Her head tilted slightly to the right, a motherly caring gaze, a polite smile, smoothed hair...
An example of modesty, virtue, and care.
Ganos Lal.
That's how she remembered her.
"I am no longer the naive Proculucian girl I was ten thousand years ago," Chaya warned. "And I don't believe in the kindness of the Ascended."
"Yes, you imagine yourself a Lantian," a smile appeared on Ganos's lips. "Your theory of territorial identity... It's amusing. Except that, unlike them, you are smart. Though impulsive. You know that it doesn't work in words. And genetically, you won't get any better."
"I'm content with who I am," the girl stated.
"A problem for everyone around?" Lal smiled back.
Chaya didn't know what to answer.
"Come on," the Ascended continued to smile falsely. "You know perfectly well that you don't belong among them. Yes, your genetics are not as developed, but your mind, your scientific flair, your spirituality... You have already Ascended once."
"I was helped," Chaya frowned.
"We can help again," Lal assured her. "We have time to talk and correct a regrettable mistake."
"A mistake?" Chaya repeated mechanically. "What are you talking about?"
"About your stay among mortals," Ganos replied. "Don't you see that you don't fit in with them?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Sar said, gathering all her will. Her mental development training should have helped protect her mind...
But the girl was too confused by the Ascended's sudden appearance. In the circumstances she knew, it seemed unthinkable.
"You do understand," Lal didn't fall for the deception. "Everything that is happening now is your fault. And you realize it. Just as you realize that an attempt to rectify the situation, to solve the problem radically, will lead to nothing good."
"So far, everything is fine."
"For now," Lal's thin eyebrows rose slightly. "Because you don't know. And a battle is taking place at the edge of the galaxy right now."
"That's how it should be..."
"Everything went off plan," the Lantian said.
"According to you."
"Have I ever lied to you?" Lal asked in surprise. "My child, I have always been frank with you."
"No," Sar said firmly. "What I've learned about the Lantians now... There could be no talk of frankness. You were a member of the Council! You knew everything that Atlantis was doing in the galaxy! You knew why the gene was needed! You knew what was happening! And you stayed silent!"
"And again, your impulsiveness," Lal sighed with a hint of irritation. "Don't you have enough sense to realize this?"
"Did you come to guide me?" Sar looked suspiciously at the Ascended.
"I came to help," Ganos said. "To take you where you belong. To the higher plane of existence. To all of us."
"No," Chaya shook her head. "Not after what I've learned."
"As if this is the first time," Lal sighed.
"What are you talking about?" Chaya became wary. Something in the Ascended's words was catching her... But her heart was beating so fast, her thoughts were scattering, that she couldn't figure out what it was.
"You don't understand this because your human nature doesn't allow you to think clearly," Ganos said.
"Then help me understand!"
"That's not why I'm here."
"I don't want Ascension!"
"You do."
"No."
The Ascended shook her head.
"Chaya Sar, you are a grown-up, unreasonable child," she said with the same reproach she used during her training. "You refuse to admit obvious facts because you prioritize the personal over the general."
"No," Chaya repeated stubbornly.
"Yes," Lal objected. "And you know yourself that if it weren't for your intervention, if it weren't for the burden of your failures, these people would have existed much more peacefully. Your fears have led to the Wraiths hunting you. And not ordinary Wraiths, but the husband of the Queen of Death herself. This is a big problem. And it happened because of you."
Chaya felt her face flush.
"You, like all our children, want good, well-being, development, and achievements," Lal's voice flowed like the melody of a mountain stream. Insidiously, slightly ringing, pacifying. "Do you remember what I told you about revolutionary and evolutionary developments of society and consciousness?"
"For revolutionary development, it is required that society and social consciousness be ready for it in its greater part, understanding and accepting responsibility for their actions," Chaya replied mechanically.
"Exactly, my child," Ganos confirmed. "The people you've associated with don't understand this. Because they are in the wrong place and at the wrong time. This is not meant for them. Not for you."
And... she was right... Chaya was superfluous here.
