Author Notes:
Honestly, this is not how I expected the new OBOM chapter would go, at first. But then again, such whims are to be expected from someone with four timelines (one physical, three mental) running in his head. That and RNGesus as well, can't discount the great being and which ever Divines inspired me to write about the little Omniverse setting we are reading on it right now.
Yeah, don't ask.
Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy this chapter! And if you want to support my Mom and I in our effort to move to a new home, which we semi-desperately need to do, please visit our Patreon site where you can enjoy newcomer discount (there's a 40% discount on first subscription from now to the 22nd) and access to Early Access chapters (up to 10 OBOM chapters, depending on your Subscription Tier).
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KnockKnockKnock
"Room service!" I jokingly call out before, with my back against the wall, and extend a leg to push the jammed sliding bulkhead back into its recess.
Obviously, the screeching of rusted metal on metal ain't exactly the most pleasing on the ears. But what can I do? The leading lightbulbs seem hell-bent on asking me to come into this singular room. While a part of me is rightfully suspicious that this may very well be an elaborate trap, the curiosity Aurea and I shared has gotten the best of us.
I would have dusted my palms if not for the need to hold my revolver securely in a ready position. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, yeah?
"Alright, you enigmatic train, now that I am here, at least tell me that all of these physical activities have to mean something?" I complain aloud, not really expecting a response as I survey the newly discovered chamber.
It looks to be a data center of sorts with all the terminals and data banks to back it. In the center of the room is a large circular table that is fitted with all the bells and whistles that would make it not look out of place if being placed in a warship's Combat Intelligence Center... Wait, is this actually a CIC for a train? If it is, which is highly likely considering some of the oddly militarized design features, armory lockers, and lack of glass windows, then that's quite dope even though it's kinda weird at the same time.
Who's going to say no to a wartrain, but in space?
Anyway, digression aside, my attention is promptly pulled toward one of the buttons along the edge of the big circular table that suddenly goes blinking. After making sure that, indeed, I am the only one of the two souls that is physically present here and there won't suddenly be any hidden gun turrets popping down to turn me into mincemeat, I step closer to the table and press the blinking button. Moments later, the surface table flickers into life and, after some struggles, starts projecting a pixelated holographic image that looks strikingly similar to the very room I'm in, or at least what it used to be.
"Huh, apparently, this thing..." I use a leg to nudge the fallen-over object next to my foot. "Used to be a chair. Didn't exactly last, huh?"
In the projection, it is showing an empty chair, flickering unsteadily with its bluish holographic glow. It takes a full five seconds more until I see someone walking into view from off-screen. The person, a female with seemingly bright colored hair and eyes, can't exactly know the colors due to the blue filter, takes a seat on the same chair I just made a comment about.
The female, a lady in a two-tone uniform, leans against the chair tiredly before speaking aloud, possibly into a recording device that is hooked to this holographic table. The audio is played by the table itself, and boy, does it contain a lot of noise.
"This is Garble-tain Garrett of the ERS Voyager. To Garble-ever rece-Garble this message, you have found what little remains of the Voyager, an Garble-al Express-class void train of the Eternal Reich."
It takes a bit of an effort, but I can kinda make sense of what the woman is saying, albeit my grasp on the German language is a bit rusty... But still, to think it's the Eternal Reich, again. Really, is there a connection between the System and this Eternal Reich? Seems to me like Germany won big time in a different universe or something, for them to have a space train.
"Depending on the time..." The holographic projection of the woman continues before flickering unsteadily as she gazes into the recording apparatus. "The Voyager will either offer yo-Garble with bountiful loot, or nothing but ashes and rusted metals. A part of Garble hopes for the former..."
A rush of static noises assaults my ears as the holographic projector struggles to process the commotion that suddenly shook the uniform woman and her recording device. It would seem that something major is happening in the background, judging from how the woman looks back behind her with a look of acceptance and regret. A beat later, she reassumes her steady, if exhausted, expression before gazing back at the recorder.
"Time is running out for us, so I'll keep Garble brief, if informative to the Garble of my ability..." She says as the projection flickers unnaturally. "This is a Dumb AI with limited capabilities. Please state your question in a clear and simple manner. Detecting degradation in the mainframe and power banks. Expected lifespan of AI: Minimal."
While the projection remains unsteady, the audio quality improves somewhat, leading me to assume that the speaker is not the woman anymore, but an honest-to-god familiar existence that is an Artificial Intelligence, albeit one with limited processing power as it described itself.
