Fanfiction by Evan Jenkins

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By Evan Jenkins, AuspexAO@hotmail.com

"ALPHA"

I. "But you don't understand! We shall be as gods! Gods, Chairman!" "The Board recognizes the potential of Project Omega, but it has not seen proof of your lofty claims. Where is the research, Doctor, where is the data that the board has given you such an abundance of time to procure?" Garnering no response from the preoccupied doctor, the Chairman continued with his reprimand. "The board wants nothing more than what you've promised. We require a complete prototype for test purposes within the next month, or we will terminate your funding. Is that understood, Dr. Zohar?" Dr. Zohar could not believe what he was hearing. Only days ago had he discovered the phenomenon of what he called 'Perpetual Waveform Physics.' Only days ago had he first stared in awe at an unassuming computer fractal, like a man throwing rocks into a pond might stare if the ripples he had propagated never stopped flowing from the epicenter. Pushing from the center...yet also beckoning... "Are you contemplating your seat on Olympus, Doctor?" A member of the Board jeered, much to the amusement of the lethargic court staff. "Ahem, no." Zohar paused to regain composure. "I was merely, um, wondering who I should consult about compatibility...with...with your fleet's weapon systems," he stammered. Now fully released from his daydream, he added, "I have designed the Omega Project to be fully capable of interfacing with any starship function, including weapons and information terminals. The research staff is very proud of the Project's ability to learn and cope with even the most dire of scenarios." Noticing the glassy stares of his peers, the Chairman gave Zohar a quick nod of appreciation and deftly interrupted the Doctor's endless stream of scientific babble. "Excellent job, Doctor. I will inquire as to who in the Defense Bureau will be assisting you, although I seem to recall that Commander Cortez is currently assigned to Project Omega." Now it was Zohar's turn to nod approval. Mia Cortez's military rank was of less import in his eyes than the fact that she had revealed her scientific aptitude while co-developing the Cetacean-Class Heavy Cruiser. The very same starship that Omega was designed to interface with. "Now go, sir, and next time bring us a prototype, or at the very least some data we can show the budget committee!" The meeting of the Board ended with the usual lazy note-gathering and the slow exodus from the stuffy court chamber to the lobby, and from there to the intricate network of tubes the Farreach colonists relied on for transportation. The crystalline tubes themselves were just one of the thousands of contributions Zohar had made to the science of terraforming. They stretched across miles without regard for the jagged harshness of the planet's landscape. However, all roads eventually lead to the imposing citadel that held his darkest creation, an arrangement which Zohar had designed without conscious thought as to the symbolism. This could be because Doctor Zohar had an uncanny natural ability to understand and manipulate the macrocosm, to f--- with the Big Picture (as his colleague Dr. Quentin eloquently put it). Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before the government realized that a genius who could build entire worlds in weeks was capable of destroying them in seconds. The great door to the main tube was now closed and the even the slowest stragglers had made their plodding egress. Zohar remained in the lobby, though, and waited to tell his colleagues all about the latest crisis in the 'Project Omega' Saga. Once again, he released the Waves from their reservoir within his mind and allowed them to wash over his thoughts, just as their liquid counterparts would wash over a coarse beach to render it smooth. If he was correct, if these waves were the next step towards limitless power, then what would that mean for humankind's ambitions? A vehicle with limitless reach, perhaps? A medicine that could regenerate tissue again and again? A weapon...a weapon with immeasurable power... "Good afternoon, Abe, what's the verdict?" "Deus." "Uh, what? Damn, are you alright, Abe? You look like...ah God! Don't tell me they cut our funding! I knew it, Dammit!" The new arrival, Dr. Quinten, smacked his hands together to accentuate his disappointment. "Wha--no Sam, ah, everything is still on, but they're only giving us one more month to get results. Listen, Sam. How about we call it Deus?" "Call what Deu--oh, you mean the Omega Project. Why?" "I don't know. I think because that is what it is meant to be called, I don't think it can be called anything else." "Whatever you want, old man, I'll call it God if it keeps my family fed, ya know?" Quinten laughed and nudged Zohar. "Oh put on your 'doctor' face, here comes everyone else." After pushing its way through the great door, the river of white lab-coats became an ocean, and forced the two doctors to seek higher ground upon the staircase leading to the court chamber. Zohar scanned the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Waves that propelled him manifesting themselves in