Chapter 006: Awakening

Day of Sorrow is the official term for the opening assault of the War of Purity during which the Transhuman Alliance tried to bring the Solar Commonwealth to its knees before it could mobilize its numerically superior forces. There were two main parts - a wave of assassinations of high-ranking Commonwealth personnel and large scale attacks against the major industrial worlds. The results are best shown on an example of the Solar System attacks.

Two mechanist warforms pretending to be diplomatic envoys from the Mechanist Hierocracy entered the Stellar Hall, within three minutes gunning down nine hundred and thirty-three members of the Commonwealth’s Senate and eleven members of the High Council (the de facto SC government).

Within the next three hours, a wave of follow-up attacks occurred throughout the Solar System. Sudden reactor malfunction interrupted the emergency meeting of the flag officers of the First and Battle Fleets, killing every officer above the rank of captain (except for the Vice-admiral Aran Singh, commander of the 3rd. Battleship Squadron of the Battle Fleet, who was late for the meeting). Nerve gas was deployed in the headquarters of the Commonwealth’s Armed Forces on Titan, and a mass-scale hacking attack erased 99% of data stored in main administrative centers of the Commonwealth, from population census to data about wanted criminals.

Biological and nano-agents were also deployed en masse in the atmospheres of Mercury, Venus, and Mars, killing millions of civilians. The main attack on Earth was narrowly averted, when colony ship SCS Tianzhou rammed the transhuman kill-ship on a collision course with Earth, trading lives of 10 000 cryostased colonists for 10 billion inhabitants of the Homeworld.

Outside of the Solar System, close to 95% of attacks were successful. Within 36 hours, 67% of regional governments’ members and 56% of the admirals and generals of the Solar Commonwealth were assassinated. More than seventeen planetary attacks succeeded, however the relatively thin population of extrasolar colonies limited the number of victims of the Day of Sorrow to less than 1.5 billion.

Encyclopedia Galactica

Book 7, page 72

***

“So, what’s your impression after the first five days of service aboard Echo?” Ryan asked, not interrupting his vigorous petting of Sir Patches for even a second. He didn’t even glance at Christopher, almost wholly invested in his untamed hedonism. Sir Patches - who nested on Ryan’s lap with that in mind - seemed absolutely ok with that.

“Mmmm... “ Christopher felt content sitting on the couch, with his back and head resting on the seatback. He felt exhausted. Chief Tiaa’s teaching was one thing - it was quite harsh, yet nothing he couldn’t handle. But after a few days of instructing him on normal things, she abruptly concluded that he needed to bulk up a bit and directed him to train his stamina and strength with the Echo’s marine detachment.

The entire marine gym was oozing with testosterone and concentrated manliness. Prolonged training was an excellent way of contracting an inferiority complex unless you were a two meters high body-builder. At least nobody was making fun of him, and some of them even dropped some useful tips (which was probably responsible for his current exhaustion).

“It’s ok, I guess.” Christopher finally answered. “It’s draining, and I need to learn a lot, but it’s both interesting and, in some weirdly masochistic way, entertaining.” Too bad nobody will believe me once I return to my time. “Is it going to happen today?”

“Yes. First Hyperspace travel.” Ryan answered with a worried look on his face. “They claim that all will be ok, but... “

The very fact that everyone seemed eager to reassure them that everything would be ok made the whole event look ominous. Especially as they embraced the tactic of ‘sure, from time to time something bad happens, but it’s really, really rare’. A terrible choice for reassurance.

It sounded like the real world was overly realistic in its approach to trans-dimensional FTL travel. ‘Realistic’ as in ‘flying through another dimension isn’t a walk in the park’. For some reason, all non-essential personnel were to retire to their quarters for the time of the Hyperspace entry. This included the entire Recovery Team 8.

“For the past few days all we hear is ‘it’s ok’, ‘it’s not a problem’, ‘it will be alright’. Time to get those claims verified.” Ryan nodded in return, and concentrated on petting Patches.

Nekia entered the room, coming out of the quarters’ door. She looked horrible. Even worse than Chief Tiaa before her morning dose of caffeine. In times like this, it was really easy to see that the two of them were related.

She was wearing a highly conservative set of pajamas, adorned with copious amounts of adorable kittens. It was hard for Christopher and Ryan to not start laughing.

