Fragment by Paul G Swanson (me reader .txt) 📕

could record it."
"What a surprise." Seth moved over and gave Somie room to sit down. "Anyway, why would he need to defend himself?"
"So," Somie took the seat and tried to change subject, "What do you think of the events back there?" No one had brought it up since they docked here and he was eager to find out what Seth's opinion on it. That guy never told them anything. Haschel didn't say much either but he was just boring.
"On earth?"
"Yeah."
"Don't know what to make of it."
"It was disturbing."
"Yeah it was."
"So, what did you see?"
"I was being chased. My former ally was trying to kill me with sophisticated weaponry. He was an enhanced human." He shuddered.
"So you were shown a bad memory. I was shown the day I left my other reality, the other dimension I'm from." He smiled because it was a fond memory of his. He had after all, broken away from his old life. He was a prince there, but here he was just ordinary, aside from his abnormally long ears that is. "I had just freed an entire race from enslavment, and was saved from my own death by a noble friends sacrifice." Seth thought he saw Somie's tattoo grow slightly. He decided he was just imaging it. He grinned even bigger, he had never heard himself explain it before. It sounded heroic and so utterly impossible, and yet he had done it. No point in explaining the part about how badly wounded he had been afterward. That would have just diminished the effect had had inadvertently cast upon himself.
"So.you had a happy memory" Seth interjected quickly. He felt that he was on the verge of some connection. ". and I a nightmare."
"Not so much a happy one, but I suppose it could have been worse, cause I survived." He studied Seth for a moment wondering what the hell he was getting at. "What? You think there is a connection?"
"Has to be. They were caused by the same phenomenon."
"Pretty strange connection. Happy and Sad. Powerful emotions either way."
"Strange event." he reasoned.
"Indeed."
"Somie, I think we'll hanging around them a little longer than intended."
"What makes you say that?"
"Same reason you think the kid will have to shoot someone."
"Is it?"
"Well, putting that aside, haven't you seen the way Psylix looks at her?"
"Naw, I haven't been around them enough when they are together. But I can hear it in his voice." Seth grinned and then broke into a kind of laughter that was usual for everyone but him. It was his kind of laugh, the kind that could only come from someone that had lived a lifetime of sorrow.

* * *

The next day Tio was taken to a large building. On the outside it had seemed small and gray, but as soon as they stepped inside there were steps that went down. At the bottom the staircase opened into one of the largest rooms he had ever seen. It was completely empty except for the mats on the floor. Seth just walked into the center and stopped.
Tio didn't even know why he was here. Seth didn't tell him anything except 'follow me'. He listened obediently and just went. Now that he found himself standing here, in this big, this very big room he was curious.
"Seth?" He waited for acknowledgement and when it didn't come he said it again. "Seth?"
"I'm going to teach you how to fight." He said it in that matter of fact tone that Tio hated.
"I can fight just fine."
"No you can't"
"Yes I can."
"Prove it then."
"So.you seriously want me to attack you?"
"Give it your best shot," he dared.

A month had passed since they received the beacon from earth saying that the microchip had been activated. Joel Rommelfanger is always ready and was been eagerly waiting for his orders to exterminate the boy. And now as he sat uncomfortably in his chair the device on his arm began to beep wildly.
His arms hurt bad. They often did this on days when he sat still. He was a special human, so they gave him an offer he couldn't resist. They offered weaponry that he could conceal in his flesh. They offered man made evolution. All he had to do was go through a little surgery. He was the first that they made. Later when he shook their hands they told him to thank Darwin. With that being said, he grinned and tried out his new abilities fore first time.
Maybe this was the E-mail he had been waiting for. He could see it now, him holding the poor guy's head in his hand as he stabbed him through the heart, and then just for fun he imagined him stabbing him in every painful spot before the first drop of blood hit the floor. Hoping for good news he pushed the receive button and smiled. This was going to be a fun day.


