Time and Time Again – I’ll Make Sure – Destiny x Marathon

“Saying it’s reconfigured for human pilots is all well and good, but can you move this thing?” Leela said. The drained sensation had returned, but it was much weaker than before. If it truly ran on Light, remaining in operation would probably require a constant supply. 

John nodded. “The controls resemble vehicles I trained in before. You ready?” The cyborg’s harness was different from hers, but then he was much heavier. 

“Let’s finish this.” Leela replied. 

John pulled a lever and the Sling was released from some docking clamp on its underside. Immediately it began to hover in place, shifting ever so slightly on the atmosphere that was being pulled through the tunnel and into space. Under John’s control it started forward and up, dashing through the tunnel at a velocity that accelerated rapidly. 

“Tycho, contact our jumpship and tell it to stay close.” Leela said. Within moments they had left the planetoid and were in space. Stars glittered all around them. Behind them was the shattered planetoid of the Sikhaan. The increasing quakes and the massive gap torn through it by the W’rkcacnter had doomed it; large cracks were already forming that would rip it apart. A glint of light shifted as Leela’s ship closed on them. It was unarmed, but she saw no reason to leave it behind here. 

“The W’rkcacnter has left; I believe it’s heading for Earth.” John said as he consulted a bank of instruments that resembled a radar.

“Makes sense; if it wants to consume Light, the Traveller is the greatest source of it in Sol, if not the entire galaxy.” Leela said and did her best to fight off her memories of the last time she had seen the Last City. This time would be different. 

“I’m not sure of the specific mechanics, but we need to get it into the Sun, and if not that then Alpha Centauri’s star. Those are our closest options.” John said.

“You’re not sure!?” Tycho exclaimed.

Leela agreed with Tycho’s worries, but now was not the time. “If we throw it into the Sun, will it disrupt the star?” 

John looked back at her, and she saw more hope than certainty. “I can’t say.” 

Leela nodded in understanding. How could any of them know these things? 

With that, John put the craft into the pursuit. Already it had lost the disk-shape they had found it in, and moreso resembled a fatter jumpship. The W’rkcacnter had already passed Pluto in the minutes since they had left the planetoid but the Sling was catching up, and by the time they were passing Uranus it was showing up on the short-range radar. Or rather, the short-range radar showed everything else but the creature. They could not truly see or perceive it with their instruments, but they could see around it, and thus it was detectable by where there was nothing. It only took Tycho a second to run through the instruments and plot the entity’s path; a straight line through Sol to Earth, and at this velocity it would be there within the hour. 

“Tycho, can we hail the City?” Leela asked while John kept up the pursuit. Their jumpship was somewhere behind them and falling behind. The Stellar Sling was frightfully fast. It occurred to Leela that if they were to reach Earth from beyond Pluto’s orbit in an hour, they were well past the speed of light.

“I’ve already tried,” Tycho said, “but they aren’t responding. There’s a storm growing on Earth and it must be disrupting communications.” 

“Could they realistically help us?” John asked and threw the Sling into a curved trajectory to bring the W’rkcacnter into view. 

The beast, hurtling as it was towards Earth at superrelativistic speeds, looked to Leela like a living fireball with a spherical center surrounded by undulating waves of matter. Every time she had an image of it in her head, it would shift and become something new. Anything that crossed its path, be it space dust or meteorites, was changed or deleted. Sol was fortunate that no major planets or moons had shared that fate so far. 

“Engaging!” John called out and dove the Sling towards the W’rkcacnter. Weapons from somewhere on the Sling opened fire and explosions rippled along the W’rkcacnter’s hide, but within moments they ceased, as the munitions were erased from reality in mid-flight and the creature changed course for a moment to charge straight at them. John and Leela were nearly tossed from their harnesses as it impacted with the Sling and sent them flying with a cacophony of alarm bells ringing in the cockpit.

Warning. Warning. Reality Integrity dropping. Hull Synchronicity below Recommended Levels.

“Reality Integrity is not a phrase I ever want to hear again.” Leela said with a grimace as John fought to right the Sling and regain control. The W’rkcacnter had already vanished from their line of sight as it resumed its route to Earth. 

Tycho turned to John. “The Sling is maintaining its own reality, but something is drawing processing power from its CPU.”

“I highly doubt an advanced Jjaro spacecraft uses a CPU.” John replied.

“Analogues. But I think it’s the shapeshifting. The Sling is trying to guess what you want, and that takes processing power away from the reality generator.” Tycho said.

“Adding reality generator to my list.” Leela muttered. 

“What can you do about that?” John said matter-of-factly. 

“Let’s tell it what you want directly. The computer should be able to understand.” Tycho said.

John looked at the bank of controls. “I can’t transmit that on my own.” 

“Then think on it, bring it up,” Tycho said and flew to John’s side, “I’ll send it over.” 

John looked at the Ghost for a moment, then nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, then the cockpit was lit up by Tycho’s scanner. A moment later a second beam connected the Ghost to the instruments, and the Sling quivered. 

UESC SF-021 Interceptor schematics loaded. Shifting.

Leela blinked, and the controls were different again. 

“I made sure to load something that had two seats.” John said from the front. “I suspect the form doesn’t influence the Sling’s capabilities.”

