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“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii” – I gasped for air as if I had held it in for far too long. Had I held my breath? When was the last time I breathed? What had happened? Where was I? I felt disoriented – my body felt as if an URSA rover had driven over it. Blinking, I opened my eyes just a crack. Blurry, confusing images appeared – garbage bags – a yellow hose – monitors with cracked displays. And then that stale, rancid air. My eyelids fell shut again and I slipped back into a comatose state.

New, unclear images swirled through my mind. Or was it my mind wandering? Chaos—fear gripped me—a room with medical beds—armed people in combat gear and radiation protection suits—a primal roar. I saw the room through a window—stood in front of a computer—typed on the keyboard.

I opened my eyes again—was in the here and now. A single memory was in my head. I had backed up data – important data – in a data crypt – the others had to know. I laboriously typed a message into my mobiglass. Perhaps my last. My fingers trembled.

What happened? I’m lying in a filthy bed with excruciating headaches and body aches. I don’t know what’s going on. Everything is out of balance. All I know is that I still have the backed-up data stored in a data crypt. My eyes are closing again. In case they don’t open again, here is the access code: LPCASD9869321.

Then my eyes closed again.

I drifted away into a shadow world. Once again, unclear images appeared, tormenting my mind. I saw myself in a yellow protective suit, lying on the ground. Other bodies were lying there. Military-looking guys with weapons climbed over the bodies, examining them. One pointed a weapon at the body next to me. A shot rang out. He pointed the weapon at my body. A shot rang out. Darkness.

My eyes opened. I was back in this world, with clear vision and clear memories. Shit—I had died during the mission in the Lazarus complex. Now what? Around me was dirt and medical monitors. This must be an infirmary in Pyro. I had been regenerated—in a new body. Could the imprint technology work in Pyro? Apparently yes—otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But was I complete? I slowly sat up and sat on the edge of the bed. I felt my naked body. Arms—legs—everything was there. But what about the others from my team?

Slowly, I slid off the edge of the bed. First, coldness enveloped my bare feet. After an awkward step, something sticky and liquid. I almost lost my balance. I was standing in the middle of a pool of blood. Damn it – let’s get out of here.

It was no different outside the door. Dirt and rubbish everywhere. A flickering light provided only dim illumination. I carefully put one foot in front of the other until I reached the elevator. In the clinic lobby, I found an entrance to the storage room. My stored clothes were still there. Stiff as if frozen, I got dressed and left the clinic through a transparent plastic tunnel. No one took any notice of me, no one paid any attention to me.

My suspicion was confirmed: I was in Pyro on Starlight Station, the starting point of our operation. There was one thing I had to find out immediately – the White Rabbit – where was it? – it was still in the hangar. Relieved, I boarded, but I no longer had any Rust – what a bummer.

In the meantime, messages had arrived from Pike, Friedrich, and Brubacker. They were alive—somehow. But they seemed confused. They had probably been regenerated too. But what about Alaska, Kjeld, and Raff? I sent all three of them a message. For now, all I could do was hope.

With a pounding headache, I sat down in front of the large screen in the living area. In the data crypt, I found a wealth of data that I had extracted from Dr. Jorrit’s computer. At least that part of the operation seemed to have been successful. The letters on the screen began to blur. I tried to concentrate. The more I tried, the more my headache throbbed. It was no use; the analysis would have to wait.

Tired, exhausted, and drained, I collapsed onto the big red sofa in the lounge. A restless sleep overcame me. Chaotic dreams haunted me, in which my psyche tried to process the traumatic experiences. Suddenly, I woke up with a start. My whole body felt pure despair. Trembling, I took deep breaths in and out. Again and again. Then I closed my eyes—tried to meditate—to find my center—to gain control over my emotions.

It was my second regeneration. Repeating it didn’t make it any better. Routine could not set in during this unnatural process. It remained a traumatic experience. The first time I regenerated was after an attack on a bunker where we wanted to secure evidence about the ENOS project. That was with TYR and other units. This time it was another attack on a facility to secure evidence, just like last time with TYR and other units. I should stay away from major combat operations in the future.

The memories of the combat triggered panic in me. My hands were shaking. I was far from my inner center. I missed the tranquility and magic of the desert. I needed the whisper of the wind rustling the grains of sand across the dunes. But first, I had to meet my friends. The time for the desert had not yet come.

*

We agreed to meet at the bar on Starlight Station. The bar was dimly lit and, like the rest of the station, filthy and dirty. There was no one there, not even a bartender. I went behind the greasy, sticky counter to look for drinks.

“What are you doing behind the bar?”

Pike was the first to show up. Then Alaska and Friedrich arrived. Both still looked years older and green in the face. Friedrich staggered like a drunken sailor. Despite regeneration, they were still suffering from the effects of the prototype ammunition that had hit them at the Farro Data Center. Finally, Brubacker crept into the bar like a paranoid mouse. He kept looking around and whispering.

