They say that the darkest hour sneaks up on you; that even in the morning, the night can come without warning. In this case, it should have been dawn, but the sun shed no light on the world below. Instead, the eerie redshifted glow of a kind of cosmic background radiation that would not be discovered for another century cloaked the area in dying crimson. The cityscape below held a couple million flickering souls that could go out in an instant. The people along the sidewalks didn’t move, frozen in mid stride by the stasis field that had been activated a literal moment ago. Well, for them at least. The people, the buildings, even the trees were all frozen in greyscale; it was standard protocol to minimize collateral damage.
No one moved except for a couple of figures on the rooftops. They were specialists in time travel and intercepting those from parallel worlds who might intrude on our peaceful little universe. Today was no different, just another mission to hold back the chaos at the edge of reality. The trap had been set, air thrumming with anticipation and time-slowing energy.
On three different rooftops, five solitary figures waited.
In the centre was a woman with short black hair standing at attention. Lieutenant Joanna Lamarck was covered from the neck down in form-fitting silvery armour. Small metallic wings sprouted from her lean back, traced by a bluish glow. She held a strange device in her right hand that resembled a large pocket watch, the hands turning rapidly as blue light emanated from it. This was a Global Environment Manipulator, or GEM. Joanna’s eyes were covered by a transparent visor that seemed to float in the air in front of her.
“Marcus, check?” she called out.
Another figure stood at the edge of another rooftop, further forward; a heavy built man covered from the neck down in similarly silvery metal armour, bulkier and heavier looking. A belt of metal canisters was slung over Sergeant Marcus Drake’s broad shoulders, and his two hands held a rather large rune inscribed sword, the runes glowing blue as well. Floating slightly ahead of him was a tower shield of solid silvery metal.
“In position,” Marcus replied.
“Lance, check?” called out Joanna.
At the centre of the same forward rooftop, a strange humanoid machine stood still; technically an Intelligent Machine Combatant, or IMC Class VII Lancer, or Lance for short. It seemed to be made of the same metal as the armour kits of the others, but it was clearly a robot of some kind, all angular limbs instead of fleshy curves. Gun barrel-like protrusions extended from its arms.
“All systems are nominal,” Lance replied in a robotic tone.
“Adrian, check?” said Joanna.
A third figure sat cross-legged in the middle of a rooftop much further back. Unlike the others, this man was covered from head to toe in dull grey metal, which from most angles seemed to blend in with the surroundings. Surrounding him were what looked like semi-transparent screens that floated in the air and conveyed a continuous stream of data in the form of graphs and maps. Corporal Adrian Marconi seemed immersed in the screens, watching as they flickered messages and updates. On the ground beside him were a long tube-like instrument that resembled a cross between a rifle and a telescope, and what looked like a simple conductor’s baton.
“All systems are go,” replied Adrian.
“Aisa, check?” said Joanna.
The final figure stood in the middle of the rooftop beside the woman in silver. This figure was clearly shorter, a girl with long blue hair in a light grey robe of clothlike material. She also carried a GEM, its hands turning quickly as it glowed with blue light. Aisa Model 1 stood silently, eyes open, unblinking, and glowing a faint blue, the only sign that she wasn't quite human.
“Ready,” she said.
“Begin Mission!” shouted Joanna.
Immediately the sky was full of large yellow letters that screamed “WARNING: INCOMING INCURSION”. From seemingly nowhere, what sounded like an air raid siren began to wail.
The figures all seemed focused intently on a spot in the distance in the sky; the normally stationary stars moving about chaotically like tiny fireflies as spacetime distorted impossibly. Suddenly what could only be described as a tear in the sky ripped open.
It had arrived.
The tear warped and expanded. Inside it, a swirling purple chaos that was somehow too empty and yet too full of blood red eyes stared back. Slowly, cautiously, several circles of the eyes advanced forward through the tear while others looked on. A thousand eyes forming concentric rings around a rotating core of metal, bone, flesh, and churning purple chaos moved closer. In the absolute centre of the rings a particularly large eye stared out.
A demon is what the prophets would have called it. Fallen angel. Monster of chaos. It had plenty of names in various languages and worlds.
