Chapter 001: The Arrival

The Long War is the conflict between the Solar Republic and the Confederation of Mankind for the seat of sole successor of the Solar Commonwealth, the first and only unified government for the entirety of Mankind. Officially it started in 2470, when Reconciliarists were overthrown and the Solar Republic was seized by the Commonwealth Restoration Party.

However many historians consider the Unification Wars, the Third Succession War and even the Frontier Rebellions to be part of the very same struggle, moving the starting date back to the 2320s. This would mean that the Long War continued for more than two thirds of the history of human interstellar expansion.

Despite this, there are no signs of it coming to an end. With the Hyperspace Drive being unreliable and no other method of faster than light communication available, the sheer size of Confederation of Mankind and the Solar Republic renders the war into a perfect stalemate. Despite 140 years (and seven Great Wars) passing since the fall of Reconciliarists, neither side seems to be gaining the upper hand.

With the Republic and the Confederation growing increasingly different not only in their politics and beliefs but even in their biology, reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict is believed to be impossible.

Encyclopedia Galactica

Book 1, page 543.

***

Somewhere

Somewhen

Christopher Hall

He opened his eyes only to see a close-up of an unfamiliar floor grating. ”What the...” he said, pulling himself up. The sudden spike of a headache interrupted his movement. He could also feel a distinct pulsating pain on his face. Its pattern was identical to the grating underneath him. The floor was swaying slightly. It felt like a hangover, but he didn’t remember drinking.

Waking up somewhat roughly was nothing alien to Christopher. He pulled an all-nighter to study for an exam or play a videogame all too often. He was intimately acquainted with waking up in the state where it took him a few moments to figure out where and when he was. But the crystal clear feeling of a cold, uneven metal under him was something new.

Where am I?

Once his dizziness abated, he took a long look around him. He was on all fours in some storage area. Metal crates of various shapes and unfamiliar markings were piled all around him. He could see a metal door a few meters in front of him, and metal walls to his left and right in a similar distance. The everpresence of metal made the place look the cargo hold of some ship.

The swaying didn’t disappear together with his dizziness.

Am I on a ship? Or is this a storage area of some factory?

He stood up, using the nearest pile of crates as support. Dizziness returned, together with its ugly cousin, the headache. After a second, nausea joined them.

Christopher was busy struggling to figure out what was going on, but it didn’t absorb his attention enough to miss noticing the metal door in front of him sliding open. A man stepped through, his eyes focused on Christopher.

His first impression was that the man looked like a well-groomed military officer. He wore something resembling a sparselydecorated navy blue uniform. His hair was black, but with white strands running through it. The same could be said about his full beard, which seamlessly fused with both his moustache and hair. The mischievous glint in his eyes undermined the otherwise dignified image.

”Oh my, a stowaway. That’s not something you see often.” The man said in English, before chuckling loudly.

Christopher found nothing funny in his plight, so he didn’t join him. He sought to open his mouth to answer, but the nausea grew tenfold.

”Nausea? Headache? Dizziness?” The man came closer, this time with a serious expression on his face. Christopher was in no position to answer, so he just nodded. “Side effect of simulated gravity, it will pass. For now, sit down.”

Did he just say... ‘simulated gravity’?

Being alone in an unfamiliar place was bad and scary enough. Being there with some loony who thought that there gravity could be ‘simulated’ like that was even worse. But he was in no condition to argue, so he obeyed the order and the symptoms subsided. The man kneeled beside him.

”Who...” Christopher uttered before another wave of nausea threatened to present him his last meal.

”Name’s Keller. Alexander Keller.” The man declared, his eyes examining Christopher. “And I’m going to answer your next question before you voice it: you are on my shuttle, en route to my ship.”

”Space... shuttle?” Christopher failed to muster the energy to add an exclamation mark to his question.

”Are there any non-space shuttles?” Alexander laughed, seeing his face. “Partied a bit too much, eh?”

Understatement of a century. In fact, I refuse to believe this. A space shuttle, seriously? Who would buy that?

The symptoms eased again. Keller looked around.

”Oh, I guess we just hit orbit. No acceleration, no need for inertia dampening, much less simgravity. Good for you.” The man stood up and clapped his hands. “You can stand up now. Just slowly, please. Cleaning the space under the grating is a pain.”

