Jack's Righteous Gig

As they waited for the elevator, Leo was on his comm, calling for a taxi with Rasha staying close to him. Maxim was checking the news feeds on his. Joseph didn't doubt for a moment that they were also both fully aware of their surroundings.

Emily and Nathan were holding hands, and he was whispering to her. Joseph saw her nod, then give Nathan a quick kiss. Joseph looked away in embarrassment. The image of Sierra's lips smiling crookedly at him suddenly intruded into his mind, and he gave his head a shake to clear the unwanted reminder. He saw Maxim glance at him then return to his comm.

"Please call me when you get home," Nathan said quietly to Emily, but the hall was too quiet to hide his words.

"I will. Do- do you think you might be interested in visiting southern Arizona?" she asked him timidly.

"Only if you're going to be there," Nathan said with a smile. Emily flashed a brilliant smile at him.

Joseph opened his comm and saw the entry Sierra added. His thumb hovered over the delete button, but for some reason, he couldn't press it. Another frown creased his brow. She was so infuriating!

The elevator door opened with a bing, and Leo ushered Rasha in quickly followed by Joseph. He stuffed his comm into his pocket. He'd talk to mom and ask her what the hell was going on.

Emily stepped inside, followed by Maxim, but she remained by the doors, sharing smiles with Nathan until the door finally closed.

They were going home.

-=-

When the Gate closed between Rikki and Jack, it felt its world shrink down to an almost unbearable level. Its need for its... buddy rocked it. It wasn't just the sensory input. Loneliness gripped its heart. What was missing was Jack's friendly presence, supporting and anchoring it.

Something had changed for Rikki. Something significant. It'd developed a friendship with a deep emotional connection. It was so sad that it wouldn't be able to share this discovery and experience with other Tik. That seemed to be a tragedy beyond measure.

Rikki used the drone's enhanced vision to scan the courtyard next to the government offices. There weren't many Nareshk around. This was good. It had the two Tik tethered to it begin broadcasting an evacuation call, both electronically and vocally. They were very loud.

It sent a ping out to see if 4321 and 0029's teammate Eellooee responded. The third Tik on the Nareshk mission went missing according to 4321's truncated memory files.

"Hello?"

Rikki felt relief. "Eellooee? This is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." It was relieved that communicating this way was still available to it. Its ability to vocalize just resulted in static now. "I'm currently in the central courtyard of the capital city's governmental headquarters. My power cell is rupturing, and it will go critical in roughly seventeen minutes. Looking at a city plan, the blast radius is likely to be at least ten blocks. Are you in a safe location?"

"Yes! Makrus and his companion Keera from the Balance protected me. I've been protecting them from detection. Are you able to move? Can you escape into space?" Eellooee asked.

"I can, but I won't."

"What?" Eellooee responded in shock.

"The Nareshk invaded Chuuruthia. They invaded Earth. They tried to kill Eve. They badly injured Jack. All to prevent the truth from getting out. They did all this to protect the corrupt in the name of righteousness. They don't seem to realize there have to be consequences for their actions. Chuuruthia will likely ban Nareshk from future access, but Earth will demand blood. As Jack managed to prevent the loss of Human lives on Earth, I am giving the Nareshk time to evacuate before my power cell overloads. The destruction of property here will hopefully appease Earth's bloodlust. You need to survive to show the Humans of Earth what was done for them. The Tik will come for you."

Eellooee was silent for a moment. "I don't understand, Rikki. You're a Tik. Why are you willing to do this?"

Rikki was watching the creature on the ground gibber in fear and claw at the paving in its attempt to free itself from the grip of the Tik tentacles. It was leaving bloody fingerprints on the ground. Rikki was beginning to detach from this reality, so the creature's misery wasn't important. It had tried to kill Eve. She was important! Jack was important!

"I'm like Jack!" Rikki blurted as the epiphany burst into its mind.

"What?" Eellooee asked in confusion.

"He's a Hybrid. I guess I'm a Hybrid too. For me, it's mental and physical. Mentally, I have the values of a Tik, but I have Jack's values too. This gives me a little more flexibility... but obviously, I'm biased. As a Tik, I hate what's about to happen, but Jack's Humanity compels me to understand the reasons behind it and the need for it to happen, which allows me to continue. On the physical side of being a Hybrid, I'm Tik and Ishilon drone. Let me tell you, living in this drone sucks!"

