E.I.G.H.T

I looked around analyzing the surrounding environment trying to figure out how this primate had appeared. There was nothing he could have used to have traveled here, the stalks around us were so tall that there was no way he could have jumped above them and landed there. There was no evidence if he had done that anyways.

So just like before this being had appeared out of nowhere. How did he do that? I wondered this as I scanned him. But my scans were coming up inconclusive. I could not even determine what sort of biological entity he was.

“Those scans of yours aren’t going to work on me,” the primate said shrugging and I looked at him bewildered.

“How do you know I was scanning you?” I asked.

“Oh you had a scanning face on, as I like to call it.” The primate said. “Go figure you would have emotions as a supposed emotionless object?”

“What do you mean?” I asked looking at this being curiously.

It was the second statement he had said that gave indication he knew I was an android. The first time he said something just a few seconds prior, I had disregarded as happenstance. Now he clearly indicating he knew I was an android.

“I know what you are,” the primate said he smirked widely and said: “Eight.”

I was taken aback by this and I stared this creature down. How did it know what I was? Did it know what I was doing here also? Thoughts began the circle in my mind. Could I now continue my task now that this creature knew what I was?

“Don’t worry I won’t tell your girlfriend or anyone else about your secret.” He said simply. “I am only here to guide you as you go through your reflection of deciding for yourself what is true for you. And deciding on your own what you want to do. I think you already working your way down the correct path, and you’ll conclude you should help them.”

I blinked and he was gone. I scanned the area and nothing. Just what was this being? I had no clue, I did not even have something to reference it to, or so I thought before I saw in my logs an old Golordian Legend of Qida. It was an old Golordian God that was a primate. His name literally meant the monkey of the Golden Cape. There was no way this could be what this being was? Could it?

What problems did Zephyr have that he needed to have help on? I had decided to investigate this after talking to Rae some more, which was extremely enjoyable after my interaction with that strange primate. I tried my best to find out. While trying to figure this out I was starting to find out a lot of information that the rebellion had. There were a lot of logs of different members of the Black Empire, lot of description about black ops projects and a lot of meetings that the rebels deemed suspicious.

One such suspicious meeting involved one George Marquis Lorillard, the lead banker of the FREE. The rebels had been tracking him for a long time, seeing what he was doing. He provided for funds of many of the black ops projects, as well as providing funds for the empire itself. It was due to this that the rebels began to use the codename Greed when referring to Lorillard. This however, seemed like he was well on the way to learn more.

There was one thing that I discovered that Zephyr was looking for. There was a code name given to something that was known only as The Sun Eater. The description of this thing that was called the Sun Eater was something else on its own, and apparently it was heavily guarded. I couldn’t even access any data on the Sun Eater, so I decided to ask the Bear about this.

“What’s the Sun Eater?” I asked The Bear, the Bear coughed violently and started breathing hard and looked over at me.

“Where did you get that idea from?” The Bear asked.

“I found mention of it in your records,” I said.

“Ye sure ’r a curious girl,” The Bear said.

“So, can you tell me what that is?” I asked.

“We don’t know what it is,” Zephyr said suddenly behind us.

I looked around shocked that he was able to sneak up on me, I did not hear anything using my enhanced perceptions. This was quite impressive. I had only seen that primate do it but now this man did it also.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Before I joined the rebellion, there was radio chatter about the Sun Eater.” Zephyr said, and he looked over at the Bear to elaborate.

“It began some ’ears ago, after the Zhiran attacked us theys started to talk about the Sun Eater.” The Bear said. “Rumor ’ad it that the Zhiran were actually where we got the information about this thing.”

“So, while researching how to build a Dyson Sphere I looked over at Deneb and spotted something massive.” Zephyr started. “It would be one thing that I spot it, but I took notes, and kept my eye on it. It lay stationary near the star. It was shortly after that I began to hear talking about the Sun Eater.”

“It is our belief that there is something that be next to our star and it is draining the power out of the star.” The Bear said. “This is the Sun Eater as the Empire calls it.”

The idea was too extraordinary to believe, something draining the power of the star of Deneb? I did not remember ever learning about anything that was ever called or even being referred to the Sun Eater.

“Believe it or not but our star has lost luminosity in the past 10 years.” Zephyr said as if he had answered my question. “The luminosity used to be far stronger when you and I were children and it was even stronger when the Bear was a child.”

“I kept tellin’ ’em over the course of my tenure that theys be something wrong with our star.” The Bear said emphatically.

“And for that The Bear was labeled as a radical and a threat to the empire.” Zephyr said. “Of course, I tried to bring this information to light, using my popularity that I was apparently developing already I planned to get as many people aware of what was happening. Next thing I knew I became primary enemy number one.”

“Can I look at your scans and notes?” I asked. Zephyr had nodded, and he proceeded to unlock the notes he had and handed this data over to me. I decided that I had to verify this claim myself.