Foundation of All

“Has the Plaguebringer done anything since he returned to his ship?” Sean asked while pacing back and forth in the main ship’s cockpit.

“No,” Ash replied, “The ship is as unmoving just as it has been for the last few hours. I would alert you if there was a change.”

“I don’t like it. What if he tries to attack…”

“Direct comm’s request from the ship,” Ash interrupted, “Should I remain silent this time as well? Samir implied that the Plaguebringers disliked intelligent machines like myself. It is likely best for me to remain hidden from him for as long as possible.”

Sean hesitated, but nodded, staring down at the blinking light on the console.

“Alright, Ash. Do it.”

There was a moment of silence as the blinking light on the console went solid and the sound of breathing on the other side.

“BOO!!!”

Sean jumped and his heart beat fast as the Plaguebringer shouted as loud as possible.

“Hahahahaha, did I get ya? That’s what you get for making me wait in silence, asshole.”

Sean settled down and took a deep breath, “You called me,” he said in annoyance, “What do you want? How long until my friends are out of the nest?”

“They’ll be fine,” the Plaguebringer said dismissively, “Just give it a week or two and all of the bugs will be infected and die. They’ll find their way back to the surface eventually after that. I’m Nyx by the way. Nyx Vesper. Don’t think I introduced myself before.”

“Nyx Vesper…” Sean said, letting the name roll off of his tongue before trailing off and not saying anything else.

“Aaaaanyway…” Nyx said after Sean didn’t continue after a few seconds, “I’ve looked at your files since I was bored sitting around up here. And you know what? They’re some pretty big holes in here. That’s annoying. I mean who still tries to cover shit up around Immortals these days? We always find out eventually and then you’re just in deeper trouble than you were at the beginning.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What’s your home planet? Who was the Immortal that picked you up? It’s all rather vague in the files. Why is it important enough that someone would censor documents of a little baby like you?”

Sean thought about it, before responding reluctantly. He didn’t see the harm of telling Nyx something as basic as that. It had been over six hundred years since he had left Enguli, no one he knew would still be alive by now.

“Enguli. That was my home planet, out on the far edge of the outer rim.”

“Hmmm,” Sean heard Nyx humming and muttering as if he was reading something, “Interesting, very interesting… Oof, sorry about that one pal. I see why you wouldn’t like us very much.”

Sean straightened up, “What? Sorry about what?”

“Huh? Didn’t you know? Enguli was purged of all life right around when you left. There was a large colony of the Endless Flesh there that the Elder Plaguebringer on site destroyed. Unfortunately the humans didn’t have enough time to escape and most were caught in the crossfire and killed.”

“D-D-Destroyed? Completely? As soon as I left? The Plaguebringer on the planet did it?”

“Seems so. Are you alright there? Thought you already knew…”

“Who was it?” Sean asked, “Who was the person who did it?”

“Okay, fair enough. Let’s look through. It was… Denied? What? Again? Why would it be so locked down, this is just getting ridiculous. Hey, what did he look like? You saw him right?”

“No,” Sean replied in a daze, “I didn’t. Only talked to him over comms.”

“Well what did he say? I’m getting curious now. How did you get to the Immortal Council if he didn’t take you? Not really sure why he wouldn’t take you to the Den instead, but to each their own I guess.”

“What? He didn’t take me anywhere. It was someone else that picked me up. He attacked the both of us and we barely escaped as he tried to blow up our ship to stop us.”

“Huh. Sounds like a real asshole. Why would he do that?”

“He wanted to capture the Immortal that picked me up,” Sean paused as he realized who he was talking to. Why was he spilling his, no Emily’s, secrets to some Plaguebringer that he had just met?

“Interesting. Interesting… Any idea why?”

“No,” Sean said shortly.

“Ahhhhh, the mystery. So annoying, now I’ll have to go back to the Den, start investigating shit… This is going to be such a pain in the ass, I can feel it. Especially with everything already all kicked up after the Plaguemother being found and captured by the Immortal Council…”

“What?” Sean blurted out, “Emily was captured? When, how?”

“Emily? Who’s that?”

“No one?”

