“No.” Zes-ol left off the part of not actually knowing how to identify such a fictitious entity. That was Des-al’s job, not his. If the beast was so damn concerned, let him look for an immortal with a soul. Or had Eas-el said he feared an immortal soul? Bah. It mattered not. Either way, they were nothing more than the empty ramblings of an old life source.
THIRTY-ONE
Rather than do it remotely, I returned Wrath to Exeter to discuss our limited findings with Toño and Carlos. They were impressed by the dampening of the void too, as opposed to it forming an exact wall. They advised I test whether an object cast into the void stopped existing, or if it merely disappeared, as if into smoke. How to do that wasn’t clear. If I went after the flashlight and it actually went puff, so would I. Toño came up with trying to use an infinity charge to help test the options. He reasoned that the membrane might be able to expel the void field if it was just a broadcast phenomenon. If, however, the void was the end of matter and energy, the infinity wouldn’t go off. It would just be MIA. The hook was that the charge had to go off close enough to Wrath to clearly detect it without it, you know, blowing us up. It was kind of a one-shot deal if done incorrectly.
So, Yib and I returned to the point where we’d been. I asked Al to give me his best guess as to how far to set off the charge, and then I ordered it launched. Yes, I crossed my fingers and toes.
In ten seconds, the vail of nothingness parted like an opening eyelid. Then the shockwave hit us. Moving at just under the speed of light, whatever composed the void was thrown back into us. We had our membrane up, and, thank goodness, it stopped the stuff. Al even thought to capture a little in an external sample tube as it shot past. Then we waited to see if the membrane projection would strike or not. I added closing my eyes to the finger toe thing. Nothing.
“Al, strong work!” I shouted. “You missed us.”
“I had no doubt, Pilot.”
“Like hell you didn’t, you lying dish washer.”
“So, the void is a perception, not an absence of reality. Well I’ll be damned,” said Yibitriander.
“It would appear so.”
“What now?” he asked.
“Now comes the tricky part. We need to determine if our limited membrane can hold it out. The charges deliver a complete space-time congruity wall. Ours allows visible light through, so we can see where we’re going.”
“If ours doesn’t hold out the void?”
“We play it by ear. I do that particularly well.”
He rolled his eyes. “Great.”
“Al, project a maximal diameter spherical membrane.”
“Done,” he responded.
There was no deformation in the void. I had him turn the field off and start it small, then expand it to maximum. Still nothing. The void was unperturbed.
“Extend a complete membrane to max.”
It took a second, but a dimple appeared in the void. It expanded into an open cave in the nothingness wall. Cool.
“Wrath, nudge forward into the open area,” I said.
“As our first mistake will be our last, Form, let me confirm that a nudge is a slow, incremental move forward.”
“Yes, it is. And be prepared to stop on a moment’s notice,” I added.
“Gee, no time to practice that maneuver?”
“Wrath,” thundered Yibitriander, “remember your place.”
The cube said nothing. We began inching into the opening. Nothing bad happened.
“Al, turn on Shearwater’s flood lights,” I ordered.
The cavity sprang to life. The membrane, being complete, reflected all the light. It was like we were inside a disco ball. Most excellent.
“Al, back us out to where we were. Then toss something out the hatch so that it comes to a stop one thousand meters past where the membrane projection ends.”
“Aye, Pilot. Say, would you please step closer to the cargo bay hatch. Just curious. I’m lonely back here.”
“In your dreams, my rejected record player friend.”
“Oh well. At least I tried. Second flashlight away.”
“Put up the complete membrane and take us where we were, Wrath.”
Once we were in position, I confirmed the flashlight was invisible. It had to be with a complete membrane between us and it.
“Al, use Shearwater to project a full membrane that overlaps Wrath’s and encompasses the flashlight.”
“Whatever. Done.”
“Wrath, suspend your membrane in the area of overlap.”
“I agree with Al, whatever. Done.”
