, for the love of Ferrum, take the fucking pill."

He stared at his mother for one brief, desperate moment. Then he plucked the pill from her hand and swallowed it dry.

Despite widespread mystique and reverence to the Planatae throughout the Galaxy, the general principle of things was quite simple. According to basic planetaelogy, there were three governing Symbiote Laws that dictate the relationship between man and planet.

The First Law states that a planet cannot become a Planatae without conscious beings inhabiting it.

The Second Law states that depending on maturity, humans that are born on the entities develop mutations that reflect the planet's environment - a Factor.

And finally, the contentious Third Law states that it is the physical properties of a planet that allow a Factor to function correctly. When Lukas swallowed the Fac-boost, he was attempting to counteract the limitations of the Third Law - to use his Factor at full strength without being present on a planet.

For a few moments, nothing seemed to happen. Lukas stood there, unsure. Since he wasn't a soldier, he'd never had the opportunity to take a Fac-boost; had no idea what to expect.

Then, all of a sudden, he was very much aware of his heart beating within his chest. It pounded in his chest with a desperate beat, triggering a jolt of anxiety through his body. He was jittery, wired; the Fac-boosts were essentially adrenaline bumps with a few other compounds mixed in. They forcibly triggered a person's flight or fight, inducing a state where a Factor could fully function anywhere.

Lukas didn't really understand the principles all that well yet, but it didn't matter now. All of his attention was on the various metal chairs now strewn about the room.

He held up his hands, using the physical movement to help direct his intention. With a grating shriek, three of the chairs suddenly twisted, crumpling in on themselves. Lukas bit his lip, focusing. With careful movements, he tore strips of steel away from the furniture, sending them shooting through the air at his targets. But his goal wasn't to impale them; Lukas directed the metal to land on top of the bodies, pinning them down.

One of the Purists audibly gasped at the impact, and they began to struggle weakly. Lukas flinched at the noise, his breathing hitching. But he forced himself to continue, to meld the ends of each metal strip into the ground beneath them, until all three Purists were stuck in human sized-cages.

Like a steel rib cage, the metal would keep them trapped, until someone showed up and noticed them.

Job done, Lukas stood there, breathing heavily. The Fac-boost had been an unpleasant experience; he felt on edge - like someone's prey. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like, to constantly push your body into danger-mode for the sake of heightened abilities. The latest crop of field soldiers had a reputation for being twitchy and aggressive; now, he could understand the sentiment.

Lukas' train of thought was broken by a sudden realization.

"Oh... we're so screwed," he moaned aloud. "The feeds. They're gonna contact everyone in the entire building by now when they wake up - if they haven't already."

But his mother just shook her head. "Not an issue," she said, fingered twitching in the air as she manipulated assets on her feed vision. "I released a military-grade blocker - it should be uploaded onto their feeds by now."

Lukas didn't respond. He was rattled; she was able to lock into each person's feed while beating the shit out of them?"

His mother, satisfied with whatever she was doing, turned her attention back to him,

"I'm still in contact with the group. It looks like no alarm was raised."

"Which means..."? Lukas managed to choke out.

"It means we can continue."

His feed registered incoming files from Erin's ID, which he accepted and pulled open.

It was a map of Onyx, but totally unlike the one he'd been studying earlier. Instead of surface level streets and landmarks, the map displayed a series of tunnel networks and chambers. Interconnected and complex, they all nevertheless seemed to originate from one source: a tall, blocky looking building, its layout also included in the map.

He quickly put the pieces together. Onlx wasn't so different from other stations after all - like a rotten piece of fruit, the asteroid had been dug into and hollowed out, creating an alternative level of space.

"Those are classified passageways," his mother called back to him. She'd started walking long before Lukas had finished digesting the new data. He had to hurry to keep up with her long strides. "They're off-limits to the public - there's not a single non-Purist on Onyx who has any idea about them."

The thought was certainly a foreboding one. "What are they used for?" Lukas asked. He had another question, but was too afraid to ask it: how in the world did you get your hands on secret Purist schematics?

There was a pause, and for a moment, Lukas thought she hadn't heard her. But then, she said, almost apprehensively, "The Purists use this station as a... 'middleman' to the rest of the galaxy. The only value the place has is as a meeting point for foreign powers and as a source of Factor-borns."

They had approached a set of stairs; Erin had been leading them steadily downward through the building using the map. But she stopped before descending to turn to him.

"I know you have a lot of questions. That you might be... unsettled. But I needed you, and I couldn't have you giving away the plan. I will explain it all - but for now, we have to move. Do you understand?"

The sick apprehension was still there, coiled at the pit of his stomach. But that glimmer of pride, stubbornly refused to leave, and her words had brought it back to the forefront of his feelings.

"I understand," Lukas said, lying through his teeth. "Tell me what I have to do, Mother."

She give him one last opaque stare, then nodded and turned away.

"Keep close, but don't run," she said. "With any luck, we'll make it to the ground floor without too much trouble."