Beyond The Impossible

25.000 light-years from Earth

There are several Kari Zel duplicates on board the shuttle that departed from the N01-Ragnarok, but they are not alone: the mental projection of Noriko Null is also there, and she doesn’t like what she sees on the ship’s sensors.

<This makes no sense. This solar system is just… whack.>

<Here we go again. You said the same thing about my planet.> Kari says, rolling her eyes.

<Well, yeah. Myridia being in a system with six stars is weird, but not entirely impossible… especially with gods being able to move around stars. But look at this data!>

Kari does indeed look at the two images on the screen, representing the only two planets in the system: one that looks remarkably like Earth, and another one completely covered in vegetation.

<I don’t see what’s the problem with it.>

<Did you check the diameter of the green planet? It’s fifty times the size of Jupiter!>

<…and?>

<And not only it’s a terrestrial planet, it supports life. That is just physically impossible, Kari, that thing is the size of a small star!>

<So I guess the planet we’re looking for is the other one. Or is there something weird with that one as well?>

<The sensors are not picking up anything from it. Something must be scrambling them.>

<I’ll land the shuttle there and look around. Then we’ll check the green one.>

<With the force of gravity of that planet? You’d be crushed in one second flat; I’ll have Quantum check out the place in his energy form.>

<Fine by me. Aquilia, here we come!> Kari exclaims excitedly, piloting the shuttle towards the smaller planet. The ship is nowhere near as fast as the Ragnarok, but it’s still just a trip of a couple of minutes at best.

<Technically we don’t know which planet is Aquilia. We just know it’s in this system.> Noriko corrects her.

<Weird that Eros doesn’t know anything about the place, other than the fact that nobody is ever allowed to leave it. Is he still on Myridia?>

<For the moment. I’m organizing a meeting between Earth’s governments and Myridia… hopefully I can get them to agree to a formal alliance… and having Eros around would complicate things.>

<He would certainly make things more fun, that’s for sure. Here we are: sensors still aren’t working. I’m flying blind.> Kari explains, but that is the least of her problems.

At first she thinks that something hit the ship. Then the engine suddenly stops working, closely followed by every single electronic device.

<That’s bad. Even the manual controls are not working. Any ideas, Nori? Noriko?> Kari asks, but her friend’s mental projection has completely vanished.

And just because things can always get worse, the ship’s hull is quickly evaporating as the vehicle is engulfed by the flames of an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry.

<Okay. I don’t think this is gonna work, but let’s give it a try… 10K Rise!> she shouts, her body surrounded by a pink aura as her physical power increases by a factor of ten thousand.

She’s not under the impression that it’s enough to save her. But she’s strong enough to smash through the escape hatch, moving too fast for the flames to actually hurt her.

With its much higher mass, the shuttle proceeds to evaporate in its descent. That still isn’t enough to save her: there are fifty thousand feet between her and the ground… and jumping out of the shuttle didn’t do much to cancel her momentum.

<This is craziest s#it I’ve ever done!!! 5K Split! > she exclaims, creating a second duplicate and sharing between the two half of her power-up.

The second duplicate is one mile closer to the ground than the first one; it still retains the momentum, but at least it’s not on fire. The first duplicate disappears in an instant, allowing her enough time to repeat the process: a new duplicate is another mile closer to the ground, and still five thousand times more durable than her original body.

She repeats the process until she’s less than a mile away from landing. Much to her relief, there’s a body of water beneath her. Still not survivable, even with her 10K Rise at full strength.

<Here goes nothing!!! Limit Breaker!!!>

Her body concentrates all the power from her potential duplicates, with her endurance skyrocketing beyond anything humanly possible. Still not invulnerable, but with her strength enhanced millions of times she hits the water with a perfect dive.

Her muscles and bones will ache for weeks, but she survives. The dive almost takes her to the bottom of the lake where she landed, and the strain is enough to make her lose consciousness.

Her body slowly floats towards the surface… and then continues to float into the air, rising until it reaches the only living being to witness her arrival.

It’s a very large eagle, twice the size of the largest ones found on Earth, and all of its feathers are completely white. It looks at Kari while fluttering its wings to remain in place.

Then it flies towards the shore, followed by the floating body of Kari Zel, without making a sound.

The flight doesn’t take much. Kari is gently put to rest in a field of grass, her naked body mostly uninjured with the exception of very notable burns on her skin.

The eagle lands on her chest, and Kari wakes up feeling warmth spread through her veins as her injuries are miraculously healed.

<Hello there. Sorry, you’re not my type.> Kari tells the eagle, having to wrestle its talons to release the hold it has on her breasts.

<Note to self: never do that again.> she comments, stretching her aching arms and looking at the sky: the flaming streak left by the destruction of the shuttle is barely visible in the distance.

<Nori, you won’t believe what I just did. Noriko? Do you read me? Hello?> she repeats, trying to get any response from the Soul Relay.

<Nothing. Whatever screwed up the ship must’ve broken the relay as well. Looks like we’re in this together, buddy.> she tells the eagle.

The bird has flown towards the nearest tree and is just staring at her.

<This isn’t where I landed. Did you bring me here?>

Kari didn’t expect the eagle to actually answer, of course. But then the bird takes flight, moves a few feet away, and then stops in mid-air like a giant hummingbird. She gets the feeling that the eagle is just waiting for her to catch up.

<Well, I suppose I don’t have any other options. Lead the way, buddy.> Kari shrugs, following the flight of the eagle.

 

Midgard City, Earth

Noriko can’t connect to Kari’s mind anymore, and she tries to hide the surprise as well as she can.

<Do you have any questions, Null?> the hologram of President Warden asks her.

