Unknown Dusk Moon

Gideon

He dreamed.

Gideon blinked, seeing the outside system he suddenly inhabited. A brief second of sleep took him elsewhere. He placed his hand upon the view glass, glancing at the bright planet and moons. Each was terraformed, with half the moon carved away, leaving a miniature sun deposited in its stead to power the thousands of forges across the other half. The planet itself was the same. This was a forge sector, meant for the speedy fabrication of interstellar vessels. One of Primetech’s most prominent.

This was Lo-Nine.

“Everything looks the same…”

He turned his gaze away from the view glass to the inner hall of the space station. The thrum of the nacelles comforted him, a familiar sound.

“So far so good. Nothing weird here-”

He bit his tongue, knowing full well that he may have cursed it. The hall was empty. He was alone. He walked with only his thoughts. The entire system was empty save for the planet and space stations. It should have been packed with vessels of all sorts, civilian and military. The corridors themselves should have had someone wandering around.

Ah, now it got weird...

He lamented his previous words briefly as a door slid open. Dark robed figures shuffled out, ducking beneath the short doorframe. Tall beings, garbed in black, emanating disquieting dread. They were already here.

The Dusk.

Gideon took several steps back, His heart stopping upon witnessing them. Even in his dreams they were now present. He turned, stopping in his tracks as another set of doors opened, with more Dusk spilling out, different than the ones he had met. His eyes grew wide, his scalp perspired with instant stress, the phantom pain of that fateful meeting returning.

He looked out the window, seeing the moons and planet he recognized was gone, The system packed with strange vessels.

Dusk vessels.

The planet had become a half sphere of bundled stone crystals, jutting and growing into one another. The moons weren’t much better, with one becoming a branching root of silvered black square stones.

His hope died.

“What did you do!?” Gideon roared, seeing the dozens of figures pressing to him.

A voice spoke, one that was soft and surprisingly feminine, unlike the clicking, buzzing, meaty, spine tingling voice of the other.

“You must journey to Lo-nine!”

Gideon turned, spotting the immediate doorway in front of him. He thought of only one retort.

“Go to hell!” he shrieked, his voice cracking under the pressure.

He fled, the door opening hastily with a hiss as he entered. He turned to the console, closing and locking it before a quick command shut down the terminal. His breath trembled, his limbs shaking as he backed up, staring at the door.

A rough wizened voice spoke up, reminding him of his old cranky crone of a grandmother.

“Oh! It’s you again- hello, my child!”

Gideon spun with a gasp, staring into the eyes of an elderly woman. Everything was so out of place he halted on the spot, blinking idly, his fear and panic deflated.

She was dressed in a nun’s garb, with a tunic adorned sorting an image of a cross wrapped in thorns. He didn’t know the symbolism apart from a religious one. Despite looking to be in her eighties, she stood with a strength that was palpable. Her eyes told the tale of suffering, with one of the irises gone black due to a possible past injury. She squinted her eyes at him, waiting for him to say something.

“Who are you?” Gideon asked, grimacing at his usual faux pas.

Brilliant first question, as usual…

“You don’t remember me? I certainly remember you, Gideon.”

Gideon stood straighter, checking for any possible exits; Lucifer’s deception still with him.

“We’ve never met,” he retorted quickly, side stepping to his left.

She replied, taking a step forward, a gentle smile affixed, “I've dreamed of you as you have me. I remember first seeing you in my worst moments. Seeing the destruction of my holy mother and our order. I noticed your form, but knew not what you were. Nor did I have the focus to spare.”

Gideon thought back to the young woman. The nun and her dying mother.

“I am Ruth Aimèe LaChapelle.”

Gideon shook his head incredulously, “No. You were young then. Unless you were the mother that was disintegrated.”

“That was my Abbess. And are dreams always in chronological order?”

He paused, his eyes darting in thought.

“You’re telling me I dreamed of you close to fifty years ago or more?”

Ruth let out a rough laugh, “not fifty- no no, that’s too short a time.”

He stopped. Father was only three hundred due to the cybernetics, she appeared to have none.

“Just to skip the guessing game and dive right into social faux pas- how old are you?”