Christopher stood up, gently and carefully. He still felt dizzy, but his nausea was gone and the headache was a pale shadow of what it was a while ago.

”So, where are you from?” Alexander asked. When Christopher replied with a perplexed look, the man continued. “You are not from the Republic. Wrong fenosculpt and locals are quite bitchy about that. So I’m quite curious how you ended aboard my shuttle. And why are you here?”

”Republic? What Republic?” Given the number of ‘Republics’ on Earth, the man had to be more specific. NOT calling it Republic would have crossed out more countries, in fact.

”Republic of Triana, of course.” Alexander answered. Christopher replied with a look of total lack of understanding, which made the man chuckle. “Ok, I’m getting the feeling that this is going to be a fascinating tale. So, where are you from?”

”United States of America.” Christopher responded. It would not intimidate whatever foreign terrorist kidnapped him for ransom, but he didn’t know how to pretend to be a citizen of a country with less ideological enemies. If it was a kidnapping, the situation felt too surreal for something as simple.

Was he simply dreaming? It felt like a dream.

”That’s a few years of travel from here, unless you take a shortcut through Unity.” The man replied, seeing nothing strange with what he just said. He was still thinking about something when Christopher spoke again.

”Few years? Unity?” Chris shook his head in disbelief. The nausea resurfaced briefly, but then went back to sleep. “Can’t I just fly an airplane back home?”

”Air... airplane?” Alexander stared at Christopher for a while, visible perplexed. “Wait, let’s confirm something first. You are from the United States of America.” Christopher nodded in answer.

“And from Terra... I mean Earth?” The question was strange, but Chris nodded again .“What’s your date of birth?”

”Err... 12th of March 1994? Why?” Christopher replied. This time Alexander stared at him as if he saw a ghost.

”Well, you are either immortal, or you're playing an elaborate prank on me. Because the last time I checked, the year was 2610.” This time it was Christopher who was staring in silence. “And we’re nowhere near the Sol System. We are in orbit of Triana IV-b. Subsector 46-Beta, Western European Oversector, Orion Spur, in the part of the Human Space held by the Confederation of Mankind.”

Christopher backed away, but slowly. The person in front of him was crazy.

”Ok, I can see you don’t believe me.” Alexander said as Christopher took a step back. “Unsurprising. I wouldn’t believe it myself either, if I were you. And I’d seriously doubt your sanity if you immediately accepted what you just heard. Let me think. If I remember my historical education correctly, you didn’t have any way of generating artificial gravity or antigravity back then, right?” Christopher nodded.

A second or two later Christopher suddenly felt light. Very, very light. He looked down to see his feet slowly losing contact with the floor. Soon he was floating in the middle of the room. Alexander in the meantime didn’t move, as he was keeping himself in place by grasping the nearest crate and using it as an anchor to push his feet towards the floor.

Then gravity slowly returned. Christopher was about to meet the floor grating again, but Alexander grabbed his arm and pulled him back to an upright position.

”Does that suffice as proof?” Alexander said. Their eyes met. After a few seconds of silence, Christopher replied.

***

Passenger Zone of Shuttle 03

16:24 28.03.2610 STT

Christopher Hall

”Well, to be honest, I’d be rather surprised if it was enough to persuade you that you overslept for almost six hundred years.” Alexander stated, breaking the silence. Christopher didn’t answer, as he was still busy processing what had just happened. “I apologize for having to tranquilize you, but I had no other option. Too many easy to damage things around.”

Christopher had reacted to the sudden trauma by moving through all the stages of grief in the past fifty minutes before arriving at the acceptance stage. With Alexander showing him several other things that didn’t exist in his era, Christopher had no other choice but to admit that he was no longer in 2020. And that this wasn’t a very realistic dream.

He was still somewhat numb after the tranquilization accompanying his anger stage. At least he didn’t feel dizzy anymore.

”Yeah, I understand that.” Christopher replied. He could easily imagine a few scenarios explaining why it wasn’t safe to let a person rage around a small metal box in space.

