Chapter One Hundred and Fifty - Returning Home

Leif, Zyre(Zee), Chen Xue Min, Zheng Min, Xavier... these were the names he had been known by whilst connected and living, for all intents and purposes, in the alien archive.  But his actual name was Orion Hollister.

He'd been a Witch, a bit of a pirate, a temple guard, a soldier on a backwater planet and an I.T technician. But in truth, he was none of those things... all though the technician wasn't too far out of his scope.

Orion owned the rapidly rising company, Future Electronics, which developed technology and programs based on other companies wants and needs, though he has so far avoided military interest.  He was a prodigy within the market, having risen to becoming one of the most sought after developers in their niche after just two years, earning billions and he was only twenty three.  He hadn't floated the company on the stock exchange as yet, as he hailed from a rather large and rather greedy family who would keep mentioning the words 'discounted' or 'free' whenever the word 'shares' were mentioned.

When he had heard about the alien archive and its function to be able to bring multitudes of worlds to the minds of observers, his curiosity had won over and he had applied to join the other V.I.P's in exploring them.  And just like that, despite his celebrated IQ, he had become trapped inside it.

When he opened his eyes to the real world, he had done so with a sigh.  His mind was working rapidly, reviewing what he had just learnt from the Master and figuring out solutions to all of the problems he knew that they would face from then on out.  For the one thing, how was his company fairing?  Fortunately, his lawyer was a clever man and could prevent those vultures from doing any real damage... he hoped.

He moved his arm through the thick liquid surrounding him and tapped upon the upper surface of the submersion pod.  This caused a flurry of activity around him.

He was not the only person to wake up.

Currently the man who had been known as Wulfgar(Five), Jariden, Wu Chang, Song Jian And North, but was actually called Damien Harris was being debriefed on the examining table in the medical office.

He had been an assassin, an entrepreneur, a soldier more than once and the personal agent of an actor. And now he was a soldier once more, a lieutenant. He had been one of the squad to dive into the alien archive in order to rescue to hostage V.I.P's. He and his team had failed, but though it shamed him and his position, he couldn't bring himself to hate the fact all that much.

"How are you feeling, soldier?" The Captain in charge of the sleeping V.I.P's and their pods was asking.

Damien stretched and maneveoured one of his arms, lamenting that his defined muscles had weakened considerably.  "Hmmm," he nodded, but did not elaborate.

"How did you get out?" The Captain asked.  Damien looked at the man with a frown, wouldn't the others that the Master had claimed were already free have told him?  "We negotiated the freedom of most of the V.I.P's a while ago, but it was like they were thrown out.  A small number remained trapped, but the three who have awoken since couldn't tell us much, just that they had 'died' and awoken here."

Damien nodded.  "I was found and rescued."

The Captain looked surprised.  "How?"

*****

Aidan and Kyan woke at slightly different times in the White space under the thoughtful gaze of the Master.

They had left the world only days apart, their bodies weary from a lifetime spent together in the village. It had grown rapidly with the influx that they had caused and had had to split into a second community. That community had moved under the watchful gaze of Leif, leaving Eulalia as the new Village witch of the first village, her husband Herebert and her only daughter and heir by her side.

Wulfgar had naturally followed his husband and brought along their adopted son. Saewulf and Elyas were wandering souls so definitely would want to join the new venture, that and they had a mission to follow Leif and Wulfgar wherever they went. It had not ended with the return of their memories.

Oswyn also came with them as if attempting to escape something, but long after the village was established and he guarded a trading convoy to the sister village, he returned with the woman he had failed to avoid. Annalise was very smug with her conquest and the former assassin, for the first time in thirty years, blushed. This was not the only height from which their ice warrior fell; his bride's announcement of her first pregnancy sent him into an unexpected state of panic. Not only did he flee to join the hunts without adequate protection from the forest, Leif had to cart him home and fill him with copious amounts of potions to remove dormant seeds in his guts, fix an allergic reaction and remove a pungent odour released by a skunk weed. Annalise placed him under house arrest for a month, only allowing him to leave her sight once she was satisfied that her husband would not do anything so stupid again.

Their firstborn was named Elsie and the cold hearted man became putty in her pudgy fingers. They had five children in total.

Leif had left first and left earlier than could be predicted. The whole village mourned for a long while and had to ask their sister village for one of their Witch apprentices as Leif had no heir. Wulfgar was so depressed after losing his beloved, that he could only apologise to his son and his wife that he would not be there to hold their third child. He slipped away in his sleep not long after.