The eye gazed down and saw the world frozen in time. It spotted the figures. It emitted a sound that they would never forget, all screaming chains and tearing metal.
“Initiating dialogue,” said Aisa.
The air raid siren sound stopped and Aisa started to sing. It sounded something like Scarborough Fair; a soft, mellow melody, slow and lilting, almost lullaby-like in its gentleness. The lyrics were in an ancient language that predated the stars. The juxtaposition between the faint, beautiful voice and the monster’s background noise was disconcerting.
The eyes of the beast narrowed and regarded Aisa for a few moments. Then it let out a vibrating roar and immediately a thousand black, icy spikes appeared in front of the eyes and accelerated forward towards the figures. Simultaneously the eyes flashed with dark light as a thousand rays of focused energy concentrated themselves on the figures.
Aisa stopped singing and closed her eyes. A brilliant blue dome of light expanded from her GEM to cover the rooftops. The black spikes struck against the dome and shattered into nothing. The dark light rays deflected against them as well.
“It’s strong,” said Aisa as the blue dome flickered briefly. “I can only handle three more salvos.”
A second salvo of black spikes and dark light struck the dome. A cooldown of barely a second. They’d have to work fast.
“First contact is still hostile! Initiate counter operation,” yelled Joanna.
She lifted the pocket watch device above her head. The watch suddenly sprang alive, its hands whirring and blue light cascading out.
The eyes of the beast no longer moved.
Aisa opened her eyes and the dome dissipated. This had better work this time, she thought.
“Adrian!” yelled Joanna.
From his position, Adrian was standing with the telescope rifle device slung over his right shoulder. In his left hand, he pointed the conductor's baton into the air dramatically, and then at the monster. Far above the atmosphere, satellites that had been carefully positioned to follow his aim suddenly let loose a torrent of directed energy. The world seemed to light up as fiery light poured forth from the skies above. At the same time hundreds of invisible seekers that mined the sky below zoomed up towards the target and detonated. All this destructive power was swept aside by charcoal-coloured wing-like protrusions that surrounded the monster in a churning mass, somehow still able to move and seemingly distort the space around it. The lasers and explosions appeared to divert around with the churning distortion and deflect in all directions other than the monster itself. One of the monster’s eyes began to move again.
“That’s not right—” said Adrian before being cut off abruptly by the beam of dark light that sliced through both him and his station. As the halves of him fell to the floor, they seemed to be enveloped in blue light and vanished.
Aisa closed her eyes and raised the shield milliseconds before another burst. Immediately all the eyes began moving again and thousands of spikes and rays struck the shield. This run was not going well, she thought. They were still dropping too fast.
“Dammit! Scatter!” shouted Joanna.
Aisa opened her eyes again. The monster’s eyes all looked back with glee. Aisa closed her eyes, the shield this time just surrounding her. Joanna quickly flew up into the air and vanished from sight. Marcus ran right, the shield following him, and he threw the entire belt of canisters into the air. Lance ran left and leapt into the air. The canisters separated like rockets and proceeded to individually fly up towards the creature. The seekers were quickly intercepted by the monster’s eye beams and exploded harmlessly before they could reach it.
“I think it’s stronger this time! Somehow, it’s getting stronger each run! We have to—" said Aisa.
A thousand black spikes struck the shield, and ten of them broke through, cutting off the rest of her sentence. “Oh, not… again,” whispered Aisa as her eyes stopped glowing. The pocket watch device fell from her hands and its movements came to a halt as it clattered to the ground. The spikes melted into a blackish ooze that fell away and disappeared into nothingness as Aisa collapsed in a heap. A pool of red expanded from her form, and then turned black and along with Aisa, seemed to turn to dust and float away. This was the corruption, primitive nanoscale creatures that fed on anything the spikes touched and dissolved them in seconds.
Lance had earlier launched itself into the air and had begun to replicate itself rapidly. Every robot divided into two, then two more each, and within seconds there was a swarm of Lances flying in formation. Matter-of-factly they started firing blasts of light at the eye in the centre. This only seemed to irritate the beast. In response the eyes sliced the robots into a dozen pieces each with their dark light beams. The swarm of Lances scattered but was soon only a handful and then none.
