Lupis followed the slime trail, which wound through the village streets and led out of town. He kept watch over his shoulder to make sure the gangsters were not following, though he was certain they had not seen him, there was still a chance that they could have made the same discovery as he had. But they were all still searching the village, so he continued up a steep slope alone.

He found what he had been searching for at the crest of the hill, nestled deep into the tree line of the encroaching forest. The trail led up to the mouth of a cave and disappeared into the yawning blackness within. Lupis engaged the low-light vision on his helmet and followed inside.

Not fifty feet inside of the cave he found a chasm and stepped toward it. Looking down into the hole he saw that it was not quite as deep as he expected, nor as dark. He could see hints of flickering lights from his position at the edge of the fissure. There must be fires burning down below, it was the only thing that could account for the flickering shadows dancing up from the hole in the ground.

Feeling now that he must have found either the villagers, the cultists or both, Lupis stepped off the edge and fell lightly to the ground below. As he fell, he turned on the suit’s cloaking system. He wasn’t exactly worried about a bunch of civilians being able to do him much harm, but it was best not to take chances before he was able to scout the situation.

On the other end of a wide chamber, he saw the source of the light which were several torches burning on poles lining the shore of a large dark pool of brooding water. And in front of these lights, lounging scattered across the ground were the villagers, looking like the aftermath of a particularly fierce drunken revelry. It would have been a much creepier scene, and he might have assumed them all dead had him suit’s sensors not already picked up life signs from them all. But they were not moving. Seemed like an odd place for most if not all the village to come for a good nap.

And that’s when he noticed something strange, and quickly hurried over for a closer look. The sleeping Titans had more of that disgusting purplish mucous covering their faces. He looked from body to body, and it seemed the same thing in every case. Well then, what did this sticky substance have to do with this all?

As Lupis bent down to investigate, he felt a strange tingle, almost like an itch, inside his head. At the same time, much to his surprise and horror, the Titan he was bending over opened his eyes and looked directly up at him! Lupis stumbled away instinctively and checked to make sure that his suit’s systems were not malfunctioning. They were not, he was still as invisible to the Titan eye’s spectrum of visibility as he ever was.

That tingling sensation intensified, and along with it came the acute feeling of being watched, and not just from the Titan next to him, who was still unmoving. He wheeled around to see a disgusting and horrifying four-foot-tall octopus crab creature, with a semi-transparent jellyfish like body lined with a multitude of black spider-like button eyes and dripping with a purplish membranous mucous facing him menacingly.

* * * *

“That’s it now, turn the handle. That’s a good little lifeform. Now unscrew the lid here at the top!”

Lupis heard this voice clearly in his head and was moving as instructed without question. Now that he was closer, he could see clearly inside the tank and a flashback hit him like a heavy blow. Inside of the case was a small alien creature that looked like a cross between an octopus and a crab, with a row of malevolent black spider eyes rimming the top of its bulbous body. He did not know how, but he was sure now that the voice was coming from this strange animal.

Lupis fought against whatever dominance this creature was exerting over him. He remembered a story he once heard about a race of Titans that lived on a distant colony somewhere in the galaxy that had, over time, developed certain unique traits that allowed them to use their mind in supernatural ways. He had scoffed at the time at these “Star Titans”, but now he was no longer sure of anything.

“What are you?” He thought forcefully inside his head, the same way that he would if he were giving a command to his Net-Comm through the EEG function.

The shrouding dominance, that felt like a dark blanket, subsided momentarily. The creature shifted in the enclosure, and several long tendrils shot out against the glass that then pulled the disgusting body forward. Though the creature had no Titan-like characteristics that would make any type of recognizable expression, it seemed to be studying him.

“Well now, that is surprising. Are you an intelligent species after all? I was under the impression that you were nothing more than an indigenous animal lifeform. Are you sentient, little creature?” The unsettling reply came louder this time in his brain.

“I am sentient. And I have met one like you before. A few months ago, on a different planet.”

“I can see that now. You are known to me. And these other creatures…they brought you here? These ones like you…Titans, you call yourselves?”

That was immediately unsettling that this animal-like creature knew these things, like he was gazing inside the Titan’s brain, into his very memories.

“That’s because I am. And it is as strange to me that an animal like you is capable of functioning higher thought processes and communication skills.”

Lupis supposed the creature had a fair point there. Maybe he was as strange and repulsive to this creature as it was to him.

“I warn you creature. I resisted the other one of your species I encountered, I can resist you too.”

