Origin: Eternity's End

by Uneeb Qureshi

  “Ah you speak English. Young lady are you in a hurry?” The tall man asked as his wife walked ahead of him. His short brown hair and moustache was rather welcoming. He was nearly twice her size.

  “N-no, I’m just looking for somebody sir. I’m sorry if I stick out like a bad nail, I’m not a Legionnaire so I’m not used to the protocol around here…”

  “No need to apologize. Everyone here is looking for someone dear to them.” He whispered to her. He motioned her forward toward the front of the line, the crowd instinctively made way. “Where are you from?” The man asked.

  Monica thought hard for a moment. “Colony 5.” She received a number of strange looks, that border world had housed the Eri fleet. She remembered and reiterated. “I’m sorry I meant Colony 3! I was thinking so hard about why Colony 5 did what they—”

  “It’s quite alright young lady, wherever you are from you are welcome here. We may not like where you come from, but if you come here in peace we will treat you like one of us. Come.”

  The man nodded at his wife as they approached the processing counter. The admissions officer greeted himself.

  “We are here to see the fallen. We come from Denosc Dene, here are our papers.”

  The man read the paperwork and looked at Monica. “And her?”

  “She is the cousin of the fallen we are visiting.”

  “I have to see her papers.” The kind man looked at Monica rather speechless. She rummaged through the pack she was carrying. Her tattered clothing from Earth was still in there, as she dug deeper she uncovered what she was looking for. She unraveled the Phoenix tabard that Sheppard had given her days ago.

  The officer looked at her and nodded, motioning them forward.

  “Well young lady!” The kind man said with a wry laugh, “You seem to surprise us more every second.”

  Monica was now in the main wing of the ship, the residential quarters. She thanked the family for their kindness and parted ways.

  “I guess we shall see one another again sometime…”

  “Monica, my name is Monica.” The man nodded.

  “You can call me Pallante.”

  Pallante bid farewell and the family continued down the hallway toward a busy wing of the ship.

  She realized how hopefully lost she was amidst the crowd again, she had only been in the ship once before. The once familiar and friendly faces she had met just days earlier were now met with grumbling demeanors and hurried glances. She felt like an outsider, not only because of her Federation attire but also because of her lack of lingual skills. She could only hope someone would be able to speak English or Italian.

  “People seem to be drawn to you.” Said a terse and foreign accented man behind Monica.

  She turned around and saw a strangely Middle Eastern looking man in a long drawn trench coat. His height was nearly that of Sheppard but his face was more rounded. He was tall with short curly brown hair and a thin beard that separated him from most others around him.

  The bags underneath his eyes drew upon his rather exhausted state. He locked his hands behind his back and kept his back straight and his head high. He smirked as he stood above Monica.

  “You’re probably wondering who I am?”

  “You and all the other people who keep being drawn to me.”

  “My, you’re quite astute.” Said the man with a drawn out laugh.

  “People just seem to find me.” She reiterated, not wanting to seem rude, “Like I’m in some demented fairy tale or story. But I don’t know whether I’m the heroine or the damsel in distress…” She rubbed her forehead as she tried to gain perspective of the situation.

  “Fairy tales aren’t always real.” The man replied, “You just have quite an interesting fate.” He outreached his hand and shook hers briefly. “Commander Ali.”

  “Pleasure…” Monica had heard of him but had no idea what he was doing here.

  “Commander Sheppard asked that you be given this on arrival.” He handed her a cylindrical crystal with a hollow tube in the middle. “Your eyes only.”

  “Is Commander Sheppard aboard this ship?”

  Ali looked around and bit his lips, “He’s been missing for days now...we think he might have disappeared on Earth amidst the endless waves of assaults on the region he was guarding. Nearly half the initial Phoenix Legion deployment has not checked in as of yet and many more are presumed missing or…” He shrugged, “You know the rest.”

  No…you can’t be dead yet, you haven’t explained anything to me… She wished she had gone with him the moment he had first left for Earth just days before.

  “Monica,” Commander Ali said, “Whatever information you may be seeking should be in that crystal. Follow me to the viewing room.”

  He led her up a series of stairs and causeways ever higher amidst the tall residential quarter of the ship’s interior. Ghosts began to converge around them like a security detail. They were noticeably different from most Phoenix Legionnaires aboard the vessel.

  The security detail stopped just shy of the room being guarded.

  “This is as far as we can go.” Ali said.

  “What do you mean? I need you to help me explain this.”

  “A promise to an old friend, I can’t break it.”

  Monica went in without another word. The door slid shut behind her and a white noise generator opened on the inside. She would be the only one to hear what was in the message.

  If he tells you who you really are…then we may be able to speak on more common grounds… Ali thought to himself.

  Inside she found a plush sofa facing an immaterial screen. Balls of light were traversing left and right slowly like wisps before they suddenly rushed to the sides and disappeared illuminating the screen. A small orifice appeared, she figured she might as well put the device in it and something would happen. After a minute of embarrassing attempts to slide the device in she got angry at herself.

