When The Future Comes…….

By Cypher

Chapter One-2378

It was a beautiful day in the preserve of Alpha Centauri. Glow mites flew from fungal bloom to fungal bloom, gathering the fallen spores. A young couple sat in the middle of a clearing, not too far away. One was a man, leaning on his elbows and absorbing the twin suns’ rays. His dark blue hair looked unkempt, and one lock had fallen between his eyes. Lying next to him was a young woman; her flowing black hair was spread over his chest, where her head was resting. Their pale skin made for a stark contrast to the pink and green surroundings they were in.

Both of their eyes were watching a child, no more than four, who was chasing the glow mites. The woman raised her head off of her husband’s chest, her black hair swinging gently. Her pure black eyes focused on her son.

“Arcturus! Don’t wander too far!” She told him.

~I won’t.~ He thought back, not wanting to disturb the glow mites with his voice.

“Let him be dear.” He husband said lightly, his pure dark blue eyes also on the boy. “He’ll be safe as long as he stays in the preserve. And he knows to avoid the river.” She smiled, but their link allowed him to feel her worry. “He can call either of us if necessary.”

“I guess you’re right.” Jim Hashiba hugged his wife. He was the descendant of the great Rowen Hashiba, who commanded the colony ship to this world, and helped to tame its surface.

Of course, Rowen was human, he was not. The majority of the people on the planet were Alpha’s, as they called themselves. They had evolved and adapted to their surroundings. Their eyes no long white, colored, and black, but now all one color, or a mix of two, like their son. Telepathy and telekinesis had developed as well, mostly due to the fact that the world’s native life was telepathic. There did remain one small faction of pure humans. They lived everywhere, hidden in the natural cave formations on the surface. They hated the Alpha’s, believing them to be a “genetic flaw” and that by evolving, they had abandoned Earth. Their goal was to wipe out all Alpha’s on Alpha Centauri, an unrealistic goal, but they tried.

Jim’s wife, Linda, suddenly went rigid. He felt through their link, sensing what she was: two hostile entities.

“Humans.” She whispered to him. He nodded, and used the neural implant given to each Planetary Enforcer to contact the nearest Elite Station. Unfortunately, he discovered it was ten minutes away. They’d have to stall for time.

<I have to get Linda and Arc out of here.> “Go find Arc and run to the nearest Elite Station. Now.” The force behind the quiet words let Linda know that it was an order, not a request. She nodded and turned to leave, and found herself staring down the business end of a fusion rifle.

~We have company.~ She sent to her husband.

“Don’t move.” The man told both of them. Another man emerged, holding a container, a psi reinforced container.

“Well, what do we have here?” The second man said, looking the couple over.

“A couple of freaks in our park.” The first man said, also looking Jim and Linda over.

“This is Psi Corps territory. Leave now, and no charges will be brought against you.” Jim said levelly, attempting to gain more time. He got punched in the nose instead. <Of all the days to leave my equipment at home. Just seven more minutes….>

“One of their Enforcer’s too!” The first man sneered. “I know how you work. The team’s probably already on their way. Well, all they’ll find is your body.” The man looked Linda up and down, as if assessing the value of a statue. Jim growled. “So, this is your chosen. Well, the only good Enforcer is a dead one, but first, let’s see you suffer. Really suffer. Sage, keep this guy at bay.” The man with the rifle walked forward and pressed the muzzle of the rifle into Jim’s neck. “And now, the fun begin.” He smiled evilly at Linda, and lowered the psi shielding to the container…..

