Incident 27 (20 page)

“This
entire area of space is coming apart!” Atlas said.

Freya
had planned on victory today. Retreat hadn’t even crossed her mind.
Nevertheless, that was the only option left now. “Get us out of here!”

“No
can do! The pull of that...thing...is too strong. We’ll be sucked into it in
less than a minute.”

If
they couldn’t run from the abyss, that just left one bad idea. “Tell the fleet:
initiate space-fold! Take us to Gehenna!”

“The
drive is untested!” Hera said. “It’s suicide!” True; they were gods first and
engineers second. Yet some of them possessed an even greater knowledge of
physics than Albert Einstein.

Freya
stared her down. “Do you have a better idea? Aparently not, since Hera stayed
her tongue. Freya turned to Atlas. “Do it.”

“Initiating
space-fold,” Atlas announced. “Uh-oh.”

That
was probably the worst thing he could have said at that moment. “What is it?”

“It’s
not just Earth. I’m reading implosions all over the solar system. The
computer’s crunching the numbers, and it calculates a total universal
breakdown.”

Her
eyes went wide. “What are you saying?”

“I’m
saying...whatever we did with the Ultimus Points is causing the universe to
fall like dominoes.”

The
enormity of that statement didn’t fully hit her, at least, not yet. She still
had a job to do. “Is the space-fold ready yet?”

“Just
about...annnnnnnnnd...ready!”

Everything
turned to cold liquid. Every single molecule on the bridge became a translucent
nothing. There was no consciousness to speak of. Or perhaps
everything
was consciousness itself. Freya didn’t have the words to describe it. This had
never happened before. She merged with all living and nonliving matter around
her, yet remained outside of it. For an indeterminate amount of time which
could have been anywhere from a second to a billion years, she knew everything.
She had true omniscience.

And
then it was over. The bridge returned to normal. Only the total darkness on the
viewscreen told her something had changed.

“Space-fold
complete. A little under half the fleet made it.” Atlas said.

They
were safe, but at that moment, it hardly mattered to her. Her heart ached at the
universe and limitless knowledge she had just lost.

Hera
grabbed her by her neckline. “This is all your fault!” she said, spittle flying
into Freya’s face. “We followed you and you got the entire universe destroyed!
Everything we’ve ever known is
gone!
”

Freya
didn’t have the energy to defend herself. What Hera said was true; she had
doomed them all.

Aphrodite
pulled Hera back. “Leave her alone. She was just following orders.”

“We
weren’t under orders to suck the Ultimus Points dry! That was
her
call,”
Hera said.

“I
concur,” Shinigami said. He must have entered the bridge while they were
arguing. “Bringing the UPAS to full power was reckless. The resulting loss of
life is unimaginable, even to ones such as us.”

Atlas
stepped forward to Freya’s defense. “What choice did we have? The enemy had
caught us in a pincer maneuver. If the Commander hadn’t given the order, we’d
all be dead right now.”

“So
we survive while everything else gets sucked into oblivion? That’s a fucking
bad joke,” Hera said.

Aphrodite
made the wise decision to change the subject. “The important thing now is
figuring out what we’re going to do. We can’t survive in Gehenna indefinitely.”

“There
is very little we
can
do,” Shinigami said.

Freya
knew they needed her now more than ever. She had to step up and be a leader
again. “Here’s what we’re going to do. There aren’t that many of us, so we can
simply go into hibernation until the next Big Bang creates another universe.”

“And
what if that never happens?” Hera said. “What if that universe we just
annihilated was the only one we’ll ever get?”

“We
just have to have faith,” Freya insisted.

“A
strange thing for a god to say,” Shinigami said.

“We
don’t have any other choice,” Atlas said.

They
stared at Hera for a moment, wondering if she would go along with it. Finally
she said, “Fine. But if and when we get out of here, I’m done with you, Freya.”

Shinigami
stood next to her. “As am I.”

All
Freya could say was, “Very well.”

*
* *

Ares
rocked back and forth next to the captain’s chair which Belial currently
occupied aboard their ship. Seeing the universe collapsing in on itself, they
had initiated a space-fold to take them to Gehenna. Only half of their fleet
had made it, though.

Belial
looked down at him with disdain. “Get it together, brother. We need to come up
with a plan for surviving this dark void.”

Ares
wasn’t listening. “She warned us, she warned us so many times, but we wouldn’t listen,
we just wouldn’t listen, all we could think about was killing—killing humans,
killing gods, killing animals, we even killed plants when we got
really
bored, but we just destroyed the
entire universe
! Why didn’t we listen,
brother? Why couldn’t we stop the bloodshed for five seconds? You know, talk
things over, realize we weren’t so different. But it’s too late now. Too late,
too late, too late…” He began bawling, his face a wet, salty mess.

Belial
dragged him to his feet and belted him in the stomach. “Now is
not
the
time for a fucking breakdown! I need your help to rally the fleet. Do you
understand? We’re going to die if we stay here.”

Freya’s
face suddenly appeared on the viewscreen. “Hello, boys.”

Belial
looked at her with undisguised disgust. “So you survived, huh, bitch? The whole
universe goes down the drain and Freya just has to live through it.”

