Tim:

I sit opposite Tony. He is not wearing his usual smile. Still, he is taking this better, than Thea did. I wonder if he is ashamed of me — now. I sure as hell feel the slightest tinge of shame at my action. Yet, there is also righteousness in me as well.

The Naga we used to repair the crystal tried to kill us. Just like those scumbags last year, who tried to send Nate and me to the sun. At times, I imagine what it would have felt like, to burn alive.

Would my crystal crack, if I am launched at a star? Nate wouldn’t have survived, that is for certain. Yet, what did we do, when we finally caught the person who helped rewire the teleports?

We gave him a protection deal. I was mad at Wei, for the fact that he didn’t deal with the threat. At the very least, the criminal should have been reprogrammed.

“I know what you are thinking,” Tony tells me. I snort. Oh, I don’t doubt he thinks he knows what passes through my brain. Yet, the chances are, he is way off the mark. “I know you better than you know yourself, Timmy. Remember, it was I who found you in that tunnel of yours.”

“Quit calling me Timmy,” I snap, but there is no venom inside of me. I just feel tired.

“You think that what you did was right. That you should get away with it. But you are wrong, Timmy. Murder is never right. That is why we have reprogramming,” Tony reaches out, and takes a hold of my hand. “What Thea wanted to tell you back in the office is that you are not an animal. You are not ruled by your instincts. A murder core is ruled by them. Are you a murder core, Timmy?”

“I don’t want to be one,” I whisper. All my life, I have done my best to be good. Yet, now that I was between the hammer and the anvil, I did kill. It doesn’t matter that Ferenc bit the arm off the Naga. That he would have died from that wound. It was I who carried him back to Olradus 601. It was I, who slit his throat over Wei’s crystal.

“Between you and me,” Tony says, his voice becoming quieter. “You really didn’t have a choice. Your family was on the line. Countless Dru’dru were counting on you. Yet, please promise me something?”

I look my father in all the ways that matter in the eyes. If he wants something from me, then he will get it. No matter what it is.

“Never attack anyone, unless it is self-defense. That includes the times, when you want to repair a crystal. If word spreads out that there are dungeon cores who murder to prolong their lives, the entire New Cosmos will go up in arms,” Tony’s words are like a knife to the gut. I didn’t think about the backlash that might come from the New Cosmos. Mostly, we, the dungeon cores, are accepted by the races that call this dimension home.

Rodger pats my hand three times, and pulls away.

“Now, I do believe that you all should hide. Chances are, whoever attacked you on Olradus 600 will come in here as well,” I blink at Tony.

Hide? Hide where?

“Remain in Wei’s crystal. He is strong. His mind palace will hold. I can take you to a planet at the edge of the New Cosmos. A place only I know of.”

“How do you know of such a place?” I don’t remember teleporting him to such locations.

“I have a personal rocket. But don’t tell Thea. She will freak out,” I sigh then. Typical Tony.

Owning rockets for personal use is illegal in the New Cosmos. Which is not the case in the Old Cosmos. I guess, if the laws in the Old Cosmos weren’t so lax, then we wouldn’t have been having problems today.

Honestly, the situation is as bad as getting a gun on Earth!

“I will do something that will see me sleeping in your old tunnel, should Thea ever find out. But you will be safe. As safe, as only someone people think dead, can be.”

“How are you going to pull it off?” I ask him. My mind can’t wrap around the fact that he will have to bring a rocket in here, without anyone noticing, and then smuggle us out.

Now that I think about it, our positions in Manacom will have to be forfeit. My dungeon lines around Ursula 590 as well. My entire life, uprooted. All because of some racist woman. I ball my hands into fists by my side.

“I have a plan, but Thea can’t know. As a member of the New Ursula 590 Civil Council, she will have to report the fact that you are still alive. You just have to trust me, my boy. And who knows? Perhaps a couple of years’ worth of a peaceful existence is precisely what you need?”

I smile at that. No news reports mentioning me. No people out in the street staring at me. The Dru’dru are fine with us. More than that, they feel safe around us.

“Does the planet in question have an atmosphere?” I ask Rodger. He shakes his head.

“Doesn’t even have a star. Still, it is close to a gas giant, which you can use to hide your presence with. People don’t tend to send exploration teams towards gas giants,” I hum my agreement.

“Why are you telling me this, and not Wei? He is the Supreme Overlord,” I tell Tony. He sighs.

“He won’t go for it. I need someone to distract him, while I transport us through the wormhole. Timmy, you terraformed a planet into something filled with life once. You can do it again, as Wei keeps everyone healthy and fed,” this is quite the burden that Tony places on my shoulders. Yet, there is something I don’t get.

“I thought you wanted for me to uphold my morals?” I ask him. He grins.

“You are not just any dungeon core. You are a dungeon core with a human form. One must then remember, that the higher races are flawed by design. Had you become a Naga, I would have still told you to toe over the line between good and evil. A good person, who is overzealously good, can do evil deeds. An evil person can do good deeds by accident. A real person knows when he should use a white lie, and when not,” Tony’s words give me the courage to straighten up. He grins at me. “That is my son. Be proud of the fact you saved a life. Now, go and do some bullshitting.”

I guess that Tony wouldn’t be Tony, if he doesn’t say something bordering on obscene. No matter how important the conversation was.