“That would be highly amusing. But for now, I will indulge you, because I am curious. The reason I attempted to mentally dominate you before was because I assumed you a lesser animal. Now that I know you to possess an intelligence, perhaps it would be more useful to appeal to you. We could work together, for I sense that you are as stranded here as I am.”

“Where is here? What is this place?”

“By Tsuggoa! How did such a simple creature such as yourself ever get to this doomed planet? You don’t even know where you are? Tell me, does your “Titan” civilization possess the capabilities for interstellar travel?”

“Of course, that is how I got here. My question was not how I got to this place, but what this place is.”

“This place was once my people’s home world, eons ago. That was before the ones beyond the stars came here and enslaved us. This was as you would understand it, a guard post or a listening station.”

“So you are enslaved? Who did this?”

“They experimented on me, as they did on hundreds of others like me. They wanted to discover the secrets of our psionics. The ones that did this, they are known as Charon in their own language, and it’s best not to know more about them.”

“Are they here still?”

“They left many centuries ago, how many I have lost track for you see, I am at this point very old by your standards. I got the sense that they had engaged in a war with other creatures they called the Gorgons.”

“So, you have been locked in that tiny container for centuries?”

“Yes, and it is time for me to come out!”

Lupis could feel the sudden frustration within the other mind, there was an empathic link between them, and he felt what the alien felt. Suddenly his mind received flashes of alien landscapes, nightmarish things, a malevolence beyond comprehension so powerful that it sent a shiver up his body.

The creature began entering his brain again, which suddenly seared with agony unlike any other he had experienced, as though physically on fire. It was more than a tingle, this felt like red hot razor blade tearing his mind apart. He felt his legs moving back towards the container, though the signals commanding them to do so were not coming from his brain.

Lupis fought against the outside influence with every molecule of his being. His mind screamed the rageful cry that his throat could not. He began to grow wobbly as the edges of his vision faded to black.

* * * *

Lupis saw flashes of visions inside his mind, visions that felt foreign, visions that did not come from his own memory. Memories of escaping some hellish prison where impassive godlike beings experiment on him daily. Memories of escaping across the galaxy in a tiny spacepod. Memories of crash landing on this strange and unfamiliar planet. Memories of discovering sentient life forms living here and the desire to dominate and conquer. Lupis felt a malevolent energy, so powerful and evil it terrified him. Only thoughts of torture and rage, of propagation and domination.

He flew into a primitive rage at the loathsome alien creature, somehow sensing that the visions and thoughts were coming from this thing and not his own. The energy sword flashed into his hands and with his armor assisted speed, he crossed the distance and cut the creature in two.

The octopus creature exploded with purplish mucous, and a sudden chorus of screams came from the darkness just beyond the light of the torches. He turned to face the voices of anguish and saw with his low light vision a gathering of robed Titans, most of which were fallen to their knees and holding their heads while they cried out. These must be the cultists he was after, Lupis thought as he walked towards them.

One of the cultists pulled out a pistol from beneath the folds of his robes, but never got a chance to level it at his target. Lupis was much faster than an unassisted Titan while inside his armor, and he sheared the Titan’s hand off at the wrist, which fell to the cave floor still gripping the pistol tightly.

At that point, several more of the robed Titans sprang to their feet, armed with various melee weapons, and still screaming in agony, foolishly attacked the armored bounty hunter. Normally Lupis did not kill unless paid to do so, but this night he felt particularly generous. As the cultists attacked him, he leapt into motion, his sword whirling and delivering death upon each strike.

Amidst slices and cuts, and strikes with his gauntlets, a dozen of the smaller Titans fell to the ground and did not get back up. There were still over twenty remaining, and he readied himself to slaughter them all if need be. A female Titan screamed something barely comprehensible at him, and he paused long enough to contemplate her. She was cursing him for killing the creature, though she was speaking with a strange accent.

Low on patience, Lupus reached out, grabbed her robe, and yanked her towards him, holding her off the ground and shaking her a few times to show he did not mean to play games here. A few of the others stood up and looked to each other, obviously meaning to save her, but after they had witnessed the armored behemoth slaughter a dozen of their finest warriors in a few moments, none of them seemed to want to be the first to intervene.

“Where are the things you stole from Planet Saxon?” His armor’s speakers demanded.

They looked to each other, then back at him. Wrong answer, he thought. Lupis smashed the female’s skull into his other armored hand, and she went limp immediately. He dropped the corpse now oozing blood from her head and grabbed another.

