The Uplift Protocol: In the Beginning

Issue 2: The Quickening

My husband mocks me. There is nothing wrong with this child. It quickens within me because of Thoth’s power. I will use my son to further my own needs.—The All-Mother

Dear father, he sees many knives but the most blatant. Thoth is the father I should have had but never wanted. That already elevates him in my eyes. –Lord of Chains

Our adversaries are formidable but what made things easier for us? Not having to worry about who would carry the biggest stick. From what Doc told me a rat in a maze was able to navigate easier than the villains arrayed against us.—Sleeping in Starlight, a memoir of the 23rd century (vol 4)

Tarkanan

All-Mother’s Quarters

April 2nd, 2116

Lorain didn’t need to touch someone to heal or read them but she didn’t let the All-Mother know that particular point so she rested her palm on the Typherian’s midsection. “The baby is healthy. “ It wasn’t a lie. Not really. She noted the spinal differences. Unity would use that baby as a puppet. Doc was certain of it. Sy’ra sat cross-legged in the corner. Her words filling Lorain with hope.

Give the All-Mother the truth. She won’t believe it all. Use your reputation as a shield.

The All-Mother hissed, “What of his spine. What lurks there?”

Lorain stared at her enemy. “Unity. All Gray Heralds are connected personally to it. That baby won't be yours.”

F’tari Urraden frowned. Thoth’s shadowy form hovered behind Lanis. The All-Mother didn’t appreciate the hungry look he bestowed upon the Human.

Sy’ra controlled her breathing. Thoth was here to observe.

For now. What he had done with the Mummy still gave the Scholar nightmares.

Sy’ra saw him circle the room.

Unity boiling under his skin. It was watching through him.

*****

Thoth clutched his chest. His head pounded as Unity reached out. Ghostly fire danced around the room. “I will claim that body. The spark within F’tari Urraden. I must have a connection to this place. To that doctor.” Thoth reached out. Resting a smoky shadowed hand on Urraden’s midsection. Black scrawl crawled over F’tari at the point of contact.

The All-Mother didn’t react. Not outwardly.

*****

Lorain pulled her arm back.

The faint tracery of the Black Scrawl was climbing up the All-Mother’s legs.

Every nerve in her fingertips was on fire.

Sy’ra’s warning filling her mind via the Dreaming.

Step back slowly. Look towards that left panel. Aim all your attention on it. The flow of the green. Wait until the words form.

Lorain turned her head. Resolutely staring at the holo readouts floating on the side of the wall. She said, “Relay all information to the patient’s H.U.D.” The machine complied. Its droning tone indicating rudimentary AI at best.

<>

*****

Ritark watched as the Scrawl entered Urranden’s mouth. Her real name buzzing in his forebrain. He knew it was Sy’ra’s doing. They had all underestimated the old Scholar woman. Seeing her as only a tool to use against Matarn. He wondered what the mirror to the Dreaming would be for Unity. The demigod loved to mimic that which it hated. With desperation that shocked Ritark to his core. The Litari’s Dreamsense expanded. Just enough to cover the medical theater. A gray mass flowed over the All-Mother. The Typherian was unaware. Its bulbous eyes writhing across the encrusted flesh. It burrowed deep. Piercing the womb. Flowing into the baby. No true soul would ever reside there.

Ritark glanced at Sy’ra.

Her slight tilt of the head was the only indication she was listening. Hearing as Unity invaded the flesh. Consuming the tiny body for its personal conquest. It was trying to find Edenverse. Ritark curled his fingers around a section of hair. Taking great care to tug in a particular sequence.

*****

Lorain counted between heartbeats.

Place tracer. The Quickening!

Won’t stay that way for long.

The tugging stopped.

At the rate of growth? The All-Mother would birth it within the next 2-3 months.

By then? The first phase of her protection would be null and void.

The All-Father didn’t hold mastery over his dominion.

Unity allowed it. From above Lorain spotted the space black eyes of the White Owls.

They stared silently.

*****

Unity flowed from its servant. Coiling around the small form. It would serve its purpose. All that was required? To survive for a few days after birthing. Its eyes were only half-formed. Instead of sapping energy from Urraden herself, Unity decided on another course. It sampled the energy from the Doctor. Taking only one brief taste. It snarled.

The human’s aura was embedded with the vile Weave. The Scholar woman would be of no use. Thoth needed his reserves. He would be the backup should this fail. Sweet thoughts of violence made Unity lift its dread gaze beyond the mere flesh of its current shell.

Ahhh! Dear servants.

So many of them coiled about. Their dark eyes were wide and waiting.

One glided down to rest upon the edge of the All-Mother’s bedside.

Another White Owl joined the first.

