Beyond The Impossible

N01-Ragnarok, Naqada Galaxy

As Noriko Null activates the Survival Field emitted from her belt buckle, Quantum studies the strange device she handed him: it’s emitting all kinds of particles.

<Are you sure this is gonna work?> he wonders.

<Of course I am. Maybe.> she shrugs, zipping up her green leather jacket.

<It’s just… I’ve had these powers for years and I’ve never really managed to bring anything with me once I transform, let alone a whole person!>

<What about your clothes?>

<What about them?> he asks back, looking down at himself and missing the point.

<When your body changes into energy, your clothes do the same. It’s not like with Kari, she can only duplicate clothes specifically designed to align with her powers. Have you ever wondered why that’s never been a problem for you?>

<Not really. It’s not like we know how my powers actually work.>

Noriko gives him the same look she would give to a toddler who just tried to lecture a physicist.

<Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. Just take me as close as you can to the Heart Of Eden.> she replies, getting way closer than usual and then hesitating.

<It works better if we, ehm, maximize contact.> she explains, pressing against his body like he’s hugging her from behind.

<This is kinda awkward.> he admits, wrapping his arms around her waist while still holding onto the device with a glowing yellow halo.

<I know. But that’s better than having my molecules scattered throughout space.>

<Hey, in my defense, I haven’t had a chance to take a shower in days.>

<Max, please, be serious for once. This requires intense concentration.>

<Don’t worry, Nori, I’ve done this a million times already.>

<I wasn’t talking about you.> she comments, holding very tight to his arms: he can tell something’s off because he can feel her head getting significantly hotter.

<You’re not the one driving.> she concludes once her eyes have turned gold.

Their bodies are converted into a single mass of radio waves that leaves the ship in an instant.

 

Eden’s orbit

Vesta hates fighting. There’s something about it that just irritates her; the sound of her heart beating faster, the vibrations on her skin when she throws a punch, the smell of living things that burn, it’s all just nauseating to her.

She just can’t let herself go, not even when there is no risk of hurting innocent people. Like now: the Anubis fleet has already been obliterated by Null, and the fleet under her command is keeping its distance. Unfortunately, so is Anubis himself.

<It appears this body is even less perfect than we thought.> the jackal god says, shooting lasers from his eyes. He’s too far away from her to be significantly affected by the tremendous amount of heat that her body is generating, and it’s deliberate: every time she tries to close the distance, Anubis flies away. And he’s too fast to be hit by any of her fire blasts.

Unlike him, Vesta can’t move at the speed of light: the lasers hit her chest and her forehead, and they’re powerful enough to bruise her skin.

<This stings like crazy. I should be invulnerable to lasers!>

<You truly are an inferior specimen, even among your peers. We were wise to eject you from Eden.> Anubis replies, firing another barrage of beams.

Vesta flies around him in a futile attempt to escape his attack, but she’s just not fast enough: she’s continuously hit by something, even if she doesn’t immediately understand what it is.

“These aren’t photons” she finally realizes, once her divine senses pick up the thin cloud of particles that now surrounds the battlefield “Atoms. He’s throwing atoms at me, at the speed of light. No wonder this hurts so much.”

Trying to evade him makes it impossible to concentrate on attacking. But she can keep this pace only for so long: soon she’ll have to slow down, Anubis will have a clear shot, and he’s way too powerful to attack directly.

“What would Null do?” she wonders, noticing that the particles around her aren’t the same that Anubis is shooting: once they ricochet off her skin, the atoms lose their electrons.

Vesta doesn’t know much about physics. But she can’t miss Anubis is covering the battlefield a dense cloud of ions and free electrons.

<Your silence frustrates us.> Anubis comments, taking advantage of Vesta’s distraction to fly directly at her. She doesn’t see him coming until he bites her arm, with enough force to sink his teeth into her bones.

He can’t hear her scream, but he can taste her blood on his muzzle as his necrobots drip into her veins. He raises his hand to sink his cybernetic claws into her heart, but when he goes for the kill Vesta grabs his wrist.

<A gas of ions and electrons.> she says, by sending radio waves through the Neural Transmitter.

<What are you talking about?> Anubis wonders, surprised by his inability to overpower her: she shouldn’t be anywhere near his level. But the necrobots inside his body are reporting an increasing number of errors, matched by the increase of her body’s temperature as fire pours out of her wounds.

<That’s how you make plasma, you pompous idiot.> she replies, grabbing the jackal’s head: one hand holding one of his jaws, and the space around them catches fire as she ignites the plasma.

<BURN.> she simply says, as her eyes pour a stream of five million degrees fire down his throat.

 

At the center of Eden

Imagine having your skin being peeled away. Imagine not feeling any pain, but being intensely aware of how your bones dissolve and your guts evaporate. Try to understand what it’s like having your eyes disappear but still being able to see that you’re a cloud of particles moving inside an endless sea of atoms.

That’s how Noriko Null feels as she travels along with Quantum beneath the surface of the planet.

When her molecules return to their natural form, as she feels his atoms separate from hers, she leans against him as she tries to adjust to the return of gravity.

<Everything okay?> he asks her. She doesn’t need to answer: she loses her balance and falls on her knees, where she immediately throws up.

