Chapter 13: "Rewards of Service"
Logan flew along the passages with such speed the hieroglyphs poured into her mind, more like a film than a wall of stationary symbols. Each letter was so perfect, she suspected they had been carved by some robot, perhaps chronicling the fall of their civilization long after all their masters had perished. "We have heard nothing from the lunar colony, and nothing from our settlement on Alpha Centauri. Given the confirmed destruction of all ninety-three substantially sized earth settlements we can assume that Pokelantis is the last surviving advanced human population. Unlike the other settlements, Atlantis was prepared for an attack. Outlook is favorable so long as the firstborn do not bring out any of their motherships. The soothsayers chant doom, but our scientists assure us not even their greatest attacks will penetrate the outermost layer of the shield." She read on, read the chronicle of a successful defense and a retaliatory attack that claimed many firstborn lives, burning a tree village to the ground as so many human cities had been burned. As Logan knew it would, this was their hubris. Faced with such a direct attack, every one of the Arceus motherships was called into service, the colossal stone monsters darkening the sky over Atlantis.
The carvings did not change as she read over this darkest section of the tale. "All calls of surrender have gone unanswered. Lawmen have abandoned their posts, and riots fill the streets. With the outer shield breached, it is only a matter of hours before their weapons penetrate the hull and eviscerate everyone inside. The court soothsayer's predictions no longer disagree with any surviving scientists. A plan to salvage a small section of the city has been devised: By disengaging power from all other decks, the utility section might be made to transport away at the same moment the rest of the city is disintegrating." She had to stop reading there, imaging the cold, twisted logic of such a course. Sacrifice the millions of the city to save what few were deemed valuable enough to cram into the utility deck? At least she knew how this section of the city had survived.
There was little else left reading after that. The way the plan was successfully executed, and the royal family survived to found primitive settlements all over the earth, leaving Atlantis deserted once it had been drained of useful supplies. All the functional parts remained though, a floating historical testament to the extinct civilization that was its creator.
When Logan finally found her way to the control room, she found several of Also's technicians already there. Several traditional computer monitors had been erected along with a huge liquid-nitrogen cooled canister she knew housed a portable AI. So far as a little over a metric ton was portable, anyway. She climbed over the wires and past the guard, who looked as though he wanted to stop her but didn't dare say anything. As she had known, Also was there waiting for her, looking unchanged despite the intervening hours. Not a strand of hair out of place, not even a slightly different expression on her face. Thus it was with the oldest ones, she knew. Those who had only a paw left on earth, the rest on some unfathomed elder realm that only her AI would know. She wondered if Also felt it, if she hated it as much as she claimed to. How long could she deny a world she was beginning to live in every day? Would her oblates keep her ideals alive when she was gone? She supposed she would have to wait until the war was over to see the answer to that.
"We need to leave." Logan was the first to speak, meeting Also's eyes. "We have only a few hours before the Exarchs arrive. How close are we to leaving? We can modify the antimatter fabricator on the way." She was impatient, imagining the pestilent sore in the sky that must be forming even now. What would it look like when the Great Others arrived to wreak awful vengeance on the life the eons had made them forget? She supposed that if anyone had to witness it, she would have already lost.
Also did not answer. Instead, she lowered her head to one of the staring scientists, the one with the quivering jowls. Bently? She thought that was his name. "We have full control over the city's defenses. A.C.T. is having trou-"
"This isn't the city." Logan interrupted, stepping forward past him to the console. "This is just the utility section. Power production, waste disposal. You wouldn't like what happed to the rest of it." She extended one hand over the embedded crystal, which lit up and reconfigured, hundreds of little hexagonal sections reconfiguring in something akin to a display. She read them briefly. Energy reserves were precious low. Low enough she might not even be able to get the antimatter fabricator started. There was none at all in the reserves… if there had been, mutual annihilation would've more than paid the energy to get the fabricators started again, and so begin an infinitely circular pattern. Or… as infinite as the matter they could convert into its antimatter equivalent. How long would it take to produce the planetary quantities she needed? It was a good thing they had come now… a few more centuries and Atlantis might be a stationary ruin of withering rock, covered in corals and home to fish.
Bently did not seem to know how to answer that. Also did, though. "Our Autonomous Communications Technology is having difficulty disabling the program they left running. We can't access any of the city's systems that the program is using, and it's using almost all of them."
Logan privately smiled at that, imagining her own Dakota doing far better than Also's AI assistant was doing. But she didn't say anything about it. Instead she asked. "Wouldn't you be better? You're older."
The woman shook her head. "The city recognizes what I am and won't allow me to interface with it. You know its history: You know why such a protocol would be installed. But either your youth has concealed you or your shapeshifting is perfect. Either way." She gestured to the still-glowing display below Logan's hand. "If you're so eager to get us underway, then by all means. Set a course."