Until 9 of them perched on the outer reaches of the bed.

Silent as a tomb.

Another Universe would fall.

*****

Thoth eyed the All-Mother. Noting with distaste how she fed the pale birds by hand. In this form, concealed by his belt he could go anywhere. The drawback? He couldn’t touch flesh. Grind it down. Command it. His gaze lingered on Lanis. She wouldn’t be much fun. Not physically. Perhaps he could warp her mind. A warm heat spread through his body. Then the cacophony ripped through his soul. A voice from the depths rumbled. Freezing him in place. Sheer terror pulling him down.

You will not lift a finger unless I command it.

Leave the woman to me.

Unity’s fingers dug into his skull. His Gray Herald belt squeezing. Cutting off the air to his lungs. Dark tendrils snaked around his throat. Pressure built until he let out a soundless howl.

The Weave blessed shall be brought low my instrument.

But not by you. My will governs all.

Begone.

Thoth fled from the All-Mother’s chambers. Remembering the sickening crunches as Unity flayed Set’s wings off. The old leather shriveling on the stark earth as the foul scent of blood filled the air. He phased through endless corridors until the wide expanse of stars stared back at him. Tarkanan's green flames a distant heat on his back. Thoth spasmed and lost what little he’d consumed earlier. He forced his eyes to reopen. Shocked when the visage of a pale man about his height stared back at him. Long black chains curling around an archaic black Typherian coat. Crimson eyes. The Urraden curse. Hextor held out his hand.

>>Ahh. Mirror of the Father. I have a proposition for you!<<

Thoth knew if he ever saw that slip of crimson within his flesh, his soul would already be lost, one couldn’t have that.

He smiled, >>The All-Mother plots a similar tactic.<<

The Lord of Chains snorted. His lip curled. He spat.

The movement sending bits of ice flowing past Thoth. Hextor leaned in.

His face a hairsbreadth away from Thoth’s, >>Be glad I do not seek your soul. I wish the secrets of my sire. Yet if you do this, assist me with taking the last vestiges of Scion Urraden, I will give you Tarkanan. I wish nothing of this place. His true assets are locked within his blood. His bone. His mind!<<

Thoth pulled the man deeper into the void between the stars. Using an asteroid.

>>So we have a bit more privacy. Tarkanan can sense us within 20 standard miles from its surface. Such is the reach of his influence for now.<<

The Lord of Chains reached down to pluck a sliver from the hard surface.

>>The Black Scrawl is weak here.<<

Thoth replied, >>He is down to his last few shells. What is left of his soul fades as does that mechanized planet.<<

As the two men talked, a wretched misshapen set of eye stalks quivered, shielded by the dark side of the craggy surface. The thing that had been known as Draken Nix wiped at the drool freezing on his lips. He did not need a vacuum-sealed suit. Unity hummed in his mind.

Ah, so the son is rotted through.

He had potential but he is not your mission.

Draken Nix continued to observe. Noting that the soul-sickness of the Urraden House was accelerating within Hextor. All would be done as Unity wished. No one would escape unscathed. This universe would know war. If the pirate could still remember what laughter was he would be gloating to his son. Icy pinpricks lured his mind away from old cares. Unity guided him from the meeting. Pulled by the thin thread of Dark Mirror energy stored throughout the sector. As he pressed his face to the glass, dark clawed hands pulled him through, the towers of bone rose before him. At the center were three obsidian towers. Two beacons above were lit. The 3rd remained dormant. The first was Thoth. The Bone of Unity. The Second was Karvax. The Blood of Unity. The Third would be the Mind.

He would find that individual.

Unity’s spectral hands closed around Draken Nix. His pale bloodless eyestalks moving unerringly to Unity’s dreaded third eye. Its milky surface leaking droplets of Black Scrawl onto the ground around them.

Go. Find the third. You will know them by their mark.

Another mirror opened and Nix stepped forth.

His body twisted. Taking on the form of an elderly Markav.

He walked towards Illiarium’s outer shell. The scent of the third was faint here.

The space elevator hummed. Frequent security stops didn’t shock Draken Nix. His mind was pure. His body elevated with the parts of all species. The perfect agent for Unity. They had found what he wanted the Alliance to find on that ship. That had been his cacoon. He served a higher master now. One as perfect as the dawn.

He pulled out an access card, <>

The terminal responded, //Outer destination?//

He responded, <>

*****

Ren did as the Alliance asked. It was all quite boring. Analyze this. Sample that. It was odd but she could understand the delicious paranoia. Lorain could heal from anything. Much like she could. So poisons wouldn’t be an issue. She could produce the proper antibodies but where was the fun in that?! So she provided proxies. Being careful to keep her face as stoic as the vids of Lanis had portrayed her as. What a workhorse this idiot girl was. She used another sample. Letting it run its course through her body.

