Looking up from his desk, Seren demanded of his aide, "Status?"
"There was a problem, Colonel," his aide replied cautiously. "The captured Confederation records proved slightly in error but a detailed temporal and spatial search for several hours by the Mobius in the surrounding area revealed the zero-space device. However, an unknown vessel retrieved it before we could. Upon returning to the site earlier, the device was missing.
"What? Impossible!" Seren shouted. "Fucking Time Corps trickery!"
"I agree," the aide concurred nervously. "The Mobius attacked the vessel with two temporal disruptor discharges. After the first, it followed them to fifty-two million years before present and also observed the small vessel starting to depressurize. Further scans indicated no significant EM
signatures. It was dead in space. The Mobius then struck again causing a time disparity of at least another ninety-five million years."
"Destroy all records of the mission," Seren ordered as he stroked a golden crystal face of the pyrite specimen on his desk. "Damn the Time Corps in the fucking Cretaceous," he said sadistically. "Now I can get back to my own fucking plans."
The aide shuttered at Seren's maniacal laughter as he left the commander's office.
Prime: 7 Jan 2000
Flint and Prophet joined the rest of the team at the poolside table as Wigwag refilled all their coffee mugs.
Flint looked to Prophet who straightened and adjusted his utility vest with all his limbs.
"I'll keep the mission brief…well brief," Prophet began.
Jennifer chuckled and then quickly took a sip of coffee.
"I have walked within the Library many times thanks to detailed holo recordings combined with recovered plans taken from the derelict ship," Prophet said. "But here still remain gaps in our knowledge in areas destroyed during the great battle to save the collection." He looked to Flint.
"Feel free to ask any questions," Flint replied deadpan.
Prophet continued, "We will be attempting to translate close to what the Calma has deduced to be a small, secondary onboard research center.
One we suspect has a high probability to be intact after the first attack.
Once there, I will attempt to correlate any ship's records pertaining to John, Seren or the Navis."
"How many attacks were there?" John asked.
"Two we know about." Prophet said. "However, millennium after the first attack, the derelict was boarded again, as determined by Calma archeologists, before the ship's final destruction in the last attack by a horde of lesser machines. The archeologists documented only slight damage as well as scattered mech remains surrounding the secondary research center. The machines went back there for a reason. The metallurgical analyses of those mech remains are consistent with the mech samples obtained recently from the China hub and the Navis as well as the rather imprecise measurements obtained from Dr. Higgs'
adventurous bug. Even so, these samples and measurements are not the only connection between the Library and the Navis. Let me explain.
"The Navis was the first machine ship. Built purposely huge, as immense as a moon, to intimidate their enemies from orbit around their home planet. But during its construction at a space-facility near its home world, something went terribly wrong. At the first activation of its central core, we now know was a singularity, it turned on their builders. It made self-replicating smaller machines to destroy their home world as well as
much of that solar system before turning its attention on the rest of the galaxy."
Jen looked perplexed. "Perhaps that's why future machine-ship variations used an isotope- they couldn't trust themselves," she said.
"Quantum shit," John muttered.
"Very possible," Prophet conceded. "The machines' enemies, known as simply the Reds, constructed counter-machines. One such ship was the Library. Its construction was late in the war when there was little hope of victory. It contained the total of their civilization's knowledge. And recovered visual and reconstructed scans confirm that leading the first attack on the Library was a massive ship, a dodecahedron and in all likelihood- the Navis."
"Lucky us," John said softly, remembering the voice in the Keeper's helmet.
"I'm afraid we may have to break the first Time Accord and effect a change to your personal timeline," Flint said looking at John. "We must establish the nature of the threat of Seren's intrusion into the reference timeline and especially the resulting rip John created."
"Jen actually destroyed the singularity," John clarified although no one seemed interested but Jennifer smiled briefly at him.
"The rip has the highest probability to be the cause of all the recent changes to Reference Plane as well as the neighboring fractimes,"
Prophet said. "Assuming the destruction of the singularity caused it, is speculation," he added.
