24th August
06:23 GMT
"Need to recharge already?" I cross the room, orange light strobing out as I scan the H'lvenian. "Or did the three of you have a… Falling out?"
Through the
bone in places, but avoiding major veins and arteries…
"Oh?" He tilts his head up, burned out eye sockets staring blindly up at me. "You left me my ears and my tongue, is it too much to ask-."
"This shouldn't hurt.
"
"Who are-?"
Filaments of orange light connect me to the nails and the wounds surrounding them… And are repulsed. I try again a little more forcefully-.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm trying to heal you.
"
"With orange light? Even if that were possible-"
"I assure you, it
is.
"
"-I'm afraid my status makes that quite impossible."
"Yes, you're an Indigo Lantern.
" I take my purple healing ray out of one of my armour's storage compartments.
"Or Indigo Tribe, if you prefer. Nok.
"
"Ah. Yes,
Nok. I'm sorry, I seem to be a little
behind events."
"How well do you handle pain?
"
"I don't feel pain at all. The Berrith have been really quite
frustrated."
"Then this won't hurt.
" I take a lump of iron out of subspace and form it into tongs, then use a construct to grasp the first nail.
"I'm going to pull out the nails and then heal the wounds.
"
"
Please listen to me. I appreciate the effort, but that
won't work."
I
yank, then use a brief burst from the heal ray to repair the damage. Another seventeen to go. I stick a construct platform under his feet to take the weight off his injuries.
"Oh.
Thank you."
"I'm sorry, but it won't restore your eyes. Why can't I do that?
"
"
My Penitent was consumed by avarice. If something went wrong, we wanted to be sure that he wouldn't be able to use it against me. Is he-?"
"Mekk? I overheard them saying that he was killed and eaten. Sorry.
" More nails come out, and he starts to look a little more like an intact person.
"Your ring?
"
"Destroyed, once they realised that they couldn't turn it orange or use it without feeling compassion."
"Can you contact the rest of your tribe? And do you have strong feelings against cybernetics? We don't have long until the three come here.
"
"I'm…
I'm sorry, but I shouldn't say. And I don't have any problem with cybernetics, it's simply-"
I ring-forge a simple sensory band with a H'lvenian wireless interlink, then wrap it around his head.
"-that I'm more of a
biotechagagagaggh." His head twitches back and forth as the interface connects to his visual cortex. "U
h." His hands free, he reaches up to touch it. "Ah, good choice. I'll change it out once I get somewhere
safe." He jumps lightly from my construct platform onto the floor. "Situation?"
I look through Ranx's superstructure at the tangles of colour.
"Berrith massing for an attack…
" And if
that bundle of colour isn't a Lantern I'm giving up my rings.
"We're on Ranx. Lanterns Gardner and Ch'p are waiting out of Ranx's effective range.
"
"And you're freeing me
because..?"
"Because you're small and furry, like my ancestors' children were. And because no one part of the whole is whole by itself.
" I turn towards the staff.
"So am I in for a harder fight than I
think I am? Is that staff actually
helping-?
"
"Yes. It
was." He
raises his right paw-. His right
hand, his right
hand, and lays it on the staff. "Tell Ch'p that
Ub'x says 'hello'."
"Don't be so pessimis-.
" Indigo light flares as he vanishes. I stare for a moment.
"You treacherous little Weasel Beav-!"
"
The floor around me explodes with orange light! My construct armour abrades and the gravity nullifier construct collapses, then gravity returns with a
vengeance and I'm pulled through the floor, pieces of Ranx's interior slamming off the remains of my construct armour until it gives way before being deflected by my armour's kinetic barrier! I
shove, orange light blasting the area around me clear and bringing the gravity-.
"Raaagh!"
A Berrith Construct Lantern lunges through the debris, grabbing onto my armour and
biting it! The teeth crunch through even as
I draw the Sword of the Fallen and stab it through her forehead, causing her to dissolve into orange mist. Of course;
I find the idea loathsome, Ragnar's people don't do slavery and Morrow was dying anyway. Why would I assume that a race of cannibals would feel the same way?
And then I hit the floor
hard, environmental shield shuddering as it tries to reduce the damage. I create a bubble shield around me as I look around. Some sort of arena, inside Ranx. And three
brightly glowing Berrith on the other side from me and a
whole crowd in the stands.
Oh,
that's how they're doing i-!
The three of them move as one, colossal beams of orange energy flying from their rings, merging into one and cannoning towards me. I dodge, and the beam dodges
with me. I try to form a construct railgun and it
melts, completely unable to remain coherent as it's torn apart from the
intensity of their output. Brute force and ignorance; this is exactly why I didn't want to actually
fight Larfleeze.
I bring my hands together, pulling at the desires for
freedom and
conquest in the beam. My rings
glow as the beam weakens, but it hits my shield with
incredible force anyway. I'm knocked back, the beam boring through the bubble and smashing into my newly recreated construct armour. Raw power fight, not something I've optimised for.
So don't.
The Berrith Alphas aren't anything special, not as far as the orange light is concerned. But they accept each other as equals and everyone else as followers, everyone desiring the same thing. Surprisingly communitarian. And since there's no real conflict
between them, they aren't going crazy. Pack mentality at its finest. Ch'p mentioned that when he destroyed a ship attacking their original homeworld, the Berrith who saw it accepted his leadership
immediately and without reservation. Of course, this
particular arrangement is rather distinct.
I let the universe go, then move the bundle of orange that is me to just behind the bundle of orange that is them.
Railguns
up and
firing!
