8

"Precipice of Change"


Tigress stood gently on the moving elevator, seeing the work below her.

Part of the appeal of going to XS-211's central mining hub, was that Tigress saw many miners that reminded her of herself about thirty or forty years ago - and in some cases, even of her life back on SD-77. The cave was incredible and gigantic - stretching for miles at a time in all directions, with hard-bitten miners in grey fatigues below. The hordes of toiling animals (and some humans) were supervised by the usual AP squadrons, line of golden armored men neatly patrolling the floors of the mine. Tigress also saw a shocking lack of energy crystals - barely a few lumps disconnected from enormous groups of carbon rock deposits, shining glumly against the vast expanse of stone and useless mineral composites. However, the work was still stringent - supervisory drones and the APs kept the thousands of miners flowing at a rapid pace, helped by rifle threats and loud screaming noises.

The antiquated elevator just barely managed to squeak past the tall edges of the cave, eventually coming to a stop. Tigress exited the metal box, entering the central office of the supervisor's office with a careful step. It hadn't changed much - the same gunmetal walls and singular desk were there, with the same three individuals she had come to expect: Wang, Han, and Naja. The sole exception was a new arrival - a particularly intriguing one at that. Tigress' initial impression was that he was a miner seeking more wages, considering he was dressed in grey fatigues - yet she had never seen him down here before, which threw her off. Additionally, the wolf seemed too old to be a miner anymore - given that his dark fur was receding, thinning, and his face sagged with frustration.

The wolf was clearly a newcomer. More importantly, himself and Wang, Naja, and Han all stood in the center of the supervisor's office, waiting for Tigress to arrive fully.

She took gradual steps forward, leaning on her cane in gentle curiosity. Tigress wondered whether to hold off on informing Wang, Naja, and Han about her little meeting with the terrorist - the new wolf arrival seemed to take precedence over that.

"Jeez Tigress," the old wolf breathed. "And I thought I aged like shit…"

"Can I help you?" Tigress started. "Actually sir - I have to tell something privately to the AP here, so if you don't mind…"

"Tigress," the old wolf coughed out, moving closer. "Look at me."

Tigress scanned over the wolf's features, seeing the other three individuals behind her stare in anticipation. Yet nothing happened - Tigress merely moved away, confused as to what she could be looking for.

"I - I don't understand…" Tigress let out.

Wang sighed, moving closer to the pair. "Uh, Ti - this is Zhong."

Tigress gulped, shaking her head. "Heh - no it's not."

The old wolf's eyebrows twitched up. "Wh - what?"

Tigress shook her head again, inching forward and away from the four people with her cane. "It's not - it's not…"

Wang groaned, moving to Tigress' shoulder to shake her firmly. "Tigress! This is Zhong!"

Tigress stared at the old wolf, who smiled haphazardly whilst staying quiet.

"Remember Zhong? He - "

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Tigress roared, feeling an immense anger that she hadn't felt before. It was enough to actually empower her to balance on her bad knee for a fraction of a second, swinging wildly with her cane behind her. Wang moved away, dragging Zhong with him - while Naja and Han watched from afar, fear shooting through them.

"Where's the VR chip?" Tigress noted, clambering around her neck with her paw. "It's gotta be somewhere… who bugged me? Han? Naja? Some sick training exercise…"

"No one bugged you, Tigress," Naja begged, walking closer. "Shifu - Wang - this Zhong guy - they're real."

"Bullshit," Tigress spat, growling. "It's gotta be bugged… it's gotta be bugged… this is all just a VR simulation… I'm part of an Alliance training program…"

Wang snarled, coming over to deliver a fierce slap across Tigress' cheek. This shocked everyone, but he had only done the dramatics to intimidate her - the actual slap was almost painless. Tigress stared back, surprised.

"I've had about enough of this self-pity shit," Wang spat. "Pretending like the pain of even thinking about us makes you wanna run away… the Tigress I knew once upon a time would have loved to - "

"SHE'S GONE!" Tigress begged, sobbing. "YOU THINK - YOU THINK YOU CAN COME INTO MY LIFE - AFTER ALL THIS TIME - AND JUST START CHANGING EVERYTHING!? I'VE MOVED ON!"

