Factory Reset

Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Catalyst for Peace

The air thinned as their vision turned dark, their bodies beginning to contort and flatten. They could not see, nor hear anything. They could barely feel themselves as they slipped between the folds of space-time.

Mason felt both a heat unbearable and a cold unmanageable. His body was stretched to beyond what he thought was possible, a surreal experience that lasted just a few seconds, but felt like an eternity.

The ship appeared into another space, far beyond where they were once. Mason took in a massive gasp of air, his lungs completely deprived of the life-giving resource. His friends were also experiencing the lack of it, as they all were gulping.

B-64 sharply turned his head, getting rid of the little glitches that always appeared when going through these things. Even with the special field, something always happened: Like little dark patches of void appearing in his vision.

The ground felt very foreign, despite them having been accustomed to it in the time they were on the ship. It felt wrong to be there, and each step felt like stepping on knives cooled to near absolute zero.

"Uhh... My head..." Marissa muttered, unsteadily gripping onto the chair's frame. White burning heat rushed through her very body, almost agonizingly painful. Though that only lasted a moment, as it soon dissipated.

Axel too was having some side-effects: He could hear his heartbeat, his breathing was shallow at best, and he could barely see. But they too soon disappeared in just a few moments.

Hannah was one of the few that didn't experience anything adverse, a rather low chance of happening. She just sat and stared, a little scared and confused, but all together well. Mason shook himself, unlatching her belt and helping her up.

For some reason, they had appeared out of their chairs despite having just been there. Mason just shrugged it off however. After all, it wouldn't be the craziest thing they've witnessed.

A knock on the door caused all five to jump in surprise, B-64 all ready to attempt to power up his shield in case of the worst, but found that he couldn't. The door soon opened, revealing another new protogen. Mason considered that he'd best get used to seeing a lot of them.

"Follow me." It sent to B-64, it's inner voice rather robotic and lifeless. So disconnected that it even made B-64 shudder. Mason held his hand and Hannah's as the protogen signaled to the rest of them to exit the room.

B-64 followed it with a deep frown on his visor, holding onto Mason's hand just a little too tightly. There was something about that protogen that caused him to feel threatened, even if it didn't do anything.

After navigating numerous hallways, passages, and a flight of stairs, they reached what must have been the loading dock. A huge expanse of space with hundreds of boxes filled to the brim with odd devices, and even more disturbing, bodies.

Marissa quickly clutched Axel's shoulder as the protogen led them down into the area. She clenched her eyes shut and tried not to breath in with her nose, but being a lion, it was hard. Axel let her, leading her with his own hand and muttering soft words to her.

B-64 wasn't perturbed, and neither was Mason really. What Mason was mostly dealing with was shielding Hannah's eyes from the horrors. Mason wondered why they had to go through this area to get to the dock.

B-64's optic sensors were trained on the protogen, and even though Mason was right beside him, he could only focus on the thing in front of him. B-64 wasn't even sure if he could call it living, nor a protogen even.

No, that thing was definitely not alive.

Nevertheless, the thing led them outside and into the main loading dock. And if Mason was being honest, it looked nothing like what he expected.