Beyond The Impossible

Swift Messenger starship

Noriko Null is surrounded by friends and family, but it’s hard to concentrate on anyone in particular when her father Bob is bawling his eyes out while hugging her.

<Don’t you ever, ever, ever scare me like that again!!!>

<No promises, but I’m not anxious to die again.> she replies, more than a little embarrassed by his behavior. Which isn’t made any more tolerable when Dr. Kalama is crying just as much.

<You too, doc? Geez, where’s my Sound Nullifier when I need it?> Noriko sighs, when she notices that someone touching her isn’t family: Asclepius is holding her arm.

<Hey, hands off! What are you even doing!?>

<Taking your vitals. Hades doesn’t resurrect mortals very often, it’s been about two thousand years since the last time. This is valuable research.> the demigod of medicine answers.

<Thanks, but I’ll pass. I prefer to do my own research.>

<But science…>

<Science can wait, a decent bath can’t… I smell like I was dead for three months!>

<You were.>

The comment came from an unexpected source, a child that sneaked up in the room. And who receives mostly blank stares in response.

<Nalani? Who told you your sister was…> Bob asks his daughter.

<Dead? Come on dad, I’m four years old, not stupid! And while both you and Amaterasu regressed to your regular intellectual level, it’s pretty apparent that I retained the enhancement. At least to the extent that I can now cook for myself, so I wanted to ask you and mom if I have to prepare dinner or if someone’s going to feed me.> the child answers.

Both her parents look at Noriko, who just shrugs.

<Don’t look at me, I was dead.>

<It’s alright, Nori, we can catch up later. You really should take that bath, you weren’t kidding about the smell.> her half-sister comments.

While everyone else is too surprised to comment, Noriko completely ignores the situation and walks towards the captain’s chair, touching the screen integrated into the armrest.

Lily is the only one to notice that, while Noriko’s silver eyes are shining, the screen flashes by the ship’s schematics.

<I see you’ve modified the engine into a rough copy of the Negative Drive. That’s actually quite impressive, Lily.>

<Thanks, but… how are you interfacing with the system like that?>

<Mental projection, a neat trick I brought back from the dead. I see we’re outside range of both the Portal Generator and the Shadow Network, and even at full speed it’d take us a few days to get back home… not a big deal.> Noriko says, mostly talking to herself as the light from her eyes increases.

There’s an audible hum reverberating throughout the ship; everyone feels a weird vibration pass through their bodies, and on the main viewscreen the scenery changes: from the planet’s orbit to an empty void filled only by bolts of lightning.

<There. We should be about ten to fifteen thousand light-years form Asgard Station, give or take.>

<Did… did you just teleport us to the Null Zone!?> Lily exclaims.

<No, I sent a collimated neutrino beam through the Negative Drive into the Null Zone, since the engine already draws power from this dimension, and piggybacked a search-and-retrieve signal to allow the Portal Generator to latch on to us. It’s not teleportation, it’s a trans-dimensional shift.>

<Wait, I thought we were out of range?> Jane wonders, utterly confused.

<Nowhere is out of range if you have precise six-dimensional coordinates; am I really the only one who did the math on this?>

Bob Null smiles. It really does feel like his daughter is back.

 

One hour and forty minutes later

Noriko Null gets out of the tub after what feels the most relaxing bath of her life. She covers herself with a towel and walks behind the mirror, wiping away the steam with her hand.

<I never thought anyone could take a bath that long, and I could breathe underwater back when I was alive.>

The voice is coming from the woman Noriko sees behind her on her reflection: a black woman with voluminous hair and a skintight purple outfit. She doesn’t have to turn around to know that she’s not actually there: Noriko is hearing the voice in her own head.

<Roxiana. Couldn’t you give me some privacy?>

<Looks like breaching the barrier that separated the Mindscape from the Drylon hosts has brought us closer than we both imagined.> the former host replies without really answering.

<You mean you exploited the occasion to create a backdoor to my nervous system.>

<Only to share some sensory information. And don’t act like you didn’t create your own backdoor to allow you to speak to the Drylon again.>

<I don’t have the best experience dealing with voices in my head. If you make any attempt to take over my body, or if you step over personal boundaries, I will delete you like I did with Diomedes.>

<Deal. It’s not much of a body anyway.> Roxiana snarks, raising an eyebrow and looking up and down at Noriko.

<I feel like we should put up some rules about those boundaries.>

<Don’t you have more important things to do, like… uh. I actually just realized that I really don’t know what your priorities are, Noriko.>

<We’re on a first name basis now?>

<I’m just trying to get to know you better. You might just be the only other Nexus host capable of matching my accomplishments.>

<You sure have a high opinion of yourself.>

<Look who’s talking. Look, Noriko, if you’re not going to give me access to the Drylon hosts…>

<And grant a near complete stranger full control of the Nexus? Forget it.>

<… then you’re the second most interesting thing I can study. I’m a historian, and this is an unprecedented occasion to have galactic history recorded by TWO separate Nexus hosts!>

<Ugh… alright, fine, I’m not going to delete you. You’ve taught me some interesting tricks, and working with Diomedes was pretty fulfilling… until he stabbed me in the back, so I’m going to take precautions and place some serious blocks around my higher brain functions.>

<Sound like a plan.>

<Since you’re around, I’m planning to use your mental projection thing in the real world. Just switch off for a couple of minutes and then you’ll teach me how to do it.>

<We can do it right now.>

<I’d really prefer if you switched off for a moment.>

<Why? You can place those barriers even while we’re speaking.>

<I’m about to get dressed and I don’t want you around while I’m doing that, okay?>

<What are you, twelve?>

<Roxiana…>

<Fine, fine. I liked you better when you were dead.> the former host sighs, disappearing from sight.

