Reality's Veil

by Damon Alan

  “Then we are in agreement?” Sarah asked. She was but a child to this being, but it was Sarah who held the power of decision.

  Sylange stood, walking on the emptiness to stand in front of Sarah’s chair. The alien extended her hand. “Matriarch to Matriarch. We are in agreement.”

  Sarah took the hand, and Sylange pulled her up into an embrace. As they closed into contact, the reality Sarah knew changed once more. Time became meaningless, and a thousand details of Sylange’s plan were discussed to completion.

  Sarah’s mind felt vast, and as fast as lightning. She contemplated the costs of failure and renewed her resolve that she would save her people. Because she wasn’t just saving their today. She was saving their tomorrows as well.

  A tenuous and conditional alliance was formed at the end of the meeting.

  Sarah still didn’t understand the Obedi as she would like, but she knew she never could. They lived in a reality that made hers look like a single room apartment compared to a galaxy.

  She didn’t believe in gods, but now she knew where the idea originated. Because the Obedi reminded her of the Hellenistic pantheon mankind worshipped long before moving out to the stars. Powerful, so human in so many ways, and probably just as flawed.

  Chapter 30 - Admiral’s Personal Log

  11 Ors 15332

  AI Lucy82A recording, Admiral's personal log, personal archive: Galactic Standard Date 22:14:32 11 ORS 15332

  Personal log entry #1978, Admiral Sarah Dayson, origin Korvand, Pallus Sector.

  Current Location: Deep Space, OSV Sheffaris, Komi System

  Pilot, turn off your audio for the passenger compartment and shut the hatch.

  “Aye, sir.”

  [A sound AI estimates 100% to be an airtight hatch closing]

  Back to the log.

  There are two distinct species of humans now, the humans of our galaxy and the humans of Refuge, the adepts. But time will change everything and that unstoppable turning wheel will show us the variety of possibilities that humanity has.

  We’ve been out in the galaxy for 15,000 years, which isn’t really long enough to create vastly different species. And with the base code of human DNA recorded by every colony ship sent to a new planet, genetic drift has been even less than it might have been if every planet was like Refuge, and just left to chance.

  What I wonder is, were the Obedi once like us? Planetary bound intelligences with individual thoughts and fears, selfish concerns, and a limited comprehension of what is out there beyond our own braincases?

  Because that’s not what they are now. Khala is almost comic in this reality, in my universe. But meeting him and Sylange in their home, I can’t help but feel as if we’re the ants the gods are showing mercy to.

  It’s a desperate thing that’s happened.

  “It’s not that desperate. If they wanted to destroy us, we’d be, as you say, ants before gods.”

  [A deep sigh]

  Quiet, Salphan, this is a log. Don’t speak until I’m done.

  “Oh! Sorry. I thought you’d taken up some strange professorial disposition toward me.”

  [A laugh]

  No. Please, quiet now.

  [A pause]

  Good. So anyway, Salphan has a point. We might as well trust these Obedi, because it is, in my opinion, a simple fact that they could destroy us like swatting a fly. Whether we trust them or not is irrelevant, no more than I’d care if a gnat felt affection toward me.

  [A sound AI estimates 79% likely to be Admiral Dayson’s companion snorting]

  Salphan and I will be sharing with the crew our impressions, and I plan on performing in two ways. The first is as if the Obedi are our allies, because I think they are. The second is as if Bannick is my ally, something I’m much less certain of. But we need ships. If the Oasians, as we are now called by our allies and enemies, are to be taken seriously by humans, Hive, or Obedi, we’ll need a strong fleet. I have a fleet that can take any system around right now. I want a large force of fleets that can take a sector. Because we’re going to turn the Komi fleets away from human targets of opportunity and onto the true enemy of our future.

  The machine intelligence as the Obedi refer to them.

  [A 19 second pause]

  Okay, what do you think?

  “I think it’s the right move. The only logical way to go.”

  Since when are you about logic?

  “The question, dear Sarah, is when have I not been about logic?”

