Descent: Aries Wing

There was no time to look around and appreciate the ancient architecture provided within. In fact, Natalie was sure that Bryan was paying absolutely no attention to anything except the Orb. He sped the Phoenix-SP through hallway after endless hallway, advancing further and further to the center of the planet-ship.

The silence between them was unnatural. Natalie knew that he was simply concentrating on the task at hand, but she also knew there was more going on. Bryan was certainly fully interfaced with the Orb of Infinity now, and that worried her greatly. At times, she felt the ship was going faster than was possible for an SP, and she wondered if he wasn’t using the Orb to hurry the ship along. Anything was possible at this point.

Eventually, the ship came to a set of metal doors carved with intricate patterns. They were quite mesmerizing if one bothered to take a close look at it. Instead, Bryan launched another impact mortar, resulting in the destruction of the doors.

What was behind those doors was frightening. The room inside was huge, many times larger than the hallways were long, perhaps miles in each dimension. It was almost as if they were staring down at a mini-city, with skyscrapers reaching near to the ceiling. The frightening part, however, was the sheer number of ships and robots that were inside, now racing straight towards the Phoenix.

“Bryan!” called out Natalie, “Turn back!”

Bryan took a moment to take in the sight before him, calculating each and every move he would have to take in order to annihilate the approaching army. “If I don’t do this, you can kiss this universe goodbye. I know who is running this ship, Natalie. We can’t turn back now.”

Natalie tugged on his uniform’s sleeves, drawing him into a brief embrace. “If we don’t turn back now and I lose you…” Natalie’s voice trailed off sadly. She knew his mind was already made up.

“We aren’t losing anything,” Bryan said confidently, almost defiantly. “We can’t lose.”

And with those words, Bryan powered the Phoenix-SP into the vast room, plasma blazing, beginning the battle. There had to be hundreds of ships, and perhaps thousands of robotic machines racing into battle. Yet Bryan remained confident, maneuvering and twisting his ship to dodge the incoming alien fire. He knew he didn’t have to dodge anything with the Orb on board, but his emotion and instincts were in overdrive. With a simple flick of his wrist on the flight stick, his ship would move violently to the right, spin quickly to the left, twist and turn in ways that almost made Natalie ill if she wasn’t a pilot herself.

The massive barrage of fire that was launched at the Phoenix was dangerously impressive. Missiles of all sizes, lasers, conventional shells, and all sorts of things neither of them had ever seen before came barreling out of their adversaries, landing safely beyond the Phoenix, each one missing their intended target.

Bryan, on the other hand, was scoring hit after hit with his plasma, using the space around him to his advantage. His goal wasn’t to clear the room, however, just to get through it in one piece. He began to practically carve a hole into the defenses with the SP’s array of weapons. Natalie was convinced at this point that he was using the Orb to be able to dodge and have complete control over where his weapons landed. Thus far, she hadn’t seen a single weapon miss its target.

Once there was enough room, he headed straight for the vulnerability. “What I wouldn’t give for a mega missile right now!” Bryan shouted as he pressed the secondary fire trigger.

Almost in response, the ship paused in its movement as a bright red missile was launched out from the front, an unnatural trail of white light following it for a few moments before speeding off towards its target.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Bryan taunted as he continued to press the trigger, each time a newly generated mega missile, created by none other than the Orb of Infinity, launched out sending destruction and certain death to its targets.

Quickly, Bryan sped the ship past the hole in the defenses, now gaping wide in the wake of his mega missile rampage. Once he was within the cover of the city, the army seemed less daunting. Moving through the streets, humanoid beings stared in awe at the Phoenix, many pointing at it, no doubt unprepared for its presence. Soon they were in the center of the city facing what would be mistaken for a subway entrance in a terrestrial city.

Not thinking twice, Bryan entered the hole in the floor and began to proceed down the tunnel within. It spiraled downward in a counter-clockwise circular fashion, lined with recessed lights. There was no architecture or decoration here, simply what was needed for whatever the hallway was used for. Natalie was almost certain that they were going to be chased down and trapped within the tunnel, but surprisingly it didn’t appear as if they bothered following them.

Many minutes passed, making the tunnel seem even more endless than the hallways. “Bryan,” Natalie said softly, looking for reassurance.

