Темное, кривое зеркало. Том 5 : Средь звезд, подобно гигантам - Гэрет Уильямс

And most importantly, General Sheridan confronted the Vorlon responsible for it all. The Vorlon was only identifiable by its bone — white encounter suit, but given the Vorlons' habit of changing their encounter suits at their convenience, it is hard to be sure what part that particular creature played either before or after this event. Certainly the Vorlons liked to present themselves as a monolithic, singularly focussed group, many parts of one machine working in unison, but as even Primarch Sinoval was forced to concede, that was simply not true. It cannot be denied, however, that their reluctance to provide names makes tracking their movements difficult.

It is generally believed that the white Vorlon was one of the leaders of the High Command itself, a Light Cardinal. Whether it knew anything about the Aliens from Elsewhere, however, remains unclear.

But at that moment its attention was fixed entirely on General Sheridan, and it was that confrontation that turned the tide of the battle, even the war. It centred, as many turning points do, on an enemy making a mistake. It was a rare error for a Vorlon, but it proved telling.

If tragic.

MATEER, K. (2295) The Second Sign of the Apocalypse. Chapter 9 of The Rise

and Fall of the United Alliance, the End of the Second Age and the

Beginning of the Third, vol. 4, The Dreaming Years. Ed: S. Barringer,

G. Boshears, A. E. Clements, D. G. Goldingay & M. G. Kerr.

* * *

<We are your masters and your saviours. Ours is the will that binds and guides you. Without us you are nothing, scattered and torn and disparate. We have given you purpose and we have given you life.

<All we ask in turn is your obedience.

<Is that truly so much for you to pay?>

"What? Doing whatever you say? Frantically trying to tidy ourselves up, hoping we won't do anything that might upset you? Living without individuality or emotion? Without choice?

"Putting it bluntly, yes, it is too much to pay."

<You act out of anger, but anger is a servant that wishes to be master, as you are. We will remove anger from you, and you will no longer be a slave to it.>

"You don't get it, do you? You really don't. And you never will. I'm not saying we're perfect, any of us, but maybe we don't want to be."

<Why would you not seek perfection? Betterment has always been the greatest goal of every sentient race.>

"Maybe, but we'll better ourselves on our terms, not yours. You say you've only ever wanted what's in our best interests?"

<You know that to be true.>

"Then leave. Follow the Shadows and get out of our galaxy. Hell, they've left. You won. Congratulations. You don't need to stay any more."

<That is incorrect.>

"Really? Well, of course you'd say that. You simply can't admit that this whole thing wasn't about us at all. It was all about you beating them. You fought them for so long, and now you've won you're just sitting around wondering what to do with the rest of eternity. So, you figure, why not? Why not actually try and do something with us, just because you can.

"We're not your guinea pigs, and we're not miniature versions of you.

"At least the Shadows finally admitted it at the end. They accepted they weren't doing any good, weren't doing what they were supposed to do, and they left.

"I'm thinking they might have won after all. At least they admitted their mistake, which is more than you ever have."

There was a cold wind, a chill, icy blast through the room.

<You will be silent. We are not mistaken.

<You will obey us, or you will be punished. We do this not out of anger, or hatred, because these things do not affect us. We do this because it is for your own good. The cancer must be removed before the whole can heal, and then the whole will thank us.

<We wanted you to serve us, to be our general and our voice to the other races, but if you spurn us, if you reject us, then you are the thorn at our feet, the barrier in our path.

<And you will be removed.

<You will obey us, or you will die.

<Speak, and know your fate rests on your words.>

* * *

They had left eventually, all five of them. Delenn supported Kulomani as before. G'Kar carried L'Neer. Na'Toth walked ahead, alone.

The sound of fighting was very distant, far — removed from reality, but Delenn could feel it with senses more acute than the normal five. She could sense every life flickering and dying, and she wept for every one of them.

Is this the life you wanted, Sinoval? Are all these deaths your desire?

It would stop. It had to stop, and they were the ones who had to stop it.

She was not a warrior. She was a healer.

