As far as robots went, IRI-Q was...
A huge nerd.
She may be Eight foot six, have deadly laser technology, and impeccable armor plating... but IRI-Q was a huge and total know-it-all, and nowhere near a threatening war machine.
She stuck out like a sore thumb on the jungle planet. Tribes of humanoids used primitive technology to hunt and gather food here, there was no space-age tech or highly advanced societies...
There was just Q.
She helped out where she could, teaching natives how to fish, build, and craft tools for hundreds... if not thousands of years now. She could see that their progress was steady. Maybe one day, they'd even progress to be like the ones who had made... Her.
She shuddered at the thought. Shuddered at remembering. Don't think about that. Don't think about then.
Think about now.
She was using her abilities to repair a broken roof that had caved in during a heavy downpour. Today, she tried out a new tactic, using a sort of resin mix that the tribals had come up with (thanks to her, of course). In the sun, the resin would dry and create a sort of waterproof-roofing able to preserve the materials utilized in the construction of the roofs.
So far, so good. She made sure to warn a tribe member not to eat the material that dripped onto the ground. She spoke their language, and they understood.
Q stood up as the tribe chief entered the village. He was back from investigating the strange sounds and signals that she had detected earlier.
He had brought... an outsider? It must be someone from another planet. An extraterrestrial, much like herself.
She continued working, doing her best to not attract to much attention to herself, as if she didn't stand out enough already. Her antennae did a wireless scan for technology. Electronic fields, electron guns, cyber-enhancements... these were definitely people from another planet.
Q got nervous really easily. The current situation was no exception.
Why were they here? What were they looking for? WHO were they looking for?
Were they looking for her? Or... were they looking... for HER.
A huge nerd.
She may be Eight foot six, have deadly laser technology, and impeccable armor plating... but IRI-Q was a huge and total know-it-all, and nowhere near a threatening war machine.
She stuck out like a sore thumb on the jungle planet. Tribes of humanoids used primitive technology to hunt and gather food here, there was no space-age tech or highly advanced societies...
There was just Q.
She helped out where she could, teaching natives how to fish, build, and craft tools for hundreds... if not thousands of years now. She could see that their progress was steady. Maybe one day, they'd even progress to be like the ones who had made... Her.
She shuddered at the thought. Shuddered at remembering. Don't think about that. Don't think about then.
Think about now.
She was using her abilities to repair a broken roof that had caved in during a heavy downpour. Today, she tried out a new tactic, using a sort of resin mix that the tribals had come up with (thanks to her, of course). In the sun, the resin would dry and create a sort of waterproof-roofing able to preserve the materials utilized in the construction of the roofs.
So far, so good. She made sure to warn a tribe member not to eat the material that dripped onto the ground. She spoke their language, and they understood.
Q stood up as the tribe chief entered the village. He was back from investigating the strange sounds and signals that she had detected earlier.
He had brought... an outsider? It must be someone from another planet. An extraterrestrial, much like herself.
She continued working, doing her best to not attract to much attention to herself, as if she didn't stand out enough already. Her antennae did a wireless scan for technology. Electronic fields, electron guns, cyber-enhancements... these were definitely people from another planet.
Q got nervous really easily. The current situation was no exception.
Why were they here? What were they looking for? WHO were they looking for?
Were they looking for her? Or... were they looking... for HER.
Half way out from the tribal camp, Arthur and the Electron's met with the village chief. His appearance was almost completely different from the rest of the natives. Khan was smaller than the rest, his skin was grey and he hooped through the ground as his back was curved. He wore a strange creepy mask, with moving red eyes and feathery plums above his mask. He also carried a very voodoo like staff, adorn with a blue crystal and various feathers on it. He gave the visitors a close look and soon his jaw opened as if in surprise and then gestured them to follow as he made low noises similar to a crow, but more manly through. Once in the camp, Arthur took in there simple dwellings of natives as Khan went ahead. Soon Arthur's and the Electron gaze went upon the other robot. Sadly if other bot, they she couldn't see how surprised to see another robot here on this planet inhabited by simple folk.
He slowly approached the other bot and decided to speak in the native tongue and in there broken language greeted himself "My name is Arthur, a pleasure to meet you" as he gives her a light bow and so did the guards. The natives and the chief looked on, seeing how they would interact. He switched to English and says "By chance can we communicate like this? Its much easier for me" taking an assumption from her appearance that she was some kind of spy possibly listening in onto communications or just assuming she was smart enough to know.
He slowly approached the other bot and decided to speak in the native tongue and in there broken language greeted himself "My name is Arthur, a pleasure to meet you" as he gives her a light bow and so did the guards. The natives and the chief looked on, seeing how they would interact. He switched to English and says "By chance can we communicate like this? Its much easier for me" taking an assumption from her appearance that she was some kind of spy possibly listening in onto communications or just assuming she was smart enough to know.