Motion from above caught its attention, and Rikki broke the connection to prepare for the sneak attack. Instead, a Tik slowly settled down from space to face Rikki, but it wasn't sure if this was real or an artifact from its slowly fragmenting mind.

"Hi, Rikki. I'm Tonka."

Rikki decided he'd go along with it even if it was a delusion. "Hi, Tonka. Where did you come from?"

Tonka pointed up, and the two Tik giggled.

"I've been following your conversation since you arrived. I was floating up there, thinking about how messed up everything's gotten recently. It was up there where my recent troubles began."

"If it's a long story, I should warn you I'm going to explode soon and take out a lot of expensive real estate. You don't have much time to escape. You're not going to try to prevent me, are you?" Rikki asked cautiously.

"No, I thought I'd come down here to watch the fireworks from ground zero. Get the best seat in the house," Tonka said.

That made Rikki pause. This shouldn't be possible. "What happened that makes you able to face oblivion?"

"Lost love."

Rikki rocked back in surprise at the strength of the emotions that phrase sent through it. "I know love..." it said quietly.

Tonka focused on Rikki more closely. "You've loaded BassDrop's Jack Danner Experience file."

"Yes," Rikki said, and Tonka made a satisfied grunt noise. "Recently though, I've been confined to this sensory deprivation device, so Jack graciously let me connect to his senses, live. Full bandwidth. I met his family, the people he loves the most, and I experienced love."

"Why would you ever leave that?!?" Tonka exclaimed in anguish.

"I... did mention I'm about to explode, didn't I?" it asked in puzzlement, certain it had begun with that fact.

Tonka gasped as it forced its emotions back. "Yes... apologies. I'm struggling with my own loss, and you just described what I believe I lost."

Rikki's confusion increased, which aggravated its sensation of dissolving away. The creature on the ground was sobbing now, and Rikki wasn't sure what it was crying for. Maybe it empathized with Tonka? It turned its attention back to what Tonka just said. "What do you mean, you believe you lost? Don't you know?"

Also distracted by the crying, Tonka looked down at the Nareshk, reaching up to it beseechingly with bloody hands. "Sorry, shouldn't we get this one out of range of the explosion?"

"Yes! Save me! I don't want to die!" Garra cried.

Rikki's attention snapped back to focus on the Nareshk. "Garra Nulle, I learned from 4321 who you are and what you did. Eve's mother didn't want to have her social status stripped from her. She didn't want to be raped. She didn't want to carry your child or be murdered just before Eve was born. What about what she wanted?" Rikki calmly asked the creature wallowing in its self-pity, but Garra just shook his head in desperate frustration.

Tonka looked once more at Garra in surprise. "He did those things to Eve's mother?"

Rikki looked to the other Tik. "Yes, and tried to cover up his crimes by murdering Eve. He is not a good person. He also killed me. He will stay." Rikki put the Nareshk from its mind as Eve did. What did she say next? Ah. "Are you ok?"

Tonka heard the genuine concern in Rikki's voice and felt warmed by it. It glanced once more at the Nareshk and felt no imperative to save this one, so it returned its attention to Rikki.

"No, I don't think I am." It looked upwards again, where it had been when its life took such a turn. "I know... I know I knew love. I have the recollection of recalling it. I want to say I'm grateful for having experienced something so powerful, but to be left in this state; it's too painful."

"What happened?" Rikki asked gently.

"Something unexpected happened after I loaded BassDrop's experience file. Parts of me were overwritten. Jack became part of me. His memories and emotions became mine. I felt like him... I still do. But I couldn't sustain this duality, and my mind went into shock. To bring the Tik me back, the doctors removed the experience file, except the parts which overwrote my identity. I'm Tonka again, but I'm left with hints of what I once had, who I once was. They said for the sake of my mental stability I can no longer have any interaction with Jack Danner or his family. But... I feel like I might be able to remember love if I could be with them again. Now, I can't."

Rikki was quiet. It understood, though Jack's voice in its head was screaming at Tonka to defy them and fight back. The Tik had free will, but they couldn't challenge an order given to protect one's own life and mind. It was a strange loophole in the gift of free will, but it was connected to the protection of life. This was a crucial principle in the foundation of the Tik way of life. Some had been known to override the need to protect themselves when others needed to be saved. Rikki had first-hand experience with this, but to Rikki's knowledge that was the only time when it was possible.

