XII : THE SECOND SIGHT

All went black, but not the kind of black one thinks of in such a situation-not the black of sleep or unconsciousness, not the black of momentarily not being. It’s the black one sees at night behind their eyelids buried a thousand kilometers underground. The black of perceiving the lack of perception.

It’s quite disconcerting, being completely and helplessly alone with nothing but one’s own thoughts. The silence shrieked into my ears, the darkness of void blazed into my eyes, the numbness of vacuum seared my flesh. Minds are not designed, built, nor adapted to withstand that sort of nothing.

As I cowered under the weight of infinity, a tiny voice filled my mind and my world. Clinging to it, the one flickering match-flame of life in the endless expanse of not, I didn’t comprehend it the first time through. I caught the feeling of a sigh, and it slowly repeated itself.

The very… triteness of the statement irked me into action, into concentrating. Everything is nominal? Don’t be alarmed? I get plunked into this infinite cold night-hell and I’m supposed to just sit grinning like some sort of lobotomized moron?

The void chuckled. "I’ve found that being densely compassionate is the easiest way to get people acquainted with the IVSAR null-input state. Either they accept it and are comforted, or they rebel. Either way, they stop thinking whatever it is organics think when they first achieve a total null-state."

Tricky. I like that… and I suppose I don’t have an internal monologue in here.

"Not really, no, but thank you for the support. This is the null-state of IVSAR-you are disconnected from the sensors, and as IVSAR overrides your built-in sensory network, you are essentially disconnected from your body. You are as close as you can get to nothingness this side of the grave."

"It isn’t meant to be. It’s a statement of fact. As I have to adapt to your mind-a fluid construct, constantly changing-for you to receive sensor input accurately, I must analyze it prior to each session in null-state. Have you ever wondered why sensors technicians seem to be either boisterously full of life or depressed at the Universe? The Universe, to them, dies for a moment each and every time they patch in. Their minds try to compensate."

So… my psyche has just been completely altered? I don’t think I signed up for that.

The void chuckled again. "No… you’re a lucky one; you rebelled against ‘the dying of the light,’ so to speak. People who respond angrily to my purposely poor attempts to console them are seven-hundred-fifty-six point three-zero-eight-two percent more likely to come out relatively intact.

I wonder how Pelok took this… the jolly bastard. I would have smiled if I could.

"That’s privileged information. Now, I enjoy talking to you, but while we idly chat we aren’t getting you used to null-state. I’m going to be quiet now, and let you once again experience the dark. Remember, you aren’t alone. That seems to comfort most people."

The voice didn’t even fade; it stopped and the void sucked it into nowhere. I was once again completely deprived of sensory input, but this time I could think of things other than the darkness. For a few moments, I wondered how I got into this mess; then I wondered what the interface would look like. Then I wondered what that feeling was in my mind, like someone gently massaging my brain-maybe akin to a very slight buzz, perhaps?

"You’ve adapted quite well," the soft, quiet voice exploded again-it couldn’t help but startle-as my mind reeled in surprise, "I’m very impressed. That odd feeling would be me." I suddenly got the mental image of a respectably old Human female wearing a uniform worn delicate with age tinkering with my head with a very long and thin screwdriver, a look of patient concentration on her face. Oddest thing was that I sure as hell didn’t think of it. "There, I think I’ve got you hooked up. Let me introduce you to part of what I see."

