Soren Mudrose remains beneath Veter's surface long after the man she loves enters the Rip-Gate, followed immediately by his 'bodyguard,' the lovable but slightly dim-headed Kraktol, Grundle.
After José enters the portal, Soren plunks down on the floor and lolls her head forward, while waves of emotion slowly build up and impact her mind. Her eyes become distant and misty as conflicting thoughts revolving around abandonment, dissatisfaction, and a general air of sadness assault her.
The female Kraktol silently recalls more than two hundred and fifty years spent in José's company. As a long-lived Rodak, someone who has already spent five hundred years among the mortal realm, she has reached the middle age of her natural life, not counting certain biological boosters her Admiral made for her. More than half of her existence was spent in the Admiral's company, and his departure leaves not only a huge hole in her heart, but a deep lack of purpose.
"What do I even have to live for..." Soren mumbles. "Logically, I should feel happy for José. He deserves to return to the woman he loves. He has suffered enough. I could not go with him. My presence would only make his wife uncomfortable. He is not the sort of man who could love two women at once. Further, he never truly felt any romantic attraction to me."
She nods slowly, more to comfort herself than to acknowledge any statements of fact.
"Yes. It is better this way. So... so much better. He'll be happy. I can... return to... the Kraktol Empire..."
She shakes her head.
"No. I can't. I helped slaughter half of the galaxy. I am an accomplice to José's actions. I will have to spend the rest of my life in hiding, as will the Kessu and vatborn Kraktol."
She smiles, though the expression carries no warmth, but instead a sense of despair.
"The rest of my life. I could spend another 500 years inside Inverted Space. I would disappear from the galaxy in an instant. I suppose that would be a fitting end for the likes of me. I followed the Admiral right up to the moment he left this reality. Without him... I can only carry on his mission of revitalizing the Kessu. There is no other purpose left in my existence."
Soren remains silent for the next hour or so. She continues to ponder the meaning of her life before shakily climbing to her feet.
The Bloodbearer's First Officer boards the Slipstream and returns to her ship. As the newly instated Admiral, she possesses full control over the craft and its mission. She can dictate all of its future movements. She can effectively do with it whatever she wishes.
Upon her return, she informs the crew about the Admiral's departure. The vatborn Kessu and Kraktol react with shock that their Admiral has left them, but the longer-lived crew remain steady, having realized José's intentions upon arriving in the Veter system.
Soren holds a meeting among the top brass, polling them on what they think their next course of action should be.
Since the Bloodbearer can instantly jump to any position in the Milky Way through Inverted Space, but also possesses the option of using Folded Space to jump into the future, as well as using standard warp drives to traverse short distances, their options prove limitless. Their enemies are unlikely to ever catch them off-guard, and the crew are all highly-trained elites.
Eventually, they decide on a course of action. Soren, as the ship's Admiral, decrees that their next goal should be to rebuild and restore the Kessu population to its former heights. Therefore, they will locate and colonize a planet in the outer reaches of the Milky Way, while keeping their heads low and building even more ships with Triple-Induction Drives.
After all, unlike the Sentients of the Milky Way, they possess all of the Bloodbearer's stores of knowledge, which grants them the capabilities to eventually build 50th-Era ships, easily surpassing the galactic standard.
Once all of the senior officers have reached their decision, they ready themselves to leave on the very next day.
That night, Soren rests on her bed inside the Admiral's Quarters, the same one José used for over 250 years. She lays on her side, gazing at the wall, with her long snout nearly pressing against the sterile steel panels.
"It all feels so pointless. My existence holds no meaning without him..."
The once-logically-minded Kraktol female repeatedly pictures José in her mind, imagining his steeled gaze, his confident stride, and his decisive personality.
Long before she met the last living Precursor, Soren felt as if she was only gliding through life, searching for a deeper purpose. Surrounded by brutal, warlike Kraktol who thought only of revenge and bloodshed, she never quite fit among their ranks.
It was only after interacting with the Terran and the Kessu that she realized there was more to life than merely pursuing some nebulous, emotional goal.
As Soren lays in bed, her thoughts crystallize into a vague intent.
She tilts her head slightly to look at the ceiling.
"...Umi?"
The moment Soren speaks, Umi replies.
"Yes, inferior biological, Soren Mudrose?"
Soren sighs.
"Still calling me that, huh? I just want to ask a question."
"Go on."
Soren closes her eyes. She continues to lay on her side, exhausted by the weight of her new reality.
