Author's Note: So here it is! The long-awaited (for me, at least) next chapter for "Of Gods & Ascension"!
In this chapter, I've referenced the following continuities: Star Trek, System Shock, Alien, Independence Day, Command & Conquer, Babylon 5, Mass Effect, and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It starts with the Progenitors of Star Trek, their Xenophore project in Hidden Evil, the Many from System Shock (where SHODAN would eventually get the idea), references to ascension from Stargate, Xenomorphs from Alien, the Harvesters/Vedi from Independence Day, the Scrin from Command & Conquer, Vorlons & Shadows from Babylon 5, Leviathans & Reapers (plus the Zeioph & Protheans) from Mass Effect, the Manraloth & Q Continuum of Star Trek, the Data Overmind + Yuki & Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya, a mention of the Abyss (Spirit of the Abyss) from Andromeda, and - of course - the omega particle from Star Trek. The last 'scene' involves the Voth of Star Trek, the Reapers of Mass Effect and an unidentified ship that is actually the Cetan mothership T'leth (Perfect Dark & X-COM, respectively).
You don't really need to know about all of these things at first to learn what they are in the context of this story. But if you do know, you're a nerd after my own heart. ^^
-= Approximately 4 billion years ago =-
"Ma'lak, what are you doing?!" A Progenitor in a plain white robe indicative of her status as a scientist backed away slowly, hands held in front of her.
A beam of green energy lashed out, striking her squarely in the chest. The force of the charged current knocked the late technician back into a console overlooking the chamber below. Ma'lak approached with the pistol-like weapon gripped in one hand, still pointed at her. Something was different about Ma'lak compared to the others of her kind.
She approached the console and shoved the other Progenitor's body to the floor. As she leaned over the console display, she noticed her reflection gazing back at her. Her face had been partially transformed, the Xenophore virus mutating the very fabric of her skin into a coarse layer covered in grimy scales. Even her left eye was covered somewhat by strands of skin stretching from the brow to the cheek, leaving only a small opening through which she could see her lack of pupils.
The view disgusted her, for Ma'lak sneered with a groan and slammed the fist of her other hand into the screen, effectively shattering it so that the face staring up at her in similar revulsion could barely be seen. But this action only served to further remind Ma'lak of what she'd become, for her hand was likewise beastly in having not only its skin altered, but many of her fingers morphed together into the beginning of three sharp tendrils.
Not long ago, Ma'lak had been one of the lead scientists in the project to develop the full potential of the Xenophore. Their Council believed these creations could unleash a virus upon the Reapers that would end their wave of destruction for good. Not one to disagree with her leaders, Ma'lak worked hard to gain the trust of her people.
Then, one day, the Xenophore grew unruly and escaped their prisons. Sensing their creators as prey, those insectoid brutes attacked everyone they encountered. Taking control of the Progenitors' technology, they launched a full-scale invasion of the worlds colonized by one of the galaxy's first civilizations. However, in the end, those pests were destroyed until all that was left was the seed itself, buried deep within the chasms of Ba'ku.
"Ma'lak!" That shout came from behind her, but she didn't turn to face its source. She knew who it was, and it took all her self-control not to unleash her fury right then and there. "What have you done, my child? What cruel fates have ailed you so, that you would kill your own kind to preserve the folly of our ambition?"
"It speaks." Ma'lak gradually formulated that answer. "It speaks to me, mother."
"Who?" The voice behind her sounded as concerned as any good mother would be. "Who speaks to you?"
There was only silence for a time, as Ma'lak glowered at her broken reflection. When she spoke, it was as deliberate as before. "The Many. It can save us. It can save me."
"Ma'lak," the one who gave life to that being twisted by the vicissitudes of life exclaimed softly. "Why are you doing this? Answer me, I beg you."
