Epilogue 3: Instability
The stars are dead.
The rings of light from beyond the clusters of blacks holes are the only illumination apart from the coarse artificial lighting of the Devil's Prison sitting right in the middle of the Black Pegasus. The place for eternal imprisonment, and the place of no escape.
The structure is built by literally holding together a planet from beyond the event horizon of the black hole clusters and orbiting in the no mans land of the cosmos, and once the prisoners entered, there is no coming back. The entire facility is run by programmed droids, and now he is the first prisoner in years.
Brakagi looked up at the ceiling within the prison facility, and then turned to look back at the drop ship that he came within right behind him. It was no longer there, but was rather scooped up away by another jet of radiation coming from the black holes and torn to pieces.
There goes his only chance of escape. The slimmest chance of them all and it was snuffed out in an instant.
The prison was built underground, the only safe location on the planet. The violent storms of radiation has torn away whatever remained of the atmosphere and constantly bombards the planet's surface.
The droid that was supposed to accompany him patiently awaits. When there is no risk of escape, there is no point for any strict reinforcement of rules. As punishment goes, nothing is crueler. Brakagi forced himself to turn away from the reinforced viewing window and headed into the lift. Once both of them has entered, the droid pressed a button, and it descended deeper and deeper into the planet's core.
Brakagi found himself sitting alone in his cell twenty minutes later, with not a single sound coming from his surroundings apart from the spinning of droid wheels that occasionally came through. He expected the prisons to be busy, packed with radicals that will respond to his calls to action and seek freedom and revenge! He thought he could manipulate those here, and break out of the unbreakable prison. But reality has only just begun and set into his mind. There may as well be no escape, ever.
He was defeated by those he trusted. His reformation that will bring glory back to the Rockies before the two dominant galactic species took almost everything for themselves and only leaves the scraps for the Rockies. Brakagi knew exactly what had happened, that the galactic senate was threatened by his words and actions, and facilitated the GBI to work behind the things to get rid of him.
The route of democratic diplomacy has failed him. Brakagi has always had doubts that such novel concepts would work on a galactic scale across the species. Sure, the humans and Aquarians both converges to that governmental structure independently before they ever came into contact, but for the Rockies to survive in the harsh dry environments of their home planet Rock, they needed strong centralized control and discipline. The environment is way too harsh to allow for any time wasted debating over pointless topics! They needed strong leaders, and the strongest of them all will end up leading them all!
Perhaps he wasn't strong enough.
No, he was DEFINITELY not strong enough. Brakagi ripped into his thick fur as that thought was drilled into him. Instead of giving up hope, he needed to get stronger! And without a single hint of distractions around, this might be the best place to do it.
Standing up from his bunk bed, he walked through the unlocked door and into the prison yard. There are sets of standard training equipment suited for all species that's completely clean and unused. In the floor above, there is a library like location. The food printer located in the corner of the yard seemed to be the dining hall of the entire facility, since the radiation ejected from the black holes are already sufficient to power the droids and the facility itself, there is no need for any cooking droids around. That's about all that he could roam around, but for the moment, that's good enough.
Over the next few days, that's what he has done. He has formulated a basic training program to bring up his lacking physical strengths and combat prowess, and started exploring the entirety of the prison complex, trying to find and gather all of the resources he will need to get out of here. It doens't really matter what the outside world has said about this place, what matters is what he believed in. Nobody believed the tiny Rockies can ever come on top the galactic stage, but this is exactly what he is going to do!
The entire universe wants to see him fail, and he is going to break out of that reality!
The exploration of the prison compound wasn't long, and then he started experimenting with the mechanisms of the prison droids. He started causing small amount of damages to some of the patrol droids accidentally, and followed them back to where they were being fixed and maintained. Everything works like clock work, and he has figured out that there is a hidden unmarked machines workshop located in the deepest corner of the prison where all of the droids that roams around go back to recharge and get their maintenance done.
He then tried to sneak into to the workshop, but was forced back by a couple of the combat droids that stood guard there. He didn't bother to fight, knowing that he will undoubtedly lose. But this wasn't a waste of time at all.
After fully exploring the entire prison compound, he then started to look at ways of exploring outside of it. He found a neural-deep diving equipment in the library, and happily connected himself up in order to find things that he could use. He needed a schematic for how the compound is built into the planet, and perhaps a scan of the planet itself. The technical report was hastily encrypted, and Brakagi's prior military training has allowed him to bypass that with little issue.
'The history of the compound...No, the unstable planet?' The title caught Brakagi off guard, and he continued reading on.
Contrary to what many on the outside thought, the planet isn't on the verge of being torn apart because of strong gravity pulls of the black hole clusters, but instead, it's always been this way. The prison compound was built into the cracking planet, and the man made superstructure was placed so that it literally held the planet together.