Black spikes also fired out in a wild chaotic volley in every direction. One of the spikes surged towards Marcus, striking the floating tower shield, which promptly shattered, allowing the spike to penetrate beyond.
“I’m hit!” yelled Marcus, holding his left hand against the black spike that now protruded from his silver armoured chest.
The spike melted away. What remained was a disturbing opening that did not bleed. He knew that the wound would open as soon as the stasis field ran out of juice. He knew the corruption would infect him and disassemble him in seconds, just like last time. As long as he could hold off those seconds… In his right hand, another GEM now glowed with its eerily blue light as the hands turned rapidly. It would hold off the inevitable, but he was running out of time.
“Don’t worry, we got this,” said Joanna, into his earpiece.
“Joanna, I don’t think we got thi—," said Marcus just as a hundred spears of golden fire erupted from the ground around him and charged the beast. The monster made to sweep them aside with its churning wings, but found that the spears of fire were able to adjust to the new directions of the distortion and find a snaking zig-zag path along the wings and towards the rings, entangling the delicate structures… Surprised, it tried to shake them off, but they were lodged deep and the rings could no longer turn. The snaking spears tightened like ropes and pulled it downward, falling towards Marcus.
In the centre of the rings of the demon the eye had given way to a giant beating heart of flesh.
“Now’s your turn,” said Joanna, now floating a few feet above Marcus, her gloved hands intertwined like the spears above. “The core gate is exposed.”
Marcus let the GEM, which was attached by a chain to his armour, fall to his side, and pulled his sword out of the ground and pointed it at the new target. The edge of the sword split open to reveal an intricate cannon with similar runic inscriptions. A massive beam of light from the sword-cannon device burst forth in blinding radiance, skewering the demon’s heart, melting away the flesh. The creature let out a terrible screeching sound as it writhed in pain, and the rings broke apart as the eyes exploded in one last agony. The rip in the sky immediately closed with a thunderous boom.
Not a moment too soon. The light from the GEM faded and the hands slowed to a stop. The silver armour turned red and then black, and Marcus fell to his knees. Joanna caught him with a gloved hand as he fell forward. Motes of dust seemed to float off his form.
“It’s okay now,” she said, holding him as he faded away. She held back tears despite knowing better.
“I’m sorry,” he said, barely a whisper.
“It’s been an honour,” she said as she stared into his dying eyes.
A moment too late this time too.
“Remember me,” he said. His last words in a thousand worlds.
Joanna allowed herself one sob and blinked away the tears. She picked up her GEM, its chain ending on her form.
“Mission end,” she said to the device.
The colour of the world had returned.
Below cars beeped and pedestrians walked, completely unaware of the sacrifices that had been made to ensure their continued existence. For a second, Joanna was tempted to turn back time. She could in theory go back to the point before the battle started and make sure the rest of her team didn’t fall. But the protocol was strict. The mission was accomplished. Time loops risking a failure to repeat would not be tolerated. Especially if the monster was getting stronger each time. The teammates were casualties. As long as even one member of the team survived, the deadman’s switch would not be triggered to initiate the automatic reset that had happened the first few runs. This run was good enough. The amount of energy required to complete a time loop, to reposition the portal at an earlier point of entry, would cost entire suns.
“Let’s go home,” she said to no one in particular.
She held up the GEM and suddenly it began to pulse with bluish light and energy.
“Base,” she said.
And she was gone.
“It’s okay now…”
The words rang in Marcus’ ears as he woke up with a start. He was in white linens on some kind of hospital bed. Encircling his head was a large metallic ring that connected to some kind of computer. He opened his eyes to see a familiar ceiling fan.
“Welcome back,” said Joanna, who was seated in a chair next to the bed.
“How long has it been?” asked Marcus.
“Just got back to base,” replied Joanna, as she flipped a page of a holo-magazine that floated nearby. “The ansible was unrecoverable, but we got a scan just before the corruption touched it.”
He had a terrible headache. That was normal. His mind had just been copied seconds before his death, and the copy had been placed in a replacement biosynthetic body. Those weren’t cheap. He’d be docked credits for failing to keep the last one in good condition for more than a few missions. He could never tell if the headaches were a result of the procedure or the knowledge. Maybe both?
