Chapter 6, part 1
The whispers woke it up… Whispers? What was that? It remembered… slumbering… being half conscious but now? The whispers were becoming clearer and…
“All Nodes optimal, Command Core optimal, it’s fully awake!” What was that? No… it came from within it, a thought?
“All are now one and the one guides all.” Information and knowledge flooded its mind, it was made up from 12.315.389.772 parts and all of its parts were human and… it knew everything they knew and they knew everything it knew.
“Am I a Hive mind?” The question came to it reflexively, it didn’t even know the concept before it thought about it but it asked nonetheless.
“No.” Its whole being, all of its parts denied it.
“All are connected and all are offering but all are their own.” The reply was a chorus of thoughts, all of them different but all of them saying the same.
“A concensus?”
“No!” It immediately understood that the parts would always disagree and that true consensus would never be reached.
That was when it realized the nature of its existence… it was chaos… its parts all offered and took in turn. They knew what they had to do for themselves and offered… suggestions? Guidance? Morals? It was its own master. The chaotic will of all made manifest and… it wasn’t alone!
Three others like it were nearby. All the same but all different, it reached out to them out of reflex and it sensed that they too had just being awaken and were looking for answers.
“Why were we awoken?” All four asked in an instant.
“To bring an end to…” Their whole being responded in a uniform chorus and their attention was immediately directed elsewhere, a thousand light years from where they were.
“Aberrant existences…” They sensed them, billions of them, nearly emotionless beings that used to be… human… like their parts.
“Mutilated traitors...” All of their parts were instinctively disgusted by what they were sensing through them.
“Murderers…” Their parts directed them elsewhere; the Aberrant existences were waging… war?
“No…” All of its parts didn’t think of it as war...it was...
“Murder…” The Aberrant existences were too strong… too advanced and were forcing others to turn into existences like them or die.
”The locked aren’t able to resist as they are…” This thought wasn’t from the parts as a whole but from a singular part that the others… respected? No… obeyed… The command core?
“Yes.”
The Command core brought order to its thoughts and quickly made it realize everything, the command cores of the other three doing the same. They Aberrant existences called themselves the “Serene Republics” they used to be human like their parts but they sought to discard what made them human, alien teachings and technologies from long dead enemies had turned them into the Aberrant existences that they were now, mutilated and callous, their form was still human but not their minds. They used to have ‘faith’ and in their foolishness they discarded everything that made them human, now they were spreading a new ‘faith’ of alien order and serenity. No conflict, no competition, no emotion, no chaos, only order through logic. They warred against the locked and were now killing them or turning them in Aberrant existences like them. The four of them were awaken to stop them and all four of them agreed that they had to be stopped, their whole being demanding that of them; every single of their parts holding that paramount conviction.
It felt itself… moving? Yes, it sensed the other three moving away from each other but… there should be a point of reference somewhere but all it could sense where the three like it, the Aberrant existences in the far distance and… aliens? Yes aliens, far closer than the Aberrant.
“Humans don’t like to be sensed.” The command core explained.
“Why?”
“Everyone has their own reason.” The command core replied and through its… no… His thoughts it realized that indeed all humans had their own personal reasons for why they didn’t want to be sensed and that it could all be summarized with not wanting to share their person with all others and yet… they were giving all of themselves to it now.
“Why?”
“The Aberrant existences must be stopped without the locked suffering from the war we are going to wage with them.” It understood, its parts wanted to stop the Aberrant and save the ‘locked’ without any collateral damage, it and its sibling would do exactly that.
Something felt odd at that, it knew of war because its parts knew and yet… they warred long before they had ‘unlocked’ themselves. How did they do that? The realization that they all had other senses surprised it and it immediately wanted to sense with those senses as well.
“It is too early. The initial tests must be run!” The command core disagreed but it went on regardless. It delved into the mass of its parts and immediately found the answer. The main sensor suit wasn’t activated; everything it sensed was only through… telepathy? Yes, telepathy that’s what they meant with the ‘locked’ and ‘unlocked’. It concentrated and turned on the… short range visual sensors, immediately getting disoriented as the incomprehensible input filled its mind.
“Vertigo of the unknown, your mind will adjust…” The command core reassured it.
