Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 27 - Reunion (Patreon)

I don’t think anyone would ever call Mira a people person. She would describe herself as no-nonsense, but I think prickly is probably a better word for it. Whatever the case, she often rubs people the wrong way.

Patrick Ward

Freddy’s camp was only a couple of miles away, and despite the untamed nature of the terrain, it didn’t take us long to cover that ground. Not for the first time, I appreciated the fact that every region didn’t feature the same thick vegetation of the area around Nova City. There, I’d have had to hack my way through a forest of vines to get any appreciable distance through the wilderness. In the mor temperate regions of the world, the vegetation was much sparser, which made traversal far easier.

Still, as we made our way through the forest, I found that I was impressed by the young Templar. Brad wasn’t the most skilled woodsman I’d seen, but he was far from the worst, either. So, we managed the trip without alerting any of the various predators native to the forest. When we arrived, I saw Freddy’s familiar, bearded face looking back at me from where he sat by the fire.

While his defining features were the same as what I’d seen when we had first met, Freddy was clearly in a better place from a psychological perspective. Of course, back then, he had just seen his apprentice become a mindless Wildling, so I suppose his previous state was more than a little understandable. In any case, Freddy’s hair and beard were neatly trimmed, and he actually wore a wide smile.

As we approached the fire, he rose to his feet. I didn’t fail to notice that his robes, as they had been before, were completely spotless, and they stood out in stark contrast to the rustic atmosphere of his campsite, which consisted of a pair of small tents, a sizable fire, and a few stumps meant to act as stools.

“Welcome!” he said, his voice jovial. “I hope Bradley didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”

I glanced at my escort, and I saw panic on his face. Doubtless, he expected me to tell Freddy about his antics. Or about his failure to remain hidden. I took pity on the kid, saying, “No. No trouble, except dragging me away from my mission.”

“That’s my fault,” Freddy said. “I apologize for that, but I felt you needed to know what you were getting into.”

“The Pacificians.”

“Ah, so Bradley told you.”

“Some,” I admitted. Brad, for his part, remained silent, his eyes trained on the ground. “But not everything. I hoped you might fill in the blanks.”

“That is precisely what I intended,” he said, his smile widening. Then, he swept his hand to indicate the rounds of wood, adding, “Please. Have a seat. I was just about to cook supper. I hope you like grouse.”

“I literally have no idea what that is.”

“A bird. Like chicken. Tastes a bit like duck, if you ask me, but nobody ever does.”

I certainly liked chicken, so I nodded and said, “Sounds great.”

With that, he drew a whole bird out of nothing. I was well aware of the existence of various spatial storage abilities and cybernetics, but they all required some expenditure of Mist. And in the past few years, I’d learned to notice such things. However, with Freddy, there was nothing.

Sensing what I was thinking – or maybe I hadn’t schooled my expression well enough – he gave a little chuckle and said, “You young people are always so messy with your Mist usage. That’s the hardest part about taking an apprentice.” He tilted his head to the side and took on a thoughtful expression before adding, “Perhaps the second hardest part.”

I knew precisely what he meant because I’d lost people, too. First Jeremiah, Jo, and all the other people in Mobile. Then Heather and almost everyone I’d known in Nova City. Though my count was doubtless higher than Freddy’s, I couldn’t help but wonder if his losses had been more impactful than my own.

Maybe.

Perhaps not.

Or maybe grief wasn’t meant to be compared. Acknowledgement that it existed in different forms for different people was enough.

Freddy expertly plucked and cleaned the bird before putting it on a spit over the fire. The creature was enormous, at least three-times the size of a chicken, which made me wonder if the species had always been so large; maybe, but it was just as likely that it had been transformed by the Mist.

Either way, it cooked reasonably quickly, and during that time, none of us spoke. Instead, Freddy busied himself with the bird while Brad tried his best to look unobtrusive. For my part, I was lost in thought as I considered what I’d already learned that day. The Pacificians were an insidiously dangerous race of aliens because, at their core, they gave people precisely what they wanted.

No accountability. Long, if not eternal, life. No more hardships. No more troubles. Just a life of service. To a certain kind of person, that sounded like heaven. For others, it was the opposite. I counted myself among the latter group.

Finally, Freddy finished with the grouse before pulling a sack of vegetables from nowhere, which he clearly intended to eat raw. That was fine by me, and soon enough, we were sharing a meal. As we ate, Freddy made polite conversation, asking how I was doing. Pointedly, he did not mention anything of import.

At last, the meal was finished – it was satisfying, if a bit plain for my tastes – and we could get down to business. So, as I wiped my hands on my pants, I asked, “So – what gives, Freddy? You’re having me followed now?”

He chuckled. “Straightforward. I like that,” he said. “But no. I merely wanted to warn you of the dangers ahead if you choose to oppose the Pacificians.”

“Where do the Templars stand?” I asked.

“Firmly opposed,” he said without a hint of hesitation. “But as you know, we have a policy of non-interference, at least on a global scale. If we get involved, the conflict will escalate, and this planet will eventually be destroyed. They would rather kill everyone here than lose out on so many new members of the collective.”

