Hacking something that was not designed to be interfaced with was always an odd sensation for Lars. Forcing himself into the cyberspace of a processor or switchboard like that required considerable amounts of energy just to cross over the threshold.
But "hacking" something that was technically not even a computer was an even weirder feeling. Passing into the power lines underneath the gravity panels felt to Lars like he had to force himself through a narrow grid that sliced his presence into myriads of thin strings. It was not exactly painful, because he was unable to sense physical pain upon leaving the body behind, but it was unsettling.
The space beyond was strange, colorless and two-dimensional. It was not intended to be accessed by any kind of program, let alone an autonomous AI. It was disturbing, and urged him to hurry forward until he reached one of the processing and monitoring units that were part of the artificial gravity system. It was a primitive switch, but that did not make hacking it easier. Often, the simplest systems regulated the most complex processes, because those had to be robust. But he had seen this particular cyberspace architecture before, when they had hacked these systems to create a distraction after their cover had been blown.
He worked fast, knowing that with every second their body was connected to this system they were running the risk of electrocuting themselves. In cyberspace, a moment could feel like an eon to Lars. In the real world, it only took a microsecond from the moment Null placed their hands on the exposed wires to the moment the system overcharged.
Sparks of electricity began to fly from the exposed wires under the broken floor panel. Lars rushed back to his place at Null's side at the same moment as the first spark jumped across onto the vines of Starseed. She withdrew her hands and recoiled back with a gasp of pain.
Lightning surged across the black vines, spreading outward from their position and across the dark green foliage, toward Yaremova who was still immobilized amidst the plants. One brief moment, the Major General's eyes widened with surprise, the next, she screamed and convulsed with pain as a jolt of electricity passed through her body. And then her eyes rolled back into thei sockets, her body went limp, and she collapsed into the Starseed at her feet.
Null, are you alright? Lars asked. Are you hurt?
She just sat there like paralyzed for a moment and stared at the lifeless body a few feet away. Their breathing was erratic and their heart was still racing from the fight. But any pain was dulled out by the adrenaline and their combat augments.
I'm okay, she said quietly as she got up to her feet. I'm just a bit surprised this actually worked.
That makes both of us, he replied drily.
She stretched their fingers and clenched them into a fist again to get rid of the uncomfortable tingling where the electricity had brushed them. Around them, a few lingering sparks cackled across the dark vines, but the rest of the charge had dissipated. They had been lucky, it had been barely enough to reach Yaremova without spreading too far and reaching any of the plants that stood in full, volatile bloom further away.
The augments held, she commented. Cyril did a good job.
Let's remember to thank him for it the next time we see him, Lars suggested.
Suddenly, from somewhere within the maze of hydroponic racks, they could hear shots ring out.
Nova?! she thought.
Don't! Lars muffled her before she could call out for him a second time, If you connect to him again, he'll have a much harder time doing whatever it is he's doing right now.
You're right... sorry, she mumbled. Time to get to work.
Null approached Yaremova cautiously. The woman was still breathing, but she seemed knocked out cold. She was even heavier than she looked, but Null managed to turn her on her back and proceeded to inspect the metallic armor that covered her body. Streaks of Yaremova's own blood, and fragments of her skin and connective tissue clung to it. The electrical charge had heated the material up, and at the edges of the plates they could see that the skin underneath was singed and raw.
Lars couldn't even begin to imagine the pain she must have suffered when those spikes had broken through. He could now understand why Null felt sorry for the woman. It was a harrowing sight.
The armor covered most of her skin, even her palms and forearms.
Those plates must be made form the same thallium-titanium alloy as the one in our skull, Lars pointed out, as a quick scan was now unable to reveal anything that lay underneath.
The only piece of metal the scanner could penetrate was the plate that had been used to reinforce Yaremova's skull. It seemed to protect the hardware that sat nestled amidst her grey matter from physical damage, but not EM radiation.
So that's what Blake meant. He probably used a different alloy so he could monitor how her brain adapted to the hardware, and made use of the properties of the alloy for her armor... But she either has nothing that we could interface with, or it's hidden underneath that armor, Lars pointed out. That's a problem.
