Chapter Thirty-Five – Void Terminus

Chapter Thirty-Five – Void Terminus

“We do what we can. Most of us are hard workers, and you’d be hard pressed to find a samurai that wouldn’t do some horrible things to keep people safe. It’s not just about killing aliens; it’s about trying to make the world we live in a better place.

This isn’t the nicest world we live in, but damn it, it’s ours too.”

–Good Morning New America Interview with Rising Tide, 2034

***

The boat bobbed in the water, and I had to sway with it not to fall ass-first into the shit stream. Once I had my balance I shifted to get a better footing and turned towards the Sewer Dragon piloting the boat.

We weren’t moving, which was probably because the guy was too busy staring at me, wide-eyed. “Turn us around and park back at the docks,” I said.

He glanced past me and down to the lower half of Doc Hack’s body that was currently leaking all over the deck. He spun the wheel around and we started to head back.

I stared at the blade that Myalis had chosen for me. It had a metal rod at the back, straight, with a sharp cap on the end, and all along that rod, not touching it but almost, was a paper-thin slice of nothing that seemed to be sucking in the air around it with a constant hiss.

Deactivating.

The black slice disappeared with a snap.

“What was that?” I asked. “I swear I saw stars in there.”

The Void Terminus Hiss is a melee weapon whose main function is to create a temporary rift. Objects entering that rift are transported to a location in empty space. The edges of the rift are, in layman’s terms, very sharp.

I stared at the sword which was currently just a metal stick. I didn’t miss the fact that it had one of those Japanese-looking hilts, with the round guard thing. Though the guard on this one looked like a cat’s paw, and there was a small plastic cat dangling from a loop at the very bottom, like one of those toys people used to hook onto old-school phones. “So… it murders people by teleporting a slice of them elsewhere.”

Essentially, yes. It is obscenely dangerous, but the requirements for that rift to exist make that particular kind of technology unwieldy and unviable in most combat situations. It so happens that as a melee weapon it is quite lethal.

“Fucking awesome,” I said. “If I swear while this thing is dangling by my side, will I cut my own leg off?”

I will do my best to prevent you from cutting your own limbs off. Though I am merely a millennia-old hyper intelligent machine with unfathomable powers. There’s only so much I can do to counter human idiocy.

“You’re sassy today,” I said.

You’ve essentially won, as far as I can tell. All that remains is the tedious work of cleaning up and assessing the situation, which I suspect will be somewhat complex. Giving you a moment to relax will help you manage the stress, and for some reason you find insulting banter amusing.

I didn’t know what to say to that, exactly. “That’s nice to know?” I tried.

The boat came around and lurched as it hit the edge of the docks. I jumped up and onto the nearest pier, then walked over to the tower. The Sewer Dragon I left behind looked around, confused, but he stayed put.

Honestly, I didn’t care what he did; as far as I was concerned, I was done here.

The tower had the usual airlock set up, though the decontamination shower here actually seemed to have some pressure to it, which was nice.

I stepped up the staircase and came upon the room where I’d killed a few of Doc Hack’s buddies. It wasn’t a pretty sight. My Claw wasn’t a delicate weapon, and I think the blender bit was wider than most people, which meant that the blended hole it left in them had a place to leak out of.

Didn’t feel like sticking around the mess much, so I moved on past it all and shoved my way into the corridors leading back to Doc Hack’s lab.

I found Gomorrah jogging over to me. “Hey,” I said.

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“You’re alive. Did he get away?” she asked.

“Oh man, you didn’t see it!” Raccoon said over the line. “It was awesome! Cat was like ‘fuck you!’ and her sword was like, hisschaw! Then he fell into the shit.”

I blinked. “You were watching this whole time and you only spoke up now?” I asked.

“You were being all broody and cool, like heroes are after they kill the big bad. I wasn’t gonna interrupt your Batman moment.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said. I sighed. “Rac’s right. Doc Hack’s very dead. Unless he can survive with only half his brain, then I don’t think we’ll need to worry about him anymore. I think we’ve won?”