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

who think you've got the right to do whatever you want!'

<We have offered you power. We have offered you perfection. You have turned us down. You are the discordant note in our song, the stone that turns beneath our feet, the shadow that mars our light.

<You say you will fight us. We say this:

<You will obey us.

<Or you will die.>

Chapter 5

You will obey us!

'No,' Sheridan replied calmly.

* * *

The Alliance had been tottering for some time before the battle at Babylon 5. Even if events had not been forced as they were, it is likely that the collapse would have happened eventually. Some authors have even maintained that the Alliance was flawed from the very beginning.

The history of the Alliance had been one long walk towards annihilation, with numerous flashpoints. The Drazi Conflict. The enslavement of the Centauri. The destruction of Narn. But the date commonly accepted as being the day the Alliance ceased to function was 20th November 2263. The day of the Battle of Babylon 5.

It was a battle fought on many fronts. Outside the station, the rag — tag fleet Primarch Sinoval had gathered fought the Vorlon forces. Inside, Marrain and the Tak'cha had managed to board the station on a 'rescue mission' that rapidly degenerated into slaughter. Sinoval faced his hunter, the Inquisitor Sebastian.

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.