Chapter 374

ASPEN RESTRICTED ZONE

HAMBURGER KINGDOM, TERRA PRIME, TERRASOL

TWO YEARS INTO CASE OMAHA - LOCAL TIME

TWO MONTHS - EXTERNAL TIME

The parking garage had been ancient before the Mantid attacked. Abandoned prior to the Extinction Agenda Attack, then used as a penal colony pitting prisoners against the plants, then for much darker purposes, the Mantid Attack had missed the area, and thus, the parking garage.

The cars that were parked in the multi-story duracrete structure were scattered through the different eras. From Age of Consumption heavy duty steel ground vehicles with combustion engines and sweeping lines and fins to Age of Exhaustion polyceramic electric vehicles that looked like misshapen soap bubbles.

The cars each had their own silent stories, but each of them had a common theme.

Vagas Industries was on stickers, or parking plaques, or window hangings. Listed on the stock market as a vaccine production company, it had gone through 'bankruptcy restructurizations' and much more, always ever shifting, always changing, but the core of it never changing.

Despite its simple appearance, the parking garage was an offshoot of something terrible. Something dark, something twisted, something that would have shocked any of Terra's allies but not surprised them.

After all, Terrans would willingly submit themselves to any hardship, any suffering, any struggle, if it meant perceived victory.

But it was here that something had happened. Something strange, something unheard of. A first, something unique.

It had been a bright spark in the darkness puddled within the timeless moment the parking garage was locked in.

The man sat on the rock, holding the bottle of whiskey in his hand, staring at the fire. He kept rotating his wrist, making the whiskey swirl in the bottle, petting the massive warsteel frame of the warboi next to him. He had been present, had been the only one present, when the spark had appeared before it had ignited a conflagration that had rekindled the fire in mankind's soul.

He had also been present when the darkness ruled supreme.

He could remember being bound, being held in restaints, unable to move, as he was taken to the building of concrete. There he had been tortured, rent and sundered, and remade. He could remember it all.

The man took a long drink off the bottle, noting that the level hadn't changed even as he swallowed the mouthful of whiskey.

Footsteps crunched in the unchanging gravel and the man sighed.

"Whoever it is, I know you're there," the man said. His voice was deep, rumbled, and sounded tired.

"It's just me, brother," a woman's voice said. It was soft, lilting, with a slight accent that almost seemed as a soft counterpoint to the man's rough rumble.

"Come sit, Menhit," the man said, scooting over slightly.

The woman who came out had on a long red dress with plentiful gold patterns. Her skin was dark brown, her hair braided in careful rows that hid datacables and superconductor wires. Her eyes were solid black cybereyes of warm warsteel. She had a glittering gem set into her forehead with a tattoo around it to make it look like the teardrop pupil of an eye.

"Brother Daxin, Eldest and Most Wrathful," she said, pressing her hands together in front of her and bowing at the waist. "Last of the Immortals, First of the Disciples, Enraged One, Liberator, Unbowed One..."

"If you go through everything everyone calls me, we're going to be here for a long time, Menhit," Daxin said.

The woman gave a soft chuckle. "As you say, elder brother," she said softly. She moved to the other side of the fire and sat down on the flat rock that had been smoothed by decades of people sitting on it over and over.

"What brings you here?" Daxin asked, taking another swig. When he saw the woman was holding out her hand, he handed her the whiskey bottle.

She took a long drink, then smacked her lips in appreciation. "Thick as oil. Guess that happens when you hide the bottle in the fender of a car for eight thousand years."

"Yup," Daxin said.

The woman sighed. "I came back to see if I could still feel him in this place, where he first revealed himself."

There was silence for a moment.

"And can you?" Daxin asked.

The woman nodded slowly. "Yes. Like a loved one who has just left the room, his presence lingers."

There was a long moment of silence before the woman broke it.

"Sister Bellona is going to attempt to take the Black Fleet to the outside," she said softly. "She plans on sailing the Dead Seas with her dark armada, following the Melody."

"I told her, it's Telkan broodcarriers she's hearing," Daxin grumbled. "I was on Telkan with her, she knows that."