“Awful night?” Christopher asked once he regained his composure.

“Ho... “ She yawned. “...rrible. Entering the Hyperspace while asleep always gives me dreadful nightmares, so I’m trying to…“ Another loud yawn. ”… make it awake. But I forgot about it and surfed the shipnet a moment too long.” She tried to walk towards the entrance to the kitchen (for either a dose of coffee or some future equivalent of energy drinks), but she calculated the route wrong. She ended up walking into the wall, maybe ten centimeters to the left of her destination.

This culminated in a loud ‘Ouch!’ and a catgirl landing with her butt on the floor. Christopher resolved himself to be a gentleman - if only because he was arriving at the limits of his willpower, and he wanted to avoid bursting into laughter. He stood up and gently led Nekia (who was busy rubbing her eyes to regain her sight, still fogged with slumber) back to the couch.

“Lie down before you bump into something explosive.” He had no idea if they had something explosive in the kitchen, but he heard enough tales about Nekia’s ‘accomplishments’ to not be in a mood for risk-taking. “Take a nap, I’ll wake you up right before we enter Hyperspace.” There would apparently be a warning on the UI.

Until that moment, neither Christopher nor Ryan would find out what Tendrik meant when he mentioned that cathumans had issues with personal space. This changed at that very moment, as Nekia (half-consciously) decided that Christopher’s lap is an appropriate place for a nap. Without asking him if he was ok with that.

“Err…” He was dumbstruck. He had no idea what to do. Should he push her off? Or maybe wait until she decides that her position (with her head and limbs beneath her chest, which was resting on his legs) is uncomfortable and gets off on her own?

What if it was comfortable? He had no idea how much her spine differed from his own.

There was also one more option. Such an opportunity didn’t present itself often. And if something awful happened, he could always play that as reprisal for her sudden violation of his private space.

His right hand moved, lying down on her head. When she didn’t seem to react, he pet her head, offering some additional attention to her cat ears.

To his undying amazement, she rewarded him with a quiet (but rising in volume) purr. She also started adjusting her body to better position her head for the petting. The look of bliss on her face made the entire experience even more rewarding.

Christopher glanced at the purring cat on Ryan’s lap, then on the one he was busy petting. Then he sighed.

If only these scientists had spent half the time they did on refining a human-cat hybrid on uncovering the reason almost everyone around me is mad! Then again… this is almost equally great.

“Having fun?” A sudden voice coming from right behind him startled him. He looked up to see Tiriel in her skinsuit looking down at him, with a mocking look on her face. Nekia must have consumed much more of his attention than he thought, as he didn’t notice Tiriel’s approach.

“Oh, you’re back from work!” The look didn’t change. “Uhm, ok, so… yes, in a sense this is fun.” The look remained unchanged. “Ok, ok, I’m finishing it now! Don’t stare at me like that.”

“Excellent. While I can perceive why you are doing this, I require you to understand that indulging in your hedonistic pleasures makes it much harder for me to train Nekia out of her bad habits.” She replied. The subtle mockery on her face was replaced by a very stern look.

If I wasn’t afraid that she would throw me out of the airlock, I’d make a joke about how this would sound much better if she wore some leathers and had a whip in her hand.

“Fine, fine. Nekia, wake up.” She didn’t react. “Nekia, wake up. Now.” Still nothing, save for the purring getting quieter.

“Let me try.” Tiriel said, and kneeled in front of them, leaning towards Nekia’s ear. When she got close enough, she spoke one word. “Neekiaaa.” It was like magic. Nekia jumped up and back simultaneously, retreating to the far edge of the couch, completely conscious though startled by the sudden awakening.

“Wh… what happened?” Seriously, what sort of ‘training’ is Tiriel giving her?!

“You invaded someone’s private space, without requesting their approval first. Again. Because she didn’t ask you, right?” She asked Christopher, who answered with a nod. Normally, he would have sought to reign Tiriel in, as what Nekia did wasn’t a hideous crime. But here, he didn’t feel like meddling with Tiriel’s attempts to teach Nekia how to live in non-cathuman society, especially as it was Chief Tiaa who requested that to happen.

As Tiriel began carrying yet another training talk with Nekia, Christopher did his finest to switch off his hearing. He failed, as another person appeared, ready to challenge the tranquility of the quarters.

