Chapter 636 Life, the Universe, and Everything  

Admiral’s ready room, TFS Proxima.

Fleet Admiral Bianchi dropped into the chair behind his desk, forgoing even his usual customary groan. “Commander Takahashi—”

“Laifu, Marco. Commander Takahashi is... elsewhere, at the moment. She has much to learn and little time in which to learn it.”

“Fine. Laifu, then. Explain yourself,” the admiral ordered.

“I am life.”

Admiral Bianchi was silent, waiting for Laifu to continue. The silence stretched for a full five minutes before he realized she had “explained” everything she meant to explain. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Exactly what I said, Marco. I am life.”

The admiral had no idea what to say to that, so he just pinched the bridge of his nose. Headaches were coming faster and harder than he could deal with, apparently, and before one was resolved, another was already crowding in to take its place. “Let’s pretend for a moment that I have no idea what you mean by that. Explain it to me like I’m a five-year-old child.”

Laifu tilted her head, lost in thought, then blinked and began, “In the beginning, there was only void—”

“Stop! Stop, stop, stop!” Admiral Bianchi groused. “Keep it to relevant things.”

“But the history IS relevant, Marco.”

“I don’t need the history of life, the universe, and everything, Laifu. I’m not Douglas Adams,” he sighed. “Very well, Marco. I am what you humans refer to as the esoteric mana of life. But you only have a shallow understanding of what that means. How many fingers do you have on one hand?” she asked.

“I don’t see the relevance, just get to the point.”

“But it is important, Marco. How many fingers?”

“Four.”

Laifu blinked, taken aback. “Can you not count?”

“I counted just fine. Humans have four fingers and one opposable thumb. You’re not the only one who can be maliciously compliant, lady,” the admiral sneered.

“Point taken, Marco. I’ll try to take your limited experience and viewpoint into account going forward.”

“See that you do. Now, continue, please.”

“Just like human beings have five fingers on a hand, there are five of us that rule over all the mana in existence. I am one of those five. I am life.”

“What are the other four?” he asked.

“You should know how we operate and why we are important, Marco. I will begin with that. All of existence is, and must remain, balanced. So just as I am life and my sister is creation, we have opposites that balance our existence. Life and death, creation and destruction. We maintain the fragile balance upon which all of existence hinges.”

“You said there were five, what, or who, is the fifth?”

“Chaos, Marco. Chaos is the fulcrum, the hinge, the point upon which all of existence is precariously balanced.”

Admiral Bianchi furrowed his brows; chaos seemed an odd thing to center existence on, to his mind. “But chaos is....”

“Unsteady? Random? Unpredictable?” Laifu finished the thought for him.

“Yes. How can something so unsteady be what ‘all of existence’ depends on?”

“Have you heard of chaos theory, Marco?” “Isn’t that like the butterfly effect?”

“Yes, but not completely. Chaos theory merely states that outcomes are dependent upon their initial conditions. Chaos was that initial condition that resulted in existence.”

“I... see. But isn’t that still too random and unstable to act as a balance point?”

“No. A chaotic system is one that only appears disordered and random on the surface, but is underpinned by a very strict underlying pattern and governed by a set of deterministic laws. You mentioned the butterfly effect, and that is an excellent example. If a butterfly flaps its wings here,” Laifu gestured and a visual of Proxima Centauri b appeared in mid-air, formed of mana instead of the empire’s holographic or augmented reality technology, upon which was a single blue dot, “a hurricane arises over here.” The globe rotated to show the opposite side, where a swirling red vortex appeared on it.

“I fail to see how that’s pertinent, miss.”

“Oh, but it is. Humanity believes that to be random and unpredictable. Complete chance, in other words, but it is not. If the same butterfly in the same position flaps its wings with the same strength at the same time, among many other variables, the exact same hurricane would appear in the exact same place. It is very deterministic, but that determinism is what you perceive to be random chance.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“That ‘random chance’ that you ascribe to the phenomenon is actually just getting one, or more, of the variables wrong.” The globe rotated back around and blue dots began flashing and disappearing from various locations.

“I... see, I think,” Admiral Bianchi said.

“Very good, Marco.” Laifu offered him a brilliant smile. “Your arrival here was that very butterfly flapping its wings, and you have influenced an event that simply never happens. Your... awakener, Joon-ho, was directly involved with the creation of brand new, never-before-seen life, Marco. And that is what attracted my attention.”

A look of comprehension dawned on the admiral’s face. “So why are you using Commander Takahashi’s body instead of his, then?” he asked.

“Because his body is already entwined with a mana that isn’t under my direct, or even my indirect, supervision. So I required another, and Commander Takahashi—Ayaka—was the ideal candidate.”

“Why is that?”

“Because she was meant to be a mother, a wife, a woman, a caregiver, a supporter.... She was never meant to be what she is now, a leader, but chaos dictated otherwise. So here she is, and here I am, and now we are bound to one another as Joon-ho, that dear, sweet child, is bound to chaos.”

Admiral Bianchi frowned again. “What do you mean he’s bound to chaos?”

“Indirectly,” Laifu laughed. “The boy is bound to mana that is bound to another mana that is bound to a subordinate conscious mana that is bound to another, that is under the direct control of chaos, one of the Five. Chaos is unique in that it never binds itself directly to anyone.”

“So it’s like a chain of command?”

“Exactly, Marco. That’s exactly what it is. I myself have many other conscious mana that I directly supervise, and that filters down through the ‘ranks’. The universe would not work otherwise, and existence would fall out of balance and cease to be were it to be left