Endosymbiosis

6. Difusion

Part 2
Blood

Seventh circle of the Empire
The station

I drove through the eternal night to the nearest space station, while the stranger peeled away the layers of alien skin above his. He had practically become a russian doll, containing a beast in intercalable shells above a chimeric nervous system... And I knew it couldn't wait to emerge again.

"Where were the other humans?" He suddenly broke the silence.

"They just... Got out."

"And why didn't you go with them?"

I sent him a sidelong look, wondering how dangerous it would be to answer that. Maybe I should worry a little less about everything.

"Because the Oasis made me promises..." I muttered. "That they couldn't fulfill."

"What about the promise you made to stay? I imagine they will want you to fulfill that too."

"Probably. But they'll spend months looking for a human named Clover... And that isn't me."

His lip curled into a puzzled smile.

"And who are you?"

"I'll let you answer this first."

He thought for a moment, perhaps also wondering how dangerous it would be to answer that.

"I'm apparently the first human you've met in that hospital in quite some time..." And he wasn't wrong.

"But I didn't miss th-"

At that moment, however, we saw the station and then all the words escaped me as I realized that I was getting closer to the core, inch by inch of that unraveled universe.

While we got closer to the landing platform, the constant noise the ambulance made fell silent, alarming us by its absence.

"The propeller died?"

"Apparently..." I replied. "The hospital must have deactivated it remotely." To prevent that, if stolen, the vehicles were taken away too far... Like for the galaxy's core, for example.

The ambulance coasted to the station and we infiltrated the flow of aliens, all so hurriedly rushing from world to world in this galaxy with no idea how close it was to dying.

We were the only humans in that sector of Itopis, which made difficult to camouflage, but still we stopped in the middle of the platform when the stranger said:

"Well, that was fun." His tone said the opposite. "Now tell me how to stop the fevino from killing me." I stared at him and opened a crooked smile. "And then we can go back to our lives."

"I will not reveal my secrets just yet."

Frustration materialized on his face in an avalanche.

"You don't need me anymore."

"Maybe..." I shook my head, avaluating. "But I need your ship." I wasn't going to let him get rid of me before he fulfilled his part of the agreement.

I approached slowly, as if I was dangerous, defying the beast that lurked inside him. Maybe I had finally lost it, but the only thing that really scared me was what stopped me.

"Tickets to the galaxy's core cost a fortune." I continued. "And the Oasis didn't pay cash. So I'll need a ride until the end, if you want the answers I keep..."

He approached and, this time, I didn't back away, but I had trouble hearing his words below my heart pounding in my ears:

"I could get the truth out of you..." His voice was soft, while his eyes said much more than his mouth wouldn't dare. I held my breath, suspecting that all he wanted at that moment was to get his hands on my neck. "I could kill you..."

And I was right, apparently.

"Don't feel so special about it. Several things can." I shrugged, pretending to be more calm that I really was. "And, after living with so many beasts, humans ended up losing all danger in my eyes."

He studied me.

"So why are you shaking?"

I clenched my fists, trying to stop my traitorous fingers. The stranger smiled slyly, as if somehow he had won something. I wouldn't let him.

"I could let him kill you." I growled. "Or even speed up the process." And in my eyes he saw that I wasn't kidding.

"Isn't it illegal for an iatric to use the patient's health against him to get something in return?"

"And isn't it illegal to kill hundreds of creatures and escape the imperial guard?" I needled him with my words. "Besides, iatrics are not recruited to care for the health of one individual or another, but of the entire Empire. And that's what I'm trying to do."

He backed away, his hand dgging through his hair. He couldn't just turn around and walk away, still too caught up in that desire to live to take the reins of his own mortality. Maybe I was a hindrance in his journey to achieve the goals that held him hostage, a great impassable mountain range in his path... Or maybe an annoying pebble in his shoe.

His footsteps brought hm back to me and I let out a low sigh of relief.

That stone wouldn't go far without its shoe ride.

"I thought space travelers liked adventures." I provoked. "Mainly those who do not get along with the law."

"I like the adventures I choose."

"And you're choosing this one. Instead of dying." I opened a little smile.

Maybe I was being cruel, but my mother had taught me that if the end was commendable, the perversion of the means didn't matter.

I wanted to tell him that it would all be over soon. He would have helped me to fulfill my mission and all our mistakes would be redeemed: all the pain our words caused, all the crimes we committed and maybe even all the lives our hands took. He would then go back to his life, and I would start mine... But I couldn't say that to him; because I didn't know if everything would really happen this way.

That's not how it ended for my predecessors.

"Are you always so... Stubborn?" He flashed an irritated smile, probably starting to hate me. Which just made everything easier.

"I call it determination."

"It's annoying with any name."

"But it moves the world."

"I thought it was money."

"And determination is what is left for the broke ones." I shrugged and watched him laugh, something I unfortunately enjoyed being responsible for.

"If I die because of you..." He threatened.

"I'll try to go first."

"That doesn't solve my problem."

"We are going to the center of the problems. You better get used to it."

He opened his mouth to retort, but then the guards caught up to us.

The stranger grabbed my arm and we ran through the crowd to the other end of the platform, where the space shuttles took off. We slipped under one that almost landed on our heads and slid across the floor, putting the vehicle between us and the guards. Before I could even blink, the stranger was pulling me into one of the space shuttles, and, as soon as we got in, it took off.

We hide behind the benches and peeked through the window at the guards looking for us down below. We looked at each other with the same smile and he let go of me as if he'd put his hand in a pit of acid.

The stranger threw his back, exhausted, against the bus wall, sitting down on the floor. I did the same, regardless of all the empty seats around us.

"Where are we going?" I said, breathless.

"Where do you think?" He teased me, laughing. "But before that, let's get my ship back."

And then we head into the emptiness of space.