Raine VS The End of the World (66 page)

March 10, 2212:

Lily transports Lorelei there, hands over Lacie’s memoirs, and sends her off with a heartfelt goodbye. Lily returns to…

April 18, 2187:

The war is over. Lily flies her colors over
Neo Eden
, oversees the Princess Regent’s formal surrender, and then retreats from the public eye.

May 2, 2187:

With Raine and Gerrit’s collected memories, Lily initiates a second batch of clones of her parents.

June 1, 2188:

Raine and Gerrit are reborn. Lily reveals to them that they are clones of her parents Carl and Elizabeth, and returns their memories as best she can before withdrawing.

Rutger, and Raine II and Gerrit II’s kind words foil Lily’s suicide attempt.

August 19, 2188:

After two months of planning and re-adjusting to life on the
Belladonna
, Lily announces that she is leaving the fate of the universe
in Raine and Gerrit’s hands. Lily bids them goodbye and sets a course for Earth to build her Space Ark.

The following are based upon the characters’ temperament at the beginning of the records herein. Some accounts may contain speculation on the part of the narrator.

Captain Lillian Hermes / Sky Admiral Lily

Age: 20
Height: 5’4”
Favorite Food: Sashimi
Favorite Color: Light blue
Hobbies: Robotics, Gardening

The fated daughter of famed scientists Carl and Elizabeth, set to be yet another troubled fictional orphan upon whose shoulders the fate of the world rests. She inherits the
Belladonna
and its grueling mission at a young age, with the onboard AI Rutger her only companion. She’s haunted by her mistakes, the burden of responsibility she places on herself, and the collective failed efforts of her countless past selves to reform the world and ensure humanity’s survival. Her growth was stunted after a fight with Lorelei that nearly killed her. A supergenius with a powerful conscience, the only way Lily can forgive herself for her past is to confront it head-on.

Raine Townsend / Captain Raine

Age: 16
Height: 5’7”
Favorite Food: BLT and PB & J sandwiches
Favorite Colors: Hunter green and regal purple
Hobbies: Video gaming, track and field, speed math

Raine has blocked out much of her childhood. She spent years at an orphanage outside of Chicago until she ended up in foster care due to bouts of depression and a penchant for escape attempts. Even after being taken under the care of a well-meaning but authoritarian woman, Raine has continued to be a troublesome case. She retreats from reality by playing video games, a hobby that turned to obsession upon her discovery that she was an immensely gifted gamer. Once entering the
Metaverse
and finding that her memories are fading, however, Raine begins to question the very reality she knows.

Gerrit (Surname Classified) / Captain Gerrit

Age: 16
Height: 5’10”
Favorite Food: Pumpkin pie
Favorite Color: Orange
Hobbies: Sword tricks, Mythology, Philosophy, 20
th
century rock

A skilled player of
Endless Metaverse
, Gerrit moonlights as an errand-boy for the underground rebellion. He is among the strongest swordsmen in the
Avidya
server and can manipulate much of the
‘Verse’s
code at will, but never picks a fight unless he needs to. He’s spent most of his time in the
Metaverse
searching for a girlfriend who’s on the same level as he is, and is curious about what the Developers are hiding; the mysteries of the world outside interest him more than the
‘Verse’s
manufactured distractions.

Lorelei Hermes / Queen Lorelei

Age: 34
Height: 5’10
Favorite Food: Peking duck
Favorite Color: Burgundy
Hobbies: Painting, Overlording, and miniature golf

The stylish and enigmatic creator of
Endless Metaverse
, monarch of
Neo Eden
,
and de facto ruler of the free world, Lorelei enjoys the finest things in life: finely roasted coffee, strapping young men, and the joys of painting and visual arts, although her quick thinking and processing has made her bored, impatient and agitated. She originally left on her campaign to rule planet Earth in order to prove a point to Lily regarding their conflicting views of the universe, but has since become rather attached to the aroma of power she holds upon its citizens.

