by Alex Raizman
Inedia and Litura joined in on the assault – or with the way time was fragmented, they had joined and will join and were joining in the attack, trying their best to shatter reality around Crystal. She saw what they were doing, saw the implicit shape their designs were taking – they were going to cut her off from her nanoverse, excise her like a cyst on her own reality. Potentia’s barrage of anomalies were going to break her away from it spatially. Litura’s temporal assault would isolate her from the time stream. Inedia would then destroy her body with force.
It was a nightmare given reality. Or, more accurately, given unreality. Crystal had never imagined such a thing would even be possible.
You can’t beat them physically. Crystal thought as she danced through shattered timelines. Sweat beaded from her forehead from both fear and the sheer effort of affirming her own existence against these assaults.
There was one hope she had left. She had to take the battle into the metaphysical.
“I am!” Crystal screamed. Those words were an assertion onto reality itself, a testament of the self. She anchored herself to those words and inscribed them into the fundamental laws of the universe. The ripple it sent out through reality was strong enough that it sent her three opponents reeling. Crystal hadn’t just made it true now, she made it so it was true and always had been true and always will be true.
It bought her a moment to form a plan. A desperate, hopeless gamble, but it was a plan. Crystal snapped her fingers.
The false goddesses didn’t wait to see what her snap had created. They switched to the metaphysical to match her in kind. Inedia wrote into reality a deconstruction of the nature of being – I think, therefore I am not – and bludgeoned Crystal with that falsehood. It was a philosophical mace that struck Crystal across the face, and Crystal could feel it tearing at her fundamental sense of being, sinking claws into her doubts and tearing at her as though they were physical weapons. It also shattered her jaw as the lines between literal and figurative ran like chalk in the rain.
Crystal tried to mount a defense against the assault, but in the future, Litura wove a nihilistic dirge into reality and sent that song of Nothing to coil its way into Crystal’s ears. It screamed silently into Crystal that reality was a lie, existence was futile, and she should allow herself to be unmade. Those doubts broke cracks in Crystal’s psyche, and she screamed at the uncertainty. Ichor began to pour from Crystal’s ears as the sound-that-wasn’t ruptured her eardrums.
Potentia took both attacks and amplified them by making them into autopropagating memes, horrendous thoughts that crept into Crystal’s brain and began evolving by the picosecond to find her most delicate fears and use those cracks to change the battlefield in her own mind. Every defense Crystal could come up with was adapted to before she could even put it in place. Cuts began to appear across her face and arms and legs as the psychic attacks manifested as physical injuries.
Crystal couldn’t stop it. It was too much, coming from too many whens, on too many levels, the psychosomatic becoming somatic becoming flesh and tearing into her.
“You held true power in your hand, and you brought it here to shatter it like a coward!” Inedia shrieked as Crystal brought her hands and inserted them into her own eye sockets, already gibbering from the assault. “You could have had anything you wanted, and you chose fear.”
“We were spawned from your weakness magnified by Enki’s hate,” Litura intoned in a much calmer voice, “that will that fused two nanoverse together could not be so simply dissipated.” As they watched, Crystal began to tear at the back of her neck, trying to get at the thoughts that assaulted her mind and, in the process, starting to crack through her own skull.
“We could have worked together. We are shards of Enki’s will, yes, but we are interpreted through you. There is nothing in us that you do not desire.” Potentia’s voice was calm and reasonable like they were having a discussion, and not like Crystal was already throwing aside flecks of her skull like bits of eggshell. “We will take your body and become you. Then we will set ourselves to gaining power over all realities. We will finish Enki’s grand design and rule over the Core and all within it.”
As those last words finished manifesting in the fractured fabric of the universe, Crystal shattered her own skull completely, leaving a headless corpse in the broken fabric of reality.
“That was quick,” Inedia whined. “I was hoping she’d put up more of a fight.”
“Be glad she didn’t,” Litura said dryly. “I don’t know how long we could have held out against her here.”
Potentia put reality back in place. “It doesn’t matter anymore. We will finally be real. And she has access to six nanoverses – once we merge and slay the others, we’ll be unstoppable.” The three removed their masks at the same time, to show that they were all identical to Crystal. “Enki was a fool, but his death has given us birth. We will be free.”
Crystal’s empty, broken body floated through the fractured timeline and sunk towards the green, grasping sun.
Chapter 20
Miscalculations
Tendrils of mist flooded through the hallways of the base, cloying and grasping like the tentacles of some immense beast. The fog was as unnatural as the woman controlling it. “Get every noncom into Operations,” Dale shouted. “Use private frequencies, don’t broadcast it. We don’t want her to know where to look.”
