Lockspur and Carolyn crept through the constricting tunnel, having fled the chaos of the earlier battle. But now, with his glasses threatening to fail, darkness swam around him like a shark sensing blood in the water.
During the earlier battle, a raptor had knocked Lockspur's glasses off his head; and another had trampled them. Carolyn scooped them up as they fled and stuffed them on his face. But now, their poor reception fluxuated between green static and rolling images as Carolyn dragged him along as if he were a toddler in the grip of a frantic parent.
After bouncing between walls for the last 20-minutes, his glasses failed, reset, failed again, and then reset. But now, in the rising confusion of the echoing, criss-crossing tunnels, he found himself in the lead. And every time the glasses stuttered and stumbled, another salivating horde of spectres invaded his mind.
Worse yet was the warning symbol flashing in the upper corner of his glasses. A depiction of a battery with a slash mark through it. Low power. And now, there was the fear that the solid-state battery would fail for good.
"We're going to be fine." Carolyn said, placing a hand on his shoulder. His whole body tensed in the darkness, and she realized he was on the verge of losing it. "This isn't your fault."
He jerked his shoulder away. "That's a piss-poor excuse for putting us in danger." Every time he felt like he was getting control of the situation, everything devolved into chaos and bloodshed.
He wanted this shit-show mission to end. Everything had gone sideways, and now here he was back in the dark, surrounded by a million hungry reasons to cut and run. And somewhere out there, Dahl was in danger, and Moss was back on the ship. Darkness stole his sight. The screens came on again, dimmed and then focused. Lockspur's heart raced as he drew in deep, ragged breaths that hitched. He exhaled a hoarse cough when his glasses flickered.
"We're going to get out of here," Carolyn said, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him.
Sure we are, he thought.
"We are," she insisted.
The whole mind-reading thing is getting a little annoying, he mused, projecting his mind at her as he walked towards an opening into a large cavern. Then the stench of blood and spilled guts filled his nostrils, and he froze. They were back at the scene of the battle.
Carolyn walked past him into the center of the killing field and fell on her knees. "She's gone."
"That's good. Isn't it?"
Carolyn turned to him, and even through the distorted images, he could see tears of fear pouring down her cheeks. "Sorry," she said. "I'm scared."
"You're scared," he said, brows rising in surprise. Her fear meant they were in real trouble.
She gestured to the entrance. "If something comes around that corner and I can't connect to it, we're dead. My gifts are no longer a guarantee of our survival."
She approached a raptor carcass, leaned out over it and inspected the torn-up corpse without a care. A stink of its spilled bowels wafted across the cavern, and she covered her mouth and nose. Lockspur's stomach flip-flopped, and a surge of searing acid filled his mouth. Carolyn knelt down beside the creature, and Lockspur's eyes burst wide as visions of bloody screams filled his mind. He screamed at her in his head, why are you doing that? It could still be alive.
"Calm down. It's dead," Carolyn said, waving his concerns away as if swatting at flies. "I'm not picking up any brain activity. They're all dead." She stood and turned to him. "And just to be clear, if you want me to stay out of your head, stop screaming at me in yours."
"How can you tell?"
"Tell what?"
"If you can't connect with them. How can you tell they're dead?"
"That's it," she said. "I can still read them. But I can't connect with them. That's never happened before. Something is blocking me."
He stared at her. She reminded him of Dahl, and he closed his eyes and prayed to God she was still alive.
"She's fine," Carolyn said.
"Who?"
"Dahl. She's with Eve."
"I'd ask who Eve is, but I'm sure you wouldn't tell me." When she said nothing, he added, "There's a lot you're not telling me, isn't there?"
"Definitely."
Lockspur followed Carolyn around the cavern, watching her check the bodies, one by one, and realized something was off about her. Something that should have been obvious right from the point when they first met. Carolyn wasn't wearing any night-vision gear. But she could see in the dark better than he could with glasses.