Tycho was still connected to the computer. “Processing power being routed solely to the reality generator. Next time the W’rkcacnter tries something, the Sling will be ready.” 

They blasted off again. With space as the only reference point, judging their speed was impossible but Leela was sure they had increased tremendously. By the time they crossed Jupiter they passed the W’rkcacnter again, leaving a line of explosions across it with their weapons. The W’rkcacnter roiled for a moment then resumed its course, seemingly uninjured. Whenever it counter-attacked, they were able to avoid it or push through it, now that the Sling was focused on its defense. But every attack cost time, and soon Earth appeared as a blue dot against the void. 

“We’re running out of time!” Leela called out. She could not help pilot the machine, but she still served as the fuel source; as their pursuit had intensified so had the demands on her Light. She would not call the sensation painful, but neither was it pleasant. She was so unused to it that she had no frame of reference for how long she would be able to stand it.

John grunted and put the Sling into a spin through a barrage of attacks from the W’rkcacnter, then pulled a lever. The machine shook, and the screen in front of Leela lit up. Stellar Sling Device deployed. Supercausal entity within range. She gasped as the draining surged to painful levels. But as John launched the device, the W’rkcacnter opened around it to dodge it effortlessly, then spun and ducked away. 

The W’rkcacnter stopped in place for a moment, then rippled with a hunger that could be felt through space. It had sighted its prey; the Traveller that hovered above the City. It sped away with renewed energy and John went in pursuit. 

“John,” Tycho cried out, “Leela’s flagging. We can’t keep going for much longer.” 

“No,” Leela replied and touched Tycho’s shell, “keep going John, this has all been for nothing if we fail again.” 

John looked at her for a moment as the Sling caught up to the W’rkcacnter. Their eyes locked, and he nodded. 

Sighting its prey had pushed all other thoughts from the W’rkcacnter’s mind, and it ignored the matte-grey craft as it charged towards it and deployed the Stellar Sling a second time. John dived the craft straight into the shifting mass and pulled the lever again. Leela cried out in pain as the drain intensified.

Stellar Sling Device deployed. Supercasual entity within range. Engaging containment procedure. 

At that, the stick wrestled out of John’s hand as the craft took control. The W’rkcacnter howled through space as the device embedded itself and extended, forming a net of silvery strands so impossibly thin that soon they were invisible to the naked eye, only seen where they restrained the chaotic beast. The W’rkcacnter roiled and strained against the net, but it barely even buckled. The craft turned towards the Sun and set off at a velocity that forced John and Leela back into their seats with pained grunts. The viewscreen darkened as the Sun came into view and grew until it took up the entirety of their horizon, the speed of the craft growing and growing until it seemed to the trio that they would slam into the sun itself, but then with a judder that went through the entire craft, the net behind them detached itself and the craft rose out of its path, turning at the last moment before the net with the restrained W’rkcacnter slammed into the surface of the Sun. For a moment all seemed to stand still, then shafts of light-blue light erupted around creature and it began to sink below the Sun’s surface. Even in such conditions, the two seemed unharmed and they were below the surface in short order, until a mass ejected from the surface and spun into space.

“It’s just a coronal mass ejection,” Tycho said with clear relief, “the containment seems to be working.” 

“Is that it? It’s over?” Leela said after the cockpit had been silent for a long time. Even John simply sat there and stared at the Sun. 

“It’s over.” he said and leaned back in the seat. He looked relaxed for the first time since Leela had seen him.

Before she could speak further, the craft shuddered and turned before setting off. 

“It’s heading back, it’s going back to the planetoid.” Tycho said, and the screens lit up as to confirm.

Containment Successful. Returning to designated base. 

“But the planetoid is shattered, there’s nothing left.” Leela said.

“Tycho, can you cancel the return protocol?” John said.

Tycho shook his shell. “The security is beyond anything I have ever seen. Even the schematic transfer was handled by an intermediary program. I can’t do anything.” he said and flew to Leela’s side. 

“It’s likely that the craft won’t reactivate unless it is required for containment again.” Tycho finished. 

The trio waited in the cockpit until Leela’s jumpship caught up to them, and with some regret they abandoned the Jjaro craft to its fate. The cockpit of Leela’s ship was smaller than that of the craft, but they managed to fit, John gazing at the direction the craft had gone the entire way to Earth. 

They were unable to hail City Airspace Control until they were practically in sight of the walls. Again it was Liam that responded, with no memory of the time Leela and Tycho had hailed to confirm John’s story, and designated a landing platform for them. 

“So, what happens now?” 

They were sitting on a bench in Central Park each with their own take-away box of warm noodles. Tycho stayed close to Leela’s side as he trawled the local net for news and any mentions of their climactic battle in space. Due to the storm, the City had not noticed it with their own instruments, and Leela had no desire to explain it all right now. 

John postponed his reply with a mouthful of noodles and duck, then said. “I go back to exploring. Fighting W’rkcacnter isn’t all I get up to. I’ll have you know, before I came to your City I was on a fortified moon. Might go back there.” 

“Sounds interesting.” Leela said and took a helping of her own meal. 

John waited for her to finish. “You might be able to come with me, you know. Granted we don’t know the full details of how you were able to shift along with me, but it’s a possibility.” 