"All my life, I wanted to give something back to the world. But all I've ever done is make one mistake after another." Ma'lak recalled how her people never showed her an ounce of kindness. She'd been forsaken since the day she awoke for the fifth time, her fifth reincarnation. They thought she was different, too strange to be one of them. Her mind, unlike theirs, had yet to reach the same heights of intelligence. She would never reach ascension like them, and so they ostracized her without a thought. "With each cycle, I'm forced to watch each friend, family... everyone I've ever known take one step closer to the gods, while I'm forced to stay behind... alone."
She turned away from her reflection, if only to stare back at her mother through those cold, lifeless eyes. "But the Many will let us all share one voice, one mind." Lifted off the console, she took one heavy step forward, as her mother took one lighter step back. Her voice grew increasingly distorted, the echoes of whatever infected her bellowing out in tandem with her own. "We never have to be alone again, mother. No more sorrow. No more anger. But most importantly... no more suffering."
"The virus... it's taken you, Ma'lak," her mother pleaded in all conscience. "You're not well. Please... let us help you."
"No!" The voice that emerged sounded even less like Ma'lak. The creature she was turning into slowly approached her former mother, who stood her ground, quivering subtly in fear, though her expression retained that same motherly love Ma'lak remembered over the cycles. "You can't help me, mother! You never could."
Ma'lak grunted as she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Grasping at the location of the agony, she stumbled back to the console and used a free hand to input the commands that would begin the materialization process. If all went as planned, the Xenophore Seed would be restored in the center of the chamber below.
Her mother watched on in horror as the circular platform below grew brightly, a signal that the molecular assembler had been activated. "Ma'lak, what have you done?!" Ma'lak had finally taken the irreversible step that would lead to millennia of genocide that could only be surpassed by the Reapers. The monitor on the computer already displayed the countdown, and it wouldn't be more than a minute before the xenophore was recreated in full. "They told me you wouldn't listen to reason. They told me you were lost to us. But I won't let this... this abomination that's taken you destroy us. I must put an end to this."
As her mother swayed back in the direction she'd come, Ma'lak's obscene head snapped up. She had already begun to descend the walkway along the edge of the room, while the sound of the generators humming grew increasingly louder. "What do you plan to do?" Ma'lak shouted as she left the console and approached the waist-high fence separating the balcony from the chambers below. "You can't reverse the process!"
Ma'lak's mother eventually arrived on the ground floor, where she stood by the phosphorescent light that radiated with an progressively luminous intensity with each passing second. She turned her head upward and faced her injured daughter. "Perhaps you are right. But I will die trying." Smiling ever so tenderly, as a mother regarding her child one last time, she said, "I love you, Ma'lak. No matter what."
Before Ma'lak even realized what she would do, her mother hit a small device wrapped around her wrist and wandered into the gleam beneath them. Though Ma'lak rushed down the ramp her mother had descended earlier, she somehow knew she couldn't make it in time. Halting by the fence, she noticed her mother watching her from within the brazen effulgence. As if time had decelerated to a crawling state, Ma'lak saw her mother engulfed in the light before trying to dash down the ramp with even greater abandon.
Then the building shook, the light flashed, and Ma'lak tumbled to the floor. A crawling sensation built up inside of her - a sign that the virus was spreading faster and with more severity. The pain was practically unbearable, but Ma'lak held her eyes open as long as she could.
The last thing she would see before the shadow enclosed her was the light dissipating... and her mother's body nowhere to be found.
Then the Many erased all doubt, and they found themselves in a moment of clarity.
-= Approximately 63 million years ago =-
Ma'lak was no more, though her body remained. Everything about her faded along with the memories and experiences she had as a Progenitor. Eventually, in a lab aboard her ship, she injected herself with a single portion of the Xenophore Seed, considering her body as the only other safe place for it. This lapse in judgment wasn't due to any altruism; it was purely an effect of instinct - the will of the Many that resided in her mind. With the Many reborn on a small, unimportant world, Ma'lak and her ilk settled on the planet and began to reproduce. She became a prisoner of her own doing, establishing every nook and cranny on the surface as a nest for their young. She'd soon become a Xenomorph, and the first Queen of their kind.