He stepped in close to keep his voice from carrying through the tunnels. "How are you doing that?"
"Doing what?" She asked as he looked over her shoulder. When she looked at him, he peered into her eyes, noting there were no telltale signs of a shine. No reflections; no inner light.
"Seeing."
"Observant, aren't we?"
A sound filtered out of the darkness, and he peered around the rocky cavern, making sure none of the other carcasses were lying in wait. Carolyn could tell if they were playing dead, but he couldn't.
He grimaced, hand gripping the hilt of his useless firearm. He hadn't brought a weapon with any real stopping power. Just a 9mm. A BB gun against a horde of hungry T-Rex.
Carolyn hadn't needed a weapon. More than once since their initial meeting, he had watched her domesticate raptors with just a look. But now, standing there in the dark, he realized they were defenseless. He hadn't considered that Carolyn might lose her powers, rendering them both helpless prey.
"I'm not helpless. I have other ways of protecting us."
As he stood behind her, watching her search the cavern, a thought slipped into his mind. Is she a replicant?
"Stop," she snapped over her shoulder, and he stepped back in surprise. He had meant nothing by the question, but her sudden anger threw him off guard. She threw a warning hand in his face. "Never ask that again. How many have lost their lives because of labels like that?"
"Wait," he stuttered, baffled by her sudden change of demeanor. There was a dripping venom in her voice, and realized the replicant purge had touched her. "I wasn't accusing you of anything. I just wanted to know how you can see without an eye-shine."
"Then ask," Carolyn said, reeling on him. "Don't make up shit in your own head." She squinted daggers in the green darkness and raged in a voice far too loud for his liking. "Do you see anything in my eyes?"
He shook his head and stepped away, fearing she might scramble his brainpan.
"As if," she blurted, shaking her head in frustration and disgust.
Lockspur's complexion paled with fear, and a mixture of anger and shame forced her to turn away. She moved to the next raptor, muttering something unflattering about people like him. Although a tone of regret softened her fading tirade.
Lockspur followed Carolyn through the darkness, trying not to project the wrong mental images. He realized she was listening. Even if she didn't want to. But as he watched her, images of the hectic events of the past few hours replayed in his mind. Images she could see. He had moved through the jagged labyrinth as if they were outside in the daylight. He tallied up everything he had learned about her and came up with not much. As if you can learn anything about someone after only a few hours of chaos. But then there's the whole mind-reading bit. That's strange.
Carolyn stood and shot him a pinched-faced glare. "And there it is. Because I'm not like you, I'm strange."
"No," he replied, looking at her as if she had startled him out of his own mind.
"No? How many people have you hunted down? Corporations create life from nothing, take their money to augment the sick and injured and then imprison them for possessing the upgrades they got rich selling. Fucking hypocrites." During the uncomfortable silence that followed, he spent most of the time trying to figure out where that place might be, and wished he could read her mind.
"You wouldn't want to read my mind." Carolyn said, turning back to Lockspur with a warning grimace. "Reading minds isn't a gift. It's brought me more harm than good. When people find out you're a telepath, they fear you'll learn all their dirty little secrets. You think I'm free. I have had to hide who I am since I was a little girl."
He wanted to ask her to explain, but didn't. He gestured to his face. "If these cheap pieces of shit stop working, can you get us out alive?"
"You won't die here, Carlos," she replied in a tone that meant he was being an alarmist. "It's not your time."
"And how did you come to that assumption?" he asked, unsure if he should trust her or not.
"Because it isn't an assumption, or the first time we've done this."
"And I'm supposed to just take your word?" A strange apprehension passed over her face. "Just tell me what's got you pissed off."
She turned away from him, leaned down, pretending to check a carcass. "Our journey didn't start here. It starts18 months from now, in a hospice center on Sol Lucia."
He froze in disbelief, touched his stomach. "But I'm cured."
