Chapter 11

The first councilor was laughing at the Cliveastone. He was a fake; a real Cliveastone could have stopped all the executions with its mind. This... “Enjoy the small victory. I will kill you. You can’t hide from me, know that right now. Nothing you can do will stop me. Know that I hereby declare war on the IP. For each you kill, I will take a hundred of the IP. Enjoy it while you can because when I find you, you will die as slowly as I can kill you, as you deserve.”

The councilor’s eyes were wide at the threats. What? A Cliveastone that wasn’t afraid to kill? Then the com went dead, even as the councilor was flung violently against the wall. Sliding down the wall, slowly losing consciousness, the councilor cursed inside. This one was far stronger than the female they had captured five hundred years ago.

Several techs ran to attend to the first councilor as he slumped unconscious. The other councilors were notified as soon as the incident happened.

“It appears that we now have a problem much larger than before. This Cliveastone trash is indeed far more powerful than the source of the serum. Already he has injured the seventh and first councilors. We need to act before it starts to hunt us,” the second councilor announced to the others.

“Can’t the source do anything to pacify it?” the third councilor asked.

“It did. It also tried to invade and take over the new beast. The beast attacked, releasing well over half of the source’s life force. At present, we have lost well over a hundred scientists,” the fourth councilor related.

“Brothers!” the seventh councilor started. “It is obvious that we need to unite against this one as we did five centuries ago.”

“Then all of you need to make certain that you are ready to share all your secrets again,” a chilling voice behind all of them said, making each freeze in almost terror.

“Lord Doctor,” all of the other six said as they bowed to him.

“I myself am starting to detect the amount of power that this piece of garbage has. You need to decide, and quickly, before he grows stronger. If any of your minds perish, I hope that you have yourselves backed up. I am closer to a breakthrough in restoring our original bodies. Stay alive, no more body drops.”

“We hear you, lord doctor,” they all said as the Doctor nodded and then turned to leave. The Doctor stopped at the door, raising a shaking hand. Behind him, there were sharp intakes of breath, and then the fifth and seventh councilmen were blasted back into the wall. Both hung there, struggling to break free, their eyes wide at the amount of power they felt.

The lord doctor had a hell of a lot more power than they had thought.

Whirling with more agility than a being of his advanced years should have, he pointed at the two. “So the two of you are already mind-synced. That was the first time in two centuries I had to expend that much power. A good beginning, though I advise neither of you to try that again. You might not like the end results.” Waving his hand, both dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

Both beings stared at the ancient-looking doctor as he walked away as if nothing had happened. They then looked at each other as information passed between them. The doctor hadn’t even struggled when he forced them back.

The four councilmen could only stare at the two on the floor, a wide smile on their faces. Then they shook their heads. What the two had done was foolish; had the doctor not been in as good a mood, they would surely have been terminated.

Drivas was screaming as the pain started to increase. It was nowhere near as bad as when the IP had moved her up more levels. Suddenly, a second wave of pain hit her entire system. This time she felt it everywhere. Screaming louder, she felt more of her mind open as she also felt her power start to increase.

Thellus was absolutely terrified when Drivas started to scream. She’d heard the commander yell in pain before, though this went far deeper than mere physical pain. Worried, Thellus reached for Drivas.

[“NO! Stop, Thellus!] She heard Thantas yell in her head too late. Drivas’s head snapped up as Thellus was reaching for her.

Thellus was suddenly thrown back as if hit by a giant hand. Concentrating, she slowed before she hit the bulkhead. [What the hell is going on?] she asked as she stopped and settled to the deck.

[She is having an adverse reaction to the higher levels she has reached. I apologize for the pain she is experiencing. I am also afraid that you will face the pain too, though now that you know, you may be able to handle it better, ] Thantas explained to Thellus.

[I thought that you had us better prepared for this, ] Thellus asked of Thantas.

With a sigh, Thantas decided that it was time. [I prepared both of you so that you can go up in levels. I have to go slow, as I know that even though I am going slowly, the IP has conditioned you to feel pain. I am doing all I can not to cause pain, though as you felt and now see, your minds expect pain.]

