First Contact

Chapter 456

Chapter 456

The neutron stars was orbited by a single station held in a gravitational anomaly, in perfect geosynchronous orbit above another anomaly. The station had eight docking arms, was made of heavy durachrome armor that shined in the gleam of far off stars. There were two ships docked to it, both of them sleek black ships sporting the hull numbers of the Terran Combined Military Authority. The anomaly on the surface of the neutron star was single large facility, somehow in the middle of an area where the gravity was only a single G and the temperature was a balmy 120F, the atmosphere hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. A small bubble only a mile wide and a half mile high, the intense gravity of the neutron star starting at the very edge of the bubble.

The facility was strangely made, a hexagon built around an interior chamber.

Those who had found it, who had lucked onto its discovery, had been pleased to find the station intact.

The Combine officers had discovered an advanced research center, dedicated to researching gravity, heat, and stellar interactions, and had breathed a sigh of relief. The Admiral had ordered their single scientist that had any knowledge of the workings of the facility, according to records, brought from the warship that had transported them to the medical bay to be thawed out and put to work.

Only they refused to work. Refused commands. Refused to recognize any authority.

Which is why they were now in a room converted to a cell on the surface of the neutron star.

--------------

The ship was fierce, baroque, designed to instill fear and awe in any who viewed it. It penetrated the bubble of realspace generated by the massive space station and broadcast its ID to the station.

The Terran Imperium Naval Vessel In Cold Comfort had arrived. It demanded the surrender and submission of the two Combine naval vessels and their crews, as well as the station. Its guns were hot and it had the station, the research facility, and the two warships locked up with targeting systems.

The Combine Admiral reluctantly surrendered.

The Imperium had arrived.

--------------

Admiral Horstair ground his teeth as the Lord Knight of the Imperium stomped into his office, clad in heavy power armor, flanked on either side by a Sister of Wrath. He stood up and saluted and was gratified that the Lord Knight at least showed the common courtesy of saluting back.

"What is the purpose of this research station?" the Lord Knight asked, looking around the office.

"We're unsure," the Admiral admitted.

"Records state that this facility was engaged in research on gravity. How does that help prosecute the war against the Mantid?" the Lord Knight asked. "This station and the resources it represents could be better used to prosecute the war rather than be taken up by scientific investigation that benefits nobody but the scientist's accolades."

"The matter transmission system used for planetary assaults was developed here," The Admiral said, frowning. "It was discovered here. We transmitted it back, and it has been used to assault the Mantid worlds."

"That was not part of my intelligence briefing," the Lord Knight said. "What else has been developed?"

"The records here contained L-Gate usage, high gravity thrust systems, as well as antimatter research. The scientific teams we brought here have made great strides in science and technology," the Admiral said. "All things being used against the Mantid."

The Lord Knight nodded, his face expressionless. "After the Combine's failures on Anthill, you are no longer in authority. The Terran Imperium has supplanted you. I expect you to work toward defeating the Mantid."

The Admiral ground his teeth for a moment. "Understood."

"Good," the Lord Knight said. "I see from records that one of your scientists in uncooperative," he said.

"Yes."

"Why have you not eliminated them or forced them to comply?" the Lord Knight asked.

"They represent an irreplaceable wealth of information on many scientific fronts," the Admiral said. Just remembering that particular scientist made anger pulse dully at his temples.

By the Digital Omnimessiah, how he hated her.

"And you cannot force them to comply?" the Lord Knight asked.

The Admiral shook his head. "No. Drugs, VR, even physical beatings have produced no results."

"Then it is a good thing I am here," the Lord Knight said. He turned to the Sister of Wrath on his left. "Bring the Bound One. We will see if the Detainee can resist it."

The armored woman nodded, turning and leaving.

"We will force her to comply, or we will strip from her all she knows. Either way, she will serve the Imperium," the Lord Knight mused.

The Admiral kept himself from smiling.

He couldn't wait to see the Detainee or the Lord Knight humbled.

One of them would be.

Of that the Admiral was sure.

------------

"You should have sent more than two or knocked her out with gas first," the Admiral said.

"Nonsense. My men are fully armored," the Lord Knight said. The Lord Knight watched through the monitor as the cell door was opened. Two heavily armored Imperium Infantry moved into the cell to where a small woman was curled up in the fetal position. He could see the injection ports taped to her skin, see the bruises, the cuts, the swollen joints.

