GuNNhead

The next day, however, it is time to train for their next mission. I am awoken early, and immediately brought to the training sector of the ship. It is large with many different rooms for various training activities. I can tell just from how the men are that some have been trained to specialize in certain activities, as well as being competent in everything else, while others were trained in more general ways, to be a jack-of-all trades, who would be better than average in most everything.

Axivognt comes from a training room in the common armor, as opposed to his ceremonial robes from the night before.
“Ah, good to see you’re doing well! We have much to do today, but at least because of that display last night, we no longer have to spare a suit of armor for you, eh?” Axivognt takes me to the first of the rooms on the right. Inside the entirely white room, there’s only a small platform.
“This is where new recruits get their suit, see this young man here. It really is an amazing process. One simply steps onto that platform so it can take your measurements and you then have a suit.” The young man steps on the platform, arms come out of the wall, and scan him with a bright light. Once the lights finish scanning, the arms retract, and out of a hole in the wall comes a small ball the same color as the men’s suits. He holds it in his hands and rolls it in his palms like he was making dough into a ball. The suit slowly starts enveloping his hands, and goes up his arms, over his clothes, enveloping and assimilating them all, even his backpack: creating a small self-made one of itself. Soon he’s completely covered in the suit. He even has a helmet, which I’ve seen on none of the others. The helmet is the same color as the rest of the suit, and matches perfectly. It has one large black lens at the eyes, and is relatively nondescript. Cut him open. Explode his innards. Disintegrate everyone.
“What he has to do now is concentrate, envision himself without the helmet, and it’ll go away until he concentrates on having it again.” The young man does so, and it happens.
“An amazing process. I hope you know how to remove your suit, talking to that helmet is rather disconcerting.”
I do not know if this suit is my flesh. I concentrate, and steam shoots out from my helmet, and cracks open. I remove it with my hands, and hold it. Maybe I have more control of this than I thought.
“Astonishing! Let’s begin training, but, uh, you might need that helmet!”

With the announcement, everyone stands as the plates are taken away, and the tables are completely cleared. All of the tables and chairs secede into the floor, and come out again in sparser locations, filled with all sorts of alcohols and such celebrational accoutrements. It slowly becomes far more social; the people mingle, and become talkative. They’re all rather friendly, and most have beards. I start to become more comfortable in the crowd, I might have felt outcast here without that cheesecake. Axivognt comes down to see me.
“I’m glad to see you ate well, we always appreciate a finished plate!”
“Mhm.”
“Are you getting on well in this atmosphere?”
“Well enough.”
“Hah-ha! You’re a tough lad! Here, a mug of ale will do you well,” he says exuberantly, handing him a fresh mug of mead taken from a large wooden keg.
“Thanks,” I say, taking a large swig. The drink is strong in taste, but fills me spiritually much like the cheesecake.
“There you go, my man, you’re well on your way to enjoying the night! Enjoy it well, for tomorrow we must train you, as the day after next, we will be encountering some resistance on our journey!” He takes me into the neighboring room, for a more private conversation.
“Although I am renowned across the known universe for my adventures and exploration, I cannot read minds, and so I must ask you now though, when I’m to be assured of your honesty, what exactly were you doing on that planet?”
“Getting my spine torn out like a damn fool.”
“Pardon?”
“Revenge. Celrdrrun destroyed my planet; I had it in my mind to destroy him. But now, I’m after a being named Kænus. He’s the one responsible.”
“Kænus? I know of him, a rich snob. He may be a bit eccentric, but there’s no way he’d destroy a planet.”
I’m about to inquire more, but my innards start to spin. I hit the ground, doubled over in pain as I begin to vomit uncontrollably, blood and soul. Something with the food. A bolt of energy hits me, courses through my spine. I see a flash, an outline of light covering my body. The flash of light outlines my suit of armor. A surge of gravity brings all in the place to their knees. Everything is vibrating in my eyes. The omega surge suit. I’m once again armored. Electricity bristles around me. I stand. Axivognt looks at me without fear, without awe. He just looks at me. He places his hand on his long, white beard.
“A sign.”

That night they celebrated in ways of old, where alcohol flowed like water, and the normally reserved let loose, with challenges all in good fun, much shouting, and rowdy activity.