"For the humans?" she asked quietly. "Did you leave Atlantis for people from Earth?"
"Correct," Lal nodded. "For descendants who understand us. Who know what they want, who don't reduce their existence to survival. This population, which has settled our city against the plan, is not viable. It's a mistake. General Hippaphoralkus made a mistake, and you believed that he was right."
"He was always right."
"Perhaps then he wouldn't have died because of his mistakes?" the Ascended clarified.
"He didn't die," Chaya corrected. "He Ascended. And he helped me do it."
"Ten thousand years ago," Ganos said. "And even then, his actions were condemned. The community thought he had corrected himself, but no. He continued to make mistakes, one after another, one after another... And it was because of the last one that he ceased to exist."
"Did you deprive him of Ascension?" Chaya was horrified.
"He is no longer in the community," Lal replied evasively. "I don't know what happened to him. And others don't let me find out for a number of reasons."
"What reasons?"
"You know."
"No!"
"You know. But these memories are blocked for you. Such are the rules."
"No one can use the knowledge of the Ascended while remaining mortal," Chaya nodded. "But there are cases...!"
"We are not touching upon them now," Lal grimaced. "We are talking about you. And we are running out of time. We must leave together."
"Why? I had a reason to reject Ascension! Why should I break my decision and return?"
"You know why."
"I don't know!"
"This knowledge is in your head. Yes, it's blocked, but the emotions, the feelings... You have them. And," Ganos Lal smiled a little more kindly than basic politeness required. "After all, you are a smart girl. Even if you've forgotten, you'll understand..."
"Mikhail," Chaya blurted out.
"A person from another universe," Lal confirmed.
"Is he the reason I refused Ascension?"
"We all sometimes do things we shouldn't have done," Lal's voice sounded somehow special. As if she knew very well what she was talking about. "And all mistakes have a price."
"I know enough to understand that if I had voluntarily regained my mortal existence, I could have kept the memories of Ascension," Chaya said. "At least some part... But not the crumbs I can recall."
"Your memories of everything concerning your existence as an Ascended are blocked by yourself," Lal said reluctantly.
"Nonsense. I wouldn't have done that," Chaya stated.
"But you did."
"No! If I regained my humanity to be with a person, to save him, I wouldn't have given up the knowledge of the universe!"
"Even if it brought down the wrath of the Ascended upon you?" Ganos Lal clarified. "No one is allowed to take the knowledge of the Universe into a mortal body."
"You're mistaken," Chaya protested. "And you know that I know about Moros, Orlin..."
"Not in our galaxy, my child," Lal cut off dryly. "The leniencies that existed in the Milky Way don't work here. However, you can't know this—you've never visited that galaxy."
"Mikhail said I was punished and tied to my world."
"Actions and consequences," Lal confirmed.
"And you also shouldn't tell me something I can't know," Chaya narrowed her eyes. "But you just did."
"Because it's just a small fluctuation of changes," Ganos Lal answered readily. "If we touch upon something more significant, it will attract the attention of the community. And then they will stop me."
"I'm starting to understand why Mikhail is annoyed by the rules of Ascension," Chaya grumbled.
"Not just him," Lal's voice became icy. "But the conversation isn't about him now."
"It is about him," Chaya said firmly. "Do you think I don't see what you're doing? You say he's in danger, mentioning that the operation went off plan. You say I refused Ascension because of him. You point to humanity as something pale, unremarkable, like leaves after rain stuck to the sole of a shoe. It's insulting!"
"Perhaps," Ganos Lal readily agreed. "But the emotional coloring of information perception cannot contradict facts. He appeared, and you lost control."
"Perhaps because you wanted to kill him?"
"Kill?" Lal was surprised. "My child, the Ascended do not interfere in the affairs of mortals. This is..."
"The main rule, I know," Sar began to get angry. "But he would have drowned if I hadn't intervened. Right?"
"Yes, and the violation of the universe's harmony would have been permitted with his death."
"Are you listening to yourself?" Chaya flared up. "You actually watched as a person who could preserve your legacy, a person you asked to deal with problems in the Milky Way, drowned!"
