That night, Kinson dreamed he was in a hallway like the one within the Space Pirate's base. The walls and ceiling were covered in metallic plates, affixed with lights and wiring. Hard, cheap carpet, seeming to lack any sort of padding, was spread over the floor.
He looked around, but found the edges of the hallway obscured in darkness, leaving him in about a twenty foot section of navigable hallway. Sounds and voices from his Deathdream experience echoed around him, appearing and vanishing with inconsistency. He flinched as gunshots and explosions echoed within his ears, and the cries of the wounded and dying plagued his mind. Eventually, a burning pain erupted in his leg and screamed in agony and curled into a ball.
Kinson felt someone shaking him violently before he realized the pain had faded. He opened his eyes, awake, and saw a concerned Griffon standing over him. Although it was dark, he could make out the man's wrinkled uniform.
"What's wrong?" Griffon asked.
"It's nothing, just a dream. A nightmare, more like it," Kinson replied in a shaking voice.
He felt at his leg, the memory of the fiery psionic attack vivid in his mind. Griffon eased back, the worry leaving his eyes.
"It's almost morning, try to get some sleep. I'll continue standing guard," he said, going back to his post on the couch.
Kinson nodded, but was fully aware of his patterns following a nightmare. To be honest though, this dream was kind of a novel experience. It was the first time he had ever had a nightmare about something other than his final memories of Mars. Even so, the depth of the terror experienced in his dreams paled in comparison to real Nightmares.
As he lay in bed, he eventually moved past the memory of pain and death. His mind wandered onto his time spent inside of the deathdream with Ashton. He felt shaken over the man's death, but wasn't quite sure why. No matter the cause, his last words had struck a chord in Kinson. He remembered Ashton blaming himself, something Kinson had rarely, if ever, done.
Obviously, it wasn't Ashton's fault he had died. The Sons of Crimson just happened into the wrong crowd, but hadn't done anything wrong, right? Still, the captain claimed he had, that weakness itself was a sin. Kinson found it difficult to reconcile that thought.
The next thing he knew, Kinson was opening his eyes to the morning light, projected through the ceiling lights. He blinked the sleep out of eyes and rose.
"You're up?" Griffon said from the couch, "Good, get ready to go. We've got to head back to the BPI as soon as possible. There are a few people who would like to meet you."
"Hey, class doesn't start for a few hours. Give him a bit," Trevor suddenly said from the top bunk. Kinson was more surprised he was awake than anything else.
"No, it's alright. This is important," Kinson said. "I'll be ready in a second."
Trevor looked at him and frowned, but didn't say anything else. Kinson smiled gratefully before he took a shower and got dressed. After a quick breakfast, Kinson followed Griffon out the door.
"Oh, what are you doing up?" a cheerful voice greeted them.
"Oh, Celeste, why are you here?" Kinson asked, a little confused.
She smiled brightly, and waited for them to arrive before her. "I'm just headed to the BPI for a bit. My dad left earlier than usual, so I'm taking him some breakfast," she replied offhandedly. Kinson felt there was more to the story, but didn't think to follow up.
"Oh, okay. We're headed there ourselves. Want to join us?" he asked, trying to sound excited. For some reason, he found mustering any emotion right now difficult.
"Griffon, what are you doing here?" it seems she finally noticed the silent presence behind him.
"I'm escorting Kinson around today, young lady," Griffon replied fondly.
"Do you two know each other?" he asked curiously, looking from Celeste to Griffon.
Griffon gave a chuckle. "You could say that. I got lost looking for a room, and this kind lady helped me out! She knows the layout pretty well for someone who doesn't work there."
Kinson found himself nodding. "That's certainly true. She's always helping me out around there, I'd have gotten lost for sure the first time I went there.
Celeste sniffed, a faint blush on her cheeks. "It's only natural. My father works there, after all."
The drone of the Autoway interrupted their conversation. After they hopped on, Celeste leaned closer to Kinson. Kinson felt her hot breath close to his neck.
"Is he here about yesterday? I noticed you weren't in class at all," she asked quietly.
He nodded and looked at Griffon out of the corner of his eye. The man looked at his phone, distracted.
"I'm not sure how much I can say, especially about this topic, but I ended up in a deathdream," he replied with a whisper.
"Really? I thought that was super dangerous. You at least had the system, right?" She asked, shocked.
"Heh, I wish. It was an accident, and I almost died several times. In the end, I learned some important information," he said.
"Oh, I thought there was something up with you. You're kind of quiet today, and you haven't fully looked me in the eyes yet.
Kinson flinched, unaware of that last part. He found himself looking at the wall at this very moment. He looked at Celeste, meeting her green eyes filled with worry.