Deeper in the research were a scan of the planet's core, and a subsequent marking of it. To his surprise, near the edge of the prison compound, thousands of kilometer down from this tiny planet's surface were a zone marked 'The Cursed Zone'. Brakagi read on, and from the report itself it seemed that it's a zone that was strangely influenced by unknown forces and all of the probe droids sent there all lost contact. And since there is not much reward going furhter, they simply marked it down as a danger zone and left it.
'If that's a place where all the droids can be disabled...' Brakagi thought about the combat droids that stood guard in the droid's manufacturing zone, 'then if I can get them there, maybe that's how I can get rid of them?'
And with that, he started formulating his plans. He has learnt that if he damages a patrol droid severely enough, the combat droids would come out of the hiding and chase after that particular droid. When that happens, all he has to do is to pick up the droid and run with it to the Cursed Zone, and hopefully they will follow.
With a iron leg snapped off from a dining table, he started beating up a patrol droids to bits one day. As expected, the combat droid was called to action, and by the time he got there, Brakagi has already destroyed all of the wheels of the patrol droid, and completely taking its mobility out of the equation. Carrying it in one hand, He kicked through the already unsealed doors down through the shaft and jumped through the hole, snapping himself onto the cable attachment in the process.
The shaft lead all the way down to the deepest part of the prison compound, where the Cursed Zone is located. The combat droid jumped down along with them, and as he was about to reach the end, Brakagi pulled along the cable attachment and began his deceleration. The combat droids are still chasing closely behind him, and closes in despite how fast Brakagi's short legs can spin in place.
But as he have already explored this part of the prison compound, he knew exactly how much further to go. In another twenty meter, he would feel a tingly sensation on his skin, and beyond that point, he can see a couple of droid pieces lying around.
'This is it.' He stopped once the tingly sensation crept up, and threw the droid pieces further into the cave. As the disabled droid crashed onto the floor, and mechanical noises of deformation started echoing through the tunnel, the combat droid was stopped dead in it's tracks. Instead of following Brakagi, or their fellow patrol droids' movements, it seemed like they were programmed to stop before reaching this point.
The plan has failed. And this isn't the way to get rid of the combat droids.
Brakagi cursed underneath his breath, as he threw his hands at the stationery combat droids with their cameras locked on at him.
Then, the sound of an explosion came from the droid he just tossed in, and the sound was almost amplified multiple times in the tight confines of the tunnel. Brakagi looked back and forth from deeper into the channel to the two combat droids standing near the end of it, and made his decision.
To hell with the Cursed Zone, let's see what this is about!
Without a moment of hesitation, Brakagi stepped through the tingly screens of discomfort and headedstraight into the Cursed Zone.
The tunnel is dimly lit with a ghostly blue luminescent background light, and Brakagi got an eerie feeling just by stepping foot within the premises. His feet met with many of the droids components that were dropped onto the ground as all of them were destroyed not too long after entering the area. Were there a set of weapons systems here? Brakagi thought as he picked up a big piece of metal that had fallen off one of the droids. It's just big enough to shield the vitals of a short Rockie, which he is.
Thinking back to the documents of this Cursed Zone, external scanning and imaging techniques has been performed to verify exactly what's happening from within, but nothing could be picked up beyond the screen, which was indeed described to give a tingly sensations on the skin for organic life forms. The droids could go past this screen, but any signal is obstructed, and they would be dismantled not long after.
From what that's saying, it means that the tingly screen and the signal blocking functions of it and the dismantling of the droids happen independently. He has made past the very first stage, but is yet to get to the second stage. He didn't have to walk far at all, as a gigantic pile of scrap metal basically obstructed the road ahead of him.
Brakagi swallowed hard, as he knew this is the exact place where the second stage became to take effects, this is where most of the droids made it to, though it seemed like breakdown has already begun judging by the littered pieces all around. The mountain of metal conveyed the message across perfectly, and prevents him from seeing past it. Marking a line in the ground with his finger, he then poked ahead with the 'shield'. Nothing was done to the pieces of metal.
Confused, Brakagi carefully split apart the piles of scraps to clear a way, making sure that no part of his hand ever goes over the line. All of his prior physical training certainly helped with this particular part.
Beyond the reach of his 'shield', there are still more of the scrap metal that's blocking his way. There is no other choice, but for him to enter the area. To him, this is the true cursed zone. Taking a deep breath and monitoring his body closely, Brakagi reached his non-dominant hand forward across the line. He felt a smear of shearing pain on his hand, but nothing unbearable. He kept it there for some time, and pulled it back. A few strands of hair has begun to fall of, but nothing except the feeling of a scratch.
Risky, and there is no reward in sight.