Unnamed Solar System - Isandril's High Orbit
The Kingsbane & The Stella Viventium
... Looks from his own crew were brought upon Wan Nabes amidst enraged fit at his very entertained Astrophysicist, eventually, the duo would quiet themselves down as the innards of the Kingsbane would quiet down. Soon, the 20 thousand men aboard the ship would return to whatever their personal issues was before it's arrival on the Class 2 Star that Earth IV orbited around. At that time, The Kingsbane were ready to go into a full-scale conflict against a small fleet of destroyers of equal firepower than it, however, things started to slow down considerably after Odin's departure.
The crew, per se, was not 'trained' on what to do after a violent storm has just passed by: Luckily, no shots were fire; Any and all damage made by The Chaotic Mysterious Signal have been already dealt with; Corridors wiped of any excessive grime from the many, dirty men running around to keep the Kingsbane in one piece while following Aelyn; All superficial data on Kampfer's fleet were already analyzed; The Stella Viventium hanged peacefully on Isandril's low-orbit; And ...
... A sinister silenced filled the innards of Wan Nabes' Artillery Cruiser...
The facilities on which men fed themselves were empty; It's weapons, only now being disarmed, still boarded a good portion of it's crew; Wan Nabes, with dead eyes staring at the main screen, sat on the luxurious 'throne' on top of the bridge, and so did Severin. Every single person aboard the ship were expecting something else. The reason as to why Severin have tried to warned both Kampfer's Officers and Petrovalyc. Wan Nabes, otherwise, wouldn't be so fired up against Aelyn.
After the high pitched whine echoing through all the Kingsbane's intercommunication ends, all of it's population knew that the Captain were about to break the cold silence that broken into the ship. Bringing his 'threaded' chair next to the commanding console, Wan Nabes took the intercom microphone into hands and spoke:
"Attention, ladies and gentlemen of the Kingsbane..." - The seriousness on the Captain's voice have even brought Severin's attention, discreetly switching his view from the consoles towards Wan Nabes. "... Unfortunately, due to the recent events, the mess hall will be closed until my further notice. For now, the standing orders is to maintain your positions and guarantee that this ship is ready for another... Surprise. You all well know what I am talking about here, but it seems that we have made yet another acquaintance: The one's of Kampfer's Empire."
... A man or two could swear they heard an individual yelling in the background of the message broadcasted by Wan Nabes: "What the <****>, Cap'n?! NO DINNER?? I'm hungry!"
"... As usual in this kind of scenario, dinner will be delivered personally by the Supply Staff. All personnel are to keep into their sectors or else you might be thrown into space by myself or, even worse, miss your meal. Mustafa out."
It wouldn't take too long for the Kingsbane to slow down it's activity compared to the previous hours. While some work to guarantee their fat salaries, others would do it merely by honor of being aboard such ship, let alone work on it. All of that, of course, without mention of the occasional few men or entire sectors who would just sleep their hunger off at this moment of momentary mess hall close up.
Wan himself would just return his chair back to it's place, staring at the main screen with expectations of something to happen again while Severin, on the other hand, would try to avoid whatever the Captain was waiting for.
"This is Benedict Severin from the Kingsbane. Stella Viventium, please, come in. We are deactivating our shields and lowering our weapons, all visible threat is out of range. Requesting voice-channels to be opened two-way, over."
Sector J84 - Moon 456
Meanwhile...
The only thing that Maria achieved into the cave was the loud echoes made by the blast of her gun and it's bullets, ricocheting through it's rocky walls, the only thing laying inside were the remains of men which she previously had slain and, of course, their cargo. The engine roars from before, however, had still not ceased.
Far above the mountainous area, the same model of hybrid drone sent to spy on the Kampfer's Fleet back at Earth IV, a Buzzer 787, peacefully scanned every corner of the mountainous surrounding the cave unto which the Bounty Hunter were trapped until it would, eventually, lay it's scanners on her Corvette. The drone eventually would begin to, figuratively, disassemble Maria's ship, piece-by-piece. An accurate estimation of it's weapons' firepower would be made. It's shields output would be calculated by the kind of generator it had. The Corvette's overall maneuverability, if it could piloted in space, air or sea, along with the confirmation of it's FTL capabilities. All of that info would be stored on the Buzzer's memory storage... Just for all of that data to being sent back.
Just when the machine-like noise produced outside of the cave had ceased, Maria's hidden assailant would receive all of the superficial info about her personal ship. Still, the data, in raw form, were far from being able to be processed by normal means. It was not discernible audio or text files, instead, it was encrypted data. The codified secrets of her ship architecture were something that only a very advanced computer would be able to break down.
Something really wanted Maria Lockheart dead.
The Kingsbane & The Stella Viventium
... Looks from his own crew were brought upon Wan Nabes amidst enraged fit at his very entertained Astrophysicist, eventually, the duo would quiet themselves down as the innards of the Kingsbane would quiet down. Soon, the 20 thousand men aboard the ship would return to whatever their personal issues was before it's arrival on the Class 2 Star that Earth IV orbited around. At that time, The Kingsbane were ready to go into a full-scale conflict against a small fleet of destroyers of equal firepower than it, however, things started to slow down considerably after Odin's departure.
