Entry 46: Day 90
Three months. I’ve been on Terra for three months. It feels a lot longer, you know? Since I’ve come here, I’ve been more stressed and scared than I ever was, even in medical school, contracted super cancer, passed two kidney stones, become addicted to morphine and slug meth, and people keep trying to kill me. And yet…and yet if I could go back to Earth right now, or, worse yet, woke up and this was all just a fever dream, and I’d been in a coma for the past three months…I’d be devastated.
Because in those three months, I’ve made better friends than I ever had back home, and found a family that I love just as much, and in some cases more, than mom, dad, and even Michael. Texas has rapidly become my best bro, and Exusiai is like my uncomfortably hot sister. Not to mention Myrtle, Chief Warfarin, Aunty Kal, Ingrid, Lisa, Murmura…
And, well, I’ve met the love of my life. Honestly, I wouldn’t have picked Sussurro as my number one waifu three months ago. And, well, I probably still wouldn’t? She’s…messier…than a waifu. Sometimes, she’s really frustrating, like when she does that whole ‘I’m mad at you and you need to figure out why’ Tsundere bullshit. Or when she throws my underwear and socks in my face and fumes at me because I left them on the floor. Though, uh, that one isn’t as much of my fault now that I’m blind.
But that all just makes her more real. I mean, your waifu does not cook the 10/10 meals that Sussurro does. I’ve never really given much of a damn about home-cooked food, honestly. Mom’s idea of cooking was usually frozen dinners, and Dad’s idea of cooking was delivery. I can scramble an egg or follow the directions on a box of mac and cheese or whatever, but I’m not much of a cook myself. Holy shit though, if I survive this, Sussurro is going to make me fat and happy. I didn’t even realize people made pasta from scratch, or that it was so mindblowing.
Plus, she’s crazy about me. I’ve had girlfriends before, and they’ve been into me, and the sex was pretty great (even when it’s mid, sex is pretty great) but sex with Sussurro is just…she loves me, you know? When she says my name…it’s like I’m her whole world. And she’s become mine. I was never all that on fire to get married…but I can see us growing old together. I mean, assuming I don’t turn into a hunk of rock and die or whatever, but you know what I mean.
And now, she’s pregnant. I’m still not sure if I’ll be a good dad? I mean, my dad was great. Patient. Kind. Took me and Michael camping and taught me how to swim, took me to the pool and beach way more than he wanted, but he did it because I loved it. I hope I can be a dad like him. It’s just…I’m crippled, and blind. Won’t even be able to see the baby, unless they’re infected, which pray God they’re not.
But if I’m going to have a kid…it was going to be with Lucia. I love her more than life.
Which is why I’m not going to let that bitch Priestess win. And I’m never going back to Earth. Even if you opened up a portal right now, and told me all the oripathy would disappear if I stepped through…I’d stay here, and fight with Lucia for the future of Terra, and our kid. For all my friends, and the infected.
Fuck. I don’t think I’m a hero, or a savior. I’m tired, man. So bone tired. I’m not even thirty yet, but I feel like I’m past retirement age. A proper unc and all that. But there’s one more fight. Priestess is scared of me, for some reason. And I’m going to find out why. Then stop her. For Kal’tsit. For Lucia. For our kid. And for all my friends.
I know that’s a lot and all, but I had time to think as we flew towards Victoria. I say ‘we’ but it’s not all of us. No sooner than Amiya had pulled me out of the Matrix or wherever the fuck I was, than she took me and Lucia off to the side.
“You must go to Victoria,” she told us. “Right away.”
“That was the plan, boss,” I said, nodding my head slowly. She looks…funny. Amiya, that is. Like, she’s still the adorable badass donkey we all know and love, but she is a glowing, bright red. And that Black Crown…there’s something about it. It’s like it distorts space, or something. I’m not sure. It’s black, but I can still see it. Feel it. It’s made of originium, I think, but there’s more to it than that.
“Will Wisadel and the Sarkaz let us go?” Lucia asked, clinging to my arm tightly. Well, OK, I was also holding on to her pretty tightly. Those visions had scared the hell out of me. And, even more than Amiya, I was convinced that it was Lucia’s love for me, and mine for her, that had let me come back.
“I am the King of Sarkaz. You have my permission. Wisadel will bluster, but she will understand. And besides, I have another you have taught here. They will suffice for my plans. The Sarkaz will be saved. I won’t let my people suffer any longer.”
