(Author's Note: The name still needs to change.... I haven't thought of
the new one yet. C&C more than welcome, both positive and negative...)
A long, faintly bulging shape slipped through space, sliding
gracefully toward its latest destination; orbit around no planet in
particular, the hundredth such world it had seen in its long journey. As
a silvered hull began to reflect the planet's own reflected light, the
crew of the ship came to life.
It was almost as though they all woke up simultaneously; though it
wasn't a coldsleep voyage, the flurry of activity was similar. There was
so much to do, so much to analyze.... visual guesses at weather data,
plant types, animal species; harder information gained by sensors checking
the planet's density, level of gravity, surface activity....
There would be days' worth of study, and if it looked at all
promising, weeks' worth. And it already looked promising. This was what
the crew of the ship lived for, selected and trained for their love of
discovery, of finding something truly new. Excitement ran through them
like an infection, the potential of the new work energizing them, focusing
them, leaving them, for those glorious hours, deaf to anything else in
their lives.
Okay, so there we're just lying.
-
"Akaaaaaaaaaane...."
"WHAT!?"
"Look, I realize you're nervous and all...."
"I'M NOT NERVOUS! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I'M NERVOUS!?"
"You know, you could burst something that way."
"....*sigh*"
"You look fine."
"I'm not worried about how I--"
"Uh huh. Sure. You check your uniform ten times every time we
pull bridge duty. I believe you. Really."
"Look. Just because I'm dating a--"
"--great looking--"
"--scientist from the--"
"--hot--"
"--Life Sciences--"
"--absolutely gorgeous--"
"--would you CUT THAT OUT!?"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry sis. I'll be good." Brown eyes fluttered
winningly from under a short mop of hair, of nearly the same color.
Nabiki was good at looking innocent--and sounding innocent, even when she
didn't mean a word of it. Whether she did or not this time was an open
question (okay, so let's be fair, she didn't) but at the moment, her
roommate--and sister--was too annoyed to care.
"Suuuuure you will. Look, I know I don't date often--"
"--like within the past year--"
"--SIIIIIIIIS--"
"--right, shutting up."
"....but that doesn't mean I'm that nervous."
She had, an impartial observer would certainly think, little
enough reason to be. Nabiki had described her date as gorgeous; whether
he rose to the adjective or not, Akane certainly did. Dark blue hair fell
to her hips, a legacy of having ancestors born in space--the heavens
imparted rather odd mutations to the first who braved them, with courage,
will, and thoroughly inadequate shielding equipment. Whatever its origin,
it framed a fair-skinned--almost pale--face well, the blue eyes in said
face currently fading from annoyance to nervousness that she'd sooner have
died than admitted.
"Sis? You look fine. You look great, even. But we're not going
to look so great if we're late to the bridge."
"Late? Wha--TEN MINUTES!? Why didn't you TELL me!?" Akane
half-stormed, half-ran past her sister to the door. Nabiki just rolled
her eyes and followed.
It was going to be one of those days.
-
Beep.
"Whassarasafrassin...."
Beep.
"c'monshutupfivemoreminutes...."
Beep.
"I'M UP! I'M UP!"
Beep.
A hand slammed down on an alarm cutoff, silencing the soft, gentle
beeps crashing cruelly through the brain used to silence on duty. The
ship's holds, compartments, and bulkheads had been designed by masters,
and overdesigned at that; there had actually been something of a furor
over how much money had been spent on making them sheer perfection. It
was asked in anger more than once just what the ship was intended to hold,
since it would take well over a thousand times the rated pressure of any
of its cargo to break any of its sealing systems.
Oddly enough, the design was approved anyway.
Joe didn't care. It made his job easy.
Today, however, something actually *was* sounding a pressure
warning. He stared bleary-eyed at it for a few moments, then shrugged.
It had been a few months, but it wasn't unheard of; a sensor had
malfunctioned, or some idiot had left a valve open they weren't supposed
to leave. So he'd have to actually do his job today. No reason to
complain.
Joe picked up his toolbox, started to trudge down the hall, and
was nearly run over by a blue blur.
