Beyond Light

Forgotten Legacy.

Reality warped once again; the cosmic landscapes surrounding the humans and Soku dazzled in white, and another space panorama replaced it. One near a blue, rocky planet with some spots of water and patches of green...

“Look at that,” signaled Heinrich.

Everyone turned around and felt false suction as a giant vessel passed below them, shining in platinized white with a purple glow, the propulsors on its body glowing in the same lilac as the robotic units on the floating station they were back in reality.

The vessel was a clean, sleek design lacking sharp ridges, similar to the roundness of the Koe robots, but more slender and aerodynamic. It vaguely reminded John of the Eternity of Return —both in size and majesty— albeit much more polished. Four smaller ships flew behind it. They all coursed to the planet in the horizon ahead.

The blurry cloud of light spoke before any of them could. “Those are my masters. The Master Guardians in their language, as they once called themselves.”

“Master Guardians,” said Heinrich. “Let’s call them ‘Masdians’ for a shorter usage.”

“My masters, the ‘Masdians’ as you want to want to call them,” agreed on the AI. “once ruled most of the galaxy. They were the kings of peace and war, counting with the most advanced military and technology at the time.”

The cosmic panorama dazzle again, disappearing with a flash. A more urban landscape appeared, although not urban in any sense of the human understanding of the word. Everyone stood mid-air inside a planet’s atmosphere, where lilac skies resembling rare dusk on Earth extended west to east.

Below them, strange buildings of cylindrical shapes covered by structural rings covered most of the floor, some bending and conjoining others, or traveling more than half a kilometer as giant pipes, making a super web larger than the biggest human city. Looking better, smaller pyramidoid or rectangular buildings were distributed among them, and flying vehicles crossed from one side to another.

A tech John had seen before was also everywhere: the condensing blue gas transforming into solid surfaces, making new passages or tunnels as the cylindrical buildings moved forth and back as automatic train rails would.

“What is this place?” asked Derek. “Looks like some kind of city.”

“This is just one of the millions of cities we built all across the galaxy. As you can see, my masters were an advanced species. And you haven’t seen half a sand grain of their true technological power yet.”

The panorama dazzled again, changing to a different scenario. They found themselves in the same city and spot in the air, but the sky was red and grey now. The Masdian city below was a mess of fires, explosions, and smoke rising through the sky. Ear piercing rumbles and whistling echoes screamed everywhere, and alien fighters crossed through the low sky, leaving out lilac stellae and causing more explosions on the massacred city.

“What’s happening?” asked Yui, her lips trembling.

“No one gets to amass so much power without staining their own hands in blood and death,” responded the shining fume. “The success of my masters was shaped in those elements. Wars were once of common occurrence. Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost, but ultimately, they rose up over everyone else, asserting their ultimate supremacy, and forging the strongest empire.”

The panorama changed again with a blink; they were once again in space, where a colossal nebula of aquamarine and red glowing colors made almost the whole up and down. It was so big they were already inside it, surrounded by its litmus colors. Everyone was stunned. No one had ever been so close to one ever in the story of humanity. The Soku looked calmer.

Something drew their attention even more: the biggest fleet no human had ever seen appeared ahead. An uncountable number of vessels in platinized lilac white of all shapes and sizes —ranging approximately from 300 meters to 10 kilometers— compromised it, all making a vertical formation capable of swarming even a planet.

“H-how many are there?" spoke Manak, his guttural, raspy voice trembling of surprise.

“It’s… likely even more than all the ones in the INSU and PFSR combined,” responded Derek, unable to believe his own words.

“This is only a fraction of the power my masters once amazed. However, glory doesn’t last forever, and enemies and rebels never cease to exist,” said the Masdian AI.

The landscape blinked again, and they were in the same position, except that the never-ending super fleet was now dispersed, and the biggest cosmic battle was taking place ahead. Another group of darker ships was all around, and orange, blue, and red circular explosions, accompanied by infinite multicolor beams, missiles, and attacks flew everywhere all across the nebulae background, forming the biggest firework spectacle that was likely visible thousands of light-years away. It was impossible to discern what was going on.