Lanis was so straight-laced that it made her wonder what the human did for fun.

Ren hid a frown. She should have researched that. Knowing what Lanis did in her off time would have helped. Yet Murphy was the real prize. She focused on that.

It was amazing the kind of diseases this place had. This universe. How they feared such powerful weapons. She would add these to her arsenal. They were preparing for war. Not realizing that Unity would win through the very sickness they sought to prevent.

She examined the passage from the bible next to her.

Wiping a tear from her face. The action wasn’t lost on that J’dax fellow. He passed her a tissue. She smiled at him.

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

The Weave had tried ever so desperately to get the warning out. They used Lanis as a walking bomb. The sheer gall of it made her want to spit in their faces. She held it in. Merely saying, “I don’t think we give these books enough credit.”

J’dax replied, “One must follow the path. The third eye will open.”

That got Ren’s immediate attention. In her world, those with the third eye were offered to Unity. She leaned back in the chair. The drab C.A.P facilities were filled with white or gray walled coffins. She smirked at that.

Hoping J’dax would misinterpret it.

*****

J’dax smiled warmly at the mummy. His thoughts rising to the ether.

That’s it stupid. Eat all the “viruses.”

He thanked the creator every day for the return of his people’s Light Sages. Between them and their human counterparts, the level of holy power concealed in all those placebos would be a kick to the chest and rear when the time came. So they kept feeding her all the delusions she wanted. The plague horse scenario was what they expected of Renenutet.

Those questions had been heart-wrenching for Lorain.

What if you had no morals, with your powers what would you do, to anyone?

To a planet. The universe.

That haunted expression had stayed with J’dax.

Her reply had been nearly inaudible, “The whole of creation would be a petri dish. The Keepers wouldn’t be able to stop me. No one could.”

He had been present with two others. Masked for their protection. People from the Arcane Order. No way to trace them because they worked through androids. Which were scrubbed and reconstituted after use. No psi residue or impressions for those like Anna to use. Since Unity had some who could divine such things.Demons like the mummy smiling up at him with its dead fish expression. Her eyes faded green marks of hell. Soulless and pitiless as a Void Walker’s.

Her arrogance would prove her undoing.

He prayed for Lorain every night.

Operation Early Dawn was set to begin.

Taking out Tarkanan would be the first step.

The rest would lead to open war.

*****

Cooper watched as the corpse kept eating the Light Shaman offerings. Little John sat on the metallic floor alongside him. Lorain loved dogs. Bardaxian or otherwise so them being present wouldn’t set off flags with the mummy. Little John spoke in the language that only Earth’s K-9s and Bardax knew. The Corgi’s sharp observations hit true.

“Beefstick has no idea. I asked Horus to record the results when it happens!”

Cooper sneezed to cover his laughter. Even though the situation was dire he was reminded that even his cousins had picked up fun habits from humans. His triangular black ears perked forward. Hoping to catch distant conversations. The smell of that walking sack of jerky brought tears to his eyes. Too long in the sun. Overcooked and rotted to the core. The corgi barked, “How are they warning Eliza?”

Cooper rolled onto his side, “They are feeding it all through a special partitioned feed through her INet protocols.” The corgi rested his head on his paws. Then he snorted, “Ahh! The same is being done with that shriveled head as well!”

The German Shepherd winked, “But unlike unwanted guests, Eliza will put it all together. Not so much about what Ren is. But who she isn’t.” Little John trotted over to nudge J’dax’s leg. The Typherian scooped the corgi up. His gray-green eyes alight with joy.

“Who’s a good boy?”

Little John barked happily.

When the day came they’d all be ready to fight.

As long as one dog drew breath, they would beat back Unity, one way or another.

Renenutet leaned over. Her puzzled expression melting into one of false joy. If she had known Lorain Lanis, she wouldn’t have made such a mistake. J’dax repressed his instinctive action to jerk back and retreated towards the doorway instead, “Want anything from the galley?”

She replied, “Sure. Black coffee. Two sugars.”

J’dax escaped. Cooper trailing in his wake.

He hoped the C.A.P personnel knew what they were doing.

One should never underestimate the enemy. Little John added, <> J’dax complied. Watching as Eliza replied in near real time.

//She’s a 2-bit holo actress. Please tell me this isn’t on INet. Doc isn’t just a test bed for the TA. Even I know that!//

J’dax responded, //Through the Looking Glass.//

He watched as the puzzlement faded from her pickup.

The holo connection wasn’t perfect but it got his point across.

She nodded glumly. //You have no idea Uncle. Murphy out.//