“They are at it again?” Now it was Tendrik who seemingly materialized out of thin air. “What did Nekia do?”

“Let’s just say that Ryan wasn’t the only human with a cat on his lap in this room.”

Tendrik answered with a thoughtful nod, followed by a mischievous wink. “So… how was it?”

Christopher shook his head. He wasn’t going to admit that petting his de facto subordinate’s head was highly pleasant and made him lose any contact with reality. Tendrik would make fun of it for weeks.

“Could we talk about something else, please?”

Tendrik nodded. “Sure! Do you want to hear some urban legends about spooky things in Hyperspace?”

Darn it, Tendrik.

***

“Status report.” Captain Keller said aloud, as the ship finished decelerating, achieving the perfect speed and location for Hyperspace entry.

“Tired Answer: Just stop, please.” Innocent answered as some other people present shook their heads with disapproval. “If someone didn’t follow your orders during the jump preparations, the AI would have informed you. I made sure of it. Can we do it finally? I have a eucharistic adoration scheduled for 5 o’clock, and I have to be present to take the Blessed Sacrament out of the chapel’s tabernacle.”

Captain stared at lieutenant-commander Mendez. She responded by shaking her head.

“Don’t look at me, captain, I’m waiting for the adoration too.” There was only one officer left on the bridge. Captain’s eyes turned towards him, seeking any sort of discipline.

Lieutenant-Commander Vincent Fouquet, the communication officer of the Echo, was a scrawny and underweight man. He also had so many cyberware mods that it bordered on transhumanism. Dozens of nanopaint-based tattoos, whose patterns he could alter on a whim, decorated his skin.

“Hey, I have things to do..” The answer wasn’t convincing as the captain knew what sort of hobbies Vincent indulged in. Sure, it was the harmless type, but bioterrorism is bioterrorism.

“Occasionally I miss the times when I was in the military. When there was some actual discipline and people treated me seriously. Bah, even respected and looked up to me!” the Captain grumbled.

“Clarification: Captain Alexander Keller was never part of any registered military force of the Confederation of Mankind.” Innocent answered, upholding the facade of comedy for a few more seconds. The Captain was almost ready to argue with him when a small window opened in the corner of his view.

AthaLib: I’m in position. The sickbay is ready too.

Finally.

“Alright, alright. Let it be your way. Activate the Hyperspace Drive!” And may the fun part begin.

***

“Oh, come on! I vow on the First Programmer’s name, Hyperspace travel is a routine business.” Tendrik didn’t react well to Christopher’s swift dismissal. “Sure, the first entry can be a bit… turbulent, but we all went through that, and as you can see, we’re fine!”

An alarming thought suddenly gripped Christopher’s mind. What if the fact that all of them (save for himself and Ryan) were weird was because of Hyperspace? What if he would become weird too? Or maybe as the only normal people aboard they already were weird?

“I’m adding ‘Tendrik is forbidden from reassuring people’ to the list of laws that Christopher should introduce.” Tiriel said loudly, interrupting them. “Christopher, and Ryan, take notice of what I’m about to say. Hyperspace travel isn’t something scary. Most people’s reaction to it can be summed up as disorientation and stomach upheaval, and not as getting spirited away by mysterious shadow people living in the ship’s Hyperspace Drive. It will be over swiftly, and the subsequent hyperspace entries are much less taxing. I think Nekia with her bad dreams is the worst case of Hyperspace complications aboard the ship.”

“There is one thing that I do not understand though, why is it only the entries that are the issue?” Ryan spoke.

“That’s a gaping hole in the scientific theories about the Hyperspace.” Tendrik answered him. “Nobody knows. Not the only one such hole, mind you! It’s a super-mysterious place. It has its own weather patterns that might influence your behavior, and if you look at it with your naked eye or spend too much time inside it, you will go irreversibly insane! Besides…” Tendrik paused as he saw the look that Tiriel was giving him.

WARNING

Hyperspace Entry in:

5 Seconds

Well, at least it won’t take lon…

Both Christopher and Ryan realized that things would get more complicated when their nervous systems suddenly flared up like decorations on a Christmas Tree that someone plugged in. A second later a pain exploded in their chests… and then everything went black.