"You could not break her?" the Lord Knight asked.

"Not and keep her mind intact," the Admiral said.

"if I must, I will tear apart her mind and personality and put it back together how I need it to be," the Lord Knight said. He leaned closer to the screen and shook his head. "She looks pathetic."

The Admiral kept a smirk from his face as he watched the screen. He knew what was going to happen.

He'd seen it before.

The armored infantryman touched the shoulder of the woman with open fingers, obviously intending on lifting her up or rolling her onto her back.

The woman exploded into motion, grabbing the man's wrist and pulling it as she rolled between his legs. The armored figure held still, confident that she couldn't move his strength augmented frame.

"Pathetic," the Lord Knight said as the woman's roll was abruptly terminated, leaving her with one outstretched arm. He stood up, starting to turn away. "She still has fight in her, but it useless."

The woman came to her feet as the second one grabbed for her with armor augmented speed. She wove out of the way, dodging it easily, and drove one foot into the inside of the wrist of the one reaching for her.

The Lord Knight snorted, thinking that the woman thought she was going to move the arm.

Instead she used it to launch off, jumping up and landing behind him.

She was laughing as she shut the door and triggered the neural field before cranking it up to maximum levels.

The Lord Knight glared as the woman looked up at the camera, waved, and ran away.

The Admiral leaned forward. "The Detainee is loose. Shut down the stationside mat-trans. Security teams on standby."

The Lord Knight frowned, taking off his helmet, revealing crude looking cybernetics replacing his eyes and part of his jaw, a heavy looking datalink on his temple.

"Does she really think she can escape?" the Lord Knight asked.

"Perhaps," the Admiral said. "Don't worry. She'll enter the mat-trans and end up bumped back to this one when the system discovers the stationside one is shut down. She'll be unconscious and easy to collect."

"Use her prisoner collar," the Lord Knight commanded. "Stun her."

The Admiral shook his head. "Right now she thinks its explosive."

"Stun her," the Lord Knight commanded.

The Admiral sighed, looking at the screen. The Detainee was at one of the consoles, rapidly typing. The mat-trans was on standby, but she was still working.

"If you insist," he said.

He pressed the button.

The woman grabbed the collar around her neck, jerking in the chair.

"See, simple enough," the Lord Knight said.

The Admiral watched with narrowed eyes.

He didn't trust her. He didn't want her to know the collar contained enough power to knock her out.

The way she was smiling when she went unconscious bothered him.

-----------------

The Lord Knight watched the two troops clad in power armor tighten the restraints to the woman, forcing her head up. They had been forced to manhandle her in order to get her limbs how they wanted. The strap went around her head, holding her so she faced forward.

The woman's gun-metal gray eyes burned with hatred as she stared at the Lord Knight then at the Admiral.

"I am Lord Knight of the Imperium Mashram," the heavily armored figure intoned, stepping in front of the woman. "The Holy Order of Terra. You are the Detainee, my prisoner."

The woman hawked loudly, snorting through her nose, and spit, the gobbet of saliva and mucus hit the Lord Knight in the face.

The Lord Knight colored, raising his hand, intent on smashing the insolence woman across the face.

"You'll kill her, milord," one of the Sisters of Wrath said.

The Lord Knight stopped, staring down at the woman.

"Very well. Let us see if you are so brave and defiant in the face of the Bound One," he sneered. He snapped his armored fingers. "Bring him in."

The door opened and four armored figures brought in a massive Mantid who's color was bone white. Where bladearms and gripping arms would have been there was durachrome stubs. Its legs were missing, its vestigal wings and their covers were missing. It had a collar around its neck and shock harness across its thorax.

The figure in the chair looked at the Mantid and blinked.

Then broke into a grin, looking the Lord Knight in the eyes.

"The Bound One will rip apart your mind, crush your resistance, and everything you are will belong to me," the Lord Knight said.

Her grin got larger.

The mantid was moved in front of her.

"Show her that she cannot resist you," the Lord Knight said. He gave a return smile to the woman.

"Find her name in her memories," he smiled. "And destroy it utterly. Every memory of her name, replace with her status. The Detainee."

The massive twelve foot tall mantid struggled a moment then slumped. "As you wish," the vocoder around its neck said.