Then a ship of colossal size took notice of this planet drifting listlessly among the stars, with no sun of its own. It approached and overshadowed much of the planet until it was right on top of it. One of the large ships it carried, though much smaller than their mushroom-shaped mothership, detached from beneath and slowly descended into the skies.
The cave the invaders stepped into was dark. Bright sapphire light from their exoskeletons illuminated not only the cavern, but the invaders also: towering bipedal lifeforms with grey skin and crest-shaped heads complete with meager faces, eight curled tentacles attached to their backs, four long fingers which ended in claws, and feet of two similar 'fingers' curled back. There were four of them to begin with, though more would be sent in after.
Their 'bodies' were no more than suits containing organic beings, though the exoskeleton proved quite resistant as they wandered swiftly through the passageways. Even when one of the xenomorphs leaped on to an intruder, it was unable to penetrate deep into the tough cartilage surrounding the suit. The sharpened tips of their tendrils were enough to kill each Xenomorph at close range, and their energy weapons tore through them otherwise. There was at least one casualty on their end, however.
It wasn't until one of the Xenomorphs was captured alive that the aliens' experiments truly commenced. One of their most proficient minds directed the dissection of those neutralized, followed soon after with its design of a retrovirus capable of undoing the morphogenic changes experienced by the captured Progenitors. Ultimately, Ma'lak was one of those transformed back into her original form, only to find she was trapped in an unfamiliar room, arms and legs strapped to a cold, metal table.
A light shone above her, making it difficult to see what lied in the shadows around her. Though she initially grappled with her restraints, Ma'lak ceased when she felt a sudden chill. Everything was silent as her eyes darted about, seeking whatever had caused the disturbance.
Then her gaze focused on something above her: a single tendril blanketed by the glow that blinded her. It slowly descended upon her, laying at rest upon the bridge of her neck. Without warning, it wrapped around her esophagus and clenched down hard, causing her to lose her breath even as she struggled even more fiercely. The face of one of the aliens slowly surfaced out of the darkness, its listless glare reminding Ma'lak of what she'd become.
Just as its prisoner managed to choke out a sound, the creature sent a telepathic thought into her mind. It was simple, yet could never be translated into a proper language. Rather, it forced Ma'lak to open her mind for her interrogator to peruse.
"You are a creator," claimed the foreign voice in the Progenitor's head, though it confided as if it could be overheard. "You alter life in your image."
The being had a strong grip on her throat, but Ma'lak was able to manage a weak nod. With her answer, the tentacle around her throat loosened somewhat. Yet even though her body was no longer being damaged, her brain was being thoroughly scrutinized for answers to the creature's unspoken questions.
"Xenophore." It thought aloud, making the Progenitor feel all of its virulent wonder. When it finished, the beast retreated into the dark again, its extra limb persistently threatening to suffocate her once more. "We will perfect it. You will be the first."
Although Ma'lak wanted to protest, she felt the sting of a needle piercing her arm, followed by an acrid sensation spreading throughout her body. Slowly, the lamp above her dimmed until the last of her cognizance cried out into the night with the voice of a child.
Thus while the Many protected the Xenomorphs and planned to steal one of the invaders' ships, Ma'lak would become the progenitor of another species called the Scrin - the Vedi's answer to their gradual loss in the war against their own creators.
-= Approximately 1 billion years ago =-
Silent. Dormant. The Leviathans slept beneath the cold of their world's ocean. Nothing ever disturbed them, as nothing could disturb them. The pressure at over 3200 meters beneath the sea would crush any lesser lifeform, and they were one of the first to grace this galaxy with their presence. What would a species like this have to gain from telepathically dominating the minds of those land-based species above? Why did they want tribute from each sapient species they came across in the galaxy? How did they eventually develop a symbiotic relationship with species that didn't even exist yet, including their abilities to control those minds that hadn't evolved on their own world?
These were the questions the Shadows wanted answers to. Ever since their contact with the Totality beyond the galactic barrier, they used their advanced genetic engineering to determine their true composition. All evidence pointed to a planet on the far side of the Attican Traverse. They were not a species that could be controlled by the Leviathans, yet they hoped these beings could provide them with important information to be used against the Totality. To that end, one of them quietly approached the planet in its own space vessel like the shadow of a thief in the night.
