To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

     Despite the bluish glowing swarm of nanites surrounding her head, Niko found that it was surprisingly easy to enter the trance. Riskless, too, for she could break off at any moment if the dream became too disturbing.
     Floating in a pleasant no man's land, eyes closed, she waited patiently for the darkness behind her lids to lift. When it finally did, an indefinite amount of time later, it revealed, blurry at first, then increasingly pronounced, a hall that was strikingly similar to the one she had just left. The architect's aim had been the same here: to build a structure that would endure through time, would overwhelm and dwarf countless generations of visitors.
     Her gaze wandered, inexorably drawn to the focal point of the structure: the big, ornate chair resting on a pedestal on the far side of the hall was clearly to be the center of attention at all times. The spot was well chosen; it was impossible to ignore. So were the colors, the strident red of the throne, if a throne it was, bleeding in striking contrast to the darker red, violet and black of the background decoration.
     But where the library had been airy and light, this hall was dark and opressive with sheer size. Even the walls seemed menacingly alive. Looking more closely, she could see guards grouped around the pedestal, as well as lining the walls. Easily overlooked at first, because their uniforms were held in the same tones as the hall, they provided an additional measure of threatening tension.
     The sense of deja vu was only faint, and all the more disturbing because of it. Niko searched in vain for the set of memories to match - as always, she only stumbled upon blurry, cryptic images. But one detail was sharp and clear among them -- the feeling that something was about to happen, had indeed already happened. As she approached the throne, her movements unreal and light, she noticed that none of the guards was reacting to her in any way. She felt like a shadow, there and not there at the same time, observer and observed. And still, no one was looking her way.
     The sudden commotion in one of the side corridors, as real sounding as anything she had ever experienced, reminded her that she was still dreaming, and in control of the dream. The images her subconsciousness provided weren't passing through the distorting filter of analogies and daily experiences that used to render them unintelligible in normal sleep.
     Niko watched avidly as the door slid open, revealing the figure of a tall woman clad in scarlet robes who entered the hall in a rustle of silk. The woman was striking in a twisted way, yet it was the strangely shaped object in her clawlike hands that drew Niko's attention like a magnet, called to her in so loud a voice -- many voices -- that she instinctively covered her ears.
     At the first sight the item was unimpressive, sleek and simple. And yet the woman held it carefully and somewhat triumphantly as she marched across the hall and finally settled on the throne. A motion of her hand, and more guards entered, this time dragging a group of captives along with them. Despite the multitude of voices in her head, Niko's focus shifted to the four strangely unresisting prisoners, who somehow managed to look at the same time dignified and dangerous.
     From her place next to the throne, she looked four people in the grim faces - she only saw herself, touched her own mind in another Niko's body. Battered and bruised and splendidly calm in the face of unsurmountable odds. Experienced, with a thirst for life and the courage to give it up for something she believed in. Her, and yet another person altogether -- one who was not afraid to take risks, one that lived her life fully instead of hiding behind a cocoon of illusional safety.
     The person Niko had always wanted to be.
     The redhaired captive shook her head in an attempt to get the long strands out of her eyes, and returned the malicious look the Queen threw her with superior composure. The big blonde next to her didn't look serene -- he looked lethal. Niko gasped as fragments of her dreams came together and suddenly gained new meaning as she watched the scene play out before her eyes.
     Shane?
     "So, here we are again! Reunited at last." The sibilant hiss of the Queen's voice cut through the haze surrounding her brain, and suddenly Niko wanted to launch herself forward in a mad attempt to prevent events that belonged to a time that wasn't hers--and yet that was frighteningly familiar.
     "I must admit you have made great opponents," the Queen droned on. Her smile was wistful. "I will take care to wipe you out of existence personally -- it is the least I can do to reward such splendid endurance. I vow I wish my troopers were more like you." Sharp intelligence blazed in her eyes with a visible spark. "Then again, maybe not. One working brain at this court is all that is needed -- I rather prefer it to be mine."
     "You won't succeed," the tall, darkhaired captive growled. Despite his disheveled appearance and the already blossoming bruises on his face and body, he still managed to sound menacing. Niko sighed as she recalled the bold, carved features. Tenderness welled, and respect. You always were a tough one, Zach. Hearing a raspy sound from the direction of the throne, she turned her attention back to the Queen, who was snickering silently to herself.
     "I must admit that I was expecting a more imaginative remark -- I can see that you don't share my fondness for the theatre. A universal form of amusement it seems, and so instructional... Have you ever read the one you call the Bard? Admirably observant for a human." The Queen's hands caressed the golden, iridescent shape of the alien object on her lap. Niko stepped closer to better see the sleek, soaring design, the elegance behind the deceptively simple form.
     "'All the world's a stage...' He was right in that respect -- I'm staging my own play right now. But the victory is nothing without the final humiliation of the vanquished. I hope you don't mind my gloating - you won't be around to see my new world order, so I wanted to make use of this last chance. It won't be long now." She paused, letting her gaze roam all their faces once more. "With the Andorians gone, Earth will be ripe for the picking. If you don't mind my putting it so bluntly -- you've lost."
     The golden shape had already started glowing gently beneath the Queen's hands as she dreamily caressed it. Niko felt mental tentacles expand and touch the delicate mental structure of the multidimensional portal, for that was what it had been meant for, Niko realized. A portal through time, operated by telepathically gifted beings. It had never been meant for this kind of misuse, much less by a nontelepath -- the blurry images the Queen's unschooled mind projected could bring the time-space structure of a whole galaxy crashing down around her with temporal incontinuity, as a multitude of possible timelines intertwined and pushed each other out of temporal focus.
     The glow of the artifact was slowly becoming blinding, and Niko felt the rearrangement, felt the other Niko's weak telepathic attempt at countermanding the Queen's manipulation. The shift had almost taken place, causing time to flow along too many paths.
     Through a haze she saw Goose leap, his powerful form sailing through the air towards the throne. She also saw the familiar flash of blaster fire as the yellow beam connected with his body, which went suddenly limp and, still carried by the momentum of the jump, crashed to the ground a scant meter away from the throne.
     The scene vanished in a flash of blinding light, and Niko struggled to free herself for a jump, only to find that her legs didn't carry her, caught in the most frustrating sort of dreamlike paralysis. Her howl of desperation mixed with the ebbing sounds of voices overlaying each other as probabilities shifted in the continual fight for supremacy.

