"...they'll be here in a couple of hours. The 'Aurora' will be found, the crew will be slaughtered or used for knowledge extraction by the Wraiths. That's why I'm inside—to negotiate with you."
It wasn't his piercing gaze or even his stern voice that led me to believe I should be completely honest with the "Aurora's" captain. There was a certain risk that the Lantian, like his Ascended brethren, would consider me a mistake of nature and try to kill me... By the way, if you die in virtual reality, do you die in real life too?
No.
I decided to be frank for two reasons.
This man, despite the fact that we had just met, evoked sympathy in me. Like a kind grandfather you visit on weekends. He'll listen to you, nod, let you vent. And then give you a dozen pieces of advice on how he would handle your problems. But the choice, of course, is always yours.
And, secondly, what happened on the bridge sobered me up. And led me to quite obvious conclusions.
A captain is an unquestionable authority on a warship. Those who contradict him sit in solitary confinement, not walk freely on the bridge. Therefore, his subordinates hear him, respect him, and trust him.
If I manage to win this man over, the crew will follow him. The "Aurora's" captain doesn't behave arrogantly, doesn't curse, and doesn't act as if everyone around is so undeveloped that they can't understand why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
"Ten thousand years," the combat ship's commander repeated, as if he hadn't heard my previous words. His words carried the bitterness of the years lived.
And the pain of a betrayed person.
"How old are our bodies?" he asked, glancing at me.
"As far as I know, if you are extracted, you won't live to see us deliver you to Atlantis," I admitted. "You probably won't even live to be immersed in the 'Hippaphoralkus.' If thawed, of course."
I don't think he needed a precise answer. The captain knew perfectly well what I was and what I was capable of.
"Ten thousand years," he repeated with a heavy sigh. "I hoped they would come for us... Instead, the Council did everything to ensure we wouldn't survive. If it weren't for your intervention, we would have died. In ten, a hundred, five hundred, or a thousand years, but we would have died."
"The danger of death still remains," I reminded him. "The Wraiths will be here soon. And, with all due desire, I'm not confident we can cope without your help. We need to start evacuating the personnel as soon as possible. I'm sure there's some trick to get all the capsules out and transfer them to my ship. When we're safe, we'll start bringing your people back to life. But we need to hurry. Otherwise, all Lantians on board the 'Aurora' are in danger of death."
The "Aurora's" captain looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
The "Aurora's" Captain.
"Lantians?" he repeated with a sad smile. "Mikhail... With every new phrase you say, I feel more pain..."
And what did he mean by that?
In fact, I asked him this question.
The captain gave a bitter chuckle.
"Besides me, there isn't a single Lantian on board the 'Aurora'," he explained with bitterness in his voice.
Is the temperature in the virtual environment suddenly dropping, or did I just get a chill?
By the time the stasis capsule lid lifted, Kirik was already starting to feel like an eternity had passed.
"Are you done?" he asked Mikhail, approaching him.
The Lantian looked stunned, looking around.
But he quickly regained his composure.
"Not entirely," the guy muttered, climbing out of the chamber. "I'll need to go back..."
"You were inside for half an hour," Teila said. "Not much time left..."
"Enough," Mikhail cut her off. His voice became sharp, impatient. As if he were trying to save every second.
Approaching the nearest capsule filled with a crew member, he drew the attention of both to the control panel. Such a panel existed next to each stasis capsule on the "Atlantis" decks.
Three diagonal rows of small buttons. Three in each. Mikhail pressed every third one sequentially. Strictly from top to bottom.
With a hiss, the capsule with the sleeping person moved forward, sliding out of the wall. But, contrary to expectations, it didn't crash to the floor but began to hover in the air. However, Kirik and Teila were no longer surprised by this.
"Watch and remember," Mikhail demonstrated the key presses again. "Safe disconnection from virtual reality, transfer to emergency power, activation of anti-gravity suspension. After that, the capsule can be pushed all the way to the transporter. Understood?"
"Perhaps they can all be disconnected from the backup bridge?" Kirik asked. "That would be faster."
"Each capsule has forty-five minutes of backup power," Mikhail explained. "We won't have time to extract them all before the capsules discharge. And they can only be disconnected sequentially manually. Five can fit into the transporter. Here," Mikhail pointed to the side of the stasis capsule, where a control panel blinked with lights, "there's a yellow button. One press—the capsule will stand vertically," he demonstrated how the capsule moved to the correct position. "A second press—it returns to horizontal. Is that clear?"