  Come on Monica…you’re twenty, not two…putting strange shapes into holes should not be—

  The crystal cylinder fit in and loaded itself in seconds much to her surprise. A high-definition three-dimensional picture appeared before her. The apparition was so clear she imagined Sheppard in the room with her.

  He was looking straight at the camera, at Monica, smiling.

  “So your curiosity overtook yourself didn’t it, Monica?” He spoke in English for her.

  “Y-yes.” She responded, but the apparition did not acknowledge her, it was only a recording after all.

  “Let me introduce myself again, as we did not properly meet the first time. My name is Sheppard Artanis, High-Commander of the Immortal Legions…I have travelled the Cosmos for thousands of years. And of all the planets I have seen, Earth is still the only true planet I could call home.

  “I was born an orphan and never knew who my parents were. But I know from years of experience that immortality cannot just happen on a whim. My parents were also immortal.”

  She wanted to ask him questions but she kept reminding herself it was a recording.

  “Now you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with me? Well Monica, it appears you’re a child born of two very different peoples; mortal and immortal. At some point in your family your ancestors were immortal, the only reason you could have survived the mutagenic procedure on Denosc Dene is because your blood has an abnormally high affinity for the immortalization genes. You will never age from now on…

  “But being a half-breed comes at a price, you may die much sooner than any of the pure-breed immortals or you may live to be as old as I am, no one knows for certain. And be warned that the long and lonely road that is immortality is never easy, but if you believe in the goodness of people then you may find a purpose in it. And you will find it fulfilling and rewarding, but not without its trials…” He looked at her now, “Monica, I ask that you join our Legion…if not for me, then at least for the task I am going to bestow upon you…”

  Monica was listening inte
ntly now.

  “I ask you to travel to the planet Apophis, a derelict backwater world we once used as a staging ground for our initial travels across the galaxy. It is now heavily guarded in secrecy by my Legion, the Phoenix.”

  He gave me the tabard so I could pass as one of them…

  “I have instructed my close friends in certain tasks to help you. You will stumble upon them in your travels, or they may present themselves to you. But be wary, don’t be afraid to make new enemies and friends, the task is much too difficult to ask one such as you alone.”

  What is it already?

  “Because of your archaeological expertise, I need you to help unearth a series of artifacts and records from the old citadel on Apophis. In the ruins of the you will be granted access to the vault underneath the citadel. Find what lies in that vault and extricate whatever remains there back to Venesth Heneva, our Legion’s forward world.

  In the recording he paused to heave a heavy sigh of relief, a terrible burden was taken off of his back now. He reiterated his request, now much more simply.

  “Monica. The task requires that…” He paused and restated his request, “I want you to write my story…my real story.”

  She sat confused at first, but empowered by the request. He wants me to write a biography?

  “I need someone completely impartial to this inane struggle to do this for me… I have given you rank and file in the Historian’s Guild. they should have been informed of your arrival already.”

  There was turbulence amidst the craft that Sheppard recorded the video in.

  “We are about to enter the Eternity…the battle for Earth will begin shortly. I must make the rest brief…but the other Commanders can answer your questions.

  He looked away from the camera as if hesitating to ask something.

  “Please Monica…If anything I have ever done for you since we met means anything… then do this for me. It will be the last thing I ask of you. You are free to pursue any other side projects, but your experience and emotional detachment to this war makes you the perfect person for this task. How do they say it in English…?” He was gesturing for words to say but the ship in the recording finally docked. “Forget it…I shall see you once this battle is over should you wish to know more, wait for me…”

  The recording cut off and she was left alone again. Her palms were unusually sweaty. She did not know what to do now. It was not because she was not paying attention, rather the information was so vague and peremptory.

  But this was her chance to finally return to a relatively normal life, or an opportunity to undertake a grand journey across the galaxy. She could not make her mind up there.

  She exited the room to find Commander Ali and his company perfectly in file just as they had left her. All eyes were on her now.

  “So did you know about this?” She asked Commander Ali.

  Ali grew nervous, his breathing grew heavier as he looked around at his men. “Has he told you who you are?”

  “Who I am? He mentioned I had immortals in my family…but he did not say— Wait. Do you know who they are?”

  Ali shook his head, “No. We were told rumors by Commander Sheppard, but they mentioned no names specifically.” Monica had a hard time believing him, “But he mentioned that your grandmother was a possibility.”

  Grand mama…

  An image of her youthful grandmother crossed her mind. She fiddled with her fingers as she hung her head down looking at the floor. Her grandmother was one of the only people in her family who loved Monica dearly. Her mother had whisked her away overseas not long after she passed and she never saw her grandmother’s funeral in Italy. But the thought of her rather youthful visage did play a part in her suspicion.

  Ali glanced at her fingers. The patterns she drew with them were almost instinctive. In seconds he recognized the playful patterns. Sheppard had done it before when he was alone. A remnant of his past, from days he played with his daughter. It was all the conviction he needed.

