Flight of the Apocalypse

The huge scout ship coalesced into empty space some hundred light-years outside the cluster whence it came. Relative to an observer in this section of barren vacuum, the flash of light from its de-materialization would arrive three weeks shy of one hundred years later.

The reactionless thrusters lit up, radiating waste heat into space, as the elongated star-ship began a series of adjustments from its departure vector, moving away from a heavily guarded intelligence outpost, to its arrival vector, which would insert the bulky vessel into orbit around a still distant terrestrial planet.

Jinx sat at the bridge and monitored the programmed series of thruster burns. Once in a while, she would glance at the displays for the sensor arrays. She hoped someone was watching, because her navigational choices were carefully chosen to reassure a worried observer.

Her passenger, Magus Jack Graves, had picked a call-sign for the ship's transponder: "The Apocalypse". That was the ship's name, encoded in a packet of identification data periodically sent to anyone in this frame of reference, or anyone observing through an interrociter. The packet did not just contain this name, but also the purpose of the voyage -- a terse bit-field, rarely used, signifying "scientific exploration" -- and its sponsoring organization -- in this case, the Entertainment Division of the all-encompassing Corporation.

She relished the oddness of this juxtaposition. Entertainment Division was all about selling known quantities at a low enough price to excuse the crappiness of much of its product. Scientific research was about finding the border between the known and the unknown. Then there were the uniforms.

The Corporate intelligence services had two official uniform colors -- gray and black. There was a well-established convention regarding the use of the two colors: mostly black uniforms represented organizations that regulated criminal activity, the black market, and counter-insurgency operations, while gray uniforms represented orgs that dealt with providing information for military strategy and diplomatic operations. Mixed colors were liaison officers, responsible for controlling the flow of information between the two factions, called the Grays and the Blacks.

The uniform they provided her was gray. The uniforms of the staff that helped prepare the Apocalypse were gray. Only a few officers observing the proceedings had black jackets. Presumably, they were the ones pressured into taking responsibility for the mission, under the aegis of Entertainment Division.

Jinx looked at the sensors again. She was certain they were being observed, possibly from quite close by. If only--

Her thoughts were interrupted by an alarm. She turned to the internal communications console, and saw Jack's panicked face. He screamed "Please, help me!".

"Jack, I'm here. What happened?" Jinx tried to look as relaxed and professional as she could, and it seemed to help Jack regain his composure.

"Some -- material -- I've been working with has escaped its containment field. Were you briefed about the black oil? Do you know anything about it?"

"No." Since all Jinx knew of "black oil" were half-truths, this was only half a lie. "We were carrying black oil?"

"In the laboratories. Fully compartmentalized. If I cannot escape under my own power, I want you to jettison Lab 15 and return to Corporate space. Do you understand?"

Something twisted in her gut. A part of her mind and heart had changed recently, and she did not want to change back.

"Don't be stupid, old man. I'll save you."

"You don't need to do this."

"And you wouldn't ask for help unless you needed it. Find somewhere safe, I'm on my way."

"Be careful."

Jinx took a moment to look at the ship's internal security console. The computer was set up to automatically record the subjective impressions of anyone entering Lab 15 with a psychogram. Reviewing the data stream for Magus Jack Graves, she discovered that he had a brief hallucination a few minutes ago, but was currently stable, if terrified.

She made telepathic contact with Graves. His mind was strong, and she was able to locate him in a corner of the laboratory. She picked a spot in front of him and teleported to his location.

"Hold still, Magus. I'll get us--"

"Behind you."

Jinx turned her head and saw thin black tendrils coalesce from the corners of the room. She took a step back and raised her arms, and the murky ectoplasm engulfed her.

Everything went white. She heard only her heartbeat. She--

She was somewhere else, levitating beside a monstrous armored creature as it climbed down a deep shaft. The Reyll had taken the God-forms and pithed them, creating robot-like slaves controlled by a pilot injected into the wound site. She had made the God-form whole again, whole enough to fight beside her as she descended into the core of the underground base.

(What the hell where am I why does this make sense what's going on my mind)

They descended into the final chamber, where the God-forms were born. Dark oil writhed over the lunar landscape of the underground cavern. One by one, the Corporation had turned their heroes into God-forms and sent them to destroy this underground womb. All had failed, even the monstrous thing Arsenal became. Jinx was the final gambit. She had infiltrated the base, made contact with the pilots and turned them against the operation. Now her target loomed before her.

(oh man I'm tripping balls this black oil is a hallucinogen this is so real it's inside my head)

Loud footsteps echoed through the underground cavern. Jinx looked behind her, and saw a second God-form charging towards her. With a gesture, she sent her pet cyborg deity to intercept the intruder.

She wondered if Nomi was inside. Poor, lost, sad little Nomi. Her God-form grappled with Jinx's.

(it's taking stuff from my head and completing it continuing closure keep it out don't get confused)

"What are you doing? Why!?" Nomi's voice echoed through the cavern.

"What I have to do. What I was sent to do. I'm going to free the captive God."

"How could you!? I-- trusted you!" The pain in Nomi's voice cut Jinx to the core. Nomi's God-form twisted her enemy's head around, and began to twist it. Jinx's God-form went limp as a series of soft pops came from its neck.

"How could you betray us? How could you betray me? I thought you--" Nomi's voice trailed off.

"I do, Nomi. But only one of our civilizations can survive--"

(oh hell she ATE Peter I saw her saw her eat his heart poor Peter keep it out maintain it's just part of the story ride it out)

Jinx approached the bound God-form, and she looked into its face. It wasn't the one she was expecting to see.

"What? Who -- it's not Darneth? It's... Nyqll?"

She began to laugh. She did not know the proper words of power to free the deity. Nomi's God-form closed in on her, and its armored fist snatched her from the air.

"Nomi -- you did it. Your people did it. Your kind will triumph. I'm so sorry."

"Jnnqae -- WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THIS?" Nomi was histrionic. Jinx felt the world fall away from her.

"Kill me, Nomi. Do it. It's the only freedom I'll ever know." Jinx felt the armored fist of the God-form close in on her, crushing her--

(it's over it's over Jinx this is Jack you're almost out of there follow me follow me it's Jack come on, come on)

Everything went white again, but then Jinx looked away from the light fixture and blinked her eyes. She drew a deep breath as she felt the crushing grip disappear.

"Jinx? Are you OK?"

"Jack? Is that you?"

"Can you teleport us to the bridge? It's important. There's more residue in this compartment--"

"Yeah, give me a second." Jinx touched the old man's shoulder and remembered the bridge. "Here we go."

They rematerialized in the bridge. Jack rushed to the console and jettisoned Lab 15. "Good riddance. I'll get a robot to do the assembly next time."

Jinx still felt a little disoriented. She checked her stream on the psychogram. "It got everything."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "That's good. Listen, I want to give you the chance to vet the stream before we forward it to my handlers. If there's anything in there you don't want them to see."

Jinx thought for a moment. "That's decent of you, Jack. I'll think about it." She had more pressing concerns. "What did that stuff do to me? What was that?"

"The black oil. It's hard to explain. It's like liquid reality -- it took what it could find in your head and filled in the gaps, just like the real world would."

Jinx looked at Jack. "What the hell are we doing?"

The old man smiled. "Meddling with things no one was meant to know. Get some sleep, Jinx."