Wake up

  Those two words played over and over in Cameron's ears and mind for what seemed like an eternity. It had started in Aeia's voice, her dulcet, soothing tones offering him a sense of peace and comfort amidst his confusion and anxiety. He had tried to do what she'd said and rouse himself from his slumber. For a split second, he thought he'd done just that, but looking back he couldn't be sure, as all he felt was a sense of extreme discomfort when he tried to recall his previous actions. That feeling of discomfort slowly gave way to frustration at his predicament, which in turn gave way to boredom as eons ticked by with no change in the black inky nothingness that he surmised to be his own barely functioning consciousness. All the while the same two words played over and over like a broken record he couldn't turn off.

  Wake up

  In the beginning it was only Aeia's voice that spoke quietly into the ether. Her words delivered in such a way that it was almost incorrect to call them a command, but rather a plea. After a while, several more voices joined hers, taking that plea and twisting it into a chorus of tortured melody that threatened to drive Cameron mad with its increasing volume and intensity. It felt... suffocating, like he was sucking air through a straw, doing his damndest to fill his lungs with oxygen, and failing at every turn. Survival senses kicked in and his body urged him to flee this place, move away from whatever was doing this to him, but as badly as he wished to be rid of this tortuous hell, he couldn't. He couldn't move, couldn't escape, couldn't even begin to think of a plan as the voices seemed to sink their incorporeal hooks into his very soul, continuing their verbal assault as their song of exodus bellowed from not only everywhere around him, but also in him.

  Wake up

  Cameron felt himself hyperventilating... or at least he wanted to. He wanted to do anything other than just exist in this vast expanse of nothingness with nothing but these voices for company. Eventually though, he realized that this notion wouldn't be possible. No matter how badly he wished to open his mouth and take in air, he came to the conclusion that he didn't have a mouth, or a body, trapped inside a prison of his own thoughts like a bad dream that he couldn't wake from. With that revelation came clarity, as he managed to calm himself down, settling into a space of self reflection, before deciding to see if he could identify the people who belonged to the voices that were screaming their irritating chant.

  The first voice he picked out was Logan's. His gruff, aggressive bark reminded him of the early days in his piloting career when they'd first started training. Those days that had resulted in a bruised and bloody Cameron hating his own very existence, much to his mentors sadistic amusement. Then it was Aurora, with her sarcastic dry toned pitch that sounded scolding to him even now. Afterwards, it was Marcus, his fatherly, caring plea reminding Cameron about his days back on his home world of Ketris, trying to rouse him from a night of hard partying that made up his usual routine before he found his way into the cockpit of a Squire all those months ago.

  To Cameron, those months felt more like years. A gray hazy smudge, blotting out his ability to recall the finer details. The combat assessment, the ball, Darwin's murder, and his forced relinquishment felt like distant memories of a bygone era. As he remembered that life, he picked up on the sounds of his family; Miranda, Augustus, the triplets. He heard Sybil's breathy, tender voice caress his ear like that of a soft ocean breeze, bringing forth another emotion for him; guilt. He felt guilty for the things he said, the last real conversation they had boiling down to little more than a verbal onslaught as he'd snapped at her for being one of the major reasons he found himself away from Ketris in the first place. Now, with nothing but time to think, seeds of doubt and regret slowly began to creep their way inside, causing him to question everything that he'd set to her in that hallway. Did she deserve all of that? Did she really ruin his life? Was being a mercenary under Logan all that bad?

  If he was being honest, he'd say no. The truth was, deep down, he loved what he was doing. The adrenaline of dropping from orbit into a battlefield, the rush of combat as he dodged and slashed his way to victory. There was nothing like it, and under all his layers of homesickness and pain, he knew that this is where he wanted to be.

  'Well... not here' He thought, smiling to himself. Sarcasm aside, he promised himself that if he did manage to wake up, he'd set things straight. Life was too short to be a whiny asshole to those that were trying to help him, and he'd tell her as much, hoping that maybe, if he could keep his foot out of his mouth long enough, they could start over from where they'd been when he'd first left Ketris, with the understanding that this time, it wasn't a matter of politics or tradition between a prince and a diplomat, but just between two people.

  Almost as if his very soul was trying to motivate him to reach this, a scent slowly started to waft in through some strange sensory crack, and he could smell her perfume, a delicate but enticing combination of honey and vanilla that would cause his eyelids to flutter, if he wasn't just some disembodied consciousness floating in an abyss.