“Those were dark times. But like all times, they met their end, and my masters never stopped evolving. Not only as a technologically advanced species but also… ethically. Spiritually, if you would like to use that word.”

The panorama changed; they were now above the Masdian city they visited before, the fire of violence extinguished, leaving nothing but ashes and charred remains. The sky had a dead, pale grey tone, and smoke traces still rose up with the charred smell of burnt metal.

But it was not alone. Tiny machines —similar to the maintenance drones of the Masdian structures on Vita Nova— flew all across, shooting small purple lasers, and Dinosauric units transported forth and back what looked like construction materials. With the help of magnetic cranes and other robots, they efficiently cleaned and rebuilt the first ringed cylinder.

“Sounds too good,” said Valva Okiel Soka. “Your masters sound like tyrants. Colonists and Imperialists. Difficult to believe they simply gave up on the war and power.”

“Giving up? No. But times change. Difficult times came for the Masdian Empire. Relationships with other species were getting out of control, and their military power was not the one they possessed once.”

“So, what did they do?” asked John. “Where does Goliath —the Absorber— fit in all of this?”

The AI didn’t respond with words, but rather by changing the place once again. Everything dazzled, and they were in outer space once again, except that in place John had been before in the actual reality: near the orbit of Vita Nova.

There was the planet, not much different as to how it currently was: Blue making splash patterns and big spots all across its surfaces, pieces of white and green, and its long and wide, shiny white rings still being in position. Even its three moons were there, shining in the same crimson, yellowish-green, and blue colors.

“Vita Nova. Hawking-616e. What happened here?”

“Do not you realize? This planet is not like any other seen before. It possesses nearly perfect living conditions for almost 46% of all alien life my masters discovered. It is not natural, and neither are its moons. Two of them possess life. One is a dense jungle and the other an oceanic world.”

“Life?” asked Yui with glowing eyes. “So, Hawking-616a II and III do possess life? This is amazing!”

“It is the pinnacle of terraforming. It’s difficult to differentiate it from a naturally occurring, life-harboring world. It’s also located in a highly convenient position in the galaxy.”

“So, what happened here?” asked Doctor Winslow. “How does this lead us to Goli?”

“Yes. My masters decided that it was time to finish with war, violence, and chaos. It was time to leave that behind in order to reach the maximum step in evolution. However, in the practice, war was something almost inevitable for an empire like theirs, be it internal or external."

"And what was their solution?" asked John.

"The solution? they decided to create the ultimate galactic guardian, one that, combined with peak technology, would look over every alien species, and ensure peace through negotiation and improvement of relationships. This protector would defend my masters —and everyone— from both internal, and external threats. Invaders from our sister galaxy weren’t unexpected. They built this guardian here. And it was returned.”

“And that guardian is Goliath. Anuk, the Absorber...” John slowly nodded.

“Andromeda?” said Yui. “There is life there... And they have come here before!”

“That is a mystery,” said the AI. “There is no evidence that was a fact or merely made-up rumors. But returning to the main subject, yes. The Absorber is the Magnus Opus of my masters. They agreed that, as the true maximum guardian and overseer of everything, he had to be the greatest, fastest, and most advanced ship ever built.”

The panorama dazzled, and Vita Nova was gone, but another object replaced its place in the middle of space: Anuk, the supergiant ship. It looked smaller, and many of its hull layers, beams, and other important parts of its darkened body were missing. Its eight red eyes were turned off, leaving nothing but cherry, turned-off circles on its place, as if it was finally dead. But it was the contrary; it had not been born yet.

“Aleos, as my masters called him in their language. It means peace.”

“Peace? how ironical,” Doctor Winslow spat on the non-existent floor.

“My masters didn’t think the same when they created it. It was the perfect machine. The miracle of technology.”

The panorama dazzled, and now Goliath was finished, showing its current appearance —one that John had only seen in holograms and footages, but never in real person. His heart skipped a beat and his spine froze. 100 kilometers in diameter was the size of a whole city!

He remembered the time he descended to the remains of the Eternity of Return, which were already enormous. They were nothing compared to the super machine of destruction hovering ahead, which extended more than 14 times further than the human dreadnought forwards space.