Thellus was nodding as she remembered all the pain she’d felt during the IP leveling. Thankfully, she felt that the pain from Thantas was by far nowhere as intense. The thing is, she was only now realizing that fact.

Thellus watched Drivas as she was writhing on the deck, the pain raging through her. To Drivas, she felt as if her brain was on fire. Her body was a huge lead weight that she had no control over. She’d felt Thellus approach her and even tried to warn her to stay back, to not get anywhere near her. Then she gasped inside as her mind lashed out at her friend, propelling her away at an accelerated speed.

A few minutes later, Drivas felt her power increase. She tried to shake her head. She was glad Thantas was there to prevent her from hurting herself or Thellus. Finally, the pain was too much, and she let the darkness take her.

[Alright, you can get her off the deck. I suggest that you make her as comfortable as possible. It will help her to rest and recover faster, ] Thantas advised Thellus when Drivas’s body finally relaxed.

Thellus rushed to get Drivas into a sleep unit, careful to keep the body as stretched out as comfortably as possible. Sighing, she felt so alone. There was almost never a time they weren’t together. Looking at Drivas, she hoped that this was the right thing. If she lost Drivas, she wasn’t sure she could continue on.

Sam was seething, his anger almost visible like a wave of heat coming from him. As he turned toward the few troops that were still alive, he saw almost all of them trembling with fear. A few were trying to get the hell out of there.

“I didn’t tell you that you could leave!” Sam shouted at them as they froze, unable to move. Sam’s eyes went large. Okay, this was new. “I want to know where the commander of this planet is.”

“Why? You’re just going to eradicate him like the killers that your race is!” a younger trooper shouted.

Sam sidled up to the trooper, almost losing his temper. Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I am here to enforce the law that the commander has broken. Actually, several laws. Now...” Sam started.

“We are loyal to the commander! We will...” The young male stopped as Sam touched the male’s head, letting him see the law and the many atrocities that Sam had already seen.

The young male’s eyes went wide as he started to scream at the visions he was seeing. Finally, his tear-stained face turned to Sam. “He is in the central building.” Then, leaning close, he whispered, “Kill the garbage.”

Sam nodded as he took to the sky, heading to the building that the young male had indicated. Looking down, he saw what had to be thousands of the troopers in the city heading for the same building. Even as he neared the building, Sam could see that this was going to be a battle almost no matter what he did.

Landing outside the building, there was a huge contingent of troopers blocking the way. Growling, Sam stated, “I suggest you move while you can. If I move you, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

The commander of those at the front of the building stepped out. “You are a vile thing that we have been ordered to exterminate. So be a good monster and DIE!” The Commander said as he pulled a gas gun, firing it in Sam’s face.

Had he not been as mad as he was, Sam was sure that he’d probably have fallen to the ground laughing his ass off. Sucking in all the gas, Sam blew it back in the Commander’s face. Grabbing the gun, he crushed it into a piece of mangled metal. Tossing that aside, he calmly reached out, grabbing and snapping the Commander’s arm that had held the gun in several places.

Advancing forward, Sam started to throw troopers left and right. Reaching the barricade, he smiled, tossing it out of the way. Pushing on the door, he nodded, then brought his hands together, making a concussion wave that shredded the front doors and wall. As he started to walk in, he turned to the troopers. “You should have his arm looked at.”

Going to the stairs, he had to toss more troopers out of the way. Shaking his head, didn’t they know he was immune to the gas gun yet? Geez, talk about stupid and slow to learn. Finally, almost an hour later, he walked into what could only be described as a war room.

A rather tall male with a smug look on his face stood at the other end of the room. “So the piece of garbage has made it here. Oh, by the way, you can try to take over my mind, though it won’t work.”

Sam smiled. He was going to actually enjoy killing this little prick. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

The male held out a hand as an invitation. “By all means, go ahead, though I have to warn you all upper officers are trained to resist.”