Beyond the Farthest Star: Chapter 2

One moment Amy Stryker had been on Xanthe, seconds away from pouring out her wrath on Adrian Garza. The next moment the Sentinel had abruptly terminated her holographic link to Tau Ceti and she found herself back on her nameless world.

Amy was furious. She whirled around and glared at the Sentinel. “You had no right to stop me!”

“You cannot wipe out humanity,” the Sentinel said firmly. “That prerogative belongs only to God. You are not the judge of mankind.”

“You have no authority over me!” Amy shouted. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do!”

“I will not let you do this,” the Sentinel replied. “You may be in authority over me, but there is a higher law that I must obey. If you continue down this course then I will oppose you.”

“This is not over,” Amy snarled. She then vanished, leaving him alone.

Amy was intensely angry at the Sentinel and wanted to get as far away as possible from him. But the question of where to go posed a problem. She was sure that if she simply went to another planet in the network he would be able to find her. So she jumped through space to a location that he was unlikely to search – the space stations that maintained the Wall around Sol.

It had been a long time since Amy had visited these stations. She remembered upgrading them for Governor Nicholas before she and her sister left the 19th century and jumped into the future. For her that had only been a few weeks ago, but for the rest of humanity millennia had passed. Amy wouldn’t have been surprised to find that everything had changed since her last visit. Yet, as she turned on the lights and looked around, she saw that nothing had been touched. Everything was exactly as she had left it.

It’s as if no one has been here since I left, she thought. The girl walked around and looked at the computer screens, idly reading the messages that appeared on them. She finally sank down in a chair and stared at a terminal, lost in thought.

A part of her was gratified that the equipment she had built was still functioning after so many centuries, but that feeling was quickly buried by her sorrow and anger. Her entire family had been killed – betrayed by Adrian, who had defended what he had done and refused to express any remorse. In fact, he boasted about it! He actually dared to tell me that there wasn’t anything I could do about it. What an idiot! Does he really think that I’m just going to let this go? He murdered all of them, and I am going to make him pay.

She sighed and shook her head. Why can’t Steve just leave me alone? Why does he have to protect those murderers? I don’t want to fight him. I’m not even sure I can fight him. Maybe if I built an army I could invade and overpower him, but he could probably build an even bigger army, or stop time or something. I don’t know. But why is he protecting them? Why isn’t he on my side? Doesn’t he care that everyone he was supposed to protect is now dead? How can I get my revenge if he’s there standing in the way?

Amy said nothing for a long time. She just stared at the terminal in front of her. The screen told her the current power output of the station’s generators and the stability of the Wall that surrounded Sol. The girl didn’t care what it said, and she wasn’t really reading it. She was lost in grief, wanting desperately to go back to Xanthe and destroy it but knowing that the Sentinel would not let her.

If only I had someone to talk to. If only I could go back home! But Tonina is empty. Well, not empty, exactly. I guess Alex is still there. Poor Alex! He won’t understand what happened. I guess I need to go and tell him, but I just can’t do it right now. Why did this have to happen? Why do I have to be alone? What am I supposed to do now?

A thought suddenly occurred to Amy. Maybe there is something I can do. Maybe it’s time for me to go home. Not to Tonina, but to Mars. I was born there and I’ve spent most of my life there. Maybe that’s where I’ll find peace.

Amy sat up in the chair and pressed some buttons on the console in front of her. She navigated to the reactor control interface and brought up the screen that would shut down all four space stations. After entering the appropriate credentials and pressing TERMINATE the screen stopped her, asking if she was sure that she wanted to bring down the Wall.

The girl hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. I have no idea what’s inside that Wall. There could be anything – including something far worse than the swarms. Do I really want to do this?

Eventually Amy shrugged. You’re being foolish, you know! At this point it just doesn’t matter anymore. There’s no one left – all of the Ranger colonies are dead and the network is empty. The only inhabited system is Tau Ceti and it’s protected by both a Wall and the Sentinel. Even if there is something evil inside the Wall there’s no one left for it to harm. I might as well bring it down. The Wall no longer serves a purpose.

With a slight feeling of nervousness in her stomach Amy pressed the button on the screen. She then watched as the console contacted the other stations and quietly turned all of them off. Within minutes the Wall was gone.

For a while Amy sat quietly in the chair, waiting. She didn’t really know what she was waiting for. It was almost as if she expected something to happen the moment the Wall collapsed. But nothing did.

So she closed her eyes and used her nanites to reach out into space. Starting with the outer planets, she examined each world within Sol, searching for signs of life. With nothing else to do the girl carefully examined each planet and satellite, and even scanned the asteroid belt.

What she found was that only Earth and Mars still had life. Every other planet was dead. She knew that the outer planets were once home to millions of people, but that was no longer the case. Scattered throughout the Solar System were fragments and ruins that hinted at a mighty space-faring civilization that had once existed, but it was now gone.

Amy knew that she should feel something – maybe sadness, or disappointment, or grief – but somehow she just didn’t care. Her own sorrow was so great that she could not bring herself to care about the collapse of the Spanish Empire. The only planet she had ever known was Mars. The other settlements were just points of data – something she had read about but never seen. She had no personal connection to them. To her they might as well have never existed at all.

What did disturb her was what had happened to her beloved homeworld. When she was last there the city of Tikal had been seriously damaged in the war with the Spanish Empire, but the planet itself was still home to vast green forests and deep blue oceans. She had hoped that in the past five millennia the city would have been rebuilt and perhaps even expanded. But even from orbit she could see that the planet was dead and its cities were gone. The only life that now existed was buried deep beneath the surface.

Amy was heartbroken. What happened to you? How did this happen? You weren’t like that when we last parted. Have you been abandoned? Were you forgotten about? Oh Mars, my home! Why were you not cared for?

The girl quickly left the station and transported herself to Mars. She appeared on the very spot where her home used to be. Amy hoped that there would be some sign that something had once stood there, but she found nothing. Above her was a sky that was quickly becoming dark. The sun was setting on the horizon, taking its light with it. Beneath her feet, and as far as she could see in all directions, was sand. There were no ruins or debris. There weren’t even any plants. There was only sand.

When she was last on Mars Amy could see the city of Tikal from her yard. Even the Pyramid of Kings was visible. But now there was nothing. There were no ruins in the distance, and the pyramid that had been built by the first Martian settlers was long gone. Her world was empty and its glory had passed away.

Amy sank down onto her knees and cried. She felt utterly abandoned. Her sister was dead, her family was dead, and even her planet was dead. Everything she had once loved, known, and cared about had been taken from her. What do I do now? I’m all alone, and everything is gone – gone, gone, gone. Oh Lord, why did you bring me here and then abandon me? Why did you leave me all alone?