Lacie (Laramie) Hermes / General Lacie

Age: 29
Height: 5’9
Favorite Food: Custard pies
Favorite Color: Neon yellow
Hobbies: Writing, Research, Samba, Aerobics, Scuba diving

As the leader of
Neo Eden’s
armed forces, Lacie spends much of her time in training or enacting battle strategies. Once an ardent scientist like her sisters, Lacie has now resigned herself to doing the Queen’s dirty work. She’s afraid of making her own judgments due to past regrets relating to the
Hermes
mission. As a result, ‘Cie doesn’t mind taking orders. If there’s one thing that motivates her, it’s her love for Claire, the noblewoman whose life she saved and ultimately fell in love with. Her loyal pup Archie keeps her company as well. As the date of the fateful solar flare approaches, Lacie has made it a point to work on her memoirs, so that the tale of the
Belladonna
does not go unwritten.

Lucille Hermes

Age: 16
Height: 5’6
Favorite Food: Fish and chips
Favorite Color: Navy blue
Hobbies: Reading, Anthropology, Chess, Chopin, History

Lucy is a total bookworm, an engineering genius, and the most psychologically well balanced of Lily’s clones, as far as personality traits are concerned. Although she is an avid reader, is prone to daydreaming about her brief life in the Victorian era, and often seems in her own world, she can be very sociable, and is more than capable of holding her own in a debate with any of her sisters. More than any of them, Lucy understands the flow of history and how violence simply begets more violence, and her approach to Lily’s problem is to attack it with lateral thinking. Lucy holds a deep respect for the work of Carl and Elizabeth, and made use of the long-lasting but practical designs of the
Belladonna
in crafting her early concepts for the Exo Knights. As a defensive measure and a supplement for the ‘HRM Victoria Demonstration’, Lucille developed theoretical anti-particle weapons, to be used only at the utmost need. The end result of her research culminated long after her passing into the EDC’s Particle Eliminator Cannon, Lillian’s reluctant weapon. It turned the tide of the
Battle of Eden
at the high cost of thousands of lives. A brilliant strategist with a humanitarian spirit, Lucy is fiercely loyal to Lily and will do anything for her.

Elizabeth O’Brien / Elizabeth Hermes

Age: 39
Height: 5’7”
Favorite Food: Nutella
Favorite Color: Hunter green and regal purple
Hobbies: Watching comedies, dubstep, cooking, reading Gary Larson’s “The Far Side”

Born into a world of science, Elizabeth was given the choice at a young age: dedicate her life to realizing her grandfather’s dream, or allow her younger brother Scott, or one of her cousins, to do so. It was a difficult decision, but upon consulting Scott, the boy revealed that he would much rather be an unknown artist than a glorious scientist – the realm of science, he said, is much more dangerous than the arts. He proved to be correct, and Elizabeth later wondered what her life might have been like had she not toiled for nearly three decades to create a time machine that granted her the ultimate responsibility as a scientist – that of protecting the human race from its worst elements. She fell in love with Carl Connors in graduate school, as he had also come from a dynasty of ambitious scientists, and as he was also a listless youth, he understood her better than anyone else, despite their pursuing different fields. Carl once asked for her opinion on his thesis, which was actually a dissertation on all the logical reasons why they should marry. After their engagement, the two subsequently published many papers on the ethics and mechanics of time travel, and quickly became controversial figures in the scientific community. They were warned time and again against building the
Belladonna
, and all efforts to secure the billions of credits (approx. $1 trillion by 2013 standards) needed to realize her grandfather’s vision proved futile. Shortly after their wedding, the equally curious Carl surprised his wife by offering his entire inheritance to kick-start funding for the project. Word has it that she fainted on the spot. Elizabeth and Carl made the decision to create the machine in secret, with android contractors. The day the duo launched from Earth was one of the most relieving of either of their lives. Even at the very end, Elizabeth never regretted her one act of rebellion and individuality, which was having a child of her own.

