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Chapter 10

'What do you think Icarus-1 looks like?'

 

Lumi was fidgeting in rear seat, excited about destination of their journey, while Mattias was thinking about all the variables. He had no idea what the nation of Icarus-3G was like and if they even where still there. The planet was now dangerously close to the destroyer, so they might have long abandoned their home or joined the SID, but what is worse - they could also take all the records about Icarus with them, and they will never…

 

'Mattias, do you hear me? What is Icarus-1 like?'

 

'Shut up, I don't know! Enitheris, I need information on the last visit of the SID to Icarus-3G and…'

 

'Unauthorised access. For the SID members only.'

 

'I swear I will smash last sprockets out of you one day, can you at least tell me anything about your planet?!'

 

'Request accepted. Icarus-3G is considered to be the third planet in Icarus system…'

 

'Not basic one, you stupid machine, I need current information!'

 

'You have requested current information on Icarus-3G. Request denied.'

 

Mattias let out a furious snort and glared sullenly at the darkening space. After a heavy pause Lumi decided to carry on with her idea.

 

'Lumi thinks it's white,' she said cheerfully and grinned, imagining blue sky and snowy mountains covered in tranquility. 'Ennie said that even if it’s near the sun, there is a special climate, so it still can have snow, right? Do you like snow?'

 

Mattias was busy double-checking his calculations. With the impulse Mattias and Lumi gave to the skiff, it managed to make a spacewarp and gain speed that should be enough to get to the gas giant in time. Lumi looked at slowly approaching destroyer right near the planet and felt urge to break the sudden silence.

 

'If you don't, no problem. I know that you are from a hot planet. Ennie said there can be anything, right, Ennie? Can Icarus-1 be hot and cold at the same time?'

 

'Calculating possible climatic zones for Icarus-1. Analysis results: warm climate hundred percent, mild climate hundred percent, cold climate hundred percent…'

 

'No one knows what Icarus-1 was like,' said Mattias staring at nearing

Icarus-3G, which announced its appearance with dangerous lightenings hovering on its gas surface. 'She will give you all possibilities she can generate.' 

 

'No, you just don't get it. Lumi is sure, Icarus-1 is a place for everyone no matter what they like. There is a hundred percent possibility that there will be a mountain ridge, and it will have two sides - one of a snowy valley and the other of a warm desert!'

 

Mattias frowned annoyingly at the nonsense he had just heard, but the next moment he managed to visualise this image in his head.

 

'What… did you just say?'

 

The man had a strong feeling that Lumi described something he had already seen. Not on Icarus-2P and maybe not even in this current life, but he clearly remembered that exact mountain ridge in the desert, and he knew there was a snowy valley ahead. He even could remember a young girl standing in that valley, she looked like…

 

'That's alright, Mattias. Whatever Icarus-1 is, we will find it and live there happily, you, Ennie and Lumi,' said the girl as she reached for his shoulder to give him a cheering pat.

 

Suddenly one of the space facets behind them flashed brightly, revealing outlines of some strange shiny object. Slowly, it began drifting in the space, forming something like a net of light behind them.

 

'Mattias, what's that?'

 

'Lumi, get down!'

 

The man infused the skiff with his energy, speeding it up and spinning it around just in time for the shining spear to miss them. He immediately recognised who was pursuing them, the vessel most powerful on his memory - the Radiance, which belonged to the SID head, Atlas.

 

'How did they find out our… Oh. We are on their ship, right.'

 

It wasn't hard to deduct that the SID could immediately receive the take off signal from one of their skiffs the moment Mattias powered the station. He had no idea what they were currently up to, but according to Eim's last performance, their appearance meant some complications.

 

'Are they bad? Is it that man with glasses, he comes after us, right?'

 

'Get steady.'

 

Dodging the arrows, Mattias sent their skiff diving into the outer layer of the gas giant. They were immediately caught in turbulent clouds, but Mattias piloted through them with iron composure, which Lumi couldn't share, watching in panic how carelessly he dodged the lightning bolts.

 

'System report: gravity turbulence increasing. Evasive maneuvers are recommended.'

 

Enitheris nonchalant voice was drowning in deafening rumbles of thunder, and emergency lights flashed around them, it was getting extremely shaky. One good thing was that they left the pursuers far behind.

 

'System report: gravity… recommended…'

 

'Enough already! I'm trying here, okay!' cried Mattias with irritation, as he struggled to handle the ship.

 

Suddenly Lumi noticed a slight light looming in the clouds ahead, the spot where lightening was about to be born.

 

'Mattias, over there!'