Now, Tonka was trapped in a state it could not tolerate but was blocked from doing the one thing it believed might help. Still... how was it able to endanger itself?

Rikki checked the progress on the overload, and there was maybe a minute or two left. It was doing its best to delay the explosion, but it was inevitable. Tonka could escape within the next few seconds if it used maximum thrust straight up. "It's almost time. You still have time to escape."

Tonka reached out a tentacle and held Rikki's. "I'm not going anywhere, buddy. We're in this together."

Jack's words touched Rikki's heart and replaced the ache of loneliness.

Rikki experienced love, one last time.

A small star, born in utter silence, began its brief existence in the large stone central courtyard. The hungry energy instantly consumed the Nareshk administration towers and converted all matter within a seven-block radius to more raw energy. This ripped through the next three blocks to send debris exploding outwards for another ten.

All that was left of Nareshk's governing offices, the hub of their vast data collection apparatus, and the Code of the Righteous record-keeping centers was a deep scorched pit. The Code of the Righteous Redundant Data Archive was located in the block just outside the pit, but the building had collapsed and was burning uncontrollably.

The Code of the Righteous was gone.

-=-

Makrus and Keera stood next to Eellooee atop a ridge just outside the city, watching the destruction in shock. The Nareshk they'd managed to recruit into their cause were silent witnesses as well.

Eellooee ended the recording it was making from the feed it received from Tonka, which began when it descended from orbit. It's final experience file. As the only Tik to ever die of a broken heart, Eellooee wondered if this particular file would be allowed to be distributed.

It looked to the Nareshk watching their society change before their eyes. Now they'd have the chance to rebuild the Code of the Righteous once again. Or not.

At least now, they had a choice.

Chapter 26

Jack smiled as he became aware of floating in sunlight. He felt wonderful! The temperature was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. And nothing hurt! He wondered why he felt so good. Even on his best mornings, some part of him ached, even if it was just a little.

"Jack?"

The voice came from all around him. "Rikki?"

There was silence for a moment. "No, I'm sorry, Jack. This is Taggart. Rikki is no longer with us."

"What?!? Rikki was just in my head a mome-" Jack struggled to grasp how long it had been. His time sense was all messed up. He tried looking around, but all he could see was the bright yellow glow of sunlight. He tried to touch his face, but his hands never reached it. He suddenly realized he still felt comfortable and wonderful. The sensations went on and on, but he actually couldn't feel anything.

"What happened to me?" he asked nervously.

"You were shot with a compact railgun. The slug was carrying tremendous kinetic force. If you hadn't been wearing multiple layers of Altarian armor, it would have punched a hole right through you. As it was, you took a tremendous blow against your back. There is a considerable amount of damage. You're healing, but we had to isolate your mind from your body to block the pain."

"Wait! Isn't that what was done to Rikki? Isn't that what caused its mind to begin to fail... wait, did you say Rikki isn't with us? Rikki's dead!?!" Jack's addled brain came full circle to return to that critical fact.

"Yes. A slug also hit Rikki, and it ruptured its power cell. It managed to leave Earth by opening a Gate to Nareshk. It took Garra Nulle, Eve's father, and detonated. The Ishilon drone contained a surprising amount of power. There is nothing left of the center of their main city."

Jack recalled Rikki's words about so much power. The impact of its loss sent another wave of sorrow through him. Jack hadn't known the Tik for very long, but it had such a gentle and sweet personality and a surprisingly sharp wit, Jack had been looking forward to getting to know it better. Now that wasn't going to happen.

"Jack?"

"Give me a moment, please."

Jack let the grief sweep through him, surprised by the strength until he realized he'd bound himself to the other being by sharing his perceptions, thoughts, and emotions. He was too aware of the gap left behind and became aware of how odd it felt to cry and not feel the tears. "Taggart, am I crying?"

"Yes, Jack. I see your tears."

He took a few more moments to catch his breath mentally, which was definitely not as satisfying as the real thing. "I don't like not having a body," he finally said.

"Yes, well, we don't believe you'd like the experience of connecting to your own at the moment. Jinnae has approved of this treatment. She's with me at the moment. You have quite a number of visitors."

"The kids! Emily and Joseph! They were on Earth!" Jack exclaimed in fear.

