Bridge of the Swift Messenger, 2 million light-years from Earth
The Stygian Galaxy is still too distant to be clearly seen with the naked eye, and the ship’s sensors aren’t sensitive enough to pick up anything of note.
It’s still a long way before the ship will reach its destination, and with nothing to do it’s very easy to lose track of time. Especially at night, when the background sound of the engine keeps Dr. Kalama awake. She’s decides to check on her patient, finding out that she’s not the only one who thought of it: once she reaches the room where Noriko’s stasis pod is being kept, Amaterasu is already there.
<Oh, sorry. Didn’t know you were here.> the human excuses herself, ready to leave.
<Please stay, doctor. We should talk.> Amaterasu tells her.
Dr. Kalama gets close enough to sit next to the goddess. She always feels weird in her presence, not really knowing how to deal with a goddess despite being friends with Vesta.
<I don’t know how long the Nexus will keep enhancing my intellect, so I’d rather have this talk before I revert to having the brains of a four year old.>
<If you want to discuss how to make the effect permanent, I really have no clue.>
<Oh no, it’s not about that. I couldn’t come up with a solution myself, and at the moment I’m exponentially smarter than… I’m sorry, that was rude, wasn’t it?>
<A little. Don’t sweat it, Noriko brags about it without realizing it all the time.>
<You have a close relationship with her, don’t you doctor?>
<To a point. She’s like a daughter to me, but Noriko is not the kind of person who opens up easily… and motherhood is a sore topic for her.>
<You know I was created fusing divine energy with an egg cell from Viper, right? That makes Noriko my biological mother.>
<She considers herself more like a step-mother, and even that took her a lot of effort to accept. Why are you thinking about this, Amaterasu?>
<Because I lost that memory before all this happened, and I’m afraid I’ll forget again once my mind returns to its natural state. But… I don’t want to forget, doctor. Do you think Noriko might accept raising me as her own daughter?>
<You’re asking a lot, Amaterasu! Besides, aren’t you old enough to be her mother!?>
<I’m 4 years old, doctor. The same age as Nalani. The fact that I can blow up a star with a twitch of my finger doesn’t make me any less in need of a parental figure.>
<I know, but…>
Dr. Kalama’s response is interrupted by the stasis pod emitting a high-pitched sound; Amaterasu doesn’t recognize it, but by the way the doctor rushes to check the pod’s interface she doesn’t need an enhanced intellect to realize something is wrong.
<The temperature inside the pod is rising fast.> the doctor says, and Amaterasu can use her divine senses to confirm: even if infrared rays are blocked by the medical device, she can feel it.
<Is she waking up?> she wonders.
<Humans are not capable of generating that much heat; it has to be the Nexus. It’s practically burning her from the inside and the cryogenic systems can’t compensate!>
The pod projects a hologram of Noriko’s brain: the Nexus is shining more and more, and there are multiple exclamation points appearing all over the place.
<It’s already burning through several synapses. If this goes any further it’s going to melt her entire brain!> the doctor exclaims, being dangerously close to panicking.
<We need to shut it down.> Amaterasu says, raising her hand over the pod; Dr. Kalama grabs her arm in an attempt to get her away, but with her divine strength it’s like trying to move a boulder.
<What do you think you’re doing!?>
<I can generate the energy of a star, including its magnetic field. A focused electromagnetic pulse will completely shut down the Nexus. She will survive it.>
<Normally yes, she’s done it before, but we’re counting on using the Nexus to resurrect her! If by shutting it down we could…>
<If we don’t and her brain is liquified our entire mission fails. At least my solution has some probability of success, no matter how small it is.>
<This could kill her, I can’t take that decision for her! I better talk this with Bob and…>
<There’s no time for that, doctor. We need to act immediately, and right now I am her next of kin.> Amaterasu declares, and even if Dr. Kalama can’t see the electromagnetic spectrum she can understand what happens once the stasis pod shuts down and the room turns dark.
<Are you crazy!? Do you know what you might have done!?> she chastises the goddess, rushing to see if she can turn the stasis pod back on.
<Don’t yell at me! Why is it dark? I don’t like the dark!> Amaterasu complains, turning her own body into a solar lamp. She looks around like a frightened child.
<Come on, come on, don’t you die on me…> the doctor says with her heart beating like crazy, until the soft hum of the pod restarts. It feels like an eternity before the hologram works again, and when it shows that the Nexus is still running she almost faints.
<Oh thank God. I think I lost ten years in a minute.> she admits, leaning against the pod.
<Uhm, miss doctor lady? Is miss Null going to be okay?> Amaterasu asks, keeping her voice low.
Her motherly instinct would be to reassure this woman-child that everything is going to be alright, while if she was honest she would admit she has no clue whatsoever.
But she is, first and foremost, a doctor. And that’s the way she has to answer.
<We’re doing the best we can, Amaterasu. We’re doing our best.>
The Mindscape
The Nexus is a computer like no other. By most measures, its storing capacity is essentially infinite.
Its processing power, as physics-breaking as it is, is not.
It can run the perfect simulation of a person’s mind, even if that mind had been enhanced to be billions of times better than any naturally evolved brain in any imaginable way.
It can run multiple ones, actually, with little to no impacts to the performance of the main host.
But even the Nexus, for all its technological marvels, has a breaking point.
