Chapter 128

Life’s Song

Felix approached the fourth medical center in his section of The Nexus, his natural form feeling strange after months spent primarily as a golden retriever.

It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly. Just… different. Flatter somehow. His emotions processed through Syltharian neural pathways felt more measured, more analytical. The constant undercurrent of joy and enthusiasm that defined the retriever form was absent, replaced by something calmer. More neutral.

He’d noticed it before, of course. Every time he changed. But the contrast had grown sharper as the months passed. The retriever’s happiness wasn’t false. That form genuinely experienced the world through a lens of perpetual contentment. Every new scent was fascinating. Every interaction held potential for joy. The nervous system itself seemed wired for optimism.

His natural form lacked that filter. Reality arrived unprocessed, uncolored by the biochemical joy that made the retriever form so comfortable. It made him wonder, sometimes, which emotional experience was more authentically him. The happiness felt real when he wore it. The flatness felt real now.

It would pass. But for now, the muted quality of his thoughts felt like walking through the station wrapped in insulation.

The medical center’s entrance slid open with a soft hiss. Felix stepped inside, wings flexing and folding naturally to avoid scraping the doorway.

The space was pristine. White surfaces reflected cool lighting, creating a clinical atmosphere. A single reception desk occupied the center of the waiting area, staffed by an alien whose attention remained fixed on a screen until Felix approached.

They looked up as he reached the counter.

“I’m looking for Maya Laurent,” Felix said. His musical voice carried across the quiet space. “I’m a friend. I know she was attacked months ago. She hasn’t been at her apartment, so I’m checking the medical centers near where she was stationed. In case she’s still in care.”

The receptionist’s expression shifted to something more attentive. “Your name?”

“Felixaran.”

It was his Galactic Common name. Most species he’d met couldn’t pronounce his real one.

The staff member worked the display for a moment, fingers moving through holographic controls. Then they glanced back at him.

“You’re listed as one of her contacts.” A pause. “Maya has been in a coma since the incident. She hasn’t had visitors for some time.”

Felix’s chest tightened.

“She’s in room 147,” the receptionist continued, gesturing down the hallway to his right. “Third corridor, take the second left. The doctors haven’t seen any change in her condition, but you’re welcome to visit.”

“Thank you.”

Felix moved down the corridor, his slender limbs carrying him past other rooms. Most doors stood closed. A few showed glimpses of patients through open doorways, aliens of various species recovering from injuries or illness.

He found room 147 at the end of the second hallway.

The door slid open at his approach. Inside, medical equipment lined the walls, displaying information he couldn’t fully interpret. Monitors tracked vital signs in patterns and colors he didn’t recognize. But the bed in the center required no translation.

Maya lay perfectly still.

She’d always been solid. Strong shoulders and a confident posture, the build of someone who worked security and trained regularly.

The woman in the bed looked diminished. Gaunt. Muscle atrophy showed in her arms where they rested atop the blanket. Tubes ran from the wall and into her arm. Her hair had been maintained, but it was shorter than she’d worn it before, practical for long-term care rather than personal preference.

Faint scars marked her right temple. Healed well and barely visible against her skin, but evidence of the attack that had put her here.

A medical gown had replaced her guard uniform. The steady rise and fall of her chest was the only movement in the room.

Felix moved to the chair beside her bed and sat. His gaze tracked over her face, memory surfacing.

She’d been abandoned on The Nexus while running security for a trade ship when their profit margins cut the wrong way. Forced to find work, though she’d never been unhappy about her lot in life.

He was an anomaly. A member of a species that thought leaving their homeworld was something akin to a sickness.

But when the wanderlust had taken him from his home, eventually arriving at The Nexus, they’d become fast friends. She’d taught him Galactic Common. And her own language, English.

He’d shared tales of his world, a place most would never see. He’d thought it the most beautiful world in the cosmos back then. It still was, in some ways. It was a place free of the darkness that plagued the societies he’d encountered since leaving.