"Hey!"
"GAH!"
"Sorry, miss.... are you okay?"
"Yeah, but watch where you're going! Someone could get hurt!"
"Yes ma'am."
The two officers started down the hall again, at no more sane a
pace. Joe rolled his eyes, and started in the opposite direction.
Whippersnappers. Didn't they know who really kept this ship
flying?
-
The bridge of the ship was another testament to overdesign, albeit
with much more aesthetically pleasing results. A raised platform sat in
the center, holding the Captain's chair and a very few stations; a railing
went all around the edge of the room to hold many more. Each station,
though assigned a position, was capable of substituting for or taking on
the extra duties of any other (except the Captain's, of course); each
station also had a perfect view of the massive main viewer, directly in
front of the captain's chair and flanked on both sides by clearsteel,
showing the blue planet the ship was currently investigating in both a
computer's vision and the crew's own.
It was also a picture of efficiency and, oddly enough,
tranquility. On a colonization voyage, there was generally no need for
the tense snapping of orders, to-the-second processing of system reports,
and hair-trigger watchfulness that characterized, say, a battle cruiser.
The military officer might think the discipline on the bridge lax--but
he'd be wrong. The ship's officers were Academy-trained, as much as those
on any battleship, and while the military reflexes might go unused for a
time, they did not die quickly.
It must be confessed, however, that the two women racing onto the
bridge at 15:59:43 hours gasping for breath didn't do much for the image
of confidence.
"Re.... *pant* repor.... *puff* reporting for duty, SIR!"
"*ahem* We're here, boss."
"Take your positions."
"Yes SIR!"
"Right, boss."
The Captain glowered briefly at Nabiki's insubordination, but
didn't press it. His mind was occupied too thoroughly with other things;
the mah jongg game next to him sat not quite gathering dust, but moving
slowly enough to. The Captain's patience at the game was legendary; he
was known to go hours on end without making a move or even touching a
piece, staring and contemplating the intricacies of the plans in his mind.
Certain Bridge crew members were convinced this was because he
took naps, but the rest were certain otherwise. He was, after all, the
Captain.
If the truth be told, however, his mind was not on his mah jongg
game today. It was occupied with far weightier matters. Matters that
made the mysteries of strategy and tactics as child's play, that made the
operation of the ship something to consign to absent-minded automatic
responses, that made the tortured secrets every leader bears fade into a
background of oblivion.
His darling, precious, flawless, incomprehensibly wonderful
priceless sapphire of a daughter had a DATE.
The thought was almost too much to bear. No, it *was* too much to
bear; it flooded the old heart with too many emotions. She had found true
love, she would marry into an honorable family and spread the honorable
traditions of her own, she would bear children and make him a grandfather
and make his dear, dear, dear departed wife a grandmother, oh, if only she
could have seen this day.... it was too much. Simply too much joy for any
man to bear. He began weeping, quietly, in his seat.
The bridge crew turned silently away. They had all served the
Captain for years now, and knew the pressures of his command, the strains
he had to be under; such a terrible burden would be enough to overwhelm
any man, once in awhile. They knew how to give an honorable soldier his
honorable privacy.
Which was just as well, since that way they didn't see Akane with
beet-red face in hands or Nabiki trying not to laugh, either.
-
<Light from the Netherworlds - Yasunori Mitsuda>
Joe looked at the gauge a fourth time in bewilderment. It was
still showing a pressure warning. In fact, it was still going up a
little.
He'd done everything. Turned off every valve, double-checked
every sensor.... nothing. There was dead silence in the room now; he'd
had to use his top secret pass to get in here, and he'd silenced all the
alarms. But there was no sign of what was causing the warning.
Internal computer failure. Well, this was going to be a mess, he
thought darkly. It couldn't actually *be* pressure that high, of course.
There was nothing in this hold. Ship records said so. But even so, regs
said he had to go get a team and check it out now. He turned to leave the
room.