"Yes," Teila said distractedly. "We need to move all the capsules to the 'Hippaphoralkus'?"
"Exactly," Mikhail said, touching his comms. "Alvar, send Koschei. Under guard and under threat. First, let him eat Sora—he'll need the strength."
"Mikhail," Teila intervened. "I don't think this is the right thing to do..."
The girl fell silent when I hissed at her.
"It will be done," the temporary commander of the dreadnought replied. "Anything else?"
"Leave five people at the transporter to move the capsules into the compartments. You yourself will connect them to the power grid. Send the rest to the 'Aurora.' You remember what Chaya said about connecting?"
The girl had developed kilometers of temporary wiring in dozens of compartments on board the "Hippaphoralkus," to which the stasis capsule occupants were to be connected. And, of course, she showed us how to do it correctly so as not to burn out the body or the wiring. However, understanding who she would have to work with, the girl developed everything as simply as possible.
"Yes," came a short reply.
"Excellent," I praised. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Understood."
"If you're leaving, what do we do with Koschei when he's brought here?" Teila asked.
"You'll help the others move the capsules and send them to the 'Hippaphoralkus'," I informed Emagan. "Kirik, you'll guard Koschei while I'm inside the capsules. To not waste time, we'll revive several useful crew members. They will help both here and on board the 'Hippaphoralkus'."
"Understood," the former fugitive replied. "How will I know which capsules' people need to be revived? They still need to be found..."
"Don't worry," I advised him. "They will all be in one section. As soon as Koschei says he has no more strength, do everything to make sure he's not pretending. If it doesn't help—knock him out and send him to solitary confinement."
"It will be done," the former fugitive assured me.
"And now, let's go, I'll show you which guys we'll revive first..."
From the moment she was captured, Sora was convinced she would be killed. They tried to interrogate her, but she said nothing. They beat her several times—and the author of her numerous injuries, bruises, and abrasions was a man named Alvar. An Ermenian whose planet fell due to the actions of the Jenai.
Therefore, she had no doubt that sooner or later she would die. No one would keep a prisoner who was of no use. Sora, as her father and Commander Agastus Koli had trained her, endured the torture with honor. Not a word was said about what interested the captors. She didn't even say a word about being a Jenai. Yes, they knew it themselves, but she wasn't going to confirm it.
These are the rules of the game the Jenai play. If you get caught, it's your own fault. Die, but don't betray your people. Not a word to the enemy. And only then, after death, will the Ancestors await you, who will approve of what you have done.
Sora Tyrus didn't know how she ended up here. But she suspected she was moved here after being stunned by a Wraith weapon in the chamber on Atlantis.
She also didn't know why the lights went out and it got cold. With great pleasure, she would have taken advantage of this and escaped from the chamber... If the entrance grate didn't weigh more than she could lift. And the guard didn't let her relax.
She decided to trust the Ancestors and wait for the situation to change. Perhaps then she would have a chance to escape. She was ready to break through by force. Just open the chamber...
However, she was not prepared for what she saw when the door to her new chamber opened.
The same guard who had been watching her all this time entered the chamber. But he didn't bring clothes or anything useful. Several other Athosians in Ermenian uniform and with Ermenian weapons entered with him.
At first, she thought they were going to feed her... They always came in several people when they unlocked her chamber.
But reality turned out to be much more prosaic.
The Athosians, irreconcilable enemies of the Wraiths, were indeed going to feed in this chamber. But not her.
The girl cowered in the corner when a man in chains entered the room... Sora understood everything. And screamed in fear.
"Well, hello," the laughing Wraith said in a hoarse voice, looming over her. "I hope you'll be tastier than your father..."
Jenai never leave life without having the last word. But this time Sora broke the Jenai's covenants.
She didn't manage to say anything before the Wraith's feeding sucker fell on her chest, and her body was pierced by pain and euphoria.
She didn't live to experience her death throes.
It was enough to disconnect from the virtual environment, and he practically understood that everything the captain had said was true. Their bodies had indeed aged. So much so that even with slight disorientation from prolonged stasis, he felt the changes of age. The depletion of the muscular frame, the skin no longer firm and elastic, his fingers trembled... Aching joints were a given.
As soon as his body experienced the long-forgotten sensation of stiff muscles, he took a deep breath.
