back where it all started the ouroboros of the mind, a pattern of unending significance as skins are shed and faces worn. the trail of time in life, a serpent eats its own tail. from seed to death see the strange pathway, chrysalis psychology on it's evolutionary manifestation. going this way and then that, one moment you are floating through zen peace with monks, the next in a seedy motel snorting lines with a dark blue skinned vampyre, all things being equal it's neither a bad life nor good.

someone knocks at the door and the party stops suddenly, it's the nova kid and his posse of wild boys breaking down the door, it's the heat from the stars, some intergalactic task force hunting you down for the code wars. you snort a quick line and clamber out the window, the vampyre moves fast, she's everywhere, a visual blurring of decisive action. 

on the streets you push through the crowds, neon rain falls as a multitude of advertisements lights up the skies like a technicolour ocean, social commentary from the controllers. the stink of cooked beasts hangs in the air as venders sell all manner of cooked flesh. you see some people eating insects from small paper cups, it's repulsive but you are curious.

'what are they eating' you ask.

'gras opper, eet is flied en see see me. vant to try?

i look at the vampyre, 'let's go to a bar.'
'i need to feed, she says,'i av de thirst.'

she pulls me down a flight of steps into another crowd. music pumps out and the atmosphere is filled with thick cigar smoke and pheromones. she leads me towards the bar and speaks to a barmaid in spanish or portuguese, they seem to share a joke and the barmaid points into a crowd of men. 
'i av orr derr ed you drink, stay, vait for me. i go feed.'
she disappears into the crowd.
i've finished my dark and stormy, standing there waiting to catch someone's attention when she returns from the cloud of haze, a glorious stride of confidence and certainty.
she smiles at me.
i catch a glimpse of her blood stained teeth and pass her a paper tissue. she daintily wipes her mouth and licks her lips, her face is flushed and her eyes sparkle with some kind of frenetic energy that surges through her body. 
we drink a few more dark and stormy's, although alcohol is not our choice of stimulants it does help us blend in, it takes the edge off the coke.
some more people come crashing in, the place becomes hotter as though someone turned the heat up full whack, more smoke fills the atmosphere, the stench of humanity in full hedonistic mode. 
a tall woman in a red dress bats her eyes at me, i can't help but smile back. she orders a drink and turns to face me.
'are you with her?'
the emphasis on the with not the her.
i shake my head, 'she is with me.'
'come,' she commands, 'both of you.'
we wander along a red plushed corridor down steps towards the bathrooms she pushes open a door and we all stand around in the marble elegance and velvet opulence. 
she's chopping up some powder, it's not coke i can tell as the colour is slightly purple and there are glittering crystals in the mix.
she's done this before, a gold credit card moves like a conductors baton through the air as the powder forms a small cloud, the dust twinkles in the strange ambient light.
finally three long lines on the benchtop all equal in length and size.
she offers me a rolled note and i nod approval, it hits my brain instantly, like a cold shower inside my skull. i'm immediately shocked but almost before shock registered a warm euphoric wave overwhelms me, it's sensual and intelligent. my spine straightens and my brain seems to kick start. immediately i notice  details, the lips of our new friend, the curve of her body, the soft scent, erotic and exotic. 
the vampyre took her line and smiled, 'is good, vat is dis.'
now it's the lady in the red dresses turn, she turns her face towards the powder and delicately places a gold tube into her nose. she does this exceptionally efficiently, the line of dust disappears consistently and when it's gone she turns her head towards the vampyre and stands up to look in her face.
'it's called many things, i use the generic term lust dust the anterians call it charm.' 
suddenly i wonder if my cover is blown, does she know who i am, is she undercover nova. the charm counters any paranoia quickly, in fact i just want to kiss her but instincts hold me back and then the vampyre steps between us. 
i start backing away slowly uncertain if my instincts have been compromised.
the girls are kissing, i catch a glimpse of the vampyres teeth in the mirror as i slip through the door. i run back, push my way through the crowd and back up the steps onto main street which swirls around me like a wheel of fortune. i gasp for clean air and look up towards the stars but there is nothing but neon, buildings and sky ways. 
my options are limited, there's no way i can get off world from the cities spaceport, there's no way i can use any public transport. the only escape route is to get a lift or stowaway upon a private ship or reconnect with the vampyre she's loyal and connected, so i head towards our meet point.

