0. Haste
The vessel pushed away as it rode the gravitational shock wave of the imploding star. The sudden expansion of the star's surface had cindered the world known as Home and now, as the celestial body's mass collapsed upon itself, the dark emptiness of space rippled as the planets that survived the initial trauma were torn apart and crushed to an elemental dust that formed an ever shrinking cloud of heated matter that spiralled toward the centre of the star's mutation into a singularity.
The vessel itself resembled a sphere flattened along its vertical axis. A column of bright white light emanated from the centre of the disc as other illuminated, concentric circles radiated across its colourless surface.
From a forward section of the vessel, a hooded figure looked back at a holographic rendering in real time of the end of a star. The colours filling the system vibrated along wavelengths the vessel's intelligence corrected so they could be perceived by less evolved eyes -- yet the watcher was one of the few who could perceive the maelstrom of invisible colours that were the star's dying words. The figure saw the plumes of elemental matter ejected from the star's vertical axis at speeds nearing those of light.
The figure raised a hand and made a gesture and the vessel's intelligence modulated its self generated gravity field to match the rippling forces as the star collapsed, allowing the ship to plow ahead without hindrance. The figure made another gesture and the intelligence reached out and sought its brethren, enquiring if they had escaped as well. The space beyond space where the intelligences communed echoed empty and the vessel felt alone.
The figure gestured and the vessel ceased all attempts at communication and accelerated to a high fraction of the speed of light as it rode the wake of a projected singularity focused some measure ahead of its hull. The vessel was constructed of pure dark matter and as it reached the physical limits of the relativistic universe, its exotic nature split the bosons that held space/time in tune -- the vessel and its occupant slipped outside the parameters of the universe and travelled hyperspace toward an unknown destination.
1. To covet
The figure walked the circular corridors of the vessel till he reached the centre. A capsule awaited him, held steady and weightless under the faint glow of a stream of light that broke the darkness around him. The capsule was as obsidian in colour as the cold emptiness that separated planets. The hooded figure laid a strong hand with thick fingers upon the capsule and its black surface illuminated with a series of lines of information displaying the content's metabolic status. Eyes scanned and registered every bit of information, seeking abnormal patterns that would denote illness or injury.
When the hand was removed, the capsule went black. The figure then pressed a finger to its side and swiped from left to right and back. The darkness of the capsule melted away as it molecules realigned and exposed its contents: a body wrapped in an alabaster skin while bathing in a reddish solution full of nutrients and nano-sized machines overseeing the body's survival.
The figure pushed the hood back and let his eyes roam across the inanimate body. He was the Warrior. He was sworn to protect this being -- this woman, he remembered -- from all harm till they reached a world where she could awaken and fulfil her purpose. He examined the softness of the curves of her hips and her breasts, both voluptuous and inviting. Though covered in a sustenance skin, he knew her true skin to be warm and soft. He removed his smock, taking stock of his own bluish skin. He could make it as soft as hers or as hard as the dark matter of the vessel's hull at will. He had been made to protect her and to ensure he would always follow that prerogative -- though he had never seen her -- he was made to love her.
He felt that love stir in his loins and his anatomy responded -- his erection was long and hard. He looked at his penis in stark amazement. He knew he was built to respond as a man but the sense of obsession that accompanied his arousal and the need to possess and release the madness it caused was disconcerting to him.
Yet, instinct guided him and he stroked his shaft as he rested his upper body against the cool husk of the capsule and he longed for her curves to press against his body -- his hand was moving rapidly and his reason relinquished to the need for release and his tongue shot from his mouth and he licked at her face and groaned as he ejaculated a thick stream of synthetic come against the capsule. His knees weakened and he slid to the cool dark floor, exhausted and cursing his makers. He watched as the gobs of his come evaporated under the crackling effect of nano-machines dedicated to the cleanliness of the vessel's interior. He felt the crackling around the tip of his cock as the machines cleaned him as well.
He wished they would cleanse the vulgarity of his actions.
2. The uncertainty of conscience
The Warrior stood on the surface of the vessel's outer hull, watching lakes of cool methane sway back and forth as the vessel navigated the chaos of hyperspace. Waves of energy ebbed against the distortion field that held the ship's integrity when he saw -- through the waltzing flashes of colour -- three distinct amorphous shapes closing in on the vessel.