It glowed a faint purple, the nimbus reaching from the mantid to the woman.

The woman watched, her eyes unafraid.

She twitched, muscles rippled as they spasmed. She lost control of her bowel and bladder.

But she never stopped staring at the Lord Knight, grinning hugely, her grey eyes unafraid.

"It is done," the Mantid said, sagging in place. The cybernetic legs that had replaced the ones torn off on the battlefield kept it upright.

"Now you see that your mind has no defenses it can muster against my will," the Lord Knight said, staring at the woman. "I have taken your name. Now I will take your will to resist."

The Admiral had backed against the wall, the sight of the massive Mantid Speaker filling him with disgust.

"Tell me, Bound One, what knowledge she holds that no other could give us," the Lord Knight said.

"As you will," the Mantid croaked through the vocoder. "Her mind thinks in both language and symbols, in invoked memories and sensations," the Mantid paused. "There is, however, something she is hiding from me, from you."

The Lord Knight smiled wider, leaning forward. "Then by all means, let us look at it," he sneered. He pinched her cheek with his armored fingers hard enough to crush flesh and muscle, to open pressure cuts on her cheek. "You cannot resist me, I will see what you wish to deny me."

Fear appeared on the woman's face when the Lord Knight let go. She struggled, wildly looking around, trying to get loose of the bonds.

The Admiral frowned. He'd never seen her show fear.

For some reason, it didn't look exactly like fear. The Admiral had fought in the First Biological War, he'd known fear up close and personal.

This looked like an actor trying to emulate something they didn't understand.

The purple nimbus began to surround the Bound One as the Admiral reached out and touched the Lord Knight's armor.

"Don't trust her. She's lying," the Admiral said.

The Detainee struggled, fighting against the bonds hard enough they cut into her flesh. Blood began to ooze from beneath the head band, the wrist band, the bands on her ankles.

"Nonsense. She'd panicking," the Lord Knight said. He turned to the Bound One. "Let us see what she is trying to hide from us."

The nimbus touched both the Detainee and the Lord Knight at the same time.

"yes, yes, she's strong," the Lord Knight said. "Full of wrath and rage, as if she was a Sister of Wrath," he said. He snorted and scoffed. "A loyalist to a dead nation. She's a primitive, her knowledge is barely of even silicon semiconductors."

The Lord Knight laughed. "Her first computer work was with vacuum tubes," his laughter got louder. "By the Digital Omnimessiah, she is a primitive."

The Admiral watched as the Detainee struggled and fought. She began to scream, raw agony and terror.

"The mat-trans. She worked on the early mat-trans prototype. Something we knew already," the Lord Knight said. His cheek was twitching. The Bound One reared up slightly as the Lord Knight kept speaking. "She is trying to hold something back from us."

He looked at the Bound One. "Force her mind to just as she opens the mat-trans door for its first human test. We will watch and see what she is trying to hide."

The Admiral frowned deeper as the Detainee struggled harder, screaming louder.

"There is nobody inside the chamber?" the Lord Knight said. "Still, she does not wish us to see. She sits down, it is humming, powering up and..."

The Lord Knight suddenly stopped speaking.

"Eternity unbound. I can see all that is or will be or was not," the Lord Knight croaked. "My God, it's full of stars."

The Bound One collapsed, held upright by its robotic legs, as it began to convulse.

The Lord Knight's hands came up, covering his face.

The Admiral saw the Detainee suddenly go still. She looked him in the eyes. Blood was seeping from her nose and her ears, but she smiled anyway.

The Lord Knight ripped his own face off with his gauntleted fingers.

The Detainee winked at the Admiral and blew him a kiss.

The Lord Knight landed face first on the floor, twitched once, and was dead.

----------------

"Why did it kill the Lord Knight Mashram?" the second one asked, this one by the name of Lergex. "Just reliving the memory of going through the mat-trans was fatal?"

The technician looked up. "Type-I mat-trans knocks the user out for living tissue transfer. Type-II, which we invented here, doesn't knock the person out, but it does stun the mind for the split second the transfer takes."

"Then why did reliving a memory kill both him and the Bound One?" Lergex asked.

The Admiral just watched, silently.

"From what we can tell, it must have been a mat-trans cycle without being knocked out, which means he was exposed to both Deadspace and Hellspace at once. A living mind would be severely damaged," the technician said. "I'd say that her experience is what led to the mat-trans having that coded in."