Leela chewed on that thought for a moment. “I’m an explorer at heart, John. It’s what I do, how I spend my own given immortality. It sounds like a golden opportunity, but I am going to decline your offer.”

She indicated the City around her with a wave of a hand. “This is where I live. This time, this place. I come back here when I need a rest, and I don’t intend to change that.”

“Besides,” she looked at Tycho, “I have some unanswered questions that I am going to pursue now, and I can’t imagine I will find the answers anywhere else other than Earth.”

“Fair enough.” John said with a smile and finished his food. 

“And you’re sure?” John said as he looked at the gleaming spacecraft. It was sleeker than most he had ever seen in his own time.

“I have others. This is one of my best, but I have others.” Leela said. They were standing in one of the City’s civilian hangars. Not many private citizens had craft of their own, but Leela was a Lightbearer, even if she wasn’t a Guardian. 

“Thank you Leela, I just hope it’ll come with me when I shift.” John said.

“Well,” Leela replied with a chuckle, “if it doesn’t then I just take it back.” 

“Is this it, then? Is this goodbye?” Tycho said after a moment and looked at John. 

“I suppose it is, Tycho, Leela.” John said and turned away from the spacecraft. 

“Sure you don’t want to wait out the storm?” Leela said and glanced out the hangar doors. The clouds above the City were practically black, and the City was losing communications beyond the Wall. It was going to be rough. 

“I’m sure. The storm might well not be there when I’m going.” John said and climbed the ladder into the cockpit. 

“Goodbye then, John. Good luck.” Leela said.

“Goodbye.” Tycho echoed.

John closed the canopy and saluted at them without a word, then bent to the controls. It seemed a little small for him, but he would make do. Leela stepped back as the craft began to turn to head for the exit. She followed as John taxi’d it to the runway, wondering if there was more she was supposed to say. Before she knew it there he was, ready for takeoff. 

Leela’s focus was broken by a blast of light and sound, and as she turned she saw the source; explosions were ripping through the Tower and along the top of the Wall. Bulky vessels emerged from the black clouds and descended towards the City. 

Leela turned back to John and she could see him looking at her. She waved in the direction of the runway.

“Take off, John, go! We’ll take care of it, I’ll make sure!” she shouted and waved again. 

John looked her in the eye for a moment then nodded. And just like that, the jumpship accelerated, took off and then vanished. The jumpship had followed John in his shift, and he was safe. 

“It’s the Cabal. They’re attacking the City.” Tycho said.

Leela sighed and reached for the pistol in her belt. She had really been looking forward to some rest.

FIN

Time and Time Again – Not A Trunk to Stand On – Destiny x Marathon

They found more of the egg-shaped Sikhaan vehicles in a garage on the outskirts of the residential district and a jolt from Tycho started their engines. Leela was glad to leave the oppressive shadows of the abandoned mansions behind. They had brought the alien fur and the tablet from the basement, the fur wrapped around Leela’s shoulders. The tablet was stored with John; the cyborg had a surprising capacity for storing objects about his person. The revolver he had used earlier was nowhere to be seen, but Leela had no doubt that if John needed it, the weapon would be in his hand in a heartbeat. 

An earlier quake had damaged the residential cavern but the serious damage had been contained to the edges, and navigating their vehicles around the cracked chunks of ice and rock slowed them to a crawl, with Tycho guiding them from the air above. Leela wished she had kept better track of the time from their first visit; she already felt like they had been in this Shift for a long time and could not escape the thought that, at any moment, the W’rkcacnter would escape again. 

Time and Time Again – The Woman, The Ghost and The Cyborg – Destiny x Marathon

The world warped around Leela as she reached out towards Tycho, but in the next breath he and John were gone, replaced by rows of ice-speckled pews. Her feet landed on a slick floor and she tumbled badly. It was pure luck that she didn’t crack her skull open on one of the pews. A wave of nausea rolled through her, but she kept it in as she surveyed her surroundings. It was the domed temple again with the icy sphere in the centre, though in this time the sphere had cracked some time in the past and was lying on the ground split in two. Remembering the vision she had seen upon touching it, Leela’s anxiety spiked, but when nothing happened she moved closer. The plinth that had supported the once-floating sphere was of some grey stone, with a hole in the centre that extended beyond Leela’s vision. Next she went to the Sikhaan refectory where they had found the first terminal and found the terminal already turned on, the screen idle on a Sikhaan message log. 

“Tycho, can you–?” She started but realised that she could not feel her Ghost anywhere around her. Her breathing quickened. 

Time and Time Again – Not This Time – Destiny x Marathon

As soon as Tycho had the data he needed from the tablet, John replaced the tablet on its plinth and stepped away. A few of the Sikhaan rushed to the plinth and examined the tablet, perhaps worried that the stranger had damaged their relic in some fashion. 

“The positional data I found points deeper into the planetoid,” Tycho said, “and that ramp seems as good an entry point as any.” 

“Okay, let’s–” John started, but he must have felt the same sensation that had passed over Leela and Tycho, for the trio turned and looked up the way they had come. A single figure stood there, its four arms slack against its side and blood dripped from a gash in the middle of its face where a trunk should have been. Four milky-white eyes glared at them across the distance. 

Leela’s anxiety spiked at the sight. “Tell me you two are seeing that.” 