"You survived the first time you came, but Moss and Dahl did not. During the race from the forward compartment to the ship, you jumped over the tailgate, struck your head, and passed out. You never trapped the raptor. It killed the others. The auto-doc placed you in stasis and returned you home after the bots repaired the ship."
"That's a lie! I saved them. They're alive!"
"You never woke up, Carlos. During the return flight, the cancer spread to every part of your body. When I saw you on Sol Lucia, you were an emaciated corpse plugged into a dozen machines. The only thing left of the man you were was the dormant mind trapped inside."
"I don't have two credits to rub together. No one would pay to hook me up to life support machines, let alone pay for hospice care."
"Lilith paid."
"Bullshit," Lockspur replied, and let out an explosive laugh, steeped in irony and sarcasm. "There's no payday for her in prolonging the life of a corpse."
"Believe it or not, money has never been her primary goal. She needed you to save them, for you to survive and complete your delivery. The night she found you in that alley on Sol Lucia. The night you saw her true face. She had gone looking for you. She left this fight and went back in time. Everything in the past and future depended on your completing that delivery and what comes next. Without you, everything falls apart."
"No one needs an old bastard like me."
"In that moment, you were the most important person alive. Your success affects everyone in the past, present and future. And you're not an old bastard anymore. And your part in this fight is far from over."
"Oh sure. No pressure, right? She just wants me to save the universe?"
"No, that's too much for anyone to take on. Just be yourself, and what comes, comes."
"Why did you go to Sol Lucia?"
"To fulfill a promise. Lilith has great power, but there are things she can't do. So… she sent me to link your minds. To save humanity. And my family."
"You mind-fucked me, like you did these dumb creatures."
"After you agreed to Lilith's terms, I upgraded your DNA with an injection of her blood, and she placed you in stasis, headed to the Sol Lucia dock where she met you and waited for the primary objective."
"What objective?"
"What made you try to fly that ship? You knew you couldn't. But you did. Why?"
"I don't know why. It was nuts. I would nev…" He paused mid-word, running the events of that day through his mind. The thought had come to him as if someone had flipped on a light switch. "You put the thought in my head."
"A simple suggestion. However, my suggestion only prolonged their lives for a short while. They still died. The raptor pulled itself from beneath the ship and killed you all. It was you who saved them. Not me. You saved them, Carlos. I have to say the grenade in a bloody rag was inspiring. That was all you. I'm sincerely jealous."
He lifted his shirt, gestured to his left side, and touched the skin. "What else did you do to me?" He felt around for the thick scar tissue wrapping from belly button to spine. The mass of scar tissue was gone; the abdominal injury, too. "If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it."
"I suppose she promised you a cure and told you someone would meet you. And you believed her?"
"I believed you."
"Oh, that wasn't me. I channeled Lilith's mind into yours."
"Does this have to be so complicated?"
"A wise man once said. When one messes with time, shit gets fucked up."
"Really, my own words. Who are you, Carolyn? How can you do the things you do?"
"Waylan Yutani wishes they had access to these mods. These implants were designed using repurposed replicant biotech."
He gestured at her eyes. "How do they work?"
"First, these aren't implants. No one where I'm from would let those first-gen butchers glue lenses on the outside of their corneas. In what universe is that a good idea?"
"There are no tech mods out there I don't have access to," Lockspur said. "And I've never heard of the kinds of mods you have."
"That's because they don't exist."
He gestured at her face and said, "And yet, there they are."
"Yet. They don't exist yet."
Lockspur earned a lot of credits buying the latest mods for mercenaries and military forces alike. He had even come into possession of a few unregulated military prototypes smuggled out of Waylan Yutani. He'd sourced most of his mods through several black market contacts. But in all his years of trafficking mods, he'd encountered no one selling biotech implants. Although he supposed there could be a few prototypes available somewhere. He wondered, now that he might have access to future mods, how he could get her to help me locate a few biotech mods?