Ruth let out another laugh, “are you always this charming with women?”

Gideon felt his cheeks burn at the comment, but refused to budge. She relented, her wizened eyes appearing brighter and full of energy.

“I am twelve thousand, four-hundred, and three.”

“Bullshit,” Gideon replied on instinct. It wasn’t possible.

“There is no bull or shit in my statement. I am one of the most ancient, experiencing both the old world and new.”

He was beginning to take her words at face value. There was a weight to her, an anvil to his dumbbell.

“You’re from Earth? How? A miracle in human form- immortal; why haven’t you come forward?”

She let out a raucous laugh, louder than the others, “You do not understand!”

He crossed his arms, unamused at the wasting of time.

“No. I was not ‘immortal’. A simple maid under the service of a king before I had helped his highness to the guillotine. And then shortly after trampled down by the mob. Immortal? No. I died.”

King. Guillotine. She was old world; before the stars were ever touched. He began to understand.

It felt like falling.

“Then how are you here? If you’re dead- a specter or ghost- why haunt me?”

“Who said I was still dead? I see you also have it,” she stated cryptically.

Gideon glanced down, feeling at his hand instinctively. He looked up, seeing Ruth left her wimple.

Like black ink along the left side of her throat, the Seal stood bold against fair flesh.

There was no mistake.

יהוה

The Seal of the Tetragrammaton. She had it too. Adonai had implied as much; that there were others. The next question bubbled to the surface. She spoke before he could.

“Gideon, do you understand what old world and new world is? Where are you from?”

“I don’t know… I’m from Primetech, ninth millenia,” he stared into her eyes as she lowered her garment.

“Gideon. You were on the last pages of the book He had written- the old world.”

He felt the dream fading. He became frantic.

“Last pages? Old world- what the hell does that mean!?”

Ruth breathed out, closing her eyes as she clasped her hands. They snapped open, showing a glint of power.

“Where do you think you are?”

He began to plead, anything to escape the hell of a moon he arrived to.

“Trapped on a Dusk moon- please you need to help! I’m stuck here without a vessel-”

She interrupted him. Two words to make him doubt everything he knew.

“Are you?”

The vision faded. The voice of Adonai spoke with a warm temperament.

“The journey to Lo-nine is perilous, but it must be made. You are valued, my son.”

He snapped awake, gritting his teeth at the dream.

“Are you?”

Her words echoed in his head.

“You were on the last pages of the book…”

Old world? New world?

He shook the thoughts, unable to piece them together.

“Cryptic crone.”

Frustration built. Nothing had helped. The vision, the Seal. All pointless to escape. He was still stuck on the Dusk moon. He rose from his cot and paused.

Holy shit, that was some of the best sleep I ever had.

He felt energized, overflowing with excess. The military cot had given him what only a combination of medicine, antigrav rooms, and true peace of mind could.

He sat near the heating unit, it’s warm glow comforting to him.

“What does it all mean?”

“I understand. Sometimes we’re just not given enough information and have to go by faith.”

Gideon nodded at the voice.

“And yet I had prepared my entire existence for this moment.”

He blinked, aware another was speaking. A woman. He glanced to the dark shrouded figure, sitting nearby. He looked to Baxter, seeing the supposed security dog snoozing in front of an intruder. She wore black robes with one of sleeves torn, revealing crooked alabaster arm that appeared to have been broken and never set right. It was lined with yellow veins rooted through her arm as if her it had been shattered like alabaster and renewed with melted gold.

Gideon's stomach dropped. This must have been the same quiwt dread one felt at an execution. He Looked to the exit, seeing a shimmering black portal, locking him in. It may be the same Dusk that had battled the alien monster to this dead world.

He glanced to Baxter, seeing the peacefully sleeping dog, despite the circumstances. He was going to miss that.

Materialize a pistol. Pull the trigger. He wouldn't even feel it. He'd be dead before the crack of the gun.

He looked back to the alien creature, seeing her staring back at him with her blindfold covered eyes. Her face was exquisite, as if sculpted by God. He never expected the Dusk to look so beautiful; it appeared it was a universally appreciated trait. Strands of sandy hair peeked out from the cowl, an almost human appearance. The comparisons ended at that. Her arms were too long, her height too great, her skin too much like stone to fool anyone that she was human.