"Yet she appears fine, despite having experienced it and reliving it," Lergex said. "Why?"

"Because she's a raving homicidal bitch?" the technician asked. He shook his head. "She's a nightmare, sir. She is possibly the most frightening thing I have ever encountered in my entire life."

Another technician turned her chair to look at Lergex. "You want to win the war? Seal her up in armor and drop her on Antill. She'll turn the planet inside out and laugh about it."

"Anthill will be won," he said smugly. "The Imperium has ensured that it will come to pass."

The technician frowned, brushing a lock of brown hair out of her eyes. "How?"

"That is not for you to worry about," he said, dark humor in his voice. "Suffice to say, the Apostles of the Digital Omnimessiah will serve the Imperium soon."

Everyone in the room turned and glanced at each other, raising an eyebrow at his "Villain Speech 101" tone of voice.

"What did the Lord Knight Mashram think she had to offer beyond the work she has done before she began no longer assisting all of you?" Lergex asked.

One of the technicians turned to face him. "You had Type-II and Type-I mat-trans drop systems within a year because of her," he said. He shook his head. "You don't get it. She not only caught up to modern mat-trans theory, she improved upon in in a year."

"Explain," Lergex said.

"I spent two decades learning about how mat-trans works," the technician said. "And she blew by me like I was driving in reverse."

"He believed that she was keeping other technological secrets from you?" Lergex asked.

The technician nodded. "She just set down her tools one day and refused to do anything else."

Lergex turned to the Admiral. "You could not force her to comply?"

"As you have seen, results were less than optimal," the Admiral said. "Just ask Lord Knight Mashram."

"Perhaps relying on technology and dark science was a mistake," Lergex said. He took off his gauntlet and looked at his fist. "She is a primitive from the Age of Paranoia."

The massive armored soldier turned away. "I will treat her like a primitive and force her compliance."

The Admiral sighed, following the massive Imperium Knight.

Sure, you'll have better luck than anyone else, he thought wryly. I'm sure she's quaking in her cell.

---------------

"Take her to the autodoc. Have her healed and then we will begin again," Lergex said, wiping the blood from his knuckles with a cloth.

The woman was hanging in the straps holding her to the chair. She had been beaten until her face was unrecognizable, electrocuted until the burns ate into the muscle, cut upon until the bone had been scored, and injected with chemicals that had made the nerves shriek with pain until they had burnt out.

She had not uttered a single word, only screamed.

"I will break her," Lergex promised, watching the medics drag her out.

She left a smear of blood on the floor that a robot darted out and began to clean up.

Sure you will, the Admiral thought to himself.

"The autodoc will have her fixed up within the hour," Lergex said. He set down the blood covered cloth. "Then we will begin again."

----------------

Lergex pulled his fist back, preparing to drive it into the woman's face again.

"Enough," she whispered, blood running from between her lips and onto her bare legs. "Enough."

Lergex punched her again then released her hair, letting her slump forward. He turned and faced the Admiral.

"I'll do what you want," she whispered. "I'll help you again."

Lergex chuckled, picking up the cloth and beginning to wipe his hands off.

"As I told you, I have broken her," the Lord Knight said.

The Admiral just nodded silently.

---------------

The Lord Knight Lergex stared down at the body of the alien creature that had come around the back of the massive computers. It was torn apart by blaster fire, burnt by flamecasters, but it was still definitely non-human.

He turned around, facing the technicians.

"I don't care what you have to do, get the system working again," he snarled. "I wish to contact Imperium Command."

"We will start right away, but we have no idea why the hypercomm no longer works. We'd just transmitted our data stores and had switched to Imperium Military Command when it shut down," one of the technicians said.

"Sweep the station, sweep the facility, I want to know if there's more of them," the Lord Knight snapped, heading for the door.

The Admiral watched him stomp out and glanced at the Detainee.

She was smiling, idly rubbing her collar.

The Admiral had noticed that she was the only one that had not reacted with terror at the sight of the strange creature.

He turned away before he caught her eye.

---------------

"What do you mean we can't leave?" the Lord Knight bellowed.

"After the power failure, the bubble has changed from just keeping us at normal gravity and radiation to actively preventing any of us from leaving," the technician said, his face paling.

"FIX IT!" the Lord Knight roared.

