Salvation полностью

Our remaining four Olyix bodies temporarily lost control of their limb function. We wanted to cry, but we had no tear ducts. We wanted to scream, but we had no vocal cords. We wanted—we yearned—for the pain to end. That was swiftly granted.

Our Jio-Feriton body died. Its mindfunction vanished from our entangled essence. We had experienced single mindfunction loss hundreds of times before as we replaced an old body within the quint, but never like this. The rest of our bodies were almost paralyzed from the shock. We have no coping mechanism for such an experience. We have no endorphin override. Feriton’s legacy was an immediate craving for both these very human things.

Slowly, we regained equilibrium. Our thoughts first turned to replacing our Jio-Feriton body, to become full quint again. This was accompanied by regret at the loss we had just suffered. Regret is alien. Therefore we learned that absorbing alien thoughts to perform a subterfuge is dangerous; it detracts from our purity. We will not undertake such a task again.

We have no need to.

The Salvation of Life’s onemind queried us, its serene essence curious at our eccentric outburst of chaotic thoughts. “Explain the occurrence,” it asked.

“We are now four Jio. Our Jio-Feriton body was killed.”

“How?”

“The suspect human, Jessika Mye, inserted an axe into Jio-Feriton’s head, causing immediate fatal damage.”

“Why?”

“We must have said something to betray Feriton was Olyix. We determine this would be our statement that the fourth chamber was a biochamber containing holy relics. If Jessika Mye knew this to be incorrect, she would know Feriton Kayne had been compromised. In order to know that, she would have to be Neána.”

“They are here,” the Salvation of Life said in disapproval. “Therefore Soćko is also Neána.”

“Yes. He ruined the transport ship’s onemind and crashed it out of the wormhole.”

“The humans now know our purpose.”

“They do.”

“We cannot lose the humans to the sedition of the Neána. Humans are vibrant and beautiful. The God at the End of Time will love them. It will love us for carrying them with us.”

“Yes,” we agreed.

The Salvation of Life’s onemind opened itself to all its Olyix. “We will now begin the human elevation.”

The end of

Salvation

The story will continue in volume two

of the Salvation Sequence,

Salvation Lost

.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

SOL SYSTEM AND HUMAN TERRAFORMED WORLDS

 YURI ALSTER 

Connexion Corporation security chief 

 CALLUM HEPBURN 

Emergency Detoxification team leader 

 SAVI CHAUDHRI 

Connexion security undercover agent 

 MOSHI LYANE 

Team deputy 

 ALANA KEATES 

Detoxification team 

 COLIN WALTERS 

Detoxification team 

 RAINA JACEK 

Detoxification team, IT (ex-hactivist) 

 HENRY ORME 

Detoxification team 

 DOKAL “DOK” TORRES 

Connexion lawyer 

 AINSLEY BALDUNIO ZANGARI 

Connexion founder and CEO 

 POI LI 

Connexion head of security 

 JESSIKA MYE 

Yuri’s assistant 

 FERITON KAYNE 

Connexion, exosolar security division 

 ALIK MONDAY 

FBI, senior special detective 

 KANDARA MARTINEZ 

Dark-ops mercenary 

 EMILJA JURICH 

Utopial movement founder 

 JARU NIYOM 

Utopial movement founder 

 LOI 

Yuri’s assistant and technology advisor 

 ELDLUND 

Callum’s advisor 

 AKKAR 

Ecowarrior 

 GWENDOLINE 

Ainsley’s (unacknowledged) granddaughter 

 HORATIO SEYMORE 

Gwendoline’s boyfriend 

 LUCIUS SOĆKO 

Connexion security squad captain 

 CANCER 

Dark-ops mercenary 

 SALOVITZ 

Detective, NYPD 

 KRAVIS LORENZO 

NY lawyer 

 ROSE LORENZO 

NY socialite 

 JAVID-LEE BOSHBURG 

NY gang boss 

 RAYNER GROGAN 

NY gang boss 

 KRUSE 

Akitha Home Security Bureau 

 TYLE 

Home Security Bureau 

 OISTAD 

Home Security Bureau 

 NAHUEL 

Buddhist monk, 2199 ecumenical delegation 

JULOSS

Immerle Estate Boys

DELLIAN

ORELLT

FALAR

JANC

URET

XANTE

RELLO

COLIAN

Immerle Estate Girls

YIRELLA

TILLIANA

ELLICI

Immerle Estate Adults

 ALEXANDRE 

year tutor 

 JENNER 

principal 

 URANTI 

munc-tech 

 KENELM 

Captain of the  Morgan

TIMELINE

1901…Guglielmo Marconi transmits radio message across Atlantic Ocean.

1945…First nuclear explosion (above ground).

1963…Limited Test Ban Treaty signed, prohibiting atmospheric nuclear bomb tests.

2002…Neána cluster, near 31 Aquilae, detects electromagnetic pulse(s) from atomic bomb explosions on Earth.

2005…Neána launch sublight mission to Earth.

2041…First commercial laser fusion plant opens in Texas.

2045…First commercial food printers introduced.

2047…The US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency reveals artificial atomic bonding generator—the so-called force field.

2049…US Congress passes act to create Homeland Shield Department, charged with building force fields around every city.

2050…China forms Red Army’s City Protection Regiment, begins construction of Beijing shield.

2050…Saudi kingdom installs mass food-print factories. Twenty percent of the kingdom’s remaining crude oil allocated for food printing.

2050…Russia starts National People’s Defense Force; its shield generator project starts with Moscow.

2052…European Federation creates UDA (Urban Defense Agency)—builds force fields over major European cities.