Do you know how many galaxies there are in our universe?

Billions, they say. Maybe trillions.

But, right now, I only cared about the one.

As a child, the Milky Way and all its stars had seemed infinite to me. No human would ever see the edge of that great space. Not in my lifetime.

But now, I was looking down on our spiral galaxy. And I watched it all turn black. The Plague was an infinite beast: the more it consumed, the larger it became. The larger it became, the more it consumed.

Our universe was running out of space.

Back on Earth, I once ran for government. My ex-wife always tried to get me to wear my uniform. Before any fundraising gala or any political rally, she would always tell me:

“You know they love a man in uniform.”

And I would tell her, “No, I think you love a man in uniform.”

I always refused to wear it. Even at the Pacific Accords, I showed up in civilian clothes, because that’s what I wanted to be - a civilian. When I left the military behind, I told myself that I left for good. I told myself that I had learned better, that it was impossible to bring peace when you’re dressed for war.

But... I never got rid of the suit. You know what they say. You can take the man out of the Marines, but you’ll have to rip the Corp from his cold, dead hands.

Good luck with that.

Well, after all these years, the suit still fit.

Sonya’s eyes went wide when she saw me walk into my office. She stood up, and gave me a joking salute, “Sir!”

Guess my ex-wife was right. People do love a man in uniform. Which was exactly why I was wearing it.

“At ease,” I grumbled, but I was surprised to find how easy it was to slip back into the old ways.

“You’re sure you want to do this?”

“I don’t. But that’s exactly why I must.”

If I’m not mistaken, there was a hint of pride in her smile.

My cane clacked on the metal tiles as we walked to the low city’s elevators. Three massive columns that served as the main arteries from our part of town, to the rest of the Ship. The ride up was short, only about twenty minutes, though I had to keep popping my ears.

The doors opened on a flat plateau somewhere in the Mid Decks. Neat, military rows of barracks and warehouses, all surrounded by a maze of barbed wire and patrolling soldiers. The backdrop of the city glittered in the distance, rising up the curved hull of the Ship.

We got a military escort, which is to say we hitched a ride in a Jeep, all the way to the last warehouse in the row. Three staggered rows of guards waved us through, each one demanding to see just a little more identification.

The warehouse was an armory, stacked with boxes and racks and every piece of military equipment we had brought with us. Munitions from the EU and Russia. Lockers filled with Korean kevlar and Chinese tech. Unfortunately, in light of the advances we had made by studying the Alien technology, most of the gear was obsolete. So all the crates had been shoved to the side, and were gathering dust in the vast and cavernous space.

But in the middle of the warehouse, there was something that would never go out of style. It would remain a fixture of our people, as long as we still lived: a Council of War.

Two dozen people sat around a large, mahogany conference table. Even from this distance, I could recognize a few of the faces. The silver-haired Russian general, Kuzminov. And the genius who was halfway through uniting the Sub-saharan. Her name was Kangongo.

I even spotted one of my old rivals, Admiral Burren, with his perfectly combed hair and the stars glittering on both shoulders as if to say, Five Stars. Count ‘em.

Two guards, who were guarding the open perimeter of the Table, stopped us. They were only on duty to keep prying eyes away from the Council, but you could tell by the set of their jaws that they took this job seriously.

“Halt! You can’t be here,” one of the guards said to me. He had a thick slavic accent, and his hair was buzzed in an undercut.

“You sure about that?” Sonya asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Vasiliy,” General Kuzminov stood up at the table, and waved the guards off. “Let him through. Don’t you know who that is?”

Sonya smirked at the Guards, but to their credit they didn’t react.

“Pah, I should have left them both on Earth,” Kuzminov said, rising from his chair. “All the good soldiers are dead, yes? Except you, that is.”

“Thank you, General,” I said as he held out his chair for me to sit in. My joints protested as I sat, but I managed to hide the pain from my face.

“Welcome to the table, Colonel. We’ve been wondering when you would join us. Maybe you can help me shut up Admiral Burren, because all his plans are stupid.”

“Sorry,” Admiral Burren said, “How many wars have you won?”

“We are walking into an Alien trap, not bombing some backwater village. It is a little different, no?”

Before Burren could reply, a young voice cut them off:

“Stop.”

To my surprise, the two grey-headed old men did stop. Kangongo, a girl in her twenties with short rows of hair pressed tight against her head, had silenced them both. Her uniform was beige, the color of sand, and though she wore the highest honors of the African Union, she wore them quietly.