“So you’re keeping Lisa?” I said, frowning at the thought. Ingrid probably wouldn’t be thrilled, but it did seem to be for the best.
Amiya shook her head. “No. She must accompany you to Victoria. I have others here with me who will assist in burning off most of the Sarkaz’s oripathy. And, while Lisa has been instrumental in all this, she is still a child. It is best if she’s removed from the worst of what is to come.”
“Thank you,” Lucia said, taking Amiya’s hand and squeezing it. “That will comfort Ingrid greatly.”
“Now, go. I have already brought those who will accompany you,” Amiya said, and gestured. I turned my head, but as far as I could tell, there was no one there.
“Boizimo, Bones,” a familiar gruff voice rumbled. “I was thinking a doctor could be taking care of himself. Instead, we find you like this? Little doctor, you were supposed to be watching this fool more closely than that, yes?”
“Tachanka?” I asked, squinting for all the good it would do me.
“Ash! Doc! You’re here!” Lucia said excitedly, and I think she hugged Ash, though the other earthlings were all completely invisible to me.
I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder, and I could hear pain in Tachanka’s voice. “Yakov. What has been happening to you? You are…”
“Half dead and blind in both eyes?” I chuckled, though I felt like crying. “Well, at least I don’t have to see your ugly mug.”
“Ha! You are saying this, but the women, they are liking this face! Or at least, Svetla is liking my face,” Tachanka laughed.
“You and Svetla?” I said, a grin splitting my face. “That’s great news, man!”
“You two chatterboxes can catch up once we get to the transport,” Ash said, her tone all business. “Come on. We’ve got a long way to go to get to Victoria.”
“We’re ready to transport,” Doc’s voice said, and Lucia helped me into a wheelchair. I was feeling a lot better now that someone else had taken most of my originium, but I was still weak and half-paralyzed.
“When did you hook up with Svetla? I know you were helping with Andre, Arseniy, and Kirill, but I hadn’t realized you were wooing their mom,” I said as we bounced along the dirt path.
“Yes, well, that was not being the plan at first,” Tachanka said, sounding somewhat embarrassed. “The boys, they were needing a father, yes? And I am having one son and a daughter already. I am knowing how to raise boys. Especially ones who…well. Have had troubles. But, Svetla…she is attractive woman. I was thinking, she is grieving, I will give her space. Only, the space she wanted to give me was in her bed. And I am not objecting.”
From what I could remember, Svelta was an ordinary-looking liberi woman in her early to mid 30s, with light brown, feathery hair. Like a lot of liberi, if you didn’t know what to look for, you’d not even have realized she was Terran. Doubly so since she kept her hair in a practical bun. She was a fair bit younger than Tachanka, but both of them were on their second marriage. It made sense to me that Svelta would fall for a man who was trying to help raise her kids out of his own loneliness.
“Congratulations to both of you. I am glad Svelta has found someone. She was so lonely and depressed, I was worried for her,” Lucia said as she lifted my chair up, and then onto a ramp. At the top, I could see Sora, who was a clear red now, along with Texas, who was bright blue. What was up with that?
“Hey, uh, Texas? Why are you Infected?” I asked her as my chair rumbled up the ramp.
Texas flicked her ears at me and frowned, then shook her head. Sora grinned, then put a finger to her lips and mouthed ‘not yet.’
“JAMES! CIA! YOU’RE OK!” a little girl’s voice wailed, and Murmura ran over with Lisa to give us both hugs as the ramp was raised with a hydraulic hiss. Also in the boy with us were Rosmontis and Red, along with Ingrid, Croissant, Bison, and I think Emperor, but I couldn’t see him.
However, my eye was drawn to two individuals who were sitting at the side and holding hands, which was a bit of a shock. The bigger shock was that I could even see Doktah.
“Hello, Bones. Good to see you again,” Doktah said with a nod to me as hands helped me into the seat on their left. Why was he white? And I don’t mean Caucasian, I mean, they were a glowing, white light. No one else, not even Priestess, was that color.
“Hmm, I do not remember this one,” the woman on his right said, sounding half asleep. “Have I met them before, my love?” Unlike the Doktah, she glowed a bright blue, like another Ancient or Elder that had the super arts unlocked. However, something about her voice, and the way she held herself, triggered a memory.
“Uh, Skadi?” I asked, and the woman smiled slowly.
