1:1:8 Context (Part 1)

Pain. Lore had a splitting headache as three years of their own memories settled in their head. They had already felt queasy but activating the second cube only made that worse. They were approaching their tipping point and the blinding white void that opened around them pushed them over. They vomited but nothing came up. They had a feeling that it make a reappearance later. It was near blinding at first but their eyes began to adjust.

The second cube began to play.
“Welcome. A scan has indicated you have recently viewed the Identity cube.” The void paused. “There is an issue…” Their doppelganger reappeared barely a centimetre from their nose. Lore twitched uncomfortably but as they did, they nearly kissed noses with themselves. The doppelganger’s dead eyes pierced their very being; they could feel it in their mind, rooting around, looking for something but they didn’t quite know what. They had an idea but they weren’t sure. After what felt like an eternity, it backed away. Its eyes flared red then returned to their normal grey. “Formative memories not present. Do you wish to continue and view the contents of this cube? Warning: Watching the contents of this cube without the context of the Formative Memories Cube may lead to unexpected or unwanted personality changes that may influence the overall integrity of the timeline.” Lore rolled their eyes.
“Yes I do.” They paused for a moment. “Actually, am I correct in thinking that I have admin privileges within this cube?”
“You are the creator of the cube so yes.”
“Good. I would like to delete all reference to the formative memory cube and any related warnings. And before you ask, yes I am sure.”
The doppelganger nodded and without a word spoken between them, the white void turned black.

“Due to the nature and specificity of the information imparted by this cube, memories can only be replayed in museum mode.” The doppelganger returned once more. “Memory replay order has been changed due to completion of Identity cube.” The black void was lit up as the memory formed around them. The room that appeared looked cylindrical with a dome at its roof but was in fact a complex prism with a multitude of sides higher than Lore knew the nomenclature for, peaking with a similarly complex polygonal roof. It was a vast empty space with a single catwalk suspended over a tank of liquid metal. It shimmered as gentle waves rolled from one side of the room to another. The catwalk ran to the centre of the room where a similarly shaped platform floated above the metal. There were two people already waiting for them. Lore stood with their doppelganger and their past self at the room’s threshold. The past walked ahead of the present. There was an urgency to his pace and each step exerted a pressure to all of reality around him; an angry yet neutral energy that radiated from him forcing all those around him to understand his importance and fear it. Lore and the doppelganger followed in lockstep with one another. Neither of them had quite the same impact as they walked soundlessly over the catwalk.
“What’s so important that I’ve been dragged from a mission briefing?” Loren looked to Crait. “This isn’t a repeat of last year is it? Reid still flinches when I mention the hangar bay’s escape hatches.”
Crait silently shook their head. “Nothing like that I’m afraid but it could be arranged…” They winked.
“To the matter at hand then.” Loren managed to break their bond with Crait and look to the Oracle they had come to visit.
“Given your status as Head Inquisitor of the 52^nd order,” the Oracle looked to Loren before turning to Crait, “and your intimate connection to your second in command, it was decided that both of you should be allowed to view The Omega outcome.”
Loren and Crait stood in stunned silence.
“The Omega outcome is The Protectorate’s best-worst kept secret.” The doppelganger spoke up. “Worst kept because almost every Inquisitor knew of the existence of Omega but best because none of them knew what it was. Most thought it was a weapon but actually,” it paused, “I suppose it could be used as a weapon but that wasn’t its primary purpose. The Omega outcome is a vision of a possible future.”
“A vision in a memory, wow.” Lore tried to look fed up but could only manage mild discomfort. Either way, it was ignored.
“So, we finally get to find out what this is all about.” Crait smiled nervously.
“And we can settle that thing of ours.” Loren removed a small scrap of folded paper. “I’m looking to be a step ahead of you.” He turned it to face Crait. Their names were neatly written in the same font as used on Lore’s note to themselves and equally small: Crait – A telepathic weapon or crowd control device. Loren – A memory of some kind with the ability to manipulate the viewer.
“Crait actually wasn’t too far off.” The doppelganger interrupted the memory once again. “If the viewer wasn’t prepared for viewing The Omega outcome, they were often driven to destruction or intense fear. It forces a fight or flight mentality but permanently, or nearly permanently, the first Oracle that saw it was only just brought back from the brink.” It shrugged.
“Are you two ready?” The Oracle was done with their presence and looked ready to go home.
They nodded. Lore joined in.