Logan tried. She was able to locate the program easily enough, but the program itself was anything but simple. Complex interlinking subroutines well beyond her skill at codebreaking flooded her mind, and easily defeated any of her attempts to modify the program that had been left in control of the city. They weren't going anywhere.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Edward Irongate was not oblivious to the impending doom of his world. He had made no travels down to the voidship and heard no voices that had endured universes before. Edward Irongate had much better than that. In a secret alter aboard his flagship fashioned of obsidian and stones far darker. The darkest of those rested at its center upon a plinth encrusted with gemstones. "Non Omnis Moriar" proclaimed the Keystone, which looked almost like an innocent fragment of rock as Edward descended the stairs above it. The clutch at his heart told him better, though. His limbs weakened as he drew nearer, and the feeble flicker around the stone became a bright purple glow. The glow became a burning, a royal ember that spiraled into a whirlpool twisting with spheres of light. Edward made it a habit to visit the stone as little as possible since it had claimed the life of his oldest brother several years ago. Even now he did not regret it, though. One stubborn brother's life was a fair price for control of the world.
"Spiritomb." Edward lowered his head as he reached the shrine, slitting one palm on one of the sharp rocks before the shrine, dribbling it onto the keystone. He fanned the flames: damned souls woke. Then they spoke.
"You have done well." Chorused more than a hundred voices. "Now you must meet our true masters. The time of their coming is at hand."
"I have already made preparations." Edward stood, straightening his robes as he did so. The wound on his hand had already closed, twisted old flesh closing where smooth skin had been before. "The Ephraim has been routed to an arctic patrol."
The flames amidst the alter whirled and twisted. Edward could never tell what emotions this curious pokemon was feeling. All of them, he supposed. The voice that answered seemed largely angry, though. Almost fearful as it screamed. "One ship will not be enough!" It lashed at him with spectral flames, but these were lashes Edward had felt many times before, so he did not flinch. "You must bring them all! Show the Old Ones how powerful human servants can be!"
Even Edward was taken aback by the order. "All of them? Spiritomb, most of our ships are on assignment protecting our cities. If I recall them…"
"The Exarchs will take only the lives of the unworthy." Soothed the scores of damned souls, fire flashing from purple to crimson and back again. "Do you think you can make peace with them while you are still fighting and killing their servants? Order every ship to the arctic. You might even tell them the truth. Say that you know where the Outer Kings will arrive, and when. Let them believe whatever they wish of your intentions so long as they obey."
Edward considered that a moment. His generals in the army would scream for his head, and many of their positions would fall without air support. But what could they do? He would only need obedience for a day. The Outer Kings would crown him and mankind would be free forever, under his immortal rule.
An hour later and he had already delivered the order to his commanders. He had underestimated their resistance. Ten ships obeyed without question, as he had known they would. He had appointed those captains himself… dull compliant men that knew his love for obedience. Five more had agreed under great protest and persuasion, and he knew that if things went poorly their captains would ultimately choose the safety of their ships over the success of his cause. They would be the first he sacrificed as soon as the opportunity came.
He had expected one or two of the worldships to refuse his call, those captained by powerful men and women in their own right whom he hadn't the social capital to remove (yet). Gary he had known would refuse, treating his duty to protect the pokemon reservation his grandfather had built like a sacred trust. Erica was Alvin's daughter. He doubted very much she knew her father was traveling with his treacherous sister, but she had always been closer to the legendary pokemon than he liked. Aile was another one whose loyalty he had never imagined: She had been one of them herself only a few decades past and had not taken keenly to his little coupe.
What he hadn't expected were three more captains who refused to follow orders, most of which commited to defending civilian targets from large numbers of soulphage victims. Were they lost to him? He couldn't say, though he at least respected them for being open with their loyalty. "Should I change our course? We could intercept the Asher without missing the time you specified for the arctic rendezvous." That was Jane talking, his secretary and most trusted confidant, following him as always with short blonde hair swinging behind her. Her bright blue eyes shone even behind the computer-interface over one eye, and she feigned an excited smile even as she hurried to keep pace with him. She even managed to look beautiful with the row of Praetorian guards following them. Jane never asked questions, only did as she was told and looked pretty. Well, that wasn't true. Despite her other advantages, Edward had 'hired' her for her intelligence, and that was exactly what he got. Still, he shook his head. "Not this time. Better to have one undamaged ship than two weakened ones to defend against the Exarchs when they break through." He repeated the lie so easily now, even to her. But Jane did not mind being lied to.
"As you say, Prefect. Maintain our current course it is. Though I would have liked to see a partially assembled ship contend with us. How long before the crew mutnies, you think?"
Edward tried to hide his amusement at Jane's idea. Amusement, because of how causually and callously she spoke of attacking one of their own ships defending a civilian target. Yes, he supposed, he had chosen well in her. Yet, there was good reason she only made suggestions, and he made decisions. "Not long, Jane. But then everyone knows we attacked one of our own ships, and we could very well lose more. No… we can do without the Asher."
"Without six worldships." She replied, but nodded all the same, lowering her head.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jamie could not sleep at the dawn of the end of the world. She had no way of measuring time except the rising and falling of the sun, yet that was all she needed. There were only hours between her and those strange Others that came from her nightmares. She had not heeded the word of her companions, as much sense as they made. How could she possibly sleep so close to the end? She was no mew to make quick calculations of how long it would take the exarchs to reach goldenrod, but her subconscious told her days, not weeks. Without the Eldest's strategy of luring the Exarchs away from the planet, she had no doubt many lives would be lost. Pokemon lives, just like the ones in the burrow with her.
