Raine VS The End of the World (34 page)

Two hours of preparations followed, and the Sky Admiral personally inspected the finalized Exo Knight mechanized suits and re-calibrated the ship’s flywheels to maximum efficiency. Engineers addressed Lillian, also the EDC’s Chief Science Officer, in reverence.

Their unearned adulation made the woman’s mind race even faster – most of the military engineering briefs and designs attributed to Lily were envisioned by someone else she’d lost, someone very close to her.

“Your babies are looking great, Aquino. I do worry about the power drain from the Annihilator redirects. Will the prime cells alone supply enough resistance to pierce
Eden’s
EM shields?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” her baggy-eyed Colonel responded. “The exact schematics remain unknown to us. Agent Lotus is working on it. She’s also confirmed that the enemy has basic knowledge of our Knights.”

“Then it’s as I thought. But there’s nothing for it. Thank you, Colonel. Do triple-check the AB systems for me, if you get the time.”

Lily saved the most crucial call for last: a holo-conference with her body double, Leela Kernani, more commonly known as Commodore Leandra of the airship
Freyja
, leading the secondary wing hundreds of miles away.

“How goes it, sweet pea?”

The hologram of the woman, who in prosthetics much resembled a taller, stronger Lillian, stood at attention. “We cross the Adriatic at dawn. Your people are prepared to live and die for you, Sky Admiral.”

“Please… don’t say it like that,” Lily said wearily. “I-I’m sorry. It’s been a difficult day, and I do not wish to burden you with my troubles.”

“I see no reason to worry, ma’am. The General is gone. I’m in command of two hundred Carriers and six hundred Destroyers, the Knights are primed to go, Raine’s ten meters from the goal, and your eyes in
Eden
are wide open. But if it helps, I’ll be your listening ear.”

If only I could confide in her.
Lily managed a solemn nod.
It’d be a very different world if Lorrie and I kept a cabal of comrades in on our secrets.

“Thank you. It’s… difficult sometimes, when I think of what might have been, or could have been. In another place and time, there’d be no need for all this destructive power, these underhanded tactics. Yet to that end, I have none but myself to blame.”

I suppose it’s not so different from what it was. In the Alpha world line, even more of Earth’s natural resources were used for warfare, consumer products, vehicles, designer homes, skyscrapers, plastic sporks, and other objects of convenience. But must history go on repeating itself? Must we continue fighting indefinitely?

“You’re wrong, ma’am,” insisted Leandra. “Your gifts lie in your imagination, your selflessness, and your ability to strive for the best of all possible outcomes. You’ve many friends, and have won millions of hearts. I’ll never forget how you saved my family at the siege of Bombay. It meant the world to us, Admiral.”

Though her double couldn’t begin to comprehend the true weight on Lily’s shoulders, the Sky Admiral gave a warm smile. She could give no guarantee that Leandra’s father would make it out alive. Yossa would be immersed in the thick of battle.

I saved you because you had the potential to be useful,
Lily recalled.
And yet, somehow your Dad ended up back in harm’s way. I’m just as much of an opportunist as Lorrie.

“Thanks, honey. I feel much better about tomorrow, knowing you’ve got my back,” she lied.

“Do you really, Lillian? We’re on the eve of the most decisive battle in history, and you’re silent as a clam. When confronted with the harsh truths of life, the mind will often revolt or turn away. If this restless mind is not tamed, it will make you its slave. Please, if there’s anything… at all… don’t hold it in. Let me be your friend once more.”

She’s right. My attachments are manifesting as doubts. What have I started? Going into the whole Time Keeper thing would be an act of selfishness and cowardice on my part. Right now, I simply need to assuage her fears.

“It’ll be many lifetimes before I discover how you read me like a book, where all others have failed. As a point of fact, my sweet Leela, you are my very dearest friend. This mental storm is as impermanent as an itch; it’s only escalated to this level because there are fears I must master, fears that we both know all too well.”

