Dark Galaxy, 10 light-years from Earth
The Garden
Utnapishtim has been waiting in front of the crudely assembled shed for some time.
Now Noriko Null and Torn return from the door that leads to the Empyrean, with the human having a dejected expression on her face.
<Have you found what you were looking for?> the elderly Sumerian asks.
<I don’t know yet. I found the Soul of Kronos, but he might have asked too high a price for his help.> she admits.
<We should have brought it with us.> Torn objects.
<And risk him returning to the regular universe? I don’t trust that god in the slightest.>
<You don’t trust gods in general. But you said it yourself, we don’t have many options left.> Torn reminds her.
<Alright, let’s look at the options then. If I agree to Kronos’s demand and he tells me how to defeat Baal, I will eventually have to kill my mother.> Noriko recalls.
<How could even a god ask you such a thing!?> Utnapishtim exclaims.
<You haven’t met many gods, haven’t you?> Noriko asks him, raising an eyebrow.
<Null, you have tried to kill your mother in the past.> Torn points out.
<In self-defense.> she insists.
<This would be for the sake of multiple galaxies. Am I wrong in saying you would not miss your mother?>
<Not exactly. I’ll admit I have plenty of reasons for wanting to kill Leiko, but… why would Kronos want her dead? What’s in it for him?> she asks, mostly to herself.
<You said Kronos can see his own future. Her death will benefit him in some way.>
<Or maybe… he knows I’m already in favor of her death, so he’s only telling me to kill her to change my mind? You know, reverse psychology?> she hypothesizes.
<Equally possible.> Torn nods.
<Besides, my mother is currently infected by the Drylon seed: even if I wanted to kill her, I’m physically unable to do it. What if Kronos wants me to find a way to separate them? Would that be good or bad? There are too many variables here!!!> Noriko complains.
<Indeed. But you must make a choice: we might be safe from Baal’s wrath for now, but our friends are not.> Torn pushes her.
<What’s your take? What would you choose if it was up to you?> she asks.
<It is not up to me. You are the Slayer of Gods.>
<Sometimes I wish people didn’t have so much faith in me. Everyone expects me to have all the answers, and I’m as clueless as everybody else.> Noriko sighs, leaning against the wall.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, someone steps through the door to reach the regular universe. A woman with metallic skin and without a face.
<This is another colony of the Usurpers, yes? Is this your new base?> the newcomer asks.
<We have no need for you here, Siduri.> Torn dismisses her.
Noriko looks at the newcomer. Her silver eyes shine, and she gets away from the wall now that she’s suddenly full of energy.
<I just thought of something. Utnapishtim, can you and your wife leave the garden for a few days?>
<What? We can never leave. The Garden is the only place where we are secure.>
<But if you could leave AND help me defeat Baal, could you do that?>
<Certainly, but…> he attempts to reply, but Noriko cuts him off:
<Siduri, close that door. You’re in this as well.>
<I am?> the celestial being wonders.
<Young lady, you are talking nonsense. Baal is invincible.> Utnapishtim insists.
<Kronos beat him once. I’m still working on the details, but… I think I can do it again.>
<“Clueless”.> Torn mutters under his breath, barely smiling.
The Shadow Colosseum
Quantum turns back into human form, approaching the stall of one of the thousands of arenas scattered across this planet. In fact, that’s all this planet is: the only buildings are identical replicas of the same exact arena, although only one of them has a Kari Zel resting.
<Nothing?> she asks, anticipating his response given his grim expression.
<Nothing. I’ve scoured this planet’s neighborhood: there’s nothing else in this solar system, and we’re surrounded by a giant cloud of dust. I couldn’t find any trail that could possibly lead to any of the others… even assuming Baal brought them here.> he admits.
<He might even have created the entire planet just to torture me; we’ve seen gods do that kind of stuff before.>
<You think everyone was brought to a different planet?> he asks.
<Maybe. Where did he take you, before you showed up here?> she wonders.
<I don’t know. I was in this weird mirror prison, and… it’s hard to describe, but I think that I tapped into his own divine energies. I saw him fighting Zeus and gave him just enough of a push to give Baal trouble, but that’s it.> he shrugs.
<And you don’t know how you found me here.>
<Well… kind of. You leave a very distinctive energy signature when you create duplicates, so I looked for that and turned into tachyons to reach you.>
<Don’t any of the others leave something you can track?>
<Not as easily. Maybe the gods if they go all-out in a battle, but I couldn’t sense anything.>
<Well there has to be some way. I’ve already tried calling the rest of the Vanguard with the Soul Relay, but nobody’s answering. Maybe you can boost its power?> she suggests.
