by Paul Hughes
Brave new world.
The planet fell upon itself, died.
Earth, planet of humanity. Planet of mankind.
Planet of the dead.
[course of action?]
((send a beacon to command. call for all available judas to converge upon next harvest when, coordinates to follow. the enemy’s been routed, and in this moment of their weakness, we have to strike. from all whens, from all alternities, from all of eternity, the judas must converge.))
[precise nextwhen coordinates have been calculated from extrapolation of enemy purpose contrail transit data.]
((good. transmit the coordinates to the fleet, and we’ll go join malachi.))
[affirmative.]
((preparing to disembark on nextwhen transit.))
“Understood, Simon. Another When, another war.” Zero-Four locked the hatch on the stasis chamber, felt the shift and the wash of phase space. He hoped in the instant before his pattern was uploaded into the Whenstream that this time he would not dream.
A pause, a silence. A quiet but troubled sleep of aeons.
The warriors of the Judas faded from existence once more upon paths into damnation.
time of the damned
once upon a time
la la la!
within the black
the man who was Judas
screamed
and held on to
the last strands of
sanity
the vessel that was
Judas Simon
struggled to force
the memories of
her
from his soul
the Enemy sought their Purpose
the deception was
complete
and the
end times
began.
a white place, out of time.
“Incoming beacon.”
“Read it.”
“It’s encrypted for Commander Kilbourne.”
“Who sent it?”
“Mujahadin Malachi.”
“Patch it through to her immediately.”
It began.
Applause over the helmet speakers.
“I dub thee Anubis.”
From her position on the open docking ring of the Judas Lazarus II, Judas Commander Hannah Kilbourne tossed the bottle of champagne at the gunship below her.
End over end over end. Impact.
More applause.
“And with that, comrades, the newest class of Judas is ready for operation.”
Kilbourne looked around at the spectators. Hundreds? Thousands? The number changed daily. Hourly. Especially within this last engagement. So many had perished at the hands of the damned. So many sacrifices...
“Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Mujahadin.”
Roars of applause. Cheering.
Mujahadin. Soldiers of god.
The final hope.
It slept but did not sleep.
It was aware of the incoming projectile. It judged that it was harmless and let the champagne bottle shatter against the top surface of its port weapons nacelle.
So now it was a Judas.
With all of its mechanical intellect it sensed the urgency of the mission, the vast importance of success.
It did not fear.
It was not programmed to fear.
As only a machine can, it smiled inwardly.
Almost time...
“Commander Kilbourne? Priority message from Mujahadin Malachi.”
She had been admiring the new fleet but quickly boarded the vessel upon hearing this.
She pulled off her helmet. “Patch it through.” She placed her hand on the security scanner and waited as the machine withdrew a miniscule blood sample, tested it, coded her DNA and interpreted her pattern, identified her, and decrypted the message.
She read the message.
PREDATOR BECOMES PREY. PREY BECOMES PREDATOR.
Good. That problem had been eliminated.
No one would know. No one.
Events were being set into motion. Preparations were almost complete.
It was time.
black
from within the impossibility of hope and reason, a countless number of raging voices appeared, a tide of the wails of the damned. the voices rose and fell, but each contributed to the atmosphere of ((panic despair hate)) within the blackness.
THEY THEY CAN’T DO THAT THEY CAN’T—
THE PURPOSE IS LOST THE PURPOSE IS DEFEATED—
THEY WILL PAY FOR THIS THE PURPOSE WILL OVERCOME THEM—
and over all, a calm voice resonated.
SILENCE. THE PURPOSE WILL BE COMPLETED.
BUT—
SILENCE. SUBMIT OR CEASE.
I OBEY. WE OBEY.
THE VERMIN SEE NOT VICTORY, BUT ARE BLINDED BY FALSE HOPE. ONE WEB WAS LOST. IS ONE WEB THE TURNPOINT OF THE PURPOSE((?)) I THINK NOT.
BUT OUR FORCES—
—WERE DESTROYED IN THAT WHEN. SOULS WERE LOST. DOES THAT DEFEAT THE ENTIRE PURPOSE((?)) HAVE THE VERMIN NOT TAKEN MANY OF US BEFORE((?)) THEY HAVE STOLEN ONLY FRAGMENTS OF THE PATTERN. OMEGA’S GLORY STRETCHES FURTHER THAN THE CONTAGION CAN EVER BEGIN TO REALIZE.
...
THEY THINK WE ARE WEAK. ARE WE((?))
...
ARE WE((?))
NO.
AND IF THEY SEE US AS WEAKLINGS, IT IS THEY WHO ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE.
YES.
THEY ASSUME WE FEAR THEM.
...
WE DO NOT FEAR. THE JUDAS ARE A VIRUS. A CONTAGION. AN EPIDEMIC. THEY WILL BE ELIMINATED. THEY WILL BE PURGED FROM THE END PATTERN.
realization.
DO YOU SO SOON FORGET THE LAST ENGAGEMENT((?))
THE AMBUSH. A RUSE. A TRAP. VICTORY.
YES.
insight.
WE SHALL STRIKE FIRST.
