It was a relief to return to the Mikri Squared ship, where I hoped we could get out of this sector before anything bad happened. Atrina might not have made peace with Preston in his entirety, she had a more negative view of survival of the fittest; abandonment was a far worse crime than trying and making a few mistakes. No matter what she thought of my parenting, I hoped my daughter knew that I’d always be there and would always love her. That promise was the comfort I’d drawn from Preston.
“You’re back quite soon,” Captain Shoen noted, waiting for us in the shuttle bay. “What happened?”
Plonda pressed her graspers to one of the Helper’s arms. “Negotiations broke down. Once Iara saw that Entival wasn’t buying her story, she got rid of us in a hurry.”
“Ah, the old Elusian charm,” Velke drawled, winking at Atrina. “I see the murder in your eyes. Those human softies convinced me that attacking them was wrong, but they have a way of not giving a shit about us.”
Atrina clenched her fist. “Then why did you come, Velke? They claimed to my face that the Fakra died because you were weak. Why try to save someone that deserves to be forgotten?”
“Because you’ll never forget someone who’s spurned you so. Revenge doesn’t fix anything, and violence creates new problems. Our hatred was turning us like them, indifferent to who got hurt in our path; the cycle would’ve gone on. There are more important things in life. That’s why Shoen also pities them and was trying to do something different.”
“It’s a choice to focus on the goodness of the people I love, rather than the poison of the darkness,” Shoen agreed, echoing their lesson when we’d discussed Tilai. “I choose to believe there is goodness in unexpected places, if given the chance. Bias can prevent you from seeing beautiful souls in front of you, like I failed to recognize your father, Atrina. I believed he was brainwashed, yet it was I who was misguided.”
“Iara also claimed Dad was indoctrinated,” Atrina murmured.
“Is love a form of indoctrination? To make a person’s flaws disappear in your eyes and to rely on them to be your shelter? No one can live up to that.”
“Maybe you’re right. You’re different from the other machines.”
“You’re different from the other organics, Atrina. We are each our own person, and that’s what I strive to keep in mind. Even with the Elusians. If they do not want our help, we cannot force it upon them. I bear no wish for open conflict. Let’s return to Watcher Station.”
The Helper teleported us to the bridge with a flashy wave of several arms, giving us a slight warning. Lord Preston was sleeping in a chair, while Nettie was levitating a marker over his upper lip to draw a mustache. I cleared my throat, and he snapped upright, feeling the wet writing implement crash against his gray skin with full force. The jokester gawked at the human-built robot, who was busy glaring at me. Preston scrubbed his lip clean with nanobots and checked in a mirror, before clapping his hands with excitement.
How does he always look so enthusiastic to interact with us? Oh wait, he’s excited because he thinks we’re saving Corai’s people. I wish I’d been able to share his love better, but I wouldn’t do that at the cost of maligning him.
Preston’s expression fizzled as he checked the time. “Uh-oh. Back so soon? I assume it didn’t go well, judging by the long faces. I hope everything is alright. Kri, what are we going to tell Corai?”
“I don’t think Mom will be surprised about her people…” Kri bit his lip, perhaps disappointed not to ride in to the rescue himself. “Our people. I have to reconcile that, but imagine how Corai must’ve felt. Mom has a good heart, and most Elusians don’t have a heart at all.”
“Right, we’re not telling her that,” Preston countered. “Any other suggestions from the peanut gallery?”
“We blame Mikri,” Nettie offered.
The human’s face fell. “He’s already being charged with attempted murder. Isn’t that enough?”
“I don’t want that, Preston.” I gave an emphatic head shake, thinking of how deeply Mikri had been shaken every time his humans were in danger. “I’ll need an apology and some space, but I forgive him.”
“What the fuck, Dad? The machine tried to kill you,” Atrina hissed.
Preston placed a hand to his heart. “You’re right, Enty. It was quite a serious offense, and…I care about your safety, more than even just my normal care for the crew. You don’t have to let that go. I dare say you shouldn’t; that wasn’t okay!”
