Raine VS The End of the World (60 page)

“Very well. I… I accept defeat. I have one last request…” Lorelei coughed, and pulled Lily close. “Send me… to the final moment. I want to watch it happen.”

Lily furrowed her brow in recognition.

“I understand. Do you have enough fuel for a round trip?”

“J-j-just enough. I calculated it.”

Lily pulled out Lorelei’s watch and called forth the
Raven
. The ship started up, lifted off, and landed before her.

She picked up her dying clone carefully and set her into the passenger seat. The girl then walked to the back, put on a Hazmat suit, and leaned over the chest.

“What’s the code, Lorrie?”

“Nineteen ninety-two.”

“How do I know you’re not just trying to blow me up?”

“I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.”

Lily carefully opened the chest. Twenty-two fuel cells. The power converter was pristine, unaltered. Sure enough, everything was accounted for. “Interesting choice of password.”

“You really cared about those two,” Lorelei said. “Even gave them heroes’ journeys. I wish sometimes that I could have had your heart.”

“You did have my heart,” Lily said, carefully placing the last active fuel cell into the
Raven’s
Temporal Drive. “Literally, and always.”

“I’m not sure how to ask this, but how much time would---”

“Th-three hours. I have… things… I want to say to whatever gods are out there.”

Lily nodded. She very well might have asked for the same. She programmed the limited SpaceTime Warp Initiator.

March 10, 2212.
Six in the morning. Three and a half hours before the solar flare.

“Anywhere in specific you’d like to be?”

“R-r-right here. Right here is perfect.”

Lily hit the button. It took fifteen minutes to warm up the reactor. In the meantime, she treated Lorelei’s burns and offered her some water.

“I have to apologize,” Lorelei said. “You gave me life. And I never did have any respect for you.”

“Shh,” Lily said, making her drink a little more. “It’s all right. I just want you to know that I take responsibility for everything you’ve ever done, and that I never wanted to kill you. I’d hoped that you might understand. I had to set things right by my own judgment.”

“I must ask… that energy cannon… from your flagship… was it…”

“The one Lucy was developing? Yes.”

“S-seem to recall… during our first carriage ride through London… the two of you… arguing. Over the ethics of her mega-weapons. You said it’d lead to a slippery slope. She argued that if she didn’t perfect the tech… someone else would have, to our detriment. I never imaged you would actually use the things.”

“Indeed. I owe her an apology. Hopefully it’ll never be used again.”

“I’ll never forget… how happy she was… dressed up in an evening gown and bonnet… protesting the excessive hat plumage…

“All in the name of preserving Florida’s wild birds. And then she chastised our overdone accents. Completely in her element.”

“We all were… back then.”

Lorelei took her hand as the minutes counted down in silence. Saving their breath, neither spoke until they disappeared in a flash.

When they reappeared again twenty-five years in the future, the sky was immeasurably hot, and the marble beneath their feet scorched from solar energies. Lily immediately hit the button for the Temporal Drive to begin charging up for its return trip and looked over to Lorelei, who was staring right into the star, her cybernetic eyes adjusting to the intense light.

“I’m… scared,” Lorelei said. “I never thought… when it came to my own finale…”

“That just means you’re human.” Lily slipped the goggles over her eyes and unbuckled her clone. “For better or worse.”

After donning a Hazmat suit, Lily walked around the
Raven
, opened the door, and carried Lorelei out, wrapped in a soft blanket. As per Lorelei’s request, she sat her down on a chair by the edge of the banister. Both looked over the boundary.

The top levels of
Neo Eden
were now overgrown with vegetation. Down below, filling up the landmass in every direction, swayed a sea of people.

Tens of millions gathered in unison.

Lily handed Lorelei her cigarette case and a pair of binoculars, then held her clone by the shoulders.

Lorelei tried to light one last smoke. The wind made it impossible.

Carefully, Lily used a jet from her wrist to ignite the stick. Lorelei thanked her with a nod.

“You were right,” Lorelei said at last. “Though I still believe in the Split Universe theory, my actions were never about the people of Earth. They were about you and I. All along, I… I guess I just wanted to be what you could never be. To understand the darkness you always turn away from, and grant the gift of ennui to ease humanity’s collective pains. And maybe that’s why I hated you so. I wanted you to think of me as an equal.”

Readings were still safe. Lily took off her helmet and looked Lorelei in the eyes.

“I do now, Lorrie. I should always have, but… I do now. You’ve done incredible things. Evil things, sure, but still…”

“Give up the mission, Lily. You’re just torturing yourself.
Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur.”

Even a God finds it hard to love and be wise at the same time.
Lillian hung her head.

