MESSIS I
Earth
Alliance Orbital Station
Messium Stellar System
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
“Tell her humanity’s ancestors are the worst mass murderers in the history of the cosmos? That they’ve run roughshod over entire galaxies, killed untold trillions, committed genocide on countless species and are now the most reviled, feared beings in the multiverse?”
Caleb sank into one of the chairs scattered around the small breakroom an officer had directed them to. “Yeah. That.”
“Somehow it didn’t strike me as the pep talk she’d be hoping for. It hardly provides the inspiration needed to keep fighting.”
“But it does.” She sensed him watching her as she wandered through the room searching for…she wasn’t sure. “It’s the best and most important reason to keep fighting.”
“Which is what I did tell her. That she seriously, no-shit needed to win.” Alex massaged her face with her hands, trying to revive herself a bit. Projecting a bright, spirited persona for the benefit of her mother had been draining.
“I want to stay here for a while longer—talk to Richard and find out more details on how screwed up the situation really is, then try to catch a few minutes with Mom if I can. You should go see Mia and reassure yourself she actually is doing well.”
“You don’t want to come with me?”
“I already know Mia’s doing well.” She forced a smile and tapped a fingernail to her temple. The deluge of information had begun as soon as they traversed the Aurora portal and had yet to cease: data, news, images, random thoughts from random Prevos. There were so many of them now. Much of the information was out of order and lacking context, the product of the streams of consciousness of multiple Artificials and a neural web which had grown beyond measure.
Twenty-six hours after arriving, she still wasn’t exactly sure what she did and didn’t know. But she could fake it sufficiently on the fly until Valkyrie got it all sorted.
“Right.” Caleb stood and went over to the corner where he’d dropped his pack a minute earlier. “I’ll catch a transport. I should be back in the morning.”
“Do you want to take the Siyane?” Please say no.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. You may need it.”
You have no idea how true that is, do you? “Hopefully not, but I might. If I decide to come to Romane later tonight, I’ll let you know so we don’t pass each other.”
For a second she thought he was simply going to walk out—his stance briefly shifted toward the door—then he came over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t go to war without me.”
Her smile remained in place until he was out the door. Then she collapsed into the chair he’d vacated and curled up, dropping her head on the armrest.
It would be the first time in months they’d been apart for more than a few hours, and his departure evoked an array of sensations…no, they were called emotions when she inhabited only a corporeal body.
Sadness. She already felt the hollowness in her chest his absence carved.
Relief. It was exhausting hiding the constant, relentless urge to slip into the walls of the ship.
Disquiet. She recognized he’d left troubled in his own way, yet he had kept it to himself.
Weariness. She hadn’t slept properly in ages, mostly because the hours he slept provided the best opportunity for her to explore her other perception free of guilt.
Instead of attempting to improve on any of those conditions, she closed her eyes and dove into her elemental realm.
Space welcomed her into its embrace. Warm, lit by Messium’s sun. Hectic, excited by the churning of purposeful activity all around her.
The station had no enclosed docking bay for visitors, and the Siyane was secured to an external docking module. Rows of vessels extended above and below her. New ships, designs she’d never seen. Adiamene hulls gleamed subtly in natural, gracefully flowing contours.
Atoms pressed against her, displaced by a vessel departing overhead. This wasn’t the void, and the atmosphere of the planet below could still be felt here, ten megameters above its surface.
She drifted along with the motion of the station as it rotated to show her the stars, the sun and the planet again in turn. The structure and the space surrounding it vibrated and hummed with enterprise. Humans rushing to and fro to effect a revolution.
It was vital, meaningful work to them…but the atoms didn’t care. They would remain here long after the people and their artificial constructs were gone.
The punch to her shoulder registered as a dull thud, far away and disconnected from her elemental body, but it was delivered forcefully enough to draw her attention. Alex reluctantly pulled her consciousness inward, winding down Valkyrie’s quantum pathways like a vid streaming in reverse.
She opened her eyes to find Kennedy leaning over her, peering at her from no more than twenty centimeters away. “There you are!”
“Ken?” She straightened up in the chair, rubbing at her face. “What are you doing here?”
“Stuff. Are you all right? I’ve been trying to rouse you for the last thirty seconds.”
“Sorry. I was…sleeping.” She shook her head, still trying to clear the fog. On exiting the ship’s perception, this version of reality always seemed hazy and indistinct for a while. “What stuff? This is a military base, sort of. And you’re supposed to be on Romane. Or something.”
Kennedy’s eyes narrowed until she was frowning. “You look like shit.”
“You did wake me up from a nap.”
“Not what I mean. You look like you’ve been on a month-long bender. Have you?”
“No, Ken, I have not. I’ve just had a long week.” Walked the streets of a city bathed in blood and stood amid a hundred thousand corpses. Negotiated a three-way peace treaty among opposing factions of a warring alien species who’d previously held me captive. Bullied the Metigen leadership into doing my bidding. Found out we’re not the real humans, and the real humans are currently enslaving the real universe. Oh, and I think I’m addicted to my ship. How was your week? “Nothing a shower and food won’t fix. You didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”
Kennedy sat down across from her and leaned forward intently. “You’ve seen the ships outside? The new ones?”
She nodded. “Some of them. They’re exquisite.”
“You bet they are. I designed them, supplied the adiamene and helped set up the manufacturing for them.”
“You did what?”
“While you were off cavorting through portals, I built your mother a fleet.”
“Wow.” Alex blinked deliberately, and the surroundings finally regained a reasonable level of fidelity. “Impressive. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for you. So, what’s the scoop? Find any grand, existential, cosmic answers?”
“A few.” She went to grab an energy drink from the fridge compartment. “Met some intriguing aliens, and some frightening ones. Watched some of them die, saved some. Not as many.”
“Well, that’s morbid. Was it worth it?”
“Worth going?”
“Worth running off and leaving us to clean up the mess you left behind.”
She froze, the drink halfway to her lips. “Excuse me?”
Kennedy perched on the arm of the chair. “I’m not saying you were wrong to go. But creating the Prevos changed everything. Upended our culture, disrupted governments. You had to know there would be repercussions. Yet you did what you always do—you ran off to have an adventure and left the rest of us to do the hard work of dealing with the fallout.”
“You think what I’ve been doing wasn’t hard work? If you knew the things I’ve seen, the choices I’ve had to make, you’d never say that.”
“Then tell me what you’ve seen. Tell me what you’ve done, and maybe I’ll understand better.”