//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 : The Oath // Story: The Long Road Home // by Nightwatcher //------------------------------// Celestia let out a sigh as she stood in the dimly lit hallway just outside the ‘room’ that the Humans had given Luna and herself. She was slightly placated that she was now allowed to leave her room, as for the last day Ember had not let either of them leave the room, saying that they would “Get in the way.” She had spent the intervening time reading up on the Humanity’s.... jumbled past, at least what she had the ‘clearance’ to see. Luna on the other hoof focused on more recent events, namely the ‘Battle of Eden’, saying that she was looking for something that would help her against the Nightmare. Luna said that the Nightmare only comes to her in her dreams using her broken memories of the event in an attempt to break her down further. In a way, Celestia could see that the Nightmare was winning. Luna has been getting next to no sleep, and when she does sleep the Nightmare dogs her endlessly. This combination was gradually whittling away at Luna’s facade, she was getting more and more like her old evil self that Celestia dreaded. Luna had asked her, with a small amount of venom in her voice, to leave her alone for a while, and Celestia had complied. Instead of simply wandering about the ships endless maze of hallways, she decided to have a talk with James. She looked up, “Ember, is James available? I wish to speak with him.” A cloud of embers appeared a small distance away, “Yes, James is available, though he is in the botanical section of the 'Odyssey'.” A thin blue line appeared on the floor, leading down a hallway before turning down another. “Please follow the line provided.” “Thank you.” :~: Celestia looked to where the blue line had taken her after nearly half and hour of walking. She was at the door to a large circular room, the room itself was a dome as the walls curved up to a point that then descended back down halfway to the floor like the Humans had cut a pillar in half. In the fifteen foot gap between the pillar and the floor sat what looked to be a ball of mercury a half meter across, the ball of what looked to be floating mercury also had wisps of the same looking material as thin as her hair connecting the ball and the pillar above it and the floor below it seemingly twisting and curling in and out of existence. “What... is... that?” She asked, still entranced by the spectacle before her. “It’s one of the 'Odyssey’s' many teleporters. If you were to walk to the ships botanical section it would take a... significant amount of time.” Ember said as she appeared next to her. “How far is it?” Celestia asked. “From your current position, adding in all the twist and turns, ninety-eight-point-five kilometers.” “Oh... Is this like magical teleportation?” Celestia asked a little worried. “.......Yes.” Ember said after a long pause. “How does it work, what do I have to do?” Celestia asked. “All you have to do is touch the singularity, the ball, and I’ll do the rest.” Ember said. Celestia nodded and began to slowly walk up to the floating ball, the closer she got the more... wrong she began to feel. It was like there was a... hole, like the fabric of reality had been torn out. Infernal Human technology. She nearly buckled as a wave of vertigo overtook her, it was like all her insides had been tangled up and put back inside her backwards. She shook her head, but as she did she saw something that disconcerted her and she brought her hoof closer to her face to make sure it was really happening. It looked as though she was looking at her hoof’s reflection on water. It was shifting and disappearing like smoke, before returning for a moment to corporal form before fading again. She looked away from her hoof and to the ball that was still hanging in the air a short distance away, steeling herself for whatever came next. She reached out with her hoof and lightly touched the ball. Just as she did the whole world appeared to stop, then her vision began to change. Everything began to distort, everything began to curve into itself. She focused her gaze onto the ball, her hoof still touching the surface. Then it began to race away from her, her hoof and foreleg extending out to chase it, before it all came back. The moment it returned, the ball lost it’s shape and the substance raced up her foreleg, then across her body in some infinitesimal amount of time. There was a flash of darkness before she found herself sprawled on the floor breathing deeply and her vision swimming. She slowly got up to a sitting position, and glared daggers at the AI. “You...... lied to...... me.” She said, still trying to catch her breath. “Would you have done it if I hadn't?” Ember responded smugly. “I.... I suppose I wouldn't have.” She let out a deep breath, “That doesn’t mean you should.” “Does it?” After a moment to pull herself together, Celestia picked herself up and followed the line once more. :~: She walked through a nano-door, a pleasant surprize awaiting her on the other side. She was surprised as a cool breeze washed over her form, spread out before her was a huge grove. She could see everything from grasses to a host of different kinds of trees. She took a step and relished in the feeling of real grass under her hoofs. She looked up to see a clear dome, showing only the black of space, despite the room’s apparent daylight. A small arrowhead shaped thing, the color of silver, flashed passed above her head almost too fast to track, it banked down and to the right, flying to a hover in front of a familiar Human. James looked right at her as she took another step, waving her over nonchalantly while the arrowhead shaped thing flew off. “Celestia.” He said, his back to her. She walked up to his side, “James.” “How’s Luna?” He