The Uplift Protocol: In the Beginning

Issue 15: Intersections in Real-Time

Do you see it? There is no pain but what you bring here. The Weave encompasses all.—Arcane Order Proverb

I am just one person, what can I do? Why does someone like that self-righteous Banner need me? I have been a thorn since the beginning. She is the one wrapped in chains. Not me!—Anna Preston-McGuire

Something is going on within those prototypes. I think they are waking up.—Ned Fletcher

I had been looking at the situation far too literally. No, we had to change tracks if we were to convince Anna. She had to re-discover empathy. Fortunately, her Mirror gave me all the prompting I needed. It wasn’t just the experience in my head that was needed for that venture. It required my access to the future timeline. In the form of a book. Her book. After that, it was all on Anna. Poppi was an invaluable assistant though.—Sleeping in Starlight, a memoir of the 22nd Century

Within the Deep Weave

Anna’s Mindscape

February 8th, 2104

Andrew snarled, “What are we missing? She’s just sitting at that desk now. Reliving happy times.”

Adult Anna was serene. Holding an old snow globe. A rare smile running across her face.

Mother added, “If future slate Eliza is here because of some expanded abilities, maybe you are here to have us understand Anna. Not her anger. Maybe something else.”

The Irishman kicked the futon near the desk. Books clattering to the floor. He picked one up, with a sing-song voice, “Here’s my memoir! 24-7 Anna! Luckily Andrew wasn’t that pigheaded to want a journal of his self flatulence!”

J’ino saw her daughter rub her face. “Andrew, if it wouldn’t be totally weird I’d genuinely kiss you.” Lorain came over and rested her cheek along Eliza’s back. “I suspect you will have to make this up to future me.” Eliza grinned. “Indeed! Always pointing me True North.”

“Plus mother is always on point as well.” J’ino planted her hands on her hips.

“Oh? You haven’t outgrown us yet?” There was a lingering question wrapped within.

“Never. Especially with that whole Murphy battalion of yours. Dad has some other running bets going on,” I responded.

Mom grabbed one of the fallen books. “It’s blank!”

I grabbed one as well. Concentrating on a specific tome from my time.

Anna’s handwriting appeared on the cover.

Lorain couldn’t see anything so I said, “Take a book and think about something you’d want to read.” Mom did so and turned her back so I couldn’t see what she had summoned. I already knew what it was but to my current self, it was history. For mom? More mysteries about her parents and grandparents. Lorain brought one over to me. Its outline very familiar.

Carl Sagan’s Contact.

She smiled, “ How about this one? Brings back good memories.”

*****

J’ino skimmed the pages at first.

Each one making her heartbeat just that much faster.

Until she reached the passage she wanted.

The Throne is not Scholar. It isn’t even from the earliest cycles of sapient thought.

It was her ancestor's script. Neat as always.

Just like the other books they recovered from history.

It is connected to the Ouro, the Weave, being consumed slowly by Unity’s Corruption. All across the Multiverse, we are working to slow this decay to its systems. I must condemn my family to the Long Vigil. One day the Twins shall come. They might not even be Typherian. But they will stop this. Push the Lying House back. Free us from Set and all those who would use us as Berserkers for Unity. I will not let my people fall into darkness. We will not become the next Void Walkers.

*****

I sent a message to mother, >>Yes. That book shall remain with you. Keep it within Jupiter Rising’s Libraries. She is Weave capable. She can hide it from unwanted eyes as well.<<

It had sensitive information but I also knew that mother wanted to solve the puzzle of her family’s history.

Lorain eyed the blank book I was holding. I winked.

“Magic!”

She shoved me playfully.

I read the passage out loud.

“I hated the Banner still. Opening my senses to the Weave was terrifying. I always saw those dark shapes as the enemy. When in reality they were the souls of fallen Light Shamans, Priests, Monks, Buddhists. All protecting other souls from the reach of Unity while it had encircled Earth’s Local Weave. Yes, Eliza cleaned that up with her Redeemers. To this day, it still makes me wonder why one Christmas carol got through when everything else had been an abject failure.”

Poppi reached out to me. I sang the words with him. Leaning in so Anna could hear.

“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.”

Lorain gasped as my form changed. I was 6 once more.

The pain in my back returned. I had forgotten it.

All around us, the walls shifted, showing a regal townhouse. A great fireplace roaring with crackling logs. Anna, aged 7, skipped around the adults. Her voice carrying the refrain of Bethlehem. Poppi waved me over to a chair by the fire and I sank into it gratefully. His form gained weight. Substance. He picked up a cup and tapped it gently.