Arcturus watched as a fungal bloom attempted to assimilate one of Earth’s native plants. He thought it was called a rose, but wasn’t too sure. He’d have to ask dad later. The entire process was fascinating to him. The pink strands of fungus climbed up the stem of the plant, and attempted to drill into the branches that extended off of it. He couldn’t understand how the little white dots on the branches could repel the fungus, but they did. He reached out to see if he could help the fungus when a psychic scream pierced his consciousness. He stumbled backwards and fell down, not completely comprehending what happened. Then a verbal scream laced the air, along with an inhuman screech. He got up and ran to the clearing where he had left his parents. He burst through the trees in time to watch his mother collapse, her skin tainted a sickly purple, and her black eyes now empty sockets dripping with blood. A native animal, a mind worm, drilled a hole the size of his fist in the side of her head, and began crawling back to a man, leaving a trail of red blood laced with orange venom behind. As the man gathered up the creature, he looked directly at Arcturus and gave him a smile, a cold, cruel smile that promised pain. Arcturus was frozen in place by fear. About a foot away from the man with the canister was his father, struggling with a second man who had a rifle. His father finally got the better of the man and headed for his son.

“Arcturus! Run! R-” His father’s screams were cut off by an energy weapon’s discharge. Arc stared dumbly as his father’s body fell before him, headless. Tears formed in his eyes, and began to slide down his face. His deep blue pupil’s went back and fourth between the bodies of his parents and the two men. Anger began to well up inside him.

“What should we do with the freaks’ brat?” The one with the rifle asked, looking at the crying child.

“I don’t know Sage. We could let him live his life in terror, or we could kill him, getting rid of yet another freak.” Sage smiled.

“Kill him.” Sage said, taking aim.

“You killed my parents.” Arcturus whispered.

“What was that?” The other man asked, curious about the boy’s final words.

“You killed my parents.” Arcturus said more loudly. On his forehead, a dark blue kanji started to flicker into existence.

“Can I shoot him Kento?” Sage asked. His companion nodded.

“You better. He’s doing something that don’t look to good.” Sage took aim again and fired.

“What is it Cale?” Sekhmet asked the Warlord, who had suddenly gone rigid.

“Message from Kayura.” He responded, not moving. Then he donned his armor and walked out of the kitchen, Sekhmet following at his heals.

“What is it?”

“Tell Dais to have a room ready and get the emergency medical kit we swiped from that infirmary.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see. Go.” Cale then disappeared, leaving Sekhmet to his task.

Arcturus watched the fusion laser head for his body. Unknown to him, the dark blue kanji grew brighter. Before the beam hit him, he closed his eyes and screamed; a scream filled with the hurt, anger, rage, and sorrow from his soul. He never saw the blue dome protect him from the energy discharge, or how it expanded, destroying everything in its path, including the two men and the bodies of his parents. When he finally stopped screaming, the blue dome and kanji disappeared, and he collapsed, no longer having the energy to stay awake.

On the remains of post World War Four Earth, a brown headed little girl looked up into the sky. Her brown eyes sparkled with anticipation of the future she knew would come.

On Mars, a red haired girl glanced up from her nursery holo-book, her tiger blue eyes scanned the room for what had disturbed her. Upon finding nothing, she returned to reading about Little Miss Muffet.

In the aquatic colony of Lost Atlantis, a blond girl’s sea green eyes filled with tears of sadness. She ran to her parents and cried herself to sleep in their arms.

On the colony of Avalon, a brunette whipped her head around, searching for the threat she had sensed. Finally, her father swooped down from the sky and carried her home, and she forgot about the feeling.

Cale appeared in what looked to be a desert. He easily found the child’s body and ran over to it. Then he heard voices approaching. Quickly, yet tenderly, he picked up the limp boy. As he stood up, he realized he was no longer alone.

“Turn around and put your hands on your head.” A woman’s voice commanded.

“I would, but then I’d drop this child.” He turned around, allowing the Elite to see the boy. One of the men gasped.

“That’s Jim’s offspring.” He told the commander. She nodded, her eyes never leaving Cale.

“Put the boy down, human.” She ordered.

“I’m afraid I can’t. You see, I must now take him, since his parents are dead.”

“Did you kill them?” A young man, obviously a rookie to the team, asked.

“No, I’m just visiting this world. And now, I must leave.”

“I can’t allow that.” She said. Cale held the boy closer to his chest and teleported both of them to the Dynasty.