 

'Yeah, yeah, I got it.'

 

Mattias stirred the wheel abruptly, but the damaged skiff grew too disobedient. Collision was inevitable. Lumi shrieked and covered her head with hands.

 

A deafening roar of thunder shook the skiff, but it didn't fall apart from the lightening blow as anticipated.

 

'Was that you?'

 

Lumi carefully peeked though her fingers as she heard Mattias' puzzled voice. Around the skiff, there was a glowing orb of frost.

 

'That's amazing!' Mattias exclaimed with joy. 'Good job, Lumi, now we are equipped with a shield!'

 

Lumi's face brightened with a smile. She couldn't believe Mattias actually praised her.

 

'Critical alert: surface collision detected. Emergency landing in progress.'

 

Unfortunately for the skiff crew, under raging layers of gas there was a solid surface of the planet, and the meeting wasn't really pleasant. The glowing shield bumped several times like a rubber ball, and stopped at the downhill after quite a roll.

 

Mattias and Lumi, however, were lucky to avoid any injuries. They could now catch a view of grey, stormy skies and the lifeless valley, frozen in time. The dry fields were carved with deep gorges, and old simple stone houses were abandoned there long ago. Mattias was stunned. He imagined this land in another way, more… advanced. But it appeared to be a lie. Like everything else. Like existence of the legendary planet of humans.  

 

'Mattias, look!'

 

There was a whirlpool of dark clouds in the sky, brightened with rim of golden lightenings. Except that those weren't clouds, nor were they lightenings. A powerful eye of the destroyer appeared in the atmosphere of the gas giant, devouring skies and sounds, and earth began silently splitting into dust and falling upwards the same way as on Icarus-2P.

 

'We need to get out of here, Mattias, Mattias!'

 

Lumi was crying, pulling his shoulder, but he couldn't move, enchanted by the gaze of the giant destroyer. It was over. One by one all the planets will vanish in the black pupil, and no matter how long they run, they will never be able to escape this nightmare. Here, their destiny came to an end.

 

But something didn't add up. There should be the answer to this equation of survival. Mattias looked at the e-ward, and it was still showing coordinates and a blinking pointer, showing the way right in front of them, where the destroyer was. Were they really coordinates? They were changing. Approaching. Mattias raised his gaze at the destroyer.

 

'Seven minutes left.'

 

Lumi looked at him startled, as he was charging the skiff with his energy.

 

'In around seven minutes the storm approaches the skiff, and gravitation field will start moving it into the destroyer. If I don't return in five minutes, leave the planet immediately.'

 

'What, no! Lumi will go with you!'

 

'You will stay here and do what I say.' Mattias said angrily and left the skiff. But for a moment he lingered by the door, watching Lumi trembling and pushing herself to the window. His voice became softer. 'I will return, don't worry.'

 

'Promise!'

 

'I… I promise.'

 

Mattias handed Lumi the e-ward and ran into the rising winds. He remembered the coordinates and he knew that behind the dark wall was the answer Enitheris had been hinting at.

 

Lumi was holding the e-ward tight, watching him go. She tried to count, but every time messed it up. Snowflakes were drifting inside the skiff, and the canopy was getting covered with icy patterns, Lumi was losing her nerve. For some time she was anxiously watching the persistently blinking arrow in the e-ward, which was pointing into the darkness ahead. Then she opened the door, jumped out of the skiff and ran into raging winds.

 

Meanwhile Mattias was pushing himself through the upside-down shower of dust. Back on Icarus-2P he didn't feel anything unusual, but now the destroyer was sipping all his strength, and each step was becoming harder to take. Maybe it was just his nerves. He didn't know what he was supposed to look for and if he was doing a right thing, but he just couldn't stop after such a long journey to the truth. But there was nothing there. No sounds, no air, no more solid ground under his feet. And then Mattias realised it was time to give up.

 

He turned to a beautiful dream of the warm sun sleeping peacefully in sandy skies, which was another lie. He tried to forget it so that he could spend his last minutes sane, but it followed him persistently. And then he realised that it wasn't a dream. In complete darkness, disturbed by the winds, a shining facet was open in front of him. He could see a golden-haired boy, treading inevitably, and he could see the growing facet tearing apart the reality around.

 

Mattias widened his eyes.

 

'Damn me… Is that… Icarus, is that really you?'

 

'Mattias!'

 

Suddenly he heard familiar voice from behind.

 

'Lumi, stop! Don't look!'

 

Mattias ran towards the girl, blocking the view of the gas giant's last seconds of life. And then everything went still.

