The Judas had a little time to kill.
A very little time.
Alone.
Sapphire wept as she slid the stasis chamber cover closed above her. She was alone.
Darkness take me.
She had loved her parents. Her sister. Mara. Now all were but a fading memory. Oh, the emptiness…
Darkness take me.
Her hands flickered in the night of the stasis chamber. With one thought she would be uploaded into the longboat cache and join the others on their mission. With another thought, she could end it all. She could escape from this world of darkness, this world of betrayal. She could be free.
She prayed that her life had been just a dream.
Finding no one left to answer her prayer, she fell to the black.
Darkness take me.
Let it end.
Her frail form began to resonate with the silver fires within.
Alone.
Let it end.
She shifted into the void. Sleep came to her.
Forever.
THIS IS THE TIME OF THE HOLY PURPOSE, OH BRETHREN. A TIME OF BEGINNINGS, A TIME OF ENDINGS, A TIME OF PURPOSE. THE MOMENT DRAWS NEAR. LET US OPEN THE GATE TO ETERNITY. LET US OPEN THE GATEWAY TO DIVINITY. LET US COMPLETE OUR GOD OMEGA. LET US SEE WHAT LIES BEYOND THIS DEAD REALM. LET US REWRITE ALL OF TIME IN OUR IMAGE FROM ITS VERY BEGINNING. WE WILL CREATE A UNIVERSE IN THEIR IMAGE! WE WILL BE ONE WITH OMEGA! WE WILL BE GODS! WE ARE GODS!
PURPOSE BE!
PURPOSE BE!
PURPOSE BE!
The Judas tore into the When.
The reaction was immediate.
Simon had never seen anything like it, countless maniacal forms grouped around a brilliant sphere of energy, so like a grotesque egg sac. The nightmare horde swept outward, ready to defend their nest.
((FIRE FIRE FIRE!))
The V of Judas formed a pointed wall of blistering death, and so, so many Enemy fell before this unstoppable force. The Enemy were caught off-guard for an instant, and the sweep of Judas weapons fire carved a clean hole through their lines. A path to the Alpha Point.
((DIVE! CONCENTRATE FIRE DIRECTLY AHEAD, AND DIVE FOR THE POINT! IT’S OUR ONLY CHANCE!))
So like a single organism, the Judas fleet maneuvered as a fluid into the midst of the insane ocean of Enemy forces, which began to close in from behind as the Judas passed.
There was no way out.
With all weapons firing at the path directly ahead, the sides and backs of the Judas were left vulnerable. The Enemy saw this weakness and struck, but not before it was almost too late.
The Judas at the rear of the formation began to fall, cut apart by the Enemy lines closing in from behind. Disabled, they carried out their last orders and self-destructed, each taking out a sizeable number of Black with them.
Almost there…
But still the Enemy hordes swarmed about, decreasing the number of the Judas. Fifteen. Ten. Eight. Five left.
Simon was exhausted, but fought onward, having come too far to succumb now.
Three left.
Everything seemed to go into slow motion. Time itself took on a shimmering, acidic quality. The ocean of silver flickered with the energy of the kill.
The Enemy were so close.
But so was the Alpha Point.
Two Judas left.
Simon and Mara.
((FIRE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE BACKWARDS AT THEM! THEY’RE CLOSING IN!))
Mara sent blazing lances of phase energy back into the Enemy lines, sending many to their death. At last they were in the clear, only the Point ahead.
It began.
The Alpha Point began to radiate a harsher light, and the pulses of energy quickened their pace. The Big Bang was about to see its fiery birth.
And from all around them, from behind the approaching Enemy masses, the collapsing spherical wave of destruction that was the Judas reformat virus that was tearing the Stream into non-existence emerged, in its ferocity imploding the Enemy nearest to it. It fast approached, a wall of innate blackness.
Rock and a hard place.
It was time.
((MARA, BEGIN—))
And one of her nacelles was ripped from her, the ravenous Enemy brood falling upon her, unmindful of the certain death that bore down upon them…
((MARA!))
(GO, SIMON! FORGET ME! JUST GO—)
Mara was no more. The Enemy upon her, they tore her pattern from existence with a bloody ferocity.
He was alone.
Hell in front, hell behind, in his heart, in his mind.
Simon.
What…? Who…?
Do it, Simon.
A voice in his mind…
((magdalene…?))
Do it, Simon. So you can be with me.
((maggie?))
So we can be together again. Do it.
((MAGGIE?)) The Enemy raced toward him.
The reformat virus drew near.
The Big Bang was starting.
He spun around, facing the oncoming horde and the wave of destruction.
Do it, Simon.
Invert your Shadow.
The Big Bang was furious in its rage behind him, as matter met antimatter, as the force was magnified by the pattern energy gathered by the Enemy. By the countless souls that began to upload into the quantum singularity of the Alpha Point.
Invert your Shadow.
The voice echoed in his shattered mind.
And reflected in the fast-approaching wave of hell he could see her face, as once it had been, before all of this, before the nightmare, before the Enemy, before the Judas, before the pain. She smiled, beckoned. She beckoned to him.
Come to me, Simon. Do it. Invert your Shadow.
All the pain, all the heartbreak, all the suffering. For the infinite dead. For the patterns trapped in the hell of Omega for all of eternity. He could change it. He could rewrite it. In his death would be the life of the new universe.
He could live again.
Do it, Simon. Sleep, Simon.
Yes, Maggie. Sweet, sweet Maggie.
I love you.
He inverted his Shadow.
Deep within the blackness, an infinity of possibilities beckoned, each with its own pain, each with its own joy, each with its own darkness, each with its own beauty.
Somewhere in time—
—creating a fire—
—building a pyramid—
—hanging on a cross—
—discovering a new world—
—starting a war—
—dropping a bomb—
—assassinating a president—
—leading a nation—
—ending a life—
—becoming a savior—
—the Judas survived.
Seattle, Washington.
Rain. Why does it always have to rain?
You know you like it better that way.
He relented and turned his attention back to the book before him and the tepid cup of coffee that graced the tabletop. He took a sip nonchalantly, turned the page, read. It wasn’t bad coffee, besides being piss-warm and possessing the color of a muddy trench.
Why do I drink this shit?
Seattle in the springtime. Rain. Coffeehouse. Classic Nirvana. The weblink babbled incessantly. President Jennings had just signed an historic peace accord with Indochine Francais and the Siberian Corporate Alliance. The weblink showed the president and his family waving to the assembled masses at the United World building. The country was at peace; the world for once was at peace. The people were happy. He couldn’t really blame the weblink for the nation’s jubilation.
Then why are you like this?
Eyes. Watching.
Stop being so paranoid.
The swirl of people in the busy coffeehouse obstructed his vision, but he knew he was being watched. Somewhere. Someone.
He turned the page.
He knew someone was approaching, but did not let his downward gaze falter. He found solace in the black and white print.
“Hesse?”
A woman stood before him. The question hung languidly in the rain-cooled air. Their eyes met, and for a second Simon Hayes was speechless.
“No. Hayes.”
She nervously laughed. “No. The book. It’s Hesse, right?”
“Y—Yes. Hesse.” He indicated the novel he held. “Demian.”