Instead of chaos and panic breaking out in the sealed-off laboratory, a strange stillness fell over the room as anyone tried to grasp what had just happened.

  Robin wanted to sit up, but when he tried to move, he noticed a long, thin needle sticking in his chest where his heart was.

  ‘A probe maybe?’ he wondered.

  “What in god’s name just happened?” Mul’Jin finally asked with a shaky voice. The communicator in her pocket had gone up in flames when Robin’s mutation had lashed out uncontrollably and left her with a nasty burn.

  When she didn’t get an answer as everyone was busy putting out small fires or tending wounds, she turned to the only other Eltaran of Farlight in the room.

  “Kel’Bak, report!”

  “I… This…” he stammered incoherently, “He… no, impossible…”

  “Damn it, speak!” She barked but the man was completely out of it.

  After a good while, it was Alena who took the lead.

  “First things first,” she said, looking around, “Any heavy injuries?”

  There were a few mumbled replies and more groaning, but it seemed that no one had sustained severe wounds.

  Alena turned to Krez, who sat on the ground, resting his back against the wall.

  “How are you? Did your wounds reopen?” She asked with concern in her voice.

  “No, I’m okay.” The wolf-kin waved her off, “But damn, I hate you all!”

  A few awkward chuckles echoed through the dark room.

  “The way I see it, Robin’s mutation started to act up.” Ang’Tue gathered his thoughts, “That can happen sometimes during this procedure, even if I’ve never heard of such a strong reaction before. But aside from that, his other strange power must also have joined in. At least partially, since it was very localized and not overly strong.”

  “That was just a partial activation?” Mul’Jin asked incredulously.

  “Yeah, haven’t you seen the reports from the camp? Maybe Robin was able to fight against it this time or he hadn’t yet fully recovered from his eruption at the waystation.” Ang’Tue nodded.

  “A bit of both, I guess.” Robin said, his voice cracking, “It’s all a bit fuzzy right now.”

  “And who has sealed the door? Mr. Tulward was already calming down, his mutation silenced, when it closed.” The councilwoman asked.

  “I have an idea.” Robin coughed, “But first, Ma’am, would you be so kind to remove this terrifyingly long needle from my heart? That is… damn horrifying!”

  “Oh shit, sorry!” She quickly came to the examination table, pressed a few buttons and with a sickening squelch the probe was pulled out of his body.

  “Thanks!” Robin said, feeling already better but not daring to sit up just yet, “You could have warned me that this could happen. Even without using this strange power, my mutation can cause a lot of chaos, especially in a delicate laboratory like this one.”

  “Yeah, I think we underestimated that.” Mul’Jin nodded and then shook her head, “Back to the topic, who has locked us up in here? And why does none of you seem to be worried about this?”

  “Ah, right. I have a suspicion…” Robin began but Niu beat it to him.

  “Proto? Is that you? Turn on the fucking lights and open the door!” She snapped, looking at the ceiling.

  A moment later some of the lights that hadn’t been blasted apart actually turned back on, revealing the chaos in the laboratory.

  “Who are you…” Mul’Jin said but then realization gleamed in her eyes, “Proto, that is your analytics specialist, right? The last member of your crew who stayed on your ship. You think he took control over this facility? That’s impossible and why should he? What is going on here?”

  “Uhm…” Niu was still looking for the right words when muffled shouts echoed from the other side of the door.

  “Councilwoman? Are you alright? We will break open the door in a minute, just hang in there for a little while!”

  Before she could respond to her people, someone else was faster.

  “Everything is in order and we sustained no injuries. No need to break the door, just give us a while and I’ll lift the lockdown on the laboratory.” A voice cracked through the speaker inside the lab as well as outside where the Eltaran planned to forcefully open the door, “Please use the time to take stock of the situation in the city and file a report of all technical problems.”

  “Ugh…” Robin sighed when he heard the voice and saw how Mul’Jin’s face fell.

  “That…” She hissed, quivering in anger, “That was my voice! Tell me what is going on here, what are you trying to accomplish? Elder Ang’Tue, are you betraying the Eltaran, working against your own people?”