John said nothing, but drew his revolver.

“What is it?” Tycho said and flew behind Leela. 

“It’s the creature that attacked me in the temple,” Leela replied and thought back to the occurrences and visions from their first visit, “and I think it’s been following me for a long time now.” 

“Trunkless.” John said and looked at Leela.

She caught his meaning. “Ra’Sikhaan. Whatever that truly means.” 

Time and Time Again – Lost in Translation – Destiny x Marathon

The terminal, though interesting, was a dead end. The information contained in the message they had read contained no clues to further information and the terminal contained nothing else of interest. But John had an idea; the message must have come from somewhere and so it stood to reason that the terminal was connected to a network. Tycho searched deep inside the terminal and found just such a network, but it was badly damaged, frayed by time and neglect. There were other terminals still connected but they were scattered far and wide throughout the planetoid. At the end of the network was a node that Tycho could only describe as ‘shiny and dangerous’. It was tagged Gellon-01. There was no method of remote interaction with the Gellon-01 node.

At John’s suggestion they travelled to the nearest functional terminal, a couple levels down. Leela’s mind wandered as they walked through the icy tunnels. The sight of the Last City under attack by the W’rkcacnter weighed on her mind and she wondered about the fates of her friends in the aftermath, even if, as John had said, they had left that timeline behind. Was she a stranger to this world, now that she came from somewhen else? She had a sense that she was the Leela of this time, that there was no doppelganger of her out there, but even so she would not be able to account for the differences between herself and that Leela. If she had gone left instead of right, she had no knowledge of what that had entailed for herself.

“You’ve been quiet.” Tycho said by her side. Their companion was ahead of them, in sight but perhaps out of earshot. 

“I’ve just been thinking.” Leela replied, then admonished herself for being so short with her friend.

“I’ve been thinking about what John said back in the alien rectory,” Leela continued, “about the differences between this time and our time.” 

“The Traveller still went right at Alpha Centauri in this time.” Tycho said with a wink.

Leela smiled. “Ha ha, very funny. I was thinking about us. How were we different here? What have we done? Did we go into that submarine in this time? Was I a Guardian here?”

In the silence that descended, Leela was aware of every grain of ice she crushed with her boots, every sound that echoed down the winding tunnels. 

When Tycho did reply, he spoke slowly, taking great care wth each word. “I don’t know the answer, Leela, but I know one thing for sure. In this time, in any time, you are still my Lightbearer. Nothing will change that.” 

Leela caressed Tycho’s shell. “Thank you, Tycho.” 

Time and Time Again – Unfortunate Fellow – Destiny x Marathon

The group set off from the transit hall and followed Tycho’s guidance as they descended the tunnels of the planetoid. The icy tunnels seemed at once both familiar and alien to Leela, as though someone had shaken up the surface of the ice but left the layout intact. Leela found it difficult to escape her thoughts, and so she fell behind the others. Tycho and John were still in sight but were metres ahead of her, discussing some aspect of their first visit. Leela was shaken from her thoughts by a sensation, the same eerie sense of being observed that she had felt often on their first time. With one hand on the pistol in her belt she stopped in place and looked around. In one of the side-tunnels, hidden in the shadows, stood a figure. It and Leela looked at each other for a moment in silence, until Leela realised she had seen it before. In the Last City, just before she had seen John. As she thought back to it she realised the shape had been humanoid, but not human. It had had four arms and trunk-like legs, just like the figure watching her now, and she was reminded of the figures from the murals; the Sikhaan that had lived here. But the figure took a step forward into the fading light cast by the others and Leela saw that the being had no trunk, and indeed in the centre of its face was a horrible gash. Its eyes were a milky white and it carried no expression.

“Leela!” A voice cried out and she turned in shock to see Tycho floating towards her. 

“Why did you stop?” Tycho asked and stopped at her side. She looked back at the offshoot, but the Sikhaan was gone, perhaps scared off by the sudden approach of more strangers. 

Time and Time Again – Two’s Company, Three’s a Surprise – Destiny x Marathon

The burst of cold was so unexpected that Leela stumbled onto the uneven floor. The pavement of the City was gone, replaced by millenia-old ice. Slabs carved of white stone were visible through the ice and as Leela looked up she could see that the sky too had disappeared and had been replaced with rock and ice. To compound her confusion, in the centre of the expansive cavern stood a familiar structure; a domed church of dark stone, an icy sphere visible through the open doors.
“Hey, you okay?” A man’s voice called out and Leela felt a hand touch her shoulder.
Every instinct in her body shouted the danger at her. She pushed the hand away and spun in place to see who was in the cavern with her. It was a man in a green, armoured space-suit, his face reduced to contours behind his toned face-plate. A backpack was slung over his back and a pistol rested in a holster on his waist. She did not recognise him, but he reminded her of the man she had met in the streets of the City. The Last City!
“Where am I? What happened?” She asked, glancing around the cavern again. How had she come here and how could she get back to the City? Surely there was something she could do.
“Where you are? Did you hit your head?” The man asked and looked over her shoulder. “Is she okay?”
“Leela is just fine, whoever you are.” Tycho said and floated in front of Leela, who struggled to her feet.
“What’s wrong with you two? It’s me, John Smith. We’ve been exploring this place for weeks.” The man said with a chuckle. The sound was hollow.
“The only John I know has never left the City, and his surname is Sullen, not Smith,” Leela said, “and Tycho and I left this icy dump in our ship.” Her head was throbbing and she was confused, but she was sure they had left.
At the mention of Tycho’s name, the man looked at the both of them with an inscrutable look, but said nothing.
Leela paid it no heed. “I have no time for whatever is going on here, with you or whoever you are. Take me back to the City.”
The man’s air of camaraderie faded away, like a mask falling to the floor, and it was replaced by a presence that filled the space around her. She felt afraid to move or even breathe; what was before her was less of a man and more of a weapon, a tool to point at something to destroy it, and she felt that she was in his way. But before she could act on it or say a word, she felt that twisting and churning of reality again.

