Nova glanced at Kade in disbelief. Does he have a death wish? The air in the room was frozen. Everyone teetering on edge at Kade’s seemingly random outburst. The bottle of Nait… He thinks with how sterile that facility was that there’s no way Baixu would allow something like that.

  She had a feeling something was off with the whole group. A ragtag team of nobodies, supposedly working together for the Resistance. Nova knew she had never heard of them before. The barkeep did seem to know her, and everyone else in the cantina as well. Kade’s right, we deserve some answers. But, this was the wrong way to go about it.

  Mila got in Kade’s face, “This is how it’s going to be?”

  Nova stepped forward and put an arm out, separating Kade and Mila.

  “Kade, cool it.” Nova looked at Mila, “Mila, I’ll handle him.”

  What am I doing?

  She grabbed Kade’s hand and pulled him out from behind the table he sat at. Kade broke his stare off with Mila and followed. Nova took him to a room in the back of the cantina, shut the door and glared at him. Something inside her knew this was out of the ordinary, why should she care about these people? After all, she only met them a few days ago.

  Kade had only been with Mila and the rest for a few weeks, unless what just happened was just a show, so now the question was how to convince Kade to tell Nova everything. She was interested in Mila, and how well connected she seemed.

  Nova bit her lip, then: “Kade what’s going on?”

  He scoffed, “You’ve been here what, three days? Don’t tell me you don’t think that everything that’s happened is a little suspicious.”

  It had been. Mila knew about Nova’s cyberware, she even seemed to know the Bartender at the cantina, which was in ruins the first time they came here. Nothing was adding up. What was Pinky’s purpose? The Baixu facility…

  “It’s Thanatos.” Kade said, definitively.

  No. It can’t be. This far out? Nova thought about it. If there’s nothing in the records, maybe the AI got rid of everything. But, why hasn’t anyone said anything? Maybe… maybe they're scared of us too.

  As if Kade was coming to the same conclusion, “They think we’re part of her pack. She must have been some Corporate somebody here on the Outer Rim planets. Thanatos gets rid of the records, only people who knew her – or at least her reign as corporate – remember her. I wish we could see into her OS, and get a glimpse of what’s happening behind the scenes.” He sighed, “It could be that she has some brain-wave cyberware, maybe she can see through people? Like into their minds?” He shook his head ‘Probably not’.

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

  “If it is the AI… We need to kill her before she infects us.”

  Nova thought back to her time on Guuny. The AI had destroyed everything. Everyone with Diamond level cybernetics or higher had been utterly consumed. Nova was thankful that she hadn’t been a part of that group.

  Searching for answers between themselves wasn’t getting them anywhere. They needed more information. But, if the records have been altered then where do we begin? We can’t just ask Mila.

  “Kade, you need to cool it down out there. Let’s go back, you apologize, and hope Mila will let us tag along for a little bit longer. Just say you were drunk or something.”

  Nova’s heartbeat quickened.

  “Ok, ok. But, Mila’s onto me. She won’t give anything up. Look, I’ve been with her for weeks and it might sound unbelievable. But this is one of the first times I haven’t been in the same room as her. I feel like I can think clearly.”

  Nova could feel the pieces locking into place. Cyberware that can control people. She had never heard of it before. Is it possible that this was something new? Something manufactured by Echelon to sow distrust? Nova felt herself become clear-minded now. She brought up her OS.

  Nova OS: Level One

  Eidolon Core (_Iron_)

  Title: None

  Skills: (Locked)

  Stats: (Locked)

  Specials: (Locked)

  Nothing useful right now. She thought about it half a second longer. If she’s connected to our cyberware, or even our brains, surely there’s a way to trace the connection.

  “Hold me Kade.”

  He looked at her with a touch of confusion, then caught her as her body went limp.

  Nova stood in a small room. Twenty by twenty feet, ten foot high ceilings. Her OS’ Haven. On one wall was her OS, along with all of her locked abilities, she only had the Eidolon Core, which was a standard issue for hackers like herself. She looked at another wall, her connections. With an Eidolon Core, she could track her own body’s effects. On the wall was her body, outlined in white with connections running through her, it was like a sixth sense for magical energies when she wasn’t in the Haven. Here though, she could see exactly what was happening to her. Blue for magic of her own doing, red for anyone or anything else. Sure enough, she could see that an unknown red line had curled into her anatomy, through her brain and down her nervous system. How did I not sense this? Mila must be… very powerful.

  She awoke, only moments had passed in Kades arms. He was surprisingly strong, and she could feel his muscles through the jacket he had on. She pushed off him, standing for herself.

  “She is using brainwaves to control us. Probably all of us. I’m not sure if it’s parasitical or not. I think she has to be near us to use the connection. It’s probably why you were able to run, and why she was mad that you had left.” But why us? Armed with this knowledge, there was still not much they could do. Except, “Wait, the energy didn’t work on you when you were drunk.”

  Nova continued, “If that’s the case, maybe it won’t work on us when she’s drunk.”

  Kade nodded along to the logic, “That’s why she drinks the Nait, its piss water. You couldn’t get drunk if you had ten bottles of that stuff.”

  That’s it. If she’s not in control of herself, she’ll have no way to control us.

  Babblings of Babylon (1A - Present):