Null didn't reply. She just held on to Yaremova's hand for a moment and furrowed her brow as she looked down at the hunter's face. She looked surprisingly peaceful, as if she was sleeping, despite her short blond hair clinging to her forehead and cheeks from sweat and blood. But the wounds on her face had closed up completely by now thanks to the nanobots. He suspected that she wouldn't stay unconscious for very long either.
I have an idea, she finally thought, before he could suggest to leave her and run. But I think you won't like it.
Even less than your idea of almost frying ourselves by groping some high voltage power lines?
Well.... I just remembered what Blake said when he explained to us how his little machine works, she began.
The optical nerve... Lars realized immediately and shuddered. Oh my.
She turned Yaremova's head to face up and pried one of her eyes open. The iris was still tinged red, and from up close they could see the fine machinery of an augment that had been embedded within. Null looked back and forth between their palm and the woman's eyeball, hesitating for a moment.
Are you sure you want to do this? You know that she'd just kill us if she woke up right now...
I want to try, she said firmly, And if we really can't get through to her, then... well, let's just try it, okay?
He sighed, knowing that it was useless to argue with her. He couldn't help but see a certain irony in the situation. Null, who believed she had lost her soul because of what had happened to her, went out of her way to save the soul of the woman who had probably been through something very similar. Null, who felt guilty for pretty much just existing, thought that this woman, a fanatic, homicidal maniac, deserved to be saved. Null, who couldn't see one shred of good in herself, was convinced that Yaremova wasn't evil. He could only hope that she was right about it.
Do you remember what I said back when we were at the Butcher's place? Lars asked Null as she moved their hand to place it over Yaremova's face.
You mean after we almost fell victim to a necrophiliac and then proceeded to rob from the dead?
Yes, he answered, and pushed the memory back down before it could resurface vividly.
You said it's the most disgusting thing we've ever done, Null recalled.
I take that back, he said meekly. This is the most disgusting thing we've ever done.
She grinned as she pressed their palm against Yaremova's eyeball. It felt surprisingly hard against the touch, not as squishy as Lars had expected, but nonetheless revolting. But it worked. Immediately, he could feel their interface augments connect to the hardware within the woman's body. It was like the space inside of them had expanded slightly. However, all they could sense from her end was static.
Do you think we've fried her brain completely? Lars thought, unsure if he should feel relief or pity.
No... I think she's still in there, Null remarked. She leaned closer and peered at Yaremova's other eye. Can't you go in and check?
What? he exclaimed, taken aback, No, I can't just waltz into someone else's body. That's... not how it works.
Why not? Wouldn't it be kinda like hacking? she asked. Going in through her augments?
No, it's not at all like hacking! he insisted. It's... I can't describe it, it's like there's a door here, and I can't open it. I can't cross over there.
He could feel how Null's attention shifted inward, and their senses of their surroundings began to dull for a moment. Her presence seemed to appear beside him at the edge of their mind, and they looked across the gap that separated their body from Yaremova's. Null approached it to peer down into the abyss.
How is this different from when we hack? she asked. Looks the same to me.
He sighed and moved his presence closer to hers to demonstrate. Once he approached the gap, it was as if he hit an invisible wall. He pushed against it, but it didn't budge. And even if he had found a way to move further, the chasm between them was so vast that he had no idea how to cross it.
It's different because the space on the other side is organic, he explained. But at least we know now that you're right, she's still in there. And if she doesn't let me in herself, I have no way of crossing over. At least not through a connection like this. I might be able to force myself in if we found a way to interface properly, or if she had some plug in implants somewhere, but this... it's just not possible. Sorry.
Hm. Then I guess I'll have to go, she said.
You... what? he exclaimed in disbelief.
Well, I can pass, see?
He watched incredulously as she stretched out her presence and just strolled over to the other side. She crossed over the gap that appeared to him as an unfathomable deep and wide chasm as if it was just a small crack in the pavement. She came back again just as easily.
I'll go there and see if I can find her. You take care of the body in the meantime, okay? she suggested.
Seriously? I like this idea even less than your previous two, he grumbled.
Don't worry, she replied, and he could imagine her smile at him reassuringly, I'll be quick. And... as long as I have you, I'll be safe.