She repeated those words to herself as they walked, for each step of Kulomani's that dug into her shoulder, for each anguished breath he took, for each rasp of broken bone grating against broken bone.

She would heal him, and she would heal the Alliance.

No one challenged them. No one even saw them. When they finally arrived at Command and Control, the whole place was deserted.

"Behold chaos," Na'Toth said grimly. "They can cover the galaxy with their spies, but they can't stop their spies from fleeing or hiding."

"Actually, they can," G'Kar replied.

"Chaos creeps in everywhere, however much they try to fight it."

Delenn said nothing, but kept walking. The door slid open obediently, and she entered. There was no sign of activity. Through the observation window she could see the battle raging outside. Gently, she laid Kulomani down on a chair. He said nothing.

Picking up the hem of her skirt, careful of her injured ankle, Delenn ran to one of the control panels. She could stop this, order the Dark Stars to stop fighting, contact Sinoval. She looked at the panel and paused. She had studied the systems here. She knew them well.

And yet this…. this was completely alien to her. None of it made sense.

"None of it works," said a bitter voice from the far corner of the room. Delenn whirled. Sitting against the wall, elbows on his knees, looking tired and drained and haggard, was David Corwin.

Na'Toth moved forward instantly, knife in hand. "No!" Delenn called. "He's a friend."

"I know who he is," Na'Toth hissed. "But I cannot trust he is who my eyes say he is."

"I don't blame you," David said, rising. Delenn went to him, brushing past Na'Toth. She looked at David, and then stepped forward to hug him tightly. Her son had been named after him.

"Have you seen John?" he asked her. She stiffened, and pulled back.

"We must do this without him."

"He was…. strange. Like he was before. Distant, and angry and…. I don't know. He looked and acted more like his old self when I saw him on Minbar, but now…."

"We must do this without him," she said, more firmly.

"None of it works. Not a single thing. I've been trying to contact people, to call for help, anything, but none of it seems to work."

"There have been…. revisions to the operating system," Kulomani said. "In the interests…. of efficiency."

"The Vorlons have shut us out."

Kulomani's face twitched in a semblance of a smile. "You made me…. Commander…. of Babylon Five. I would…. have been a poor choice if I…. could be defeated by something so…. simple. Help me to my terminal."

He rose, swaying, holding tightly to the back of the chair. Delenn rushed to his side, but G'Kar was there first. Delenn watched as he made his way painfully to the Commander's terminal. He sat down awkwardly, and began.

It was then that they heard the voices.

* * *

Tirivail was dreaming.

She knew that, but she could not force herself awake. She was standing at the top of a giant mountain, looking down upon all the armies of the galaxy massed before her — awaiting her command, her leadership. The finest warriors ever assembled, and she would lead them. Her father was there, kneeling before her to accept her command.

This can be yours, said a voice at her side. She turned, and saw an ethereal being, a spirit crafted of light, attired for war. Lead them against our enemies, and all this can be yours.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The spirit became darker, lightning crackling from it. The sky turned black, the air cold.

Understanding is not required. Questions are not permitted. All that is required is order and obedience. You will obey us.

Tirivail looked down at the armies again. Her sister was there, and her father, and Sinoval, and even Kozorr. She breathed out slowly, although she knew that here she had no need to breathe at all.

"All I have ever known is order," she said calmly. "Obedience to those in command. Not to question, not to think, just to hear and to obey. I have always tried to serve to the best of my ability.

"But I was never good enough. Never. I am not worthy to lead armies, and that is not even what I want to do. You cannot give me what I want.

"I refuse."

You will obey us or you will die.

She smiled. "I am a warrior. I am not afraid to die."

The lightning thundered from the sky and tore into the ground at her feet. The spirit of light faded and a voice came, as if from elsewhere.

"At least the Shadows finally admitted it at the end. They accepted they weren't doing any good, weren't doing what they were supposed to do, and they left."

"Berevain! Berevain!"

"I'm thinking they might have won after all. At least they admitted their mistake, which is more than you ever have."

"Berevain!"