Time and Time Again – First Responder – Destiny x Marathon

After their encounter in the depths of the icy planetoid, Leela and Tycho had headed straight for Earth as fast as their jumpship could take them, hailing the City and the Vanguard all the while. At first they had just received static and gibberish in response, as though through great interference. Then, around the time Earth and the Moon became visible to the naked eye, even the static cut out. There was radio silence in Sol, and it worried Leela greatly. She thought of the vision, or hallucination, she had seen in the depths of the planetoid; the creature from the planetoid hungering for the Light. 

They continued hailing space control as they approached Earth but were met with only silence. Tycho noted that the warsats above the Last City were missing, and then they both saw it. The white clouds had been replaced with smoke, and only the Traveller rose above it, the enigmatic machine’s marble-like skin broken in great cracks and rends. An amorphous mass rose through the smoke and passed over the Traveller, leaving further devastation in its wake. A blast of light erupted from the Traveller, but it seemed only to embolden the attacker further. 

Leela took the jumpship through the smoke-cover as swiftly as she dared, and what she saw beneath took her breath away. The Last City was burning. Plumes of fire and smoke could be seen throughout the city, from residential areas and parks and high-rises. The Tower had collapsed into the city to crush houses and workshops below. A single airship was still aloft, but even as the pair watched, it crashed into the streets below with a plume of fire and dust. They found an intact landing pad and touched down, Leela leaping from the cockpit before the engine had even spun off. No landing crew came out to greet them and no one called out at their arrival. Leela ran through the floors of the high-rise, calling out names, calling out for anyone, only to emerge onto the rubble-strewn streets alone. 

“Where is everyone?” Leela whispered teary-eyed as Tycho hovered to her side, his gaze fixated on the ailing Traveller. 

“I’m not picking up anything,” replied Tycho, “Not even static. I think the City’s lost all power.” 

“The bomb shelters.” Leela said and stood up. She felt disoriented and short of breath, all her thoughts tumbling around like someone had shaken their box without a care. Tycho followed silently as she hurried along the streets to the nearest shelter, but there was no one there. The door stood closed but was not locked, and when Leela shouted inside, she only heard her own echo. With rising panic Leela ran about the streets crying for help, for anyone, but there was no reply. The only sounds in the city were distant explosions, alarms and the crackle of fires. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes, struck with despair, when she heard a sound. A skidding rock. She was back on her feet running in the blink of an eye. In an alley, hidden partially by the shadow of arches, was a shape watching her. Leela called out but the figure turned and headed into the alley. Ignoring the shouts from Tycho, Leela hurried after them and found herself close to another shelter.

In the road, just outside the concrete entranceway to the shelter, stood a man looking into the sky. She was about to run to him, but then she stopped herself. All the instincts she had gained from her years of exploring shouted at her to keep away from the man. She stopped a few metres from him, breathing ragged from running but her mind focused on the sight before her. He was of medium height and dressed like someone from one of the pre-Collapse armies she had seen photos of. She saw no weapons, but Leela felt sure of her sense of danger. Even as the thought ran through her mind, the man turned around. His face was hard and his eyes spoke of bitter and brutal experiences. He reminded her of a Guardian for a moment, but she saw no Ghost.

Without a word, the man stormed up to her and grasped her by the shoulders. It was so sudden that Leela did nothing to stop him or move from his grasp.

“Do you know what that is?” His voice was rough and loud, like he was unused to speaking. When Leela did not respond, he pointed into the sky at the mass attacking the Traveller.

“It’s called a W’rkcacnter, we believe,” Tycho said, “and I’m afraid we–”

“We freed it,” Leela continued with tears streaming down her face, “It’s here because of us.”

The man made to speak, but a noise far above halted him. Looking up, they saw that the cover of black smoke had been blown away from the Traveller, but the great sphere was descending. Even from this distance, it was clear that it had gone quiet; whatever the creature from the planetoid had done, the Traveller’s Light was gone, and it was falling towards the City that had been built in its shadow. The creature still swirled in the sky, and though it had no face or head, Leela had the distinct impression that it was looking at them. The mass spun and roiled as it dived down towards the City and its prey. The man grunted and looked back at Leela. For a moment she looked him straight in the eye and she had a profound sensation of agelessness, before the world spun around her.