  That feeling only lasted for a moment, however as a new voice rose above the din, barking out like the crack of thunder. A voice that felt alien and familiar all at the same time.

  WAKE UP PILOT

  It was a hollow, metallic intonation, cold and demanding in it's gravitas that seemed to shake Cameron from his very core. All at once, everyone else became silent, fleeing the space he'd found himself in, leaving just him and whatever behemoth called out to him to fill that void. Again, it bellowed, erupting forth with the force of a natural disaster.

  I SAID WAKE! ARISE AND TAKE UP MY SWORD ONCE MORE!

  'What... the... fuck' Cameron thought. Who... or better yet what could this be? He felt something shift along his periphery, a disturbance among this midnight veil and suddenly, Cameron became acutely aware that he wasn't alone. Something else was here, something massive and terrifying. Just as that thought flashed through his head, a pair of neon blue orbs the size of suns flashed into existence, looming over him.

  'No... not orbs...' He thought, a chill of terror shooting through his spine... They were eyes. Two blue eyes that regarded him like he was but a mere ant under its boot. Part of him wanted to scream, wanted to flee from this... Leviathan that threatened to drive him mad with every minute it looked upon him. And yet... There was an even bigger part that welcomed its gaze, regarding it like he was looking at an old friend.

  A bright flash of white light blasted his senses, and the twin suns vanished, replaced instead with the blurred vision of a ship hull, as a pop-up window floated annoyingly in his vision.

  CO-PILOT LOST, UPDATING PILOT REGISTRY

  NEURAL BRIDGE LINKED, UPDATING PILOT REGISTRY

  CONGRATULATIONS! NEW CO-PILOT LINKED! CO-PILOT NAME: Aeia

  Blinking away the notifications, Cameron slowly became lucid enough to realize that he wasn't just on any ship, but his home ship of the Fenris, identifying the same stamped metal pattern on the ceiling that ran throughout the hallways and floors of the rest of the ship. More importantly, it was easy for him to deduce that he was in the ship's medical bay from the sheer fact of the EKG beeping in the background, and the oxygen mask pushing stale air into his nostrils. He wanted to sit up, but a lingering stiffness that took up the bulk of his chest persuaded him from any such activity.

  He sighed in annoyance, trying to shuffle and scoot around to get as comfortable as he could on the thin canvas cot he woke up on. It was while he was doing his readjustment however, that he felt a weight pressing down on his left leg just below the knee. With another shift, that knee began to let out a soft snore followed by a quiet dreamy sigh.

  "What the hell?" he whispered, continuing to slowly shift his legs in an attempt to move whoever it was without sounding like an ass for yelling at someone who was staying by him throughout his surgery.

  "Psst... Hey... wake up damnit" he whispered, tucking his chin down in the hopes of catching a glimpse of whoever it was. A curly lock of platinum blonde hair told him his answer as it peeked it's way over his abdomen, and Cameron found it a lot harder to keep quiet.

  "Sybil?!" He exclaimed, watching the sleeping woman's form twitch and shoot upright in an instant. She blinked slowly, trying to get her bearings, pushing a few strands of hair back that had become stuck to the side of her cheek in her slumber.

  "Hmm? Wha-" She said innocently, looking around the room for a moment before turning her eyes on Cameron.

  "Cameron?!" She did a double take, her eyes going wild with glee as she clambered to her feet, snatching him up in a vice-like hug as tears began to moisten the crook of his neck.

  "Oh thank the stars you're alive! I didn't... I didn't want to have too much hope but... you did it! You came back to us!"

  Cameron, never one to kill the mood, responded to her sweet words of worry and affection the only way he knew how; Agonizing screams.

  "Gahhh!!" He wailed, feeling a stabbing pain throughout his body as she put her weight on his chest, "Get off get off get off! Get the hell off of me!"

  She recoiled harshly, eyes wide in shock as she looked at him realizing what she'd done, "Oh god I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just so happy you were awake! Are you okay?! I-"

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  Her words cut off as her eyes rose up to meet Cameron's, "Woah..." She said breathlessly, causing Cameron to regard her with confusion as his pain began to fade.

  "Y-Your eyes..." Was all she said, leaning down to give him a closer inspection.

  "What about my eyes?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She didn't answer right away, which caused his confusion to morph into annoyance and worry as she continued to silently stare, enraptured by what she could see.