She sat there, her posture relaxed, her mouth sporting a subtle smile.

"Jesus Christ…" he muttered.

His heart filled with grief as he looked back to the dog. If he ended himself now, he'd leave Baxter and Shindow to the mercy of the Dusk. If he survived and was captured, Primetech secrets would be revealed. He wasn't a scientist, but the gear he had, especially the QSD and the Decima could be unraveled. Dusk supremacy was imminent.

Wait a minute… isn't that already the case?

He glanced to the Dusk, narrowing his eyes. She had made no move, giving him the initiative. He had only one chance.

"Will you do battle? Or will you hold and allow me to speak?" the Dusk asked, predicting him.

Shit.

He telegraphed his intent. Gideon made his move. He reached behind himself, materializing a pistol, allowing it to drop into his palm. He felt a hand wrench it away from behind. He lept to his feet, sprawling to his knees as he turned, seeing noone behind him. He glanced back to the Dusk, seeing her inspecting the pulse pistol.

"It is a fascinating design. Will you sit and listen? If I want to hurt you, I could have done so while you dreamed-"

"Baxter- bad guys!" Gideon bellowed, getting to his feet as he materialized a pulse rifle.

Orange light flashed in front of him as the rifle began to appear quickly.

But at the same time painfully slow. The Dusk began to fall through the floor, as did Baxter. He saw movement off to his left. The rifle was almost deployed. She fully vanished as a hand shot out gripping the top rails from his left. He craned his head, seeing the Dusk walking through the portal, gripping the gun with her wounded arm and the pistol in the other.

Baxter let out a baying howl as he fell through a portal in the ground only to appear from a portal just above, stuck in a perpetual loop of falling. Baxter's form strobed as he tumbled about, going silent as he fainted.

"Please, listen to me! If I were a threat you would have already been finished!" the Dusk implored, leveling the pistol at him.

Gideon released the fully materialized gun, raising his hands as she began to pull it away. He tapped the pistol with the back of his hand as he touched the rifle's stock with his right. Both vanished in orange light, the Dusk floundered to keep grip of them, inexperienced with QSD tricks.

Gideon moved back, materializing another weapon as he chucked it at her. She refused to take the bait, deftly dodging to the side as she rushed in. Gideon assumed a trained stance, swinging with his right. She ducked low, too quickly for him to register as she grappled under the blow around his right shoulder, sweeping him to the ground. He felt the wind knocked out of him from unexpected attack. For someone so tall, she could crouch down faster than he could. She pulled back, arms lowered.

"If I desired to her you, would this not be the perfect time to do it?" she tutted, "or when you were fleeing into the storm?"

Gideon blinked, the wind still knocked out of him as he tried to process what had just happened. He quickly materialized a berylite combat knife, keeping it hidden behind his back.

He glanced to Baxter, seeing the dog still stuck in his strobing prison.

"If I wished to capture you, would using your friend not be the perfect leverage?" the Dusk barked.

He felt an anger build at being toyed with. At Baxter being attacked. He rose to his feet, the Dusk standing still as if waiting for an attack. Gideon took a stance, bellowing back a challenge. The anger towards the Dusk spilled out.

"Well? Come on! Aren't you going to take us? Experiment on us? Butcher us?"

The angel cocked her head, her face displaying both surprise and confusion.

"Uh- no? Why would I do such an awful thing?"

Gideon lowered his arms, nodding as he strolled to her, grin affixed. She smiled back, relaxing at his apparent surrender. Three Gnats materialized from nowhere, commanded to rush and blind the robed attacker.

"Atakku!" The Gnats cried out, flashing their LEDs in the Dusk's face.

He slipped the knife from behind his back and thrust it at the blinded Dusk, aiming for the gut. The being flashed and a dozen phantom limbs gripped his arm, the blade, and his body. He felt the constricting stoney hand begin to tighten around his neck. His vision began to swim.

"That was a good trick, but it was desperate and telegraphed," she chastised.