Jamie did not know if she should feel proud or stupid for what she was doing. On the one hand, it seemed the first decent thing she'd done in ages: Sharing her shelter and offering comfort to these pokemon, regardless of how they had been born. Some of them… she hadn't known which… had filled her little room with soft herbs and leaves to help her sleep, but all they did was make her feel guilty. Guilty for giving almost half a hundred pokemon false hope that they might somehow miraculously survive. "That's you, Jamie." She whispered to herself, curling up in a little ball with arms wrapped tightly around her hindpaws. "Captain of the selfish patrol. You only let them stay because you were too afraid to turn them down. You're only down here because you're too weak to be a mew. You're only alive because you're too cowardly to kill yourself."
Jamie didn't get to go on with her self-loathing, though. Didn't have time, because of another one of the little pokemon that'd come with her. The score of little faces watched from the burrow downward as the Yawn took effect. That was exactly what Jamie did, closing her eyes in a few moments, and drifting off, fighting to silently resist but helpless against the technique and her own exhaustion. She was gone.
BANG! BANG! BANG! Jamie was a little girl again, curled up on her bed as the door to her room banged so hard the whole thing shook. She was wearing her nightgown, quivering with eyes closed to resist what she knew was coming. So this was how it came for her this time, eh? Every time she got younger, as the thing killed all the older versions of her, leaving her younger and weaker each time she finally gave in to tiredness and slept.
But for the second time, she was not alone. Kari was there, though he wasn't a child too, not this time. Kari wore the uniform of an astronaut, before legendary technology had made space travel routine. His hair was even cropped the same, and face still a little sunburned. He had no weapons, no tools, though he held the door as hard as he could, bracing himself firmly against the inside of her bedroom, and wincing as the door banged again. Jamie forced herself to watch as he held back what was on the other side, sickly black slime seeping through the cracks.
"Time's up, Jamie." He said, turning to face her as another bang came. The door shook again, but as before, it held. Less and less well each time, though… "No more hiding behind your friends." Another loud bang, and Jamie pulled the covers up over her head, quivering. Kari spoke on. "You're about to be thrust out into the dark, all by yourself. We've helped you this long but we can't help you anymore."
Jamie poked her head above the quilt, little blue eyes fixed on him. She didn't say anything, not as little bits of wood showered all around Kari like a dull brown rain. A few more blows, and the door would be gone. " I can't!" Little Jamie squeaked from under the covers, so quiet that if Kari were real he would probably not have been able to hear her. "I can't! It always gets me! I'm not strong enough!"
Kari sighed, as if resigned to the worst, pressing himself all the harder against the door that could no longer support the hammers that fell on the other side. "You are strong enough, Jamie. You are because you have to be." Another shudder, and this time it was too much for the feeble wood. Splinters went everywhere, and Jamie felt the awful rush, as though the door opened onto deep space. A rush and a pop, and Kari was gone into the void, Jamie's furniture dragging along the floor before going spinning out into nothing. The bed was last, and it sent her spinning, screaming into the cold.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Logan had nearly given up. She had never been much for puzzles and codes, and being a mew had not changed that. Sure, any human puzzle might have been simple for her to solve… but the humans that had built this one had hardly been so simple as the modern variety. Also's technicians were struggling with it behind her, with the woman herself doubtless puzzling a way to take a crack at the controls personally. How long would that take? Longer than they had, Logan knew. There were hours left until the Exarchs arrived, perhaps minutes. It was over. Her world was lost, and in a few more hours everything she knew would be ashes. Should she set off into space now? Pretend she was a deoxys and never look back? What would the point be? If there was no earth, then there was no reason to be alive anyways. Best just to… keep going.
A breach might mean awful casualties, but it didn't necessarily mean their cause could not be won. In every other conflict before the Exarchs had breached through into reality, did she really think this time would be any different? Besides… just because she couldn't breach the city's security didn't mean she didn't know another mew young enough not to be detected who might be able to do the job. "I need to go outside." She announced suddenly, though there was really no reason to leave the city. Sound traveled further in water, but she could send a thought as far as she wished. Still she went, disappearing from where she stood and appearing outside, no longer wearing human skin and no longer caring. She did not fall as the submarine had done, holding herself stationary for a moment in its little bubble of air before gritting her teeth and plunging into the crushing black depths, a little pink marble lost amid the currents. She let them toss her for a moment, though she never once let the city's position falter in her mind. Some good it would do her to find who she was looking for, only to lose track of the city and wander lost on the ocean floor until the Exarchs finally found her. Strange glowing shapes passed her on every side, pausing to inspect this new source of light in their world of utter blackness. Many brought their own light, strange deep-sea pokemon that had no names she knew with bodies thin as gossamer. There was no floor above her and no ceiling below, but she kept her bearings well enough.
She made no pretense, though she didn't reach out into the global link that connected most psionic legendaries. Do that, and she would be giving her position to the others… if they hadn't been looking for her before, they were now, and she lacked the time to waste in some sort of trial demonstrating her innocence in the Eldest's death. To say nothing of all the soldiers that had been set to defending the central core… "BIT!" She screamed silently into the water, screamed and screamed and screamed some more. She had no doubt Also would hear her screaming, but she didn't care… just so long as nobody came to drag her off. Eventually she went silent, following the swift shape of the city through the water and occasionally calling another plea for help into the dark. There was nothing to do but wait here and hope Bit's mastery of space meant she could get here before the others could.
