Condition Evolution 4 by Kevin Sinclair (parable of the sower read online .txt) 📗

no idea, but he followed my orders and pumped a torrent of flames up into the tunnel, hopefully burning a ton of the horrible bastards. His flames lasted for around ten seconds before he passed out falling to the floor unconscious.

With no enemies left to kill, my attention was refocused by the groans among the bodies covering Uprising’s bridge. To my disgust, on closer inspection I saw that all of the humans that had lost their lives had been beheaded. Ember was barely conscious at my feet. I suddenly felt very alone, the weight of those who still lived on my shoulders. It was a huge relief when Elyek and Yolek appeared next to me, unharmed except for a few scratches. Another woman, from William’s crew, called out from the wreckage of the bridge. She ran straight over to William, who, like Ember, was only barely conscious.

“Elyek! We need find who is alive and who needs healing most,” I said as I thrust Havok into Ember’s hands. I saw Koparr moving. He’d lost an arm but was somehow still conscious, clearly having been able to cauterize the stump, which probably saved his life. To my horror I noticed Calegg a few feet past him, unmoving. He had suffered multiple deep gashes, including one across his throat. His eyes stared lifeless at the ceiling. My eyes filled with tears and my legs seemed to lose their strength as I fell to my knees, exhausted and overwhelmed.

“Captain! We need to deal with the breach in the ceiling or get out of here. That tunnel is about to tear free,” Elyek shouted.

Shit! I hadn’t even considered that. I looked up. In seconds we would be open to space. I couldn’t even mourn or save those who needed me. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I cried out, forcing myself back to my feet. “Can we seal it up? I don’t want to lose anyone else if there’s a chance they can survive.”

“Use your telekinesis to hold that table,” Elyek ordered me, and pointed to a round table that had been torn free earlier. “It should cover the gap, enough to give us a chance. Yolek and I will begin moving those still alive to the corridor.”

“Okay, Elyek, do it,” I agreed, focusing on the table. I had no idea if it would work, but I slapped it over the hole anyway.

Elyek went straight to the unconscious but now much healthier looking Ember and dragged her towards the exit. I sighed with relief that at least she would live. The woman who had run to the aid of William was now helping him off the bridge as he leaned heavily on her. Yolek helped with Koparr, who was just about able to support his own weight. My heart broke anew when Koparr looked at Calegg and began to cry.

They were just clearing the bridge when the tunnel ripped free. The table I held in position was sucked onto the hole, doing a remarkable job of stemming the flow of internal pressure. But there were gaps, and we needed to move fast. I picked up Calparr with telekinesis, and all but threw the massive bloodied Torax through the bridge exit. Elyek was back on the bridge, with Ember safe. They began frantically searching through the bodies for signs of life, as did I. Elyek found no one. I found one Fystr in bad shape, but not as bad as when I left him without a head. I was about to cross the room to check on two more bodies, when the table bent outwards, crumpling.

Elyek was near the doors, they screamed for me to run. I levitated over with the noise of the table's integrity degenerating a terrifying counterpoint to my mad dash. I really didn’t need to get sucked into space today on top of everything else that had happened. I flew through the door that Elyek was holding open, landing in a pile amongst the other survivors. As Elyek let the doors close, we heard the table finally pop through the hull and the sudden depletion of air as the doors finally sealed.

Once again getting to my feet, I laid Havok into Calparr’s unconscious hands. “You're healing everyone as much as you can, Havok. No complaints, I can fill you back up.”

“Of course, Shaun,” he answered, sounding subdued, but immediately began pushing healing energy into Calparr’s body.

I continued to pass him around to everyone, so at the very least they were stabilized. As amazing as he was, there were wounds even he couldn’t heal fully.

Finally I sat down next to Ember, and in the flickering lights, I held her. When she came around, she smiled at me weakly at me, then covered her mouth, self-conscious at the lack of teeth along one side. I kissed her gently on the head and pulled her tighter.

“How are you still alive?” she asked groggily.

“By being very lucky, Ember.”

“You’re damn near unkillable,” she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief at my recent dance with death.

“If he took my head off, that would’ve been curtains for me. I'm lucky I only got stabbed through the heart. Not that it matters how resilient I am, if everyone else around me dies,” I said, emotion coming into my voice. The image of Calegg’s lifeless face haunted me. It was like losing a brother. I didn’t even know if Ember was aware he was gone yet, and I didn’t have it in me to let her know right now.

“We’re all hurting, Shaun. But I promise you, we’d have all died in there if not for you, so console yourself with that at least.”

Everyone still conscious sat bolt upright when the ship shook, loud clanging noises echoed around the corridor. We were essentially blind here; no comms, nothing. We just had to hope that it was the Haven and not the Fystr returning. I didn’t think what was left of us would survive a second round.

Letting go of Ember I stood. Havok came to my