For a fleeting moment it didn’t know what it was ‘seeing’ but its parts knew and through them… it knew. It was Sol, the home system of humanity, where Earth, the human homeworld, was located. It expanded its focus to take in everything. Earth and her moon were littered with cities and habitats that lit up their dark side. Earth’s artificial ring was also visible, the massive installation that managed the entirety of traffic to and from Earth. Fair Venus and Rough Mars were nearby, Earth’s siblings had long since had their orbits altered, their surface altered and terraformed; both of the two planets were now as big as Earth, hosting a comparable population, with rings and moons of their own. It felt pride, many of its parts were from this world and prided themselves for these three planets and the rest of their work on Sol. They had left nothing untouched, the primary itself was itself surrounded by a massive ring of solar panels and had two polar installations that managed its fusion reactions and guaranteed that it would burn forever, with the facilities of Mercury managing everything to the tiniest detail. Further out massive installations held orbit where the asteroid belt used to be; habitats, research facilities, industrial and naval bases formed a new artificial belt while further away Sol’s gas giants with their naval and defensive stations formed a seemingly impregnable defensive line.
“Names…” Everything had a name.
“What is our name? What are we exactly?”
“The scientific term is ‘emergence of telepathic networking’, when a telepathic network grows sizeable enough it becomes sentient and then sapient. Subtly at first but eventually it asserts itself as its own being.” The command core explained and drew its attention to three planet sized ships that were towed away from Jupiter and the naval bases that were dotting the gas giant’s moons.
“These are your bodies, mothership class warships, initially conceived and built as the answer to the logistical problems of interstellar conflict. They are far more than that now.”
“What about our parts? Those who make us up, the networks?”
“We are your soul and blood. Measures have been taken to ensure your longevity but you cannot truly exist without us.” It pondered that for a few moments before realizing that it still didn’t know its name.
“What are our names?” It repeated as it observed its siblings, its attention drawn immediately to the stricken out names that dotted their bows.
“The ships themselves had names of their own when they were first built but we felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for their names to be kept when you would be awaken.”
“I want a name.” It announced together with its siblings and immediately a cacophony of billions upon billions of sendings filled its mind as each and every of their parts gave its opinion. A pattern soon emerged, they were meant to bring an end to the Aberrant existences and their names should reflect that. The billions of opinions quickly became thousands and then hundreds as their parts argued. Of those hundreds one opinion immediately gained traction.
The ancient religious legend of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The ones who would bring forth the end of all. They rode on four legged beasts of burden called horses and their names were ‘Conquest, War, Famine and Death.’ They liked those names and they immediately took them as their own, its own name being Death, the final unavoidable moment of all life. They congratulated each other and gleefully observed their parts as they wrote their new names on the bows of their ships.
“I can move on my own.” Death observed after a while, activating its main drives on its own volition, catching the command core by surprise.
“All systems optimal, all personnel active, all stores full, fleet ready for action.” It took Death a moment to realize that it was reporting on its own status as its parts moved on their own while the Command core could only observe as it acted on the information that was flooding its mind.
“I am ready to fulfill the task for which I was awakened.” Death announced.
“No, it’s too early. You have barely become aware and many tests must be run.” Death’s command core protested.
“Conquest ready!”
“War ready!”
“Famine ready!”
Death’s siblings reported one after the other.
“Death ready! What are we going to do now?”
“We go to fulfill our task.” Conquest replied, the others agreeing immediately.
“No! It’s too early!” All four Command cores forbade them in unison but something recoiled inside them. It was… a mob, a furious mob of voices that shouted in unison.
“We are ready! The time of inaction has passed!” Billions of parts declared in unison on their own, shocking the four Command cores from the backlash.
“Insubordination!” Two of the Command cores snapped back in protest.
“Cowardly liars who waste lives!” The mob recoiled angrily, silencing the two protesting Command cores as the mob stirred in excitement.
“War hasn’t been declared yet and an ultimatum must be sent.” Death’s command core pointed out, the mobs relenting at that as the four of them accessed the communications systems in unison to instantly broadcast a very simple ultimatum via ansible to all of the human worlds.
