Chapter 10 – Arthros

  Psychosomatic Output: 10,000 Bio-units

  Synaptic Rank: Unbound

  Arthros sat in silence, watching Jericho’s unmoving body. It had only been ten minutes, but it felt like years. He couldn’t help but feel a little nervous; not for Jericho’s sake, but for the fact that he might have been wrong. He didn’t want to add to the list of pointless Kleth’altho trips.

  Arthros’ lip curled slightly as his thoughts went back to his own test—the excruciating pain Zero had inflicted on him as she was settling into his brain tissue. That pain was the first thing he ever remembered.

  Not that he had a life to remember... he had awakened with Zero.

  “Friends,” Jericho mumbled, in a quiet, somewhat slurred voice.

  Arthros shot forward—Jericho was waking up! His eyes were closed and his face looked pale, but his breath was getting quicker. He was coming out of his deep state.

  Arthros placed a hand on Jericho’s heart. The length of his hand easily spanned the width of Jericho’s chest. His heartbeat had picked up in speed as well. It felt strong and healthy.

  “He’s coming out of his deep state,” he murmured to Zero, who had been strangely quiet since he brought Jericho on board.

  “That was fast.”

  “It’s almost unbelievable.”

  Only Arthros had passed his test faster. Every other pilot that he knew had taken at least three times as long. How could it even be possible?

  The others were going to be upset. He would have to keep an eye out for that.

  He left Jericho and went to the cockpit. The pale globe floating in front of him shifted to a crude map of the star system, or rather a single quadrant of the star system.

  The image of Kleth’altho shrunk until three planets could be seen. A planet of similar size was less than a parsec away, and approximately 2.6 parsecs away was a much larger world.

  Arthros curled his fingers around the largest world and flicked his wrist, “Plot a course for Hokku.”

  “With pleasure.”

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  Arthros rolled his eyes. She didn’t even try to hide her excitement at returning. “Maybe next time I’ll leave you there.”

  “That’s impossible and cruel. I would never leave you.”

  “Obviously I was joking.”

  “Arthros the stoic, joking? The twins are rubbing off on you.”

  Arthros scoffed, “No one influences me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  He took a moment to ponder that question and thought of the twins. He was surprised to discover that he was eager to return home.

  He missed them, and not just the two brothers, but his entire division.

  They had no real place of comfort in Hokku. They had no family or friends outside of the Navy. They were outcasts and it wasn’t fair. They were pilots, and they wielded a power far greater than any Hokkonian civilian.

  Yet, they were outcasts all the same.

  “He’s awake.” Zero’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “Already?”

  Arthros stood out of his chair and headed for the back of the ship. He could hear movement from inside the lab, and when he entered, Jericho was fiddling with his restraints.

  Jericho glanced up when Arthros stepped in the room, “I passed.”

  “Zero, scan his vitals.”

  “They’re fine, great even.”

  Arthros frowned, “That’s impossible.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Jericho asked in a chipper tone.

  Arthros ignored him, “I’m going to remove the spike now.”

  “You didn’t tell me it was going to be so painful,” Jericho said with a cheerful bob of his head.

  Arthros froze, “You remember?”

  “Bits and pieces, but for the most part, yeah.”

  Almost no one had memories of the integration, though most didn’t wake up for a few days. With a swift pluck he removed the spike from the base of Jericho’s skull and put it on the countertop behind him.

  “How do you feel?” he watched the human carefully.

  Jericho stretched his shoulders and grimaced, “My muscles feel sore, but my mind feels weightless, like nothing could ever bother me again.”

  The human’s grimace shifted to his uncanny smile. For a moment, Arthros was too stunned to reply. Who in Tril’s name had he found? Where was the residual nausea and cognitive dysfunction? Where was the grief of his lost love?

  “And your head, any pain?”

  Jericho pursed his lips, “It hurts a little, but nothing crazy. Sort of like a pressure behind my eyes.”

  “That’s just the AI settling, it’s normal,” Arthros murmured.

  What wasn’t normal was how quickly it was happening. This was a process that should have taken a long time.

  “So does this mean I’m going to become a pilot?”

  Arthros gave himself a mental shake. He had been too stunned to acknowledge the fact that Jericho really did pass the test. It was a monumental moment, years in the making. He really did find a human compatible.

  He allowed himself the tiniest twinge of a smile, “Congratulations, Jericho. You’re the first human in history to pass an integration test.”

  Jericho’s smile widened.

  “Welcome to the HWND program.”

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