  He motioned the Ghost’s back to their normal duties and asked Monica to follow him to the terrace overlook nearby. They sat amidst the grassy knoll that basked in artificial sunlight. Monica sat with her knees bent, hugging her legs close.

  “Let me ask you, Monica.” He began. “What do you think of us? Having been with us for a few days now.”

  She shrugged, “You’re nothing more than human, you may live longer but immortals are still people…but you’re just like us; war-like and greedy just like mortals…”

  He smirked, “That’s exactly the answer he would have looked for. Now do you see why he chose you? You were not the least bit fazed when you arrived on this ship days ago. You were so impartial to everything that you could have believed we existed.”

  “Chose me? He took Mekias and me with him after he invaded the museum that night…”

  “He would not have taken you unless he had something planned for you two.”

  “From what I hear, he’s always made mistakes…”

  Ali nodded, “He’s the greatest of us, you know? But he’s not infallible. He was responsible for all of this. The forging of the original tribes and the creation of the order were all his doing, as was the fall of our people. And we don’t know what exactly is on his mind now, or how he intended this all to end but we continue to fulfill his vision of this world.”

  “Why do all of you revere him? He’s such an ass. I can’t stand him… he’s so selfish that he overlooks others’ feelings… he must think I’m a nuisance…”

  “Wow.” Ali said with a look of shock and laughter in his face, “I have not heard him anyone call him that since his daughter left.”

  Monica shut her mouth for a minute, she did seem exceedingly rude. “He had a daughter?”

  Ali did not know where to begin with that question. “Yes and we believe she is alive.” He looked out to the stars. “It was interesting. Back when he finally separated his mortal progenies to the several continents many did not know what to do. They were promised the Earth after the immortals left and now they were scattered and divided, ‘friendless’ as one might say.

  “But Sheppard deep down knew that he could never forget them. He had too much faith in mankind to abandon the mortal bloodlines as hopeless. After banishing them to the winds he said to the other Commanders at the time, ‘There will come a time when we will return, and until then we will watch them. To make sure the balance of power is in check, and to guide them through the shadows until they are ready to remember us again’.

  “Now imagine the surprise of those present when he said that, He just told us to banish the mortals of this realm and now he wants us to watch them? He ordered the destruction of Dene and all of its technologies, loaded them into the last rockets bound for space and remained behind himself for a time…

  “He remained with his daughter and stayed on the Earth for sometime while his people prepared for their final journey to the stars above Earth. He wanted his daughter to live a normal life, far away from all the war and suffering that followed him. I don’t recall exactly what happened in between…but I know he changed. He eventually told us that his daughter left because of his arrogance.”

  Monica took most of it in but was confused, “What did he do to her?”

  “I think it was more of a question about what he did to everyone else.” He shuffled something into his pockets, it looked like a phone. “Let me put it this way, the city he had founded revered him like a god. They thought he was a god-king to their city. How did they say it? ‘Two-thirds god and one-third human’.” Ali laughed, “But the people of his city were not happy with his return. They complained he grew harsh and abusive. Sleeping with women before their husbands did, or so they say. The death of his wife left an indelible mark on him.”

  Monica did not have a hard time believing it. From what she had seen of him he could have done anything.

  “Then he meets somebody, the name eludes me. They fight for some time and then he becomes the b
est of friends. The man he meets grows on him. He spent more time with the man than his daughter, who although mature still missed her father. There…may have been something in between that but I don’t want to speculate on such things, in honor of my old friend.”

  Monica nodded. Was it his ‘brother’?

  “Apparently Sheppard had strange dreams for some nights not long after, thoughts plagued him and the man he had met earlier was linked to them. Quite a strange turn of events, no? In the meanwhile he realizes his new friend was linked to the goings-on of the region. He confronts the source of the…well problem for lack of better word. And he grows closer to the man he met, destroying a tribe in the process.”

  “Does he always solve his problems through violence?”

  “While he has done many great things in life, death has followed him since his birth…”

  “Sorry to have interrupted,” She motioned, “I want to hear the end of the story.”

  “Very well, the man he became friends with was slowly dying and shouting visions of a world beyond this one. Something he had been seeking his whole life, an answer to his existence. He returned back to the west, to find those who survived the great flood—”

  “Great flood? As in Genesis?”

  Ali gave her a confused look, “Genesis? From the Christian bible?” She nodded. “That story is in fact based on a true occurrence. Whether Noah or any of those with him or the great many animals he had made were true, we have no records outside of religious texts. I personally was not born at the time. However, there were records of large wild-life and human proliferation in the region following that incident. I among others still considered it a miracle of God.”

  “Are you religious?”

  “I was born and raised a Muslim, I met Commander Sheppard in what is now Medina during the reign of the Caliph Abu Bakr.” Ali muttered something in Arabic following the name, “At the time I was a subordinate in the Caliph’s armies in the western campaigns and we had stumbled upon Sheppard as a visitor to our camp. He came forward as an Egyptian spy but he did not resist. He stayed by the camp fire the whole night, no struggling or quarreling amongst us. He just…watched us…”