Zoe, Cyn and myself arrive at Sin's holding cell the next morning to find Krish there already going through data.
Chloe, "Good morning."
Krish, "Good morning."
Well honestly, we all just greet each other in a positive manner, but none of us feel very positive today, we all know that it is not a good morning, nor going to be a good day today.
One of them will be free of the cursed power and go home to his or her new life and one will leave here as a prisoner till the end of time, and since we decided to let them decide, none of us know what to expect. Zoe hasn't said a word since we left home this morning and Cyn has been crying all night, her eyes are still red from all the crying and even though she did her best to clean up and shower this morning, you can see that she is a mess.
Chloe, "How is he?"
Krish, "Still heavily sedated, but I have gone through the data collected since they brought him here, his brain waves are stable, and all vitals are normal."
Chloe, "Open the view please."
The one guard works on the controls and the wall flickers and becomes translucent, we can see my husband been help in place by multiple metallic tentacles, he is still dressed, but they removed the cloak and hood, now you can see how badly burned his body is. His collar is flickering showing that it is still active, but since all the guards are nervous of him I set his collar to full power, I check the status of the chip in his brain on my gauntlet and I can see that it is still 100% active.
Cyn, gasping, "dad?"
Krish, "he can't hear you, he is still heavily sedated."
Chloe, "when last did they pump the sedatives into him?"
Krish "after what happened at the hospital? They decided to keep the flow of sedatives constant, they don't want to interrupt the flow and risk him waking up."
Chloe, "and his injuries? Has anyone looked at them?"
Krish, "no doctor or nurse wants to go near him."
Zoe, "I know he has screwed up badly, but that is horrible, those injuries needs urgent medical attention. "
Chloe, "as much as I agree with you I can't blame them and he did bring this on himself."
I look at Cyn, "are you sure you are ready for this?"
Cyn, "I am sure."
Krish, "there is still time to change your mind, you really don't have to do this."
Zoe, "Please listen to them."
Cyn, "look if it means that one of us will be free from this power and can have a normal life, then I think it is a sacrifice worth making."
Zoe, "a sacrifice that should be a family decision, not decided between you and a psycho."
That was the worst thing Zoe could have said, I looked around at them just in time to see my daughter punch her in the face.
Cyn, "He is not a psycho."
Zoe, getting up from the floor holding her hand over her bleeding nose, "look at what he did to you and your mother, he did that, not you or her."
Cyn, "that wasn't him."
Zoe, "it sure looked a lot like him."
Cyn, "we did it to him, we knew what would happen if we kept dragging him into war, and yet we did, so this is on us, all of us and everyone who's lives he saved."
Krish, "Okay, enough, what happened in the past doesn't matter, all that matters is what you and your father decide to do today. Just remember, whatever you guys decide, there will be no going back from this."
Zoe, "wait, I'm sorry, but why do this, Cyn isn't as affected by the power as he is, so why put her at risk of getting his and taking his place in prison?"
She was right, but this power will eventually corrupt anyone who has it inside of them, it is better to have this power contained in one host and contain the host, then risk it corrupting another person. So we eventually had to explain that to Zoe and believe me it wasn't easy to eventually get through to her and get her to understand.
Chloe, "Okay, wake him up."
All the guards in the room immediately looked up at me in shock. I could see the fear in their eyes.
Chloe, "you can all go, we can handle it from here, Krish you got the monitors? Please keep an eye on those brain waves."
Krish, "I am on it."
We all know what he is capable of and what he has done, but we also know the lengths he went through to help our daughter and make up for it. I gave my daughter one last look, she is holding her new pendant that the is wearing around her neck, the little white crystal that her dad got for her to heal her, Zoe was kind enough to make it into a pendant for her to wear. I can see that she is scared.
After a few minutes he starts to wake up slowly, I can see he is trying to look around, but since I blocked his sight he can't see anything.
Chloe, "Krish, how is his brainwaves? "
Krish, "stable, I can see he is panicking a bit."
Chloe, "activate the sound in the cell."
Krish immediately activates the sound in the cell and I take a deep breath, I know I am going to have to sound calm now.