“Now, Al, drop your membrane in the area where the complete membranes come in contact.”
“Done.”
There was the flashlight. It was dead in space and shining its beautiful beam right at us from the center of the window between membranes. It was no worse for wear.
“My word,” said Yibitriander. “That’s an impressive test, Jon.”
“So, we can’t see through the crap, our sensors can’t penetrate it, but it’s a harmless illusion.”
“This is so cool, Jon,” said my shipmate.
I let the him saying cool part slip past without comment.
“Now what?” he asked turning toward me.
It occurred to me I might be able to test the system further. I estimated where Oxisanna’s vortex would be, assuming it still existed. Wrath moved slowly in her direction with the full membrane up. This one was shaped like a bulldozer bucket along the leading edge. Once I was confident we’d likely have her cube in the membrane bucket, I had Al expand a full membrane just up to the lip of the bucket-shaped membrane. I had Wrath drop the bucket and Al drop his corresponding portion. If Oxisanna’s vortex was in the bucket space, it’d be surrounded by a small amount of void material inside two large clear bubbles. I hoped the void material thinned as it drifted away. If it didn’t, my only plan would have failed.
Luck sides with the innocent, the deserving, and, it turned out, the reckless fighter pilot. When the two small portions of membrane dissolved, the void dissipated, and there was Oxisanna’s vortex.
Yibitriander was on the radio in an instant. “Oxisanna, are you there? Are you okay?”
A very confused sounding female voice came from the speaker. “Ah, Yibitriander? Is that you? Are we both dead?”
“No, dear. We’re all fine. I’ll have Wrath send you the details. For now, move close to us and follow our lead.”
“Yes. Thanks. I thought we were goners.”
“I never doubted I’d retrieve you,” he said, looking over at me tentatively when he was done.
“Funny,” I said, “me either.”
I had to bear in mind that the void around Oxisanna’s vortex dissipated because the full membranes prevented retransmission into that space. Whatever lay at the center of the void was clearly generating the crap. Oh well, one unbeatable odd at a time, please.
“Now we go a visiting.”
Tricky got trickier. I wished I could call Richard Nixon for help. I had an excellent idea where something critically important was. There were just a couple tiny problems. What was there might eat us on sight. How could we visualize it, since I couldn’t use partial membranes? Oh, and did I mention it might eat us before we knew what swallowed us? Yeah. But, rescuing the universe never was a calling for the timid or reserved of heart. I was the man without a plan, but I had no problem launching myself into certain death with a big old smile on my face. Yeah. Say it again. Jon Ryan was a fighter pilot. We may have been impulsive idiots with an overdose of self-confidence, but in a pinch, you really wanted one of us on your team.
I had both Al and Wrath calculate where the center of the sphere of void was. Their figures agreed. I intended to have Wrath put us one thousand meters away from that spot with a full membrane expanded out the instant we materialized. Unfortunately, that shield could not include whatever surprise awaited us. If it did, there’d be void material between us and the bad guys, and we wouldn’t see them or de
tect them to fire on. But with enough Jon-gyrations, maybe I could expose the foe.
We folded to the position a thousand meters from the center. Logically, if I placed a full membrane around the center, whatever was in there could neither emit void material or escape. But the Last Nightmare needed be bound by my logic, right? Then the rudiments of a plan flew into my head.
“Wrath, maintain our full membrane. Al put a full membrane around the center point.”
Like a choir, they both replied, “Done.”
“Wrath, switch our membrane to partial. Allow light to pass.”
It was like the sky clearing after a rain storm. All the stars exploded into the sky around us.
“Al, extend the longest tube-shaped full membrane you can from the containment sphere. Then vent the containment to space one hundred and eighty degrees opposite from our position.”
Damn was I good. In front of our eyes, the center of the void suddenly appeared like a very long peace pipe with smoke coming out the far end. Fortunately, though the material spread out rapidly, it never accumulated in our area. I hoped whoever was in the center would see the futility and switch the void production off.
