-BEN-

  Naxisteranda led Ben to the Captain's office. Ben engaged her in conversation as they walked. He asked her the question he knew Blaze would have asked.

  "Are you human?"

  It was a pertinent question. Humanity dominated the galaxy. No other hyperintelligent race existed apart from them. There were traces of ancient civilizations that had existed long before humanity had begun conquering the stars, but they seemed to have died out.

  Only the different species of humans and nonintelligent aliens existed now. Ben knew of some organisations called Alien Hunters, whose sole purpose in life was to hunt down living intelligent aliens. Some of those Alien Hunters went as far as hunting down memory morphs like Blaze, because they believed such people were the key. As far as Ben knew, no one had yet made such an approach to Blaze. But it was likely just a matter of time.

  The different species of humans existed because of mana manipulation. When humanity had first started travelling the stars, individually colonies occasionally experienced mana explosions. These explosions changed the physiology of the people living in a particular place.

  Yet, they were all still human. They tended to have similar physical characteristics, and procreation between species was even possible. But Ben had never seen a species of human like Naxisteranda. She was far too different from the normal archetype.

  She was either an alien or something else entirely. Naxisteranda slowly turned her head towards Ben.

  "No," she said. "I am not human. I am a mana beast."

  Oh, Ben thought. That was an option he hadn’t considered. Mana beasts were creatures that formed in areas of strong or peculiar mana. They were thought to be an expression of their environment, and were often restricted to that environment. It was strange to see one on a starship.

  Most people didn’t consider mana beasts living things. In fact, all the mana beasts Ben had encountered in his life acted more like automatons. None of them had the mental capacities that Naxisteranda was displaying.

  He wanted to ask her more questions, but they had come to their destination. The ethereal first mate paused just before a set of large metallic double doors.

  "You should be aware," she said with her shrill voice, "that our captain is a little...strange."

  Ben raised an eyebrow. "Strange how?"

  Naxisteranda hesitated. "He has been cursed," she said. "He is a Worrick."

  "Ah," Ben said. "I understand." And he did. Over the past few months he had become quite acquainted with curses while researching his own, but he had been aware of the Worrick curse long before that.

  Naxisteranda turned around and pressed a button next to the doors. They slid open and revealed a chaotic battlefield in the room beyond.

  Blasters bolts tore through the air and control panels blazed on fire. Someone was screaming.

  "This is my ship!"

  The voice belonged to a short man who stood at the back of the large room on top of a set of toppled cabinets. He was bald with pink marbled skin and fiery bushy eyebrows. He continued to scream and fired a pistol into the air.

  "My ship! My ship! My ship!"

  Naxisteranda chuckled softly. "This is our captain," she said.

  Suddenly, a pile of metal to their left exploded and another marbled man popped out. This man had brown skin and a shock of brownish hair to go with his thick eyebrows. He also wielded a gun, but his gun was a much larger rifle. He pointed the rifle at the pink man and squeezed the trigger.

  A blue blaster bolt lanced through the air, and the pink man dodged by jumping to the floor. As soon as he landed, he took aim and returned the attack with a volley of shots of his own.

  They continued like that, shooting at each other and screaming insults. Then a third voice broke through.

  "Raaaaaaaaah!!!!!"

  A third man appeared. This one was blue. Ben wasn't sure where he had come from, but the blue man charged the other two marbled men with batons in each hand.

  Thwip!

  He threw the first baton which cracked into the brown man’s arm. The brown man yelped and dropped the rifle.

  Thwip!

  The second baton flew, smashing the pink man in the nose, dropping him. The blue man crashed into the brown one. They rolled on the floor, throwing punches at each other. The pink man popped up, blood pouring out of his nose. He ignored the pistol at his feet and leapt on the others.

  The screaming and thrashing continued.

  Naxisteranda turned to look at Ben. Somehow her glowy eyes managed to look apologetic.

  "I am sorry about this," she said.

  Ben shook his head. "Nah," he said. "I've met Worricks before. Many times actually. This is mild compared to what I have seen. And I have a way to stop it, if you don't mind. It will cause your captain some pain."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Go ahead," Naxisteranda said. She looked curious. Ben nodded and stepped into the room. He activated his magic and opened his interface. He changed to a menu containing his general inventory.

  Ben was able to store a few things in his inventory without breaking them down to components. These items had to be things containing very little mana. Anything with significant mana would be added to his alchemy components. The inventory items also had to be fairly small in size.

  Ben found what he was looking for. He selected it and said, "Download."

  A small silver cylinder materialised in his hand. Its surface was cool to the touch and it had a small button on top. Ben held up the cylinder and pressed the button.

  The Worricks sprang off each other immediately, howling and clutching their ears.

  Ben kept his finger on the button. He heard nothing, and he was sure Naxisteranda didn’t either, but the cylinder was producing a high pitched frequency only audible to those under the Worrick curse.

  The brown and blue Worricks were closest to each other. Their bodies pulled towards each other, until they smashed together and melded, fusing to become one Worrick with brown and blue skin.

  The pink man tried to run, but the same invisible force caught him and smashed him into the brown-blue man. Their colours swirled and finally there was only one Worrick left.

