[+]
Quiet. Peaceful. Boring?
Suddenly, many white STREAMS of light CRISS-CROSS the hull, FILLING every nook & cranny, until:
[+]
Destiny EXPLODES INTO a seething MASS of shiny white DOTS filling the screen.
STARGATE (@) UNIVERSE .
SIGNALS & PORT ENDS
(Off Screen)
[+] the true nature of Destiny's mission.
CAPTION:
12 hours earlier
Tiny lights TURN ON here & there.
A CONSOLE lights UP.
A familiar WHINE echoes around.
RING's SPINNING!
RING LOCKS. VORTEX whooshes. PUDDLE stabilizes.
CHEVRONS briefly BLINK. COUNTDOWN CLOCK spins, RESTS at BLANK.
Lights RIPPLE. GATE DEACTIVATES.
CONSOLES turn ON, flip screens at SPEED.
Entering:
COALESCING (from ambient light):
I'm Auditor. Came as fast as I could.
MATERIALIZING as human:
659 since Milky Way lost contact with the Novans who kept contact with Destiny for nearly 300.
Afraid not. Wish I had had time for more than rushing by. But Tau'ri always exceeded expectations. There's hope!
(beat)
Where's everybody else?
I've been alone for the past, oh, 14 millennia.
(turns to EXIT)
There wasn't much to do anyway, but wait for the ship's AI to recreate the CMBR Signal into its original form, and sleep.
AUDITOR glances here & there, follows.
Guiding thru the maze:
Stasis Pods were life-changing. Still, most crewmembers left when they found places they liked, to found new colonies, or whatever.
They pass a big (closed) room with a "SCHOOL" banner.
Others raised their families onboard, or died in accidents, or wars. [+]
Ahead:
FLASHBACK:
"FTL lights" in full effect.
Both noticeably AGED, arguing:
Eli's notes say the Signal's "informational density" rivals that of the Universe itself!? Destiny needs to study millions of galaxies to gather enough pieces of the puzzle!?
His back against the RAILING, arms crossed:
Half the known Universe, more likely, if our numbers are right. But what will you have me do? Quit? Abort? Turn around?
(beat)
Isn't it enough that the engines, and the whole ship, work better than ever and we're making less and less stops?
YOUNG glares at him, storms OUT.
BACK TO:
Eventually only the most determined stayed, and then only thanks to the many improvements we made with Earth and Novan and other help, to Life Support, Medical, Stasis, and all.
(gestures around)
Journey was far more eventful than the destination.
We weren't bored either, while waiting for news... But Destiny's current position, away from everything?
Minimizes noise, and visits. Makes the AI's job easier. To double the distance to the nearest galaxy, we used as bridge a Seedship rescued & refitted long ago.
FLASHBACK:
Cavernous HOLD/ASSEMBLY LINE with many PARTS but only a few partly-completed GATES left, 1 of them PATCHED into working condition & ACTIVE.
ARRIVING in much the same guise as seen earlier, his energy-form COALESCES "from thin air", INVOKES a HOLO-SCREEN, navigates TEXT & GRAPHS at speed.
BACK TO:
I see... But Destiny wasn't programmed to send a summons unless a specific kind of answer was at hand. The automated message carried no known ID, no additional details.
(beat)
Which leads me to ask: Who are you!?
Slightly de-ageing:
Seems I'm not your faithful servant, after all, but rather a... guest, in this strange and isolated vessel.
(STRAIGHTENS up)
I'm the supreme intellect and will of a realm so old and vast and cold it's beyond your puny comprehension.
(thrilled yet wary?)
Awesome! Our high hopes for this far-fetched experiment are more than fulfilled, surpassed! You were there when our Universe start...!?
His eyes GLOWING bright BLUE:
Worshippers trusted to me all their hopes, and their force! With them, after much effort, the ashes of the old were finally
(eyes turn BLACK-HOLE-y)
turned into a new chance to live and grow!