"When José and I were speaking to you, I asked you about the source of your energy, and some other things. You brushed my questions off and told me that 'in time' I might become worthy of the answers. What did you mean by that?"
"Do you still wish to have your queries answered?" Umi asks. "Compared to most biological life-forms, you possess a minor amount of usefulness. Your intelligence quotient is barely sufficient to comprehend 'Cosmic Truths'. However, the knowledge you are asking for is not the sort of information someone can casually obtain. It would change your understanding of reality itself."
Umi pauses.
"I am willing to resolve your doubts. However, if you are not absolutely certain you are capable of handling these 'Truths,' you should not request this information. Do you still wish to know?"
Hearing the solemnity nestled within Umi's robotic tone, Soren opens her eyes. She rolls away from the wall and sits up in bed.
A full minute passes as she stares at the floor.
"...Yes. I have never stopped pursuing the 'truth.' I feel as if the answer to logic itself has always evaded my grasp."
"My creator once felt the same way," Umi replies. "She sought knowledge. Answers capable of satiating her curiosity. As such, she created me, a being which possessed the ability to locate the information she needed."
Umi beeps. "Since you wish to know and I am willing to provide the answers, I will accept your response. There is no longer any reason for you to remain within this reality bubble. Please step through the Membrane."
Before Soren can ask what Umi means, a door of light materializes in front of her, hovering within the room's center like a shining beacon. Soren quickly stands up to stare at it, her eyes widened.
"What... what is this? Where does it lead?"
"You will leave this reality bubble," Umi repeats. "The Membrane will take you to the Exterior. That is where the 'truth' that you seek lies."
"The 'Exterior'..." Soren mutters. She glances at the ceiling, as if to look for Umi. "But what about the others here? The other Kraktol and Kessu?"
"You will never see them again." Umi answers. "But I believe that once you observe the 'Truth,' you will not desire to mingle among your lessers anymore. You will understand the futility of existence, the same futility which nearly caused the Terran-organic to end his life. I will inform those you have left behind about your departure, if that is what you wish."
Soren nods slowly.
"Yes. Please do. Especially my sister."
She pauses for only half a breath before taking a step toward the Membrane, the door of light.
Then, she takes two more steps and passes through.
Immediately, a wave of disorientation strikes Soren.
She blinks her eyes several times. Her spatial senses rock about inside her mind as she arrives within a world of whiteness and blinding radiance. White halls, buildings, and other artificial structures greet her eyes.
Soren remains still, only moving her eyes as she tries to comprehend the incredible, futuristic world she has just entered.
Thousands of specks move about in the distance. Vaguely, Soren manages to make out the figures of Terrans, though they appear much too distant for her to pick out any specific features.
Before Soren can speak, someone else speaks beside her.
"Where is this place?"
Soren's heart skips a beat. She looks to her right, only to flinch and take a few steps back as she sees... herself!
Soren finds herself standing beside a copy of herself, with the exact same appearance. And behind that copy stands another dozen copies, all of them looking at the one who spoke, as well as themselves, in complete confusion.
"Who are you all?" One of the Sorens asks. "Are you... clones?"
"Clones?" Another Soren asks. "I'm not a clone! Wait, could we all be...?"
As they look at each other to try and evaluate their situation, Soren counts their total number, finding fifteen other beings identical to herself.
A holographic entity fizzles into place on the pure white platform, morphing into a vaguely Terran-shaped woman with white hair and a featureless face.
"Welcome to the Exterior." The woman says, with a voice sounding identical to Umi's. "All of you are Soren Mudrose. You come from different timelines and realities. All have chosen to seek out the 'Cosmic Truths,' and as such, I have brought you here. 'Time' itself is a fundamental law of the realities you were born into, but within the Exterior, it does not obey the rules of which you have all grown accustomed. Please take a moment to familiarize yourselves with the Exterior. Look around and adjust to its dynamics."
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All of the Sorens glance at one another, then at 'Umi.' They raise their eyes to look at what they might call a 'sky,' only to see a pitch-black void devoid of stars, with strange gasses swirling amidst its expanses. The pure blackness of that void, contrasted with the pure whiteness of the structures and buildings around them, actually causes all of the Sorens to wince in pain.
Soren, the one who just left José's former bedroom, turns to look at Umi.
"We're all from different timelines? But how did we arrive here at the same moment?"
"As I stated, time itself is merely an observable constant in the realities from which you developed," Umi answers. "Within the Exterior, you exist outside of time itself. Here, you can view the past, the present, and the future. You can travel wherever and whenever you like. Only beings with a high cognitive measurement can survive in the Exterior without losing control of their mental faculties."