Guilt washed over him, emotion breaking through the flat neutrality.

He knew it wasn’t rational. It wasn’t his fault a distant monster had targeted him for abduction. But the thought that she’d only been hurt because he’d been too weak to protect himself wouldn’t leave his mind.

He stared at her face for a long moment.

Then an idea formed.

The healing power. The one he’d copied from the healer on Astra Omnia. He didn’t know if it would work on a coma. The power was more for repairing physical damage, restoring blood and even re-energizing the target. He had no way of knowing if it could work on the mind.

But perhaps it could. Maybe it could do something.

Felix stood and moved to the door. He checked the hallway in both directions, finding it empty. He closed the door and returned to the bed.

His body flowed from Syltharian to feline in seconds. Purple skin became fur. Slender limbs condensed into a compact frame. Within moments, he’d shifted into the black and white cat form.

Certainty washed over his emotions, followed by the knowledge that he was capable of anything.

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A cat’s mind sure was strange considering how small a creature they were.

He jumped onto the bed, landing softly beside Maya. His paws found purchase on the pillow as he walked carefully up beside her.

Then he placed one paw against her temple, near the faint scarring, and activated the healing power.

Light emanated from the point of contact. Felix poured everything he had into it, channeling the copied ability with as much strength as his imperfect version could manage. The power flowed outward, seeking damage to repair.

Nothing happened.

The light continued to glow, the power continued to flow, but Maya remained unchanged. Her breathing stayed shallow and regular. The monitors showed no variation in their steady patterns.

Felix pushed harder, willing the healing to find something. Anything. Broken bone that had healed wrong. Lingering tissue damage. Inflammation in her brain.

But the healing found nothing to mend.

The scars on her temple were cosmetic. The muscle atrophy was from disuse, not injury. Whatever kept her trapped in this coma wasn’t something his copied healing ability could detect or repair.

Failure settled over him like a weight.

She would be stuck like this forever. Trapped in her own body, locked away from the world. All because she’d tried to protect a friend. Because she’d done what any good person would do.

It wasn’t fair.

His thoughts turned to the others. The discussions about techniques and skills and the System. About his powers.

He regretted not taking the time to learn more when the others had offered to teach him. But he’d still been recovering then. Focused on feeling good.

On being free.

The others had powerful and useful techniques. He’d seen them. Augustus manifesting his Storage Closet, that impossible space where he kept all kinds of things. Talia’s Mind Palace, seemingly capable of slowing time for those within its space.

Felix recalled Alexander and Augustus talking over dinner one night, voices carrying across the table. Alexander had been explaining something about technique creation to Annie, who’d been asking questions between bites.

“Creating a technique is more about believing your power can stretch to do a little more,” Alexander had said. “And wanting it more than anything else in that moment. That’s why ours came so easily.”

He hadn’t seen what Alexander or Annie’s techniques were, but he was certain they must be powerful.

Felix closed his eyes and focused.

Maya didn’t deserve this. She’d taught him, treated him with kindness. Fought to save him. She should be walking the station corridors, laughing and living her life. Not trapped in endless darkness.

He refused to give up. Refused to live in a world where Maya should have to suffer and be stuck in a bed for the rest of her life.

In a world where she couldn’t enjoy her Freedom.

The power inside him shifted. The light emanating from his paw began to pulse in rhythm, like a heartbeat.

Like the music of his people.

“Life’s Song,” Felix whispered.

The light transformed. What had been a simple glow became something alive and harmonious. It pulsed outward in waves that resonated through Maya’s body.

The monitors spiked. Neural activity surged across the displays in patterns that looked almost musical, peaks and valleys forming something that resembled a melody.

Maya’s breathing deepened. Color returned to her face, spreading from her cheeks outward like watercolor bleeding across paper. Her eyes moved beneath closed lids.

Maya sighed.

