10-16-2013, 04:52 PM
Samus sat down in a corner of the library and took her helmet off, letting loose a drawn-out sigh as she shook her hair clear and lay down flat in her power armor. To see her exhaustion, you’d have thought she’d been running. She stared up at the ceiling of the library for some time, transfixed on the Victorian patterns. Then she sat up.
This was no time to be resting. She knew that. Why was she so tired? Her legs felt numb, her head foggy. Her heart was beating much faster than it usually did. She thought back on the events of the day. The girl and her artificial intelligence. The young robotic boy. The librarian. They were hitting her, like physical blows. Something rung in her head. She was blotting it out. She knew that. She squeezed her eyes shut.
It was like a joke, really. Somebody’s bad joke, the punchline to a long, agonising setup. Where had it started? So long ago, on the colony planet K-2L. It’s where she’d lived out the last moments of her life as a pure human, an innocent child. Before the pirates had stolen her life from her. Many times she’d wondered why she was the only survivor of that massacre. To watch as her own mother burned before her eyes and to be asked to continue on with that image burned into her mind forever more. But that wasn’t the punchline. Far from it.
She’d had another family. Her adoptive family, the Chozo. They’d raised her, given her their own blood. Trained her to be the world’s ultimate warrior. Given her a purpose. And then they’d vanished, too, leaving only their reminders everywhere she went. But that wasn’t the punchline either.
She’d joined the Galactic Federation, made friends. You might even call them her third family. Kreatz, Mauk. Adam. Adam was the punchline. Because the moment she’d met him, he’d been different from everyone she’d ever met. She was a young, rebellious cadet, and he was a staunch, by-the-book commander. But he had understood her, and all the others. There was more to him. He had known when to break the rules, and when to stick by them. Even when it meant death. She’d watched him do it. Watched him go willingly. The worst part was that she couldn’t hate him for it. Because he’d done the right thing, and that was why … that was what made him Adam. So she just endured. She was good at that. She was used to it.
And then, so many years later, they’d been reunited. As though he was her reward for staying strong for so long. Dead, but alive. Just a voice, just a mind, but it was him. She’d allowed herself just a glimmer of hope. For just one day. Despite everything that happened on that day, she’d survived, and for the first time in years she’d felt truly happy. Not like she’d just prevented a disaster – although she had – but as though she’d come out properly victorious! And she’d gone to bed with a smile, looking forward to taking on the Galactic Federation and everything they threw at her.
And then the next day it was gone. Gone with everything else. Ba-dum-psh.
She was here now. And she could summon him, summon him too to this joke of a world. And she never would. And that was the kicker. It was the question that had no answer, the conundrum that had no solution. It dug at her mind, the cruel joke, and it looked set to stay that way forever.
“Librarian.” she spoke.
The man shimmered into light. “Yes?”
“I’ve spent the last week looking for an answer to a question. Is there any way out of the Omniverse? Has anyone ever escaped?” She was quiet. “Do you know the answer?”
“Not a single Prime,” he responded.
“That’s what the Dataverse said. But,” and her voice wavered. “You know better than anyone else, right? I mean, this library holds all the known information about the Omniverse.”
“As much as I can gather, yes. In my estimate, it is the best single collection of information in the Omniverse.”
“So tell me. Do you think there is a way out?”
The librarian was quiet for a moment. “I cannot speak of opinion, only fact. No Primes have ever left the Omniverse. That is not to say that it is impossible, but the only way would be through Omni. However, none of the Primes who have met Omni have ever left the Omniverse.”
“That’s what I thought. Thanks, librarian.”
The man bowed, and disappeared.
Samus looked at her hands. Her suit flickered in and out of sight. Her shoulders shook. The tiredness she’d felt, it wasn’t tiredness. It was multiplied a hundredfold now, and all she could feel was the electricity, the anger of the injustice. “I can’t …” Her eyes fogged. “I can’t …” Her voice wavered and broke. “I can’t, I can’t, I CAN’T!”
