“There’s an R&D centre and laboratory up ahead,” Keller, the squad’s technical expert, commented as he accessed a console.

  “How far up?”

  “Maybe … two hundred metres?”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  We kept walking and, as expected, we saw the doorway to the lab. Volker walked up to the access panel and swiped the highest clearance card we had – the panel flashed red and let out an angry beep.

  “Damn it!” Volker growled. “It’s a secured work area!”

  “Keller – can you bypass it?”

  “Possibly. Let me take a look and I’ll try to provide an ETA. Cover me!”

  As Keller got to work prying open the security console, the rest of the squad grouped around behind him, hopefully obscuring him from view. And for the first five minutes it seemed to work, with several loyalists passing by without question. Then along came a commanding officer.

  “What are you all doing here?” He asked as he came closer.

  “Nothing, sir. We’re just hanging out, chatting, you know how it goes!” Jesse replied.

  The officer raised an eyebrow. “Surely, you’ve something better to be doing than just ‘hanging out’?”

  “Well, you know if we’d been given those increased break times that the union has been asking for, we wouldn’t need to just hang out, if you catch my drift.”

  “What union?” the officer asked.

  “We don’t have a union? Oh dear, that’s a problem,” Jesse said, now somewhat lost for words.

  The officer glanced past Jesse now and noticed Keller engrossed in his bypass.

  “And you, what are you doing back there with the security panel?”

  “It doesn’t concern you,” I said as I turned towards the officer.

  “Your Grace!” he said, immediately dipping his head. “I didn’t realise you were here!”

  Moments later, his rationality overtook his conditioning, and he looked up at me, his eyes taking in the scar wrapping around my forehead and the wrinkles on my skin.

  “You aren’t –” he started to exclaim before Volker drove a blade into his chest.

  The officer gasped, looking at Volker in shock as the life quickly faded from his eyes. Volker prevented him from collapsing by taking his weight, making it seem like he was still standing with us.

  “How’re we looking, Keller?” I asked.

  “It’s hard to say – I’m not very familiar with this Empire tech.”

  “What authentication does the panel require?”

  “Ah … biometric – either retinal or handprint.”

  I turned towards Volker, who was already moving the dead officer over to the panel. Keller closed the panel and Volker placed the officer’s hand on the scanner. A light appeared behind the scanner’s screen, moving up and down as it captured the details of the officer’s hand. After a few moments, the panel turned green, and the laboratory doors opened.

  “Come on, let’s go – move, move, move!” I said, ushering the team through the doors.

  “Raith?”

  I instantly recognised the voice and spun around to see Ichirō standing there.

  “Son!”

  Ichirō averted his gaze, appearing to be embarrassed.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw the team standing in the laboratory, illuminated by the fluorescent lights.

  “Go – I’ll catch up with you!”

  The team members all gave a nod and promptly started looking for the device. I turned back around to face Ichirō. It had been ten months since our last encounter, and he looked as if the life had been drained from him; his skin was ashen and his eyes sunken – he was a mere shadow of the young man he had once been.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Is that all you have to say to me?” Ichirō asked, returning my gaze.

  “Yes. Why? What else would I say?”

  “Aren’t you angry at me? Don’t you want to lecture me on my actions or something?”

  I shook my head. “Do you remember what I told you on Gaia?”

  Ichirō shrugged sullenly.

  “I told you that you can always come back to me. I love you and the door is always open – and I meant what I said. So … I’m not angry at you, Ichirō … I’m disappointed but not angry. Your actions, they’re your actions, and right or wrong, you have to live with those choices. Do I think you could have or should have made different decisions … sure – but those are my thoughts, not yours. All I care about is that you’re okay. That you’re healthy and safe. Are you?”

  Ichirō’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I’m not sure.”

  “Is Tynan hurting you?”

  “No … I mean … sort of … but not really. I don’t know.”

  “Okay …” I said soothingly, trying to calm him.

  Tynan had his claws in Ichirō, that much was clear. The question now was could I free Ichirō from Tynan’s grasp?

  “Listen, son, I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but Tynan is not a good man. He is selfish and cruel, full of anger and hatred – he’s –”

  “Shut up! You don’t know what he’s really like because you didn’t know him from before …”

  “Before I rewrote everyone’s minds?”

  Ichirō nodded, tears now running down his face. I didn’t have the time, nor the words, to eloquently explain to my son that I knew what Tynan was like before everything changed. If only he knew how I’d shared my mind with Tynan for years, and the nightly torment I’d experienced at the mercy of my former self. And if only he knew that the man he was presently loyal to was but a shadow of the real Tynan.

  “I get it, you know. I understand.”

  “How could you possibly understand?” Ichirō yelled. “You know nothing of the truth!”

  “Nothing of the truth, aye? You mean how you weren’t affected by the mass conversion?”

  Ichirō went to respond automatically and then stopped, realisation dawning on his face.

  “Yeah, that’s right. I know you remember everything – how it was beforehand, what the Empire was like, what Tynan was like, the power you had as heir to the throne. I can only imagine what it was like to see everyone around you transformed, suddenly not giving a shit about the Empire, Tynan, or you. I know you’ve been pretending these last couple of years that you were like everyone else, and I’m sorry – I should’ve spoken to you about this long ago. But … I didn’t know how to. And for that, I am … I am so, so sorry. Truly, I am.”