Chloe, "Sin, I am going to give you your sight back now, please stay calm, we need to talk to you."
He doesn't respond and just looks in front of him, then I decide to see if I can get him to at least react. So I gave him his sight back and he immediately looked straight at us.
Chloe, "do you know where you are?"
Sin,"I do."
Chloe, "Where are you?"
I had to make sure that he is cognitive enough to make a logical decision.
Sin, "Back in my cell."
Chloe, "No, you are in a holding cell, you haven't been transferred to your permanent cell."
Sin. "permanent cell?"
Chloe, "yes, you are unstable and dangerous, we can't allow you near civilization."
Sin. "so you make me fight for you and then when you don't need me anymore you throw me out like trash."
Chloe, "no, we might be able to change that, we have looked at the stone you brought back, the only problem is that it can only cure one of you, so you and Cyn will need to decide who it cures."
Sin, "I don't understand."
Chloe, "We also found out where you got it from, and how you got it, you found the crimson planet and you wiped out all of the natives there, you absorbed all of the planets energy and then took the stone for yourself."
Sin, "The stone is the only thing that can take crimson energy out of things."
Chloe, "no it can't. If can only be used to transfer crimson energy from one crimson energy carrier to another, so Cyn offered to use it and set you free so you can start your life over, I thought that maybe you would be willing to do the right thing."
Sin, "this is my curse, if the stone can safe one of us, then let it be her."
Cyn, "Dad, no, I am an adult and I also get a say in this."
Sin, "I have decided."
Cyn. "So have I."
Chloe, "Okay, why don't you both calm down now."
Krish, "Okay his heart rate is back to normal, he is calm."
Chloe, "we are going to release the restraints now and Cyn will come in and talk to you alone, we will give you guys time to talk in private and to decide, are you okay with that?"
Sin, "There is nothing to discus, I have decided."
Cyn, "Sorry dad, but I think we need to talk about this and decide together. Please at-least hear me out on this."
Sin, "Okay, I will hear you out."
Chloe, "I am going to give you back your motor control of your body now, but only with limited strength, if at anytime we notice that my daughter might be in danger then I will stop you immediately, is that understood?"
Sin, "I understand, but she won't be in any danger."
We immediately cut the sound and I look at Krish, "do you trust him to do the right thing?"
Krish, "I don't know, but either way, we have agreed that whoever takes on the power will also take on all the crimes and accept the sentence, so no turning back now."
I look at my daughter, "are you sure about this?
Cyn, "I am sure, he is my dad, and we need to do right by him now."
I give Krish a nod and then I gave him his motor functions back, I can see him slightly moving his arms and legs as he tries to stretch, and then Krish initiates the releasing sequence, the metallic clamps on the tentacles immediately scans him and the distance to the floor and they slowly lowers him to floor level, the moment they reach the floor they release him and he falls forward, luckily he blocks his fall with his hands and he gets up slowly, he stretches a bit and he is still yawing from all the sedatives, so we decide to give him a few minutes to stumble around the cell until we can see that he got his balance back.
Chloe, "Vitals and brainwaves?
Krish, "normal, this is as safe as it is going to get." Then she looks at my daughter, "If you are going to go speak to him it is now or never."
Zoe, "please don't go, I don't want you to get hurt."
Chloe, "She will be fine, his collar is still active and set to full power, and he has limited strength right now, and we will be watching, so if he tries anything I will activate the chip in his brain immediately. "
Krish, "lets hope it wont come to that, we do need him to work with us today."
Cyn, "I thought it is our decision and that whatever we decide you guys promised to respect?"
Chloe, "it is and we will, but I still hope that you guys will make the right decision."
Krish, "Okay, time to go in."
As Cyn starts to walk towards the blast door separating is cell from us Zoe grabs her arm, "please don't do this, you can't leave me, I love you and what will happen to me if you go into that prison? You've got a wife you know?"
Cyn, "and my father also has a wife and a mother, what about my mother?" then she pulls free and walks in and the blast door seals behind her.