<Is it just me or things are getting out of control here!?> Viper jokes as she guns down the simulation of the Scribe, only to see it being recreated immediately after.
<Understatement of the fu##ing year!!!> Noriko answers. As they speak, the two simulations are back-to-back while fighting a dozen copies of other Nexus hosts.
They are far from alone. Apocalypse and the Scribe have gathered tens of thousands of simulations of her predecessors, in a landscape that keeps changing as the battle expands from one corner of the Mindscape to the other. With only Roxiana as her ally, Noriko had to resort to a desperate plan.
By using the trick Roxiana taught her, she has generated thousands of duplicate simulations of her own mind… and that has only escalated the problem.
<Hardly a year. With so many simulations running at once, it’s likely the Nexus is overtaxed. The battle might have started minutes ago from our point of view, but in the real world it could have been years for all we know.> Void explains.
<If I’ve done my calculations correctly, probably only seven or eight days.> Roxiana confirms.
<Hey, you two, less math and more killing people!!!> Viper complains.
<This would never have happened if you gave me control of your body, Null.>
<And I thought that being dead was the worst scenario: being next to you two is rock bottom. At least at this point it can’t possibly get any worse!> Noriko comments.
Which is, of course, the moment the entire Mindscape goes completely black.
<Me and my dumb mouth.> Noriko sighs, and she hears the echo of her own voice.
The only consolation is that nobody is trying to shoot her or to kill her… as far as she knows.
<Uhm, hello? What just happened?>
<Hard to say.> Roxiana answers. Noriko wasn’t expecting her to still be around, and even if she knows she’s not technically in her own body she would swear she just felt her heart jump.
<Christ! Don’t do that, you scared me half to death!>
<That would be difficult, considering we are both already dead. Besides, how can you be only half dead? Either you are or you’re not.>
<Is this really the time for semantics, Roxiana!? If you and Void were right about the Nexus using too much power…>
<We were.>
<…then the Nexus might have restarted. Is this what happens to a simulation whenever I lose consciousness?>
<I wouldn’t know, we don’t experience any changes in the passage of time in the Mindscape. At least not in regular circumstances.> she explains.
Then something appears in the nothingness. It’s a gate of polished grey metal, but it’s so gigantic that the two women might as well be flies compared to it.
<I assume that’s not a regular thing.> Noriko jokes. There’s a sliver of light passing through the gate, not enough to illuminate the emptiness but enough to create a path.
<I’ve seen that before. It’s an access point to a closed off portion of the Mindscape.> Roxiana says.
<What’s on the other side?>
<I don’t know. It’s never been opened before.>
<Well, first time for everything I guess.> Noriko shrugs, moving towards the gate.
1,000 light-years from Earth
While the gods and the various mortal realms treat space as if they can own it as land, the truth is that space is so vast and empty that any claim of ownership comes with a lot of caveats.
The Mortal Republic is closely monitoring all travel: only authorized ships are allowed to pass through. But the void between stars, while insignificant compared to the size of the entire Galaxy or even of a single sector, is still too much to find something the size of a private jet.
The ship provided by the President of Myridia is so tiny, when compared to commercial and military ships, that its energy signature can only picked up at close range. The price of such an enormous advantage is just how slow it is.
<Hey, uhm, are we still moving? The stars look like they did last night.> Max Black asks Ganos Lal, as he enters the pilot’s cabin. Even a good night sleep didn’t help cure his utter boredom.
<We’re still moving 50,000 times faster than light. That’s the fastest we can go.> she answers.
<Man, do I miss the Ragnarok. How long until we reach Themiscyra?>
<In a straight line? We still have 89,000 light-years to go, it would take us almost two years. But don’t worry, we just have to leave the Mortal Republic: once we reach Nysa, I know someone who can give us access to a much faster ship.>
<That’s a relief. And how long until we get to Nysa?>
<I’d say about 16 weeks.>
<Seriously!? Come on…>
<This isn’t a long-range ship, and in case you forgot we have half of the Galaxy looking for us. Any faster ship comes with the danger of being discovered and executed on the spot.> she points out.
<I know, I know. At this point we’re never finding the Amazons, aren’t we?> he sighs, just before the ship abruptly comes to a complete stop.
He would ask why, but he can see the enormous warship directly in their path.
<Null help us.> Ganos Lal prays.
<Don’t worry, I recognize the design! It’s an Amazon ship! We’re saved!> Max exclaims.
Then both passengers have to close their eyes to protect them from the bright light of a teleportation device… and when they open them, they are no longer on their little ship.
They are in the middle of a cargo bay, completely surrounded by Amazon warriors pointing laser spears at them. Just be sure, both Max and Ganos raise their hands.
<Uhm, hello? What’s up with the weapons? We’re all on the same side!> Max says.
<The sensors were right. He’s the Drylon signature we were looking for.> one of the Amazons says.
<I knew coming to you girls was the right move! If you can still detect my energy it means I haven’t permanently lost my powers. Can you take me to your queen? She’s a friend of mine.>
<Those are our orders. Set a course for Themiscyra!> the Amazon orders.
<See? Told you it was a great idea. Noriko’s genius must be rubbing off on me!> he whispers to his travel companion.
<Throw them in the brig and make sure they are healthy. The Queen will want to interrogate them before we begin the vivisection.> the officer continues.
<A real genius, yes.> Ganos Lal says rolling her eyes.
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