"We can't. The controls for the bubble are on the facility on the surface," the technician said. "With the mat-trans no longer working, we can't reach it. Gravity will tear apart any ship trying to reach it."

The Lord Knight snarled and turned away.

"Get the Detainee," he snapped. "Tell her I want the mat-trans fixed and I want it fixed now."

The Admiral watched as the Lord Knight stomped toward the door.

-----------------

The Detainee laughed then looked the Lord Knight right in the eyes, staring up at him.

"No."

The Lord Knight stared at her for a second. "I no longer have any patience for your games, woman," he snarled. He looked at the two Sisters of Wrath. "Hold her."

He pulled off a gauntlet and clenched his fist.

"It is time to remind you where you stand, Detainee."

-------------------

"The mat-trans receiver on the surface is responding again," the technician said. "No communication except for some base telemetry, but the mat-trans is responding."

The Lord Knight nodded. "Send a technical team through, escorted by two Knights," he ordered.

The orders were passed and the Lord Knight watched as the technicians and the two Knights moved into the mat-trans chamber.

The technician reached out and pressed the activation key.

Mist started to form around the feet of the team. The screen split to show an empty pad, dark green with purple swirls in it. The team looked around at each other, confused.

With a flash they vanished from the one they were in.

And reappeared in the other one.

Three of the technicians fell to the floor, stone dead. One of the Knights pulled his helmet off, the skin of his head coming with it in gooey strings. He screamed once and collapsed. The other drew his own pistol, shot the two remaining technicians, stuck it at an angle against his neck, and pulled the trigger twice.

"Mat-trans successful," the computer said.

The Lord Knight stared, his face red.

"Get that bitch up here right now!"

---------------

"Please, don't, I promise I'll do what you want," the Detainee said, struggling futilely against the Lord Knight's power armor's grip.

A technician opened the door, revealing the empty hexagon of the mat-trans chamber.

"No, please," she said.

"You survived it before, you can survive it again," the Lord Knight said. "When you get to the other side, fix the damn thing."

He flung her inside and closed the door.

----------------

The door opened and the Detainee stood there. She had been gone nearly two weeks, reporting steadily the entire time. She had left the mat-trans chamber and its connected system rooms only to use the bathroom or eat, her whereabouts carefully tracked.

"It's done. It's fixed. You can send technicians down to try to figure out what's wrong with the bubble," she said softly. She hung her head. "Just, please, don't hurt me any more."

Lord Knight Lergex held out his hand and the Detainee flinched. "I will have you bathed and fed, then I shall put you to work."

The Admiral was silent.

He didn't believe her act.

---------------

Lord Knight Lergex watched the monitor as the Detainee moved through the chamber, carrying a toolbox with her. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, her hair had been dyed blonde and cut almost to the scalp, and she moved stiffly, painfully.

For her first task, Lergex had set her to fixing the environmental system for the Hab-B Complex. His men were tired of bunking on the ship as it was.

He saw something move into the frame and frowned.

It was quadruped but had four arms. It looked like someone had created a weird centaur with a head that was a cross between a cow and a catfish. It was dressed in white armor with yellow edging and moved up to the Detainee.

He recognized it. One like it had appeared in the Communications Center.

They talked for a moment and the new creature reached down and began working on the Detainee's prisoner collar.

"Security, the Detainee is up to something. I want to know what it is," Lergex asked. He commed the Admiral. "Admiral."

"Yes?"

The creature put the collar down. The Detainee picked it up, bending over it and working with tools.

"Is there any non-humans on the station?" Lergex asked.

The camera suddenly cut off.

"No. Why?" the Admiral asked.

"I thought I saw something," he said. He rewound the video surveillance and looked again.

"Security," he said.

"Yes, milord?" the security being answered.

"Any word from the team that went to apprehend the Detainee?" he asked.

"They should be reaching there right..." the technician paused. "Milord, one is dead. The other is dying."

"Send more, I'm on my way," the Lord Knight said. He turned and headed for the door.

When it open, the Detainee stood there.

She was naked, her hair brown, her gun metal grey eyes hard and cold.

"I just want you to know, I'm going to kill you slowly," the Detainee said.

A backhand stove in her skull and left her on the ground, twitching, blood flowing from her shattered head. The Lord Knight turned back to his desk, intending on cleaning his knuckles.