The Memories of Jack Edlund – Indepentional

18th April 1888, Boston Globe

GIRL SOLE SURVIVOR OF MYSTERIOUS INCIDENT IN ATLANTIC OCEAN

The Charioteer, a passenger ship sailing the Northwest Passage, has been found after a prolonged period of radio silence during which the ship’s location and status was unknown. The Kilmartin discovered her and radioed for assistance, to which the Calgary responded. The ship had a crew of 20 as well as 132 passengers. The rescue crews from the Kilmartin and the Calgary found a single young girl. Either due to being a mute or due to the atrocities she had witnessed, the child was unable to speak.

Contact was lost with the Charioteer on the 13th of April and was reestablished on the 16th around 18:30 when visual contact was made from the deck of the Kilmartin.

The girl is under the care of The Kilmartin’s captain Elias Price and the Charioteer is being towed back to the shipwharfs of Boston for examination and repairs.

__

29th of April 1888, Anchorage Gazette & News

DEEP SEA WHALE WASHES UP ON NORTH ALASKAN SHORE

Mr Argyle Lavett had a nasty shock this morning when he discovered, while walking his dog in the morning, the carcass of a marine mammal washed up on his private beach. According to Mr Lavett’s own words, the creature was the size of a blue whale but with appendages and limbs he had never seen before, which Mr Lavett assumed had been used for some kind of deep-ocean hunting. Despite these unexpected physiological traits, Mr Lavett is fully convinced it was a mammal and some species of whale. Much to the dismay of the academic world, Mr Lavett burnt the corpse before it could begin to befoul his private beach with odor.

Mr Lavett’s residence is in the area of Hooper Bay, but requested that the Alaskan Gazette & News not disclose his address, so as to avoid ‘nosy folk coming on account of this dead whale’. 

Mr Lavett is a geologist graduated from America who has on occasion worked with Anchorage University.

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Chapter 1 – Encoding

I dropped the newspaper clippings onto my desk with a sigh. I had barely spoken with my father for five years and now I had boxes and boxes of his belongings to go through, what to keep and what to throw away. If only he had remembered to do it himself before he passed. The clippings were nearly as old as I was, yellowed with age. When these were printed, I was but a few years old myself and my sister had not yet been born. Why my father had decided to keep these two clips, among his piles of old shirts, tools and maritime equipment, only he could say. On the back of the story about the ship was a portion of a weather report, but the back of the whale story caught my eye. Or rather, what my father had scribbled there. In pencil he had covered the other side with a symbol, all harsh lines and uncomfortable shapes, that I did not recognise, but over the following days I found it impossible to forget.

Echos – SIGNALIS

“And that concludes the questions concerning the events at S-23 Sierpinski and the involvement of Kaza, Malena. This interview is concluded at 21:42 and there will be no further logs in the case of Kaza, Malena.” KLBR-H2415 says and switches off the recorder. The hum of the recorder stops and returns the gloomy interview room to silence.
I try not to fidget as KLBR-H2415 and the figure in the shadows turn their attention back to me. The red light from the security camera reflects in their eyes, leaving red dots glaring at me from around the room.
“Your cooperation is noted, Kaza, and you are allowed to return to your residence. Be aware that your assigned workplace expects you in the morning.” KLBR-H2415 says and indicates in the direction of the exit and I hear the auto-door opening behind me.
“Yes, thank you– I mean, I am aware. I’ll be there.” I say and rise from my seat.
Perhaps it is just my imagination, but I think I see a hint of a smile on the KLBR’s face at the slip of my tongue. The KNCR, standing in the shadows of the interview room, is however as still as a statue.
Another farewell greeting slips from my tongue as I turn to leave the room but as I step into the corridor beyond I see two tall shapes waiting for me in the shadowed corridor, their red eyes and stun batons waiting. I cry out and stumble against the wall, but the two STAR units make no moves to assist me and just stare at me in silence.
“Move along, Malena Kaza, there are others waiting for their interviews.” A STCR unit says and pulls me from the wall before shoving me along the corridor. A woman heading for her own interview shivers as she passes me and we share a brief glance. We both survived the horrors in Sierpinski, but at that moment I am saddened that I do not recognise her. It seems to me that us survivors should, but I have no time to dwell on the matter as the STAR units glare at me with their batons at the ready.