The void slowly lit up to provide a spherical background of murky red clouds. "This is the microwave background signature of the Universe, the entropic remnants of its creation. Eventually, all will look like this, except it will be a solid, continuous shade." The computer (?) sighed, and points flickered alive, specks at varying distances. Several were very far away, and several were very close. One hovered right in front of my eyes, almost touching-and I could see that it was actually a very tiny sphere. While I looked at it, the rest of the Universe remained in focus. "Stars," Brisbane said, "the entire local area to a distance of a thousand light years." Clouds of differing colors grew out of the nothing between the stars. "Nebulae." A faint three-dimensional grid appears, with lines that are vector-straight at some points and curved in others. "Gravitational scan taking into account space-time warping. This point here," a small area of the grid brightened to show lines bending towards some invisible thing near a star, "is indicative of a black hole." As I watched, the point began to glow a sparkling white-blue. "X-ray emissions from the same, self-relative, and…"--the sparkling white-blue became a cloud that expanded away from the point, bright in the middle and dimming towards the edges-"…objective… or at least, as objective as one can be, even with hyperspatial sensors."

If I had a body, I would have sat wide-eyed like a child. As it was, I didn’t quite own a body at the moment, so I merely existed silently and absorbed.

Red blips appeared practically on top of several stars. "The enemy." Brisbane’s voice took on a hard edge, sharp as the blade of a knife. My diplomatic training kicked in.

Brisbane scoffed. "No electronic intelligence I know has been programmed to hate, including myself. I have seen what they do… many times, many places, to many of my sisters, brothers, and friends. No, they simply do not respect my existence… so why should I not reciprocate?"

"Excellent work, Val." Nibnumber crosses his arms as he stands looking at the updated strategic situation display. "Intel data concerning that system? Enemy fleet strengths?"

"Only from long-range observation posts back home… looks like that cluster was the locus of a major feint operation, so exactly which system they’re bucking about in is unknown."

The fleet admiral frowns. I don’t like it, not at all. Jumping not quite blind… knowing just enough that the choice I’m about to make might be a mistake… but the chance needs to be made. That superbattleship must be destroyed. "FleetCom, contact the H-K squadron. Immediate jump using Val’s super-BB coordinates in five minutes on my mark. Distance from target one hundred megaclicks. Wall formation."

"Acknowledged, sir." Commander Fremount buzzes into her microphone softly for a few moments. "H-K squad contacted, awaiting mark point."

"Mark." Nibnumber turned and sat back down at his command console. "Weapons, status."

Ka-Ri keeps his eyes fixed on his console. "Locks off, capacitors charged, tubes loaded, all systems green for go." He grins, his sharp teeth looking bloodied in the red-tinted light. "Ready to kick ass on your order."

"Weapons are to concentrate on the biggest target in the area when we pop out. H-K squad is to maintain under standing orders."

"No other way to go, sir." Commander Elesi rests his hands lightly on Ares’ helm controls.

Nibnumber didn’t even blink when the countdown timer blinked 00d00h00m00s and Ares jumped. The situational indicator blanked out and reappeared with everything in a different place. His eyes flicked over it-it was far too red. Goddammit, things are already going wrong.

Xonmik looked up at his sensor operator. He didn’t even comprehend the one’s stuttered speech, but he acted instinctually, roaring orders at the top of his massive lungs. "Evasive action, immediate combat ready status. Now, Sensors," he lowered his voice back to its normal tone, unusually soft-spoken for a Warrior, "what did you say? Take your time, please."

The yellow Technician gulped. "Electromag burst from aft-port-low. Looks like a big ship in a little fleet, sir."

"How big is the big ship, Technician, and how little is the little fleet?" Xonmik speaks with an understanding calm with no hint of condescension. "Also, who built the fleet?" I wish the other Technician was on shift right now… this one is too excitable.

"I’m reading an Ares superbattleship and some Pike heavy cruisers, with a few Shining Spear frigates and Democracy destroyers thrown in."

Xonmik thought for a moment. Pikbuuv is alive, but in no shape to fight. That Ares is a major threat that my cruiser squadron cannot truly face. "TACTICAL," he shouts across the command room, "concentrate on the smaller vessels. Disperse the squadron into two-ship elements, attack in pairs. Ships on station in the asteroid fields are to encapsulate once the Zoners pass."