the citadel is made from neon plasma polyp, a hybrid of coral and plant dna, it's almost crystalline in structure and so high the upper floors are above the clouds, almost outside the atmosphere. oxygen is pumped into the upper levels as the air is so thin, there's an observation deck encased in a transparent dome that swings 360 degrees right at the top, our meet point. 
the security is easy to beat, i use the charm, plant a few suggestions and sweet talk my way inside past the two guardians. even the computer system falls under my spell as i soft wire its interface with a smart code.
the lift travels at 100ks an hour, it takes two hours to reach the o - deck and as i unstrap myself it's hydraulics kick in, a soft hiss of compressed air and suddenly the door opens.
a cold oxygen rich blast is the first thing you notice then the stars. i can make out the omega 3 quadrant, i follow cassiopea to rigel six and then see the nova planet by following a line north.
that's where it all went down, my home antaries.
i check the time, three hours until sunrise, which gives her one and a half hours to get here. 
there's no one note-worthy up here, a few casual romantics and a few interplanetary tourists. i edge my way to the acrylic window and look down at the polyp structure disappearing below me, spreading out into it's various branches and sub levels. the charms beginning to wear off, i feel the anxiety creeping into my bones.
as i turn back a flock of wings swoop towards me, hundreds of tiny bats, i can make out their sharp teeth and wings, their claws and penetrating eyes, they implode inwards and i react by pulling away shielding my face, waiting for impact. when i remove my arm from my face. she is standing before me.
'my captain,' she whispers.
'we need to leave. suns up in a few hours. tomorrow night we can think about getting off this rock.'
the ride down is almost in silence, i don't ask her about the girl i left her with, i know. 
police are everywhere, the streets swarm with operatives, they think they blend in discretely but we can spot them. every time they come for us we know, the vampyre sniffs them out, she has acute sensory abilities but the novas will learn soon and disguise their scents with chemical tracers. we both know we have to move fast but there's short time for a quick embrace.

there's a slow time now, headlong into dawn, we move through the streets still teaming with the hordes of party goers, mostly all chasing some dragon.
the bunker is secreted away in the city, a few levels down, an old underground shelter, re enforced walls and shock wave proof shell of a basement warehouse secreted away from the surface. it's accessed through a small mechanical elevator. the decent is bumpy and noisy but she makes it in time, i check the clocks, the sun would be out in a few moments. the rattling metal doors clank open revealing the interior to be slightly reminiscent of the french style back on the original earth.

the red commissionaire paces his office, he's been awake for hours coordinating the search, monitoring the transmissions and data feeds. 
his team had failed him, they had taken up the chase and lost mission and the whore somewhere outside that hotel they were in. the nova mob were on his back, he hated interplanetary opps but these nova shits were breaking his balls, putting the squeeze on him and his whole dept. the last thing he needed was them finding out his men had blown it and lost the trail.
so far he had managed to keep them off world but they were close at hand, orbiting in that fucking stealth ship, handing down orders like some divine authority. why had the minister capitulated, they were supposed to be independent. 
his com - unit buzzed, he stopped pacing and sat at the desk, he took a deep breath and answered.
his secretary put through the minister.
'i need an update.'
'we lost them, we got close and lost them.'
the defeat was in his voice, hard to disguise. it was pointless fighting the inevitable.
'these nova bastards will be landing about now.'
'do we...'
the minister cut him off, 'i have no choice, i kept the wolves at bay as long as i could. you better comply commissionaire, give them whatever they need. let them catch these fugitives and leave us. i hope i never have to deal with them again.'
the door swung open, two men in black skin suits marched in followed by his protesting secretary. still holding the com he waved her out.
he stood up to greet the novas but one of them pushed him back onto his seat.

i smoked a joint while the vampyre slept, sunset in thirty minutes. time for a shower, change of clothes and a new battle plan. 
we wander out in the early night time, shifting sideways through the shadows, the cityscape looms in all directions, a vast maze of structural ingenuity, part organic, part synthetic, where space allows you always catch a glimpse of the citadel towering up penetrating through the clouds.
uniforms are everywhere, police cars swarm the roads. i ponder the safety of being overground but the vampyre has an escape route and leads me towards the monorail that weaves around the cities architecture like a sleeping serpent.

nova prime watched the screen as surveillance footage of the citadels lookout platforms flashed by. the screen showed a grainy image of a flock of black shapes being sucked into form, a body.
'that's her, the woman. we can trace her movements to here,' the images flash forwards to the monorail snaking it's way through the city, two figures jumping down onto it from a low bridge, 'she's with him.'
'the live feed will show us all their movements, i have two satellites in place and a squad of our men ready to move.'
'let's see where they run to, i'll have my men waiting on hand.'

the problems were diminishing, we were in transit, on the m rail our only problem would be leaving it but the vampyre seemed to be confident she could get me out of the terminal. she was gazing out the window, looking down at the city below. we were high up, in a silent vacuum sealed environment, we leaned back and enjoyed the peace, our heads turned towards one another. 
i watched her eyes, cobalt blue. her face looked almost human, except for the dark bluish sheen of her skin.
we were a strange couple, me dishevelled fugitive and her. i cast my mind back to our first encounter....