They were resting on two opposite sides of a table in what Alexander described as the ‘passenger zone’ of the shuttle. The area was designed like a rather unimaginative restaurant, though one without the counter and restricted to being three to five meters large.

The only people present were Christopher, Alexander, and a young man of Christopher’s age that Alexander mentioned was introduced as Ryan Welch, a native from the Republic of Triana. Ryan didn’t take part in their talk, as he was fast asleep. When asked about it, Alexander admitted to have used some ‘chemical means’ to keep him in that state.

“So, where are we heading to?”

”To my ship.” Alexander responded. He didn’t mind what had happened and was calm about tranquilizing someone while keeping another person unconscious. “I’m the captain of EGS Echo, a heavy cruiser serving as a part of the Explorers’ Guild.” He paused for a second, but continued speaking before Christopher could ask about it. “The Guild is the institution in charge of exploring new worlds, charting star maps, pillaging alien ruins and derelict ships, running search and rescue operations and, last but not least, keeping horrible eldritch star gods at bay with nothing but crazy willpower and balls of steel.”

Christopher had recovered enough to smile in answer.

”I was returning from my shore leave in the capital world of the Republic of Triana with a new recruit...” Captain shook his head towards the sleeping Ryan.” ... when the shuttle’s security system pointed out that something unusual took place in the cargo zone. And then I ran into you.”

”He knows that you recruited him, right?” Christopher couldn’t help but be worried.

”Oh yes, yes. Don’t worry about it. He agreed to it.” Alexander replied hastily. “Though I might have not left him much of a choice. The Republic of Triana is a republic only in name. He ran into me while fleeing a local political death squad. As a captain of the Explorers’ Guild I can recruit anyone I want, even pulling someone out from the jurisdiction of the local law enforcement. And no third rate backwater government can risk offending me. I put him to sleep since he needed some, and because he was sulking too much to go to manage it on his own. Let’s return to you, though. Is there anything you remember?”

”No, not really.” Christopher felt a sudden urge to laugh about it. Amnesia was such a dull way to start an adventure. At least his 'amnesia' only covered the moment between falling asleep in his bed and landing here. “But you believe I travelled through time, right? Now that’s something I find curious.”

”We’re yet to find any proof for that.” Captain Keller replied. “All I know is that you materialized out of thin air in the middle of the cargo zone. To begin with, it couldn’t be ‘just’ a time travel, because you were also transported between Earth and Triana. It’s close to five thousand light years, so with six hundred years passing that's a superluminal movement on its own.”

Five thousand light years? Seems that Mankind achieved a lot in my absence. And that there is some sort of FTL drive out there. Take that, Einstein.

“There are many more explanations for you moving between the year 2020 and 2610.” Alexander continued. “You could have got kidnapped by someone and cryogenically frozen or stored in some exotech, which somehow found his way to pre-FTL Earth. If you moved between the year 2610 and 2020, well, that would be time travel no doubt.

”Is... is time travel a thing?” Christopher asked, hopeful. It would be a relatively simple way of returning back home.

”Not in the world of physics as I know them.” His hopes were quickly dashed aside by Captain's answer. “But I don't believe in accidents. Something or someone moved you here for a reason, whatever the method employed. And since teleportation is impossible according to science as well...” Alexander shrugged. “I saw enough strange, science-defying things to keep an open mind in such situations. In the meantime, you need to figure out a way to survive. Sending you to Triana is probably a bad idea, as it's a totalitarian shithole and you lack any form of ID. And the only alternative is to conscript you into Echo’s crew. You're in?”

”Is that just another way of saying 'please join my crew voluntarily... or else'?” Christopher asked. The only reply he got was Captain’s chuckle. “What would I have to do?”

”Oh, just some standard things as on every starship.” Captain shrugged the question off. “Just one more trainee. Fixing things, cleaning things, carrying things around and so on. No holding back eldritch star gods, in case you were wondering. This is something that we’re leaving to the officers.”

”Well, it doesn't look like I have any other option left.” Christopher replied. He had no money, no knowledge of the world, and no idea where to even start trying to fix that. And that Triana place sounded no good. “I'm in, I guess.” Time would tell if Keller wasn’t lying to him. He did seem to be honest, but what sort of successful liar seems dishonest?

