Chapter 17:
The Eve of the Final Battle
NONE OF THE GATHERED individuals knew what to say.
Finally, Karna broke the silence. “He won’t see through the ruse. I’m very familiar with him, just like Feiluo was. In the past, I helped Feiluo out by pretending to be him and chatting with Percy when he wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell our voices apart.”
The clones’ voices were exactly the same, and since Percy had been blind from childhood, he had never seen Feiluo’s face either. But A-Ka knew that Percy would be able to tell—not because of anything specific, but rather because human instinct was the keenest thing in this world.
“If Percy realizes the deception, you must tell him the truth,” A-Ka said.
Karna’s deep-set eyes scrutinized A-Ka, but then he nodded.
“I have the signal from the other side, so let’s begin,” Moran interjected. “Everyone, there is still a large battle awaiting you after you return to Dragonmaw City. I wish you the best of luck.”
A-Ka took a deep breath. Karna’s arrival had eased a little of his despair and sorrow, but now was not the time for either of those. Accompanied by gorgeous lightning from the sky, the space-time tunnel once again enveloped them. All of them slowly ascended, flying into the distant future.
One by one, they were sent back to Dragonmaw City.
Upon his return, A-Ka was tired beyond belief, but Moran managed to catch him and steady him before he fell.
“Where’s Percy?” Karna asked anxiously.
“I didn’t notify him,” Moran replied. “Change into this military uniform, as quickly as you can.”
“I’ll go…rest.” A-Ka didn’t have the courage to face Percy. They parted ways.
Moran went with Karna to help him change. Once the uniform was on, Karna tugged the collar and inspected himself in the mirror, then mussed his hair a little more.
Percy sat in the hallway, facing the gentle breeze that came in from the window, his eyes still covered with white cloth. Karna quietly came up behind him like a panther, his military boots barely making a sound against the ground.
While Percy waited in silence, Karna smiled, bent down, and hugged him from behind.
“Daddy!” Percy cried, smiling from the unexpected joy.
“I’ve come back, Percy,” Karna said warmly.
Percy turned and hugged his waist, sobbing out, “I thought I would never see you again.”
“Everyone came back safely.”
Percy wrapped his arms around Karna’s neck next as he grinned and hopped up and down in excitement.
“Though we were only parted for a few days, I imagine your eyes are almost healed, right?” Karna asked.
“Mhm!” Percy said. “One day left.”
“Tomorrow at noon,” Karna said, taking Percy’s hand. “Everything will get better, I promise. There might still be one more battle, but I will ask the pontiff to give us a little more time to be together.”
Percy nodded. Karna then picked up and cradled his adopted son in his arms as he carried him back to their room.
“All right, don’t cry… Everything will be all right. I promise, Percy, after everything is over, we’ll stay together for good… I really promise…”
That night, every bone in A-Ka’s body was steeped in exhaustion. Feiluo’s passing had drained all of A-Ka’s strength from him, and he couldn’t find the courage to face Percy. He hadn’t even said hello to the boy.
Percy’s dreamscape had held up to the test. That was to say, A-Ka would also go through what Percy had seen in his dream—he would sacrifice his own life to change this world.
“Are you still feeling down?” Heishi pushed open the door and entered the bathing room where A-Ka was soaking. He was wearing a bathrobe and holding a bottle of fruit juice in his hand. He handed another bottle to A-Ka, who accepted it.
“Not anymore,” A-Ka said frankly. “I’m just a little uncertain. I don’t know how to talk to Percy tomorrow.”
Heishi untied his bathrobe, his handsome, well-sculpted body revealing itself under A-Ka’s gaze. He slid into the hot water, sitting directly across from A-Ka, and pressed their feet together. Their contact helped A-Ka grow calmer.
“Human lives are very fragile,” Heishi said.
“Yes,” A-Ka said quietly. “But they also hold incredible power, each and every person, including my people who perished in the City of Steel.”
Without a word, Heishi pulled A-Ka into his arms and stroked his hair.
That same night, borrowing Moran’s laboratory, A-Ka began to merge the three code sequences to undo the lock. Angus, Huixiong, Heishi, and Karna-as-Feiluo gathered in the study to watch A-Ka place Liber’s chip into the decoder.
Immediately, volumes of densely packed information flooded out.
“Retrieve any of his memories that have to do with Father,” Moran said.
“There’s too many,” A-Ka said. “They include the military movements that involved Father…”
“Search by keyword,” Angus said. “The password to the Central Core, the twenty-seventh of the eleventh month last year.” A-Ka searched based on the words Angus had given him. Instantly, 99 percent of the messages were eliminated. “Next, circular ring-shaped memory injection, cellular structure, and destruction of the original chip.” Once again, a large portion of the messages disappeared. “Okay. Keyword, Doctor Molandez.”
“Found it.” A-Ka raised his head, only to see the contents on the vertical projector screen flashing at him with some very odd lines of code. He copied them onto another chip, and finally, the three chips were inserted at the same time into the prehistoric decoder.
Before he used the power button, A-Ka’s heart started beating so hard it almost leaped out of his throat.
“Heavenly Father, please protect us…”
It took A-Ka several tries to summon up the courage to press the button. This was a historic moment, and the president of the Mercenary Association, the pontiff of the Curia, the Son of God, and the future ruler of the clone country all gathered around this common, ordinary human, waiting for him to activate a new future that the humans, clones, and robotic life-forms would live through.
In that moment, they created a whole new era of history—another golden age, formed by the weight of Heishi’s hand on the back of A-Ka’s own as he pressed down on that button.
A complex polyhedron shot out from the chip decoder. The first section, the second section, the third section…
First, 99 percent. Then, 100 percent. Complete.
The red light suddenly shrank in, and there was silence for a moment before a light blue glow began to emanate and a ring of symbols appeared, circling slowly. Below the symbols appeared annotations and explanations, as a deep, velvety voice spoke.
“The final termination sequence for the core of the Astrolabe surveillance system. Requesting a connection with Labere.”
All the people present cried out in excitement. A-Ka leaned against Heishi, once again tearing up with joy.
“After noon tomorrow, we will begin our battle,” Angus said. “I will rally all the military power I have left at my disposal to protect you when you break into the City of Steel.”
A-Ka nodded. “I’m in charge of helping Heishi reach the nuclear core, the Astrolabe’s Nucleus.”
“The mercenaries and I will prepare to launch a guerilla attack from within,” Huixiong added. “We’ll draw away some of the enemy’s firepower.”
“My duty is complete. I will pray for you all,” Moran said.
“We’ll definitely win,” A-Ka said. There were tears in his eyes as he embraced the others.
Karna smiled as he slapped Heishi’s arm. “You’ve done well. I’ll go keep Percy company now. Tomorrow, I’m coming with you.”
That night, A-Ka couldn’t sleep at all. He sat on the swings in the garden, gazing at the clear sky and the brilliant starry river above. This was going to be his last night.
Heishi stood in the courtyard, both of his hands pressed against the railing, watching A-Ka in the garden.
“I want to look at it for a little while longer,” A-Ka said, lifting his head to stare into the highest point of the sky. “Heishi, do you think the Heavenly Father’s spaceship is drifting alone somewhere out there, asleep in the depths of space?”
“You know, I long to see him again,” Heishi said quietly. “It’s you who caused me to feel this emotion for the first time. When I’m far from the people I am most familiar with—my friends, my loved ones—I feel a strong sense of discomfort rising from my soul. I imagine that you humans are the same, so you search for support.”