Beyond The Impossible

Boreas, 30,000 light-years from Earth

Even with all the technology of the Winter Castle, Leiko Tanaka can’t find anything to make the cold go away. The room is kept at much higher temperature than what the Lar prefer, but she still has to wear several layers of clothes. She’s blowing air on her hands in a futile attempt to warm them, when the door to her private room opens.

<Your Majesty. The Mortal Co-Empress is here to see you.> one of her Lar attendants informs her.

<Yes, of course, let her in.> Leiko replies.

Noriko Null enters, wearing her usual green leather jacket and black T-shirt. The attendant doesn’t even look at her; she just bows and leaves. Noriko notices this and comments:

<Now that’s just rude.>

<She’s a traditionalist. According to Lar traditional etiquette, it’s not polite for a commoner to look directly at royalty.> Leiko explains.

<Didn’t think you’d know something like that.>

<I’m their Queen, the least I can do is learn about their society. I’ve already told her I have no problem with her looking at me, perhaps I should’ve told her she can look at you too.>

<Yeah do that. It’s kind of creepy.> Noriko acknowledges, looking around and awkwardly waiting with her hands in her pockets, saying nothing. Leiko is the one to break the silence:

<Aren’t you cold dressed like that? I’m freezing.>

<Survival Field Generator. Keeps me at comfortable temperatures.> Noriko replies.

<Sounds wonderful. Could I have one too?>

<Nope.>

Twenty seconds pass, without any of them saying anything. Then Noriko walks towards the door.

<This is dumb. I have nothing to say to you anyway.>

<Wait! I’m glad you came by. I actually… do want to talk to you.> Leiko says.

<About what? You don’t even remember who I am.>

<Exactly! I know I am your mother… even if we look the same age, something I’m still struggling to understand… but I don’t remember anything from my past. However I did read about it, and I have some questions. Did I really get into power by killing my husband?>

<Yes. You married the Winter King specifically to ascend to the throne, then murdered him.>

<So I didn’t love him?>

<I’m fairly sure you’ve never loved anyone in your life.>

<Not even your father? I don’t remember him either.>

<Good.> Noriko quickly comments, the spite in her voice clearly audible.

<Is he still alive? I’d like to see him if…>

<No. You’ll never get within a light-year of him.>

<If you hate me so much, I’m guessing I never loved you either.> Leiko realizes.

<You got pregnant because you thought you could use me as a weapon, you abandoned me when I was one day old, and you’ve been trying to either murder me or ruin my life for the past ten years. If that sounds like love to you…>

<I’m sorry.> Leiko interrupts her.

Noriko wishes she could see any sign in her body language that she’s lying, or that she’s faking being sorry. And the fact that she can’t gives her emotions she doesn’t know how to process.

<I knew from what I read that I was a horrible person but… what kind of mother would be hated so much by her own daughter?>

<We share chromosomes. That’s the extent of how much of a mother you are to me. Why did I even listen to Shinobu and try having a connection with you?> Noriko wonders out loud.

<I’m sorry. I know I keep saying that, but that’s true. I wish I had been a good mother. I guess now it would be awkward trying to be one, isn’t it?>

<Yeah. Just a little.> Noriko replies, glad when a beep from her N-Watch gets her attention. She presses a button and the watch projects a holographic graph.

<Trouble?> Leiko asks.

<Earth’s satellite defense system detected a cloaked ship.>

<I didn’t know Earth had that kind of technology.>

<It doesn’t. It’s my satellite defense system. This would normally be a job for the Global Defense Organization, but I’ve flagged some specific engine signatures to be reported directly to me.>

<You sound worried.>

<I am. That kind of engine is used in the Aegian Galaxy. They shouldn’t have the technology to get this close to Earth before being noticed… I gotta go.>

<I understand. But please, Noriko, don’t be a stranger… don’t you wish you had a real mother?>

<I gotta go.> Noriko repeats, rushing to leave the room.

 

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Earth

The trail leading to the top of the Kīlauea volcano is a stunning beautiful spectacle of nature, but the dark skinned woman standing near the edge of the crater is not particularly impressed.

She’s so concentrated on fidgeting the small device in her hands to take notice of the hot steam rising from the ground in front of her, or to notice the two tourists walking up to her.

<Good morning! Nice view, isn’t it?> a middle aged white woman asks her.

<I suppose. I’ve seen better. Are you locals?> she asks, not even looking at them.

<No, we’re from Missouri. What about you, ma’am?> an older man asks.

<I’m not from around here. Ever heard of Thalassia?>

<You mean Tallahassee? It’s in Florida, right?> the white woman asks her husband, who instead is focusing on the device that the stranger is done assembling.

<What is that, a camera? A drone?>

<Antimatter charge.> Roxiana answers, before throwing the device towards the crater with all the strength that she has. Then she turns towards the tourists and asks:

<Remind me again, what’s the name of the god you worship around here?>

Before the tourists can answer, the charge hits the ground generating a tremendous explosion.

Its power is entirely focused downward, so it doesn’t obliterate the volcano, but it’s still enough to cause both a powerful earthquake and a massive eruption of lava that shoots into the sky.

The bracelet on Roxiana’s left wrist, the Absolute Defense, shields her from the heat and toxic gas.

The tourists are not so lucky: the lava rises up to their level very quickly.

