Depth Of Sacrifice

Part 2

"You remember how the colony in Kuiper belt stopped communication after they declared their independence? Well, the reason was that Earth couldn't stand the idea of a colony beyond their control. 'Security Risk' they told me, the antimatter technology too important for Earth's needs. So they acted first. The colony was too spread out for military strikes, so they struck with a virus instead. It had a slow incubation period, giving it time to spread..."

...

"Launch," Blackbird commands.

The sudden surge and then the lack of gravity makes his stomach lurch. He looks out over Earth, the horizon of the sky below him, its white clouds dotting the landscape like puffs of floating snow.

After all the long years... to see Earth once more. He wishes he could walk upon the ground, the grass, and smell the air again, smell the dew... He's spent too much time in space.

But he's not here for that.

The sun rises above the horizon line as he adds more thrust to the fighter, easing his stomach. He reaches out with his mind and connects with the carrier ship, issuing the order to the command computer. It queries his authority, and he sends the proper codes. All is in combat readiness. The ship notifies him which satellites have noticed him, and catalogues the military ones. He sets course for re-entry.

He releases his harness and pulls at his shirt, takes it off and tucks it into a locker in the arm of the command chair. He dreads what comes next. If only he had the time to prepare properly, but there just isn't time. Hammering his emotions down, he locks them away, telling himself he knows why he must pay the price.

Sitting back in the command chair, leaning against the headrest, his thoughts send the commands for Emergency Combat Medical Override. The fighter's computer takes notice. He feels its attention as the safety harness locks in, initiating and cataloguing readings of his condition. The screen in front of him displays a query, at the same time he feels it in his mind. Triggering 'Blackbird Override', he commands the computer to activate its full combat mode. He reads the screen to calm his nerves.

'Combat Merge Request'

'Captain's Code Required'

'Verifying'

'Pilot Not Compatible'

He issues the override a second time and the screen responds, 'Emergency Merge Request Confirmed - Pilot Prepare'.

Metal straps shoot out of the chair to secure his arms and legs in two places. Eight medical arms emerge from each armrest like scorpion tails. For an instant, his fear breaks free and rears up its head. It's too late. The medical scorpions slam into his arms, injecting nanobots into his bloodstream and flesh.

The backrest slides out, leaving a gentle, cold feeling of air on the length of his spine, but the pain is already climbing to levels that block it out. He barely notices the injectors hitting his spine and legs, until the torture in his spine sears his mind above all else.

As he slams his head back in a scream, a segmented belt snakes around his forehead, trapping him against the headrest. Fire in his veins takes possession of him, and his eyes widen in sudden terror as the metallic scorpions enter his peripheral vision.

The screen in front of him reads, 'Integration Beginning'.

'Occular Merger Initiating'

Excruciating pain overtakes him, he cannot hear the computer in his mind. That must be why there is a readout on the screen, a small, distant, analytical part of his mind whispers. His back arches as the pain climbs to higher levels, his body trying to break the restraints as the scorpions slam right into his temples.

Darkness takes him.

He thinks he's blacking out, his lungs hurting for air as he tries to scream. Then an overwhelming sensation hits him. It's too bright, too loud, too much sound, too much feeling. Sensations beyond anything he knows to a level that can only be called excruciation.