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

"Perhaps that was our mistake, leaving our birthplace. On Kazomi Seven we only had to walk outside or glance out of a window to see some legacy of what had happened there, of what our Alliance was formed to oppose. Here everything seems so far away, little more than a memory. How soon we all forget the real truth. e y

"Just as soon we will forget Narn. If some have their way, war will begin because of this, and the Narn homeworld will be forgotten. u s

"The Alliance was built for peace. I believe in peace. I saw my world die, and I have spoken with those who have experienced the same thing. All are shocked and paralysed. All have different beliefs and opinions. Mine are shared by myself alone. Everyone disagrees with me, but I cannot help but continue to believe in the truth of my views. y o

"We brought this on ourselves. u w

"I do not speak of our Government. Whatever they did, they have paid for. I speak of our people. I speak of those of us who believed that we were superior and that no one else mattered, that we could interfere in the lives and homes of others at our pleasure, that they did not matter, that they could not fight back. We used this Alliance as a shield and as a sword, striking at our enemies in our ignorance and hiding behind it when they sought to strike back. i l

"And now we have discovered that there are those more powerful than we are. We have learned this with great pain and great loss. It is a lesson we must not forget. None of us. l o

"We are all stronger together than we are apart. b e

"Perhaps, if a better world can come of this for everyone, then those who died need not have died in vain. If we can all turn this loss to a greater good, as we did at Kazomi Seven, then we can create something greater than what was destroyed. y u

"I hope for that with all I have, and it is all that sustains me. s y

"But I doubt, truly, in my heart, that it will ever happen. o u

"What say all of you?" w i

There was a pause, in which Lethke hid his head in his hands. There were no words. There just were no words at all. l l

Taan Churok rose. "G'Kar," he said simply. "You wrong." o b

It was G'Kar who noticed the shadow first, and he turned to face the door. Lethke looked up a moment later. e y

The silhouette of the Vorlon was stark in the doorway, casting a black and terrible shadow into the room, touching each and every one of them. u s

* * *

Help me!

The scream filled Talia's mind, at the same moment as it echoed across the network. A million trapped minds and souls, some imprisoned for millennia, their bodies long rotted to dust and ash, screamed as well. y o

And they provided the help needed by their saviour. u w

A bright, terrible light filled Dexter's vision, rising from the shadow Talia cast before the box. The creature there, the Alien, the wrong, unnatural abomination, seemed to recoil from the shock. Something inside Dexter's mind reached out past the pain and the revulsion and joined with the rush of energy and consciousness. i l

The box itself was surrounded by light. Dexter could not see it himself, but the others could. There were so many souls, beings composed entirely of light and power, battling against the Alien. l o

Talia felt something reaching across countless light years, from somewhere so far away she could barely imagine it, a gesture as gentle as a caress on the nape of her neck. b e

"Al," she thought. She did not whisper, for she could not make any sound, and she did not cry, for her eyes could not shed tears. It took every effort she had to simply give birth to that thought, but she managed it. y u

"Al," she thought again. s o

The necropolis was bathed in light, but she knew it was temporary, a tiny spark as of a match struck against midnight. It was a momentary blink to beings such as these. r y

The image before her knew that. o u

We have waited a thousand times your lifetime,the dark, hateful voice said to her. D o you think this gambit means anything to such as us? Your Gods are but insects compared to us. Your lords bow down before us. Your power is a shadow before our presence.

Talia could feel her eyes bleeding. "You haven't won yet." w i

We will. Even if we never truly cross the barrier to your existence. Even if you close this gate and all others, we will always triumph. All things end. Even planets, even stars, even universes die. At the end, there is nothing but death.

"You're right," she whispered. l l

If all ended in death, it didn't matter to them whether they won now or not. d i

But it did matter to her. e

The light grew brighter, briefly, but then it began to die. This had been the work of a moment, nothing more, and it had not tapped into even a fraction of the power of the network. She could not do that and still live as anything mortal. y ouw

And all it had done was hold them back for a single second, for the blink of an eye. i llo

She withdrew, and returned to a body racked with pain and blood. Her vision was red and misty, and the light here was almost blinding. b eyu

But she managed to look up to see the creature return through the box. s ory

And then it closed. o uwi

And remained closed. l ldie

* * *

<You are all traitors.>

The words sang in their minds with the mournful dirge of hanged men at dusk, with the rattle of bones sleeping unquietly in their graves, with the horrifying finality of judgment and sentence.

Lethke tried to speak. So did G'Kael and Taan Churok.