To Stand on the Edge of Forever, Chapter Three

"The needs of the many outweigh..."
"...the needs of the few..."
"...or the One."
Spock and James Kirk "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"

(Section break)

24

Even in the most tangled chaos, there is a shred of order. A pattern which, though difficult to see, guides events through to their conclusion.

The threads in the pattern exist only for themselves and those threads which immediately intertwine with them. They cannot see the whole, though they create it with their very existence. At this moment, the pattern is unweaving, collapsing into negation. Only five threads remain, and they rush towards each other, coming together in a fateful, tangled knot.

The Guardian of Forever forms the central thread, the key which holds the pattern together. So long as this thread remains, the pattern will exist, though in what form, not even the Guardian knows.

Reaching out from it, like spokes in a wheel, are four threads. Two immortal, two mortal.

Appolyon the Destroyer, imprisoned within the Guardian of Forever four hundred millennia before as punishment for fulfilling responsibilities pressed on him unwanted. He has killed all of his kind, and countless others as he watched the Multiverse collapse. Now he stands before his jailer one last time as he prepares to strike the final blow and destroy the pattern of the Universe forever. He must. The dark whispers in his mind tell him that the Guardian must die.

Abaddon, brother to Appolyon, last survivor of the Q Continuum. Immeasurably old, he bears the guilt for creating the monster his brother has become. He rushes towards the Guardian of Forever, concealed within the body of a human, and prepares to slay the demon he has forged. For the sake of what remains, he knows that both he and Appolyon must die. He knows this, and he accepts this.

Jason Madden, former Starfleet Commander, former first officer of the Federation bioship Crichton. In the last two days, he has watched countless friends die. He has lost his home, he has lost his family, and he knows that it is quite possible that he is only one of two survivors of the entire Human race. At this moment, he chases relentlessly after the only other survivor. As any true friend would, he follows his friend to the end of the Universe.

The final thread is the weakest of them all, threadbare and ready to unravel. Alex Carver, best friend to Jason Madden and host to the essence that is Abaddon. He has stepped to edge of death and stands there, trapped. His body is not his to control, he is imprisoned within his own mind, and his soul screams for release. He has watched his wife, the bright centre of his life, die. He welcomes the possibility of death as his chance to be with her again, begs for it.

The five threads rush towards each other, coming together in a fateful, tangled knot that may signal the end of everything.

Yet, as with all stories, fate is not finished with them yet, and the weakest may prove to be the strongest of all.

(Section break)

Even from orbit, Abaddon could see the flashes of power illuminating the dark atmosphere of Forever World, ribbons of obsidian energy cascading across the dusty continents and dry ocean beds. Already he could sense the titanic battle occurring miles beneath him as the Guardian of Forever fought to hold back the apocalyptic path that Appolyon stood upon.

In it's own way, it was darkly beautiful.

Abandoning the thought, he played Alex Carver's fingers across the control panel of the shuttle, and began his descent towards the Guardian's plateau.

(Section break)

The transwarp shuttle reverted to normal space with a jarring shudder, tossing Jason Madden headlong into a support beam. The journey had not been an easy one. Subspace was unravelling quickly, collapsing around him as he had tracked Alex here, to a deserted world on the edge of Federation space.

Turning his mind inward, he accessed his nanites, feeding the readings of the shuttle's sensors through into conscious mind. Beyond this system was nothing but a maelstrom of colliding energies. A dead Universe.

Angrily shaking his head, he turned the sensors toward the planet. Below average size, more planetoid than planet, nothing remarkable save for the steady pulse coming from the beacon in orbit. A cursory thought brought the pulse's transmission over the shuttle's speakers.

UFC 465537. QUARANTINED UNDER GENERAL PROHIBITION P-119. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES APPROACH. USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701. CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK COMMANDING.

Kirk... James Kirk was eight hundred years dead and gone, the Enterprise nine hundred. 1701 meant that this beacon had been placed in orbit during Kirk's tenure as captain of the original Constitution class cruiser.

465537... The Guardian. Suddenly, Alex's flight made sense. The Guardian of Forever might be the only way to step back and stop this madness before it started, although in Jason's mind he knew that would only be a happy consequence. Alex intended to use the Guardian to travel back and save Selene.

