Free Supernova on Twine by Mark Alders

Chapter
One
     
     
    Emergency
entry, Zane’s implanted data storage device in his frontal cerebral
cortex, ship time, unknown. Location, unknown. Date, unknown.
Outside input.
     
    Zane, can you hear me? The voice in
his mind was loud and dominating.
    From a cold, dark corner of his thoughts, Zane replied, Who are you? He couldn’t
see anyone in front of him other than the Banshan warrior who was
escorting him to see Erkla. The voice had been coming from within
him. But how was that possible? He was possessed, a host to an
eternal. Since when did they communicate with their
victims?
    I am Motac, the eternal within you, and have activated your
recording implant so I can talk to you without anyone getting
suspicious .
    Zane then realised he wasn’t moving his lips to speak, but
talking in his mind. It was true, the eternal within him was talking to him. That
alone was just as scary as seeing Mirko and Tink being taken away.
Anger welled up to consume the only place in his mind where he
resided.
    Listen and listen very carefully, Motac continued. We don’t have much
time before we are presented to Erkla, so you must understand this
when I say, I am a coalition eternal and I am here to try and help
you.
    Zane, without hesitation, thought, Prove it, you bastard .
    I can’t do that yet, but soon I will show you all you need to
convince you I am speaking the truth and my intentions are to keep
you safe.
    I don’t believe you.
    If I were lying, why would I need to have this conversation
with you? If I was a shadow eternal, I would simply take you over
and drain the energy of your friends, sending you backwards and
forwards in time to accomplish that goal.
    Zane remained silent. His thoughts were his own, he’d give Motac that
much. From what he knew of eternals, when they took over they
didn’t leave a trace of the one they occupied. He thought of poor
Thomas…how he’d committed suicide in the end to get rid of the
fucker. That gave him an idea. Fine. But if
you do make me do anything to either Tink or Mirko that’ll hurt
them in any way…or any of my friends, I’ll kill myself…with you
inside me.
    Zane was
taken through numerous crystalline corridors, caverns and
ante-chambers, deep into the heart of Parenthesis itself. He had to
admit if the alien reptiles were nasty looking from a distance,
they were even more so up close. They stank, too, like a
combination of sweaty socks and stale vomit.
    Many
times Zane tried not to dry heave, resulting in watery eyes and a
lump in his throat. Motac had to remind him that if he did anything
to raise any suspicion, all of their lives could be at risk,
including Tink’s and Mirko’s and two members of the coalition, if
not many more.
    He
breathed through his mouth.
    Not long
after they entered the inner sanctum of Parenthesis crystalline
control—the area Mirko and Zoltan were trying to lead them to in
the first place—they came across Erkla. Zane could see why they
wouldn’t have made the journey to the heart of the eternal
homeworld in a blue fit. The place was heavily guarded with more
stinking Banshan warriors than he’d ever seen in one
place.
    The throne room —for want of a better word—where Erkla sat was impressive. It
was also exclusive, and the leader of the shadow eternals sat
alone, overlooking his empire. There were many control stations
around him, but unlike on Tink’s realm-shifting spacecraft, the
eternals used living crystalline technology to do their
bidding.
    Do exactly what I tell you , Motac
said. Any delay in your response will be
considered abnormal, and as such could put us all in
danger .
    Yeah, yeah, I got it.
    “ Greetings, Motac,” the Banshan leader said. He got up from his
study, coming to greet Zane and the spy within him. “How is your
new body treating you?”
    Zane
bowed. He didn’t know why, but he did. Perhaps it was Motac’s
influence within him. Perhaps it was his deep, desperate desire to
make sure nothing happened to Tink or