Chapter Forty: Fates burden

 

Thunderchild's POV

"So...who's memories are these? I take it they're not yours?" I asked Jara as she shut the door and sat down on the rickety bed which creaked as the ancient springs took even her light weight badly. Although I had already guessed the answer, I wanted to hear Jara say it as a confirmation.

"No...in fact, I think they might be Lawrence’s." she replied, confirming my fears outright.

"Damn...I had a horrible feeling you were going to say that." I muttered as I rubbed my chin.

"So...what do we do now?"

I drew in a deep breath and let it out again slowly.

"Well...somehow we've got to find a way out, and quickly...but something tells me that this place won't let us out until we've seen what we have to see."

"And what do we have to see?" asked Jara.

"Lawrence...I think...or at least what made him the person he is."

"A psychopath?"

I chuckled and shrugged.

"Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was much more of a psychopath than Lawrence."

Jara patted me on the shoulder and squeezed it gently before standing up; I stood also and went over to the door to open it. When I opened it I found myself looking into a small room with a seat at each side and a window on the opposite side of the room to the door, outside the window darkened scenery was flashing past from left to right.

"Hey...this is a train." I muttered to Jara before stepping through the door and into the room fully, shutting the door behind me.

"How did a train get on that island?" asked Jara quizzically.

"This is Memoria...of sorts...it doesn't need to make sense." I replied, remembering my recent experience with Domino.

I could see two men sitting on the seats, one on each seat, one of them was reading a Terran newspad and the other was watching the scenery, something about the man watching out the window was familiar, and it was with something of a shock that I realised I was looking at Lawrence but much younger.

The newspad reader grunted and nodded his head approvingly.

"Anything interesting?" asked Lawrence.

"Mmmm, yes, it looks like they found some more Drakkon artefacts in the Nilveh province. Biggest find so far apparently."

"You think the Drakkons may have had an outpost there?"

The newspad reader nodded his head.

"I think so...I mean, we know that they were from outer space, we've got remains to prove they were not Terran, and we know that they were highly advanced, but not focused on Terra or else we'd find many more ruins."

Lawrence nodded and went back to looking at the scenery. After a moment or two he tapped the plasti-glass with his finger.

"Do you think they're still out there? Somewhere?" he said

The newspad reader shrugged.

"Maybe...maybe not...we still haven't found out why they left although conflict with a superior alien race could be one reason, you remember the myths about the ancient falcon god of Terra and how he was in turn ousted by our current God."

"Heh, religion...I don't do religion." replied Lawrence, shaking his head.

"Some of the religion has basis in fact." protested the reader but Lawrence was having none of it.

"Myths and fairy tales, meant to reassure us that there is someone up there taking care of everything."

"And what's wrong with a bit of reassurance?"

"It lulls us into a false sense of security. We patrol the space around Terra believing that our god will look after us, but what'll happen if a hostile alien race comes along, hmmm? Do you think that our belief in our God will matter one iota when our cities are being burnt to the ground? When the skies of Terra turn black with smoke from the countless fires that burn uncontrollably, do you think people will just turn around and say 'Oh well, never mind, God'll fix it all up.'?"

The newspad reader raised an eyebrow, knowing that he had touched on a raw nerve.

"Ok...let's go back to the Drakkons..." he said.

"The only interest I have in that ancient species is they phsyiology, with those wings and tail they look to be quite agile."

"Your point being?"

"If only we had wings and tails..." said Lawrence, at which point the train entered a long tunnel and the room was briefly plunged into blackness.

There was a heavy explosion and the floor shook, I turned around to see where Jara was and found myself in an old Third Global Conflict shelter, only it wasn't old, it was new and packed full of people. I saw Jara standing at the other end of the room and pushed my way through the crowds towards her, they parted before me, as though sensing my presence but not actually seeing me, in a kind of way it felt like I was ploughing my own path through the crowds which quickly closed up again behind me.

As I passed through the people I could hear snippets of conversation, conversation of events I had only read about in history books.

"I heard that Hallis was bombed this morning, it's terrible...millions are dead."

"The Kelnoans took Guitsburg last night, they bombed it until there was no-one to resist..."

"Are we next?"

As I got closer to Jara I could see her eyes shift to something to my left, I looked and saw that a makeshift hospital had been made in one corner of the shelter and there, treating people suffering from the effects of war, burns, particle wounds, shrapnel and many others, was Lawrence, a little older now chronologically but looking much older in appearance. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and covered in blood, as was the front of his shirt.

"There, I've done all I can for this one...but he probably won't make it through the night." he reported as he finished with a laser needle.

A low rumble shook the floor and plaster fell from the ceiling.

"Keep those wounds covered, if any of that plaster gets in it could set up an infection!" yelled Lawrence as his patient was wheeled away.