She moved away and he could sense it now - that intangible lifeline between the two of them that he normally used to stay connected to her when they were hacking. Before she could move any further, he reached out, and if they were corporeal, he would have embraced her in a rib crushing hug. As it was, their presences only seemed to mingle for a moment, before she drew away again. The connection was strengthened now, it was more than just a single line. It was all that he could do to help her with this.
With every inch she moved away again, he could feel a dreadful, intangible pain. He wondered if she felt like this every time he left her side to go into cyberspace while hacking.
Please be careful... he whispered worriedly.
She seemed to smile at him over her shoulder as she passed the gap once more, and disappeared in the darkness that lay beyond.
~ ~ ~
"Be a good girl, Xenia, be a good girl. Well, I've tried my best, haven't I? Why was it not enough? Why is it never enough?"
The tall blonde woman mumbled to herself, as she sat at the edge of the cliff with her long legs dangling off the edge. She stared down into the abyss below, but there wasn't much to see. There was dense fog everywhere. Yet she knew that the fall would likely be fatal.
She had tried to find a way out, she had been walking for hours until her feet hurt too much and she had been too exhausted to continue. The fog had caused her to walk in circles, and she kept coming back to this place, again and again. Eventually, she had given up. Now she just sat there, waiting. She didn't even know for what. There really was only one place left to go, and yet she hesitated.
"Why do I have to do this?" she asked. "Why do you make me do this? I don't want this... But there is no other way, is there? No choice..."
"Xenia?"
She was so surprised to hear somebody speak her name that she almost lost her balance and fell forward into the abyss. She scrambled to her feet and whirled around, finding a black-haired woman in a white dress and combat boots standing next to her. She looked familiar, but Xenia couldn't quite place her face. Something about the woman made her wary. Straightening her shoulders and stretching to her full height, she towered over the stranger, who couldn't have been more than five feet three.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked with suspicion.
"I was looking for you," the woman said.
The stranger peered past Xenia, toward the edge of the cliff.
"This is not a good place to talk. Should we go somewhere else?" the woman suggested.
Xenia snorted, then shook her head.
"There is nowhere else to go," she mumbled in defeat.
"I don't believe that," the woman smiled at her, "Come on, let's try to find a way out, shall we?"
Xenia crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the small figure before her with a furrow on her brow. She noticed now that the stranger was not really there. Her body seemed translucent, and she was glowing faintly. The light originated from her chest, where her heart would be. Behind her back, she seemed to drag along an intricate network of glowing lines that lead away from her body and disappeared somewhere in the fog in the distance. It looked like she carried a halo made of cobweb.
"Who are you?" she asked again, eyeing the strange woman up and down. "And where do these lead to?"
The woman turned around and cast a look along the lines that Xenia had referred to.
"To a different place," she just replied.
"So... there really is a place to go besides here?" Xenia asked in disbelief.
The woman cracked a smile that reminded her of something, but she still couldn't quite place her face.
"Of course," she said, "It's vast. Come on, let's go."
~ ~ ~
"And here I thought the lady with the metal suit growing out of her body would be the weirdest thing I'd get to see all day, but this... this takes the cake."
Lars' gaze snapped up from Yaremova's face and he found Nova standing there, staring down at them with a raised eyebrow and a bewildered look on his face. He looked worn out and there was blood all over his shirt, but Lars quickly realized that it was still from his nosebleed earlier. He could feel Null's relief as she realized through their connection that Nova was alright. He had no idea what exactly she was doing inside Yaremova's mind, but it seemed like her residual connection with the body was much stronger than his own when he went into cyberspace. Perhaps it was only naturally considering that her mind was organic and this was her body, after all.
"Good to see you in once piece," Lars said quietly on Null's behalf.
"Same goes for you...," Nova replied and eyed the body of the lifeless Major General up and down. "So... what exactly are you doing here?"
"Interfacing..." Lars replied.
"With... her face," Nova commented drily, clearly stifling a grin with great effort.
Lars shifted uneasily on their knees. It felt odd to talk to him without Null by his side, and he didn't really know what to say.
"The irony is not lost on me, Nova..." he mumbled.
"You know, I wouldn't mind...", Nova raised his hands to supply air quotes "...interfacing with you sometime when you're done here."
Nova cast him a cheeky grin and Lars could feel a deep blush creep up in their cheeks. He quickly averted their gaze and stared down at Yaremova's face instead, but the sight of their own hand pressed against her eye ball was not exactly helping with his discomfort. He sighed and closed their eyes.