'vake up mission, diz situation iz critical.'
i tried to speak but she clasped her hand over my mouth, 've must leave the carriage soon, but you must not speak words now. eye's ears everywhere.'
i nodded and we wandered along the carriage trying to look inconspicuous. 
every carriage had a vacuum sealed escape door, once opened it would send an alert but she was opening all of them as we pushed our way forwards through the interior. passengers jumped up protesting but then sat down again as they met her stare. a guard ran towards us but once he saw her fangs backed off, he was talking into a small monitor on his lapel, time was trickling away. 
'dis one,' she shouted as the wind blasted out her words, i felt something grab me and push me through the door, my eye's indistinctly closed and when i opened them i was free falling, the monorail was continuing its journey and getting further away from me in all dimensions. 
i grabbed a mouthful of air and trying to orient myself, my eyes darting here and there for the vampyre but the skies were empty, my mind panicked and the last thoughts that flashed through my mind were of the oceans of earth, the beautiful waves. i blacked out.

the nova prime watched the feed screens, a neon lit sky and the strange black shape of a falling man at terminal velocity. his men couldn't intersect fast enough. the mission was over, the target would be dead before he hit the surface, he had failed. he switched the screens off and relayed a final message.
'get the body and lets get off this planet.'

the bats clutch at the body, they were struggling with the weight but managed to keep it from impact. it now moved horizontally parallel to the surface, weaving through the skyscrapers and following a cryptic path through a maze of neon, plasmic brick and polyp. some of the buildings had a iridescence about them, the polyp coral gene luminosity spliced dna was an artistic expression made practical, an obscure art form gone mainstream.
the vampyre remembered when she was human, an eon ago it seemed, yet it was relatively recent. she had travelled alone for many years until she found the captain. she liked his indifference at her, she liked his detachment and the way he never judged her for what she was, he was the only one who just accepted her nature and for that she never killed him, in fact she stuck with him.
now both of them were being hunted by the nova police. she was an accessory to his crime but now she was an accomplice.
the captain had embedded a sigil inside a book, it was written in plain earth english and appeared as a simple collection of short stories. each story an element of a whole, as the reader read the book the intention was released inside the reader's subconscious. the idea was far to powerful to have floating unrestrained and uncensored out in the universe, and the nova police controlled all consciousness. despite the illusion of freedom everything, every thought was finely controlled. 

it started with the rise of technology back in the 2000's as a generation grew up and away from the generation previous. where their parents played free and wild, in the countryside, cities, communities free from fear a generation of parents started adopting new societal norms. the imposition of restrictions, watchful eyes and community values, the newspeak of orwell, false compassion as political emotive stings were pulled, the rise of conspiracy theory, the end of independent critical analysis. 
one generation were allowed and encouraged to go out, explore, use their imagination and develop their own ideas while the next generation were thwarted by various perceptions of danger. this generation instead took to internet communities and games, built their own adventures and explored online while under the all seeing gaze of web nannies and protective parents. the one aspect that the users couldn't critically think through was these online contents were the invention of someone else. while they thought they were playing free they were not at all, they were in the parameters that some one else had set, there were rules that confined them. fast forwards a few generations the parameters were even more controlled, and the idea of original creativity through imagination was not even a myth, peoples brains had become calcified, neural networks and pathways re routed and controlled from a distance. everything was ordered, nothing random, chaos was outlawed and banished from the mind, even the recreational drugs were inhibitors, dumb drugs designed for dopamine response rather than tryptamine. 
the nova police control the imagination, they police the galaxy and captain mission had broken their codes, hacked their net and placed a trans dimensional virus deep within. the sigil was an ancient one, misunderstood, misrepresented and feared through ignorance. 

she had to get him off world and there was only one way to do it but there was a risk, a big one.
       