"Ihaar," a familiar voice broke into his ears. Opening his eyes slightly, the senior engineer squinted a little. But the dim light in reality was favorable to his ability to see. "Do you understand me?"
The young man stared into Mikhail's face, looming over him. He wanted to say something, but his tongue wouldn't obey. Something was stuck in his throat, some kind of fluid. It seemed... It seemed his body was dying. Probably something with his lungs.
It seemed they were trying to help him, unbuttoning his tunic at the chest, tearing his uniform underwear. The undershirt ripped with a deafening sound, tearing down the middle of his chest. It seemed there was indeed a problem with his lungs. And they were going to try to resuscitate him now...
"He's reacting to sounds," came the voice of some other man. An unfamiliar voice. Ihaar, frankly, no longer cared. He understood that he was dying. It seemed the commander was wrong, and Mikhail had no way to bring them back to life. But, if so, then why all this?
"Keep standing over him," a suspiciously familiar voice sounded on the verge of his fading consciousness. "But don't blame me later for not being able to revive him..."
"If he dies, I'll tear your head off," the shadow above Mikhail's face assured him. The shadow seemed to move away, but it didn't get any brighter.
His consciousness had almost faded when he felt... His body was suddenly filled with pain, which made him want to scream as loudly as he could.
And this pain was by no means senile...
The remaining air in his lungs expelled clots of fluid from his throat. At the same time, his body was filled with euphoria from the sudden increase in pleasure hormones. And adrenaline. His adrenal glands, as if there had been no ten thousand years of waiting, worked at full capacity with the improved physiology, pulling his consciousness back from oblivion.
And at that moment, his vision focused, the shadows disappeared, and even the meager light above him was enough to see a characteristic green face... Horror and fear gripped Ihaar, preventing him from moving and resisting the right hand of the wraith, which lay on his chest.
"Ancient," the wraith exhaled into his face, a triumphant mask frozen on his face. "Your hour has come!"
But the worst thing was that as he regained the sensations of his body, Ihaar could not stop the feeding process. He couldn't even scream.
And he couldn't warn the remaining members of his ship's crew that they had fallen into a trap set by Mikhail and the wraiths.
Returning to the virtual environment was becoming a routine.
Darkness, light, blue and brown patterns on the bulkheads of the "Aurora"...
The same small room where I had left the captain after receiving exhaustive instructions from him.
"...we have ammunition, shields, and the ship can engage in combat," Trebal said fervently, standing before the captain of the "Aurora."
"It won't help us," he cut her off in a calm but categorical tone. He didn't raise his voice, wasn't rude, didn't resort to shouting or insults. He was as calm as a snake.
To be honest, I envied him so much at that moment. To shut down the bitchy senior assistant with just one sentence... This man is someone to emulate. I hope he won't refuse to give me a few master classes on leadership.
Alright, fine, a few hundred master classes.
It's pleasant to talk to this man and...
"We have time," Trebal insisted. "I can take the engineering and technical team and fix the engines. We just need to jump into hyperspace!"
"That's not up for discussion," the captain cut her off, noticing me. He got up from the transport container and walked towards me. "Senior Officer Trebal, you are dismissed. See to it that all members of the engineering and technical team are revived among the first. They will provide invaluable assistance to Mikhail and his people."
"Captain!" Trebal exclaimed, glancing at him.
"You have your orders, officer!" the commander of the "Aurora" raised his voice, looking me in the eye. "Execute them!"
Officer Trebal and the commander of the "Aurora."
Trebal looked at him, then at me. But this time, she looked angrier. And she left the small room in silence.
"Juniors," the commander of the "Aurora" smiled sadly. "Always impatient, always impulsive. You have no idea how many problems this has caused. And catastrophes..."
"We still have an hour and a half," I said. "There's time to talk. Since you said to evacuate yourself last..."
"A captain always leaves the ship last," the commander of the "Aurora" said calmly, pointing me to the door. "Let's go, Mikhail, we have a lot to talk about."
We went out into the corridor.
It was quite deserted here, but at the same time, some team members continued to scurry back and forth. As if they had some urgent business. In the virtual environment, no less.
"What's happening?" I asked, walking to the right of the only Lantean on the ship. "You can't control the ship's equipment in reality from virtuality, can you?"
"No, you can't," the captain agreed. "But, in your opinion, why was the virtual environment created?"
"So the crew has something to do during the flights," I suggested the most obvious reason. In fact, Chaya had told me the same thing.