That last part’s a lie, and she knows it.
Nevertheless, Leandra’s holographic hands wrapped kindly around her heroine’s.

“You don’t have to lie for me. Some things are best left unsaid, after all. Keep on keepin’ on, Admiral. Just remember that I’m always here.”

“I’ve never forgotten. Have a safe flight, Commodore.”

“Likewise, ma’am.”

Leandra bowed out, smiling.

There was nothing more the Sky Admiral could do but wait; she munched on a stick of gum. It had been a long day at work, and she was in desperate need of some light reading material.

Painful as it might be, Lily decided to sneak a peek at Lacie’s memoir in the foolish hope that a bit of mourning might help clear her mind for the even longer day ahead.

Diary from Attempt # 7

October 9, 1873 A.D.

19:13 BT

The Belladonna 5000

Lucy and I head up the stairs to the observatory with dinner trays for all four of us. We ate, trying to casually converse. But, as usual following Lorrie’s troubling vision, they wouldn’t stop arguing.

“Where are your theorems?” Lily cries. “So far, there’s no evidence to refute the model of a flexible universe fully capable of rewriting itself. If all were as you suggest, every black hole would create an infinite number of temporal vortices. If one could travel close enough to the center--”

“Spare me the models and petty proofs from bygone eras,” Lorelei interjects. “They are useless.”

Of course, she’s quick to the white board, and scribbles out an unsolvable equation.

“As you can see here, Deutsch’s prescription has limited parameters. There’s no telling how spinning webs through space
-
time affects, for instance, the expansion of the universe. And assuming we exist in some flexible reality dictated by cause and effect, we can’t logically be standing here in the first place! Your parents never existed in this universe, ergo; the
Belladonna
is an alien artifact from a parallel world. We are splitting realities, Lily, a child can see it.”

Lillian’s tapping the board. “Wrong, wrong, wrong! Your logic is limited by ancient presuppositions. There is no way this space station has the power to create entire realities. There’s either one universe, or an infinite number of them. In the one world line scenario, we are Earth’s only hope. On the other hand, even in a non-infinite Multiverse, our chances of success in at least one of quadrillions upon quadrillions of realities are all but guaranteed. If that’s so, then cosmically speaking, all our actions are harmless ripples in an infinite ocean, and it is our task to bear witness to the instance where everyone lives, and continue the mission as planned. Accept that the
Belladonna
is from this world, in a timeline that may or may not exist anymore,” Lily continues. “I’ve sent countless messages to myself in the far past without erasing my existence in this present.”

“Precisely! Your parents may not even be born in this timeline. But we’re still here, aren’t we? Last week we were dining with Queen Victoria. By all means, that should have caused all manner of paradoxes. There is no real evidence for Multiverse theory.”

“Nor against it! And if you look at the projected dark energy readings, the multiple dimensions of String Theory, and the inevitabilities of cosmic inflation, one might even apply Occam’s razor to determine that we are living in either a singular, carefully calibrated Universe, or a Level 1 Multiver--”

“Theories, Lily! Theories, but no proof! It’s a non-science, the work of fanaticism! If Novikov’s conjecture that temporal paradoxes are physically impossible is truly wrong, the only logical explanation for the
Belladonna’s
continued existence is that of emergent parallel worlds. Conclusion: this must be an alternate universe of our own creation, and we’ve already sent our previous world to its doom!”

Lily paces furiously. “We may not know how or why the self-consistency principle has been debunked, but we’re blazing trails at the forefront of history here; spacetime isn’t some arbitrary line that you can just splinter off from with the result of creating a new dimension filled with energy and matter out of a vacuum. Our work all but proves that. I’ll admit it’s possible, however unlikely, that your Split Universe Theory might be the truth – perhaps we can answer that question within our lifetimes – but based on our understanding of quantum gravity, it’s far more likely that the universe patches its own ripples.”