WE SHALL STRIKE FIRST.
the black closes
The interface gauntlets slid from her hands.
A mesh of wires released her body from its brutally silken embrace. Her thin form sat alone in the battle chamber of the Judas Mara.
Sapphire.
She let the waves of exhaustion sweep through her, and she shuddered with the emotion of the battle. She began to shake, and she wept.
In the chamber, she seemed to float in a dizzying field of debris, remnants of the last wave of the Enemy horde. She reached out, as if she could touch one of the shards. The spherical battle chamber holoprojector was far from top-of-the-line, but it was still unsettlingly realistic.
Forehead on her knees, she embraced herself in the blackness and sobbed silent tears.
(sapphire?)
She wiped away the tears. A voice in her mind. Mara.
“What is it?” Her voice was harsh. Choked.
(sensors detect an incoming vessel.)
“Another wave already?” Such pain in her voice.
(no. it’s a judas. gethsemane jacob.)
Silence.
(sapphire?)
“Dock him. Secure the comlines.”
(done. jacob requests immediate attention.)
“Open the line.”
(*judas gethsemane jacob requests judas golgotha mara commander sapphire—*)
“This is she.”
(*pattern identification confirmed. by order of the first circle judas command, you’re ordered to cease operations in this alternity and—*)
“What?”
(*all operations in this alternity are to cease. your fleet is being recalled to judas command to await new orders. this altwhen is to be abandoned—*)
“That can’t be right… Abandoned? What you’re asking’s impossible.”
(*your orders are to—*)
“We can’t leave it to the Black; we’re struggling to keep ahead of them as is. If we leave, everything we’ve fought for for... Mara—how long?”
(present engagement two years ten months two weeks four—))
“-days. Exactly. Do you think we’ll just
leave all of this?”
(*i don’t expect you to agree with the orders, but that’s what they are. orders.*)
“Fuck your orders! We’re fighting a war here. Has Command forgotten about us? For months, you send no word from the Stream, and then when you do, it’s to pack up and let the Enemy take all that we’ve been fighting for—”
(*sapphire—*)
“No, we don’t have the flashy new equipment you Stream boys have, but we’re still fucking Judas! You think I like fighting a war with a fleet that’s falling apart, a fleet that needed replacement years ago? We’ve lost three ships this month alone because of pattern destabilization.”
(*sapphire—)
“Sometimes I thought that you’d left us out here to die. But we’re covering your asses from the real Enemy. Fuck your orders. If this Altwhen falls—”
(*a situation’s developed that requires the evacuation of this alternity. do you think i don’t know that the altwhen campaigns are critical? trust me, this situation could eliminate the need for the containment forces.*)
Sapphire was silent for a moment, looking at her shaking hands. Mara was becoming concerned.
“Jacob,” gentle, calm, “Please, Jacob. Don’t you see? I—We can’t just abandon this alternity. If they ever broke through... Can’t you tell Command—”
(*sapphire, i’m sorry, but this altwhen has to be evacuated. it’s critical for you to leave—*)
“I can’t leave! What do you know about this war? What do you know?”
She trailed off into bitter, confused tears.
(sapphire, please. it’s okay. you can go now. i’ll speak to jacob. don’t worry.)
“Mara, I—”
(sapphire, go get some sleep.)
“Mara—”
(please, ’phire. go get some sleep.)
She stood wearily, and the floor below her descended from the battle chamber. The Judas sentiences were left alone.
(*mara, is she… is she fit to remain in command?*)
(how dare you? she was right. you stream judas don’t know what this war is about.)
(*we have our own war to fight out there, golgotha. we aren’t cowards.*)
(of course not, oh mighty gethsemane. you just sit out there and pray that we in the outwhens are able to keep this enemy out of the stream.)
(*this is sedition.*)
(sedition? maybe, but i never asked for this... this war, this pain. don’t worry. we’ll summon our fleet. we’ll abandon this altwhen. we’ll go back to the stream, don’t think that we won’t resent it.)
(*why does this altwhen mean so much to you?*)
(it matters nothing to me, but it’s everything to sapphire.)
(*why?*)
(this was her when before the enemy splintered it into this hell. she lost her family. her friends. her world. then she became one of us.)
(*and?*)
(and today, before we stopped the black’s advance, we lost two golgotha and seven thousand droptroops. seven thousand patterns, gone forever. that’s just in one day. we’ve been here for almost three years.)
(*so what was so different about today?*)
(today sapphire’s twin sister was killed.)
silence.
Scalding steam billowed from the shower stall, creating a fog that encompassed the frail figure within.
Sapphire.
She stood under the jets of water, hoping that somehow they would wash her pain away. Her hair hung in her face as the rivulets streamed down her body, bent in exhaustion.
She had won the battle, but lost her sister.
It wasn’t her fault, but somehow... it was.
Sapphire lapsed into a semi-sleep.
(*i’m sorry. i didn’t know.*)
(exactly. no one in the stream knows what we go through out here. we fight a different enemy. we fight ourselves. we’re expendable.)
(*the golgotha aren’t expendable, mara.*)
(don’t condescend. i’ll alert my fleet.)
(*you’ll accompany me back to the stream?*)
(yes.)