“On this Christmas day, we have much to be thankful for. I know my son would wish you all to drink and be merry. He is abroad. Mending the wounds of the Accord War.” Anna pushed to the front of the crowd, “Why does Papa have to do it. I want him here! He gets sick when he touches things!”

So her father had been a Speaker as well.

Poppi knelt. Placing a hand on Anna’s shoulder, “Indeed but he does it to protect people.” He poked her nose. “Evil doesn’t rest and neither shall we.” Anna nodded. The solemn statement reaching her. Making her glance in my direction. “is that someone from the Orphanage? You do so much Poppi, yet people don’t thank you. They should!”

He fixed his jacket. His expression confident, “Good deeds go unremarked by most but it doesn’t make them useless.”

He raised his cross, planting a kiss upon it. “For the Lord guided me through the Accord War. He will guide me still. No matter the path life takes.”

Anna took a tentative step towards me, “Why are you here?”

I winced and shifted in the seat, “I needed help. Your grandfather was very kind.”

Anna froze. The “shadow men” were back. Milling about. She grabbed Poppi’s leg.

“Why are the shades around her? Is she bad Poppi?” He took a small lamp from the mantle of the fireplace. “Here. Use this. It was my grandfather's. It will light the way.” She took it and her face transformed. She was no longer seeing shadows but familiar faces from her grandfather’s photo albums. They weren’t so scary now. She turned it on me. Tears spilling from her face.

“No! It will eat her poppi!”

She could finally see Unity. I reinforced the cord of empathy blooming within her.

He nodded, “It will unless you help. But the choice is yours. All have free will.”

Everything faded until she could only see his face framed within a cone of golden light.

“You have carried the chains of sorrow too long. Talk to your father.”

******

Anna blinked. The room around them receeding. Sand crunched between her toes. The lighthouse from her dreams arrayed before her. Its white paint fresh. Small dark blemishes clinging to the outer walls. Its light was feeble but there. Samantha asked, “Who is the Light? And Who is the Lighthouse?”

Anna sobbed, “He died for me. Alone.”

Samantha rested a hand on Anna’s shoulder.

Mary held Lorain back.

She would have to admit things on her terms.

Mom clutched the journal to her chest. Waiting.

My father and the rest within the Weave Dream remained still.

I was no longer a child. It wasn’t needed anymore.

Anna said, “Eliza Murphy, I still find you highly disagreeable. But it's on me. You remind me too much of Poppi. Willing to die in the dark. With no one to mourn you. Or even care.”

Mom’s mindvoice broke in with, >>To new beginnings.<<

Her hand tightened around mine.

The metal walls of the Dyson Sphere flowed over us as the Weave released us from its realm. Jacob walked his mother to the facilities. While Samatha followed. Then the questions started. Foremost was Gulliver, “Hey Protector Hot Sause! So what’s next?”

I grinned, “I believe Horus has a delivery or two incoming.”

I walked to the main ship hub. Sitting cross-legged in front of the cosmic beauty surrounding me. “For now, I will sleep. My current self will return. The threads grow with each minute. Illuminating the path home.”

*****

Dexter watched over his sister. Their parents were nearby. At one of the booths. Pouring over that book she brought back. Ned Fletcher remarked, “If you listen close enough you can hear them singing.” The Black agreed. Whatever Horus had brought was bringing more of the ships online. In ways, they couldn’t imagine with just tech alone, which to Dexter would ultimately secure victory. One shouldn’t combine the Leylines but otherwise? A new Uplift Protocol would be reborn from the cleansing fires of old.

*****

I pressed my palm to the great tree at the heart of this jungle valley. Its bulk was riddled with pockmarks. Vines curling around everything. My left palm hummed. The energy pouring into the tree. A message flashed before my eyes.

///Tree of Eden on Standby. Connect with Hub when all other services are free of Corruption.///

It was relaying complex information into a format I could understand. For someone else, it would probably be a burning bush or giant stone tablet. The Howling wiggled in my right arm. His legs digging into my side as he licked my face, “YES! I knew you’d understand.” Corgis could always get away with anything in my book.

“So if I get this correctly, travel to other Ouroborous Chains. Clear out the Infection. Hook these “trees” to the main hub. Then once my brother and I convert the Throne’s signal properly, activate it all. Which will summon the First Cosmic Mistake to Edenverse. Stab Unity until cleansed.”