“No, wait. No way… The times would all match up. That’s why everything about this is all locked down. No wonder she was captured only a few hundred years ago!” Nyx’s voice grew more and more excited as he spoke, “She went to Immortus station to drop your ass off, and they ambushed her after! You know the Plaguemother personally?! Woooooow! What’s she like? What did she say to you? How…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sean said quickly, cutting off Nyx’s rambling.

“Hey, don’t hold out on me now. She’s… She’s… You met the Plaguemother! You can’t just leave me in the dark now that I know!”

“Well she hates you and your whole group,” Sean spat out, “Not to mention the Plaguebringer on Enguli attacked her and tried to blow up her ship after she picked me up.”

“Oh,” Nyx said, his tone becoming a little more subdued, “I knew that. The older ones have done a lot of bad shit over the years. That’s why she left us after all. But we’ve become much better, more moral than since she last visited us! It’s not our fault how horrible some of us were in the past. If we just showed her how much things have changed then she’ll come back and show us the right path!”

“I’m sure kidnapping her and forcing her to go there was really showing your moral fiber,” Sean said drily, not sure how to handle Nyx’s sudden shift into worshipful admiration as he spoke about Emily.

“Yes, I guess not…” Nyx said after trailing off, “It’s not our place to tell her what to do. She’s supposed to be guiding us, not the other way around…”

There was silence for a moment before Nyx spoke again in a more animated way,

“Hey, she liked you right? Enough that she brought you all the way to Immortus Station at least.”

“I think so,” Sean replied hesitantly, not sure where he was going with this.

“If we went and broke her out of prison at Immortus Station, could you put in a good word for me? The higher ups for the Plaguebringers didn’t want to risk it, but we can break her out! How does that sound? Fuck up the place, free the Plaguemother. We’ll look like total badasses as we roar out of there as we rescue her.”

“And you won’t force her off to this… Den? Where all the other Plaguebringers are?” Sean asked cautiously.

“Of course not!” Nyx said, “I’ll do my best and give her my speech. Oh shit, I’ll have to write a speech… But then you all can go your own way. I just want to meet her in person, show her that we’re not all bad! Maybe talk to her a little, have her sign something if she’s willing…”

“An autograph, seriously?”

“Hey, I’m amazed your ungrateful ass has actually met her,” Nyx said, “You’d be asking for signatures too if you knew all the amazing things she’s done. You need help with anything? I’m your guy, just ask and I’ll do it.”

Sean paused, unsure what he should do. He shared a long glance with Ash who shrugged as if to leave the decision to him.

“Well, can we get my friends out of the nest first?” He eventually said, “I’ll need to talk to them first before I agree to anything.”

“Fair, fair,” Nyx replied, “Alright. We get them, escape the Immortal Council fleet, then I convince you somewhere else. Sounds good?”

Sean shifted on his feet, wondering how he had gotten here. Was he actually agreeing to work together with a Plaguebringer? But if Emily was captured in Immortus Station… And after the Immortal Council had treated Lira, who was to say they wouldn’t capture and imprison Emily just because they didn’t like her? And if she was captured because she had dropped off Sean there, then it would be his fault. She would be captured and dealing with all of the hate of the people at Immortus Station because of him. He took a deep breath and let it out.

“Sounds good. Get my friends first, then we’ll talk.”

“So, that’s the situation,” Sean finished telling Roger and Lira as Ash researched the coordinates that Nyx had sent them for the meet up. Nyx said he would meet them at the coordinates in five years so they had enough time to fully consider what they wanted to do. They still had a few days before they reached the edge of the solar system and were able to enter hyperspace, so Sean had let the two of them relax and take some real showers at first. When they came out far more relaxed than before, Sean listened as they told their version of events. They both seemed alright, still in shock a little, but nothing too extreme.

Sean was surprised to hear how much Roger had resented the Enforcers. They tried to not discuss what had happened with Lira, but it seems that it had impacted Roger more than either of them had known. Although Sean wasn’t sure he would have been able to remain civil with them either.

It was odd that out of the three of them, Lira was the one who seemed most able to look past it and not blame the unrelated Enforcers for the actions of the Immortal Council. She was the one that they had hurt the most, but she seemed more than happy to put it all behind her as much as she could.