the early decades of the internet were innocuous enough, most people played on google and assumed the world wide web was it. however the world wide web was only just the layer, in wise circles it was just called the surface net because 98% of the web lay underneath in two sub categories. first was the deep web which was the landscape of the academics, military and research facilities. it was harmless enough and filled with papers that most people wouldn't understand but below this was the dark web, domain of the nefarious. assassins, dealers, illegal pornographers, occult and various questionable practices. here users could navigate this area inconspicuously and freely, thus escaping controls and law enforcement by using proxy software.
after the discovery of wormhole technology the interplanetary web was established and the nova police attempted to control the deep and dark net, forcing a new level of use. the ether web.
mission was an early user, heightened psychic abilities, paranormal awareness, and esoteric discipline had made him a perfect portal for the ether web, and he had started to infiltrate the layers above with the provocative sigil embedded in his stories.

mostly people on the surface reacted by repulsion, aversion or fear, it was an an ancient image that had many connotations depending on the observer's brain and conditioning. as a model it transcended all religion and political ideology and contained spiritual knowledge of liberation thus powered and supported by the fundamental laws of the universe. the nova police began shutting down the sites and the people that had become activated but they really wanted the source, they had chased him through wormhole after wormhole and now they were closing in.

the wings fluttered to a halt, and the hundreds of tiny bats imploded into human form, the skin bled back to a dark olive shade and the vampyre took a violent breath through her nostrils, and then slowly out through her mouth as she assumed her form.
they were outside the illegal laboratory of dr. ossmand sparse, eminent quantum physicist, splice bio technician and all round general psychopath, some said he was a genius in hiding, others said he was the devil himself, but to her he was her father. her creator.


'no body, then they escaped.'
'the camera feeds show the vampyre heading south, out through the warehouse districts, she is in her multiple.'
'warehouse district, let's see who's there they can turn to.'
nova primes face turned towards another screen as he thumbed his way through the data feeds, his team standing by.
'if they want to get off world the warehouse district accommodates pulsar technologies inc, that would be my guess.'
'sir, that stuffs all experimental, almost theoretical. there's no chance they can use it. i don't think there's any hardware or design even.'
'let's go. i'm coming with you this time.'


she pressed the keypad and waited for the doors to slide open, re-enforced polycast, they opened into an airlock and the vampyre propping the captain walked through.
'where are we?
'i'm home, but you are different story captain, i'm sorry. i just ave ran out of options.'
a strange mist filled the room.
'do not panic, this is sterilization process, my father keeps his lab clean and these are a common feature on warehouses built after the nuke attack four years ago downtown. the older buildings don't have them.'
they walked forwards and into another chamber where two s-suits hung waiting.
'get in suit fast, ask no questions, let me do talking.'
i followed her instruction, i was exhausted from running. sooner or later it would come to an end, and sooner was coming faster than i could outrun it.
the workspace was huge, almost cathedral like, massive stained glass windows depicting various iconic horror, inverted pentagrams, demonic faces, unholy symbols and strange beasts or demons, strange scripts ran along the walls etched into the walls, and in one area stood a huge egg sculpture, diagonally across it's twin. 
'it's beautiful,' i thought and wandered across to inspect the designs.

'you have returned daughter,' the voice was deep and rich, carrying an authority and presence that filled the chamber.
'yes.'
'and who is this, a friend or victim?'

i span around and waved at the figure before me, he was huge, a giant of a man but then my brain kicked it, he was encapsulated in an exo skeleton, reinforced alloy with various luminous attachments and accessories trailing on into the background. i realised he was on some sort of life support.
'i am captain mission, it's a pleasure to meet you sir.'
'nonsense, there's never pleasure in meeting me, and call me dr. please, i'm not much for formalities.'
'okay doctor it is.'
'dr. sparse actually, now what can i do for you.'
the vampyre explained the requirements, the doctor listened and occasionally inappropriately laughed but agreed to help. they whispered a little more than i would have liked. dr. sparse disappeared off into a darkened area and the vampyre approached me. i could tell something was wrong from her face. she looked at me and explained.
'i'm sorry, can't get you off world, run out of viable options so i brought you here, to my father. you know ee's considered quite the psychopath, the work ee does is, well let's say is unsavoury for most.'
'what does he do?'
'he creates monsters.'
'that's a subjective term, he created you.'
'yes, and i'm freak. not of nature but of man. my genetic codes were infiltrated and sequenced to configure me, whatever i am, i'm part of a jigsaw puzzle of biology, created by a designer with an gothic imagination and reckless abandon for the sanctity of life. they only let him stay down here because occasionally they get him to do their dirty work. technically he was executed decades ago.'
'why the suit, is something wrong with him.'
'ee's hooked up to a high concentration oxygen, it keeps eem youthful and free from disease, plus the workspace needs to be free from any bacteria, it's got to be sterile.'
'you said there were no more options, where does that leave me?'
'it leaves you here, in my fathers hands. i am very sorry, i just couldn't think of another vay.'
'it's okay, it's fate i guess. let's see what he can do with me.'

