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Ogne viltà convien che qui sia morta
Nov. 27th, 2012 09:24 amEverything here is wrong.
Space is supposed to be contiguous. A sheet, a surface- a solid, if one is thinking in enough dimensions- a thing where each part touches the next, leads to the next. Space is one.
Space is not one here. And not in the way of the resonance cascade, torn full of holes, some self-healing and some ripping to hugeness before destabilizing and vanishing. This is space under pressure, folded, compressed, wrinkled, smashed forever from every direction. This is the weight of the brains and thoughts and minds of a thousand thousand dimensions, all the worlds the Combine has ever conquered, pushing space into submission all at once. This is the work of the Universal Union.
And everything here is wrong.
The thing is shadow-gray crystal, where it isn't Combine tech, and it's the size of a horse. Easy enough. Barney takes aim, fires-
It shatters before the energy pulses even strike it, shards hanging in air, gleaming under the light of a bile-colored sky. Barney's gunfire passes through the place where it was and thuds harmlessly into the ground.
The crystal shards swirl in a pattern Gordon almost thinks he can read before the swarm reforms itself, locking together in a swift-forming lattice that promises not dissipation but a suit-shredding explosion next time.
"What the hell are these?" says Floyd, as he dives for cover. Overhead a bundle of tentacles wreathed in fire streaks by, the antennas of its Combine masters visible here and there amidst the flames.
"Old Synths," answers Barney, his back pressed against what he prays is a wall and not something larger and more horrid. "From older conquests. Combine's been around a long time- you don't think they sent everything they had in store at Earth, do you?"
"Jesus." Floyd shakes his head, aims at the next fire-jellyfish-thing. "They wouldn't've needed seven hours if they sent a couple of these-"
"Assuming they could," says Gordon, as Floyd's bullets pass through the circling Synth without being noticed. "I don't know if these things can interact with Earth matter as we know it."
"Well, shit! How're we supposed to kill 'em, then?"
Gordon gives a very, very faint smile. "Same way the Combine did," he says. "Dark energy. And they need a lot of it to run this place."
He reaches over his shoulder. He's just charged the Gravity Gun. It's glowing blue.
Dr. Breen had spoken of vast meteorological intelligences, once, to Eli Vance. Gordon remembers-
-where form does not exist, but where glowing gases study the secrets of existence. And a violet-coloured gas told him that this part of space was outside what he had called infinity. The gas had not heard of planets and organisms before, but identified him merely as one from the infinity where matter, energy, and gravitation exist-
-he'll never be sure, after, whether what just happened was anything even close to real. The look on Barney's face tells him that whatever it was, it isn't anything either of them wants to think about ever again.
He's just glad the displacer cannon tore whatever it was apart.
Floyd is praying. Gordon kind of expected that from Barney. He didn't think Floyd was a praying kind of man.
Floyd's never been to Xen. He's fought, yes, he's been in war, but it's always been on Earth. It's always been foes of meat and metal and bone and tech. The rules have always been the rules. This is beyond Xen, beyond borderworlds; this is a place where nothing is what the rules of Earth say it should be, and it's getting to him.
The fire-jellyfish-things and the crystal things are not alone here among their enemies. Something howls in the distance, in a register like teeth streaking over a piece of slate. A shadow that staggers like a Strider in a rage is making its way towards them.
Two shadows.
Five.
They are anything but alone, and there is no time left for anything but lightning-
There are, Gordon notices, his thoughts as thready and thin as his pulse, shards of shadow-gray crystal stuck in his HEV suit. He waves one hand with an unsteady sort of curiosity. A trail of flakes falls away, the shards thinning. Most of them remain.
"Status," he says hoarsely. He's sitting down; his legs won't hold him up.
"Not good, Gord," says Barney from somewhere behind him. "I mean, I’m holding up, but that last wave took a lot out of me."
"I'm in one piece," says Floyd tersely. He ran out of prayers long ago.
Neither of them say what they're all thinking: it's you they're going after, Gordon, they don't care about us enough to bother trying to kill us.
"There's another wave coming," Gordon says. Barney moves forward, starts doing his best to get those shard things out of the HEV suit so it can seal up properly again. "I can hear them."
"I dunno how much good hearing is around here, Gord," says Barney, although he's looking at Floyd with a go and check it out RIGHT NOW expression. "Plays tricks on you. That wave could be miles away and sound like it's on top of us."
"Or vice versa," Floyd calls back from where he's perched atop a half-wrecked black cylinder, gleaming with lights of blue and green and nameless colors. "We've got a BIG problem."
Barney swears. Gordon stares at him. It's not a thing his oldest friend does lightly.
"Uh. Sir? What do you want me to do?"
Barney looks at Gordon a moment. Then, without turning away, he says, "Not you. We. Get Dr. Freeman's displacer cannon off his back. We're buying some time."
"What?"
It came from both men. Barney's deliberately not looking at Gordon as he says, "He's the one they're afraid of. Not us. None of what we've done means anything at all if Gordon doesn't get to the Overmind and put it down. So we're gonna make sure we get him there. Now get that displacer cannon, Mason."
To Gordon he says, "Gord, you owe me the beer this time."
