Tynan did that.

  My doppelgänger, my evil twin, my dark self.

  He had done this. All of this.

  Some part of me knew – he was behind everything. He had taken everything from me.

  “Where is Tynan?” I asked as the tears stopped falling and my body stopped shaking.

  “What?” Arty asked.

  “Where … is … Tynan?” I growled.

  “I dunno, mate. The Empire wasn’t ‘ere when we arrived.”

  I grabbed the windowsill and felt the cool metal against my skin as I pulled myself upwards.

  “I will find him … I will make him suffer!”

  I was standing upright once more, filled with anger as I looked out at the Horror.

  “I mean, sure, but shouldn’t we tackle that thing first?”

  “That thing is here because of Tynan!” I yelled, turning on Arty. “That thing can go to hell! It’s Tynan I want!”

  “Yeah, I get that, mate, I do. But Tynan will be there after we get rid of that monster.”

  “You’re not listening,” I hissed.

  Arty took a step back, his face twisted with concern.

  “I don’t give a shit about the Horror! Bring me … Tynan!”

  Spit flew from my mouth as I issued my command.

  “I can’t do that. You’d know that if you were yourself. But you aren’t right now, mate.”

  “I am me! This is who I am!”

  Arty continued to step backwards, creating a space between him and I.

  “I don’t think so, Raith. This isn’t the you I know.”

  “Maybe I’ve changed! Maybe your memory is failing you, old man!”

  Arty had now worked his way back to the doorway, standing inside the frame.

  “I may be old, but my mind is still sharp – I promise you that, mate.”

  “I don’t care!” I growled. “Obey me! Do as I command! Bring me Tynan!”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I will find someone who will …”

  “Then maybe … maybe you’d best do that then, yeah?”

  “Aarrgghh!” I yelled, rushing forward.

  Arty stepped aside, and another familiar, towering figure appeared in his place – Doug. “Hello there, laddie,” he said, swinging his fist towards me.

  I had too much momentum to stop, and there was no avoiding the collision that followed.

  [)
  I awoke to a pounding headache and opened my eyes to find myself in a dimly lit room.

  What happened?

  The previous events suddenly flashed through my mind: the disbelief, the grief, the sorrow, and then the pain. The hot white rage burning through my veins, and the anger I had turned upon Arty, and then Doug’s fist swinging towards me. I sat up and slowly looked around the room. It was a tiny room, devoid of any furniture or decoration, and I was the only one in it. It was cold, it was dark, and I was alone.

  All alone.

  I stood up and stepped over to the door, banging on it as I called out, “Hello?”

  Only silence responded to my call.

  “Hello? Is anyone out there?”

  I felt a growing sense of unease, and I glanced behind me. The room walls felt as if they were closing in around me, restricting my space, trapping me.

  “Hello? Please! Don’t leave me in here!” My voice cracked as I let out a sob. “Please!”

  The air seemed to thicken around me as I gasped, overwhelmed by my loneliness and the constricting space. I felt as though I was trapped in a prison of grief, with no way to run or hide.

  “Please!” I cried feebly, tears streaming down my face.

  My legs trembled, on the verge of collapse, unable to hold up the weight of my sins. With one last violent shake, they folded beneath me, and I collapsed to the floor.

  “Please don’t leave me in here!” I pleaded desperately one last time. “Don’t leave me on my own!”

  The world outside the room remained silent. I turned around, pulled my knees up to my chest, and rested my head on them.

  Alone.

  I was truly alone. My family was gone; my wife and daughter were dead, my son was standing by the enemy’s side, my parents and daughters fleeing from the world-eating monster. My friends … well, my family were my friends, and the few other people I considered that close, like Zavis, were … well, I did not know where he was. As for the acquaintances who’d come to my aid … I’d turned on them, I’d pushed them away, and now … they were also gone.

  Family gone.

  I clenched my fist, trying to control the trembling of my limbs.

  Friends gone.

  The darkness surrounding me seeped into me, snuffing out every ounce of joy and happiness I’d ever felt or would ever feel again.

  Home gone.

  My sorrow was drowning me, and my anguish was burying me alive.

  And the worst part is … it’s your fault.

  “Stop it,” I hissed at my thoughts as if that would stop them.

  Your choices summoned the Horror.

  “Stop it!” I said more insistently.

  Your mercy let the Empire survive.

  “Stop it!” I cried, desperate for the train of thought to end.

  Your actions killed your family.

  “Aaarrrggghhh!”

  Chapter 13

  A Hail Mary

  2160, Common Era – Planet Gaia, Outer Rim, the Republic of Humanity

  “Hello there,” said a familiar voice.

  I looked up to see a hologram flickering to life, and I wiped the tears from my cheeks.

  “Zavis?”

  The hologram focused and stabilised, and Zavis’s kind eyes looked down at me.

  “Who else would it be?” the old man replied with a wry smile.

  I sniffed to clear my blocked nose. “I … where are you?”