Bryan never took his eyes off the spinning tunnel as he responded, “We’re going to be okay, Natalie.”

More minutes passed, and soon the tunnel came to an end. The light that was within the tunnel was not present at the bottom which came out into a dark, spherical room. In the exact center was another sphere with dozens of circular support beams extending from it to the outer edge of the room they were currently in. There was a light coming from behind some of the windows within the inner sphere, but the lack of overall light made it difficult to adjust to.

Without missing a beat, Bryan continued to descend to what was no doubt the center of the planet-ship. Finding a bay along the outer edge, Bryan moved his ship into it. Quickly, he realized that he was maneuvering into a docking bay, so he setup to land the ship and proceed on foot.

As the ship was landing in the bay, Natalie instinctively pressed her torso into Bryan’s back. “This is scaring me,” she confessed.

Bryan powered down the engine, snickering before giving his response. “Tell me about it, I’m downright frightened.”

Bryan grabbed only the Orb from the chest as he opened the hatch and stepped out of the ship. Offering a hand, he helped Natalie out as well. Once she was out, he began to focus his attention on getting to wherever the Orb was guiding him to, so he turned and began to walk away from the ship. He was stopped, however, by a tug on his arm. He turned and realized Natalie hadn’t let go of his hand yet. He looked up into her eyes, a lone tear rolling down her cheek. He then realized Natalie wasn’t letting go.

Orb in one arm and Natalie in the other, they began to make their way further into sphere. Aside from an odd humming, there was nothing but the sound of their footsteps echoing throughout the hallways and stairwells they walked through. Natalie sniffled once or twice, trying hard to conceal her emotion and trying to put her complete trust into Bryan.

After a couple minutes of navigating through the seemingly endless maze of hallways and stairways, Bryan finally stopped in front of a large windowed door. On the other side of that door was a humanoid, similar to the ones they saw in the city, wearing simple clothing, seemingly unarmed. He looked like a regular human, except that his head was slightly elongated from human heads, and his skin was a light shade of azure. Clearly this was an alien species that they had never heard about before, let alone seen.

But Bryan somehow recognized him. “This must be him.”

Natalie looked through the door and could have sworn she saw the look of someone that was just as frightened as she was. “Who?”

Bryan took the laser pistol from his belt, and leveled it at the man’s head. “I don’t know, but he’s come for the Orb. We can’t let him have it.”

As the man realized he was being targeted, he raised his right arm slightly, extending his hand completely. As he did this, the lighting in the hallway flickered for a moment.

Undaunted, Bryan squeezed the trigger on the pistol…

Natalie instinctively flinched, anticipating what should have been a clash of shattering glass. Instead, nothing happened. Bryan pulled the trigger again, and again. Still nothing.

The man behind the door relaxed with a sigh of relief. He then moved forward to open the door, and began looking straight into Bryan’s eyes. He spoke something brief, but it was in a language neither of them could understand.

“Bryan,” Natalie quivered as she took a step back, “don’t do this.”

Bryan was frozen, his confidence shattered as he dropped the pistol to the floor. How could the Orb fail him at a time like this? The power of the universe, literally at his fingers, and nothing happens? He began to rethink everything he knew about the Orb of Infinity, while at the same time trying to figure out how to deal with the man that was now mere feet from him.

The man was standing about a foot from Bryan. All Bryan could think of doing was holding the Orb out in front of him, as if it was a weapon. But with his mind empty of coherent thoughts, there was nothing for the Orb to interface with, and thus it did nothing. That is, until the man reached out and placed his hand on top of the Orb…

A dull, grey, ambient light was all that surrounded him and the man in front of him. He looked down and noticed he was standing on nothing. He knew this was merely an illusion provided by the Orb.

“Relax,” stated the man in English that was as clear as any he had heard before. “I am not who you believe me to be, and you have nothing to fear from me. In fact, if anyone has anything to fear, it is I, for you are in control of the Orb of Infinity.”

Bryan was almost completely exhausted with the sweeping range of emotions he had experienced in the past hour or so since being awakened by Natalie. “Who are you?” was all Bryan could think of asking.

“My name is B’lar Andon’de,” responded the man calmly. “I am from D’mandria, a world your people have yet to discover.”

B’lar’s voice was quite relaxing, and Bryan quickly understood that he meant him no harm. “Why are you here?”