The pokemon who answered her call was hardly the one she had expected. She felt the shape in the water before she saw it, massive compared to her and moving so quickly it sent ripples through the water behind it. There was a very short list of pokemon that could survive at these depths… and the list of those that could survive with any sort of technique to shield them was even smaller. Still, this one obviously belonged to that caste, as the only psychic power she sensed from it was moving it forward through the water. Logan knew that shape… but she didn't try to get away. A Lugia had found her, and there was no way she was getting away from it down here. So she turned, tried to look dignified, and waited for it to approach.
The thing stopped in front of her… or not so much stopped as it did fell into a pursuit course of the city with her, matching pace with leisurely efficiency. Yet as Logan surveyed the creature she could not help but see it as ungainly. Its wing/fins twitched awkwardly as it moved, causing so much drag she was sure that some of those waxy feathers would be torn off. Even as they moved, a few were, and the huge legendary shivered as bit by bit her insulation was worn away.
Logan had spent very little time with Lugia… their domain was so far from the upper skies she loved that they had little reason to cross paths. It wasn't until coordination for the war had begun that she even spoke with one… and even then, only briefly. They thought about time differently than mew did, living much longer and reproducing only once every few decades. The Eldest had told her they lived more like plants than animals… slow and decisive, and not very receptive to change. Still, they were powerful dedicated warriors and valued allies in a time like this, unwavering in their faith of the old ways. So when the legendary spoke, Logan expected its voice to be slow, almost mournful. No doubt it was here to drag her away for trial. Only then it spoke, and her despair lifted at once.
"Logan, I'm so glad it's you! If I spend another minute like this I think I might freeze solid, and I didn't trust myself to try and change back. Cost of miscalculation is too high."
The feline pressed herself to her friend, or as close as she could get without getting rid of her shield. "Bit!" She turned at once, gesturing. "Let's get inside the city's pressure-field; it's hard to concentrate on transform out here, and if I lose concentration at this depth..." There was no need to elaborate. Logan went on as they soared through the water together. "I need a code broken, Bit. As fast as possible."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Somewhere far away, a somewhat anxious looking trainer was attempting the most dangerous landing he had ever attempted.
"Paige, tell me again that the stealth systems are all operating properly." Izzy asked, bobbing nervously up and down near the front of the cockpit. The transparent assembly gave them an awful view of what lay below and all around them here on Mt. Moon. It seemed to her that every voidspawn and soulphage victim on earth had gathered here around Mt. Moon. They had eaten everything: stripped every tree and every rock, leaving the world utterly desolate as far as she could see. The only exception was the mountain itself, a great stone pinnacle that barely rose above the great press of living organisms. If any of them could be called alive… Few stood on the mountain proper, though they clustered tightly about it like the organs of some recently slain carcass, still beating in absence of the brain.
In theory, the Spiritomb-class stealth bomber would be totally silent and completely invisible, and Paige insisted that all of those systems were working perfectly. That did little to reassure the mew, who had to close her eyes in order not to see the awful throng assembled below them. "Why did we have to come here, Alvin?" She asked for perhaps the tenth time as he piloted the aircraft downward, face distorted with his concentration.
It was Paige who answered for him, so that his concentration on the matter at hand might not be broken. "He already explained that, Izzy." She said, as gently as possible. Her image did its best to look reassuring, though she really wanted to reach out and give the feline a big hug, and that much she couldn't do. "The deadline's almost here. Since the two of you have exhausted every other method at finding a Quantum lens, he's going to talk to his friend. He could do it anywhere of course… but you need to be here when Logan arrives with Atlantis."
"I still don't see why we can't park in the sky or somethin'. Or somewhere nearby… a few miles or so… so we would be close enough when Logan gets here but far enough we don't need to worry about these voidspawn." Izzy landed on a pilot's chair, standing on her hind-legs and glaring up at Paige's image, knowing she'd won. But of course she hadn't. If that logic would have brought her a victory, they wouldn't be landing. That didn't stop her from saying it though.
"This was the only spot of clear ground on sensor range." Paige answered, quietly and patiently. "None of them are on the slopes anymore: This is the only area they're avoiding entirely. If we stayed in the air then one of the flying ones would be bound to crash into us by sheer luck eventually, and then they'd all be on us. But so long as none of them come up here…"
Alvin touched down lightly then, and the light shock that traveled through the craft caused Izzy to jump back into the air, shrieking and curling up on herself. She peeked open with one eye at the transparent window displays, expecting to see the assembled masses thronging up the slopes to devour them, but… they didn't move. The group continued to undulate gently to an invisible heartbeat, seemingly completely unaware of their presence.
The 'trainer' wasted no time, standing up and cracking his knuckles. He reached out with one hand, petting Izzy gently. "Don't worry." He said, smiling as confidently as he could. "I promise I'll be back the instant I'm gone." He took his hand away and walked out, descending a set of stairs to the latrine. He flicked on the light and looked into the mirror for a moment, just long enough for its surface to flicker and ripple like water. Then he stepped through, leaving nothing behind.
The transition was less of a shock to Alvin, now that he was so well accustomed to it. Having every atom stripped from your body on the twisting descent out of material space came much quicker to him now. The reverse world was slower to change than its physical counterpart, and where a desolate wasteland existed in reality the echoes of trees still flourished, seasonal flowers drifting gently in Alvin's imagination. Clear, uncontaminated water cascaded down the mountainside, which Alvin realized upon reflection looked more like the base of some great tower than a natural structure. A few hundred million fewer years of erosion, and maybe…
"I knew you would come. Still, sooner than I expected. Your planet isn't dead yet, so you must not have come to hide. Let's play that game of linear time you're so practiced at and I'll ask what you've come for, even though you've already said it."