“Nothing about your vision was okay. I’m here to continue trying to support your vision for a perfect multiverse, including forgiving those I shouldn’t. Shoen and Velke chose to see good in the Elusians, and I know there’s far more in Mikri. Mikri forgot to hold onto you as his light in the darkness, instead allowing his love to be warped down a path you’d never want. I will not make those mistakes. I choose to be better!”
“You have no idea how proud I am of you. I mean, fuck, I never thought I could have a wise, levelheaded priest, let alone like them, but you’re so damn sweet. You’re an unrivaled force of good, and your power will only grow with time. I love you so much. C’mere, Enty. Bring it in!”
Preston’s eyes were watering with tenderness, and I felt myself getting choked up by my emotions too; a warmness gripped my heart to know I’d made him proud, and it was more than just serving or hoping to appease a god. I was carving my own path and keeping track of my roots, rather than getting tangled up in my past insecurities like Kri. The past, whether mine or theirs, wasn’t going to drag me down. I was growing closer to the people I cared about and exploring the Sky Realms’ mysteries.
I am my own person, just as he wanted me to be, and he loves me for it. The crew trusts that in my goodness, because they can see that I’m true to my mission.
I ran to the human and wrapped my arms around him, my fingers curling around his biceps. It was peaceful to bask in his loving support, to be here with my “life coach” after standing so far away from him on Domus for so long; he was real and tangible, not an invisible voice in my head that felt more ethereal than personal. He was a living, breathing flesh-and-blood man who’d tried to give us a chance and had struggled with the responsibility of caring for the whole world.
Preston was the opposite of fickle: a steadfast, unwavering icon of what goodness meant in an eternal world. He was the kind of guy who’d be loyal to his last breath, and who would never give up on the people he loved. He believed the best in Corai when he didn’t know whether she’d still love him, and he did the same with the Liberi he’d all but raised when he foresaw his own death. I was faithful to my paternal guide; I loved him so much that I couldn’t bear the thought of letting him go. Domus still needed him and was better for having him.
“Ow.” Preston let go of me with an ashen face, his hands going slack. He keeled over and tipped sideways onto one knee, looking up with a strangled face like he couldn’t breathe. “What the…”
I gasped, my eyes stretching wide, as the human fell onto his back with strength that was fading in a hurry. “No! I don’t understand. What’s wrong?! FATHER!”
I dove to the human’s side with reckless abandon, and I thought I saw the hint of a weak smile grace a face that was becoming weathered, decayed, and sickly in real time. Perhaps it was the word that had spilled from my subconscious in a hurry—the one he’d wanted to hear from a Liberi the whole time, rather than “god.” Anger and fury burned in my chest, as I shook my head in desperation. I didn’t know how to stop it; it was as if my hug had dissolved his very life force.
How had I been tricked into such a thing? Iara set me up to carry something, and…I killed him by loving him. I walked right into it! No, this can’t be happening! He can’t be gone forever.
“My…son.” Preston reached out with a hand, a sympathetic glint in his eyes despite his evident suffering; his feeble fingers fell atop my knuckles, and even amid anguish, I saw the tension lines dissolve as he seemed to understand…that I’d never meant to hurt him, as the vision would’ve had him believe. “Take care of…our family. Tell Corai…Kri…I’m sorry.”
Kri’s expression had turned panicked, and he raced toward Preston. “Dad! I’m coming, I can fix this. I’ll save—”
Shoen barreled into the hybrid with all of their arms outstretched, tackling him away but losing several limbs in the process. Kri was caught off-guard, but his face hardened into enraged betrayal. He wrestled with the captain and tried to swing his fist at their processor, but the AI grabbed his arm and twisted it out of its socket easily—even against an adept, Sol-strength combatant, they managed. The Helper tried to pin Preston’s son, while Plonda stared at them in confusion.
“Shoen! Why are you attacking them? This isn’t you…you’re not with the…Apathetic?!” the Celau cried.
Shoen gave a click of frustration. “Listen to me, Kri! Do not go near him. It’s contagious. I think it’s tailored to human DNA, and you’re part-human. I don’t know if you have whatever the genetic latchkey is, but I’m trying to save your life. Contact infected his nanobots, and he wouldn’t want to infect you!”