     "I found something!" Dramidis was all but falling over herself with excitement, tripping around and checking readings -- and generally harassing a disoriented Niko. "That means it's working -- and working well." She waved a flexible translucent sheet around, on which coded data was still shifting as more information came through. She slapped a thin, equally translucent baton into Niko's hand along with the sheet.
     "Your code," she announced cheerfully. Examining the sheet, she made sure that the liquid patterns had stopped rearranging before she made a series of complicated gestures in the interface field of the terminal. "Download of search data is complete -- your information is being erased as of now. Here -- the logs. So you can sleep well."
     Niko looked at the readings on the liquid crystal surface with her mind as well as with her eyes -- the logs were foolproof. Her dream had indeed been erased. "Thank you. I owe you."
     Dramidis dismissed Niko's words with a careless wave of her hand. "Oh, no, not really. I mean, I got a voluntary test subject for nothing -- I'm a happy girl today. Just let me know if the data was helpful, all right?"
     "I will." She extended a hand towards the blonde, who ignored it and hugged her instead. "I have to go back now --"
     "Yes, I know -- Ariel won't be pleased." She smiled a little wistfully. "I missed her -- and you. Tell her that when you see her. And come back soon."
     "I'll try to." Pulling the green hood over her head once again, Niko left through one of the smaller portals at the side of the great hall.
     Outside, the dawn had arrived, bathing the buildings in a golden-green glow. It was a traditional time for meditation, so nobody saw the slender hooded figure rush through the city gates and into the outskirts with a precious datapad tucked safely under her thin summer cloak.

     "What did you think you were doing?" The open display of annoyance, bordering on fury, was very atypical of Ariel -- disturbingly so.
     "Searching for information," Niko replied calmly.
     "Yes. In the great library, of all places! Where every passing novice could spy on you."
     "I was alone, actually. And I got information -- dangerous and disturbing enough to interest even you."
     "Really. And who was your librarian?"
     "Dramidis. I trust her, but I took precautions. By the way, she told me to greet you. She misses stealing your flowers."
     Strangely, the mention of Dramidis seemed to mellow Ariel somewhat. A dreamy look entered her eyes at the mention of the little golden-haired devil who had played in her garden. Dramidis's irreverent spirit and vivid intelligence had been the perfect match to Niko's silent, reserved earnestness, preventing the younger redhead from withdrawing completely into her studies. The girls had been like sisters before... but it was no use dragging up events that belonged to the past. "Ah, yes. I knew that girl would go far -- librarian, you say? Interesting."
     "Yes. She's good, too."
     "She would have been." Resigned, Ariel sank down on one of the pillows surrounding the low, circular eating table and motioning for Niko to join her. "Tell me what you've learned."

To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time - Part VIII

From Betamountain.org