  Ben released the button.

  The last Worrick was a man with swirling brown, pink and blue skin. He removed his hands from his ears and blinked.

  "Ouch," he said. He stumbled as he got to his feet, and Naxisteranda floated towards him.

  "Hello Captain," she chirped joyously.

  "Xis, Is that you?" The Captain surveyed the room. "Not that much damage," he said with an approving nod. Naxisteranda chuckled.

  The Captain's eyes settled on Ben. "Is this our cargo?" he asked.

  "Part of it," Naxisteranda responded.

  The Captain grunted. "Doesn't look edible. That’s a pity." His eyes slide to the cylinder in Ben's hand. "Where did you get that from?" he asked.

  "I made it myself," Ben responded. He spoke to the system and the cylinder dematerialised. "I made it for a mission where I learned a lot about Worricks. For example, your species is strictly vegetarian. You would never eat human meat. That was a nice bluff though."

  The Captain scowled. "Most of us are vegetarian," he corrected. "There are exceptions." The Captain turned to his first mate. "Naxisteranda, why is there cargo in my office?"

  Ben spoke before Naxisteranda could respond. "I came to get information from you."

  The Captain looked amused. "Is that so? And what exactly do you want to know?"

  "I am going to need access to one of your VIP passengers."

  The Captain’s face dropped. He stared at Ben for a long time without saying anything. Finally, he looked at Naxisteranda and spoke.

  "Leave us alone, Xis."

  "Yes Captain...but err, the take off sequence has started. We need you in the control center."

  "You lead the take off. I trust you."

  It was clear that the Captain's somber tone was troubling Naxisteranda.

  "Okay Captain...but if you need any help, just call."

  "I won't need help."

  "...Okay."

  Naxisteranda floated out of the room and the double doors closed behind her.

  "Alright," the Captain said. He walked around the room and found two chairs that had not been damaged in the scrimmage. He set them opposite each other and sat on one. He gestured to the other chair.

  "Let's talk."

  Ben walked over and sat in the second seat. They sat in silence for several seconds, eyes locked, as if daring each other to be the first to break the silence.

  The Captain spoke first. "I've been doing this a long time," he said. "Do you know what it takes to achieve that? To carry cargo and passengers across the galaxy for years and never have the unions take your license?"

  Ben didn't respond.

  "It takes honesty," the Captain continued. "And loyalty. I don't give up my passengers. You're welcome on the ship. You paid the fee. But you will not be allowed to harass anyone"

  "Mmm," Ben said. "You're much more reasonable when you're all together. I was hoping you would be as erratic as your split selves."

  The Captain sneered. "If you were as knowledgeable about Worricks as you claim to be, you would know our split selves are often nothing like the amalgam. The Order of the First Light paid for regular passage. You will not get access to my VIPs."

  Ben clenched his fists and took deep slow breaths. He could feel that he was close to something. Vital information on Silver lay within his reach. Yet here was a small man standing in his way.

  Ben’s vision was beginning to cloud over in a haze of red, but he willed the rage down. It wouldn't do him any good to lose his temper. There was probably a way to negotiate this situation.

  The ship lurched. There was a viewing window close to where they sat. Ben looked out of it and saw bright lights flashing across it in a continuous stream.

  "Lift off," the Captain said, a hint of jubilation in his voice. "We're in jumpspace. That means we are out of the Stellar Authority’s jurisdiction. Out of the range of your reinforcements. I have hundreds of armed soldiers on this ship. Are you sure you want to press this issue? Go back to your starship. Give up."

  Ben opened his mouth to respond but a sound like static interrupted him. The speaker system embedded in the walls of the room crackled to life and a familiar voice filled the room.

  "Oh he's not going to give up."

  The Captain jerked in his chair and looked around. "What the?! Who's that?"

  Ben had also stiffened. His mind began to race. He knew exactly who that voice belonged to. He had heard it too many times. It was engrained in his memory.

  Silver.

  "He won't stop, Captain," Silver said. "He's too stubborn. Too driven. Too foolish. You should kill him now. Or he'll kill you just to get to me."

  There was a clicking sound and the static disappeared. The room fell into an eerie silence.

  Ben’s thoughts were jumbled. How was this possible? Captain Doe had said it was an associate of Silver, not Silver himself. Would the Stellar Authority really let Silver walk up to their backyard and not do anything about it?

  Another thought flashed through his mind. Doubt. Was he ready? He still hadn’t recovered any of his modes.

  And his remake of gladiator mode still wasn’t done. Could he really defeat Silver as he was? Just then, Ben heard a familiar ping.

  He opened his interface and was greeted with the triumphant message.

  RECOMBINATION COMPLETE. GLADIATOR MODE IS READY FOR USE.

  Ben didn’t believe in fate, but it was hard to argue with this timing. The answer to his questions was clear. He couldn’t let this opportunity go.

  Ben looked at the Captain. The Worrick man now had a concerned look on his face.

  Ben took a deep breath. "I'm not going to kill you, Captain. But I will use violence if I have to. Take me to the VIP passengers, now."

  The Captain shook his head slowly. "I can't do that," he whispered.

  Ben nodded. "So be it."