<That was awful. Is it like this every time for you!?> she asks, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket.

<I didn’t feel anything, it must’ve been worse for you. Do you want to lie down? Your, ehm, your eyes are bleeding.>

<That’s a side effect of my golden eyes, I had to use them to control the process. I think I’ve found a way to avoid losing my brainpower every time I do that… I just have to use the golden eyes for a brief moment.> she explains, trying to clean the blood off her face as she looks around.

<Pretty ominous, right?> Quantum asks. He has seen this place before: a huge circular room filled with paintings of Eden torturing aliens, with hundreds of Eden diligently sitting in rows to stare at the altar located at the center.

<All it’s missing is a Latin choir. These people look like they’re just waiting to summon Cthulhu.>

<Maybe you’re onto something.> she responds, cautiously walking towards the altar; just as a precaution, she’s holding her Genius Guns.

The Eden don’t seem to react to their presence, not even when they reach the altar: they can clearly see the Heart Of Eden, a glowing golden sphere the size of a baseball.

While Noriko is concentrating on the device, Quantum notices someone. It’s hard not to spot the only person who doesn’t have the same face of the others. It’s an Egyptian woman with cybernetic implants on her face; she’s also the only one without golden skin, although her eyes are gold.

<Shabti!> Quantum calls her.

<Max, wait! Don’t get closer!> Noriko warns her, but she’s not fast enough to stop him.

<Hello, Shabti? It’s Quantum!> he tries to get her attention, first by waving at her and then repeatedly snapping his fingers an inch from her nose.

<Max, just leave her, you’ll get us both killed!> Noriko pleads, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away; he simply changes into light for an instant to slip past her.

<She was captured with me! She’s the only reason why I escaped from Anubis. We can’t leave her behind!> he insists, trying to shake the Egyptian from her trance.

<Oh for the love of… are we really doing this right now!?> Noriko sighs.

<What happens when you destroy the Heart? Will it kill everyone they assimilated?> Max asks.

<I don’t know. Maybe. Vesta snapped out of it, but she was exposed for a short period.>

<Didn’t you once use your golden eyes to free Kari’s duplicates from Eden? Just do it again!>

<It’s not so simple. Every time I use it…> Noriko starts to explain, but she stops.

<What?>

“Each use shortens my lifespan by a year. And I’ve already done it six times” she thinks, looking at him: he’s staring at her like she’s seen her worshippers when they pray in her name.

<Oh what the hell. It’s not like I was planning to die old.> she shrugs, then places her hand on Shabti’s head and says a single word as her eyes turn golden:

<Awaken.>

A powerful bolt of electricity flows through Shabti’s body, and for a moment Noriko sees the Egyptian’s life flash before her eyes.

A life lived in the firm belief that serving Anubis would lead to a blissful afterlife. She watches her children and grandchildren grow old and die, she sees her body being replaced by cybernetic implants one organ after the other, she sees the fleet of ships devastating entire planets in the name of Anubis. All done with a smile on her face because of the promise that, one day, she will see her family again. And then, all of a sudden, the dream is shattered by a golden stranger.

<I’m so sorry.> Noriko tells her, letting her go. As her eyes return silver, Shabti falls to the ground.

Quantum rushes to check on her, finding that she’s not breathing and that her implants are inert.

<What happened?> he asks.

<Her mind… it’s just gone. All that’s left are memories. The rest is lost. Lost inside Eden.> she explains, holding back tears. She may be a complete stranger to her, but it’s a life she should’ve been able to save.

<Let’s finish this.> she tells herself, taking a step towards the center of the room before stopping and touching her temple: a thunderclap migraine is making it hard to stand. If not for Quantum rushing to support her, she would’ve fainted.

<I’m fine. I just… need a moment.> she says; using her golden eyes so many times is definitely not good for her brain’s health.

<I don’t think we have that luxury.> Quantum replies: all the Eden in the room are suddenly standing up. His first reaction is to release a wide array of laser beams, but they just pass through their intangible bodies without doing any damage.

<Okay, that’s a stupidly useful power. Don’t they have any weakness!?> he laments.

<Yes, they can’t infect me while they’re intangible. Keep up the pressure.> she tells him, stumbling towards the podium while Quantum multiplies his attacks, filling every inch of the room with all sorts of energies.

Her brain feels like it’s full of jackhammers, but she manages to get her hands on the golden sphere.

<Here goes nothing. Survive this, Eden.> she says, taking a long breath before turning her eyes golden and touching the sphere.

All the Eden in the room suddenly stop moving. Quantum waits for them to make a move, but he’s relieved to see that they are not reacting to his presence anymore.

<Now that’s more like it!> he exults, but his optimism is short-lived: when he turns to Noriko, he can see she’s straining like never before; a vein on her forehead seems on the verge of exploding.

<Can’t… hold them… too many… minds…> she says. Then the expression on her face turns completely blank and takes her hands off the device, staring into the distance.

<Noriko? Did you make it? Did… did we win?>

<Yes. We have won.> she answers, slowly turning her head towards him.

<Eden is one with the Nexus again.> she says in unison with every Eden on the planet.