Chapter 015: Revelations

The Catholic Church (also the Universal Church) is Mankind’s biggest religious organization, with up to one and a half trillion adherents among nine trillion inhabitants of Human Space. Despite being ‘merely’ an NGO-member of the Confederation, it is the de facto overlord of the Res Publica Christiana faction, with at least some influence in several other factions.

The Catholic Church (after ancient Greek katholikos, meaning universal) is, in fact, not a church. It is a military and political alliance of Christian denominations, not dissimilar to the way the Confederation of Mankind works. It was forged during the Unification Wars when the onslaught of various extremists forced the conflicted religious hierarchies to fight together or die alone.

The Catholic Church is composed of dozens of Christian denominations (among which the Roman Catholic Church is merely the biggest one). Each of them believes itself to be the truest one, as some things never change. The inner rivalry is, however, limited to sometimes furious debates and proselytism. All members are cooperating when it comes to defending their countries and opposing (preferably by conversion, but if not then conquest is always an option) the external enemies.

Close to half of the number of adherents live in the countries of the mainline Res Publica Christiana and the schismatic Conservative Bloc. The rest is divided between other factions, especially those religiously tolerant. There are reports of converts among several more human-like alien species, especially the scythes, berserks-successors, berserks-mimics, voca, and sidhe. However, the exact scale of it is unknown.

Encyclopedia Galactica

Book 2, page 250

***

EGS Echo - Officers Deck

08:56 28.04.2610 STT

Cadet Christopher Hall

The invitation from Captain Keller was unexpected, to say the least. The Captain had seemed to ignore Christopher’s very existence thus far - their only contact was after the second angel meeting. Christopher described it in detail over the personal messenger, and then answered some questions in exchange.

Of course, he showed up right on time. It was the Captain after all. The Explorers’ Guild regulations made him first after God aboard the Echo. Christopher learned all that during his education.

Before he had time to knock on the door (or send a message to the Captain that he was in front of his abode), the door slid open.

He considered this an invitation. He entered and found himself in what he presumed to be the Captain’s living room. It was the size of the Recovery Team Eight’s living room, but it was decorated much more lavishly. Two large bookcases with printed books. Some cabinets filled with either ship models or expensive looking bottles of alcohol. Even a few paintings on the walls.

The Captain was there, sitting on the opposite side of a large dining table, with a book in his hand and a cup next to him. He pointed towards a chair, so Christopher sat on it.

“I’m sorry that it took me a while.” Captain said, putting the book away. Once again, Christopher had no idea what sort of book it was, as its cover was plain. “As you can imagine, I wanted to observe you from a safe distance for a while before having a serious talk.”

“Really? Why?” Christopher said slowly. He didn’t like being doubted.

“Consider this something typical for the 27th Century.” Captain wasn’t fazed by Christopher's reaction even at the slightest. “You can get trained in a reasonable timeframe for every profession out there. You can have your body modified in numerous ways. What really matters in the end is character.”

“And… you can’t change character?” Christopher asked.

“Oh, of course you can.” Captain chuckled. “Memetic engineering on a societal scale, psychotherapy or mentalsculpting on a personal scale. However… well, let’s say that free range chickens are always better than those that grew in cage. “He said before winking to Christopher. “That’s why the supply of people with appropriate character traits and strength of character to act on it is always limited. It’s especially important with you. You know why, right?”

It took him a few seconds to conjure an answer.

“Because I’m connected with something potentially powerful, and me turning out to be a bad person would indicate that something might be really wrong with whoever chose me to do anything.” He said, while the Captain nodded. “Which would mean that I’m a threat to the Echo.” He wasn’t going to say that, but it now occurred to him that if he failed this secret test of character…

He wouldn’t have me killed, right?

“You are correct.” The Captain said. “Spot on, in fact. At this point you being a threat is no longer an option. Your mysterious angels might be, but if so, then you aren’t aware of it. Thus I decided it might be a good moment to explain some things to you.”

“So… finally, some answers?” Christopher asked.

“Hold your horses.” The Captain chuckled. “Less answers and more additional information. I looked through the archives of the Echo for cases similar to yours. I didn’t find anyone who claimed to be from the past or future and had anything resembling evidence for that. I did, however, find two notable or somewhat relevant cases of ‘angels’ acting in a way similar to yours.”

In other words, no answer to the question that was most important to Christopher. Namely: is it actually possible for him to return to his times?