“Commander, what-“ She raised her hand, cutting the sergeant off.

“The report will say that the humans destroyed this place with a neutron bomb and that the Hashiba family got caught in the blast. It’s the only way we’ll ever explain this to anyone. Understood?” Everyone replied in the affirmative, still wondering exactly what did happen.

“What in the name of Anubis happened to him?!” Sekhmet half yelled to Cale, who was leaning on a wall, watching Dais tend to any wounds he could find on the child.

“I don’t know. All I know is Kayura said we had to save him.” He sighed. “He’s already accessed his armor’s power. To be burdened with it at such a young age.”

“Physically he seems fine.” Dais said, interrupting the conversation. “He’s drained of energy, but a bit of rest will cure that.”

“Mentally?” Cale asked. Dais frowned.

“I’m not sure. For someone his age, he has great psychic walls. Other than some emotional trauma on the surface, I think he'll be okay, but don’t quote me.”

“The question is, what do we do when he does awaken.” Sekhmet said.

“We watch after him.” The other Warlords looked at Cale. “At least until Kayura tells us to return him home. He’s the Strata bearer and has no family, so she needs to set up special arrangements probably.”

“Fine, but he’s your responsibility, Cale.” Sekhmet said, walking off.

“You’re on your own.” Dais concurred, also leaving. Cale sighed again and pulled up chair next to the bed.

Cale awoke to groaning, the boy’s groaning. He was waking up. Cale backed up, not wanting to crowd the boy, who slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard. At first, Cale thought the child might be blind. Then he saw two blue dots expand in the middle of the black pools of eyes. The boy scanned the room, eventually settling on Cale. The blue haired Warlord couldn’t read the child’s face, and found he was wishing for the long since dead Sage of Halo. He could read anybody.

“It wasn’t a nightmare, was it.” The child’s sudden words surprised Cale slightly, before he realized that the boy actually was hoping it was a nightmare and he was still in the dream world. Cale shook his head.

“I’m sorry.” The crushing look on the boy’s face made Cale regret his blunt way of delivering the news. “What’s your name?”

“Arcturus.” He barely whispered.

“Mine’s Cale.” Arcturus nodding, staring at the bed spread.

“They’re really gone.”

“Yes.”

“They’re not coming back.” Cale sighed again.

“That’s correct.” Now Cale wished Anubis was still alive. <He always was good with little kids.> A sniffle brought him back to the present. Arcturus was crying. <Great! Now what do I do?! I’m not paternal! On no……now he’s whimpering!! What the hell do I do!?!> Arcturus looked to Cale, tears sliding down his pale cheeks. After a few moments, Arcturus turned around and curled up into a ball at the far corner of the bed, still crying. Cale sighed and rested his head in his hands.

“He needs you to comfort him.” A familiar voice said from behind Cale, who whipped around, eyes filled with surprise.

“Anubis?!”

“Not so loud.” He scolded, looking to Arcturus, making sure he hadn’t been disturbed any further. “He can’t hear or see me. It would scare him if he woke up and found you talking to nothing.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“Helping you,” he indicated Arcturus with the Staff, “and him. He needs someone to take care of him, to provide support and comfort. He needs a parent.”

“Why are you telling me this? Why not Kayura?” Cale asked somewhat suspiciously.

“You are going to raise him.”

“Why me?! I’m not good with children!”

“Because you’re the only one Kayura and I trust for the job. Besides, you look more like his father than the others do. He’ll trust and bond with you more quickly.”

“But-” Anubis held up his Staff and began to fade.

“Go. Help him now.” Anubis disappeared, and Cale stared at where the ghost had stood. After a moment, he turned and walked over to Arcturus. He leaned down and gently, if somewhat hesitantly, hugged the shuddering boy. Arcturus threw his arms around Cale, sobbing into his shoulder. Cale slowly rubbed his hand in a circular motion on Arcturus’ back.

“Shhh. It’ll be okay. I’m here for you. Shhhhh….” Cale rocked back and fourth with the crying child long into the night.