Engines blazing, the F.O.S. starship tears through the Fog and bursts back into the cosmos in a single flash.
The hand of the universe sweeps across the starship. The catastrophic shockwave that should have torn it apart vanishes in half a heartbeat, every disaster that ought to have struck smoothed away into nothing.
Ripped from a flattened dimension back into three-dimensional space, their limbs and bodies abruptly returned to their command, the crew's first response is a unanimous, visceral revolt.
Students across the starship retch and heave in a cacophony of misery.
Back on Babylonia, everyone scrambles in a controlled frenzy.
F.O.S. signature confirmed! Requesting emergency dock! Put us through now!
All nine docking ports cleared for approach! Automated coordination modules online... Trajectory calculation still crunching! Gestalt!
Gestalt emanates a ghostly blue light as a calm female voice streams through the central broadcast and into every staff member's earpiece.
Starship orbital insertion confirmed. Attitude nominal. Trajectory synchronization will be complete within one revolution.
...Docking conditions satisfied. Commencing docking procedure with Sector E-2159.
Estimated docking time remaining: 22 minutes, 8 seconds.
...
A flicker of static ripples through Gestalt's broadcast, as if the AI itself were pausing to think.
Then it does something no supercomputer should. It speaks with unexpected warmth, calling out.
F.O.S., welcome home.
The staff members still for half a breath, then slip straight back into the rhythm of their work.
...Cleared to dock!
Hold everything—all stations, listen! High-concentration Punishing Virus readings detected aboard the F.O.S. starship. These levels... we're looking at an agent-class hostile at minimum... no, readings still spiking!
Alert! Science Council Sector S-2135 under direct assault! Enemy Punishing Virus signatures confirmed as Ascendant-class or higher! All Mind Beacon connections across Babylonia have gone dark!
Level II Alert.
Alarm bells blare throughout the vessel.
Hey! That thing on the F.O.S. starship—
The staff member's shout cuts off mid-cry.
...Ah, I see her.
The staff member lifts their head, then rises unsteadily to their feet, their gaze locked helplessly onto a humanoid figure atop the starship.
Level I Alert.
Atop the starship, the fog clears to reveal a figure in red and white rising upright. She tilts her head back, straightens her spine, and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She needs no protection to stand exposed in the vacuum of space.
She sheathes her blade with unhurried grace and gazes down at Babylonia below.
Then, step by step, she walks forward, unburdened by the weight of the cosmos, and steadily descends toward Babylonia's bridge.
All units... stand by...
Level I Alert! Prepare to engage!!
A pair of hands settles onto the staff member's shoulders.
Step back.
Non-combatants, fall back.
The leading female commandant strides forward, a tide of human soldiers and Constructs massed at her back.
Weapons raised, they push toward the bridge in rhythm with her stride, laser sights peppering the red-and-white figure with clustered crimson dots.
Alpha catches sight of Liv and Lee among the throng. Her footsteps halt at the very edge of the starship. She does not advance another step.
The standoff stretches nearly thirty minutes.
Docking complete.
Internal and external pressure nominal. Opening hatch.
As the F.O.S. starship's hatch yawns open, several pale faces emerge before the waiting army.
...
The harsh glare of Babylonia sears Vanessa's vision, nearly forcing her eyes shut. She pushes herself one step forward, but overestimates her strength and lurches sideways.
Seeing Vanessa stumble, the human reaches out to steady her, only for those same limbs to give way. Lucia catches the human from the side.
—!
Commandant!
Liv and Lee are the first to break formation, lunging forward to catch everyone before the new F.O.S. team collapses like dominoes.
Valeria's gaze landed instantly on the dark red stains blotting the students' clothes. Her brow furrows.
After Liv and Lee, Star of Life medics surge into the starship under armed escort, racing death for every second. The next battle has begun.
Alpha remains standing aboard the starship the entire time, her hand resting lightly on the hilt of her blade. She makes no other move, only watching as the F.O.S. students are evacuated one by one.