  [A 47 second pause]

  You know what? You’re right. You usually are. We’ll be docking here in a few minutes, secure your things while I let the pilot know to turn his audio back on.

  “How do you know these things, I don’t see—”

  Look out that porthole.

  “Oh. My. That ship is big.”

  [Admiral Dayson laughs for four seconds]

  End the log, Lucy.

  Chapter 31 - Black and White

  11 Ors 15332

  Sarah Dayson opened her eyes.

  “— the alien has a pretty good grip on the shuttle,” someone said.

  The pilot.

  Everything seemed so bland, so restrictive. She felt like she couldn’t breathe but she didn’t know why. Looking sideways to see Salphan, he looked as stunned as she felt.

  “Admiral?” the pilot asked. “Your orders?”

  The shuttle lurched as the alien… Khala released them.

  “Take us back to the Sheffaris,” Sarah ordered, hoping that was the right choice. She felt groggy, as if she was recovering from a night of too much wine.

  “Right away,” the pilot said as Sarah felt the engines kick in. He seemed in a hurry to move away from Khala.

  “Wingback chairs?” she asked Salphan.

  “And a woman with black eyes,” he answered.

  The experience was real. They’d gone somewhere else, and either no time had passed here or very little.

  “How long did the alien have a grip on us, Ensign?” she asked their pilot.

  “Maybe ninety seconds, Admiral. Not long at all.”

  “And we were here the whole time?”

  He laughed. “You mean the shuttle? We were held tight by the creature.”

  “No. Salphan and I. Did anything happen to us?”

  She sensed the pilot was starting to feel spooked by her questions. “No, sir, nothing.” A five second pause indicated the man’s hesitance to ask his next question. “Why?”

  “I’m not sure. I need to sort this all out.”

  They flew silent until arriving at the Sheffaris, other than a log entry. Sarah lost in her thoughts and Salphan seemingly lost in his. The pilot was smart enough or spooked enough not to ask any more about it.

  Once docked with the ship, they retired to Sarah’s quarters despite being pressed by the rest of the crew to find out what happened.

  “Did they back out on the deal?” Heinrich asked. “You weren’t gone long.”

  “No, I can tell you that much. We have a new ally,” Sarah answered as she flipped the privacy setting on her hatch. “Salphan and I need to debrief each other, and I will brief all of you once we are satisfied we are both on the same page regarding the meeting.”

  “What are your—” Kuo started to ask, but was cut off as Sarah closed the hatch.

  “Lucy, set the walls to display real time visuals from outside the ship.”

  “Immediately, Admiral,” the AI replied.

  Space appeared around them. Sarah and Salphan both sat on her bed, staring out into the void.

  “You’re hoping your mind is going to expand to fill this expanse, aren’t you?” Salphan asked her.

  “I feel like a lifetime of luggage stuffed in a handbag,” Sarah told him. “I thought this might help us feel a bit less claustrophobic.

  “If I understand those references, I feel that as well.”

  “I know full well when you don’t understand something you look in my mind for the definition,” she chided him.<
br />
  He blushed. “What do we do now? We either blindly trust or we blindly refuse to work with the Obedi. I have no ability to understand more than a few bits of what I saw wherever we were.”

  “Me either,” Sarah said, agreeing. “I do know we made a deal, to work with the Obedi to eliminate the Hive. And I remember knowing so much, and because of that cautiously trusting Sylange.”

  Salphan didn’t answer immediately. As he thought and she waited, they looked at the image of Komi Prime, blazing in the distance, warming planets so far away.

  “How do we know we’re still ourselves?” Sarah asked.

  “You’re going to have to trust me on this one, but I’d know. More importantly, Emille would have raised an alarm when I came back on board the ship.”

  “I don’t think a lot has changed, other than we have an ally,” Sarah said, accepting his answer with a wan smile. “We still kill Urdoxander, we still make Bannick stick to his word, and we still kill Hive.”

  “You can’t blow up stars,” Salphan said. “I remember that.”