Moumoru was sitting in the hallway of the ship just reclining when Psylix kicked his feet and said "We're going for a walk." This wasn't like him to be so quiet. They walked along silently until they were a ways from the ship.
"You figure anything out?"
"Huh?" It took him a second before he realized that he was referring to Tio and that wave of energy. "Oh. uh.no. What about you?"
"Nope not a thing."
"Have you heard any rumors lately?"
"Not rumors exactly."
"Whatcha mean?"
"Haschel, I overheard him giving information about to someone."
"Haschel was?"
"Yeah, and it was the bad kind of information. Like where we are, and what we've been doing lately."
"I'll keep an eye on him."
"Too late for that." Psylix stopped and then faced him. "Last thing he said was 'how long till you get here?' I wasn't able to catch the reply."
"Then why haven't you confronted him yet?"
"He's probably been enhanced. I don't want to get into a fight with an enhanced human when I'm by myself."
"I know what you mean. It's hard even with a large group of guys. Like trying to take down an elephant with a pistol."
"Yep, not a pleasant experience."
"And its funny because the only one that even hurt that last one was Somie."
Back then Psylix was with just Moumoru and Somie. He hadn't yet met Seth or Haschel and they had a simple mission as body guards. To protect an old man from a stalker sounded easy enough, or at least it was until the cloak wearing stalker's body morphed into some scarcely recognizable form.
Its head was coming out of its abdomen and had become a purplish hue as it bubbled into this gelatinous blob. It had left its entire skeleton behind. The circuits that laid on the surface pulsed as if caught in a heart beat rhythm. The legs exploded outward and then divided with a wet crunch. The spider being lunged at them with a vengeance that dispelled the illusion that it was a mere spider. The trio glanced at each other and it seemed as though they should run. But Psylix's pride is what almost got them killed. He leapt into the air in defiance and brought his tail blade down upon it. It sliced clean through without resistance and the form split apart momentarily before sealing the wound scarcely a second later. Having felt the Atrions wrath and apparently thinking so little of it, he knocked him aside with one its eight legs.
Moumoru began to blast it with a pistol and Somie chucked an energy blast at it. The bullets ripped through it harmlessly and the ball of energy exploded in its face and blew the spider form to pieces. Having been covered in some unrecognizable substance Psylix proceeded to wipe the remains off. The client also dripping with this bizarre ooze gratefully paid them the fee that was requested and then quickly bolted out of sight and their lives.
"Did you even know he could do that?" They had just passed a newspaper stand. The man was hollering something at them as they passed without even looking.
"Nuh uh." He lied. Psylix knew full well what Somie was capable of.
"So, is Tio with the, commando?"
"Commando?" Moumoru raised an eyebrow.
"Seth."
"Oh, uh yeah, I think he's teaching him stuff."
"Crazy bastard." Psylix said and then laughed.

"I'm not very impressed," Seth told Tio, "You haven't hit me once. It's been an hour." He said as he glanced at his watch.
"Shut up, I'm just getting started." Tio explained to him. "I may not have experience like you but I'm determined."
"Oh, please. You're panting like a dog!" He rolled his eyes and made a taunting posture. "You can't hit me like that. You need more speed and balance, like this." As he said it he spun on his toes and did a flip backward. "You're plenty strong and more than fast enough but you just don't know how to work the two into a single entity."
"Well, then how do I do that?"
"First of all, control your breathing. Then once that's done use your emotion as a catalyst and control it. With those two things down you can, maybe, achieve near the level of control that I have."
"Right.ok?"
"But I'll attack you now! Just dodge me for now." From the pack on his back he tossed a wooden sword at him. Tio picked it up and raised an eyebrow.
"You wanna play with swords?" He asked disbelieving
"Right!" Seth yanked his own out at and spun it between his finger tips tossed it in to the air and caught it by the handle. "Well then, have at you!" He yelled as he ran toward him.
"Is he going to be alright?" Sarah asked Somie. They had been sitting on the stairs for a while now watching as Tio and Seth ran around swinging the wooden swords at each other.