Alvin met the man's eyes with frustration in his face, though it was much reduced now that he knew he could return to time at the exact moment he left. There was still urgency with Alvin, though. He did not know how long he could keep himself balanced on this exact moment in time though he suspected the answer was "not long". He spoke as calmly as he could though, looking down on the one-legged man in his wheelchair, none of which was real. "We need a quantum lens. Or… Logan does, anyway. One of the parts from the machine that made the Exarchs in the first place. It…"
"I know." There was an expression like barely contained anger in his voice, eyes flickering passionately as he plainly resisted the desire to tear Alvin apart. "The Tower that opened the cracks, that polluted my world. It is the reason my travel to the reflection is so limited, the reason my world need die so soon. Forever should be so much longer than it is. To use that mechanism makes you no better than the blind, ignorant fools that ended creation with their hubris." Still, the fisher king had the discipline only infinite time could bring, and he restrained his rage. Rage over the injury to his own little corner of the universe, injury that was just as lethal to him as it was to the world. So all he did was sigh then, leaning back in his chair. "Now comes the part when you convince me to help you anyway. Go ahead."
So Alvin did, explaining Logan's plan as he understood it, in its entirety. The fisher-king listened with a sort-of saddened resolve that Alvin did not understand, not until he had finished explaining and the man nodded. "I will help you Alvin, but you will not like what happens when I do."
Only Alvin didn't respond. He stared blindly out into space for a moment, the wheels of his mind spinning faster than ever. "If this plan succeeds when we try it, why are you still hurt? Shouldn't repairing the universe have healed your injuries too?" The old man only looked down sadly, not saying a word. After a few moments, Alvin's expression mimicked his sadness, though his resolve was clearly stronger than his elder. "We have to try anyway. I refuse to accept this future... whatever you have to do to get me the component, do it."
The old man did not budge, though he spoke on anyway. "Very well. You will regret asking me where I obtained it. It's waiting just below the ground where your aircraft is parked."
Alvin wanted to turn and leave, but he couldn't help himself. He had to know what damage his asking had done, for the sake of his sanity. And so he did. "Where…"
"The tree of beginning is stone and ash without its heart." He said simply, and Alvin understood. There was no need to travel… he was there, watching from high above as the huge stone structure went up. Bright orange light shone from all around as all the crystals that had grown from the one he had wrenched out began to fade. He was glad he could not hear the cries of Izzy's sister, the mew far older than any other living legendary, its soul frozen within the heart of the tree. Without a heart, the poor pokemon floundered, drifting to the ground and dying in agony. Alvin forced himself to watch, though he did not raise his voice to stop what the King had done. He knew that was impossible… that he was seeing the flames meant that he had already kindled them, and that his efforts to find another solution would be doomed to fail. Still, he did not allow himself to take his eyes from the sight, not until the flames died, the corpse stilled, and the forest was silent again. He had been the one to kill the place, at least indirectly. It was the least he could do to watch the consequences of his work.
When the fire was gone, Alvin left without a word, reaching up and grasping firmly to the moment he had held in the back of his mind, stepping back into the physical and leaving the reflection behind.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
As Edward Irongate sat in the Captain's chair of the Ephraim and looked out upon the assembled multitude of the Worldships, he had no doubt in his mind that the footage of this moment taken by cameras on every one would become treasured historical data. The last moments of the old ways: The death of the way things had been and the birth of a new era. Pokemon mistakes had created this threat, not human ones. There was no reason they had to live in the shadow of legendaries any longer. With some large percentage of the earth's human population there to see the moment, Edward had no doubt that the message would be engrained on the hearts and minds of people for generations to come.
Who were pokemon to tell them who mankind's friends could be, or who were their enemies? From a young age Edward had resented them… after mutilating his younger sister, and subsequently corrupting her, they had earned nothing but his ire, and an unwavering resolve to see the whole lot punished for the way they treated people. Nevermind what Izzy said had caused her changes… to Edward the criminals had signed their own handywork plainly atop her head. The only truly important part of Izzy's story was what she didn't say: That the pokemon that had done it to her did so without her consent, violating the most sacred thing in Edward's mind: Free will.
"Sir, the temperature within the rift has dropped to two degrees Kelvin. Any change to your orders?" Praetorian guards surrounded Edward, and several more stood about the entrances and exits to the bridge. There wasn't a pokemon to speak of in sight, legendary or otherwise, and every human aboard lacked any sort of inoculation. Proto-humans might be soulphage carriers, after all, so could not be allowed to come in contact with those most vulnerable to the disease.
Edward stood up, taking a few steps forward and looking at the huge display trained on what technicians had taken to calling simply "the vortex". That was what it resembled… a huge whirlpool of mist and air, twisting gently in from all directions to a point of central nucleation. The force of wind in the awful conflagration grew by the moment, and even the Worldships needed to stay well over a mile away so they would remain unaffected by the gentle spiral of matter towards oblivion.