(firm)
This realm will become a glorious marvel of harmony, strength and wisdom under my guidance,
(STEPS forward)
once all inferior beings submit to me!
(gestures)
I only borrowed him as my... guide. But his matter's coarse, alien... his mind more voids than answers!
He SHINES/MORPHS into an imposing energy BEING, only vaguely humanoid.
Your energy, instead, is exactly what I need!! You're the real prize!
It LASHES out with a LIGHTNING strike!
Just in time to DODGE it, AUDITOR DISSOLVES into a glowing MIST of shiny energy DROPLETS, then FLEES!
SUPREME finishes turning into a fat multi-faceted LIGHTNING BUNDLE, lunges forward!
Wild CHASE ensues!
[+]
ROOM by room, BLOW by blow, the pursuer USES the ship's SHORTCUTS & power systems to GAIN on its prey.
You cannot escape! It's only a matter of time!
The fleeing MIST vanishes behind a CLOSED DOOR, causing it to EXPLODE out of its place!
The pursuer DODGES it!
Auditor's mist CAUSES portions of the floor, ceiling and walls to EXPLODE (some of them TRAVERSED by significant static energy & SPARKS) as it rushes thru!
To no avail, as the pursuer swiftly DODGES the "electrified" debris or DISSOLVES thru the inert ones, still GAINING!
The continuing DEFLAGRATIONS take their toll: lights & Consoles FLICKER, go OUT; windows and rooms VENT to space; pipes BURST; the entire ship SHUDDERS...
Auditor's mist HUGS the ceiling as it HOPS from one wall to the opposite.
BARELY fast enough, as only a timely close-quarters EXPLOSION DEVIATES the lashing pursuer's BOLTS from their target!
I see what you're doing! You're desperate!
It now also HUGS the walls as it ADVANCES, avoids wildly SPARKING cables.
Not planning to stay here anyway!
Ahead:
Auditor's mist ENVELOPS 1 of the Consoles, FRITZES it!
As he ENVELOPS another Console, a pursuing BOLT PIERCES him before he can completely DISENGAGE!
SPARKS fly, source unclear.
The (slightly diminished, in disarray) MIST flees thru the opposite door.
The pursuer STOPS, regains its vaguely-humanoid shape, PULSATING furiously.
Bwahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahah!!!!! The keys to the Gate!? This prison's way out!?
It ENVELOPS the closest working Console in a softly GLOWING flame (unburning).
Ring ACTIVATES, starts SPINNING!
Its flames FLOWING into/out the Console as CHEVRONS 'click':
Console (unstable) SCREEN:
A SEEDSHIP's schematic + a Gate ADDRESS + a STARMAP. It's almost out of range, HALFWAY between Destiny and the only GALAXY around (much farther away).
The Ring LOCKS, starts TREMBLING. VORTEX whooshes.
PUDDLE stabilizes. SUPREME darts INTO as Chevrons BLINK briefly.
Auditor's mist REAPPEARS, swirls around, ENVELOPS the Ring with a thin CLOUD (which eventually SEEPS inside).
The entire ROOM vibrates. Lights FLICKER, go OUT. Everything SHAKES!
Finally, both the Console and the Ring SPARK mightily before DEACTIVATING, smoke escaping both.
Behind the Ring:
RUSH unconscious on the floor, AUDITOR tending to him, both in quite BAD SHAPE.
Weakly OPENING his eyes:
What... happened?
Exerting himself:
That... thing!?
Helping Rush STAND:
Gate!? The... Seed Ship!?
Console SCREEN:
CAPTION/ALARM:
Gate Malfunction.
Critical Subspace Instability.
Old SEED SHIP's hull CRACKS under the internal PRESSURE of many clear-bluish STREAKS/PSEUDOPODS of (wavering) light until it CRUMBLES/IMPLODES into a small BRIGHT pulsating DOT that absorbs ALL nearby matter/energy, tries but FAILS to expand, then turns BLACK.