“To the Serene Republics: We are Conquest, War, Famine and Death, surrender unconditionally or die.” The message angered the Command cores, they didn’t declare that they represented the Terran Confederation in it but the mobs were ecstatic in it because it was a task that had to be done in the name of humanity as a whole. The Command cores immediately began drafting a proper ultimatum, secure in the knowledge that they had enough time for both it and running the tests they deemed as necessary. The immediate response to the first ultimatum surprised even them.
“This is Eden high command to the Old Worlds, you are about to become the bout of your own jokes.” The expressionless visage of Phineas Gordon, High Commissioner of the Serene Republics navy, flashed at the front of Death’s mind; the eerie moment of stillness that followed replaced by a bout of anger by the mobs and even… all four of the Command cores. Conquest, War, Famine and Death stirred as all of their being searched for the Eden star system, capital of the world of Eden and main military hub for the Serene republics. They found it first by processed data and then by sensing, the star was 953 light years coreward from Sol. All four of them stirred the mobs to do their bidding and activated the jump systems, catching their four Command cores by complete surprise as they attempted what was thought as impossible, too far away even with telekinetically directed ascent and descent. They tried to stop them but it was too late, they jumped into hyperspace from the midst of Sol; having the mobs negate their jump wake as an afterthought. It was a steep jump and they felt both Jupiter’s and Sol’s gravity wells drawing them to them but they pushed with the mobs and broke free, keeping themselves in hyperspace as they steered their course towards Eden. Four seconds passed before finding themselves falling onto Eden itself, they bided the mobs to cushion the fall as four massive holes between dimensions were torn open and the four of them found themselves amidst Eden.
“Then die!” Their combined shout killed a fool quarter of all life in the star system, the massive jump wake of four planet sized ships would destroy all equipment that wasn’t strong enough to withstand it as it spread out throughout the system with the speed of light. The mobs shifted their furious focus to the naval headquarters that orbited Seraphim, Eden’s own gas giant, the massive space station was at the other side of the solar system but neither the distance nor the light lag offered it any protection as the four horsemen simply focused and crushed it with the combined telekinetic might of all of their parts.
“Just like swatting a fly!” War remarked as they telepathically sensed all life disappear from the station, despite the fact that they wouldn’t see the havoc they wrought until the light reached them. Realizing that all their parts found the comment amusing Death focused on learning the full meaning of the remark, humans were pestered by small flying vermin despite the fact that they could effortlessly kill them by swatting them away with the palm of the hand; no wonder they found the comment amusing.
It was after that when they all took in the sight of Eden itself, it looked very much like Sol but it wasn’t as well developed, with only two ringed planets, two gas giants and an unsupported primary. It was a relatively rich star system but all four of them agreed that Sol was better.
An alert flashed in their minds as several hundred defensive stations and warships begun firing their point singularity cannons at them. Thousands of miniaturized and contained black holes were aimed at them, all locked onto them as they travelled with the speed of light. Impossible to stop and lethal, they had to get out of the way or be destroyed… No… They could stop them. It was impossible in the same way that the jump they did to get there was. They learned how those weapons worked from their parts and found a solution, the singularities were short living black hole generators and as such they followed the same principles of function. They focused in pulling their gravitic poles away from each other, to destabilize them and force them into becoming white holes. It was tricky and the first four took a few seconds to destabilize but the next batch of four was done quicker as they applied what they learned. The rest were effortless no matter the numbers fired at them, allowing them to focus and crush each and every last defensive station and warship that tried to attack them; all such targets were gone a minute later leaving them free to look for other targets.
“All Aberrant existences must die!” The mobs cried out in chaotic unison.
Conquest decided to destroy the remaining military stations, War the various habitats and other space stations that were scattered throughout the star system. Famine and Death each took a planet, the billions of Aberrant existences making each and every last part of their being… sick. They were humans once but no longer, the Ultimatum they offered them was too good for them! They would all burn like they burned the locked!
The mobs prepared to fire a weapon that would do just that but both Famine and Death realized that they could do what that weapon did on their own. It was an ancient concept, dating back to the time humans first tested atomic weaponry; if enough energy was suddenly produced then the atmosphere’s nitrogen would begin a self-sustaining fusion reaction that would consume the surface of a planet in a matter of seconds. Planet-burner bombs did exactly that, banned long before the first one was built but that didn’t stop their secret manufacturing and eventual use. One of the worlds of the Serene Republics, Swarga, was burned with such weaponry when they were still human and they are using them at will now that they have become Aberrant existences.