“Brad said that they are universally considered an enemy in the larger galaxy.”

“Universe.”

“Whatever. Why does everyone hate them? I mean, from my perspective, what they’re doing isn’t that bad. I would never do it, but –”

“They are the single largest group of murderers to have ever existed,” Freddy stated. “You believe yourself responsible for what happened in Nova City. You weren’t. But even if you were, that would be a single raindrop to the oceans of deaths committed by the Pacificians. And they did most of it without even fighting.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When these people ‘upload’ their consciousness to new, robotic bodies, what do you think happens to them?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I’m really not equipped to answer that question,” I stated. I could guess, but I didn’t have the background to understand what any of it really meant.

“They are killed, and digital copies of their brains are created. Those things…they are not people,” said Freddy. “They are just machines with fairly advanced artificial intelligence. They are soulless facsimiles.”

“I’m guessing they don’t believe that.”

Freddy shook his head. “No. They do not,” he admitted. “But everything we know says that’s how it is.”

I sighed. “And what am I supposed to do with this information?” I asked. “I’m just doing a favor for a friend by trying to find her little brother. That’s it. I have no intention of fighting a war against robots that might or might not be people.”

“What you intend and what happens are often very different things, Mirabelle.”

“Just because we met one time doesn’t mean you know me,” I stated evenly. I wanted to growl. Or shout. But I was trying to be civil; after all, Freddy had been kind to me so far, but he’d really begun to push my buttons. First, he’d had me followed, and then he had told his apprentice to drag me back to his camp if I refused to go willingly. Now, he was acting like he knew me? That was too far.

“But I do know you,” he said, his voice mild. “After we met, I’ve made a point to keep tabs on you.”

“You what?”

“Mostly, I just kept my ear to the ground,” he elaborated. “But I did hear about what happened north of Nova City. You were lucky to have lived after running headlong into an irradiated zone populated by mutated Wildlings. I fear what would have happened if Zachariah and Isla hadn’t found you.”

“I would’ve been fine,” I lied. In fact, I would almost assuredly have died. And even if I had survived, I would have been scarred beyond all recognition. Perhaps crippled, too.

“Perhaps,” he allowed. “But then you went back to Nova, and a short time later, the entire city falls.”

“I didn’t do that.”

Again, that wasn’t the whole truth. I’d made the choice to kill Nora, knowing full well that doing so would bring the city down. As far as I was concerned, that made me culpable for thousands, if not millions, of deaths.

“I am aware. But you pushed that woman into taking drastic measures. Even if her ploy had worked and you’d let her live, she would have ended up regretting the deals she made to obtain the means to beat you,” Freddy said.

“How do you know all this?”

He leaned forward. “Templars have a vast information network. I made it my business to follow your exploits,” he said.

“Why?”

“At first? Curiosity. It’s not every day you run into a sixteen-year-old girl alone in the wilderness and wielding an arsenal fit for a Kaveki centurion,” he said. “But then, as I watched you, I came to realize that you were much more than even I suspected. You’re probably wondering why I would contact you now after so long, and the answer is simple – you are in more danger at this moment than you’ve ever been in before. And I don’t want you to die.”

“Again, why?”

Certainly, I didn’t want to die either, but having a relative stranger take such an interest in my survival definitely made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. From my experience, anyone who’d gone to the trouble Freddy seemed to have on my behalf did so with ulterior motives. Usually, nefarious ones.

I hoped Freddy’s intentions were more righteous, but I knew better than to depend on hope. That was a path for fools who’d never felt the sting of betrayal or the devastation of absolute failure.

“Because you have potential.”

I waited for him to go on, and when he didn’t, I said, “That’s it? Just potential?”

“And a good heart,” he added.

It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. A good heart? I’d spent the better part of a year seeking revenge at all costs. I’d killed more people than I could count, and I was responsible for even more deaths. I’d ruined lives. I had done despicable things, none of which originated with a good heart.

“I think you’ve got the wrong person,” I stated.

“I don’t believe that’s the case,” he said. “Besides, even if you’re not who I think you are, you can still be what this world needs.”

“And what’s that?”

“A defender. Or failing that, an avenger,” he said. “This is my home, Mirabelle. I was born here. I’m human just like you are. And I don’t want to see this world overtaken by the coming tide. You’re one of the few people on this world who can potentially fight back. So, I’ve taken it upon myself to help as much as I can.”

“It would be a lot more help if you lost those white robes and remembered you were an earthling,” I countered. “You say I can help. Maybe I can. But I saw what Zachariah could do. Same with Isla. And I get the feeling you’re stronger than both of them combined.”

“That isn’t…”

He trailed off, which told me I was on the right track. “So, you say you’re human, right? Well, fight for your world, then. Do that, and you might convince me to join you.”

He shook his head. “If I did that, countless millions would die in the war that would follow,” was his response. “Universal politics are more complicated than you think. Whole galaxies could potentially be obliterated if I take one step too far. I won’t risk that. Not even to save this planet.”