"He is not as important as the general thought," Ganos Lal cut off. "Especially since he is not doing anything to solve the problems."
"Because Atlantis's safety must be ensured before going to the Milky Way!"
"That's his point of view," Lal observed calmly. "Others may not see it, or prefer to ignore a bug, but I understand what he's doing. He reassures our attention with words that he will soon deal with his task, but at the first opportunity, he slips away from it. Do you think he's so interested in bringing the crew of the 'Aurora' back to life? Believe me, no. He's just finding an excuse not to do what he promised."
"Do you hear yourself at all?" Sar was horrified. "You gave him a task and calmly watched him die! And after that, you want him to rush to the Milky Way at the first opportunity?"
"It's a perfectly workable plan," Lal observed calmly. "And the longer he ignores the hints, the worse it will be for him."
"So you are still involved in what is happening," Chaya concluded.
"The Ascended cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals," Lal shook her head with a smile.
"But they can do it indirectly, like you are now," the Proculucian noted. "Your frankness here is not accidental, is it?"
"I want to take you back."
"I already told you I'm not coming back. I trust my decision to leave the higher plane of existence."
"Even so?" Lal was surprised. "Brave. Pretentious. And selfish. Shall I tell you why I emphasized the last one?"
"Because it's my desire," Chaya sighed. "My personal one. My action."
"But the responsibility will be shared by all," the Lantian noted. "Every action of yours goes beyond what these people can do. Where they would have suffered defeat and learned a lesson that would have made them much stronger, your scientific knowledge spares them from error. And they are quite sure that this is the normal course of things. But at the same time, they don't notice or prefer to ignore the fact that without you, it would be better for them. And safer."
"No."
"Your selfishness stops being amusing."
"I'm needed by them!"
"Oh, that unfulfilled sense of guardianship," Lal chuckled softly. "You couldn't protect your people, but you're rushing to protect someone else. A specific person, your community, humanity... Chaya, an entire civilization that gave life in this galaxy couldn't do it. You can't be smarter than all the generations of Lantians. No matter how hard you try, your actions lead to sad, far-reaching consequences. You do remember what good intentions lead to?"
That old saying from school days again...
"Good intentions lead us to the Ori," the proverb slipped out on its own. "This is not the same."
"Well, yes, "it's different"," Lal laughed.
"I don't see anything funny," Chaya admitted.
"For you, no," Ganos confirmed. "But a human might find my emphasis on the last words worthy of a smirk."
"The human has a name," the Proculucian reminded her.
"The mere fact of its existence isn't enough for me to remember it," Lal shrugged. "I'm not here for that."
"I'm tired of repeating myself – I'm not going back."
"You must return," the sharp tone of her words, literally spat through her teeth, stunned Chaya. "Now. Time is almost up!"
"You haven't provided a single reasoned argument."
"You're driven by selfishness, which you need to cast aside!" Lal insisted. "Cast it aside and you'll see that you're hindering these people!"
"Whose side are you even fighting for?" Chaya wondered. "First you say you're not interested in the people around me, then you insist that they'd be better off without me. What do you care about them?"
"I'm looking at the situation from the position of an independent judge," Ganos explained. "And, since this person didn't die, since they started achieving something, let them keep struggling. I'm not interested in him, only you."
"Why?"
"You don't belong near them," anger sounded in Lal's voice. "He... is an abomination! A violation of the laws of the universe! Immoral!"
"Expressive, selfish, pretentious," a smile played on Chaya's lips. "Familiar, isn't it?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," the Ascended replied coldly.
"You do," Chaya saw it in her eyes. "Mikhail told me a lot."
"But not everything," the Ancient said cautiously.
"It's enough for me to draw conclusions," Sar leaned forward, demonstrating that she had taken the lead in this conversation. "Dreams for the Athosians, passivity regarding Mikhail, the attempt to return me to the Ascended... You're afraid of him!"