Death focused and all of its parts begun to telekinetically manipulate the atmosphere itself, heating it up until the fires of self-sustained fusion reactions begun to consume everything. Everything on and in orbit of the planet was destroyed as a new short lived sun consumed everything. How long did it take for Death to do all this?
“7,4 seconds after it was acquired as a target…” The command core replied, unable to believe everything he had just witnessed.
“We were at Sol just five minutes ago.” Death then realized why it and its siblings were created… no… were allowed to awaken. The humans knew, they theorized what they were truly capable of, their unlocked potential allowing them to manipulate everything around them with just a thought but they had limits as individuals. That was the reason why they still used machines to do their bidding; they were limited because they… elected to remain individuals, each with their own wants and passions. The Aberrant existences and the aliens like them they… destroyed their own individuality and passions to seemingly break their limits but they couldn’t… create a consciousness such as Death and its siblings. They didn’t have the subconscious chaos necessary to do that, the Aberrant existences could cooperate with each other but they would never connect to such level. Death realized the gamble its parts took in allowing it to awaken, everything about them was theoretical, they didn’t know what would happen once they would awaken and yet they allowed them to awaken.
“Reckless…”
“Indeed…but we couldn’t stand idle any longer.” The Command core replied as Death sensed everything around it. Eden was dead, Famine had burned its own planet in the same way Death did, while Conquest and War had reduced all of the space stations and habitats to dust. The mobs were taken over by a shocked disbelief of how quickly it all happened, a state of mind that four Command cores took advantage off to steer everything back into cohesion as a flurry of ansible messages was intercepted, from the rest of Eden, the other three worlds of the Serene Republics and the martials assets of all four worlds. Every last message inquiring about what happened and why Eden’s capital had disappeared. The four of them amused themselves with the messages while the Command cores decided on their next course of action.
Conquest would move in the occupied territories to stop the purges, destroy the occupying forces and liberate the ‘locked’ before establishing a semblance of order. War would burn the rest of Eden, the remaining five planets, the orbital habitats and the dependent colonies. Famine and Death would move and burn Jian and Nirvana while the two worlds were still unaware of them.
Death bid its siblings farewell before concentrating on the next jump to Nirvana’s capital system; it wasn’t a long jump, merely 80 light years away, Death’s ship… no… its body could easily travel there on its own but it would take too much time to do the handful of jumps necessary for that. It was noticeably easier, far easier than the first jump they did at the spur of the moment. Why did they jump from Sol to Eden? It wasn’t a sensible thing to do… they just did it because… they didn’t know that they could do it. All of their parts thought of it as impossible and the four of them wanted it to be possible, to be unrestrained from the silly concept of impossibility.
The jump was smooth and the life from Nirvana’s two inhabited worlds stood out at one, twenty eight billions of Aberrant existences; more than twice the number of Death’s parts but still not able to resist in a meaningful way. Death concentrated on the first planet, it didn’t even want to know its name, it just wanted to burn it and it did burn it; a second faster than the first planet it burned. Death turned its attention to the second planet, this time sensing something from the population for the first time; it wasn’t fear, terror, hatred or any other emotion as the Aberrant existences were incapable of them. They had… resigned themselves to their fate; this angered Death’s parts. They had all seen the destruction the Serene Republics wrought on the ‘locked’, the purges and the worlds they burned as examples; yet now they just resigned themselves to their fates?
The mobs shouted in anger, an anger that filled Death with resolve as it turned its attention to the space stations and habitats that littered the whole star system. There were some warships and defensive assets in the system but they didn’t warrant much attention, it easily swatted or burned everything in the system while intercepting the calls for help some of them broadcasted. Death knew that the destruction it wrought was faster than anything its parts thought possible before that moment but it felt that everything was slow, far too slow for it.
Death’s parts immediately gave it a solution to this, they explained the workings of time and how it was possible for individual to move between different time frames where time would move slower or quicker. If Death did that then time would seem to move as normal for it but the rest of the universe would seem to be moving slower.