I give Krish another nod and she immediately blocks the sound from the room like my daughter requested of us. We promised them privacy and we decided to honor that promise.
All we can do now is watch in anticipation.
Cyn walks up to her father and she gives him and hug, he returns the gesture and he hugs her back. Then after a minute they let go, I can see they both have tears in their eyes, but she starts to talk to him, I can see that he is listening intently, but then he interrupts her, this goes on for a while, they keep interrupting each other.
Zoe, "I wish I knew what they were talking about in there."
Chloe, "we will know their decision once they are done."
Zoe, "this is not fair."
Chloe, "No it is not, but we promised to respect their privacy and decision."
I could see the conversation was getting heated now, he was pointing at her and then at us, then he walked up to the glass and pointed at myself and then Zoe and then her, but then she would do the same, pointing at him, then me and then Krish. This went on for a while, until eventually they calmed down and spoke calmly, I could see that they both had tears in their eyes again, and then he stopped speaking and she spoke for a few more minutes, after that she gave him a hug and he gave her a hug, she then kissed him on his forehead and she turned around and walked towards the blast door, he just slammed his back against the one wall and slit down into a sitting position, I could see the tears in his eyes and he just stared at us, but not at us, but into nothingness, I could see the look of defeat on his face. Our daughter came out and she had tears in her eyes.
Zoe immediately ran up to her and embraced her and she returned the embrace, then she took her pendant off and gave it to Zoe, she then looked at me, "Mom, we have come to an agreement and decided who will be cured."
After she told us about their discussion I just looked at him and back at our daughter, I couldn't believe the agreement they have reached, it went in the complete opposite direction anyone of us would have hoped for.
Cyn was still crying and Zoe was holding her tight, also crying, I was in charge here, so I had to keep my tears in, my daughter eventually let go of Zoe and walked up to Krish.
Cyn, "It is time, give me the stone."
Krish, "are you guys sure about this."
Cyn, "we have both decided and agreed that this is the only way and for the best."
She then came to give me a hug and she went back in.
We all watch as they walked towards each other and they gave us one more look, then they both placed their hands on the stone and you could see it absorbing the crimson light from them both.
Zoe, "this is good, right? They will both be free?"
Krish, "no, the energy has to be absorbed by a living person, the stone is just a transfer vessel, it can't contain the energy."
Then Zoe fell to her hands and knees and started crying again, I also felt like crying, but once again, I can't. I wish I could, I know that when this is over one of them will go home to a normal life and the other one will be locked away for all eternity."
The stone eventually stops absorbing their energy, but they are both still holding it, in order for this to work, they can't let go of it until the transfer is complete, and then the stone starts to glow with crimson energy, it gets brighter and brighter until all we could see what crimson light in the room, we had to eventually cover our eyes as it was becoming to bright, then there was a final flash of crimson light and everything returned to normal, when we eventually managed to look into the room they were both laying on the floor unconscious and the stone was nowhere to be seen, it was over.
I immediately entered the room with 4 guards and scanned them both for the energy signature, the transfer was a success, I then ordered the guards to remove his old collar and to make sure that the one of the 2 who now has the power gets the correct collar on which will stay on and never come off ever again, I activated prisoner X's collar and brain implant, the other one was immediately transferred to hospital for aftercare and observation.
Krish and myself are now on my ship heading for the new prison to make sure prisoner X is secured in the new cell, the twins has volunteered to be the new prison overseers to make sure that nothing happens to prisoner X.
Now let me tell you about the new prison we have designed.
The prison itself was an older jump ship which we had redesigned into a prison, it will only hold one prisoner, code name, Prisoner X in order to protect the prisoners identity.
The ship is located in the furthest outer realms of dead space, where the time dilation is 1 year to 10000 years, we have managed to shield the ship in such a way so that time will run normal for the Twins, the guards, the nurses and the maintenance staff, we will rotate all staff once a year.
The ship will remain cloaked and the only way to get there is by jumping using a beacon, but the ship itself will also do random jumps in order to make sure that it is never in the same location, another reason for the beacon, only myself, Krish and my mother has the codes for the beacon, the ship has however been armed with self defense weapons in case it is ever needed.
