Condition Evolution 4 by Kevin Sinclair (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

“Happy to help, pal.” I then took a brief interlude to check my Interface. My Omni Saturation was now at 24 percent. “How full do you feel now, Havok?”

“Positively radiant, Shaun. I’ve not been this full since Xonico!”

“That is excellent to hear. Now let’s go out and see your saviors?”

“You mean the bastards I’m not allowed to kill?”

“Exactly!” I said as I ducked back out of the room.

Needless to say, everyone’s eyes, raised up in surprise as I revealed Havok. Worried looks passed between the others. “Perhaps I should have better explained his substantial girth,” I said with a grin that was not returned. “Shall we see about that communication now?”

“Melik has already made his way to the bridge to set up the communication,” Jezai answered, watching Havok warily. “I must say, Shaun, I feel you have duped me slightly. I’m not sure ‘axe’ is an apt description for that thing. It’s rather more fearsome-looking than the word axe implies. Would you mind laying it down somewhere while we make this communication?”

“Absolutely no fucking way! He’s not leaving my atmosphere for a very long time. I’m prepared to stow him on my back if that makes you a little more comfortable.”

“This is all very odd, Shaun,” he replied as I flipped Havok over my shoulder and he put himself in his preferred position.

Jezai’s eyes widened. “How alive is it exactly? I have only heard tales of sentient weapons.”

“Two seconds, Jezai,” I said, before speaking internally to Havok. “Hey man, you wanna say hello to Jezai for me?”

“Sure,” he agreed, his voice taking on an extra ominous tone.

“Hold up, Havok, I’ll be involved in this conversation too, because I can just tell you’re gonna cause trouble.”

“Never!” he exclaimed, and I knew he was doing the axe equivalent of a grin.

“Jezai,” I said into the Apochros' mind, “meet Havok.”

“Hello, Jezai,” Havok added.

“That is simply marvelous,” Jezai said. “How developed is his identity?”

Havok answered. “Let’s just say, it is developed enough to say that if you fuck with Shaun again, I’m going to harvest your filthy Apochros soul though your asshole.”

“Oh dear! Very developed then,” Jezai said with concern in his voice.

Havok’s only response was to cackle evilly.

“Havok, man! What have I told you about saying ‘harvest souls’? It’s fucking creepy, dude. Jezai, honestly, don’t mind him. He has a penchant for the dramatic.”

“Indeed, I suppose in the interest of making amends I will try to forget about the very imaginative, angry axe with you.”

“Please do, he’s all good.”

On the bridge we found Melik tapping away on our main communication terminal. He looked up as we entered. “I am close to breaking the encryption for the station. I’ll need just another minute.”

Unable to resist, I went and took a seat in my captain’s chair. Havok instinctively swung round to rest by the side of his own accord.

Jezai smirked at me. “Don’t worry, we’ll have you back where you belong soon enough. I can't fathom how the axe is so responsive to you to move like that. In all my years, I wouldn’t have believed that such a weapon could have the ability to operate at such a level.”

“Oh, he’s a clever bastard. He’s done so much for Uprising and he’s my best bud!”

“As long as I don’t kill anyone without your say so,” came Havok’s voice sounding petulantly in my head.

“I explicitly told you not to kill someone. Don’t go muddying the waters. And in any case, that's not gonna happen again when you're in my hands, is it?”

“Definitely not!” he replied, rather too cheerily.

It set my nerves on edge a little. “No flying off and killing people that I don't want you to when you’re out of my hands either, you tricky bugger.”

“Damn it, you caught me,” he chuckled.

I heard a crackling sound from the comms. “We’re through,” Melik announced.

Jezai nodded at me to speak.

Chapter 16

Fight Club

The weeks on the station passed uneventfully. A continually somber mood penetrated throughout, as almost everyone worked tirelessly on accessing the computer systems without any breakthroughs at all. There were a few people who made efforts to rouse spirits, most notably the budding team of William and Roger. The daft buggers had begun organized fighting matches, without my knowledge. I discovered this after noticing a distinct lack of people in the canteen one day. Curious, it didn’t take long to uncover the fight room they had quietly set up.

Suffice to say, I wasn’t happy at first. It seemed like a recipe for disaster with tensions running so high; we didn’t need grudges developing. On the other hand, I needed to accept I couldn't control everything, and people seemed drawn to the spectacle of it. However, having watched the fight in progress when I discovered them, I had to admit they refereed it carefully, forbade the use of powers, and allowed any who wished to participate to do so.

I could only shout at them a little bit, and that was mainly for not letting me know what the fuck was going on. With my grudging acceptance, the whole thing became common knowledge. Lo-and-behold, nearly all the bloody Torax, along with a good half of the Veilitians, were involved over the following days, and I had no choice but to commend the pair of dickheads for devising the idea. The mood improved notably and all that everyone talked about now was who was fighting on any given day. Including the other Alpha team members.

Sitting in the canteen over lunch, Elyek suggested we should start races too.

“You think there’d be interest?” I asked.

“Absolutely! Everyone would like to be involved, but not everyone feels comfortable fighting their friends and acquaintances,” Elyek replied.

“I can see that, but how would we organize races? Surely it’d become boring when the same people win, day after day.”

Ogun leaned forward. “I think it’s a fine idea, Elyek. I would suggest a tournament at regular intervals, rather than day to day racing. Once a month, perhaps? Then, not only are