The fully automated devices then go to work. They pick up everyone’s plate, cleaning the tables as they go. Pausing for a second, the 13 men speak once more.
“We’re sure you all have enjoyed the feast so far, and are thoroughly full, and it is at this time, we take a refrain before dessert…” The main lights dim and the secondary lights come on, setting the mood for a tale to be told. “In ancient times…”

They tell their story with a brilliant vidclip. They are a faction of the Network of Communicating Planets, but are now searching for some relics to find “The Guide,” some mythological figure said to be all-knowing, he who guides our lives. I drift in an out, my mind focusing on death. The video says something about this being the second stage of time, the middle to the end. My time on that planet was like an out of body experience, like I wasn’t fully myself. But it’s coming back now. Maybe the omega surge suit is functional again. Maybe there’s some way I can activate it, like when it first appeared. Hopefully I’ll not have to drain all the blood from my body again to do it. Tear them limb from limb.

The voice from the intercom chimes in once the vidclip is finished:
“Now is when dessert is to be served, so we ask you, knowing that it is unnecessary, as upon viewing the dessert you shall ask yourself, to make room for Gold Leaf Spirit Cheesecake!” The robotic arms come down, and give each person a large slice of cheesecake. It’s a layered, each layer the same, but separated by Gold leaf. On top there’s a red icing, it’s cold, and still has the smoky cold air around it.
“Each layer is representative of one of our four Guiding principles:”
The entire room recites them:
“To believe in the weight of life and death.”
“To believe in the power and wisdom of The Guide.”
“To discover all planets and their connections in His grand schema.”
“To preserve peace and prosperity.”
“Betwixt, the gold layers separate them like the vast cosmos; demonstrating prosperity, hope, mystery, and knowledge. These are the rules we must strive to live our lives by every day.” There is a solemn silence. “Now, eat well, my fellow Prophets of the Last Eclipse.”

My mind thinks of the end of time. I see people slowly eating the cheesecake, though they are stuffed. It’s almost as if they are required to eat it, but not quite, more like dedicated to consuming it all, just like they were to finishing everything off of their plates. I see visions of ripping through flesh and bone, but I focus on the cheesecake. I dig into the slice happily, it’s the most delicious thing I can remember eating, and I immediately forget about what transpired inside the inner machinations of my mind. It takes me to a new world, where my taste buds are soaring. This cheesecake truly is a spiritual, Godly delight. I can feel my soul being nourished as I eat more. Bite after bite, I believe more and more that this is right. With religious fervor, I finish eating; with my stomach and spirit full, I rest back in my chair, and pat my stomach. When everyone else is done, another announcement is made.
“Now that we are whole, this celebration can truly commence!”

The hall is huge, and is lavishly decorated. The walls appear old, and wooden, with large red and purple gold trimmed banners hanging vertically downwards. There are large crystal chandeliers coming from the ceiling, lighting the room brilliantly and elegantly. The many large, long tables are close to full; there’s one main table at the front of the room, opposite the door. It has 12 men sitting there, all dressed like Axivognt. The rest of the tables have men dressed only in the armor. The room has tables on the edges full of food, all hearty meals; there is turkey, ham, piles of mashed potatoes and corn, baked potatoes, hamburgers, hotdogs. Almost anything one could want, it was there. We both walk down the central space in the middle of the room. There is an empty seat with an empty plate at the corner of the table.
“Just sit here,” said Axivognt, “you’ll be able to get food shortly, and once again, do not be shy, you’ll see others pile food on their plate, just follow suit. If you’re here with us, you’re one of us.”
Dismantle everyone in this room.

I sit, and Axivognt goes up to the main table, and sits with the 12 others. Shortly they all stand in unison to make an announcement. Solemn yet joyous, they spoke.
“Soldiers, scions, we are doing well in this galaxy, and are well on our way to fulfilling the Prophecy. Not only have we traced the planet-killer Celrdrrun, but we have attained the artifact that was foretold to be on this world, and it is safe, as the others we have collected. This leaves only a small many artifacts left, before we must combine them, and perform the ancient ritual… Yes, we have lost some soldiers on this world, and while we may feel sorrow for our lost friends for a time, we know that death is a gift that is afforded honorably to so few.”
Death. I breathe it in.
“I know that they would be glad, and proud they have not died in vain, like anyone of us would be. For we all know that to die for our cause is truly a great honor! This artifact we obtained brings us one step closer to the universe’s great prosperity, discovering The Guide. The next shall of course, be most difficult, as the enemy also knows of its whereabouts, a trial for the believers, but we are returning safety to the universe, and, I do not know a more noble cause than that. Now, usually I end here, but today is special and worthy of extra celebration! Today, we have found someone on one of our planets: The Gravity Surge! He is a harbinger of the time, and he is our guest of honor, we hope he will choose to stay with us. With that said, and our goal in our hearts… Let us feast!”
Feast upon evisceration.

