Selene experienced life in flashes of consciousness. Waking up for moments only to succumb to sleep once more. Without the medical facilities that completed Zykra hives had—it seemed nearly impossible to heal her quickly. She was healing, only very slowly.

  Aboleth and Dr. Bryant sat in the cargo-hold of the Sequester.

  They sent everyone else out to enjoy some recreational time on the Endelon 2 colony. Which unlike many colonies was not named after the planet itself. It was instead dubbed 'Washington', on account of all the evergreen seeming trees.

  The Sequester was the last place she wanted to be. And Aboleth wore it on her face. But she endured it for the sake of their long term goals.

  They procured some clothes for her from the colony shops while they manufactured a uniform replacement. The 6"7 well toned woman currently had her dark blue hair tired up in a ponytail. Her bangs were as poofy and wild as the hair tied over her back was. Clumped up and curved into sharp points like a lions mane.

  Her skin was no longer green in her human form, but light—almost pale. As it was before her abduction into the Zykra.

  She wore a white tank top and dark cargo pants with many pockets and zippers. With heavy boots, brown in color.

  There was a bottle of some expensive liquor on the table between them, which Aboleth occasionally filled her glass from.

  "So you plan on assimilating the boy as a means to ensure Ms. Eriksons loyalty." Dr. Bryant said after a quiet moment.

  "Yes."

  "And since your rebirth, you've experienced emotions like you had before your transformation and now desire remuneration for your services."

  She nodded. Examining the glass of liquor in her hand; "Not the word I used, but technically it fits. Before I wasn't in a state to demand anything. Now I am."

  "Are you not loyal to your queen without payment?"

  Aboleth sighed, setting down her glass and lifting the bottle itself. She began to swish it around, causing the fluid to swirl around.

  "Don't get me wrong... I adore Selene, even during our puck days I gave her special treatment. But I thought about it. If she knew that I felt like this, she'd do what she could to make me happy. And in order to be happy, I need my family back. And why shouldn't I? She has hers. And we have a place for them. Here. And that's before we talk about exactly how, and why we replace puck."

  She gestured to the ship around them, but they both knew what she really met. Endelon 2. Washington.

  "Yes. She would. But one does not simply trounce onto a core world. During a funeral no less."

  Aboleth had no delusions as to how difficult it might be. Core worlds were on another level entirely in terms of detections systems and defenses compared to the outer rim.

  "Don't you think I know that? I have a plan. To get my family out before that funeral. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

  "Of course.. As for the matter of converting the Erikson boy, is it truly to ensure their loyalty alone?"

  She gave him a 'oh, so you see.' kind of look at that.

  "It would also be useful to see the effects of Zykra conversion on individuals with telepathic abilities. But you know that, so could we please leave the unspoken matters, unspoken?" she said, giving deference to his powers of perception.

  "I only bring it up to clarify. Does he know?"

  "I'm sure his sister will tell him during their little shopping trip. It doesn't matter. As soon as Selene is ready, we'll begin the process. And he won't be alone. I intend to make a unit. A specialist unit. To conduct operations without Selene or I. Many of them. It's time we scaled up our operations so that they have the capacity to rule."

  A glint of excitement entered Dr. Bryant's eyes then, though he was adept at concealing his intentions Aboleth knew that would intrigue him. Their goals aligned in many ways, and it was time he saw that.

  "So you intend on rapid expansion from now on." he didn't say it as if it were a question.

  "It will happen in stages. The first stage is most crucial. We will conceal ourselves and ensure there is some degree of independence between us and the resistance. We will dangle the benefits of Zykra assimilation as if they're gifts as a means to create sleeper cells. Our agents and special interests will permeate the system and infiltrate the Protectorate at all levels. To convert the elite, the movers and shakers of the Protectorate."

  Dr. Bryant took the bottle from her and filled his own glass on the cheap foldout table between them; "And the second stage?"

  "The second stage will involve military objectives. We will use the undercover agents to sabotage, gather intel, and work against the Protectorates interests overall. While we conduct military operations in secret. Gaining territory within Protectorate space while under their noses. Producing more combat resources. Forces. Worlds. Both human and Zykra."

  "I think you underestimate the Protectorate. They will surely notice something is wrong before so long."

  "Of course. They already have. I don't plan for all of our goals to succeed, but limited success is all we need. For our movement to grow and take up a life of it's own. The final stage will be when we drop the veil and launch a full scale assault to capture whatever influence we don't already have. Over the Resistance and the Protectorate. Until then, we play it carefully."