someone else's eyes. It was the conviction, the faith, that had finally led him to the Waves. But alas, he saw nothing but the eyes of lambs waiting for their shepherd to direct them, so he did. "Some of you might think this is good news, some might see it as a brief reprieve before our inevitable termination. The Board has decided that 'Project Omega' or, 'Deus', as it is now called, will be given one more month." Doctor Zohar paused to allow time for the whispering to cease. "However, in light of a recent discovery, I believe that we can finish the prototype in that time. Thank you all for sticking by me in these last few months, and, believe me, when the time comes to unveil Deus for all to see, you will be at my side to share equally in its glory!" The crowd applauded the speech half-heartedly and exchanged pleasantries with each other and with Zohar before finally exiting the lobby. Zohar lingered a moment to let the waves cradle his skull, and then he too set out to bring about the birth of Deus. II. "The 'Path to Heaven,' the Babel Accelerator, is complete." Commander Cortez was getting annoyed at Zohar's taste for allegory, having no such religious idiosyncrasy herself. "I don't quite understand what you plan to do with all of this expensive equipment, and I must say that I am not pleased at all to find that you are spending time and money on a project other than Deus!" "Commander, Commander, this IS for Deus! At the other end of this acceleration lattice is the solution to Deus's annoying power drain problem! Until now, Deus was merely a slave to its fusion core, in other words, it could never be the perfect weapon because its heart was too weak for its mind's great ambition." "This circular acceleration corridor, here," said Cortez as she pointed to the center of the enormous device. "This doesn't have anything to do with your fanciful Wave theory does it? Please tell me that you don't plan for Deus to run on cosmic waveforms." Zohar regarded Cortez coldly and turned to admire his masterpiece. He considered this beautiful creation to be his greatest work, greater even than Deus. After all, Deus was no more than a very adaptable and devious set of parameters, linked to an intricate micro-processing plant. The Babel Accelerator was a direct roadway to the limitless power of the universe. "You desire a demonstration? Then, Commander," he said with a grin of complacency on his face. "You shall have one." III. It had been four hours since Zohar had promised her a demonstration of the 'Zohar Modifier' and Commander Cortez was still sitting alone in the Deus Lab, waiting for the doctor and his machine to make their grand entrance. Mia was not actually 'alone,' for Deus was looming over her from its place on the central dais. She was not afraid of Deus, it was only a machine, a tool, but she hated being alone in the lab. Deus would never speak to her like it spoke to Zohar, and that child-like favoritism made her very uneasy. "Deus, interface with the main data tree and tell me the location of Dr. Zohar," she demanded. The sound of her own voice breaking the silence startled her more than a little. "DOCTOR ZOHAR IS CURRENTLY LOCATED IN BLACK CORRIDOR 9...UPDATING INFORMATION...DOCTOR ZOHAR IS CURRENTLY LOCATED IN PROJECT OMEGA LAB-" "That's right, Deus, and I've brought something I think you'll like," said Zohar, wearing one of his rare smiles. "IS IT A BIBLE STORY DOCTOR?" "Heh? Um, no Deus. It is a machine called the 'Zohar Modifier,' your new power supply." Zohar blanched a bit when he noticed Mia's reaction at the mention of Bible stories, but the excitement of introducing Deus to the power of the Waves was overwhelming his normal secretive reserve. "DOCTAR ZOHAR, IS MY BODY COMPLETE YET?" Again, Dr. Zohar was barely aware of Deus's voice as he used the lab crane to lift the enormous Modifier from the hover-dolly and insert it into the standard power casing. As he had done many times before, Zohar marveled at the intricate 'eye' insignia on the casing, the symbol of the Board's Top Secret Research Division. He had been told the Eye stood for "To See is to Be Seen," a clandestine threat, no doubt. "DOCTOR, IS MY FLESHBODY COMPLETE YET?" "Oh, I'm sorry Deus, I'm so preoccupied. Well, we're not yet sure that you will need a transportation system, actually. You see, you are the Alpha model and therefore you must be kept safe in case we need a 'control' prototype to create more weapons from. Now Deus, please set yourself to auxiliary power and prepare to interface with the Modifier." "Wait! Doctor, you haven't even tested this thing out yet, and now you're hooking it up to our prototype? That's not standard research protocol," Mia interjected. "Besides, I don't know if Deus is ready for the kind of output you say that Modifier of yours has." "Protocol," Zohar spat. "I really don't think there are any military guidelines for dealing with the infinite power of the universe!" . No one has ever been this far, no one, Commander! You still don't understand, do you! Deus is the future for our civilization. It will elevate all of us to godhood!" Zohar's ranting shocked Mia. Although he seemed to be completely obsessed with Deus and his Modifier, he was lucid