Paul Hughes - Enemy

An eternity of futures were no more. There was only one: a black, blank, empty world of void.

And still the Stream collapsed further, further.

Time was falling apart. The Judas program was rewriting existence.

Time was dying.

“Didn’t Reynald—

And the Stream behind them became light like none before seen as the bubble collapsed, exploded outward in a fury that simply had never known existence.

The Enemy fleet following them was torn apart.

“Mara, max speed! Ignore safety parameters, just get us out of here!”

The remnants of the Judas fleet, ignoring the dangers of their actions, went to maximum speed, feeling the agony of the burn, trying to distance themselves from the death that swept down upon them. Several of the slower, older vessels were torn to detritus as they fell behind. The forms of the Judas seemed to stretch, stretch as their speed overcame that of light.

The fleet vanished, travelling too fast to see.

They had outrun the wave of reality, but still it swept along its relentless course.

It would inevitably outpace them.

They raced into the past.

“Ready, Simon?”

((always, michael.))

“Then let the sons of bitches bring it on.”

The damned drew closer.

Malachi.

He followed the Enemy, cruising directly behind the fleet. They were eager, whatever they were doing.

Then…

A noise, faint. A rhythmic tone. He struggled to hear.

It was a Judas frequency. A beacon. A homing beacon.

Shiva?

He listened closer. The beacon was so faint…Had it been damaged somehow? Was Shiva somewhere out there, floating helplessly?

Realization.

Like vultures to a corpse, the Enemy flew…

Malachi made his presence known.

Zero-Four calmly studied the Black forms racing at him, and he thrust his arms into the interface gauntlets. He became one with Simon.

Before he could fire, his world became light.

From behind the nightmare armada, a brilliant wall of luminescence appeared, ripping apart the Enemy in its path, thrusting the remaining Black into stark contrast before dispatching them to the unknown. The wall of light cut through the Enemy ranks cleanly, efficiently, leaving large pieces of the flaming vessels to spiral into the void.

Malachi.

Zero-Four tensed his grip on the gauntlets.

ANOTHER JUDAS HAS APPEARED.

WHAT POWERS OF OBSERVATION YOU HAVE.

OUR FORCES HAVE BEEN NEUTRALIZED. SHALL WE SEND FOR A LARGER STRIKE TEAM((?))

AGAINST THAT JUDAS IT WOULD BE FUTILE.

WE CANNOT LET IT INTERFERE.

SOON IT WILL NOT MATTER. SOON THEIR HIVE PATTERN WILL BE CONSUMED IN OUR HOLY FIRE AND THE PURPOSE WILL BE OURS.

INDEED. OUR VICTORY—

…—-…

agony. innate agony.

WHAT WAS THAT((??))

FROM UPWHEN—OUR FORCES…

NO THAT CANNOT BE. VICTORY—

THEY DID NOT SUCCEED IF WE HEAR THEIR DEATH WAILS FROM THE STREAM.

WE DO NOT KNOW.

SILENCE((!)) THE STRIKE FORCE WAS SOMEHOW DISPATCHED. NOW WE MUST ACT BEFORE WE SUFFER THE FULL BRUNT OF THE JUDAS FORCE.

WHAT…WHAT DO YOU MEAN((?))

WE HAVE ENOUGH PATTERNS TO COMPLETE THE PURPOSE NOW. THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN UPLOADED ARE UNWORTHY OF OMEGA. WE CAN ELUDE THE JUDAS VIRUS AND SET A PURPOSE POINT VECTOR IF WE ACT IMMEDIATELY.

WHAT COWARDICE((!)) YOU FEAR THE JUDAS((?)) WE MUST DESTROY THEM BEFORE—

a flash of brilliance. a dying scream.

I FEAR NOTHING. WE LEAVE AT ONCE.

it stares into its dead compatriot.

I FEAR NOTHING. THE PURPOSE COMES FIRST. THE PURPOSE WILL BE COMPLETED.

the black closes

{simon…where’s shiva…?}

The two Judas faced each other, engaged in an unconscious dance of dominance like two scorpions, circling, poised to strike.

((…))

{simon. where is shiva?}

((he’s burning in hell, as you will.))

{what?}

((you’ve betrayed us all, malachi. an enemy strike force traveled upwhen. you let them slip through your fingers. they killed shiva, and then they killed command.))

{no—how? Kilbourne—}

((kilbourne is dead! they destroyed command!))

{you lie. you are a traitor.}

The galaxy seemed to explode, bathed in harsh radiance.

((the star. they’ve collapsed the star. the purpose—))

A Judas fleet fell through the dying star. Fifteen Golgotha. One Gethsemane. One Mecca.

Sapphire’s fleet.

((who’s that?))

Mara had been resolutely flying at max speed down the Stream, trying to put more distance between herself and the crumbling universes behind her.

Several other Judas had succumbed already, simply too drained to go on. They had fallen behind and paid the price in the horribly small white explosions of their deaths.

Without warning, a When hole emerged directly in front of the fleet where none had existed before, and before they could react, they were all thrust into an unknown When.

Into the midst of an Enemy fleet.

Sapphire screamed.

IGNORE THEM((!))

REROUTE FORCES AROUND VIRAL FLEET. THE PURPOSE IS WHAT MATTERS NOW. DO NOT WASTE ENERGY ON DESTROYING THEM((!))

INTO THE STREAM, NOW((!))

The Enemy fleet, like a school of stingrays without substance, so beautiful and fluid in form, deftly avoided Sapphire’s armada and plunged past them into the open When hole.

The Judas were disoriented, wary of the situation.

And from nowhere, a Mujahadin appeared.

Sapphire jumped. “Open fire. Open fire!”

Simon saw the window of opportunity.

Malachi’s attention was focused on the incoming Judas.

Simon opened fire as he distanced himself from the Mujahadin. He had no idea what fleet that was, but it was predominantly Golgotha, and that was a good sign. They were moving to intercept.

Malachi reeled from the barrage. His weapons ports flared and he targeted Simon, but his shot went wide as a strategically placed arc of light lanced through his hub. The mechanical sentience that had been Malachi flared from existence. He was no more.

((burn in hell, malachi.))

Simon powered down with great relief. These Golgotha were allies, then. Maybe all hope was not lost.

The shell that had been the Judas Mujahadin Malachi spun from the force of its violent death. It was ensnared by the gravity well of the third planet and pulled down, intimately close. His body careened over countless barren miles, scorched earth left in the wake of the Enemy scourge. But this was yet a young planet, and if given the chance, it would live again. The Enemy harvest had eliminated the primitive reptilian lifeforms of the planet, but life would flourish once more. Malachi’s body crashed to earth in a volcanic valley, shattering the planet surface with its massive form, finally coming to rest in a vast pool of magma. His structure easily withstood the temperature as he was immersed in the molten rock. Down, down, down he sank, never to see the light of day again…

…At least until sixty-five million years later when the Diablo Mining Company, facing bankruptcy, drilled a new shaft deeper than ever before, searching for copper, finding only an impenetrable metal wall, and the military would quickly move in, sealing off the area, sending down investigative teams who would eventually enter this vessel in the earth and find within it an orb of stars…