She is simply keeping watch.
From the Fog within her M.I.N.D., a voice of herself seems to rise, questioning:
Alpha tilts her head slightly, listening to that voice.
...
Alpha lowers her head once more, her gaze settling on the human and Lucia beside.
A Lucia who can find happiness.
...
This is good enough.
When the human withdraws from the starship as the final one, the soldiers silently open a path for all of Gray Raven.
Only then does Alpha let her gaze fall, looking no longer.
She bends her knees and propels herself down from the starship's summit. She has no intention of damaging Babylonia's structures, and so chooses to leave via the bridge.
To leave quietly, just like that.
But the wary vigilance fixed upon her does not waver.
The human pauses as well, turning to look.
...
Alpha moves two steps closer to the bridge.
The soldiers' aim tracks her every move, sights fixed on the back of her head.
Don't move, Alpha. This ends here.
But Alpha doesn't stop.
Amid the bristling standoff, the human reaches out a hand, lips parting, clearly on the verge of saying something.
Will it be "thank you"? Or "I'm sorry"? Or "stay, Alpha"?
......
Alpha says nothing more. She does not stop.
Her eyes remain fixed ahead, utterly indifferent to the red dots swarming across her body. She walks straight past the human, past Gray Raven.
Amid the bristling standoff, the human does not reach for Alpha.
......
Alpha says nothing more. She does not stop.
Her eyes remain fixed ahead, utterly indifferent to the red dots swarming across her body. She walks straight past the human, past Gray Raven.
Perhaps they are simply strangers now. Perhaps this is where they part ways for good.
But she doesn't need an answer anymore.
Because [Atheism] made an eternal vow with the human long ago, to walk the path that leads away from happiness. Just as she does now, moving resolutely in the opposite direction from everyone, toward the bridge's far end.
And then into the dark of the universe.
Beneath the "tree," Alpha gazes at Earth.
...Leora and the others were right. Dominik made other plans.
Humanity is already on the path Dominik foresaw. I'll make sure they stay on course, at least for now.
They'll need my guidance.
Alpha extends her hand and points to the heart of the Atlantic.
Open your eye.
Where her finger grazes the Atlantic, one "eye" stirs open.
That human... who should've shared my vision...
She can no longer bring herself to speak the name of the one she left behind, the one she might have walked through a lifetime with.
Your "starting point"... this is where you'll find it, too.
One after another, she lays down threads of causality in the Atlantic's depths.
...Wait.
But she suddenly senses something, as if another gaze is fixed on the very thing she watches.
She traces it for a few seconds and finds it comes from a black-and-white Construct. Another variable, it seems.
I sense Ophelia's presence in her.
She takes a long, careful look.
The Sea of Atlas surges for the new queen, its roar shaking the sky, exposing an immense gray coastline.
Corruption hangs thick in the air. Corpses litter the tidal flats without end, the bodies of humans and Constructs, of whales and sharks, of apes and serpents, of birds...
Silver strands knot through them like umbilical cords running from evolution's birth to the grave, descending into the abyss.
[Atheism]... You've finally gained this sight.
The spider woman stands at the far end of the sea of corpses.
Ophelia's sister... "Helentine".
I have my sister to thank... Through her, you already knew of me. But unlike the "price" you paid, it is only through this body that I can stand before you here.
What do you want to tell me?
The other end of the scale.
She raises a hand, and the waves shudder. Spider silk from her five fingers hauls up a multitude of decayed bodies, weaving them into twin spirals against the sky.
The universe's information follows the conservation law. You have witnessed its greatness, and have felt its power.
...Further down this path, humanity will yet face other perils summoned by the Filtering itself.
When that time comes, you, an overseer who has forsaken fate itself, will have no choice but to accept humanity's desperate gamble, and aid them in it... whatever the outcome may be.
The woman meets Alpha's gaze. Waves crash against ancient reef-rock that has weathered eons.
Is this the future you want?
