The Complete New Dominion Trilogy

by Drury, Matthew J.

  Future Chen leaned forward. “I leave, and look at the mess you get yourself into,” she said.

  Chen gave the apparition a quizzical look, but said nothing.

  “It’s good to see you.”

  Her future self looked upon her with an openness, an emotional honesty that she envied. For she not only saw her terror and confusion, she seemed to understand it and gazed upon her with an expression of emotion she had not witnessed since her mother died.

  She licked her dry lips, then ventured cautiously, “Yeah, you too.” She took a step closer, shielding her eyes from the constant dazzle of the light. “It’s a shame you’re a delusion.”

  Future Chen smiled, her face lit with incandescent energy. “No, I’m here, Lora. I’m… really here.”

  Skeptically, Chen frowned. “Sure you are.” She took off one of her tactical boots and threw it at the apparition. The boot passed through her and bounced off the wall, back towards Chen, coming to rest on the floor.

  “Here in the sense that my essence is here,” her future self told her, “if not here in the full physical flesh and blood sense, which is really… neither… here nor there. The point is, you’re not imagining this.”

  “I just tossed my boot through you.”

  “Yes you did. That’s because I’ve died and ascended to a higher plane of existence - the Acmon.”

  “Oh.” Chen raised her eyebrows.

  “Remember what the Combine Overmind told you about the different realms? The basic construct of the perceivable multiverse?”

  “Yes…”

  “I’m energy now. A Dweller of the Threshold between what you perceive as Self, and the All.”

  Chen nodded slowly, then picked up her boot. “How’s that working out for us?”

  “Words cannot express such things… speech cannot convey the ineffable truth. Swayed by words one is lost. But know that your journey ends well, Lora.”

  Chen thought for a long moment, struggling to comprehend, then pointed her boot at her future self. “So… not a delusion?”

  Future Chen shook her head. “No.”

  “Okay,” Chen said. “So tell me, how exactly is the future going to unfold for me? Be honest with me. Can I really destroy Damarus, or am I misconstruing all of this? Is… killing Cris… the answer?”

  Her future self lowered her gaze. “Your only hope of destroying Damarus and saving the love that you cherish,” she said, “is to sacrifice your own life… and sever the connection between Cris and his Eidolon forever. Only you can do this, and you will - three years from now at the Silver City. Love conquers all; it is a fundamental principle of existence against which there is no resisting force. By confronting Damarus and killing yourself, you will force Cris to confront his feelings for you, and in doing so it will sever the connection. After which, we will confront the Eidolon in non-corporeal form, and destroy it for good.”

  “Aboard the Retribution?”

  “Yes.”

  “So I do have to kill myself?” Chen said, blinking rapidly. “I’ve never been comfortable with the idea. I… I’ve always believed there was a way to change things, an alternate chain of events that could unfold…”

  Future Chen saw vestiges of that pain in her younger self’s eyes now, the same enraged helplessness that had possessed her when she had been through this very moment. The idea of her own death terrified her, she remembered it well. “You’re right,” she said at last, still studying her younger self intently, “at least in the sense of objective reality. Wavefunction collapse cannot occur, so naturally, all possible alternative histories and futures are real, each representing an actual universe… but you are thinking in very three-dimensional terms. Understand that changing your future in particular, Lora, would prove to be extremely difficult.” She took a step forward, her tone pointed. “I remember this moment, from your perspective, and I remember thinking what you are thinking. But you must realise that the destruction of Damarus can only be achieved by the way I described and is a fixed point in time now - an event which has such a long-standing impact on the timeline that no one, not even the Dwellers of the Threshold, dare interfere with its natural progression. Remember, after your death, your essence is released into the Realm of Acmon, and through that ascension you are able to trap the Eidolon. His subsequent destruction saves planet Earth from the Inquisition of the Empyreal Sun. Were you, or anyone else, to interfere or change this fixed point, by preventing your own death or otherwise, it could seriously damage reality.”