Lorelei slams her fist against the board. “Quantum gravity remains undefined! In your fantasy, who diffuses the ripples? God? Did this Divine Watchmaker create your infinitely emergent dimensions, too? Don’t make me laugh. We are alone, Lillian. Hopelessly alone.”

“You mentioned God, Lorrie, not I,” insists Lily. “The more we learn, the more questions emerge. We can’t even begin to say we understand what we’re dealing with. The true measure of knowledge is in knowing how little we know, rather than pretending at ready-made answers. Convictions, after all, are more dangerous than doubts.”

Lorelei lights a cigarette. It was a mean gesture, but what masterful manipulation. She knew full well the devices were banned on the ship, and polluting our air filters was one of Lily’s rage triggers.

“So, ‘Captain’, based on your hunch, you’ll continue to use the universe as your sandbox, with the humans as your control group. You don’t care whether our artificial wormholes or constant tampering with history destabilize the balance of the universe. And what if the Warp Initiator does indeed emit a smattering of dark energy? Our kicked-up space dust may be distorting spacetime itself.”

“You’re twisting my words. Every conceivable test has been done: the dual wormholes manifest over the
Belladonna
for a nanosecond and are sealed to prevent feedback loops. As for any dark energy emissions, they are negligible if even my parents’ reverse-engineered probes can’t track them. My great-grandpa knew the science behind the Warp Initiator was paradoxical at best, but if it works---”

“If this is an attempt to manufacture consent, then you’re preaching to the choir.” Lorelei motions to us. “I’m just telling it as I see it, Captain. Any scientist worth her salt doesn’t put stock in miracles.”

There were few things Lily hated more than being interrupted, and this was Lorrie’s second transgression. After realizing that Lorelei’s modus operandi has just been to provoke her, the Captain whispers a Buddhist chant to quiet her mind for a good minute.

“Okay, Lorrie,” she begins. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let’s hold a thought experiment. Say your unfounded theory of our ultimate responsibility is somehow true. What would you have me do? Abandon the human race?”

“So far she’s keeping her cool,” Lucille whispers conspiratorially. I can’t help but crack a smile. Lorelei shoots us that wounded, betrayed look. As if we owe her anything.

“Absolutely. Your God abandoned the human race,” Lorelei intones. “We must accept that we’re trying to fight the Almighty. On a cosmic scale, we’re gone in the blink of an eye any way you cut it.”

Lily laughs, breaking the tension. “Fatalism! That’s your answer! Again with the dark thoughts! Cheer up, old girl!”

An
Ad hominem
answer to an
Ad ignorantiam
statement. The multiple fallacies in both my sisters’ logic tonight stick out like sore thumbs, but I’m staying out of it. Of course, Lily’s real answer has been drilled into our heads for so long that it goes without saying: she would insist that our fellow humans are capable of good beyond self-interest, and that we must hope that our actions can make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Lorelei’s looking to us now for support, but I don’t know what to tell her. Oh, how I wish I had an answer. Despite their passionate debate, from my point of view, there’s really no hard evidence to prove or disprove either.

“May I interject?” Lucy says, saving the day as usual. She chases a sip of her seaweed soup with rice. “You both are arguing over a range of theses that are impossible to investigate with our limited understanding of even the wormholes we use to time leap. As to the nature of our universe, the
Belladonna’s
never been tested in an environment outside of our solar system, and we can’t just go poking around for paradoxes willy-nilly in the name of experimentation. Not to mention, there’s a lot of work to be done if we’re to expand our operating range. We haven’t yet worked out antimatter, let alone determining whether it’s a viable power source. We’re alchemists trying to tackle quantum entanglement. It might be decades before we can seriously examine the possibility of parallel universes.”

“So what do you propose?” Lorelei replies.

“That you try this delicious soup Lacie made; the tofu is quite wonderful,” she posits, throwing a most satisfied expression my way. “Then why don’t we create a world dedicated to nothing but science?”