  He was right. Now that he mentioned it, she remembered that as well.

  Why?

  “It’s almost as if I remember what we agreed to do, but I can’t remember why we made any of those agreements. As if the reasoning was too complex to fit in my mind,” Salphan added.

  “We must trust that our time there didn’t change our ability to make sound decisions,” Sarah said. “We will follow the agreements we know we made.”

  “A sound plan.” Salphan gestured toward the door. “We have to tell the others before their imaginations run wild. And I recommend that we seem much more certain of our choice than either one of us are.”

  Sarah stood up and clicked her boots to the floor. “That is on page one of the leadership manual, Salphan. Every command I’ve ever had, every order I’ve given, required me to do just that. So there will be no difficulty today.”

  The battle adept stood next to her and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Then you should hope your lucky streak of being right continues.”

  “Lucy, return the room to normal, kill the projection. Inform Captain Kuo that I would like a meeting of the top officers in the galley,” Sarah ordered.

  “Right away, Admiral,” Lucy replied as the room returned to shades of gray.

  Chapter 32 - Two Branches

  Sylange hated returning to the restrictive reality of four dimensions. Not all universes were only four, but this one was. Of course there were yet other universes with only three, and once she’d heard tell of one with only two, so it could be worse.

  “Grumpy?” Khala asked her.

  “Not because of you,” she assured him. “You performed admirably, mate of mine. Getting the organics to the meeting by allying with one of their factions at a crucial battle, that was a good idea. Knowing which side to pick… well, that’s why you’re my mate.”

  Lights of embarrassment flashed across his carapace. “I did what had to be done.” The light patterns turned toward shame. “I killed thousands of them to do what I needed to do. I am not happy about that.”

  “Even with their fight against the machines, there isn’t a shortage of the organics.” Sylange stroked his midpoint ring. “I assure you, a thousand, or even a billion won’t be missed by the universe they inhabit. Even if we only save the adepts and a few of the others there will be stability in this universe as long as the machines are all gone. Consciousness is the key. Not so much the numbers.”

  “Then why are there so many of them?” Khala asked.

  Sylange flashed her disinterest in why. “This universe is particularly life friendly. It’s practically in every crook and cranny, wherever there is water and heat. The humans live in such places. They spread like… well, almost like the machines do in so many of the universes.”

  “And why two branches in their evolution? Sarah Dayson’s people alone have consciousness. She is a capable leader.”

  Sylange turned her backside toward a large star, the light of which she and Khala basked in. Her children raced around hectically, off in the distance, destroying the last of the machines in this system. Why was Khala making her think so hard with her own consciousness now shrunk back down to so few dimensions? It hurt and felt like she was a shadow of her real self.

  “I think this is why Shosgawa was so demanding that we save this universe. Something different is happening here. It has created the means of its own regulation in the adepts, and that is something we’ve not seen before,” she finally answered.

  “So then why not allow the non-adept humans to go extinct?” he pressed.

  “Because, Khala, did you not sense how Sarah Dayson’s mind expanded into the oververse? Not as our does, but she, and I suspect her species of human, has something the adepts do not.”

  Khala flashed impatience. “Do I have to drag it out of you?”

  “It is Sarah Dayson’s people who will evolve to reach the oververse if this universe survives. Not the adepts. This reality has created the adepts to be caretakers. They are conscious, but Salphan didn’t grow to fill the freedom of the oververse as Sarah did. Did you not notice that?”

  Another embarrassment flash. But this time not for praise, but for failure.

  “I did not.”

  “And that is why I am Matriarch, and a female will always be.”

  “Do the adepts know this?” Khala asked. “They seem to accept Sarah Dayson as their leader, but do they know the end result that will befall them? That they are an evolutionary dead end?”

  “My scenario is still only a hypothesis, Khala,” Sylange replied. “I am speculating. As I said, we’ve never seen this before. But it makes sense.”

  “This universe created the adepts as herd masters for its own future.”

  “Correct.”