"Any others?" he asked, wiping one slightly bloodied arm across his forehead and leaving a faint smear of blood across his head.

"Not for now...but the Bejuri have just started another bombing run so expect more when it's over."

Lawrence nodded and walked across to a chair in the corner of the impromptu surgery and sat down heavily, a 'nurse' brought him a drink, and thanking her he took a long swig of it and sat back.

I turned to Jara and whispered, although I knew that he couldn't hear us anyway.

"I didn't know that he was involved like this in the Third Conflict."

Jara nodded.

"Sometimes when he was asleep I could hear him calling out for medics, stretchers, gurneys, that kind of thing...I guessed he'd been in the army though."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Lawrence, in the army? Hah!"

Jara looked back at me, her face impassive as Lawrence began to talk to one of his patients who was missing an arm and a leg and who had bandages around his face.

"So...how did you wind up in here then?" he asked

The patient groaned and coughed slightly.

"I was walking with my girlfriend to the shelter when a bomb fell on the house next to us. When I woke up I was being carried out by some passers by."

"Your girlfriend?" asked Lawrence, genuinely concerned.

"Dead...blown to pieces by the force of the blast...she was between me and the house...she probably saved my life...took the full force of the explosion."

"I'm sorry..."

The patient coughed violently.

"Aren't we all? Sorry, sorry that we're in this stupid war in the first place. Two world wars were bad enough without a third following them!"

Lawrence nodded grimly.

"You would have thought we'd have learnt from the first two." He agreed.

"If only someone could make them stop," wheezed the patient "Make them stop the fighting...can't they see that we live and work better in peace than in war. Can't they see the damage it's doing to us?!"

"Maybe someone will..." said Lawrence hollowly, as though he didn't believe anyone could.

"Yeah...we need someone with great power to force them to stop, if only the Sentinel wasn't just a story."

Lawrence chuckled and I smiled too, the myth of the powerful weapon Sentinel, left as a gift from the gods had been passed down over the years throughout the planet. It was a pity that it was only a myth, as the patient had said...we could have used a powerful weapon like that against the Borg.

"Maybe someone will..." repeated Lawrence slowly, as he realised that the patient he was talking to was slipping away.

With a quiet gasp the patient died, their eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling, Lawrence sighed and stood up, running his hand over the patients’ eyes and closing them.

"Go," he said "Be at peace with your girlfriend."

And as Lawrence turned away and moved towards the entrance of the shelter where new people were arriving, I caught a glimpse of a tear running down his cheek, it surprised me, shocked me even, because the Lawrence I had known had always been a calculating mass-murdering evil bastard...but this Lawrence, this Lawrence was different, a lot different. Which left me with the question of how he got to be so evil in the first place, I posed that same question to Jara.

"I guess that's what we're here to find out." she replied.

One of the lights hanging by a wire from the ceiling suddenly flared into a brilliance which erased everything from my sight, and then when it faded I found myself in a busy street, it looked like it was outside a school as I could see young children milling inside a playground on the other side of the road. But there was no sign of Lawrence, or Jara for that matter.

I stroked my chin and looked around.

"Now, where are you?"

There was a strange noise behind me, such was the amount of time I had spent away from Terra it took me a moment to realise what it was, the sound of the sirens from the Third Global Conflict. People began to scream and run for the nearest shelter, I began to follow them, watching the playground  as my attention was drawn towards it for some reason. A rushing noise diverted my attention skyward as an atmospheric fighter flew low over the city, I knew it was only the beginning...it was a classic tactic, the fighter craft scouts ahead for any worthwhile targets and the bombers follow suit with the payload.

A flare arced out from the fighter as it passed overhead, and began a slow descent towards the ground.

"Shit!" I knew exactly what that flare meant. Somehow, and for some reason, that fighter had just designated this area as a bombing target.

The kids were screaming in the playground, no-one had come out to escort them to the shelter, the teachers had probably run for their lives as soon as the siren had sounded. I had never experienced this war, I was born nearly two decades after the war, but I had fought in wars before, and they all had a common element.

Fear.

I ran towards the school, knowing that what I did was futile as I couldn't be seen in this world...but I wasn't alone, a man ran at my side, and with a start I realised it was Lawrence, for the first time in my life I found myself urging the dictator on, someone had to save those children and I prayed it was him.

There was a distant rumble and the ground shook, that meant the first target had been attacked, I didn't know what number target this area was but even now the flare was beginning to reach the ground, so it couldn't be too far away.

"Run! Get to shelter!!" yelled Lawrence, waving his arms as he reached the school gate and opened it.

A couple of the kids took his advice and ran out of the school but the others just stared at him, some crying, some scared and some just curious.

"RUN! NOW!!" yelled Lawrence.