"Correct," my companion said. "We had ten thousand years to practice various tasks. If you allow the mind to be distracted from critically important work, it will allow panic to break even the strong. The most obvious thing was to order the team to engage in research and work while awaiting rescue. And now they are downloading the data of their work from virtual computers onto storage devices and transferring it to their chambers."
As if to confirm these words, we saw in the corridor several people connecting Ancient laptops directly to the control panel next to decorative plugs in place of stasis chambers, doing just that.
"And what results have you achieved?" I inquired. "Considering that you were the only Lantean on board the ship."
"Being a Lantean doesn't mean knowing everything," the battleship commander assured me. "Each of us is a specialist in their field. To one degree or another. It's impossible to gain all the knowledge of the universe in a human body. No matter how magnificently it has been developed by evolution or genetic, biochemical, cybernetic, or other improvements. All the knowledge of all races that have ever lived and are living is in one place. In an energetic state. Knowledge of everything about everything is a colossal amount of information. To appreciate it, all the information storage devices that we could create since the dawn of our race would not be enough. Ascension is the only way to understand the universe."
However... And I thought that the Ascended possessed all the knowledge of the Ancients only. But it turns out... It's not that simple.
However, if you dig deeper, everything here is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.
"And in what field are you a specialist?" I asked.
"I knew military technologies, hyperdrives, and pulsed ship weapons well," the captain replied. "In fact, that's why I volunteered to command the 'Aurora' on its last raid. The Council was against it, but I insisted. Probably even then they were thinking about evacuation to Earth. And sending the 'Aurora' to the galactic borders with a crew composed of representatives of the junior races suited them perfectly. If they managed, good, there was a chance. If not, it was not a great loss. In fact... That was the intention. There were so few Lanteans left by the end of the war that I hoped that even in a difficult situation, they would not abandon us. Unfortunately, the bet didn't pay off. The Council chose the simplest path. Saving the majority at the expense of the lives of the rest."
"You talk about it so easily," I shivered. "After all, in essence, the Council abandoned you and your crew to die..."
"In my time, such accusations could have led to disintegration," the commander of the "Aurora" chuckled. "We are partly lucky that Ascension does not grant access to the virtual environment. In fact, nor does it allow penetration into various computer systems. We can talk freely about everything."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I am familiar with the works on Ascension and I have some idea of the limits of their capabilities," the captain said, stopping me at one of the corridor intersections. A few guys in the "Aurora" security uniform ran past us. "In my time, it was more theory, as there weren't that many Ascended among us. And they were in no hurry to share information or make contact. And if it did happen, there were no direct answers at all. Hints, riddles... And even then, only by the time we were already losing the war."
"I understand why the Ascended don't want to share information with me and other humans, we're not their kind. But you are Ancients, you know millions of times more, you are more perfect... Why not...?"
"Why not tell us what became known on the path to Ascension or upon reaching it?" the captain understood my thought. I could only nod. "Even we are no more than the simplest compared to the dominant species of the entire galaxy. As far as I understood, the rules do not allow direct action. And all those workarounds you talked about... This is precisely the result of attempts by individual Ascended to help less developed species. True, from your story, it appears that in the events you know, the Ascended helped exclusively those who, in one way or another, defended their world order and position. Snobbery, selfishness, and arrogance in its purest form," the man sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, that's all of us. The more you know, can do, and comprehend, the longer you live, the less you become close to a human and more like a machine. Logic and planning replace emotions, feelings, compassion... As far as I understood your story about Ome Desala and Orlin, about Chaya Sar, Morus, and Ganos Lal, some of them still awakened the beginnings of conscience. However, I don't think it's that simple..."
"In my opinion, it's simple," I shrugged. "The Ancients are the Ascended. They set the rules. So why can't they break them?"
"Why do you think the Ancients set the rules of Ascension?" the captain was surprised. "This was done long before them. Most likely, long before our race appeared. Unfortunately, my knowledge in this area is limited. But I think you can satisfy your curiosity by referring to the Atlantis database."
"A significant part of it is encrypted and password-protected," I admitted.
"Yes," the ship's commander sighed. "Protection and insurance against overly curious representatives of the junior races. However, the Council hid a lot from ordinary Lanteans as well. However," he quickly corrected himself, "these are just rumors and my assumptions."
So that's the revelation. I'd bet my life, that last slip of the tongue was clearly "Freudian." He knows much more than he says. But, as with Chaya, he acts cautiously. He hints, but doesn't give answers.