Now inside of the ship, there will be 1500 guards stationed taking shifts of 500 guards on duty at a time, we also have an additional 3000 mechanical guards stationed there, and all have been armed with modified smaller versions of our gravity weapons as it seems it is the only weapon that can stop a crimson light being. The machines will stand guard throughout the prison at all times as they don't need to rest, the Seleon Guards will man the camera room monitoring prisoner X's cell as well as the rest of the ship, the cell itself has 500 cameras monitoring everything in the cell, there is not a single spot that they can't see.
Then the entire prison has been lined with crystal on the outer hull and everywhere inside to block any dark entities, the ship has also been covered in reinforced armor that is near indestructible. The entire inside of the prison will be lit of with lights bright enough to make sure that there are no shadows anywhere and no shadows can form, whenever a Seleon moves around they must wear protective glasses to protect their eyes, except for in the crew areas where they will be living.
Then we have installed miniature versions of the gravity weapon in every hallway leading to the cell where prisoner X will be kept, as well as in the cell.
Now about the cell, the cell has been reinforced with 4m thick armour on all sides and the door itself has been build up the same, the cell has also been outlined with additional crystal layers, and the entire cell has been fitted with bright lights. The restraints; there are 2 tentacles to hold each arm and 4 to hold each leg, the body will be supported by multiple braces and the prisoners head will also be supported, the prisoner will receive nutrient intravenously and water orally through a feeding tube, but in order to make sure we have no issues as prisoner X now holds the power of 2 beings, as well as millions of natives from the crimson planet and the energy from the planet itself, the prisoners mind will be uploaded into a virtual prison simulation where it will remain, now the simulation will simulate everything that is happening in the actual prison and the twins are the only ones who can monitor what is actually happening in the simulation, and lastly we will activate the prisoners brain implant to keep the prisoner paralyzed as well as blind at all times, so the prisoner will never know its mind is trapped in a simulation. We have decided to activate a sleep routine to give the prisoner some sense of reality though.
Now it might sound like over kill to go through so much effort for one prisoner, but this prisoner is now officially the most powerful and dangerous being in existence, but unfortunately due to the time dilation communication to and from the prison is impossible, but if anything happens for any reason they can send a distress call using subspace communication systems which will be picked up by my mother, Krish and myself almost immediately, but unlike with the beacon which is affected by the time dilation, the distress signal isn't and we can use it as an alternative beacon for a direct jump to the prison.
We have finally arrived at the prison and prisoner X is still sedated and has been moved to the cell, after the nurses checked that the prisoners vitals are normal and we were comfortable that the prisoner was properly restrained we activated the mind upload, it took a few minutes, but there were no issues, once the prisoner wakes up the prisoner will never even realize that the prisoners mind is in a simulation. I took one last look at prisoner X in the cell, we have removed the prisoners clothing and the prisoner will now remain in this sell till the end of time and after.
As I walk out of the cell the guards activate the locking mechanisms on the door and the floor shakes as the heavy armored blast door seals shut, I take a last look at the monitors and once I am happy that everything is active and working at full capacity I went to the Twins office, Crystal has decided to let us raise her daughter on our home world while she is doing her tour in this prison.
I said my final good byes as Krish and I go through all of the data collected from the prison as well as the simulation, the prisoner has woken up, but has already become docile and unresponsive, but that could be due to the temperature the cell is set at and the cocktail been injected into the prisoners blood to keep the prisoner calm.
We eventually got back to my ship and I handed command over to Krish, I just lost one of the 2 most important people in my life, and now it is my turn to cry alone in my room.
5 years has passed now without any incident, prisoner X is still in good health, still unresponsive, but there has been no issues at the prison, I myself have done multiple random visits to the prison to inspect everything and collect reports.
Unfortunately there has been another attack and we are preparing to jump to offer our support, the dark fleet is currently attacking the Acturion system, we have recalled 3 of our fleets in order to assist in this battle, I will lead this battle myself, we have 90 ships in total for this mission
We will be initiating our fracture jump in 3...2....1....