prob before monday. most likely sunday, since im busy today, but one never knows.

Chapter 8, part 1
The Face of Death, and Retribution Besides

The Trader Emergency Coalition

4 years ago, outer colonies, southern frontier, planet christened "Kitalle"
High Intensity Care Ward

    The doctor looked down the row of hovering tanks, all filled with the fluids that kept their patients alive, and with an unhappy sigh, shut off the lights and locked the door. Too many of them would not survive to leave this room. Many of the tanks contained human bodies, but it was the one on the left row at the far end that the doctor watched most carefully. It held his most interesting patient. One that was technically long dead.
    Zeke Disher had once been a famous movie star, the young rising actor of the Trader worlds' theaters only a year ago, but he had been struck suddenly down by a rare and unknown disease, if disease it could be called. The doctor still had his doubts. All of Zeke's motor skills had shut down, as well as his organs, even his heart and lungs. But his brain was still active, his body was still alive. Other doctors were just waiting for him to finally die off so they could study the specimen. This doctor was not one of them. He had been the one who had originally treated Zeke. He had been with Zeke's closest friend, now in the army from the last he heard, when they discovered someone else was controlling Zeke's mind. That body would never die until that other person was found. The doctor ruminated on this as he walked down the hallway and signed out at the registration desk. With the sort of patients this hospital treated, all staff had to sign in and out of the building to insure they were safe in case of a crisis. The doctor had seen too many of those to complain about the policy. He crossed the large lobby, inching around the fountain in the center, and exited the building. Down past the way he had come, through the locked doors of the High Intensity Care Ward, past the rows of life tanks, Zeke opened his eyes.
    He did that sometimes. The doctors were mystified by it. His brain sometimes sent off tiny, electrical sparks that made his eyes open and shut. It had nothing to do with anybody in there. That body had become a shell long ago. Hadn't it?
    You wouldn't think, to look at the rotten, mutilated body, that a war was going on right beneath its surface.
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    Zeke heard the sobbing before he saw her, as he always did. Sometimes it was a high-pitched laugh that made his hair stand on end, sometimes it was sobbing, but he always heard the Advent before he saw her. There she was, lying in a dark corner of his---it was still his!---mind. She looked up as he came near, and the sobbing turned to a snarl.
    "You!" She cried out, and leapt at him, clawed hands extended. Zeke had never believed nails could grow like that until he had seen the like on her hands.
    Zeke ducked underneath the blow, jabbing up with his free hand. The other hung useless at his side. From one of her other attacks. The Advent let out an oomph as the air was forced from her stomach, but she twisted herself in mid-air and landed facing Zeke, breathing heavily. Zeke had become quite the master at hand-to-hand combat in here, even with only one hand. With a animalistic snarl, the Advent sprung away from him and took off into the gloom. Just like she always did. Sighing to himself, Zeke followed relentlessly. What else was there to do?
    Outside of this never-ending conflict, the body's eyes stared unseeingly up at the frosted lid of the tank. No breath entered its lips, and no blood pumped through its veins. The liquid around it was meant to substitute oxygen and food, but it never entered Zeke's body. It seemed to have a sort of resistance to it.
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    Now she had found a new toy. Somehow, the Advent had created an enormous chain saw, and was swinging it viciously towards Zeke. Now it was his turn to run away. There was no where to hide here, just gloomy emptiness as far as the eye could see. Zeke wondered how she had gotten the chain saw.
    As soon as he thought about it, a chain saw appeared in his hands, and he was so surprised he nearly dropped it. Looking behind him thoughtfully, Zeke let go of the chain saw. It disappeared in a cloud of mist. Thinking hard, Zeke conjured up an automatic rifle. Although it was one of the ancient, primitive rifles long lost to the TEC now, it carried poison-tipped bullets from the gases of Jupiter. Zeke smiled. Anything he thought in his mind...was there. Fascinating. And it had taken him six months to discover this. Turning, Zeke hoisted the rifle. He was much faster than the Advent, and she was just now appearing out of the dank gloom. Placing her in the center of his sights, Zeke let out a stream of poison-plated bullets. The Advent screamed and disappeared in a violent explosion of colored lights accompanied with the smell of sulfur. Then there was silence. No footsteps, no crying, not even the sound of Zeke breathing. He did not breathe anymore. He let the rifle drop and walked away as it turned to mist. The only sounds were the clack, clack, clack of his shoes. Where was he? What had he done? He needed that Advent to get out of here! Zeke opened his mouth and roared at the dark, empty sky.
    The computer near Zeke's tank flickered into life, as it always did when it recorded a heavy mental spike or heart beat. So far, it had only been the first. But now a steady rise and fall was spreading its way across the computer. If one looked into the tank, they would have seen the body's chest rising and falling in rhythm to the computer's now-sounding metronome. Someone had returned to the body. Suddenly the computer sparked, shook as the wires connecting it to the tank sparked and wriggled. There was an explosion, and the lid of the tank flew off. Dust and smoke from the ruined machinery blanketed the area. When it eventually cleared, the tank containing Zeke's body was empty. The doors to the High Intensity Care Ward were lying in a jumbled heap on the floor, battered and twisted. It looked as if someone had ripped them from the walls and crumpled them like tin foil. Alarm bells rang.
    Outside the hospital, Alfr'eda took a long, grateful gulp of breath as the cool night air wafted over her. It had been so long since she had had a body. She looked down at the rotted hands and flaking skin. Another would have been more suitable, perhaps, but she would make do with what she had. There was something of a hunger in Alfr'eda's eyes. She was here, on a Trader world. The Unity's retribution could be carried out, carried out by her alone. Alfr'eda tried not to think of the Unity. It caused her too much pain. Although her considerable mental powers remained with her, she could no longer feel the rest of the Advent. She could no longer feel the mind of the Unity. And that meant only one thing. She had become one of the Silent Ones. She opened her mouth and screamed at the sky.
    As Zeke roared out his frustration, he felt something...change...around him. He sensed the Advent. He could faintly see her next to him, also staring at the sky and yelling. They were doing the exact same thing...Zeke wondered if he could use that to his advantage. Somehow, switch them while they were doing the same action and take control of his body again. He would have to find out.
    Alfr'eda screamed and screamed again. She could not have possibly lost her eyesight, not so suddenly, not without cause. The land around her was dark and gloomy. She looked down at herself, and was back in a woman's form. She was back in Zeke's mind. She screamed.
    Zeke took in a welcome gulp of cool night air. The first he had taken since his New Year's party, almost an entire year ago. Looking down at himself, he shuddered. Now this was a body to give you nightmares. He took off trotting down the street. He hoped he remembered the location of his old studio. There were some costumes he had to borrow.