The Detainee sat there, legs spread open lewdly, a cigarette in her mouth.

"Yeah, you get used to that," she said softly, exhaling smoke. "But, I will kill you."

The Lord Knight roared and charged, throwing her across the room when his shoulder hit her. She splattered against the wall and slid down slowly, leaving a trail of blood and viscera.

"You never broke me, you know," the Detainee's voice said.

He turned around, staring.

She stood there, lighting a cigarette, completely nude.

He started to step forward but stopped, staring at her.

"Quantum immortality," she said softly. She exhaled smoke. "I invented the mat-trans. Me. It was my baby, my magnum opus, my gift to mankind as if I was Prometheus bringing fire."

"How?" he asked. He frowned. "You have no SoulChip, you cannot be ressurected by the Digital Omnimessiah's grace."

The woman snorted. "Does the rest of the station, those Combine guys, know that you assassinated him? That you've arrested all of his Apostles? All of his Disciples?"

"You will not live to tell them," the Lord Knight said. He stepped forward, driving his fist into her face. Her skull collapsed and meat splattered out beneath his fist as his knuckles hit the wall.

"Rude," the Detainee's voice sounded out behind him. He turned to see her straighten up, a pack of cigarettes taken from the dead woman. He stared as she lit one.

"How?" he asked again.

"Your primitive monkey brain couldn't understand," she said, shaking her head. She puffed out smoke and grinned. "You never figured out who activated the defensive system did you?"

Lord Knight Lergex shook his head.

"The Admiral. He betrayed you," she said, walking around the desk toward him. She looked up. "Do you know why?"

Lergex growled, shaking his head.

"Not you. No, he knows you're a jumped up testosterone addled little boy with delusions of grandeur wearing daddy's combat playset," she sneered.

Rage filled him and he wrapped his arms around her, jerking her tight, crushing the life from her. She vomited blood onto him and on the second yank her lower torso fell away, landing around his feet.

"No, he wasn't afraid of you," the Detainee said.

He whirled, throwing her dead body away from him.

She was leaning against the wall, blowing a smoke ring.

He flipped the desk up and kicked it, crushing her to death with the impact.

"He was afraid of me," The Detainee laughed.

He turned around and she was standing in the doorway.

"He was right to be," she said.

Before he could move she darted to the side, the sound of bare feet receding.

Growling, Lord Knight Lergex stomped to the Admiral's office. He didn't bother knocking, just opened the door and stomped in.

The Admiral was facing away from him in his swivel chair, staring at the screens on the wall.

"Unlock the security system and restore the comms right now," the Lord Knight growled. He grabbed the edge of the chair and pulled. "Face me, Combine scum!"

The Admiral grinned at him, his face cold and dead, his eyes removed and his lips cut away.

The smell of tobacco smoke reached the Lord Knight and he whipped around.

The Detainee was leaning against the doorway, smiling at him. She was dressed in a Combine uniform, right down to a hat.

"He didn't know how to disable the lockouts. He didn't know if it was even possible," she said. She shrugged. "I didn't bother with torture, I just asked."

She smiled widely.

"I did the rest because I wanted too," she laughed.

The Lord Knight just stared.

"You see," she said, blowing out smoke. "I'm not trapped in here with you."

Her smile got wider and she lifted up her cigarette to take a drag.

"You're trapped in here with me."

The Lord Knight just stared.

"Forever and ever and ever," she smiled.

"At least till Falmy gets here," She walked into the room, the door shutting behind her. "Until then," she reached up and touched the Lord Knight's cheek. "I have you to amuse me."

---------------

Dhruv watched Dee walk in front of him, leading them further into the ancient complex.

She had acted completely nonchalant over the neural template she'd had him look at, at the DNA template that went with it.

He knew it was an act now.

The small dusting of freckles at the nape of the neck he'd added to the template when he'd cleaned it proved it. It would look like a minor error in melanin production that had been necessary to put in place to offset cleaning the neural scorching.

And now it was on Dee's neck.

Evil never dies, he thought to himself.

He glanced at Daxin and could tell by the tension his brother was ready for whatever happened.

Sometimes, Legion, you just have to follow the road to see where the driver's taking you, the voice of the Digital Omnimessiah bubbled up in his mind. Have faith in yourself and your brothers to do the right thing.

When the time comes, I know you will, Luke.