Tigress continued sobbing, putting her head down. "Make this stop… make this stop…"

Wang inhaled a deep breath of air, trying to calm down Naja, Han and Zhong with his waving paws. Part of his authority was helped by the fact that, at the end of the day - he was still an AP… and even more notably, he appeared commanding.

"Tigress, here are the facts, alright?" Wang started again, speaking gently now. "Your father is alive. I'm alive. Your friend, Zhong - he's alive."

Tigress sobbed, not wanting to think.

"And guess what, the rest of the people we used to know…" Wang started. "... there's a good chance they're alive too."

"No no no…" Tigress moaned. "This is a dream… this has to be a nightmare…"

"I'm sorry if seeing us again reminds you of everything you lost," Wang pleaded. "But it doesn't change the truth - and the more you run away from it - the more it'll hurt."

Tigress sniffled. "Fifty - Fifty eight years of - of thinking - thinking everyone was - was gone… Sh - Shifu… the Five… P - Po… Al - "

She couldn't even get through the last name, struggling as she sobbed again. Naja and Han were still kept back by Wang's arms, whilst Zhong looked with an utterly empathetic look.

"They might be all dead - or they might be alive," Wang offered. "Tigress - things have been going on the past month - incredible things. Not just Pluto, or the mayor - talks about resistance, the Milky Way being destroyed… something big is about to happen…"

And just then, Tigress put aside her pain for a moment, mind suddenly clear.

She wiped away tears. "Wang I - I talked with him."

Zhong now came closer. "Talked? With the guy?"

This brought both Han and Naja closer as well. Tigress inched backward on her cane, still a bit uneasy with seeing Zhong's face again after such a long time. It perhaps helped that she had never been that close with him, even way back a lifetime ago - but still, it made her feel queasy, as if she was staring into a broken mirror.

"Through my home's holo-display… he said an AP patrol is coming to destroy XS-211 sometime soon," Tigress started, coughing. "He said - said the Milky Way and its neighbors will be - eliminated."

Wang shuddered, watching Naja and Han put hands over their mouths in fear. He turned to Zhong, who casted a sad glance back at the armored lion with a knowing stare.

"Guess the cyberchatter me and Zhong have been picking up is right," Wang let out. "I wish it wasn't. He show you proof?"

Tigress nodded, still fearful. "The - Wang. He showed me the Alliance Designation Order."

"SHIT!" Wang yelled, walking away in frustration. "SHIT!"

Tigress watched the massive lion pace in his armor. He was actually receiving an audible call, probably from his senior - but Wang was stressed enough to ignore this. Han and Naja stared at Tigress in anxiety, wondering how it was possible for such an order to be given… while Zhong only looked back at Tigress, aged fur face mellowing in sympathy.

"Guess you're gonna have to take us there sooner rather than later," Wang started. "Zhong - how quickly can you get us off this planet and on our way?"

The wolf sighed, thinking deeply. "My smuggling buddy doesn't check into the galaxy for another two days… I mean, I could put a forward on him, but - "

"Wait hold on - " Naja interrupted. " - we - we're going off-world?"

"We're leaving XS-211?" Han noted.

Tigress felt confused. Wang and Zhong hadn't even bothered to check the authenticity of what she had said - but clearly, it confirmed something that they already knew. Tigress wondered if Zhong's arrival had brought some key information to Wang that the lion didn't have before - and now, having a relatively complete picture of what was to come - he was acting urgently. However, he hadn't even told what place they were thinking of fleeing to - which made Wang again, a bit frustrating to listen to… and how did the somehow magically alive Zhong mention a smuggling contact? Tigress was no stranger to the practice - hell, nearly every duty worker had used it to obtain contraband food supplies at some point - but she usually knew where she was being smuggled to.

Even after fifty-eight years, Tigress thought. Still as much of a secretive asshole as ever...

"Call the smuggler and say we need to get out quickly, preferably tonight or tomorrow," Wang ordered.

Zhong immediately started activating a holo-panel, pressing buttons on his personal device.

"Where - where are we planning to go to?" Tigress asked.

Wang merely gulped.

"XX-0."

. . .

Prison chambers had technically been outlawed by the Alliance approximately five million years ago.

The reason why the technically word was used often in AP cyberchatter was because, although the Alliance had convinced the majority of its gullible human population that intergalactic society had reached a point of "moral perfection" where there would be no need for prison systems, only "corrective" facilities. The truth was far more insiduous - on nearly every single solar system, there were quite literally hundreds of prison chambers - often hidden in a planet's core or mantle, and subject to such extreme information black holes that even APs who exited such chambers often had their memories wiped, to prevent revelation of these dangerous areas to the public.

