“Say aaah...”

-Antioch

***Outer Rim***

***Antioch***

“What do you think you are doing!” Batlin screams from his side of the communication channel, only to be joined by a representative of the Cyber from a third connection – turning the entire fiasco into a conference.

“Introducing an unstable singularity to the outer layers of a star isn't a very sane thing to do.” The Cyber, nothing more than an androgynous voice, wastes no time and starts complaining.

“Who are you?” Batlin barks, surprised that someone managed to hijack the communication signal.

I myself am also more than a little surprised. Not so much about the fact that someone was able to intercept an open video conference – G.S. ship to ship communication is pretty poorly defended – but that the Cyber are talking to us. They never lowered themselves to speak a single word to us. What changed? Is the experiment the reason?

“Shut up, sack of flesh and bones. Nobody is interested in your continued existence,” the Cyber snarls with more emotion than I thought it capable of. Then again, this must be one of their Overminds. Maybe the higher up the ranks they are, the more freedom they have?

“I am beginning to think that this conference connection is a bad idea,” I comment calmly while watching Batlin's visual feed. “Can we kick one of them out?”

The Cyber chose not to show himself. Instead, we are fed the simple pattern of a circuit board... how original.

“We have the opportunity to talk with two important representatives at once. Wasting this opportunity might not be a good idea,” Silith whispers in a hushed voice, despite the fact that both representatives must hear her through the microphones. Then she raises her voice. “It is the perfect opportunity to tell both sides that we don't give a shit about what they want.”

“Have you lost your bit of self-preservational instinct?” Assistant adds from Batlin's side. Somehow, the A.I. wormed its way into the discussion.

A little peeved, I decide to play Silith’s game. “Neither of them is that important. Just close the connection. It's not like they could change what's going to happen,” I affirm.

“Cease your activities at once! You have no idea what you are doing!” Batlin screeches.

“The sack of bones and meat is right. Your actions are already impeding the warp-drives of all the ships within the star's reach, yours included,” the Cyber aids Batlin.

Now that’s a quick change of opinion. I regard the Cyber’s video feed. “Is he hiding because he is so ugly, or because he doesn’t have a body?”

Silith rolls her eyes and adds her own piece. “Well, shit. Looks like we have to do as we are told,” Silith mumbles. “The both of them aren't exactly showing off their awesome deductive powers by pointing out the obvious.” She raises her voice, clearly addressing the other two parties. “If you have another reason for calling than to bitch and whine, then out with it. I am tired.”

She leans closer to and whispers. “I would have never thought of this, but I like it when they squirm. You were right to use the experiment instead of conventional warfare.”

Yep. Martin told me recently that if I show up to a battle where the outcome is in doubt, then I fucked up. In future, I’ll stick to that doctrine.

“You are right.” I smirk. “It's not exactly sane of the Cyber to tell a suicidal person that their plan might actually work. Normally, you should tell them that what they are doing won't accomplish anything and that they are wasting their time.” The Cyber don't have to know that our drives work despite the gravitational waves which are creating havoc throughout the system.

Having an artificial black hole suck up the local star does all sorts of shit to n-space and affects any warp-drives which aren't dimensioned with enough leeway to balance out the interfering fluctuations which are caused by the gravity field. It just so happens that the warp-emitters of our superstructures are massively over-dimensioned for obvious reasons.

That’s also why we haven’t launched any of the defensive fleets. They are all safely stored away in the superstructures’ dockyards.

Neither of the representatives have an answer for that, and they show it by staying silent.

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Finally, Batlin is able to reign in his temper. “What do you want?”

“Nothing,” Silith informs him. “All we want is already accomplished. We get to test our new weapon. That your ships are caught within the blast radius is a fortunate circumstance as far as we are concerned. At the same time, it'll be interesting to watch the effect of unchecked gravity waves on wormholes. Best case, they will just collapse. Worst case, there will be a strong effect on the space-time continuity, which might render warp-travel impossible in this quadrant. That’s what the scientists told me. I myself don’t know much about these things, but I imagine it would be bothersome if it takes years just to travel to the next star.” She sighs. “In any case, even if nothing happens. I wonder about the results of having one end of a wormhole inside a supernova? Will some of the energy and radiation transfer through and sterilize the other end of the connection? There is only one way to find out.”

Feeling proud, I kiss her on her cheek. “I couldn't have said it any better.”

“You are insane...” Batlin whispers. “You are going to kill millions of helpless people! The planet we are protecting is colonized! There are innocents down there.”

I shrug. “I was also an innocent when the G.S. started experimenting on me and my kin. The universe is dark, cruel, and cold. If it decides to kick you in the butt it was simply bad luck. Besides, we are giving the people down there on your planet a great chance. There aren't many who can witness a supernova first hand.”

