Beyond The Impossible

Medical bay of the N01-Ragnarok

Noriko Null has seen many gods in the last few years, in widely different situations. Fighting battles, sitting on thrones, begging for their lives.

Few of them on a medical bed, like Hermes right now. And no one infected by extremely advanced nanites, like the currently unconscious god of speed.

<Are we sure he’s still alive?> Kari Zel asks. After all, he isn’t breathing.

<He is.> Vesta confirms, crossing her arms. She doesn’t really like the idea of Noriko running a medical examination on a member of her family, but she has to be present in case he wakes up.

<I have no idea how he’s still alive. It’s hard to tell since his invulnerability interferes with my scans, but he must have four or five kilograms of necrobots inside his body.> Noriko says, looking at the holographic screen that is projecting the scan: inside the silhouette of Hermes, it shows countless red dots that follow his veins and his skeleton.

She gestures towards a few small buttons embedded into the screen, and the hologram changes to an extreme closeup of a machine that resembles a stylized scarab.

<Necrobots. Nasty piece of tech, but extremely advanced: this puts Athena’s nanoscale factory to shame. Anubis is working at an atomic level.> Noriko comments, talking mostly to herself.

<Uhm, translation please?> Kari asks.

<These robots are so small that they’re able to squeeze between atoms. The host is controlled from the inside, like some sort of meat puppet. Once the infection starts, the necrobots infiltrate inside the host and convert organic molecules into more and more necrobots.>

<Like scavengers. Appropriate for the god of jackals.> Vesta comments.

<It’s a horrific process, to be sure. Still, the possible applications for this kind of technology are nearly limitless…> Noriko says, wistfully looking at the screen lost in her own thoughts.

Kari and Vesta stare at each other, both worried by their friend’s fascination with the work of Anubis, until Kari reminds her about their mission:

<Did you find anything that can lead us to Quantum?>

<Maybe. I tried to build nanites on my own in the past, and although Anubis has been way more successful than me, it looks like he ran into the same problem I had: if you make these things too small, you don’t have enough space for a decent brain. In other words, the necrobots are dumb.>

<And how does that help us?>

<They can only follow simple orders: if the necrobots inside Hermes have received the order to kill me, they won’t do anything else until they receive different instructions. And since Hermes shut himself down once he exposed himself to anti-neutrinos, it stands to reason that necrobots receive their instructions through neutrinos.>

<So you think you can… what, reprogram the necrobots to lead us to Quantum?> Vesta asks.

<Like I said, the necrobots are dumb: I’m willing to bet that Anubis didn’t install a serious firewall against something like that. The simpler the order, the better.>

<Sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?> Kari asks.

<There are two, actually. One, in order to find Max, the necrobots will have to communicate to each other, meaning there’s a high chance Anubis will immediately learn where we’re headed. And two, space is full of neutrinos: if we send a beam of neutrinos, we’ll have to generate a massive amount of them, to make sure the necrobots don’t confuse it with background noise.>

<How massive are we talking about?> Vesta asks.

<Well, while I do have some equipment on the ship that’s capable of generating neutrinos, it pales in comparison to the primary source of neutrinos on Earth… the Sun. And we do have a sun goddess on the ship, we might as well use her.>

<Please don’t tell me you want to put Amaterasu in charge of the necrobots!>

<You make it sound like it’s a bad idea.> Noriko shrugs.

<How is it not a bad idea!? She’s just a child!> Vesta protests.

<A child with the power of a star. This isn’t up for debate.> Noriko insists, then looks at the screen once again. The necrobots are twitching.

<Hang in there, Max. We’re not gonna leave you behind.>

 

Eden

A beam of light bounces off an invisible barrier surrounding the planet. It changes into radio waves, then gamma rays, then neutrinos, then even tachyons. But no matter what form he takes, Quantum can’t escape Eden.

<Come on, Max, there has to be a way out!> he tells himself, hovering above the atmosphere and thinking. The planet beneath him is beautiful and alien at the same time: a glistering golden sphere, uniformly smooth and perfect. It’s a stark contrast with the pitch black nebula above him, a dark cloud that hides this solar system from the rest of the Naqada Galaxy.

“Wait a minute. If I can’t hurt the Eden, maybe I can damage their planet!” he thinks, changing into radio waves and quickly reaching the ground. He’s ready to change into something else: radio waves can’t usually penetrate very deep. But he’s not finding much resistance.

“That’s odd, I should’ve reached the mantle by now. Maybe this planet has a thicker crust?> he wonders, still proceeding to go deeper and deeper. But all he finds is just more golden sand.

“Where is the core? Is the entire planet made of this stuff!?” he thinks, dodging the terrifyingly powerful electrical surges that emanate from the center of the planet.

He finally reaches something, the source of the electricity: a sphere. The size of a large building. It’s surrounded by a couple hundred Eden, half of them male and half female, who are flying around the sphere while keeping their bodies intangible. They hold each other’s hand, forming a living chain around the sphere. And he can hear them talk, through radio waves.