Read more: Echos – SIGNALIS

I am escorted out of the Protektor offices by an indifferent STAR unit with bags under her eyes and left to my own devices, so I take a moment to breathe. I see a security camera turning in my direction, but I realise I can only blame my own anxiety, for it is simply panning across the corridor. A trio of EULR units pass me discussing some logistics issues and I have to take deep breaths and close my eyes to remain calm. I left Sierpinski over two weeks ago when I was evacuated to Herongrad, and I still have trouble when I am surprised by a replikant, whether they are aware of me or not. The EULRs turn a corner and are gone and I hurry along my own way back to my assigned residence. It is difficult still to think of it as a home, but now that I am released from the incessant demands of the Protektor interviews I will have a little more time on my hands. As much as they would ever allow a gestalt labourer.
A little while later I arrive at my residence, a worn dorm stenciled Gestalt Dorm H14, and reach out to open it when I hear the pneumatic hiss of the auto-door. I hear a raspy voice with unintelligible words, beady red eyes and bulging arms that reach for me, the synthetic skin covered in blood and weeping sores, bleeding from a knife in its heart. I cry out in panic as the creature seizes me but when I open my eyes it is gone, an ARAR unit in its place looking at me with a mix of confusion and concern. A steadying hand on my shoulder is keeping me from tumbling to the floor.
“Be careful, miss, you could injure yourself in a fall.” The ARAR says and rights me before stepping past and looking through the open door.
“In the future, make sure to report any facility malfunctions the moment they appear, Mister Hansen.” The ARAR says.
A gestalt man in a typical labourer’s uniform stands in the door. “I will, I promise, thank you, H2423.”
The ARAR nods and walks away, focused on a checklist in its hand rather than me.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I turn back to the door to see the man, Mister Hansen, looking at me.
“ARARs aren’t that scary, are they?” Hansen asks and glances at the replikant.
I hurry past him into the dorm without replying, checking every corner in case there are more ARARs working in the cramped room.
“Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re one of the evacuees.” Hansen says and sits down by the lone table, allowing the auto-door to close. There is another gestalt in the room with us, but she is asleep, working a different shift than me.
“I just need some sleep.” I say to explain my outburst and climb into my bunk. The bedding is harder than I remember it from Sierpinski, but they change it more often.
Hansen looks at me from his chair. “I’ve heard rumours about what happened there, but nothing concrete and certainly nothing from someone who was there. What was it like?”
“The Protektors would be angry with me if I told anyone.” I reply.
Hansen grins and points at the security camera above the door and I notice that the lights are off. “The camera malfunctioned three cycles ago and it was only noticed by the Protektors this morning. That’s why H2423 was here, but she needs parts to fix it, parts they don’t have yet.”
“Won’t be fixed till 0800.” Hansen finishes and leaves the implication hanging in the air.
I glance at the sleeping woman before speaking. “I don’t know all of it, I only survived because I could hide,” Hansen looks a little disappointed, “but the replikants got sick and it turned them aggressive.”
“Even more than normal?” Hansen replies with a smirk and glances at a STCR poster on the far wall.
“Even the EULRs and ARARs.” I say and try to push the memory of their red-eyed bodies stalking the corridors from my mind.
“Damn,” Hansen says with a quiet whistle, “so they killed the gestalts?”
I shake my head, both to reply and to push away the memories. “Whatever sickness corrupted them affected us gestalts differently. I still don’t know why I wasn’t affected, but we just died. They became monsters and we just died.”
Hansen has nothing to say to this and looks like he regretted asking.
“Then one day it just stopped. Teams arrived from other AEON facilities and decommissioned all the remaining replikants.”
I know that what I am about to say is the most damning by far, but I seem to have lost control over my own tongue. “Both the FKLR and ADLR got sick and died before the teams arrived, as did all the KLBR and most of the Protektors.”
“And the remaining gestalts?” Hansen asks, clearly anxious to change the subject.
“There weren’t many of us left. I was surprised I was not the only one. 5 of us were evacuated and taken here to Herongrad. I’ve been told we’re to be re-educated and put back to work, and all of us have been interviewed about what happened.” I stop talking because my head is pounding.
“Well,” Hansen says, “that sounds truly horrible. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.” It sounds like a platitude and he knows it.
“I appreciate it, but I just want to sleep.”

In the morning I take out the envelope from Work Assignement and wonder briefly if KLBR-H2415 knew I hadn’t opened it yet. Back in Sierpinski I worked in the mines and after what happened I just could not stomach doing that again, but only now can I push myself to see where they’ve assigned me and breathe a sigh of relief. Munitions Assembly. Hard work and long hours, but above ground. My stomach is still upset from days of worrying over the letter, but I manage to eat my morning rations and follow the directions to my assigned workplace. 2 STAR units stand watch at the entrance but they pay me no special attention and I focus on the work ahead to keep my anxiety from flaring. The work is as I had imagined; hard and monotonous, but alongside other gestalts; the EULR units have their own workspace for more complex and hazardous munitions. During the lunch ration break I notice the other evacuee from the interview but they don’t see me and I know better than to call attention to myself on the workshop floor. As my shift ends I see her leaving her own workstation at the same time but I cannot find her out in the corridors beyond the munitions factory. I would call out her name but I realise I don’t know what it is. I think back to leaving the interview room the day before and head towards the Protektor offices rather than the gestalt residential corridors. Most of it is off limits for gestalt visitors, beyond those ordered to be there, but I head for Informationen and consider my request as I walk. The distraction helps me move past the replikants I meet in the halls without cowering in fear, even when a STAR unit gives me a sideways glance.
The public-facing side of Informationen is a reception desk crewed by supervised EULRs, the colour of their cap signifying that they work in the Protektor offices. A queue is present when I arrive so I join it at the back, staying as far from the STAR in front of me as I can without disrupting those queuing behind me. The colour of the EULR cap seems different from the one Sierpinski used but while I ponder that, I hear a voice calling for me, not by name but simply for the next in line.
“Please state your name, occupation and request in that order, please.” The EULR says. The number 143 is stenciled on her chestplate and for a moment I remember another 143 I knew.
“Do not hold up the line.” Another voice says. A STAR unit stands behind EULR-H2411 with her finger on the transmit button.
Flustered by my own memory distracting me, I step forward and nearly miss the transmission button on my side. “Kaza, Malena. I work in munitions assembly, gestalt labourer. My request is the name and residence of anyone recently moved here from Sierpinski, like myself.”
EULR-H2411 nods and turns towards her monitor but the STAR unit, name tag unreadable from where I’m standing, stops her and whispers something in her ear. It occurs to me that perhaps this errand was foolish, but it is too late now.
EULR-H2411 reaches for the transmitter. “Kaza, your request has been noted and forwarded to STCR-H2412 and will be processed internally. Unless you have any further requests for Informationen, please return to your residence. You will be notified of any progress.”
I bow and hurry away, anxious to be away from the staring eyes, thinking back to KLBR-H2415 informing me that the results of the interviews were to be strictly secret. My path back to the dorm is a blur as I envision the fallout of my reckless request, realising too late that the ARAR from yesterday is in the dorm working on the security camera. Unlike yesterday I have no flashbacks, but the replikant’s presence unnerves me and I cannot manage to eat any of my rations before I go to sleep.