She knocked the knife away, pushing him to the wall. She gripped his shoulders, putting her face within inches of his. The Gnats continued blinding her, which made for a good lightshow and nothing else.

"Gideon! Will you listen? If I were to destroy you, wouldn't now be the perfect time? I'm here to help you."

The several dozen portals opened, collecting Baxter as she backed up. The dog flowed through the air like a trick shuffle, only for his momentum to slow and be deposited into the crook of her good arm.

Gideon held his breath at seeing his friend's life in her hands. The Gnats vanished.

"Please… Let him go- you want me- you want Primetech's secrets. Leave him alone."

She strolled to the heat lamp and sat cross legged, stroking Baxter's ear.

"Please sit down," she ordered gently.

His hands trembled as he obeyed, sitting in front of her. He tried to control his breathing and adrenaline dump.

He then asked the relevant question, "who are you?"

She gave a gentle smile, playing with Bacter's ears as he twitched. She stood, depositing the dog back into his bed. She observed the dog with smile affixed.

"I'm not going to harm you. So do not fear!"

"You attacked me," Gideon retorted.

"In self defense. You rushed at me. And you shot at me," she replied with a smile.

He remembered the mission going FUBAR, the winged alien, the drones, and Rumbler. She was the silhouette in the storm. The one who vanished, only to appear with a dozen others.

A dozen others.

"Who are you?"

The question hung in the air. She turned to him, lowering her hood. Her sandy hair spilled out, braided around a golden spike halo wheel. She radiated glory and majesty. She suddenly had wings, folding out from behind her back. What should have been feathers were instead of pearlescent scales with the arms of the wing glimmering gold. Gideon trembled at the sight of her. His mind broke at the answer.

"I am Deborah, Lesser Angel of Multitudes."

They were real.

Oh my god.

She spoke again, as if reading his thoughts, "and no, you're not dreaming- at least not right now."

Oh… What the hell,” Gideon muttered. He looked around for a few seconds in thought.

Then hit him.

“What the hell is going on?!” Gideon shouted.

“Not hell, but Heaven. Gideon, you missed the apocalypse,” She corrected with a smile.

She flexed her wings, the scales glinted in the warm light.

This whole adventure went from bad to bizarre.

He sat for what felt like minutes, piecing together the information.

“Alright, so an Angel. Adonai’s visions and dreams. Branded with a Seal. Marooned on the Empire of Dusk’s territory. Rumblers. What else am I missing?”

“Megiddo,” Deborah corrected.

“You are the one man who missed Megiddo; Armageddon,” Deborah added.

“What.”

Deborah nodded with a gentle smile.

“Wait, what?”

“Megiddo, like Armageddon Tel Megiddo," Gideon shot his feet, pacing with shock. He didn't know what else to do. The adrenaline dump had made him jittery.

Deborah nodded with a smile.

“Like burn the universe with fire and start over Megiddo?”

Deborah looked confused and shook her head.

“No. Adonai returned and fulfilled His promise. Redeemed humanity. He merged Heaven and Earth; the physical realm and the spiritual realm together as one,” She said as she brushed at her hair, “The Somatheonic realm. You… Missed it.”

Gideon stared at her with a blank faraway look. He was tired.

“What the fuck."

Gideon sat back down by the heat lamp thinking; feeling the impact of those words. He was awash with questions. What happened to his family? To the Empire? To Primetech? Everything he knew in the past was now obsolete. Somehow he traveled in time. The IIT must have not only flung them far into space but also time. He had not even considered that possibility.

“Why?” Gideon asked as he looked up to Deborah, “why me? The IIT drive should not have been able to do this!"

He knew his justifications were empty, but by dammit he's protest them.

“Well, if it wasn’t you on this mission, it would have been whoever piloted the Decima, The vessel of the Lost. Adonai said you were taking the long way around and so set some of us to wait.”

“How long?” Gideon asked with an edge of desperation, “how long has it been since we left?”

There was a quiet pause, Baxter rolled onto his back, the only noise to disturb the silence.

“I don’t know. One could say an eternity and be correct,” she replied with a tilt of her head.

“How? You’re an Angel, how can you not know?” Gideon felt his frustration building.

