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17
KANTUS
Ihad three bodies, but only one gun. And my gun had only one shot.
A bullet whooshed past my orange self, its back pressed up against a tree. My orange body had the railgun. I’d made sure they’d seen the weapon. At this point, the threat of the weapon was greater than the weapon itself. I was using it as bait.
All three of my selves were fully united into a seamless tapestry—a single personality and consciousness. With three bodies spread across the battlefield—and six ears—I heard exactly where the pirates were, and how many of them there were.
There were six of them, but only four had guns. Or the other two had guns but hadn’t fired yet.
There were too many. If I’d had eventwoshots, things might be different. With three shots I’d probably have 50/50 odds. With one shot though, the best I could do was stall for time. I decided I was going to die here, but I’d die as slowly as I could so that Cleopatra could get to safety. I’d known her so briefly, but I’d loved her almost enough for a lifetime.Almost.
“Fuck,” I hissed as a bullet hit the tree. Bark exploded like shrapnel and cut into my shoulder. Why couldn’t I have had more time with her?
My orange self ran out of cover. I’d counted the shots, and whoever was hitting the tree needed to reload again. Someone else shot me though, and one bullet hit my leg. I stumbled and limped, then dove down behind the next tree. I was working my way toward them, while my other selves circled around either side. My red and yellow selves may not have had guns, but they were still Khetar bodies, and with the right angle and with the element of surprise, they could do some serious damage.
The next few moments all happened in a cascading blur. My bodies were united, but in dire circumstances I could weaken the connection and let each body operate on raw instinct.
My red self flanked from the left, my yellow from the right. Meanwhile, a grenade rolled right past my orange body. Just as I spotted the grenade, my red body’s eyes spotted two pirates—their backs to him. In the same instant, gunfire exploded from behind my yellow body, and I dropped him to the ground, then began crawling for cover.
It was too much. I let the link between my selves weaken, and instinct took over for each individual body, even as my own mind receded into the background. It was like watching myself in one of those dreams where you can’t control yourself. I wasn’t any of my selves, and thus I wasn’t Kantus. I was just three Khetar forms operating on base instinct. And bloodlust.
My red self decided not to risk grabbing the grenade, and the grenade exploded just as he dove for cover. There was nothing but pain as shards of metal cut all into him.
My yellow body lunged forward, driving its knife into the back of a pirate’s neck, cutting right through his spine. He grabbed the pirate’s gun, then turned it on the third pirate.
The red body got shot twice. No, three times. He rolled behind a tree and gasped for air. A bullet went through his lung.
I shifted my focus enough that I was inside the yellow self. I gripped tight to the gun, then squeezed a shot off into the pirate’s head to make sure he was dead. I knew where my other selves were. Both orange and red were in trouble, but I could only save one. Orange had the railgun, so I moved toward where the grenade had gone off.
The pirates started shouting. A big bolt of purple-hot plasma ripped through the forest out of nowhere. It swallowed up a pirate whole, melting his body into its fundamental elements.
The pirates—most of them, at least—turned their attention toward where the plasma had come from.
“Eve!” a voice boomed. “I’m almost there, Engineer Eve! Hold tight, Love!”
Tschenkar! He was back, and he was armed.
My orange and yellow bodies got a second wind, though red was wheezing on the snow and couldn’t stand up. From his gut, blood oozed out and stained the snow.
My orange body spotted a pirate. Knowing that Tschenkar was in the fight, I no longer had to treat the railgun as such a scarce resource. I pointed the pistol right at the human’s puny center of mass and pulled the trigger. I didn’t expect the rail to blow him apart so completely. His whole upper body exploded into red mist, and his legs fell limp into the snow. I dropped the now useless pistol and raced toward the dead pirate. I dug his gun out of the snow, though it slipped from my orange fingers, as it was soaked in human blood.
Tschenkar fired again, and all the pirates turned their attention toward him.
I wasn’t going to die, was I? At least some of me was going to make it through this, and at least part of me would be back together with my precious Cleopatra. I’d do whatever it took to make sure at least one of my bodies made it through this.
CHAPTER XX - TSCHENKAR
The cocky cunt popped out for another shot, and I roasted him.
The smart pirate—probably the leader or captain or whatever he called himself—wasn’t popping out anymore though. He only took shots at me when I was focused on killing one of his men. He’d nearly hit me a few times, but—
I looked down and saw blood oozing out of my ankle. Oh, I guess that cheeky fuck had actually hit me already?
I wasn’t sure where he was. He only fired when loud shit was happening, like when Kantus fired his railgun. There had only been one shot, but the pirates didn’t know that. They’d have to treat him like a real threat, and just maybe I’d be able to get the jump on the leader when—
There was a flash of orange as Kantus rushed forward. He held one of the ancient guns, and he let loose with it as he ran, each shot its own explosion.
