Chapter 10
Time to Learn
That they were all here felt as though it was a quorum and, with the exception of Delenn, these were the people John really needed to talk to right now. This was no time to be coy.
"I was in the middle of a report for Captain Garrett, who just basically told me the same thing. Her astrometric's sensors have picked up a major spatial and possibly temporal disturbance in the area. I don't need to tell you that that is almost three months full burn in jump space from here. Anything big enough for her ship and obviously Draal's sensors, to detect means that it will eventually come and bite us on the butt. The Ambassador was going to investigate, but considering where it's centered, I don't believe that it's a very good idea."
Kosh's translator glowed brighter than usual. "No," the translator module responded. "If they go, they will die. We must prepare."
"Ambassador Kosh?" Captain Garrett asked over the still open BABCOM channel. "What's happening?"
"Anti-life," he said and the translator gave the impression that he was groaning when he said it. "They are coming."
"Anti-life? Exactly what does that mean? Who are they?"
"They are power," Kosh said. "Lyta will explain. Learn John Sheridan, or you will die!"
Draal interrupted. "I have been monitoring events of the war and this is what drew my attention to Z'ha'Dum. The Lady Garrett is correct," said a grim-faced master of the Great Machine. "The Shadows have obtained some sort of device that opens a door to another universe. Not hyperspace, not our space, but another third type of space, if you will. I have searched the data banks of the Great Machine but I have failed to find any real information on the device or who created it other than it is of Vorlon origin. But once I discovered its presence, I have been monitoring it and this is what I have seen."
Draal's holographic image disappeared and the world of 'Dum appeared in his place. The dark planet flashed brightly, constantly as a major battle raged for its position. They could see the Shadow vessels fighting against these unknown aliens for all they were worth. Groups of Shadow ships were coming in, attacking, destroying and being destroyed at a faster and faster rate. They were being supported by small but growing numbers of Drakh ships and several other types of war vessels from species no one had ever seen before. To the left of the display was the huge, opened artifact, glowing brighter even as dozens of large destroyers and hundreds of their smaller ships laid waste to everything in their paths. Z'ha'dum glowed with hundreds of fires large enough to be seen from orbit. It was a planet under siege.
Sheridan was both impressed and horrified at the devastation he saw, as was Garrett and G'Kar and the others. "When did you acquire these images?"
"Within the hour," the Minbari said. "The fighting is spread across the entire system. Even as I am speaking, the Shadow fleets still in Vorlon space are racing home. But the aliens have established a foothold and their power is like a stain spreading across the sector. We may very well be witnessing the end of life as we know it."
"I'm impressed with your level of technology, Draal," Captain Garrett said as she gaped at the images. All of them could see the unbiased appreciation in her eyes. "Your scanner resolution is far above anything we could achieve at this distance."
"The Federation is not the only advanced technology available in the area," Draal said, as his image reappeared. The smile on his face said it all. "You're arrogance is typical and you still have much to learn, but I have decided it is time for an exchange of information," he announced magnanimously. "You're still human, no matter what universe you may be from. But there is hope for you, more so than I previously realized. Besides, I have enjoyed our long conversations. And thank you Captain Sheridan, for sending the telepaths to me. Their thoughts have been most enlightening. But Ambassador Kosh is correct. We must prepare and knowledge is power. It is time for us to pool our resources."
"Yes," Kosh said. "The time is now or we will be too late." Although covered by his environmental suit, he still appeared nervous.
"But what are we dealing with?" Sheridan asked for perhaps the third time.
He was momentarily startled as Garrett materialized next to him.
"I can tell you," Lyta said. She looked dazed but seemed to be recovering quickly. "I have the memories of what happened in the Vorlon past."
He was only half-conscious of Rachel as the Captain had pulled her ever-present tricorder out and was intently taking readings on a glowing-eyed Lyta. "You mean the Vorlons implanted those memories in you," John stated flatly.
"Yes," came the immediate answer. "Call it a racial memory, if you will." Her eyes began to glow as she fully accessed the artificial memories. Then she started to speak, not as herself but as if she were apart of something else.
"We," she stated, which everyone understood it to mean the Vorlons and not herself. "Traveled throughout this galaxy, bringing order to chaos to the younger races. We brought discipline as we appeared to the lesser races as beings of light. We found ourselves being perceived as gods and in our arrogance, began to believe it. We believed that we were superior to the universe that gave birth to us. That was our downfall, first of all of the transgressions-the error of pride and its' brother arrogance. We felt that we no longer could be contained in this universe and that we were destined to become more than what we were in another higher plane of existence. In our blindness we believed that this universe could no longer contain our glory and we decided, in terms that you can understand, to storm the gates of heaven."
"All of our wisdom and knowledge was utilized to open a door to another dimensional plane, a place we believed to be the Well of Souls, the Point of Origin, for all life. We wished to touch the face of God and in doing so become gods ourselves."