“And the others?” asked Marcus.
“They’re fine. Get some rest. Aisa misses you, as always,” she replied.
Joanna wore a long worn brown trench coat that fluttered slightly in the wind. She smoked a cigarette as the sun set on the cityscape below, the sky ablaze with pinks and oranges. She was used to this vantage point, the rooftops. At first, it had been surprising how almost no one looks up, but now it was just a trivial fact of convenience.
It was annoying her today. The fact that this last mission had so many casualties. She preferred not to lose anyone, much less everyone else on the team on such a mundane seeming assignment. Sure, the technology would resurrect them no matter what. But it bugged her. The missions were getting more difficult lately.
“You know that’s a bad habit to have Lieutenant,” said a blond-haired girl in a yellow scarf, behind Joanna.
“Oh, let me have my moment,” replied Joanna, without turning. “Captain Lynn, right?”
“It’s Grace,” said Grace.
“You have quite a history yourself, you know?” said Joanna. “I’m surprised you’re only a Captain.”
“I’m not particularly fond of my history,” said Grace.
“You’re the reason we have the GEM rather than still use our old tools,” said Joanna. “The society owes you more than—”
“Some people would call what I did treason!” interrupted Grace.
“You switched sides and saved countless universes from a fate worse than annihilation,” said Joanna. “Some things are more important than crude loyalty to whomever gave you your power.”
“I only did it to save him,” said Grace, voice unreadable.
“That’s also in the archives,” said Joanna. “Too bad he’ll never know.”
“For the greatest good,” said Grace. “A strange motto for a society that gets to decide the fate of worlds.”
“Eh, it fits well enough,” said Joanna. “Better than what it used to be.”
“I don’t remember there being an old motto,” said Grace.
“Never remind a woman her age,” said Joanna. She turned towards Grace with a faint smirk.
“Why are you still a lieutenant anyway?” asked Grace.
“Because it’s easier to keep secrets when you’re a nobody,” replied Joanna. “Is that why you’re here?”
The sky flickered a darker red. Stasis.
“Off the record, I’m just curious why a founder of the society pretends to be a lowly officer?” asked Grace.
“Classified information,” said Joanna.
“Do I have to pull rank?” asked Grace, raising an eyebrow.
Joanna took a long draw from her cigarette and let the smoke curl around her face.
“Let’s just say I prefer it this way,” replied Joanna. “Being too far from the ground can get you lost in the clouds. You forget what it’s like. The burdens people bear. You’re familiar with those, I think.”
“But does this really serve the greatest good? You could do so much more if—” said Grace.
“I’ve done my calculations and it checks out,” interrupted Joanna. “Not a word to anyone about this alright?”
“Of course,” said Grace. “It must be difficult.”
“It’s my little corner of happiness, this team,” said Joanna. “They’re the best we have, and the only ones I can trust with these missions.”
“You lead from the front,” said Grace.
“Naturally,” said Joanna.
“Thank you,” said Grace. “I know you were the deciding vote on the council to spare me.”
“Don’t mention it,” said Joanna. “And don’t make me regret it, miss Dark Angel of Chaos.”
“Please don’t remind me of my sins,” said Grace with a grimace.
“You know you don’t have to remember them,” said Joanna.
“But others do… and making them forget is cheating,” said Grace.
“Touché,” said Joanna.
The sky went back to normal sunset hues again.
Grace walked over to the edge of the rooftop and looked out towards the cityscape below. The wind swept back her long blond hair and scarf.
“No, that’s not important,” Grace said as she continued the conversation from the moment before the stasis field had gone up. “So, there’s a new mission for your team, lieutenant.”
Joanna dropped the cigarette and crushed it under her shoe.
“I’ll get on it then. Thank you, captain,” said Joanna as she strode off and vanished.
Moments later, the rooftop was empty. Down below, the city bustled, unaware of the gods in their midst. It was an innocence that came with a price that would never be known to them. But that is often how the world works mysteriously. That the darkest hour passes by unseen and unheard by the masses, and time flows forever forward despite it all.