For a moment, Noriko had forgotten that she was in the middle of a holographic conference call with a dozen world leaders… she’s not used to have her mind in more than one place at the same time. Not just yet.

<Everything is fine, mr. President. Please continue.> she replies, while at the same time switching the frequency of her own Soul Relay to a different destination.

<Quantum, this is Null. Have you enjoyed your time off?> she mentally asks.

<Oh, hey Nori. I’m almost done with catching up with my comic books, but I’m guessing the vacation is over?>

<Sort of. Kari’s mission was a bust; I need you to investigate something. You can use the Portal Generator to teleport to the Ragnarok and proceed from there.>

<I still don’t get why you use the ship if you have the generator.>

<Because I can only open a portal to a place I’ve already mapped multi-dimensionally.>

<I won’t pretend to understand. Should I take Kari with me? Please tell me I won’t need Torn.>

<Neither of them would survive the place I’m sending you.>

<Well that’s not exactly reassuring. Did something happen to Kari’s duplicate? Should I check?>

<Kari can handle herself. It’s that green planet that worries me, though I don’t know why.>

<Woman’s intuition?>

<I don’t like it when I’m not the one breaking the rules of physics. Keep a sharp eye, Max… I get the distinct feeling that solar system is not what it looks like.>

 

Aquilia, 25.000 light-years from Earth

Kari feels more than a little silly following a bird through the woods, but she’s convinced it was a good idea when she finally reaches a house.

<Must be my lucky day.> she comments, getting closer to examine the building.

The architectural style is somewhat familiar to her, even though she can’t quite remember from where. It’s a rather simple design, but the people of this planet can’t bee too primitive… she can peek from the windows that there are electronic devices inside.

<Ραησε thy hands and no σουδδεν moves, young μαηδεν.>

The stern voice is coming from behind Kari, who turns to face the man talking to her. When she turns, she has to catch the blanket he threw at her.

<Cover thy σχαμεσ, μαηδεν. We don’t worship Aphrodite here.>

The man talking to her is wearing a simple tunic; despite the white hair and beard, he’s probably not even in his forties. And he’s covering his eyes with one hand.

<Hello. My name is Kari Zel. Sorry if you got the wrong impression, but I wasn’t trying to break into your house or anything.> she replies. Even if she’s not ashamed in the slightest, she still covers herself with the blanket to convince the man to at least look at her.

<Thy σπεεcχ is strange, Karizel. From where δοστ thee come from?>

Kari is speaking Modern Olympian, the de facto galactic language. She can understand most of what the man is saying, but it sounds like a much older dialect.

<Myridia. It’s very far from here, you probably have never heard of it.>

<Indeed I have not. Are thou a χαρλοτ of Aphrodite?>

<I’m… well, it’s kind of embarrassing, but I’m completely lost. Would it be too much to ask if I can stay at your place for a while?>

<Is that why thou were σπγηνγ? Are thou λοοκηνγ φορ hospitality from my house?>

<Uhm… yes? You don’t need to worry, I think I’ve proven that I have nothing to hide.> Kari replies, hoping to have guessed correctly the meaning of the man’s words. He hesitates for a moment, then he breaks into a big smile shows her the way to the door.

<Of course! No σοουλ is ever denied hospitality on Aquilia, be they kings and queens or χαρλοτσ and prostitutes! Come this way, please!>

Kari somewhat reluctantly walks into the house, where the lights are turned up just as they walk inside. The man rushes off to another room, leaving her alone to inspect the place.

It’s a rather rustic home; the man is probably a farmer, judging from the tools she spots scattered around. Moving closer to the fireplace, she examines the family pictures resting there: in addition to the man and his wife, there are also pictures of their three children… two teenagers, a boy and a girl, plus their little sister. They all have white hair and blue eyes; it would be weird to someone from Earth, but as a Myridian that’s even weirder to Kari.

<Please, you can wεαρ this. My wife will not mind.> the man says, handing her a short white dress that is almost her size.

<Thanks. Nice family you have there, mister… I don’t think you gave me your name, sir.>

<Of course, where are my μαννερσ. Primus Maior Aquilia Bromidus; these are my wife Quarta, my oldest son Primus Minor and my daughters, Secunda and Tertia. What about thy name?>

<I already told you. Kari Zel.>

<Thy family name, yes. Prima Myridia Karizel, I ασσουμε? Or dost thou have older siblings?>

<Just call me Kari. I have a lot of questions for you, “Primus”… maybe we should sit down.>

<Of course. Let me light the sacred fire first.> the man says, pointing his finger at the fireplace: a lightning bolt emerges from his finger, lighting the place easily.

<How did you do that?> Kari wonders; she didn’t see him use any kind of technology.

<Do what?>

<You just shot electricity. From your hands.>

<Why, dost thou follow older traditions? Thou should know that Hestia does not mind us enjoying the blessings of Zeus.>

<Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. You worship Hestia?>

<Prima Olympia Hestia, hallowed be her name. Dost thou not worship her? I gather from thy lack of shame that thou follow Aphrodite, but Hestia is the supreme ruler of all gods.>

<Yeah, uhm, “worshiping” is a strong word, but I follow her quite a lot. In fact, the reason why I’m on Aquilia is because I’m looking for her.>

<My wife’s sister is one of Hestia’s priestesses. Thou can request an audience with her.>

<That would be great. Listen, Primus, about that “blessing” thing… how many people on Aquilia can do the same thing you did?>

<Wield the power of lightning? Thou are a silly χαρλοτ, Karizel. Every living soul on Aquilia has received the same exact blessing from Zeus himself!>

“An entire planet of people with electric powers? No wonder people don’t want the rest of the Galaxy to know about this place” Kari thinks.