”Great!” Captain Keller smiled widely. “Two recruits for the price of one. Wonderful. Now you should try to sleep a bit. Triana is a moon of a gas giant. Echo is parked next to the transshipment station built into one of the outermost moons. It’s quite a bit of travel, and I want you in the best condition possible on arrival. A lot of medical check-ups await you.”

With the obvious lack of any sort of quarters, all he had left was just lying comfortably on a seat. Christopher didn't expect it to be possible, but he fell asleep almost instantly.

***

Somewhere

Somewhen

Christopher Hall

Christopher opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place once again. This time it was a huge and dimly lit hall, with a few candles being the only source of light.

This whole 'close your eyes and wake up in a different place business is starting to get on my nerves. Maybe if I do that again I'll wake up back in my bed?

He decided to check his surroundings before trying that. The place looked like a church, Christopher could even see something resembling pews right beside him, but because of the lack of light he couldn't be sure about it. There were also something like pillars, but far enough that they could as well be trees.

A hundred new candles burst to life, illuminating the figure standing in front of Christopher. It was tall, much taller than him, and much taller than humanly possible. Then again, it wasn’t a human. It wore a pure white linen robe with a golden belt and a hood. The robe didn’t cover the entirety of its crystalline body, which seemed to change color every few seconds. Its eyes were burning like torches, enough for smoke to rise above its head. The only other thing visible under the creature’s hood looked like constant electrical discharges that seemed to be bronze in color?

“Be not afraid.” Before Christopher could do anything (probably run away in terror), the entity spoke. Each word sounded as if a thousand people spoke it in an almost perfect unison..“And rejoice, for you were chosen.”

Christopher tried to take a step back, a necessary beginning to running away like crazy. But his legs froze in place.

“What are you?!” With his legs out of the picture, the only remaining option was to answer the entity. And hope that it wasn’t hostile.

“The Bible, Book of Daniel, chapter ten, verses five and six.” The entity spoke, each word spoken by a thousand voices... each of them sounding mildly displeased and disappointed. “Since you didn’t read it, I’ll quote it for you. ‘I raised my eyes to look about me, and this is what I saw: A man dressed in linen, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face looked like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and his face had the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of his voice was like the roar of a multitude.'”

To say that Christopher was confused would be an understatement. But it made him remember those memes comparing biblical angels to the ones in pop culture.

“Wait, so you claim to be some sort of… angel?” In his opinion, this topped everything that has happened to him today, though the time travel into the far future was a close second.

”Yes, and no. No, and yes.” The entity replied. “What you mean by the term 'angel' is merely your subjective idea of the meaning of this word. I, in the meantime, am an objective truth. All subjective meanings will be at best a crude approximation. But the word 'angel' is the closest term you know to what I am, therefore feel free to refer to me in that way.”

Christopher felt his dizziness returning. After a short while of trying to dismantle what he had just heard, he replied.

”So... you are an entity that was an inspiration for the creation of the term 'angel'?” That was all that he managed to figure out from the confusing speech.

”Yes. But does that mean that I'm not an angel?” The entity replied. Christopher felt growing irritation. Was that 'angel' making fun of him? “I speak only truths and you hear only truths, but whether you change them into falsehoods by a wrong interpretation is up to you. After all, it is the truth that awaits you at the end of your road, and the results of its judgments are always up to you.” There was a brief pause, before the angel continued. “You suspect that already, but I will confirm it. I am the entity responsible for your presence in your future.”

”Why?” Christopher didn't imagine that he would get to ask that question so early.

”Because a person who had to remain alive will die. As it already happened, we can do little to change that.” The words of the angel continued to cause an ever growing dizziness and headache plaguing Christopher. “Thus, a replacement is required. A pawn from outside of the board. You'll be that pawn. If you succeed, you will be rewarded. If you fail, disaster of unimaginable magnitude will befall Mankind.”

“What?! I don’t want any of that!” Christopher was furious. And confused. Like most young people, he always dreamt of something more than his current mundane life. But now that he received what he dreamt of, he was terrified. He could feel his curiosity and interest wane after the ‘disaster of unimaginable magnitude’. The very idea of someone’s life depending on him was scary.