“Actually, it won't be a real supernova,” the Cyber interrupts. “The star itself will stay intact, though it might shed a few layers. Let's call it a really strong solar flare instead. And it's also very likely that the organics on the planet will never get to see the explosion. The radiation which will be caused by the oscillating singularity will act like a really strong micro-oven, so it will fry any unprotected installations before the star actually erupts.”

“Why are you so calm about this!? Stupid machine!” Batlin screeches.

“Because I am one of the Cyber's immortal Overminds. I can't die. I am safe on the other side of the wormhole, though I will mourn all the effort and resources that will go to waste because of this,” the Cyber explains without any hint of emotion. “You are the unlucky ones who won't get out of this. Pray to your gods, or whatever it is that you do to prepare for permanent retirement.”

Batlin splutters his tentacles and the grey alien disconnects his side of the call. Moments later, the entire G.S. fleet starts moving towards the local star.

I don't care about the futile gesture. The experiment will be finished long before they have any chance of arriving. Besides, we are already at the point of no return.

Silith sighs, showing mixed emotions on her face. “That felt good, and really cheap at the same time.”

Raising my hand, I point at the still open connection with the Cyber. “You are still here? Care to tell us your name? It's the first time that a Cyber Overmind lowered itself to speak to us.”

“Just call me Overmind – and I only joined this conversation to make sure that you know what you are doing. It's not every day that I encounter beings whose thinking is so admiringly logical. Blowing up an entire solar system is a solution that I would expect from myself, but not from a Lifer. I need to adjust my scenarios accordingly. It's almost as if you are also enlightened. Would you consider switching sides?”

“Never!” Silith answers before I can.

“I knew that would be the answer.” Overmind doesn't seem to be upset. “In any case. If you make a habit of blowing up any star in which we encounter each other, then fighting you will quickly get too cost intensive, so I will retreat with all my forces and give this sector to your backers. There are other players in this galaxy, other human factions who you haven't even encountered. There are Hob and those who prefer to play the game from the shadows.

“Don't misunderstand me. Pulling back my forces doesn't mean that we are suddenly friends. It just means that a continued conflict in this area takes away too much of my attention. I hoped that I could crush John's little seedling before it sprouted, but that's no longer the case.”

With that, the line is disconnected, leaving me with Silith.

After a moment of hesitation, I share my opinion with my wife. “That was strange. He knew the Lifer’s faction leader. Maybe we didn’t talk to a real overmind, but to a personality from the V.C.?”

“We have to ask John for confirmation.” She tilts her head and looks at our fake-window. “Oh, how pretty!” she bubbles and claps her hands together, watching an ominous dark orb distorting the local star’s shape. Her smile turns cruel and hateful, but strangely satisfied.

I feel reminded of a scene from years ago when she blew up a whole research station out of spite. “Silith, could it be that you get off on blowing up people?”

She stops smiling and tilts her head, seemingly inspecting her own emotions. Several long seconds pass until she finally admits, “Only if they are in league with the G.S.”

I wet my lips, feeling like I just rediscovered a lost side of hers. That aspect of her personality was buried under decades of living as demons. I almost forgot about that time.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I am the only psycho in this room. You are at least as burdened as me. Or did you forget what you tried to do to Ouluk?” She looks away from the deforming star, and then the picture blacks out as all of our superstructures enter warp to escape imminent doom.

Chewing on my inner cheek, I try to deny it. “I did nothing to the little monster.”

“You locked him inside our spawning grounds...” Her expression turns disappointed. “You can kill him any way you want, but please don’t feed him to our demonlings. They get digestion troubles from intestines. I was just in time to stop them.”

Damn! “So he is alive?”

“Just a little chewed up,” she grumbles. “They got to the soft parts before I managed to stop them.”

“Good.” I sigh. “I admit that visiting him was a mistake. I wanted him to suffer until we give him back to the G.S., but when I saw him I just snapped.”

She wriggles her tail expressively, a gesture of accord. “Though, won't that be a problem now that we wiped out the G.S. base? Their closest large presence is over a decade away.”

I stiffen. “By my Belt! You are right!” What do I do now? Do we have to keep Ouluk and the other prisoners in their cells until they die of old age? I don’t think that I can resist the urge to kill him for long if I know that he is just within reach. I look at Silith. “Are you sure that I can’t feed him to the little ones?”

Her expression turns disappointed. “No… not unless you butcher him properly beforehand… and I hope that such a thought is as disconcerting to you as it is to me.”

“Hm.” I look at the now black window. “I might actually consider it.” I don’t have to butcher him all at once. Maybe I can cut off pieces and feed them while he watches? I just have to be careful that he survives. Actually, that would be perfect! I would have so much time to get used to his death. I mean, sooner or later he will die of old age. I would get my revenge and have him live with the knowledge of his mistakes!

“Can I borrow your meat-cleaver?”