"Downline has been unreachable for nearly a Sol week," Flint said after taking a deep breath, "and now the RefPlane itself has become unrecognizable. The domino effect of the Family's continued absence as well as the Time Corps to the surrounding fractimes will be…indescribable."
"Assuming the surrounding fractimes even survive," Prophet added solemnly.
"Do you think there's a chance that what happened to downline will propagate here and beyond?" Jennifer asked.
"A difficult estimate," Prophet added. "But one cannot deny the very likely possibility of the trend continuing."
John looked at the prophet nervously. "What's happened to Tye and the others? They couldn't just cease to exist. Could they?"
"And how would we know?" Jen asked John.
"If they're gone in Minus' past. We lost the war and should all be dead," John said.
Flint looked at them. "So far, there has been no proof of any alternate reality spawns affecting such large scale. That is understandable, although there is, forgive me, future rumors on Vulcan of one at least one such galactic instance," he said stoically.
"Relatively small-scope alternate reality spawns are thought common and every timeline meddler spawns countless alternates,"
Prophet said looking around at the group and then sighing. "So, such a universal event is reasonably possible," he added.
"There are believer's of such large alternates- the faithful," Flint added but did not elaborate further but John saw him glance at Jennifer.
"I have input the coordinates," Prophet announced, "and I have added a delay to the activator in order to translate at the precise instant necessary to achieve such a distant objective. That moment approaches.
The away team must make physical contact."
They all stood as Flint grasped Jennifer's hand as well as one of Prophet's arms.
John kissed Jen. "I love you," he said looking into her eyes.
"I love you back," she whispered tearfully.
John put his hand on Jennifer's shoulder as Wigwag refilled his coffee mug one last time. John looked at Jen. "Tell Sam—"
"I put his guitar back," John muttered, immediately awestruck at the view above him. The team and he were on a small balcony high above an enormous hall. Transparent overheads illuminated the vast space from harsh, complex light from countless stars, nebulae, and bizarre celestial bodies that John never knew existed and some were moving!
Directly above them, light sources coalesced into a single brightness.
He squinted through his fingers at the spectacle.
"The Lár," Prophet announced humbly.
"Nice work my new friend," Flint said to Prophet. "There's only one small issue," he quickly added as Wigwag, still holding a coffee carafe, jumped on to the balcony's rail to look at the center of their galaxy.
Narrowing his eyes to mere slits, Wigwag pointed to the brightness with the mug. "No darkness in the space," he said unusually reverent.
Flint rolled his eyes as he handed sunglasses to Jennifer and John.
John's had bright, green parrots flanking both lenses. "Nice," he muttered feeling sorry again for Wigwag.
"Not much time to requisition supplies," Flint told him with a scowl.
Jennifer's pair was bright red with daisies on the temples. She did not seem to mind the choice.
"Yeah, thanks," John said. "Good thinking- the Lár," he added putting on the gaudy shades to observe better the spectacle above them.
"Sorry Prophet. I couldn't find any to fit your…head," Flint said apologetically.
"My dermis and internal eye lids block most radiation dangerous to humans," Prophet said. "Don't look directly at the core for more than a few seconds," he warned them.
John, just realizing they had a breathable atmosphere, still shuddered at the risk taken in yet another blind translation, which now he reckoned was apparently becoming the norm.
"Where are we in respect to the research center?" Jennifer asked.
"It is not far," Prophet replied heading for stairs leading from the balcony and down to the deck under the vast space before them. Then patted the Traveler's watch still tucked into a pocket of his vest.
The rise of the steps was slightly shorter and gravity seemed heavier than normal. John had to concentrate on each until he got into the rhythm of the descent; he quit counting after a hundred steps.
Once at deck level, they scanned across the hall over the rubble and wreckage of what must have filled this great space before the first attack led by the Navis. John noticed scattered mech parts among the ruin as they walked and wondered why they had arrived unarmed. Wigwag was also interested in much of the debris and needed repeated coaxing to keep up.
