Kythera, 950 light-years from Earth
Thalas Khanos is a sadistic murderer. During his years as Oracle and High Geneticist of Demeter he was responsible for the painful deaths of countless test subjects. His gangly figure towers everybody else in the room, as he paces back and forth while he talks. The disdain of the Vanguard is tangible, especially Kari’s. If it weren’t for the numerous Talos robots present, she’d gladly kill him where he stands.
<What are you doing here? Hermes got bored of you and kicked you out?> she asks.
<I’m not the only one here with questionable allegiances. Where is Null? It’s not like her to send her attack dogs on such a mission without accompanying them.>
<Like we’re gonna tell you> Quantum mocks him. Then Vesta moves forward to ask Talas Khanos:
<What’s going on here? We know Hekate sent an army to conquer the planet. Is she at war with Aphrodite? Why is Hephaestus defending one of her worlds?>
<The galaxy moves quickly these days. Thanks to your actions on Myridia…>
<You mean when we kicked your #ss and liberated the planet?> Quantum interrupts him; Khanos gives him a glance to underline that his defeat is still a sore point for him.
<As I was saying, your interference caused Hephaestus to declare war on all his neighboring gods. The only one capable of providing any resistance is Hekate, thanks to a mysterious ally called the Empire of Shadows.>
Quantum, Kari and Vesta exchange worried looks. Torn and Laceration don’t seem to pay attention.
<This planet has strategic importance to Hephaestus, which is why we are protecting it.>
<What strategic importance? This is a Lampyrian brothel> Kari protests.
<I ask the questions here, child. Did anybody miss the fact that I’m the one with an army!?>
<You had an army the last time> Torn reminds him.
<This is not the moment to antagonize him. I want to talk with Hephaestus> Vesta declares.
<And I want to know why the Vanguard is on my planet, and how you managed to recruit yet another Demon> Talas Khanos retorts, moving towards Laceration.
When he tries to touch the girl’s face, he’s stopped by an energy whip on his wrist and with an energy dagger on his throat. Yet he’s smiling, because the Talos robots quickly target both Torn and Laceration, triggering a strange Mexican standoff.
<Step away from my daughter> Torn menaces him.
<You are not calling the shots this time. Not with 300 Talos on the planet> Khanos reminds them.
Everyone backs off, but the tension remains high until Khanos concedes:
<Very well, I will summon Hephaestus. You will be my guests until his arrival.>
Nowhere
Noriko is exhausted. The stairwell seems to go on forever, and while she knows her body is now just a simulation within an alien computer, it doesn’t make it any easier.
<This is a waste of time> she complains, sitting down to massage her feet.
<As most interactions with inferior intellects are> the Core answers.
<I’m serious. We’re like in the Matrix, right? Why do we need to walk to get out of here?>
<Why indeed.>
<That’s it? That’s all you have to say? This is the first thing you said that wasn’t an insult about my intelligence> Noriko notes.
The Core doesn’t reply. Noriko looks up: the spiral stairwell seems truly infinite from their location.
<You said earlier I’m not the first person to get here. Was the first one my mother?>
<I have tried to lead her, but she would not listen. Like all those who have gazed upon the Core, she wasn’t ready. Only a superior mind can withstand its sight.>
<Back to insulting me for losing my super-intelligence, I see.>
<The sad, pathetic truth is that intelligence has nothing to do with any of this. That is why I have not pushed Leiko to seize your Nexus, for the genius it grants is inconsequential to me.>
<But the Nexus was the only thing that made me special. Without it, I’m just the janitor’s daughter.>
<I have met many wielders of the Nexus over the last five billion years. Civilizations have risen and fallen to donate all of their knowledge to them, only for their champions to fall before me…all except one. There is a small, infinitesimal chance that you might become the second.>
<What do I have to do?>
<You must accept that your goal is impossible.>
<Right. Any other clue that isn’t terribly helpful?>
The Core doesn’t answer, proceeding instead with its silent walk up the stairs.
<Yeah, I thought so.>
Leningrad Plasma Reactor Plant, Russia
Abyss is exhausted. Three days of uninterrupted work…no sleep, food or rest. It’s taking its toll over her body, but she stubbornly refuses to surrender to her human frailty.
This is her masterpiece. Her triumph. Her legacy.
<Rise> she commands.
Twenty tons of metal move, towering over the ninety pounds girl that gave it life. It has the shape of a humanoid, but the chest opens revealing its artificial nature and the seat for its pilot.
<ARMAGEDDON ARMOR ONLINE. STANDING BY FOR INSTRUCTIONS.>
<Find me a god to kill.>
Kythera, 950 light-years from Earth
Max Black a.k.a. Quantum is restless. As much as he wants to fight, there’s no way the Vanguard can take out the 300 Talos robots that defend the planet.
Max is looking at the stars from the window of his room in the Cathedral, wondering which one is Earth, when someone opens the door. It’s a Lampyrian of course, apparently the sole inhabitants of the planet. All female, all stunningly beautiful women with blue skin, bat wings and no nose. This one is wearing a red negligee and carrying a bundle of towels.