And the indecision raged inside of her, set to stay forever. She knew the feeling now. It’d been with her, growing since she’d arrived in the Omniverse. She couldn’t bear it. She had the power to stop it.
It was time to use it.
This was no time to be resting. She knew that. Why was she so tired? Her legs felt numb, her head foggy. Her heart was beating much faster than it usually did. She thought back on the events of the day. The girl and her artificial intelligence. The young robotic boy. The librarian. They were hitting her, like physical blows. Something rung in her head. She was blotting it out. She knew that. She squeezed her eyes shut.
It was like a joke, really. Somebody’s bad joke, the punchline to a long, agonising setup. Where had it started? So long ago, on the colony planet K-2L. It’s where she’d lived out the last moments of her life as a pure human, an innocent child. Before the pirates had stolen her life from her. Many times she’d wondered why she was the only survivor of that massacre. To watch as her own mother burned before her eyes and to be asked to continue on with that image burned into her mind forever more. But that wasn’t the punchline. Far from it.
She’d had another family. Her adoptive family, the Chozo. They’d raised her, given her their own blood. Trained her to be the world’s ultimate warrior. Given her a purpose. And then they’d vanished, too, leaving only their reminders everywhere she went. But that wasn’t the punchline either.
She’d joined the Galactic Federation, made friends. You might even call them her third family. Kreatz, Mauk. Adam. Adam was the punchline. Because the moment she’d met him, he’d been different from everyone she’d ever met. She was a young, rebellious cadet, and he was a staunch, by-the-book commander. But he had understood her, and all the others. There was more to him. He had known when to break the rules, and when to stick by them. Even when it meant death. She’d watched him do it. Watched him go willingly. The worst part was that she couldn’t hate him for it. Because he’d done the right thing, and that was why … that was what made him Adam. So she just endured. She was good at that. She was used to it.
And then, so many years later, they’d been reunited. As though he was her reward for staying strong for so long. Dead, but alive. Just a voice, just a mind, but it was him. She’d allowed herself just a glimmer of hope. For just one day. Despite everything that happened on that day, she’d survived, and for the first time in years she’d felt truly happy. Not like she’d just prevented a disaster – although she had – but as though she’d come out properly victorious! And she’d gone to bed with a smile, looking forward to taking on the Galactic Federation and everything they threw at her.
And then the next day it was gone. Gone with everything else. Ba-dum-psh.
She was here now. And she could summon him, summon him too to this joke of a world. And she never would. And that was the kicker. It was the question that had no answer, the conundrum that had no solution. It dug at her mind, the cruel joke, and it looked set to stay that way forever.
“Librarian.” she spoke.
The man shimmered into light. “Yes?”
“I’ve spent the last week looking for an answer to a question. Is there any way out of the Omniverse? Has anyone ever escaped?” She was quiet. “Do you know the answer?”
“Not a single Prime,” he responded.
“That’s what the Dataverse said. But,” and her voice wavered. “You know better than anyone else, right? I mean, this library holds all the known information about the Omniverse.”
“As much as I can gather, yes. In my estimate, it is the best single collection of information in the Omniverse.”
“So tell me. Do you think there is a way out?”
The librarian was quiet for a moment. “I cannot speak of opinion, only fact. No Primes have ever left the Omniverse. That is not to say that it is impossible, but the only way would be through Omni. However, none of the Primes who have met Omni have ever left the Omniverse.”
“That’s what I thought. Thanks, librarian.”
The man bowed, and disappeared.
Samus looked at her hands. Her suit flickered in and out of sight. Her shoulders shook. The tiredness she’d felt, it wasn’t tiredness. It was multiplied a hundredfold now, and all she could feel was the electricity, the anger of the injustice. “I can’t …” Her eyes fogged. “I can’t …” Her voice wavered and broke. “I can’t, I can’t, I CAN’T!”
And the indecision raged inside of her, set to stay forever. She knew the feeling now. It’d been with her, growing since she’d arrived in the Omniverse. She couldn’t bear it. She had the power to stop it.
It was time to use it.
![[Image: 0bwAI3j.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/0bwAI3j.jpg)