I was more than capable of doing the math. Earth, was home to maybe a billion people, and that might have been a generous estimate. Perhaps it’d been more populated before the Initialization, but the onset of the Mist – and the transformation of the world that came after – had killed billions. Compared to the trillions – or more – that would die in a universal war, his reasoning was eminently reasonable. Still, I resented him for it all the same. It felt as if he thought himself above the petty concerns of the world we both called home.

“Well, fuck them. I don’t care about a bunch of aliens,” I spat. “And neither should you. They’re the enemy, remember? They’ve invaded our planet and intend to rip away every last resource before leaving for the next unlucky world. So, pardon me if I don’t give a damn about whether or not they die in some war you’ve conjured in your head.”

“You don’t mean that.”

I started to respond, but in the heat of the moment, a miracle happened. I actually thought about the consequences of running my mouth. Freddy might seem mild-mannered, but would that change if I offended him? Besides, I didn’t really believe what I’d said. I’d met a few stand-up aliens. Some of them, I even considered friends. I wasn’t nearly so prejudiced as I often pretended to be.

But still…

His attitude irked me.

“Yeah, maybe not. But I won’t be shedding any tears over their deaths, I’ll tell you that,” I stated. “And if you think I’m going to stop killing them…well, that’s not happening.”

“I wouldn’t dream of telling you not to do what you think necessary,” he said.

“Doesn’t feel like that’s the case.”

“I just wanted you to understand how important you are to humanity’s future,” he said. “And as such –”

“Do you think I’m some sort of hero? If you do, you haven’t been paying attention. I’m not some champion, and I don’t intend to change that.”

He shrugged. “Maybe not,” Freddy said. “But circumstances have a way of changing attitudes. Just promise me you’ll be careful with the Pacificians.”

“I’m always careful,” I said.

“That’s blatantly untrue,” he responded with a slight smile.

“You can be careful, and things can still go wrong,” I countered.

“True. Very, very true.”

Decided to change the subject, I said, “So, tell me something Freddy. You don’t use Mist the same way I do, do you?”

“I do not.”

“Can I learn how to do what you do?”

“Are you asking to join the Templars?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“No. I don’t know. Maybe. What’s your pitch?”

He shook his head. “To join our order, you would have to rip that Nexus Implant out of your skull,” he said. “Then, if you managed to survive that, you would have to pledge yourself to us, foregoing all previous attachments and commitments. If you do all that, you’ll be tested and sent to a Rift where you would more than likely die. If you don’t, you’ll go one of two ways: Wildling or Templar novice. That’s when your journey would begin. Are you interested?”

I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’ve already been through a hellish training regimen. I don’t need another.”

Freddy nodded. “Probably for the best. I believe your path will take you in a different direction.”

“Yeah, me too.”

For all their power, Templars had far too many restrictions for my taste. Besides, I wasn’t much of a joiner. Instead, I liked to carve my own path.

“I will tell you this, though. You are no less powerful for that Nexus Implant. It is restrictive at first, but the world will open up the further you progress,” he said. “Eventually, there won’t be much difference between you and someone like me.”

“Templars, you mean.”

“We’re called mystics,” he said. “Templars are just one organization among those who eschew Nexus Implants and manipulate the Mist directly. We’re the only ones on Earth, though.”

“That you know of,” I reasoned.

He just nodded his agreement.

“Where do the Nexus implants come from, anyway?” I asked, seeing an opportunity to gain a few more details about the world. My uncle had trained me well enough, but he’d never volunteered much information.

“Some are made. Others are natural occurrences in Mist-dense areas,” he said. “I can’t be certain, but I think the one in your head is one of the naturally occurring ones. That makes it special.”

“And me too, I guess.”

He surprised me by shaking his head. “You know better than that, Mirabelle,” he said. “Nexus implants are about potential. What you make of that potential is up to you. I have known Tier-2’s who have done great things and Tier-5’s who have completely squandered the opportunities given to them. I don’t think you’ll be one of the latter, but I caution you not to think of your advantages in terms of absolute power. They are nothing without your will to improve and succeed.”

That tracked with everything my uncle had told me, so I didn’t really have anything else to say to that. So, Freddy went on, saying, “I won’t tell you not to go after the Pacificians. That’s up to you, and I suspect you wouldn’t heed my advice anyway. But I will reiterate – be careful. They are a dangerous foe.”

“I’ve fought plenty of dangerous people, and I’m still alive.”

“Indeed. But for now, I believe we should rest,” he said, nodding toward Brad, who’d already nodded off. He was on the verge of falling off his stump, which definitely provided a bit of levity to the night.

Still, I shook my head, saying, “I’m going back out there. I don’t want them disappearing on me.”

“Just so.”

And with that, I rose, thanked Freddy for the meal and the advice, and headed back to my perch where I could watch the Pacifician convoy. However, as I set about my surveillance, my mind wandered to the discussion I’d had with Freddy.