  Chen drew herself back into the present and visibly worked to release some of the tension in her face and voice. This was insane. With a sigh, she averted her gaze. “What about the Combine?”

  “The Combine are dangerous. They think they can control the power of the Eidolon, but they are meddling with forces they cannot understand. While fixed points are flexible and do not have to happen exactly the way they had in the original timeline, meddling with one could potentially result in reality falling apart – and that is what the Combine risks with their actions. Were Damarus’ demise, and that of the Eidolon, to be interfered with too much, time, and the multiverse itself… would collapse.”

  Chen folded her arms tightly across her chest once more, as if to contain the bitterness in her heart, and began to pace. “I stopped believing in God a long time ago,” she muttered. “What if I don’t have a place in this Heaven, this Acmon you describe?”

  “You must renounce such feelings to achieve oneness with the paramātmā,” Future Chen told her. “Your thinking is clouded by invented concepts and dogmas. When the mind is freed, the body is no longer required.”

  Chen looked back up at the apparition, her expression faintly rueful. “No. I’m not ready to die. There is still a way to change things for the better here. I… I just know it. And… and now I have to stop the Combine. I have to protect Kimberley Stefánsson. If what you say is true, there is too much at stake here. But how can I escape?”

  Future Chen said nothing, and gestured with one hand. There was a burst of light, and Chen’s leather bag materialised out of thin air and hovered a few feet in front of her face. “I shouldn’t have done that,” Future Chen said. “My interfering here is dangerous, but it is what I remember…”

  Chen reached up and took the bag, looking inside. She saw her .32 pistol and the Xeilig Ark. Her expression darkened as she put the gun into her suit. “What do I do now? Where do I go?”

  “Take the Xeilig Ark in your hands. I will teach you how to use it properly.”

  Chen obeyed, throwing the strap of her leather bag over one shoulder. She looked over at her future self with a strange mixture of emotions showing on her flushed face. Something vulnerable, almost childlike, was reflected in her eyes for a moment. And then the tough mask fell again.

  “The Ark is controlled by emotion,” Future Chen explained. “As such it can be used as a weapon. You will need it to defend yourself from Asterites in the coming hours and days. The Combine will not let you go easily…”

  The comment served to focus Chen’s vague anxiety. “Are you serious?”

  “The Ark can also help you travel to a specific place… though time is relative and subjective. Targeting a specific time will prove difficult. To time travel effectively you must again focus your emotions. Feel the stream of time flowing around you, and concentrate.”

  Chen stood frozen with fearful puzzlement, trying to understand. Then as she stood there, the drab dungeon cell around her vanished, replaced by nothing but a yellow-white burst of blinding brilliance coming from the Xeilig Ark, as if she had stepped inside a star. “Hey, wait!” she called. “Not yet! I’m not ready… I have more questions!”

  “You are the stone which splits the stream of time in two.”

  A screaming roar accompanied the light, rattling her teeth, her bones, searing her ears with such pristine agony that she was sure the drums had ruptured; her skin pricked and tingled as if reacting to a nearby lightning bolt.

&nbs
p; Then she jumped – or was she hurled? – through time and dimension, and for a second or two, she knew nothing but phantasmal blindness and deafness.

  8

  AD 2447 (151 ND)

  The stonework where Xam Bahr knelt was so ancient that its origins could not be traced in even the oldest surviving legends from before the Apo’calupsis. His long robe bore the same patterns as those carved in the ancient stone. The meanings of these symbols were otherworldly and known only to Lord Damarus himself, whose centre of worship was here on the high plateau of Rett’Paak, in the continent of Afri’tra. Xam Bahr had come here not long after becoming a High Priest on Nasak Yamani II in the Delta Serpentis system, as a young man many years ago now.

  It had seemed to Xam Bahr that he had no other choice. It was only through the Holy Masters here at Rett’Paak that one could get closer to Lord Damarus, and that is exactly what Xam Bahr wanted. His devotion was total. Being closer to Damarus meant being closer to God. He felt his calling to serve the Holy Church when he was a child… but if he was honest, he never imagined he would one day be ordained as Patriarch of the Holy Orthodoxy. It was a humbling feeling, and he praised and thanked God – and Damarus – for the honour.

