First Contact - Chapter 594: Stock Car Race (2/2)
Daxin nodded. ”Yeah.”
”Wow, Gravity. I haven't thought about him in centuries. The Mantid Apostle,” Dhruv shook his head.
Daxin suddenly grinned. ”Equations and poetry,” he laughed suddenly. ”Remember Matty carving Gravity's poem into that big rock by Lake Gimmegotcha?”
Dhruv nodded, smiling. ”Didn't make sense to us, but man, the way it sounded reaching it out loud. Like it was a secret to the universe that Gravity had revealed to us.”
Daxin chuckled. ”You know, in a weird way, I miss Matty and Gravity both.”
”Yeah, well, Gravity didn't betray us. He just died of old age. Greenies only lived about five or six years back then,” Dhruv said. ”Matthias the Second betrayed us.”
Daxin nodded. ”Yeah. Murdered Our Digital Father, framed you, led the Imperium to me when I went to see my daughter's grave at the DeeSee Ruins.”
Dhruv pushed his tray away. ”Suddenly I'm not hungry.”
Daxin pushed the tray back. ”Eat, Dhruv. It's over, I did for that Matty. I was thinking of Matthias the First.”
Dhruv looked around, didn't see The Detainee, and sighed, picking the fork back up. ”Remember how young he was when we found him?”
Daxin nodded. ”Barely hanging on. Last of the 27th Centauri Lancers.”
Dhruv looked around. ”Wanna see something, Dax?” he asked intently.
Rolling his eyes, Daxin nodded. ”Sure, show me,” he leaned forward across the table. ”It better not be your dick, Dhruv.”
Dhruv smiled, looked around, and held out his palm. The built-in holo-emitter sparkled to life and thrw and image up.
A massive Combine Era warborg held a glowering Daxin in a side-arm bear-hug, The youthful Matthias in between them. The Digital Omnimessiah stood next to them, smiling. Bellona was just barely in the frame, sticking out her tongue, one hand raised with the fingers in V.
”You still have that?” Daxin asked. He reached forward and touched the hologram. He gave a long slow exhale. ”It was before we found Kalki, wasn't it?”
”About a week,” Dhruv admitted. He closed his hand, shutting off the holopic. ”Want a copy?”
Daxin opened his mouth, then closed it, shaking his head, looking somewhat sad. ”No. I'd rather remember us the way we were back then.”
Dhruv nodded. ”I used to look at that image, back when I was hiding from you and the others, after the Imperium planet-cracked me and you gave me a head start.”
”You never lost the faith, did you, Dhruv?” Daxin asked.
Dhruv shook his head. ”Never.”
”I did,” Daxin admitted. ”I'm not sure when. It was after the collapse of the Imperium, after the First Crusade, after The Eye opened. I'm not sure where it all went wrong.”
”Osiris of the Warsteel Flame, Scourge and Bane,” Dhruv said.
Daxin nodded. ”I just walked out of my iron fortress, boarded End of All Hope, and left. Took Fido with me.”
”How long till you went brain in a jar?” Dhruv asked.
Daxin shrugged. ”Fifty, seventy-five years afterwards,” he looked at his hand. ”My flesh had grown cold and hard, I couldn't stand it any more. I couldn't land on a planet or everyone wanted to meet me, thank me, or try to kill me.”
Dhruv nodded. ”I figured as much. That's why I was Victor for long. Well, like him, different names, different jobs.”
”Spent some time trying to track down Matthias the Second and Matthias the First, trying to figure out which one killed our Digital Omnimessiah and which one killed theirs,” Daxin said. He shook his head. ”The Second Convergence messed a lot of stuff up.”
”Yeah, yeah it did,” Dhruv said softly. He picked at his food for a few minutes while Daxin stayed silent.
Finally, Dhruv broke the silence. ”There's Trucker.”
Daxin didn't turn and look. ”Think he'll agree to help us assault the SUDS?”
Dhruv nodded. ”He made the mistake of bargaining with Dee. She says he'll join us willingly.”
Daxin snorted. ”Then he'll join us willingly.”
Dhruv stared off to the side for a moment. ”He's sitting alone, Dax,” Dhruv looked at his brother. ”We know what he's going through.”
Daxin sighed and stood up, still feeling melancholy, still feeling the weight of the eons weighing down on him. ”Yeah.”
Moving over to the food forge, Daxin ordered up a quick meal, and out of nostalgia's sake, ordered up one of the old BBQ Pulled Pork rations, complete with the wrapper.
Together, they walked over to the table that Trucker was sitting at, alone, staring at his plate.
”Mind if a couple of sinners join you?” Dhruv asked.
Trucker's eyes got wide and he nodded.
”I'm Vat Grown Luke, that's Enraged Phillip,” Dhruv said, sitting down. ”You've probably heard of us.”
Trucker just nodded.
”Don't mind Dhruv, he thinks he's funny,” Daxin said, frowning at Dhruv. ”I'm Daxin, that's Dhruv.”
”Manuel,” Trucker said, holding out his hand.
Both men shook it.
”So, Demon-Mommy says you're in it to win it with us,” Dhruv said.
Daxin elbowed him. ”Be serious.”
”Pfft, make me,” Dhruv said. He looked back at Trucker. ”She tell you what we're doing?”
Trucker shook his head, unable to find his tongue.
”She will, eventually,” Dhruv said. ”Trust me, it's going to be epic.”
”I was hoping she just wanted me to pick up a pack of her favorite cigarettes,” Trucker said.
Daxin suddenly grinned. ”Unless you've got a time machine, good luck with that,” he said. Daxin reached out and tapped the table with one metal fingertip. ”You know where we're going?”
”Telkan System. It's where I was assigned by CDOD,” Trucker said.
Dhruv snorted. ”Yeah. Well, you'll see.”
”See what?” Trucker frowned.
”You owe the Detainee one soul,” Daxin rumbled. ”And she will collect.”
”I thought she'd wait till I was dead,” Trucker said.
Daxin shook his head. ”No.”
”We need you alive,” Legion smiled.
Trucker suddenly wasn't hungry.