He could her the rustling of paper and seconds later he smelled the scent of peppermint. It caused a weird feeling in their stomach, like something becoming unhinged. But it wasn't sickness. It was very confusing.
He tentatively opened their eyes again and found Nova crouched down on the other side of Yaremova's body, inspecting the metal plates on her neck with a curious expression on his face. Suddenly, his gaze snapped up and met Lars'. The white rings in his eyes emitted a dim glow. Lars stared back it him for a moment, feeling completely paralyzed. Their blush intensified, if that was even possible, and he began to understand why organics needed years to grow up and figure out what all of their bodily signals meant. It was all extremely confusing.
"Nova, would you mind stepping back a bit?" Lars asked in a low voice. "You're.... distracting."
"I am?" Nova asked innocently.
"Yes," Lars confirmed, "She can't conc-"
"Shut it, for fuck's sake! Both of you!"
Null had snapped back and taken control of their body so suddenly that Lars almost recoiled in surprise. She was gone again just as quickly, before he could reflexively put their free hand over their mouth to muffle her.
"Sorry..." Lars mumbled in embarrassment, and Nova chuckled.
Lars averted his gaze again, realizing that it really wasn't Null who wasn't able to concentrate right now.
"So... you're trying to get into her head to... do what exactly?"
Nova's voice had dropped to a low whisper, but Lars could feel that Null was busy elsewhere now and probably wouldn't hear them.
"To save her..." Lars explained, "She thinks there's still something good left."
Nova sighed and got back to his feet, "That sounds very much like her."
Lars smiled at his words. As much as they thought they didn't know him, Nova seemed to know them very well - or at least Null.
"I wish she could hear you right now," Lars said wistfully, "I think she needs to be reminded of the good inside her sometimes."
A moment of silence passed between them, before Nova spoke again.
"Hey, uhm... could you perhaps not tell her?"
"Tell her what?"
"That I... had to shoot them. Those Saiph Guards."
Lars looked up and found him staring back at the maze. He had his weapons readied again, and he could feel that he was scanning the area, probably checking for further threats or any signs that the remaining Saiph Guards were about the wake up.
"I'm not as good in close combat as you," Nova continued, "And I saw no other way, so... I'm sorry."
"I won't tell her," Lars promised.
"Thanks," Nova mumbled.
"Hey, Nova. Thank you too."
Nova turned around and cast him a confused glance, the white rings in his eyes glowing brightly now. "For what?"
"For always watching our back," Lars explained.
"Sure, Pirate Queen," Nova said with a smile, that quickly turned into his usual, devious grin as he added, "...after all, it's a very nice back."
~ ~ ~
"Hey, are you alright?" Xenia asked.
The woman had just flickered in and out of existence for a split second, and when she had reappeared, she wore an annoyed look on her face for a moment. But it quickly passed. She flattened her dress with a sigh and continued to walk, ignoring her question completely.
"Hey, wait up. Where are we going?" Xenia asked. "Do you even know the way?"
"No, I don't," she replied with a slight shrug. "But you know. This place is yours after all."
"Mine?"
Xenia cast a long look around them. They had passed the fog eventually, so the woman had been right about that at least. Now they found themselves in an even stranger place. They treaded on a narrow rocky walkway that seemed to hang suspended in the air. Around them, rocks of all shapes and sizes were floating around, and beyond that, there was nothing but star-spangled darkness. Somewhere in the distance, the walkway disappeared in that darkness, and when she looked back, she couldn't see the place they had come from either.
"I don't understand..." Xenia mumbled. "Who are you, really, and what are you going here?"
"I'm just here to help you," the woman in white replied with another shrug. "As much as I can."
"But why?"
"Everybody needs help from time to time. I have somebody who always looks out for me..." she paused for a moment and looked at the stars shining in the distance. "You don't seem to have somebody like that. So I'm here to fulfill that role."
"So what exactly are you helping me with?" Xenia asked, growing frustrated.
"I think you lost something," the woman replied. A furrow appeared on her brow as he cast her a sideward glance. "This place... it is missing things. We need to find them."
"Them?"
"Your memories. Your recollection of what happened to you."
