Interstellar Spark

Chapter 20

Brian ordered two emerald drinks and handed one over. "Part of why we come to Sin Paradise," he said. "Plant extracts jolt your nerves into bliss. Banned in the Federation, craved here." He leaned close and added, "Without numbing, how do you survive this pit?"

Michael sucked in the fumes, his senses dissecting their chemistry.

Soon he clocked two effects as the smoke hit his lungs and brain.

First, it sharpened focus. Overlooked details blazed clear. Music swallowed him—each note's place, each instrument's soul—vivid, textured, vast.

He grinned inwardly. Master this, and he'd mimic it without aid.

Second, it linked brain clusters. A sound sparked visions—hallucinations born of fused senses, a dazzling trance.

No wonder so many craved these forbidden highs.

In a daze, he sipped the green liquid.

A sharp spice seared his throat, then cooled his nerves. He perked up and asked loudly, "What's this?"

Brian, loosened since Scarlett's stab, chuckled for the first time. "One of civilization's finest—also banned. 'Clarity Brew.' It boosts nerves, amplifies now—sex too. Exhausts you after."

Michael glimpsed Sin Paradise's allure and downed his glass.

A few men closed in. One barked, "Brian! Bold move, strutting out here!"

Brian turned and snapped, "Get lost!"

Michael, oblivious to trouble, swayed to the beat, bobbing in his seat, grinning at the wild dancers.

Six or seven thug-like brutes ringed Brian, ignoring the scrawny Michael. Their eyes pinned his friend.

The leader sneered, "Tiger Fang and Old Wolf tagged a bounty on you. Why gift strangers the prize? Come quiet!"

Brian opened his mouth, but Michael tapped his shoulder and asked, "Who's that beauty? She's got the city's best life-field."

Brian, torn between mirth and ire, glanced back. A radiant woman in white glided onto the band's stage, poised and stunning. The crowd hushed.

A speaker blared, "Ladies and gents, welcome our songstress, Sapphire!"

Drums and cheers thundered.

Aglaia and Natasha blasted their crate lids with antimatter lasers. Flex-muscle spatial shifts launched them skyward in the cell.

Alarms wailed. Auto-turrets spat "stun beams," crackling into them. Flex-muscle flared cyan, stretching a meter out, forming dual shields that absorbed and repelled the nerve-crippling light.

Light rained across the room.

Lasers struck the shields. Some fueled them; most ricocheted, painting the walls with prismatic sparks—a spectacle.

They triggered combat nerves in their flex-muscle, spiking detection, defense, and attack to peak in a millisecond.

The ship's every inch bloomed in their minds—each foe, each weapon pinpointed.

Antimatter beams lanced out, shredding the room's turrets. They split tasks.

Aglaia fired a fingertip-sized mag-bomb from her abdomen's arsenal. It punched through walls to the control hub, bursting to scramble fields, kill power, and jam comms.

Natasha thrust her hands forward. Ten antimatter beams melted the left wall, opening paths deeper in.

Their minds synced, spatial shifters whisked them out. Antimatter volleys sprayed from their flex-muscle, striking foes.

Four enemies rushed in and fell simultaneously. Their shields flared, deflecting beams in dazzling bursts. Then the antimatter overwhelmed, collapsing shields inward. Bodies glowed white, translucent, then dissolved to ash.

They hovered, feet off the floor, gliding into a corridor.

Foes at both ends unleashed laser barrages, hues clashing on their shields.

Energy torrents clashed.

Corridor defenses, sorting friend from foe, joined the assault.

Even their mighty shields shrank halfway under the onslaught. They countered with fiercer antimatter beams, clearing turrets first, then foes.

These were Massimo's finest—trained and armed to perfection. Elbow-mounted projectors conjured shields denser than their own, morphing into vivid, solid barriers that parried beams with grace.

Aglaia shouted, "Cover me!"

She darted to the far foes' front. Antimatter surged from her flex-heart to her fist, smashing a shield into shards.

Natasha pressed back-to-back, wielding a flex-shield to block the rear's lethal volleys.

A boom rang out. The foe's shield shattered. Aglaia's kick breached his defenses, antimatter flooding his gut. He screamed as his molecules unraveled in a blink, vanishing like mist.

The enemy blanched. Such foes defied nightmares, seeding dread. Aglaia and Natasha plunged into their midst.

Ranged fire turned to brutal melee—deadlier still.

Natasha loosed a micro-antimatter missile from her abdomen, streaking to the far throng. It struck a violet neutrino shield, flaring sun-bright without bursting, unleashing a gale-force surge.

Foes braced shields like sailors in a storm, retreating step-by-step under the antimatter tide.

A crack split the air. The lead shield buckled into motes. Its bearer flew back, crashing into another shield, rebounding like a puppet until his energy failed. He dissolved clean.

Aglaia felled three more.

The gap yawned wide. Another scream marked a foe's end in the antimatter flood.

Panic gripped them. They scattered through side doors. Aglaia's faith in her flex-muscle soared. In her disguised growl, she barked, "Two, clear the rest—I'm for the bridge!"

Natasha agreed and peeled off, hunting stragglers toward the stern.

Aglaia surged forward, a thousand beams spraying from her flex-muscle's nodes, raking ship and foe alike.

She veered left toward the bridge. A lightning bolt slammed her.

She grunted, hurled back against the wall. Her shield shrank. Stunned, she raised her flex-shield, parrying another blast.

A bang flung her back again, energy roiling within. She slid to the floor.

Ahead, Captain Malin and a dozen Augments barred the corridor to the bridge.

Malin's eyes gleamed as he strode forward, smirking. "Death's easy—want it?"

His left hand waved, a third bolt howling through the air, crashing her shield. His right conjured a golden barrier, swatting her antimatter beams aside.

Aglaia roared, "Who's dying?"

She summoned all her might and charged. Her shield erupted in light, energy ricocheting, peeling alloy walls layer by layer. She closed to three meters.

Malin's grin twisted eerie, his eyes blazing gold.

A chill seized Aglaia's core, snaking up her spine to her brain. Strength faltered; even steps grew heavy.

She cursed inwardly—Malin's Augment will was throttling her nerves.

This was the dread power of Augments and Vipers—mind over matter, unbound by energy.

Malin raised both hands, pouring ruinous force into her shield.

His squad joined, solar guns blazing.

Her shield held half a minute, then shattered. Fire converged on her core shield. Numbness gripped her nerves—without her command, flex-muscle lagged at half strength.

The shield dwindled.

Aglaia clenched her jaw, rallying heart and will. Only mind could save her now.

Her spirit outshone any normal's, but could it defy an Augment's terror?