A/N: There! All fixed! Thank you everyone for all your loyalty and... Spamming of my inbox -_- So, my workplace... Exploded... So expect more updates from now on.
By the way, all view expressed by Temujin were written while I was totally not stoned (No, seriously, I don't do drugs, I just stick my head in buckets of hydrochlorine acid and... Just kidding.) So quit asking!
The Protoss shuttle fell through space in silence, it's inhabitants unaffected by the vertiginous speed attained through riding Void currents.
Temujin ate protein slabs and recycled water, slept on the cold floor and spent the rest of his time reading or conversing with Anhaka.
The Nerazim needed no food or water, drawing sustenance from her shuttle's artificial illumination and ambient humidity, she focused on flying the shuttle and conversing with her strange passenger.
They spoke of the Dominion's ascension as well as the Confederacy's fall. The Zerg had been a determining factor of both, but to think this were the only factor would be naïve, according to Temujin, anyway.
He told her of ancient beliefs, paganism, pentagrams and spirits. The star, be it five or six branched, had always been seen as a gateway to the next world, every religion attributed great importance to it. The soviet union, under V.I. Lenin, had gone from a small and insignificant faction to one of the world's super-power in a matter of years, the beginning of their ascent marked by their adoption of the red star as their emblem. Every tank, every helmet, even the Kremlin, seat of their power, sported pentagrams, gateways to the other world.
Every great nation in Earth's history had stars in its emblem; The United States, Israel, China, North Korea… And those who did not usually displayed the sun, or a perversion of its symbol; England, the Nazi swastika, Japan's imperial flag…
"You really think your world's history was shaped by this spirit world?" Anhaka remained quite perplexed by her companion's world view. She could feel the Void, touch it, wield it, whereas this spirit world's influence was subtle, intangible and apparent only in retrospect.
"You are not listening." Spoke the Ghost, thick grey brows joining over dark eyes. "What I believe is not relevant here, if I told you this spirit world was truly a creature living in the Void and symbols allowed its powers to reach through time and space and empower whoever controls it, would you be so skeptical?"
She thought about it a moment and decided that no, she would not.
"Truth is subjective, my spirit world and your void might be two faces of the same thing and completely different as well, one does not simply know the truth, all who have tried ultimately failed, just as all these nations ultimately knew a swift end, as will the Dominion, if it follows their path." He let that prediction hang in the air, let it contrast with his previous words, "That is not absolute truth, I cannot tell you why it will tumble or when, but by knowing history, I know it is doomed to collapse as brutally and irremediably as any that came before it.
-Everything changes, that's the way it has been as far as history records, governments fall, ideologies change…
-Exactly!" Temujin's frown vanished, replaced by a rare smile, "Once you understand that, it is not that much of a stretch to conclude there is no truth, facts are such only so long as their determinants remain:
Water is a liquid only as long as it is at the right temperature, gasoline is only flammable in the right atmosphere, a year passes on earth while mere hours pass in the galactic core…
-Yes," She interrupted, now frowning herself, "but this can all be explained with physics, science…
-Ah… Science; the longest running quest for the absolute truth. Religions before it merely guessed and then twisted facts to fit their ideas, whereas science twists its ideas to fit facts…" He chewed on the corner of his bottom lip, eyes narrowed in concentration, and then spoke, somewhat uncertain, "Can you show me an atom?"
Anhaka looked around the single shuttle compartment, filled only with instruments, life support systems and personal hygiene implements. "I… Could…" She hesitated, "If I had the right equipment."
He raised a hand at eye level, "What is my hand made of?
-Atoms?" That earned her a disappointed glare.
"What are you? Dumb?" He poked at his flesh with the other hand, "It's made of skin, muscles and bones, meat. If you had a microscope, it would be made of cells, atoms, but you don't and until you do, it's meat."
That struck her as very close minded, especially from him, and she threaded carefully from there, "But you do know it's made of cells and atoms, right?" His smile returned and when he answered, she knew he was just making fun of her:
"What if I received a prosthetic?
-Now you're just silly."
Nodding, a smile still painted on his face, he sat on a deactivated probe and fetched a toothbrush from his travel pack.
"Fine, let me explain it another way; Science explains phenomenon and how to reproduce them by following strict rules. The rules don't affect reality, but by following them, you can understand, glimpse, how the universe works. And it does work, add hydrogen to sodium and you'll blow something up, but that's because whenever they're wrong, they change the rules until it all fits again. It's not an expression of truth, not even a reliable way of reaching it, it's merely an observation of facts, dismissing any claim that cannot be explained using their precious rules…
-Like the Void and Khala?"
He tucked the brush behind his ear, deciding there was hope for her yet, and exclaimed, once again cheerful, "Getting close, my dark friend!"
Oddly enough, she actually felt proud at this praise, a ridiculous thing for a four hundred years old being faced with one at most a quarter of her age.
"You can find obsolete truths all over history books, religious texts and science essays. Perhaps they were right in their time and things changed, perhaps they were wrong all along, maybe both, why not?" He spread his arm like some kind of prophet, "You, me, all those people out there, scuttling about their lives with such certainty and confidence that they are in control of their destiny, we're insects, flailing in the dark with our primitive brains, trying to understand a universe so vast I barely scratched the surface in a hundred lifetimes."
At that moment, Anhaka understood the scope of what she had before her, a being so ancient and wise Zeratul himself would be but a mere child in his eyes…
"Is it so unbelievable, so insane, to believe this world is far too complex for us to ever truly grasp?
-Yet you seek to comprehend it… Why?
-Heh, I'm here and it won't let me go no matter what, might as well spend my time finding out what makes it tick, perhaps find a way to be free or master of this eternal cycle.
-That is your goal? Universal domination?"
He laughed so hard the toothbrush was thrown across the shuttle.
"No! Ceiling Cat be my witness," She looked up; no cat, "I have no intention of ruling this mess, no, freedom or oblivion are my goal, either be free of death or make sure I will die forever."