  “Why didn’t it work on me? Why can I remember?”

  “I don’t know the specifics, but I know Tynan experimented on you. We believe that while he was developing the conversion technology, he was also attempting to safeguard himself from it – just in case anyone ever used it against him.”

  Ichirō’s face twitched, and it was a twitch I knew well – an angry twitch – the first sign of anger brewing within my son.

  “Come and join me,” I said as I spread my arms. “You can escape Tynan now and leave be –”

  “Fuck! Are you missing an arm?”

  I glanced to the left and realised that in making my gesture, the empty sleeve had become dislodged from my pocket and was now forlornly hanging off my amputated arm.

  “Oh … ah, yeah. You can thank Tynan for that loss as well.”

  Without uttering another word, Ichirō spun around and bolted, quickly vanishing from view as he fled. The clock was ticking now; the countdown had started. I opened the laboratory doors again and stepped inside, quickly taking stock of my new surroundings. I instantly recognised the room – this was where they had cut open my head for a second time. The team wasn’t present, but as I scanned the room, I noticed “R&D Storage” written above another doorway. That sounded like a promising place to go. I walked over to the doorway and the doors opened automatically as I approached. I stepped through and found myself in a large storage room with shelving stacked end to end with devices. The majority of it looked to be quite recent, likely crafted within the last couple of years, yet there was a decent amount of stuff that appeared to be older – technology taken from Earth after the fall of the Empire, like the mass conversion device?

  The group was heading down a nearby aisle, walking towards me.

  “We’ve found it,” Jesse called out as they approached. “This is it, right?” she asked as she neared, holding up a very familiar-looking device.

  “Yep, that’s it! Nice find, Jesse.”

  “A nice find it may be, but nowhere near as nice of a find as all of you are,” drawled a familiar voice.

  We spun around to see Tynan standing in the doorway, flanked by soldiers. We quickly turned the other way, only to see soldiers appear on our other side as well.

  “Come now … we’ve got some catching up to do, methinks.”

  Chapter 14

  Perhaps We Are More Alike

  2161, Common Era – Planet Erebus, Frontier Space, Tynan Empire

  We were shoved and prodded with rifles as we were escorted to Tynan’s throne room and forced to bow, just as I had been during my first experience on Erebus.

  “I’ll admit,” said Tynan, as he sat down on his throne. “I was genuinely surprised to find you here. Not only because I was fairly certain you were dead but also because I didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to break in here.”

  I looked up, ready to respond to Tynan, but stopped as I saw Ichirō sitting beside Tynan on a smaller throne. Ichirō’s eyes were red and puffy, and a bruise was present on the left side of his face.

  Did Tynan hit him?

  “Well, don’t stop on his account,” Tynan snapped as he noticed the direction of my gaze.

  “Did you hit him?” I asked, directing a glare towards Tynan.

  “Junior here still has much to learn. I simply … taught him a lesson,” Tynan replied snidely.

  “That’s not a lesson – that’s abuse,” I said curtly.

  Tynan grimaced. “Feeling bold, are we? Perhaps you need a reminder of your place?”

  “I know my place, which is to be a thorn in your side!”

  A wry smile crept across Tynan’s face, and then just as quickly disappeared, as if he couldn’t help but be amused, only to realise his own amusement and regret it.

  “But let’s just skip the small talk,” I said, not wanting to give Tynan a chance to refocus. “I’ve no time for your games, so why don’t you just tell us what is to become of us?”

  Tynan shook his head and tutted. “Where would the fun be in that, Raith? I’d be skipping all the juicy psychological torture I can inflict upon you.”

  The faces of my mother, father, and daughters flashed through my mind, safely far away from here. Amorina and Emma’s faces appeared next, but Tynan couldn’t touch them in the afterlife – if there was one. Ichirō was about as safe as he could be, sat at Tynan’s side, and I hadn’t seen Zavis – hopefully he was still safely hidden somewhere within the complex.

  I chuckled. “What do you have left to torment me with?”

  “Oh, I don’t know … your fellow Insurgents. Aren’t they enough?” Tynan asked, pointing to the other Insurgency squad members.

  I looked to my right, at the faces of the Insurgents who’d broken into this base with me – Volker, Jesse, Keller, Zanna, and Wong. We all knew that Arty and Eva were still out in Erebus’s barren wastelands, yet none of us had snitched on them – and none of us would. We all knew the mission, and we knew the risks. There was always a chance we wouldn’t make it out.

  “They mean nothing to me,” I replied, hoping Tynan wouldn’t want to put that statement to the test.

  “Kill that one,” Tynan said as he pointed to someone on my right.

  Bang!

  I shuddered at the near instant gunshot, shocked at how quickly a soldier had carried out Tynan’s command. I heard a thud and glanced to my right where Keller was now slumped on the ground, blood pooling beneath him. I returned my gaze to Tynan, locking eyes with him, staring insolently.