"I'm alright, just a little distracted," he tried to put her off, but only ended up sighing. "It wasn't at all like before. This time was real. Every part of it, the pain, the death, the suffering."
She was quiet for a long time, just standing there next to him. Kinson rubbed his eye, and discovered a tear had built up there. He rubbed his hand against his shirt and hoped she hadn't noticed.
"I'm here if you ever want to talk about it," was all she ended up saying.
Kinson tried to smile and make an excuse, but ended up nodding instead. A cough from Griffon startled them both, and they jumped away from each other, red faced.
"Looks like it's our stop," he hid a smile behind another cough. Being a class 7 psionic also included things like enhanced senses, so he naturally wasn't left out of the loop.
"Oh, okay, that was quick!" Kinson laughed awkwardly.
The three got off the autoway and headed into the passage leading to the BPI building. When they approached the entrance, Kinson was surprised to see a military vehicle parked outside. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was actually a small parking lot off to the side. He wondered if they had to drive on the autoway to get here.
"I've never seen one of those here before. I wonder if they're here for my father's business, too," Celeste walked up to the vehicle and peered through the tinted windshield.
"They should be, I guess," Kinson replied. "And maybe something to do with me, too."
Griffon avoided further comment and simply said, "Let's just get inside. They're waiting for you."
"Okay," Kinson nodded.
"Looks like we'll part ways here. I'll see you later!" Celeste gave him a questioning gaze.
"Yeah, let's do it. We'll have to get lunch or something," he said, then paused, "so I can tell you about it!" He finished quickly.
Celeste stiffened, then smiled brightly. "Okay, I'll look forward to it!" she exclaimed, and ran into the lobby with an extra bounce in her step.
"Heh, good going kid." Griffon laughed lightly. "But she's got the right idea. Let's hurry."
Kinson looked at them both, feeling like he had missed something. Then it hit him. He had just asked her on a date… He shrugged apologetically and followed Griffon into the building.
There were several armed soldiers inside the lobby. Unlike the band of pirates Kinson encountered in the deathdream, these were much more than a rabble with assorted and outdated equipment. Each wore a matching uniform, and carried streamlined psionic rifles. These rifles powered up their ammunition with psionic energy, much like the psionic cannon from the deathdream, albeit on a different scale. This allowed them to penetrate weak shields, and deal devastating damage to their target. From what Kinson understood, this technology was actually fairly new, and had previously been restricted to larger devices and weapons. Apparently, whatever it ran on was becoming more compact.
The men, who had been previously slouching in the corners, stiffened when they saw Griffon. They quickly straightened, and offered quick salutes. Kinson heard one of them whisper, "The Reaver!" What was that supposed to mean?
Griffon casually returned their salute, but looked as though he had long since tired of the motion. "Good morning men, we're looking for the debriefing room. Would you point us in the right direction?"
"Oh, that would be on the second floor, first door on the right," Cheyenne chipped in.
Kinson blinked. He had been so distracted by the soldiers he completely overlooked her small presence at the counter.
"Thank you very much," Griffon said, and started briskly walking towards the elevator.
Kinson jumped and struggled to keep up. The elevator music was as cheesy as usual, but thankfully only lasted a few seconds. They stepped out of the elevator and soon found the appropriate office room. Right before he opened the door, Griffon suddenly paused and turned to him.
"Once inside, don't let your mouth wander. Answer all the questions you can, but don't say too much about yourself. Inside are some important personnel in the AAF, those who might take excessive curiosity in yourself. Their motives might harm your education and take you away from your family and friends. Understood?" His voice was strangely gentle despite the harsh warning.
Kinson gulped at the shift in atmosphere. "Okay, I think I get it."
Kinson felt a little nervous, and his stomach shifted as Griffon knocked, then opened the ornately carved wooden door. His gaze, filled with trepidation, met with that of a room filled with staring faces. The room was perhaps thirty feet long, and about twenty wide. The walls were covered in decorative paneling, polished to the point it reflected the soft artificial lights. A long table filled the middle of it, surrounded on all sides by seats. Nearly 20 unfamiliar faces greeted him with cold, searching looks. Kinson felt as though he were being inspected head to toe, and unconsciously shivered.
"Heh, the reaver acting as a bodyguard, who would have guessed?" A weasley man with a massive scar on his face chuckled in mock humor.
Kinson felt Griffon stiffen beside him, but his face gave no sign of it and instead announced, "Greetings, council. I present Kinson Virin, a deathdreamer."
"Yes, yes, come on in. We've been waiting here for nearly an hour." Kinson looked at the speaker and saw it was actually Celeste's father, someone he had only seen in a picture.