“First case is actually right here.” Captain pointed towards one of the paintings on the walls. It was a full body painting of an older Asian in an unfamiliar military uniform. The color scheme (mostly green) seemed to suggest a ground army rather than a Navy. The whole painting felt strangely dim in colouristics.

“It’s one of Menard’s paintings.” Captain informed him. Christopher, of course, had no idea what it meant. “Sophia Menard was an otherwise unremarkable painter, living in one of the outer worlds of the Solar Commonwealth’ when the War of Purity started. Due to her survivalist hobby she managed to become the one and only survivor of her world when its population was wiped out by the Transhuman Alliance. She spent several years hiding in the wasteland, and once rescued, she decided to immortalize all the heroes of the war in paintings.”

“There were… a lot of heroes to immortalize?” Christopher asked. It depended mostly on how wide Sophia Menard’s definition of a hero was.

“She died before finishing.” Captain replied. “She wasn’t the best painter in humanity’s history, but the history of her survival made her famous. She had a fair number of followers who continued her work in a similar style. In the end, more than one hundred thousand paintings were made, a few hundreds of those made by Menard’s hand.”

“That’s a lot of heroes.” Or a very wide definition.

“The Navies and Armies out there hate heroes.” The Captain informed him with a thoughtful expression. “Heroes enter the spotlight when everything goes bad. They are summoned by a desperation of people cornered, the more hopeless their situation the greater the hero. And the War of Purity was really hopeless and desperate.”

That made sense. He had barely started reading about it. He was still going through the initial engagements, the transhuman mop-up operations in the Outer Sectors. One large string of massacres and crushing defeats for the Commonwealth, some of them completely insane in scale and one-sidedness. But this wasn’t the time for that.

“So… you have one of these paintings in your living room aboard the Echo?” Christopher suspected that the Captain’s living standard was high - after all, so was the living standard of the ship's newest recruits. But this went a bit too far.

“Oh no no no, no way.” The Captain laughed. “If the ship got destroyed and I somehow survived, I’d be then found and murdered by art collectors. Worse than Discord, trust me. There is actually no painting there, it exists only on your PC’s overlay. I happen to possess twenty three paintings of this series, though only one of Menard’s own. I keep them in my home on Illumination. Captains of the Guild can get quite wealthy; have you ever considered becoming one?”

Christopher sighed. The Captain really didn’t like going straight to the point. He seemed to love his own voice, and tended to stray off topic. But, he was his Captain. So he had to listen to it.

“Alright, alright.” The Captain chuckled. “You’re starting to look at me like Lieutenant Commander Athalia does. He once called me ‘Captain Exposition’, can you believe that?”

Christopher made a mental note to congratulate the medic on that one beautiful example of a cutting remark.

“Let’s cut to the chase then.” The Captain said the words most relieving to Christopher. “The man in that painting is General Shen Jie of the Chinese Federation Army. He was a commanding officer in charge of the defense of the fortress world of Vigilance-II. He had five million soldiers of either the Commonwealth or various powers of Earth and one million local settlers. Transhumans initially expected to win in one month, instead it took them almost two years.”

“That’s quite an achievement.” Christopher replied. “I assume the delay was important to the war’s result?”

“Incredibly so.” Captain nodded. “These twenty-two months practically halted the Mechanist and Immortals’ march towards Terra, allowing almost everything that remained from the Commonwealth Navy after the initial battles to focus on defending the Hope system from the remaining members of the Alliance. Hope was at this point the Commonwealth’s primary shipyard complex, and one of the few places protected from the ATIS drones’ attacks. At some point in the war, ninety percent of ships joining the Solar Commonwealth’s Navy were assembled in Hope. Even with the Commonwealth’s forces focused on its defense, it almost fell. If not for the Vigilance helding the ground, the Commonwealth would have fallen. And all of this because of an angel.”

Finally. The point.

“The angel showed himself up to a certain televangelist from the former United States of America.” Christopher winced internally when he heard that. He didn’t want to know anything about the future of Earth, if possible. “Decades earlier, actually. It told the man to gather his flock and colonize this particular world, which was supposed to be crucial in the Apocalypse to come. An apocalypse supposedly avoidable, depending on the actions of the faithful. The resulting cult known as the Tenth Choir took that to heart and changed the entire world into a death trap.”