And that's the last Gordon ever sees of him.
Space is supposed to be contiguous. A sheet, a surface- a solid, if one is thinking in enough dimensions- a thing where each part touches the next, leads to the next. Space is one.
Space is not one here. And not in the way of the resonance cascade, torn full of holes, some self-healing and some ripping to hugeness before destabilizing and vanishing. This is space under pressure, folded, compressed, wrinkled, smashed forever from every direction. This is the weight of the brains and thoughts and minds of a thousand thousand dimensions, all the worlds the Combine has ever conquered, pushing space into submission all at once. This is the work of the Universal Union.
And everything here is wrong.
The thing is shadow-gray crystal, where it isn't Combine tech, and it's the size of a horse. Easy enough. Barney takes aim, fires-
It shatters before the energy pulses even strike it, shards hanging in air, gleaming under the light of a bile-colored sky. Barney's gunfire passes through the place where it was and thuds harmlessly into the ground.
The crystal shards swirl in a pattern Gordon almost thinks he can read before the swarm reforms itself, locking together in a swift-forming lattice that promises not dissipation but a suit-shredding explosion next time.
"What the hell are these?" says Floyd, as he dives for cover. Overhead a bundle of tentacles wreathed in fire streaks by, the antennas of its Combine masters visible here and there amidst the flames.
"Old Synths," answers Barney, his back pressed against what he prays is a wall and not something larger and more horrid. "From older conquests. Combine's been around a long time- you don't think they sent everything they had in store at Earth, do you?"
"Jesus." Floyd shakes his head, aims at the next fire-jellyfish-thing. "They wouldn't've needed seven hours if they sent a couple of these-"
"Assuming they could," says Gordon, as Floyd's bullets pass through the circling Synth without being noticed. "I don't know if these things can interact with Earth matter as we know it."
"Well, shit! How're we supposed to kill 'em, then?"
Gordon gives a very, very faint smile. "Same way the Combine did," he says. "Dark energy. And they need a lot of it to run this place."
He reaches over his shoulder. He's just charged the Gravity Gun. It's glowing blue.
Dr. Breen had spoken of vast meteorological intelligences, once, to Eli Vance. Gordon remembers-
-where form does not exist, but where glowing gases study the secrets of existence. And a violet-coloured gas told him that this part of space was outside what he had called infinity. The gas had not heard of planets and organisms before, but identified him merely as one from the infinity where matter, energy, and gravitation exist-
-he'll never be sure, after, whether what just happened was anything even close to real. The look on Barney's face tells him that whatever it was, it isn't anything either of them wants to think about ever again.
He's just glad the displacer cannon tore whatever it was apart.
Floyd is praying. Gordon kind of expected that from Barney. He didn't think Floyd was a praying kind of man.
Floyd's never been to Xen. He's fought, yes, he's been in war, but it's always been on Earth. It's always been foes of meat and metal and bone and tech. The rules have always been the rules. This is beyond Xen, beyond borderworlds; this is a place where nothing is what the rules of Earth say it should be, and it's getting to him.
The fire-jellyfish-things and the crystal things are not alone here among their enemies. Something howls in the distance, in a register like teeth streaking over a piece of slate. A shadow that staggers like a Strider in a rage is making its way towards them.
Two shadows.
Five.
They are anything but alone, and there is no time left for anything but lightning-
There are, Gordon notices, his thoughts as thready and thin as his pulse, shards of shadow-gray crystal stuck in his HEV suit. He waves one hand with an unsteady sort of curiosity. A trail of flakes falls away, the shards thinning. Most of them remain.
"Status," he says hoarsely. He's sitting down; his legs won't hold him up.
"Not good, Gord," says Barney from somewhere behind him. "I mean, I’m holding up, but that last wave took a lot out of me."
"I'm in one piece," says Floyd tersely. He ran out of prayers long ago.
Neither of them say what they're all thinking: it's you they're going after, Gordon, they don't care about us enough to bother trying to kill us.
"There's another wave coming," Gordon says. Barney moves forward, starts doing his best to get those shard things out of the HEV suit so it can seal up properly again. "I can hear them."
"I dunno how much good hearing is around here, Gord," says Barney, although he's looking at Floyd with a go and check it out RIGHT NOW expression. "Plays tricks on you. That wave could be miles away and sound like it's on top of us."
"Or vice versa," Floyd calls back from where he's perched atop a half-wrecked black cylinder, gleaming with lights of blue and green and nameless colors. "We've got a BIG problem."
Barney swears. Gordon stares at him. It's not a thing his oldest friend does lightly.
"Uh. Sir? What do you want me to do?"
Barney looks at Gordon a moment. Then, without turning away, he says, "Not you. We. Get Dr. Freeman's displacer cannon off his back. We're buying some time."
"What?"
It came from both men. Barney's deliberately not looking at Gordon as he says, "He's the one they're afraid of. Not us. None of what we've done means anything at all if Gordon doesn't get to the Overmind and put it down. So we're gonna make sure we get him there. Now get that displacer cannon, Mason."
To Gordon he says, "Gord, you owe me the beer this time."
And that's the last Gordon ever sees of him.