Carl Connors / Carl Hermes

Age: 43
Height: 5’10”
Favorite Food: Yakisoba
Favorite Color: Salmon
Hobbies: Golf, memorizing the periodic table, useless trivia, brainteasers

Carl Connors was born into a wealthy estate, thanks to his grandfather, who, partnered with a Chinese firm, co-developed a form of high-yield, easy to produce solar panels that changed the global economy almost overnight. The third of four siblings, Carl completely failed to develop a head for business and, inspired by his ancestor and his father, who worked at CERN (coincidentally enough, as an assistant to Elizabeth’s grandfather), decided to pursue a life in the sciences almost on a lark. After dabbling in quantum physics and microbiology, he found success in the field of astrophysics, despite being a listless eccentric. Carl’s outlook changed completely when he met Elizabeth O’Brien in graduate school. Listening to her read out her dissertation in her sweet, husky voice was enough to put him over the moon. Elizabeth’s spirit and hope for the future inspired him, as did her knowledge and theories on temporal travel, by then a controversial and often laughed-about fringe subject. Carl inherited a fourth of his family’s estate upon the passing of his much older father, and after Elizabeth’s attempts to secure donors to keep the project alive fell far short of their goal, Carl decided to invest his entire fortune into helping her build the
Belladonna
to silence their critics and show that their Warp Initiator was the real deal. His siblings pitched in to help as well, and were later joined by other private donors. The couple truly believed in one another, and their mutual quirks and charisma allowed them to build up a loyal group of friends and supporters, despite being a running joke of many of the more established scientific organizations. Upon discovering the tragedy of the solar flare, they took on the last name “Hermes”, signifying their new roles as messengers bearing important news to all of humanity.

Jonathan Wrathman / Mister Senior

Age: 61
Height: 5’10”
Favorite Food: Filet mignon
Favorite Color: Blood red
Hobbies: Gambling, Wind-surfing, Sport Racing

One of the oldest and longest-employed Developers, Chief Operations Officer Wrathman has seen it all: the young bucks coming and going, the career employees who slipped up and incurred the Queen’s wrath, and the half-witted lackeys too stupid to know the difference between an in-game bug and social engineering. In many ways, due to his years of experience, he fancies himself an equal of the Queen, but understands that she will never see it that way. She keeps him on a leash, dictating that he spend most of his time in the
Metaverse
fulfilling his duties as the puppet leader in every server. In return, he indulges in the good things in life with every chance he gets, never forgetting that his extravagant lifestyle may come to an end at any second. When Lily’s gambit sets into motion, though, he thinks little of others, instead trying to eke out a plan for his own survival whilst putting on an arrogant air of loyalty to the Great Leader.

Lady Claire Alexandria

Age: 23
Height: 5’8”
Favorite Food: Fish tacos
Favorite Color: Deep purple
Hobbies: Badminton, Yoga, Playwrighting

Born with a silver spoon during the
Metaverse’s
early days, Claire has grown to feel immense guilt and angst at the carefree
Eden
lifestyle. The idea of indoctrinated slavery has never sat well with the woman, even as a child spending most of her time in
Tanha’s
vacant ‘edutainment’ centers, where she indulged in all manner of pleasures to her heart’s content and quickly burned out on them. When she was sixteen, she attempted suicide multiple times. General Lacie thwarted one of her attempts, and grew rather fond of the girl. Their friendship blossomed into a deep personal companionship. Claire’s true desire is to use her influence and power to create a more balanced world, one where the ‘assets’ of the
Metaverse
are treated like actual human beings. Only then might she be able to feel that her externally pampered and internally tortured life has some purpose to it.

Yossa Kernani

Age: 64
Height: 5’10”
Favorite Food: Okonomiyaki
Favorite Color: Silver
Hobbies: Truth-seeking, Brainteasers, Videography

Named after “Yossarian”, the hero of Catch-22 by his poor but learned parents, Yossa has been highly critical of the dominant culture following a traumatic incident that sparked widespread riots; a fatal server error hit Beta-testers for
Metaverse v. 2.0
in what we know as Bangladesh, leaving a hundred thousand dead and several tens of thousands brain-damaged. He joined the Bombay Underground and took part in peaceful anti-establishment protests, but Lorelei’s answer was to bathe the city in flames. To end Lorelei’s continued assault on South Asia, Yossa took his family and fled to an EDC outpost in Hong Kong, where years later, he volunteered to enter the
Metaverse
as a sleeper agent within the system, and then break off and work to destroy it. His daughter Leela takes great pride in their once-royal family.