Smart. Because if he's wrong and the Ascended are indeed watching us, he's hardly earned to be put in a corner on his knees. On salt or buckwheat. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The difference in communication with the commander of the "Aurora" and Chaya herself was palpable. The girl behaved, albeit with a parody of Lanteans, but still more humanly, simply. She was not alien to humor, albeit peculiar, fear... The commander of the "Aurora," on the other hand, seemed more and more like a walking encyclopedia, knowing everything about everything. But an encyclopedia with feelings and its own code of honor.
He cannot help but inspire admiration. If only because this man cannot fail to understand that even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to evacuate all the crew members of the ship. Not in such tight deadlines. I know that my people and the resurrected Ancients are doing everything they can, but... I understand that we won't make it. That's why I'm sad and filled with anger at the captain's actions, who intends to leave the ship last. In fact, he has signed his own death warrant.
And he explained it to me very simply. The reconnaissance mission of the "Aurora" was to obtain data from a complex of laboratories built at the beginning of the war. There, they studied the technologies of the wraiths. And the wraiths themselves. There were no gates there, which ruled out the appearance of wraiths on the planets. What exactly the scientists transferred to the Council, the captain didn't know - the wraiths managed to track them down and attacked. The laboratories were destroyed, the "Aurora" suffered critical damage and lost almost all its "jumpers," ran out of ammunition while defending itself until the last data packet was received. They went into hyperspace, but the damage turned out to be too severe. Well, and then everything coincided with what I found out from the ship's database.
The captain didn't know for sure, but he had heard something about reverse feeding. It turned out that the wraiths invented it in the heat of war. And at the same time, it was experimentally established that the energy of a wraith required to revive one Lantean is equivalent to the amount needed to restore a dozen representatives of the junior races. If I bring back one of him, I get one intelligent person. If I don't bring him back, then twelve people. Less intelligent than him, of course, but more useful. After all, his crew members are no strangers to the Ancient systems.
Simple math. It smells of fatalism, but... It's his choice. And it perfectly aligns with my own.
When I lay down in the chamber, Koschei was able to get Ihaar and half of his engineering and technical team on their feet. Now these guys have indeed proven invaluable. They not only took on the work of connecting the cameras on the "Hippaphoralkus," but they are also piloting the available "jumpers" and using spacesuits to retrieve capsules from depressurized parts of the ship. I'm not even talking about the fact that they are also working on restoring a couple of doors leading to the "Aurora's" hangar. They are used as airlocks so that other "jumpers," landing in the depressurized hangar, can also transport stasis chambers. Relying on only one transporter would be a big mistake. With the appearance of Ihaar and his subordinates, we have not one, but three evacuation routes for the "Aurora" crew.
Only we still are unlikely to make it before the wraiths arrive.
"Have you noticed anything strange in Chaya Sar's behavior?" the captain suddenly asked, as we stopped at the threshold of the backup command post.
"Not particularly," I admitted, it was difficult. After all, there were grounds for answering "yes." "Is there something I should know?"
"I'm not one to spread other people's secrets," the commander admitted, approaching one of the consoles. "I'm sure that if she's helping you, she's doing it with a pure heart. As always. But don't let her get carried away with her scientific research and mislead you about her absolute correctness. It could cost you your life one day."
I don't like this veiled language.
"Why not say it directly?" I asked.
"Well, you didn't tell me about your suspicions that Sar would inevitably resist you saving us," the captain smiled. "Everyone has the right to secrets. You and I. I think if you didn't lay everything out at once, you have your own reasons to protect her. I respect such behavior. She is your comrade and assistant, an ally. Possibly more, but that's not my concern. Protecting your people is a leader's duty. This is not written anywhere, not in any instruction. It must come from within. You have it. It's no wonder General Hippaphoralkus chose you. He knew how to distinguish in the junior races what could one day make them great."
Okay... the captain is playing his game. He didn't say directly why Chaya is so dangerous, but at the same time, he threw me a bait to figure it out myself. At the same time, he didn't hint that she had done anything terrible. He didn't predetermine my opinion. He allows me to investigate everything myself and make a decision in accordance with my inner convictions.
Damn, a little more and I'll start admiring this Lantean!
"I'll have time to figure it out if the Ascended don't decide to finish me off," I muttered. "After all, I'm a global violation of the rules of Ascension and all that for them."