There were two voices, one nearby, one from a long way away. She could not tell which was which, but she knew someone was calling her by a name she did not know. One was speaking to her, the other was just speaking.

<You will be silent. We are not mistaken.>

A third voice, one as dark and chill as the mountain itself.

"My lady!"

And then she awoke.

Memory returned in an instant. Kats, and the human Inquisitor, and the staff crackling with lightning, and the rush of force that had thrown her against the wall.

"My lady," said the voice. "You wake."

She did not know the voice any more than she knew the face. He was attired as a warrior, but in a strange, almost alien style. She blinked for a moment, and realised that it was warrior garb from a thousand years ago.

"No," he said. "Not Berevain. For a moment, I thought…." The man jumped to his feet in one lithe motion, and held out his hand to her. She backed off and rose unaided. "You are Tirivail," he said. "I remember you now."

<And you will be removed.>

She flinched from the anger of the voice in her mind. She looked at the warrior, but it was not he who had spoken. She doubted that any mortal being could speak with so much anger. "Who is that?" she asked him.

He looked puzzled for a moment, and then he nodded, understanding. "You can hear them too, of course. They are our ancestors, or our Gods. They are arguing in the heavens even as we wage war here."

"We have no Gods," she said bitterly. He smiled, but did not speak. "War? Kats!" She spun on her heel and ran towards the observatory. The force of the blow that had struck her had knocked her clean out of the room. Kats was there, with the Inquisitor.

She came skidding to a halt. A wall of blue force filled the doorway. Behind it she could see the silhouettes of figures moving, as if dancing, or fighting. As she reached forward the skin on her hand began to creep, and she pulled back sharply.

"A barrier," said the warrior.

"Kats is in there!"

"So is Sinoval. Whoever he fights cannot have long to endure. Your lady is safe."

"I swore to protect her! I promised his ghost I'd keep her safe!"

"She is safe, my lady Berevain. Now, we have a war to fight. Our enemies are everywhere. If we are to liberate the prisoners, we will need all the help we can get."

"We? Who is 'we'? And who are…?" One of the aliens came into view, dark blood staining his pike. She recognised a Tak'cha when she saw one, then memory returned and understanding dawned, and she realised to whom she was speaking.

"You are Marrain."

His eyes flashed. "Marrain the Betrayer, my lady."

She looked back at the wall of force, and then at Marrain. She nodded once, and then followed him away from the battle.

* * *

"Then I guess I'll die."

* * *

William Edgars had heard numerous theories about what happened when you died. There was of course the ubiquitous 'life flashing before your eyes', that single moment stretching out into years. But he had always favoured the idea of nothingness — no pain, no fear, nothing at all.

He was wrong, as he discovered.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen Death."

"I assume that word merits the capital letter. I do not disbelieve you, Senator Smith. Tell me what you have come here to tell me."

"There was a box. It was called the Apocalypse Box. It was a…. gateway of some kind, into somewhere else. Something came through. Death.

"I've seen aliens. I've been in space. I've seen and done terrible things, but nothing like that. I never used to believe in a God or the Devil, but if a Devil exists, that's it. It looked at me, and I could feel it inside my mind, examining me as if I were an insect.

"I was wondering if you knew what that thing was."

"The Apocalypse Box?"

"That was the name I knew it by."

"Four years ago our agents were excavating ancient ruins on an abandoned planet. They found various religious objects. One of them, a Mr. Eilerson, managed to decipher the symbols as the work of a cult that worshipped death, recording that death had visited them in the form of a spirit.

"After a great deal of searching they located the temple of this cult, and they found an orb there, the size of a large man's head. They brought it to me personally. I could see dark clouds hovering within it, and I could feel something not quite reaching out to me, just beyond my comprehension. I gave the orb to a colleague of mine called Morden. I didn't want the thing anywhere near me."

"Seedlings, they said. Objects planted in our galaxy through which they could return."

"I see….

"I see."

"Tell me, Mr. Edgars. Do you think these things could happen and your lords not know about it?"

"Perhaps. If Sinoval were…."

"No. He has no part of this."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. They…. they are angered by the thought of his name."