  Dr. Bryant took a drink. "It is an ambitious plan. And rather vague."

  "Vagueness is a prerequisite for grand plans like these. I'll go into details with you another time when it's more appropriate. Specific matters... Which elites we assimilate, what core worlds we target first, what military operations we sabotage, but the truth is... This will be easy. Far easier than it would be if we didn't hold the keys to immortality."

  "And to rule? What is our governance to be?"

  Aboleth smirked; "Not our department. You're a researcher. I'm a tactician. Let's leave it at that. We're the ones best suited for selecting who we will need to fill other roles and bringing them to Selene. Leaders of educational institutions, financial institutions. Politicians, cultural icons. We'll bring them together in a cabal to push a singular agenda. Then we'll hold meetings like these."

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "...A crucible." Dr. Bryant said, enamored with the idea.

  "I know you're thinking it; 'Why should Selene get the ultimate say?'."

  "I wasn't. I understand. She's been difficult at times, her sentimentalities can veer towards inconsequential matters and superficial human connections—but she is one capable of seeing matters selflessly. A rare trait, almost so as her abilities. With us and other experts in their perspective fields, she could represent a cultural lynchpin for Zykra domination."

  Aboleth cringed at that. Before she had her emotions back—something like Zykra domination would appeal to her too. But really, she wanted something similar to Selene now. A life where the Zykra didn't burn down the humanity around them.

  "Something like that." she said after a moment. "With the logistics handled, let's discuss how we will recreate this 'healing compound' ku'senai's hive has."

  At that, Dr. Bryant and Aboleth sat for hours confering how they would complete the Zykra hive and ensure it could rival others.

  "Hey Mrs. Carrington!" Zephyr said cheerily as they opened the door to their small home. A tiny steel modular box with various vents and panel covered boxes around it. It was parked in a sea of them, like a trailer park. Temporary living spaces while more permanent residences were constructed.

  The 5"9 woman in her early to mid forties looked young for her age, she had a bob haircut and wore a long sleeved lavender colored shirt with a collection of pink flowers and vines that wrapped around the bottom and grew up one side. She also wore form-fitting white pants of some rough material like denim. With slip-on shoes.

  She accepted the offered hug awkwardly and gave Zephyr a confused look.

  "..Oh you can call me Jen- or Jennifer. Zephyr, wasn't it? Where's Selene?" she asked, giving a polite wave to Danny who was standing behind Zephyr, who gave a wave back.

  Zephyr's smile faded.

  "That's why I'm here... She's uhm.."

  "Oh my god, is-is she??" Jen started to put a hand over her mouth.

  "No! Nono!" Zephyr waved her handed in front of her as if she could physically push the idea away. "She's okay! Your daughter is alive!"

  The concerned mother deflated, putting a hand over her chest. "Oh thank god, you scared me there for a second. Come inside, please." she waved them in.

  A home much like their one on the original Endelon. If a bit smaller.

  They sat at pair of couches around a coffee table. Danny played the part of the 'I don't really want to be here' brother, and Zephyr was happy to be doing something on Selene's behalf. Desperate to make up for past wrongs.

  "Where's Ron?" Zephyr asked as Jennifer entered the room with a few cups of some kind of dark soda. It was a warm day outside and a cool drink wasn't unappreciated.

  "Oh he's doing some resistance thing, I'm not sure if I can say exactly. But I wish he'd just get a job here, there are so many positions open. He could get started as a farmer again since he has so much experience running harvesters."

  Zephyr sympathized with her, and actually envied that kind of life style. Simple and peaceful.

  "I get it. I wish I could just live as a farmer."

  "Then why don't you?" Jen asked, sitting down in a one-seater couch across from them.

  Zephyr looked towards the ceiling in thought. A ceiling fan was creating a draft of wind throughout the room.

  "Hmm... I guess I feel that if I don't help Selene take over the universe then I might feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to. In for a penny, in for a pound right? I've come so far already."

  Jen smiled remorsefully; "You sound like Ron... Taking over the universe. Ha." her smile became more loving and comedic as she said so. "Like daughter, like father I guess. I just wish they would take more time away from all that. I want to talk to her about it. To him more about it."

  "I'm sure she'd like that too. Once she recovers."

  "—Is she sick?" Jen asked quickly, some of that concern from before returning.

  "In a way. We had a bit of a space battle. She destroyed a bunch of jets and stuff, then fell onto this desert planet. I guess resurrecting her friend took a lot out of her, cause she's been sleeping a lot and can't really move around. But she's getting better. That's what I came to tell you."