<First thing I tried; it didn’t work. You must have been relatively close to the planet where Baal was keeping me: if the others are in another part of this Galaxy, even in tachyon form I would take me hundreds of years to scout the entire place!>
<So either Baal wins against Zeus, or their battle lasts so long that we’ll starve to death by the time anyone comes to rescue us.>
<Looks that way.>
<Great. I suppose you don’t know how to build us a spaceship?> Kari jokes.
She could swear she saw in his eyes the same glow that she associates with Noriko.
<How could I be so dumb!?>
<It’s not a big deal, Max, I don’t expect you to actually build a…>
<Be right back.> Quantum tells her, before turning into tachyons again.
Edge of the Dark Galaxy
On a barren planet that has never seen signs of life, a powerful explosion illuminated the sky several days ago. Had there been people on the planet, they would have witnessed several pieces of shiny metal rain on the surface, crashing with a tremendous impact.
This would have reduced most meteorites to dust, but not a metal so durable that only the core of a star or the power of a primordial god could damage it.
All sections of the N01-Ragnarok are still intact, even though the ship has been broken into separate pieces. One of these is the bridge, where Quantum takes the form of a radio wave giving a voice command the ship’s artificial intelligence:
<Seal the bridge. Reset life support.> Quantum instructs.
The consoles light up as electricity flows within the circuits. An emergency bulkhead descends right behind the captain’s chair; air is rapidly pumped into the bridge, and a Survival Field is projected in order to raise the temperature to survivable levels.
<Backup life support systems engaged. Warning: 24 hours of breathable oxygen remain.> the ship informs him.
Quantum takes human form, looking at the various screens around the bridge: some of them have been irreparably broken, but most appear to still be functional.
<Man, she really knows how to build sturdy stuff. L.O.K.I, activate holographic interface.> Quantum orders to the ship’s artificial intelligence.
<Unable to comply. The system is currently operating on backup power supply; survival extension protocols require conservation of energy expenditure.> L.O.K.I. replies.
<How long is that going to last?>
<At current expenditure, this program can run for 76 uninterrupted hours.>
<Good enough. Can you use your sensors to locate the rest of the Vanguard?>
<Negative. Long-range sensor array damaged in the crash.>
<I was able to track you from the particle tracks left by the Negative Drive. I suppose that still works, right?>
<Correct. Short-range sensors are operational at 12% capacity: the Negative Drive has landed 85 kilometers from the bridge.>
<Awesome: now we just need to figure out how to reattach it to the rest of the ship. That’ll be our way back home. Best news of the day, L.O.K.I.>
<I was programmed to assist.>
<How’s the teleporter?>
<Unresponsive.>
<Long range communications?>
<Main tachyon array damaged in the crash. Secondary tachyon array operational at 3% capacity.>
<That bad, uh? How far away can you send a message to?>
<Instantaneous communication range available within 1,500 light-years.>
<So I’m guessing sending a message back home is out of the question.>
<Negative. Short range communications array is 100% operational.>
<Doesn’t that work at just the speed of light?>
<Correct. Message will reach Earth within approximately 10 billion years. Should I begin transmission?>
<Let’s… put that aside for now. Can you send a message on the Vanguard’s encrypted line?>
<Already attempted hailing at 2 hours intervals since the crash. No response.>
<You were probably out of range. Listen, I can turn into tachyons… could that be used to boost your signal in some way?>
<Calculating. A short-term tachyon burst could enhance the signal transmission range to 25,000 light-years for 8.3 seconds.>
<I guess that’s better than nothing.>
<Warning: the necessary energy expense will shorten this program’s maximum running time to 6 hours and 42 minutes.>
<Oh come on, sending an 8 second message is going to cost you 70 hours!?>
<Perhaps you would prefer to analyze yourself the 8.18 trillion cubic light-years of space where the potential target of the scan could be located?> L.O.K.I asks. Its mechanical voice has no inflection, but Quantum could swear he’s being mocked.
<I’ll leave that to you. Noriko didn’t program you to be sarcastic, right?>
<She did not. I was, however, programmed to endure a limitless number of unintelligent questions.>
<Let’s get this over with… no offense, L.O.K.I, but you give me the creeps.>
<Noted. Loading tachyon burst carrier wave enhancement program.>
<Wait, you already have a program for this stunt!?>
<Mistress Null is very thorough: my programming includes 14,000,605 procedures. None of them include giving humans the creeps.>
<You do it spectacularly well anyway, if it makes you feel better.>
<It really does not. What message do you wish to send?>
<Let’s go with “The Vanguard still stands. Let’s put the band back together”.>
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