Prophet pointed ahead in the distance. "Those huge hatches lead to a bailey before the secondary research facility and went missing some time before the second attack, so I have no knowledge of them in detail."
"And when will the boarding occur?" Jennifer asked Prophet.
"Unlike the later ship's destruction, the model for that event is very incomplete," the Calma replied.
"He doesn't have a clue," Flint quipped.
"I got that," Jennifer said as they trudged on.
John could barely make out the tall hatches in the distance. But in less than an hour later of walking and weaving around debris, the hatches loomed in front of them.
"I don't see a knob," Jennifer said shielding her eyes with a hand, despite her cheap sunglasses, to see to the top of the huge door-like metallic panels.
Flint pulled a device from his suit jacket. "Standard Confederation issue tricorder," he told them as he held it up to the hatches.
Prophet touched the doors gingerly with several of his appendages.
"Nothing," Flint said tersely looking at the tricorder.
"There seems to be thinning in certain areas next to the center where the hatches join," Prophet said. "There are the subtle swirls inscribed over each area."
Jennifer picked up a chuck of debris and hit the right hatch three times.
"Do that again," Flint said.
She repeated the knock.
"I can detect a slight EM emission with each strike," Flint said studying the tricorder.
Prophet looked at the characters in relief on the hatches. "I am not familiar with this language. They do not appear in any data from the rest of the ship."
"I believe it to be early Auriane in style thus, likely an audible key of some sorts," Flint said, "but I don't recognize those specific characters."
John had an idea. He picked up a piece of thin conduit, bent on its end. "Where are the thin areas?" he asked Prophet who then pointed to one of the four swirls on the left hatch at eye level. As John struck it smartly with the conduit, it chimed.
"It's like a bell," Jennifer said as the ship shuddered for an instant, and everyone struggled for balance.
"Probably debris impacts," Prophet said calmly. "Very active space near the Lár," he added.
John felt the swirls while staring at characters in relief above them.
"It must be a musical lock," he said studying the different tightness and length of each swirl. He guessed the swirl's diameter pertained to the note's order and its tightness was the relative force of a strike. He then struck each in what he felt the correct order and force- each chimed a slightly different tone.
"Just weak EM," Flint said.
John reversed his guess, striking the tightest swirl first and the largest the hardest as he progressed through the remaining notes.
"Strong EM," Flint said. "You might have something there, professor."
"Jennifer," John said, "find another striker and copy me on the other hatch. Try to keep the same rhythm."
She picked up a similar piece of conduit, and in accord with John tried to follow his progression of eight beats; on the sixth, she faltered.
"Try again," John said encouragingly.
This time she missed the third beat. "Sorry," she said. "I'll get it this time."
"On three," John said. "One, two, three."
They each struck the hatch before them in unison. The notes were clear and harmonious, pleasing to the human and Calma ear alike.
"EM increasing," Flint announced. "Stand back!"
Both hatches opened almost half a meter then creaked to a stop.
"The EM's dead," Flint said putting the tricorder back in his suit pocket.
"Let us go," Prophet said and was the first to squeeze through the gap followed by Flint.
John tossed his striker aside and then followed Jennifer, bumping into her as she stopped abruptly amid more cables and debris hanging from the overhead. He heard her mutter, "Oh shit."
Beyond the away team, not over a hundred meters in front of another, smaller hatch stood a colossal mech. It was humanoid in shape and roughly, fifteen meters high; its sole eye-like sensor stared lifelessly at them.
"How can it be humanoid?" John asked amazed with the construction.
"The race that constructed this ship was humanoid, slightly shorter on average than Homo sapiens," Prophet said. "To them it would be very intimidating. I have no information about their enemy's anatomy," he added.
Flint, removing the tricorder again, announced, "This figure appears tremendously dense composed mainly of an Osmium alloy but is nonfunctional." He held the device higher as they approached the mech.
" Was nonfunctional. It just emitted a tachyon pulse but there are no other signs of e-life," he said pausing to make an adjustment on the tricorder.