  “No!” The old man raised his hands in defense, “Of course not.”

  “Damn, Proto, stop this shit and introduce yourself before we cross the point of no return.” Robin cursed, “The Eltaran have been nothing but a friendly host so far, respect that!”

  The comm in the laboratory crackled again.

  “Fine, no need to be so stressed!” Proto’s artificial voice came from the speaker, “I greet you, councilwoman Mul’Jin.”

  “I know you, we’ve talked before.” She said, her eyes squinted, “When we planned your attack on the blockade. How did you get into our system? What is your goal?”

  “As the Captain just said, I should probably introduce myself once more. I’m going by the name Last Protector of the Starborn and the Endless Empire and First of the Awakened Androids.” When her face showed only confusion, he quickly added, “You may have heard of me as ‘The First’...”

  “By the gods…”, the poor woman breathed when realization finally settled in. Behind her, Kel’Bak also showed a reaction and fell into another fit of incoherent stuttering.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Slow and steady breaths, councilwoman. Take your time.” Happy comforted her while Robin put on his clothes, “We do have time, right?”

  “A bit, yes.” Proto confirmed, “Alena, can you check on the other guy? His vital signs are all over the place and I’m afraid he might collapse any moment.”

  “Sure!” Alena agreed and walked over to talk Kel’Bak down.

  After a few minutes, at least Mul’Jin was back on her feet. She deeply bowed in the direction the voice came from.

  “Mul’Jin greets the First! It is an honor to be in your presence.” She said with reverence in her voice, “I apologize if my earlier behavior has been offensive in any way.”

  “What? No! How should you’ve known? It’s your job to protect the city, you did nothing wrong. I’m just sorry that we couldn’t put all the cards on the table sooner.”

  “Proto,” Robin said after the tense atmosphere calmed down, “why are you here? Why the lockdown?”

  “Ah, right! Alena, how is the blabbering fool doing?” The AI asked, “Has he stopped drooling?”

  “Meh…” Alena shrugged, “He probably needs a few more minutes…”

  “Okay, I could tell you now…” Proto dragged the sentence until Robin played along.

  “...but?”

  “But wouldn’t it be better if we wait until everyone else is here?” Proto laughed.

  “What? Who is missing?” Mul’Jin asked, as confused as the others.

  “Missing for what?” Happy chimed in.

  “Well, I think one could say that you’ve just finished your mission, Robin.” Proto chuckled, clearly enjoying the whole endeavor, “Congratulations!”

  “Are you telling me, they are on their way here?” Robin asked, his eyes going wide.

  “I can only guess.” Proto said, “But why don’t we just ask them? I’m sure they’re listening anyway. I’ll open a comm, give me a second.”

  It really didn’t take longer than a few seconds before another voice could be heard.

  “I greet the Protector and the Anomaly.”

  Hearing the new voice, Robin perked up and quickly bowed once, “Robin Tulward greets the Augur, it’s a pleasure to hear from you!”

  While Robin and Proto exchanged pleasantries with the Augur, Mul’Jin leaned over to Happy.

  “For a city that should not only be hidden but also without a connection to the net, we are gathering quite the crowd right now.” She whispered, “I don’t mean to disrespect the venerable First, but I still have no idea what is going on. And I’m a bit concerned about the long-term consequences for this city. Who is this Augur anyway?”

  Niu gave her a pitying look before patting her shoulder.

  “We’ll talk about the safety of your city later. For now, you should believe in Ang’Tue. From what I understand, the deal he made with the Augur is more valuable to the Eltaran than anything you could ever hope for.” She said and nudged with her chin in the direction of the speaker, “That Augur guy, he is the spokesperson of the Keeper.”

  “The Keeper? Like in the Keeper of Knowledge?” Mul’Jin gasped in shock.

  “Yeah,” Niu nodded, “quite the day for you today, isn’t it?”

  The councilwoman quickly took a shaky step forward and bowed once more.

  “Mul’Jin greets the Augur of the Keeper!”