B’lar cracked a smirk as he responded, “I could ask you much the same question.”

“But you found us first,” responded Bryan, almost playfully.

B’lar chuckled momentarily, the kind of chuckle that comes from teachers who find their student’s ignorance humorous. “Technically, you called us.”

Bryan was confused. “I didn’t call anyone.”

“No,” said B’lar, “not directly. But you did call.”

Bryan searched his memories for something that could be interpreted as a call, almost expecting the Orb to provide the exact memory. But nothing came.

“Don’t depend on what the Orb does not know,” said B’lar. “It was not the Orb that drew us to you, but rather the powers that have been unleashed over the past days that we have detected.”

Bryan raised his eyebrow quizzically. “You can detect when the Orb is being used?”

B’lar nodded. “Think of a black hole. You can’t see it, so you don’t know it’s there. But you can observe the effects it has on space around it. The curvature of space-time, the particles from quantum evaporation, and let us not forget the obvious gravity well it produces. The Orb of Infinity is much the same, you can infer its presence from the effects it has.”

“Okay,” Bryan quipped. “So I use the Orb and you can detect it. I assume you’re not alone in the search for the Orb?”

B’lar grinned. “Hardly. I was just the closest. And that is fortunate for you.”

“Why is that?” asked Bryan curiously.

“Because I do not want the Orb,” B’lar responded plainly. “I do, however, wish to see that its owner be responsible with it. And that is something you have not been good at.”

Bryan blinked. “You’ve already seen…”

B’lar interrupted with an emphatic nod. “You’ve only had a few days with the Orb, and yet you interact with it so strongly, so purposefully. You and the Orb have a close relationship right now. Once you realize that you have full control of the orb, you will understand that it is merely an extension of you.”

Bryan thought for a moment. “I thought I did have that control, but you stopped me just now. How did that happen?”

B’lar smiled again. “Because you spared my life.”

“I did?” Bryan was unsure how that could be true.

“That motion I made before you attempted to fire, it signaled for the computer to disrupt all electronics within a short distance of me.” B’lar paused for a moment. “I was quite worried that you would use the Orb to undo this disruption, but apparently you did not realize it for what it was.”

Bryan was unsure how to react. “I don’t think I could have realized that.”

“Of course not,” B’lar responded. “You were full of confidence, unable to be stopped. You went through many of my creations without using the Orb, before you assembled some missiles to shorten the amount of time it took for you to get to me. You were so overconfident of yourself, you thought there was no way you could be defeated, because you had the Orb, and yet you didn’t even need it.”

Words escaped Bryan at this point as his mind raced through an analysis of his last battle. Was he really losing himself in the power of the Orb that badly?

“And of course, you could have used the Orb to just wish me away. You’ve seen that already, haven’t you? Emperor T’baxla, the first time he used the Orb, ordered it to stop the heart of one of his citizens. Yet the thought did not cross your mind.”

Bryan blinked. “No, it did not.”

B’lar’s smile returned again. “And that, my friend, is wonderful.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you are no killer,” B’lar stated. “You are a protector, but you do not murder in cold blood.” B’lar’s smile faded into a frown. “Yet with the innocence of the Orb, that could so very easily change.”

“Hmm,” Bryan pondered. He remembered to only a few days ago when he first realized what power the Orb had, and how dangerous it was to possess. B’lar was right. Not only could he change, he was quite close to doing so. “What can I do?”

“I’m sure you have thoughts of destroying the Orb,” B’lar stated. “In fact, you could have the Orb destroy itself, but the results aren’t exactly favorable, as unleashing a rip in space-time upon the universe would destroy it in a matter of seconds.”

Bryan paused as that thought moved through his mind. “So what do I have to do, repair the rift within?”

B’lar shook his head. “To repair the rift, you have to get inside of it, and to do that means breaking the shell.”

“But I can order the Orb to repair it, yes?” Bryan asked.

“You could,” B’lar began. “However, the power required to do that is more than the Orb can output, and you’d succeed in little more than destroying the Orb, and the universe along with it.”

Bryan eyed B’lar. “The Orb’s power is infinite.”

“And so is the power required to close a rift in space-time,” responded B’lar. “Even with infinite power, the Orb could never succeed in doing something that requires infinite power, because you can never reach infinity. The Orb fails, collapses, and self-destructs.”