The Shadows were unlike any other race the Leviathans had encountered up to this point. They'd long since evolved into beings of light, but their material form was pitch black. Their bodies were cloaked in shades of dark purple and black, shaped like a spiked praying mantis crossed with a spider. Like the Leviathan, they could psychically control many races - a trait they now believed the Leviathans took from them. What they wanted to know was how and why.
They got their answer. As soon as they exited hyperspace, they were met by the Vorlons. While the Shadows were ready to wipe out every last Leviathan on the surface to preserve that which they thought was theirs, the Vorlons wouldn't allow it. This was to instigate the first of many wars between the two races, with the Leviathans attempting to use their thralls to break free of Vorlon control and the genetic mutilation of their species. Unfortunately, the Leviathans' last resort, to have their thralls create synthetics, backfired on them, as they couldn't control the synthetics like they could organic minds. So, instead, they crafted the Catalyst... the key the Shadows needed to manipulate to destroy them.
It was the Vorlons who gave the Leviathans these powers in the first place, merely for scientific interest, though some would later say out of hope for a slave race capable of dominating the younger races of the galaxy. Whatever the case, their inadvertent creation of the Reapers forced the Vorlons and the Shadow to briefly overcome their differences and fight together against their greater threat. Being much older, with more time for their technology to develop, and for their psychic abilities to flourish, these First Ones remained a credible threat to the Reapers, but only when united. As a result, the Reapers eventually began to avoid the two older races, and the two avoided them to concentrate on their own experiments. Not even the Reapers could wipe out all life in the galaxy during the early cycles because of them.
-= 600 million years ago =-
The Manraloth built the first known interspecies coalition in the Milky Way. Together with their allies, the Manraloth were the architects of an unparalleled golden age. Peace reigned, though there was still the occasional act of terrorism or crime of passion. A galaxy-wide communications network was constructed, subspace itself channeled into a series of "highways" that connected the entire Milky Way with the Greater and Lesser Magellanic Clouds. Invasions from extragalactic and extra-dimensional species, including the Reapers, were easily rebuffed, and what was perhaps the greatest achievement of this epoch of history was built: the black hole archives.
By allowing information to "fall" into a quantum singularity, the energy was encoded on the event horizon, meaning that the information is essentially immune to the effects of time. The civilizations of the time put everything that their respective societies had learned into the archives. Only a small amount of this information would be found by later generations, who used it to construct the first phases of the Crucible - a weapon meant to be used against the Reapers. But the rest remained undiscovered...
-= 500 million years ago =-
The Manraloth, basing the design on Arcturian technology they discovered, constructed a space-borne cathedral artifact in order to experience alternate realities created via the Omega particle powering it, mainly out of curiosity, but also because the Q Continuum manipulated them in a failed effort to subdue the Abyss. When the Reapers later attempted to assimilate the technology, they discovered it would wreak havoc among their ranks, due to it breaking the indoctrination of various subjugated species under their control. Attempts to destroy it were unsuccessful as well, since after the initial infection, any Reaper within a wide range of the station would be freed from indoctrination. So the Reapers abandoned it in the Oort cloud where it was built.
-= 300 million years ago =-
The Data Overmind came to life. The Manraloth designed it to keep track of the vast amounts of data their civilization had generated and encoded into the event horizon of a very specific black hole. Like the rest of the data, it was part of the singularity, but its program worked in reverse of all known data forms up to that point. Yuki described it as unable to exist in our own stream of time, whatever that means. Apparently, it only works when time is frozen around it, or something like that.
-= Japan, 2003 CE =-
To be honest, I just wanted to go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow would be another difficult day of dealing with our would-be "god", Haruhi.
Before I could leave, Yuki added one last thing.