Noriko looks around multiple times, making sure that she’s really gone.

<As if I needed more reasons to be paranoid.> she comments, dropping the towel.

 

Edge of the Erebus star system

Charon is standing on a cold and lonely asteroid; his flaming eyes are the only dim source of light.

He’s holding a small bag containing a handful of golden coins, his most precious possession.

<So many living mortals coming and going and I didn’t get a single coin… sometimes I wonder why I even took this job.> the living skeleton sighs.

His divine senses notice something coming his way; it can’t be anything natural, since it’s traveling several times faster than the speed of light.

<Hm. I wonder what that is. Is Lord Hades playing fetch with Cerberus again?> he wonders, noticing the object is coming from the dark beast that engulfs the center of this star system.

He didn’t expect the object to change direction at the last moment, flying behind him, and he certainly didn’t expect to be caught in a headlock.

<Escape.> he hears a deep female voice say, holding him in place with enough strength to pull a moon in half.

<I don’t know how you expected this to turn out.> Charon replies, displacing the position of his own bones to get out of the hold. The woman takes the opportunity to rip away part of Charon’s cloak, using it to cover herself as much as she can.

<Lady Enyo!?> Charon exclaims, recognizing the Goddess of War, daughter of Zeus and Hera. While he has no interest whatsoever in such things, he averts his sight: if Hera knew anyone was laying eyes on her daughter, even the ferryman of the dead would escape her wrath.

<Where?> Enyo asks. It’s hard as ever for her to talk, and spending years being the chew toy of Cerberus hasn’t done much for her health.

<You are in the Stygian Galaxy. Prisoner of Lord Hades in punishment for hurting his wife at the Strongest Under The Heavens tournament.> Charon answers. Enyo reacts by ripping his skull out of the rest of the skeleton, talking to him eye to skull.

<Away. NOW.>

<Y-yes I suppose I c-could bring you back to the Olympian Galaxy… b-but…>

<NOW!> Enyo insists, and Charon begins to feel her fingers digging into his skull.

<…I’m going to need your… ticket… please?>

<Useless.> Enyo says angrily, her hands now crushing Charon’s skull into a thousand pieces. She takes what’s left of his cloak, transmuting it into a copy of her own personal armor, and flies away from this star system millions of times faster than the speed of light.

The skeleton of Charon is left alone on the cold and lonely asteroid, facing the bits of his shattered skull. The skeleton’s hand nervously taps the ground.

<Definitely not my best day. I don’t get paid enough for this job.> he complains.

 

Themiscyra, 90,000 light-years from Earth

Max Black a.k.a. Quantum does his very best to suppress a yawn. He would’ve never imagined that visiting a planet of gorgeous warrior women would be so mind-bendingly boring.

Queen Tecmessa has ordered to cease the hostilities, even though her office is still crawling with a small battalion of Amazons in full battle armor, ready to restart the fight should the negotiations fail. He’s more than happy to leave this kind of thing to Kari, but he wishes he could just slip away.

At least Kiros got to have some time with his daughters and a duplicate of Kari; Max would even prefer spending time with Ganos Lal and her attempts to preach the gospel of Null to the androids.

He’s waken up from his boredom when he notices that the Soul Relay installed inside his head is suddenly active.

<Hello? Is this thing on?> he hears a familiar voice ask.

<Nori!?> Max explains, jumping to his feet.

<Hold on, let me switch to broadcasting mode.>

The air is filled with what looks like electricity, but Max knows it’s something else: he’s not sensing any electrons. It’s the same exact effect that he sees every time Noriko absorbs information from the minds of Earth, except somehow in reverse. The energy coalesces into a faint image of Null, who looks almost as surprised by the effect as anyone else.

<Wow, that actually works.>

<Nori! Is that really you!?> Kari asks, trying to touch her; her hand passes through the image, but she feels a tingle beneath her skin.

<What is this trick? It could be anyone projecting a hologram!> Queen Tecmessa objects.

<It’s her. I can feel her soul. Welcome back to the living, Null.> Torn greets her.

<Neat, uh? I call it mind projection, it’s like I was there with you. Care to explain why you’re on Themiscyra to begin with?>

<They trespassed on our territory. They even brought men to our planet!> the Queen objects.

<They ran experiments on my family and on Torn. And they kidnapped Max and Lal.> Kari answers, looking at the Queen like she just rattled her to the teacher.