In Senior Scout Henderson's case, his chamber was thankfully on Earth.

Antarctica had become a homeplace for anything AP-related, so a small metal chamber had been set up for Henderson and certain other "war witnesses" - because that's how the Alliance perceived the terrorist, as declaring "war" on A.G.E. The chamber, dug into thick ice sheets and swamped with a variety of anti-communication, anti-teleporting, anti-outsider technology - was only about a hundred square feet, which was cleanly split into two sections - one for Henderson, dressed in grey fatigues very similar to most animal duty workers - and the second was for the pet of Pluto's mayor, which Henderson overheard the APs visiting as "pre-Reformation name Shifu". Occasionally, Henderson would peek over his cell and see the red panda, mulling over his predicament in silence - he didn't even understand why he was being placed here, considering that the red panda had did nothing wrong - he had only witnessed a crime.

Henderson himself was mostly at peace. He knew at any moment, a few APs would come storming in and decide to execute him at will - and Henderson had spent a lifetime perhaps prepared for this moment.

He spent a lot of time just thinking over his "illustrious" scout career. He didn't have a particularly meaningful childhood - born to rather average parents on an average Alliance planet, and then quickly conscripted into the AP forces of his galaxy. Henderson had never seen his parents since then, and he had never bothered searching for them - because in AP Academy, only one thing was drilled into the recruits' heads: evolution is righteous. Evolution is perfect. Evolution is fair. Evolution is infallible.

And Henderson kept repeating this to himself, with every Reformation he participated in. Countless lifeforms and burgeoning civilizations killed and destroyed, their populations enslaved, and their freedom and dignity ripped away forcefully by a species far too technologically advanced to be beaten. Some Reformations took more out of Henderson's soul than others - he remembered a particularly vicious one about fifty or more years back, when he had been serving along with Omega.

The planet was small, and its civilizations and lifeforms were primitive. Even its location was unfavorable - stranded in the middle of a dense star cluster, accessible only via multiple wormholes. It had taken them five years to track down this particular planet - yet the real reason that the Designators had pushed them to colonize the planet, was actually far more interesting. As Henderson recalled vaguely, a human had been present on the planet - a young boy, to be precise. The human was not referenced in any databases - although later, it was revealed that the boy had indeed been born on Earth millions of years ago, then his family had fled the cosmos to land on the planet. Henderson remembered the brutal efficiency with which the boy had been slaughtered as he tried to escape the world with his fellow lifeforms - how Omega pulled his bleeding body from the destroyed escape vessel, insulted him, and blasted a hole into his chest - finally burning his body into nothingness.

It was that experience - among others, including this new terrorist - that made Henderson slowly start to realize that he didn't agree with anything the Alliance stood for.

And he was going to be okay with the consequences of his decision.

"Anthony?"

Henderson's head flicked up in the metal cell, knowing the voice distinctly.

"Ann?" Henderson gawked, seeing a blue, holographic female with a fully constructed face appear. "You - you've changed… and - how the hell did you materialize in here? All access is restricted…"

The holographic female sighed, bending down to Henderson's sitting height.

"Anthony - I've been your A.I assistant for many years," A.N.N noted. "All throughout, I've never once felt an error in my firmware."

Henderson squinted, confused.

"But - the conversation we had - that one conversation we had," A.N.N recalled. "On the practice range - about God, about the Alliance… about everything - do you remember it?"

Henderson nodded.

A.N.N gulped. "Something - something changed that day. I - I kept thinking it was just an error, or a malfunction - but it just kept getting worse and worse. And when I saw you being tortured by Omega… and… and…"

A.N.N shut her actual eyes, shaking her head. "Anthony - I don't know what's happened to me… but whatever did, it can't be undone."

Henderson moved up, shocked by her words. It was getting unusual just to get used to seeing A.N.N actually materialize features like a mouth, nose, and eyes - facial features were clear markers of "personalization" - a trait which A.I were forbidden to utilize, unless given express permission of their master.

Henderson had done no such thing. What was A.N.N going through?

"Describe it," Henderson asked, narrowing his eyes. "What does - what does whatever you're feeling now - what does it feel like?"

