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WHY THE RED DRAGON WILL ROAR FOREVER MORE
* 9 *
“Uh, Pan, what do we do now?”
“Nothin’ En. We remain at our posts.”
“I think I should check this out. What if Captain Portent needs our help?”
“If the Captain needs our help than he is as good as dead and you know it.”
“How can you say that?”
“He is the greatest of us all, that is why is captain. He is the best trained, the best conditioned, the most psychic, the most enlightened.”
“But, the rumors …”
“… that he actually didn’t pass one of the tests? Please, you don’t really believe that, do you?”
“I don’t know. I’d forgotten about it until now.”
“Well, forget it again. We are staying put. We have to continue the roar of the Red Dragon if the captain has indeed failed. It takes two people to run this pod, two properly focused people. The two of us, to be specific, need to both be here to operate this pod. And since I out-rank you, you will take that as a direct order.”
“Fine.” Then under her breath she says, “bitch.”
Pandora turns her and smiles at Enigma’s childishness. For some reason, this causes them to both to break out into laughter.
“Hurry up, Lamb!”
“This is not easy you jerk!”
“Shit, I thought you were the best hacker, and you cannot even do something as simple as hacking the ship to bring contol of it to this station. Maybe I should call you ‘Sham’.”
“God fuckin’ damnit! You heard Sphinx’s thoughts before he popped just as I did. I am working as fast as I can you short-ass motherfucker!”
“I’d watch what you say to me, little lamb.”
“There, got it! Why, what are going to do, raise up on your tippytoes so you can punch me in the shin?”
“No, I’ll just do this.”
“Arghhhhhhhh!”
Sphinx begins to regain control of his emotions. He is doing his re-focusing exercises, but it is so damn hard to get those images out of his head! But, this is what must be done.
OK, so I need to … the captain’s head exploded, you jerk! No, I must keep these images out of my head. Just walk out of the cockpit, now. No! What kind of person am I if I can forget such a sight?! But I have to. I have to forget.
He goes back into his own mind and prays for the soul of the dead. He sees them having fulfilled their missions. He sees that they have properly jacked out of here and may now go up to the OverReality. He empties his mind of their gruesome deaths so that their spirits do not dwell on them to. He does this so that their spirits are not trapped here forever.
Finally, he can open his eyes and walk out of the cockpit room with his focus back. He smiles out of happiness knowing that his crewmates, his friends, have gone to a better place now. He honors their grand Passing.
Smiling to himself, he starts to pick up his pace to return to his station. And that is when it all falls apart again. He hears a more distinct set of voices this time though.
“Arggghhhh!”
“What’s wrong, Lamb-buh-damn-dee?”
“What are you doing to me, Trip?”
“Oh, just punching your brain from the inside Softening it for the final blow.”
“Oh God, you would betray our Great Cause?”
“It’s not my cause. It is the cause of a charlatan.”
“What?”
“I set things up so that the usurper could be killed by the rightful air to his destiny.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Captain Portent cheated in one of his tests. He is not the true leader.”
“But, that was taken into account, TT; the other potentials were tested as well and he was the best of the lot.”
“Yes, that’s the way it seemed. Funny how we learn how things are not real in The Matrix, but we forget that things are not as they seem out here, either. The captain was not the true Zero. The real Zero is there in that primitive Zion ship.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s OK, TripTrick, I’ll take it from here. Can you both hear me OK?”
“Yes,” answers Lamb, but Sphinx does not answer. He heard the new voice. He knows it is not TripTrick’s; and he fears he knows where it is coming from. He tries to hide his mind from this new voice.
Dove knows her time is short. Her best bet is to sabotage a more central system. But, the ship is split into separate systems out of necessity more than design. Even Arc didn’t have the time to do such a massive re-design, it just made more sense to build the ships as random modules. So, what can she do?
Dove, you fucking idiot! Stop THINKING! He can surely hear you when you are thinking! He can hunt down my thoughts and lock onto them and then I am his slave or I am dead.
Well, fuck you, Arc! You do not know who you are messing with! I can do this! My last thought is – “God, please help me stop this evil!”
She is now just a machine. She walks as if she were already programmed with a set of instructions. She carries them out without question, without thought. She automatically heads to the only place where she can do any real damage.
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