"Not a chance," she said to no one in particular.
He grumbled under his breath.
"I suggest…" exclaimed, tearing him out of his own thoughts. "You stop wasting time scheming implants and stay focused on helping us get out of here in one piece." She gestured to her own face. "And for the record, these mods used my own DNA to reconfigure my existing eye matrices."
"Yeah," he said. "Just tell me who offers those services, so I can shoot them before they put me out of business." When she turned to him, mouth agape, he added, "And what about not letting butchers touch your eyes? Ocular implants seem pretty invasive."
"Not really. The whole procedure only took a few minutes." She turned her head, touched a forefinger to her lower lid and drew it down. See. No scarring.
"Oh," he said, rolling his eyes. "I suppose they even validated your parking?"
"I wasn't driving back then," she said in an earnest tone. "These are light years ahead of those old chemical shines. This is a complete ocular replacement."
"They cut your eyes out?"
"Not exactly. Every cell in the human body undergoes routine replacement. The injection just replaced defective cells with healthy ones. It didn't even hurt. These improved eyes allow for normal pupillary responses that control the amount of ambient light reaching the upgrades. No focused beam lenses means no long-term buildup of scar tissue on the back of the eye, and, best of all, no chance of blindness and no one is the wiser."
"Back then," he said, more to himself. "How long ago were your eyes altered?"
"I was seven, and I remember the day well. It was the day my life changed forever."
"What kind of shithead does that to a child?"
"My grandfather made these for me."
"Seriously?" Lockspur's mouth dropped in shock.
She nodded. "When I was born. I had certain inoperable birth defects that left me blind. He didn't just design these to make it so I can see in the dark. These replaced my damaged eyes, restoring my sight."
"It's official. I'm an asshole."
"You're not." Carolyn said, smiling at him. "You couldn't have guessed he gave these out of kindness. And you're partly right. I was terrified the day I received these."
Lockspur leaned forward, trying to see the implants in her eyes. But the grainy green images produced by his glasses prevented any chance of that. "There are no scars on the cornea."
"A few numbing drops in the corner of each eye and two quick micro-syringe injections later, and it was all over. Then, the microscopic devices self-attached and grew to full size over the course of the next few months. A year later, the injections had replaced both eyes entirely. Except for the initial headaches that lasted a couple of weeks, it wasn't too bad. The pain jad something to do with an excess pressure buildup in the inner eye as the implants did their thing. Sucked, but it was worth it."
"They grew in place," he said to himself. "That would prevent any chance of rejection."
"He encoded each cell in the implants with my DNA. Living machines connected to my optic nerves. Grandfather says I have the eyes God would have given me if God had wanted me to see in the dark. Or thermal; infrared; ultraviolet."
"There's no tech like that out there. At least, none that I know of."
"Not yet," she agreed, stepping around the raptor and walking towards another raptor lying a few yards away. When she got there, she turned and added, "But there will be."
Lockspur shook his head in disbelief and followed her to the next fallen raptor. Was she from the future? He caught up with her. "I get the need to restrict mission-critical intel. But a lack of intel diminishes survival rates. So maybe it's time you shared a little. Because I'm not running around down here putting my ass on the line for reasons I don't understand."
"If I told you a fraction of what was going on, you'd believe I was nuts. So no, I'm not sharing any mission-sensitive intel, and if that's a problem. I'm sorry. But it's the way it has to be. I can't risk losing your help. The future falls apart without you."
"Sure. Because saying things like that isn't shithouse crazy. What do you want?"
"I told you already." Carolyn stopped short, and he almost bounced off her and stepped back. "You're here to help your teammates. I'm here to make sure you're in the right place to do that." When it looked like he was about to become a screaming teapot, she added, "I'll tell you what I can, when I can. Until then, you'll just have to wait for things to unfold like everyone else."
"I can't help anyone if I'm down here," he said in a tone that sounded more like a warning.