"It's hard to condemn them for such fear," the captain of the "Aurora" looked at me. "Are you familiar with the concept of 'cascade entropy failure'?"
"You know the answer yourself," I grinned. "My knowledge... is very superficial."
"You'll have to eliminate this gap if you want to solve problems, not create them," the captain said. As usual, without condemnation. Just a statement of facts. "I'll simplify the explanation. Please, don't consider my tone arrogant, it's just... We'll spend too much time figuring out your level of technical knowledge. And I'm afraid I'm not the best lecturer."
I can bet on that.
"So, you are a guest from an alternate universe," the captain stood opposite me, clenching his fists. But his behavior didn't show that he intended to hit me with a "one-two." "Your body, consciousness, and any object located in a specific universe have a certain energy charge. It is different from the charge of a similar item, object, or person in another universe. Just like the frequency - for each universe it is unique. Imagine what will happen if the charges come close to each other?"
"Oppositely directed charges will touch, and the same charge will make them repel each other," I suggested.
The captain froze for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"In general terms, yes. So, imagine that universes are like pages of a book that lies closed. Somewhere in the center is a base universe, actions in which give rise to new and new universes. The further they are from the base universe, the more their charges differ. And the movement of the same objects between universes causes a cataclysm. Several, even two versions, of the same object simply cannot exist in one universe. Their charges and vibration frequencies do not allow them to do so. I hope you understand that every molecule and atom in the universe vibrates, moves?"
"I can guess," I said. No, I absolutely must find a way to save this man. If the Lanteans have a standard, it's the commander of the "Aurora." "And what will happen if the objects touch or are close enough to each other?"
"I've read about old experiments by the Alterans during their time in the Milky Way galaxy," the captain unclenched his fists. "When they left their home galaxy, nothing restrained their imagination and scientific research. Including experiments with quantum physics, as you call it. Travel to alternate universes is one of the directions. But it was closed and declared forbidden after the consequences became irreversible."
"Consequences?" I became alert. "Irreversible? What are you talking about?"
"Time and space in universes are not subject to unified laws in the entire Creation," the captain said. "Somewhere it flows faster, somewhere slower. Somewhere we could peek at other versions of ourselves and adopt their achievements, somewhere they did it. And somewhere, a cascade entropy failure caused a collapse of the space-time continuum, somewhere the change of history and the destruction of entire races... I could hypothesize that your universe appeared as a result of such an intervention. But I have too little input data to talk about it. If you are interested, then talk to Chaya Sar. Spatial physics is her favorite discipline," he paused for a moment, then added:
"At least it was for her a little over ten thousand years ago."
It would seem that from what the captain said, my head should have exploded. But no, I absorbed it all like a sponge. Every word of his. And I even understood some of it due to my knowledge.
That's the problem. The Ascended fear that there might be a second me in this universe. Our charges and frequencies don't match, and upon contact... Anything can happen.
"You have no idea what food for thought you've given me," I admitted. "Thank you."
"I'm glad I can help," the captain was already engrossed in some calculations and computations, which he performed while moving from one console to another. And at the same time, he managed to talk to me. A multitasker from the Big Bang. "I regret that I cannot do more. But we still have a little time. If you have any remaining questions, ask them."
"How can you ask the most important question out of millions, given the circumstances?" I grinned.
"The right approach," the captain said after a moment's thought. "In part, I even envy that the future of our race is in your hands. You are young, energetic, you know that even developed minds can make catastrophic mistakes. I think you have a chance to build a more just society of Ancients than we did. I believe in you, Mikhail. I believe and hope."
An invisible hand squeezed my throat.
I've only known this man for a couple of hours, but in that time I've developed such respect for him that I'm choked with resentment.
"Come with me, Captain," I grabbed his hand. "Maybe not now, but after some time, we'll be able to revive you and..."
The captain looked at me with a sympathetic smile. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a kind, fatherly look. This made my heart clench even more.
"I appreciate your offer, Mikhail. And I understand your motives. But I haven't been sitting idly for these ten thousand years either. I understood better than anyone that the longer we are in stasis, the harder it will be to bring us back to life. I conducted calculations, built hundreds of thousands of hypotheses, proved some and rejected others. I found hundreds and thousands of options, but none of them came close to how to save our lives. You can be proud of yourself - you have found the right option to save my crew. But I cannot go with you."
"That's not an answer to 'why not?'"