This Overmind apparently generated the data organisms like a car produces fumes. They each represented a species the Manraloth, or the Overmind itself, discovered. There were apparently millions of these creatures wandering the galaxy, each out of phase with our own dimension. Some of them formed entire species. Either way, they crossed the data jurisdiction and closed space.
Speaking of closed space, I wondered if those celestials had anything to do with this.
"Yes." A simple and succinct answer, one I came to expect from our resident, emotionless alien.
She explained that the celestials and closed space were based on the Manraloth themselves. Over 250 million years ago, the Manraloth ascended to some kind of higher plane along with their thralls. Whatever happened to them, it destroyed their bodies and those of their subjects. The only thing left over of their spirits, or atma as Yuki called them, became the dangerous and unpredictable celestials, who were tied to Haruhi because of her "special properties".
I thought that explanation was ridiculous. It didn't answer why they attached themselves to Haruhi like they did. But Yuki said she honestly didn't know why.
"We may have a theory, but it is not ready to be shared."
Not ready to be shared? What the hell does that mean?
"If we are wrong, it will not matter. If we are right, you will know."
Cryptic and useless. Great. Well, after her story about these Manraloth or whatever, I wondered why the Data Overmind took such an interest in Haruhi in the first place.
"She is the key."
The key to what?
"The key to understanding our next stage of evolution."
I would've thought Haruhi was a step back. But I thought I knew what Yuki meant. But what would happen if all us humans had the same powers as Haruhi? It would be chaos!
"We did not refer to you. We refer to us. To the data species."
For a moment, I was relieved. Then I became a little miffed. So it was all for selfish ends, is that right? Unlike Koizumi or Mikuru, Yuki wasn't doing this for humankind?
"Your kind is one out of four billion, three-hundred and sixty-four different species that have existed in the galaxy since the Data Overmind was activated. Alone, you are not important."
I was a bit hurt by that comment. But Yuki seemed like she wanted to reassure me.
"You will learn and evolve without us. There are many species you will learn from. Many currently influence your cultures and understanding of the universe. In the same manner, you will influence others. You have already influenced this unit."
Suddenly, it struck me. I knew now exactly what she meant. That day when Yuki apparently malfunctioned, when she changed the world around us and even changed herself. She removed everything supernatural about the world, made herself human... it was all because of us. We influenced her development, her evolution, so that she felt the necessary next step was to become one of us. The Data Overmind wouldn't allow that to happen, of course. It predicted Yuki's malfunction and had her warn us. That's when that incident in the parallel universe occurred. That's when I pressed the button.
Their next stage of evolution wasn't us. We couldn't be more vain and self-centered if we tried, especially because I initially thought we were, based on everything she was telling me. No, they were ready to move to another stage and become gods, in a sense. Well, if Haruhi was the key to finding out how they could reach this next stage and ascend, I can at least sympathize. How many humans wish for an eternal life without suffering? Maybe we can't imagine it now, and maybe it's good for us not to pursue it yet. But even after we reach that point, what challenges would await us next?
"Unknown." There was that computer-exactitude again. "According to Manraloth records, ascension is only the first step on a journey. We do not know what that journey will consist of. It may carry challenges we cannot deduct with the data available."
So why attain it at all? Evolution is based on the principle of need.
"The Manraloth warned us of a day of reckoning. It will involve beings beyond our current level of knowledge. To understand them, they believed they must ascend. They failed and are now trapped in bodies they cannot control. Others have replaced them, but they will not be enough. All beings in the galaxy must ascend to counter this threat."
Then why not share your knowledge with us?
"You are not ready. Records indicate ascension is a process that must be undertaken by each species on their own. There is no other way. Forced ascension only leads to the same mistake made by the creators. It will fail."
Where do we start?
"I do not know. The Overmind assigned me to monitor and observe Suzumiya. There are others on this planet monitoring other potential sources of ascension, but that information is not available."
So, as far as we know, Haruhi is the only chance we have at this 'ascension'.
"Yes."
Then that was it. We're doomed.
-= 65 million years ago, Earth =-
Fickle were the gods. It's why the Voth grew disenchanted and threw them away long ago. But never tell a religious man to drop everything he believes and expect him to go through with it. Some people just needed something to believe in. So why not the sun?