There is respectful applause and cheers, the 13 men stand, and walk down from their table, passing by me.
“Follow right behind us, bring your plate, you may eat when you sit down.” Axivognt says as he passes me. We all walk up to the tables surrounding the room. The food on them looks delicious, the ham is glazed and glistening, the pork chops are still sizzling. Even the cheeseburgers look like the most luxurious I’d ever seen them. I fill my plate with an incredible amount of food. The rest of the soldiers behind me fill up their plates just as much if not more. Once the people reach the end of the tables, they return to their seats. Sitting back down on the lush, red chair, I look at my plate, stacked with food. Each selection of food looks as tantalizing as the last; I am so hungry that I do not know where to start. Annihilation. I simply begin at the top of the pile, eating the moist turkey that is incredibly full of flavor. My next bite is of a steak; it practically melts in my mouth filling it with its well-seasoned succulence. The entire meal continues in this manner, with each bite being as, or more delicious than the last. Soon, the entire hall has finished their meals. Finish their lives.

The ship continues into space, and inside the Orbiter, everyone is able to resume their natural lives, without being harnessed to a chair for safety. The intercom comes on again.
“We have safely reached outer space, and are on time and on course, it is at this time we will ask everyone to come to the mess hall, where we will be having several meals. Eat well, for this is a time for a feast of celebration.”

At this announcement, everyone gets up, and heads to the mess hall. After a few moments Axivognt enters the room dressed in his armor, but with a very fancy silken blue coat with white fur trim on it, and looks for me, finding me easily. He walks a few steps closer, to make sure he has my attention. When I look at him, he gestures with his hand for me to follow him. I do.

“How are you holding up?”
“I am holding up.”
“Indeed! What do you think of the ship so far? It has served us well for many years”
“It’s very ergonomic, very clean looking.”
“Yes, yes, though, these white common halls tend to get bland and all look the same after so long, though they are very nice indeed. Don’t worry, though, the dining hall is a much better atmosphere than these sterile halls.”
“I am off that accursed planet, that is what matters. My ship was left orbit perhaps only a short while ago. I cannot contact it, as my… transmitter is still badly damaged. I’m not even sure that I can ever contact it again. I need to find it, so that I may leave immediately.”
“Think nothing of it, we have already found it! However, it’s extremely badly damaged, but you are more than welcome to stay until it is repaired. We have reason to believe that it was a known marauder, Celrdrrun. He’s a planet destroyer, used to work with us, for the Network, before he went renegade, disagreeing with our procedure. Your ship fell out of orbit and crashed a day ago. We believe that is when Celrdrrun left the planet, but it was not imperative to give chase. Either way, we recovered your ship; the GS-336 is in one of the lower hangars.”
Celrdrrun. He will pay dearly. “How’d you know the craft was mine?”
He points. “The logo on your jacket matches. A quaint little abode-craft, very nice. Interesting and mysterious modifications, however, as my crew attempted to repair what is left of it, they were left unable; it repairs itself better than any other, and appears to be locked by means unknown to us.”
“Yeah, that’d be her, I imagine.”
“Although I am illustrious within the known universe for my adventures and exploration, the greatest of the explorers, ever, I have never seen a craft with its inner workings; do you care to shed some light on the technology?”
“It is as mysterious to me as it is you. I developed this sort of armor, but it was ripped from my body, and my spine torn out. This armor bonded me with my craft, altering us, but I’ve lost the connections with it and the armor since. I’ve never been apart since I first became with it. The clothes that I now wear are also as mysterious as they are stylish.”
“Perhaps the answers will come in time, I am confident! So, no worries, and let us concentrate on more important matters, the dining hall! Tonight is a grand feast! A celebration!”
“What are you celebrating?”
“Ha-ha! We,” he emphasizes, amicably grasping me on the shoulder, “are celebrating, that is what matters now! There will be a speech to explain it all, so do not worry about the details, and merely enjoy the feast, I know you’re hungry if you were going to eat that ‘fruit’ ha-ha!” He concludes, the doors in front of him opening to reveal the grand dining hall. I wonder, was I truly hungry? I’ve not eaten since I acquired the suit weeks ago. It sustains me. Death sustains me, I can feel the urge. Without the suit, though, do my former inclinations take hold? Is eating a necessity any longer, or merely a pleasure to partake in without requirement? The destruction of another, that is my only necessity.