“You think she’s free?” Doctor Pivarti asked.
Dale wanted to rub his temples. Well, what he wanted was a bottle of aspirin, a glass of whiskey, and eight hours of sleep. “We have to act like she is. If there’s some other explanation, we’ll find it later.”
Doctor Pivarti nodded. “Where are Liam and Grace?”
Dale looked around the room. He saw Cassandra, standing off in a corner and staring blankly ahead. Eugene was pacing the back wall, muttering to himself. The other two members of the doctor’s team were absent. “You,” Dale said, pointing to Cassandra.
At the word, the young woman started and looked at him with abject terror. “I know you’re scared,” Dale said, switching to the modulated voice he used for civilians. “But we need to know if you’ve seen Liam and Grace.”
Cassandra’s voice was completely flat. “They were in the lab. They were planning to have a romantic dinner when everyone left. They don’t think anyone knows. They wouldn’t have left yet.”
The doctor closed her eyes for a moment and took a slow breath. “Admiral, I’d like to send someone to check on the remaining members of my team.”
“I know, Doctor,” Dale said, his voice firm. “That can’t be risked right now. If I’m wrong, they’re safe. If I’m not, they’re already dead.”
Cassandra went white as a sheet.
“Then what would you have us do?” Pivarti’s voice had a hard edge.
Dale finished a quick inspection. Every other civilian was in the room. “We’ve waited long enough. Initiate lockdown of the entire facility, now.” That last command wasn’t for Doctor Pivarti’s benefit, but for the staff that ran the facility. They immediately turned and began to furiously work their keyboards. All across the steel shutters slammed down over the windows. Every interior door locked itself, with a three-inch steel drawbar sliding into place across each of them. Only the Admiral or Doctor Pivarti could override the lockdown. The base switched to its own internal generator, and air filtration systems activated. They were completely cut off from the outside world. I’m so sorry I didn’t bother consulting you, Mr. President, Dale thought with an admittedly puerile smugness.
“Admiral,” Doctor Pivarti said, her voice low. Dale appreciated the respect for the chain of command - she’d waited until the lockdown was in place, and from where they were standing, only Lazzario could overhear their conversation. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting? We still don’t know what the cause is and have no reason to believe the subject is anything other than contained.”
He shook his head. “Better to overreact and be wron
g.”
Lazzario nodded in agreement. “No offense,” he said, also keeping his voice low, “but what’s the harm if she’s not free? We tell everyone it was a drill, and no risks this way. I mean...we don’t have our best assets for dealing with her right now.”
Doctor Pivarti went ashen as the realization set in that they only had soldiers with guns against a woman who had the power to fool people into worshipping her as a goddess. “Of course, Admiral,” she said, her voice full of confidence her face didn’t match. “Then can we at least send someone down to check on the subject?”
Dale gave the orders, and officers began to relay them through radios. If Bast was free, she would know they knew, but putting the entire base on lockdown would have given that away regardless.
“Sir, we’re not getting responses,” one of the communication officers said.
“Something’s disrupting communications,” another added.
Dale had a sinking feeling that it wasn’t a coincidence that radios were failing. “What about our sensors?”
“Interference there too, sir.” The communications officer grimaced. “There seem to be ferromagnetic particles in the mist. It’s disrupting everything.”
For several tense seconds, there was silence.
“Wait, I’m getting something. It’s Sergeant Howard.”
Dale leaned forward. Howard had been on duty outside the containment room.
“I’m sorry,” said a voice filled with amused arrogance, “the Sergeant can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the agonized scream.”
The sounds that came over the radio were rendered inhuman by pain and fear. Cassandra let out an agonized sob and turned to face the wall. Lazzario went pale. Everyone focused on the speaker until the shrieks ended with a sickening gurgle.
Silence reigned in Operations. Finally, the radio crackled to life again. “You were supposed to leave a message,” Bast said, her voice almost warm. Like they were two friends laughing over an inside joke.
Dale grabbed sat down at a microphone. “Patch me into that radio,” he demanded. When the officer nodded, he said, “This is Admiral Dale Bridges, United States Navy. Over.”
“Hello, Admiral. It’s good to finally talk to you. I’ve been...incommunicado recently. Over.”
“Bast. We’re willing to listen to your demands. Perhaps we can reach an accommodation. Over.” Dale shook his head for the benefit of the stricken faces in Operations. There would be no negotiating with this monster. But with the Myrmidons engaged in an active firefight right now, the only thing they could do was stall until they returned. He needed to keep her talking.