An inexplicable feeling of dread crept up inside of her at the stranger's words.
"I... I don't think I want that," Xenia said in a low voice.
"You want to get out of here or not?" the woman snapped at her. "Because I can't find them without you. And if you don't even care about getting out of here, then there's no way for us to-"
She was cut off as a loud rumbling resounded around them and the rocky floor beneath their feet began to shake.
"Uhm... what is going on?" the woman asked, waving her arms as she was about to lose balance. Xenia reached out to grab her and keep her from falling, but her hand just passed through her. The floating rocks around them began to quiver, some of them shattered and debris began to rain down on them.
"Oh no..." Xenia mumbled, "This is bad... we're not supposed to be here."
"What do you mean? What's happening?"
"We have to go back. I remember why I was in that other place... it was safe! We can't be here!" Xenia shouted over the rumbling of the quaking fragments of earth around them.
"No way we're going back there!" the woman shouted back and scrambled to her feet.
"We have no choice!" Xenia argued.
"There's always a choice, idiot!" the woman in white argued back.
As the ground below them continued to shake, Xenia's gaze passed by the petite woman, and she froze in horror. Behind her, the stars were blotted out as a pitch black shadow began to creep across the sky.
"We need to run... The darkness is coming for us..."
"Oh yeah?" the woman turned around and followed her wide-eyed stare.
In the distance, the darkness that had swallowed the stars seemed to condense into a shape so black that looking at it seemed to swallow up one's gaze. It was so big that it was hard to see where it began and ended, but it began to move toward them now, swallowing the shattered rocks that floated in the air.
The sight did not seem to unsettle the stranger in the least. She rolled back her shoulders, cracked her knuckles and faced the horror with a confident grin on her lips.
"Good thing I know a thing or two about darkness, then."
~ ~ ~
"Pirate Queen?"
Nova whirled around, shifting his focus back to Amy as she gasped in pain. He crouched down next to her to get a look at her face. Her eyes were focused on something distant, and the rings within her black augment were shifting and turning rapidly.
"This is bad..." she whispered.
"What's happening?" Nova asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. She seemed completely out of it, as if she had seen something abysmally horrific.
"There's something else in there," she whispered.
"Something?" he asked, puzzled.
"Darkness... something bad. Evil..." she muttered incoherently. "Now I get it... It's a program, Nova! That's how they controlled the Major General. It is tearing through her mind, and it makes her forget things even as they happen. It is re-writing her memories in real time, that's how they keep her from realizing what she really is. It's... programmed delusion."
"What?"
Her gaze snapped up at him and for a moment, her stare was so intense that he shuddered. All color had vanished from her face, and her breathing was heavy and erratic. She was in pain.
"She's in danger... This is affecting the body," Amy explained in a low voice. She gritted her teeth for a moment before she continued. "Nova, you need to promise me something. If I pass out, you have to make sure that we don't lose the connection!"
As little sense as everything else made right now, Nova understood that immediately. He nodded and moved to her side. Putting one arm around her shoulders so she could lean against him, he placed his other hand over hers on top of the Major General's face. He could feel their connection again as his skin brushed against Amy's, and got a faint glimpse of vast amounts of information and energy passing between her and the unconscious woman through the interface. He gasped at the sensation, and tried to cut himself off from their connection as much as possible. He wouldn't be of much help if he passed out too.
He could feel the tension in her body as she rested her head against his chest and gripped the fabric of his jacket hard with her other hand.
"Can't you call her back?" Nova asked.
"Even if I did... she wouldn't give up before trying absolutely everything..." Amy whispered breathlessly.
"Right. Sounds like her," he said with a sigh. "Well, hurry up then, Pirate Queen, whatever you're doing in there."
Under different circumstances, he might have enjoyed the opportunity to be so close to her. But right now, his mind was pre-occupied with the fact that they sat exposed in the open, amidst plants that could conduct electricity and explode, next to a woman that had tried to kill them both a few minutes ago. And his scanners had just told him that their moment of intimacy wouldn't last much longer, because somebody was coming their way.
____
A.N.
Forgive me for typos and errors, especially in the last part of this chapter. But I'm heading out for tonight and I really wanted to post this before I leave! I'll check back and fix mistakes over the week end.