I can feel Aurea's intense curiosity at having seen a true technological marvel in person, leading me to smile and say.
"Well, here goes nothing... Question, were you the one who was guiding me here?"
The holograph of the uniform woman flickers before shaking her head. "Negative. It's highly likely that it was the Voyager's Smart AI, Iris, or its subroutines that guided you here."
I hum. "I see... So there could be an actual powerful AI unaccounted for, am I right?"
"Affirmative." The projection nods. "Due to system degradation, Iris is most likely incapable of meeting you in person, or it's that she's gone and only her coded programs remain in effect."
"I understand. I will come back to this topic later, if possible. Next question, what happened to the ERS Voyager, Captain Garrett?"
For a second, the holographic projection shows an honest-to-Viola angry and bitter expression, showing that it's the real Captain Garrett taking over, before the Dumb AI resumes and replies.
"Accessing logs... Logs corrupted or expunged... Retrieving data from other sources... Done."
After the holographic projection finishes its robotic speech, my view is suddenly swarmed with a host of footage from different times, different places, judging by the watermarks and titles.
"These are all combat footage..." I frown, seeing through the bridge crew's, gunnery stations', and pilots' points of view.
"All spanning multiple terrains, both in and out of the atmosphere alike. Jeez, it seems to be an all-out interstellar war all over again..." I speak with obvious distaste in the second half.
"Affirmative." The Dumb AI of Captain Garrett chimes in. "Upon the formation of the Eternal Reich and her venture into the Solar System and beyond. The Eternal Reich has encountered many civilizations, seeded with lifeforms both familiar and unfamiliar alike. Unlike the Eternal Reich's cautious exploration of the galaxy, these other space-faring civilizations have little intent in keeping themselves quiet in the wider, endless galaxy. Some seek lucrative alliances, others claim crushing domination. The Eternal Reich has witnessed civilizations rise and fall before they're forced to take to the limelight in the year 2552."
"Damn, it seems this Eternal Reich ain't no slouch." I comment before asking. "I presume the Eternal Reich somehow got a war on her hands all of a sudden in 2552?"
"Affirmative." Comes the AI's semi-robotic answer. "The Eternal Reich, to protect a budding alliance with a distant, if friendly offshoot branch of her civilization, participates in an interplanetary war against the branch's more warring relatives. Over the course of the one-year war across a vast distance of space, the war eventually tipped in the Eternal Reich's favor, causing the Hegemony to seek ancient secrets in a desperate manner to turn the tide. One of the secrets turned out to be a Pandora's Box. Opening it sounds the death toll for the Hegemony, and the rest of the universe at large."
The Dumb AI then brings up multiple still images, showing sterile, angular, and predominantly dark grey mechanical constructs with glowing green lines on their bodies. The Dumb AI of the Voyager's Captain continues its explanation.
"The Hegemony goes on to uncover and activate a Gateway, one of a series of many, that leads to a closed-off multi-system region. What the Hegemony doesn't know is that this region contains an Extinction-level threat, and reactivating one gate has led to all other hidden gates in the wider galaxy coming back online. This has allowed the Extinction-level threat, codenamed Garble-Tempest, to be unleashed in nearly all corners of the galaxy. Everywhere they go, the collective of nanites converts all lifeforms, mass, and even planets into nanites themselves in a mission of galaxy-wide assimilation. Like a true tempest, these nanites sweep across hundreds of civilizations and convert countless lives into what the nanites deem as the ultimate state of existence."
The Dumb AI stops before it takes on a noticeably more disgusted tone. "The Tempest describes the collective's action as an act of mercy against all other matters that live in the flux of fate. Yet, to have no will to call their own in a collective mass of machines, slumbering endlessly unaware in the static noise of the nanites... There is no greater transgression against life than the entire galaxy has come to hold dear. It's something the Eternal Reich has personally taken affront to. Thus begins the Eternal Reich's long crusade against the nanite collective. And the ERS Voyager, once an exploration void train under the command of [REDACTED], is commissioned to scout treacherous space lanes for force deployment and military operation as part of a paramilitary unit."
"... Wow." That's literally all that Aurea and I can say. "That's an information dump and a half. For how long has the war been going on?"
"Before the Voyager lost contact with the Eternal Reich Space Command, the war against the nanites had reached its twentieth year."
Aurea lets out a shocked gasp, and I can feel her eyes shoot up in terror, with her hands covering her mouth. On my part, I let out a shaky comment.
"Jesus... And whatever Divines out there." A twenty-year, possibly even longer, interstellar war... The losses must have been as endless as the stars in the sky.
