Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

fact, it had only jumped forward through Time, but the Recreated didn't know that. All they knew was that the source of their power was suddenly gone. They were able to survive, until the Maze returned, but the experience panicked them.
    You now know all you need to know. It's time we began the last part of your journey. Of your destiny."
    Cathy rose to her feet, and Owen did so too. The chairs disappeared silently.
    Cathy turned her gaze on the sleeping baby, and after a moment Owen did so too.
    "He is your kin, your Family," said Cathy softly. "You are both Deathstalkers.
    Talk to him, Owen. He will hear you."
    "I don't even know his name," Owen protested. "And anyway, he's still asleep."
    "Reach out to him," said Cathy. "He'll hear you."
    Owen turned to look at the sleeping baby, and found his eyes were already open and looking at him. They were dark eyes, like his, but clear and calm and full of wonder. Owen reached out with his mind, and the baby's thoughts came to meet him. They blazed like fireworks, like comets in the night, blindingly bright and gaudily colored, and at first all Owen could understand was the baby's feelings; warm and loving and surprisingly trusting. Owen opened himself to the baby, who learned words and concepts from him in a moment. The baby's mind was very large, though strangely unfocused in places, and Owen felt like a single fish in a sentient ocean. He worried briefly that he might drown there, but the baby quickly broadcast reassurance. They relaxed together, concentrating on their link. The baby had learned much from the Maze, but people were still new to him.
    Two Maze-altered Deathstalkers communed in an alien place, and found joy in each other. They talked, sometimes in words and sometimes not, like father and child, and more and less than that.
    I'm sorry about what I did, said the baby, mentally. I want to put everything right again, and I will, but I need time to consider how. I don't want to make any more mistakes. You must buy me the time I need.
    Whatever you need, said Owen. But what can I do?
    Ask Cathy. She knows. Goodbye, Owen. I'm glad I got to meet you at last.
    Owen smiled down at the baby, who removed the tiny thumb from his mouth so he could smile back. And then the baby closed his dark, knowing eyes and went back to sleep, considering how to change the universe again. Owen looked at the alien
    with Cathy's face.
    "Well; that was… different. I like him. So; what is it I have to do? What can one man do, against something like the Recreated?"
    Cathy looked at him steadily. "This is the final part of your destiny, Owen. You have to distract the Recreated; hold their attention and keep them occupied, while the baby prepares for what he will do next. All the Recreated, not just the few facing Hazel and the others above this world. If the Recreated understand the baby is working against them, they might try to drive hm back into the depths of sleep again. They might even risk destroying him, and if the baby dies, all hope for Humanity's survival dies with him. It's all down to you, Owen."
    "Whatever it is, it must be really bad, or you wouldn't keep putting it off.
    Tell me. I can take it." Owen glared at Cathy, who stared sadly back at him.
    Owen sighed. "I'm really not going to like this, am I?"

    On the bridge of the Sunstrider, Hazel was living her dream. The ship's new weapons fired over and over again, but the numbers of the Recreated seemed endless. Her targets were so large she couldn't miss, but it was hard to do any real damage to anything so vast. She kept the Sunstrider weaving and dodging, eluding crippling energy blasts and mile-long tentacles with barbs the size of her ship, but the Recreated were everywhere now and she couldn't dodge them all.
    Her shields were going down, and the Sunstrider was taking more and more damage, some of it really bad.
    Alarm sirens wailed continuously until she turned them off. They weren't telling her anything she didn't already know. One side of the control panels had
    exploded, filling the bridge with leaping flames and black billowing smoke.
    Hazel had put out the main fires, but flames still flickered here and there, casting dark leaping shadows across the bridge. The extractor fans were working overtime, trying to clear the smoke from the air. Hazel barely noticed. All her attention was plugged into the weapon controls and navigation systems now, as she fought her way doggedly through the endless ranks of the