Chapter 16. Countdown.

Jenkins ran through the corridors. There were few people around and no one paid any attention to him. They were either heading to join the congregating Star Cult members or lost in their own thoughts and the impending doom. He ran to Section B, as close as he could get to the aft Section F of the ship before the radiation shielding started to become less effective and the radiation levels started to jump above background levels. One of the rear starboard observation galleries was close to a main power junction.

Generators deep in C-Section were providing power for the entire ship. But since approximately 1/6th of the ship was gone and the generators were designed to power the entire ship, the system had considerable excess power.

Using a few of the tools he carried on his belt, Jenkins quickly had the junction box open, exposing some of its trunk wires. Making sure the power cable was disconnected to one of ten redundant cables going to the missing Section A, he pulled 30 meters of the cabling out of the junction box in the hallway and took the cable into the nearby observation gallery.

He took the spool of 40 centimeters of beryllium conduit from his belt and quickly fashioned a temporary lead, going from the power line to the small black gun. He set the gun on an edge of one of the gallery windows. He did not want to create a dark energy field inside the ship. Two of his smaller tools fit into the adjustment port, allowing him to manipulate the controls on the projector.

"I can guess the sorts of things these controls would do, but no idea exactly what controls what function. With luck, I can learn while the ship is still in one piece," he said to himself.

Another chunk of proto-matter was ejected from the hole and passed disturbingly close to the ship. This one also seemed to defy certain laws of physics and conservation, but didn't twist gravity and space by the ship like the other piece did.

He went back to the junction box, checked a few systems and power levels and enabled the cable. Too much power at once and he would fry the gun, too little and it would never activate. But he lacked the time needed to bring it slowly online, and he could not keep running back and forth, from the box to the gun. He would have to guess at a reasonable power level and then stick with that. He'd be too busy with the controls to be able to go to the junction box and change the power level. He was almost ready.

****

Section E occupied the front of the ship. Some weapons systems, scientific labs, a few forward observatories, storage and mechanical rooms, and an alternate bridge. The primary bridge was in Section A at the very top of the ship, which was now many light years away.

Normally, the alternate bridge is staffed only by two or three crew to ensure systems are functioning normally. During battles, it has a full compliment of crew to control the ship in the event of damage to the primary bridge. Ever since the disaster, the alternate bridge had been abandoned. There was no need to control anything. Both engines were destroyed and individual systems could be managed from remote locations. After the disaster, long term plans extended only three days into the future, so no one needed to monitor system performance, fuel consumption, or the like.

The lighting had been set on low. The door to the bridge opened and a tall figure entered. He turned an adjustment control on the wall by the entrance and the lighting increased a bit. X'til walked to one of the control stations and flipped a few controls. A screen at the front of the room retracted into the ceiling and the bare wall became translucent. He tapped another control and the wall then became transparent. He looked at the white hole, glowing, and watched as another chunk of nascent matter was ejected from the core and rapidly flew past the ship, a far miss relative to the previous two ejecta.

He smiled.

He reached over to a communication control panel and typed a sequence of codes that Kless had told him.

He sat back in the chair at the station and looked out the window again and said, "My friends..."

****

Kless approached the galley. He was in a foul mood. He had to trust a G-rider on an ego-trip to save the day, when he'd much prefer to be responsible for his own fate. Even if they succeeded, they'd have to find a way to get the escape pod's engine to work. And worst of all, because everyone was preparing for the end, he hadn't encountered a single person in the corridor he could shoot. "Even if there was just one person I could fry, I could be happy," he muttered to himself.

He entered the galley and quickly found the requested items. He thought about grabbing something, anything, since he could. But he wanted to keep one hand free in case he had to draw his gun.

He felt another shudder go through the ship, but much smaller than the previous time that had thrown him and Jenkins against the walls in the detention center. He looked out into the dining area. One of the large side panels had been retracted to reveal the large glass windows. From the window, one of the large chunks of ejecta was visible, bathing the room in a blinding white light.

Kless stepped into the room and watched the dancing, amorphous, white fireball as it grew smaller and smaller. The light faded in the room, and he was unable to make out anything for a few moments.

