Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 6B3 - : Poltor Six

Jace got upstairs and began talking to Shhiv, pulling her away from Missy’s business for a few hours. He told her everything that happened with Xera, how he had been manipulated, and his genuine remorse for the actions he had taken.

She was running a hand along his back as they sat on the couch with the huge cosmopanel that displayed a calm, tidal pool filled with all manner of ocean critters. “You did things you regret. We all have done that. And at least you know that you can reverse your mistakes. Kind of.” She leaned back in the couch and he nestled up next to her. “Giving everyone the chance to come back to the universe is…wow. It is a crazy thought.”

Jace sighed as he kept petting Ollie who was just content to sit in his arms. “I hate that she used me. I made the decisions, but she had some amount of input. I…” he shook his head. “I want to trust her, but how can I when she’s done this? Literally manipulating my mind and body?”

Shhiv looked over at him and a frown crossed her face as she sat up and turned to face him. “I want this to work.” She grabbed his hand and held it tight in between her own, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I used you, too.”

Jace shook his head, “I don’t understand.”

“I was assigned as your System Operator during Cosmogenic Merging and I could tell from the moment I saw you that you were a survivor. It’s why I cashed out so many Boons to try and help you survive. I…I saw you as a way to keep myself safe.” She pulled out her cosmopanel and tapped a few icons until a water-covered world was shown on the screen. “I told you I’m far down the line of succession…but I know there are political stirrings back on Churkun Delta. And I wanted protection. I knew that if I helped you out, expressed a romantic interest…I hoped it would get you interested, too.”

It dawned on Jace, “You wanted to get with me because I’d protect you.” She nodded, confirming his statement, and he continued. “I forgive you.”

“Bu-”

Jace grabbed her sliverscreen and put it aside, clasping her hands as he let Ollie go to plop onto the couch. “I forgive you.” He squeezed her hands gently, keeping in mind his strength. “You’re one of the best things to happen to me. You genuinely, authentically feel for me…I know that. Maybe at the start you just wanted to have someone to protect you.” He chuckled as he remembered their first date, and her eagerness after he escorted her to her workplace. “But that was just the start. You care for me. I don’t think I could have kept it together without you to confide in.”

She nodded and smiled, showing off those sharp teeth as she giggled, “I figured since you’re being so honest and sharing everything, it is only fair that I share everything.”

“Thank you for that,” Jace said as he brought her hands up to his lips and gave them a quick kiss. He pulled back and sighed. “Xera said I get a few days. Let’s make the best of them.”

“I found a fantastic looking movie about these short people who have to take jewelry to a volcano! Let’s watch that.”

The few days of downtime passed rapidly, and Jace did not see much of his fellow Dark Between Stars Signers. I hope they are okay, he thought. He had checked with Quinn who was keeping tabs on everyone, and she had told him that everyone was fine, and just doing their own business while they were on standby.

Quinn finished with, “Xera is keeping them in reserve. She is calling them her AIRS: Astral Incursion Response Squad. While you’re off clearing Complexes and getting Boons, they are going to be ready to go to any sign of a problem to deal with. She said that once a single Incursion opens, more tend to follow until the localized Astral Verge has emptied out.”

Jace frowned, “Not quite fair to keep them from progressing at the same rate as I am. But, I see the necessity.”

Quinn shrugged, “We’ll get some Stardust. Xera is going to do Quests for each Incursion that is shut down and closed. I think you are also underestimating the size of the world you are visiting. It would be a full year of nonstop walking to circumnavigate Poltor Six. Sure, there might be a lot of Complexes buried in the snow…but you will have to travel in between.”

“Won’t these Complexes also be buried in snow and iced over?” Jace asked.

Quinn nodded, “Yes. Xera is sending you out with a vehicle that we will warp to the Cosmic Corridor portal alongside you. It is one of those hoverbikes that you used: the power cells will work regardless of environment, and it has a ‘heat’ setting that will keep it from icing or frosting over. She said that she also outfitted it with a heat-ray on the front. When you do find a Complex, you can just point the hoverbike, crank up the temperature, and let it do its job.”

“Thanks, Quinn.” Jace left her and went to go say his goodbye to Shhiv. Letting go over her, he muttered, “I’ll be gone for a good while this time.”

“Message. Every day that you can.”

Jace cupped her chin and looked into those gorgeous, dangerous, predatory eyes. “I’ll be safe. I promise I’m coming back to you.”

Jace left the apartment and was warped immediately in front of the portal leading to Poltor Six. He had already visited the Star Market and restocked his survival meals up to sixty for an extended duration. Thankfully, the Wildercloth tent was very insulated, and the Devilsram wool bedroll was going to keep him quite warm when he needed to sleep. Other than his usual gear, he was traveling light.

As he was finishing his last few checks, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. Almost as if a danger-sense was going off and screaming at him to dodge. He listened to the instinct and flattened his body, activating Void Shield (Rank 6) as he heard an enormous bang that rang throughout The Cosmic Corridor.

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A huge gouge was carved out of the floor in front of Jace before the floor repaired itself. Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3). Jace vanished from view, rolled to his side, and got up to look around. “Ollie, who is shooting at me?”

“Calculating trajectory,” Ollie muttered as his eyes glowed bright blue and he scanned the area. His face screwed up in confusion and his whiskers wiggled back and forth, “It would come from up there,” he said, pointing to a space above a different portal to another world. “But there is no one there.”

Maybe there is. Jace pointed his hand up where Ollie gestured. Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]. The invisible-to-others, purple-and-black projectiles shot out and spread to form an arch that mirrored that of the top of the portal. They all impacted the wall and then exploded. Jace kept his eyes open as he scanned for any trace of a Skill with his All-Seeing Dragon’s Eyes. I should be able to see any Skill: magic or otherwise. Even invisibility. But then, a thought struck him. What if someone else thought of a way to manifest their Cosmic Power to be untraceable and undetectable, as well? Then I don’t think my eyes would be able to see them. The description Ollie gave me was that it only lets me see invisible Skills.

