Beyond The Impossible

N01-Ragnarok, intergalactic space

Noriko Null sits across the table from the strange alien without a face. Since she doesn’t have any eyes it’s hard to tell, but Noriko feels like she’s staring at.

<You wanted to talk, right? So talk.> Noriko tries to push her, while continuing to eat her sandwich.

<You are not like the Usurpers, yes?> Siduri asks her.

The bronze-skinned faceless woman is beginning to get on Noriko’s nerves.

<Will you stop ending every sentence with “yes”? You’re smart enough to figure out how to speak English, you can learn how to stop being annoying.>

<Verbal communication is inefficient. It is better to have confirmation one’s words have been understood, yes?>

Noriko sighs, then shakes her head as she swallows the last bite.

<A million years in Heaven and you couldn’t manage to talk normally. Get on with it, Siduri, you said this was important.>

<It is. Apologies but verbal communication is inefficient, yes? Gilgamesh gave me this form but no knowledge how to use it.>

<I imagined this wasn’t how you really look like. What is your true form, Siduri?>

<You would not perceive it, yes? My people don’t exist in the material universe. But we can shape matter to give form to interact with others.>

<Which is why both my sensors and Ereshkigal’s divine senses couldn’t see you. Also, I have to guess the reason why Heaven was chosen as neutral ground to communicate with the Drylon.> Noriko deduces.

<Heaven made it easier to manifest matter for three-dimensional interaction, yes? Especially at the small scale the Usurpers operated with.>

<You keep calling the Drylon “usurpers”. Why?>

<Because they took what should have been ours, yes? It is difficult to explain, but you must understand to help my people. In Heaven, I saw you separate your essence from your physical body: you will do the same to follow me, yes?>

<You mean project my mind? Yeah, sure, I can do it. Don’t try anything funny though: I have my own defenses.>

<I will be gentle, yes?> Siduri says, holding out her hand.

<This is probably a bad idea> Noriko shrugs, grabbing the strange creature’s hand.

Her silver eyes shine as her mind leaves her body.

 

Nowhere

This is not one of Noriko’s favorite abilities, and not just because she had to learn it from Roxiana instead of developing it on her own: the sheer disorientation that comes with it is infuriating.

It takes a while for her senses to adjust to her new reality, especially since technically speaking she doesn’t have senses right now. It’s all sheer information projected into her brain.

<Where are we?> she asks, looking down to see at the self-image she’s manifesting: it feels and looks like her real body. But around her there’s nothing but fog.

<This is an ancestral memory of our home. Before it was destroyed.>

The voice comes from an orb of light that floats next to Noriko.

<Siduri. Is this your new form?>

<We have no form. We are pure information.>

<And you’re finally talking normally. So this “home” of yours, what is it exactly? Another dimension?> Noriko asks, trying to touch the fog. It doesn’t react to her presence.

<In a way. You would call it a universe. Smaller than yours, since it was never given the chance to grow before the Usurpers destroyed it.>

<Whoa, slow down! You’re throwing a lot at me! You’re from another universe!? And the Drylon could destroy one!?>

<We do not know why the Usurpers created our home and they never told us why they destroyed it. But we do know that they did not expect us to exist. They were material beings and could not conceive that a small universe could create life like ours.>

<Non-corporeal beings evolved in an artificial pocket universe… I have to give it to you, Siduri, I didn’t think anything could surprise me anymore.>

<The Usurpers had no way to see us. In those days, they lacked the ability to perceive pure information. It also took us time to understand that solid matter could be intelligent life. Eventually, we were able to open communications. We discovered many kinds of material beings existed in your universe, but the only ones sufficiently evolved were what we used to call our Makers.>

<From what little I know about the Drylon, I have to imagine they didn’t like the idea that you survived.>

<We wanted to learn together. To grow together. We offered cooperation. They demanded submission. When we would not give it, we left. We expanded.>

The fog is pushed aside to reveal a field of stars. One of them flickers, followed by another one, and then in rapid succession until an entire cluster begins pulsating.

<We found that the easiest way to interact with the material universe was through celestial objects. The core of stars could be upgraded to breed more of us. Over time, we grew large enough to claim our new home.>

Now there’s an entire galaxy in front of Noriko, with all of its stars flickering in unison.

<You… “possessed” an entire galaxy!?> she exclaims, with the sheer scale of the entire thing making her worry.

<At first. There is an inherent flaw in your universe: information cannot travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. Neither could we. But we could use the light emitted by the stars we were now inhabiting to travel to the neighboring galaxies. And so our celestial realm grew.>

A second galaxy is now shown next to the original. After a ray of light touches it, two more are added. Each of these adds two more. And each one of those adds four more galaxies, until Noriko finds herself surrounded by an entire galactic cluster.

<Everything our light touched would become us. After millions of years of peace, the Makers found us. Demanding submission again. We declined.>

The first galaxy explodes in a devastating deflagration. Then a second one, then a third.