Before he could do anything, he froze. It sounded like he was not alone in the room.

****

Blackness. A dark emptiness. Even the light that permeated every crack and crevice of the ship failed to pierce the void. There is not silence but the absence of everything. Time has no meaning. The darkness is pierced by two whispered words.

"...stand up..."

Resisting the absolute nature of the command implies something exists to oppose the command, something exists to receive the command. It makes no sense. Yet resistance exists, in some realm, somewhere.

"Stand up."

It is a statement. A statement of fact, more than a command. Yet there is a curtain of pain, of flesh, of existence, that lies between the abstract nature of the command, its utter insistence, and the means to execute it. But to not want to do something implies will, which implies existence of a self, which opens the possibility to the existence of a not-self or other.

Dizzying notion.

What lies beyond the barrier is as absolutely unknown in this realm as this realm is from the other one. But the words, by speaking them, they force things to happen. Nothing can be heard here, yet the words cannot be ignored, no matter how strongly anyone wants to ignore them.

"STAND UP!!"

It's a hoarse whisper, a growl, a truth as certain as a mathematical fact. And before he can understand what has happened, he is standing. His legs must have straightened and forced him to stand. He was teetering on his unstable legs. He could hear nothing, beyond the whisper in his head.

Standing was painful. Breathing was painful. Living was painful.

The voice issued another directive:

"...walk..."

There was a moment of silent pleading falling on deaf ears.

"Walk."

It compelled him. He took a step. Then a second one. It wasn't as much walking as it was controlled falling. Shambling like a zombie. And perhaps that was a fair description.

"WALK!!" insisted the voice.

He shambled quicker, each time almost falling, catching himself, and continuing on, going faster. He thought about stopping. About giving up and lying down and going to sleep. Forever.

"COME ON! KEEP MOVING!"

The insistence in the voice seemed to propel him onward. Perhaps he'd be allowed to return to oblivion if he just followed the orders for a little longer. He'd be dead soon enough.

"...where...should I go..." he said weakly to no one in particular.

"The escape pod," came the answer. It was then that he recognized that the voice was his own voice. He sounded awful, hoarse. But he was also somehow moving and alive. Better than...well, a lot of others.

****

"My friends," X'til said with an uncharacteristic warmth and animation in his voice. "I have been a member of the Church of the Expanding Light for a relatively short number of years. Most of you would have known me as Brother X'til. But recently, because of unforeseen circumstances, the Honorable Reverend Lon Robace Mettra Kalopello now spends his time among the Stars and so I have ascended to the position of Neutron Star. But there is more news I have to share with you in these wondrous times."

"For those on the ship hearing my voice who might be unaware of the workings of the Church, I will give you a brief introduction. The position of Neutron Star is the second highest in the church. We have been honored that the previous Neutron Star chose to spend over a year on this ship and make himself accessible to the many, many followers here. While there can be eight Neutron Stars, currently there are only five. Four actually, but I will explain that shortly."

"The Church has been around for longer than Mankind remembers. The founders were the first people to look up at the twinkling lights in the sky and wonder what was there. They understood they were staring at Greatness, but did not understood where their actions would lead. In its current form, the Church is young, but it is growing, spreading out, just like the light from the stars spreads throughout the universe."

X'til began to speak faster, more excitedly.

"Some hearing my voice may not know how our titles work. We are all Brothers and Sisters to each other, just as all of us, including the X'tonu'u, of which I counted myself a member once, and Y'valatic are all made of the same dust of the stars. And our leader is the Neutron Star. Neutron stars are old stars. They have spent their nuclear fuel and burned hot and have come to an equilibrium point between their mass and their gravity, both of which are great."

"Other titles, including 'dwarf' and 'giant', are middle rankings. I shall spare you the minutia of all the titles, as there are many. I wanted to explain was the honorific given to new members of the organization. Outsiders commonly guess that it would be nebula, dust cloud, or something relating to the birth of a star. The truth is that it is quite the opposite. An initiate has the title of nova."

