Superluminary

by perpetrator

  “You knew at one time, but forced yourself to forget, when you chose death over life.

  “I am not the top of the pyramid of vampires of my galaxy as you are the top of the pyramid of yours. We built a townhall, not a pyramid, and we made all of us lords of creation.

  “I am just a private citizen. I own a farm. I design, make, and breed beasts and birds and fish and bugs out of all fashion of substances for every imaginable environment, so that no niche, not even the photospheres of blazing suns, will hereafter be empty of abundant life!

  “I live with my wife. She weaves and composes dream-stuff, and enjoys some fame at it. By day, she hunts creatures I make. Can I show you photographic memories of my great-great-great-granddaughter, Nephelethea?”

  The brain of the Uttermost Overlord, vast beyond telling though it was, could not comprehend the concepts he was shown. A leaderless galaxy? Worlds ruled by laws, not by ruthlessness?

  A man with infinite, unbridled power who threw it all away? A king who put aside his crown to come here, and stand in the dark, in a mortuary-space of endless bones? An emperor who scorned his throne, and came here to be tormented? To become a captive, a food beast, less than a slave?

  Aeneas could see the monster’s thoughts were confused and snarled as it wrestled with the impossible paradox: the ancient abomination could not utter a word, could not construct a coherent thought.

  “As I said, I came out of retirement to volunteer for this undercover operation. Since it was my idea, I did not want to send another in my place. And by the time you see and understand this thought in my head, all of the Milky Way will be embedded into the faster-than-light naked singularity horizon of the ancient and living stars you captured. You see, the effect of a singularity unfolding is even faster than faster-than-light warp effects. It is instantaneous. It is above anything in nature and acts faster. It is ultrasuperluminary.”

  The frustration and bitter wonder of the Overlord forced itself into a coherent thought: HOW? BUT HOW CAN YOU CHANGE YOURSELF FROM A MAN TO A STAR? YOU ARE MERELY MORTAL! MERELY A LIMITED, LIVING THING!

  “Living, yes. Merely, no.”

  IMPOSSIBLE! ABSURD! HOW CAN YOU CREATE NEW SCIENCES WHERE NONE EXISTED BEFORE? HOW CAN YOU MAKE OF YOURSELF MORE THAN YOU ARE? HOW?

  But the answer that was in the brain of Aeneas was not pulled forth, for the Uttermost Overlord was dead to the last trace of his immense brainspace, larger than worlds. Even had he lived, he would not have understood the answer.

  Space and time convulsed with the shocks being released from Andromeda into the heart of Milky Way. The armature of the Great Sphere encircling the supermassive black hole was destroyed as that singularity unfolded instantly, filling the lightyears with flame.

  Aeneas, wrapped in zones of protective force, hanging above an ocean of space now ablaze with white light, paused for a moment. He saw the inverted supermassive black hole of the core now flaming with rainbow upon burning rainbow of glorious energy brilliant and bright on all wavelengths. He saw whole solar systems of living suns and worlds rising from the deep, shining on the mental wavelengths with the pure, strong thoughts of all those Forerunner races who had fought to the last, never contemplating surrender.

  Despite that there was none to hear, before entering a warpchannel back to his home and wife, Aeneas smiled and broadcast into the universe an answer to that final question:

  “Because we live.”

  THE END