 

***

 

A gentle kiss of the wind made Mattias open his eyes to the endless desert. It wasn't the harsh, hot desert he remembered from Icarus-2P, but very gentle one, with soft sand, sleepy dunes and light-blue, almost white sky with peaceful sun instead of the destroyer. And of course this familiar mountain ridge far away, which he once confused with the shelter dome.

 

Mattias smiled. There was no fear anymore. He then locked hands behind his head and laughed out loud, relishing the bliss growing within him.

 

'Mattias, look, there's so much snow here!'

 

The girl near him was touching the sand, startled and elated in the same way he was. Mattias recognised Lumi, but she looked different somehow. She was no longer wearing the oversized jacket with heavy boots and goggles, and her skin and hair weren't smeared in dust. On her eyes she wore an exquisite blindfold with unknown symbol on it, her tiny skinny body was clad with light gown with loose trousers, and she was barefoot. This change in her didn't seem surprising though, as if she had always been supposed to look like that.

 

'What… What does it mean?' Lumi turned at him confused. 'Is it the safe planet you were talking about?'

 

'Affirmative.'

 

It was Enitheris talking, but now there was something different in her voice. It was no longer electronic, as if it sounded right next to them.

 

'Analysis: green fields are abundant and stable. No threats detected, Lumi.'

 

As Mattias raised his eyes, he noticed a very familiar looking white woman in front of them. She was blindfolded same way as Lumi was, but with a different symbol - Enitheris AI logotype, she was bare-headed and her white cape seemed to be made of weightless winds.

 

'Ennie!'

 

Lumi beamed with joy and rushed to her beloved friend, but Mattias stopped her.

 

'Lumi, don't approach!'

 

'But why aren't you in the e-ward? Are you now a human too?'

 

'No, Lumi. She has always been a human.'

 

Mattias suspiciously narrowed his eyes at the blissfully smiling woman.

 

'You lied to us! Why were you trying to lure us inside the destroyer?'

 

'The inquiry is faulty. I did not lure you inside the destroyer, I assisted you in finding the Promised Land.'

 

'You kept denying access not because it was only for the SID. You were trying to hide the truth of your identity and native planet, which has nothing to do with development of the AI that never existed. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore, huh?' said Mattias, observing the desert with content smile. 'But tell me, if Icarus-3G never got any signals from the sun, how did you know where to search? Who actually are you?'

 

Enitheris turned to the sun, letting the wind play with her gorgeous gown.

 

'Destination reached. Result: all former purposes and values hold no relevance. But your query is accepted.'

 

The way she talked didn't seem lifeless anymore, and AI-phrases sounded more like reverent and spiritual speech. So she told them the truth. She told them that before Atlas offered her a place in the SID, Enitheris was a monastic on Icarus-3G, a monastic of the destroyer. The nation of Icarus-3G worshipped the destroyer and hoped that it would bring a new beginning to save them from suffering their planet caused with its endless storms.

 

Icarus appeared in her visions, always caring a sense of freedom, but her nation never had the chance to see him arrive, as the SID enslaved native people of Icarus-3G and erased their memory. Atlas saw her unique abilities and decided to use them - she could dissolve into gas and merge with any object, and not only her body but also her thoughts could take form, that was how she was able to visualize them. So he used Enitheris to make a fake city and extract memories of survivors. He hoped to find the way to Icarus in their memories, but Enitheris was faster. That was why she tricked Eim into thinking she was no longer alive and hid on Icarus-2P.

 

Lumi disobeyed Mattias and approached the woman to give her a hug. She felt now like a real human, and her hands were warm as she put them on Lumi's shoulders.

 

'White gas… They made it from you,' Mattias said thoughtfully. 'But how is it possible to have memories of what you have never seen? Humans appeared only after the sun turned into the destroyer, we just can't remember what it was like.'

 

'The statement is true and false in the same time. Every planet has its code imbued by the star-creator, which prevents the planet and its inhabitants from any deviations. The appearance of humans was never meant to occur, sequence: we are creations of the destroyer.'

 

'Creations? But destroyers can't create, that's nonsense!'

 

'That is correct, destroyers can only destroy. Result: humanity is a reduced version of powerful creatures native to planets of Icarus system.'

 

Mattias stared at her for a moment before bursting into nervous laughter. Watching him, Lumi pressed against Enitheris as she was afraid that Mattias was going insane.

 

'No, no, that's darn nonsense! You are trying to say that humanity is just an illness? An impairment? A mistake or what?'

 

'The formulation is close to accuracy.'

