Beyond The Impossible

Takama system, 45,000 light-years from Earth

The Ragnarok is engaged in a complicated battle with three of its sister ships: the N02-Apocalypse, the N03-Armageddon and the N04-Doomsday. All four ships are identical in speed and firepower, but the three built by Viper have an extra edge: an outer shell of neutral matter, making them impervious to any weapon available to the Ragnarok.

Null’s ship is still intact only thanks to the prowess of its current pilot, the Athenian Liosthenes: his evasive maneuvers are dodging every attack, but that’s only stalling for time.

<This is ridiculous. You’ve never had to struggle with neutral matter> Alexer Syzar comments, breaking his silence: as President of the Mortal Senate, he’s not used to stay out of any discussion about strategy. Noriko Null answers him:

<Viper knows how I usually take care of it. I tried destabilizing it, but they’re shielded against anything electromagnetic. It’s the same thing preventing Quantum from getting inside; they’re completely sealed off, the same way we’re… wait> she says, cutting herself off to work on the miniature console in the captain’s chair.

<If she got her hands on Hephaestus technology, these ships must have teleporters> she continues.

<But we’re shielded against those, right?> Kari asks.

<Exactly. I’m turning off the anti-teleportation field, to allow them to board us.>

<Say again!?>

Sure enough, the second Noriko turns off the field, two Oni robots materialize on the bridge. Syzar and Kari duck for cover, Liosthenes remains at his post, and Noriko draws her Genius Guns to shoot at the invading robots. Doing no damage whatsoever. But she smiles anyway.

<Get’em, boys.>

Quantum appears behind one of the Oni, cutting it in half using the Heaven-Slayer sword. At the same time, Torn emerges from a portal behind the second robot, shredding its internal circuitry with a myriad of tiny energy daggers.

<Are you crazy!? How did you know I took the sword with me and where did you come from!?> Quantum shouts at Noriko and Torn in rapid succession.

<I knew you took the sword the second you stepped on the ship: you don’t think I scan for this kind of things? And I felt through the Blood that Torn was coming> Noriko explains, wasting no time to start working on the deactivated robots.

<I feel like I lost a few chapters> Lily comments: she came on board through Torn’s portal, together with a Kari duplicate, and she’s utterly lost.

<Lily! Are you alright? Did they do anything to you?> Quantum asks his alien sort-of-girlfriend, but all she gives him is a cold shoulder:

<I’m fine. Null, we must discuss what we discovered on Takama.>

<It’ll have to wait until we’re out of mortal danger.>

<As much as I want to know about Amaterasu, I’m more interested in why you let two murderous robots teleport inside the ship!> Syzar complains.

<Teleporters use a carrier wave to scan the location of the arrival before the payload is transported, to avoid materialization inside a solid object; I bet the Oni can transmit the same wave to be picked up. Now that I know its exact frequency, we can piggyback a signal towards their emitter.>

<I fail to see how carrying a pig on your back is a useful signal> Torn says.

<She wants to send an electromagnetic signal. Namely, me> Quantum understands.

<Exactly. We don’t have much time: if Viper is as smart as me, the frequency is changed regularly. Get ready to go, Quantum, and leave the sword to Torn.>

<Uh? Why? I thought you said it was my prize for the tournament!>

<Seriously? You want to bring that up now!?>

<Okay, fine, but I want it back> Quantum laments, handing the Heaven-Slayer to Torn.

<Give Viper my regards> Noriko says, switching on the Oni’s teleportation signal.

 

N02-Apocalypse, engine room

There are no humans on the ship. It would take too much time to teach them how to operate its advanced technology, and in Viper’s eyes they are a liability: robots are far easier to control.

There are very few Oni on board; synthesizing neutral matter takes time and resources, and using it to coat the ships already put a massive strain on her production centers. Most of the robots on board are relatively crude copies of the Nullbots, including those taking care of the engine.

<Hey guys. Is it just me, or does this look important?> Quantum asks, looking at the ship’s Negative Drive. The robots raise their weapons, but it’s far too late.

<Time to do some damage> he says, putting his hand on the engine and transforming every single atom in his body into anti-matter.

Once in contact with the molecules in the air, his skin alone explodes with the power of several nuclear bombs. It’s enough to disperse the rest of his anti-matter, which in turn touches the material inside the ship, causing a chain reaction of unimaginable destruction.

To neutral matter, designed to withstand the temperature and pressure of the core of a star, this is nothing. But that’s just the hull: everything inside is relatively weak, and completely unsuited to withstand the chain reaction that Quantum just unleashed.

 

Bridge of the Ragnarok

Alexer Syzar can’t believe his eyes when he sees the N02-Apocalypse explode from within. He never gave much thought to Quantum, believing him to be just a stupid pawn, certainly not someone capable of so much destruction.

<Unbelievable! Now we can do the same to the other two ships!> he exclaims.

<I wish it was that simple: he needs time to reintegrate himself from the gamma rays created by the annihilation, and the ship frequency must have been changed by now> Noriko remarks.

<I shall deal with the other ship> Torn proclaims, holding the Heaven-Slayer horizontally, ready to unsheathe it. And his body starts to glow with Blood energy.

<Align the Ragnarok with the Armageddon and lower our shields> he instructs Liosthenes.

<Are you insane? We’ll be an easy target!> Liosthenes protests.

<I need five seconds> Torn assures him, still gathering his energy.