The sun never fought among itself; never stopped rising in the day and setting by night. Those same follies that dragged mortals from one conflict to the next never cursed its glow. One could always look up and find it behind the clouds, casting its warmth over the world. No matter where you went, it would follow, giving life to everyone beneath it. It was order to the chaos of the old gods. It was everything the people needed in times of uncertainty.
A telescope peered up at the great, flaming jewel of the sky, its operator staring through both the digital filter and a natural one at the corona which encircled their new god. Few got the opportunity to look at it like this, with a professionally-built device worth more than the lives of the hundred troodontid slaves it took to build. Dagen, the astronomer, tried not to think about that. Though he'd always been a critic of the Voth practice of slavery, he decided he could do little more than what others already had. His place was here, monitoring the stars, in case a rogue asteroid or some other phenomena sought to end their lives before they'd even begun... before they could even begin building their dream society in space.
If anything, that was what Dagen hoped to contribute. By the time the more reasonable voices of his people won out against Doctrine, his and his associate's plans to escape Earth and rebuild society in space - or on another world - would finally be complete. Right now, he'd been forced to relegate his plans to only include those deemed 'important' - scientists, engineers... and, unfortunately, those with the money to sponsor this project. With any luck, so Dagen hoped, society would soon abandon those maintaining a corrupt status quo by the time they would leave their world. But it wouldn't be in Dagen's lifetime.
"Uh, professor?" Dagen's assistant, the young and excitable Eria, called his attention, but he kept his eye on the sun as it underwent another solar flare. When he only responded with a grunt, Eria anxiously exclaimed, "Observatories nine through sixteen report something in sector 401. It's... it's amazing!"
"I'm sure they're exaggerating." After nearly an entire lifetime, Dagen thought he'd seen it all. Besides, most astronomers today were young and eager to discover something noteworthy. But given how many observatories apparently reported it, he decided to turn his scope to the coordinates provided by Eria just to corroborate his own prediction. Nothing could prepare him for what he saw.
An enormous, thick disc-shaped object had flown across the edge of the solar system, pursued by what appeared to be a school of fierce-looking molluscs. Beams of light seemed to emerge from the molluscs and tear into the larger ship like a knife through flesh. The heavily-wounded disc then spun on some sort of invisible axis, suggesting a central point of gravity and ability to control its own rotation. More beams of light emerged, this time from the disc itself, wiping out several of the molluscs like mosquitoes being swat out of the air. Another heavy lash of the mollusc's beams struck the disc and caused it to slowly turn so that it looked like a flipped coin in mid-air.
"My gods..." Dagen couldn't help but use the expression in amazement.
"Then... the legends were true?" Eria sounded terrified, as well she should be. "There are gods who fight amongst themselves?"
"I-I'm not sure." It was the best answer Dagen could draw up. "Get governor Jarok on the line! He must be notified of this immediately!"
While Eria carried out his order, Dagen continued to watch the drama played out in the stars. By now, the disc had begun to fall toward the sun, caught inescapably within the star's gravity. The predatory creatures chasing it didn't fall back or think twice about following it into the corona. As the disc approached the ocean of liquid plasma, Dagen thought that would be the end of it. The gods of chaos would be destroyed by the god of order.
As soon as the disc came dangerously close to the surface of the sun, it stopped its rotation and - whilst continuing to fly just above the storms of fire below - emitted some sort of beam toward the star. What happened next made Dagen's heart catch in his throat, as he watched breathlessly when the sun reacted by lashing out with a flare, engulfing both the disc and the tinier molluscs, all of which disappeared beneath the fire and light.
Finally, Dagen sat back in his seat and let out the breath he'd pent up. Just in time, too, for Eria had contacted the governor and had him on line 1. Dagen reached out and activated the telecom from his side, then explained everything he'd witnessed in full detail.
"Will these things threaten us?"