“Yes. Skadi. That is my drylander name. The other…has been swallowed by tides…”
A chill ran down my spine, and I gasped, “Corrupting heart?! Texas, Texas kill it now! That’s-”
“Bones. It’s fine,” Doktah said, grabbing my hand even as Texas had jumped up and drawn her swords, pressing one to Skadi’s throat. That didn’t seem to bother her, which, you know, made sense. I don’t know if swords can kill a Firstborn.
“It’s not fine, that’s Ishar’mla! Firstborn of the Seaborn!” I said, trying to unbuckle myself and scramble away.
“That’s…my wife. Or husband, depending,” Doktah said, rubbing the back of their head.
Everyone froze, even Texas, who was looking at Doktah, utterly baffled.
“I shall be whatever you desire, my love, my heart,” Skadi, no, Ishar’mla crooned, slipping away from Texas’ blade point to cling to Doktah’s right arm and press herself against him. “Just as you reshaped yourself for me, so I shall reshape myself for you. You are the moon, and I, but the tide, responding to your beck and call…”
“Ok,” I said, taking a deep breath before I wet myself from sheer panic. “What the fuck, Doktah?”
“Let’s get moving, first. We have a lot to do, and a pressing deadline. Croissant? Get us in the air,” Doktah ordered.
“Uh, you got it, bawss. Crazy fuckin’ seaborn lady thing,” Croissant muttered, as she and Bison went to the cockpit. The engines started to whine, and Emperor cleared his throat.
“Aight. I been wondering just what the fuck you pulled since you rocked up with the First Born of the Corrupting Heart. So fess up, Oracle.”
“It’s, ah, a long story,” Doktah said, still sounding embarrassed. “And we have other things we must discuss before-”
“My beloved came to me!” Skadi sighed, rubbing her cheek against Doktah’s hood. Oh, did I mention that Doktah is the only one who appears to have their clothes on? Even First Born in Skadi’s skin looks like a glowing barbi doll, but it was Doktah, so I guess that just made sense.
“Er, yes, my love, but perhaps we should-” Doktah coughed, but Skadi was going to tell this story one way or another it seemed.
“He came, with me, this vessel, unto the prison where I had been trapped for aeons, awaiting my Beloved’s return. Long had I languished within the prison constructed by the vile witch who trapped me,” Skadi said, sitting up, her eyes glowing with sudden malice. “She who now threatens to consume all the world with her befouling curse.”
“Uh, you mean Priestess?” I said, glancing at Doktah, who nodded confirmation.
“Do not speak her name,” Skadi hissed, and sprouted several tentacles that had Rosmontis and Red going on alert. Doktah, however, gave Skadi a cooldown hug, and the tentacles vanished back into her body. “But yes. That foul being had trapped me within the prison called the arbor. At least, half of me. This vessel had been freed when the little ones came and took my flesh and gave it unto her. She returned to the land, found my beloved, and brought them unto me!”
“It’s why we mounted the expedition to the Arbor,” Doktah explained. “I, ah, had a theory regarding Ishar’mla and the Seaborn. A theory that was proven…mostly correct. They did respond to my command override codes. Uh, I did not, however, anticipate the, ah, warmth…of their reception.”
“I waited for you,” Skadi sighed, resting her head on Doktah’s shoulder. “For eons and ages. Many times I despaired of your return, and I grew wroth with the little creatures who swam free. I attempted to join with them, to make them a part of the Many Who Are One, that I might not be alone anymore. But, then, my beloved, you returned to me! And offered me another path! One I have gladly accepted.”
There was silence for a minute, then I groaned and leaned close to the Doktah, keeping my voice down. “Doktah…please tell me you did not stick it in crazy. I didn’t even think you could!”
“Operator Bones, I would remind you that you are speaking of my…spouse,” Doktah said firmly. “Who can most certainly hear you.”
“Wife, at the moment!” Skadi declared happily. “I have already taken unto myself my beloved’s seed, and shall bear their progeny! A union of land and sea! Partnership between those who had been masters and those who had been slaves, made equal now!”
Then, Skadi grinned rather licentiously and added, “Of course, should you wish it, my love, I shall gladly give to you my own seed, and you bear my own children! We should do this, once I have given birth!”
Wait, hold on. Were they both…hermaphrodites? I mean, some organisms can do that, and Doktah is some sort of post-homo sapiens immortal, while Skadi the Corrupting Heart is, well, the manifestation of an ancient Cthulhu monster who I thought tried to do the whole orange goo human instrumentality thing, but with more tentacles and body horror.
