by JK Stone
The group appeared to be dumbfounded by what they were looking at, the universe was minuscule in comparison to what it had become, and Terrah moved to the information at the end of the first data packet saying, “See here, the Imortum who created the ship decided they had done enough and hid the ship inside of a star.
“The TDS sat there undisturbed for thousands of millennia before it was reactivated.” Terrah then changed files and explained, “This ship, once reactivated was used to try to change the outcome of the Nefastus war. In the final battle, there were only five ships left, and by the end of that battle, there was only one ship remaining.”
Saleria looked at Terrah and asked, “How is it that our ships are still around if all but one was destroyed?”
Rubbing the back of her neck, Terrah said, “Because there was only ever one ship.” Terrah looked from Jason to Alise and said, “Your ship was only known as a TDS. Inola created the other ships by using yours.”
“How did she do that?” Jason asked clearly startled.
“Look here,” Terrah brought up a recording.
Once Terrah saw everyone focusing on the display, she activated the playback and watched as Inola sat down with tears in her eyes and began recording. “There has been an accident, we did not anticipate this outcome and apparently, there is nothing that can be done to rectify it.
“My daughter and her husband were attacked and killed by the Nefastus while we were in orbit of Imortus, I engaged the enemy and after the battle was finished I attempted to return to a point just before I had transported them to the surface to issue a warning. However, there were dire consequences.
“When I showed up, this ships engine destabilized and we crashed into the other ship from the past. When this ship powered up again, I went to the planet’s surface to investigate what had happened. The other ship had crashed on Imortus and the accident caused a paradox in which my earlier self and that of all the other crew members along with my daughter, son-in-law, and their newborn baby perished.”
Inola wiped a tear from her eye and continued, “There was another side effect, however, when the collision occurred, it knocked the earlier TDS out of its timeline. There are now two of the same ships. The binding disk I have connected to me is currently allowing me access to both ships... I believe I can assign the other ship to a new commander, but I will know for sure once I locate a suitable person to command it.
“My main concern, for the time being at least, is that the Nefastus numbers are growing every day, and I am having difficulties in locating their cloning facilities. When the council member gave them the ability to clone themselves, the Nefastus took it to the next level. Now they are making soldiers in seemingly endless numbers.
“As a matter of fact, they appear to be enhanced even more than they were before. I captured one of them to examine him, but the technology aboard this vessel could not restrain him, and within hours, their attack force located this ship. These are a new breed of giant super soldiers and aside from transporting them into a star, I cannot think of a way to humanely dispatch them.
“We, the Imortum, have dwindled from billions on a million worlds down to a mere sixty thousand scattered throughout the universe. I was given the edict to stop the Nefastus scourge at any cost, but the survival of our people is not a priority, seeing as how we brought this scourge upon the universe.
“I just do not know how I will accomplish it. I am too exhausted on a daily basis to weave more than a hundred years or so, and no alterations I have made seem to make a difference within that time frame.”
Terrah looked around the group and said, “According to the data, it would appear as if Inola created countless paradoxes in order to build up a fleet of these ships. At one point, she said there was over ten thousand of this ship. The battles didn’t go as planned and in the end, there was only one ship left. At that point, she said there was only one avenue left to them and she stopped recording. Something happened between the first battles and the last.
“The Nefastus must have developed a really nasty arsenal of those battleships we encountered at Abnearu because, in the beginning, Inola and the other Imortum could hold their own against the Nefastus, but by the last recordings, the Imortum were on the run. There are several lifetimes worth of information in the download that’s encrypted the same way the other files we already saw are, but the beginning and end pretty much sum it up.”
Saleria ran her hands through her hair and said, “After seeing the damage that battleship did to my ship I can understand how the Nefastus beat down the Imortum, but something must’ve been done to halt the Nefastus.”
Terrah nodded. “The information could be in the data spheres we have, but until we can unlock the encryption, this is all we have to go on at the moment,” she offered.
“So, the Nefastus evasion protocol brought you here?” Saleria was looking up at the display showing the galaxy, and she left the question hanging.
Terrah nodded and explained, “Yes, apparently, these ships are the only things that can traverse the void, so this is, in essence, a safe zone,” she said, knowing that is she failed in protecting the ships that would flee Earth; she would need to get all of them to this galaxy for their safety.
Doran shook his head and looking between the other AI’s he said, “I still do not understand why Inola would put us on these ships, knowing the battles they had with the Nefastus. Alise was correct about us being clones before, I looked into the procedure after seeing that last recording. The Nefastus used the same technology, so that is exactly what we are, Nefastus. Despite what the Ambrose has done to us, we still have cloned bodies,” he finished, obviously confused as to why Inola would permit it.
Alise sighed and said, “I don’t know what to tell you, you’re correct, and it does seem to go against what Inola was fighting for. We’ll just have to see what is in store for us I guess.”
Saleria nodded and said, “For now, we have to ascend the Lantins, and we believe that your ship needs to be there to assist us in getting a lock on their remains. As I said before, Vellia had just given us a plan of action right before she vanished and her plan will take all of our ships to accomplish it.”