"You can if they are down here, too."
"Fine. Help me get them out, and when this shit is over. I never want to see you again. I'm done with this shit."
"Fair enough."
As Lockspur stood there glaring at her, he wondered if she was messing with his head. He had no way of knowing.
"Mind on the task at hand, Carlos. None of us are safe down here."
At the far end of the cavern, where the fighting had been the worst, the coppery scent of blue raptor blood and spilled guts filled the air. Carolyn felt lightheaded, but choked back her revulsion, pushing forward as Lockspur followed a few paces behind her. The victorious raptors had gone, leaving the bloating corpses of their dead behind for them to step over. The raptor they had come with was nowhere to be found. Not that their newest friend was a raptor anymore. Binky was becoming more than a raptor. Much more.
Lockspur slipped in a pile of slimy entrails, righted himself, and then looked to see if Carolyn had seen him almost fall on his ass. "Admit it," he said out of the blue. He always babbled when he was nervous, and he had been nervous for a long time. "First-gen shines look cool."
"Sure," she replied in a drawn-out tone of exasperation. "Because that's a good reason to go blind."
"No. But they still look cool."
Carolyn shook her head and walked towards the tunnel they had come down hours earlier, musing how all men were like little boys pretending to be grownups. She crouched down, inspecting the floor for signs of which way the raptors might have taken their prisoner. Even though a thick layer of congealed blue blood and severed body parts littered the floor, Carolyn knew the raptor was still alive, and that had little to do with the fact her body was nowhere to be found.
"I saw the Hunter Gratzner security footage." Lockspur said, trailing behind her like a puppy on an invisible leash. "Riddick has a first-gen shine."
"Here's something I should not tell you. He doesn't have a shine. He was born that way."
"If it's genetic, why didn't it show at birth?"
"It was a dormant trait," she said, turning to Lockspur and seeing his expression. "Sure. Sure. I know what you're getting at. The story about 20 cool menthols is bullshit. Something happened to him in the bowels of Butcher Bay. But he never talked about it."
"I suppose you know what happened?" he asked, following her past the tunnel they'd entered through on the way down.
"I know this much. Whatever happened in those tunnels had nothing to do with an impossible medical procedure performed by a clinically insane veterinarian. Something activated his DNA. And that will not happen using a scalpel and glue." She looked at him over her shoulder and said, "Now, come on. The Queen needs our help."
"The Queen," he said, almost bumping into her as she stopped at the mouth of a tunnel opening. "When did she become a-"
"Quiet," she blurted in a whisper. She looked like a statue, straining to filter out the voices in the distance from the voices in her head.
Lockspur drew his sidearm, certain she had sensed something down the nearest tunnel. "Did you ever consider she might be dead?" he whispered, stepping back before Carolyn noticed he almost ran her over.
She shook her head as if drawing herself out of a daydream. "She's not dead. Not even he's crazy enough to allow that to happen. "
"Who are we talking about now?"
Carolyn didn't answer him. She just stared into the tunnel opening as if trying to see something in the distance. "It's safe to say that if the raptors didn't kill her, they took her to him. And if that's the case, it stands to reason. I'm not the only telepath controlling the raptors down here."
"Oh great. Just what we need." For the first time since they entered the darkness, Lockspur considered Carolyn might not get them out alive. He drew his sidearm, pointing it down the tunnel. "There's another telepath tagging along for the ride."
"That's not all," Carolyn replied, turning to Lockspur in wide-eyed panic. "I could only alter a few raptors at a time. Any more than that, and I could have lost control. "
"You kept us alive."
"I did," she replied, shaking her head. "But I had to work in limited numbers because their minds were too primitive for me to control in mass. Whoever is controlling these raptors didn't have that problem." She sighed. "As much as it pains me to admit, whoever this ghost is, their abilities are off the charts compared to mine."
"Nice. There are hordes of raptors under the control of a super telepath, and we have no way to protect ourselves. Is that about right?"