A shadow briefly passed over us and I looked up, seeing almost in slow motion an atmospheric bomber from the Kelnoan faction, its bomb bay doors already open as a bright light fell away from underneath it. Some of the children looked up as other bombers also flew past, releasing their deadly payload. Lawrence screamed at them once more.

"RUUUN!!!!"

There was a heavy explosion nearby as the first particle bomb landed, the second bomb hit the school, obliterating it in one heavy explosion, and debris rained over me as the third bomb hit the playground. Lawrence was blown backwards by the force of the blast and landed out of sight somewhere behind me, I wasn't affected by the explosion thankfully, but I was heavily affected by what I saw.

The children had stood no chance whatsoever, and as the smoke from the bomb blast cleared, I could see a giant crater where they had stood, and nearby a small foot stuck out from under a pile of rubble. I fell to my knees as the fires crackled around me and the ground shook with further bomb blasts elsewhere in the city.

I don't know what happened next but suddenly time had advanced to the night, the starlit skies marred by the burning and smoke from a thousand fires.

"Hey! There's someone over here! He's still alive!!" yelled a voice behind me, I turned and saw a search and rescue party digging in a pile of rubble, clearing fallen masonry from a buried man, I knew that the man would be Lawrence, and I knew why I had seen this. This had been the turning point in Lawrence’s mind.

Lawrence’s hand grabbed the shoulder of his rescuer and he slowly bent his head up to speak to him.

"Please...tell me...the children..."

The rescuer closed his eyes briefly and bowed his head, which was all the reply Lawrence needed.

"No," he gasped "They can't have...not all of them."

"I'm sorry sir, the playground was directly hit, you're lucky to be alive."

"Lucky..." whispered Lawrence, his words bitter, his eyes glistening with tears.

The light from a rescuers torch played over my eyes, blinding me, and when I blinked, the scene had changed once again.

Now I found myself in a darkened room, with a table in the middle over which three lights hung, illuminating the table and the people sitting around it but not the rest of the room, although I could make out the outline of several guards standing around the room. I recognised the man at the head of the table, and I also recognised most of them around the table, they were members of the Council of Elders, the governing force of Terra until just before the Renari war.

"Mr Verdion, you may be wondering why we have called you here today." intoned the lead Elder, I had forgotten his name; in fact I realised with a heavy twinge of guilt I had forgotten all of their names but not their faces.

"The thought had crossed my mind."

"I have heard you are a busy man, who doesn't like to waste time so I will be as blunt as possible. Terra is dying."

Lawrence raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, I allowed my mouth to drop open.

"We have just finished a survey of life forms on the planet, the number of extinctions has risen by tenfold, the plant life and fauna on several continents is beginning to show signs of disease. We estimate that within a hundred years this planet will begin to become unsustainable for human life. We estimate that it will take another hundred years for our society to die off...basically Mr Verdion, within two hundred years all life on Terra will be extinct."

"That's providing we don't blast ourselves into an early grave." remarked Lawrence, his voice dripping with contempt.

"The new unified Council aims to avoid such regrettable and unnecessary conflicts from taking place, but our gradual decline is something we cannot hope to halt."

"Then what do you want me to do about it?" asked Lawrence.

"That is something we hoped you could help us with." remarked an elder to the right of the Lead elder.

"We have been told you are the lead in your field..."

Lawrence raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't been lied to...but we are talking about a planet wide extinction here, we set these events in motion many years ago, during the industrial renaissance, there were people who warned about the effect we would have on the environment then, but no-one listened."

"We're listening now." said someone near my end of the table, I walked closer to the table, my curiosity piqued, I had no idea that Terra was in such a bad shape and began to wonder if the present day Terra still had a similar fate in store for it.

"Give me some time, I'll think it over, get back to you."

The Lead elder sat back in his chair.

"Don't take too long Mr Verdion...it appears time is something we don't have the luxury of...Meeting dismissed."

They stood up and began to make their different ways out of the room, the Lead elder leaving by one door, the rest of the elders by another door and Lawrence out a third door, escorted by two guards.

"So...this is why we made them." said Jara's voice from behind me.

"Made what?"

"The genomes..."

I turned and saw Jara standing with her arms folded across her chest.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"A bombing run in Hallis."

"Me too...I wonder why I couldn't see you."

"I saw you," said Jara "But you didn't see me?"

I shook my head.

"How strange," she muttered "But, still, it doesn't matter...we must be on our guard, this story will end soon and then I don't know what we will be facing."

"Do you think we'll face Lawrence himself?"

Jara shrugged.

"It's possible..."

I nodded and curled my hand into a fist.

"Well then...I'm ready to kick his arse...for Domino."

Jara put a cautioning hand on my shoulder and pointed behind me. I turned and saw Lawrence standing at the head of the now deserted table, not the younger Lawrence but the present day one, my hand went for my sword but Lawrence shook his head.