  "Hey! Sybil!" He said, trying to snap her out of her stupor.

  She blinked and shook her head, as if his voice had been far away the first time he'd ask, "I'm sorry hon, what did you say?"

  He narrowed his eyebrows, looking at her suspiciously, "What's going on with my eyes?"

  "Oh... um... they're..." She paused trying to find the right words, "I... can't really explain it, but they're... different. Maybe Logan or Aur- HEY!" Her eyes widened again, and Cameron could see something a thought had just dawned on her.

  "What is it?"

  "Logan and Aurora! And Marcus too! They don't know you're up! I need to let them know!" She exclaimed, rising to her feet and quickly racing to the door as Cameron called out to her.

  "Wait, Sybil that's okay you can just tell them-" He was cutoff as the door exiting the medical bay hissed open, and then she was gone.

  "Later..." He finished, sighing as silence filled the room.

  'Oh wow... Pretty and clingy. Lucky you.' A familiar voice chuckled as Cameron looked around the room, trying to find its source.

  "... Aeia?" He asked out loud.

  'The one and only,' he heard her say.

  "What the hell? Where are you?"

  'Where do you think I am?' She asked, and suddenly Cameron felt a strange tingling sensation begin right behind his eyes, as his Neural Uplink started to emit a gentle heat on the back of his neck.

  "Are... are you in my head right now?"

  'How astute you are, my pilot.' She chuckled.

  "Wha... How did- How are you-" He fumbled his words, eyes wide in shock as struggled to form a coherent sentence, causing another chuckle to fill his head.

  'Finish your words,' She said, 'You can do it.'

  "What the fuck are you doing in my head?!" He blurted out as Aeia's chuckling turned into full on laughter.

  'That's a very good question,' She said after taking a moment to compose herself, 'And one I don't have the answer to.'

  "What do you mean you don't have the answer?!" He exclaimed, "Is THIS what a neural bridge does? Is this some sort of sick voyeuristic fetish thing that A.I.s like to do?"

  'You know... most people would love to have the equivalent of a super computer in their head.'

  "Not when that supercomputer can hear what I'm thinking!" He bellowed, pausing for a moment to consider something, "Wait... can you hear my thoughts?"

  'I can, and let me say, just cause you're not saying the insults out loud does not make them any less hurtful.'

  "Then stop listening to them!"

  'It's not my fault. It's pretty empty in here so they stand out fairly easily.'

  "Did... did you just call me stupid?"

  '...We're getting off topic,' She said, ignoring the question, "The point is, that I can't find any record of an A.I. having residence inside of a pilot's consciousness in any of my historical logs on the subject. If I had to take a guess, I'd say it would probably have to do with the rather slapdash process in which we were linked."

  "Slapdash?" He asked.

  'Historically, yes,' She said, 'Our introduction and partnership is not the norm for how other pilots are paired with their A.I.'

  "It's not?!"

  'Is that not what I just said?' There was a slight pause before she continued, 'Perhaps it'd be better if I just showed you, let me see if this works...'

  "If what wo-" He started, but was cut off as a vision flashed inside of his mind, showing in great detail a pilot sitting inside of a device reminiscent of the Physilight Projection System he'd used on Arsius Station to spar with train with Logan when he'd first received the Headsman. This one, however, was different in the fact that instead of the tubing running to the pilots Neural Uplink jack being received by a helmet which in turn ran to a computer, this one ran the length of the room to a metal dais where a Co-Pilot canister stood, locked securely in place with a system of pressurized cuffs and connected to a receiver port. Once that cable was inserted into the port, the pilot went limp as the canister flared in color, signaling the beginning of the process while a team of scientists and medics observed the interaction, scribbling on datapads and checking on the pilot's vitals periodically. Cameron felt a sort of unspoken understanding as he watched this ritual play out in his head, nevertheless, Aeia began to narrate for him to give context to the images.

  'Normally this is how a Neural Bridge is created. It's not so different from how me and you did ours. The pilot interacts with the A.I. the bridge is formed and the pilot awakens with a new co-pilot. The main difference here, is the Bridging apparatus goes through several data filters in order to not bombard the pilot with information overload. You, on the other hand, had no such filter, meaning you took on one hundred percent of the information from our interaction. To be honest, I'm curious as to why your brain didn't turn into jelly, but maybe it had to do with the fact you were already comatose when we first met? I honestly do not know. But I'm happy that didn't happen!'