It was surrounded by a swarm of the lilac-white ships, all surrounding it in a formation, and traveling in unison as if the giant had been tamed and didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. Except that it was before true chaos arrived.

“Goliath, Goliath, Goliath…” sighed Heinrich, his eyes fixated on the super vessel. “you sure are one oversized motherfucker. Why did ya have to come out as a rebellious kid?”

“Gotta say that maybe we’re underestimating him,” said Derek. “If these Masdians or whatever their real name is managed to build a ship of this proportions that doesn’t break apart, they surely knew what they were doing.”

“I don’t think they did,” John disagreed. “What happened? When did it turn against your masters?”

“Aleos, the Absorber, is no common ship. In order to ensure it had eternal life, and no corrupts would get power over it, my masters gave it conscience. Intelligence. Self-awareness and control so no alive being could ever control it. They made it specifically to not share the same flaws that most alien races possess. The most common: hunger for power.”

“...Guess we aren’t that different,” said Valva. “Many wars struck my people for long times. Power was their motivation.”

“We ain’t the exception to that, my alien friends,” said Heinrich.

“So, they created an AI free of making its own beliefs and sequences of logic, right? Not a basic unit only designed to act based on its configuration,” said John.

“Yes,” the light cloud responded. “And that was the error of my masters. They created an unempathetic being with no similarities, no reasons, no capabilities, and much less desires, for comprehension of biological life. However, it understood something very well: the purpose for it was created.”

The landscape dazzled, and now the Masdian ships surrounding Goliath were trying to evade its attacks as they unleashed fire back. Aleos’ red eyes glowed harder than love and hate combined. No matter how hard the white, platinized ships tried, little damage they did to the massive shieldings surrounding the giant.

And with its red lights distributed around its top and bottom, enormous red laser bursts decimated the smaller vessels, reducing them to piles of scrap and lilac explosion clouds in less than three seconds after contact. It was not even a fight: it was a m******e. John trembled at the thought that the same had happened to the Eternity of Return at some point.

“But Aleos doesn’t want to destroy all advanced life across the galaxy,” continued the AI. “It never renounced to its purpose: to protect all life and ensure the ultimate galactic peace.”

“Impossible,” growled Manak. “How can you say this death machine wants to say, everyone? This monster has killed millions of our people! and many more of other races before.”

“As I said, Aleos is different from organic life and doesn’t have the minimal interest or comprehension for you. It’s a self-aware being, and as such, it arrived at its own conclusions. It’s serving the task it was born to, except that in a completely different manner.”

“How so?” asked John. “Why did you call it 'Absorber'?”

“My masters believed that Aleos became rampant when it began to comprehend more and more its mission and role. It started to believe it was some sort of deity; a god brought to unite the lesser organics under the ultimate rule of peace and order. And as such, it wants to unite every species in existence —or at least those sapient enough— under one. It is equipped with Masdian top technology, and stole many more after my masters fell.”

“So, that explains why it talks about such nonsense as ascension, redefinition, and that sort of words. Anuk… Aleos believes he’s a god," said Derek.

“And as such, it's here to save everyone,” responded the AI. “Aleos makes alien species yield, it captures them and then transforms them into half-machine, half-biological beings that obey it without exception, are equipped for combat, and are superior to their former organic form. My masters called this absorption. It won’t stop until it absorbs all life in the galaxy. But that won't satisfy it. It will probably leave, and do the same in other galaxies if no one stops it.”

“A nightmare,” said Derek. Fear could be felt in the warped air. “A cosmic nightmare. That’s what we’re fighting.”

But John didn't let himself feel down nor intimidated. "And as such, we must stop it."

He looked at the horizon, the giant ship obliterating the highly advanced Masdians trying to escape. That was the last thing he wanted; to go back to the Solar System and then see that monster doing the same thing to everyone, knowing that he could have stayed and done something against it.

His determination didn't stop. He had a mission there, and a personal one too. He was not going to let down Blair, nor anyone back on the solar system. It didn’t matter by how many names or how much power that Absorber or Goliath motherfucker possessed. John was not going to let it get out with it. No matter what it took.