“I’ve considered it. But for different reasons than you might expect. Keep watching. Maybe you’ll find out if I’ve changed my mind, and maybe we’ll settle our theories once and for all.”

“That would be a comfort.”

“Until then, enjoy the show. Oh, and here’s something you might like to peruse.”

Lily handed over Lacie’s leather-bound memoirs.

“It’s been archived. I thought… she probably would have wanted you to have the original. ‘Cie never gave up on her alternative theories. She truly desired to solve our eternal quandary.”

“Thank you, Lily.”

She flipped through the pages, and stopped at a spread of complex equations.

“Her final proofs on Multiverse theory,” Lorelei intoned.

“All good stuff. The comments on everyday life with you involve a great deal of witty observations. I never would have thought her sense of humor so developed; she was always so quiet.”

“Get going,” Lorelei said at last. She was about to lose her composure. She would not give Lillian the last pleasure of seeing her cry. “You’re going to roast alive.”

“Peace be with you.
Amor vincit omnia
.”

Love conquers all.
Lily walked back over to the
Raven
, fired up the air conditioner, and waited for Warp Initiation.

As the ship began to flash, Lorelei turned around. They made eye contact. Both women waved one last goodbye.

Lily appeared back on the roof of the
Spire
seconds after she had left it, and could hold herself back no longer. She collapsed onto the console in tears.

╬

Dusk was setting, with lanterns lit for the dead as the Sky Admiral flew her colors over the remains of
Neo Eden
, precious cargo onboard. Down below, the war-ravaged folk of the ruined capital held their fists up in salute. The gesture meant little to the time traveler, but it would help unite these people in their coming times of difficulty.

At last, Lillian piloted the
Raven
back to the barely functional
Valkyrie
, touched down on a strip outside the city with the bulk of her remaining fleet. After returning from the future, she’d radioed for every free android and human at hers and Lorelei’s disposal to help the wounded, and camps and mobile hospitals were being staffed at record speed by willing volunteers.

Still lost in thought, Lily limped out of her ship to dress her own injuries.

While wheelchair-bound Yossa mourned the loss of his eldest daughter, EDC medics from around the globe cared for the hurt and dying, and androids ran to and fro serving hot meals to the exiled humans, Lillian Rachel Hermes just sat gazing up at the stars.

Embraces and assurances from Ayumi that the frozen were being thawed out did nothing. Feuchuk’s report on the crippling aerial losses for both sides barely registered. Princess Regent Claire’s formal surrender and promise that she would guide
Neo Eden
towards peace fell on numb ears.

No one could snap the dazed woman out of her shell. Joaquin kept the crowds away from her, and the Sky Admiral eventually took off and wandered alone into what remained of the hedge maze.

The mission can now continue, but at what cost?

Lillian couldn’t help but feel that she was descending from on high to witness people falsely worshipping the forces of destruction. Of this, she felt the guiltiest. Haunted by Lorelei’s words, she could not look away from the war-torn folk and their confused emotions. Their lives vindicated by acts of virtual, and now very real, violence. The gun and the sword and the mortar their false idols. Now she, too, would become a false idol. If only they knew the truth.

What can I possibly tell them?

Everything I touch crumbles to dust.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Raine was no more.

And all of a sudden, she was again. Only, she felt different. New, renewed, or perhaps even revised. But make no mistake; a look into a hand mirror confirmed that she was who she thought she was, and no one else.

She glanced to her right, sensing someone in her peripheral vision. It was Gerrit, sweet Gerrit, his eyes wide open, staring forward blankly as if he were somewhere else entirely, a strange metal circlet with blinking lights for gems adorning his head. He looked much like he did in the
Metaverse
, only stronger somehow.

The room’s only other defining features were three strange tubes, like standing glass coffins, each one large enough to fit a human inside. One was cracked down the middle. The girl sat up from her recliner.

How in the wide world have I come to be here?
The last thing she remembered was smashing a missile into the throat of a giant metal serpent. Surely that had to have been a dream – there was absolutely no way the
Galahad
could have survived that blast, not in a thousand years, not with her body in the perfect condition it was in. The girl stood to find that her legs were wobbly, as if her muscles had just woken from a long sleep.

We lost
, she reasoned grimly, looking at the pajamas she was wearing and the closed door that was sure to be locked.

If yesterday’s events were a dream, we must be in some sort of bunker in
Neo Eden
, being ‘reconditioned’. Or could everything have been some cruel simulation?

She took a few steps over to Gerrit’s recliner and waved a slow hand in front of his face.

“Gerrit!” she whispered frantically. For a second his eyes began to re-focus. He was looking straight at her. She took his shoulders and gave him a strong shake.

“Gerrit, it’s me,” she said, trembling.