 

Mattias was anxiously looking for inconsistencies, but in his memories he found only evidence proving this theory. His, Enitheris', Lumi's and Eim's abilities were defined by genes of the corresponding species of their planets, and humans appeared exactly when those species went extinct, or rather, degraded - after appearance of the destroyer.

 

'But wait,' suddenly said Lumi. 'Some of us are special, right? Lumi is not afraid of cold and Mattias too. Did the destroyer make us like this?'

 

'Yes, dear Lumi, your statement is correct.' Enitheris' voice sounded human-like but still with usual soft mechanical intonations. 'Certain individuals evolved and gained abilities which enable survival on extreme planetary environments. This specific destroyer is responsible for our current configuration. Logic: it can create.'

 

'… and it means that this isn't a destroyer.'

 

The whole picture began to come together in his mind. Indeed, Mattias and Lumi got their powers when they met Icarus, their slumbering sun.

 

'Why didn't you tell about this before?' Lumi said a bit offended.

 

'Eim, Atlas and Enitheris had different methods of solving the problem,' she said. 'Disclosure of Enitheris' method would have resulted in you searching for different solution, it was unacceptable. Cooperation of all three was crucial for reaching this place.'

 

'Yeah, switching from fanatical monastic to advanced AI enhanced your credibility.'

 

Mattias looked at the shining sun above the peaceful desert. It gently descended on one of the dunes and took a shape of a golden-haired boy. He reached for them with his tiny hands, offering to come into his realm of peace, and Mattias felt tempted to forget everything he had endured, leave the undignified human origins behind and fall into soft sand asleep.

 

Enitheris faced the boy too and smiled.

 

'There was no evidence if the theory was correct, but now it appears to be proven. Conclusion: the Promised Land exists, it is prepared by Icarus for humans.'

 

'And it's okay if we stay here?' asked Lumi with hope. 'And destroyer won’t eat this place?'

 

'Negative, my little Lumi. Inside the destroyer, the sun still shines, and Icarus is creating and loving. However, danger remains: there are entities with objective to harm our god.’

 

'Synod…' guessed Mattias. 'I remember Eim told, they would target the destroyer if it grows out of its system, and it's still growing…'

 

'Exactly. For Synod we are infection, mistake in the code. According to their algorithm, every destroyer must be sealed at a specific stage of its development.  No further options remain except of completing the transformation of the destroyer as fast as possible.'

 

Panic began to swell inside Mattias, as he realised it was him to do all the work and save the innocent star. He was just a human, blessed by Icarus, but still feeble and simple-minded.

 

'Okay,' Mattias said bracing himself. 'What do I need to do?'

 

'Requested information unknown. Atlas may possess superior knowledge, proceed to find him while it is still not late. Action plan: Enitheris will use full available power to open the atmosphere of Icarus-3G and send you out of the destroyer’s gravitational influence. Caution: calculations indicate uncertain outcome, success is not guaranteed. Activation of your abilities will also be required.'

 

She turned to Lumi.

 

'Are you willing to stay with Icarus, child?'

 

Lumi was yearning to stay here, in the peaceful realm covered with sleepy snow under the bright blue sky. But she hated the thought that Mattias was going to shoulder the safety of this world on his own.

 

'No, I will go with Mattias. Why don't you go with us?'

 

'Impossible, Lumi. After using all power to release you, Enitheris will be very tired. Conclusion: Enitheris will stay with Icarus.'

 

The woman smiled and turned to the boy.

 

'This is not a farewell. Reconnection is anticipated in the Promised Land. Now proceed to ensure the survival of humanity, Enitheris trusts you to return her Novi.'

 

As she said these words the wind arouse in the desert, pushing them away from the tranquility of this place. Mattias and Lumi could only catch a glimpse of Enitheris going back to the golden-haired boy.

 

'Ennie!'

 

Tears began running down Lumi's cheeks, as she realised what it meant.

 

'Lumi, quickly, board the skiff!'

 

The skiff was still glowing red, charged with Mattias energy and saved from destruction by Lumi's shield, waiting for them in the darkness of destroying planet. As Enitheris promised, storms stepped away above them, revealing a narrow way into silent cosmos, and the skiff immediately rushed through the opened passage. But the gravity was too strong and thunderstorms inside the clouds were so violent, that skiff was being torn apart.

 

'Hold on, Lumi!'

 

Mattias abandoned the wheel and managed to get to the girl to cover her with his body at the last moment, and they felt the planet silently explode behind their backs, as it vanished in the destroyer. There were no storms anymore, no winds and no skiff, just the open space around them, rings of the destroyer and weakening frosty shield, lit by approaching radiant spaceship.

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