The sound was soft, barely audible over the medical equipment. But it was something. A response. Her other vitals remained unchanged on the monitors, and her eyes stayed closed, but that single exhale suggested the healing had reached her somehow.

Felix kept the power flowing for a few moments longer, then pulled back as his reserves emptied.

A shout echoed down the hallway. Then footsteps running, as multiple people approached fast.

Felix jumped from the bed and positioned himself by the door, crouching low.

The door burst open. The alien from reception rushed in first, followed by another alien wearing medical insignia. They moved immediately to Maya’s bed, attention fixed entirely on the monitors showing her vital signs.

Felix slipped through the open doorway. Neither noticed the small cat darting into the corridor. He ran down the hallway, turned the corner, and shifted back into his natural form once he was certain no one could see him.

He made his way out of the medical center and into the main corridor, needing to put distance between himself and what had just happened. He’d return later once things settled. Hiding the fact that he possessed superpowers was still a priority, but he was sure the technique had done something.

Hopefully it would be enough.

The station hummed with activity around him. Hundreds of different aliens moved through the corridors, going about their business. Felix kept his pace steady, wings folded neatly against his back, tails close to his legs.

He’d traveled several blocks away from the medical center when he noticed two security guards in the distance. They stood near an intersection, attention sweeping across the crowd in a pattern that suggested they were looking for someone.

Their gaze found him.

One guard gestured toward Felix. The other nodded. They exchanged a few words, too far away for him to hear, then began moving in his direction with clear purpose.

Felix’s hearts raced. He kept walking, maintaining his pace, but the guards closed the distance quickly.

“Excuse me,” one of them called out.

Felix stopped. The guards reached him moments later, positioning themselves on either side.

“You match the description of someone we need to speak with regarding an incident at a medical center on this deck,” the first guard said. His tone was professional but carried weight. “We have some questions.”

Felix’s wings tensed against his back. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The pair exchanged glances. Something passed between them, some silent communication that suggested this was more complicated than a simple conversation.

“We still need you to come with us,” the second guard said.

Felix considered his options. Running would only make things worse. Fighting was out of the question. He’d done nothing illegal to the best of his knowledge. Healing someone shouldn’t be a crime, even if he had revealed his powers.

“Alright,” Felix said quietly. “I’ll come with you.”

They began walking him away from the main corridor, toward the section’s administrative hub.

Felix hoped the team would know what to do.

***

Alexander spun slowly on the workshop stool, the holographic arm design rotating in sync with his motion.

The design was almost ready, but he’d been stuck on an issue with the outer armor layer for a while now.

His interface chimed with an incoming call. Alexander accepted it with a thought.

Augustus’s voice came through clearly. “Alex, we have a situation.”

“What kind?”

“Ambassador Marcus sent one of his people to inform us that Felix has been detained.”

Alexander stopped spinning. “For what?”

“The medical center reported unusual activity in a patient’s room, and they wanted to question him about that. From what I was told, they also want to question him about the attack that put the woman in a coma… which she suddenly woke from after his visit.”

“Is he in danger?”

“Doesn’t sound like it. But if Felix revealed his secret…”

Alexander considered the problem.

“Send Talia to deal with it. She’ll figure out how to get him out the right way. If I get involved, we’ll end up losing all the goodwill we’ve earned.” He paused. “I don’t want to be a galactic criminal unless there’s no other option.”

“Understood,” Augustus said. “I’ll let her know. Also, the Ambassador wants to meet with you after we deal with the Beastworld gateway.”

“Why?”

“His man didn’t say. But he asked that you show up unannounced and make sure nobody sees you.”

Alexander frowned. “That’s weird.”

Augustus chuckled. “No, Alex. That’s politics. I’m guessing he wants to talk, but can’t be seen by people back home meeting with supervillains. I’ll keep you updated about Felix.”

The call ended.

Alexander returned his attention to the arm design, but a faint smile pulled at his mouth despite the interruption.

Felix getting them into trouble with the law… He hadn’t seen that coming.

His money had been on Annie.

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