"Not him," Lal winced. "But what he's doing in his lack of reason. And unpredictability. You are a faction of egoists who do nothing for the common good. The community doesn't believe in your good intentions. And one day you'll play too much with free will – you'll be stopped. All at once. The only thing I can do to prevent this from happening to you is to help you Ascend."
"Regardless of the fact that I don't want to?"
"You want to ascend! You've desired it with all your heart your whole life! Ascension is a way to become equal with others..."
"With those who wiped their feet on the lesser races, keeping them as slaves and experimental animals?" Chaya clarified. "No, thank you, I don't want that."
"It didn't stop you before," Ganos Lal remarked. "But the human..."
"Mikhail," Sar corrected. "He has a name."
"He's a dirty animal!" The girl was momentarily frightened when she heard the bulkheads of the "jumper" groan. The Ascended displayed her considerable power, interfering with the real plane of existence.
And nothing happened.
"Don't you see what's happening?" Lal regained her composure. "Falling in love with a human, of course, is not a vice. Even if it's immoral nonsense, to have a relationship with your own descendants..."
"There are no descendants of mine in this galaxy, or any other," the Proculucian cut off. "There was no one who considered me a worthy partner. To everyone, I was just an element, a tool, a puppet. Just like all the lesser races."
"You don't understand," Lal shook her head. "He is a mistake. Wild, primitive, with many complexes... Think about it yourself, what Lantian woman would agree to make her partner with another?"
"Is that why Janus surrounded himself with lovers from the lesser races?" Chaya inserted a barb. "Oh yes, he had Melia... Won't you ask her if the chief scientist of Atlantis was faithful after he tied himself to her with vows...?"
"Enough," Ganos Lal interrupted her. For a second, she sat with her eyes closed. "Please, my girl, let's go. This is your last chance to Ascend."
"No," Chaya cut off. "I believe in myself. If I decided to become human, then the human for whom I did it is more than worthy. I didn't do it in the events known to Mikhail for another Earthling. For that very Earthling who was supposed to come here, but didn't."
"Do not judge, for you do not know the reason..."
"I don't need to know," Sar cut off. "For too long I was a toy in someone else's hands. Blind, fooled, used... Does it disgust you that I share him with Trebal? Do you grimace because a more developed version of a Lantian can become the father of a child whose mother is half Lantian?"
"All of this... is an abomination!"
"Because it doesn't fit into your plans?" Chaya clarified.
Ganos opened her mouth to answer but restrained herself.
"So I thought," Chaya nodded to her thoughts. "What is permitted to Lantians is not permitted to lesser races. You boast about rules, but you learned to circumvent them long ago. You had a plan, developed many thousands, if not millions of years ago. And you implemented it, pushing Earthlings to come here, to find the answers you left for them. And you're bothered that the plan failed."
"You don't understand."
"Is that so?" Chaya clarified. "Mikhail told me how, in the events known to him, you pretended to be a training hologram to give the right answers to people from Earth. And thus helped them move forward in their search for a weapon against the Ori. You broke the rules, but they didn't return you to mortal form. Because you helped people find a weapon against the power of the Ori. The Ark of Truth, created by the Alterans to reveal the truth about who the Ori really are. And after that, you engaged in battle with the last of the Ascended Ori. You bound her in battle with equals in the higher spheres of being, as Oma Desala did earlier against Anubis. Was this your punishment for helping people? An eternal battle of the Ascended, where defeat means death."
"My sacrifice helped the people of two galaxies get rid of the influence of the Ori!"
"From influence, or was it not a sacrifice?" Chaya clarified. "Was it a plan, and the one who broke the rules fell into it? The one who considered herself above the rules and strove to help people so that what was intended would come to pass?"
"You don't understand what you're saying."
Can a being made of pure energy turn pale?
"No, I understand," Chaya's voice sounded confident. And a smile played on her lips. "You said and did exactly what I hoped for. Thank you, my first teacher, I have received my final lesson."
The smile on Ganos Lal's face disappeared.
"What are you talking about?" she asked with a hint of threat.
