Глава 15

The Cautus feels as though she were among those masses.

I'm witnessing—

History.

Then, the ray of light bursts into a rainbow spectrum, as though the universe were painting upon a black canvas.

In their last moments, the pious souls continued to pray to the mysterious blessing of the universe.

The people of reason, the scientists, they boarded their flying machines and flew into the light, hoping to touch the truth up close.

(There's no movement? Why isn't anything happening, now that they've gone into the light?)

The idealists, the conservatives, denounced the enemy for invading the space that had belonged to them from their first moment of sentience.

They brashly directed their most dangerous weapons towards the prismatic sky.

The gentle light accepted all, neither exploding nor fighting back.

The light followed its determined path, ignoring the agitated souls beneath, though chaos and death had already begun to spread amongst them.

W-What's happening?

Do you want to go into the light?

The Cautus feels her vision climb upwards, over the agitated crowd, over the burning mountains, over the dark clouds.

She can almost reach out and touch the rainbow light.

Weapons powerful enough to destroy an entire planet fly past her into the light without a sound. Ships that can sail the stars fall powerlessly to the ground.

They resisted.

They prayed.

They tried to sway the cold light with all things bright and beautiful that they had created over millennia—

But the light was unwavering, cold like deep space.

The light passed over the planet and left. All was silent.

The Cautus finds herself gazing into deep space, at the broken remains of the celestial body.

It is like the sight that the Presence was gazing at, that she was curious about, when she gazed upon the Presence.

It's... all gone... why?

From whence did the doom come? Why did it come? Did it leave? Where did it go? What happened to all the lives—

Then she sees it.

Only broken remains are left upon the ruined surface of the planet, when the light of the star once again shines upon it. The planetary fragments break through the bonds of gravity and scatter to infinite space.

It was once a flourishing civilization that marked those fragments.

No one could ever be prepared for It.

Even the wisest, most knowledgeable sages of this civilization had hoped for some premonition, some warning before the coming of the doom.

Unfortunately...

The Cautus witnessed the death of the gods, the powerlessness of the gods. For a moment, she even forgot how to fear.

Is this... the history that you experienced?

No. It's simply one of countless fragments that we captured.

This single glimpse could hardly compare to what I experienced for myself.

The answer that you seek is not yet complete. Listen to the sounds that emerge from the ruins.

The rocks that come from deep space—

Comets. Sometimes, they are the bringers of the seed of life; other times, they do little more than fill the silence of a dead planet.

Where do they come from?

Anywhere, perhaps even another destroyed planet, the marks of a lost civilization still etched upon it.

The gravity of the dead planet begins to draw in guests from deep space, and it begins to be made whole again.

Those ships floating in deep space—

Explorers, seekers, colonizers, perhaps even plunderers, coming from far away.

They, too, accelerate the evolution of civilization.

Do you mean that's what happened to Terra?

Your greed has gotten the better of your fear.

What you learn cannot be unlearned, Hierda. Having glimpsed a vestige of truth, are you willing to go back into the darkness of ignorance?

The Cautus continues to stand before the imposing 'gravestone'.

She touches the ripples upon it and trembles.

Every mark is the end of a civilization... only now do I truly feel—

Can I stay here and learn?

You have shown me the key to the answer. I have to comprehend all this knowledge on my own.

Even though this is only a fragment of time, frozen forever?

...Yes.

You're very much like us.

You may roam this place and anywhere on Rhodes Island freely, to seek the answer that you crave.

As for whether you want to stay here, or go back to the Terra that you loved so much...

I will respect whatever choice you make. We will meet again soon.

Y-You're leaving? Where are you going?

Someone has been waiting for me.

...For far too long.

Unauthorized 3rd-party plugin deleted. Default settings restored.

Expired administrator access detected. Intercepting...

Repair module self-diagnosis in progress...

Progress: ■ ■ ■

I've received your inquiry, Closure.

PRTS is denying all access requests. We've lost administrator permissions and we do not have the ability to retake PRTS.

Kal'tsit?!

Finally, an answer!

Where are you? The Doctor and Amiya are coming over to help!

Bad news. PRTS is taking over all equipment on the ship, including the engines.

I know. I'm fighting for Rhodes Island's last chance.

Closure, warn the Doctor and Amiya—

She's waking up.