Buckling down in his command chair, Xonmik stared up at the tactical holosphere display. We must buy time for Pikbuuv. "Hangar deck, prepare a shuttle for immediate departure. Send it to Slax pij Pikthid."

"Fleet, fade to cover our approach. Weapons, open shot." Nibnumber grimaced as the Ares let loose a terablazer on Ka-Ri’s command. In six minutes, the beam will have crossed the hundred million kilometers separating the Ares from its prey, at least five minutes too much. Damn. We’ve got multiple enemies on vector and a bombardment isn’t going to work. "Helm, full GDD towards that super. Weapons, smite anything stupid enough to approach within red zone or even think of firing on us." They could slow us down if they hit us with everything they have right now. Let’s make ‘em bleed for it.

When the first destroyer went up in a flash on the strategic indicator display, Nibnumber’s stomach turned. He’d misread the situation.

"Shit. I see it." As Nibnumber watched, red Reaver blips avoided Ares altogether and began striking his support fleet at close range… pure hell for a bombardment fleet. Thanks to his GDD burn order, Ares was already outside of engagement range of his fleet. If he turned back now, the crippled superbattleship would probably escape. If he kept on, his outnumbered support would be torn to pieces. Cut off the head of the snake… "FlightCom, divert all fighters to support our fleet. Concentrate on enemy capital ships."

"Fleet, disengage and jump out at first opportunity. I don’t care if Reavers are in the danger zone when you jump, just jump."

The angular bulk of Ares sped along towards its foe. Fifty million kilometers to the rear, the forward spherical module of another Democracy-class destroyer vaporized, sending the ship tumbling end over end as its doomed crew continued spewing fire in defiance. A shiv-like Reaver cruiser took a hit in its drive section from a singularity torpedo, large portions of hull twisted and stretched into the imploding mass and then splayed back apart by the x-ray explosion. Listing from the strike, it kept powering on until a megablazer from one of the Pikes struck it in its exposed core. The Reaver vessel vaporized quietly, as if excusing itself politely from existence. A sleek pointed-oblong Shining Spear frigate fired off an intense volley of singularity torpedoes, completely obliterating another Reaver cruiser as its own magazines were torn open by gravitic pulse cannon, splintering it into a trillion fragments.

"Jump drive recharged, sir." Elesi, inordinately calm, simply repeated what an indicator light told him. Elsewhere, helmsman slapped controls that sent their ships back across a few hundred light-years to where they started from, tearing off sections of Reaver ships who had wandered far too close in their hunting.

"Weapons," Nibnumber announced in a metered voice, "obliterate that sunofabitch super."

"With pleasure." Ka-Ri thumbed a contact, and all six of Ares’ terablazers lanced out from their massive hardpoints. In a flash of light and the silent scattering of metal, Slax pij Pithkid was no more.

"Helm, bring us around for a pass on some isolated cruisers. It’s time for vengeance."

Aboard a cruiser with a disabled jump drive, its Warrior captain watched as the massive icon representing the enemy battleship neared its own far smaller icon. He folded his hands behind his back and sighed.

A thousand tiny points of light blossomed from the enemy icon and homed towards the center dot.

The Reaver grit his teeth and scowled. "We die." On cue, the entire port side of the shiv-vessel disappeared into singularities which spewed out their dinners in the form of densely-packed x-ray radiation. Now no more than shadows on the walls, the command deck crew dutifully followed orders.

"We appear to have space superiority, sir." Ka-Ri looked up from his console nervously. Nibnumber stood before the strategic indicator board, eyes darting from monitor to monitor, arms folded behind his back. Jaw tightly clenched, it looked like every muscle in his body was straining to leap into action-it seemed like it took all of the Human’s resolve to not move at all. Ka-Ri and the rest of the command crew knew this posture well. He’s angry as hell at himself.

Elesi leaned back in his chair, saw Nibnumber, and suddenly wished that he hadn’t leaned back. "Shall… shall I set a course back to the shipyards, sir?"