well look at that, i say probably tomorrow and spin one off in the next hour and a half. told u one could never know.

....well....

SPACE ZZOOOMMBBBIIIEEEZZ!!! wohoo!!

Interesting, very interesting

-Zombie Noob (They need a zombie digicon)

Another excellent Chapter. Just one thing, I would suggest you start making Zeke's body regenerate, possibly a side affect of one of the Advent thing or that it is just finaly able to start normal growth again now that the brain is in control again. But I would suggest you make sure there are a few changes, such as his eyes not quite being the Advent's eyes but them always being a little cloudy and possibly changing if Alfr'eda takes control. You should make it a point to make sure that he will always seem different. Also, I like where this is going. To minds occupying one body. Epic conflict

yeah, i already had that planned for part 2. not exactly regenerating, but something else. and the eye thing i definitely already had down. great minds think alike!

My only problem is the whole army-navy thing. Naval ranks should be used on ships, and army on planets if it gets that far. Aside from that, brilliant story

I derived the Sinner ranks from the u.s. navy ranks. I just changed them up a bit, and gave them different names. I could post the graph if you want to see it.

Only if it is immediately followed by another chapter

 awesome. I am addicted to this story.  And it is cool how zeke and the advent lady are switching power over the body back and forth

keep it coming please

Chapter 8, part 2
One Down...Ten Billion to Go

The Trader Emergency Coalition

4 years ago, outer colonies, southern frontier, planet christened "Kitalle"

    Sally picked up the last remaining threads of cucumber skin and threw them into the trash. Wiping her sleeves on her apron, she heard a soft noise behind her. Smiling, she turned around, hands on hips.
    "Dill Harris, is that you?"
    Her smile disappeared and her eyes widened in terror as her mouth worked noiselessly, vainly struggling to form words. The best she could muster was a low moan of horror. She took a step back and began to scream.
    A knife split her throat before the sound had gone past her lips. Sally Harris slumped to the floor, eyes glazed and unseeing.
    Alfr'eda stepped forward, smiling. Her teeth faintly reflected the soft reddish glow of her pupils. One down, ten billion to go. The Cleansing had begun.
    Thoughtfully, Alfr'eda stroked the pale face of the Sinner. She remembered back to the day when the Sinners had sealed their fate, one thousand years ago. She remembered the black cloud of the Unity rising from the choking body of the first Sinner. She remembered each of their faces, each member that had voted to expel the Advent to the stars. Hundreds of them, and a thousand years past. The Sinners had multiplied like rabbits, but she could feel them all, a soft, nagging tug at her head, millions of little lights when she closed her eyes. She would find them all, eliminate all of the lights. The Cleansing had begun.
    A door opened behind her and a man's voice called out, "Sally! Sweetheart? I'm home!"
    Alfr'eda smiled. Her second Sinner. Oh yes, the Cleansing had most certainly begun.