“Something tells me,” Kangongo said. “The Colonel is joining us because he already has a plan. Am I correct?”

“Absolutely,” I said, “Let’s start with what we know. Who has spent time with our Alien?”

Kangongo was the only one to raise her hand. The rest… hadn’t done their homework.

“OK. I’ll fill you all in. First thing you need to know: our Alien has a name. He calls himself Icthyos. Icthyos says he has met this other alien before. He calls her ‘his sibling’ and he says she is snobby, even for an Alien.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Burren would love her,” the Russian general said.

Burren smiled, and said something in russian that made Kuzminov jump across the table.

“Gentlemen!” Kangongo shouted, and the peace returned. “Please continue, Colonel.”

“Icthyos says this other alien calls herself Azthera. Icthyos seems to believe that this is a trap, but it is not designed to kill. The Aliens usually only interact, if they want to steal from each other.”

“How do they do that?”

“They are telepathic. When they get in close proximity, one can reach out and attempt to dominate the other. Think of it as wrestling, except instead of pushing the other out of the ring, they… well, it’s not pretty. Our Alien, Icthyos, was disabled when one of his other siblings tried it over Earth.”

“Is that how our Alien crashed on Earth? Was he attacked by one of his siblings then?” Kangongo asked.

“Huh,” I said. “I suppose that’s possible. I’m not sure. Anyway, this is our first advantage: we know it’s a trap. But it’s our second advantage that I’ve built a plan around. Azthera doesn’t know we exist.”

“What do you mean?” Kuzminov asked. Everyone, even Burren was staring at me now. I swallowed the lump of nervousness in my throat. I certainly did not miss these meetings.

“The Aliens had no idea humanity existed. Apparently, they’ve never seen any aliens ever. Microbes and bacteria, yes. But a planet filled with advanced lifeforms? With sentient, sapient beings? The Aliens think they’re the only intelligent life in existence. Which brings me to our third and final advantage. Our Alien will lose.”

Now, even Burren’s face went sour with confusion. “Explain.”

“When the two Aliens go head to head, they will try to dominate each other. The one who wins is able to control the other completely. But Icthyos, our Alien, is completely disabled.”

Kangongo was smiling, and nodding. “Oh, that is perfect, Colonel. Brilliant.”

“What?” The Russian sat up, confusion reddening his face. “What is brilliant?”

“Colonel, may I?” Kangongo asked. You have to admire the eagerness of youth. I nodded at her, and she launched into an explanation.

“Our Alien is a decoy. When Azthera wins the battle of the minds, she will think she has won it all. But our Alien is disabled, he is physically incapable of doing anything with our Ship. She may be able to read his mind, but what good is that? And while she is busy trying to dominate Icthyos, we will sneak aboard her Ship and take what we need.”

“Interesting,” Burren said. “That might actually work.”

That was the closest thing to praise I had ever heard from the Admiral. I tried to hide my smile.

“OK,” the Russian said, “OK, but what are we taking? And how are we going to board her ship? Who will be doing the taking? What if everything goes horribly, horribly wrong?”

“I have no doubts that something will go wrong.” I said. “That’s why I came to you. People, there is no doubt that this is a mad gambit. We have no idea what the price of victory is. We don’t even know what victory means. All we know is that we must try something. And judging by the way she is about to jump out of her chair, I would say Kangongo has some ideas on how to start.”

After that, Zangongo was an onslaught of tactical genius. You should have seen her: all the fire and fury of a confident general, wrapped inside a prodigy’s mind Even Burren hung on to her every word.

I had done my part. The rest was up to them.

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ICYHTOS! She roared across the void. Back in her Sarcophagus, Azthera had once more regained her power. ICYTHOS, WHAT IS THIS?

But Icythos was too weak to answer. He was being crushed under the weight of her intellectual rage.

I COMMAND YOU TO ANSWER ME.

His aura was flickering, and no matter how much she overpowered his mind, she could not compel him to remove these things. There were thousands of them, crawling all over her Ship. They poured into through the melted holes in her Hull, carrying welding torches and cargo containers and all the tools necessary to deconstruct her Ship.

And when they were finished, she would have nothing left.

Unless she could dominate him.

MAKE THEM STOP, OR I WILL CRUSH YOU.

No reply.

She eased the pressure on Icythos’s mind, just enough to let him answer.

A vision slashed through her thoughts. Hideous bodies. Billions of them, living inside of Icythos’s ship. Crawling over his broken form, taking the controls from him.