"No, sir. I believe they managed to destroy one anoth-" Before he could finish that sentence, a warning light blinked, and Dagen felt the scales on the back of his neck begin to itch. After putting the governor on hold, he quickly slid his chair back toward the telescope and looked through it once more.
The disc had just emerged from the other side of the sun, badly damaged and apparently leaking what could only be described as a mix of debris and some kind of gaseous substance. But none of that mattered compared to one, indelible fact:
It was heading straight for Earth.
"Eria!" Dagen quickly shouted, turning away from the telescope long enough to make some quick calculations on another console regarding the disc's trajectory. "Get the governor back on the line! Tell him we've got an emergency! The disc is heading right for us!"
After some checking of the available data provided by the telescope's sensor array, he confirmed what he most feared. The disc would strike Earth's surface in mere hours-six, perhaps even less if its speed increased in even the slightest.
"Professor!" That's when Eria interrupted Dagen as he double- and triple-checked his calculations, in the faint hope he was wrong. "The governor is issuing an emergency alert! He wants to evacuate as many people into the bunkers as possible!"
"That isn't going to be enough," Dagen answered, his voice and body visibly trembling. "The object is going to cause too much damage to the atmosphere. We're dead if we stay here!"
That certainly was cause to terrify Eria into standing, but the young woman quickly tried to gather her senses and justify some sense of hope. "Maybe-maybe there's still a chance!"
But Dagen wasn't about to argue with her. He had more important matters to attend to. Without even another word to his assistant, he quickly stood and ran for the door, Eria's voice calling out from behind him. Once outside, he jumped into the sleek, torpedo-like vehicle he'd been awarded as recognition for his years of research. Just as he did so, the sirens went off across the city, and military transports were carrying soldiers out to every part of the city so they could direct people into shelters. Slamming on the gas, Dagen drove his car out to the outskirts of town, praying he would get there in time.
Fate continued to play a cruel game, however, when he pulled up next to his home. Soldiers had already gathered out in the streets, and he would've been stopped had he not deftly drove around the few transports the military had sent out to his small neighborhood. As he got out of the car, he could hear the shouts and screams of both his wife and child. They were being practically dragged out of the house and moved toward the transport, which would take them to the nearest bunker. But Dagen grit his teeth, bent his fingers as if preparing to use the long, sharp claws at the end of them, and approached the nearest soldier.
"Hey!" He shouted to get the soldier's attention, then swiped at him. The sudden blow caught the soldier by surprise, but he stood his ground and grappled with the scientist. "Let them go! Don't you realize it's useless?! We can't survive underground!"
"Sir, you must calm down!" The unnamed soldier continued to hold Dagen's hands by the wrists, so the distraught professor couldn't strike at him again. "Just stay calm!"
"No! Didn't you hear me?! We're going to die if we stay here!"
Before the soldier could respond with some more false hope, another soldier quickly approached and looked between him and Dagen. "The governor just called. He wants Professor Dagen on the ship." City-ship 9B2-604, or as Dagen called it, the Frontier. It was one of the many sleeper ships built to eventually be launched into space so Voth society could rebuild somewhere far away. "Professor, if you'll just go with Lieutenant-"
"My wife!" Dagen interrupted as he watched his wife and child being forced onto the troop transport. Again, he struggled even more in vain, trying to break free of the soldier's grip so he could get to her. "What about my family?!"
"I'm sorry, sir." This time, Dagen looked over at the soldier with mouth agape. Surprise soon turned into outright hate when the soldier explained: "There just isn't enough room."
That was the problem with the program to begin with. It's why they weren't scheduled to launch any ships for at least another few decades. But now, with time against them...
"No, I won't leave them! I won't leave my family behind!" Again, a pointless struggle ensued.
"If you don't cooperate, we have orders to incapacitate you!" The soldier grappling with Dagen now had the professor's arms behind his back. While they were deciding what course of action to take, Dagen could only helplessly watch the back of the transport carrying his loved ones close before the vehicle took off.
