Beyond The Impossible

Null City, Myridia

Vesta is flying over the city, making fires disappear almost immediately after they are started.

The city is in chaos: since the Grand Cathedral suddenly vanished, along with the several dignitaries inside it, the streets are filled with different factions of the many sects of the Church of Null that are suddenly without leaders.

To make matters worse, the Mortal Republic has sent a great deal of troops to secure this solar system. Myridians won’t abandon the sovereignty over their planet so easily, considering its past.

The result is a combination of religions conflicts and interplanetary politics. On a planet where everyone can create ten thousand duplicates in the blink of an eye, it’s no wonder that riots have gone out of control so quickly.

<This is unfortunate.> Nike comments. The winged goddess is flying next to Vesta, but unlike the firstborn of Kronos she’s not doing anything to calm the population.

<That’s quite understatement! Any luck finding any clue about where they’ve taken Noriko?>

<Not yet. If Skorpios is really using her Drylon device to access a pocket universe, opening a path to that reality will take some time.>

<How long? Hours, days?>

<More like a dozen centuries. You really have been around mortals for too long, Vesta.>

<That’s not acceptable and you know it.>

<Kari to Vesta, can you read me?> she hears through her Neural Transmitter.

<Yes. Go ahead.>

<Get your #ss on the Ragnarok ASAP. And bring Nike with you.>

<I believe I could be of better use down here. I have to deal with the fires.>

<Forget the planet, the whole φθcκινγ galaxy is about to catch fire!>

 

The Mindscape

Noriko Null is sitting in front of the Monk, in the simulated illusion of a snowy mountain. She has adjusted the parameters of the simulation to wear her trademark green leather jacket, while the Monk is still just in his white loincloth.

Despite the fact that he died of old age and that the first simulation she met was that of a child, right now he appears in his physical prime: he looks like a shaven Chinese man with a rather lean body.

<You don’t need to wear clothes inside your own mind.> he tells her.

<We’re not doing this naked. Can we please begin?>

<The shadows of your own biology can be a distraction. You can take a few minutes to pleasure yourself before we…>

<One more word coming out of your mouth that doesn’t help me defeat Ulysses and I’m deleting your simulation, like I did with Diomedes.> she interrupts him.

The Monk doesn’t show any reaction to her threat, but the simulation reacts with a powerful thunderbolt shaking the mountain.

<Very well. Are you familiar with the concept of the universe being made of information?>

<The holographic principle? It’s a property of quantum gravity that states that the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a lower-dimensional boundary to…>

<The physical world is made of information, with energy and matter as incidental byproducts.> the Monk interrupts.

<That’s one way of putting it.> Noriko concedes.

<The gods are able to manipulate energy and matter with their mind. I have long theorized this is because their true essence resides on a higher dimensional plane of existence. Just as matter is simply a more congealed form of energy,  could it be that energy is just a more congealed form of information? And if so, couldn’t the physical world be altered by affecting its information?>

<No offence, Monk, but that sounds like some New Age bulls#it. You really expect me to believe there’s a way to get powers just by thinking about it!? Come on!!!>

<Gods do it. Demons do it.>

<That’s different! Granted, I haven’t exactly figured out how gods get their powers, but Demons simply tap into the Blood as a power source.>

<What if I told you I found a way to allow humans to access the Blood the same way Demons do?>

<Is that what you taught Ulysses? How to use the Blood?>

<I taught him Soul Control. The art of using your own soul as a weapon. Whether to manipulate the Blood, or dominate other souls, or even manipulate information itself.>

<That is amazing, but I find it really hard to believe that nobody else ever figured this out…>

<Certain basic defensive techniques can be learned by anyone, but the mind’s ability to affect matter can’t be taught. You must be born with it, like a god or a Demon, or it can be achieved by technological means.>

<Like a Drylon device. That makes more sense. Did Ulysses find a device for himself?>

<He does not need one. As the great-grandson of Hermes, he has enough divine blood in his veins.>

<And enough control over this power to stop me from accessing the Blood, or even to deflect the Final Abyss. How long would it take you to teach me a way to…>

<At least twenty years.> the Monk interrupts her.

<That long!?>

<It took me fifty years. Ulysses needed thirty. You have the Nexus and my guidance, but twenty years is the best you can hope for.>

<I could accelerate this. We’re in a simulation, right? What’s stopping me from running it faster?>

<The operating system of the Nexus. You could override it, but you would need your golden eyes.>

<And that would reduce my lifespan by another year.> Noriko realizes.

<You underestimate how much effort it would take. You will need to sacrifice at least ten years.>

<Okay, we’re not doing that. I like being alive a little too much.> Noriko replies, standing up and disconnecting herself from the Mindscape.

 

Somewhere

When she returns to reality, it’s like being hit in the stomach. She hasn’t eaten a thing in an entire week: the only thing granted by her jailer was a single cup of water for each of them.

<Lady Null?> Ganos Lal asks, noticing that Noriko is awake again. The Supreme Pontiff is laying on the floor, in her underwear just like Noriko.

