Enemy (52 page)

     “He could’ve killed himself before the Enemy took him, but by sending his last message he gave them enough time to capture his pattern. We barely made it out of there, but we did as he’d commanded. We regrouped, we rebuilt, and we’ve not surrendered again. That’s why I have to die. Richter was consumed by Omega, when it should have been me, Omega’s creator. He died so that I could live. He wanted me to be the Judas commander. As it was, Hannah Kilbourne took over. I’ve never deserved Richter’s sacrifice.”

     Zero-Four regarded them with eyes that were beyond cold.

     “I haven’t lived since Richter died. With my death, this war will never happen.”

     West looked resolutely at the black of the floor. “You’re sending us into the future to kill you. And then what?”

     “You’ll live out your days in the future. You’ll grow old. And hopefully you’ll never have to put your daughters on a Judas and send them into the sky. Hopefully you’ll live in a world that’ll never see the Enemy. You’ll grow old and die together in the future without the Enemy war.”

     “If we kill you, this won’t happen.”

     “There’s no guarantees. I’m not the only person to envision the emulated escape from the dying planet. But that’s where you come in. You’ll be a safeguard against the invention of the machines. You have to ensure that the machine’s never built. Your daughters will have to ensure that the machine’s never built. They must ensure that the Judas legacy is never lost, and that the Enemy is never created.”      

     Tears rolled down Patra’s face. “Lifetimes we haven’t lived yet, deaths we haven’t died... I had a vision of this, of three people crashing from the stars... But now all of that’s gone, and all I see, all I hear, is the whispers. Faint words, a constant hissing sound at the back of my mind.”

     “The Enemy.”

     “Yes. Urgent. The conversations are so fast. Like they’re finally ready. For their ascension. For the completion of Omega. Time’s running out.”

     Jennings looked gravely at Zero-Four. “So how do we get there, Michael? How do we begin?”

     Zero-Four studied the three innocents before him. “No one’s forcing you to do this. I can’t command you to give your futures to this cause. I can’t—”

     “We know, Michael.” Jennings interrupted. “We know. I can’t speak for Patra and West, but I give my life freely to this cause. I’ll die for the Judas.”

     West looked up. “So will I. To save the future...”

     “And to save the past,” Patra continued. “I’ll go where they go. I give myself to the Judas.”

     They stood as one, the saviors of futures long dead.

     Simon raced onward into the night.

     (has he spoken to them?)

     ((yes. it’ll proceed as planned. they’ll take my longboat. it will at least get them there.))

     (they’re brave.)

     ((yes.))

     (you know we won’t survive this.)

     ((i know.))

     (perhaps...)

     ((what?))

     (the longboats are capable of limited shadow jumps.)

     ((with residual shadow energy.))

     (perhaps... if we’re sending them to the specified when, perhaps there’s a way to save our other passengers. i have two standard complements of droptroops on board...)

     ((what are you saying?))

     (we could use the longboats to transport our pattern caches to safety... to spread them throughout time. to ensure that the judas will live on.)

     ((guardians... sprinkled through time. watching, waiting.))

     (making sure the enemy doesn’t rise again. diffusing into the native populace. devoting their lives to keeping the judas legacy alive.)

     ((can we do this to them? can we expect this of them?))

     (they’ve given so much already. if they stay with us, they’ll die. if they go, they’re given life again, hopefully, a life forever free of the enemy.)

     ((but if the enemy awakens once more—))

     (they’ll end it.)

     “I’m not going to leave you, Simon.”

     ((it’s the only way, michael. if you stay with me, you’ll die. if you go, there’s the hope of a normal life for you.))

     “Simon, I... I can’t go. I don’t deserve to go.”

     ((you have to.))

     “But you—”

     ((don’t worry about me. i have a plan.))

     “What plan?”

     ((time is dying. the stream’s collapsing and being reformatted into an empty universe, but the enemy have enough energy amassed at the point to repel this wave of destruction. if a shadow were inverted at the precise moment—))

     “Simon, if you invert your Shadow, you’ll be destroyed.”

     ((i know.))

     Zero-Four spun around in blind fury, slammed his fist against the wall. Blood trickled from his knuckles.