After their ordeal, Lira just seemed happy to be back, sitting close to Ash and leaning over to read the holographic containing his research on the solar system over his shoulder. She had been more worried about Ash’s safety than anything else when she first got on the ship, interrogating Ash on how he was feeling as soon as she spotted him. On hearing Ash saying that his new body was subpar, she immediately promised that they would build a better one with maximum priority.

Not that Sean was planning to do anything different, but it was interesting that Lira was so attentive to Ash the second she got back.

“So, we work with this guy to break out the woman who found you out from Immortus Station prison?” Roger asked.

“Pretty much,” Sean said, “But it’s up to you if you want to come, I know how dangerous it might be. We have to figure out what to do with Ash too, since he’s not coming with us.”

“Why?” Lira asked, turning slightly to look at them, “Why can’t she come with us?”

“Well, the Immortal Council would destroy her,” Sean said, “We can’t risk her for this. If we fail we’ll get out of prison eventually, no matter how long it takes. But Ash can be killed, we can’t let that happen. And we can’t leave her alone, so somebody should stay with her. Otherwise she’ll be all alone out here.”

“Will you not need as much help as possible?” Ash suddenly said, closing the holographic screens and turning around to face the group, “You shouldn’t leave someone behind just to keep me company. The hardest part will be determining how to allow you to reunite with me after the mission is complete. Especially if it takes several years or decades to prepare the materials and execute the mission. I can withstand some isolation if it means that none of you get captured.”

“No, Ash,” Lira said, “What… In the worst case you’d be left completely alone for who knows how long. I’m— we can’t let that happen. Sean’s right, you need to be with somebody in case things go wrong.”

“But if one of you stays, the odds of the others being captured would increase significantly,” Ash argued, “It is better to ensure success than lose because we feared the worst case scenario.”

“Well, I… Hey, Brenda!” Lira said, sitting up and looking like she had an idea, “Brenda said we could visit her at her home base. We could go and you could stay with her! She’ll take care of you and make sure you’re safe, Ash.”

“I can protect myself,” Ash said, “I do not need Brenda to do so.”

“Oh, I know,” Lira said while patting Ash’s metallic arm with her hand, “But won’t it be nice to have company? Then all us Immortals can go on the mission and I won’t have to worry about you so much.”

Ash stared at Lira for a long moment, his eyes flickering.

“Very well,” Ash eventually said, “We will see if Brenda is willing to host me and go from there.”

Roger let out a breath, “Well, that’s a relief. Ash is who I was worried about the most. Brenda’s responsible, if she promises to take care of Ash then she’ll probably stick it out until we make it back.”

“Here, Ash,” Lira said, standing up and starting to walk away, “I still remember the coordinates. I’ll show you in case something happens.”

Ash stood as well and followed after her without saying another word.

“Bye, Ash!” Lira said, hugging him for a long while before letting go and taking a step back, “Be good. We’ll be back as quickly as we can.”

“I will eagerly await your return,” Ash replied before turning his head, “And thank you Brenda for letting me stay.”

“Oh, you’re more than welcome,” Brenda said from where she stood to the side, “Could use the company in this old dusty place. Maybe even help fixing it up a little if you’re up to it. It’s really gone to the dumps in the last few thousand years.”

“I will assist where I can,” Ash said.

“We’ll be back soon,” Sean promised, “As soon as we can,” he amended, “Just look over those robot body designs the three of us made. When we get back from our trip we’ll build one for you. Like an apology for being gone for so long.”

“I look forward to it,” Ash said, “I will make sure to pick a design with the most utility to myself and the group.”

“Ash, Brenda,” Roger said lightly before leaving a slight pause.

“Don’t be having too much fun now. As hunky as Ash is, keep your hands off of their virgin chassis, Brenda.”

Brenda rolled her eyes and Lira looked scandalized, punching Roger on the shoulder hard.

“Ow. Just kidding, just kidding,” Roger said while rubbing his shoulder theatrically, “Bye, Ash. We’ll be back and building your new body before you know it.”

“Goodbye,” Ash finished, and after some more basic goodbyes the three Immortals returned to their ship and left the station. Sean watched as the base built into the side of this far flung asteroid in an abandoned solar system receded into the distance.

Now came the meeting he had been dreading for these last five years. It was time to meet with Nyx, the Plaguebringer, and start planning to break Emily out of jail in earnest.