<The Makers declared war on us. They claimed the universe was theirs and they were not willing to share it with us. They became Usurpers, killing us.>

<Not your true form though, right? You said they couldn’t touch you.>

<Without matter to possess, we are incorporeal. But every new star we possessed was destroyed, leaving us unable to expand. Especially when the Usurpers unleashed their Vermins against us.>

<Your term for the gods.> Noriko recalls, witnessing a familiar sight: a gigantic dragon is attacking one of the galaxies, eating its stars. It looks exactly like Tiamat, but it’s not necessarily her… there are dozens of similar creatures.

<We were never going to win the war, but the Usurpers were driven mad by the idea that they could not destroy us permanently. Until they created the Tablet Of Destinies.>

All the galaxies are completely wiped out in an instant, except one. Surrounded by a glowing blue halo in the middle of an enormous void.

<The Tablet was the only thing capable of destroying our true self. We concentrated all our defenses in a single stronghold, where we learned how to protect us from its power. It is where every single other member of my people resides now.>

<The Celestial Galaxy.> Noriko says, remembering the name being mentioned several times; now she understands why it’s always brought up with such reverence.

<We lost the war, but were the only adversary the Usurpers never managed to destroy. They opened diplomatic channels through Heaven, where we could co-exist; I was created to be an ambassador for my people, even though I share memories with the rest of my kind.>

<But you still don’t know what happened to the Drylon.>

<No. I was in Heaven when they disappeared. Perhaps the Celestial Galaxy knows, but I can’t return there. The Eternity Wall separates us from the universe.>

The image of the galaxy now zooms in, and Noriko can see better the energy barrier.

<So that’s what this little mind trip is about? You want me to use the Tablet to break this Eternity Wall and set your people free from exile?>

<The Eternity Wall cannot be broken by the Tablet. The wall is protected from its power, just like the Celestial Galaxy protects itself. But it can be opened through information weapons, such as your Eternal Eraser. The Usurpers discovered it at the end of the war, and you re-discovered it. When the Celestial Galaxy sensed that Hades and Ereshkigal learned to weaponize information as well, they sent me to investigate. They believe this could be used to break us free.>

<Siduri… I appreciate your help in escaping Heaven, but I’m not going to free a galaxy of living stars based only on your good word!>

<I am not at liberty to discuss the potential terms, but the Celestial Galaxy could prove to be an ally. You should talk to it.>

<I wouldn’t necessarily be against that. Can you establish a communication channel?>

<The Celestial Galaxy wishes to meet you in person. Even if you cannot pass the Eternal Wall, within close proximity they would be able to communicate.>

<Define “close proximity” at this scale. Where is the Celestial Galaxy, exactly?>

<These are the coordinates.> Siduri says, and a series of numbers appear around the galaxy.

<That is… a lot, Siduri. That’s 12 billion light years away… actually, scratch that, it’s even worse now that I think about it: at this scale, I have to factor in the expansion rate of the universe. Which expands faster than light, so the actual distance I would have to travel to get there would be… holy crap, that’s 30 billion light years!> Noriko realizes, once she does the math.

<Correct.>

<Siduri, the fastest I can travel with the Ragnarok’s Negative Drive is 400 million times faster than light. Even if I could run the engine continuously… that would still take me 75 years!!!>

<Correct.>

<Yeah that’s not gonna happen.>

<There are Vermin that can travel much faster. You have one on your ship.>

<You mean Hermes. According to Athena his top speed is 12 billion times faster than light, which would still require two and a half years. Doable, but I’m going to need more to make such a commitment.>

<Acknowledged.> Siduri replies, breaking the connection.

 

N01-Ragnarok, intergalactic space

Noriko is snapped back to reality the moment Siduri is no longer holding her hand. It’s a disorienting moment for the human, but the alien is unperturbed as she proposes:

<I will commute with the Celestial Galaxy once the ship returns to your home galaxy, yes?>

<Can’t you do it right now?>

<I need to be in what’s left of Heaven. The only access in this universe is from your base, yes?>

<In the Null Zone, yes. And if I opened a portal to that dimension here, you wouldn’t arrive anywhere near the base. But the ship will need three months to get back: just wait a couple of days until Hermes recovers, he’ll bring us much faster within range of the Portal Generator; this way we won’t have to wait for the Ragnarok’s auto pilot to bring the ship home.>

<My people cannot travel faster than light, yes?>

<Siduri, we’re inside a spaceship. We’re currently moving faster.>

<Because the ship warps space around this physical body. We know how the Vermin travel, it would destabilize this form. I will wait until the ship returns, yes?> Siduri clarifies, and then completely vanishes.

Based on everything she’s told her, Noriko is certain that she’s still in the room… but also that trying to locate her would be completely pointless.

Noriko stands up from the table, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

Staring at her own reflection on screen that shows the emptiness of space on the other side of the hull, she tells herself:

<I’ve just won the so-called “War of the Six Empires”. So why do I get the feeling that this Celestial Galaxy business is going to make it look like a schoolyard fight?>