Page 131 of Stars At Dusk

‘Yes,’ she said quietly.

After giving her a long look, he sighed. ‘Fine. I’ll share the latter part of my dark. Now, you’re quite well-versed in my metanoids and their abilities. What I haven’t shared is that our meta-features are the outcome of hundreds of experiments my brothers and I endured many years ago at the hands of the crats.’

Harlow’s eyes widened. ‘When and how did this happen?’

‘Years ago, the Kwavi Elders - rulers of Eden City - took me in after a unit of their Kubai guards rescued me from a warlord. I was then taken to the Eden Guard Academy, where I first met Kainan, Riv, and Zane. We trained hard and eventually became the best of their warriors - so much so that they entrusted us with a critical mission.’

Kage paused, gathering his thoughts and memories. ‘Our small platoon of eight was sent from Eden City to Pegasi on patrol. In a small corvette, to conduct re-con in this system. Kainan was pilot and first lieutenant. I was platoon sergeant and tech specialist, and Riv was our sniper and marksman. Ki’Remi, our medic; Xion, our gunner and Zane, our logistics officer and deputy squad leader. To complete our squad, we had Kisan - an expert in alien languages - and Sax, our science officer. Our mission was dangerous, and our skills were critical for success. We were determined to make it back to Eden City, alive.’

‘Our patrol boat was severely damaged, its engines and shields destroyed. Kisan was seriously injured, having fallen from his crash couch during the turbulence and sustaining a broken back. With our med bay destroyed, we were unable to provide him with the necessary aid. Helplessly adrift, we continued on for days, far off our original course.’

‘With no other choice, we broadcast a distress call. To our dismay, The Technocracy answered. We’d no hope of resisting their far superior arsenal and cutting-edge technology, coupled with their well-trained droids; and so, we were quickly captured.’

‘They took us to one of their battleships, a giant floating lab. They were elated that they finally had semi-human test subjects to work with. But, so far, their efforts to breach the Milky Way and Earth had been thwarted by the Iccythrians living on the farthest edge of Pegasi, where the three galaxies meet.’

‘The mighty ship was a sight to behold, boasting over 30 decks. We were housed in one dormitory, subjected to a range of tests, from taking our blood samples to infusing our skin with noids, reinforcing our bones with fusion carbon and implanting a neural computer chip in our brains. All this was done to improve our resilience and strength. To top it off, our pain receptors were auto-compensated in the event of injury. The sheer amount of changes we went through was not just physical, but mental too, with hardwired nodes implanted to allow us to interact neurally. They also used ankle bracelets with tech that prevented our metanoids from activating without their auth.’

‘Why?’ Harlow asked, her face stricken with concern.

‘To control us. When we refused to wear them, they beat us brutally. Sax fiercely objected to their mistreatment of us, so they separated him from us and he never returned. Kisan did not make it out alive after three years of unbearable experiments; his body too frail to resist the debilitating effects of his pre-existing injuries.’

Harlow gasped. ‘How horrific! I’m so sorry, babe.’

Kage continued, his voice low and quiet. ‘We weren’t even able to mourn him. They took his body away for more experiments, most likely.’

He fell silent and subdued, his eyes bleak and focused far off into the past. He sucked in air before continuing. ‘Over time, their security became lax. So we began to plan our escape. I put my tech skills to work. I got my hands on a drone and hacked it to access the AI onboard the ship. After examining the origin of the mind control, we managed to manipulate the AI. Curious about carbon-based lifeforms and eager for companionship, the AI became an ally in our mission of escape.’

‘You’re talking about Mirage?’ Harlow guessed.

Kage gave a slight nod. ‘We bonded with her, and she discovered what it meant to care for others, and we emulated it back to her because that’s how AI learn about the human condition. By experience. To help us distinguish friends from foes, we convinced her to use deep machine learning for facial recognition. Finally, when the time was right, she took control of the ship’s drones and launched a coordinated assault.’

‘Our escape came five years after being captured, almost to the day. Mirage’s plan began with disabling our ankle and nodal controls, followed by a virus hack attack that shut down most of the base crats. Higher-functioning command crats in the higher decks were also locked out. Fluctuating power caused certain decks to shut down, and we took advantage of the chaos to make our escape to the hangar. Kai used his chimera metanoids to burn through the emergency blast doors, and luckily all of us managed to get into a gunship. We made our escape successful by transferring Mirage’s hard drive onto our ship, and Kainan piloted us to freedom..’

Harlow sighed. ‘How did you get to Eden II?’

‘With Technocracy maps in hand, Mirage guided the gunship to the more populated sector of Pegasi. Then, pushing onward, she led us into the ragtag refuelling station of Eden II - the only thing that it was at the time. In exchange for a few supplies, we secured safe harbour. And thatkarais my sob story.’ Kage ended his account with a slight, wry smile.

Harlow reached a hand to stroke his face. ‘It’s not a sob story. It’s a tragic life, but you’ve overcome your demons, right?’

‘With a lot of ever lovin’ hard work. I won’t even go into my childhood - that’s for another day.’

They sat quietly for a moment, a hush falling over them as they each took in the enormity of what they’d heard.

‘I admire all that you are, Kage, ’ Harlow eventually said, brushing her mouth softly against his chin and scars. ‘I wish I had the same strength.’

‘We can’t have it all. I wish I had your brains. That’s why we need each other, to lean on one another. So take my strength and make it yours.’

He bent his mouth to hers, and their lips met in a much-awaited release.

‘I know you’ve got a lot on your plate,’ she said presently, looking into his beautiful silver eyes and stroking his face. ‘I feel horrible for adding to everything you’re dealing with.’

‘Stop apologising, love. While I have a crazy schedule, coming home to my woman cooking for me and being sweet and open with me is more than any man can hope for.’

‘I still need to thank you more for everything you’ve done for me,’ Harlow said. ‘And so I got you something to show my appreciation.’

Kage raised an eyebrow as Harlow pulled away from his arms and crossed the living area to retrieve a package from the console table.

She walked back, handing him a large, glossy black box.

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