The Howling’s tail thumped rapidly, “Yes. For this universe via your hand will cleanse it permanently!”

White interjected, <>

Howling barked, “Yes!”

The Mighty Mallet took a piece of the bark from the tree. Noticing an icon hovering above the loose material.

///Please take this to Dr. Zanzibar.///

He turned it over. It gave off a pleasant smell.

“Ok, might as well do my part. Whatever that is.”

He was back within his kitchen. He placed the pan within the sink.

“Might as well get some takeout on the way. The Legion never rests.”

*****

Zachary Murphy yawned then let out a whoop. Launching himself at his sister. “I gotta talk with you.” Eliza swung him onto her shoulders. “You and everyone else within Project Freefall. What’s up?”

“Can we go to the Jupiter? I don’t want to say this out loud.”

Eliza moved towards the docking bays. “Alright.”

*****

I brought Zach to my private quarters. The silver sailing ship hummed at the back of my mind. I knew it wasn’t the alone scenario he wanted but I commed Doc and Dexter as well. One, so she could do a medical scan and Dexter’s expertise with the Weave would come in handy. He wasn’t angry. Zachary’s relief grew as Lorain rested a hand on his head. He blurted out, “Uncle hid the piece of the sword. I managed to take a sliver off Bel’s weapon. But did it poison me?”

Doc ruffled his hair, “You're clean. No poisons. But something else is bothering you. What is it?”

He danced from one foot to the next. “Bel knows I’m a hybrid. The sword hissed at me. Calling me Half Breed. “ Dexter drew symbols in the air. Running his analysis. He frowned, “There are traces of it in the Weave around you but not enough for Bel to find you. I’d say we play keep away. She might be able to track you if you get within proximity.”

“Where did J’dax put the shard?”

“He wouldn’t say but I trust him.”

I nodded. “When it's needed, I'll ask. Just glad you are ok. That sword is no joke.”

The waves crashed upon the bottle. Making me glance at the silver sailing ship.

White added, “I prevented that sword from detecting your true heritage. Back when it buried itself within your palm. I wish I could have done something similar for you young master Zachary.” He noticed the shift of my attention. Dexter and the others stared as well.

The salt of the sea hit my nostrils. Seagulls crying.

The wooden deck of the ship warming my feet.

When had I removed my shoes?

Zach pointed, “That guy has a spear just like yours!”

A weathered bearded face much like Di’axi’s threw back its hood.

“Ahhh. It has been so long. Welcome to Pandora’s Box.”

Doc’s eyes were glued to the heavens.

It was littered with stars. Far too many for any normal skyscape.

The elder bowed, “I am Matarn. The Spear of Twilight. I must find my body.”

White swirled around us, “My dear one! You yet thrive! Eliza, we must help.”

Dear one? Oh boy.

Matarn grinned, “Yes. It would appear my dear mother finally found me.”

“Does Di’axi know….”

Matarn nodded. “It was why my family was chosen to guard. To forge the spears. We have the blood of the first within us.”’

Zach stated bluntly, “Is everyone related in this story? And I thought Ayeer family genes were convoluted.”

Matarn laughed. “Oh not directly as in genetics! When the world was new. My family was the first formed from the cosmic embers of Creation. Thus I do not die. Other generations of Scholars are long-lived but I remain.”

I added, “As does Di’axi. But he ages and reforms. Why is that?”

Matarn grew mournful, “Because his mother is not of the first. But she is resilient. I must find her. I fear she is entombed with the All-Father’s ilk. As a warning and mockery.”

Dexter and Zach seemed to understand this, “Typherian House Ziggurat.” They looked at each other, Dexter adding, “To be buried with the Hidden House ancients. It's worse than an insult. He wishes her tormented.”

“I might know where your body is. We have to find a particular pirate ship. With someone called the Hanged Man aboard it.” Matarn held out his spear. The deck creaking with the weight of it.

“That can wait. First! Show me your footwork. Throne-Bearer. Time has no bearing here!” Dexter went first. Mostly to give me a moment of respite to collect my thoughts.

*****

Horus placed the last of the Hytin into the ships. Trusting that the old markings would find their way. What other wonders had been hidden between the cycles? The F.R.A.M was eager to find out. Everyone would rally around Humanity.

They would be free.

Emris requested the upgrade as well. Horus complied. Noting that the captain’s survival gained momentum. Yes, he was metal and code but the shining tomorrow captured his attention. He would see this through.

What would they name these beauties?