<Glory to Eden. Hallowed is your perfection. Glory to Eden. Hallowed is your perfection.> they chant in unison, never stopping, never even blinking.

<Ehm. Excuse me? Hello?> he tries to get their attention, but he’s simply ignored.

When he finally reaches the sphere, he expects to find resistance. Instead his form is allowed to enter inside the sphere, which is an even weirder place.

It looks like a church, although with a circular design. The pews are full of Eden, alternating between male and female, and their eyes stare towards the center of the sphere.

Not sure about whether he would survive as a human, Quantum transforms into a hologram of himself and cautiously walks towards the center, while looking at the elaborate paintings hanging at the walls. They wouldn’t look out of place in a museum of medieval history, if it wasn’t for the subject matter: every painting shows a clearly alien being shaking hands with an Eden. Or a tentacle, or another unrecognizable appendage: it would take three or four science fiction franchises to approach the massive variety of life forms he can see.

At the center of this strange church there are four last Eden, two males and two females, staring at a pedestal. And on the pedestal… at the exact center of the planet… there’s a metallic sphere, the size of a baseball, made of golden marble.

<It looks like the Heart Of The Universe.> he comments: the resemblance to the Drylon device that gave him his powers is undeniable.

<They are nothing alike. The Heart of Eden is infinitely superior.> the four Eden say, speaking at the same time while never breaking contact with the golden sphere.

<I’ll take your word for it. What is this place?>

<This is Eden.>

<Of course it is. And you guys are…?>

<We are Eden.>

<Yeah, I guess I walked into that one. So… this isn’t a real planet, right? This secret-sphere-inside-a-planet shtick… I’ve seen it in Hell, but the walls of this place aren’t reinforced or anything, and the pressure should be waaay higher than it is here!>

<We mastered control over gravity and all forms of electromagnetic energy eons ago. We evolved beyond the need to use a pre-existing planet.>

<That’s… cool, I guess. So… I assume you don’t have anything against visitors?>

<You are not a threat to us. You are welcome to join our congregation in adoration of the perfection of Eden, like your fellow aliens.>

<What are you talking about? I only see other Eden here!> Quantum says, turning towards the crowd. Then glancing at the portraits, and he realizes:

<They… they weren’t always Eden, right?>

<Correct. What you see is a sample of the glory that Eden has brought to the universe.>

Suddenly Quantum understands. Each portrait represents a different species, before they were assimilated into Eden, transformed at a molecular level to resemble their conqueror in everything.

<How many?> he asks.

<417 species, across five galaxies. For two billion years, no sentient species was allowed to threaten our supremacy: every inferior race was assimilated into Eden. Until the Sumerian gods created the Demons, forcing us to retreat from the universe. But soon we will have the means to correct this mistake and bring all sentient beings into Eden.>

<Not if the Vanguard stops you!> Quantum responds, when suddenly the necrobots in his veins start to glow beneath his skin: even in holographic form, it’s very visible. It’s almost as disturbing as the sight of every single Eden smiling at the same time.

<Rejoice, Max Black of Earth, if your single mind can understand the glory of what is about to befall all of existence. You just delivered the universe to Eden.>

 

N01-Ragnarok

Amaterasu is in front of the medical bed, laying her hands on Hermes. It’s impossible to see, but she’s generating an astronomical quantity of neutrinos and shooting them directly into his heart. They can’t possibly do any damage, but somehow they are making the necrobots inside him glow.

<Am I doing this right, aunt Null?> she asks.

<Only if you never call me aunt again.> Noriko replies, looking at her tablet: it shows a map of the Naqada Galaxy, which is now filling itself with green dots.

<I think it’s working. The necrobots are talking to each other to find Max’s location.>

<Are they gonna tell us too?> Amaterasu asks.

<They just did.> Noriko answers, showing the table to the goddess: all the dots have disappeared, except one. She then opens a channel to the bridge.

<Kari, I’m sending you new coordinates. Set a course for Eden.>

 

Anubis throne world

A green glow flows through the circuitry of the cybernetic jackal god. He opens his hand and projects a map of his domain: just like Noriko’s tablet it identifies a specific dot at the edge of the galaxy. But it also shows the position of the Ragnarok.

<It is time. The invasion and extermination of Eden can finally begin.> he tells himself, looking at the crowd in front of him: hundreds of thousands of cyborg corpses standing at attention.

Then Anubis looks at his other hand. It’s holding one of the Keys of Heaven, and it’s glowing.

<As well as the fall of the Slayer of Gods.>

 

N14-Surtur

The hologram of the artificial intelligence calling itself Emissary looks at the galactic map, examining the same data that is being studied by both Null and Anubis.

<It seems that every major player is now headed for Eden. Emissary to all ships: follow the Ragnarok, wherever it goes. Null must believe she’s still in charge of this fleet.> it says, relaying the same instruction to all the ships now under its control.

<A new age will soon be upon us.> the Emissary says, its eyes glowing silver.