Countless figures flash before Alpha's eyes. This is an answer Alpha has never hesitated over.
I've burned away my own future for this path humanity now walks. It will be long and arduous, but it is the true one.
They will follow my shadow and walk to an even farther tomorrow.
I see...
Helentine gazes up at the boundless ocean. The spirals of decayed flesh weave and coil together, saturated with seawater, assembling into the most ancient of single-celled life.
The helix's sequence holds ten base pairs, each matched to one of the ten fruits upon the tree.
Phylotree?
It is the cradle of all consciousness. But as life multiplied and diverged, all living souls lost the bridge that once connected them to the roots.
From a certain moment, sky and earth began to pull apart. Lightning scarred the dome of heaven. Cells divided and converged, from ocean to land, all the way to the Late Devonian...
Until the life form called "tree" rose to rule the world.
...This is a solution that belongs to Earth alone. Every story will find its answer along this vein.
You and that human used it to seal the breach. But the master of the Punishing Virus will choose a new agent for that same reason.
...I understood this long ago. The "Phylotree of Ousia" was never anyone's invention. Dominik simply stood upon the right path before anyone else did.
With a faint smile, Helentine gazes toward the vast ocean.
Then you should also understand that humanity never needs to seek miracles from graves.
...I'm starting to wonder. Are you the real Helentine? Or just the shadow cast by a Sefirah? I have read the ordained path of fate, and this moment was never part of it.
...That is precisely our purpose. I paid the price to warn you, you as an overseer, that change is coming. You would do well to master the rules of this world through the Phylotree, and soon.
Alpha sifts through Helentine's past and future. In the "change" Helentine spoke of, Alpha spots a familiar figure.
Shall I tell you how it ends ahead of time?
Don't bother.
Alpha first lifts her gaze to the colossal tree, growing dense and wild on the nourishment of rotting fireflies.
It is my destiny to witness every choice made by human civilization. The final result is only the destination. What I am truly here to oversee is every twist of decision in every second that passes between now and then.
Alpha lowers her gaze again, returning her steady watch to the Earth.
In the temporary camp on the surface, Luna opens her eyes as well.
It seems only a sliver of time has passed since she watched Alpha leave.
The panicked fish is still beside her, only looking even more flustered now.
Eek! F-F.O.S... it just reappeared!
Lamia brandishes a comms terminal she's somehow acquired, gesturing at the server-wide notice.
Roland, meanwhile, looks like he already knew the answer.
My, my. Should we be preparing a little congratulatory speech? The lost one has finally found her own path.
...
Luna, however, lifts her gaze to the sky.
She's found where her fate first took root.
Luna suddenly realizes her upward gaze meets no hindrance. From the sky to the cosmos, barriers are dissolving for her. She is beginning to see through everything.
She reaches out to touch the air before her, control answering almost at will. She is certain now: her connection to the Ascension-Network truly is remade, just as Alpha said.
She has held tight to the memory of that phone call.
I need you to remember this. Someday, in the "future," I'm going to contain the Fog and use my power to disrupt the Ascension-Network.
It might not be too long before that day comes. You'll know when it does.
What you do then is entirely up to you. If you want to take the Ascension-Network for yourself, I'll be there for you.
...It's Sis. She handed me the key to total dominion over the Ascension-Network.
She clenches her fist abruptly, as if to seize every strand of the Punishing Virus from the air.
The timing is precise. Right when her power is being disrupted by certain... "anomalies."
Her eyes narrow, tracing the wellspring of every anomaly back to one agent who can't seem to stop provoking Babylonia.
So it's you.
She quiets the noise in her M.I.N.D. with methodical precision, fixes her course ahead, and nods to the other two Ascendants before moving beyond the forest.
I will always stand beside you, Sis. So, for now...
Let's begin by exterminating the little bugs causing all these "anomalies."
Luna makes her choice as well, resolving to hold her position as an agent for now, a role steeped in hatred... or perhaps love.
The power of Ascension will continue to serve the path she deems right.