<To do what!? That’s a warship! What can you with a sword!?>

<Kill it.>

<Trust me, he knows what he’s doing: we’re not gonna die, right Torn?> Noriko asks him.

<Probably not.>

<Good enough. Lowering shields> Noriko shrugs, proceeding with the plan. And as soon as she does, the N03-Armageddon opens fire.

<Direct hit! We’ve lost the shields!> Kari informs the rest of the crew.

<Torn. Now would be a really good time to save the day> Noriko tells him.

<Instinct. Killer> the Demon says, closing his eyes. His red aura becomes visible, forming a silhouette around his body, with the addition of two horns on the forehead. He charges forward so fast that he’s just a red blur disappearing into a pentagram of fire. Everything the others can see are a series of red lines flickering across the enemy ship, and five seconds later Torn reappears on the bridge exiting another portal.

<Done> he says, holding the Heaven-Slayer horizontally, partially unsheathed: the normally white blade is glowing red, and he waits another second before sheathing it completely.

Then the N03-Armageddon breaks apart, cut into thousands of smaller pieces by the only blade sharp enough to cut neutral matter, wielded by a fully powered Demon. It was so fast that even the normally stoic Noriko is impressed.

<That’s just about the most badass thing I haven’t done by myself> she admits.

<This is a very well balanced weapon> Torn says; judging by the tone of his voice, his Instinct Killer state has a much heavier toll on his body than he likes to admit.

<What about the last ship now?> Kari asks.

<I’m taking care of it. You guys can go> they hear Vesta say, through the Neural Transmitter.

 

In front of the N03-Doomsday

The ship fires, but not at the Ragnarok: it’s trying its best to hit a target flying a tenth of the speed of light, buzzing around its hull.

Vesta managed to distract it long enough to allow Quantum and Torn to destroy the first two ships, but now it’s time for something more drastic.

“It can’t hit targets that are too close. Maybe that’s why Viper sent three of them, but now I can exploit that design flaw” she thinks.

She places her hands on the hull and starts pushing; the  ship has a mass of just a few thousand tons, so she is already straining when the N03-Doomsday fires up its engine

“Come on, let’s see what you’ve got” she mentally challenges her mechanical adversary; it’s not long before the ship’s artificial intelligence realizes it can’t win a tug-of-war contest with a goddess, and it changes strategy: it moves in reverse.

“Oh no you don’t!” she thinks, grabbing the nearest protrusion and holding it tight. If this were any other ship, the piece she’s holding would simply break off and the ship would just fly away… but having a hull of neutral matter proves to be a disadvantage.

“Why didn’t it try to go faster than light? Could it have anything to do with… the black hole, yes, where the heck did I put the black hole?” she wonders: after all, it’s invisible to the naked eye.

Still holding back the ship with one hand, she uses the other one to generate a very wide wall of fire, or strictly speaking of plasma. It soon circles a specific point a few kilometers away, draining inside the event horizon.

Vesta doesn’t know a lot about black holes, but she’s lived among space faring civilizations for hundreds of thousands of years: she was bound to pick up something. She knows that nothing can escape from the event horizon of a black hole, for example, and that no faster-than-light engine can work in the presence of a strong gravitational field.

The black hole created by the detonation of the Negative Drive has a very small event horizon, but it’s all she needs. She rotates on the spot a couple of times, still holding the N03-Doomsday with one hand, imitating as much as possible the motion of a discus thrower. When she lets go, she’s created enough force to throw the ship right at the black hole.

The neutral matter in the hull survives even this: it’s made to withstand astronomical levels of pressure. What it wasn’t made for, however, is to completely seal off what’s inside: in the presence of such gravity, even an imperfection the size of an atom is a fatal design flaw.

Everything inside the ship, from its engine to its circuits to its robotic workers, is sucked out of these microscopic imperfection and absorbed by the black hole. The effect is unlike anything Vesta’s ever seen: the N03-Doomsday slowly orbits the event horizon, its hull still intact but with the ship completely hollowed out by an invisible force. It will take some time before it falls inside the black hole, but by then Vesta is already gone.

 

Divine Palace, Takama

Eris knows mortals. After thousands of years of exile on Earth while being forced to keep a low profile, she’s learned to read their body language. While sitting next to Viper on her couch, Eris has been able to study her closely. The clone is just as focused on a live map of this solar system in front of them. And when three dots disappear in rapid succession, Eris can read something in Viper’s body: anger and fear, simultaneously.

<What happened? Where the f#ck are my ships!?>

<They seem to have been destroyed. The Ragnarok may be the inferior ship, but it still has the Vanguard on its side> Eris answers.

<I don’t remember asking for your opinion. Amaterasu!> Viper calls out, and immediately a bright light illuminates the room.

<Yes, Mother?> she asks, bowing respectfully.

<Listen carefully. There’s a ship coming to this planet. I want you to disable it, not destroy it, okay?>

<I can do it.>

<Also, I want you to kill two people on board: a white goddess with red hair and a black man with a stupid mask on his face. Under NO circumstances you will kill anyone else on board. Got it?>

<Yes Mother: kill the ship, the redhead and the masked man.>

“She’s keeping Null alive. Why does she need her?” Eris wonders. She must’ve picked up the annoying mortal trait of broadcasting her suspicions, because Viper doesn’t waste time pointing at her while adding a last order to Amaterasu:

<And if anything happens to me, kill that goddess as well.>

<Is that really necessary?> Eris asks, rolling her eyes.

<If she tries to convince you not to kill her, torture her slowly before you do> Viper specifies.