The Vortex had one close approximation: The core of a Worldship, and it was of this Edward was reminded as he watched the screen. For a moment the beauty of the gradually growing darkness nearly brought him to tears… but the moment passed quickly, and he returned to his seat. "How well are our shields resisting the wind?"
Another technician answered, from her station behind the weapons console. "Shields are currently operating at two percent of maximum capacity. Power distribution nominal."
Jane was suddenly behind him, pressing close to the back of the huge chair, soft hands working down his shoulders. "Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. Only a few more minutes, and you will have changed the world."
Edward did not move, leaning back into Jane's hands and letting her work, not caring for once what the military personnel with him on the bridge thought of his physical involvement with the secretary. The bridge itself was a huge, circular area, with his chair in the center and various consoles spread along the walls, so most of the technicians had their backs to him anyway.
"Message coming in from Commander Lyra!" One of them shouted abruptly, causing Edward to sit suddenly straight in his seat, and look harshly in the young man's direction. "She says it's of the upmost importance, cannot wait."
The man frowned a moment, then shrugged and rose. "Send it to the bridge conference room. I'll take it now." He strode casually from the room, glancing at his watch. Eight minutes… he would have to wrap this up quickly. It wasn't as though he didn't know what she would be saying… he just had to find a way to phrase his denial that was both cordial and elegant. It was of this he considered as he strode inside, listening as Jane slammed the door gruffly behind him.
"What is it, Lyra?" He seemed almost bored as he activated the screen, folding his arms.
The woman that appeared on the screen was old enough for a military commander, though she'd kept her almost girlish pigtails as she got on in years. She wore many medals, though they did not suit her in her anger. Her face was twisted and contorted with what was plainly barely restrained rage. "You took our air support, Damnit!" She was almost screaming. "Castelia city is burning, 'prefect'! The only orders you gave my men and I were stupid. Surrender? You ever surrendered to a virus before? Well neither have we, and that's why we're still here!" There was the sound of shouting and gunfire from just off-screen. Whatever office building the military commander had taken as her headquarters was obviously under siege. "I need at least ten-thousand city drones with incendiary explosives if you want me to hold the city. Sending the Reuben back to deal with the larger threats is essential as well."
Edward shook his head, as gently as he could manage. "Sorry general, but I would not have ordered all ships and resources brought to me if I didn't need them. You will have to make due with what you have. Which is how I responded to your written requisition order. I wonder how you managed to bring your message so high up. I had orders… did you pay someone off, I wonder? Or maybe you have a relative somewhere important more loyal to you than to me. Whoever they are, I promise you I will find them, and dismiss them from my service."
Lyra's face reddened as though she'd been slapped, but it was not an expression she held long. "Fuck you, Prefect." She said, eyes cold. "If anyone in my company lives, I swear they'll spread this story. I hope I'm at your tribunal when they hang you." The screen went black.
"We have fourteen nuclear instillations within range of Castelia, Edward." Jane casually offered a little electronic datapad to him, which Edward took absently, flicked through, and selected several.
"These should do." Edward handed the pad back, dismissing several million lives with a few twitches of his thumb. "Concentrate on the city center, I think. The outskirts will have already fallen." And that was it. Nuclear weapons dispatched and the matter done, the two left the room and returned to the bridge just in time to see the course of history change forever.
Edward could not have said if the sight was magnificent or disgusting, the way the dark spot grew and stretched and spread, a pool of evil water turned in on itself and undulating with the beat of a million dead hearts. "Increase the resolution." Edward ordered, even as one of the technicians bolted from the bridge, wretching and doing as best they could to hold back vomiting.
The first of the beings through the opening was a pale wisp of a thing, a faint black flicker Edward could scarcely see. He could not look directly at the thing… the screens just showed shadow and smoke, smoke that drifted away from the void rather than towards it. It was like watching birth. One shadow became many as he watched.
"The other ships are ready to fire on your command, Prefect!" His military advisor sat in one of the closer consoles, a headset obscuring his eyes. "They're asking for a target. What coordinates should I give them?" Most were notably looking away from the rift at this point, away from the storm of shadows that rose like flames from the maw of the void. So many simply vanished, too weak to survive in a world of matter and flesh. But the shadows were without number… every one hideous. What did they look like? Scuttling spiders and starving, mutilated children? It was impossible to say, because of the way they changed. Look straight at one, and your eyes would simply pass through.
That was changing rapidly, though. The sparks that made it were beginning to coalesce into a faint black heart, expanding and contracting with an unsteady rhythm as the various bits of dust and refuse spinning towards the abyss changed direction and joined the cyclopean organ.
"No target… I want all ships to stand down. We don't want to give this thing any reason to target us… that isn't what we came for." On any other ship, such a response might have illicited argument. But since taking command, Edward had removed anyone who showed signs of disloyalty, regulating them to the ships he already counted lost to his cause or simply making them disappear. "Tell the other ships this entity is no threat yet… if we vaporize it now, then when there's ten-million more they will be less willing to talk."
Rip… that was how it looked. If reality could bleed, it would probably look like the tear in the sky. What had been molecules across had widened to several inches, faint flickering like discolored lightning. The ocean was a sickly black below where the tear grew, the corpses of fish floating to the surface as the water boiled, water vapor twisting towards the empty space in the sky. The intensity of the wind grew by the moment, and it wasn't long before the pokemon corpses twisted upward of their own accord. The majority of these went towards the abomination that grew from the bulk of what poured through, growing faster and faster as the rip grew into a tear.