"We are to blame for what is happening in this galaxy," the commander of the Aurora sighed. "We are to blame for what is happening in the Milky Way and in the home galaxy of the Alterans. We ran instead of fighting back. We ran instead of fighting to the last. We relied on science and calculations where we should have thought with our hearts, emotions, and drawn on our own spirituality. Now, of course, one can say anything, but... I know for sure that for my resurrection, hundreds of innocent lives will be required."
Wow!
"I dare to remark that innocents are not sent to feed the Wraiths by me," I assured him.
The captain smiled sadly.
"Believe me, there is nothing more desirable for me than to return to my hometown," regret appeared in his voice. "But it is beyond my power. The risks... are too great. Compared to what my race has done, any criminal is innocent. And we are doubly guilty for not correcting anything, but simply leaving. I will not be able to live with this burden of guilt. It caused problems even before, but now... everything will get even worse. By joining you, I will definitely bring trouble upon your people. Believe an old Lantian's word – you don't need a comrade who places a target on your back. The stakes are too high..."
"But self-sacrifice is not the answer! There is still Ascension..."
The words slipped out before I realized how wrong I was. He had just told me that he would not be welcomed in the world of the living.
That's why in the series he didn't come up with a way to save himself, but went for self-sacrifice.
"Ascension is our victory," he said. "But also a statement that our path was not the only correct one."
"What are you talking about?"
"The Orai," the man explained. "Our brothers, our irreconcilable enemies. As I understood from your story, they are the only developed beings in our home galaxy that we inhabited long before the Milky Way. They chose the path of radical clergy, believing that ascension can only be achieved through purely spiritual means, through religion. We, on the other hand, relied on science. From your story, I conclude that there was not a single Ascension achieved by technical means."
"As far as I know," I corrected him. "It's possible that others..."
"Others are a separate matter, we are only talking about the Alterans and the Orai, about our fundamental contradictions, which led to what is happening now," my interlocutor said sternly. "Did you want to know the reason why the Ascended Ancients are so prim and do not strive to Ascend all their followers?"
Honestly, that's not what I wanted to know. And I didn't talk about it at all! What was he talk...
And then it dawned on me.
It wasn't me who wanted to know, but him. And the commander of the Aurora wasn't just telling me this for no reason.
"The Orai draw energy from their followers," I recalled. "And the Ancients..."
It's even hard to say. For almost saying it in front of Ganos Lal, she wanted to kill me.
"Hypocrisy is an inherited trait," the man smiled sadly. "We had it, we passed it on to you. And I don't think the differences in the universes are as critical as we think."
"But there aren't that many followers of the Ancients... Billions of people don't even know about their existence!"
"Is it really important to believe in specific representatives, or is it enough to revere their deeds?" asked the commander of the Aurora. "Does it have a significant impact on the energy supply to the reactor whether the wiring is made of a certain material? If the goal is still to get energy from the source?"
"By any means, but not directly," I whispered.
"You understand," the commander of the Aurora said with relief. "I'm glad. I hope you also understand that this knowledge must not be voiced. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise, some zealous believer in the Ancestors, as we are called here, will have an epiphany that you are great evil," my interlocutor smiled sadly. "Such are the realities, Mikhail. The Ancients lie."
It burned me as if I had been whipped with a fiery lash.
It was about the same thing written in Chaya's laptop when she became human in Atlantis. Only not the Ancients, but the Others... But is the difference so great?
Only now everything falls into place.
The Council could easily have forbidden this Lantian from leading a mission doomed to failure. They could have simply taken him into custody if they cared about a compatriot. They could have sent a ship under the command of the same Trebal, since she and other team members have the Ancient gene. Not all of them, but key officers and specialists, like Ihaar – yes.
But they didn't.
They could have stayed in Atlantis for thousands of years, waiting for a convenient moment to save the Aurora and its people. The galaxy is vast, and the Wraiths couldn't be everywhere. And after all, they could have sent disguised jumpers to Lantea-2 for replenishment of building resources. On Taranis, they could have cultivated crops and built ships! How many such planets, where there were no Wraiths, are there across the galaxy? Even if there are no gates there, they could have...
You can do anything if you are willing to make sacrifices.
But if you intend to bury the truth at any cost... You will leave the city, go to Earth, and simply run away from problems, doing what is necessary to make everything work like clockwork.
"Not much," I finally agreed. "Thank you. I used to think my guesses were... just fan nonsense, but now..."