<Lal’s there? Hmm, I could probably use her. Hold on, I’m using the Portal Generator to get you back to the Null Zone.>

<Themiscyra is protected by a distortion field that will stop anybody from…> the Queen protests.

She stops when Noriko Null appears there in person, right next to a complex device twice her size. When she speaks, her mental projection mimics her movements and says the same words in unison.

<I am not anybody. I am Null. You’re a smart woman, I suppose you recognize this?> she asks, patting the device. If Tecmessa could sweat, this would be the right moment to do so.

<One of your Black Hole Generators.>

<It’ll go off automatically if the Vanguard is still here in the next two minutes. Well, one minute and thirty seconds now. Twenty-six.>

<You expect us to give up without a fight!?>

<One minute, twenty seconds.>

The android queen stares at Null for several seconds. Neither of them blinks.

<You still haven’t fulfilled your promise to move Themiscyra to a different galaxy. We earned that by helping you defeat Ares.>

<I was kinda busy, but I intend to fulfill that promise. Thirty seconds, by the way.>

<You are free to leave. But we will accept no further delays!>

<You hurt my friends, you don’t get to give conditions. Next time there won’t be any countdown.>

Anyone who isn’t an android disappears from the room, with only fifteen seconds to spare. The Black Hole Generator stays there until two seconds from activation before disappearing, as a testament to the fact that Noriko wasn’t bluffing.

 

Boreas, 3,000 light-years from Earth

Alone in her private room, Leiko Tanaka is quite pleased with herself; with her daughter out of the way, all obstacles in her path seem to have disappeared.

The eternal youth she received from Hera gives her the luxury to make long term plans, something that even the gods seem to be unwilling to do lately. Taking over the galaxy should be a matter of a few years at worst, even if the opportunity to get her hands on the Nexus is lost.

The reason why she’s alone is that she’s studying the Vial of Destiny: she has removed it from her choker after it acted strangely, and she doesn’t want anybody to be near her when she’s that vulnerable… it’s the only thing that protects her from gods and Drylon tech users.

All she knows about the Vial is that it contains the last existing strand of Drylon DNA, but her scientists have been unable to properly study it. The reason why the cells inside the Vial have begun to show signs of biological activity remains a mystery to her.

<Your Majesty. Ganos Lal and Lady Null request an audience.> one of her guards announce, after knocking on the door.

<Send them in.> Leiko answers, hurrying to wear the choker again. She doesn’t trust Ganos Lal… she doesn’t trust anybody… but the spread of the Church of Null has proven useful to her.

<Thank you for receiving us without warning. This is very important.> Ganos Lal says, shivering beneath her heavy winter jacket: this still a Lar world after all. “Noriko Null” doesn’t mind, since this is actually her android replica.

<You should be on Myridia to announce your takeover. What are you doing here?> Leiko asks the android. She’s still the one in charge, but it would be a waste of resources to completely disconnect the artificial intelligence created by her daughter.

<Something’s come up. I wanted to see this for myself.> “Null” says, getting close enough to Leiko to punch right through her chest: she grabs the Endless Winter device that has replaced the Winter Queen’s heart, and with a swift motion she pulls it apart.

<Stop! I command you to…> Leiko says, ready to call her guards; she would do so if the android didn’t grab her by the throat, lifting her off the ground with one hand.

Leiko watches as a ghost of electricity emerges from the robotic replica, resembling her daughter.

<Interesting design. I already knew you don’t have a heart, but this takes it to a whole new level.> the mental projection says, looking at the scraps of metal held by her replica.

<Don’t worry, I didn’t take the part that keeps you alive. That damn thing still prevents me from killing you.> Noriko comments, gesturing towards the Vial of Destiny. She stares at her mother’s face for a while… it’s incredibly off-putting to watch her in this rejuvenated state, as the family resemblance is now far more pronounced than usual.

<I have to admit, stealing and reprogramming the S.I.F. android was a pretty clever idea. Too bad for you I don’t need it anymore if I want to appear in two places at once. In fact, I don’t need any technology to keep my position… can you say the same?> the projection asks, as the android lets Leiko go and makes it a point to completely break apart the Endless Winter in front of her eyes.

<You’ll never make it off this planet alive.> Leiko threatens with all the hate she has.

<No problem for me. I’ll just self-terminate this duplicate.> Ganos Lal answers, and her body indeed completely disappears with a popping sound.

<Well played. You almost make me proud.> Leiko admits, clutching her chest; she tries her best not to show it, but she’s in considerable pain.

<You think this is a game, mother? I’ve let you live when I had the chance to stop you for good. But make no mistake: the moment I figure out a way to get around the Vial of Destiny, I will kill you.>

<I would not accept anything less.>

The mental projection disappears; by the way the android twitches with black smoke coming out of its mouth and ears, there won’t be much use for it anymore.

As she lays on the floor with a hole in her chest and surrounded by the broken metal pieces of her heart, Leiko Tanaka feels something she hasn’t felt for a long time.

The throne of the Winter Kingdom is going to be very, very cold from now on.