<Having trouble sleeping?> she asks.
<I’m not used to nights that last fifteen hours.>
<Good. That should give us enough time> she adds, locking the door behind her.
<Look, you’re very pretty, but I’m not really in the mood for…>
<I’m not here to have sex with you> she interrupts him bluntly.
<Oh. Okay, but you don’t have to sound so enthusiastic about it.>
<You are Maximilian Black, also known as Quantum. Your companions are Kari Zel, also known as Legion; Vesta, also known as Hestia; and Torn, also known as…well he’s just known as Torn. You all work for Noriko Null, the Slayer of Gods.>
<You know an awful lot about us. You work for Talas Khanos?>
<My name is Lysia, I’m an agent of the Mortal Liberation Front. You must have heard of us.>
<A couple times. Why exactly are you working in a brothel?>
<Easiest way to gather information for a Lampyrian. Aliens see us only as prostitutes. But Kythera doesn’t have enough strategic value to explain an invading force of 300 Talos… the highest number of robots Hephaestus ever sent to a planet is five. Which is where you come with the equation.>
<You mean “into” the equation.>
<No, I mean that I want you to give me the equation that Null used to defeat a Talos on Earth.>
<How do you know that!?>
<As I said, I work for the Mortal Liberation Front. We are everywhere.>
Over the pacific ocean
Kayla Black a.k.a. Blue Star never thought this would happen to her. Becoming a superhero for the government, fighting alien robots and artificial terrorists…nothing comparing to being in the backseat of a Chinese fighter jet and talking to a 5 inch tall hologram of General Anderson.
<Glad to see you’re still in one piece. I understand Artemis really did a number on you> he says.
<It’s hard to hurt someone who can absorb any kind of energy. The Chinese were really in a hurry to send me back as soon as they could…what’s going on?>
<We’re planning an attack to Artemis. Believe it or not, the Chinese are so desperate that they agreed to the quickest planned joint operation I’ve ever seen. They have scrambled what’s left of their air force to draw Artemis out of their territory, and it seems to be working.>
<That’s why I’m flying over the ocean?>
<We’re leading her towards Midway, where we will throw everything we’ve got at her.>
<From what I’ve seen, it will only slow her down.>
<I know, but we need time to fly you and Eris there. Your job will be to use her God Restrain against Artemis; that should nullify her powers and make her vulnerable.>
<Are you sure about this, sir? We don’t even know how that thing works.>
<That’s why we’re doing this far from any populated area. If it doesn’t work, the President will authorize a nuclear strike.>
Nowhere
The Core carefully opens a door, followed by Noriko. It’s much darker than she expected, so it takes her a while to figure out her surroundings. When she begins to grasp the situation, even though she knows this is only a virtual reality, she feels a chill down her spine.
The door is in the middle of a vast, grey floor that reaches the horizon. Beyond that, seven granite thrones as big as the highest mountain. One of them has been severely damaged.
Above, the sky is full of stars, or so it seems at first glance. They are actually galaxies, too many to keep count, each of them containing billions of stars. They have been carefully arranged in a geometric pattern of clearly artificial design.
Noriko is rendered speechless by the awe-inspiring view, leaving the Core to explain:
<This is the Drylon Empire at the height of its power, five billion years ago. Behold their work, and despair in the face of their infinite superiority to all life in the universe.>
<Oh there you are. What took you so long?> a male voice asks, approaching Noriko from behind.
Still freaked out by the situation, she retracts in fear. She recognizes him: the shirtless man with the fiery red beard that she met on the boat. She asks:
<You followed me?>
<Actually, you followed me: I’ve been here for the past three thousand years or so. I’m Nobody.>
She reluctantly shakes his hand; the Core prefers to keep its distance.
<I’m Null. Noriko Null. So…what is this place!?>
<A simulation. The Core is a database, but over billions of years the information stored inside it has become so degraded that there’s very little left. Its artificial intelligence has also been damaged, so it’s constantly trying to interface with others to repair itself.>
<Is that what it did to my mother, and to her parents?>
<Yes, but mortal minds are not built to interact with Drylon software… it dilutes their soul, if you know what I mean.>
<It describes Leiko, all right. So this Core thing is billions of years old? What’s it doing on Earth?>
<I took it there.>
<No, I mean…wait, I thought the Core was brought to Earth by Ulysses.>
<It was> Nobody smiles. Noriko’s jaw drops when she realizes what he means:
<Get out! You’re Ulysses!? THAT Ulysses!?>
<No, I’m the shadow he left in the Core when he connected its mind to it at the end of his Odyssey.>
<Wow. I have like a million questions to ask you!>
<Go ahead, we have all the time in the world. I have no idea how the real Ulysses managed to get out of the virtual prison.>
Noriko smiles and, much to Nobody’s surprise, her eyes shine silver.
<Don’t worry. I’m working on it.>
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