     ((if the stream collapses all the way, there’s no hope. the reformat virus will erase all traces of human existence in the void. time will never have existed. maybe it’s fate that the pattern energy stored at the point by the enemy will help us rewrite time. if we can repel the wave, time will be born anew. existence will be rewritten with the pattern energy, and you’ll be alive, michael. humanity will be alive.))

     “Simon, I... You mean so much to me.”

     ((then do this for me. for maggie, too.))

     Zero-Four relented.

     “I’m going with you.”

     (no, sapphire. you can’t.)

     “Bloody hell I can’t. I’m your commander.”

     (no. you aren’t coming with me.)

     “Mara, I’m not abandoning you.”

     (you can’t come with me.)

     “Why not?”

     (because if this succeeds, you’ll have your whole life ahead of you. don’t worry about me. i lived a long life even before becoming a judas so long ago. i lived to become an old woman, a grandmother, and i want you to at least have that chance.)

     “But Mara...” Sapphire was on the verge of tears. “First my parents. Then Jade. Then Reynald. I can’t lose you too.”

     (there, there, ’phire. it’ll be all right.)

     The webs in the battle chamber embraced the frail form of Sapphire West in an almost gentle, motherly way. If Mara had possessed a mechanical heart, it would have been broken.

     But Sapphire would have a chance to live free of the Enemy. How many trillions had never had that chance?

     The Judas fell quietly to the beginning of time.

     The longboat.

     Jennings, Patra, West. Each was secured safely in an impact chair. Sensors and wires maintained a constant link from these three precious pieces of cargo to the automaton consciousness of the longboat. Zero-Four looked on from a viewscreen.

     “Good luck, my friends. May we meet again in a better life.”

     “Goodbye, Michael.” Jennings spoke with a solemn reverence. “We’ll succeed. We’ll make sure… We’ll make sure the machine’s never built.”

     “I know. I know you can do it. And… Thank you.”

     Zero-Four turned to Patra and West. He touched their minds for the briefest of moments and sadly smiled.

     “You love each other. Cherish that. There’s so little love anymore. This war’s seen to that. Let it flourish. Wherever there’s love, there’s hope that we’ll win this. There’s hope that there’s something worth saving.

     “No goodbyes. We’ll meet again.”

     The stasis fields held them down, slowed their bodies’ systems. They each drifted peacefully off to sleep and their patterns were uploaded into the longboat cache.

     “Will they make it?”

     ((they will.))

     “They are the hope.”

     ((we are all the hope.))

     The longboat shimmered, faded into the future.

     “Goodbye,” Zero-Four whispered to no one.

     “So this is it? This is the big goodbye?”

     (yes, sapphire.)

     “Well, kick some Enemy ass for me.”

     (oh, i’ll try.)

     “And when the time comes... I—I hope you don’t feel it. I hope it’s over quickly.”

     (thank you, ’phire.)

     “Mara... I love you. Really.”

     (i know. perhaps someday we’ll meet in a better time.)

     “I hope.”

     (goodbye, little one.)

     “Goodbye, Mara,” she whispered.

     The longboat departed, sought linkup with Simon.

     ((mara’s longboat has arrived for you, michael.))

     “So what’s the plan, Simon?”

     ((after you board mara’s longboat, the fleet of fifteen operable longboats will whendrop, scattering the last of the human patterns throughout time. you’ll infiltrate the native populace and act as safeguards from any future enemy activity. you’ll perpetuate the judas legacy forever.))

     “And you?”

     ((my forces will whendrop to an instant before the point. targeting direct-line trajectories at the blastpoint, we’ll attempt to invert a shadow drive at point totality, which will repel the reformat virus wave shattering the stream. we’ll destroy any enemy that try to interfere.))

     “So this is it. After all this time, the Purpose is upon us.”

     ((yes.))

     “Simon, good luck. Godspeed.”

     ((thank you, michael. godspeed yourself, my friend.))

     “Let’s do this.”

     Mara’s longboat descended from Simon.

     The longboats dropped behind the rest of the fleet, which was maneuvering into a wedge shape, a V, with Simon at its tip. The spearpoint maneuver.

     Simon watched as the fifteen longboats, so tiny in this endless void, faded upon preset coordinates. They would emerge in their respective histories and become the hidden guardians of humanity, the pre-emptive strike against the Enemy.

     The longboats gone, Simon focused on the task at hand.

     At his signal, the Judas faded from the Stream, dropped into the Enemy midst, fell upon a path into damnation.