“You might want to give him a few minutes,” a voice calmly enunciated from the now-opened doorway. Leaning against the jamb was none other than Lily herself, clad in an anti-septic lab coat, and behind, her robot servant, carrying a tray of warm cookies.

A million-dollar grin formed on Raine’s face and Lily couldn’t help but reciprocate. She stumbled forward into an embrace and the two held each other for quite some time.

“Welcome home, Raine,” Lily beamed. “To the
Belladonna 5000
.”

Raine waddled out of the medical room in astonishment, taking in the massive but cozy interior space with its luxurious, sunken circular sitting area. The girl’s eyes drew naturally to the breathtaking view – taking up the expanse of the full-length observation window, planet Earth shone like a giant blueberry. It was so warm, so radiant, and so lovely.

Her palm felt cold up against the window – the glass must have been three feet thick – and just gaped at the third rock from the sun. She located the place she used to call home – Chicago, Illinois. The scale was overwhelming.

“The upkeep’s a bit of a pain, not to mention the constant cleansing needed to live in the radiation belt, but you couldn’t ask for a better view,” Lily opined.

Raine was still speechless.

“Before you ask, yes, we won.
Neo Eden
is free. Lorelei is dead. Or rather, she will be. She’s been sent to her final resting place. I recovered my stolen parts, and then some. Rutger and I fixed up the
Belladonna’s
SpaceTime Warp Initiator. It’s all thanks to you and Gerrit, and your selfless bravery.”

Despite all this good news, there was something very different about Lily. Somber, even. Her voice was soft and far away. Was it regret? Guilt? It was hard for Raine to tell.

“Wow! We should be celebrating,” she ventured.

Lily returned the smile, but it faded as quickly as it appeared.

“Maybe so,” she replied. “I’ll check up on him. Please, make yourself at home. Because it’s always been your home.”

Raine was positively glowing.

She realized that she now had the coolest foster home ever.

“You’ll probably remember this soon, but the archived Internet and pretty much every artwork and electronic media file from eight different world lines is available on demand. But maybe you should catch up on current events first.”

Lily motioned to the cozy living space in the center of the chamber; the sunken circular sofas lined with cushions boasted a comfortable array of beanbags. Its centerpiece was a swiveling recliner, with a retractable computer station hanging from the ceiling.

Raine plopped down on the cushions and sipped on her hot chocolate as XF-22 zipped by to offer another cookie. From an oddly distant memory, Raine now recognized where she’d first smelled the scent of freshly baked dough. It was right here, on these cushions.

“Hello, Miss Raine,” said Rutger. “It’s been a while since we’ve last spoken, and surely you must not remember me in this form. But perhaps you recall another.”

One of XF-22’s monitors displayed a picture of Chance.

“Oh!” Raine called out. “It was you! You were my Chance!”

Chance’s face beamed.

“I must admit, I feel like we are old friends,” Rutger replied.

Blast shields covered the full-length windows, leaving the mood lighting to cast a soothing spell over the bridge.

On the large holo-display in the center of the room were aggregated videos and images of people rebuilding settlements within and around
Neo Eden
. Yossa and Hector organized volunteer brigades and local council meetings. The Seven Lords were toppled, and the perpetrators of
Neo Eden’s
power structure, as well as the
Endless Metaverse
Developers, were kept in android-staffed rehabilitation facilities, to be monitored, employed, and released on a case-by-case basis.

Eden’s
global armed forces were disbanded, as per Princess Regent Claire’s fulfillment of the Queen’s written wishes in the event that her lineage should come to an end. The weapons and their manufacturing facilities were to be destroyed. To prevent any power struggles, the peoples of Earth were to have no charismatic leader. It was to be a new age of freedom from any form of slavery. A news report detailed that Queen Lorelei was still missing, presumed dead, and that the EDC, under the command of the Collective Elders and Ambassador Joaquin (no military titles were necessary in this new world), split up across the planet to help all
Metaverse
refugees to survive and care for themselves, beholden to no centralized force or government.

Engineers worked on transforming the city into a massive sustainable garden. No one would go hungry again. Mass graves were filled three miles downwind of the gates, and millions came to pay their respects to the dead, now over a hundred thousand, with two hundred and sixty thousand missing. It was one of the bloodiest days in history.

By popular vote, it was declared that a virtual service akin to
Endless Metaverse
would run once again under the name
Pan-Galactic Realms
, managed by the
watchful eyes of Ayumi Karuishi, Francesco Zarifian, and Super BlastBoy 2.0, but at the present, only a minority of the world’s populace showed interest in signing up, even though the End User License Agreements were unanimously changed in order to allow people to leave and enter the
Realms
at will, and to keep their memories for as long as they wished. In place of the Overseer, people freely chose from a wide variety of physical and clerical jobs.