“You uh…” Doktah scratched their chin and coughed. “I have, ah, somewhat embraced the fatherly role. I told Kal’tsit…I chose Terra. This is a more…tangible representation of that. And a way to save Aegir and make an ally of the Seaborn.”
Skadi nodded, rubbing her chin against the Doktah’s arm. “Yes…I have explained it to my children. They shall no longer seek to make One of the Many who do not wish it. I have become One instead of Many, that I might be with you, Beloved. The other three…they will come to understand this themselves.”
“And by that,” Emperor grunted, “You mean Caerula, Genesezoics, and Vaelith’kaar.”
Skadli grinned, showing rows of pointed whale teeth, but Doktah spoke first. “Caerula has merged with Mizuku, much as Isha’mlar and Skadi have joined together. They have already begun reshaping many of the seaborn into Aegir-like forms, beginning with the being we’re calling Highmore, along with Operator Deepcolor.”
“So, wait, you just…you just did an IS3 Ending Five run?!” I demanded. “Isn’t that supposed to end with, you know, the Seaborn consuming all life on Terra before fucking off to the stars!?”
“We discussed this option,” Ishar'mla sighed. “A tempting one. For all life upon land and sea to become the Many That is One. But, this would have denied me true union with my Beloved, and, it would have saddened them as well…and it would have denied me my revenge upon the witch that tortured and imprisoned me!”
“The Seaborn, at least, the ones who follow Skadi and Mizuki, are now our allies in the struggle for Terra,” Doktah said, steepling their fingers together. “It was a gamble. But the best chance for victory that I saw. But it was only one step in the plan. Unfortunately, it seems that Kal’tsit…my daughter…she was…forced…to…to…”
Doktah covered their face with their hand, and Skadi began to rub their back while crooning wordlessly in a sort of lullaby as the Doktah’s shoulders began to shake.
I felt my throat close up, and I tried to swallow. “So…so the Director, she…”
“It…it was a contingency…that we accounted for,” Doktah rasped, voice raw with pain. “If there was no other choice, if Priestess began to awaken too soon…she was to stall, delay, and buy time. By whatever means necessary. Up to, and including…her…her own…death.”
We sat in silence for a moment. Lucia and I hugged tightly, as the weight of Kal’tsit’s death hung over us all. Even Murmura was quiet, though she hadn’t know Kal’tsit at all. At last, Doktah cleared his throat.
“We must press on. This is what my…daughter…gave her life for. What I was willing to risk everything by going to the Firstborn for. This is the chance you have given us, Operator Bones.”
“A cure for Oripathy?” I said, uncertain of what, exactly I had to do with any of this.
Doktah shook his head. “Command access codes for Originium. Ones that can be spread. That is what will allow us to defeat Priestess, and the Precursors. Curing Oripathy and the cause of the infected is only a piece of the puzzle. The larger picture is allowing Terrans to determine the fate of Terra.”
“But I’m not a Terran?” I said, still feeling rather confused.
“Yes you are. By marriage, if nothing else,” Lucia sniffed.
“Consider yourself a naturalized citizen. It is how I am viewing myself, now,” Tachanka grunted.
“This place is becoming home. For all of us,” Ash agreed. “I’ll always consider myself Jewish. But, perhaps Columbian as well.”
“Originally, the Oracle wasn’t Terran either,” Doktah continued. “But, the Doktah of Rhodes Island…they can be.”
“I’m Sarkaz now,” Texas said quietly, though she was still watching Skadi like a hungry wolf. “It’s the same.”
“You and I are the same, Operator Bones,” Doktah said, taking up Skadi’s hand and looking into her adoring gaze. “We both chose Terrans to love. We’ve divorced ourself from our pasts, and have chosen this world, and her people, as our future.”
Don’t say ex-wife, don’t say ex-wife, don’t say ex-wife, I mentally screamed at myself, even as Lucia seemed to read my mind, and gave me a peremptory kick.
“-which is why I am going to help my darling kill his ex-wife,” Skadi said, sounding positively delighted at the prospect of murder.
Doktah nodded. “A not inaccurate summation of our objective, if a bit… overly reductive, as to the exact nature of my relationship with Priestess.”
“And…how do we do that?” I asked.