“Lesser Angel,” Deborah corrected with a smile, tapping at her head, “And not one based on knowledge.An Angel, Cherubim, or even a Seraphim of the Realm of Knowledge would know, as is their identity,” she further explained.

“And what are you?” Gideon asked.

“I am based in the Realm of Dimension. My specialization is on dimensional selves, as you experienced with our sparring. I am in tune with all of my alternative dimensional selves, summoning them or their extensions at will,” Deborah flexed her hand, seven more hands split from the one like splaying a deck of cards. The seven all looked distorted and shimmered like they were mirages. She dispersed the new hands, leaving the original.

Gideon looked in a mixture of awe and horror at the display.

“I am also adept at summoning dimensional portals as you saw with your dog, Baxter,” Deborah added. Baxter's legs twitched in movement as he emitted a quiet growl.

“But why me? Why even choose me when I’m the weakest of my brothers? Why not one of them? Or anyone else?” Gideon asked.

“Because you are weak,” Deborah stated, gesturing with her open hand, “compared to the Gideon of old, you are herculean, but compared to a Faithful One or even a Glorified One, you are but a babe.”

Gideon was silent in thought. It sparked anger upon hearing the confirmation of his dire thoughts. He shook his head, flexing his jaw.

She continued unabated, "and it is not because you are not intelligent, because you are. Or not fit, because you are. It is because you are human that makes you weak. And this is what Adonai planned for,” Deborah said with a grin, revealing perfectly sculpted white alabaster teeth.

“What? So Adonai plans to use a weakling as his strongman?” Gideon shot back.

“Not exactly. It is because you are a mostly empty vessel, awaiting to be filled. For humanity, Adonai placed in them a potential to be filled by His presence, His power, like a cup or bowl. This would cause a man to rise up, becoming stronger and overcoming the challenges they faced. In those cases, the challenges were comparatively smaller than today’s trouble. What humanity did not know is that their cup could have no bottom. They became strong enough to lift a five hundred pound object, not realizing they could lift ten tons; because they didn’t need to lift ten tons,”

“So where I am weak, He makes me strong?” Gideon retorted.

“Exactly. Not to say you are not already strong. You are. You fought me fearlessly, which is what we need, even though the chances of you winning were minimal. You strength will be more than sheer muscle. You will surpass even me if I can help it,” She stated with an assured laugh.

“What do you mean?” he tilted his head slightly, trying to process everything.

“Oh, He didn’t tell you? I’m your guide and guardian angel. I’ll have to talk to Him about that…” Deborah finished with a murmur, putting her finger to her lips in thought. She then reached over to tap his right hand, the one holding the Seal.

“That makes sense,” Gideon while shaking his head, giving up completely. He was too overwhelemd to care anymore.

He glanced to exit to the lavatory, seeing it was still blocked off.

“Oh, let me fix that,” Deborah announced. The shimmering portal dropped, Gideon could hear the metallic trundling as Steak and Pat caught up, no longer stuck inside dimensional portals. Gideon quickly jumped to his feet, placing himself in between them and Deborah.

"Hey, Steak! Pat! Let's just- you know- calm down a minute."

"Is that not the Dusk?" Steak retorted, leveling his hip pistols at her. Deborah stared on, unconcerned with the confrontation of the walking bunkers.

"She's not Dusk-" he paused, his mind finally catching that detail, "wait- you're not the Dusk?"

Deborah cocked her head, pursing her lips, "no? The Dusk?" she glanced down at her robes, adjusting them, "oh! You mean The Watchers- they gave me this robe- very nice individuals!"

There was a long pause as what she casually opined began to settle in. The tension was palpable. The questions waiting to be asked would change everything. A series of sneezes snapped everyone's attention to the dog.

Baxter let out a grunt as he furiously kicked his legs, rolling from his bed to the floor. He scrambled to his feet, letting out a long yawn as he stretched, shaking off the ash from his pixie saddle. He trotted to Deborah, sitting down with ears perked.

"Hello nice lady, I am Baxter, I do not know you but I love you!"

The room deflated, like being vented of atmosphere.

Gideon just sighed.