They didn’t.
“Al, shrink the central membrane to squeeze whoever’s in there.”
“How will I know when to stop decreasing the volume?” Al queried.
“When you see void material leaking out, you went too far.”
“You know, Captain, you’re considerably smarter than you look,” said Al.
Yibitriander nodded vigorously in silently agreement.
Within a few seconds, the shape of whatever was there became apparent. It was a sphere, two meters in diameter. It was small. If one of the Last Nightmare was in there, they were tiny little dudes. Didn’t seem reasonable, but how the hell would I know?
“Yib, any thoughts as to what to do?” I asked.
“Nothing definitive.”
“Al, Wrath, any ideas?” I called out.
They both replied in the negative.
Okay, it was down to me, yet again. I was in my happy place. If no one had a clue, whatever I did was the best plan ever conceived.
“Wrath, plot a course to the nearest black hole. I want to orbit at a safe distance, but put us close. Al, tow the central point with us in a closed membrane. Let’s surprise whoever’s in there. And everybody, time runs slower the closer we are. I don’t want to slip out of our timeline and lose a chance to fight the Last Nightmare. Move extremely quickly. Yib, tell Oxisanna not to come. No point crapping up her timeline.”
We popped back into space near a smallish singularity. I could tell it was there because there was no light where it was, only darkness. Stars outlined it beautifully. I had told Wrath to position us in a fixed point and told Al to open the full membrane toward us. That way the central point would be held pinned in the cup of a membrane, and the void material would be sucked into the black hole, allowing us to see it. Hopefully. Only about ten critical aspects could go wrong.
The instant we appeared, the center point brimmed void material, but it was rapidly pulled toward the singularity. In the cup was a two-meter steel ball. Wrath immediately sliced the surface with a focused gamma ray laser beam. It split open like a plastic Easter egg. Inside was some mechanical device, emitting the void material. No living being was in there, not unless it was microscopically small. Promptly, Al turned his membrane off, and the sphere careened into the black hole. Nothing escaped at the last minute.
Bam, we were back to the location near where the central point had been. Our radio exploded with signals. Most were Churell, begging for assistance. A bunch were either Exeter or Oowaoa calling for updates.
I looked to Yibitriander. It was his call now. We were back to conventional warfare, the one he’d planned for and discussed with our new alliance. He called for all vortices to converge on Churell space, in a prearranged dispersed pattern. Instantly, thousands of cubes appeared in the region. Yibitriander directed them to various planets and convoys. There was no immediate sign of anything that could be the Last Nightmare. There were no unidentified ships, no clouds of void, nothing that posed a danger.
Then all holy hell broke loose.
Spheres of void rocketed into the region at incredible speed. I counted ten. They split up and headed toward various concentrations of ships and larger planets. Suddenly, bolts of energy shot from them and whatever they touched vaporized or simply disappeared.
We all returned fire. I had Wrath target the nearest ones with the QD device, and Al fired rail cannons as fast as possible. Even accounting inaccuracy, the aimed cannon balls seemed to have no effect. Several vortices fired lasers. Though they clearly hit their marks, the spheres of void were unaffected.
I know I hit one sphere when the QD exploded. I nearly jumped out of my pseudo-skin. But most shots had no effect. Then it hit me. We had been unable to see or probe inside the void material. Whatever we shot at a craft wrapped in void material would never see the weapon. It was safe to assume the Last Nightmare had figured out how to see through the shit, so they could target us, but we couldn’t touch them.
Crap. What to do? How could we break their incredible defense? My mind went blank. Then Wrath rocked from a massive strike. One of those energy beams hit the partial membrane directly. We shot backward like a billiard ball. It took Wrath a second to stabilize and return to the fray. He responded affirmatively when I asked him if he was undamaged. I hoped it was true.
“Al,” came from my mouth without my really knowing I had something to say, “place small full membranes directly in the paths of any void projectile in range.