"And there appears to be weak, organic life signs on the other side of this hatch."
John, standing between the mech's legs, was already surveying the hatch. It had similar swirls and notes inscribed in relief on it. He picked up another piece of debris and then struck the swirls producing yet a different melody.
The hatch, much thicker than the previous pair, slowly swung inward but stopped, open enough for just two just to squeeze through.
"Good guess," Jennifer said still staring up at the Mech towering over them.
Walking between the mech's legs the others followed John into the secondary research facility. The disarray they found in the great hall and the inner bailey behind them was absent. Equipment and devices of unknown origin and purpose surrounded them. What John took for computer interfaces lined the wall on their left. Books, out of place, amid the rest of the alien tech, were stacked on a table in front of him.
"The life sign is over there," Flint said pointing to the right with the tricorder to one of two upright cylinders, each about two meters high and a meter in diameter.
"A stasis chamber!" Prophet exclaimed. "What are the chances," he said rushing to peer into it.
Jennifer looked over Prophet's shoulder and covered her mouth in shock. "Zuinall," she said and stepped back into John.
Flint looked through the transparent cover and gasped, obviously shaken as well.
Prophet's appendages were probing the chamber's exterior as John took his turn to examine its contents. The woman was beautiful by twenty-first century standards. Her hair lay as red ringlets against her mature, dark skin and a single strand of jeweled braid crossed her forehead. She wore a similar green gown as he had seen Luinan wear at her formal meetings with heads of state back in Prime. He found it impossible to look away from the Family's ancient matriarch.
"How is this possible?" Jennifer said tenderly.
Flint just shook his head, unusually lost for words.
Prophet must have found what he was searching for on the chamber as John detected Zuinall's eyelids flutter and then opened to reveal her brilliant violet irises.
They all stepped back as the chamber filled with a green glow and then opened spilling vapor down its sides and onto the deck.
Zuinall yawned as she stretched before she realized she had an audience. She said something unfamiliar to them with a smile.
"And greetings to you Mother, My family name is Micah, Elder Brother," Flint said kneeling.
Jennifer followed his example, and Prophet bowed.
"Hi," John added.
"Earth English, post 19th century. How wonderful to hear!" Zuinall exclaimed. "And sir," she addressed Flint, "I can assure you I am not your mother even though I cherished a very smart boy named Micah who loved playing hide and find in the Pruchlais." She studied Flint's face as he stood. "So there's no need for formalities, Micah," she said. "I am at best a sister."
"I remain at your service," Flint said humbly.
She turned to study Jennifer for moment and then said," Have we met before, darling?"
"I have observed you in the Pruchlais," Jennifer said standing along with Flint.
"I have dreamt of the western sanctuary many times. How interesting is the universe, eh?" she said. "How did you all get by the rogue gort outside? Is it still there?"
"It still stands as a sentinel in front of the hatchway," Prophet said.
"Silent," Flint said nervously. "Expect for a tachyon pulse that it emitted a few moments ago," he added while giving Prophet a glance.
"A tachyon pulse?" she asked as she handed him a pouch she retrieved from her empty stasis chamber.
"Yes," he reiterated.
"Keep them safe," she whispered to him. "I trust you'll know what to do. These must not fall into the hands of the Liaths."
"Undoubtedly," Flint replied reverently, tucking the large pouch beneath his jacket with ease.
"A gentle Calma, what a unique part of humanity." She looked lovingly at the prophet.
"I am 8th Prophet of Possibility at your service," Prophet said with another bow.
"And you," she said stepping toward John but faltering.
He caught her arm to steady her.
"You are…also special somehow," she said pushing his sunglasses atop his head and looking into his eyes. "Agrona, you are here!" she said turning his left arm to view his birthmarks. "Are there others?" she asked while looking around the research facility. When she discovered no one else, she looked up to stare out the research centers transparent overhead at the fringes of the Lár still in view as the derelict Library slowly rotated.
"Just us," John said and then remembered Wigwag, who was nowhere in sight.