Joe never saw the tentacle burst free of the hold, never felt it
wrap around his ankle. It happened too fast. He did feel it pull his leg
free of the socket then free of him, dropping him to the ground in sudden,
sharp agony. He rolled, instinctively, grabbing for the bleeding stump,
and froze in place, eyes taking in a sight that would have informed a
lifetime of inhuman nightmares.
The next tentacle spared him that.
-
CONDITION: EMERGENCY LEVEL 1
It took a full quarter of a second to sink in for the fastest;
reflexes had fallen that far.
CONDITION: EMERGENCY LEVEL 1
Half a second later, every face on the bridge was looking at a
screen and there was the clatter of activity, the sound of three times a
dozen computer operators banging furiously at their keyboards in an
organized panic. The Captain sat up straight, looking at the main
monitor, the sudden incalculable joy of his life forgotten for the moment.
"What is it--"
"Major intrusion detected in hold 47, sir." No one was looking at
the Captain, so they didn't have a chance to see his face pale for a
moment. "Terminal's been compromised...."
"Access codes entered. It's accessing the Omega-1 system.... base
code speed 85 million marks.... one *hundred* million.... its speed is
overwhelming--"
Nabiki interrupted her sister. "Activating emergency cutoffs.
System sealed from.... from.... Denied! It went right through!"
"Cut the cables manually." Akane almost jumped at the Captain's
voice--not at volume or sharpness, but at its clarity. She didn't
hesitate, though. "Yes sir."
A panel opened, a knob twisted, a confirmation code entered....
somewhere in the ship, a few people felt a slight vibration as a small
package of plastic explosive did its work, a six-foot section of cabling
inside the ship's computer conduits simply falling out, leaving empty
space where core network connections once were. In less critical areas,
lights began flickering. The bridge, of course, never noticed that.
"Detonation confirmed, it's--"
"STILL THERE!"
"What!?"
"We can't stop it. It's taken over the weapon systems....
contamination is spreading widely--"
The main screen went dark.
Total chaos reigned on the bridge for half a second.
The main screen came back on... gibberish flowing down it in a
torrent, meaningless reams of hexadecimal information flowing far faster
than any human could read, then more slowly, then almost slow enough to
make out....
you
The Captain stared at the screen, his knuckles going white where
they gripped his chair.
shall
The rest of the bridge crew slowly froze in place, lowering hands
in defeat. If the core system was this badly taken over, there was
nothing to fight back with....
be
....nothing to fight back for. A cadet began shaking, starting to
sob; the lieutenant next to him slapped him hard across the face.
as
Cruel, but it got the message across. There was no time for
panic. Something had to be done....
the
....and quickly. All eyes turned to the Captain....
most
....except Akane and Nabiki's, caught staring at the screen as
though transfixed, hands in mid-stroke at their panels.
high
"--evacuate."
"....what?"
"Full evacuation. All hands, this is the Captain. Abandon ship.
Repeat, abandon ship. I will issue final orders after the evacuation is
complete." He turned off the communicator, and looked around the bridge,
at his crew. His people. His daughters.
"All of you. Evacuate. Now."
-
Total panic reigned in the corridors of the ship, men, women and
children alike streaming for lifepods, in the panic as old as voyaging
itself; crew without their wits together part of the mob, crew with their
wits together ordering it, forcing it into some semblance of organization,
preventing the pods from being overloaded.
Akane and Nabiki were among the latter, of course. And slowly,
the tide of humanity began to stem. Akane turned. "Go, sis."
"But--"
"I'll be right behind you, there aren't enough people at the
lifeboats and there're too many here now. *Go.*"
Nabiki didn't try to argue. It wasn't that she wanted to go. Or
that she wouldn't have preferred her sister to go instead. She just knew
the look in Akane's eyes, and knew that arguing with her would be worse
than useless, it would only waste time. She nodded once, glaring at her
sister for just long enough to make it clear she wasn't happy, and ran
with the fleeing mob.
Minutes passed. The tide dwindled, then faltered, then died.
Akane, for one second, was alone. She turned to run herself.
She did feel the tentacle around her ankle.