***

When Christopher woke up, he was floating in darkness. He felt nothing, not even his own body. All he could see was the darkness.

I guess ‘waking up’ is a bit of a stretch here.

“MAINTAINING YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR IN THE FACE OF THE UNKNOWN IS ADMIRABLE. TOO BAD THAT IT CONCLUDES THE LIST OF YOUR ADMIRABLE TRAITS.”

The voice was deafening and seemed to be coming from all sides at once. It reminded him of that ‘projection’ that he met soon after his time travel. Christopher tried to answer it with some witty remark, but he discovered himself incapable of doing so.

“THE FACT THAT I RESPONDED TO YOUR THOUGHTS EARLIER SHOULD BE A FAIRLY OBVIOUS INDICATION OF WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO TO SPEAK WITH ME.” His hallucination was a witty one, Christopher decided.

Ok, all right. This is another one of the Mandatory Weird Things that have to arise when you are a Chosen Hero, right? Even those of my ‘type’. What are you, exactly?

“YOUR THIRD GIFT. A GUIDE TO HELP YOU ALONG THE WAY.” Christopher’s elation was short-lived, as he didn’t even articulate his answer in his mind before the voice went on. “YOU WILL NOT HEAR ME OFTEN, HOWEVER. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN COMMUNICATING WITH YOU MORE THAN NECESSARY. I FIND THE VERY IDEA OF DIRECTLY INTERFACING WITH CREATURES OF FLESH OR METAL DISTURBING, UNSETTLING AND DISGUSTING. REFERRING TO YOURSELF AS ‘CHOSEN HERO’ DOESN’T HELP.” The guide ended, it’s voice edged with chastisement.

He had to wait a bit longer for some answers.

Are you going to at least inform me about the second gift? I’m positive you were supposed to do that. Also, what’s wrong with the chronology?! Shouldn’t I learn of the second gift before the third? The fact that he began forgetting even such crucial details of his conversation with the projection after a few days was sad. He promptly resolved himself to write down everything that was said here right after waking up.

“THE SECOND GIFT’S NATURE WILL BECOME APPARENT SOON AFTER YOU WAKE UP. THE FACT THAT WE CAN TALK IS A SIDE-EFFECT OF THE SECOND GIFT'S AWAKENING. YOU ALREADY RECEIVED IT, THOUGH YOU ARE NOT YET ABLE TO USE IT. THAT FIXES THE ISSUE OF CHRONOLOGY, I HOPE?” The last words made Christopher suspect that saying no would attract even more mockery.

Yes, but I still need to know what the second gift is! Can’t you t…

His consciousness faded away.

***

He opened his eyes in a room he almost immediately identified as the sickbay. If the immaculate white ceiling and medical equipment scattered around weren’t sufficient proof, Lith Athalia standing above him and eyeing Christopher with a depraved look in his eyes was a clear giveaway.

“Uhm, what are you doing?” When Christopher spoke, Lieutenant-Commander Athalia made a step backward and wiped corners of his mouth from what seemed like drool.

“Giving you a visual examination for medical purposes, of course.” Christopher was confident that wasn’t the case… but he didn’t feel like investigating. He couldn’t wait until he could leave the room behind. “Well, you and your friend gave us quite a scare.”

“Oh, what happened?” Christopher rose from the bed. He was wearing an unfamiliar skinsuit from some pale blue material that began above his knees and ended on his neck. It was much more scarce than the work uniform, probably some standard attire for patients. He resolved to not think about who changed his clothes when he was unconscious.

“Cardiopulmonary arrest.” WHAT?! “The second the ship entered the Hyperspace, your heart stopped beating. The same happened to Ryan, though his case was much less difficult. I brought him back in exactly 56 seconds, while you… well, I was about to give up when your heart resumed working.” Christopher was certain this wasn’t the way a medic was supposed to speak with his patient. Then again, was Athalia even a medic? “The good thing is that you’re back in shape without complications. Hurray to the 28th Century healthcare.”

“Great. So much about the ‘Hyperspace is a trivial thing’ reassurances.” Christopher responded. He would rub that into everyone’s faces until they would be completely tired of it.

“Well, my career history is somewhat long. And that’s the first time that something of this magnitude happened. It was something utterly unpredictable. An Awakening of this level is a unique sight, indeed.”

