Chapter 18

Both Sam and Mellos growled, “I don’t know about Mellos, but I refuse to be a pawn in the petty war that your two groups had against each other.” Fino was about to speak again through Sam when he held up his hand. “I don’t want to hear it, Father. I am the sum of all that you and Mother did.”

The male voice spoke through Mellos, “Don’t believe him, son. Your father always lied to you and all of us.”

“I am not your son; I also know what my father and mother were trying to do. Please don’t try to peddle your lies to me, okay? I KNOW. I see all that they both did back then. The thing is you didn’t realize they were trying to help...” Sam started.

“HELP!? In the words of that backward world you were raised on? YOU are so full of shit! I should...” Fino stated, then a choking sound was heard.

Mellos grabbed Sam’s arm, “Please don’t. True, he is my father, true, he is hideous. Let me deal with him. I am far stronger than he ever was.”

An unbelieving smirk came to Sam’s lips as he could only stare at Mellos for a moment. Leaning forward, Sam whispered to Mellos, “We’ll see, won’t we, Mellos.”

Mellos returned Sam’s smirk with one of her own. “No, I know I am stronger. I hurt you last time, don’t deny it. Though you have a hard head, so are my fists.”

“You will not deny me, Mellos. You will never be stronger than I am. You think that because you are over eighty percent healed, you can beat me? Dream on, daughter.” Fino’s voice stated from her lips.

“You know, I’ve listened to you berate me all this time. I think it’s time you shut the hell up!” Mellos shouted.

“How dare you! I am your father; you are a vessel of my creation. I should...” Fino started.

“Yes, you should shut the hell up. This is MY body, not yours; it might behoove you to remember that. As you stated, I am well over eighty percent healed. I am not the weak being that you became aware inside of.” Mellos growled.

“You are not that strong...” Fino started again.

“God, shut the hell up!” Mellos shouted again, causing the male voice to scream then grow quiet.

Sam stared at Mellos for a moment then nodded. “So, you are stronger, though you could have been far faster than you are now. I’ve had control of that ability for a while now.”

Mellos’s head snapped up to stare at Sam, then her eyes narrowed. Finally, she nodded. “I can see that, though the way I was, I doubt seriously that you would have freely helped. Unfortunately, though I am mostly healed, I can still feel the unbalance within me. I apologize for...”

Sam stepped back as Mellos’s face twisted first in pain then rage. Sighing, Sam reached out to Mellos, barely grasping her arm before it was slapped away aggressively.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” Came a deeper female voice from Mellos. “You are a complete freak of nature. Nothing like the noble race that we were. She may have defeated her father, but that will not be the case with me!”

Sam was about to speak when a female voice came from his mouth. “So, the true leader of the sick failed ones speaks. I am surprised that you stayed in the shadows as long as you did.”

Mellos’s head snapped up to stare at Sam. “Ah! The slave wife of Fino the mighty,” the voice stated, full of contempt and loathing.

“Even with the healing, you are still so full of hatred. He never wanted you that way, Cyan. You should realize...” The female voice started.

“Realize that you were out to discredit me and the group? Yes, that I did, Tynco. I...” Cyan started bitterly.

“You obviously never checked after you disappeared. All credit was given to you. You were more brilliant than you thought. This whole contingency was born from an idea of yours.” Tynco stated.

I just hope this works, he thought, as it was an hour later that he felt a rift open. Looking up, he nodded; that would be Drivas and Thellus. He needed to work on them more as well. They were more than halfway to being like his people. A smile crossed his lips as he thought about that. His people—well, such as they were right now, only three and another two almost there.

“I have to go. Remember what I said, Raydy.” Turning to Mellos, he stated, “I have to thank you for the assist. With what you’ve given me, I should be able to do this quicker.”

With that, Sam took to the air, leaving two more determined and focused females behind. Shooting up, Sam was surprised when he was at the ship in seconds. Phasing inside, he nodded to both females.

“We came as soon as possible, Sam. We were concerned when we saw your close proximity to Mellos Thymp,” Drivas said as soon as Sam was solid.

“Yes, well, I don’t think we’ll have many problems with her any longer. I’m sorry to say this, but I need to continue what Thantas was doing. I know it is for later, though I am afraid that you won’t be strong enough to help when all this comes to a final confrontation. I do hope it keeps the both of you alive,” Sam told both of them.

He looked at the both of them. It appeared that Thellus was about fifty-five or fifty-six percent changed. Drivas appeared to be at sixty to sixty-one. He could already see that Drivas’s body was trying to manifest the new powers it would soon have. He needed the both of them at sixty-five percent or higher if they were to survive. Unfortunately, that would take more time than he felt he had.

“I am ready, sir,” Thellus stated. “If doing this can somehow help Thantas, please go as far as you can. I know you told us that the higher we get, the more dangerous it will be. Sir, I don’t care; I want to help her.”

Sighing, Sam nodded as Thellus laid down. Taking a breath, Sam started rearranging the edge of where he’d stopped on her genome. At first, she bravely laid there not making a sound, that was until Sam hit sixty percent complete. Then he tried to push her higher as she steadily advanced to sixty-one, two, three, then four percent. Issuing a scream, Thellus passed out, immediately making Sam stop.

Concerned, Sam looked her over, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that he’d pushed her pretty hard. Then again, having waited as long as they had, her body was stronger than they had thought.

Walking to Drivas, Sam told her, “I was afraid that I had pushed her too far. It appears the time you had getting here, plus the longer time you had until I could do this, strengthened her. It appears that she will recover faster. I dare say that she is as strong as you right now. I’ll work on you when she has regained enough strength.”

“Thank you, Sam. I know that Thantas said that this would help us. That it would make us stronger in case she was forced to destroy us,” Drivas stated.

Sam’s head snapped up at this. So that was why she had started this. Narrowing his eyes for a moment, Sam then turned to Drivas. “I need to ‘talk’ to Thantas for a moment.” When Drivas nodded, Sam concentrated.

[So, you just decided to change them without asking them? I had thought far better of you, Thantas.] Sam’s thoughts reached out to Thantas.

A startled Thantas replied, [They both stated that they would do anything to help, to make things right. It was a very strong desire within them. I had thought that... ]

[You are changing their genome to what we are. Did you think that they might want to remain the race they are? They aren’t far past halfway; I can still revert them back, ] Sam’s thoughts angrily replied.

[NO! If you do, then when I am ordered to destroy them, I will have no choice. They, in turn, will not survive. I... ] Thantas stated.

[We need to inform them; if not, then I need to make them what they were. Problem is, right now Thellus is still unconscious, ] Sam’s thoughts berated her. [I’ll contact you when she is with us again.]

[As you wish, Sam. Please take care. I have felt Triot’s power increase greatly. He has surpassed all the council, making him far more dangerous, ] Thantas warned.

Sam nodded as he thought about this. So, Triot has managed to increase his power. Thantas was right; that did make him far more dangerous. Then again, Sam thought with a smile, could his body keep up with the increases?

Reaching out, Sam could feel Triot with all the increases he’d made. ‘Not bad,’ Sam thought, ‘though nothing compared to him nor the one he’d faced before.’ ‘Strange,’ Sam thought, though not unexpected, ‘Triot was starting to feel almost the same as the councilors.’ Nodding his head, he guessed he’d been right. Triot was feeling more and more like the same race as the councilors.