Ares
stepped forward. “Freya? You’re alive? I don’t believe it! I thought I’d never
see you again. But you’re alive. I’m so happy!” He resumed crying, but now they
were tears of joy.

She
smiled at him. “Despite everything, Ares, I’m glad to see you, too. Listen up,
Belial. We’re going into hibernation until the next universe forms. We have no
idea when that will be, so you might as well do it, too.”

“Ha!
You think I’d pass up this opportunity to paint Gehenna with your blood? As
soon as you drop your guard, my fleet’s going to blow you away.”

“No!”
Ares began grappling with him. “I won’t let you kill her! She’s going to live,
no matter what.”

After
several moments, Belial managed to shove him away. “All right, all right! I
don’t want to fight you, brother. The bitch can live. But once we get out of
here, all bets are off.”

And
so, the remainder of the two fleets went to minimal power, and the gods
constructed cryo-stasis chambers that could operate for centuries. In that dark
void they would remain, silent, until a single spark gave birth to the new
universe.

Chapter XV

Arcturus
finished the story. “The gods viewed the Ultimas Points as limitless resources
they could exploit. What none of them realized at the time was that they were
actually the tapestry of the universe. By pulling too hard on one, the whole
thing unraveled. Or maybe it would be easier for you to think of them as
sutures over vital organs. Remove one and the guts of reality spill out. The
gods emerged from Gehenna following the next Big Bang and waited for evolution
to follow the same course and once again give rise to mankind. They then sealed
their technology inside the void to make sure they would never again wreak such
destruction. Of course, you saw the
Sancta Praesidium
, so you know Zero
Grade wasn’t true to their word.

“So
you see, Ev—those monsters you want to save so badly are already guilty of
unimaginably greater bloodshed than we ever could be. Their sins are literally
infinite. And they made sure the new world was molded in their image. They
brought their baggage with them, and as a result, they influenced everything
from our languages to our values. With them around, we had no chance. They
created the evil world that forced us to do unspeakable things to one another
just to survive.”

That
was a lot for Ev to digest. Nevertheless, he was determined to answer Arcturus.
“Look, I don’t know about what happened in the past. The gods made mistakes,
but they learned from them. The Academy is made up of good people, and they’re
trying to change the world for the better, and we should do the same. What we
did as kids was one thing; we had no choice in that. But we’re adults now, and
we have to take responsibility for our actions. The world isn’t making us kill
now; that’s our choice, and we can choose
not
to commit genocide.”

Arcturus
turned around to face him. “You seem eager to write off your actions as a
child, but I know you better than that. I know better than anyone why you went
along with my plan to activate the Ark. You had no reason to trust me, and yet
here we are. I did all of this for you. I gave you the one thing you wanted bad
enough to abandon everything for.”

“And
what’s that?”

“A
world where you never killed your father. You risked your life and the lives of
everyone you care about so you could erase what you consider to be your one
unforgivable sin.”

Ev
couldn’t take it anymore. Arcturus had hit him harder than anyone, and it was
agonizing. For several long seconds it built up in side him. He tried to
contain it, but he couldn’t. He opened his mouth, letting loose a roar as only
someone who has felt his pain could. He did this until his throat was raw.

“Are
you satisfied?” Arcturus asked. “Did you get it all out of your system?”

His
voice was hoarse, but he said, “Yeah.”

miling,
Arcturus replied, “Good. We can just forget this ever happened.”

He
walked past Ev to the stairs leading back up into the building’s promenade.
However, Ev grabbed his arm. “No. You’re going to change the world back to the
way it was.”

Arcturus
let out an exasperated sigh. “Give me a break, Ev. It’s not going to happen.
Maybe you can accept a world full of monsters, but I can’t. We’re staying put.”

“Then
I’m sorry, but I have no choice but to kill you.”

“Kill
me? You’re going to kill me? You’ve lost your mind!”

Ev
was done arguing. He threw a punch as hard as he could. Unfortunately, Arcturus
effortlessly caught it in his palm. The attack had no power behind it; Ev felt
strangely weak. “What?”

“I
control this world, Ev. I merged with the Ark, and now I’m a true god. I was
afraid this might happen, so I took the liberty of stripping you of all your
power. You’re just a normal human here.”

“No!”
Ev pelted him with a flurry of punches and kicks, to no affect. Nevertheless,
he kept it up until he was exhausted and fell to one knee.

Arcturus
looked down at him like an annoyed but loving parent. “You see, Ev? I know
what’s best for you. Without your powers, you can’t hurt yourself in this
world, and I never have to get rough with you. So just go back to your room,
cool off, and in time you’ll come to love it here.”

Even
though it was just the two of them here, Ev felt as if the eyes of everyone in
Gehenna were on him. He had failed, and they were all going to die.

He
closed his eyes and thought of all the people he had let down. Brandon, Freya,
Bethos, Jaysin, CiCi, Daryn, Atlas, Dian Cecht, and billions of others he had
never met.

And
Maya. He would never again see her face, would never hear her criticizing him
with her worried but loving voice. All he was left with now was that cheap
imitation walking the campus.

I can’t accept this.

It’s not fair.

No!

I need the power to fight Arcturus!

DAMMMMMIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!