Garret's eyebrows rose as she struggled to close her opened mouth. "What were you thinking?" Garrett practically yelled, interrupting Lyta's speech. "How can someone be so smart and so stupid at the same time? "Touch the hand of God? We can barely get along with our own next door neighbors for most of the time without arguing with each other." She shook her head in dismay. "Back home, we had multiple contacts with advanced species-Trelane comes to mind-and most could only be described as entities, possessing vast intellect. Most of there however were spoiled brats and when it came to common sense, they were idiots, or they had completely lost contact with their roots. They had abilities and intellect we can only dream of, and to us, yes, they could be seen as gods. But they weren't. Most of them were as unstable in their own way as we are."
"We won't even talk about the Q," Guinan whispered within earshot of the Vorlon.
Even though Kosh never moved she felt his eyes lock onto her. She had told him of the Q of her universe and he mentioned to her of their counterparts here. Neither of them had much of anything positive to say about them. But this human was something different.
"You're merely human, barely into your toddler years in understanding or maturity," Kosh snapped at Garrett. "You know nothing."
"Ambassador, with all due respect, I understand enough to know that age and knowledge alone does not insure wisdom or understanding. If it did, you and the Shadows would have settled your respective differences long ago."
Kosh concentrated hard trying to surpass his anger, because the woman had touched on a grain of truth. He felt strange speaking with an 'unprocessed' human, but in time he felt he could get used to it. "Impertinent human," Kosh simply said, angered that this primitive human was sitting in judgment of him and embarrassed that in this case, she was correct. They hadn't been mature enough to realize the utter foolishness of their actions. They went in search of heaven and fell face first into hell.
"Enough," Lyta said cutting through the rising tempers. "You must understand. We built a device, a doorway into another universe and so determined were we to get out that we weren't concerned what we might be letting in. The doorway swung in both directions. It was our mistake, now compounded by the Shadows. It will soon be yours."
She had Sheridan's full attention now. "What did you let in?" he looked at Kosh and in fact, everybody was looking at Kosh, who now seemed to slump without moving. "What did you find?"
The telepath hesitated for a moment, gathering strength to continue the tale. "They are a terror, a power beyond comprehension. They are a hunger beyond understanding." Lyta's eyes glowed even fiercer. "They are anti-life itself, older than even we were. Telepathic, all of them and they modified the gate so that they could influence others to do their bidding. They created soldiers of our own people, willing to die for them!
"We fought them back and disabled the device," Kosh added.
"When?" Sheridan asked.
"Five thousand of your years ago," she continued, "a thousand years before the Sun took your people. We planned to destroy the device but some of our people, still under their influence dropped it into hyperspace and it was lost-until the Shadows found it."
"What do they want?" asked a completely enraptured Draal, before John or the others could.
"To destroy all life that is not their own," she answered at once. "They believe that only they have the right to exist in the universe. To them, all other life is inferior and must be exterminated. In their universe, they have destroyed thousands of races and continue to destroy thousands more. Because of our pride, they know we are here. They telepathically watched us from within their dark cities waiting for a chance to come here and destroy. They are connected to this universe somehow."
"So we are talking about another spatial intrusion. Garrett grimaced. "Is it just me?" she asked. "Or is it a pattern forming? This area of space seems to be a nexus of spatial weakness between the quantum universal strata. This is at least the third incursion and more importantly, there is a temporal connection as well. Everything is centering in this sector of space."
"They have come." Kosh said slowly, ignoring Rachel's sarcastic, but relevant comments.. "Here and now. Z'ha'dum will be theirs and they will destroy. The chaos plans against order have doomed them. No help will come except their dark servants. It will not be enough and they will flee or they will die. Then the other races will die because there is no order to help protect them. You must stop them, all of you. Or you will all die."
"Both sides of the door must be opened for them to enter," Lyta said. "You must close the gateway on this side and they will not be able to come through. We've been searching for it for centuries, fearing that this day would come. Now it has, and they pour through like locusts. They must be stopped or hundreds of worlds will die."
***
Guinan listened quietly to every single word spoken by the altered telepath. There were truths omitted, full explanations slighted. The old saying that 'the truth is a three-edged sword' slapped her in the face. "We can't negotiate with them?" she asked. "Establish some sort of dialogue with them?"
Kosh's answer was instant. "No, there can be no negotiations. We tried, they refused."
And exactly how did you try, I wonder? "Is there any chance that some of your people will return to help fight these beings?"
"My people have left for the Rim. They will not return. Only I am here."
To her left, Sheridan was pacing. "We're going to have to get a ship there to get detailed information and report back. But not the Ambassador, she's powerful enough to get out of trouble if need be; however politically, she's the wrong ship to go on this mission alone. If our data is true, then EarthForce, the Minbari and the rest need to know what's happening yesterday." He thought for a second. And once more, Guinan saw the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was graying faster now as compared to what he first looked like six and a half months earlier. And that reminded her. She needed to have a talk with his wife.
