Page 115 of Stars on Fire

‘The ship itself was massive—over 30 decks. Our deck and the med lab had enough room for ten subjects, 45 guards, and 20 crat medical staff. There were food storage, testing, workshop and zones. The food supply came from raiding uninhabited planets across Pegasi. The crats were able to recycle and purify water, and after experimenting with a few options for synthesising long-life food, they could generate 1 ton for each of us every year. There was an operating and observation room to gather tissue samples and expose us to whatever hell they imagined for us.’

‘Because they were also keen to understand how we lived as metahumans, they kept us together. We slept in one open dormitory. The rest of the ship held the command deck, propulsion systems, fuel and water desalination and a water recycling plant. It was a ship design we’d never seen before.’

‘The ship prowled the edge of Pegasi close to the border with the Omega IAZL System. It would fly into nebulas scooping up gases and elements using large lasers. They’d then run it through a fusion reaction to make heavier elements, providing power and thrust. This allowed them to stay out there for years, unseen. During which, we suffered years of torture and experimentation.

‘First, they took our blood, spliced our DNA, and played around with our metanoids.’

‘They also played with our physiology. They reinforced our bones with carbon metanoids and infused our skin and body cell walls with a latticework of liquid noids to withstand punches, blows, ballistics and zero-g space flight better than most. Our pain receptors were also tweaked to auto-compensate in the event of injury. Also, they hard-wired a neural computer chip with metalloid latticed protection into our brains. Next, they linked all our nodes so we could interact neurally. Then, they downloaded into them a wealth of information and knowledge bases from all over the known universe.’

‘They wanted to observe how we interacted with the new data. And also how we took it in through the nodes’ distributed network that algorithmically updates itself when our hard-wired knowledge is outdated or when something new is learned.’

‘They used ankle bracelets with tech that prevented our metanoids from activating without their auth. When we refused to wear them, they beat us brutally. Our science officer Sax was especially vocal in questioning their treatment of us, so they took him away. We never saw him again. Due to his earlier injuries, Kisan didn’t survive the experiments. He died three years into captivity.’

Selene ran a hand over Kainan’s face. ‘How tragic. I’m so sorry,khaji.’

Kainan 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 was subdued, his eyes bleak and focused far into the past. He sucked in air before continuing. ‘Over time, their security became lax. So we began to plan our escape. Kage put his tech skills to work. He managed to get hold of one of their drones and hack it. It helped us to get to their ship’s AI, determine where the mind control had its epicentre and manipulate it. Their AI, curious about us and longing for a connection with carbon-based lifeforms, became our friend.’

‘Mirage?’ Selene guessed.

Kainan gave a slight nod. ‘Mirage. We built a relationship with her, she learned what it meant to care for others, and we emulated it back to her because that’s how AI understand the human condition - by experience. We then persuaded her to use deep machine learning to recognise and distinguish the crats from ourselves. We also asked her to take over the ship’s AI-controlled drones and, when we were ready, unleash a precise ship-wide attack.’

‘Ultimately, our escape came five years after being captured, almost to the day. Mirage first deactivated our ankle and nodal controls. And released a virus hack attack. It knocked out most of the base crats. Mirage also locked out the higher-functioning command crats in the higher decks. The ship’s power fluctuated, leading to certain decks shutting down, which aided our escape. We reached the hangar when I used my chimera metanoids to burn through the emergency blast doors. We all managed to get into one of their gunships. Kage transferred Mirage’s hard drive onto our escape ship, and I got my men out of there.’

Selene sucked her teeth in commiseration. ‘How did you get to Eden II?’

‘Mirage, again. She was our saving grace. She used her Technocracy maps to get us to the safer, more populated end of Pegasi. She cruised straight into Eden II’s bare-bones refuelling station, which was all it was then. We traded the few supplies on the gunship for safe harbour - and there we stayed. That was over twenty-five years ago.’

Selene shook her head, still caught in disbelief. ‘Holy Dunia! What did freedom feel like?’

Kainan’s eyes tracked a shooting star across New Malindi’s sky before he turned his molten gaze on her.

‘Sweet. Like the heavenliest honey found only in Eden City’s gardens. But we all were so badly weakened by the experiments we were walking skeletons. We were ravaged—body, mind and soul. I was especially worse than the others because I was the one who was experimented on the most. It took years to recover, both physically and mentally.’

Selene’s hands crossed her chest, feeling his pain to her core. Tears slipped between her eyelids, and Kainan reached out a finger to wipe them away.

His face softened at her compassion. ‘Don’t cry,khamila. I stopped grieving many years ago. But the harsh reality remains. I have three different DNA strands in me, and that combination is killing me.’

‘What about the other Riders?’ Selene asked softly.

‘My other Sable brothers only have two each. Kage can cloak himself with the same stealth ‘noids as on our ships; Riv has shape-shifting abilities; he can change into any form he desires. Xion has super speed and reflexes. Zane is a psionic mastermind at syllogising, computing and mathematising. Lastly, Ki’Remi, whom you haven’t met yet, has heightened senses such as exceptional vision, touch and hearing, and the ability to manipulate matter, making him a great medic.’

‘But they don’t have the same regeneration problem I do. As I said, my metanoids are dying from DNA incompatibility, which means I have only four, max five years left to live.’

He paused for a moment, then spoke, his voice dipping lower. ‘Which is why I can’t give you forever.’

Selene slanted her head and closed her eyes momentarily. ‘That’s what you’ve been trying to tell me all along,’ she said softly.

‘Yes,khamila. I want to be with you so much. I utterly adore you. But I can’t give you a long life together.’

‘You can give me today,’ Selene countered softly. ‘I don’t care who you are. I care what you are to me - and what we can share while we have each other,’ Selene said.

Kainan turned his head and gave her a long look. Then, he reached for her, and their lips met, melting into a deep kiss.

‘Is there no cure whatsoever?’ Selene asked sadly a few minutes later.

Kainan closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. ‘A few years after we’d escaped the crats, when we’d begun to find our equilibrium here on Eden II once more, Ki’Remi, our medic, began to test all of us. To see how we’d been affected. He found the metanoid DNA anomalies and regeneration issues in my body, which worsened anytime after I used my chimeric vortex. He tried everything he knew. Nothing worked.’

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