Reality's Veil

by Damon Alan

  Sarah stopped packing her travel bag, turned around, and stared at Kuo. “First, Captain, I’m the admiral. You will remember that when speaking to me. Second, Emille has vouched for Khala. That is good enough for me. Third, I will, by the stars in the sky, do whatever I want if I think it’s going to help me destroy the Hive. Do you understand, Captain?”

  Kuo snapped to attention. “It is my concern for your wellbeing—”

  “If I need you to babysit me, Mister Kuo, I’ll make sure to hand you a pack of diapers. Your advice is most welcome, if delivered respectfully. But all final decisions rest with me.”

  He was distraught. She understood that. The man had lost his navy, his planet, and a war with the Komi. But she was giving him a second chance, and although they were friends, she’d only let him push her so far. Turning back to her packing, she hoped her words gave him incentive to cool down. If his passion was directed at something other than keeping her safe, she’d be more upset. But whatever Kuo was, he was her friend first. A ship commander never loses the bond they have with their first XO.

  Inside the flap of her bag was a fléchette pistol, which she removed and stowed in her dresser.

  When Kuo next spoke, his voice was calm and collected. “Of course, the decision rests with you, Admiral. You are my admiral. But you are also my friend, and you have been for a very long time. I am justified to worry about you.”

  She smiled. He was thinking along the same lines she was. “Why, because I’m fragile?” she asked. “I’m no such thing.”

  “That is not what I said,” he replied, irritated.

  “Then what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you’re rash. You do things that most people wouldn’t consider because those things are madness, and you somehow get away with them. The Teplo maneuver, for example. And your defiance of orders at Lirizam, another example. You stick your face in it, and you come out looking like you just put on your best clothes to go to the philharmonic.”

  She grinned while looking down at her pack, careful not to let him see how much his comment amused her. It would just inflame him more.

  Erasing the grin, she turned to face him. “Captain Kuo. You are in command of my ship while I’m gone. I’m sure your conservative approach to things will mean it will be here for me when I get back. Bannick’s fleet is on its way here, make sure you keep him pacified until I return. They’ll be a long time doing repairs, but I don’t want him on my ship and I don’t want him meeting the adepts at all, understood?”

  “I will keep things under control while you’re gone,” he said. “Bannick will wait until you return. I would as soon kill him as look at him for what happened to the Alliance fleet at Mindari.”

  “You will control yourself as well. If I need to give Heinrich the ship, let me know,” she offered. “But she’s a better engineer than you are.”

  “I will do what you want done, Admiral. You have my word.” His expression still showed his irritation.

  “But you’re pissed at me for leaving right now,” she suggested. “If I don’t return in a week, then you are to take our ships and return to Oasis. If Bannick has a destination, you’re welcome to arrange transport of his ships to that destination if his FTL capabilities are less than stable.”

  “With all due respect, Admiral, if you’re not back in a week you’re asking me to consider you lost. In which case any decisions made will be based upon the needs of the Sheffaris and Hyaku in that moment.”

  She threw her now packed bag over her shoulders, strapping it in place. “You’re a stubborn man, Hanada. This is a moot point. I will be back, this is just a meeting, I’m not moving in with the Obedi.”

  “As you say, Admiral.”

  She touched her palm to his cheek. She loved this man for the friend he was. He always put her first. Not to mention he’d saved her life more than once. “You’re a jerk,” she said, and slapped her hand gently against his face a few times. “But I am glad you’re my XO once again. I need to get Salphan. Have my pilot head to the shuttle and get it pre-flighted.”

  “Yes sir,” Kuo said, sounding like he realized the argument was over and he’d lost it.

  She stepped through the hatch out of her room. Salphan was waiting in the gangway, a pack at his side.

  “You’re ready?” she asked.

  “Of course I’m ready,” he said as Kuo stepped past them, headed to the bridge. “I’m always ready.”

  “So you are,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”

  They walked together to the shuttle, climbed in through the docking ring, and strapped into facing seats.

  She smiled at him. “We’re going to do something together that nobody has ever done before.”

  “And I’m hoping I don’t pee myself,” he replied. “There are only so many new things a person can take in one lifetime.”

  “Nonsense. You’re doing great.”

  The shuttle detached from the docking collar, and their seats swiveled forward.

  “Welcome aboard, Admiral,” the pilot said. “I understand you want me to fly to the Obedi ship?”

  “That’s right,” she answered. “Approach him slowly.”

  The pilot sighed. Apparently, judging by his face, his nerves were as much on edge as everyone else's. “Here we go.”

  Sarah and Salphan were pushed back into their seats at 1G.

  “What’s this oververse?” Salphan asked her.

  “I expected you to know more than me,” she answered. “I’ve never heard of it before today.”

  “Great,” Salphan griped. “I don’t know the first thing about it. I hope they have bathrooms there.”

  Sarah laughed, and reached over to squeeze his hand.

  “It’s an adventure,” she said. “A chance for us to have a memory nobody else has.”

  He nodded. “With you, anything.”