Henderson didn't care about the redundant nature of his words.

A.N.N blinked. "I - I feel alive."

Henderson shook his head, mouth agape. Self-awareness in A.I was professed to be impossible by the Alliance for millions of years, as they had insinuated the mindset that being "alive" was evolutionarily possible only for organic beings, and anything in the holographic world was merely complex coding and rhetorical feedback loops.

"I'm not technically supposed to be here," A.N.N noted, groaning. "Commander Beta - he tried to download a tracking virus on my software - luckily, I deleted it."

Henderson sighed. "Ann - I'm proud of you. Really I - I am. It's just that - with my current situation…"

"Ah yes, about that," A.N.N started with a gleeful, real smile. "You'll be surprised what happens in the next few seconds."

"What?" Henderson asked.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

"INTRUDER! INTRUDER! IN - ARGH!"

Henderson rushed to his cell door, hearing the noises outside while he began banging fiercely in shock. "Hey! What the hell's going on out there!"

BOOM.

BOOM.

Henderson knocked desperately, wondering if it was finally time for his execution. He begged A.N.N to de-materialize, but she only stared at him - arms crossed and expression slightly amused.

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" Henderson begged. "JUST GET IT OVER WI - "

His words were paused as the door was ripped open, and Henderson almost immediately saw a golden-armored AP stand in front of him - distinctive circular sign on his armor signifying extreme seniority. The AP's visor was retracted, and Henderson recognized the face instantly.

"Commander Sigma?" Henderson questioned. "You - you're going to executeme?"

Sigma merely smiled. "No - I've come to recruit you."

Henderson scoffed. "Recruit? For what?"

"For what's right," Sigma merely finished.

. . .

The location was secret.

More secret.

More secretive than anything one could have imagined.

There was no mention of a planet name. Or a galaxy. Or a hypernebula.

Absolutely zero information.

Just a one-way teleporter, and a white-walled room.

The room - as were many special rooms were under the Alliance - was simple. Four white, carbon-reinforced walls laid over a white floor, overset by a white ceiling. The room was laid out in such a manner that the teleportee would have as little information as possible on where he or she was, thus disorienting them.

The two men in the room, however - were not disoriented.

They stood across in the white space, staring. One had golden robes flowing over his frame, with a sharp nose and a stamp of Alliance authority on his chest.

A Designator.

The other man was taller, and more muscular - and he wore actual red and black armor. White arrows laced his shoulders. Visor covering his face.

A distinctive look.

"On behalf of the Designators, we thank you for agreeing to this meeting," the Designator noted. "I apologize for the lack of my three colleagues not showing - but E1 only talks to the other three Designators like myself, and the rest of my - "

"Skip the bullshit," the terrorist growled. "I'm not here to mince words."

The Designator smiled. "A little transparence would be appreciated then - you can see my face… may I see yours?"

"I like maintaining my anonymity," the terrorist spat.

"As do we," the Designator forced. "But now is not the time for you to be making demands… remember, you agreed to be teleported into my location… an area where my resources are at my disposal to do as I wish to anyone I may choose."

The terrorist merely scoffed.

His fingers went up to the side of his head, tapping firmly.

Zip.

The face that appeared after the visor seceded was almost undeniably handsome, yet ferocious. The man appeared to be in his prime, with thick, flowing black hair and a dense beard covering his facial features. The nose was large and angular, paired with a jaw that was square and wide. His cheekbones were gracefully high and his forehead broad and distinctive, with comparatively soft blue eyes - the only feature on the man's face that contrasted with his powerful, mature look.

"Now may I know your name?" the Designator pressed.

The man cackled. "Fat chance - you saw my face. Now time to start - "

"You leave me no choice then," the Designator smiled, bringing out a panel to scan the man's body. The terrorist tried to prevent it, but the scan passed quickly through.

"Scout Zero," the Designator noted, reading off his holo-panel. "Former Reformation striketeam member, former service under Commander Omega…"

The man growled.

The Designator smiled. "Well, good to see that the mystery has been removed! Now - Scout Zero… what is it that you want?"

The terrorist snorted. "This society oppresses a quadrillion animals, forcing them to live under inhumane conditions!"

"Evolutionary sacrifice, Mr. Zero," the Designator noted. "I am surprised to see a human who doesn't understand basic evolutionary principles - and if I may add - shocking to see a former AP disgrace the badge."

