Beyond The Impossible

An undisclosed location

When he left the Winter Kingdom to defect to Earth, Kylon knew he would be under intense scrutiny. He didn’t expect to be kept in a cell under constant surveillance. He can’t even take a shower or go to the bathroom with some privacy: every second of his life is now scrutinized by security cameras. Even now, in the middle of the night, officers working for the Global Defense Organization take turns to watch the footage of him sleeping.

A sudden burst of light wakes him up. He identifies the effect of a teleportation device, and he recognizes the girl that just appeared in his cell.

<Man, it’s cold in here!> she exclaims, zipping up her leather jacket and blowing air on her hands in an attempt to warm herself up. Kylon gets out of bed, wearing only the lower part of his prison uniform: to the grey-skinned Lar, it’s still uncomfortably hot.

<To what do I owe the pleasure, Null? I assume your presence is not sanctioned by the local authorities.>

<What makes you say that?>

<You didn’t come through the front door. And since I don’t hear any alarms, I would also guess that you took precautions to keep this meeting private; perhaps by hacking the security footage?>

<I don’t have time to play games, Kylon. I need access to the Shadow Network.>

<Straight to the point, right? I heard that about you. I promised the governments of your world to give everything I know about Lar technology to Earth; so far they’ve been more interested in making sure I’m not carrying some kind of lethal pathogen.>

<What did I say about playing games? You came to Earth using a massive portal in Canada, then it disappeared. Is that part of the Shadow Network? How do I make the portal appear again?>

<I know you are a businesswoman, Null. You, of all people, should know that there is no such thing as a free service, no matter where you are in the universe.>

<You want something in return. I get it. What is it?>

<I want you to kill the Ice Queen. That’s the only reason I came to Earth.>

<Nothing would make me happier than getting rid of her, but I don’t have time for that. I need access to that portal now.>

<Oh. Well, in that case, you need gamma radiation.>

<What?>

<I believe that’s the correct local term for the shortest wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum? The portal is invisible and intangible until it’s exposed to a short burst of gamma rays. Once it’s tangible you’ll need a much larger dose to activate it, similar to the amount generated in nuclear fission.>

<You’re kidding, right? Who in their right mind would make a device that only works when it’s exposed to nuclear bomb!?>

<The Lar body is extremely resistant to gamma rays. If you’re going to activate the portal from this side, I suggest to do it away from humans. Do you need help setting up the coordinates?>

<You’re… strangely cooperative. What about your price?>

<You didn’t object to my request to kill the Ice Queen, only to its timing. You already want to kill her, don’t you?> he asks. His piercing blue eyes are mesmerizing, almost like he’s seeing into her soul. Her brain might not be at full power right now, but she knows Kylon is more than he seems.

<If what you said checks out, I’ll put in a good word for you with the GDO. If you lied, I hope this cell is comfortable enough.> Noriko says, snapping her fingers to teleport away.

 

Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park

British Columbia, Canada

After Kylon suddenly appeared here a few days ago, the national park was put under the direct supervision of the Global Defense Organization. But with no sign of the massive portal that appeared with him and vanished immediately after his crash, the GDO now assumes that the portal itself is no longer on Earth. They only keep a very minimal presence in the park, something that the Vanguard has all intentions to exploit.

<Remind me again what you want me to do?> Amaterasu asks while looking at the nature surrounding her, while her body starts to radiate sunlight.

<Stay dark! We don’t want need any witnesses!> Vesta chastises her, grabbing her shoulder to get the attention of the young goddess.

<Oh, right! Sorry. I’m not very good with darkness.> the sun goddess admits.

<Now, do you remember what gamma rays are?>

<The jittery light beams?>

<Yes the, uhm, “jittery light beams”. According to Noriko your sunlight blasts have a very high concentration of gamma rays, but don’t overdo it, okay? We just want to switch the portal on.>

<I have a question. Why can’t you show me how to do this?>

<Because I’m the goddess of fire, and fire doesn’t create gamma rays. Normally Quantum or Noriko would take care of something like this, but they need our help. Do you understand?>

<Yes, of course. Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I’m dumb, aunt Vesta!>

<Please don’t call me aunt.> the goddess replies: she doesn’t have a good relationship with the vast majority of her nieces and nephews, since most of them are trying to enslave all mortals.

Amaterasu doesn’t seem to notice Vesta’s displeasure at hearing the term: she just points the palm of her hand towards the invisible target and releases a considerable but fortunately yet non-lethal dose of gamma rays.

The result is spectacular: a massive metallic arc, wide enough to dwarf an entire mountain, appears in the blink of an eye.

<Your turn, Kari.> Vesta says through the Neural Transmitter, as she attaches a small device to the portal and watches it vanish in a blinding flash of light.

 

Fermi crater, far side of the Moon

Kari Zel puts on her sunglasses, to shield her eyes from the brightness caused by the teleportation. Even though she’s on the Moon, she doesn’t need a bulky spacesuit thanks to the Survival Field emitted from her belt: a combination of forcefields and environmental controls that allow her to completely ignore the huge variety of things that would otherwise kill her in seconds.