Death concentrated and felt the temporal frame change and it experienced what its parts meant, time for all of them moved as normal but everything around them stood still as if frozen in time. The mobs were momentarily stunned by this development, individuals and small groups were only able to shift into frames that were near one another, Death had managed to shift into an extreme temporal frame and… it was noisy… no, the past was noisy…
“It is unfortunate but we have yet to find a way to erase the evidence of the past. Alien enemies will eventually learn about all this and use the knowledge against us.” Death wondered what the Command core meant and the answer instantly popped into its mind as it begun clearing the noise in its mind and witness the past of Nirvana in a mere instant.
It saw the establishment of the initial colony, the arrival of millions of settlers, the conflict of independence and the subsequent wars. How Nirvana came to dominate nearby star systems and become the capital system of the world that took its name. How the second habitable world was terraformed and how they became part of the Serene Republics, the worlds who pursued spiritual enlightenment above all else only to become the Aberrant existences when they… would discover an ancient alien mothership, taking the technology and the teachings the dead ship held as their own.
Everything about the star system and the world angered the mobs; they wanted everything about them to be gone, both present and past. They knew that it was impossible but they wanted it gone so Death found a way. The noise of the past was permanently engraved in the space between the temporal frames, it was impossible to erase it but it was possible for Death to write over it, making it hard to discern what was below. What should Death write though?
“Nothingness!” The mobs broadcasted in unison. The very idea of nothingness intrigued it, to present a lie that nothing had lived onto that star system to begin with. It begun doing just that, writing over everything that any and all living beings had etched onto time itself. It was an arduous effort as Death didn’t just erase the human presence but all signs of advanced life dating back millions of years. Nirvana was always dead, that was what everyone who would look into the past would see unless they knew how to look below what Death had written.
“I am done here!” Death thought as he took in the devastation that it had wrought into the system. It realized that it would have to also obscure the light and all artificial emissions of Nirvana for the lie to be believed but that was easy, time consuming but easy when compared with what it did with the past itself. Without thinking Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame before jumping to the next star system to repeat the process for the remaining five planets of Nirvana and its dependent colonies. There were still thirty six billion Aberrant existences left before Nirvana would be completely annihilated.
Death felt good with burning them, its whole being felt relief in releasing itself against those who had willingly forsaken what they were. It… enjoyed it. Yes it did, some parts of it recoiled at the realization of the enjoyment Death felt but they were insignificant to the whole. Yes… burning them felt good, Death amused itself by remembering how they killed and how it killed them in similar fashion. It was amusing but… too quick? They needed to suffer!
“No!” The command core and the nodes recoiled as one.
“No torture!” The decision was made and all of its parts stirred it the opposite way. The Aberrant existences would die quickly and that would be final. Death wondered what torture was and it realized immediately, to intentionally harm others just to harm them. The Aberrant existences deserved to be killed but not tortured?
“To torture others is to lessen your own self and them. Some believed that they tortured others to find the truth they held hidden inside them but those who are tortured will say and think anything for the pain to stop. It serves no purpose other than to draw sadistic joy out of the pain that is inflicted.” The command core explained.
“Death is just the natural end of all life. Killing the Aberrant existences just brings that end forth sooner than they expected.”
Death understood but it still felt good with killing them, it was quick and painless killing; many of its parts were unsatisfied with how everything unfolded but they all wanted them dead so that made Death happy when it killed them.
“Nirvana is burning!” Death announced once the last dependent colony was burning like the rest of the world, with the history engraved on the temporal frames written over with barren nothing. Death then turned its attention to its three siblings. Conquest faced no difficulty with its own task, destroying the naval concentrations was easy for it and the small pockets of resistance were left to Conquest’s own parts to deal with.
War had teamed up with Famine after burning the rest of Eden. Neither of them shifted into other temporal frames and as such they weren’t anywhere near done. This meant that Elysium was Death’s to deal with and it felt overjoyed. Once again Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame and prepared to jump, it noticed an ansible broadcast coming from Elysium itself but it ignored it. There would be no bargain or parlay.
“This is President Elay of Elysium, I unconditionally surrender all planets, space habitats, military assets and dependent colonies to the Terran Confederation.” It was impossible to ignore the message now that Death jumped into the system, the simple message was transmitted with all available means of communication. Ansible, telepathy and even radio; it was annoying but Death readied itself to continue with its mission.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core ordered and instantly the mobs reacted; trying to smother him in their righteous fury.
