Factory Reset

Chapter Twenty-Five: Spaceships and Protogens

They had to walk through an entire room painted and bathed in blood. The smell overwhelming, the bodies undetectable besides a few spare pieces floating in the macabre pool. Mason nearly vomited as he stepped on an eyeball, B-04 giggling as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

And at the end of the cafeteria were nine bodies. Totally solid, yet obviously dead, bodies.

Eight were identified by Mason and Axel to be part of the Nine-Tailed Fox Crew, all being foxes and having the same insignia on their chest. The last was a scientist. A cottontail rabbit of blue fur. Lied was there, face up and blank.

Mason scrunched up and held B-64 closer. But he did notice one thing. Gears were missing. He wasn't with the bodies, and Mason hoped that he had, at least, escaped.

Marissa was in a state of shock, her hands trembling. This was beyond her breaking point, but for the sake of her friends, and for the sake of Hannah, she willed herself to stay quiet and not break down. If she did, well, she had no idea what B-04 would do.

The exited the cafeteria, reaching Floor A rather quickly. B-04 sighed in relief, raising his arms and saying, "The one good thing about your miserable little speck of dust is that you have clean, good air. At least, compared to most other planets at your level."

The entire time they had gone up the stairs, B-04 had been soaking up data on their languages, quickly managing to speak English fluently. Mason glanced down at B-64, wondering if he would be able to do the same, and if he was, why didn't he?

Mason caught himself though. He already knew English when they met, so he must've either gotten used to it, or maybe he did do what B-04 had done.

Mason gulped, feeling a slight level of apprehensiveness as he saw B-04 hold out his arm in front of him, activating his hard-light generator.

This time what came out seemed to be a computer, or some other tech. The keyboards were strange, having only four large buttons with three symbols on each, and a single smaller button in the middle divided in half.

B-04 smiled, rather creepily if Mason was concerned, and pressed a small button on the side of the keyboard.

And Mason gasped. What they thought was an unobstructed view of the mountainside was really a cloaked ship. One massive in size, so massive that it dwarfed skyscrapers and was the length of several football fields.

The hulking behemoth of a ship was colored white and black, with dark purple and red highlights around the main thrusted. It was kept suspended in the air without using those, so Mason guessed that it only used those to speed up.

B-04 spoke quickly, nudging Mason and his friends forward, "Get on the ship."

A blinding white light shot down from what looked like the main deck, pummeling into the ground and dispersing white energy. Marissa shivered slightly, feeling the waves blast pass her. Strangely, she felt much more alive and much more energetic as the waves went through her.

"Don't make me to tell you twice."

Mason gulped, hugged B-64, and jumped into the light.

The first thing he saw was nothing. A bleak empty blackness devoid of any other color. It was just him and B-64. He felt like he weighed nothing, and he could feel waves of Red, Blue, and White Boson Energy rage through him, shattering his frame of mind.

He dropped B-64 to the ground, dropping to his knees involuntarily. He felt nauseous, cold and alone.

And in another split second, he could feel again. Light invaded his eyes as he could see again, finding himself in a room. Grey walls and ceiling, padded white flooring with small glass tubes between each panel, Boson material bouncing and flowing through them.