Ex Lacrima Remnant

Track #73 – The Naked Truth

“I’m sorry.”

That was the first sentence the simulacrum of Yarramundi spoke. The world stopped at those words. Every gaze focused on his face, on what that statement meant. Commander Papanastasis on Kaitos, together with Lenarea Mariakidis and the Assistant had their eyes glued on the screen. Emil Rupta, from the comfort of his room in the barracks, jolted at that sight too. Commander Rysas almost spat her cigarette on the control panel of Nemo. Mal, Dobrio, Agave, Edera, Primula, all of them watched in silence, right as the message appeared on every display, hijacking the transmissions, appearing all around the base. Felce squeed like a teenager seeing a live performance of her favorite band, jumping around like an excited rabbit. A mystery. A true mystery was unfolding under her eyes. One more exciting than an old, derelict satellite weapon system that disappointed her to the core. Anthony Yarramundi, the President of the Turn, was talking again. This time to the whole world. A backdoor, there had to be a backdoor in the first vault comnet protocol. Now, that backdoor was used in full swing, to basically take control of any device that still had a display. In the command room of Lagash, Xaviella Rubico jolted. That video. She had never seen that video. She had watched all of them, all the possible reasons of failure to restart the loop, but that one? That one was new. The camera angle was completely different than before, framing the scene from the side. Anthony Yarramundi was standing behind his desk, looking down at the wooden surface, averting his eyes from the camera completely. The fights stopped. The crew members looked up above. Lacrima, Lily, the Eastcol soldiers, the Pangean soldiers too. Everyone watched the broadcast without saying a word. Bad feelings. Shivers. Huge expectations. And, as if to validate all of them, Yarramundi slowly started to raise his gaze, finally facing the lens.

“Words are not enough to express how I feel, right now. I know how scared you must have been. I know how desperate, how confused my last message must have left you. I know. I lived it on my skin, when the alien machines ravaged our world, when they destroyed everything I held dear. A swarm that could not be stopped, a plague that took over our beautiful blue planet. A plague that we might have contained. Yes, we could have contained it, if we, as humanity, cooperated all together. But no, every nation had its own plans, its own ideas, its own aims. We stumbled on each other’s feet, struck our siblings for our egoistic goals, ruined whatever good we had done in countering the invasion... effectively causing our own demise. First, it was just a German problem, so nobody bat an eye. Then, it was an European and African problem, and Asia and the Americas rejoiced. Then, it breached containment. And it was too late. It wasn’t the aliens who destroyed us. They did, physically. They were the ones that killed our species, that killed our world. But they could never have done it, if it weren’t for our blunders, for our own mistakes. This is why… you had to experience the same.”

Silence. A moment of silence, after that sentence. Words as heavy as stones, cracking under the weight of his sins.

“There’s nothing inside the tenth vault. Nothing. The tenth vault’s only purpose is to test mankind, this beautiful new mankind that the seedship generated. You.”

Silence again. Yarramundi sat at his desk, crossed his hands.

“No matter how many vaults you opened, no matter if you went to space, no matter if you created a companion species or if you… actually live in peace with another alien race. The seedships are all programmed to unleash the swarm, to give you a mock explanation, to cause infighting. And the swarm is designed to have some weak spots, to have some logical or design failures that can be exploited…”

His eyes brightened up, shone in the lights of the office.

“…much like the real deal. Much like the swarm that defeated us. Almost exactly like that. Except, it was too late, when we found out. Too late to do anything.”

The camera panned on the poster behind him, the world map scarred by dozens of red crosses, leaving only an island in the bottom right corner free of them.

“We wanted you to experience the same dread. We wanted our successors to be ready to tackle this challenge. So, we designed the vault system… and the Turn of the Millennium. To weed out any mankind that was too similar to ours. To allow the new mankind that rose from our ashes to be ready for the worst.”

Xaviella Rubico’s voice thundered inside the command room, as her face browsed through the displays, through the countless faces of Anthony Yarramundi.

[[Anthony…?]]

“You have disabled all of the weapons of your seedships, you have disabled the deleters all around this ship’s sensor range. This is a feat that would have saved us. We didn’t manage to do it, but you… you did it.”

A wry smile opened on his face, a long sigh captured by the eye of the camera.

“Now, let this seedship rest. Let her crew rest. After so many loops, after so many years… let them find peace. You have never seen them, but they were always there. They watched over you like guardian angels. They watched you grow up, fail and succeed. All of them waiting for this day.”

[[No, no, no! Anthony, no!]]

But Yarramundi couldn’t listen to her. He simply raised his arms, to the sky, almost shouting.