  “What of the part of itself it invests in the consciousness of the adepts?”

  “When heat death comes to this reality, they will end, releasing their consciousness back into the whole. So in a way they will survive, when that consciousness is spread into the final survivors of this place. But that is uncountable chimindiks in the future.”

  Khala paused, appearing to ponder the implications.

  “Do we inform them?” he asked.

  “Are you mad?” she said, serious in the question. “They have enough reason to fight, these humans. They don’t even need a reason, really. If you gave them one as good as that, one that would provoke war between the two species, who knows what would become of this reality?”

  “Makes sense,” he agreed, snuggling in closer to her. “You’re right.”

  Her guesses as to the path of human evolution may have impressed her mate, but that’s all she was doing. Guessing. Since her mother’s death and Sylange’s ascension, she’d been playing her role with uncertainty and guesswork.

  She wondered if it had been the same for her mother when Shosgawa was first a matriarch.

  Chapter 33 - Incomprehensible

  12 Ors 15332

  Sarah shrugged. She wanted to give the crew concrete answers, and make it seem like their plan was written on a foundation of knowledge.

  But she couldn’t.

  “The basic answer is this. The aliens proved they are not from this universe. The human mind isn’t fully compatible with living outside our four dimensions, so the details are less than perfect. But we know what we need to do.”

  Her officers looked skeptical, and Sarah didn’t blame them. Kuo looked concerned, Heinrich was stern in her skepticism. Algiss looked confused, as if he didn’t even understand what happened.

  Well neither did she, but she wasn’t going to admit that.

  She knew what Heinrich was thinking. How can the conclusions from the meeting be trusted if the experience in Sylange’s realm wasn’t remembered in detail? And how did Sarah and Salphan know the conclusions weren’t merely implanted in their minds to suit the purposes of the Obedi?

  Those were good thoughts, and even if He
inrich wasn’t thinking them now, she’d get there. These thoughts were something that needed addressed.

  “Kuo, I’m fine. Heinrich. I can see you’re worried. And I get that. You’re wondering how you can trust the conclusions I have shared with you.”

  “I am wondering exactly that, Admiral.”

  “Have you ever questioned my judgment before?” Sarah asked.

  Heinrich’s eyes narrowed. She had. Of course she had.

  Sarah continued without a verbal answer. “I, and you, command by natural talent. It’s how we’re wired. When my gut instinct says for me to do something, it’s a conglomeration of numerous factors. Experience. Judgment. Instinct. I don’t know, call it what you will. But sometimes leadership decisions aren’t rational, they’re spur of the moment decisions that are more inspiration than reason. Am I wrong?”

  Heinrich crossed her arms, a gesture that Sarah read as defensiveness and reluctance toward accepting the statement. Maybe Heinrich was often naturally skeptical. It wasn’t a bad trait for a commander to have, if that commander knew when to set skepticism aside and act.

  Heinrich finally nodded and uncrossed her arms, having taken time to sort it all out in her mind. “No, Admiral, you’re not. And I have questioned you more than once. Often I am the one proven wrong when I do.”

  “And sometimes you’re right. That’s how it works. Nobody is one hundred percent effective, one hundred percent right, either you or me. That’s why I always listen to your counsel as one of my senior officers. And Kuo’s, although he probably doesn’t see it that way lately.”

  Kuo grinned. “You’re a nightmare boss sometimes. But you’re also my friend and our best hope of defeating the Hive.”

  “I appreciate your frank assessment,” Sarah replied. “But I will do what I think is right in the end, and if you haven’t changed my mind, then deal with it.”

  He nodded. “Of course. I’m still alive, mainly due to you. I’ll deal with it, as you say.”

  Heinrich sighed loudly, exhaling through her nose as she pursed her lips. “As will I,” she agreed. “You’re the admiral of this fleet, if you say jump, we jump. If you say we trust the Obedi, we trust them, at least on the surface. But I will watch for betrayal, Admiral, and if they betray us, I will find a way to kill them.”