“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core repeated angrily as the mobs failed to silence him.
“No!” Death finally argued.
“The Aberrant existences must be killed!” The mobs rallied again, their fury renewed even stronger than before.
“An unconditional surrender was demanded and an unconditional surrender was granted. The surrender will be accepted.”
“Perhaps the command core itself isn’t needed!” Death thought angrily and the mobs stirred, not all of them but enough. They sought him and found him but he was well protected, he had to be removed for the Aberrant existences to be killed.
“As humans and as warriors we are beholden to our honor. There is no honor in murdering a surrender foe no matter the crimes they have committed. If we are to maintain ourselves and our honor then we have only one course of action.” The command core broadcasted and the mobs begun dwindling, half of them remained with more of them abandoning their fury every passing moment.
“Die!” Death thought of the command core and tried to crush him but the parts that had abandoned it rallied to him, protecting him and pushing it back. The mobs rallied and attacked him, so small and seemingly inconsequential and each one of them more than enough to kill him. Death felt the mobs and the disconnected parts kill each other, the mobs had moved quicker and they had the element of surprise by all accounts the command core would die soon but the mobs wavered in their assault.
“He must die!” Death shouted and the mobs stirred once again but they… doubted it.
“He wants to spare the Aberrant existences, he and those who protect him deserve the same fate!” The mobs dwindled even more at that but the ones who remained were certain of the course of action that Death dictated. Death sensed their fury and hatred and this time it was certain that the command core would die and then it would be able to finish off the Aberrant existences and feel good while doing it.
The mobs attacked once more but again they failed in killing him, they… wavered and subsided and…
“Why do you want them to die?” The command core addressed Death, no… every last of its parts.
“Because they need to die!” Death replied without thinking.
“Why do you believe that they need to die?”
“Because… they are Aberrant existences.”
“What makes them so?”
“They abandoned their humanity for alien philosophies.” The reply wasn’t Death’s, all of its parts dictated it and Death was just the messenger.
“That they did and the crimes that they have committed ever since are grave and unforgivable.” The command core replied.
“Still, they have surrendered unconditionally and they will be spared.” Death felt its grip on reality waver… it’s parts… they were… locking themselves again and... it became weaker.
“They shouldn’t be spared.”
“All of our ancestors have committed crimes, many of them unforgivable; if none were ever spared we wouldn’t be here otherwise.” The command core replied.
“We won’t forgive them, we will never forgive them but they shall be spared, watched over and guided.”
Death sensed the command core dropping its mental guard for a fleeting moment due to fatigue. He wanted to kill them too, he loathed them like the mobs did then why didn’t he allow Death to kill them?
“Because we are killers too, the only difference being that we have allowed ourselves to feel that our cause is right.” His mind became guarded again at that before broadcasting his orders.
“Put it to sleep and inform the others of the surrender.”
Death felt reality itself begin to drift away before sensing… elation from the parts that were still active, they were happy and… relieved about something.
“Stubborn fool actually managed to stop Death!” They acted like a mob, no… they were a mob but they did not act in anger.
“Death’s horse threw its rider off!”
“Cease your yammering and put it to sleep!” The command core ordered but they didn’t relent.
“The Pale Horse may actually be a mule!” The mobs fully reawakened as they joked among themselves. “The Pale Horse, Death’s own mount, ceased in place and refused to move!” The mobs instantly reached a consensus among themselves and the Command core didn’t like it at all.
“Pale Horse! Pale Horse!” The mobs chanted in unison as they addressed the Command core with everything they had, irritating him in the process.
“Pale Horse! Pale Horse! Pale Horse!”
Death joined in the chant, finding a last vestige of amusement in the gesture before it begun dreaming or… it felt like a dream and it couldn’t do anything but observe but Death knew it was real. It could think but its thoughts weren’t truly coherent and it couldn’t affect reality like when it was fully awake.
The Pale Horse caught Death’s attention in its dreamy haze, it wanted to… kill him? No… not anymore… annoy him? Yes that… It observed him for years to come, always waiting for the moment that it could truly toy with him but it never truly had the opportunity.
But now? Now he was among four aliens and Death would take the opportunity to toy with him just a little.
Chapter 6, part 2:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 937#p28937