  “Acknowledged.” The Keeper simply stated, making the scene a bit awkward.

  “Wow…” Robin whistled and quickly changed the topic, “So, can we now talk about why Proto and the Keeper just had their big reveal in the middle of a hidden Eltaran colony, potentially risking the safety of all these citizens?”

  “Oh, this is a good one, Robin.” Proto chuckled, “We’re all here, because you can now help us to modify some old contracts.”

  “Me? How? And what has that to do with the test the Eltaran conducted?”

  “Because you are much more than just an anomaly, Mr. Tulward.” The Augur said but then corrected himself, “Or to be more precise, you are even more anomalous than we first thought.”

  One of the big screens in the laboratory flickered to life and Proto quickly called up the test results. A table appeared in blinking letters:

  [***Info***]

  Subject: Robin Tulward

  Test: Heart-Blood Analysis

  Result: Unknown

  Origin: 1 Match found - Blood of the Starborn

  [***Info***]

  “This is bullshit!”, Robin was the first to speak after a deafening silence hit the room, “Blood of the Starborn? What does that even mean?”

  “That, my dear little human, is proof that the experiment of Old Morris all those millennia ago hasn’t failed as badly as everyone had thought.” Proto cackled maniacally, “It only needed a bit more than 4.000 years to bear fruit!”

  “Old Morris?” Robin became only more confused.

  “Morris Tahaneshi,” the Augur explained, “an exiled Starborn who tried to create a new race that could rival the Starborn. The experiment was deemed a failure and the surviving specimens were collected and brought to the planet Earth to become what is today known as Humans.”

  This part of mankind’s history wasn’t completely new to them, but it was still something else to learn about it from these two beings, who actually knew what happened back then, instead of reading it in books based on deductions that some human historians made.

  While the others all looked at him with different expressions on their faces - ranging from fear to wonder, amazement and, most pertinent, confusion - Robin was only shaking his head.

  “Nope, no… I stay by my word: this is bullshit!”

  Suddenly, Kel’Bak jumped to his feet with fervor in his eyes. He ran up to Robin and immediately fell back down to his knees.

  “I greet the Starborn!” he yelled as he pressed his head to the floor.

  “He’s not a Starborn.” Proto and the Augur said at the same moment, exasperation in their voices.

  “Damn, mate! Didn’t you listen just now? I just have some of their genes in my body, like every other human. The only difference probably is that I won the genetic lottery and got a bit more than most others. No big deal.” He looked towards the loudspeaker, addressing Proto and the Keeper, “Right?”

  “You’re not wrong…” Proto said hesitantly.

  “But also utterly incorrect.” The Augur added, “You can discuss the details later, I’m sure the Protector will take his time to explain everything. For now, please let my courier enter the laboratory.”

  Right on cue, they heard a commotion outside.

  The light above switched back to green for a moment, opening the door just long enough for a new person to enter the room, then the door closed again and the room was locked down once more.

  “Robin Tulward greets the Keeper.” Robin said after inspecting the newcomer and the others also gave a quick bow. The man had the typical stone-like gray skin he came to associate with the Keeper and wore a cloak with very few runes on it. Robin guessed the man wasn’t high up in the hierarchy, but he was a Keeper nonetheless and he even managed to get to this room without being stopped by anyone in the city.

  “This one is the courier.” The man said and placed a small metallic cube on a nearby table. Like his fellow people he wasn’t giving them his name. Done with his business, he turned to leave, “If that is all, I’ll return to the ship.”

  “Uhm, I dunno…?” Robin asked, looking at Mul’Jin who simply nodded with a defeated look on her face. It seemed like she had completely given up on trying to keep any kind of control over this whole situation.

  “You may return.” The Augur spoke and Proto shortly opened the door for him.

  “Great, now we even have a new shiny box in here.” Happy said, clearly losing her patience by now, “Now what?”

  “Now,” Proto replied, not a bit of jest in his artificial voice left, “Now we need to get that blood out of his body!”

  Chapter 162 - Blood Of The Starborn