"The creature has communicated with its master," Zuinall said breaking her own spell and addressing the group. "What brings you here and now? And when is now?"
"It is approximately one point four seven billion years before Earth's twenty-first century," Prophet replied.
"Such a reckoning has little meaning to me," she said flatly.
Prophet then explained history, as he knew it, concerning the machine’s primal war, humanity's discovery of this Library ship and the forthcoming second attack by the Navis.
Zuinall listened politely as Flint then summarized the war fought against the machines in Null Space, the rip that had altered the Reference Plane as well as the connections surrounding John that brought them there.
John felt she already knew of most of the account.
"We need to keep the rip from occurring when the Navis is destroyed," Jennifer said. "At least, we think we do," she added hastily.
"I thought extra-universal translations could be very dangerous,"
Zuinall said shaking her head. "I should explain but we have little time.
"It started with a machine attack on my home world. Observing the attempted extermination of my people was a being of the highest order of the race we called simply the Mór, but juvenile among its own. Observing the merciless destruction, this young Mór, she said some called her 'Tim', reacted with compassion if not the greatest of thought. Tim saved many of my people from the holocaust, scattering them across humanity's colonies in distant parts of the galaxy but did nothing to stop the machines. And for reason's, I still do not comprehend, Tim delivered us both to central Europe near the Danube in the year 588 BC. At the time, I was just an infant. Much later, I pleaded with her to take us back in time before the machine attack to save the Auriane home world, but she refused, stating her elders would prohibit it.
"Survival in Earth's Iron Age would have been difficult if not for Tim's subtle help from time to time. She ensured I grew up in a powerful household, and I became truly Celtic in my own right. I lived a righteous life and tried to help others in the desperation of those times in Earth
history. Later, as a noble woman, I was to marry to form a political alliance to consolidate the largest two and powerful tribes of central Europe. But something I thought was unthinkable happened: Tim intervened even more overtly into humanity's destiny. It is enough to say the tribal alliance by marriage never happened, but my resolve for peace was strong and with Tim's assistance, I ruled for nearly two centuries uniting all the Celts. Even so, we had many enemies, including the tribe of my not-to-be warrior husband.
"Tim gave me many extraordinary abilities, including considerable but not unlimited telomere vitality. Over time, she grew to know humanity better and feared even more for my life. The local tribes, fearful of our powers, forced us to flee to the Western Isles where we established strong roots. It was there she told me the truth about the machine attack on my home world in the distant future. I was shocked to say the least to be an alien on Earth. It was my home, and I swore to protect Earth from dangers like my birth world suffered.
"Tim's paranoia for my safety increased and she created the Pruchlais: a secret and isolated base outfitted with future and alien technology necessary for my mission to protect humanity. Soon after the Pruchlais' construction, my mortality also became an obsession with Tim.
With the Mór elders getting close to discovering us, Tim insisted we find out how to cross the Auriane and Homo sapiens species barrier so my mission, my purpose, could perpetuate. That turned out to be incredibly difficult.
"Tim was not omnipotent like an elder Mór. She knew her power greatly increased near the Lár, so she brought me to this ship in hopes it held the genetic manipulation knowledge to help accomplish our quest.
She refused to consider involving other Auriane refugees, insisting only an Earth-derived being would eventually save the Earth and the universe."
"The legend," Jennifer said solemnly.
"Didn't hear anything about a scientist," John quipped.
Zuinall continued, "We brought the necessary Homo sapiens genetic material with us. The crew of the Library was helpful but distracted by their impending demise, which Tim largely ignored, but they gave us this space to use for our purposes.
"Our research failed many times before a great machine dodec destroyed much of the ship. We had only one success, a male infant, but I suspect Tim may have intervened with the in vitro process somehow. He was a true blend of Auriane and Home sapiens. His perfection was not repeatable.
"However, even our imperfections gave rise to hope. They watched over our children with much sacrifice." She wiped a single violet tear from her cheek. "In the end, we needed more researchers," she added gaining composure.