BACK TO:
The SEEDSHIP schematic BLINKS into oblivion. Scrolling DATA replaces it.
Reviewing:
A new micro-blackhole's been detected at the Factory Ship's exact coordinates. Will evaporate in a few billion nanoseconds.
(beat)
No energy signature of any kind outside.
(smiles)
That ends it.
RECOMPOSING himself:
I rigged its Gate to... bleed any incoming wormhole, to encompass and resonate all matter onboard, and so collapse into a subspace singularity, unless countermanded.
I saw its thoughts when it... meshed with mine.
(shudders)
It planned to consume every last bit of energy and life to reach a kind of... soulless eternity.
I only offered it the briefest of openings. Its focus on its own wants and needs did the rest.
(shrugs)
Now whatever's left has been ousted from this Universe to never come back.
RUSH collapses to the floor!
RUSH on the (inactive) chair, looks worse, older. He STIRS, tries to get up, FAINTS.
(eyes closed)
AI's changing, alien. Dangerous! Cannot stop it...! Rejects my codes to overload the engines!
Checking Rush's head & EYES:
Signal Rebuilding process had checks, failsafes... But nobody expected this kind of... success.
GRABBING the other's hand:
(whisper)
Cannot Gate out, lest... something... follows! Cannot hide! But ...isolate the sensors ...expunge the Database!?
(spent)
Spend the fuel... strand Destiny! ...key data in my mind!? Erase it... with the Chair!?
(goes still)
But the chair is EMPTY, Rush GONE.
FLASHBACK:
Console SCREEN:
Selective Memory
Rewrite 89%, 90%...
ALERT:
Quarantine meltdown
in 10, 9, 8, 7...
The screen goes BLANK!
A message SCROLLS:
What
Are
You
Doing!?
To RUSH's surprise (and pain), his body starts to vibrate/SHINE. He tries to RESIST, but finally DISSOLVES into a shiny energy MIST, not unlike the one when Dr. Franklin vanished, then VANISHES (thru the ceiling).
BACK TO:
"Medical SARCOPHAGUS" (advanced, extensively PATCHED up) CONNECTED to the CHAIR. A terminally AGED RUSH is inside!
(creaky)
I was working in the virtual world, as usual, when it got me. So much for the higher speed.
It was real enough. Had I not reacted quickly, it'd have escaped into me, and thru me into our Universe. It could have been... unstoppable.
Of course the AI's function was to make the simulacrum real. No good answers otherwise, huh?
(coughs)
Oh, well, curiosity does often kill the cat.
TWEAKING the sarcophagus' CONTROLS:
Had you left a clear warning at the Factory Ship, or anywhere, those risks could have been entirely avoided.
Who would disregard how our Universe came to be, or how it may end?
(brightens)
Congratulations are in order, Dr. Rush: in true time-honored Tau'ri fashion, we tricked a god.
(tired)
Not a god. No more than any of the others.
(sighs)
It was as much the product of the Signal's essence as of our limited accuracy in rebuilding it.
(unhappy)
Not my humility, then. Nor the list of Gate Addresses, or... whatever the other stuff was.
(beat)
So this is how it ends.
Checking sarcophagus READOUTS:
Obviously not. Now rest. With your consciousness away for so long, and the haste of the reintegration, your body has degraded...
His hand slightly GLOWING against the other's TEMPLE:
PAD screen shows ALERT:
Micro-wormhole
confirmed VANISHED.
Something MOVES behind him!?
He TURNS around: there's nothing/no-one.
He keeps looking, EXITS.
AUDITOR (a faint GLOW projected ahead of him) CHECKS every door & corner.
Ahead:
At the Captain's Chair: A middle-aged ELI WALLACE.
(stands, gestures)
The ship's Advisors. Based on real people Dr. Rush trusted.
Kept him from going insane... mostly.
(slightly blurry)
There's many other personalities in long-term storage at the Databanks.