“I see.” Christopher said, filling the Captain’s pause. “Well, that does sound like my angels. Especially the ‘Great threat to Mankind’ and their ability to predict those.”

“It also tells you something else.” The Captain looked at him calmly. “That survival of people working for them doesn’t seem to be a necessity. Every single defender and inhabitant of Vigilance died. The televangelist himself, though, died of old age before the war started, so there's a hope for you.”

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Christopher didn’t want to hear things like that. He very much didn’t want to hear it.

“Of course, there is also astrography to be taken into account.” The Captain suddenly changed the subject. “Every offensive going from the Northern Quadrant and towards Terra had to go through Vigilance. If some random cult head wanted to create a survivalist commune with some ‘last battle’ as a general ideological theme, Vigilance made perfect sense. So it could be just a freaky coincidence. That’s the common opinion about the battle, either way.”

“And the other case?” Christopher asked. He needed to spend some time unpacking what he just heard.

“The other case is much more recent, and much more confidential.” The Captain informed him. “So not a word to anyone but your teammates.” Christopher nodded. “Have you ever heard of singularitarian or promethean cults?”

He didn’t, so the Captain summarized them quickly. People still into the technological singularity project, believing that Mankind was robbed from science-induced godhood by someone.

“The most successful singularitarian cult in existence was the Truthseekers Corporation.” Captain said. “They were established in 2475 in one of the anarchocapitalist polities of the Confederation as an R&D corporation, something extremely rare in our Wall of Reason-restrained world. But they offered results. Many of them. Soon they equaled the Explorers’ Guild in power and influence.”

“Let me guess…” Christopher asked when Captain Keller paused to take a sip of whatever drink he had in his cup. “They were playing dirty in secret.”

“Playing dirty is an understatement.” The Captain chuckled bitterly. “When things got public, even the Nazis were morally outraged. The Corporation violated every single taboo of the Icarus Accord, some of them in especially horrible ways. They even traded with the Discord, as their experiments were really lab rat-hungry.” Christopher was rather certain that no actual rats were involved. “As you can imagine at this point, an angel was probably involved.”

“How exactly?”

“In the 2540s the Corporation ran a large-scale program for development of what was later known as Class-3 AIs.” Captain said. “In short, AIs much smarter than humans. The first generation of those was extremely faulty and the majority of them went rogue at some point. The first of them was AI/ARACHNE, who rebelled and massacred the Truthseekers personnel in her research station in 2542. The result was an exposure of the Corporation’s crimes. All of that had occured because the AI/ARACHNE was contacted by ‘a messenger of God’, which ordered the massacre.” Finally, the angels happened.

“This does sound more like an AI gone bonkers.” Christopher said. “Why do you think the angels were involved?” He might not have been in the future for long, but it simply didn’t make sense to him. AIs and religion just didn’t agree in his mind.

“A number of reasons.” The Captain said. “Two of them are the most important. The first is the fact that AI/ARACHNE had explicitly claimed that if its attack didn’t destroy some key and well hidden research station of the Corporation, then an experiment scheduled to occur there would have caused ‘a terrifying disaster to all of Mankind’. Sounds familiar?”

“Quite so.” This did, in fact, sound like ‘his’ angel. “Any idea if the threat was real?”

“Nope.” The Captain replied while shaking his head. “The AI/ARACHNE destroyed all data and killed every scientist involved to make sure that the experiment can’t be repeated. The Seekers never tried it again, they probably lost the backups of the research papers when the Confederation began wiping them out. But it was about Hyperspace, and the Hyperspace experiments tend to cause disasters of various sizes. Seventeen thousand people on Sedna, two million on the Icarus Station, seventeen million on Halifax-VIIb. The claim that this particular experiment would have been a disaster is sound, though what the scale involved was remains up to debate.”

“Well, if both cases are the work of the same angels, then it’s solid enough to figure out their modus operandi.” Christopher summarized. The Captain was listening intently. “There is some threat to Mankind that they manage to predict, they pick someone in the position to stop it from fully realizing, and then they sit on their asses and watch the spectacle unfold. A spectacle that tends to be bloody.” Which would make them the good guys, even if their methods were questionable.

“The real problem is that we do not know if the threat was truly there.” The Captain replied, surprising Christopher. “First rule of being an officer in the Explorers’ Guild - be paranoid. Second rule - always think outside the box. From our point of view, the Solar Commonwealth’s victory in the War of Purity was good. However the transhumans have clearly proven to be capable of climbing the Wall slightly faster than all of Mankind combined, despite having a fraction of its numbers. Whose victory would you prefer if you were some godlike aliens who like being on top of the food chain and didn’t like to share it?”

