by Skyler Grant
I could keep new invaders out, and that just meant dealing with the ones already here.
A squad of owls that looked to be made out of some sort of reddish stone were the hardest to kill, requiring a tweak to my dimensional engines for a good five minutes in an effort to make the rare materials needed for the ammunition that would bring them down. Still, once I had the right bullets it took all of a dozen gunshots to end their threat and the Labyrinth at last went quiet.
We'd won the day. There were more pushes at the dimensional fabric of the Labyrinth though, more attempts to enter, but for the moment we were victorious. So they weren't done, but neither were we.
121
"We're not ready. You're not ready," Caya said.
I'd called everyone together to discuss plans once the invasion was over. Again, their suits had remained intact. I really was brilliant, although each was coated with the gore of several species’ innards.
I said, "We don't have a choice. I thought time would be on our side and I'd have the chance to fully assimilate this knowledge, but it isn't. The attempts to breach this facility are ongoing. In the few minutes it took you to come here two succeeded, although I've already neutralized both forces."
"Ascension isn't an instantaneous process. There are layers, like an onion. However much you think you know right now, there are whole new layers beneath it," Caya said.
Sylax said, "I say Emma is right. We might have underestimated our enemy, but they also underestimated us. We took them by surprise and they are still scrambling, but they realize their mistake. We sit too long and they'll bring their big guns to bear."
"So, we strike first. We move on to the endgame," Anna said.
Caya pursed her lips. "You know me. You know that when I say to use caution, I'm always right."
I said, "Yes, you're right. Now. But the full research capabilities of this facility are being devoted to advancing my understanding. I'm growing more advanced by the second now than I did in a month prior to the acquisition of the archive. However flawless, you are only human."
Anna raised a hand. "Desperate isn't hopeless, but we can't ignore Caya's instincts given who she is. Are you saying there is no hope for success?"
Caya paused for a long moment. "No. But I am saying it isn't certain and we won't get another chance."
"Then we throw everything we have. What do we need to do?"
Caya tapped at her tablet and brought up a display split across three screens.
"We're after three anchor points. With dimensional technology the changes we can make are limited in scale because a few fixed points hold reality stitched together," Caya said.
"And capturing these three will let us change the whole thing," Anna said.
"We're not quite all as megalomaniacal as you. Not the whole of the universe, but this galaxy, and perhaps a few others," I said.
"The first is the maw. A massive black hole. Facilities have been built around the rim, a feat challenging even for the Council. On the plus side, this facility is almost impossible for them to reinforce. Ships are simply pulled into the maw," Caya said.
"If they can't reinforce it, then whatever we had as a plan for this one should stand. What was it?" Anna asked.
Caya explained, "Sending a fleet of transports with Boreas aboard. Time slows down the closer you get to the maw. A battle that would take an hour to win could prove to be a long wait for us. With Boreas and his ability to freeze time, we hope to take the facility in what will effectively be an instant."
Anna nodded. "How big an army?"
I said, "All of the Scholarium, and the Gobbles. Genetically modified drones implanted with new combat devices designed from what I've learned from the archive. By the way, you are almost obsolete."
"Isn't that the whole point of this thing? To see that we all are?" Anna asked. "Second facility?"
"The Coraxa system. Unfortunately, better known as the home of the Coraxa Prime shipyards. Well defended by a fleet of the Galactic Council's best," Caya said.
I said, "Not as intimidating as they would have been a short time ago. Still, not to be underestimated. We'll lose a lot of people and we'll be throwing every naval asset we have at them."
"The bulk of our ground forces, and now all of our navy. You aren't leaving much left for the third objective. Are you planning to rely on us for that one?" Anna asked.
"I try to never rely on you for anything. You are an endless source of disappointment and failure. No, the third objective is going to require special handling," I said.
Caya said, "The forest planet of Edex Prime. Dumping ground for every terrifying biological threat the Council has ever encountered. The best killing machines now refined over millions of years of killing each other," Caya said.
"Why have we never vacationed there? Is this some kind of plot to deny me every fun thing in life?" Sylax asked.
I said, "It is the sort of place where we might have retired you one day. You are welcome to go, although I'll be handling the bulk of this one. If they think they've seen horrors, they've seen nothing compared to what I've seen in all of you. With all the biomass on that world I'll be able to truly unleash the power of SCIENCE."
"Emma, getting scary in her old age," Anna said.
Hot Stuff said wearily, "She always has been. You just never saw it because you've been on the wrong side. So, we can sit this one out?"
Caya said, "We aren't called for in any of these plans. If Sylax wants to go to Edex Prime she can, but the rest of you should hold yourselves back as reserves. I'll be helping Emma with the reality conversion, if we actually succeed."
"Doesn't feel right to be sitting back while other people do the dying for us," Anna said.
"You've always sat back while my drones did the dying for you. Why start feeling guilty about it now?" I said.
"I've always known they are people," Anna said, and then paused. "Well, I eventually knew. Do we have a plan if we lose?"