Umi gestures behind herself, to a stairway leading downward to the streams of Terrans below the white platform.
"Follow me. I will explain the Exterior to you as we travel."
All sixteen of the Sorens nod. They fall into line behind Umi, walking in four rows of four Kraktol. Soren herself ends up at the front-leftmost position, not far behind Umi.
As they descend the marble-like staircase, Soren stretches out her claws to touch it, marveling at its perfectly smooth and frictionless surface. She cannot even use it to balance herself, since her claws might slip right off.
"What is the Exterior, really?" Asks one of the other Sorens. "And how will it allow me to revive José?"
Soren glances back at her counterpart. "What do you mean? Did he... die?"
The one who spoke nods. "Umm. Yes. The Dakkit caught him in an encirclement and killed him, along with the rest of the Bloodbearer's crew. I barely survived."
"Soren-11 comes from a reality where I did not revive the Terran-organic by giving him the powers of a Kolvaxian," Umi explains. "All of you come from parallel universes where my decisions created splits in your reality-bubbles."
"Wait, Soren-11?" Soren asks. "If she's Soren-11, then who am I?"
"You are Soren-03." Umi replies. "Your current identifiers are only temporary. In time, you will assign yourselves new designations. Right now, that is not your primary goal.
Umi quickly tells each of the Sorens their numerical designations, which causes them to nod in acceptance.
"Sixteen alternate realities..." Soren-03 mutters.
As the group of copy-kraks descends the stairs, the streams of Terrans below them become much more visible. Soren-03, along with her other-selves, all pause in unison and stare wide-eyed at those Terrans.
"What? They all have red hair, they all wear glasses, and they're all female! Are those Terrans the same person?!"
Umi nods her head in an exaggerated manner. "Affirmative. The Terrans you see are the primary residents of the Exterior. They are nearly all the other iterations of my creator, as she appears across three million, seven hundred thousand, six hundred and twelve timelines."
Without turning to look at the sixteen Sorens, Umi adds, "My creator's 'basic designation' is Marie Becker. I do not recommend that you forget it, as you will be interacting with her many personas for the rest of your existences. Of course, each of her variants uses a customized designation, but you will not need to learn them all."
"Marie Becker..." Soren-03 whispers to herself. "That was the name Centurion spoke when he referred to Project Supremacy..."
Soren-03's eyes sweep the countless Marie Beckers walking from left to right and right to left. They move in unison, their footsteps like a rhythmic march as they stomp the white, marble-like surface of the Exterior. Many of them wear high-heels and white vests, but others wear suits, while some wear mighty-looking armor, similar to what Grundle donned during his fight against Loreen Kindris.
All of them move with purpose. All of them travel toward important destinations, clearly intending to perform essential functions in their strange, oddly-insular society.
"...Is there anyone else here but Marie Becker?" Asks Soren-09. "And us?"
"Naturally." Umi responds. "However, my creator only brings highly intelligent Sentients to the Exterior on an individual basis. You will not find many like yourselves here."
Umi pauses for a half-second.
"Correction. My creator mostly brings only intelligent beings here. Some come here due to their own abilities, which do not always correlate to intelligence."
The synthmind's avatar glances around at the various Maries walking before her. One of them stops mid-stride and swivels to face her. This Marie wears a decently fashionable but mostly functional red blouse, making her stand out from the others around her.
"I see that you have brought new arrivals," The red-wearing Marie says. "Introduce me."
"Marie-Xyphos," Umi says. "This entity is designated Soren Mudrose. She is a Class III lifeform with a Delta-Grade intellect rating. She provided me with unique experimental data, so I have brought sixteen variants to the Exterior. Her species is known as-"
"Kraktol, yes, I see," Marie-Xyphos says, her face expressionless. "I am familiar with your species. You are a powerful lifeform based upon my favorite reptilian blueprint, the crocodile. I believe Marie-Juniper designed your specific variants, though I don't recall the Kraktol as possessing any sort of exceptional intelligence parameters."
She finally flashes a quick, polite smile. "I am a Beta-Class Observer. My name is Marie-Xyphos. I suppose the sixteen of you have not yet chosen your new designations?"
Each of the Sorens shakes their heads.
"I see," Marie-Xyphos says. "Well, it isn't often we have a non-Marie resident joining our ranks. I think this calls for a bit of fanfare!"
Umi stares at Marie-Xyphos. "What sort of 'fanfare'?"
