anomaly at just beyond the edge of the Milky Way.
“This,” she said, “this object has been on its way to our galaxy for as long as we can tell. At least two million years. It will arrive in the star system where the first-known Xaros contact took place. No one thinks that is a coincidence.”
“Yes, I know of it.” Malal raised a finger and the holo of the local universe shifted, the galaxies realigning as millions of years rewound. The anomaly backtracked to the great void and the holo froze. “Ah, your data is incomplete. Surprising, but not unexpected.”
An elliptical galaxy with a uniform glow of stars filled the void.
“This was quite the event.” Malal’s fingers floated through the air like he was playing an invisible instrument. A single dark spot appeared on the galaxy and spread out as the holo ran on. The abyss engulfed the entire galaxy in a little over two hundred thousand years. The anomaly appeared in intergalactic space just a few hundred years before its home galaxy was annihilated.
“There was some concern that the rupture would reach us before our great task was complete, but the tear couldn’t sustain itself beyond the galaxy’s dark energy halo,” Malal said.
“What happened?”
“Children playing with the fabric of creation. Technology similar to the jump engines you used to bring me here rip open holes in quantum space to create wormholes. There is a chance—”
“The tear will continue. Yes, we’re aware of the danger,” Stacey said. The threat of a quantum tear had been a convenient excuse for Alliance races unwilling to send aid to Earth against the recent Toth incursion. Stacey thought the reasoning to be nothing but cowardice, but now, seeing the effects wipe out an entire galaxy…
“Did you ever have any contact with the Xaros that escaped?” Stacey asked. “Surely you saw them coming.”
“We noticed…but we didn’t care. Their arrival was millions of years away. We planned to be long gone by then. Would you like to see it?” Malal swept his hand across his chest and the galaxies blew away as if swept by a great wind. The red spot that marked the Xaros anomaly grew larger and more distinct.
A world with perfectly flat metal surfaces floated in front of Stacey, a spherical polyhedron with a twenty equally sized facets. Great rings of metal—like she’d seen around Ceres—surrounded the equator.
“It’s…incredible,” Stacey said as she realized how massive the object truly was. The Xaros rings were wide enough to enclose the solar system out to the orbit of Neptune.
“A fair creation. We weren’t impressed,” Malal said with a shrug.
“What about this?” Stacey reached into her bag and pulled out the General’s faceplate that Elias had torn away during the battle in the incomplete Crucible near Takeni. It was as wide as a dinner plate, but the material had almost no weight in her hands. “Can you tell me something about the being that used it?”
Stacey pressed the corner of the mask into the force field. Static glittered around the disruption as she pushed it through to Malal.
Malal took the mask with its deformed fingers that swept over the armor plate like rivulets of liquid mercury.
“This isn’t the original,” Malal said.
“No, it was recreated by an omnium reactor here on Bastion. How can you tell?”
“The same way you tell the difference between a picture and the true article. This is part of a photon cage. We considered this method to prolong our existence. Photonic bodies are too fragile and will last only a few million years before degrading. My omnium body is much more resilient to entropy.” Malal pressed the mask against his face and bobbed from side to side.
“Did we kill this this thing when we ripped its face off?”
“Doubtful. Beings that wish to survive this long would never let their existence hinge on a single point of failure. Did its energy dissipate in front of whoever claimed this
“This,” she said, “this object has been on its way to our galaxy for as long as we can tell. At least two million years. It will arrive in the star system where the first-known Xaros contact took place. No one thinks that is a coincidence.”
“Yes, I know of it.” Malal raised a finger and the holo of the local universe shifted, the galaxies realigning as millions of years rewound. The anomaly backtracked to the great void and the holo froze. “Ah, your data is incomplete. Surprising, but not unexpected.”
An elliptical galaxy with a uniform glow of stars filled the void.
“This was quite the event.” Malal’s fingers floated through the air like he was playing an invisible instrument. A single dark spot appeared on the galaxy and spread out as the holo ran on. The abyss engulfed the entire galaxy in a little over two hundred thousand years. The anomaly appeared in intergalactic space just a few hundred years before its home galaxy was annihilated.
“There was some concern that the rupture would reach us before our great task was complete, but the tear couldn’t sustain itself beyond the galaxy’s dark energy halo,” Malal said.
“What happened?”
“Children playing with the fabric of creation. Technology similar to the jump engines you used to bring me here rip open holes in quantum space to create wormholes. There is a chance—”
“The tear will continue. Yes, we’re aware of the danger,” Stacey said. The threat of a quantum tear had been a convenient excuse for Alliance races unwilling to send aid to Earth against the recent Toth incursion. Stacey thought the reasoning to be nothing but cowardice, but now, seeing the effects wipe out an entire galaxy…
“Did you ever have any contact with the Xaros that escaped?” Stacey asked. “Surely you saw them coming.”
“We noticed…but we didn’t care. Their arrival was millions of years away. We planned to be long gone by then. Would you like to see it?” Malal swept his hand across his chest and the galaxies blew away as if swept by a great wind. The red spot that marked the Xaros anomaly grew larger and more distinct.
A world with perfectly flat metal surfaces floated in front of Stacey, a spherical polyhedron with a twenty equally sized facets. Great rings of metal—like she’d seen around Ceres—surrounded the equator.
“It’s…incredible,” Stacey said as she realized how massive the object truly was. The Xaros rings were wide enough to enclose the solar system out to the orbit of Neptune.
“A fair creation. We weren’t impressed,” Malal said with a shrug.
“What about this?” Stacey reached into her bag and pulled out the General’s faceplate that Elias had torn away during the battle in the incomplete Crucible near Takeni. It was as wide as a dinner plate, but the material had almost no weight in her hands. “Can you tell me something about the being that used it?”
Stacey pressed the corner of the mask into the force field. Static glittered around the disruption as she pushed it through to Malal.
Malal took the mask with its deformed fingers that swept over the armor plate like rivulets of liquid mercury.
“This isn’t the original,” Malal said.
“No, it was recreated by an omnium reactor here on Bastion. How can you tell?”
“The same way you tell the difference between a picture and the true article. This is part of a photon cage. We considered this method to prolong our existence. Photonic bodies are too fragile and will last only a few million years before degrading. My omnium body is much more resilient to entropy.” Malal pressed the mask against his face and bobbed from side to side.
“Did we kill this this thing when we ripped its face off?”
“Doubtful. Beings that wish to survive this long would never let their existence hinge on a single point of failure. Did its energy dissipate in front of whoever claimed this
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