Doktah leaned back in their seat and lowered their head. “A plan I am still working out all the details to. I promise to give you the information necessary to its fulfillment soon. For now, rest. We’ll arrive in Victoria shortly, and your role there should be clear. And what to do to prepare for it.”
“Right, I teach as many Elders as I can how to use these arts,” I said, nodding in understanding.
“Hmm? Oh, I suppose I should have explained further. Operator Ash?” Doktah said.
I felt a hand take mine, and saw Lucia’s tail bristle, so I figured it had to be Ash.
“We didn’t come just because we missed your company, Dr. McCoy. We came so you could show us how to do what you do,” Ash said.
“Uh, but I thought you guys couldn’t use arts?” I said, uncertain.
“We can’t,” Doc agreed. “Unless, that is, your own arts can be passed on to us. It’s what the Doktah is gambling everything on.”
“I don’t gamble. Not with lives. Not now, not ever,” Doktah corrected.
Skadi giggled and rubbed her cheek against Doktah’s shoulder. “No, Beloved. You merely use us as pieces on the board.
Doktah hesitated, then sighed and nodded. “A certain level of cognitive disassociation, I suppose. But it is such a grand game, and for the highest stakes. And now…let’s see if the hole card is a pocket ace…or a dead man's hand.”
“You, uh, sure about this?” I asked the blank space where I figured Ash was. “Because either this works, and I give you rock cancer, or it doesn’t, and we all die a horrible and painful death before getting uploaded to the Matrix. They had the Matrix where you’re from, right?”
Ash chuckled at that. “Well, Mr. Anderson. I choose the Red Pill. And we see how far this rabbit hole goes. We’re already in Neverland, right?”
“The originium? Yeah, kinda,” I agreed.
I slipped a bit of originium into Ash’s hand. We waited a few tense seconds, but I still couldn’t see her.
“Should…should something be happening?” Ash asked, her tone indicating she was as tense and confused as I was.
“Nothing? You passed the originium to her?” Doktah asked, leaning forward.
I nodded, then shrugged. “Sorry, I tried, but-”
“Then it’s up to you, darling,” Doktah said, and Skadi leaned over, apparently taking Ash’s other hand, while grabbing mine as well.
“Hmm, yes…they are different. It is subtle, but while they are of the same branch, the polyps they spring from are slightly different…”
“So, what, uh…what can you do about that?” I asked.
Skadi grinned at me. “Why, what I agreed to do: to make of the Many, One.”
“Wait, hold on! I’m not joining a hive mind!” I yipped, and tried to jerk my hand away. However, the possessed orca didn’t let go.
“No, not in that way,” Skadi said with a shake of her head. “I will merely alter this one so that her own structures match yours.”
“You’re not going to turn me into a Bones clone or possess me, right? That wasn’t a part of the deal,” Ash said, her tone tight. I heard what sounded like weapons safety’s clicking off, but Skadi ignored that, even as my bodyguards watched the void suspiciously.
“No, it shall be painless,” Skadi promised, which was not the fucking question. “I must merely use the originium to…there. And it is done.”
I heard a muffled groan, and then had to blink at the sudden light. Ash, glowing the same white as the Doktah, appeared in my vision, gasping for breath and hunched over, as though in sudden pain.
“There! Bones, his blood is so close to that of my beloved! Why, if I did not know better, I would say you were a progenitor of his!” Skadi laughed as Ash looked down at her palm, jaw slightly agape. “Now, this one is of the same blood! A change so mild as to be barely noticeable. Now you as well, I think.”
Skadi did something to Tauchanka and Doc as well, and Ash took the big Russian’s hand.
“It stings a bit,” she told him. “Though it doesn’t feel as weird as getting your organs rearranged.”
“Eh. Not as bad as it could be,” Tauchanka said. A moment later, the big guy appeared in my sight as well, a pillar of white with a broken nose and cauliflower ears.
“That is it? This? It is not so bad!” he laughed, then took another’s hand, Doc.
“Checkmate?” I asked, turning to Doktah again.
“Check only,” Doktah said with a slight shake of their head. “Now, we have to see if Kal’tsit took enough pieces off the board to make this a winnable game.”
I sat there as Ash, Tauchanka, Doc, and Lucia all chattered excitedly. I looked around, and I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the Savior. I was just a doctor. Not even The Doktah. I wasn’t special.
But I was loved. I think that might be enough.
So in celebration, I took a nap. And this time, I dreamed of fluffy tails and pink ears, and not psycho yandere gods.