Akane's sidearm spoke in a quarter of a second; the tentacle
flopped to the ground, useless. She ignored the inhuman cry from
somewhere and *ran*, in the direction she knew the lifepod was in....
....to see a sea of tentacles on the floor of the corridors,
writhing, intertwining, growing, massing, moving for her....
-
The Captain watched as lifepod after lifepod streamed from the
ship, their engines lighting the eternal night around the craft.
He wouldn't be joining them, of course. Not now.
/It won't be long now, darling./
-
Blind panic had set in. Akane no longer cared where she was
running, she simply ran. She tried to make it to another lifepod, but
forgot the way.... and as she hesitated a moment, trying to remember,
tentacles wrapped both ankles, pulling her to the floor. She screamed--
--and both tentacles fell off her, severed. Hands pulled her to
her feet, roughly but not unkindly. Clear eyes looked her over before
meeting hers, evidently deciding she could run. "Let's get the hell out
of--"
She had just enough time to open her mouth, ready to interrupt her
benefactor with agreement and thanks, before a tentacle tore his head off.
Akane only froze for a moment, then she *ran*, there'd be time to
break down crying later.... okay, she was already crying, but she was also
running, hoping to outdistance or escape or just buy herself a few more
seconds or just to run. She paused three steps down a corridor--dead end.
Only rooms and hall, nothing else.... she whirled to run back....
The impact knocked her most of the way down the corridor bodily.
She picked herself up a second later, training kicking in automatically,
backing up to the end of the corridor as she aimed at the mass of
tentacles boiling down the corridor and fired, fired, fired again,
screaming in rage and panic, desperate that the sacrifice just made for
her not be in vain.
It wasn't to be. Her gun out of power, dozens, hundreds of dead
tentacles littered the floor, running the carpet red with their blood; it
didn't matter. They kept coming.
Akane finally broke completely, half screaming, half sobbing
incoherently. It didn't last very long. The tentacles wrapping around
her legs, then body, then neck made it far too hard to get enough breath
to do more than....
--akane--
....to do more than breathe enough....
--i shall make you as a goddess--
....what was happening....
--i shall make you as the most high--
/god help me..../
--i will--
-
The last lifepod left. The Captain said a silent prayer that both
his daughters had made it, and turned to the side.
A bright flash made him turn back. Then there was another. And
another. And another.
The ship's own cannons spoke, and spoke, and spoke again; lifepods
listed, exploding, open to space, or simply out of power and waiting for
life support to fail.
But all dying.
Trembling in impotent rage, the Captain lowered his head for a
moment. He then raised it, turning to the panel beside him, and pressed
two keys. A beam lanced out, spearing his retina, scanning it; a second
panel rose from its hiding place. He looked at it for a moment, silent,
then pressed three keys more.
He watched confirmation scroll across the display--completely
independent from the ship's computer--then turned away, looking down at
his hand. A golden locket lay open there, the image in it one of a much
younger Nabiki and Akane, flanking a lovely woman who could have been
either a few decades later.
/Very soon now, darling. Very--/
The Captain's universe went white then black, as the planet, for a
while, looked up at a new sun.
-
Akane opened one eye then the other, hand wiping blood--she wasn't
sure whether it was hers or the tentacles'--off her face. They lay all
around her, motionless; ironically, when the ship had exploded, they'd
cushioned her from the worst of the shock. She only had two broken ribs
and a broken leg, she guessed.
That wasn't going to help her when the piece she was in hit
ground, she thought absently. But at least it was over. Whatever
that.... thing was, it didn't get to do whatever it was going to do to
her. She was about to die, but she was about to die as herself. Her
would-be savior's sacrifice had bought at least that much. All in all,
things could have....
....something twitched against her ankle....
....been....
--make you--
....worse....
--as the most high--
The tentacles started moving again.
And things got worse.
Much worse.
-
(Author's Other Note: I'm taking a risk and revealing a lot in the
prologue. Xenogears players already *know* a lot of what I'm revealing,
though; the surprises can't come in what happened, they have to come in
how I twist it. It still might be too much though; I'm not sure....)