ARC OF THE IMMORTALS/ Book 1 — Part 2

Pursuit: 44/ Catch and Release

Recap: Jac bridges to Nez’s inner realm. Bendel is aware Jac is onboard. He sends Luna to deal with Jac. Touzdae is thwarted from establishing the out-going bridge. Jac pursued by Luna, uses a laz pistol. Nez’s electrical bolt of lightning stops after

the first strike on Bendel.

While attempting to blend with Nez’s Realm, the Needlecraft is blocked. This creates electrical shorts and fires in the cockpit.

Recap concluded.

As Jac climbed up onto the surface of the stone slabs Nez appeared. Luna stepped up behind her and pressed the Laz piston barrel into her back.

“Give it up Jac, or I will kill her.”

“Okay,” Jac knelt down and put his hands on his head.

She pressed a stabilization lock on Nez’s arm, strode over to Jac and put on a felt pad on the back of his neck. She opened a communicator and spoke into Bendel’s ear.

In his daydream, Bendel embraced her and they kissed. He came into the present- awake.

“Nez is awake and under stabilization. Jac is ready for transport.”

‘Run, Nez — run,’ Jac thought.

The stabilizer short-circuited and Nez dematerialized.

Bendel pressed the button. Jac transported into the holding cell where Grul Bahj was once jailed.

“You will help us Jac, or I’ll tear this ship into pieces and your Nez Fish will die.”

Jac said nothing.

Bendel looked at him through the bridge monitor. Jac nodded faintly, in agreement.

“I thought you might. I’ll deal with Touzdae soon.” He shut the com-link.

“Get the med kit and take out gel number five and a medi-knee organo-brace. This fucking hurts. Harry? Harry!”

Harry came out from his hiding place.

Touzdae awakened. The piloting controls — damaged, but capable of repair. Her gloves were burnt and stuck to her hands, but med gel deployed and the healing had begun.

A message came through by thought — of sorts. It was Phorae. If you’re hearing this voice of mine you must be in trouble. Remember the neural wireless. Also, there is a third neural pod aboard. Eject it as soon as possible. It will fold space and time back to the station. You will still have two pods. Remember. And also remember you have options.

“I’ll have to crawl up through the engine core to activate pod one,” she mumbled to herself. This was the emergency plan, according to Jac. “Too self-confident with himself — since he became one.”

Geordae, she thought. I’m supposed to send a message to Geordae, to pick me up, she paused. The message, neural wireless.

“How do I do that?” Thought flowed. Oh yeah.

Neural Wireless Interface Eject third pod, prearranged flight path. Confirm,” she thought.

“Neural Wireless Off-Line, use manual back-up,” the computer said.

“Computer, Access Manual Back-up Audio for Neural Wireless.”

“Unavailable.”

She looked at her hands. The gloves were gone and her skin was being replaced with a new layer. She calculated how long this would take before she could move out of the chair… The pain was subsiding.

“Computer, put yourself into a 48-hour diagnostic loop, commencing in 30 minutes.”

“Affirmative. Silent countdown from 30 minutes, mark.”

When Bendel’s knee fused with the brace he assisted Harry with repairs to the essential equipment on the bridge.

Bendel peered into the monitor of the holding cell and depressed the com switch:

“I will have Touzdae’s body for my Luna now and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The Fish on plasma jets inched its way through the pockets surrounding the Well. Bendel tuned the improved sensors, improved since Nez’s awakening.

“Take a look at this,” Bendel looked at Harry.

“It looks like a time signature from a ship,” Harry.

“That’s what I thought too. And my scans are inconclusive regarding anyone on board. But I need to see this first hand.”

“Can you transport over there in this soup?” Harry queried.

“No, we’re going to dock.”

Touzdae forced herself to stay conscious. She unstrapped herself.

That took too long. No, no, focus on forward motion. Stay positive or neutral, she thought. She slipped out of the pilot’s seat and down to the deck. The transdimensional cabin was up and functioning.

“Computer, are the escape pods linked under a separate computer system?”

“Affirmative.”

She walked aft through the transdimensional cabin and found the seam. She coordinated her 3rd eye with her hands to minimize pain and increase function. With care for her hands and fingers, she undid the holographic panel. She used part of her belt to pry open the hatch. It was open enough so she could climb through, but not close it. She floated through the initial access tube, found the switch to summon the pod, and flipped it. She heard the Needlecraft clanging as it began the docking procedure.

She knew it was someone aboard the Fish. She knew it was not Jac.

The Fish locked with the hatch. There was a hiss of air bleeding out.

Hatches opened. Bendel climbed in clad in an exo-suit.

“I’m on board.” Bendel waited, counting in his head. “Harry!” he shouted.

“I’m here.”

“Are you recording?”

“Ah yes. I am now.”

“Cockpit empty, transdimensional cabin functional. Computer seems to be down. I’m running a scan.”

“Well?” Harry demanded after a few minutes.

“Well, what?”

“The results of your scan?”

“Inconclusive.”

“Am going to check out the engine core.”

If you want to catch-up on any chapters you missed in part 2 [Part 2 contains link for contents of part 1]:

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K. Pearson Bradley| Dougfrombk | Rebecca Romanelli | Joseph Lieungh | Dr. Preeti Singh | Ravyne Hawke | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Kris Bedenian | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Blaine Coleman | Lee David Tyrrell | DL Nemeril | Rip Parker | Annelise Lords | Libby Shively McAvoy |