Tevun-Krus #62 - Best of 2018

Games for a Lost Bone Goddess - @Holly_Gonzalez - BonePunk

Games for a Lost Bone Goddess

A BonePunk story by Holly_Gonzalez 

A voice she'd almost forgotten called in her mind, called her by a name no one used anymore.

"Katya, someone's coming."

"I already know," she answered aloud.

It was just a memory, the voice of a friend long gone, made vivid by the entity possessing her consciousness. Empty voices, spirits, mirages of yesterday. Distractions, nothing more. She paid them no heed and focused herself for her impending summit.

Her eyes flicked toward the door, where the visitors would soon arrive. None other than the head of the Pruessian state, Hir Anzelvik Kaezer himself. Would he come to endorse her or assassinate her? Her spies had hinted of the Great Leader's possible distrust, though his correspondence to her had been formal and predictable.

The voices died to whispers and faded like the dreams they were. She never slept, but dreams passed endlessly through her mind. Dreams. Visions. Memories. Pieces of someone she'd once known, once been, a place she'd lived and loved.

Someday, she'd return home. To her own Earth, not the diverging branch of space-time she now occupied.

The others, her former crew mates, had called her mad. She'd called them weak, cowardly. She knew the price and how to pay it. The key to escape dwelled in her body. The key to its secrets could be deciphered in time.

She had more than enough time ahead of her. The Abider was eternal, in this universe as well as her own. As long as it remained fused to her bones, there was a chance to bridge universes again and create a path home.

Reality was a game. Games existed to be won or lost. And she would win, no matter the cost. She'd bend the very fabric of this pathetic new universe to get what she wanted. The consequences didn't matter. Neither did her enemies.

She lifted her hands to her forehead and pressed her fingers against her skull. Against the prison of her mind and its warden, the sentient parasite attached to her skeleton. Into the very cells and atoms and who-could-say-what beyond. The thin layers of flesh between her bones were little more than insulation and substance for this creature, this conscious generator of renewable energy.

If only she could harness its full potential. The technology to do so was far beyond the understanding of this society, but these 'Pruessians' as they called themselves had the right potential. She needed resources, devoted manpower, and at least a decade to build the network.

Fortunately, the resources of an entire nation lay within her grasp. She had but to persuade one man to aid her--a small task. Great leaders always had passions. Weaknesses. She'd find a weak point in this Kaezer fellow. The Abider's awareness opened her to levels and concepts beyond human perception.

She rose from her chair when the expected knock struck her chamber door. Her skin chilled, pulse quickened, a sign the Abider was alert and observant.

"Be patient, friend," she whispered. "We won't fail."

Another chill ran over her, the Abider's response buzzing through her nerves. Their shared power resonated the space around her body. Both ready, now. All the better to sway the course of this timeline's history.