One beaten but jovial individual stated that he simply didn't feel that anything virtual
mattered anymore, that he would rather experience the rebuilding of human civilization consciously than do mindless work whilst engaged in mindless play. An older gentleman said he was blessed to know what it was like to have a real family, whereas a former soldier commented that he’d seen enough fighting for a lifetime, real or virtual. Near
Eden’s
new solar kite field, a marble monument was built of Henry Holdfast. Dr. Karuishi, Dr. Zarifian, and various former EDC officers held a heartfelt service in his memory.

A few hours after Raine dozed off on the couch, she woke to a familiar voice.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” Gerrit snickered.

Raine fell into his arms, and, when they had broken the hug, ran her hand across his face. His eyes were even more intense than they were in the
‘Verse
.

Before she knew what she was doing, Raine had kissed him, and it felt so good, so unreal, that he kissed her back, and they both turned crimson, unable to speak.

“Wow,” Gerrit said at last, rubbing the bit of stubble growing on his chin. “Am I the one that’s dreaming now?”

“It really is you!” Raine burst into giddy laughter. “Only you would say something so…”

“Corny?”

“I was going to say ‘sincere’,” she pouted.

“In any case, it had to be said,” replied Gerrit with another embrace.

As they pulled away, Raine spotted Lily retreating into the shadows.

“Seriously, though! I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” she said, placing his hands over hers.

“Likewise,” Gerrit grimaced. “So what happened to you after I left? You’ve gotta tell me how you and Lily shut down the ‘
Verse
!”

It was a long story, but Raine related every last detail to the best of her memory. Eventually, Lily joined them, now clad in a nightgown, and changed the holographic display to a crackling fireplace. She dimmed the lights, and they sat cross-legged around the virtual embers like three kids around a campfire. It was then Gerrit’s turn to tell of how he, Henry, and Jon worked to shut down the Overseer. Lily listened intently, since this was news to her as well.

“I don’t remember anything after being shot,” Gerrit said solemnly. “I thought I was a goner for sure.”

There was a long silence.

“You were, for a while,” Lily finally spoke. “Both of you were. You… died that day.”

Raine and Gerrit exchanged confused glances, and then looked expectantly at their host.

“Tell me you’re joking,” Raine scoffed. “I see Gerrit here right beside me.”

Lily shook her head. “I can guarantee you it’s not impossible.”

Gerrit massaged his temples.

“Are you saying we’re dead? Or that all this is just some other layer of the
Metaverse
? Don’t tell me we’re not even real…”

More shakes of the head. Lily forced herself to keep eye contact.

“No, you are both as alive as I am, but I’m afraid you really did die for a while. I wasn’t going to tell you, but seeing you so happy, I can’t hide it any longer. I’m done keeping secrets. Your brains were recovered.”

Raine gasped. “What?”

“How?” Gerrit queried.

“Eh. It’s better I skip over that part. I performed a careful procedure, recreating your bodies and minds from what was left of your DNA, your brain matter, and your backed-up memory files, refreshed just a few days ago. My Remediator can synthesize human stem cells from a genetic sample. The organic matter is supplied by carbon fibers from our greenhouse, and the other elements are integrated from natural sources. With the right equipment, it’s easy to create a fully functional human body. It just took me the better part of a year to ensure you were both in tip top shape.”

Raine and Gerrit both gazed into the fire silently like the ghosts they felt they were.

“I know this is a lot to take in, but I owe you the truth after all this time. After all that you’ve done for me. You two are clones, yes, but you should have a boosted, not reduced lifespan, and every one of your bodily functions is completely indistinguishable from those of a normal human. Should I go on?”

They both nodded.

“You’re probably wondering why I did it, why I brought you back. I think it’d be easier to show you. Follow me.”

Lily led them out of the main chamber, down a hallway, past the power generator and luscious forest level, and up two flights of spiral staircases to the large domed observatory atop the
Belladonna
, which boasted a full skylight into outer space. The large arrays of solar petals danced around them like stalks in a wheat field. The centerpiece of the observatory was a giant telescope that looked into the abyss. Covered-up picture frames lined the dome.

“This is Judy, one of our two telescopes. She’s an incredibly powerful optical telescope, but she can also read Gamma, Infrared, and Ultraviolet signals,” Lily pointed out, leading them slowly across the room.

Raine spotted, running down into the heart of the
Belladonna
, the rotating conduits that she oddly understood temporarily housed the solar energies drawn in by the photo-radio-voltaic petals before sending them to the power converter below. She traced the many wires with her eyes. Everything was familiar. She felt a strong connection to this place.