”You have no other choice. You have been chosen.” The angel replied. “Mind the history of the prophet Jonah. When he was ordered to travel to Nineveh to warn it of the impending divine wrath, he instead boarded a ship to Tarshish. Yet for all his struggle, he did end in Nineveh. Such is the fate of a human being in the face of an absolute.”

”So I'm just supposed to listen to you, and do everything without questioning it?” Christopher said, anger filling his voice. In his eyes it was akin to slavery.

”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” The angel replied. “Question the truth of my words and the motives behind my actions all you want. You will receive four gifts to help you along the way. The first one, that you will underestimate the most, will be the gift of tongues. One which will also expand onto the field of a written word. The second one will be a body better suited for the future, as Mankind that you know has changed much in the meantime. You will learn about the other two gifts in time.”

It was an awfully convoluted way of presenting gifts, in Christopher’s opinion. On the other hand, he did hear about half of his gifts. It was much more than he expected from the angel after the earlier sophistry.

“The friends you will make along the way will be your fifth gift, so cherish them well.” The angel paused for a short while, probably to give Christopher time to understand all that he just heard. “Trust Alexander, and tell him all that I told you. He has a role to play too, one that he will understand once he sees the ghost of his past.”

At least I'm not the only one in this mess. Phew!

”And... that reward of yours, does it...” Christopher started, but was interrupted mid-sentence.

”Yes. I can give you your life back.” The angel said. “But you will need to know what to ask for before I can give it to you, and this is a knowledge that you are yet to possess. I wish you luck in your journey.”

Before Christopher could reply, the candles died out and darkness swallowed him.

***

Passenger Zone of Shuttle 03

17:12 28.03.2610 STT

Christopher Hall

Christopher woke up again, this time in a familiar place for a change. He was back in the shuttle. He raised his head and looked around. Nothing important had changed. Ryan was still sleeping, and Captain had retreated to the other side of the room and was reading a book.

Looks like printed books are still a thing, even in the far future. I’m not sure if I’m more relieved or disappointed.

Since the occasion seemed as good as any other, Christopher decided to try and find an answer to his lingering questions. He left his seat and approached the captain.

“Captain Kell…” He said, but he got interrupted.

“Alexander.” Captain replied, closing his book. Too fast for Christopher to see what it was, as it was bound in plain leather. “The Guild is pretty much a paramilitary group. We have a lot of former military personnel aboard, but in the end the military decorum lasts for as long as we are on duty. Though some people might disagree, so it's best to approach the newly met courteously. Back to the subject at hand, what happened?”

“Well, I don’t know how to say it, but…” Christopher said. Then he described everything that had just happened as faithfully as he could. The captain remained silent for the whole time, but he was listening with a serious face.

”So, let me sum this up.” Captain said once Christopher had finished. “You were visited in your sleep by an entity claiming to be an angel... or something similar. it's responsible for you being here, and wants you to do something. But it was talking gibberish, so you have no idea what it wants from you. It also claimed to be able to return you to your old life, but was awfully complicated on that field as well. So you can’t exactly be sure what it meant by ‘giving you your life back’. And it apparently knows me, enough to leave some cryptic message to me as well. Is that correct?”

”I know this sounds crazy, but... yes.” Christopher replied. He was now worried. Captain's face was perfectly unreadable.

”Good. Because it is crazy.” Captain said, and Christopher felt his mood dropping. It wasn't something that he wanted to hear. “There are many explanations for what you saw. That 'angel' could lie to you or obscure the truth by going into sophistry. It could be a sufficiently smart AI, of human or alien origin. It could even be a representative of some hyper advanced aliens, however rare of a sight that is. Or it could be an actual angel. Which, to be honest, would be the second weirdest thing I ever saw.” Captain chuckled when he saw the look on Christopher's face. “Once we arrive on Echo, I'm going to have our chief medical officer check you in detail. The easiest explanation is an implant capable of altering what you see and hear. If we find none... then we'll start looking into stranger ideas.”

Christopher was about to comment on that, when Captain suddenly decided to add something else.

”It looks like we are about to arrive.” He smiled wryly towards Christopher. “Time to wake up Ryan and collect ourselves. We'll have time to continue this talk another time.”