“And how do you know all of this?” asked Bryan. “It’s not as though there are other Orbs for you to practice on.”

“Bryan,” began B’lar, “our race has been around for ten billion years. We have technology that could allow us to destroy entire galaxies with a mere thought. Yet we have evolved into a responsible civilization that would never allow for such a tragedy to occur. We have computers that can model the entire universe down to the atom, playing trillions of years in a matter of seconds. We know what the Orb is and how it was made. I could spend years explaining to you the science behind the Orb, why it is considered a living being and how it longs for companionship, why it protects itself above all else, why it would destroy the universe should it be destroyed. You do not have years, my friend, before your ownership of the Orb is challenged.”

Bryan tried to understand, but was concerned that he was being told something that wasn’t quite the truth…

“Commander, the time to strike is now! We are two million strong, Emperor T’baxla is but one man!”

B’lar knew what he was doing could be suicide. He knew the Emperor was able to strike a man down with a mere thought, and wondered how he could hope to survive against such power. “Two million, yes. But the Emperor has powers rumored to be beyond the powers of mortals. We must proceed with caution.”

“You do realize that if you don’t march them on the palace, someone else will.”

There was no way B’lar was going to order two million people to die. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. “So be it. If you are still alive after the siege, I will be sure to look you up…”

The dull grey aura returned to his surroundings, and Bryan was disoriented for a moment.

“I’m sure the Orb will convince you of this,” B’lar stated, “if it already hasn’t.”

Bryan looked squarely at B’lar. “You are mortal, yes?”

B’lar nodded silently.

“Yet you stand at how old?” Bryan quizzed. “Ten billion years of age?”

B’lar stated with a smirk, “Give or take a billion. Our bodies are resilient, it is difficult for us to die of natural causes like most other species do. Perhaps your people will evolve to such a point someday.”

Bryan smiled, the sound of B’lar’s voice was warm and sincere. “Perhaps.”

And with that, their surroundings were returned to the hallway they stood in.

Bryan tucked the orb under his left arm, extending his hand to B’lar, who immediately shook it, his peculiar smirk beaming from ear to ear. “Come,” said B’lar, “I have something to show you, and little time to show it in.”

“Lead the way,” responded Bryan.

“What did you just say?” asked Natalie of Bryan with an accent that was quite different than the one he just used. In fact, Bryan quickly recognized that he was speaking in B’lar’s language!

Bryan turned to Natalie and said, smiling, “I’m a quick learner. Let’s go, B’lar wants to show us something.” He paused to pick up the fallen pistol and proceeded to follow B’lar into the room ahead of him.

Natalie could not help but feel helpless, unable to grasp what just happened. “Dear god, Bryan, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

B’lar paused, turned to Natalie, and said in perfect English, “He will,” before continuing to lead them inside.

The room seemed to be a control center of some kind, with devices that neither Bryan nor Natalie had ever seen before. B’lar led them to the far corner of the room and handed Bryan a small metallic pad. “I’m sure you can read that?”

Bryan adjusted his eyes to read the odd patterns and symbols on the pad, but was amazed to find that he could read them as fluently as he read English. “Yes.”

B’lar smiled. “The Orb is truly amazing.” B’lar began to instruct Bryan. “On this pad is everything you need to know about the Orb, and perhaps yourself. I suggest you do not translate this into your home language, for the fewer people that know what it contains, the better.” He turned to Natalie. “As for you…” His voice trailed off for a few moments as Natalie’s attention turned to him. “Do not discount your role in what will happen to Bryan and the Orb over the next few days. From what I learned from the Orb, I know you are important to both Bryan and the Orb. Though it may consider Bryan its owner, you hold some power over it as well.” B’lar turned back to Bryan. “So make sure that your learning experience from this document equals hers.”

“Understood,” stated Bryan.

B’lar grinned. “Quite the obedient one.”

Bryan chuckled. “I have to be, it’s my job. Or was.”

“Is,” B’lar corrected. “You know what you need to do.”

“I think so,” responded Bryan. “It won’t be easy.”

“Little in life that is worth doing is easy, my friend.” B’lar placed his hand on Bryan’s shoulder. “Good luck.”

Bryan smiled. “Thank you.”