Saewulf and Elyas watched over the village as Elder and Chief, until their time came at an end.

"Did they make it safely out?" Kyan (Saewulf) whispered, as he watched the two little snakes play before them. They did not remain in their elongated shape long, before reverting to their natural states.

"Hmm?" The Master seemed distracted for a moment as he sat upon his white throne. However, he was not painting nor reading and there was not a chess set in sight. "Oh you mean those two. Yes, all is well with your friends." Kyan practically beamed, so pleased at this tidbit of information and the direction of his smile was towards Aidan. The man felt his heart softened like butter in midsummer and stroked Kyan's small hands that were nestled inside his.

Aidan had, however noted the Master's distant look. "Is something the matter, Master?" He asked.

A scowl fell upon the man's face, looking very much out of place as he was usually fairly expressionless. "I've lost him... it again."

Both systems and hosts seemed to share a glance before returning their attention to the Master. "Who do you mean?" Aidan asked.

Kyan gasped. "The System?"

"What else would I be chasing around the files?" The situation was clearly annoying the Master Archiver, he could no longer hide his feelings behind a mask. In fact, when he had first met Aidan, he had not redeveloped the emotions of the man he had been a virtual copy of. However, with the inconsistent presence and influence of the souls in his domain, they had slowly come into being. "Each file I have caught it thus far, I have sent diligent programs after it in order to capture it, but to no avail. They are not sentient and it is aware of them when they approach. And now I have lost it's trail completely."

"Master, why do you refer to the System as It? Rather than him?" Kyan asked, aware of the fact that the System was a copy of a male pilot.

"Because we are not men, no matter how it wishes otherwise," the Master replied. "We are programs."

"I think you are both more than programs," Kyan whispered. "Even if he is wrong and twisted, I think he should still be recognised as such." Aidan blinked as he noted the stone faced reaction of the Master. Was it him or did the white on his face seem... less white?

Floating Yang circled them a little cluelessly before saying; "Shall I help you find the System, Master?"  The Master Archiver nodded, quietly.

*****

As time moved as time wanted to move in a space with no day and no night, no one could say just how long it took for Yang and Yin to complete their search.  The Master was 'asleep', or rather his eyes were firmly closed and his mind elsewhere.

Kyan had slept for a while, he seemed to need the extra rest while in the White space in order to accept the accumulating memories in his soul as here he remembered everything by himself, whereas when living in the worlds, Yin helped his mind to format somewhat.  Even then it could be taxing.  Aidan's mind was not so strained and certainly not dealing with so many dark events it was difficult to stomach.  He often wished he had been able to be with Kyan in these lives and share his pain, even though it was not possible.

During other moments, the man and the boy would sit or lie together and talk about everything and nothing.  One such time, Aidan brought up questions about the boy before the sacrifice.  Kyan had shared a good memory, one during which time his father had mistakenly purchased tickets for an adult movie, rather than the family one that they had supposed to be going to see as he'd been distracted by ice cream falling on his shoe and had clicked the wrong option on his device.

"What did you see yourself doing as an adult?" Aidan asked, glancing at their entwined fingers.  Kyan's hands were smaller, his fingers more slender and smooth than Aidan's, he loved the feel of them.

"Like a career?" Kyan asked and Aidan had nodded.  "I think I wanted to be a space pilot or be a communications technician like my dad. Not very imaginative, boys around me had similar dreams. But several lives in here have opened my eyes and made me realise how narrow my views may have been."

"So you won't try becoming a pilot now?" Aidan asked. Kyan shook his head.

"It was an obvious choice of job, like being a teacher or a doctor," Kyan attempted to explain. "Not that they are not important, just that I was just picking something I knew of. The me now would consider more options, I think."

"Master! Master!" Yang was floating about the man trying to gain his attention. The Master's black eyes flickered open and he stared at the little white system. "We have found him... it... the System?"

The Master ignored Yang's confused references. "Where?"

"Um... file zero."

"He was correct to assume that I would not consider looking there," the Master muttered. "I never much liked that world."

"Which world is that?" Adam asked, rising from his position upon the bed.

"My home-world."

Author's note; sorry about the delay for this chapter. I hope it had sufficient about Annalise and Oswyn (One) as lots of people seemed to want this. And did you guess who Leif and Wulfgar were? There will be more delays for the arc, though. I have many key plot points, but the middle evades me! In the meantime please enjoy (my shameless plug) new story Mates of a Human (ps I really need a new title) or my other books, if you haven't already indulged!