    The man entered the room slowly, his gun sweeping the room, landing on Alfr'eda with widening eyes. He must have heard her laugh of delight. Her eyes still sparkled humorously as he tried to calm his shaking hands and point the gun at her. He looked at the dead body again and gasped as if his heart had been cleaved in two. His eyes turned back to Alfr'eda, and this time there was only cold hatred.
    "You. You are coming with me. You picked the wrong woman to kill. I will personally see you hang by dawn."
    Alfr'eda made no move. The man held out a shiny badge he took from his inside coat pocket.
    "Trade Order police! If you do not follow, I will kill you!"
    Alfr'eda only smiled.
    The man growled. "I will enjoy this, murderer."
    His finger tightened on the trigger, but then his eyes widened in shock, and then terror. His hands started to shake harder, more violently. Slowly, ever so slowly, his hands turned the gun around and pressed it against his own forehead. He looked at Alfr'eda with uncontrollable fear in his eyes. He knew who was controlling this.
    "Who..." The man licked his lips. "Who are you?"
    Alfr'eda only smiled wider. The gun went off with a bang.
    Zeke jumped at the sound of a gunshot. Grimacing, he pushed harder at the dark mass surrounding him. He seemed to be in control of his ears, at least. The stars only knew what devilry the Advent was getting on with in control of his---it was his!---body. Grunting, Zeke strained against the blackness that sanctioned off his mind from his body. This was the Advent's doing too, at the very beginning, when she had removed Zeke from his body and sent him to his mind. She had locked him in a corner, and thrown away the key. Then she had been locked in there with him, but now she had escaped and Zeke meant to follow soon after her. How, he had no clue. But he knew he had to destroy the block the Advent had made. Perhaps that would free him as well. His eyes almost popped with the strain. Zeke roared and grunted, mentally pushing with all his might against the block. His eyes did pop then, popped open wide enough to admit a circus, when the thing exploded in millions of tiny black fragments.
    Alfr'eda frowned, and straightened from where she had been studying the second Sinner's body. That badge could come in useful...except suddenly there was something wrong with her eyes. She couldn't see a thing. If the human had done something to them.....
    Suddenly she lost control of her knees and crashed to the ground. This wasn't a sudden weakness, someone had taken control of her legs. And she knew who it was. Grunting, she strained to push the human's control away from the head. If he took control of the brain, he took control of the body. If there had been anyone to watch this strange scene, they would have seen Alfr'eda's eyes flickering from low red to ice blue and back again, hundreds of times per second. She crumpled to the floor as she lost control of her arms. Paralyzed, she saw the human's control, saw it creeping up her neck, and couldn't help letting off a small sob. Things had been going so well!
    The body stopped shaking, and the eyes glazed over, then jittered back to and remained on the ice blue. Zeke stood, stretching his arms. He had done it. He had broken free of the Advent's bonds. Clutching the black trench coat to him tightly, he carefully sidestepped the two bleeding bodies and ran out of the house. There was nothing he could do for them. After running a safe distance, Zeke stopped and looked at himself in the shiny side of one of the buildings. Even in the darkness of midnight, as Zeke's internal clock told him it was, the building's material shone and gave off Zeke's reflection clearly. He was decked out in black from head to toe, starting with the dark, rubber boots to the wide-brimmed black hat on his head. The hat, when tilted properly, created a shadow over his face, hiding his mutilations. Black gloves covered his rotted hands. Tilting the hat to the right degree, Zeke strode on, thinking hard. The costume had most certainly belonged to a antagonist from some star-struck film, that was obvious, but Zeke had had no time to grab anything else. And he had more important problems than his wardrobe. He had to find someone, tell someone, what had happened to him. What was happening to him. He had to find a way to kill the Advent inside of him. If only he could not hear her uncontrollable laughter.

crank 'em out, crank 'em out,

crank 'em crank 'em crank 'em out.

crank 'em out, crank 'em out,

my fair lady.

Two Words- Frikin Awesome.......

Pretty good chapter. Wasn't expecting the eyes thing. Going from ice blue to blood red. Nice job on that. Couldn't have done better myself. It was a little short though

yeah it seemed a little short, but i had nothing more to write about them for now. next up is back to kol, then probably the vasari after that. with a little bit of archie mixed in. maybe. possibly the advent as well. and maybe some pirates. and some space wales.