asked, Celestia unable to read his tone. “She’s... getting better.” Celestia said. He sighed deeply, like a father to a troubled child, “Don’t lie to us, especially not to me, Celestia.” “If you know everything, why ask?” She said. “To hear it from you, see if you’d try and lie.” He looked at her at last, “You, all of you, are more like us than you care to realise Celestia.” “Oh?” “Basicly Human, at least in all the ways that matter. You talk like a Human, you think like a Human, you act like a Human, the only thing different is the body.” James said. “You Humans made us to be like you. That’s what Vigil said, you were alone, so you made us.” Celestia said. “That’s what you think, hmm? If only it was that simple.” He said. “Isn’t it?” She said. “When I made you, and I didn’t do it for some higher purpose, I did it because I could. I was like a... a child in a sandbox. You were never meant to be anything, a morbid curiosity of mine, but the Chairman.” Saying the title with a particular venom, “He thought you all were something more. Something more than a science experiment of mine. For the longest time... I disagreed with Prescott. I guess I was... detached from it all.” She looked at him, not expecting to be hearing this, “Now?” “Now... I don’t know. It could be that all of this,” He gestured around, “Has me looking for atonement, not for what I did, but for what we did. For what Humanity has done.” “James, you know this wasn’t your fault.” She said. “You think you were the only ones we meddled with?” She gave him a look, trying to decipher what he was saying, “Only ones? What do you mean?” James let out a deep sigh, “No more secrets, the time for that has long gone don’t you think?” She was about to answer when she realised that he was talking to himself more than he was to her. “Everything we got our hands on, we changed, we shaped, to what we thought was best. For the longest time I was... willfully ignorant of the universe around me. Unaware of the damage we were doing.” He looked at his hands in near disgust, “There is a natural order to everything, it would seem those who up-end it do not fare well.” “There were more? Other races like us?” She asked. “A few. Nothing even comparable to the level that we're on, least anything that’s still here. The public at large knew nothing, they couldn't ever find out. Look at what happend when Eden was tossed into the light” He huffed, “ignorance is bliss I suppose.” She directed her attention to the many trees around her, watching the small arrow head like craft fly about. As if he knew what she was thinking about, James produced an apple and tossed it in the air. She watched as one of the small craft broke apart, what looked like dozens of fins coming of the top part of the flying machine, giving it a menacing appearance. It then flew right into the apple at an indescribable speed, turning it into a fine mist of apple bits. “Repurposed military ANGEL drones, they tend the gardens.” James said simply. She looked at him through slightly narrowed eyes, “Always war with you Humans?” He shook his head, “You forget this is a military vessel? You’ve seen a fraction of a part of our society Celestia, a fraction of a percent.” “A shame it was this part.” She said. He extended his hand, another apple in it, “On that we are in agreement.” He looked at her like something was gnawing at him, she could see it like it was painted on his face. “Something wrong?” He looked as if he was debating telling her, “We may be able to do something for Luna.” She dropped the half eaten apple, it rolling away as she stared at the Human. “It’s risky, she could die if it goes wrong, but we may be able to help her.” He said. “How?” She said, stomping her hoof. “Olympus Mons may have the necessary equipment to help your sister, I had a science team working with multiple specimens of your race. The only reason a operation is riky here is because I don’t have the necessary data on your physiology, if it’s on Olympus Mons, I could fix your sister; for good this time.” He said. “Can you tell me the chances, if it’s there, that you can fix my sister without harming her?” Celestia said. “An even fifty-fifty, at best.” He said, “I’m sorry but that’s the best I can do.” “I understand.” She was about to continue before James held up a hand, cutting her off. She watched as his face ran a gamut of emotions, he settled on a look of confusion. “‘Gone’? What do you mean ‘Gone’ Captain?... Damnit... Fine, I’m on the way.” James spoke to himself, no doubt to another Human. “What’s going on?” Celestia asked perplexed. He held his hand out, his palm to the ground, and the small circle on it gained a blue glow and a number of stars appeared above his hand. A small red circle appeared with nothing in it. “What do you see?” He asked, pointing to the circle with his other hand. “Nothing?” She guessed, not really knowing what to look for. “Exactly... Nothing... Right where it should be.” He said, his tone forlorn. “What is ‘it’” She asked. “Sol... Our star, our home, it’s should be there. But it’s not.” He said. “I’ve got to have a talk with the Captain about this.” “Is this the work of your enemy?” She asked having trouble believing something like a star could simply vanish. “I don’t know, but I think the Captain and the others are hiding something.” He said. He started to walk away, then turned around to face her. “Celestia, I want you to know, I will do everything in my power to fix this. All of it, no matter what happens.” He said, gesturing around. “Promise me that.” Celestia said, her voice serious. “I promise you.” He said, then he turned and walked back the way she came. Celestia continued to watch the small metal things fly about, thinking about how the events to come was going to play out. Hoping that somehow everything would turn out right.