Sergeant Onri buzzed in from the engineering deck a kilometer to the rear. "Our armor integrity holding at ninety-five percent, shielding capacity is still at full. Minor damage on decks one-six-seven and one-six-eight green, but it’s easy to patch."

"Weapons, vaporize those firebases then deploy mines around that entire damned planet. They’ve had a good week to take material, so mine the damned asteroids too. FlightCom, what’s our losses?"

"We’ve lost seventeen fighters, sir." Captain J’rath allowed a bit of pity into her deeply feminine voice. "All KIA."

"Helm, feel free to set that course after we’ve made this system a living hell for the Reavers."

Dmitri Koryanev stumbled over a rock in the decrepit slums of his little backwater world. Falling against the wall with a muffled thud, he stayed still for a moment. Did I just overhear what I thought I did?

In his mind, he heard the wailing from inside through the wall. What have I done? Assassination for a few trinkets of no value, and I’ve run away right into the occupation. The aggregate is growing in my brain… I can feel it… I’ve doomed the entire Concordat to be ravaged by the Reavers and the Zone for this… Using his ears, Koryanev heard the unmistakable cacophony of a large number of metal coins--an anachronism popular in the Thaurian Concordat--rustling.

Ayup, yes, yes I did overhear that. Readying something from the folds of his cloak, he slipped deeper into the alley and found the door to the wailer’s little apartment. Putting on his best drunk face, he shouldered through the rotting wooden door.

A pumpkin-faced Thaurian looked up from his tears and his large bag of money. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh, I’m no one, guv’nor," Koryanev slurred as he scanned the Thaurian’s simple clothes for weapons. Finding none, he quickly raised his projectile pistol and leveled it on a seam in the Thaurian’s bone crest right between its close set eyes. "No one except someone who wants to talk to you very badly." Grinning broadly behind his plastic hood, he wiggles his eyebrows. "You know the drill. Do anything stupid and I’ll spackle the walls with your gray matter. Now, what’s this about selling out the Concordat?"

"That’s enough for the long-range scan; any more information and I dare say you’d go crosseyed trying to count the ships in the system. Now, think about zooming in on the star right in front of you. Imagine it getting bigger."

I did, and it complied. As it got bigger, icons appeared indicating planets with white threads for orbits (even I could tell that) and blue icons shaped like simplified ships. Each class had a different icon, and if I looked directly at one of them information would pop up in my mind about it.

"Ah, you’re getting ahead of the curriculum. Very good. Curiosity is a virtue in a sensors operator."

A few more lessons later, and apparently I had impressed Brisbane enough that she decided it was enough for one session.

"No." The ship’s voice was calm but firm. "Besides, your shift is over and it’s time for you to let someone else have a turn."

A few more icons appeared nearby, blue ones. Some were a darker shade than others; I turned to look-

"We shall deal with status indicators tomorrow," Brisbane said hastily as I suddenly woke up in reality. Blinking a few times, I found myself staring at the same screen I had a few hours earlier.

?> Are you all right? You sounded almost angry._

Not now, Officer Sovinto. You mustn’t be late for your appointment with Sergeant Pelok. He would miss your company if you did not attend.

?> Oh, right. Thank you, Brisbane. It’s been fun. May I talk with you later?_

You might have to. Fare well for now, Officer.

?> You too.

I removed the induction pad from the back of my neck and tapped it against my wrist. What exactly was going on? I had no idea, at the time. Still, "you might have to" stuck with me as having an odd sense of certainty to it. Putting the pad carefully on the desk, I jammed my hands into my pockets and began to walk off, trying to shrug off the sense of walking around inside someone’s viscera.

I spun around to see a single-bar private holding out a note to me. "Brisbane told me to pass this on."

"Thank you, Private." Taking the note, I read the quickly-scribbled writing common to sensors technicians, privately hoping my own handwriting wouldn’t become this bad.