Jason's mind was at war with itself. To allow Alex to succeed would cause terrible damage to the timeline. In this case, a Grandfather paradox was not a mere possibility, but a certainty. If Alex were the change his own past, eliminating the need for time travel, who would then travel back to change the past? A paradox could be just as dangerous to the timeline as doing nothing.

Above that, the quarantine of Forever World warned him away. Like any child, he had read Kirk's autobiography and been fascinated by the chapter dealing with the Guardian. The story of Edith Keeler, the shift in the timeline that resulted from her salvation, was fascinating, but something had always struck him as off, as though there were something missing. Something had happened to Kirk on Forever World, something he had never shared with anyone, not even Starfleet Command. Whatever it had been, it had been something horrible, Jason was sure of it.

Everything was telling him to stay away.

His lips set in a grim line, he set a course for the surface. He had come this far, after all, and Alex might still need his help. What was breaking a few rules if they could save the Universe

and Selene.

(Section break)

Fat droplets of ebony laced blue lightning rained down on the Guardian of Forever, cascading across the rapidly fading protective field it had established around itself. The dead air of Forever World had come alive with crackling energy and the smell of burning ozone. The dust covered ruins that had surrounded the plateau for longer than even the Guardian could remember had crumbled to the ground under the assault. The planet writhed and twisted like a living thing as incalculable power was driven like a blade directly into it's heart, it's soul, into the very fabric of space and time themselves.

Amidst it all, Appolyon stood, the stolen power of the Q Continuum and the First Ones flowing off him like waves.

He stands against us! The whisper was now nearly a scream in his mind, driving him forward, guiding his actions. His fingers twisted into talons as he redoubled his efforts, nearly draining himself of power as he threw barrage after barrage against the Guardian, only to watch the shield flicker…

and hold.

Appolyon screamed as he felt the power reach up within him, grasping at his very being and twisting as his own essence was used to support the power already being used. The ground between himself and the Guardian shattered, shards of glass-like stone ricocheting for miles as his scream increased in pitch and intensity, escalating into the eldritch. Driven to his knees, the Destroyer of the Multiverse poured power, heart, soul and the very fabric of the universe against the Guardian.

And still the Guardian held.

The screaming in his mind raised in volume, shrieking like mythical Earth Banshee, it's shrill cry driving him in his madness. The body he had adopted for himself began to flicker, dark features phasing out of existence as he lost cohesive thought. The power was becoming overwhelming, erasing what little was left of Appolyon until it took over completely, destroying the frail human avatar in a maelstrom of a cobalt fire. Flames licked at the ground as a writhing column of blue energy twisted in the air before the Guardian, it's form laced through with onyx lightning. A force of nature.

It didn't even require a thought to bring the small Starfleet shuttle crashing to the ground.

(Section break)

Abaddon dragged himself out of the burning wreckage, Alex Carver's fingers twisted into claws as they dug into the hard ground of Forever World. He had protected the body as best he could in the crash, reducing what should have been a fatal landing into a few scrapes and cuts.

The shuttle had come to rest on the edge of what had been the Guardian's plateau, the wreckage smoking and sparking. In the distance, the ruins of the ancient city of Oyya were gone, reduced to rubble and ash.

Just like the plan.

His plan was useless now that he had lost the element of surprise, if he had ever even had it in the first place. Appolyon had known he was coming, had known where he was, and Abaddon could only conclude that the reason he wasn't dead already was because his brother didn't consider him a threat.

He lifted Alex Carver's eyes to take in the battle occurring before him. The Guardian struggling to hold against Appolyon. The blue and black ribbon that was his brother twisting and writhing in midair.

Pushing himself to his feet, he stumbled towards the battle, teeth gritted and eyes set.

For the first time in millennia, Abaddon went to war.

(Section break)

Jason had almost screamed when he had seen the lightning bolt strike Alex's shuttle, ripping it almost in half and sending it careening to the ground far below.

When his sensors had seen Alex pick himself up out of the wreckage and stagger towards the energy being striking at the Guardian of Forever, he had simply stared, wide-eyed.

Alex coming back from the dead, Universe ending, Great-big energy being battling the Guardian of Forever...

Okay.

There comes a point when surprise is no longer possible, and all that is left is to simply accept.

(Section break)

In everything, there is a central point. A keystone. A nexus.

In regards to time itself, the Guardian of Forever is the crux, the point where everything flows together. It holds tightly onto the strings of time, each string a separate Universe filled with possibilities of it's own. Should the Guardian collapse, the strings would be destroyed and the Multiverse itself would follow suit.