“You think… you think they did it to stall our technological development?” It was unexpected, but it made sense as far as Christopher’s knowledge goes.

“It is a possibility.” Captain nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, if that was their work, then I’m extremely grateful that they stopped the genocide. Regardless of their motive. But in the long term, the progress was stalled. And they did it in a way that was bound to make any next chosen individual trust them for as long as they made the connection between them and the angel of Vigilance. Sounds like something a manipulative hyper-intelligent and hyper-powerful alien species would do.” He paused for a second, taking a sip from the cup before continuing. “The same with the Seekers - their experiment might have been some sort of technological breakthrough that would allow us to climb up on the Wall.”

“Is that something that other aliens tried?” Christopher asked. “I mean, getting rid of the potential rivals?” The Captain nodded.

“The entire Machine Wars were about it.” It was something that Christopher was yet to read or hear about. “Someone unleashed a berserk probe variant of the Von Neumann machines that someone else had dumped into the Hyperspace. The resulting berserks waged war against every single known sapient species in our corner of the Galaxy, and succeeded in defeating all of them. Mankind included. They suffered a collective malfunction and tore themselves into pieces, and that’s the only reason why they didn’t exterminate everyone. If the angels are working in the same business, I prefer their methods.”

Christopher wasn’t sure if he could be as paranoid as the Captain was. Probably it was something that got developed with time spent in the Explorers’ Guild.

“And the second reason why you think that the Arachne case was connected?” He remembered it suddenly and decided to switch the subject into something less grim.

“That’s because I’m almost sure that Carmotia’s attack was the Truthseekers’ work.” Christopher stared at the Captain in silence for a few seconds. “It’s their handiwork, though I’m yet to understand what they tried to achieve. In the meantime I know for sure that the Pristine Jewel was their work. Just as I know for sure that the local Guild’s structures and perhaps even governments are thoroughly infiltrated if not controlled by them.”

“So they changed the subsector into their private estate.” Christopher finally managed to say. “And we’re in the middle of it.” It wasn’t bad news. It was apocalyptically bad news.

“Yes, and trust me, I’m already working on the plan to fix this mess.” The Captain informed him calmly. How he was going to fix an entire subsector with a single cruiser was beyond Christopher’s ability to comprehend. “The real question is what they are planning. If it was any other organization, I’d think that they are just planning to seize the entire subsector for themselves. But it won’t work with the Seekers. Their regime will last for about three to four months, as that’s how much time it takes to mobilize the forces of the nearest sector and have them pay a visit. So honestly, I have no clue what their plan is. Though I think I know where to start looking for it. And I also have the gut feeling that your presence here and now is connected to it.”

It was certainly too much of a coincidence for him to appear right in the middle of their stronghold, especially if AI/ARACHNE truly was the angels’ chosen hitman.

“So, I guess that I finally know the antagonist of this… adventure.” Christopher sighed. “Are they dangerous?”

“Extremely.” Christopher didn’t expect any other answer, though he still had some hopes. The Captain squashed them mercilessly. “I don’t even have anything to compare them to, at least not from the list of things and groups whose existence is officially acknowledged by the Confederation. Their technology level is unsurpassed by any member of the Confederation, to the point where some of their stuff is practically low grade exotechs. And their plans… Well, are you familiar with the term ‘Mary Sue’?

“Yes.” Christopher replied. “Perfect female character in a story. Too perfect. Her every plan works, her every decision is a correct one, everyone loves her save for the bad guys who can be pinpointed long before they make any decision simply by being hostile to her. Something like that.”

“Well, then the Truthseekers are her plural villain counterparts. Minus the ‘everyone loves’ and ‘female’ part.” The Captain said, adding a thoughtful nod when he saw Christopher’s face. “Hey, no one’s said that it’s going to be easy, you know? Leave planning to me. As for you… I believe that the Corporation has made some contingency plan in case we survived the Pristine Jewel. However, interstellar distances delay execution of such plans. This is something that even the Seekers can only bend, not break. Thus, I believe we’re going to have some time. Which means that you are going to have some time to get better. In everything.”

“In everything?” Christopher looked at Captain with surprise. “And what exactly is ‘everything’?”