And with that comes the mounting dread of 'what-if'.
"Question: Were the Voyager shot down in an operation against the nanites?" I ask the critically important query.
"Affirmative." Without a beat, the Dumb AI confirms my fear. "The ERS Voyager participated in a last-ditch operation in the system of Concord. To buy time for the evacuation of civilians in the system before the initiation of protocol Base Delta Zero. The ERS Voyager sacrificed her Void Reactor and Blink Drive to create a spatial quake that destroyed 2/3rd of the invading nanite fleet, where no other military options were readily available. This resulted in the heavily damaged ERS Voyager, and its remaining skeleton crew and military personnel complement being displaced across the fabric of the universe, ultimately crashing down on this archipelago planet."
"Your military escorts, did they comprise some bidepal mech platforms?" I add in a hasty manner, thinking back to the graves I dug.
"Affirmative. Voidling Squadron was the only surviving mech unit to accompany the Voyager to this planet. They were all KIA."
"... How?"
"The Voyager wasn't the only thing that got displaced. A large combat detachment of the nanites was transported to the same region as the Voyager. Combat initiated the moment the Voyager touched down. Although wounded and outgunned, the Voyager and her escorts, including Voidling Squadron, fought valiantly against the out-of-control tides of nanite warforms. The sudden onset of catastrophic war triggered this planet's self-defense mechanism, however, and both the nanites and the survivors of the Voyager were suddenly met with the appointed guardians of this planet. The fight then turned into a bloody three-way conflict, with no party able to communicate with the others. The brief war ended with Captain Garrett leading a suicide operation with the survivors of the Voyager to eliminate the nanite threat to this planet once and for all, even if that meant they themselves would be left open to the guardians of this planet. The outcome is left unable to be determined as the database has not been updated for Garble-years. But..."
It's unknown to me now if the one looking directly at me is the valiant Captain Garrett or the Dumb AI. "If there are still humans around, then it's possible that the final gambit works, and that the nanites were promptly defeated. It would only take as long as a year for the nanites to subsume a planet like this one, if there is ample resistance."
"Fingers-crossed that's the case then..." I smile shakily, and I can feel Aurea doing much of the same.
The last thing we know is that a rogue nanite warband is trying to turn this magical medieval society into a giant gray goo ball. But bloody hell, that's a scary thought, being assimilated into what seems to be a hivemind.
Suddenly, both Aurea and I now have a proverbial Sword of Damocles over our heads. Who's to say if there's no threat like the Tempest out there?
Until we accrue enough firepower, this fear won't dissipate anytime soon.
"Playing last message from Captain Garrett..." The Dumb AI suddenly says, before the projection switches back to the more natural expression of the real Captain Garrett, the one who sacrificed herself and probably the entire band of survivors for the planet Arcadia to exist to this date.
This recording is remarkably well-preserved and runs smoothly. Perhaps the degradation in the data banks hasn't gotten to it yet.
"Not all of us will go out in a blaze of glory, however... Perhaps it's selfish and cruel of us... Of me, that I leave my daughter behind, in stasis, with no pending time of revival, while the rest of those she holds dear march to their demise. But what can I do...? It's cruel, but I am her mother, and I don't want to see her burning her life as brightly as us, at least not yet. She can be considered the last hope the crew of the Voyager has to continue on our legacy..."
Captain Garrett sighs with tears shimmering in her eyes, but she quickly swipes them away.
"Reizen wouldn't have agreed willingly to be put in stasis, so I had to put her under medical-induced coma before stuffing her inside a pod. And while the stasis pod is in the most protected and hidden corner of the Voyager, it's nonetheless damaged in the sense that we couldn't set a timer for her to be woken up automatically. Reizen will only be woken up by either outside intervention or if the train car and the stasis pod she's in have lost all power to their system. Time-wise, it will be hundreds of years before the stasis pod powered down, and Reizen will wake up by herself. That... That is not a fate I would want my daughter to experience." Captain Garrett says bitterly.
"I-I want my daughter to wake up, you know. Wake up to someone who can comfort her... Wake up to still be able to see the last vestige of her mother, her friends, her family. I don't want her to come to and be traumatized by the loneliness of a stranded soul where all that she's familiar with is gone, forever to never reappear."
"That will tear Reizen apart, no matter how hard she tries to always be calm and composed."
"So, please, whoever you are..."
"Save my daughter!"
...
...
...
"Damn it, Captain Garrett. You're driving a hard bargain, here."