  “I’m onboard the Chupacabra, hiding. The search for me has been going on for some time, and I’m not sure how much longer I can remain hidden; I need you to listen to what I have to say, Raith. Can you do that?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Yes, I can.”

  “Good man. Let me start by saying I am so sorry for your loss, my friend.”

  I furrowed my brow. “How did you know?”

  “The others … they told me what happened.”

  I nodded. Silence filled the room, and I just sat there with Zavis looking over me.

  What is he waiting for?

  Did he want me to say something? Was he expecting an outpouring of emotion? Was I supposed to confess my sins? Or own up to my actions and apologise for the misdeeds that had led –

  “I didn’t … I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” I whispered as fresh tears ran down my face.

  “Oh, my friend,” Zavis said, with pain in his voice. “I know what that’s like … how hard it is to lose someone so suddenly, so … unexpectedly.”

  I bowed my head, resting it in my right palm. I just wanted to implode – to fold in on myself and blink out of existence because at least the pain would stop.

  “They say that the worst day of loving someone … is the day you lose them,” Zavis continued. “I can see your despair. It emanates from you, seeping out of you and surrounding you like a depressed aura.”

  I looked up into Zavis’s holographic eyes and saw that an experienced sadness filled them.

  “I, too, know what it’s like to be wearing those shoes.” Zavis’s pained expression showed that he remembered it all too well. “The grief and the pain. The desire to blame someone for your losses. And the hopelessness when you realise nothing will ever truly take that pain away.”

  I hung my head again, remembering my denial – that surely this wasn’t true, it wasn’t happening. The anger that had followed as I lashed out at the people who were helping me, desperate to blame someone, eager to unleash my rage upon them.

  “I lashed out at Arty – I turned on him. I was cruel and demanding … and demeaning,” I said as I looked up at Zavis again.

  The old man nodded. “You weren’t quite yourself for a time – something of a darkness overcame you, as I understand it.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, bowing my head as my cheeks grew hot.

  “They understand, you know?”

  “How could they?”

  “Because almost all of them joined the Insurgency after losing something at the Empire’s hands. Mothers and sisters, fathers and brothers, sons and daughters, friends, and lovers – all of them have suffered – that is what united them under the banner of rebellion.”

  I considered all the raw emotions that were coursing through me, and imagined those feelings running through Arty, Doug, or any of the other Insurgency members.

  “I … I didn’t know,” I said as I shook my head. “Although … it makes sense.”

  “So, believe me when I say an apology will go a long way with them. They’ve all had to atone for an outburst or two.”

  I nodded. “I will apologise.”

  “I know you will.”

  I looked up into Zavis’s face again, his kind eyes gazing upon me knowingly.

  “Now, I know there’s no right or wrong way to grieve, and I, of all people, want to be the last person to tell you how to mourn, but I must ask you to postpone your grief.”

  “I’ve done enough,” I muttered. “There’s nothing left to fight for.”

  “I’d say your parents, Adanna, and Winona would disagree with that statement – they are all on their way to Machina Station.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked with a slightly accusatory tone in my voice.

  “Tynan may have kept me captive but that didn’t stop me keeping a watchful eye over you and your family. I was watching your farm from the Chupacabra earlier and saw the two dropships land. I watched them split your family between the vessels. One flew to the evacuation ships, the other flew to the Celestial. Why that happened, I do not know. But I know who was on which shuttle.”

  I nodded. That made sense, and it touched me that Zavis had been keeping an eye on my family, even from the relative captivity onboard the Empire ship.

  “They aren’t out of danger yet. Do they not deserve to be fought for? And what of Ichirō? He’s fallen, but he is not yet irredeemable. They still need their father and their son. So don’t give up, my old friend, for their sakes, if not for your own!”

  I felt a flicker of hope rekindle inside me, and I nodded. “I’ll try,”

  “Good man.”

  “What do you need me to do? What can I possibly do? The Republic is defenceless! The Empire and the Horror outgun us. We threw everything we had at it and achieved what – we opened a hole in it for thirty seconds?”

  “I know you think we did all that and only got a drop of metaphorical blood out of it, but I’ll tell you what I think,” Zavis replied with an optimistic smile. “We made it bleed. That might not be much, but it shows us it is not invulnerable. We can harm it. We can break it. We can kill it.”

  “That’s all good and well, but as I said, we’ve nothing left to throw at it.” I waved my arm in frustration.

  “Maybe it’s not a case of throwing something at it now …”

  I looked up at Zavis’s hologram and swore I could see a twinkle in the old man’s eye.

  What are you planning?

  “Maybe it’s a matter of distracting it for long enough that we can build bigger, stronger rocks to throw,” he finished, a knowing grin spreading across his face.

  “Where does Tynan fit into this?”

  “I have a plan for Tynan, too. In fact, maybe the plans for the Horror and Tynan are one and the same.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You have a plan that can take them both out?”

  “I hope so … but I won’t lie. It’s a long shot. But I have faith – in you, in the Insurgency, in the fact that evil cannot win – it cannot be allowed to win. And for it not to succeed, that must mean that we succeed.”