  “Xam Bahr, son of Ahri and Shinnan of Delta Serpentis, are you prepared to serve the Lord Your God as Patriarch of His Most Holy Church? Are you prepared to submit everything to the Service of His Chosen Prophet, Lord Damarus?”

  The words were spoken by the Master T’sei. To each side of her stood lesser Masters whose lips moved in an old chant in praise of Damarus.

  “I am prepared.”

  Bahr gave the traditional and expected response. But he was troubled. Had his answer been the whole truth? As late as this very morning, he had felt fully prepared to be ordained by the Masters. During the past nine years, he had not only survived the disciplines of being the Grand Archbishop of the Silver City, but also the harsh trials needed to ascend to the coveted rank of Patriarch. He knew that he had pleased the Masters, even the ones who had at first hesitated over permitting a non-human to become the highest-ranking bishop in the Holy Church, an acolyte of Lord Damarus himself. But no one doubted him any longer - no one but Xam Bahr himself.

  For something troubled him, a feeling at the back of his mind. Naturally, his species was gifted with some extrasensory perception, the ability to perceive things far and away, and sometimes the future. It was something Princess Esme Mazzic of the Silver City was also gifted with (at least according to rumour), thanks to her half-Nasak Yamanian ancestry. And right now, his senses roared at him.

  Something had changed…

  A shockingly powerful consciousness imposed itself unexpectedly into Xam Bahr’s mind, suddenly, invasively. It was almost as if some powerful entity had forced its way into the universe and was now searching the Milky Way galaxy for someone, or something, to destroy. Malevolent, cold, wicked. Although Xam Bahr had no idea what it meant, he felt uneasy, unsure of himself. Most shocking of all, it frightened him. On the morning of the very day that he was to be pronounced Patriarch of the Holy Orthodoxy, he felt… fear. Fear, not so much for himself, but for Earth and for those Earth humans whom he had known for so long and so well…

  What could possibly be making him feel this way? It was as if the entire universe had shifted somehow, forced onto some new path…

  “Gathered Cardinals, Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is with great joy that, here on these sands, we ordain this Nasak Yamanian…”

  The chant of praise was coming to an end and a troubled Xam Bahr remained kneeling before the Holy Master T’sei. Whatever the entity was which had invaded his thoughts, its presence seemed gone now. Perhaps he had misunderstood and had not felt fear - perhaps it had merely been surprise. Bahr reminded himself that he had met every test of the Ordination; the Masters themselves were acknowledging this by their very presence and participation in this ancient ceremony.

  He looked up. Then the Master’s lips opened again.

  “May you serve Lord Damarus with all of your body and soul, Xam Bahr.”

  Ammold Paramo, Holy Guard of the Silver City, felt a strange tingling coming from somewhere inside his head. It was as if some intricate digital pattern had started to form there. Then that pattern became a memory, and he realised that he was receiving a priority alert signal from Palace Command. He did not like the feeling of it - and knowing that it came from a device implanted inside his brain made it even more annoying. As was the custom in the Holy Guards - indeed, it was a requirement - he had been implanted with a Talisman nanoscopic subprocessor on receiving his first assignment. It was the ultimate signal device, reserved for use in only the gravest of emergencies - and this was only the second time that Palace Command had ever intruded into his mind in this fashion.

  “Is something wrong, Lieutenant Paramo?”

  The question had come from one of the Laputan scholars who traditionally operated the Holy Museum at the Silver City. Paramo was on a vacation leave tour of the extraordinary history exhibits here in this most famous of all Earth museums. It was, to say the least, an unusual place to receive an emergency signal – the surprise of it had brought him halfway to his feet with what he knew must be a somewhat alarmed look on his face. He managed to shake his head at the scholar, and then sat down again at the research console he had been using.

