Bestial Planet

Chapter 44: Reconstitution

It's been three months since Emmeth gouged Frantz's eye out. No one has seen Emmeth or knows where he is. He hadn't really opened up to anyone since we found him in Japan so we never found out why he hated it when they called him Emmy. When we tried to get Frantz a cybernetic prosthetic we instead got the short end of the hypocrisy stick.

"We're very sorry your friend lost his eye but we cannot give him a cybernetic replacement as the people of Earth have yet to develop the technologies required... yourselves."

When I yelled that they'd given me and others cybernetic prosthesis what I got back was nothing but more mental gynastics about us fighting against "their enemy" or some shit. I had to hang up before I put my fist through the screen; the energy source powering my craft was still experimental and I couldn't figure out how to minimize it. I'd designed it to work with the specific dimensions for that craft. Other power sources were opened up to Earth as a result of the one I'd built with my fellow engineers but cybernetic body parts, they had to be able run off the body's own energy as a natural, biological appendage would. I apologized to Frantz but he brushed it off.

"Dude as long as you take me into space next month, I'm good."

With the scar he resembled a stereotypical werewolf; bad-ass scar over his eye socket, the working one staring into your soul. He looked playful most of the time despite this "augmentation". In the months since the incident, things started moving quickly. As soon as I traveled to the asteroid belt, in minutes, without the need to sling shot around other planets, we had finally entered the space age. We were given access to all sorts of technologies and designs for spacecraft. People were learning to pilot them, build them, maintain them... For so long no one really had anything to do besides just rebuilding. Now there was a new industry. It would be about a year until it was minimally operational but, Earth was going to have a space port and we'd start paving our own way in the galaxy. That said, we were still receiving all forms of aid and we would be for generations to come, genetic mutation has its perks. As strong as we'd become we were still technically disabled.

Before The Fall we were barely getting started in gene therapies but, this level of medical knowledge... we needed more help than was allowed by the aforementioned bureaucratic bullshit. However, now that we had the capability to travel through space, we were preparing for our first off-world "road trip" to a station named Outwhere. Less than reputable, traveling the blackness of deep-space to avoid detection, Lancieta was far from ok with the trip.

"Why does Panzer have to go there?" She asked the room with a stern look.

Roisin was flustered by the glares she was receiving from the other Ambassadors and Lancieta after she described Outwhere to everyone else.

"Well, Captain, Ambassadors last I'd heard, before I signed on the Shinimorte, the... genome collectors were aboard that station. It's like Praiyem said, they're the most likely to have what we need."

There was silence for a strong minute before Enakai spoke.

"So you're talking about..."

Lancieta cut him off, almost yelling at Roisin.

"You actually want to take Panzer to Outwhere, of all stations, to see three god damned SEQUENCE JUNKIES?"

"Captain if, if you'll let me finish..."

"Finish what? Explaining how you're going to get my son thrown into prison?!"

Roisin started breathing erratically and her voice quivered in the face of disapproving anger.

"No. Captain, this is the only way to get your son and his people the hope they need that OUR MISTAKE might be un-done!"

Roisin surprised herself with the forceful retort. Her breathing was unsteady and she was horrified that she yelled at her Captain but instead of recoiling she re-postured, grabbing at the bit of arm she hadn't torn off a few months ago to calm down.