VOTOMS Ep. 49: Overman

Chirico floats out of the doorway and tells the Schmitel twins that Wiseman has summoned them. They enter the chamber, and Wiseman blasts them with energy and orders them to serve Chirico. Elsewhere, Fyana and the others fight off the Society soldiers. In another part of the complex, Society soldiers extinguish a fire while Rochina hides inside a narrow area. Vanilla shoots at several soldiers, and Fyana attacks some up ahead of her. She asks one of them how to get to Chirico, and he tells her that Wiseman decides who enters. Fyana touches one of the panels, and the wall opens up to reveal the stair case. They climb the stairs and see Chirico floating inside the chamber with the Schmitel twins. Vanilla thinks it’s a bit strange that Chirico is floating in the air, and Coconna agrees. Fyana asks Chirico what happened, and he tells them to leave. The Society soldiers catch up to them, and Chirico orders them to return to the Secret Society Flagship. After they’re gone, Chirico tells the Schmitels to prepare for departure in three hours. They ask him what he plans to do, but he refuses to answer their questions and tosses them out of the chamber. Arron wonders how Chirico could be an Overman without being a Quentian, but Gurran thinks that Overmen are just a mutation and that it was only a matter of time before there was a human Overman. Arron doesn’t want to follow Chirico’s orders, but Gurran is sick of having to decide what to do. Gotho says that Chirico looked the same way he did when they first met, and Vanilla thinks Chirico has become Wiseman’s puppet. Coconna disagrees and says that no one can control Chirico, and that he looked as if he just accepted the biggest responsibility in the world. Rochina uses his radio to contact Chirico and ask him what his plans are. Chirico says he knows Wiseman misused him, but he can’t say anything. Rochina asks him if he’s accepted Wiseman’s purpose for him, and Chirico says he has. He also says that the Balarant and Gilgamesh know about Wiseman and are sending a combined fleet to kill him. An alarm sounds, and Chirico says he can’t talk anymore because the fleet has arrived.

The enormous Gilgamesh-Balarant fleet assembles outside the artificial moon. Gotho asks what all the noise is about, and a soldier explains they are evacuating because a fleet is coming to destroy them. The Schmitel twins ask Chirico if he intends to use the Floater Belt to escape, and he asks them if they doubt Wiseman. They note that 500 ships are approaching, and Chirico says that the Floaters surround the moon to fend off enemy attacks. As the supplies are loaded onto the ship via a conveyor belt, Rochina breaks into the supply area and sneaks aboard the ship. As the fleet approaches, Chirico orders the operation to begin. The side of the moon opens and a large chunk of it separates and flies off. The fleet fires missiles at the base fragment, but many of the missiles hit the Floaters instead. After a brief acceleration period, the flagship launches and flies ahead. Coconna asks where Chirico is, and a soldier answers that he’s on the bridge of the mothership. Vanilla is confused, and the soldier explains that they are currently in the supply module which will separate from the main ship during the operation. The fleet then opens fire on the flagship and launches its space fighters to pursue. Arron thinks they’re doomed, but Chirico counters that in a moment their speed will increase beyond that of the fleet. He gets on the loudspeaker and says that the support module will separate and that those aboard it will lay down their lives so that he may escape. He explains that the Quentians thought they’d exiled the Overmen, but Wiseman was hidden on Quent all along. He says that he’s going to Quent to receive Wiseman’s power and become the new ruler of the galaxy. The space fighters attack the separated supply module, and Vanilla attacks the guards around them. They fight their way to the shuttle bay and manage to escape just before the supply module explodes. Chirico thinks about the destiny that will take him far beyond that of mere men.