“Where?” He demanded. This Titan did not look to the others, instead his fearful eyes remained on the armored bounty hunter.

“We left it on the ship, about two miles away.” The Titan responded quietly, the tone in his voice ashamed and defeated.

Lupis dropped the Titan and shoved him toward the exit.

“Show me.” He responded through monosyllabic robot speakers.

The Titan looked back towards the others helplessly, but they did not meet his gaze. Lupis turned back and pointed at the rest of the gathering, indicating that he did not mean to leave them behind. Reluctantly, they stacked up and began walking towards the exit with the armored Titan taking up the rear. They led him to a second entrance to the cave system, not much further away.

When they reached the surface, the first hint of the alien dawn was peeking through the bottom of the sky. Lupis pushed a button on his wrist gauntlet and released two floating globular drones from the top of his shoulder plates. They utilized the same light bending invisibility technology, seeming to disappear in mid-air and flew higher up to scout the area. He then patched their feeds into a corner of his own HUD. A few moments later he clearly saw that the Iscalian gangsters still had not caught on and were blindly searching the village still, house to house.

The cultists were staring at him, but he offered no explanation. Instead, he prodded them on, following close behind. It took a little effort to make it through the forest at the edge of the village, but the trees eventually emptied out onto a vast expanse of gorgeous vineyards that stretched into the horizon and the cresting sun.

“You…” One of the Titans risked turning to speak to the intimidating death machine that was forcing them on. “…you’re that bounty hunter, aren’t you? Lupis? I’ve heard about you.”

Lupis shook his helmeted head and pointed forward.

“Yeah that’s him, I’m sure of it.” A female pulled down her hood and replied, since the armored figure would not. “I’ve heard that he killed an entire hab-center on Vor-Prime.”

“I can’t believe he’s real. I heard that the Zenith Corporation killed him four years ago, and he rose up from the grave as a wraith.”

“That’s not true.” The female spotted Viverrid with long black hair spilling across her shoulders risked a look back at the bounty hunter. “Is it?”, she added meekly. “Are you some kind of zombie?”

“If I am a ghost, I am the kind that can still kill.” Lupis remarked grimly.

“Look, we didn’t mean to get on your bad side or anything. Will you tell us what’s under the armor?” The male asked sheepishly.

“Enough questions!” Lupis shoved the male forward.

The group clammed up and kept walking, staring at their feet the rest of the journey. They barely even looked up to glance at each other. Lupis pushed the pace, though the other Titans seemed out of shape. Most Titans were these days, after all there were enough gadgets and personal transport vehicles that most Titans did not exert themselves very often. There were some corners of Titan, like the harsh mining communities of Gunrock or the frozen wilderness of Russevia that still bred hardy Titans, but in most of the cities you could regularly see most Titans zooming around on powered wheel-skates and automated board drones.

Within an hour they reached their destination, and Lupis saw a Skylon passenger spaceplane resting in a field. These models were limited to bare essentials, and he figured that the group must have endured cramped conditions traveling here from Saxon, which for a spaceplane like this, probably would have taken about a month. These spaceplanes did not feature private cabins or other luxuries, and were basically the equivalent to a space RV.

The group stopped in front of a side hatch and Lupis nodded them on. One of the members of the group entered a code on a panel next to the hatch, which opened it. The group moved to file in, but the bounty hunter stopped them with a hand signal. He instead chose the chatty female and pushed her ahead, gesturing the others to wait outside. He was not stupid and would not risk some form of preplanned defensive measures that could be enabled once inside.

She led him inside and it looked pretty much as he had imagined it would. Along the sides of the craft were built in cots nestled into hollowed out apertures in the walls. They had not stopped to clean it out since they had arrived and there was still an abundance of trash littering the floor.

The female led him to the back of the ship, which did not have a cargo bay like his, but instead there was a sort of general area, which served as a kitchen, dining room and congregation area all at once. Scattered haphazard around the base of the table and upon it he saw a few metallic boxes, and she made a grand gesture towards them. Curiosity getting the better of him, he walked over to the largest of the boxes on the table and pushed a release button to open it. Automated systems engaged and the box opened, and when it did, his eyes behind the helmet widened.

“What the…?” The robotic voice spoke his thoughts as he had forgotten to turn the EEG function off. “Why on green Titan would you steal this?”

“Because.” The Viverrid replied, shaking her long black mane of hair. “We aren’t like the other beaten down, downtrodden Titans on Saxon, we want to live.”