Now, though, under assault by a being almost as old as it is, the Guardian finds the strings slipping from it's grasp. Desperate, it gathers the handful that remain, determined not to let go, but time is running out...

... and so are the possibilities.

(Section break)

In the small corner of his existence that still remained, Appolyon lay, considering.

Did revenge matter to him anymore? All who had wronged him were dead, save his brother, and that would be dealt with soon enough.

Did the cold bother him now? The power he had stolen from the now extinct Q kept him warm, but even so, he was now more a force of power than a living being, and what use did power have for concepts such as hot or cold?

Did salvation matter? Hardly. Not for himself, not for the Multiverse.

No, now only one thing bothered him. It was a thing that had bothered him his entire imprisonment, though after awhile he had learned to focus on other pains. The cold had been a nuisance, the isolation an annoyance. The only thing that mattered now was that once the Guardian was destroyed he could die and THE SCREAMING WOULD STOP!

He was so intent on the screaming that filled his world, that he couldn't hear the low buzzing that slowly grew in volume, much like power building and growing closer.

(Section break)

The gale whipped across the plateau, driving grit into Alex Carver's eyes and burying it in his hair. Around him, the planetoid was collapsing, violently disintegrating as the temporal nexus it housed came apart. A hundred feet from where Alex stood, a giant chasm opened, leaving a gaping wound all the way to the Guardian of Forever.

It was, Abaddon noted sadly, the end.

Looking up at his brother, onyx and cobalt ribbon flashing, he exploded from the frail human body, his own turquoise form striking at Appolyon, and sending Alex Carver, truly awake for the first time since his wife's death, flying back across the plateau.

Abaddon never spared a second thought for the human.

(Section break)

Alex awoke to chaos.

Opening his eyes, he stared into a storm of blue energy, shot through with black ribbons. Whatever world he was on was being ripped to pieces, and he had a strong feeling that this was the end.

Above it all, Selene was dead.

Laying back on the hard, trembling ground, he closed his eyes and wrapped himself in pity, waiting.

It is very easy to close your eyes when there is nothing worth opening them for.

(Section break)

For one single, pristine instant, the Guardian saw through the chaos of the collapsing timelines.

Hope.

It was far from a perfect future, and depended on variables too numerous to count before it came to pass, but there would be a possibility of a future.

The Humans had a saying. Beggars cannot be choosers.

As the possibilities dwindled, the Guardian latched onto this imperfect thread with all of it's strength and refused to let go. It would not have to fight for long.

The keystone to this future was lying less than a hundred meters away and the Guardian knew of only one thing that could make him fight for life and enter the time portal.

Concentrating, it created an image of Selene Carver and began to call her husband's name.

(Section break)

Alex...

Leave me alone.

Alex...

Go away.

Alex...

Hot tears burned Alex's face as they traced a path down his cheeks and dripped onto the heaving ground. Why couldn't the Universe just get it over with already? He had already lost everything that mattered to him, so why did the Universe insist on letting him live? Was it some cruel joke?

The ground beneath him cracked and shot upwards, sending him flying across the rocky plateau. He hit, his bruised and battered body suffering even more as sharp stones cut into him. Lacerations and abrasions, enough to make him squirm in pain, but not enough to kill him.

"Alex."

The voice cut through the pain, cut through the agony, cut through the pity he had wrapped around himself like a shroud. His name had been spoken quietly, yet somehow he had heard it over the roar of the collapsing planet. The voice was soft, the hint of an exotic accent lending it a lilting quality, making it musical to his ears. It was a voice he had heard millions of times before, a voice he would know from the angriest scream to the most loving whisper. It was the only voice in the Universe that could possibly make him open his eyes now.

Standing a short distance away, silhouetted by the Guardian of Forever, was his wife.

"Alex. Help me."

Tapping reserves he had thought gone forever, Alex Carver stood and stumbled towards Selene and the Guardian.

(Section break)

Jason ducked to avoid the raining debris falling around him. It had been impossible to find a landing site near the plateau and so he had simply set the shuttle to hover nearby and had jumped to the shifting ground. When the debris had started to fall, it had crushed the shuttle in midair, leaving him stranded.

So he had started to run for the Guardian.

As he came within eyesight of the Guardian, he saw the two energy beings still fighting, he saw the Guardian, wondrous sights to be certain, but his eyes were drawn to one thing.