Awakening? The Voice said something about it too.

“What do you mean by Awakening?” Athalia gave him a long and inquisitive stare before responding.

“Ok, this will be quite a lecture.” The medical officer grabbed the nearby chair and brought it closer. Then he sat on it, his hands folding in front of him. “Listen, what you just went through… It’s called the Awakening. There are extraordinarily rare cases of Hyperspace causing changes to the human nervous system. Which can grant you certain... abilities.”

Is he trying to tell me I will have superpowers now? Give me a break.

“Abilities?” This required urgent clarification.

“Well, since you are from the 21st Century, I believe that terms such as ‘telekinesis’ or ‘telepathy’ should be familiar to you.” Goddamnit. “Of course, 99% of such individuals have their powers so weak that they can barely do anything. What’s worse, a considerable part of them also develop brain tumors, neurodegenerative diseases, psychological problems, and a hundred other issues.” Why does everything cool like FTL travel or superpowers have to have so many goddamn downsides?! “Good news is that since you were knocked out cold for three whole days, your body entirely at my mercy, I had time to run every single diagnostic I could think of on you. Two things I noticed. First, several abnormal nerve bundles will require regular check-ups as they seem to be in a precancerous condition. Second, I had to excise a non-malignant lump in your brain which started, let’s say, squeezing things that shouldn’t be squeezed. This makes you one of the most stable cases I know of.”

If a brain ‘lump’ and precancerous condition made him a ‘stable’ case, he didn’t want to imagine how an ‘unstable’ case looked like.

“So, what sort of abilities did I get?” He neglected the medical issues AND the terrible double-meaning part about his body being left on Athalia’s mercy for several days.

“I have no idea.” What. “Judging from your brain activity, I believe you are one of the very rare breed of evolving ability holders. You are going to develop said abilities rather than receive them immediately, though I have an idea of how to start the process. We’ll get to that in a while. For now, please touch the back of your neck.”

Christopher did so. His fingers found something thick, uniform… and cold. What?

“You don’t get the ability to use superpower merely because the Hyperspace altered your nervous system. It’s a process that’s mostly accidental and calls for some human guidance to achieve a beneficial conclusion. The object behind your neck is a type of implant called a neuroamplifier. It is wirelessly linked to smaller implants spread around your body, each of them lodged into an altered nerve bundle. Installation of both the neuroamp and the other implants without your consent is entirely legal, by the way, because that’s regarded as a part of mandatory post-Awakening stabilization.” He seemed to be relishing the fact that he could tinker with Christopher’s body legally. “When you will decide to use your power, the implants will use small electrical charges to stimulate your nervous system in a way that amplifies and focuses your power. We will now proceed to the test phase.” Athalia took a pen out of his pocket and let it lie on the top of his hand. “Imagine that it levitates and put some brainpower into this, please.”

Christopher obediently looked at the pen and imagined it rising up, faintly remembering doing something similar as a kid, after he saw some superhero movie and wanted to check if he was one too. Nothing changed, as he honestly expected.

“It wasn’t visible, but it twitched a little.” Athalia spoke. After a quick silence - filled with mandatory lack of belief on Christopher’s side - he continued. “Open up your AI, and activate the Neuroamp 17.3.4.10CH app. Then choose the ‘Telekinesis Amplification’ option, and do the same thing as earlier.” These smartphone apps are getting out of hand.

Christopher carried out Athalia’s instruction to the letter. When he finished setting up the configurations in his UI, he concentrated on the pen once again. To his shock, the pen rose and started hovering a few centimeters above Athalia’s hand.

His amazement was cut short by a wave of… unpleasantness. His lower jaw started trembling, his right-hand fingers twisted frantically, and his left calf’ muscle contracted so painfully that he would fall to the ground if he wasn’t lying on a bed. He could sense his hair raising, and a pain in his back that kept growing in intensiveness with every second.

Christopher’s grasp on the pen vanished, as he could no longer maintain it due to the side-effects.

“Nice. So you are a sorcerer now. That’s the modern term. Mankind is occasionally so damn hopeless.” Lith Athalia sighed. “If you train, the side-effects should become manageable. You’ll also get stronger. Before you ask, you are not the only sorcerer in your recovery team. Ryan Awakened too. And no, this doesn’t conclude the list, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.”