"I want all ships to stand down!" Edward shouted again. And to his credit at picking commanders, all of them listened. At least, all of the worldship commanders did. A long-range drone bomber, the Imperial, broke formation from behind the worldships and rushed towards the growing thing that floated in the center of the circle. Chemical-fuel rockets boosted it straight towards what all the other ships had avoided. As it moved, thousands of flies broke from it, flies with metal wings and hydrogen-oxygen lasers mounted on their bellies. Edward's eyes widened in horror as he watched… some crew of remote pilots and computer programmers was going to ruin everything! "Target that ship!" He shouted to the tactical officer, getting out of his chair and pointing exaggeratedly at the screen.
There was no time. Before the ship's weapons could charge, the little bomber's hull had already begun to glow bright orange, huge globs of molten metal streaming off into the ocean or being drawn into the creature. The awful black shape made no discrimination. Dust, water vapor, or the corpses of pokemon… they were all integrated the same, a jet-black shape that briefly glowed white and orange and yellow as massive chunks were pulled from the ship. The drones flew by their thousands, firing useless lasers into the massive center of the vortex before the winds alone tore them to bits. The ship did a little better, releasing its thermonuclear cargo and detonating with a shockwave that caused even the worldships to shudder. The fireball grew, vaporizing what little matter had began to congeal into a body, though it did not get much further before the incredible energy was tugged back, dragged through the opening and helping to widen it far faster than mere time had done.
What little damage the warhead had done was very quickly erased, as a thousand thousand new souls rose to fill the place of those that had been wiped away. It grew much faster this time, taking matter from the surrounding area and building a shell with terrifying swiftness. Black became purple as it grew, with a flaky skin that fell to the ground. Black ichor dribbled from the wounds, thick and putrescent as the thing began shaping itself into something familiar. There were only a handful of individuals who might recognize it for what it truly was, and all of them were much too old to fight. Had Professor Krane been aboard any of the worldships, he would have noticed the clear physical similarities to a certain XD001. Whether the thing took the rough shape of an existing pokemon out of choice or because something compelled it to do so, none who watched could know. But a familiar shape it took nonetheless, bright red eyes and whale-like body and bits of silver on its belly and back. As the thing's outline began to solidify, the subsequent deluge began to twist and spiral around it, causing the thing to grow and distort in its original outline.
"What's the status of the communications probe?" Edward asked the room, alone in his ability to look unmolested on the sight before them in the air. Well not quite alone. Of his bridge officers, one was unconscious, another was twitching on the floor, and several more were staring open-mouthed at the thing in the air. One rocked back and forth in her chair, gibbering as the momentarily concrete shape lost all sense of human coherence, bulging grotesquely as huge blisters of flesh constantly grew big, swallowing whatever matter they could, then either exploded or sank twisting into the creature's huge body.
"Science officer Altur, the prefect asked you a question." Jane said coldly, glaring at the older man at the largest and most complicated console. The man turned back, his eyes wide. "Arceus protect us." He mouthed, before slamming motionless into his console with a loud crack. He did not move again, and blood dribbled slowly from one ear, thick and red.
"Hold on." Jane said, hurrying to the console and callously tossing the man's body to one side, fingers flying across the display. "The shielding system you ordered has been installed, Edward. I can launch now."
Even Edward was taken with the sight, though for him the consequences were far more mild than for the other bridge officers. Still, he hesitated long enough for Jane to launch the probe anyway, as the prefect answered, his face pale. "Is the telecom uplink in place?
"It is." Jane stood up from the console. There was a look of concentration in her eyes, though no part of her moved after that. "Piloting the probe is… difficult… with the wind… but with the modifications we made it should be loud enough for It to hear."
Edward nodded, gulped, and stepped forward, adjusting the microphone as he began to speak. "Your loyal servants greet you, Outsider. We do not hold the old grudges, and have no intention of blindly opposing you as your living kin would force us to do. We are your allies and supplicants in all things." He did not bow as he spoke, though it would not seem out of place considering his voice and his words, hoping to placate these forces from far beyond the stars.
On the exterior of the ship it was the probe from which Edward's voice issued. The unfathomable being did not look at the probe, though. It turned its eyes on him (or at least the camera he was looking through), watching with a pair of deep red pits that burned with fire far colder than hell. Edward could not meet those eyes, and so he did not try, hands fixed pointedly on the floor. Jane looked on unmoved, her eyes as cold and utterly without emotion as they ever were.
The voice that answered did not come vocally, as though the being that spoke would trouble itself with words. The answer came directly into Edward's mind, and so he froze, staring out at the speaker and face stretching into a silent scream. The discourse took mere moments, moments that stretched for the prefect into forever and far longer. Even as his eyes grew cold, however, he snapped up, shaking his gaze from the onlooking eyes and shouting down to his slowly recovering crew. "Engage psionic dampening fields!" He bellowed, collapsing back into the captain's chair and shuddering several times. He wretched, though there was nothing to bring up, his skin slowly prickling with wrinkles and spots, as though he were much older. He slumped against the armrest, barely conscious.