With a thought the hull dissolved beneath his feet and solidified as he ran toward the nerve centre of the vessel -- the intelligence had already collected the images he had seen beyond the field and confirmed the Warrior's fear. Quantum Wraiths -- even in the young universe, life existed in unexpected fashions. The wraiths were collections of unsubstantiated consciences that sought proof of their own existence beyond uncertainty.
The Warrior nodded and the vessel split the intrinsic field of the universe and reintegrated its relativistic nature. The hull lurched as the projected singularity drive pulled the vessel ahead at sub-light speeds. The guardian armed himself with a slice of a quark star -- a quark sword. It had mass and depth, but no width. At certain angles it was wholly invisible.
The Warrior looked up and emerged on the vessel's surface. The vessel deactivated the singularity drive and held its position with pulsating g fields. The wraiths had left hyperspace and approached the vessel, tracking the elements of sentience of the Warrior, but were more dangerously attracted to the sentience of the woman in the capsule. He watched as the wraiths flipped between states of being and non being -- they slowed as they hovered over the scintillating rings of light of the vessel's hull.
"Am I/we real?" a wraith demanded as it slipped into non existence before launching itself at the Warrior. Stars twinkled and galaxies collided as he watched the creature rush him -- the others crashed against the vessel's hull. He ran to meet the wraith head on, hoping his timing to be perfect. When the wraith was nearly on him, the Warrior slid to his knees and stabbed the wraith at its weakest point: the moment it formed a thought and flickered into being. The quantum wavefront it generated struck the exotic matter of the quark sword and the wraith sighed as the uncertainty of its existence subsided and it died, thankful in knowing it was real.
The Warrior gained his footing and whipped around to face another oncoming wraith -- one did come by him but it ignored him and cannibalized some leftover dreams of the dissociated, dead wraith. The Warrior let the wraith graze and assumed all was secure till a warning from the vessel's intelligence pinged his mind. He saw the remaining wraith manage to phase its structure to match the amplitude of the emptiness in the vessel's dark matter architecture and slip inside before it flickered into non existence.
The hull beneath the Warrior dissolved as the vessel knew his duty. The Warrior landed in a crouch and then launched himself toward the relic chamber where his ward was held in stasis. He charted the circular corridors with speed that rivalled the stellar winds. He burst through the wall rendered intangible by the vessel in time to see the wraith envelope the capsule in its ethereal fog and cause it to shatter. The wraith held the Warrior's ward delicately and rotated her, seemingly examining her from every angle. The Warrior hissed his anger and jealousy at the sight of the wraith touching what he loved while he could not.
He fought the urge to lash out with the quark sword, knowing it would tear uselessly through the wraith and erase her from existence. He again had to rely on his timing -- the wraith was going to substantiate a thought in tandem with a dream from the woman and once they shared a common subconscious, the quark sword would have to find its target.
But before the guardian could act, the sustenance skin that bound his ward suddenly rendered itself to shreds and she screamed -- the force of her shriek knocked the Warrior from his feet and smashed him into a curved bulkhead. As he regained his senses a few moments later, he witnessed the woman resting on her knees while her face was twisted in a strangely satisfied grimace -- she inhaled the unsubstantiated mist of the wraith with relish and glee till it was gone. She collapsed to the ground.
The Warrior flew to her side and gently raised her head and rested it on his lap. She emanated an intense heat, as burning as a solar flare -- he basked in it.
Her eyes fluttered open, long eyelashes exaggerating the motion. He gazed into her eyes, diaphanous colours danced within her irises.
"Hello,"she said, as she reached up and touched his cheek.
"Hello."
"You're naked," she whispered as she closed her eyes.
"Then that ... is something we have in common."
3. By any other name
She wore a hooded smock, similar to his except that it was grey. He observed her as she stared at a display replaying the explosion of the star they had recently fled. The colours from the holographic rendering cast iridescent lights upon her high cheekbones and thick lips.
"That's were we came from," she stated as she turned to look at him. Her dark eyes reflected chaotic colours as they bore through the Warrior. He simply nodded.
"And this," she gestured, her arm moving in a wide arc, "is a ship?"
"The Reliquary. One of many. But as far as we know, the only one to have survived."
"That's for relics." She walked to him and stood by his side. He gazed upon a real time rendering of the anti-matter singularity that powered the ship.
"Or holy things. Like you."
She sat down on the cool dark matter floor. "What does that mean?"