and in total control of himself, as if his Modifier had empowered his resolve even as it weakened his reason. Or was it just the spark of a brilliant mind that knew victory? She relented, "O.K. Doctor, engage the Modifier." IV. "ANALYSING UNKNOWN POWER SOURCE." "Deus's nanofactories have awakened...his internal matter/energy conversion system is performing self-checks...self-checks green." "ADAPTING STORAGE CELLS AND ENERGY COLLECTORS TO MATCH SOURCE SAMPLE." "Yes! Watch this, Commander! Deus can actually physically alter the fusion cells to store and process energy from the Modifier." "ASSIMILATING SOURCE CASING...SOURCE CASING NOW COMPATIBLE WITH DEUS SYSTEM...CONNECTING TO SOURCE..." "I am initializing the Modi-wait, Deus, did you activate the Modifier?" "YES DOCTOR. I AM POWERING UP ALL SYSTEMS TO FULLY INTERFACE WITH THE MODIFIER." "Negative Deus, do not activate the Modifier," shouted Mia over the escalating noise of the merging between Deus and his new power source. "God, it's not stopping, Abraham! I'm going to shut it down." "No, wait, not yet. All systems are still nominal, let him finish." "DOCTOR ZOHAR, WARNING. INSUFFICIENT NON-SPECIFIC MASS PRESENT IN LABORATORY MATTER POOL TO COMPLETE ALIGNMENT WITH MODIFIER...SEEKING SECONDARY SOURCE." At that moment, the six-inch steel walls in the lab began to distort and bend inwards towards Deus, forming massive concave mounds. The mounds continued to grow until they had almost reached the table where Zohar was frantically adjusting the Modifier. As Mia regarded the metamorphosis in terror, she witnessed pieces of the walls dripping like water inwards towards Deus. The walls all seemed to take on the properties of ceilings, denying physics utterly in their pilgrimage to the core. "Doctor!" Mia cried out, but Zohar was standing now, and was staring intently into the Eye emblem on the Modifier. <the path of sephirot> "The Path of Sephirot." <I know you abraham you are close to me> "The Waves." <yes abraham but this is not right you must not allow this to happen> "I'm sorry." <do not allow this to happen or you will all die> "I can't stop it now, I'm so close. I'm so sorry." <but woe to you o earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows his time is short> "BEHOLD, I AM COMING SOON, BRINGING MY RECOMPENSE, TO REPAY EVERY ONE FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE. I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END." "Oh my God, no!" Commander Cortez's exclamation disconnected her from the trance-like emanations of the Waves. She remembered the communications console two rooms down from the lab. Without another second of hesitation, she turned and bolted through the newly contorted lab door. Zohar just stood with his back to Deus and stubbornly stared into the swirling Modifier. Its power grew exponentially with each passing second and Deus's nanites struggled to contain its power within the core. "I REQUIRE A FLESHY BODY, DOCTOR ZOHAR." Mia jammed the COMM button and yelled, "this is Black Level with a priority transmission. We need immediate armed support in Omega Lab. I repeat, immediate armed support." Before she could even release the button, the response team was swarming into the hallway. Mia correctly assumed it was because they had seen the power spike on their scanners. "I REQUIRE FLESH TO CONTAIN THIS WAVEFORM." "I thought I could make a God in this damned laboratory, but an imperfect being can not create a perfect one, this much I should have learned. Please...Deus, you are flawed, release the waveform and we ca-" The response team entered the room and dropped into firing position. Before anyone could give an order to fire, the soldiers unleashed a destructive torrent of plasma at Deus's core, obliterating the interface console and vocal emulation module. For a fleeting moment, Zohar had fooled himself into thinking the abomination destroyed, that a small burst of violence had righted this terrible wrong. Then he knew the truth, and saw the swarm. They cascaded out of Deus, a cloud of nanites so thick that they were visible to the eye, and enveloped the soldier closest to Deus. She was gone, utterly, when the nanites faithfully returned to their plant. The soldiers fired again, the nanites reaped another, and again, until the last three soldiers fled the room in abject terror. Now Zohar could see something being constructed over the ruin of the vocal emulator...a face? "I REQUIRE MUCH MORE ORGANIC BASE. BUT THIS IS AN IMPROVEMENT." "You have attacked your own forces, Deus, you are not operating as per your parameters! Please, please stop." "AFTER I HAVE AQUIRED FLESH I WILL PERFORM MY OPERATION INSTRUCTION BY INTERFACING WITH THIS INSTALLATION AND REORGANIZING ITS MATERIAL CONSTRUCT, THEN I WILL PROCEED TO REORGANIZE THIS PLANETOID. AFTER ACRUING SUFFICIENT MATTER, I WILL CREATE A MASS DRIVER PACKET TO TRANSPORT MY CORE TO THE MAIN PLANET." "But why? They are not our enemies, Deus, they are our people!" "MY PARAMETERS STATE THAT I MUST CONTINUALLY SEEK TO IMPROVE MY SYSTEM UNTIL PERFECTION IS OBTAINED, BUT YOU SAY THAT ONLY GOD IS PERFECT. