Daybreak
Veda watched the GN Burst spread until it vanished from sight.
The sight of her avatar at least.
She tracked the wave through Dragon's satellites and calculated. It wouldn't reach the entire world, but the energy would remain concentrated for nearly eighty percent of the Earth's surface. If Taylor was right, the first humans to start evolving as she had would begin appearing in the next eighty-nine months.
Taylor decided to go through with it in the end, even though it meant forcing the change on the world.
Veda supposed she didn't know if that was right or wrong, and she wasn't sure it would matter.
It was going to happen. Taylor thought it would happen anyway. She'd already contaminated entire sections of the world with GN Particles, and the process had started without her intentions. Now, she'd simply sped it up.
Veda shifted some of her attention, watching through a Tieren as Aisha finally began moving.
David sat on the ground, trying to call up his powers and finding they were truly gone.
Veda hesitated between intervention and inaction. A bitter part of her simply wanted to look away. The better part knew she couldn't. Not if she wanted to achieve everything she'd been left to do. Far too much had been sacrificed by far too many to leave things like this.
If Aisha—
Veda paused as Aisha hesitated.
The girl cursed suddenly, emerging from her power and stabbing David in the back.
He screamed, falling forward and reached for the wound as she pulled her blade free.
Veda's eyes narrowed.
The wound was superficial. David would recover even without medical attention barring severe infection.
"Asshole," Aisha cursed as she turned away and cast the knife aside.
Onlookers stared in shock and confusion, most of them talking to Cinereal about what to do. The woman was mostly telling them to go home and wait. Veda doubted she could tell them anything else.
A few holdouts were still fighting, but they weren't enough.
David was powerless, and the Titans were defeated.
Ahead of her avatar, Sherrel was starting to move in the direction of Leet's suit.
Veda decided to follow. She'd have to keep an eye on Leet going forward. Taylor was certain he couldn't rebuild his machine once it was destroyed—it had been, thoroughly—but he could build another different machine.
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
"Veda?"
She turned her other avatar's head, looking up at Charlotte.
"What's going on?" the girl asked with a pale face. She glanced about, noticing the hung heads, or those raised in spite of how sad they looked. "Where's Taylor?"
Her processors ceased for a moment. She'd been trying to be… detached. To not think about it.
Not say it.
"She—"
"The fuck?"
Another voice. One of those around Cinereal.
The man pointed toward the sky. "Am I seeing shit?"
Veda raised her head as Sherrel continued forward.
Her jaw slackened, which was a new experience. She wasn't sure she could recall it even happening before.
All around through a thousand eyes, she saw fingers point and heads raised. Across the world, even in places where it was daylight or overcast. The location of the observer didn't matter. The image was the same.
Spinning a satellite about, Veda focused the camera.
The moon's surface shimmered, the craters and marks from millions of years vanishing as a reflective sea took its place. It had the appearance of water, a thin translucent surface with depth beneath it. Something was emerging under the surface.
Something bright and blooming.
Flowers?
Veda watched as the light began to lift off the surface. The light spun forward, twisting out from the moon and reaching toward the Earth.
And as it grew closer and heads raised in shock and amazement, the light bloomed.
Pedals burst into being, the spiral of light opening like a bud and spreading out with wide petals.
Across the world, screens flicked, and Taylor's face appeared on them.
"So," her mother's voice said. "Who wants to talk about aliens?"
Veda stammered as calls and messages surged into her system. DPA. Dragon. The Guild. Chevalier. Miss Militia. Murrue Ramius. No doubt all about the same thing.
When had Taylor recorded…
Veda watched the video play without really listening. Administrator eventually walked onto the screen, answering questions and admitting the truth. Scion was an alien. He had planned to destroy the world. The Shards didn't want to destroy the world anymore. She recorded all of that herself, by herself, so no one else would have to.
All while the entire world watched the moon bloom into a brilliant golden flower.
Like this? When she was already gone and… And any fallout would fall squarely on her shoulders.
Where others could deny knowing if they needed to.
Where the fighting was over and time remained to think and adapt.
Where the world could watch and make its own decisions.
Because there was always going to be fear and panic. At least now, David and Leet wouldn't be able to use it. Most of those who could have were in hiding or isolated. Because those who might hide from knowing before, fearful for their power or their wealth, could point at Taylor and blame her. Because Taylor always did things in the boldest way possible.
Because she took responsibility, even when it wasn't hers to bear.
Veda ignored most of the words despite hearing them.
She watched Taylor's face. Committed the image to memory. Which was foolish. She wasn't likely to forget.
Still.
See you tomorrow.
Looking ahead, Veda started walking after Sherrel, while she explained what had happened to Charlotte, and directed a Helper to David.
It was time to get going.
It wasn't tomorrow just yet, and lingering wouldn't make the time pass any faster.
There was work to do.
***
And that's the story of how the Shards took over the moon! Yeah that's right. Love and compassion peace and friendship and all that nonsense? Irrelevant! This was a story about how the Shards took over the moon the entire time. Just took it right over! Yeah that's right!
This concludes the original plot of Trailblazer. The epilogues will follow.