The Roof of the Spire.Altitude: 40,000 Feet.the wind was screaming at this altitude.Ethan was lying in the debris of his Drop Pod. He was cowering, and holding the Crimson Heart. The necrosis of his arm which was black was throbbing, creeping up his neck like a living tattoo.The Imposter was opposite him.The Golden King was floating some few inches above the white tiles. His suit was unwrinkled. His hair was perfect. He gazed at Ethan with a cold coldness of a scientist at a dying-lab-rat....You are degrading, The Imposter remarked, calm as the wind. "...Your timeline is being consumed by that stone. You... there are... ten minutes of life you have."...Plenty of time," Ethan rasped.He squeezed the stone.His hand discharged Red Gravity. It was not the hygienic, violet space of the Guardian. It was sharp, unsteady and bloody.Ethan didn't throw a punch. He threw the roof.He tore up a huge piece of the white bio-steel flooring, and threw it at the Imposter.The Imposter didn't

Volume 6: The Final EquationSector 7. The Crater.Time: 0 Minutes Post-Victory.The dust of the death of the Imposter was yet to clear.Ethan was at the bottom of the melted hole staring up at the sky which was full of smoke. He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't feel his hands. The numbness that was creeping through his chest was the only thing that he felt.The Blood-red Heart no more Had disappeared, to ashes. But the price it had taken was, as ever. His skin had become a chart of dead veins--the black necrosis--the Blood Rot."...Ethan!"Elena slipped down the side of the crater, and did not think of the heat. She threw her sniper rifle, and got on her knees next him.She touched his face. She lost her fingers covered with black sludge."...Mom..." Ethan wheezed. His voice was like a gravel-crunching voice. "...Did we... clear the sky?"Elena looked up. The yellow glow of the Swindler had passed. The red storm of the battle was subsiding.It is very obvious, Elena thought, and s

Sector 7. The Alleyway.Time: 5 Minutes Post-Awakening.The huge corpse of the Harvester Captain was smoking away amidst the wet pavement. Its chest was a hole that was gaping with the new fist of Ethan punched through.General Kael gazed upon the blue blood which was glowing on the wall. He looked at Ethan.His trained boy was no longer there. Standing there was a weapon.The left arm of Ethan was a masterpiece of White Bio-Steel the plates moving without a murmur like muscles. The Plasma Core was vibrating at a low and dangerous hum, and his chest shone through his rags: the hospital gown."...We need to move," Ethan said. That metallic sub-harmonic had come to his voice now. It vibrated in Kael's teeth. "...The network is aware of the fact that this unit is offline. They're coming.""...Who is coming?" Jarek enquired, and his rusted axe."...Everyone."Ethan pointed to the sky.High above the glass domes of the metropolis, a group of white lights broke away around out of the mother

Volume 6: The Final EquationSector 7. The Formatting Plant.Time: 02:05 Hours.The industrial madness was present in the factory floor.The Blue Liquid was foaming at the top. Thousands of these formatted men--who had been made living hard drives--were dropping their porcelain shells. Stone clucked and peeled off leaving pink, raw skin behind. The air was filled with screams of confusion and terror and the hum of the machinery was drowned.Ethan crossed the metal grating in the middle of the commotion.SWISH.Something pure void energy made a slice where his head had been a microsecond ago.The Silencer appeared noiselessly upon the cat-walk above him. It was a nightmare of smooth black ceramic and blue light. It lacked a face and instead had a smooth sensor array to monitor the heartbeat of Ethan. Its weapons were long scalpels that whizzed at a rate that could slice bio-steel....Target Locked," The voice of The Silencer was a digital screech. "...Variable: Wolf. Threat Level: Crit

Sector 7 Airspace. The interior of a Hijacked Harvester Transport.Time: 04:00 Hours.The conveyance was a passage-less white coffin that flew through the clouds. Indoors it was stifling of ozone and sterilized air.In the pilot seat was Ethan with his White Bio-Steel arm resting directly into the flight console. The Imposter (in his head) was leading his hand, translating alien flight controls as they came.Jarek, General Kael, and Nara were sitting in the cargo hold behind him. Harvester Robes they had, which were stolen and gleamed light-bending material which concealed their weapons and their faces.We are now nearly at the blockade, Ethan said. His voice was flat, metallic. "...Three Destroyers. One Mothership."... Do not twitch, The Imposter said in the head of Ethan.Bio-rhythms are scanned by them. When your heart rate exceeds 60 they vape....Scan detected--alternated Nara, holding her datapad. "...They're pinging our ID code."A voice boomed over the comms. It wasn't human.