"That sounds about right."
"I fucking hate this place." He turned around and walked towards the tunnel leading up and out.
"Where are you going?" Carolyn called out.
"Home," he snapped, and threw up his hands in exasperation. "Unless you can tell me what the hell is going on." He stood there staring into the tunnel, waiting for her to explain what was happening. When she didn't, he snapped, "Fine. Save the queen yourself. I'm out of here."
"Wait, dammit," she called out behind him as he stalked off without her. "I can't do this without you. You haven't completed your mission."
"I delivered the package! I'm getting my team and getting the fuck out of here!"
His footsteps stopped. He turned around and walked back. As he came into view, she saw his hands were high in the air. He stumbled forward, tossed his weapon onto the ground, and stopped. "What are you doing?" she asked, staring at his trance-like state. He didn't answer. He just stood there looking as if someone had paused a video feed mid-frame.
A dozen raptors ran into the cavern, encircling the helpless duo before Carolyn could do anything more than fight back an overwhelming sense of pale-faced terror. She tried to connect with their minds, but failed. It sounded as if they were laughing at her.
"Oh… I wouldn't worry about them," a voice said, drifting out of the tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. "They are with me now. As for your friend here, he fixates on the moment he learned his family died. I can assure you, it's quite pitiful to witness. I may just have to leave him this way. It seems a suitable punishment for getting in my way."
"Leave him alone. None of this is his fault." Carolyn said, reeling around with a dark glare. "You didn't have to do that."
"No. But you both have caused me a great deal of trouble. And I can hardly punish you, can I?"
"Don't act like you care."
"Oh, but I do," a medium build, young man said, walking into the cavern. He strolled over to the hissing raptor and stroked its head. It shuttered beneath his caress. He turned to Carolyn and said, "My, my… Is that any way to greet your grandfather? After all our time apart, I would have hoped you were happier to see me?"
"You are not my grandfather," she spat the words at him.
"Say that enough times and you might believe it." The young man walked to Carolyn, brushed the hair out of her eyes and smiled. "You forget who you speak with, my beautiful, perfect granddaughter. I can see inside your mind's eye better than you." He gestured to the raptor nearest him, and it scurried out of the cavern. "I see your heart's greatest desire."
"To kick you in the nuts." Carolyn said, glaring at the young man.
He chuckled at her with an air of pride. "To be like me."
"Like him."
"Ah yes. The old him-me paradox. But for a few different choices, we are the same person. After all, was it not I who gave you back the sight fate robbed you of? Was it not I who gave you all your gifts?"
"Let him go," Carolyn seethed, stepping towards the young man with balled fists. A second raptor moved to her grandfather's side and snarled. Carolyn jumped back.
"Come now, there's no need for such hostility. We are all family here," he said, raising a gloved hand and snapping his fingers. Lockspur's eyes opened wide, and he stared around in utter disbelief. The last thing he remembered was walking towards the exit, and now he was standing in the middle of a group of raptors.
"There," Carolyn's grandfather said, walking past him without a care in the world. Lockspur made to draw his sidearm, but found the holster empty. He looked at his hand, wondering when he'd lost the handgun. "Come on, Carlos. You and Carolyn seem so easy to rouse. Could it be that the darkness does not suit your delicate sensibilities?" Before Lockspur could tell him where to go, he held up a hand and said, "No matter, you'll learn no one hates the darkness more than Carolyn." He turned to Carolyn with a frown and said, "Pity she has never thanked me for the sight I returned to her."
"He gave it to me," she spat in a tone of loathing. "Not you."
"My doppelgänger may have given you the injections, but it was I alone who created the technology that allows you to see, and I alone who created the technology that allows us to be here now."
Lockspur let out a shocked, hoarse sound and said, "He's your granddaughter?" he asked, turning to Carolyn with an expression that asked why she had made him out to be a saint. "This is the guy who fixed your eyes? He's a dick."
