Kepler was walking back to his dad’s house with Zosk in tow. He had showed him around. Zosk was more than curious, and had wanted to see everything. They had used an AI in order to learn the language faster, and he no longer had trouble communicating with the reptile. He even kind of liked Zosk.

Of course at first it hadn’t been easy. Zosk had been more than wary, but his curiosity for his world had made things easier, and soon he was asking question after question. The fact that we had no magic fascinated him, apparently it was unthinkable for him.

He had been shocked when Kepler had shown him that he was made of metal, but had taken it surprisingly well, in a world of magic it wasn’t so special, apparently. He hadn’t shown him anything special in his opinion, but even the most mundane things impressed the reptile.

Kepler had shown him the transportation system, some worker robots, the neighborhood, where you could see the massive glass dome, and even a museum showing the colonization of Mars with the different steps. The events with earth, the ice age, the basics, in his opinion.

But Kepler had been itching to go back to Zosk’s world, he had gained a level and a class ! Plus, there was so much new to explore. It was dangerous, but that appealed to him in a way he hadn’t known. There were adventures to be had ! Kepler had joined the military on a whim at first, but maybe the promise of danger and action was what had drawn him in.

Also, Zosk was an adventurer, and he had shared some stories, and it was fascinating to him. It was like a fantasy novel. He could literally live it, and have his own story. It was different on Mars, where rules and safeguards kept you from really doing stuff like that, plus, what was there to explore except the empty void of space?

Not much that’s what, but he had been thinking on how to go back. He couldn’t just walk through, plus, apparently Zosk wasn’t allowed to leave. At least for now. Weirdly, he felt he kind of had made a friend with Zosk. Their cultures differed wildly, but they had that spark for adventure in common, and it had helped things along.

“And that’s how we rescued the village in the nick of time!” Zosk was finishing one of his adventuring stories as they were walking back in.

There was a commotion in the living room. He picked up snippets through the door, but it was hard to hear everything.

“You can’t ____ ______ without permission!” Someone was shouting.

“You should have consulted with the council.”

“This endangers _____ _______ _____ _____ ____ it is unacceptable!”

Well, the general seemed to be shewed out for something. But he couldn’t hear his responses since he wasn’t shouting. He decided now wasn’t the time to go in there, and instead went into the lab to see his dad. Luckily he was there.

“Hello dad, you remember Zosk?” He said as they walked in.

“Ah my boy, of course I remember, he is hard to forget!” He said in Zosk’s language, everyone had an AI installed to be able to understand and speak the language. Kepler could see the reptile was more wary here, with soldiers around, but he still tried to put up a good front. Kepler had learned to read his expression over the last two days.

“Hello, uh, Dr. Pierce?” Zosk tried the foreign title.

“Yes that’s me, and let me tell you I have made amazing progress ! The portal is more stable, and goes up quicker. We still have to shut it down from time to time to be sure, but there have been no major issues so far !” His dad said proudly. There were some new scientists he didn’t know working on it too apparently, but before his dad would start to ramble about his invention, he decided to cut in.

“Yes, amazing, we know, but dad, could I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what is it?” He answered in a chipper tone.

“Privately?” He said, and looked at Zosk for this. Kepler was on the fence about letting Zosk in on this conversation, but he did want to trust him. Two days was short, but he felt he had a decent read of him. Plus, he needed Zosk.

They walked to the guest room, where there were no cameras, and Zosk put up a sound barrier. Magic was so convenient.

“Can you make it private dad?” He asked, knowing their stronger bodies were far from private.

“Ah, yes of course, but is it really necessary?” He asked, intrigued.

“Probably not, but I’d rather not try my luck.” He answered, maybe he was being paranoid.

Maximilian soon pulled out some cables and opened his son’s arm, connecting behind the skin.

“Oh, so you know, I believe they recorded everything you did since you came back.”

“Well, I gave them my personal recording of my time on the other side, the General threatened it out of me. I didn’t really dare to go against it, plus, it didn’t contain anything they won’t learn soon enough. I suspected they used that time to set something up. And I was right.” He gritted his teeth. He hadn’t served for a long time, but he still felt betrayed somehow. They could have asked nicely, and he would probably have helped them, but no. They had to threaten him, and do thing behind his back.

“Yeah, that would do it. I told you before you joined, the military doesn’t think of you as a person. Only a resource to exploit.” His dad just had to use the opportunity to get in a jab at an old argument. But he did see his point now, and that only made it more bitter. The military was necessary, and he had wanted to do his part. But now? Maybe it wasn’t the right approach.

“We can’t be overheard now, right?” He asked his dad, then turned to Zosk. They both nodded.

“Alright, well here’s my idea. It might take some time to work out the kinks, but I think it could work.”

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General Carter was not in a good mood. That bitch Ava had shouted at him in front of his command for making the right decision. Of course, she didn’t see it that way, and thought the existence of the portal wasn’t that important, and would be discovered in time. But she was naive, unused to see the bigger picture.

If word got out that there was a whole planet hiding behind the reinforced dome, what did she think would happen? They weren’t warmongers, but they were facing a feudal world from the looks of things. They would bring armies if they thought they would gain something from it, and god knew they had something every king, or whatever they had, wanted. Mars had the technology to turn any peasant into a frightening force. Of course they would want that for themselves. And who knew the extent of their power, hadn’t they just seen in that recording that there were things that could kill them in that world ?

He had no idea how wide that world was, how big an army they could muster, and if they brought one hundred thousand mages? What then? It was a long shot, but you had to think ahead. Better to have soured the relationship now, when they thought there were only a few humans making a weird camp, than another world full of treasures.