  “Oh alright, I believe you,” Tynan said, breaking the stare. “Perhaps you’ll care about your friend more, then?”

  A door to my right opened, and two soldiers dragged a broken, bloodied Zavis in and unceremoniously dumped him a few metres away from me. My stomach twisted at the sight of his wounds, once again feeling responsible for the harm that had transpired.

  “Zavis! Are you okay?” I gasped, desperately hoping he wasn’t dead.

  My old friend slowly raised his head to look at me, giving a subtle nod as bloody spit drooled from his mouth. Wheeling in behind him came Phobus and Lorcan, looking particularly smug and evil. I could only imagine how much joy they’d felt seeing their old colleague being beaten and broken for his perceived transgressions.

  I glared at Tynan, opening my mouth as I prepared to say something, but he interjected.

  “And if that’s not enough,” he continued. “I also have your family!”

  This time, a door to my left opened, and a posse of soldiers entered, carrying a woman and a young girl between them. The woman lifted her head, and I gasped.

  It can’t be!

  She looked just like Amorina. The young girl also lifted her head, and my heart skipped a beat – she looked just like Emma!

  They’re dead. This is a trick. It can’t be real!

  “How dare you!” I snarled as I leapt to my feet.

  Two soldiers rushed up from behind to restrain me, but missing an arm proved to be useful. The soldier on my left grabbed nothing but air, and when the other soldier made to grab me, I wrenched my arm out of reach. They moved forward for another attempt but then stopped. I glanced back at Tynan and saw he’d raised his hand to stop them.

  “How dare I what?” he drawled.

  “How dare you impersonate my wife and child when you damn well know you killed them!”

  Tynan’s face twitched, and then the corners of his mouth curled upward. A wheezy snicker escaped his lips as his face split into a wicked grin.

  “What’s so funny?” I demanded.

  Tynan clapped his hands together, threw his head back and unleashed a loud, joyous cackle. He then doubled over, still laughing wildly, tears running down his face. The laughter was cruel and mocking, and it echoed around the throne room, reverberating and intensifying. Others – like Phobus, Lorcan, and some soldiers – joined in, adding their own snickers and snorts to the fray. I felt my face flushing and growing hot, as if I’d done something wrong, like I deserved to be laughed at and mocked.

  “What is so funny?” I yelled over the cacophony of laughter as it continued to grow.

  Tynan fell forward off his throne, still howling with laughter, slapping the ground repeatedly. Finally, Tynan’s cackles lessened, slowly diminishing until there was just the odd giggle. He pulled himself back up onto his throne and wiped the tears off his face.

  “Oh,” my doppelgänger said. “You thought they were dead, didn’t you?” he asked mockingly.

  I glanced over at Amorina and Emma.

  Were they real? Could they be real? Could they have survived the attack?

  “Even now, you can’t quite believe it, can you? You really thought they’d died, and it did a number on you, didn’t it?” Tynan said gleefully, letting out another cruel chuckle.

  When I glanced at the girls again, I felt a spark of hope ignite in my chest. I didn’t want to fan it though – what if this was another of Tynan’s manipulations.

  “How?” I asked, turning back to Tynan.

  “Well, as it turns out, the engineering core is one of a ship's strongest and safest parts. After my Firecrackers tore the Republic fleet apart, my dropships quickly flew through the debris, collecting as many survivors as possible. Your wife and child just happened to be some of the lucky ones.”

  Some of the lucky ones?

  “There were other survivors?”

  Tynan nodded. “Quite a few actually. As it would turn out, Firecrackers are definitely more effective when fired side on or front on to a ship. Still, I’ve been able to extract some very cathartic revenge out of the survivors, including that bitch, Knox.”

  “Raith …”

  I looked over at my family to see Amorina looking at me.

  “It’s us, Raith. We’re real.”

  My heart skipped a beat, and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were alive.

  They are alive!

  I dashed across the room, the sound of my footsteps echoing as I dropped to my knees and slid across the last few metres into the embrace of my wife and daughter. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks, and when I pulled back, I could see Amorina’s face also glistening with tears.

  “I thought I’d lost you both,” I sobbed.

  “We thought we’d lost you too!” Amorina sobbed back.

  When I looked down at Emma, I could see her cheeks glistening with tears as well.

  “I missed you, Daddy,” she whispered.

  “I missed you too, sweetie pie!”

  I pulled them both back into an embrace and enjoyed the relief that flowed through me, comforted by their presence.

  “What do you have left to torment me with?”

  My eyes snapped open as the echo of my previous bravado played inside my head.

  “And if that’s not enough, I also have your family!”

  As Tynan’s retort echoed through my mind, debilitating concern replaced my exhilarated joy. My family was alive, but that was little comfort when Tynan was around – they were in imminent danger because of his mere presence. Any and all threats to their lives were possible and plausible. I had to come up with a plan to keep them safe, and quickly!

  “All right, that’s enough. Pull them apart and bring Raith back over here!” Tynan ordered.

  The soldiers acted quickly; they roughly shoved me away from my family and toward the centre of the room. I walked the rest of the way without further prompts as I desperately tried to think of a way to control the narrative.