Suddenly, two void balls exploded most spectacularly.
“Wrath, Al, broadcast that strategy to all ships.”
Within seconds, five other void spheres exploded. Then the two remaining void ships turned and disappeared faster than they’d moved in attack. From the final explosion to the time they were undetectable was exactly half a second. Those ships were fast.
Yibitriander spent the next three days working nonstop. He coordinated rescues, positioned defenses, moved supplies, and basically managed the battlefield like the master of war he was. Slowly, a picture of what happened took shape. Son of a bitch, the Last Nightmare was just that.
THIRTY-TWO
“Des-al, what has happened?” asked a stunned Wil-se.
“We met a superior mind,” he replied without passion.
“Superior to ours? Is that possible?”
“No, foolish child. Superior to any we’ve faced in the past. Compared to the Last Nightmare, the minds of these creatures are unmeasurably small.”
“Yet, only we two remain.”
“Yet only we two remain. But we are sufficient. We will still destroy this universe. Perhaps it will take us longer, but our victory will be as complete and more satisfying.”
“I wish to leave. I was happy in the Neverwhere and long to return. Come, Des-al, let us fly. Together we can occupy eternity in safety and joy.”
“There can be no joy if we flee with only a stub of a tail. Safe, we might be, but we would be miserable.”
“I would not be,” she replied submissively.
“I say you would be miserable, so you would be. Do not let your preferences interfere with reality.”
Normally, Wil-se would not respond. If Des-al said a thing, it was. If he said it was so, it was so. But now that there were but two, matters were different. Clearly Des-al, wise beyond time, should not have put his clan in such danger. He was…he was vulnerable, perhaps. He was approachable, maybe.
“I will go. If you demand vengeance, let it be yours. I want none, so you many have my share. I gift it to you as a token of my obedience. When you finish, join me in the Neverwhere. We shall both be happy.”
Des-al felt something foreign boiling up in his being. He could not name it. He had known great hate. This was not hate. He had known all the anger that existed in six universes. This was not anger. Fear,
understanding, regret, hope, forgiveness, and doubt were impossible. This was none of them.
Trembling, Des-al spoke. “Come to me, child.”
Wil-se lowered her head and took one step at a time. Finally, she was prostrate before him.
Eas-el lifted an appendage and crashed it down on Wil-se’s unprotected mind. His force was sufficient not only to crush it but to split open the ground below. Her dead substance thrashed reflexively for a moment, and then it was still.
Licking her essence from himself, he said out loud, “And then there was but one.”
THIRTY-THREE
All told, our forces lost forty-three ships, forty-three comrades. Most were Deavoriath, as they had by far the greatest number in the fight. The Fenptodinians had responded quickly and in force. They suffered the remainder of the losses. I was relieved more than I was proud to admit that the android cubes were all accounted for. There turned out to be only minor damage to Wrath that Kymee and Toño could easily fix.
The reports from the Churell were chilling. One moment they were preparing their defenses, and the next, eleven void spheres appeared in a flash. They began dismembering the Churell’s defenses like they were made of wood. The three inhabited planets were bombarded mercilessly for ten minutes. All orbiting vehicles were destroyed. All of them. Every ship, station, satellite, and piece of useless debris was destroyed. In that ten-minute assault, one third of the combined population of the three planets was evaporated. Millions died after that when buildings collapsed and it started raining rubble.
Then the void material appeared and there was nothing. Those who remained assumed they were dead and prayed passionately for their angels to take them. But even the angels were blinded. No rescuers arrived and no hope was justifiable. Then the roundup began. Imagine, if you can, being in the void, not knowing if you or your family were alive, and then some force pushes you into a mass of confined people. You are crushed in, all the while unable to see or hear a thing. Then the prison you’re held in accelerates as, unknown to you, it is launched to a recovery vessel in high orbit.
Forever Series 5: The Forever Alliance Page 18