She had been the youngest person ever to be the captain of a Judas, achieving that honor at age fourteen.
That had been only two years before, but to her it felt like an eternity.
Sapphire was sixteen.
Command had much respect for her abilities, but had had some reservations about placing a teenager into a battle situation in a position of command. So they had given her the com of the very fleet she had saved from destruction in a nondescript alternity.
It may have been an unimportant Altwhen for Command, but it was personal to Sapphire. It was an alternity of the When in which she had grown up, a world in which she had lived, loved. Her world.
So long ago, when the Enemy had swept upon her When, a solitary Galilee Judas had come from the sky. Her parents placed the twins Sapphire and Jade aboard the vessel and remained behind. There had only been room for the children on board, or so they had been told.
Rising through the atmosphere, the vessel was rocked by an explosion as the Enemy tore into one of its weapons nacelles. Sapphire and Jade were placed on an emergency escape vessel with several members of the crew. The pod jettisoned, and slipped through the Enemy forces undetected as the Judas was consumed by the damned.
She sensed motion below her, around her.
“Mara? Are we shadowing?”
(yes, sapphire. i’m sorry.)
“So this is it? We’re just leaving? Aren’t we even going to leave a skeleton crew here? Someone, anyone, just to make sure they don’t—”
(i’m sorry. the fleet’s been recalled.)
“But the Black will—”
(i know.)
It seemed like a lifetime ago, the rescue from the senseless darkness of space by a fleet of Judas. Her escape pod had been tractored into the docking bay of a Gethsemane-class vessel named Magdalene, and the twins’ new life had begun.
From their temporary refugee quarters, the sisters watched on a viewscreen the world they had known being fought for by two unspeakably powerful forces.
Magdalene weaved throughout the war zone, avoiding enemy fire, but doing little damage against the indomitable foe. In the end, the Judas were slaughtered by the monstrous black entity that came from beyond the stars and between times.
With a hail of the purest white light, Magdalene broke through the Enemy line into safety.
(((how can this be?)))
(we received the orders directly from gethsemane jacob. command ordered us to abandon this when.)
(~why?~)
(jacob offered no explanation.)
(((can we trust them?)))
(of course not.)
Shocked. Confused. Shattered.
Their parents were dead. Their world was no more.
Rescued from certain death, barely nine years old, they were drafted into the service of preventing a Purpose they could not possibly comprehend.
They eventually recovered from the despair caused by the horrifying events tearing their reality apart and set about the task of pursuing the beings from the future that had killed their parents and their world, the Enemy. The Black.
“Mara?”
(yes, sapphire?)
“Do... Do you think that...”
(what, sapphire?)
“Could she still be alive back there with... with the Black? What if they captured her group? What if—”
(no, sapphire. when the command vessel exploded, her group was too close to the phase—)
“I killed her.”
(no... no, sapphire. it wasn’t your fault.)
“How do you know?”
(when you cut apart the enemy that was attacking jove, you couldn’t have known that the debris trajectory would intersect the command vessel, much less that the command vessel wouldn’t react in time to avoid impact. it was simply an accident. Sapphire, it wasn’t your fault.)
“But it killed my sister!”
(jade wasn’t the onl
y judas to die. We lost many patterns today.)
“Mara, leave me.”
She floated alone in the spherical expanse, surrounded by dead stars and broken dreams.
Does time pass in the Stream? They grew into young women in the gap between times, gradually becoming an integral part of the wave that was the Judas. The wave swept them along at a breakneck speed.
Consumed by their hatred of the Enemy, Jade and Sapphire were passionate in their quest for revenge. Hate became a physical manifestation when they joined the ranks of the droptroops.
Battle after battle, the twins fought with a ferocity unmatched previously in the Fleet. They fought almost as a single unit, as if a special bond connected them.
The sisters did not go unnoticed by Command. They were transferred from the Gethsemane Magdalene to the newly developed class of warships, the Golgotha, a replacement for the aging Mecca and Eden class vessels.
And then they went home.
“Mara?”
(yes, sapphire?)
“Is the beacon still transmitting?”
(sensors indicate yes.)
“Can you get me a movement reading? Has there been any Enemy response to our pullback?”
(i’ve linked into the planetary sentry net.)
“And?”
(phase space disruptions are off the board.)
...
(there’s been considerable enemy movement.)
“Where?”
(the enemy’s fallen upon the planet.)
silence.
(it’s over.)
“Thank you, Mara,” Sapphire sobbed. “You can go now.”
The Altwhen had fallen.
The concept of Altwhens had been fairly new when Jade and Sapphire were assigned to the new Golgotha vessel Mara. Almost a novelty, these mysterious holes in the Whenstream had not been regarded with suspicion until one fateful day when an Enemy armada had emerged from one, almost eradicating the force of Judas patrolling the area.
The entire philosophy of the Stream being a solid, cast, written-in-stone entity, substance, program, whatever it was was swept away. A task force sent into the Altwhen confirmed Command’s suspicions: Even after a When was lost, after all hope had faded, it still persevered in a shattered form beyond the Stream. A corrupt file fragment, lurking beneath the surface of the primary Pattern.