  I felt my tiny spark of hope grow, and my heart beat a little stronger. Maybe this old man was on to something after all.

  “Okay … you’ve bought me some hope. Now, how about you tell me this plan of yours?”

  Zavis smiled.

  “Thank you, my friend. Thank you for believing in me. Why don’t you rejoin the others in the dining room, and we’ll get some plans in motion, aye?”

  The door slid open behind me, and I got to my feet.

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  Zavis smiled again. “See you shortly, then!”

  [)
  The doors to the dining hall opened, and I entered the room where two dozen Insurgency members were waiting. Many an eye lingered on my stump as I walked into the centre of the hall, and they formed a circle around me. Zavis’s hologram flickered into life in the middle of the room.

  “Hello, everybody!” Zavis said.

  As the gathered crowd said hello to Zavis, Arty stepped forward and offered me a worn and weathered hand. When I looked at him, I saw his expression was benign with no trace of ill will. I searched his face for any sign of a grudge, and all I found was understanding and compassion.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, as tears filled my eyes.

  “I know you are, mate. It’s a sad truth, but the fact of the matter is that you are not alone in your pain. None of us are … really very good at talkin’ about it, but it’s there, inside us.”

  I nodded and took a hold of Arty’s hand, and with a solid tug, he pulled me close and embraced me. Then he let go and stepped back into the crowd, and I joined him, standing shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters of the Insurgency.

  “The floor is yours, Zavis,” I said.

  “Thank you, Raith. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for answering my call. I’m sure you’re all aware by now that the Empire has been resurrected and its emperor reborn. But the bad news doesn’t end there, I’m afraid. A great, technological monster that we’ve taken to calling ‘the Horror’ has attacked and destroyed the colonies of Akka and Gaia. Both forces are working against us, although thankfully not working together.”

  I glanced around the room. These people were afraid. They weren’t fools; they knew the odds were stacked against them, but they still had hope shining in their eyes. They had good cause to believe Zavis – he was the architect of the downfall of the first Empire. And they were all listening, waiting for him to tell them how they would bring about the downfall of the second.

  “So, we have two problems, two dilemmas in need of solving. Double the trouble, you might say. But the only thing two enemies means is that twice as many opponents will fall before us.”

  The crowd murmured in agreement.

  “Let’s start with the Horror. Our technology is potentially strong enough to destroy it, if only we had enough weapons to utilise against it. But we don’t have enough, nor do we have the fleets to deliver those munitions against our foe.”

  A concerned whisper moved through the crowd.

  “Our advantage is that we have knowledge. I believe this machine works in a very particular way – it detects the theta waves emitted by living things. This is how it finds worlds to destroy. Now I know this will sound familiar to you all because, of course, the mass conversion device also emitted theta waves.”

  “An de ye happen to know where that device is?” Doug asked.

  “I know that the device you’re thinking of is buried on Gaia. I don’t know where, and even if I did, it’s inaccessible to us right now for obvious reasons, and even if we could get to it, assuming the Horror didn’t eat it, there’s no knowing what state it would be in.”

  “Fat lot a good that does us then, laddie. I hope yer’ve got more than that up yer sleeve!”

  “There is a second device, a prototype actually – I don’t know exactly where it is, but I know where we can look for it.”

  “It’s on Erebus,” I said, beginning to catch up with Zavis’s train of thought.

  “Oh, it is, aye?” said Doug, glancing at me, then turning back to Zavis. “An’ ye dinna think that might be an issue?”

  “It’s definitely an issue. Yes, Raith is correct – the prototype is on Erebus. My plan would be for you to assemble a strike force amongst yourselves, go to Erebus, find and extract the prototype, and then find the Horror. I believe that if we programmed the device to activate on a cycle, emitting small, localised bursts of theta waves, that it would overpower any organic sources of theta waves and sufficiently fool the Horror into thinking that the device is the closest, most populous source of life.”

  “What bloody good does that do us?” a woman called out.

  “Well, for a start, it would allow us to lead it away from our remaining worlds, saving countless lives and enabling the ongoing survival of our species. I also believe it would allow us to lead the Horror to Erebus. We already know the Empire would be unable to defend itself against its attacks. Once it has vanquished the Empire once and for all, we lead it away again, deep into space, where it can’t harm us again.”

  A shiver ran down my spine; this plan, it was mass murder – the same mass murder I’d sought to prevent when I thought the Empire vessels were adrift and floundering. But as I pictured Amorina and Emma’s bodies floating in the cold emptiness of space, I pushed my compassion aside – the situation had changed, and the Empire could go fuck itself.

  “That’s something, mate. But what if it finds us again? Or finds some other people out in space?” Arty asked.

  “A valid concern. I’m not saying we lead it away and forget about it forever more. On the contrary, I think we lead it out of harm’s way and improve either the quality of our weapons, or the quantity – or both. Once we have sufficient strength, we go back and finish that monstrosity off for good.”