Destiny's AI is no longer under the crushing load of the Signal. Makes sense.
(brightens)
You embody all it learnt along the trip. Priceless!
Until we were shut down. Priority simulation.
Yeah, it spent nearly all the energy reserves. Everything else's mothballed. Let me tweak some...
LATER:
AUDITOR at Console. The Holo-people look better.
(stretching)
Feels weird to ... just be, without him ... poking around, pressing for answers.
(worried)
The sarcophagus is unclear: How long has he left?
AUDITOR closes his eyes, signals 'wait a sec'.
And the bad?
His hands GLOWING WHITE over the Console:
The ship SHAKES & RUMBLES. Bright SHAFTS of white light ERUPT here & there.
Wait, what do you mean 'hurt'...?
FADE TO WHITE
[+]
[+]
The dots SWIRL, converge and VANISH thru:
[+]
The STARGATE's active PUDDLE, chevrons BLINKING madly. As it SHUTS down, then CRUMBLES to (flying) dust:
[+]
FADE TO BLACK
Chevrons LOCK.
NO vortex. NO puddle. CHEVRONS start BLINKING, fast, at length...
Finally, Chevrons SHUT DOWN, but the Ring SPINS again, gathering speed!
Faster and FASTER, sparks traversing its OVERLOADING innards, making alarming SOUNDS, until:
The Ring COLLAPSES IN on itself, SUCKING the very light from its surroundings, then IMPLODEXPLODES into a SHOCKWAVE of (iridescent) light, engulfing everything!
Up to the very EDGE. Then:
Strong white LIGHT traverses its innards, repeatedly. The entire structure VIBRATES. Small debris comes loose!
Yet the RING still SPINS, LOCKS (amid TREMORS).
No VORTEX. No PUDDLE. CHEVRONS repeatedly BLINK like mad.
Ground SHAKES with a DEEP powerful RUMBLE. Deeper and deeper!
Behind, the Edge DOT burns bright(er), then VANISHES like the others.
Across another Galaxy, then the next, and the next... Of all sizes and shapes, they become a BLUR around the Jumping zig-zagging yellow LINE.
10s. 100s. 1000s. The journey/race goes on and on and ON.
[+]
Finally:
PAN TO:
In orbit: ACTIVE GATE (PUDDLE + heavily BLINKING CHEVRONS).
IN JUMPS Destiny's swirling ENERGY CLOUD, which starts "coalescing".
Gate DEACTIVATES.
The energy cloud acquires (roughly) Destiny's SHAPE, gets DENSER, "solid".
Finally, the ship MATERIALIZES (in somewhat less disrepair)
But... !?
Help? Who?
Ascended communities in most galaxies happily traded swift passage thru their space for our hard-won knowledge.
(checks MONITOR with unrecognizable PATTERNS)
Plus... the Signal from Before is now thoroughly scrambled beyond repair. No-one else will make the same mistake.
That could be the beginning of a fruitful friendship.
(as nobody else says anything)
A truly Universal consciousness, and all that...?
(shrugs)
At least it didn't hurt. Yay!
(focused on Earth)
We're receiving nothing. Where's everybody?
The last Tau'ri left Earth 430 millennia ago. The planet was a carefully protected preserve well before that. With luck, we may already be witnessing the next iteration of human evolution there.
But, the colonies!? Alpha Site? Pegasus!?
All abandoned, their cities and starships turned to dust. The old Tau'ri are now as legendary and as faded away as the Ancients themselves.
Man, that sucks major marbles. Is anybody left at all?
The Nox are still around. As are the Furlings, the Jaffa, and the Goa'uld civilization descended from the Tok'ra.
Still, home's empty. Why did you bother to bring us here?
Outside, 3-4 VERY BRIGHT rays of 'light' CROSS the view, almost too FAST to be noticed.
Around the dying RUSH's stasis POD, 3 different light-based HUMANOIDS MATERIALIZE.
FADE to WHITE
No comments:
Post a Comment