Terrah nodded and said aloud as if to the sky, “We’ll time jump in here and collect our probe, and then unless you need us here any longer we’re going to head back to Earth to help.”
The lights flickered and Terrah figured she had her answer, though only she knew that it wasn’t Inola giving it.
Terrah hated to be untruthful with everyone, but she said, “Alright, we will be headed back as soon as we’re free of the void, for some reason communications and our archway are blocked while traversing the void, so you won’t be able to contact us for several days. And once we’re clear it’s still going to take us another three days before we can make it to Earth,” Terrah stated to the group.
“That’ll be fine, our ships are headed to Earth at the moment and we still need to work out the kinks in our plan. Contact us when you’re free of the void, and we’ll meet to discuss our strategy,” Jason stated.
Once Terrah and Doran were alone Doran turned and said, “It shouldn’t take us that long to get to Earth because we do not need to go around the Answarin void, we can cross right here, we could be there in about thirty-six hours at full speed.”
After activating the time jump to retrieve their probe Terra said, “I’m aware of that, but we have to ascend the remains from medical first, and we have been given another rather grim task to accomplish before we can meet up with them at Earth.”
Terrah knew Doran was going to ask, so she briefly explained what she had been told about the ascensions and the consortium, along with the fact that they were expected to dispatch them.
Doran looked about as pleased with that task as Terrah was, and she said, “I was told it had to be done, and though the thought of killing those people is distasteful, I fear the alternative will be far worse, at least that’s what I was led to believe, a
nd I do believe her.”
Terrah remained vague as to who ‘her’ was, and Doran just nodded.
After retrieving the probe Terrah set course for the most direct path to Earth. The travel across the Answarin galaxy had been fast, and within a few hours, TDS 4 was free of the void and in open space making a beeline for Earth.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Terrah had pushed TDS 4’s speed and had consumed almost half of their energy reserves by the time they made it to Earth.
Once again Terrah had transported to the surface just outside of the hidden Henge, though this time she had to do so fully armored and phased due to the consortium presence on Earth as well as the extremely high radiation levels surrounding the planet, not that the radiation would injure her more than the chlorophyll would heal her and her triple helix DNA would absorb.
Within moments, all of the remains had been transported down to the surface, and Terrah began moving them inside of the inner standing stones. Once Terrah entered with the final remains, she placed the first of the bodies on the altar, then recited, “A’o’ vita lucretur sed illustratione in mortem verum scientificum cum,” Terrah then pushed energy into the remains which caused arcing and finished by saying, “ignis sit renasci!” and the remains burst into flames before swirling into an ethereal form.
Terrah resisted the urge to look up at first for fear of whom she would see, but when she chanced a glance, she didn’t recognize the woman. The lady had just swirled around a moment, then without a word, she seemed to be sucked into the altar stone.
Terrah’s nerves eased up a bit thinking that maybe she had just jumped to the wrong conclusion about the remains being those of her family, but she was dissuaded of that fanciful notion when with the next ascension her sister Saleria appeared. “Not you…” Terrah called out as she began to tear up.
Saleria’s ethereal form peered around a moment before saying, “This is my time Terrah, do not fret, it has been a great pleasure being your sister once again. When it’s your time to ascend, rest assured I’ll be waiting to greet you,” and a moment later Saleria was gone.
It took Terrah a good ten minutes before she regained her composure enough to proceed with the ascensions. She had wondered at Saleria’s comment about being her sister again, and not knowing what she’d meant by it, Terrah continued with her task, but with the next ascension, there was nothing she could’ve done to have prepared herself for what she saw next.
Swirling out of the flames and ash her own ethereal form coalesced then peered down at her. “How?” Terrah asked.
Terrah’s ethereal form seemed to appraise her a moment then said, “I could tell you, but seeing that I or rather you are performing the ascension, I would guess the others are still alive as well, at least in your timeline?” she ended her statement with a question.
Terrah nodded and said, “Vellia told me she made a mistake and she’s trying to rectify it.”
Terrah’s ethereal form nodded then said, “I’ll have to be careful about what I say then. Where are you in your timeline?”
Terrah hesitated a moment then told her.
Terrah’s ethereal form nodded again and explained, “That makes sense, in my timeline we were attempting to rescue the few Lantins who had survived the rift when the consortium fleet arrived and attacked us. We could’ve defeated them soundly with a single ship, but to do so meant we’d have to sacrifice the Lantins, and none of us wanted that, so we proceeded with the mission.
“You wouldn’t have met Vellia’s mate yet, but while we were stuck trying to recompile the Lantin’s biological signals enough to get a transport lock he confronted the fleet and destroyed it, but he was mortally wounded in the process and Vellia never really recovered from the loss.”
Terrah peered down at the remaining bodies and feared that if she was one of them, then Doran must be there as well, and reluctantly she asked, “Doran?”
Shaking her head solemnly, her ethereal form said, “None of our men, including our brothers survived. Doran died soon after he ate the Ambrose when we arrived to retake TDS 2.
“There was a Nef…” she paused a moment then continued, “Imortum battleship in orbit of Abnearu, and after we GMP’d the planet the battleship blasted the GoW and TDS 2 before taking off. Doran must’ve figured out how the GoW had been damaged because he attempted to do the same thing to disable the GoW’s engine and was severely wounded in the process. After we healed him, I put him to bed and we assaulted the GoW.”