"White Star Three has finished undergoing the refit, correct?"
"The shields and the warp drive units are fully functional," Garrett announced. "The transporter units are installed, but haven't been fully tested yet."
"Good," he announced as he touched his comlink. We'll work on them during the journey." He activayed his com-link "CnC, this is Sheridan. Captain Hiroshi, contact EarthForce. I want to talk to General Brindley. And Captain, I have a mission for you."
Guinan touched the sleeve of G'kar who now moved forward.
"I have Londo's diary," the Narn said. "The information contained within it may shed some light on our current situation." He opened the book and began reading to a silent, enraptured audience.
***
Sheridan fought, but lost the battle for sleep that night. Londo's diary hinted at something that none of them wanted to contemplate. After an hour of trying he gave up, put on some civilian clothes and began to walk the station. It was the time when the station was the least active, and he found himself relatively free to walk and think without necessarily being noticed. In a small shop near the Zoccalo, he ordered a coffee. It was steaming hot and flavorful, a gift of replication technology. Now that the supplies were coming directly from Babylon Five stores, he could barely remember a time when it wasn't like this. It was as though the mind was slowing eliminating the memories of the stuff that passed for coffee.
He relaxed as he continued drinking the flavorful liquid. That was something he sorely needed at this time, or he believed that his mind would burst. The stresses of the breakaway were getting to him and he didn't know how much more he could have dealt with if it hadn't been for Susan, and Sandra, Michael and Stephen at his side, supporting and offering advice when he needed it the most. He wished that Delenn were here. She was his rock, full of wisdom, and humor. And she had lied to him, after a fashion. His wife was alive, but she wasn't here. That woman was something else, a person he'd never seen before. And the most frightening thing was that she seemed to know where he was at any given moment.
-Such as now.
Anne knew his patterns, in fact had studied them intently. She never missed an opportunity to talk to him. And the more the woman chased after him the more alien she became to him. But as of right now he needed to talk to her, specifically to gauge her reaction when he told of the Centauri diary. When she came into the room, he smiled devilishly at her and invited her to sit before she could ask.
She was immediately suspicious. "John, what's the matter? What's happened?" Her face was full of concern, the same type of concern G'Kar had for Londo when he found out that it was Londo who had sentenced his people to orbital bombardment.
"I've received several reports, today," he started. "They all collaborate the fact that the Shadows have come under attack." He watched her reactions.
Her face never changed. "The Shadows have defeated the Vorlons. It's no way they could develop a counter attack strong enough to hurt them."
"It's not the Vorlons, but someone else."
"No one can hurt the Shadows," she answered confidently. "Anyone who would dare try would be defeated and their worlds destroyed in retribution."
"Are you so sure of that?"
"Yes," she immediately responded. "They are dangerous, John, perhaps the most powerful of the old ones ever known ever to stride this galaxy. But they aren't foolish. Anyone who would dare to attack them is doomed to fail. I wanted you to talk to them, get their point of view. If I asked you once more, would you come with me to Z'ha'dum?"
"No."
"But you'd go with Delenn." It wasn't a question, simply a statement of fact. "Your feelings for her have supplanted what little you had left for me. If she asked-"
"Yes, I would," he answered before his ex-wife could complete her statement.
"That is the reason why I hate her." She was trembling. "Not for the fact that she loves you, but that you love her and would do anything for her."
"You've lost you capacity to love and feel for another person, Anne. I don't blame you. I do blame those that did this to you, but not you. You didn't have a choice in all of this."
"John, look at me," she whispered. "What you've just said is a lie. If you would just trust me this once, you could be made to understand the real truth. We could have a wonderful relationship. My feelings are just as strong as ever. I could learn to love you as much as the other Anne ever did. All of her memories are in me and I can recall all of the good times."
John was overcome by a profound sadness. Again it slammed home, that this woman truly wasn't him beloved. "How could I have a relationship with someone who only knows and who speaks about herself in the third person?" he asked. "Why would you even want a relationship with someone you don't know? Is it a memory, a feeling, something that you feel is missing in your life? Or," he added, "is it something you've been ordered to do?"
Her eyes wavered for a second. "I am what I am," she said. "I've said it so many times, John. I'm a different person. I've never denied that, and it was my hope that you would eventually realize what an opportunity it could be for us. This Anne, the woman I am now, could be your every dream." She seemed lost in thought for a second. "And if that's not enough," she shrugged. "Then to show you my sincerity, I would consider sharing you with Delenn, if you come to Dum to me."
Stunned, he looked at her and a new revelation struck him. The last of the doubts, the last twinges of hope, all the confusion, evaporated. There was only sadness for the person sitting in front of him, another victim of this war of darkness. Truly his wife, Anne no longer existed. "Thank you," he said to her finally. "For helping me to understand."
Confused and caught off guard, she stood up form her chair. "What are you talking about?"
"Exactly," he answered her as he finished his coffee, got up and walked out, feeling better than he had in a long time.
***