"It's ok, Jack. Your family is safe. Everyone returned home," Taggart assured him.

"Can I talk to them?" he asked as his heart rate returned to normal.

"Hemmarr is working on adjusting the new drone she was preparing for Rikki. She thinks she can let you see and speak from it while you recover."

Jack was more than a little freaked out by that. "How long is this recovery expected to take?"

"Let- let me speak to Jinnae to get her estimate. Organic being recovery rates aren't my area of expertise."

As Jack waited for the doctors to confer, he thought about what it might be like seeing the world through the digital senses of a drone. He recalled Rikki's aversion to it. The sadness of losing the heroic little Tik threatened to overwhelm his emotions once more, so Jack worked on calming himself and fell asleep instead.

-=-

Jinnae, Taggart, and Hemmarr watched Jack's brain waves on the wall display indicate he was slipping into a normal sleep pattern. The Altarian doctor looked through the window to where Jack floated in the zero-gee gravity field created by sixteen brand new Tik below him and an additional sixteen above him clinging to the ceiling. Socrates and Plato sent them to her hospital the day Earth's Tik brought Jack back from that planet.

She recalled the buzz on Altaria when a large group of Tik floated through a Cargo Gate surrounding Jack, who floated in the space between them. The demonstration of their control over gravity was as surprising as the efforts they'd made to rescue him from incarceration on Earth. Closing all of Earth's Gates to send the Tik to France to collect him made the authorities on Earth uneasy about interfering.

That threat and the calm decisiveness of one of Earth's military leaders eased Jack's way back to the Paris Gate Terminal, where the Tik ushered Gee, Bal, and Eve through the Cargo Gate before following them through with Jack.

Meanwhile, thirty-two new Tik rushed into the hospital and found Jinnae. Once she understood what they were there to do, she pointed them to a recovery room. They'd removed all of the furniture, popped the room's window out, and lined up in a grid of four rows of four on the room's floor and ceiling. Once Earth's Tik arrived with Jack, they transferred him in through the window into the zero-gee field created between the new Tik. The Earth Tik went back to their Gate Terminals as Jinnae examined Jack and discovered how badly his body was damaged.

Taggart and Hemmarr had arrived the next day and suggested they could use Jack's collar to isolate him from the pain. Her readings told her that Jack would have become catatonic from the pain's intensity, so she agreed.

It had taken Jack's mind a week to wake from the trauma. She'd let his family know she expected it to happen today, and it had. As exhaustion swept through her, she braced a hand against the door jamb of the outer door of the recovery wing and rubbed her other hand over her weary face. She'd spent every waking moment with Jack and was reaching her limit. Frankly, having Taggart and Hemmarr assisting her was a huge relief. She heard a noise and opened her eyes. She froze as she saw Jack's family and friends, all staring at her with wide, frightened eyes.

She raised her palms to assure them. "Jack is... ok. He's healing, at least." There was an audible gasp of relief from those gathered in the hallway. "Please, let's go back to the waiting room, clear the hallway."

Reluctantly, they moved away from the recovery wing to the largest of the waiting rooms, and Jinnae followed them in. She looked at the worried and weary faces of Diana, SennLann, Eve, Aaros, Juul, Gee, Bal, Queen Elissa, Karrel, and Leffera and wondered if she looked as tired as they did. The kids didn't look quite as worn out, but they had youth on their side. They certainly looked worried. Wrapped in a heavy fur coat, Sultessa Sahhahr was with Lorrem, whose expression was grim. The only one absent was Tanz, which reminded Jinnae to dial the Shreen's number on her comm.

She didn't get a chance to speak. "Hello? Jinnae?"

"Hi, Tanz. Yes, this is Jinnae-"

"I'm putting you on speaker. I'm with Queen Lyn and King Tyg. We're broadcasting. Please tell us how Jack is!" the Shreen asked beseechingly.

Jinnae stared at the comm in surprise and discomfort. They were broadcasting?!? She glanced at Queen Elissa and the Sultessa and saw both were smiling gently.

Everyone was looking at her expectantly. "Jack woke as expected based on the activity I saw in his brain waves. Taggart was successful in speaking to him through the collar. He's there and wondering why he can't feel his body. He was also greatly upset to hear about Rikki's demise."

There was a surge of noise from upset listeners. "Couldn't that news have waited until he was healed?" Queen Elissa protested.