time was running out, the pulsar technologies turned up to be a dead end, nothing even remotely suspicious as his men searched the area. nova prime hacked into the energy grid. this was a long shot but if there were any spikes he may have another lead.
he scanned the screen diligently, you don't get to be prime without diligence. 
his men wrapped up their frantic attempts to find any clues, they started approaching nova prime when the first spike revealed itself.
'get an address and let's go.'

the helmet felt like having my head encased in a jelly substance, there was no firmness about it, yet the outer surface was a shiny red metal with a fast burn wire sending signals to the web. the crazy dr. spoke with authority like a shakespearean stage actor, 'now the idea is simple, i extract your consciousness into a coded algorithm, send it into the web, into your own coded stories. it's a meta program, you have placed elements of sigils into your stories that activate components of consciousness within those that read them, now i am merely feeding your consciousness back into them.'
'what happens to my body?'
'you won't need one, you will be everywhere on the net anyway, able to use whatever systems are available to you, download yourself into replicants, computer systems, any electronic device hooked up to wifi, you can be cross solar systems in no time, a sentient web, i have always wanted to create this. the only way they can kill you is by unplugging the whole thing, and even then you can inhabit the ethernet.'
'you make it sound so simple dr. why are you helping me?'
'i create new life, some say i am a psychopath, out of control, a dr. frankenstein, i created my daughter a vampyre. i made her from human dna spliced with bat and some artificial code, she needs blood to live as her body cannot create it, instead she feeds on the living. some say she is a monster, some say i am the monster, but to me she is my daughter, just as you will be my son.'
'that's an interesting way of looking at it.'
'i have many children, many. you will be part of an extended family of unique creatures,' he stopped and peered down at me laying upon the slab as he fixed the glowing helmet upon my head and tinkered with the electronics, 'since the wormholes humanity has extended far beyond the reach of our home, we inhabit several planets now and access them all through the worm technology, it's like the early middle centuries of earth as europe extended itself and reached out to the rest of the world.'
'colonised the world, the empire fucked up everything they touched.'
'that's one way to look at it,' he smiled and for the first time i saw the psychopath. 'they brought progress with them, science, technology and ....'
'cholera, spanish flu, slavery, domination, guns, gunpowder, mining, exploitation...'
'we can argue the benefits and disadvantages of colonization but the fact remains england, france, spain, portugal and the dutch expanded while other countries didn't. why is that?'
'flip the switch doc. i think the history lesson is over.'
as his hand reached over my face, i heard his words, 'they expanded because they were filled with diversity, whereas the other cultures were mono cultures. it is the same now, diversity will explore the frontier and survive, it will dominate the expanse of space and spread, not the nova police. oh, we are almost ready.'
i lay there breathing, the vampyre came and kissed my lips.
'goodbye captain mission, i've enjoyed travelling with you.'
i smiled, 'soon i will be quantum code in some endless ocean of information.'
'you already are, as we all are mission.'
i closed my eyes as the dr. activated the process. when i opened them i was born into light. it swallowed me until i was nothing, stretching in all directions, a vast cosmic body without boundaries, knowing everything from the atomic structures of every particle in existence from the beginning of time to the future. it was beautiful.


in a slice of time, the doors flew open and a pack of novas in full battle combat marched through, guns in classic formation, arms moving like they were part of a giant multi armed machine.
for a moment the dr. saw something beautiful, a new kind of creature but it was an optical illusion as the strange unit disassembled into mere uniforms one of which marched towards him, weapon pointed firmly at his skull. 
'where is he?'
the dr. moved aside his arm waved towards the bench where a body lay.
'what is that helmet on his head?'
'it's to late, only the body remains.'
they formed a circle around the bench, 'bring him back dr.'
'there is no way to do that now.'
nova primes fist slammed down upon the bench to, 'fuck!'

i watched from a multitude of perspectives, cameras, satellite, head pieces and perceived everything, my old body laying there with the strange helmet as the novas detached it and tore apart the lab. i could see their own systems, read their body scans, monitoring their suits. i could access life support systems. one by one i shut them down until nova prime was left looking panicked.
'what the fuck is going on. what is happening to my team.'
'i'm switching you off nova prime.'
'where are you mission, where the fuck!'
'i am everywhere.'