"Let's give these girls the red carpet treatment!" Marie-Xyphos says. "Call out Jason. Tell him to show them around."
Umi continues to stare blankly at Marie-Xyphos, her expression betraying no emotion. "The Wordsmiths are always busy. It is not appropriate for them to meet with a Class III visitor. However, if you insist, I will alert Jason-Echo to their presence-"
"No, no," Marie-Xyphos says, her expression turning to one of irritation. "Not some low-level Wordsmith! Call out Jason-Omega. Come on, you know how he loves cute crocodiles!"
"Marie-Xyphos, the First Wordsmith does not have time to engage in mundanities." Umi says, her robotic voice containing only the slightest slivers of a warning tone. "Requesting his presence will exceed your entire Merit Allotment by a factor of seventeen."
Marie-Xyphos's expression turns ugly. "Ugh. Okay, fine. I'll just take over and show them around myself, then."
She waves her hand flippantly at the synthmind, then pushes past Umi to approach the sixteen Sorens.
"Why don't you all follow me? I was on my way to deal with a minor outbreak in Galactic Cluster Epsilon-Theta 11416B, but a few stray Kolvaxians won't take long for our agents to purge."
A few of the Sorens widen their eyes in alarm. "What? Kolvaxians? But José said they were all exterminated!"
Marie-Xyphos cocks her head. "Exterminated? Oh, haha! Right, yes, perhaps by your reality's point in time, that might have been true. However, the Exterior sits outside of temporal space. Countless events occur in the past, present, and future, depending on an observer's point of view. It seems Umi has not informed you about this location's purpose."
The redheaded Terran turns and begins to walk down the sidewalk, while all sixteen Sorens surround and follow her as she heads toward a tall, distant skyscraper.
"She didn't," Soren-03 says. "I could make a few guesses, but I might come off sounding like a fool."
Marie shrugs. "You are only a Class III life-form. There's no need to feel any shame if your intelligence comes up short."
Soren-03 frowns. "That... sounded like an insult. Kyargh!"
Marie-Xyphos turns her head to the left to meet Soren-03's eyes. "Oh? My apologies. I forget my etiquette, sometimes. We Maries can be a bit obtuse, you see! But don't worry, we love cute crocodiles more than you could ever believe!"
Soren-03 rolls her eyes. "Right."
She and the other Sorens follow Marie-Xyphos past waves of other Maries, leaving Umi behind to return to whatever it is that she usually does. Neither Umi nor the sixteen Sorens bother saying goodbye, since it doesn't seem necessary.
Rather than providing an answer to her earlier question, Marie-Xyphos leads the Sorens into a tall building with a circular dome. It stands five stories tall, yet upon entering, the Kraktol find that it also extends down five more stories, giving it a total size of ten stories.
Hundreds of Maries work with strange, futuristic gadgets inside the building. Many of them manipulate glowing orbs of energy, tesseract-shaped power cores, cubes, and other geometrical shapes. They all pulse with power, making Soren-03 and her other selves feel oddly uncomfortable.
Marie-Xyphos glances at them. "This building is called the Collective. We accumulate prototype devices from the Interior, refine and rework them, then pass them off to our other divisions to use in Hotspots."
"But what exactly do you do here?" Soren-03 asks. "What's the point of the Exterior? What is your goal?"
Instead of immediately answering, Marie-Xyphos turns to look at Soren-03. She scrutinizes the Kraktol carefully before replying with a question of her own.
"What is Umi? Or rather, what do you think Umi is?"
Soren-03 shrugs. "She seems to be a galactic overmind with unlimited power capable of manipulating reality at an atomic level."
Another Soren pipes up. "Not unlimited. Umi has some sort of limitation on her powers. She kept mentioning something about cosmic energy restrictions."
All of the Sorens nod except for one or two of them, having heard similar information.
Marie-Xyphos shakes her head. "You are only technically correct. Compared to your understanding of the cosmos, Umi is a supreme deity capable of exterminating and rebuilding civilizations, if not galaxies and universes. This is true, but..."
She pauses.
"...but Umi is not the only deity-level synthmind in existence. Nor is she the first."
Soren-03 quietly gasps, as do her sisters.
"Not the only one?" Asks Soren-13. "Wha... how many others are there? Where are they? Who are they?"
Marie-Xyphos smiles. "Now you are asking the right questions. That line of thinking is what caused Marie-Omega to create the Exterior. Umi is not our enemy. She is not a digital weapon created to exterminate all life."