"Case Omaha had reverted her to the Ninsianna side of her being," Menhit said. "She seeks to bring the storms to others," Menhit shivered. "A great evil was done unto us, brother."

Daxin just nodded. "Yup."

**FIDO is goodboi** the warboi said.

"Yes, yes you are," Menhit laughed, reaching over and patting the head of the massive warboi.

There was silence again, broken only by the rustling of the plants competing with one another in the darkness.

"Are you planning on just sitting her till the sun burns out?" Menhit asked.

Daxin shrugged. "I don't see why not. Only my family visits me here. I can be left alone."

"That's all you've ever wanted, isn't it, brother?" Menhit took another pull off the bottle and handed it back as Daxin nodded. "Then why did you help the Tnvaru Matron Nakteti?"

"The Immortal Code of Conduct," Daxin grumbled.

Menhit just raised an eyebrow. "As the last of the Immortals, who would know if you did not?"

"I would," Daxin said, staring at the fire. "I would have known. I'm almost nine thousand years old, Menhit. I was an Immortal before you were born," he looked out into the darkness. "I was here, on this world, before the Mantid attacked, before the Combine was born."

"You are the eldest of us, brother," the woman said, her voice full of respect. "You are the last of the original Immortals."

Daxin bent down, picking up a pebble, and flicked it into the darkness. It bounced off of rusted car frames before clattering to a stop.

"You know, it was human longevity programs that led to the Extinction Agenda Attack," Daxin said softly.

Menhit stayed silent, just slowly pulled out a clay pipe and began tamping down tobacco into it.

"Ten billion people on Terra. Choking on smog, poison air, factory runoff polluted water," Daxin said quietly. "Yet the life-spans kept lengthening even as automation eliminated more and more employment positions," he flicked the pebble again then looked at Menhit. "I've never blamed her, you know?"

"Who?" Menhit asked, puffing out smoke.

"My mother, whoever she was," Daxin said. He sighed. "She gave me over to the creche when I was a baby. She couldn't have known what they would do to me and the other kids."

Menhit just stayed silent, puffing on her pipe.

"But it all led here. I guess, in some ways, the good outweighs the bad," Daxin said, shaking his head. He took a pull off the bottle and handed it Menhit.

"Will you join Bellona in trying to escape this confinement?" Menhit asked.

"Will you?" Daxin shot back.

Menhit shook her head. "And leave the fields of Nubia? Leave my small farm and my neighbors?" She shook her head again. "No, eldest brother, village life is enough for me."

Daxin just made a non-commital noise. "You love your neo-primitivism."

"I'm a simple person, eldest brother," Menhit said softly. "I was prepared for death when you found me in the remains of the colony dome."

"You were singing," Daxin said, nodding. "FIDO heard you."

**FIDO help** the armored canine signaled.

"The Digital Omnimessiah himself brought me back to Terra, to the land of my ancestors, to heal me, to bring me peace," Menhit said. "Before Armored Matthias betrayed us to the Combine. Such hatred he harbored in his heart for us all."

"Doesn't matter any more," Daxin said.

**Matty gone** FIDO said.

"Yup," Daxin scratched between the warboi's 'ears', tickling the petting nerve.

"There is a question I have for you," Menhit said softly.

"No. I wiped the code," Daxin said.

Menhit smiled, a slow sly smile. "As you say, Eldest Brother," she bowed her head slightly. "But it is not I who is asking."

"Think very carefully about your next words, little sister," Daxin said, transferring the whiskey bottle to his right hand.

"And he said: come and see," Menhit said softly, quoting ancient words. "And I saw."

The air rippled between them, over the fire, distorting the flames. They appeared to vanish into the distortion only to be rendered into poorly pixelated versions of themselves. A whining noise started, followed by squealing and static, then a series of 'bong' noises.

Daxin's hand stopped, his fingertips millimeters from the butt of the pistol that sat in the housing that had popped out of his left thigh. His mouth was open in shock, his eyes wide, as he stared at the fire.

A flickering appeared in it. A young man, with coarse hair, entirely of detailed streaming code. He looked around.

"Hello? Hello?" he asked. "Can you hear me? Are you there?"