  "Yeah..." Cameron said softly, feeling a knotting sensation at his stomach as her words hit home. It was luck that had kept him alive after all. Lucky that Logan had witnessed the situation and knew what to do, lucky that they'd been on a mission to grab an A.I. in the first place, lucky that he'd been braindead just enough that instead of dying, he'd been able to interact with and link with Aeia... He was one lucky bastard indeed.

  "Guess I'd rather be lucky than good," He mused quietly. Then he blinked, considering what had just happened and spoke up again, "Hold on... you can project images into my head?"

  'Apparently so!' She exclaimed, 'It was honestly just a guess on whether or not I could do it, but when I could tell you were receiving and identifying the information I was sending to you as a quote unquote "vision" I decided to just continue my explanation.'

  "So you can do that, and hear my thoughts?"

  'Indeed,' She said, 'Though I'm confused as to why you're responding verbally instead of with your thoughts.'

  Cameron frowned, thinking clearly as he responded, 'Force of habit I guess..'

  'There you go!' She cheered, 'Good job. Now-'

  The sound of multiple pairs of feet rapidly approaching from the hall outside, interrupted their conversation, as Cameron focused on the door.

  ''Looks like we're about to have company..." He said, sighing outwardly as if to express exhaustion at the thought of social interaction, but inside he felt a warmth in his chest at the thought of seeing his friends. A warmth that Aeia was quick to point out.

  'Huff all you want, tough guy,' She said with a giggle, 'But your brain is going into overtime with its production of Endorphins, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Dopamine.'

  "Shut up..." He grumbled.

  'Oh, by the way... Don't tell them I'm in here.'

  "What?!" He hissed.

  'Have fun!' She said in a sing-song voice.

  "What the fuck do you mean not to tel- Hey guys!" He exclaimed with a smile as the door hissed open and Logan, Marcus, Sybil, and Aurora practically fell through the entryway.

  "Cameron!" Aurora squealed, eyes wide at first in happiness, then in horror as she realized she sounded like a blushing school girl.

  "Master Pell- I mean..." Marcus said, clearing his throat as Sybil looked at him pointedly with a raised eyebrow. He recovered quickly however, smiling wide as he looked upon with watery eyes. "So happy to see you're okay Mr. Ket."

  "Welcome back to the world of the living kid," Logan said with a chuckle as he walked up to him, "What took you so- what the hell?" That chuckle was quickly cut off as his eyes went wide in shock when he got a closer look at Cameron's face.

  "What?" Cameron asked, raising his eyebrow.

  "You're uh... your eyes." Logan said, motioning to his own eyes with his pointer and middle finger.

  "I told you!" Sybil called out from the back of the room.

  "Let me see!" Aurora said, pushing her way through to peer at Cameron, her face mere inches from his own. She gasped, with wide-eyed wonder as her mouth hung slack.

  "By the stars... they’re so..."

  "So what?!" Cameron snapped, "What the fuck is up with my eyes?!"

  "They're uh... There... you know... different."

  "Different how?!" He growled, trying to sit up in frustration before a harsh stab of pain caused him to yowl in pain, laying back down as he muttered out a string of expletives.

  "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on with goddamn eyes?" He said with a pain filled strain through clenched teeth.

  "I think it's easier to just show," Sybil said, stepping forward and pulling a small circular disk from her pocket, "I didn't have a handheld mirror with me, so you'll have to settle for the one in my makeup compact."

  She slid her thumb into a divot in the seam of the disk and pressed in. With an audible pop the disk opened, revealing a few reservoirs of makeup, well used in shades of muted natural colors. On the opposite side was a tiny, circular mirror that Sybil slowly brought into Cameron's view, and finally, he saw what all the commotion about.

  His usual sapphire blue eyes, the highlight of the Pellyn family lineage, were gone. In their place, were two orbs of bright blue light that shined with a brilliance reminiscent of a neon welcome sign. In that blue, a random sequence of translucent ones and zeros passed rapidly inside the color, like some sort of binary code that made his head hurt the longer he focused on it. His pupils were darkest black and seemed to be fixed in their diameter, refusing to dilate or shrink no matter how long he stared. For lack of a better word, they looked... mechanical, and Cameron's own breath left him for several seconds.

  "Well..." He said with gulp, "These are new..."