<Have you found a way to escape?> she asks. She looks rather sick: in addition to the hunger and thirst, sleeping on a stone floor hasn’t helped.

<Not yet. It may take a little more time. How are you holding up?>

<You don’t need to worry about me, Lady Null. This isn’t my first time in a cell of this kind.>

<You’ve been arrested before?> Noriko asks. She doesn’t particularly like this woman… in fact she’s a major pain in the #ss… but she feels it’s better if she talks with someone.

<I was born in a cell. One of the breeding camps where Demeter’s Oracles locked women to… you know. Provide new bodies for the next harvest.>

<I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how that must’ve been like.>

<It’s alright. You came to answer our prayers.> Ganos Lal replies, looking at the cell’s bars: their jailer Leral is still on the other side, seemingly frozen in time.

<They put me in a place like this when I was twelve, sharing my cell with a dozen other girls. Some of them might’ve been my sisters… they wouldn’t tell us. We were fed better than the men, otherwise the Oracles would no longer fancy us. Every night they would take one of us to…> she narrates, then she stops to stops herself from crying.

<We prayed each day. The others prayed Demeter or Zeus, hoping to be chosen as priestesses. I never prayed any Olympian… I prayed with all my heart that one day someone would free us from our abusers and bring peace to our Galaxy. And I prayed so much that my words reached the heavens and led you to Myridia to free my people.>

<Ganos… I… I never…> Noriko chokes, not knowing what to respond. She resents the idea of being considered a goddess, but what right does she have to crush this poor woman’s spirit?

<I believe in you, Lady Null. We shall escape this prison just like the sound of my prayers escaped the vile imprisonment of…>

<Sound.> Noriko interrupts her, with her silver eyes shining for a moment.

<Y-yes, the sound of my… is everything alright, Lady Null?> Ganos Lal asks her, watching Null fidget with her right ear, as if trying to pull something out of it.>

<Why didn’t I think of it sooner!?> she says, finally extracting something: a tiny electronic device.

<I thought they searched you for weapons.> Ganos Lal comments.

<This isn’t a weapon, it’s my Neural Transmitter. I typically use it to communicate with the Vanguard, but Ulysses is jamming it.> Noriko explains, trying her best to work on the device but having serious difficulties due to its tiny size.

<But I can turn it into a weapon, if I modify it to to emit a hypersonic blast. Or I could if I hadn’t made the circuits too small for my fingers!> she says, sighing in exasperation.

<Come on, think think think.> she tells herself, looking around. The cell is completely empty and the only thing the prisoners have been allowed to keep only their underwear.

<Lady Null… are you looking for something?> Ganos Lal asks, rather confused: during their entire time together Null has tried her hardest to avoid looking at her, but suddenly she’s staring rather blatantly at her chest.

<Got it. Take off your bra.> Noriko says, her silver eyes shining once again.

<Lady Null!> the Supreme Pontiff shouts.

<Mine doesn’t have an underwire, yours does. I can use it to access the circuitry and you don’t need to be so enthusiastic about it.> Noriko replies, turning away when she’s handed the undergarment before she can even finish the sentence. She rushes to remove the underwire, and not just because she wants the woman to cover up as soon as possible.

<Alright. Time to leave this place before things get out of hand.> Null says, using the underwire she extracted to begin her work.

 

N01-Ragnarok, orbiting the planet

Both Vesta and Nike don’t need much time to reach the ship’s bridge, where they find Kari and Torn busy discussing something while the screens are showing a transmission originating on Argos, the capital of the Mortal Republic.

Vesta pays little attention to the images of the Mortal Senate, listening instead to her teammates:

<This can’t be a coincidence. Someone is clearly pulling the strings of a larger plot.> Kari says.

<If it is Lilith I will cut her with her own strings, even if she’s a goddess.> Torn replies.

<What’s going on? What’s the emergency? Who’s Lilith?> Vesta asks.

<Torn and his family have been exiled from Hell. Lilith’s made a treaty with them.> Kari answers.

<Again, who is Lilith?> Vesta insists.

<It’s how Eris calls herself, now that she has absorbed the power of Nephthys. She is now in charge of the foreign policy of the Olympian Galaxy.> Nike explains.

<Did she really need to change her name for that?> Vesta asks, raising an eyebrow.

<Did you really need to change your name from Hestia to Vesta?> Nike asks back.

<Whatever her name is, she’s obviously up to something. She banishes Torn and then this happens?> Kari says, gesturing towards the screen.

Now Vesta starts paying attention to the transmission: it’s a news program, that now is repeating a video that shows a woman with a very angry expression on her face. The text below her says “Acting President Aura Syzar”.

<It is time to restore order and dignity. Following the murder of my husband by Myridian religious extremists, my first act as President is to declare the worship of Null illegal within the territory of the Mortal Republic. I shall also keep my position as Minister of War and instruct all the military forces of the Republic to arrest anyone caught in an act of worship. Lethal force against anyone attempting to break my edict or protest is authorized.>