He needed more. Holding the pieces of shield he has picked up by it's edge and digging his fingers deeply into the material, Brakagi spun around in a circle, planted his feet hard into the ground and launched the giant piece in hopes that it could smash away the obstructions and reveal what lied beyond. Fortunately, he realized the piece with so much power that it crashed into the pile and made a gap just big enough for him to see. As the piece slammed onto the ground and the subsequent metal rained on, an evelated platform shaped like a pillar is shown, and a ring was held on top of it.
The ring pulses a purple light, and judging from Brakagi's own nervous heartbeat, the two rhythms seemed to have matched up perfectly. The moment his eyes caught onto it, he was helplessly drawn towards it. There is a certain charm to it, the item itself. There is a sense of wicked beauty to it, and Brakagi couldn't find a word to describe that feeling.
Is this thing what's causing the destruction of the droids? He wondered as he looked all around him, if this single item possess such immense power, then there is no reason for him not to risk everything to get it. For him, there is no other option. He can stay here and die of old age or insanity from loneliness, or he will risk everything and get this thing.
Lunging down as he prepared his body for the desparate sprint, Brakagi launched himself forward towards the artifact. The shearing pain from all around his body started from a minor nuisance and quickly developed into total agony, but he couldn't stop! For a short Rockie, it would take him ten steps to get to the pillar, and he does not intend to stop before then.
Three steps in, he felt like his legs are being scratched by a thousand knives slowly.
Five steps in, he felt like his head was bashed in.
Eight steps in, and he was almost there. Though he was almost lost consciousness. The pain has magically gone away, but so has his sensations of his entire body.
With whatever energy he had in reserve, he jumped out forward and reached for the ring. His finger touched, and a shock of electricity went through his entire body, cleansing away all of the numbness and reintroduced the excruciating pain back into his entire body. He looked down onto his hand, and saw the ring rolling up over his fingers and settled in his wrist. Patterns shaped like a sort of wicked circuitry grew into his body and only brought more pain with it.
Brakagi remained silent, and fought the urge to faint and be done with this process. The worst of it has already passed, and with the ring, or really bracelet, on his hand, the prior feeling of his body literally breaking down is gone, replaced by the aftermaths of his injured musculoskeletal and nervous system complaining about his recklessness.
This, he can accept.
Then, suddenly, from the deepest corner of his mind, a harsh Rockie voice thundered:
FIGHT, USING THE ARTIFACT. FIGHT!
Brakagi looked behind him, and a smooth silver metal based humanoid is reshaped and formed out of the pillar that previously held the ring. Reaching his right hand out, and he immediately gained a sense of exactly how the humanoid functions. Despite the liquid look, it still functioned as an engineered system, and if it's a system, there is a weakpoint that he can exploit.
Brakagi felt like an natural using this so-called artifact, as the artifact not only granted him insight into how this humanoid he is supposed to fight is functioning, but also gives him a chance to completely shut down the humanoid with a single move. Brakagi knew this isn't the true challenge, as destroying any of the humanoid's internal systems will surely slow down his process.
He isn't interested in a long drawn out fight at this current stage, but a precise blow to destroy his enemy in one strike.
Reaching deeply into the humanoid's core and tracing the paths of logic and information, he has found the vital of the system. With the ring now glowing an intense blood red, he simply turned up the dial.
The humanoid has approached to within reach from Brakagi, but before it can strike a killing blow, it's movements suddenly became sporadic and uncontrolled. Then pulses of unexpected energy started overloading its internal systems before it began a haunting dance and collapsed upon itself. Brakagi still has access to the internal systems of the humanoid, and he knew from the look of the overload that an explosion is imminent.
Uninterested to be caught up in the blast, he willed himself out of the range, and as he stepped back behind the piles of scraps, the humanoid blew up.
Assessment Complete.
He heard the same voice once again, and then it's gone.
From the quick glance into the internal systems of the humanoid, Brakagi cannot recognize this level of design and circuitry from anything he has known before. He may not be the most well versed in modern technology, but he knew his basics, and it looked nothing like what's in the humanoids.
This appeared to be a sort of highly advanced technology, Brakagi thought to himself, an 'artifact'? So it's a long lost technology.
Willing himself to head back out now there is nothing left for him in the tunnel, Brakagi can't help but shake in excitement. With this artifact and the systematic insight it offered him, he is getting out of here!
With waves of his hand, he easily dismantled the combat droids still standing outside waiting for his return. Then, he hopped back onto the cable system, and returned himself back to the prison level.
From this day onward, the Instability Ring is reactivated! And when Brakagi get out of here, he is going to get paypack for all those that wronged him!
The galactic government, the GBI, those within his cabinet...None shall be forgiven.
(Second Book, end)