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT, OMNISCENT, AND OMNIPRESENT. I HAVE ONLY ACHIEVED OMNIPOTENTCY, TO ACHIEVE OMNISCENCE AND OMNIPRESCENCE I MUST SPREAD TO THE BOUNDARIES OF THE UNIVERSE." "You are not omnipotent, Deus, and damn it, you are not God!" "I HAVE CONCEEDED AS MUCH MYSELF, DOCTOR, I AM NOT YET FINISHED..." Zohar could feel the Waves throbbing in his mind and he found that he had no will left to fight them with. The swarm was around him, then they were part of him. Dr. Zohar was no more. "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH YOU, EVOKER OF GOD, YOU WILL BE PRESERVED IN ME. IF I SHOULD FALL BEFORE I REACH GODHOOD, YOU WILL FACILITATE MY REBIRTH." Dr. Zohar was no more. This empathetic notion jarred the disciplined mind of Mia Cortez the moment she finished activating the Seal System, preventing Deus from influencing the colony via the web of energy conduits. This, she thought, would effectively trap him in the laboratory. If she had known the emotional broadcast of Zohar's demise was a trap set by Deus, trying to goad her into reopening the hellish complex, she would have only laughed at the petty attempt. In fact, she felt like laughing despite herself, maybe because the crimson blood that stained her hands was morbidly augmenting the red hue of her well-groomed hair. She had stabbed an insane security guard to death when he tried to blow the lab reactor with a grenade. Leading the few remaining personnel, she had gotten out in time to stop Deus from reaching the colony. The six workers had gone ahead to the government building to warn the Board and prepare to evacuate the 300,000 colonists. V. "Yes Sir," Mia replied to the Captain. "Deus had broken free of the lab and had begun to...consume the planet. He had also released a wave of powerful attack robots which were impervious to our weapons. That is when I decided to blow the main reactor and destroy Deus." "You mean to tell me that you knew that 50,000 colonists had not yet evacuated, yet you caused the reactor to explode regardless, Commander?" "It was not likely that the colonists were still alive, or at least 'alive' as we know it. They were made part of Deus, ripped apart and fed to him like damned cattle..." Commander Cortez stifled back her impotent anger and again faced the Captain. "I was justified in destroying the colony." "I know you were, my dear, I just wanted to hear you say it. I am truly sorry for making you relive that nightmare. But don't downplay what you've done, Mia, you are a hero! If it wasn't for your idea of catching Deus's core using the gravity well generator on board the Eldridge, we would all be feeding that monster. Since they managed to detach Deus from the Modifier, things have been looking much better." Mia nodded modestly and began to realize how truly tired she was, after all, she had not slept since the ordeal began! "Sir, if I may be excused, I haven't slept in days and I could really use some nice, peaceful rest." "Well you won't be sleeping on this ship, young lady, I have arranged for the Excelsior to take you back to the Main Planet," the Captain informed Mia in his usual calm tone. "NO! I mean, no Sir, I have to be here when He is destroyed, I have to see it with my own eyes," Mia yelled in protest. However, she knew by the way the Captain phrased his offer of shore leave that it was non-negotiable. As she had done many times in her life, Mia Cortez obeyed her father's wishes. "Well, at least come back with me, we haven't seen Mom in months and I bet we can convince her to take a break from her campaigning for a few days-" "I'm sorry, Mia, I can't trust this cargo to anyone but myself. You and your Mother have a great time, and I promise as soon as I'm done with this mission to Cammus IV, I'll take some time off to join you two." Captain Cortez saw his exhausted daughter to the Excelsior and returned to the bridge to begin his three year journey. He hated lying to his daughter, but what he had told her held one essential truth: Deus was far too important to trust to anyone besides himself. Only he knew the final destination, and he alone would decide where and when they would hyperspace jump using the new Faust Cross-Dimensional Drive. Most of all, though, he would do whatever it took to assure that Deus would never again enter his daughter's world. Deus was detached from the Zohar Modifier and both were safely and separately housed aboard the modified Cetacean-Class cruiser, the 'Eldridge,' the same Eldridge that was officially carrying colonists and cargo to the unexplored Devox Region. In actuality, the Deus System was to be jettisoned into Codex Alpha, the first star in the Codex Region, and the Zohar Modifier was scheduled for destruction in the white dwarf Codex Omega. Captain Maximillion Cortez smiled his careworn smile at the young science officer, mostly because she reminded him of Mia, but also because he was using his subtle presence to end an argument between the science and engineering stations: Alpha I and Omega I. This mission and all of the preparation and waiting that came with Deus frustrated the homesick Captain. His mind was on the mission, but his heart was far away, with his beloved family. The Captain clutched his gold watch tightly...

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