“I don’t care!” Kri screamed. “Let me go! I want to help my father. Somebody do something!”
“You don’t help Preston by getting ill yourself and making two people for us to take care of. Bring Mikri out of the brig. We need all of the help we can get to save Preston, and robots can’t carry the contagion. Any organic who’s touched Entival might be a dormant carrier. Atrina, I need you to quarantine yourself immediately.”
“What?” Atrina gasped, staring in shock at the delirious human.
“Why not me?” Plonda demanded.
Shoen chittered. “Not now! Just listen.”
I wept into my hands, keeling over on his chest and wishing to revive him. “Fix this! Do whatever it takes. You have great medicine, don’t you?”
“Preston!” Mikri screamed, pushing me aside with claws out.
“They tricked Enty,” Preston coughed, his words near inaudible. “My…sweet boy…”
“I will repair you!” The iVascar pulled a first aid kit out of a pouch on his belly, in one of the fastest motions I’d ever seen. He injected Preston with some kind of serum with one paw, while cutting an incision into his trachea with the other. “Why is it not working?! This is your fault! If you’d kept that stupid Liberi away…”
“Rather…die…”
Preston fell limp, cold sweat dampening his forehead. The Alliance way of medicine wasn’t working, and the entire crew looked paralyzed as they watched the human draw what might be his last breaths. Nettie clamped an oxygenated device onto his nostrils and fed an IV into his veins, adding his own blood which they had saved. It didn’t seem to have any effect. The human-built robot sat back, stumped, while a whirring and screeching Mikri beat on his chest over and over.
I saw no options to save Preston, but time was running out; I had to try something. After a moment of contemplating the prophecy, my eyes turned down to my empty hand. Attempting the Liberi method of medicine, of draining the poison from his blood, couldn’t make things worse. I recalled his instruction and summoned a sheet blade, struggling to muster the nerve to all-out attack my father. Maybe bloodletting would get what was killing him out of his body?
“Move aside!” I shouted, shouldering Mikri away with force. “We tried this your way. We’re doing it mine now.”
I took forceful slashes and jabs across his body, scrambling to get the blood out of his veins as quickly as it’d taken hold. There was no time to do this slowly, with how his condition deteriorated; we needed to drain as much as we could out, and then Nettie could replace it with healthy blood and new nanobots to stabilize him. The iVascar’s noises were high-pitched and erratic. While he seemed to get the idea, he screamed about how stupid and primitive I was. Nettie restrained him, her lapis eyes sad.
Kri’s eyes had gone wide, comprehension lacking in them. “What are you doing, Entival?!”
“Bloodletting,” Velke filled him in.
“Ha. I…see. Child, there…is…only one humor,” a frail Preston wheezed. “Me.”
I traced shallow cuts over his stomach, issuing internal apologies for doing the same thing as Larimak. “Hold on, Preston! I’m not fucking losing you! Not now. Not like this.”
The nanobots congealed on the outside of the body to close the wounds, while Preston went into hypovolemic shock with his eyes fluttering. Before they sealed shut for what I feared might be the last time, I noticed they weren’t blackened. There were two earnest brown rings that had regarded me, ones that hadn’t been seen since his mortal days; no, he was still mortal. The eyes meant that the nanites were amassing by his wounds, enough that maybe it was working! We could stop the deterioration.
Shoen had caught on, muttering a hasty request to Plonda. “Please, don’t ask questions right now. If you want to possibly save his life, assuming I’m correct, lend me your nanobots. All of them.”
“Why me?” The Celau looked at my crazed slashing spree and the fallen human with worry, before extracting a massive stream of nanobots from her mouth and nostrils that made me shudder; what a choking feeling that must be. “If it helps, Shoen. Of course. Give them to him.”
The Helper assumed control of the gray blob and fed it to Preston, who convulsed in his sleep; I assumed Shoen didn’t want to place it near the wounds. The AI seemed to be receiving data from the new injection’s diagnostics, and their posture grew more heavy. The human’s coloration started to restore for a brief second, and the pulse which had seemed to drop out altogether restarted by force. The poisoned nanobots had done their work and seemed to be scuttling back beneath the skin, so I returned to cutting.