  As the minutes passed the shuttle flipped over to decelerate and match Khala’s speed. She heard the pilot talking to someone, and she realized who it was. Khala.

  A moment later something from outside grabbed the shuttle.

  A moment after that, everything she ever knew, everything she ever wondered, everything she ever aspired to be was changed.

  Chapter 29 - The All of Everything

  Time does not apply

  Blackness.

  Sarah wasn’t Sarah anymore, at least not in the sense that she had known herself. But she was true to the values of the Sarah she had known, the Sarah that was now a tiny part of a greater self. That essence, that set of ethics, morals, and beliefs followed her into the blackness.

  Something about this place, it expanded consciousness. She remembered every moment of her life, all at once with perfect clarity. She did the math of FTL navigation effortlessly in her head. She understood how small and restraining the human brain was, and that compared to real consciousness, she was but a spark to a star.

  Blackness.

  It was all around her, and although she thought of it as black, it really wasn’t. What her mind represented as blackness was simply reality that wasn’t resolved yet. She was between the universes, and physical laws here were whatever a consciousness needed them to be.

  She apparently needed blackness.

  Salphan was with her, she could feel him. Not physically, as if she were holding his hand, but his essence was near, potentially even interwoven with hers, and she sensed that.

  He loved her. She could feel it as a warm whisper of confidence, a soft shoulder to lean on, and a trust she knew she’d never have anywhere else again. Because Merik was right. The future was just another part of the wall, and humanity walked along with the tip of one finger gliding across the bricks.

  Locked in the feeble organics minds humans were born with, they had almost no sense of the future, and a fading sense of the past.

  Salphan was experiencing the same thing as her, and more. He was devoted to her. He’d looked into her being in ways no man before really could, and even as limited as co
nsciousness was encased within a human cranium, he’d seen a larger picture for both of them. He gave her the love she needed, the shoulder she felt now, non-corporeally, and the confidant who she could trust to always say what he thought was right.

  She sensed another presence, one that overwhelmed who she was. As before she was a spark to a star, she realized that whatever was here with her now was a galaxy of luminance. It filled her with both awe and dread.

  I am Sylange. It is good that we meet here, where I am all I might be, and you are some of what will be at some time in your future.

  I am Sarah, she thought to the new voice/not voice talking to her. I understand you wanted to speak to me.

  Suddenly, through no effort of her own, Sarah was sitting in a fine chair. A wingback seat, well cushioned, with comfortable fabric beneath a body she’d thought she left behind on the shuttle. The shuttle! Where was the shuttle?

  Your conveyance is still in the universe you call home. This is the oververse, where realities such as yours are born, live, and die, Sylange said. The chair you sit in now is one you knew as a child, and it is not real. I have created it simply as an anchor for your mind, a place for you to find comfort in yourself as you experience this new reality.

  Sarah looked around. Other than the chair and herself, blackness extended in all directions. Somehow the chair was lit, as was she, but no light shined that she could see. Her feet rested on something flat and solid that she also couldn’t see.

  “I will speak with my voice,” she said. “It’s more true to what I am.”

  As she finished searching the darkness, she swiveled her gaze back to the front. Two meters away a woman sat in a chair identical to hers. The new person was plain, her features completely unremarkable, yet somehow beautiful. She seemed, for lack of a better term, generic. Lightly tanned skin, short black hair, and no makeup. No skin art. Neither thin nor fat. Her clothing was minimal, similar to the style that was in vogue when Sarah was in college.

  One arm rested on the chair, that hand clutched the armrest. The other arm’s elbow lay on the armrest, but the arm was raised, hand in front of her throat, palm down, fingers extended. The woman’s index finger pressed upward gently, touching her chin.

  Her posture seemed completely nonthreatening.

  “I am Sylange,” the woman said. “I would make you comfortable in my home. This image is an amalgamation of every woman you have ever known.”

  “Why am I here?” Sarah asked. “Why could we not conduct negotiations in the Komi System?”

  “Khala brought you here to do several things. First is to confirm to you that we come from outside your own universe. Second, we want your consciousness to be expanded to its maximum potential, so that you might make the best decision for your people. Third, you will remember that decision, although you may not remember why you made it when you return home.”

  “Where’s Salphan?” Sarah asked, satisfied the Obedi had reasons worth this show of power.

  “He is with Khala. This is no matter for males. While it is my understanding that you have no living children, it is the females of both of our species that create the future. As such, we are best suited to tend to that future. You and I will speak, we will make a plan to save your universe from the stability decay that is growing as a result of the machines. What you call the Hive.”

  The reference to her dead son, Jac, hurt even more with an expanded soul.

  “My species does not look at a matter as a concern for one gender over another,” Sarah said. “What interest does the Obedi have in saving my universe?”

  “We, and the other post-cradle societies do everything we can to save universes. From those we nurture through to a complete lifespan, sometimes new oververse beings are born. Diversity is good.”

  “I understand. And as a representation of diversity, I’d like Salphan with me. He is my mate.”

  Sylange sighed. “You have as unhealthy of an attachment to your male as I have to mine.” Another chair appeared to Sarah’s left with Salphan in it, as well as another to the right of Sylange. A man she didn’t know sat in the other chair.