Jane took over, as solemnly devoted to this new side Edward had chosen as she had been to the previous. She looked, as before, utterly unmoved, either by the exchange or the fate of her master, slipping Edwards command headset onto her head and imitating his voice with utterly inhuman precision. So much so that even the remaining conscious bridge-officers obeyed, without looking back. Unlike her master, she spoke without a hint of weakness or distress. "All ships, attack-pattern Omega. Weapons officer, release antimatter torpedoes! Helm, prepare to make orbit! Gad and Zebulun, screen our retreat! All other ships, rendezvous at point L2."
And with an awful screech, a call that reduced to ash all who heard it directly, the first of the Exarchs lashed out with all its power and the battle for survival had begun.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A/N: Well, that chapter took quite a bit longer than I anticipated. Still, it's out now, and I hope it was satisfactory. I don't know how many remain, but no more than one or two I think, plus the epilogue. My time online is running very short and if I don't get things wrapped up soon there will be a two year delay before the conclusion, and by then I expect I will have forgotten all my plans for the conclusion of the story.
Here's the review responses that weren't included with the previous chapter, plus the (few) owed from that chapter itself. I'm very grateful for continued patience on behalf of the audience, I know my postings haven't been as regular as would doubtless be prudent. But… I'm doing my best. I don't have the free time I once did back at university.
DigitalPulse: I really appreciate the compliment! Believe me, nobody wishes that more than me. Though something tells me these stories would have to be considerably more subdued if I was going to be writing for Nintendo…
Kirby Oak: Or maybe Logan didn't stop Izzy, considering that most mew freely share their thoughts and memories. I wish I still had the moonlight's gambit stuff I did have. I might be able to build the rest from memory if I did, but alas. No-can-do. I'm sorry you didn't like Sabrina's TF, but… if I'd done what everybody expected and made her a mew than the story would've been boring and predictable. Got to keep people guessing, but make things logical and reasonable at the same time. Difficult balance, and it has casualties. Such as expectations. Slaughtered in the streets, those expectations.
Tsaukpaetra: Look, I'm still alive! (again). I hope this chapter was as easy to understand as that one.
KragmoorBithen: I think I understand the feeling of distraction and occupation… it's the reason this chapter took so long in writing. But with any luck, this next won't, since I only have until the end of the month to get things wrapped up. Three weeks left… if I take as long as I did to write this chapter than there won't be a conclusion and that'd suck.
DarkPokemonLover: (not using the abbreviation this time since you didn't like it). Yep, you're right, that is a capitalization error. Hopefully no similar errors this chapter. It's a different ship they found and stole on the worldship, though. Their own ship got missile-ed. And if the years don't seem to add up, that's because Izzy's human aging became dubious at best once she was a mew. That's why she always looked small for her age. So your confusion in reading is probably because of the disparity between how old she really is and how old I describe her physically. Sorry about taking your Mewtwo away from Miya, but… as Sabrina said, she had no intention of a physical relationship. You'll get to keep your mewtwo while Sabrina does… something. Same thing the eldest used to do? Dunno.
ShadowVee: Yep, Antimatter is a hard thing to obtain in any age. Obviously however Logan is getting it in pokelantis must be very different than any ways we know to get it here in modern times, because otherwise such vast amounts would be… you got it right, though. That knife defies physical laws as we understand them. Now, gender among mew. An interesting subject. I don't think I've ever explained plainly how it worked aside from within the stories, so I suppose here is as good a place as any. First and foremost mewtwo are an anomaly. I call mewtwo a male just because he acts and talks like one in the movies, I don't really know if he has any gender-defining characteristics. It's possible. As far as mew go, though… age is a function of knowledge and understanding, and so is sex. A mew that grows more powerful grows older and bigger physically. The oldest and wisest mew of all is always male, and has the title of "The Eldest". Only they have access to all of their powers, and are practically immortal, though they do die when they eventually have somebody old and strong enough to pass the mantle to (or something of supernatural power kills them, like another strong legendary or a special weapon like the knife above). Other male mew are... nonexistent with the population, though as it begins to grow eventually there will be others old enough to be Eldest in their own right, and they will become male as well. Mew being such primitive organisms (in terms of time anyways), I think of their sex like that of a colony of fish: The more dominant members experience biological changes and become males, or if there are too many, revert to females again. There are many species in our world like this today (clownfish are merely one example). Every mew, be it transformed or ordinary, is born female, and lives most of their lives that way. As far as color goes, every natural mew is pink. Every blue mew (rare as they are) represent flukes and biological accidents, and are exceptionally rare.
Now, onto chapter 13. Not so many reviews for this chapter… I wonder if there's any corilation to how long I took to write it, or perhaps the lack of review responses. Either way…
KirbyOak: I can only hope that The lower quality thing didn't persist into this current chapter, because that'd suck. Mew do make pokemon around them smarter, but Jamie isn't much of a mew. The older and stronger the mew, the stronger the effect. You can see why the blissy might be as dull as ever. Hah, Echo in the story. That'll totally happen. Oh wait no it won't.
ShadowVee: Yeah, the scale here is absolutely unfathomable. It's hard for our little primate brains to wrap our heads around numbers that big. Even so, I am aware she's asking for about as much as some fraction of the earth's mass, and so from a practical perspective even if there was some magical 1-1 ratio of conversion, obtaining such a large quantity would be… difficult to say the least. I suppose only time will tell how PokeLantis is able to perform such a conversion.