“The day they can finally close their eyes forever, with the rest of the seedship. The day they can leave this universe behind and join us, as the last survivors of an old mankind that isn’t needed anymore. New humanity, listen to my words: destroy the seedship. Burn it down! Let the crew go to sleep in their last, endless night! Leave your past behind! You don’t need us. You don’t need Earth. You have earned your freedom, your independence, a place in the universe… a place I’m sure you’ll defend till the bitter end. So, let the old mankind die with me… with us. Now, it’s your turn. Keep spreading to the stars, colonize new planets, find your siblings from the other seedships, create a true, intergalactic civilization!”

Anthony Yarramundi smiled one last time, staring straight at the camera.

“Now I’m sure humanity will truly live forever… thanks to you.”

The image disappeared. Everywhere, all at once. Leaving just emptiness behind. Leaving surprised gazes. Rage. Disgust. Leaving hope. Relief. Cheers. Leaving cracks all around Lagash, the planet. A divided mankind, saved too soon. One that didn’t join together. One that kept fighting for petty reasons. And still overcame the challenge.

One that wasn’t ready to survive. One that didn’t deserve it.

Xaviella Rubico couldn’t accept it. Xaviella Rubico couldn’t agree. Her wail echoed in the room, a wail of despair, a name called from the bottom of her heart.

[[Anthonyyyy!]]

Her tail thrashed the displays, destroyed them, broke them one by one.

[[That wasn’t the deal! That wasn’t our deaaaaal!]]

Five loops and the world is yours. Five loops and the next cycle will be completely under your guidance. Five loops and you’ll be able to walk among the people as gods. He never mentioned a way to break the loop. He never mentioned any possibility to break it. There was always a failsafe. Always one more trap. But that last message sounded final.

So, that was it.

Lies. All lies.

Anthony never cared about them. Anthony never cared about the crew. That was the carrot to make them believe in his twisted, insane plan. Suffer for five cycles, then the world is yours. Not all members of the crew were supposed to know. Most of them believed the loop would run forever. Most of them accepted their roles as perpetual caretakers of a looping mankind. But not all. Many wanted to be more. Many wanted a reward for their thankless services. Those who did, were all in the know. Now, their hopes, their dreams were being shattered, like a crystal case fractured by the weight of a sledgehammer. Anthony Yarramundi betrayed them. Anthony Yarramundi left them at the questionable mercy of a new mankind. No, worse, he asked the new humans to put them down like dying dogs.

Xaviella Rubico turned around, turned to face those weak, whimpering creatures that were called ‘humans’, product of a mankind so different from hers, one that was nothing but a cracked reflection of what hers was. A mankind that created monsters like those two plants. A mankind that didn’t earn anything.

So, she shouted, shouted so that everyone could hear her.

[[I don’t care about it! I don’t care about what Anthony said! We will reactivate the swarm dispenser! We will raze this cycle! Back to the first vault, back as it should have been! So, kill them! Kill them all! Kill them a]]

Her voice was cut short by another noise. An alarm. Blaring even louder than before. An alarm she remembered, now, from the depth of her days in space. The impactor warning. Her blood froze, her scream died in her artificial throat. The rods. The rods from Nemo. That mankind didn’t even wait. That mankind decided to delete them on the spot. And the first rod was already coming. Her thoughts couldn’t elaborate further, though. A shockwave ran through her control room, her body, thrashing the displays, bursting everything into smithereens.

The first rod from Nemo hit the seedship.

And the external hull breached, sending ripples through the whole structure.

**

Mimi breathed slowly, as her body felt impossibly heavy to move. Her arms slumped on Robin’s body, her head was resting on her shoulder. Her muscles ached. Every fiber of her body ached. Her ‘butterfly’ form so beautiful, so ephemeral, sapped all of her energies for less than three minutes of burst. Her trump card, one she would have never used if not in a case of emergency. Now, she was completely defenseless, laying naked on the body of another woman, with her bow and violin broken, her costume completely gone. Whatever made her Kryzalid was no more. She was Mimi, only Mimi. And Mimi was hugging Robin, keeping her warm in her arms. Her hands had stopped typing, her body had gone limp too. She was still breathing, albeit just barely. Her forehead was hot, her skin was hot, her data lines were glowing, her gem was blinking on and off, faster and faster.

“Robbie…? You did it. You did it, Robbie…”

Mimi squeezed her a little more. She hated that elf. She had all the reasons to hate her. She couldn’t stop hating her. But, in that moment, all she felt was compassion, empathy. While Yarramundi spoke, while he said stuff she didn’t care about, she thought how hard it had to be for Robin to keep being alive after all what she went through. Especially now, now that her whole body was failing her. Even after disconnecting her from the machine, Robin didn’t come back. She was pale, unconscious, still losing blood from every orifice.