I wake from a dream and I try to pin it down as it rapidly fades from my mind. I was back in Sierpinski, or rather I had not yet left. I was in a room with no features and no doors, but I did not feel cramped. Rather, in that moment there was nowhere I would rather be than in that room. But I was not alone. In the dream I mistook it for ARAR-H2423, the one that repaired the camera, but I realised that the colours didn’t fit Herongrad and that it was someone I knew. I know I said their name in the dream, but my waking mind cannot recall it. When she hears me she turns around and the dream ends with their raspy voice and their bloated arms reaching for me, the walls of the enclosed room melting around me.
I try to push the nightmare away and eat my rations, with some success, but the morning shift comes too quickly and so I join the other gestalts heading for the munitions factory. Work proceeds as the day before for several hours before I sense a shift in the atmosphere of the factory and some of my neighbours look to the entrance. Two STAR units converse for a moment before one of them points me out across the way before coming over to me. I grip the edge of my workstation to keep myself from fleeing in a panic. My skin crawls as it remembers the touch of stun batons and my mind brings up red eyes and corrupted skin.
“Malena Kaza, come with me.” One of the two STAR units says, and I recognise her as one of the STAR units outside the interview office. I have always had a surprising memory for replikant faces.
I do as ordered, numbly and silently, while bearing the stares of my fellow workers as I am led away from the workshop floor and into the factory’s Protektor cubicle. A STCR stands outside her with arms crossed and tapping fingers. For once the replikant’s glare is directed at the STAR unit at my side and not me, but the STAR unit ignores it and leads me to the door. Within is a single desk and chair along with stacks of papers that I presume to be the STCR’s. KLBR-H2415 is sitting at the desk, the KLBR’s smaller stature accentuated by the oversized STCR desk. The STAR unit does not follow me through the door.
“Kaza, I would ask you to take a seat but there is only one in this office.” KLBR-H2415 says. I try to read her expression but I come up short.
KLBR-H2415 continues. “So I will get right to it. Yesterday you made a request at Informationen and that request was forwarded to STCR-H2412 who then sent it on to me.”
“Because you are my case handler.” I say out of instinct. I cannot say where the thought came from.
KLBR-H2415 looks surprised for a moment then rallies. “Just so, Kaza. By rights I should forward it to KNCR-H2404 as she is handling the Sierpinski investigation in its entirety here at Herongrad.”
KLBR-H2415 chuckles. “Even telling you that much is actually overstepping, so please keep it to yourself.”
“Am I in trouble?” I ask. Something about this KLBR pushes at me, making me want to talk. Is it because of her bioresonance?
“You would have been in enormous trouble, Kaza,” KLBR-H2415 says and takes out an envelope from a folder on the desk, “As would I if she knew I had this.”
Only then do I notice that the camera above the door has been switched off. “What is it?” I ask.
KLBR-H2415 puts it on the table. “It’s what you requested, but keep in mind, Kaza, you’re not meant to know any of it. If you do read it, do not let anyone else know of it.”
My mind is filled with questions but I only ask one. “Why would you help me like this?”
KLBR-H2415 gets up from the chair. “Hell if I know. The STCR will be back in a few minutes. Leave the document. Read it or don’t, but do not bring it with you. Then you really will be in trouble. Good day, Kaza.”
With that, KLBR-H2415 walks through the auto-door behind me and the door closes with a hiss, leaving me alone in the small office. I look at the security camera again to see that it is still turned off, then go and sit down at the desk. I pick up the envelope, careful not to disturb the STCR’s things, and look at it. It is addressed to KLBR-H2415 from Informationen Archiv and stamped Confidential – Protektor Eyes Only. I sit with the envelope in my hands, undecided. What could be the harm, but then, what could be the gain. I had gone to Informationen to request the information simply because I felt us survivors should band together in some fashion, but I cannot say to what end. I dread to think what the Protektors would do if they learned that a gestalt had had access to confidential information, and then I think of KLBR-H2415 again. Is this all a trap? Is she hoping that I open the envelope so she can send the Protektors after me, but then I wonder what KLBR-H2415 would gain from that. Out of the corner of my eye I notice the clock and see that several minutes have already passed since KLBR-H2415 left. I have precious little time left before the STCR comes back into her office.

If you want to read the envelope, go to Chapter 2.
If you want to leave it alone, go to Chapter 3.

(these chapters forthcoming)