“Shh… Go to sleep, Maggie. Everything’s gonna be all right. Go back to sleep.”
She squeezed him and muttered a sleep-muddled phrase that could only be “I love you” and fell back into her slumber. He choked back the tears but his body wracked with his sorrow.
The sun was rising.
“Sleep, Maggie. Go to sleep, sweet Maggie.”
He kissed her lightly on the lips, soft enough so that she did not awaken, but hard enough so that the lifetimes he had lived and the pain of her death was even if for only an instant replaced with the beauty and hope that his life had once held.
It is time.
sleep, maggie.
He opened his eyes.
Static. A sudden crackle, a momentary distortion, and the faintest flash of light.
((reweb judas golgotha simon. command sentience reweb initiated. clearance pattern?))
Zero-Four could not hide his happiness. He smiled widely at the sound of Simon’s voice. He turned, and projected in the center of the chamber was the familiar translucent image of his dearest friend. Patra turned to West, and a silent communication passed between them. The image in the center of the chamber was the man that they had seen at Diablo.
“Clearance Zero-Four, Michael.”
((what’s the situation?))
They rejoiced.
Malachi.
The Mujahadin floated silently in the void. Watching.
Waiting.
He had sent a beacon into the future.
PREDATOR BECOMES PREY. PREY BECOMES PREDATOR.
Now he waited…Shiva would arrive soon. Alone. The traitor Simon would have been dealt with. When Shiva rejoined him, they could begin the hunt once more, and destroy the Enemy once and for all.
But oh, the temptation…
He watched the Black swarm across this When, breaking it down to fuel the damned Purpose. He fought the constant urge to release himself from this torture, to open up, to unleash his inferno upon the damned, but if he let his presence be known, it would jeopardize the mission. So he would wait for Shiva to join him, and they would access the situation together, prepare a plan of action for the vast Judas armada when it arrived. The Purpose was so close…Time was indeed dying. This When would be the jumping-off point for the final battle. This time, the Judas would retake the Alpha Point, and the physical universe would be saved before the Enemy could upload it for Omega.
But oh, the temptation. The blood lust.
He watched the Enemy in the night.
He waited for Shiva.
He never saw the Black strike force as it re-entered the Stream, the same strike force that destroyed Shiva and now tore across time toward Command. The Black had made sure that the Judas they knew was somewhere out there watching them would not see the force’s departure by masking it as yet another routine pattern load transfer. The ruse had indeed worked.
Malachi floated in the silence, in the blackness, unsuspecting.
hatred personified
a banshee’s wail of anguished ecstasy.
the black.
THE HUNT PROCEEDS. ONE JUDAS NEUTRALIZED. ONE JUDAS SHADOWED: STREAM TETHER SEVERED. NEGATIVE PATTERN AUGMENTATION: CACHE CORRUPTED. MINIMAL DAMAGE TO OUR FORCES. EXTRAPOLATION OF JUDAS TRANSMISSION HAS YIELDED PROBABLE COMMAND COORDINATES AND VIRAL CODE PROBABILITIES. VECTOR IS MAINTAINED. WE WILL SUCCEED. THEY HAVE BETRAYED THEMSELVES.
FIRST STRIKE((?))
A CERTAINTY. THE BLASPHEMOUS VIRUS WILL BE ELIMINATED. THE PURPOSE WILL BE COMPLETED.
HOW PROCEEDS THIS WHEN((?))
STAR COLLAPSE INITIATED. HARVEST UPLOAD COMPLETION IMMINENT.
PURPOSE BE.
the black closes.
A darkened corridor. Footsteps.
“Halt. Security clearance?”
A brilliant flash; a cry of pain and cessation. Running.
“Which one is it? Where is he?”
“Block A Cell 7. Hurry!”
Another flash. A heavy door reluctantly cycles open.
“What the—How—”
“No questions now, sir. Our vessels are waiting. Please hurry!”
They slipped into the maze of black corridors.
The rescue was successful.
Reynald.
“Simon! We thought you were gone!”
((forgive me, michael. the emergency shadow break severed the pattern tether, and the bioneural interface went into overload. i had no choice but to close down.))
“Simon, why’d you Shadow break?”
((…))
“Simon?”
((shiva’s dead.))
“What? Did you—”
((the enemy ambushed us in the stream. they weren’t expecting us, though. they were going upwhen, and suddenly they appeared directly ahead of us. a huge force—hundreds of vessels—and one crashed right into shiva, tearing him in half. i just had time to break from the stream, or i would have fallen, too.))
“Holy—Wait. So Command doesn’t know that an Enemy fleet is en route?”
((there wasn’t time to place a beacon.))
“…And Shiva?”
((doubtful.))
“They’re helpless up there.”
((yes.))
“Would a beacon reach Command in time?”
((even if it did, i doubt they’d believe us.))
“What do you mean?”
((shiva was about to eliminate me when we were attacked.))
“Oh god, Simon. We were right…Our suspicions. We were right.”
((malachi’s somewhere out there right now. this is the when he was signaling from…we have to assume he’s watching us right now.))
“If he were here, why didn’t he try to stop that Enemy fleet that’s invading Command? He must have seen them depart. He could have stopped them!”
((he could have if he’d wanted to.))
“It’s happened. They’ve finally infiltrated the Judas.”
“There’s nothing left to discuss, Sapphire. We need your fleet. Your When was of secondary importance, and that’s why it was abandoned. We need the cooperation of your Golgotha fleet for the largest offensive we’ve ever undertaken.”
Judas Sapphire sat in the First Circle chamber, silently studying the face of Hannah Kilbourne.
“It’s not your duty to question your orders, Judas Sapphire. It’s your duty to follow them.”
Sapphire cleared her throat, rose from her seat.
“Request permission to address the Circle.”
Kilbourne’s eyes drew to slits. “Granted.”
She walked slowly, contemplatively around the circle. All eyes were on her thin form as she pondered what to say. The light above her only served to draw more attention to the web of silver faintly illuminating her face and the contrasting Judas code burn on her left cheekbone. She looked up and through Kilbourne but addressed the entire assembly.
“I’ve been a Judas for seven of my sixteen years.” She struggled to control her emotions, to keep in check the forces within her. “And I’ve worn these,” she indicated the battle chamber interface gauntlets imbedded into her forearms, “for three.”
Everyone watched her, noticed how her hands shook as she turned to address them. Her silver eyes, the faint lines of mercury that spider-webbed her face…
“I can’t condone the actions of the Judas Command First Circle.”
Kilbourne shook her head in anger, choked off the words that had risen in her throat.
“For almost three years, my forces patrolled that alternity, and from my experience in that warzone I can tell you truthfully that the decision to withdraw my containment forces was a mistake. A deadly mistake.”
Kilbourne scoffed. “How dare you, Judas Sapphire? The next engagement requires the resources of your fleet. To question our orders—”
“By withdrawing the Golgotha, you’ve have sealed our fate. What’s one Enemy when there’s an infinity of rogue code alternate Enemies poised to break through into the Stream at any moment? At any moment! And what I’ve seen of the Enemy in the alternities makes your Enemy seem like a fucking puppy dog.”
The Circle members were in uproar, and Sapphire had to shout above them.
“Sapphire, perhaps you should return to your vessel.”