The liquid metal sea boiled around them sending first bubbles of silver across its once still surface then geysers of cherry red high into the air above. Patterns formed and shapes were created and from them, the vision was given body. The Oracle donned a wiry crown. Their memory of the vision coloured the metal, layering skin over the pre-made skeleton. They were outside on an Earth-like planet. It was just another normal day. The liquid metal gave the illusion of their movement as the scenery shifted around them. The room had been silent to this point with the sights of the city being impressive but when they got their first earful of the traffic, the bustle of the crowds, that was when they became immersed. Looking around, one could be forgiven for wondering why such a high rank and mental fortitude was required before viewing this; it just seemed normal. Ahead, not too far away as to be obscured by other buildings but not close enough to get a clear view of the individuals, a construction site, complete with workers, slinked into creation. The vision took a persistent focus on this and so did Lore. The workers seemed familiar, not as though Lore knew them individually, but perhaps that they recognised their species. One thing was for certain, they weren’t human, either that or construction safety regulations will get much stricter towards the end. When they first began watching, work had been relatively swift with the workers managing to install three panels in as many minutes but with every panel applied, that time grew. There was another constant change that followed that trend, as time increased, the number of workers depleted. By the time panel number six was being prepared for application, there were only two workers upright on the scaffolding. The rest had taken an early break. Those final two joined their comrades sooner rather than later. They had been dropping like flies but the final two decided to emulate something heavier. Following behind the falling sixth panel, the two remaining workers tumbled to the ground from their final workplace of the fifty second floor of the tower they had been constructing. A clap like thunder followed by auditory lightning rang out shocking all that heard it. The scene quickly changed and now they found themselves transported to a much more alien environ. Suspended from the ceiling of a cave, a network of homes and interconnected rope bridges. And their residents too were getting to know their terminal velocity as they plunged, some semi-conscious but most dead, towards the stalagmite protected heart of their planet. While the cries and screams here were much less like lightning and more akin to the whimpers of a parched cat, they remained a haunting constant. A constant Lore saw as a pattern. They visited three more planets, witnessed three more apocalypse level events and heard three more death wails and through that, Lore cemented their theory.
“Why aren’t the humans dying?” They whispered to their doppelganger.
“This interface does not have adequate information to process that request. It is possible the information has not been properly logged but more likely, it does not exist.” There was a pause. “However, the Oracle did mention that two other species survived this aspect of The Omega outcome; those being the servile species of the Soloss and the Aetar.”
Playback continued with the ever shifting metal theatre morphing into yet another location. Liquid became gas and clung visibly in the air as towering skyscrapers with peaks invisible from the ground formed above them. The simulated smog thickened as they travelled through the concrete jungle. With the buildings playing the parts of the trees, the foliage and fauna characteristic of most jungles was expertly substituted for alien corpses that littered a large majority of the landscape. Foamed blood had seeped from the sides of their facemasks and dried streams ran from their ears. The playback paused once more but this time, it wasn’t the work of the doppelganger.
“What’s the point?” Crait stretched as they yawned.
The Oracle’s already wide eyes widened further until they took up most of their face. Their skin had been drained of its colour since starting the viewing which only added to their portrayal of a textbook dumbfounded look. “The point…” They nearly choked on their words. “The point is that the large majority of life in this universe will die in the next fifteen years. Whole planets, gone.”
“But we survive.” Crait shrugged. “Seems like a win win.”
Loren squirmed on the spot as he loosened his grip on Crait’s hand. “Will the causes of death be consistent across every species or…” He trailed off.
“For the most part, yes. It seems a disease that began on a backwater mining world was not properly contained so spread across the trade routes and from there, hit most of the galaxy. Insular communities and those who were on no contact orders fell into chaos for no apparent reason but, all in all, only three societies survived. Us, the Soloss and the Aetar.”
“Great, the blue baldies and the fragile faries.” Crait scoffed. “At least the universe saved the best till last.”
“There’s more.” The Oracle pressed the button again. The scene of death and decay was replaced with the vast emptiness of space.
For a time that seemed to last forever, there was nothing. The change was nearly imperceptible at first but that too soon changed. Purple fractals spread from nothing and across nothing to create a crack in space. It was only visible from one angle, having a front but no sides or back and it failed to interact with anything including the stars around it or the gasses swirling beside it. The room they were in and the medium that was showing it to them failed to do the event justice as the crack grew and grew, eventually giving the buildings from earlier a run for their money. They couldn’t see anything, they couldn’t hear anything, but Lore knew that there was something coming. Something huge. Loren looked just as rapt at the vision before them: Crait, less so. From the crack, whips of energy with a similar purple hue spat. Cracking and snapping, a swiftly growing bundle of tendrils forced their way into the universe. There was a clap like thunder but thousands of times louder. Whether it shook the universe itself or the reproduction was that loud that it shook the liquid metal, it was more than enough to pass along the message. Something was coming and that something was huge. The quake saw the end of the memory playback as the Oracle downed the helmet.
“That’s it.”
“I can see that.” Crait chuckled flippantly. They nudged Loren but he didn’t react. He was too far in his own head.
“No. That’s it. The end of time, the end of the tape, nothing else in history comes after that point. That is the end.” Loren’s eyes widened and continued to do so as they saw Crait’s non reaction. “It’s called the Omega outcome for a reason. We don’t yet know why or how to avoid it but, in ten to twelve years’ time, the universe ends.”
“Seriously?” Crait still hadn’t lowered their smile. “Ten years minimum?” Lore was asking the same questions but Loren stood there, stoic and silent.
“If life is but a run of dominoes, that was the first push.” The doppelganger’s sudden lapse of poetry startled Lore.
“You said there was more?”
“Well, yes. After witnessing that, we found there may be a way to stop all of that. There were supposed to be four survivors not three. The Quatarrians were supposed to there with us. We deduced that it would be advantageous to us to bring them back to fight alongside at the end.”
“I meant memory wise. I think I had worked that out by myself thanks.” Lore shrugged.
“Ah, sorry. I do love a good bit of exposition. Especially to myself.”