"Go ahead Gojenta, draw your puny weapon...you can't harm me...not here."

"I'll find some way Lawrence." I hissed in return.

"Lawrence...why did you...?"

"Become the way I am?" he finished Jaras question for her. She nodded in acknowledgement.

"I realised the true fate of the Terran race in that meeting, we were born only to die, be it of old age or in a pointless war somewhere...there is no point to the Terrans."

"You are Terran Lawrence!" I protested.

"True...but not by choice, by birth..." he laughed loudly "Although with all the resequencing of my DNA I've done, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I'm no longer Terran, and good riddance in my opinion."

"So...why the genomes?"

"The genomes are the master race, those truly worthy of Terra...but even they were flawed...You know, I experimented with other creatures, other variations...but still I kept coming back to the genomes. They were inspired by the Drakkons and the Wardins ape you know..." Lawrence seemed to be getting nostalgic; I used this opportunity to edge closer to him, my hand around Draconus, ready for battle.

"Yes, my finest creation was the genomes, no doubt about it at all. It was with the idea of personality that I made my mistake...I should have kept them as drones, incapable of even attaining a personality! I should have made them like robots!"

"But you didn't."

"No...my biggest regret is that I let my emotions get in the way of my work...that I allowed sentiment to interfere with my plans."

I growled.

"The genomes aren't flawed Lawrence, you are."

Lawrence raised an eyebrow and chuckled at me, making me even angrier.

"So little you understand child...Didn't you see the bloodshed and war that plagued Terra for centuries? Emotions cause confliction within people...and then cause conflicts without. Emotions may be our guiding force but they are also our biggest curse. When I saw those children die in Hallis, I went away wondering what could cause someone to declare war on someone else, to order destruction down upon children…and I realised what it was…our emotions."

"Emotions are what make us human!" I protested.

"Emotions are unproductive! But fear not, in the new order all that will be different...the universe of my creation will be perfect...everyone will live in perfect harmony, work in perfection."

For a moment I saw us standing in the middle of a giant city, a city of robots and of robot like people, I saw a genome shuffle past, its eyes totally blank as it carried a steel bar, but this genome was not alone...all of the people around me wore blank expressions, the sky overhead was grey with the smoke from countless chimneys and robotic craft flew past, firing energy blasts at any worker who fell from exhaustion.

"This is your universe..." I whispered in horror at Lawrence who was standing on a tall pillar with a smile on his face.

"Yes! Behold the ultimate destiny of the universe! Perfection!"

"Annihilation." I muttered sombrely.

And then we were in what I recognised as the true birthplace of most genomes, the birthplace of Domino and Jara's former workplace. The Terran Research Laboratory, Sector Five, Laboratory Twelve. Otherwise known as 'the zoo', Domino had told me much about this place from both her viewpoint and from Jaras.

"How much cost is perfection Lawrence?" asked Jara as she walked around the murky water cylinder in the middle of the room, the cylinder in which Domino had first awakened, back in the days when she had been Mithril Yugami.

"You speak of cost as if emotion was a prize." scoffed Lawrence, shaking his head.

"A universe of soulless drones...I'd rather die than see that." I hissed.

Lawrences eyes narrowed.

"You fool...then you shall die. Yugami's!!"

The first thing that alerted me was the plural he used in Dominos former name...the question that formed on my lips as answer as the three doors into the research lab opened and a stream of silver haired genomes walked in. I blinked as I recognised the facial features, there was no doubt about it, it was Domino...lots of Dominos!

"Dom?" I asked in confusion as the genomes formed a wall around Lawrence. I counted at least forty of them, probably a lot more, with their identity being so identical, it was hard to actually count them by looking at them.

"This is Silver Yugami...not as advanced as Mithril...but easier to make, she has all the fighting and mental prowness of your wife Mr Gojenta, but with none of the emotional baggage."

I drew Draconus from its scabbard as the genomes changed their formation, they began to encircle myself and Jara who stood either side of the water cylinder, until they had formed a solid wall around us, and then they stopped and waited, their lifeless grey iris's matching the long silver hair and tail.

"Jara...we could have a problem here." I whispered to her.

"Tell me something I don't know." she hissed back.

"See now Gedyen and Gojenta, see now the true future, even now your emotion is turning against you, the fear causing you to become irrational and make mistakes."

"My fear makes me stronger." I said

"No matter how strong you are, no matter how fierce your emotions are, at the end of the day you cannot outrun your own destiny!"

"NO!!" yelled Jara, it was the first time since she had come back that I had seen her get angry.

"Then I hope your emotions help you prepare for your death. Yugami's...ATTACK!!"

The silver haired copies of Domino leapt forward, their daggers at the ready.