“The infection is denaturing his cells,” Shoen explained. “Plonda’s nanobots will be immune to this attack, but I wish not to waste time by expanding upon the…fix here. In short, they will keep his heart pumping. Continue distracting the poisoned ones, and perhaps the good batch will be able to repair any decay near his brain. That’s what’s important. We have to remove every single poisoned nanobot before transferring him to a new body, but their exit command is disabled.”
Nettie cuffed Mikri over his metal ears. “Look, you fucking idiot! Enty’s plan is keeping Preston…alive, at least a little longer, and you would’ve killed him! Then not having a chance would be all your fault.”
The iVascar gave a glum whir, his posture slackening into one that seemed defeated and hopeless. “You’re…right. Iara could’ve infected him through other methods without Entival. Entival’s bloodletting has slowed the progression, and he was not the one who engineered Preston’s current status. I’m…sorry.”
“I already forgave you,” I panted. “Preston knew about trying to change fate. If you love him, then trust the people he trusts, Mikri. Now tell me what we do to help him. Where do we go? We have to get somewhere to get proper help. I can’t keep cutting him forever.”
Nettie observed my hands, which were stained red, and the human’s lack of complexion. “He only has so much blood to lose, and we only have so much to give him. His heart and brain won’t stay alive without blood, even with them being artificially prolonged. This isn’t a permanent solution.”
“Then we drain everyone’s nanobots! Plonda was only the start!” Mikri whirred, the glow in his eyes intensifying.
“No,” Shoen stated. “Only Plonda.”
Nettie waggled a metal finger at the Helper, and I found myself praying that she, as humanity’s first child, might have an idea. “Okay, that’s suspicious, but I’ll deal with this later. We can’t take him or ourselves back to Alliance space. If this gets out, it could make nanobots unviable and kill billions of humans; patients couldn’t be treated without spreading it. Maybe that was what Iara wanted.”
“Then who will help?! I have asked the network to solve it, but they need weeks!” Mikri exclaimed. I guess the network doesn’t cut off between universes now.
“I’m going to call Sofia for help.”
Mikri wrapped his claws around Nettie’s throat, while the human-built AI backed up without fighting back. “NO! You’re not going to endanger her too!”
Nettie’s stare was unyielding. “There’s a quarantine station set up for this exact contingency. It was Sofia’s idea, and she made sure that it was nanobot-proofed. Surely you trust her intellect and engineering? Preston can be taken there to be studied and treated. All of us can. That way, we won’t hurt anyone or spread it in a settlement.”
“She can fix this without being put at risk of catching it?”
“Yes. I think so. Why don’t you try trusting us to fix this and have sound judgment, for once?”
“If this is the sole chance of being able to cleanse Preston, do it. I just…love Sofia too.”
“You think I don’t? She would be furious if you didn’t call her for help. Especially when she could’ve done something. Her and tocapelotas here go way back.”
“Please, just call Sofia! There’s no time to waste,” I whimpered. I had wanted to meet Dr. Aguado, so I could try to understand the mystical things she studied, but not like this. Why would Iara do this to me—all to kill the so-called Deceiver? She’s the evil Deceiver! I’ll never let go of this if he dies. “I’m sorry. I had no idea!”
Shoen slumped their mostly intact arms. “It’s not your fault, Entival. I’ll…do everything I can to help fix this.”
Despite my arms growing tired, I kept cutting into Preston’s flesh and praying (to who?!) that he’d cling to life long enough to get to Sofia’s station. The prophecy had come true, but the way I’d caused my father figure and shining example to be on death’s door was far crueler. I loved the human as family, and I didn’t want to watch him die in front of me.
A/N - 11! Contact with Preston results in him falling ill, and Shoen steps in just in time to save Kri from any skin-based transmission. Entival brings the prophecy to fruition by trying to bloodlet Preston to drain the poison, which seems to help a little bit and also earns an apology from Mikri. The group agrees to call Sofia to see if she can find a cure for the ailment, while also noting some weird statements from Shoen about only using Plonda's nanobots.
What do you think Shoen's strange behavior is about? Are you surprised by what the prophecy actually meant, and will it be able to save Preston?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!