Some thought it was cruel, but he knew it was necessary, sacrifice a few for the good of millions. Maybe they wouldn’t thank him for it, but he didn’t care. Carter knew it was the right thing, but that brought back another problem.

They had to find that mage before she got word out. But it was tricky, she had teleported, and how the hell that worked he had no idea. She had been bleeding, so hopefully they would only find the corps, but experience taught him that problems usually didn’t resolve themselves.

Even Ava had agreed on that point at least. If they could finish her, they could feign ignorance. Of course it would still raise suspicion, but it was still the best outcome.

He grumbled about it for a moment, but found it wasn’t productive.

On another note, he had been happy to note that Kepler had befriended the reptile. It had been amazed by the sights, as expected, and their previous hardships together had helped forge a bond. Problem was, he knew too much, but at the same time, they couldn’t just keep him here forever, and it would be a waste to kill it. It could help them to gather some good will.

He moved his hand across the screen to put on Kepler’s feed, but noticed it was down. He went back in the recording to the point where Max connected to Kepler’s arm and shut down the feed. Too bad, but they had all the information they needed, and it was stupid to monitor Kepler against his will, especially since they couldn’t afford to antagonize Max.

He sent a message to him to have a talk, and soon, Dr. Pierce was with him in a side room.

“I am sorry about the intrusions into your sons privacy Max.” He started.

“I don’t think you are.” Max replied, tone neutral.

“No, not really, but know that it has served us well, and that we do not intend to push for further... intrusions. I am sorry we did not tell him, but it was better this way, made him act natural, instead of knowing we were watching his every move.” He tried, he knew Max was a somewhat reasonable man and knew that some sacrifices were necessary.

“I hope Kepler understands the need for surveillance on the reptile, and that he will continue to work his outmost in our interests?” He prodded.

“Kepler has the interest of Mars in his heart, as you already know. But we do have another problem on our hands. Zosk, as you know have been asking when he can be sent back.” Max replied, and he was relieved to note there was no hostility against him. Good man, if only the council could see the bigger picture like them.

“I know, of course, but it is no small issue. The knowledge that there is a whole world hidden inside our dome is not to be taken lightly.” He said sharply.

“Of course, but we might have found the perfect solution. There might be some convincing to do, but I think it has a good chance of working. And it would also allow us a great advantage.” Now that piqued his interest. They might have solved it and gained something else? Intriguing to say the least.

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Kepler was alone with Zosk. They were still in the same room they had started talking, an hour or two earlier. His dad had been called away by the General, but he had understood the plan. Only problem was that Zosk did not want to go along with it.

“Are you out of your mind?!” The reptile shouted at him, for the tenth time.

“I understand your… reservations, but it is the only way they will allow you to go back!” He was tired of having this argument.

“You are asking me, to… to… give up my freedom!”

“I don’t think you are that free right now Zosk! I am sorry, but I don’t see any other way. Plus, it comes with huge advantages ! And, you’ll get your freedom back eventually…”

“On your word. I have known you for three days, and you dare ask this of me! You are out of your mind!” Kepler saw him pacing back and forth, thinking furiously.

They had been at it for a while. But even Zosk had to realize it was his best shot.

“You said it’s not reversible? Or have none tried?” It was the third time he asked.

“No, it’s not. It will be final. But think about it, they can’t let you just go back and tell everyone what you have seen here. In time, it will be less important, and the restrictions will be lifted.” Kepler was trying. He really was, and this would help Zosk tremendously!

“You are asking me to become like you! No offense, but I don’t want to be made of steel. And you said they would have means of control on me. Don’t you see I would be merely a slave?!” Kepler winced at that. Plus, Zosk was being loud. Very loud.

“Zosk, please calm yourself. Yes it’s not ideal, but my dad will check for the restrictions and make sure they aren’t doing anything more than prevent you from talking about Mars and the portal.” He sighed.

“Plus, that means we could go on adventures, you would get to test out the new body!” He tried.

“An adventure?! That’s what you want?! You don’t even have any levels! You know nothing about what roams out there, you’ll get us killed!” Zosk screamed back. That might have been a mistake, but it was too late now.

“That’s why you’ll be with me. Look it’s the perfect solution, in the long run. You get to go back, I get to go with you, learn about the world. Plus we could be the connection that unites our worlds. The start of something good.” Kepler paused, before continuing.

“We both know that if our worlds clash, the deaths would be in the millions. And probably mostly on your side.”

“On our side? You underestimate us, just because you have high quality weapons. You do not understand the power of some individuals of our world. We might not have armies as well-equipped as yours, but you have no levels, no skills. Do you know why we call those above gold rank legends?” Zosk was intense, looking straight at him.

“Because they are strong?” He answered, unsure.

“Strong? NO! Because they change the world! Because their deeds will be remembered long after they are gone, as legends of things of the past. That’s what they are.” He said, before starting to pace again.

Kepler sat in silence for a bit, while Zosk continued to pace. After a while, he sat down too. They looked at each other, and Kepler could see the desperation on the reptile’s face. He knew he wouldn’t have a choice in the end. And this tantrum was simply trying to deny it for a minute longer, because when he accepted, he would admit his weakness, that he could do nothing about his situation.

And that was the order of things, he knew this, the strong obeyed the weak, and he was weak. It was something everybody knew in his world. Here on Mars? People still tried to believe that things were different, that it was bad that the strong could make the weak obey, but he understood that natural law. He didn’t even think about it as a bad or good thing, why would he? It was simply how things were, like gravity. You didn’t think it was good or bad. It simply was.

They sat there, not looking at each other, each thinking, when finally, Kepler heard him murmur something. At first, he didn’t hear it, but soon he repeated it, slightly louder.

“Alright, I will do it.”