"A nova heralds the end of a star's life. It jettisons a significant portion of its mass. The explosion is an incredibly devastating event, for its entire solar system and even nearby systems. But it is also a new beginning. Just like the exploded star, the initiate is beginning a new phase. He or she has left a significant amount of the material that represents the previous life behind, physically, mentally, and spiritually."

"The initiate seeks enlightenment. A nova provides light, but not necessarily enlightenment. Its light destroys. And of course, the word 'nova' means new. It's true."

"So I am happy to tell you that all those on board the Circle's Edge who do not already have a ranking in the Church are now novae. Normally, this sort of mass conversion is not possible or rather permitted. But that relates to the other good news I have to share."

****

Jenkins felt odd. Perhaps this was what it was like for his mind to start slipping away. He had completed all the connections. All that was left was to activate the device.

Behind him, on a table, surrounded by his tools, lay the brick of stardust that X'til had given him and Kless earlier. He walked over to it. In its current form, it was inert and would have no effect on him. But given less than 5 minutes, he could synthesize a very respectable amount of G-root. He could wait for Kless. Or he could try to use it in its inert form even though he knew it would do nothing.

He reached into the package and pulled out a palmful of the powder. It was a translucent white that caught the ambient light and glittered with a thousand microscopic rainbows, like cut, polished glass. He walked over to the window, never taking his eyes off the sparkling mound of crystals in his palm. It practically called to him.

"This is the last chance. The last time to actually do something," he said quietly. And slowly he rotated his palm, raining down a small chromatic thunderstorm on the gun. "Maybe the Star Cult have a point."

And with that, he turned around, stormed out of the room, grabbing the brick on the way out. Jenkins walked into the hallway and from 3 meters away, threw the brick into the junction box. There were a few sparks, but not much else. The brick had turned to powder, which was now scattered among a rat's nest of energized cables and dirty, oily wall surfaces. For better or worse, it was now beyond his reach.

"No more distractions, there's work to do," he said. As he turned around and walked back into the observation gallery, the PA system came to life. It began, "My friends..."

Jenkins ignored it and activated the dark energy field projector and let it begin its power-up cycle.

****

Kless' eyes had been dazzled by the brilliance of the light burst. He was still trying to adjust to the dark room. He knew if there were others in the room, they too would be temporarily blinded. He could see the large glass window and knew no one was there. He figured people would be by the door on the opposite wall. And he did not want to retreat into the galley as it seemed too enclosed. That only left the far side of the room.

He remembered seeing a few empty trays of food on a table. As he walked around the table, still blinded, he reached for the trays and pushed them so they would slide, noisily in the direction away from where he was going. As he walked by the windows, he heard the trays tumble and clatter to the ground. With luck, attention would be focused there instead of on him.

There was a large rectangular blue spot covering 90% of his visual field, roughly the shape of the windows. He kept blinking but try as he might, he couldn't see through it. After the clattering, he heard a few footsteps in the direction of the trays. He quickly passed by the window, and then quietly moved along the side wall.

"Enough of this. Lights up, full" said a voice with a X'tonu'u accent.

While the rectangular blue afterimage still persisted in his vision, it became translucent as the room lights turn up to full brightness. Kless looked around. There were four Y'valatic prisoners by the door, two X'tonu'u by the galley door where he had entered, two each of X and Y near where the trays had clattered to the floor, and one Y about two meters away from him. Most were armed with nothing but metal rods, tools, or barehanded; a few had small knives. By the window, facing him was a X prisoner he recognized and who clearly recognized him.

"Friends! It looks ..." he began.

"My friends..." echoed through the halls as the PA system came to life.

"I never did like or trust 'Brother' X'til. Silence it," he told one of his men by the galley.

The man shook his head, "it's on override."

"Doesn't matter," he said. Then continued, addressing all in the room loudly, over the public announcement. "My friends, it looks as though we have found something we can all agree on. And I think maybe we can even find an activity we can all participate in that brings us together."

Looking straight at Kless, he said, "Faeto...I never thought I would say this, but it is TRULY a pleasure to see you here and now."