  It took Ammold Paramo a moment before he could force himself to relax. Actually, he could not have been in a better place in which to receive this kind of emergency message. While pretending to be absorbed in his research console viewer, he could clear his mind of conscious thought and let his implant create images there for as long as the signal lasted.

  Then, as the message began to form in Paramo’s mind, it started as a powerful kind of daydream. At first a confusion of images, many of them vestiges of his most recent conscious thoughts of this vacation trip, the history studied, the museum here, the Laputan scholar. These arranged themselves into patterns which became symbols, faintly familiar alien symbols - then Paramo realised that these symbols were affixed to war vessels.

  The Nommos people!

  Paramo found himself seeing three Nommos cruisers which appeared to be moving at slipstream velocity and in battle formation. The images became more detailed, increasingly real - he could begin thinking about them consciously. The Nommos vessels were big, organic, powerful looking - undoubtedly their new Aten—class heavy cruisers which some Terran Alliance military tacticians feared might prove faster and more powerful than some of Earth’s capital ships.

  Could that be the point of this alert? Information about a new Nommos weapon? Relationships with the Nommos Empire had always been strained. But Paramo immediately discarded that possibility. The existence of a Nommos bioship could hardly be classed as an immediately urgent crisis. Nor could this formation of only three Nommos vessels pose any serious threat to Earth or the Terran Alliance.

  This alert must have concerned something else, something more.

  Then with the images firmly established in his mind, Paramo’s Talisman implant began to filter the command alert message into his thoughts. As he had guessed, the Sacred Palace had received these images from one of its deep space outposts along the border of the Nommos Empire. This outpost station, Wolf 359-K1, had detected the Nommos cruisers in time to get sensor drones launched in time to infiltrate the cruiser formation’s slipstream field. Paramo was pleased to see that the Nommos, who were so technologically superior to the Terrans in almost every way, were unaware that they were being shadowed and examined.

  The purpose of the drone launch had been to gather intelligence on the new Nommos cruiser design. But once there, the drones had learned something far more important. Something had violated the borders of the Nommos Empire and was passing through their territory and the Nommos were responding in typical fashion. This was heavy cruiser attack formation.

  Then the Nommos swept into a wide turn and Paramo could begin to make out an objec
t ahead in that direction. For an instant, he doubted the accuracy of this image he was receiving - it seemed to be merely a cloud. True it was strangely luminescent, unlike anything Paramo had ever seen in space before, but why would the Nommos be attacking a cloud? Then, as the cruisers swept closer to it, Paramo began to become aware that the cloud was an incredibly large debris field, with a helix-like, blazing energy ribbon at its centre. Then the signal being received by his implant told him the ribbon was hundreds of miles in diameter. More, he was made aware that it had passed through Nommos territory so rapidly that this particular cruiser formation had been the only Nommos warships in position to intercept it.

  It was all over very fast. The leading Nommos ship fired a volley of antimatter missiles spread toward the ribbon. The missiles simply disappeared - leaving Paramo with the impression that some almost ‘godlike’ force had simply wished them out of existence. Then, as if the Nommos had made something angry, Paramo was aware of a lashing electrical spike forking from the ribbon, hurtling toward the cruiser which had fired the missiles. It was obviously a defensive energy bolt of some sort – then, the offending Nommos vessel was enveloped by angry whiplashes of wild, crackling energy, crushed, and then was swept up into the ribbon like plankton into a whale’s mouth! The other two cruisers were now firing missiles too, and were being destroyed as easily and frighteningly.

  The ‘daydream’ ended abruptly. Paramo became aware that the Laputan scholar was again giving him a puzzled look. Why? Then Paramo realised what it was. The scholar could see that he was shuddering.

  The energy ribbon, whatever it was, had merely been passing through Nommos territory, but its interest was not in the Nommos people or their Empire. It had responded to the attack of their big cruisers with hardly more effort than if it had been brushing away insects. Its’ interest was elsewhere.