"If we lose, we've earned the enmity of more than just the Galactic Council. We'll also have the Library against us and the universal bodies. We run as deep into alternate dimensions as we can go and hope that they can never find us," I said.
It was a bit of a lie. I didn't have the resources to prepare a proper escape and throw what I needed at these battles. This really was all or nothing now.
122
The maw could wait for last. To succeed, at some moment in time we needed to control all three points simultaneously. The instant we did, I could destroy the universe and remake our portion of it along the lines I needed. Since the Maw was almost impossible to reinforce and should be taken instantaneously, I'd take it only once the other two had been seized.
Those two attacks we were launching, the naval assault on the Coraxa shipyards and ground assault on Edex Prime.
Dimensional rifts opened in both.
I hadn't had much time to rebuild my fleet, but with my new upgrades from the archive the changes I was able to make in even that short a time were impressive.
My fleet had shrunk. I now had a total of twelve vessels under my command, but what twelve vessels they were. Each was layered across multiple dimensions, the various sections only intermittently in phase with this universe. While there were just the dozen ships, each appearing about the size of a small Juggernaut, they each actually had crew of over ten million spread across the dimensions. Any damaged portion could be phased out for another instance, with repairs not needing to happen in this reality. I could even cycle-phase through damage, distributing a single blast across multiple instances of the hull. Even the archive had nothing quite like them, which was the point. SCIENCE was all about pushing the boundaries and I'd finally been able to reach a boundary that mattered
When they jumped into the system there were one hundred and seven ships of the Galactic Council there. Not all were battle ready. The Glikt battlecruisers that had destroyed Earth were undergoing repairs. Still, the fleet was enough to deter any force in the galaxy.
I didn't have any transponders set up—no need to give them more warning than necessary. My ships ignored increasingly urgent queries as they closed in on the star.
There was nothing about our ship designs that spoke to us being from Earth. Still, whether a known hostile power or some strange invading aliens, the response was the same. Ships moved to intercept.
I'd never fought the very best the Council had to offer. Now, because they were guarding the shipyard, I finally had my chance.
The approaching vessels came in a mass of configurations—rounded bubbles surrounded by clouds of green energy, multi-pointed stars formed of intricate twisted wire, and blocky patchwork assemblages of dull-grey blocks.
They opened fire. Under the assault any of my old ships would have lasted mere seconds, but my multi-phase vessels gave every outward appearance of taking no damage whatsoever. I knew better, of course—damaged sections had been phased out and were under constant repair in other dimensions.
My return fire was dimensionally charged accelerated-mass rounds. It was a mix of the primitive and the advanced. Mass-driven weapons had always been about sending a lot of kinetic energy at a target, and this was just a more advanced way to send even more. The rounds could phase in and out of this dimension and, if properly calibrated, phase right through shields and armor to deliver their kinetic force directly to the most vulnerable part of a target.
They were doing their job well. From the outside it appeared that little was happening—I wasn't counting on something as primitive as hull ruptures to disable these ships. It was internal damage that I was going for and I was being effective. Shields were failing, power systems fading.
Within a minute we'd eliminated the defending vessels and my fleet was moving to secure the star.
Things weren't going so well on Edex Prime. There I'd materialized a thousand seed pods in orbit, letting them fall through the atmosphere. These too were partially phased to survive the orbital defenses. Once they impacted in the jungle, they began to establish a root system, digging deep and pulling in nutrients to construct predators.
I'd programmed them to vary the type. Highly poisonous, four-legged, small predatory rodents. This world was a killing field filled with all manner of nature out to murder each other. My creations were newcomers to this fray, but they were formidable. Every creature they killed was brought back to the seed pod. More genetic material to learn from, more biomatter to fuel yet more creations.
The creatures started small but were growing larger with each iteration, letting me hunt new and larger prey. The biggest creatures on this world were massive, larger than any life on Earth in the past or present. Armored behemoths several miles long, some were insects with large wings and countless legs, while others were giant reptiles.
Seizing control of these points was a matter of observation. We had to be the primary observers, and that meant killing off everyone else that might contest us for the role, or at least a considerable portion of them.
I could already tell that this world was going to be a difficult one. Something about this planet was a lot like Earth had once been. Distributed electricity was being neutralized and with it almost any advanced technology. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't bring my newest technology to bear. The dimensional-shifting in orbit was the best I could do; the rest was up to my purely biological creations.
There was already a problem. Unlike the naval battle where my upgrades were proving a decisive advantage, a few million years of murder-fueled evolution had really made something special out of the predators on this world. The smaller ones I was able to defeat readily enough, but the larger ones were putting up more of a fight than I'd anticipated. Progress was slower than expected. I didn't see a choice; the expected time-line was falling further and further behind. I sent in Anna, Sylax, and Hot Stuff to even the odds.
123
While the naval battle at the shipyards had started in my favor, things there were now quickly getting more difficult. The Council had called on support from outside the galaxy. Just like how they'd assaulted the Labyrinth, they were now attacking my vessels on multiple dimensions.