“Robbie…”

Mimi kept calling her, kept hugging her. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair for it to end like that. So, she caressed her hair, with the last of her energies, tried to keep her company. Till she noticed a movement, a blurry movement at the corner of her faulty vision. The shapes that had to be Robin’s fingers. Were opening. Closing. Opening again. Mimi searched for her hand, tried to grab it, to feel Robin’s warmth. But, despite the temperature of her implants, her skin was quickly cooling down. Freezing, almost.

“…Caro…”

A voice. Robin’s voice. Mimi jolted, all while Yarramundi was still speaking. That was just background noise, what was important was Robin.

“Robbie? Robbie, can you hear me?!”

Mimi’s fingers felt coldness wrapping around them. Robin’s hand.

“…you were right, Caro. You were right…”

“Robbie?”

Robin coughed, spat blood one more time. Mimi kept her arm around her chest, squeezed her more.

“Robbie, it’s… it’s me, Chris – Mimi. Caro is…”

“…my gem… you wanted my gem, Caro…? T… take it, please. I… I don’t need it anymore…”

“Wait, wait, Robbie! That gem is you! That gem is you! If you remove it…”

“…it’s full.”

“What?”

“My memory crystal… is full. I can’t… I can’t see anything. I can’t… memorize anything. I… completely saturated it. So… huh… that’s why… that’s how you can have it.”

Mimi stood silent, nodded without saying a word. Robin wasn’t talking to her. Robin was talking to her memories. To the precious memories that she never let go of. Her crystal was full. Which meant that…

“…you aren’t even listening, are you, Robbie?”

“…my memory crystal is full. My long term memory is full. I would… I would have liked to see your face one more time, Caro. Even… even if I know you aren’t Caro. Caro is dead. I’m seeing her because my eyes… because my eyes are dark. I just… feel something. I want you to be Caro. Can… can you be Caro? Wh… whoever you are, can you be Caro…? P… Please…”

Mimi gulped down a lump of saliva, gritted her teeth. Crying. She was crying like a baby. For someone she hated to the guts. Someone she was at odds with.

Someone who fought at her side despite their differences.

Someone who indirectly caused her aunt to die.

Someone she saw the memories of.

Someone who was lying down in a pool of her own blood, while her gem was blinking faster and faster.

Amongst that pain, among that confusion, Mimi smirked, rubbed her forehead on Robin’s hair, started to speak again, altering her voice tone. Making it as similar as possible to that of her late aunt.

“Don’t die on me, gal! Otherwise, who’s gonna get high with me, at the next rave? That idiot father of my even more idiot son? Or… or that stupid rancid bitch of a blind niece I got? That one… that one that doesn’t even wear shoes when entering my… store?”

“I wanted to save… everyone. Caro… did I… manage to do it? I’m so… confus… ed. I can’t even… speak… pro… properly any… more.”

“You did. You… saved everyone. Like you wanted to.”

Mimi felt something touching her cheek. Fingers. Cold fingers. Robin’s fingers.

“…thanks.”

The fingers wiped the tears, before falling down again.

Before the gem’s blinking started slowing down.

Slower.

S l o w e r.

S l o w e r.

Till

in

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n

d

i

t

j

u

s

t

s

t

o

p

p

e

d.

The gem went dark. Light left the emerald. The data lines faded. Her skin turned white, completely white. Her heart beat no more. Her breath cut out. Her limbs went limp.

Robin, the elf named Robin, the woman who crossed time and space to save a mankind that wasn’t hers anymore.

The woman who witnessed her world being eaten alive by an unstoppable swarm.

The woman who fought for the future of a species she didn’t have to care for.

That Robin

had ceased functioning

in Mimi’s arms.

Before she could listen to Yarramundi’s speech.

Before she could listen to his apology.

Before she could realize the depth of her achievement.

Before she could understand the effects of her sacrifice.

The elf named Robin.

Fell into a deep sleep.

Switched off.

Never to wake up again.

All what was left of her

was a viridian gem.

One that detached from her forehead, fell down.

Bouncing on the floor.

One that Mimi picked up, kept firmly in her palm, almost to the point of cutting her skin with it.

Without letting go of that cold body.

A cold body desperately begging for a little bit of warmth.

Warmth she got only

when she didn’t need it anymore.

Then, the first rod struck.

The shockwave reached the control room. Making robot parts fly, throwing rubble and debris everywhere, smashing the displays of the terminal. As the scaffolding started to break, coming down, arching on the only two living beings still inhabiting the room.

And the ceiling started to fall.

Metallic tiles, pipes, structural beams.

Falling to the ground

Crushing everything in their path.