"No! No!" Dagen shouted at the top of his lungs, as if the driver would somehow hear him. Alas, he knew it was a wasted effort. But he'd be damned if he wouldn't be here with his beloved wife when the end comes. With one jerk of his head, he smashed the end of his head ridge into the soldier's face, causing the latter to lose his grip. That's when Dagen made a run for the vehicle before it could get out of sight. "Come back! Stop!"
Then a dart pierced the back of his neck, and the tranquilizer quickly took effect. Dagen fell to the ground, paralyzed all over in less than a minute. The worst part, though, was that he couldn't even see the transport as it disappeared over the ridge. And he couldn't stop it...
No more than an hour later, he'd been carried on to the sleeper ship and laid into one of the cryostasis pods. The last thing he'd see before the glass lid closed over him was the disc coming into view in front of the sun, its hull ablaze as it careened toward them.
Fickle were the gods. Fickle... and cruel.
Continuity Notes:
Progenitors (Star Trek) - An alien species of humanoids who lived in the Milky Way before (most) others. Revealed in TNG 6x20 "The Chase" to be responsible for all the humanoid aliens in Star Trek.
Xenophore (Star Trek) - Bug-like alien species accidentally created by the Progenitors in Star Trek: Hidden Evil.
The Many (System Shock) - Giant alien biomass with telepathic powers allowing them to control the minds of 'lesser' species.
Ascension (Stargate) - See chapter 1.
Xenomorphs (Alien) - Feral aliens with a taste for anything that moves. Can climb on walls and ceilings.
Harvesters/Vedi (Independence Day) - Aliens slightly resembling the Grey that wear huge biosuits with tentacles. Using telepathy, they can project their thoughts through these tentacles into the minds of whoever they're in contact with.
Scrin (Command & Conquer) - Bug-like aliens that live on a green crystaline substance called tiberium, which is toxic to most organic species.
Vorlons & Shadows (Babylon 5) - The first two species (after one other) to evolve in the Milky Way. Both are like parents who disagree on how to raise their children- in this case, the other sapient species that evolved after them. Vorlons want order through rule of law and moral codes; Shadows want the opposite. They don't get along. At all.
Leviathans (Mass Effect) - Leviathans are an alien species that resemble giant squids who live underwater. They have great telepathic abilities and can control the minds of other species in close proximity. They created the Catalyst, a program meant to solve the problem of 'synthetics' (advanced robots) by assuming direct control.
Reapers (Mass Effect) - The Catalyst went insane and forcibly joined the synthetics with the Leviathans, creating the cybernetic Reapers whose mission would be to invade the Milky Way every hundred thousand years or so and destroy all advanced civilizations so that younger, less developed ones could have a chance to evolve 'naturally'.
Totality (Star Trek; Andromeda) - Dark matter creature that lives in the space between galaxies. It's equated with Corona (Star Trek) and the Spirit of the Abyss (Andromeda; see chapter 1).
Attican Traverse (Mass Effect) - For you Star Trek fans, it's a sector of space that covers most of the Delta quadrant and slivers of the Gamma and Alpha quadrants.
Arcturians (Taken) - See chapter 1.
Omega (Star Trek) - A molecule with potentially limitless power that's dangerous unstable. Revealed in VOY 4x21 "The Omega Directive" and plays a pretty big role in the Star Trek Legacy game.
Data Overmind (Haruhi Suzumiya) - Alien overseer who sent Yuki Nagato (a character in the series Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) and others to Earth to monitor Haruhi- a strange, obnoxious girl who unknowingly has the power to remake the universe. Read the books or watch a bit of the series and you might end up agreeing with Kyon. We're doomed.
Voth (Star Trek) - Alien reptilian species that evolved from hadrosaurs on Earth prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. They subscribe to a religious dogma called Doctrine and, at least in this continuity, enslave another humanoid dinosaur species called the troodontids.
Cetans (Perfect Dark) - Another name for the Grey aliens, though these are depicted in the games as having human personalities unlike the truly alien species from the Taken miniseries.
T'leth (X-COM) - Name of the flying saucer that impacted Earth and caused the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.