<I can’t believe this actually worked. How is the ship doing?> she asks through radio.

 

N01-Ragnarok, lunar orbit

Another Kari Zel is on the bridge, together with half a dozen other duplicates who are busy dealing with exploding consoles and sparks flying everywhere.

<I think we just blew up the ship’s teleporter. Who knew there was a limit to how much stuff it could teleport at once!> she answers.

<Nori’s gonna hate that, she’s practically addicted to this tech. Is the cloaking device still working?> her other self asks from the Moon’s surface.

<For the moment, yes, the Ragnarok is still invisible to Earth technology. Do you mind staying there for a while? Without the teleporter, you’ll have to wait for Vesta to pick you up.>

<Are you kidding me? Of course I want to stay longer, this is so cool! I can’t believe Noriko would miss the opportunity to be here!>

<Well, we need her to reprogram the portal, so she’ll have to see it eventually.>

<Do you think she’ll do it in time to save Max? Considering what’s happening to her…>

<Come on, this is Noriko we’re talking about! I’m sure she’s on top of everything!>

 

Midgard City, Antarctica

<Dammit, why doesn’t anything work!?> Noriko yells, slamming her fist against the desk.

She would gladly throw her computer against the nearest wall, if she wasn’t working with a holographic interface: the keyboard and the screen are just light projections.

Hearing her voice, Daren Bekker enters the room; it’s a small office in her private quarters, and he knows she doesn’t like to be disturbed.

<Is everything okay?> he asks.

<Peachy.> she deadpans, rubbing her temples in a futile attempt to stop the headache.

<Maybe you should take a break from… uhm…> he stops, looking at the screen: he just sees a long string of letters and symbols which don’t mean anything to him.

<Well, either you’re typing things at random, or you’re writing a program.> he concludes.

<It’s hopeless. It’s bad enough that the operating system of the Shadow Network runs on a self-altering programming language with concatenative combinatory logic, but did the Lar REALLY need to use the sexagesimal system as well!?> she complains.

<The sex what?>

<Sexagesimal. Their math works on base 60 instead of base 10.> she sighs.

<Sounds… complicated. It’d give anyone a run for his money.> he tries to reassure her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

<I’m not “anyone”. My phone has a password in base 256. Or it had.> she says angrily, getting the N-phone from her pocket and just throwing it on the desk.

<I had to ask ODIN unlock it for me and change the password to first five digits of pi.>

<That’s not too bad, Noriko.>

<Not too bad!? I was able to calculate the first billion digits in a second!!! Now I have to memorize it and I can’t get past five!!!> Noriko shouts, standing up and getting some distance from Daren.

<I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. But it’s just so frustrating! This used to be easy!!!> she says, pointing at the still unfinished program.

Daren doesn’t answer immediately. The South African athlete takes a moment to let her breathe.

<How long have been working at this?> he finally asks.

<If you try to tell me I should relax, Daren, I swear to God…>

<Have you ever pulled a muscle? Broken an ankle, or a bone?>

<I’ve survived things that would’ve killed anyone else. Do you have a point?>

<You don’t try to run immediately after an injury. And even when you’re back on your feet again, it takes time until you’re back to peak form. You’re still recovering from…>

<I’m not recovering anything! Don’t you see!?> Noriko asks him, opening her eyes as much as she can and pointing at them: they’re still brown instead of silver.

<I can’t just wait until I get better! Max could be dead for all we know, and I need to save him, and I can’t do it until I’m just a stupid… average girl!!!> she adds.

Daren looks at the holographic screen, then at her.

<Would an average girl even know what a sexagenital system is?>

<Sexagesimal.> she corrects him, sniffing to pretend she’s not trying to keep herself from crying.

<You’re slowly getting your genius back. You want to do something that you think is easy, but you want it so badly that you’re not able to do anything. It’s like…>

<Performance anxiety?>

<Not that I know anything about that.> he says with half a smile, taking her hand.

<I just don’t want to let my friends down.> she admits.

<Torturing yourself doesn’t help them. Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’ll do the right thing. You always do.> he adds, kissing her forehead.

<I knew I wasn’t dating you just for your body. She always liked you.> she replies, hugging him.

<Who?> he  asks a few seconds later.

<Hm?>

<You said “she” always liked me. Who are you talking about?>

<I said I always liked you.>

<No you didn’t, you said “she always liked you”. Are you alright?>

<I’m… I’m gonna lay down for a while, if you don’t mind.> Noriko excuses herself, her eyes becoming silver for a few instants before turning brown again.

<Yeah, sure. No problem.> Daren says, watching her exit the room. His attention goes towards the holographic screen: someone is still writing the program. When he notices that Noriko’s phone is still switched on, he shrugs.

<It’s probably nothing.> he shrugs, following Noriko. He can’t see the words on the cellphone:

“DIOMEDES SIMULATION INSTALLED. INITIATING TAKEOVER.”