“My demands, Admiral?” Her tone gained harsh notes, unadulterated hatred layering over her voice. “You locked me down, prevented me from knowing even the most basic comforts. For weeks. Maybe even months. For so long I don’t even know time anymore. I don’t have demands, Admiral Dale Bridges. United States Navy. I have a story. Over.”
“Stay off comms,” he said to the others. “I want the Myrmidons recalled as soon as they can disengage. We are in code red. Now!” People began to scurry as he turned back to the console and pushed the broadcast button. “Very well,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice level. He was in charge, he was in control, and everyone needed to know it. “And what is this story? Over.”
“Long ago, my people were given an ultimatum by a vengeful angel. Maybe he was acting on God’s orders, maybe he wasn’t. I didn’t exactly ask. But it was a story I’m sure you know, Admiral. Every firstborn son would die, but he would pass over the houses that had been painted with the blood of a lamb, for that was how he’d know they were Hebrews. Do you know the story?”
It seemed she wasn’t going to say “over” this time. “Yes, Bast,” Dale said. “To free His chosen people from bondage, God sent plagues upon the pagans of Egypt. That was one of them. Over.”
“Spoken like a true believer, Admiral. Well, here’s my offer to you. I’m going to kill everyone in this base, one by one. I’ll spare anyone in a room that has a lamb’s blood painted over the door.” This time, she didn’t spit the final word but purred it like cat batting at a mouse. “Over.”
Dale took a deep breath. “The base is in lockdown. We don’t have any lambs here. Over.”
Her response was immediate. “Well, isn’t that a shame?”
Dale felt his heart rate accelerate. He turned to Operations, making sure to include the entire room. “When we found this monster, she’d been stabbed to death. She may be ancient, she may be powerful, but we’ve made gods bleed already. We can kill her, and by God, we will.”
His tone seemed to give the men and women courage, and movement resumed.
“Sir?” Admiral Bridges turned to look at Doctor Parvathi. She looked every bit as frayed as he felt. “The Myrmidons still might not return in time. They’re already engaged with the primary target, and if they’re drained at the end of it, they won’t have the power.”
Dale ground his teeth. “Well, Doctor, do you have a better idea?”
To his surprise, the doctor nodded, although she frowned in concern. “Yes, but I doubt you’ll like it.”
The Admiral sighed. “Doctor, we’re running low on options. If you have a suggestion, by all means, please share.” The fact that he had to drag everything out of this woman –
“Activate the failsafe on level eight.”
The words completely derailed Dale’s thought, and he stared at her with his mouth open. “You want me to do what exactly?”
Doctor Pivarti didn’t waiver, “Activate the failsafe. I know the intention was to utilize it only in the most extreme circumstances, but Bast is free, she’s homicidal, and she has a serious grudge against us. I don’t see us getting out of this alive, but the failsafe should permanently kill her.”
He mulled over the doctor’s words. The idea was almost unthinkable, but so was the situation.
He could feel every eye in the room.
“No,” he said. It felt like every person in the room let out a breath at the same time. “There’s no guarantee it’ll permanently end the threat she poses. I’m not throwing away every life here for the chance we eliminate a single threat.”
Doctor Pivarti nodded, and even she looked relieved. He wondered if she had been testing him.
“Understood, sir. In that case, perhaps we should dispatch a team to permanently disable it? Otherwise, we could risk the subject getting her hands on an active nuclear warhead.”
That was an excellent suggestion, and he relayed it. “What I want to know,” he said, turning back to the doctor, “is how the hell she even got out of there in the first place. She was disabled for weeks, and we took every measure you wanted implemented. No food or drink or interaction. We didn’t even interrogate her. You were certain that would keep her from getting her strength back. So why the hell is she running around our base?”
“Someone must have broken containment protocols, sir.” The doctor shook her head. “I assure you, without that, she had no way of getting the strength to get out.”
The Admiral turned to watch the intermittent camera feeds. Somehow, Bast was playing havoc with all of their communications and monitoring. Most of the screens showed only static, but a few displayed soldiers slowly walking through hallways with their guns raised, checking corners and occasionally firing at something unseen.
The radio crackled to life again. “Admiral,” Bast purred. “Are you still there? Over.”
“I’m here. Over.”
“I do have a few demands, actually. Over.”
Dale swallowed hard. “Let’s hear it. Over.”
“First, tell me where you’re keeping what you call the Black Sphere. Over.”