“You’ve seen the three year month so there’s no need to cover that. Normally this cube would terminate here but there are back up memories to lend further context to your current situation that my scans determine are missing from your long term storage.” There was a pause. “Here we are, context programme two, Char.” Lore’s chest tightened at hearing themselves say her name. They still weren’t sure why but they were nervous to find out. If anything, all this memory re-living was emphasising and hopefully dealing with their fear of the dark as once again, they found themselves in a pitch black room. One at a time, spotlights illuminated figures in the darkness. They appeared to be floating in an octagonal void. Then, their light lit. They were at the centre of the room, the walls five metres away at their furthest, hands cuffed together behind their back. The thuds and whirs as each light turned on continued as the last members joined the meeting but it wasn’t long before they got started.
“We stand here today to determine the fate of the Inquisitor formally known as Loren, now Lore. This court is now in order.” An instrument somewhere between a bell and a gong chimed. “Bring forth the charges.”
“The Inquisitor stands accused of the following: Illicit modifications to a Protectorate ship including, but not limited to, the radicalisation of the ship’s AI, unregulated experimentation on the ship’s drive core without proper permission and the installation of alien technology without informing a superior officer; reckless and unlawful manipulation of a Breacher; temporal endangerment; collusion with an enemy force; attempting to avert the course of the timeline and over forty five parking infractions.” The speaker sounded as though they were about to chuckle.
“How does the Inquisitor plead?” The first voice returned.
“I plead that my actions were justified your honour. Therefore, I submit a motion of neutrality.”
A murmur crossed the room, echoing around the walls of the chamber; most seemed intrigued by the notion but the odd few were unimpressed.
“I would however like to plead guilty to forty two of the forty five parking zone violations.” They smiled to themselves, “I’ve been meaning to pay those off for a while now.”
“Order, order.” The judge slammed a yo-yo like gavel against the floor. “The accused will take this seriously or will be found in contempt of court.”
“In that case, I withdraw my previous statement and maintain my neutral plea.” Lore could only just contain themselves.
The trial continued.
“Inquisitor Loren, chronologically speaking, a month ago, you were sent to Quatarr to bring their civil war to an end in a way favourable to The Temporal Sciences Guild.”
“Objection.” Lore piped up. “Chronologically speaking, it was three years ago. Please use less relativistic terminology.” More mumbling.
“Sustained.” A new voice chimed up. “Technically, it has only been a week so…”
“Thank you, Inquisitor.” The judge let out a sigh. “Let me rephrase my question then. Inquisitor, on the twenty third of April, 2263, you were ordered to bring an end to the Quatarrian civil war in the year 1973 to benefit the expansion of The Temporal Sciences Guild.”
“I was.” Lore paused. “I also technically achieved that mission. Post war, I negotiated a deal that would have indeed, benefitted the expansion of The Temporal Sciences Guild.”
“I would now ask Head Inquisitor Crait to stand forward.”
But before they could, Lore spoke again. “I see the trial’s outcome has already been decided.” They nodded. “Shame, I liked my uniform. I also really liked Gideon but I assume they’ve been decompiled so, I assume I’m the last one standing.”
“Your fate isn’t quite sealed.” Crait spoke again.