"No need for special effects and primitive emotions, Ascended," Chaya leaned back in her chair, placing her hands on the armrests. And for the first time in thousands of years, she allowed herself a smile that made her entire being rejoice. "You can't harm me anyway. As long as there's at least one chance that your plans will be realized, you are still needed by the community of Ascended Pegasus. That's why you're here – to take me. To remove the key factor of easy success that my beloved has."
Steel appeared in Lal's eyes.
"Dreams for the Athosians, manipulation of Mikhail, subtle insertions of information that could play on my impulsive nature and desire to protect everyone," Chaya continued. Though she didn't want to, her voice became ruthless. "I don't know if you did it personally, or if it's the community's design, but this is what you were aiming for. You cast a hook with bait, which the former Chaya Sar couldn't resist. Rushing, abandoning everything and everyone, she rushed to the other end of the galaxy to gain what she desired, to use it, to rid everyone of danger and pain. All to fill the emptiness within herself. To defeat her demons, to convince herself that she is needed, that she is loved, that she is not just an addition to something, but capable of doing something that will ensure she is never forgotten. You manipulated my guilt complex. You watched over our shoulder as we slowly untangled your ball of abomination and immorality. We two – the one who can ask the right questions, and the one who can find the answers. You won't convince Mikhail to back down. That's why you've taken on me. Coming to me on Atlantis was dangerous, because then everything could have gotten out of control. Someone could have seen, scanners could have detected the energy jump... Or one of the many laboratories would have worked. The holographic hall, after all, is the only place in the city that is extremely protected from detection by an Ascended, isn't it? You can't answer," Chaya allowed. "I know this. You worked with young minds. You instilled in them what turned them into servants. They came to you like moths to a flame, not knowing that the lamp was held by a parasite more dangerous than many. There is only one truth, isn't there?" The girl looked into the Ascended's eyes without fear, demonstrating that everything was happening according to her plan. "The Universe is infinite. Just as the iterations of our actions and their motives are infinite. Just as your selfishness and self-love are infinite, which does not fade over the millennia."
"You don't know what you're saying."
"Then correct my mistakes, my first teacher," Chaya said with a cheeky smile, which she had seen on Mikhail more than once. "Imagine, such a simple facial gesture, and how much inner strength it adds to the speaker! You won't correct them, because you are not allowed to interfere. Directly, at least. And all of you," Chaya wrinkled her nose with disgust, looking at the Ascended and glancing around her, realizing that other Ascended might be present and observing. "You all talk about the common cause, about the future, about how to follow the plan. But this is YOUR plan. Not mine. Not those people who believed in you and were discarded by you to the fringes of life because you wanted to live longer!"
"You don't understand..."
"Maybe," Chaya nodded. "Maybe impulsiveness speaks in me, not a scientific approach, but I already understand the general outline. The Wraiths are your experiment. Perhaps not specifically your Ganos Lal, or those who lived during the war, I haven't figured that out yet. But it's a Lantian experiment. You wanted to live as long as possible... And I even guess why."
A sardonic smile of a mad genius, confident in her rightness, appeared on her lips.
"Ascension isn't as interesting as it seemed, is it?" she clarified. "It's a dead end. Perhaps not as simple as it might seem to a human. I'm sure there are dozens, if not more, levels of Ascension, and you haven't reached the final station. But it will be. Everything has a limit. Even the Universe is finite – we only believe otherwise because we are unable to comprehend it empirically."
Lal looked at her with outright hostility.
"But there is another hypothesis," Chaya "cheered" her. "Ascension is not a mechanical, but a spiritual process. Purity of soul, thoughts, aspirations. And you have big problems with that. That's why you studied how to extend your life. You studied energetic life. You studied the mechanism of ascension, accelerated technogenic evolution. But you couldn't do what was done in the Milky Way. Millions of Ancients died, and only hundreds, maybe thousands, Ascended. The process is not perfect and not for everyone. That's why a backup plan was needed – to extend life so that everything could be done. And when, instead of longevity, you got monsters that feed on life itself, you decided to close the project. To destroy it, as you did with the Asuras. By the way, a question. Were the Asuras destroyed because they disagreed with you, as did dozens of other lesser races, more developed than the Dorandans, but less so than the Ytranci. Or was it about nanites?"