  “Unhealthy attachment?” the unknown man said. “I, Khalamanthus, am the healthiest of things in your existence.”

  “You are right, of course,” Sylange said to Khala. Sarah sensed some patronization in her voice. Maybe disparity and some discrimination were simply impossible to erase, due to differences in individuals. She wondered what is was that made the Obedi so female dominant.

  The Obedi Matriarch turned to look at Sarah, and for the first time she realized the woman had no whites in her eyes. Something made her shiver at the sight of Sylange’s black orbs. The blackness made the sockets look empty, emphasizing that Sylange was truly alien. “You wished for the males, and so they are here.”

  “Hi,” Salphan said, grinning at Sarah.

  She furrowed her brows at him. Take this seriously!

  His smile vanished, and he nodded subtly.

  “I wish to work together to destroy the Hive,” Sarah said. “I have seen the abilities of Khala, are yours even greater?”

  “By magnitudes.”

  “Slightly,” Khala said immediately after.

  Sylange frowned at him. “Your adepts possess the ability to weave or unravel the threads of creation, the material of the oververse itself. With that they have destroyed stars. They have threatened living beings that have done nothing to harm others or bring harm on themselves. We want this destruction to stop.”

  “Why?” Sarah asked. “You said yourself that if the Hive is not ended, our universe will destabilize and collapse.”

  “As I previously said, when a universe dies a natural heat death the intelligence that is built into the quantum fabric of that universe sometimes continues,” Sylange answered. “That intelligence is sustained by the dominant conscious species, but the other organic creatures also have a minor degree of consciousness and a stabilizing effect on their surroundings. As such, they can keep things developing more smoothly than might otherwise happen. You propose to destroy nearly a quarter of those beings with your solution.”

  “What do you mean?” Salphan asked. “Are you talking about animals?”

  “She means that when a conscious being observes matter, it hardens into a particular state,” Khala told his counterpart. “That increases stability within a universe. And your universe is particularly large.”

  “And animals?”

  “Yes, but nonsentients don’t look at the stars,” Khala explained. “Your people do. So the animals, as you call them, only affect local stability.”

  “Enough,” Sylange said. “Sarah is the one that must understand the most.”

  “Then answer my questions. How do you know what solution I propose?” Sarah asked, pressing her host being given the opportunity. Was Sylange delving into her mind? Would she be able to trust her own decisions that come from this meeting?

  “Emille,” Khala said. “Emille, with the speed of a thought, conveyed to me the history of your association with the adepts. We know about Merik, the former Matriarch of the adepts. We know about your conflict with Merik, and indeed all of the adepts at that time. Despite their obvious superiority in ability, you prevailed, and even eventually secured an alliance. It is that alliance that gives us hope your species is worth saving.”

  “Of course,” Sarah said. “That makes sense. What would you have us do then? The Hive cannot be allowed to continue.”

  “We will come fight with you. Once you have de facto control of the human faction you call the Komi Syndicate, they will be needed for the fight as well. There are other human governments surrounding Hive territories. You will enlist them to the fight in an organized and effective fashion. Millions will die. But trillions will die if you set space itself on fire,” Sylange said.

  “How will this help? The Hive control nearly two thousand systems.”

  Sylange smiled. “My mate and I, along with our children, can clean a system by our
selves within a reasonable time. Then we move on to another. It is not too late to clean the worlds the Hive occupy. They are not too numerous, and while the Obedi are not numerous by your standards either, we are enough.”

  Sarah considered the offer. She had no knowledge of the Obedi, and while Sylange said they could clear the Hive from a system, there wasn’t any proof of that in Sarah’s experience.

  A decision was difficult, even with her consciousness expanded by her presence in this ‘oververse’.

  “I have no proof that your methods will be effective,” Sarah said.

  Sylange shared a set of memories with her. Of flight in space, sensory and manipulation appendages both in realspace and highspace at the same time. One Obedi, using that mechanism, could thread their physical presence into millions of places at once. That is how a family unit could clean an entire system. They ripped the Hive straight out of reality, into highspace to be consumed and destroyed. The Obedi benefited as they gained mass and the collective information stored in the Hive nanites they subsumed.

  Well, Salphan said. She showed us. I have no idea why they’d even need us.

  Yes, she did. Give me a moment, let me think.

  Salphan engaged in small talk with Khala even as he traded thoughts with Sarah. They’re not telling us something.

  I agree. But I think they’re telling us enough. They are willing to fight.

  Finally, after considering all factors, she decided.

  “We will work together, Sylange. As long as I see the results you have showed me that only the Obedi can provide, we will do things your way. But the moment your plan falters, or you’re unable to clear the Hive from the space they occupy, I will go back to my method.”

  “Your method damages the future,” Khala said.

  “These are times that require me to be more concerned with the now than the future,” Sarah responded.

  Salphan smiled, nodding his head in agreement.

  “Shortsighted,” Sylange said, smiling a sympathetic smile, “but for now it will have to do. We will prove to you within the confines of your reality that we are capable of all we say.”