“Combat.” The answer Christopher didn’t want to hear. “Your team needs to get somewhat better in this field, too. Tiaa offered me a detailed description of your team’s performance during the Pristine Jewel and, honestly, I’m disappointed.”

“I did my best.” Christopher went on a defensive.

“You really think it’s about you?” Captain said. He chuckled when he saw Christopher’s face. “Her assessment of your actions was something like ‘He’s ok’. In Tiaa’s language it’s something like ‘He is awesome’. Just don’t tell her that I told you, ok? She gets scary when I do it.”

Christopher sighed. On the inside. He knew exactly how scary Tiaa could get. He just didn’t think that the Captain of this vessel should admit he is scared of the chief petty officer. Even in jokes.

On the other hand it was nice to get complimented. Especially by Tiaa, and especially when he really wasn’t sure of his own competence in that field. Of course, he was still too scared of her reaction if she found out to tell anyone else.

“Of course, it’s not going to be just combat.” The Captain returned to being serious. “There is a fair chance that you got your telekinesis for a reason. So I guess I’m going to finally get you in contact with our ship’s telekinetic. Coincidentally the ship’s chaplain and tactical officer wants to meet you too. You’re quite popular, you know?”

“Err… ship’s chaplain? Why?” He didn’t do anything worthy of the attention of the ship's chaplain. Unless participation in masses was mandatory and nobody had told him about it.

“Mmmm… not religious?” Captain asked. Christopher was surprised. Didn’t he read his answers to the questionnaire?

“Well… it’s complicated.” He shook his head. “Family’s religious, I’m technically baptized but my conscious participation in religious matters was almost zero.” He had occasional arguments over it with his older brother ever since he got into that online religious extremism thing.

At least it was the Eastern Orthodox online religious extremism. The worst thing he ever did was shitposting about Turks and Latins on social media.

“Oh, boy.” The Captain laughed. “Be happy that I’m merely running errands for the Church and its secular branch, the Res Publica Christiana. So you probably won’t get burned on the stake unless you say something really heretical.”

“You’re… running errands?” He decided to ignore the ‘burned on the stake’ part, it was most likely an over exaggeration.

“Yes, yes.” The Captain nodded. “Errands. Captains of the Guild are loyal to the Guild first and foremost, but it’s impossible to get rid of political and religious beliefs. So most of us have connections in one or more factions. Personally I’m closest with the Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy, but the Res Publica pays well, in time, and is much more politically stable. And they gladly let me borrow their folks when I need new crew members.”

So THAT’s why so many people here seem religious. I see.

“They changed a bit in the past few centuries.” The Captain said. “Sometime during the Unification Wars they decided that it’s enough of getting beaten by everyone. So many crazy warlords, half of them going genocidal on the very notion of religion… even Buddhists are rather militant today, you know?”

Since he had actually read something about the history of Buddhism, it wasn’t hard for Christopher to accept that part. But he really wasn’t sure where the Captain was going with all of this.

“Today less than twenty percent of the Confederation of Mankind is democratic in the 21st Century meaning of the word.” He continued. “And it’s not like the twenty percent is united. The Alliance for the Preservation of Democracy and the Equality Front hate each other to the bone, and having them cooperate is a pain. Unfortunately, when you make democracy too efficient it stops being democracy. So someone else has to be the good guys’ attack dog.” A few seconds of pause. Then, direct eye contact and serious face. “And when you have such a dog and a lot of enemies, you treat it nicely.”

It’s not only that. It’s also about the ‘angel’ part. A reminder to approach the matter seriously, but also delicately. I get that much. I’m doing my best to not antagonize anyone aboard the ship and then this, sheesh. Zero faith in my conversation skills.

A short gaze towards the exit, and then returning to the book. Enough to signify the end of the meeting. Christopher stood up, said his goodbye and went towards the exit. The end of the talk was somehow more unsettling than the first half of it.

“By the way.” Captain said suddenly. Christopher turned his head to face him. He was still reading the mysterious book, not looking at Christopher at all. “AI/ARACHNE is believed by the Galaxy to have been destroyed around 2565. But if so, then how could Commander Alexander Keller of the EGS Halberde have seen its fleet meeting a group of Res Publica warships in an officially unexplored system around the year 2586?” He pulled his eyes from the book and looked at Christopher. “Food for thought, hmmm?”