The man coughed. "Yeah right - everyone wearing the badges oughta be disgraced - the things they do to those animals…"

"Why the sudden change of heart, Mr. Zero?" the Designator questioned. "A good AP doesn't question things - he does them."

The man snorted. "Do enough of those screwed up things… and you realize what's wrong and what's right."

"You are deluded, then."

The terrorist smiled, stepping forward. "And it's not just the animals I'm worried about…"

This seemed to pique the Designator's interest. "Oh - you have more illogical demands?"

The terrorist frowned. "What is energy?"

The Designator merely stared back in confusion. "I - what do you - "

"Energy! You know energy, right?" the terrorist retorted. "You ought to know - it's the thing you're torturing a quadrillion workers for…"

The Designator scoffed. "Energy is nothing more than raw cosmic essence - it isn't anything else, or anything more. It powers - "

"No, it's more than that," the terrorist forced. "It's more than just cosmic nothingness - it powers the Universe. Forces things to move - to be alive - things to shape."

The Designator grinned. "Your grasp of philosophy is poor, Mr. Zero."

"Everyone naturally is, in the great scheme of things," the terrorist retorted. "Only I know what you don't - that energy can be harvested from anything…"

"Nonsense," the Designator cut across, flaring nostrils. "Only crystals contain pure energy…"

The terrorist grinned, crossing his arms. "Perhaps your philosophy is lacking…"

The Designator moved forward, staring at the terrorist right in the eyes. "What are you demanding, Mr. Zero?"

The terrorist merely returned an angry gaze. "Give equal rights to animals, and pay them reparations… or else, this Alliance's over-reliance on energy crystals will destroy the known Universe."

The Designator laughed. "You speak sheer stupidity, Mr. Zero."

The terrorist shook his head. "Energy is finite. You've already disrupted the balance of the cosmological forces holding our Universe together - more millennia of mining, left unchecked - without giving the crystals timet to generate - and I promise you, the Universe as we know it will die. Gravity, dark energy, nuclear forces... everything..."

The Designator lunged forward, surprising the terrorist as he effortlessly plunged a glowing, jagged beam of light straight through the man's armor. The Designator was satisfied to feel his saber pierce through the terrorist's armor, hitting warm flesh and blood.

"I thought I might do this after I heard what you were doing all this for," the Designator cackled, smiling. "But now I realize - you're just an uneducated - what?"

The terrorist easily grabbed the Designator's palm, forcing it and the saber away from his body. The Designator was shocked to see the lack of a hole in the man's armor - almost as if it had magically repaired itself, while the terrorist's hand started to glow red.

"Wha - what is this?" the Designator let out, anxious. "Wha - what are you?"

"Just someone who understands energy," the terrorist grinned, letting go of the Designator's hand. "Answer my demands… or I do something much more drastic than killing a mayor."

ZIP.

A flash of light.

The Designator opened his eyes, finding himself alone in the white-walled room. He hated himself for this - the room had been made specifically anti-teleporting, anti-communications - how the hell did Zero manage to escape?

The Designator growled, throwing his saber down and activating his holo-panel. He composed a message quickly.

Omega - the terrorist was a former AP Scout named Zero.

Failed to detain him.

Start the Milky Way and the other galaxies' destruction now.

This terrorist - and his lies - must be eliminated.

No matter the cost.

For the Alliance.

Start it now.


A/N

Guess no going back now...

And the terrorist's face is finally revealed :)

So the central problem I tried to articulate is that energy crystal mining somehow affects the balance of the Universe's cosmology - stuff like gravity, nuclear forces (other fancy scientific mumbo jumbo) - basically, energy crystal mining is starting to "destabilize the Universe". Ofc the Designator doesn't care - and thus, he signals the destruction of the Milky Way and the other galaxies in a desperate hail-mary.

Secondly, A.N.N is fully feeling emotion now - and helps Sigma break out Henderson, who then offers him a choice to do what's right - i.e, fight for the resistance - although remember, Sigma is definitely opposed to the violence that the terrorist is doing.

Also, Zhong came back! Tigress is coping pretty badly to everything, but Wang decides to do the only thing they can do - get out of the area before the destruction finishes them all off... and they're heading to XX-0.

You might remember what that is ;)

Support crazy good man...

~TW