Ganos Lal's face no longer glowed.
It was white as chalk.
Chaya demonstratively stretched out her long tanned legs and crossed them.
Then, after thinking, she crossed her arms over her chest.
And continued to smile.
"There is only one path, the Lantian one," she said. "And whoever does not conform to this path is destroyed. There can be no compromises."
Lal's figure began to be covered in white flame.
"Do you even realize that because of your stubbornness and egoism, the Wraiths have exterminated billions?" Chaya said with disgust. "Instead of finding solutions to problems that were clearly easier for you to find than for us, you preferred to erase what was written rather than correct mistakes... How many victims are on your hands?! How much blood have you spilled?! And why," Chaya jumped to her feet, "why did you Ascend and consider yourselves a model of morality!?"
"I suspected that you were my biggest mistake," Ganos Lal also stood up. And now her figure was not just covered in snow-white flame. She herself became it. "You're coming with me. Immediately."
"Make me," Chaya said defiantly. "You don't have the strength for that."
"I still have a little time, while the others..."
"You have no time," another voice sounded in the "jumper."
"Get out, Melia," Lal hissed, starting to glow brighter. "This must end here and now! She's coming with me!"
"If she wants to, then let her," the second Ascended, but looking like a human, calmly walked from the cargo hold of the ship into the passenger compartment and stood between the two women. Facing Ganos Lal. "But she has already said that she will not."
"Just a stupid girl!"
"It's her choice," each of Melia's phrases sounded like a whip crack. "If you interfere, you'll be returned. Or worse."
"I have to save her!" Lal moved forward...
And in the next moment, something invisible but powerful ripped her from reality, leaving no trace.
"How foolish," Melia sighed falsely, turning to the Proculucian. "Satisfied with yourself?"
"Will she be punished?" Chaya asked quietly.
"It's not for me to decide," she replied in a calm tone. "If it were up to me, you would have been torn into subatomic particles by now."
From these words and the casual way they were spoken, Chaya felt like she was falling into the event horizon of a black hole.
"I forgot how sweet you are," she barely managed her voice. And even tried to force a semblance of a smile.
"And I haven't forgotten what a petty, spiteful bitch you are," Melia replied just as indifferently, looking around. "Ugh, what shoddy repairs. If I were you, I'd replace the secondary drive crystals."
"You're not supposed to tell me that..."
"Well, I'm not doing anything," her voice and words were frankly frightening. "So, you've confirmed that you can find an idiot among us who is less restrained than you. Was that pleasant?"
"Until the very end – yes," Chaya swallowed the lump in her throat. "I... I thought she..."
"Would become human and you'd sit hand-in-hand on the pier, watching the sunset and arguing about the philosophy of the observer, like in the good old days?" Melia's eyebrow rose with reproach and disdain. "Grow up, Sar, you're not twenty anymore. Think with your own head and take responsibility for your actions."
"That's so... hypocritical," Chaya wrinkled her nose. "You're brazenly breaking the rules, giving advice, instructions..."
Melia looked at her with the gaze of someone who had seen everything. Literally everything.
"Write a complaint to the Ascended community," she advised. "In triplicate and don't forget to get the copies certified at the Alteran secretariat."
"You've already told me that..." Chaya shuddered.
"And you still can't forget," Melia smirked. "It's all happened, Sar. Move on. And pray to the Ascended that I have time to keep an eye on you. And on your mistake in particular."
"I'll pray that you look the other way from Mikhail," Chaya admitted.
Melia smiled.
"That's right, girl, do that," the smile, like all good nature, disappeared from her face. "Because if I find time to deal with you..."
"You know," Chaya found her strength. "I know why you're so angry. We both know. Size and skill..."
Melia paused for a moment.
Then, to Chaya's great surprise, she nodded affirmatively.
"I told you – pray that he doesn't interest me."
And she disappeared.
Chaya collapsed into the pilot's chair, powerless, unable to suppress the violent trembling that was breaking her.