Alex running for the Guardian.

That was when a bolt of energy ripped the ground between Alex and his goal, sending both tumbling into the newly-formed abyss.

"ALEX!"

(Section break)

Mere seconds ago, Alex had been laying on the ground, curled up and wanting nothing more than to die.

Now, he hung over the edge of a rock face, fingertips digging into the ground, and fighting desperately for his life.

One thing had changed in his life, one thing that had changed everything.

Selene needed him.

Looking down, he saw the Guardian, lying on it's side on the bottom of the crevice, the flashing time vortex hissing and spitting as it destabilized. Clutching the edge of the stony arch was Selene, face stricken with fear as she was being drawn backwards into the whirlpool.

"Alex!"

"Hold on! I'm coming!" Desperate, he looked around. Selene was at least a hundred feet below him, a fatal fall if he just let go. He had to climb down, but that would take time.

Then the Universe took the decision away from him.

For a split second he hung there, weightless as he watched the edge of the crevice crumble beneath his fingertips. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as gravity latched onto him and he began the long fall to the bottom.

A hand shot forward over the edge and grabbed him by the wrist, nearly wrenching his arm from it's socket.

Alex screamed in pain and looked up at his saviour.

"Jason?"

His old friend lay on the ground, upper body hanging over the rim, right arm stretched down and holding him by the wrist. A smile laced through with a pain-filled grimace split across his face as he struggled to pull Alex up. "Hey. Nice to see ya. Mind telling me what's going on?"

"You have to help me. Selene's down there, we have to help her!"

A look of pity flashed across Jason's face. "Alex... Selene's gone."

Anger surged through Alex, tinting his vision with red. His voice was almost a growl as he spoke. "What are you talking about? She's right down there!" And he looked down.

The Guardian was alone at the bottom, the vortex seething like boiling water.

There was no Selene.

"She was right there." It was almost a whisper. "She needed me."

"Alex." He looked up at Jason's voice, having almost forgotten his friend's presence. "I saw her body myself. She's gone."

No.

Impossible

The Guardian. She fell into the Guardian.

Jason must have seen something in his eyes, because his grip tightened. "Don't you even think about it!"

"I have to."

"Give me your other hand!"

"She must have fallen in..."

"Alex, give me your hand!"

He smiled sadly, and gave Jason his other hand. "Thank you, Jace."

He placed both feet against the rock wall and pushed. Jason slid forward a few inches. "What are you doing!"

Alex's voice was resolved as he looked up at his oldest friend one last time. "What I have to."

He yanked backwards one more time and Jason lost his grip.

(Section break)

Jason stared down as Alex plummeted, shocked.

No...

The rock face collapsed and Jason fell.

(Section break)

The screaming stopped and the fog of power lifted from Appolyon's mind.

In the crystal clarity of the moment, a whisper brushed his consciousness, cold and mocking.

Behold Appolyon. Philosopher, poet, murderer and destroyer of the Multiverse.

He shifted into his Human form as the truth dawned on him and he saw what he was and always had been.

A pawn.

Hundreds of millennia ago, a race of energy beings, known only as the Bringers, had scoured the Multiverse, bringing death to whichever world they found. They were the enemy which Appolyon had been created to fight, the enemy which he had helped defeat. War had spread across the Multiverse for millennia until the Bringers had been beaten, crushed beneath the power of the fledgling Q Continuum. Assumed destroyed, life had returned to normal in the Multiverse, and they had never been heard from again.

Until now.

Appolyon had become the enemy he had sought to destroy.

You see, Young One, you see. We owe you our gratitude. You have done much of our work for us.

As the whisper's mocking laughter faded away, Appolyon looked up at the angry form of his brother, and watched the killing blow fall.

(Section break)

The Guardian could feel them.

They were a cold darkness, seeping through into reality, and the ancient device no longer had the power to hold them back.

It looked out across the ruins of the Multiverse, the frayed and tattered threads. The intricate and beautiful tapestry was gone, reduced to a handful of strings.

But those strings could form the beginning of a new tapestry. However, whether those threads were strong enough to survive in order to create this new tapestry remained to be seen.

The darkness was leaking through, and the Guardian could see only one way to protect the future, to give it time to prepare to confront the darkness.

It let go.

As the Guardian died, the Multiverse collapsed and many universes...

...were reduced to one.