  Jen stared at Zephyr as she spoke. Her eyes wide. She picked up the cold glass from the table and took a drink.

  "How's Cam?" Zephyr asked after a moment. Completely ton deaf to how ridiculous their lives aboard the Sequester was to regular people.

  Selene awoke in the golden fields of wheat that covered the original Endelon.

  It was a serene and calming experience. She felt the warm suns on her face, the slight breeze on the wind. The rustling of the million shafts of wheat around her. The soft soil beneath her feet.

  She wore her favorite red hoodie, it was cozy around her and she rubbed the sleeve of it to remember the fabric. It's been difficult to find since she lost it.

  Her black art book was in one hand, opened to the picture of a frigate she drew that day long ago. Come to think of it, it shared stark similarities to her uncles. A strange coincidence. They all looked similar in a way.

  Selene just stood and enjoyed the moment.

  Until she saw something that startled her. A figure was standing in the field of wheat, a distance away. Unmoving. Staring.

  It was her. The Zykra her. All covered in armor, antenna, and her eyes burning bright violet.

  "What... The... Fuck?" she asked slowly.

  This all felt way too real for something like this to happen.

  "I could ask you the same." a voice like hers answered back. Layered many times over, giving it a ghostly echo. It turned to gaze up over the fields, towards the metallic dome of the colony in the distance.

  "We would be done by now if you weren't such a coward. But you procrastinate. Playing at human. Clinging to a false reality. Like your drawings."

  Selene swallowed, still staring at her doppelganger with fear and surprise. It was speaking to her. Speaking down to her.

  "I-I'm doing what I think is right. I'm not hurting anyone this way. Humanity, life is- This..." she held the book in her hands and looked down at it. She caressed the outside of it. Considering the years of escape she found in it. "It gives me a purpose I can rest in."

  "Do you think it will save you in the end?" her Zykra self asked.

  Selene thought about it. How drawings could help her do much of anything. But it wasn't the drawings themselves they were asking about. It was what they represented. The world she depicted in them. The humanity.

  "I think they would want to. And that's more than I can say about the Zykra. They just want to use me. To own me. To absorb all of us, and get rid of what makes us special."

  They stood across from each other now. With a bittersweet melancholy existing between them. The fear and surprise was gone. And much of the field was dissolving to show the void of space. Stars and nebula appearing around them in black smoke.

  "You don't know that for sure."

  She didn't. She only knew what the Zykra were like without her influence. Based on her experience dealing with Ku'senai. Anything more than that was a guess. It was all so alien, this feeling inside her. The parts of her that she didn't understand.

  "I'm worried that you might replace me." she said after awhile, clutching one of her arms insecurely.

  The other Selene walked towards her now, startling her a bit. But she didn't move. She let this clone of her to bridge the gap between them until it stood an arms length away.

  "I don't want to replace you. I want you to join me. Stop fighting it..." she reached out and took Selene's hand. And in a glow of purplish light their hands began to merge together.

  "No!" Selene pulled away, her hand returned to normal. "Not until I know... I know for sure!"

  The doppelganger gave her a hurt look. Her brow furled in confusion. Then it twisted into rage, flashing her white teeth tight as she grabbed Selene by the throat and effortlessly lifted her from the ground. Selene slapped at their arms, gasping for air. But it was like fighting a stone statue.

  "Now!" they roared at her furiously. The voice was low and distorted. The air rippled around them like heat waves.

  Selene felt the edges of herself fray and dissolve. The core of her being was evaporating outwards.

  "Please... No..." she gasped, her lungs were burning and her throat ached.

  A high-pitched whirr began sounding, building in volume. The smokey void of space that was leaking across the wheat began to recede. And a white light began to emit from Selene. Growing brighter as the noise did.

  Then it pulsed outwards, sending a wave of light across the field.

  And Selene felt herself drop back to the field. She quickly looked up, and around- but the Zykra version of herself was gone. And so was that sound and light. She felt the urge to cry, but resisted it.

  She instead stood up. And yanked her art book off the ground, clutching it close to her chest.

  Anger built up in her, and she smiled, a tear finally spilling out onto her face.

  "Remember that when the time comes, you were the one who chose to fight."

  Ironically she was telling herself that as much as the Zykra aspect of her she fought with.

  Behind the chapter...

  <<<>>> SHOUTOUT SECTION <<<>>>

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