Icthyos was alive, but he was no longer in control. These … worms had taken over.

WHAT ARE THEY? She demanded. She could hear the worms inside of her, talking to each other in a dozen different languages.

Azthera had lived for millions of years, and she had never seen anything like these beings. She had seen thousands of lifeforms: microbial organisms and complex protozoa and even a few algae megacolonies…

...but these creatures; they were something else entirely. They could think. How had they evolved so quickly?

And then, because Azthera was the brightest and most brilliant of her kind, she had an idea that just might solve all her problems.

Azthera loosened her grip on Icthyos’s mind. She could feel him, recoiling from the pain of domination, gasping for relief. He was fading from this life, barely clinging on in the vain hope that somehow, his puny mind might resist hers…

She let him believe that. And more, she started to pour sweet thoughts into his. Intoxicating him with promises and irresistible gifts of knowledge.

ICTHYOS, LISTEN TO ME. I HAVE SEEN GOD. HE WAITS FOR US. I CAN TAKE YOU THERE, BUT FIRST, I NEED SOMETHING FROM YOU.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THESE BEINGS?

You must trade! Icthyos demanded. His voice was weak from exhaustion. Knowledge for knowledge!

I COULD KILL YOU WITH A THOUGHT.

But you won’t, because you need what I have.

Azthera flared with anger at the insolence of his request.

What did it matter? The moment she had what she needed, Azthera would ascend. Icthyos had no idea of the treasure trove he was sitting on. And so, he would be left behind, while the Plague cleansed him and this whole damn universe.

“AGREED. Azthera thought. WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW?

Show me what God showed you, Icthyos said.

She bristled at the request, but her time was running out. The tiny, impossible beings were departing from her Ship with their ill-gotten goods.

And so, Azthera opened her mind. And Icthyos opened his.

The transfer of knowledge took only an instant.

When it was complete, Azthera began to vibrate with light. Once more, the light burned and melted the structures of her Ship, melting it into a piece of slag that would never fly again.

Icthyos screamed after her, but she was already gone.

----------------------------------------

The arms of God wrapped around Azthera, consuming the knowledge that was within her.

The exquisite agony of his voice nearly split her in twain. She was compelled to answer, though even the act of thinking caused her pain.

“What are these things? I did not create them.”

They’re called Humans, she answered.

“Strange. They have evolved too quickly. I did not know such a thing was possible. It took your kind billions of years before you were able to build even the simplest city. I had to transplant you across many universes. And they cooperate so well… It is almost a shame to cleanse them.”

You mean to get rid of them? Azthera thought. But they are new! They are unknown! You said so yourself.

“Anything that grows this fast is unstable. I do not care for instability.”

Then I will keep searching. No matter how long it takes, I will find something…

“You have wasted enough of my time.” The tendrils of light squeezed tighter around her body, making her organs burst at the seams.

“No, wait. Wait! Please-”

And then, Azthera was crushed into oblivion.

God thrust the remaining matter of Azthera’s corpse into himself, and the pillar of Light grew a fraction larger.

But this new development was cause for concern.

Leave any universe alone for long enough, and it is bound to generate some kind of lifeform. His slaves had been microbes for eons before they had reached that stage.

It would seem something was different about this “Human” species. Somehow, they had advanced faster than anything before. That kind of evolution was dangerous.

God would speed up the cleansing.

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We sent our bravest soldiers to the Alien's ship.

They flew out in boarding ships, small vessels made of reverse-engineered alien tech. Icthyos told us what to look for: he said it would glow like treasure in a pile of trash. And it was so: a device proudly displayed in the center of Azthera’s ship. It took a hundred people in exosuits to carve it out, and ten thousand drones to lift it out.

A total success… which meant that I was nervous as hell.

Nothing is ever that easy.

Kangongo and I were sitting around the council table when the alarms went off.

Part of me didn’t want to look. Part of me was too damn tired to pay attention anymore.

I wanted to go home.

I wanted to see Earth again. I wanted to see the rolling, misty hills. I wanted to smell the autumn leaves, to see the golden sunlight of the early morning.

But reality was a screeching alarm. Reality was a voice shouting: “All hands! Defensive stations!”

“We need to jump,” Kangongo uttered. I followed her gaze to the screen that was streaming an exterior view.

Where Azthera’s ship had once been, there was now a hole in reality itself. And out of that hole, poured forth a black wall of misshapen, screaming monstrosities, more numerous than the stars themselves.

They were coming for us.