"I would consider this one of the reasons why you were chosen, and not someone else," the commander of the Aurora smiled.
And I thought it was all because I was compliant.
"Give a man a fish, and he will be fed for a day," I muttered. "Teach him to fish, and he will live... longer."
The commander of the Aurora paused for a moment. Then he smiled approvingly.
"There are good idioms in your world. Everyone can find something for themselves and instructive. I hope our descendants in this universe are just as wise."
Wise, of course... But there are a couple of nuances.
"I'd like to know if the Ascended Ancients have an itch because it's impossible to achieve Ascension through technical means," I chuckled. "Only through spiritual means, as the Orai said."
"From what I know, they were not entirely right either," my interlocutor said. "But at the same time, Ascension is proof of how far even developed intelligent beings can be from the truth if they are subject to the influence of dogmas. And the difference between these undeniable points of view – science or spirituality – is not so important. The main thing is not to let them distort perception and direct them onto the path of absolute enmity."
Which, in fact, happened. Both with the Ancients and with the Orai... God, what a nest of vipers this place really is.
I felt disgusted. At the very least, my origin, my physiology, my resources already put me on the board for a beating by both "coaches." And these are the same chess pieces where the opponent can easily stick a rook in your eye or hit you over the head with the board.
"Our time is running out," the commander of the Aurora said grimly, returning to the console in front of him. "Before you leave, I would like to help you one last time. You will need to memorize and enter my code into the Aurora's onboard computer. Any console connected to the main systems will do. There should be several near your capsule."
"Self-destruct," I realized.
"First and foremost," the captain nodded. "And also the communiqué that we were supposed to deliver to the Aurora. Unfortunately, it's too large to transmit to your ship in time..."
"And you have trouble with the transmitter..."
"Yes, it was clearly destroyed in battle," the commander of the Aurora agreed. "You will have to initiate self-destruct first, and then extract the onboard computer. By then, the program will be running, and you will have some time to leave the Aurora. The systems will run on... What did you call it?"
"MNT."
"Yes, the battery will be a catalyst for detonation. I'm sorry I can't give it to you – with limited resources, it could help you in battle. But..."
"We could shoot the ship with shells."
"You know where to find new MNTs, but the shell production plant was destroyed long ago," said the commander of the Aurora. "You cannot renew this resource without mortal danger. You understand what I mean."
Of course, I understand. About the Asurans, who perfectly reproduce the technology of the Ancients. Including MNTs and shells. But they desperately want to destroy the legacy of the Ancients as revenge for the past.
Using MNT to blow up the ship is the only way to destroy the Aurora with minimal losses. Defeat for strategic victory. A possible victory.
Captain... Damn it, how could this happen!
"The onboard computer is located here," the captain showed me information on the ship's plan. "It's not difficult to disconnect it, just turn off the switch and disconnect the information and power buses. It's important to take all ten crystals. I can't say why, but you'll understand in time. If I were you, I'd pay attention to the red one first..."
Another hint.
"Thank you for everything," I said, shaking his hand with emotion. "I'm so sorry I can't do more..."
"You can't overcome the influence of a black hole with a screwdriver and a bit of fishing line," the captain smiled. "There are situations where we cannot win. I hope the Aurora will be a valuable lesson for you. Learn from the mistakes of others, especially since there were a great many of them."
"Thank you for the lesson, captain," and I wasn't being insincere here. In the couple of hours spent with him, I felt as if I had been filled... No, irony is completely inappropriate at such moments.
This man truly turned out to be an excellent teacher. It's a shame that...
A shame. But not a shame! Because for every cunning... and so on!
"I think it's time for me to go."
"Promise me two things, Mikhail," the captain addressed me.
"Anything."
"Then three things," the man smiled. "First – never say that to those you cannot guarantee to deceive."
"Reasonable," I agreed. Unexpected wisdom from the Ancients. "Second?"
"When the ship's crew returned from a dangerous mission, a toast was raised in their honor," the commander of the Aurora recounted the tradition. "My crew completed the assigned task. We were betrayed, forgotten, and erased from history. The only thing left for us..."
"Is a toast in your honor," I understood. "Certainly, captain. I'm sure this toast will be raised by members of your crew as well. You will not be forgotten. I promise."
"I believe you," the captain nodded. "Well, and the last thing... Take care of her. Watch your jaw, Mikhail."
It seemed like two requests in one, but... I didn't have time to clarify what the captain had said.
A flash of light, darkness...