Terrah nodded and said, “The same thing happened in my timeline too, but there were three battleships in orbit when we GMP’d the planet.”
Her ethereal form nodded and said, “The other two ships arrived while we were assaulting the GoW. Alise and Calia got their ships out of range but TDS 4 and TDS 5 were hit. Eneria and Jerren were on the GoW, but Doran died in the attack, and luckily Saleria transported us back to TDS 2 and we escaped to the master control room before the battleships destroyed the GoW and TDS 2.”
“And our brothers and Braun?” Terrah asked.
Her ethereal form seemed to consider what to say, and then said, “I don’t know who Braun is, but our brothers were lost when the Nefastus breach the rift.”
Terrah tried to figure out why the events in the two timelines had differed, and asked, “What happened when you finally got Doran’s program activated?”
Terrah’s ethereal form looked puzzled and said, “We had phase jumped out of Area 51, and after being fired upon by the battleship, TDS 4 was rocked, and the AI program reintegrated with the ship and came online. Before we left Earth, Doran informed me that Baelac wished to be ascended.
“I didn’t know how to do it, so Eneria performed the ascension because she knew from her prior commander how the procedure was performed. Right after that, we headed to Daregon to charge, and then we went to Abnearu.”
Terrah asked, “Did you rescue Krysali or Braydon MacLeod?”
Her ethereal form shook her head and said, “No. I do recognize the man’s name though, you did that?” she asked.
Terrah nodded and said, “In my timeline, I had issues reintegrating Doran’s program, and a couple of days after recharging at Daregon, I found Baelac’s remains and once the program reintegrated Doran went active.
“And after he initiated the bonding procedure I passed out for nearly thirty hours and when I awoke we were already headed to Earth.
“Doran instructed me on what to say, and I performed the ascension, then Baelac asked for help with his sister. That process took me a couple of days”
Terrah’s ethereal form looked from side to side as if trying to be secretive and said, “come closer and kneel over the stone, I cannot leave the confines of the altar.”
Terrah did and a moment later her ethereal form said, “I know the dilemma you must face, this may make your actions easier, and prevent any hesitation on your part.”
She placed her ghostly hand on Terrah’s head, and a moment later Terrah was overwhelmed by imagery and events, and she staggered back trying not to break down completely at the visions of what happened to her ethereal form and the rest of her family.
Looking up Terrah saw her ethereal form begin to swirl and as she was being pulled into the other realm she said, “Be well sister of my soul, may your journey fare better than mine.”
After seeing some of what Terrah and the others were in store for, Terrah’s resolve hardened, and she continued with the ascensions. Terrah had spoken briefly with Calia, Eneria, and Alise when they had ascended. Alise was concerned about the children’s ascensions, but she refused to say who the children were, and after Terrah informed her that she would see to them, Alise seemed at peace.
To Terrah’s surprise, the next remains she ascended ended up being those of her biological father. His name was Arthur Stone, and apparently, the reason she hadn’t met him yet was because he and the rest of the family members she hadn’t met yet were in the Stasis chamber she’d asked Jerren about just after they set c
ourse for Daregon.
They talked a moment, then her father told her that it was time for him to go, and he too was drawn into the altar stone.
Everyone, even her father seemed to be at peace with what happened to them and where he or she was going as well.
Terrah ran into an odd occurrence when she ascended the final two adult remains however. Terrah was at a loss, because once the first man’s ethereal form coalesced he immediately began berating and accusing her of causing all of their deaths. Terrah stood there and took the abuse, and once he silenced, instead of being pulled into the Altar stone as the others had been, his ethereal form just appeared to dissolve into nothingness.
Terrah had been shaken by the accusations and continued on to ascend the final adult, who did the exact same thing, and she silently wondered if they had been barred entrance to the other realm due to their hostility. Thinking it over, Terrah realized that it was due to the last two men, that she and her sisters weren’t informed of their family’s existence yet.
Terrah peered down at the final three remains. She had waited to ascend the three children last, partly because she wanted those they knew to be waiting on the other side when she ascended them, but mostly because she knew she would be a total wreck after seeing children whose lives were cut way too short.
Terrah could feel the burning in her throat as she tried not to tear up, and she was finding it hard to draw a breath.
Terrah wasn’t sure if it was permitted to perform the ascension this way, but she placed all three children on the altar stone at the same time and stepped back a moment to wipe her burning eyes before continuing.
Terrah really didn’t think she could bear ascending children one at a time, but for the most part, she felt that since the children died in each other’s embrace, then it was only right to ascend them together as well.
Stepping closer and placing her hands on the two outer children, Terrah cleared her painful throat and recited, “A’o’ vita lucretur sed illustratione in mortem verum scientificum cum,” Terrah forced a lot more energy than she had used before into the remains to make sure she ignited all three, and it caused arcing between the three tiny bodies. Terrah’s body seemed to resonate strangely and she finished by saying, “IGNIS SIT RENASCI!” in an overly energized voice.