<I guess it doesn’t matter. For what it’s worth you were right, this is a nice view.> Roxiana shrugs off their deaths, standing knee deep in hot lava: the Absolute Defense prevents it from actually touching her. She’s not even feeling the warmth, admiring instead the catastrophe she unleashed.

<Oh well. Time to get to work.> she tells herself; the same gravity belt that allowed her to keep her ground during the earthquake allows her to float towards the newly re-energized volcano.

 

Hours later

Dozens of ships sent by the Olympian Ministry of Planetary Development are already scattered around the island, providing aid to the local population and using gravity generators to stabilize the ground and avoid further earthquakes.

The Kīlauea volcano is still erupting, and forcefields have been deployed to direct the lava flow into the ocean.

Quantum feels a bit useless looking at the relief effort: many Kari duplicates are helping coordinate the various agencies, and Vesta has been busy putting out fires. Something simple for her, since she simply has to wish the fire away.

But aside from helping locate people trapped in damaged buildings, his powers haven’t been particularly useful so far.

When he feels the familiar reverberations of a teleportation device, he moves back to the edge of the crater only to find Noriko Null there.

<I thought I felt the use of the Portal Generator.> he comments.

<I’ve been briefed on the relief operation. Think you can spare a moment to help me?> she asks.

<Sure, it’s not like I’ve been able to do much. Which feels of weird, you know? We’ve always been able to do so much in natural disasters, but with all this high tech there’s not much else to do. I’m glad helping people is easier, don’t get me wrong, but…>

<This was anything but natural. Did you have a look at the particles down the crater?> she asks.

He concentrates on the volcano, looking it with more than just visible light.

<Something created a whole lot of gamma rays down there. Volcanos don’t do that, right? And I’ve seen that pattern before… it’s left behind by…>

<Antimatter.> Noriko deduces, just by looking at scans on her N-Phone.

<Yeah. Who’d drop freaking antimatter into a volcano!?>

<The only person smart enough to build a portable antimatter grenade that could focus all of its power to blast a hole thorough the mantle and to build a cloaking device that fooled my sensors until it was too late. Roxiana.>

<What does she have against Earth now?>

<Nothing. Roxiana is motivated only by one thing: discovering secrets from the past. Which means she’s down there looking for something specific.>

<Down? Down where, into the volcano?>

<Into the Earth itself. She’s looking for something beneath the mantle; a volcano would be the quickest way to access it. The antimatter blast was just to get deeper more quickly.>

<So she’s going where, the center of the Earth or something? There’s nothing there!>

<There is. The Heart Of The Universe. I dropped it after unlocking it to wipe out the Guild during the invasion, years ago. Luckily, I know exactly where it is… Dmitry came up with a way to triangulate its position. It was his way to make an impression on me.> she recalls.

<And Roxiana can get there because she has the Absolute Defense.> Quantum nods.

<As long as that thing is active, she’s completely impervious to damage. Do you think you can locate her somehow?>

<If I turn into neutrinos I can phase through the entire planet in a second. But I can’t change into anything else without being trapped down there, and I won’t have a way to bring her back.>

<You won’t have to. I have an idea…>

 

3,000 miles below the surface

The temperature at this depth is about the same of the surface of the Sun, but Roxiana feels just fine: the Absolute Defense is an apt name for her Drylon device.

She can’t, however, see anything. She’s near the transition between the inner and the outer core, surrounded by a liquid ocean of mostly iron and nickel: there’s no light here, and most instruments have a hard time picking up any data.

The density of the magma around her is so high that her personal gravity generator has to work at peak capacity to allow her to move, while also preventing her from falling any deeper.

Her sensors do eventually pick up something, and her goal feels far more concrete when she finally has something to hold in her hand: a sphere, the size of a baseball.

It’s a short lived victory. Something grabs her arm and pulls her away, flying through thousands of miles of magma and solid rock at supersonic speeds.

Even after that brutal journey, and being thrown into the side of volcano hard enough to crack concrete, Roxiana is still completely unharmed. Still, even her prodigious mind needs a moment to process the drastic change in the environment around her. She shakes her head, finding herself facing three members of the Vanguard.

<Drop it, Roxiana. Now.> Noriko Null threatens her, aiming both her Genius Guns at her.

Vesta is to her right, her fists glowing with fire; she doesn’t look like she just dipped through Earth itself to physically drag Roxiana out. Quantum is to her right, ready to react to her every move at the speed of light.

Fortunately for the former Nexus hosts, she just has to think faster than he does. Her hand tightens on the Heart Of The Universe, and she vanishes without a trace.

<Did… did she just…> Vesta hesitates to say.

<Teleported away. F##k.> Noriko swears, holstering her guns and swallowing her pride.

<Wait, she used the Heart!? I thought that thing needed to be unlocked first!> Quantum says.

<I unlocked it to use against the Guild. It’s possible it stayed that way… the Heart is one the few Drylon devices we’ve ever come across that doesn’t link itself to a single host.> Noriko reasons.

<Like the Monolith that gives Myridians their powers.> Vesta nods.

<That means Roxiana could be anywhere right now.> Quantum says.

<Worse. When I used the Heart to destroy all traces of the Guild in the Galaxy, I only utilized a small fraction of its power. Right now, Roxiana has in her hands the most powerful weapon we’ve ever come across.> Noriko says, genuinely scared at the thought.