I had control of that point but I feared it might not last. I needed to gain control of the second point on Edex Prime, and fast.
Sylax, Anna, and Hot Stuff were dropped in pods from orbit. Their crystal-granted abilities had no problems on the surface.
They were soon in the thick of the fight, with surprising results. Hot Stuff was struggling with a snake attempting to crush the life out of her. Blue flames blazing around her burned it to ash within nanoseconds. A few seconds later a massive cat tackled her to the ground, and it too was gone in an instant—yet it lasted just a few moments longer than it should have.
It was more than simply evolution that made the creatures of this world deadly. It had to be the anchor point giving the local life more power, and greater degrees of adaptability.
I opened comms to the team planetside. "While I realize sloth is in your nature, you need to do this quickly."
"Trying, Emma," Anna said, as she punched several thousand-pound, armored green bears in the face, sending them flying backward.
"I'm not, I'm having too much fun," Sylax said. The nightmares of the creatures on this planet were manifest by a host of shadowy animals surrounding her
"They get stronger the more you fight them. The more force you throw, the more they'll throw back. In the long term we undoubtedly lose, but in the short term it may be possible to win if you just do it," I said.
Hot Stuff screamed, flames rippling upon her and a pillar of fire raising up to scorch the atmosphere. Around her for hundreds of miles jungle burned, blasted clear.
Well, someone understood the basics of letting go at least.
I wasn't leaving it to them alone. I began to gather the results of all my seed pods together into one massive construct. If they were buying me time I might as well put it to good use.
While I could have made a thousand-foot-tall Anna, I thought for this I'd return to the earliest template I had. It seemed suitable to close things out as they'd started.
Millions of my predators were coming together, flesh cleaving and melding together to form one massive mega-creation. The ultimate expression of biological fury.
A giant mole.
This one was far different than those that had infested my facility so long ago. Incredibly strong, and with a body teeming with mutagenic virii that would infect any creature that took a bite out of it. It had the strongest regenerative abilities I could put into something, the result of long-term study of Ophelia and her gifts.
Most of the smaller life had been driven back by Anna, Sylax, and Hot Stuff, but the largest creature on the planet was smashing the jungle to splinters beneath it as it moved at a run towards my giant mole. The creature looked something like a cross between an armadillo and a scorpion—with a huge armored shell accompanied by a venomous barbed tail.
The scorpidillo leapt at the giant mole, its stinger savagely coming down again and again. I had specialized antidote clusters built with hard-coded representations of every poison in the known universe, and yet still the toxins the scorpillo put out were weakening my creation.
Fortunately, the mole didn't fight alone. A blast of flame caught one leg of the scorpidillo as Hot Stuff teleported in. Anna leapt onto the armored carapace and began raining down punches that forced cracks. Sylax swarmed its feet with thousands of shadowy representations, her own private army that she'd brought.
It still wasn't enough. The stinger swung back and caught Anna, impaling her clear through and she fell to the ground and twitched violently as virulent green lines pulsated through her flesh. An armored foot came down hard on Hot Stuff, driving her so deeply into the ground it doused even her flames.
My connection to the team’s vitals showed what I feared. I'd finally found something in all the universe that might be able to kill them. Even their regenerative gifts had limits.
The giant mole fell upon the scorpidillo. Sylax's army tore at the scales, a thousand creatures of shadow ripping and prying them apart to expose the vulnerable flesh beneath.
The mole attacked that with its claws, digging huge bloody furrows even as the stinger game down on it again and again. Viruses versus poison, each were now in the other’s system. Each was now killing their target.
From across dimensions I snagged Ophelia, dropping her through the atmosphere. By the time she hit the ground her burned flesh was already regenerating and her aura was spreading out to the team. It wasn't enough to reverse the poisons effects. I didn't need it to be. I just needed a few more seconds.
With a roaring bellow the scorpidillo tumbled over, dead.
I launched a thousand ships, the whole of the Scholarium appearing above the maw. Intense gravitation forces were already tearing the vessels apart, but the crews were no longer aboard.
It seemed only an instant. To even me only an instant, but it was long enough.
Three points. I controlled all three.
The universe didn't die with a bang. It died with a whimper.
124
Space and time unfolded, collapsed. I could already feel the pull of the universe trying to reassert itself, but for now a bit of creation was mine to command.
Before anything else I needed a control room. I formed one out of the void and rebuilt Caya.
"That was close," Caya said, moving at once to the control consoles and beginning to tap away.
"We always knew it would be. The galaxy first," I said.
I laid the framework for the traps. Predatory species would be trapped into their bubble dimensions. Foundries would test the warlike. If ever galactic strife became too high, extra-dimensional entities would invade and force the species to come together, or the slate would be wiped clean. I threw in a few treasures as well. Worlds filled with riddles and tests of the flexible mind, prizes for those who embraced the concept of SCIENCE and where they could come away with wonders.