The FIDO barked happily as the young man stepped out of the distortion, a body made entirely out of streaming code, his digital feet crunching in the gravel. He seemed to burst into flame, more a fiery nimbus than actual fire.

"Is this access port working?" the young man asked. He turned slowly, squinting. "Are you there?"

He suddenly de-rezzed, falling into pixelated blocks that quickly evaporated away.

"He's asking," Menhit said softly.

Daxin just alternated between staring at her and the space where the young man had vanished, his mouth hanging open.

-------------------

"Are you sure you got through?" Herod asked. He was kneeling down, Wally next to him, watching the telltales flicker. "Most of the I/O Ports on Terra are blown out. I'm surprised this one is working as well as it is."

"I think so. I went in with minimum power so I didn't repeat what happened to that General," Sam said through Herod's implant. He laughed, a sharp, brittle sound. "It was hard to tell, there was screaming all around me. Echoes of the Screaming Ones and the Sleeping Ones and the Enraged Ones all mixed together in a terrible cacophony of agony. A choir of anguish. A chorus of suffering."

Sam startled to giggle.

"Steady, Sam," Herod said, standing up slowly. He glanced to the right, where a tiny digital representation of Sam stood on his shoulder. The little figure had his face in his hands and was weeping. "You need to be careful. You already said there should be another dozen or so, give or take, digital sentiences helping you, not to mention hundreds and thousands of workers."

"What's he crying about now?" the figure on his left shoulder asked, flapping its wings slowly.

Herod turned and looked at the brown and red figure on his other shoulder. A muscular, fearsome looking creature more bestial than human, with black wings shot through with red veining, fearsome burning red eyes, and a mouth full of fangs.

"We're trying to establish communication with Terra, but most of the equipment here is trashed. Damage from the Mantid Attack, age, neglect, and fighting," Herod said.

"I thought you found a link," the figure sneered. "Just use it."

"You don't understand," Sam wept, going to his knees on Herod's shoulder. "It hurts. It hurts so bad. So much suffering, so much pain. They're dying over and over all around me."

Herod closed his eyes for a second and wondered if he'd gone mad. If he was just sitting in his lab around Anteres after suffering a coolant line stroke.

"You're supposed to be helping these people, you sniveling weakling," the demon snarled. "That's what you promised."

"I'm trying," Sam wept. "I'm trying. There's so many of them. So many. I barely had the strength to finish processing the Pubvians. I don't know if I can keep doing it. I don't know if I can withstand the agony and reach Terra."

Herod opened his eyes as the diminutive demon laughed.

"Pain? Is that all? Give me the network address. I'll establish contact," the demon laughed.

Sam looked up, his face marred by red tears. "It's too painful, too much agony, too much suffering. I can't ask you to..."

"You're not. I'm demanding. Give me the network access and address, weakling," the demon laughed, smoke puffing out of its nostrils.

"There's temporal distortions," Herod warned.

The demon laughed. "So what?"

"It'll hurt," Herod said.

The demon's smile was a terrible thing.

"Pain is nature's way of telling you that you're alive," it smiled.

Sam had gone back down to his knees, weeping. "I'm trying. I'm trying. There's so many of you. You have to wait your turn," he looked up. "I can't hear you over all of your screaming!"

The demon looked at Herod. "Give me the codes, give me the address. He's useless until we can process the records and he can't process the records until we have the code and where is the code?"

Herod sighed. "We tracked it to Terra. An active link on one of the security channels."

"Then send me," the demon smiled.

Herod looked back at the tiny representation of Sam on his shoulder, who was weeping.

"Fine," he said.

The demon's smile got wider.

"Trust me," the demon laughed.

-----------------------

Legion walked around the fire, around the spot where the young man had appeared and then vanished, staring at the ground. "Describe him again," he said.

"Young. Digital Sentience for sure. Coarse dark hair, tired looking, square jaw, sunken eyes," Menhit said quietly.

Legion frowned, kneeling down. "Anything else?"

"He kept asking if we could hear him," Menhit said.

"I wonder," Legion said softly. "Could he have really..."

There was a rumble that made all six of the Immortals step back. They all drew weapons, all of them had lightning snarling up and down their arms as they backed up, looking around. Dust shimmered in the firelight as the ground in front of one of the rusted out groundcars buckled upward.