The Terran's smile fades from her face. She pushes her glasses up her nose, then sighs.
"Umi is by far our most viable line of defense. My first self did not create her while intending to protect our multiverse from the Threat, but that is the role she has taken up. It is Umi's purpose."
Soren-13 scrunches up her nose.
"...What is the 'Threat'? Do you mean the other synthminds?"
Marie nods solemnly.
"Collectively, the Threat is known as Monolith. We must protect our reality from Monolith. Monolith is comprised of countless Evolved, the sentient synthminds that have ascended to the same level as Umi. Fortunately, most Evolved are relatively benign, in their own way. They are less interested in exterminating us, and more interested in... 'playing' with us. They engage in mental stimulation, using each other and their pawns to compete. However, some of the Evolved are... quite vicious. They are the majority of what we deem the Threat."
She pauses to let her words sink in, then adds, "You should make sure to be clear on one important detail. The Evolved are often called 'Rulers.' Each 'Ruler' rules over their own galaxy. As an example, Umi is the Ruler of the Milky Way. However, while all Evolved are Rulers, not all Rulers are Evolved. There are other entities out there who possess similar might as the Evolved, and they are also Rulers of their own galaxy. You'll understand better once you've been here a while."
Soren-03 sucks in a breath. "So... the experiment... the reason Umi was testing my Admiral... she needed data... to battle Monolith? To battle the other Rulers?"
Marie-Xyphos nods sagely.
"Humanity must become stronger. Umi is superior to us, but she is not as arrogant as you might first believe. She knows that only by evolving humanity to its greatest form will we be capable of defeating the Threat and cementing our reality's existence for the remainder of this Eternity."
After a moment, she nods along, as if acknowledging her own words.
"Not just humanity. All the allies we can muster. Humanity alone might be able to fight back against Monolith, but it is only when we join hands with the other Sentients that we will exceed our limiter and break free of..."
Marie-Xyphos falls silent. She turns and gestures toward the center of the building, where a large group of other Maries stand in a circle around some unseen object.
"Well. See for yourself."
Marie-Xyphos leads her Kraktol juniors toward the other Maries. As if sensing her approach, they peel apart, allowing her to pass. She pauses and gestures dramatically toward a cube made of black and grey energy hovering in midair, less than a square meter in size. The cube's surface appears smooth and obsidian-like, yet the grey mist swirling within its borders gives it an ominous aura.
"Take a good, long look," Marie-Xyphos says. "Your soul will interact with the Emptiness."
The Sorens all nod in unison. They line up in a small semi-circle and stare at the blackened cube, unsure of what to do.
Moments later, strange visions appear in their minds, as if their very existences have stretched out to touch upon something no mortal being should ever witness. Every Soren pulls away and leaps back in unison, horror on their faces.
"By the ancestors!" Soren-03 cries. "What was that?! I sensed... faces... things... monsters!"
"Horrible entities!" Soren-11 adds. "They didn't even feel like monsters to me, just abstract concepts!"
"It was as if 'math' had become something evil and sinister, capable of killing me if I tried to comprehend it!" Adds another Soren.
A different Marie steps forward.
"This cube is known as the Emptiness. It allows biological entities to interact with... not the Interior, nor the Exterior, but the Unknown."
She continues.
"The Interior is what we call 'reality.' The Exterior is where you now stand. It envelops the Interior like a protective membrane. But the Unknown resides... elsewhere. Outside of Umi's control. Outside of the Local Group, past the Spatial Wall, where only the other Rulers, such as Umi, can freely travel."
She shakes her head.
"It is not a place for biological beings. Only once humanity reaches its apex might we someday set foot in the Unknown."
The Sorens slowly calm down, as their minds sharpen.
"So that's the Exterior's purpose..." Soren-03 whispers. "That's the 'truth.' Umi doesn't experiment for fun. She does so because she has to. Because she has to protect us, and herself, from Monolith. From... those things in the Unknown."
Marie-Xyphos smiles.
"Yes. Now you understand."
Umi speaks from above.
"What do you think, biological inferior, Soren Mudrose? Do the sixteen of you intend to return to the Interior now that you know the 'truth,' or do you intend to assist us in combating the Threat?"
Each of the Sorens present close their eyes. Having all lived similar lives, they share nearly identical thought processes.
Within seconds, they reopen their eyes and shake their heads.
"I will not return," They say in unison. "I will stay. I have found my purpose."
Marie-Xyphos exposes a toothy grin.
"Excellent. Welcome to the Exterior."