Jace looked around and saw that the Civilians seemed to be minding their own business: safe in the knowledge that they could not be harmed while in The Cosmic Corridor or The Eternal City. Whoever was shooting at me cannot find me anymore, either. Jace glanced at Ollie, “In my hood.” He pulled up the covering as well as the mask as Ollie flew into the hood and popped his head out on top of Jace’s.

Next, Jace opened up the comms, “Quinn, I need you to warp that vehicle to right in front of the portal. I have to get it through immediately.”

“On it. Ready? Countdown incoming. Three…Two…One…now!”

The vehicle popped into existence in front of Jace. The same hypercycle as before; but this one had a weird, shimmering canopy all around it that looked to provide some type of protection and maybe wind resistance. He immediately jumped on it and cranked the accelerator, dashing through the portal-

And right into the back of a person wearing a black cloak and heavy snow gear. The environment was instantly far, far colder, and Jace knew he would be dead from the temperature if not for his armor’s (Snowguard) Augmentation. The skies above were a pure black with the wheeling of stars overhead. His vision instantly shifted to the purple-tinged dark sight, and he saw dozens of tents had been set up.

All of them were marked with the symbol of the Black Hole Conclave.

The person he had rammed into had sprawled into the snow, and Jace did not give him a second thought as he knew he had just emerged into some type of expedition camp. The tents were surrounded by the same type of electric-fence barrier that he had encountered on Velenar Prime; and this person must have been on patrol.

Jace pushed the accelerator to its maximum and took off across the ice and snow. The energy-shield canopy around the vehicle was indeed some type of block for the wind, snow, sleet and ice; and he found his travel to be comfortable as the vehicle under him heated up until he was warm and toasty.

“Why is the Conclave here?” he asked.

Quinn replied, “No clue.”

Xera then chimed in, “Poltor Six is passing close to the universe’s center. They might be here to try and establish a drilling operation to bring it closer to Oblivion.”

Figures, Jace thought. Well, at least they don’t know I’m here.

“The heck was that? A riderless vehicle?” Jericho muttered as he stood up and brushed the ice and snow off of his gear. Glancing back at the portal to The Cosmic Corridor, he scampered over to the entrance of the fenced-in area. Waving his hands through the swirling ice and sleet so that he would be seen, he shouted out, “Hey! Let me in! I’ve got a report!”

The fence opened for a brief moment and he slipped inside where the wind ceased thanks to the barrier. His fellow Signers closed the opening, and one of them looked at Jericho with amusement, “You look like you took a fall.”

“Something ran into me. I couldn’t see it.”

His fellow Signer shrugged, “There are not any predators on the surface or outside of Complexes. Must have been someone from The Cosmic Corridor. Go report it to Commanders Renlas and Bellor.”

Jericho nodded and made his way to the center of the camp, near the enormous, warm, central heating spire that melted away the ice and snow to reveal a packed, dead dirt beneath. Standing at a table which contained a holographic projection of the planet along with small, moving triangles representing the scouting groups were two Signers who had died and come back. One of the gifts Troxanir promised to his followers, made manifest. A sign of his power, and a reason why Jericho joined up: he wanted to have an insurance policy against dying.

Renlas looked up, and his gruff voice grated against Jericho’s ears. “You have something to report?”

Jericho nodded and shared his brief encounter with the driverless vehicle.

Renlas’ face was inscrutable behind his bushy beard, but Bellor who stood next to him ground his teeth in anger. “Someone dares come and try to take our claim on this world?”

Jericho gulped and nodded, “It could be an out-of-control vehicle that careened off of The Cosmic Corrido-”

“No,” Renlas said with a cool, calculating tone. “It was the one that Troxanir warned us about.” He glanced sideways at Bellor, “The one who we learned won the Dungeon Run back on Nihilethelea. Flicker of the Dark Between Stars.” He looked back to Jericho, “We know that Flicker is capable of turning themselves fully invisible, undetectable, and untraceable. Finding them is impossible unless you can sense gravitic distortions: or lack thereof. He has a vehicle that was not invisible?”

“Correct.” Jericho glanced down at the Cosmic Power symbol on his hand. Planet. Well, my Ascended Power is going to be Supermassive for sure in that case, he thought. Looking up at the two Commanders he bowed slightly, “Anything you require of me?”

Both glanced at each other and shook their heads, but Bellor spoke. “No. We cannot track them in this terrain unless their vehicle left treads.”

“I think it hovered,” Jericho replied.

Bellor growled, “Then no. We do not waste our time with him. We must seek an entrance that will lead us to the Complex at the center of this world. A place to install the engine.” He glanced sideways, and Jericho did as well as he looked at the enormous, stacked metal crates of the various components awaiting assembly.

Jericho nodded, “Then I return to my post.”

Jace saw nothing but white in all directions. Well, the white of the snow tinged by his purple sight. Ollie pulled up a map that zoomed in, and began speaking. “We are in a valley that is more sheltered from the wind. It appears that the few Complexes here in the valley have been cleared out: presumably by the Conclave.” He tapped the map and it showed a small, purple triangle. “That is our location.” Tapping once more, a starry blue line drew a path from their triangle to one of the orange dots.

“First Complex outside of the Valley?” Jace asked.

Ollie nodded and his head bumped the top of Jace’s, “Yup!” he tapped his paws on Jace’s head in a little happy-tap-dance. “Going off to get stronger.”

Jace grinned as he pushed the vehicle to just-below its max speed, racing over the snowy dunes and frozen ground as he went to his destination.