“Guys, we shouldn’t be here. Let’s go somewhere where no one can hear us. And act normal.”

Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves aboard the White Rabbit deep in space, far away from planets and space stations.

“Do you actually realize what’s going on here?” Brubacker began to rant. “Now that our bodies have been left behind at Lazarus Station, ASD knows our faces. They know who we are and they’ll hunt us down. We have nowhere else to go.”

“Bru, don’t be so loud. My head is pounding,” I said, grimacing in pain and rubbing my temples with my hands.

Alaska looked around in horror.

“Does that mean I can no longer move freely and pursue my research?”

He didn’t speak loudly, but it felt as if he had yelled directly into my ear.

“ASD has so much dirt on its hands, they won’t put out a public warrant for us,” I replied. “No one will come with an arrest warrant. If anything, then …”

“… Wait a minute,” Pike interrupted me. “If they want to kill us from behind, then we can’t even be safe in Pyro.”

He paced back and forth like a nervous predator. Only Friedrich stood there calmly, thought for a moment, and then said:

“Let’s look at the data Zero extracted in Lazarus and consider the next steps.”

We gathered in the living area of the White Rabbit. I called up the data on the big screen. What we saw was very revealing.

As we had suspected, ENOS was supplying Vanduul corpses to the ASD. In return, the ENOS project was allowed to use ASD laboratory facilities. However, no humans were delivered by ENOS to the ASD for experiments. The test subjects abducted by ENOS in the Pyro System had been in the Lazarus complex, including Mariette Abendroth, but they were still in ENOS captivity and had since been taken to Ruin Station.

“The ENOS connections aren’t getting us anywhere,” Brubacker remarked. “That’s a matter for the Abendroth family. We need to find out if the ASD wants to change humans. So far, we can only charge them with animal cruelty. And above all, we need a cure for Friedrich, Alaska, and Lyrana.”

Brubacker was right. The radioactive monster Valakkar in the Lazarus complex was just the tip of the iceberg. There were indications that there had to be more. First, Dr. Jorrit had deleted project files named Hyperion from the Farro Data Center and transferred them to Lazarus. However, we found no data on Hyperion in Lazarus, but instead a note from Dr. Jorrit.

Humanity is more than these narrow-minded small-timers who want to stop me, see… They won’t stop me… Hyperion will live on in Onyx.

I had no idea what or who Onyx was. My head was pounding so badly that I couldn’t think straight. I sat in front of the screen, struggling with the pain. Then I remembered the investigation agency that had commissioned me to gather information about Dr. Jorrit.

“The agency I worked for. They’re compiling a dossier on Jorrit. Maybe they know something about Hyperion or Onyx. I’ll contact them.”

“What kind of people are they?” asked Pike. “We’re scared shitless of the ASD, and they’re investigating. Aren’t they afraid?”

“Dr. Jorrit isn’t working on an official assignment,” explained Brubacker. “He’s doing his own thing, which not everyone is happy about. The agency probably has backing from the very top of the UEE. That would be one option if we put ourselves under their protection.”

“And there are also clues in the data about a cure for our disease,” Friedrich noted. “An ASD employee crashed in Stanton on the moon Daymar near a Harthor base. She had the cure on board. We can get it.”

The thought of Harthor immediately filled me with panic. The old, abandoned Hathor mining stations were the only place where the rare minerals needed for research into the regeneration crisis could be found. Everyone was trying to get rich there.

“The Harthor bases are a war zone,” I interjected. “I’m not ready yet. I can’t do this right now. I need to find my balance again and clear my head. I need to go to the desert.”

“Zero, we need you and your mind,” Brubacker cried in horror.

“Bru, give me a few days. I can’t do it now. I can’t think straight.”

“And besides, how are we supposed to get to Stanton unnoticed?” Alaska asked, almost panicked.

“We can take the Reliant Mako I found,” Pike suggested. “However, it doesn’t have jump drive. We’d have to organize one first.”

“We can’t just walk into a store and buy one. That would leave traces. They’d find us,” Alaska remarked in horror.

“We can buy one on Starlight using my fake identity that I have here in Pyro,” Friedrich stated.

“OK, I’ll take you to Starlight. Then I’ll retreat to the desert for a while,” I said, exhausted.

When we came out of the quantum jump at Starlight Station, a spaceship appeared on the radar. It was directly between us and the station. Were these killers sent after us? Nervously, I activated the scanners.

My fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel while the scan ran. Why was it taking so long? Then the results finally appeared on the screen.

“Hey guys, there’s an abandoned Medical Piscis. We can remove the jump drive from it.”

“Or take the whole ship,” said Friedrich.

Brubacker, Alaska, Pike, and Friedrich transferred to the Piscis and flew to the Stanton Gateway. I set course for the planet Monox and started the quantum drive. The drive powered up, calibrated the jump, and with the tap of a finger, the White Rabbit disappeared into the depths of space. It was time to go under the radar and find the middle path, once again.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)