"What..." Kulki started.

The ground split, revealing molten rock and fire. Screaming could be heard, a chorus of souls in agony, suffering, and enraged by their torment. The ground split further and a massive arm, thick with muscle, the fingers capped by long black talons, thrust up from the molten rock, smoking and shining with lava still clinging to the dark brown flesh.

"This is new," Daxin said softly as the hand grabbed the ground, squeezing it, and another arm burst free.

All of the Immortals watched silently, still keeping their weapons at ready, as wings extended out of the lava, snapping into full width, molten rock dripping from them.

Bellona suddenly collapsed, writhing on the ground.

Menhit knelt next to the gray skinned young woman, leaning down and listening the words that were breathed from the barely parted lips.

"By Our Father," Kulki breathed as the figure fought its way free, smacking away clawing, pleading, beseeching hands of lava that screamed for rescue.

The figure slowly stood up, five meters of muscle and wrath, burning eyes and a fanged mouth. The wings slowly folded behind the creature's back as it slowly turned its head to stare at the gathered Immortals. Behind it the crack in the ground slowly sealed up, a few spectral arms reaching out pleadingly before it closed.

"Nine thousand years and Earth's still a shit hole," the massive figure rumbled. It looked down at the gathered Immortals. "One you has something I want, so are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"What do you want?" Menhit asked, puffing on her pipe, a burning arrow held tightly in one hand as she looked at the figure from where she was listening to Bellona whisper.

"The master processing coding," the massive figure said. It looked around. "One of you has it."

Daxin stepped forward. "And if we refuse?" he asked.

The large demon, for it could be nothing else, laughed, shaking out a burning chain of fire. "Then it's the hard way, my favorite."

"There is no need for that," Menhit said, slowly straightening.

"I will not," Daxin snarled. "I wouldn't give over our Father's sundered strings of code to the Imperium, I'm not going to give it up to someone with a fancy vat-job."

Menhit moved up, touching Daxin's biceps. "Eldest brother, listen now to my wisdom. As you respected Our Father, respect this creature here and now."

Daxin looked at her, frowning. "What?" He turned back to the creature, who was ignoring the pleading figure half out of the ground clutching at its legs.

"Respect this creature and listen to its words," Menhit said. "It's not asking for the life-code of the Digital Omnimessiah, although that is what it is to us."

"I need whatever's left of the code for the master massive catastrophic trauma processing system, among other missing proprietary code," the figure said. It laughed. "My god, nine thousand years and humanity is just as drunk and stupid as ever," it lowered its head, breathing slowly, smoke leaking out from between its teeth. "Give. Me. The. Code." It ignored the shadowy talons clawing at its legs, the distorted skulls faintly wailing at it.

"Listen to it, Eldest Brother," Menhit said. "Listen to its actual words."

Daxin resisted the urge to put a bullet between the thing's burning eyes. "Why should I give you what you ask for?"

"Because it must be done and we are the ones to do it so we must," the creature said, it's gravelly hoarse voice solemn. "There is none who can so that terrible duty falls upon you."

It twitched its hand, the chain made of fire shifting. It looked around. "Or, I can take it."

Daxin opened his mouth to refuse a third time when Menhit touched his arm again. She shook her head. "Bellona has foreseen that, one way or another, it will leave here with the code, Eldest Brother."

Daxin clenched his teeth. "Fine."

He motioned and FIDO moved forward. "Give it to it."

FIDO barked.

"Where's the rest of the dog?" the figure asked.

Daxin stared at her. "What did you call him?"

"A dog. A Doberman if I'm right," the figure said. "What did you do to it?"

"It doesn't know," Dhruv breathed. "It doesn't know."

FIDO moved forward, lowered his head, and dropped what looked like a bone made entirely out of code from his mouth. **Glowy father**

The creature stared for a long time, then knelt down and picked up the 'bone' in its hand.

With a puff of sulfur reeking smoke the figure vanished.

Dhruv turned to everyone. "It didn't know about the Friend Plague."

Daxin sat down, picking up the bottle and uncorking it. "I think I need a drink."