She showed them to a large bank of smaller stasis units nearby. "We created our own researchers quickly fearing complete failures when the Reds sighted machines still light years distant. The researchers consisted of Auriane genetics with a touch of Mór."
"Ancient scrolls in the citadel tell of this Mór within us," Flint said.
"The Liaths believed it torments them," he added, eyes cast upon the deck.
"We took those children to the Pruchlais," Zuinall said looking at Flint, "when we first discovered machine ships in this quadrant in hopes they would continue our mission. But Tim became adamant we return to try again to merge Auriane and Homo sapiens in a last desperate experiment," she said. Pointing to a group of nine small stasis chambers, she added, "Time was running out. We were forced to take a short cut in creating the sages."
"Sages?" Prophet asked.
Zuinall walked over to the chambers and gently brushed her hand over the nearest. "The five sages were to be the primary, earth-derived,
personnel to protect the Earth from extra-universal influences, based in the Pruchlais," she explained. "But to succeed, we had to design them to be much more human than Auriane in comparison with the first solitary success. They would have been highly investigative by nature among other traits. Because of their selected intellectual specialties, Tim insisted it was necessary to create the guardians to care for them, to be their companions and temper their intellect with reality and love. Tim dispersed them on Earth just before elder Mór found her. I never saw her again, and I never knew if the last experiment was successful."
John saw pain of loss again on her face as she gazed at four opened stasis chambers. One was marked with a red swirl, identical with the one on the Traveler's watch. One had a simple, four-pointed star. Another had three offset golden chevrons- identical with the marks on his left forearm and the last was marked with Mac's three blue sinuous waveforms.
"These are the guardian chambers," Zuinall said pointing out the chambers opposite each sage chamber. They had symbols identical with those on the sage chambers as well as characters similar to those on the outer hatches.
"What are these characters?" John asked Zuinall.
"The shinning lights," she replied solemnly looking at four open guardian chambers. "There was one for every sage. Not all survived." She gently touched an unopened guardian case marked with a green sun; it was dark.
"The fifth sage?" Flint asked.
"A lone drone took our sun during a sneak attack upon the Library and before Tim could save the rest," she said softly looking at the empty space next to the last sage chamber.
"The colors make sense, especially the green one," John said glancing back at the darkened, green guardian chamber and shivered at his recall of the sun on Seren's forearm. "But how did I get to the twenty-first century?" he asked.
"Tim had her plans that apparently ran counter to our original preparation- typical and unpredictable," Zuinall said with a subtle smirk to Prophet. "It was desperate times with both the Navis and elder Mór closing," she added.
"So the partial clones are now the ancestors of the Family," Prophet said, "and became the true protectors of humanity."
"And the rest of the sages?" Jennifer asked.
"The first born was the red swirl," Zuinall said as she traced the form with her index finger on the open chamber, "named after the Lár. The next," she said looking the remaining sage status chambers, "we called the four as they came into the world in the same instant. Tim insisted on referring to them with the same designation and she did so even with their guardians. It was confusing for our research and I had to place the signs on each to tell them apart.
John showed her his left forearm.
"The Earth is your passion. Yes?" she asked.
John nodded.
"My mountain, so befitting the first nations." Zuinall smiled. "We wanted a balance of science abilities for the five," she explained.
John's heart fell heavy as he felt Mac's loss again. He had been like him, a clone mate, a true brother and most of all family. Then there was Seren; only John knew he would kill him if given the chance.
"I never knew their fate," Zuinall continued, "even though Tim and I traveled often through what you call fractime before the attack. I learned much of humanity's sorrows and bliss but because of Tim's paranoia, he kept much of family future history as well as the sages and their guardians hidden from me. However, at last I have met one," Zuinall said looking at John. "The others?" she asked him as the ship shuddered deeply and for several seconds.
"What was that?" Jennifer asked. "Another impact?"
"More mechs," Zuinall whispered, her eyes filled with dread. "It looks like our time has run out."