"Yes, and no," she said, wavering her hand in a maybe-sorta gesture.
"We have a unique family dynamic," he said, staring at Lockspur like he wanted to empty his head.
"Just tell me where the queen is."
"Close by. There is no need to worry," Carolyn's grandfather replied. "The obelisk's energy was drawing her towards the inner sanctum. I regret I had to sever that connection, but it was for the best. Our lady is too important to risk in the battle to come."
He turned and gestured for something out of the tunnel, and a group of five raptors emerged, with the queen riding on the largest raptor. Two of the raptors joined the circle of raptors surrounding them while the others strode up to Carolyn's grandfather. The queen sat straight upon the middle raptor's back, looking every bit a regal queen.
The Queen looked down at them and said, "It is time to go."
Carolyn looked at her grandfather, mouth agape in disbelief, and stammered, "But… you were going to…"
"You have always regarded me with the highest esteem, haven't you? Well… I suppose I deserve some of your ire." He let out a half-hearted laugh. "But no. Never a hair on your head, my granddaughter. No matter what the consequences." Then he took her by the hand, led her to a raptor and helped her onto its back. "You can get on your own," he said, not turning to look at Lockspur. He looked at one raptor. It retrieved Lockspur's sidearm, carried it over, and slid it back in its holster, then fastened the clip. It was changing. They were all changing. "You won't need that. I have cleared the way for your ascent. You may return to his ship and leave this place in peace."
"And what of my friends?"
The man regarded him for a moment, but did not answer. Instead, he turned to Carolyn.
"But why?" she asked in utter disbelief. "When you have everything to gain and nothing to lose?"
"Do I?" he asked himself, looking up at her. "Our Lady is the first mother, daughter of the Holy Creator and bringer of life. She is not a pawn to be shoved around a chessboard. She is a living god."
Carolyn stared down at him. The squint-eyed disgust on her face morphed into an amused realization. Then, to Lockspur's surprise, she laughed at him and said, "You almost had me there for a minute."
"Was that too much?" he said and shrugged. "I can never tell."
"Bullshit, you can read my mind. You wanted me to see right through that."
"I'd hoped so," he replied, stepping away from the raptor. "But I had to make sure."
"Sure of what?"
"That you're not swayed by fickle human emotion," he replied, looking at Lockspur with a dark frown. "Like some people I have met."
"This is about your ensuring the continuity of the timeline. You just want to make sure she gets home, so you can fulfill your holy destiny."
"That too," he said with a smile. "Before you go, let me offer you a friendly warning. While it is obvious which one of me you want to emulate. It should also be obvious that my darker tendencies are in you, too." When she protested, he continued. "Deny that all you want, but do so at your own peril. I did not begin my journey as the man who stands before you now. There is great darkness within you, my granddaughter. And for that taint, I am most ashamed. My journey to evil does not have to be yours. Your path remains a distant mystery. I urge you to make better choices than I."
"If you can feel regret, then go back in time and rewrite the evil deeds you've done," she said in an empathetic tone.
"After a thousand millennia on this path, it would be easier to rearrange the stars in the night sky than to rewrite my history. Besides, if you've learned nothing of me, then learn this. I am not the villain of this story; I am the hero. You and your traitorous friends are the villains. My only sin is that I love too much to end this war, here and now."
"It's time," the queen said, gesturing towards the tunnel.
"Do not come down here again, my sweet Carolyn," he said. "If you do. I cannot guarantee your safety."
"Why can't I connect with anymore?"
"That would be of his doing. Not mine. When he and his friend entered this system, a sleeping enemy awoke in the bowels of this moon. It is that entity that blocks your ability to connect."
"But not yours."
"I am ancient. Every bit as old as that malevolent force. Even now, it tries to block me. But I am not without my own gifts." He slapped the lead raptor's haunches and said, "Take them out."