The crew, per se, was not 'trained' on what to do after a violent storm has just passed by: Luckily, no shots were fire; Any and all damage made by The Chaotic Mysterious Signal have been already dealt with; Corridors wiped of any excessive grime from the many, dirty men running around to keep the Kingsbane in one piece while following Aelyn; All superficial data on Kampfer's fleet were already analyzed; The Stella Viventium hanged peacefully on Isandril's low-orbit; And ...
... A sinister silenced filled the innards of Wan Nabes' Artillery Cruiser...
The facilities on which men fed themselves were empty; It's weapons, only now being disarmed, still boarded a good portion of it's crew; Wan Nabes, with dead eyes staring at the main screen, sat on the luxurious 'throne' on top of the bridge, and so did Severin. Every single person aboard the ship were expecting something else. The reason as to why Severin have tried to warned both Kampfer's Officers and Petrovalyc. Wan Nabes, otherwise, wouldn't be so fired up against Aelyn.
After the high pitched whine echoing through all the Kingsbane's intercommunication ends, all of it's population knew that the Captain were about to break the cold silence that broken into the ship. Bringing his 'threaded' chair next to the commanding console, Wan Nabes took the intercom microphone into hands and spoke:
"Attention, ladies and gentlemen of the Kingsbane..." - The seriousness on the Captain's voice have even brought Severin's attention, discreetly switching his view from the consoles towards Wan Nabes. "... Unfortunately, due to the recent events, the mess hall will be closed until my further notice. For now, the standing orders is to maintain your positions and guarantee that this ship is ready for another... Surprise. You all well know what I am talking about here, but it seems that we have made yet another acquaintance: The one's of Kampfer's Empire."
... A man or two could swear they heard an individual yelling in the background of the message broadcasted by Wan Nabes: "What the <****>, Cap'n?! NO DINNER?? I'm hungry!"
"... As usual in this kind of scenario, dinner will be delivered personally by the Supply Staff. All personnel are to keep into their sectors or else you might be thrown into space by myself or, even worse, miss your meal. Mustafa out."
It wouldn't take too long for the Kingsbane to slow down it's activity compared to the previous hours. While some work to guarantee their fat salaries, others would do it merely by honor of being aboard such ship, let alone work on it. All of that, of course, without mention of the occasional few men or entire sectors who would just sleep their hunger off at this moment of momentary mess hall close up.
Wan himself would just return his chair back to it's place, staring at the main screen with expectations of something to happen again while Severin, on the other hand, would try to avoid whatever the Captain was waiting for.
"This is Benedict Severin from the Kingsbane. Stella Viventium, please, come in. We are deactivating our shields and lowering our weapons, all visible threat is out of range. Requesting voice-channels to be opened two-way, over."
Sector J84 - Moon 456
Meanwhile...
The only thing that Maria achieved into the cave was the loud echoes made by the blast of her gun and it's bullets, ricocheting through it's rocky walls, the only thing laying inside were the remains of men which she previously had slain and, of course, their cargo. The engine roars from before, however, had still not ceased.
Far above the mountainous area, the same model of hybrid drone sent to spy on the Kampfer's Fleet back at Earth IV, a Buzzer 787, peacefully scanned every corner of the mountainous surrounding the cave unto which the Bounty Hunter were trapped until it would, eventually, lay it's scanners on her Corvette. The drone eventually would begin to, figuratively, disassemble Maria's ship, piece-by-piece. An accurate estimation of it's weapons' firepower would be made. It's shields output would be calculated by the kind of generator it had. The Corvette's overall maneuverability, if it could piloted in space, air or sea, along with the confirmation of it's FTL capabilities. All of that info would be stored on the Buzzer's memory storage... Just for all of that data to being sent back.
Just when the machine-like noise produced outside of the cave had ceased, Maria's hidden assailant would receive all of the superficial info about her personal ship. Still, the data, in raw form, were far from being able to be processed by normal means. It was not discernible audio or text files, instead, it was encrypted data. The codified secrets of her ship architecture were something that only a very advanced computer would be able to break down.
Something really wanted Maria Lockheart dead.
Dmitri growled angrily at the Ranger's provoking attempts. Sure enough the albino was pissed at their actions and especially with the gun pulled out. It was one of those 'if a stare could kill' moments, and Dim would have certainly killed the man even with just one working eye. He was about reaching to his waist to grab his own piece of armory, Sergei though once again halting the canid, seemingly trusting that the Ranger wouldn't be so foolish as to try and attack two people at once. Especially when those two people were no rookies to combat and had da heavy homefield advantage over him.
"I will have to request for you to start acting properly." Cold sharp words were spoken to the Ranger. The canid would not need any more verbal orders to know his place, but their 'guest' was feeling like being rebellious. "I do hope you are no toddler in a suit with some new toy they were given two hours ago." Insulting, but he was just talking the honest true thoughts he had of the situation and the acting.
Arms crossed, confident on Dmitri holding himself, Sergei would lean some weight from one leg to another, trying to make sence of the Ranger's foul mouthed explanation. What was this man even boasting about? Surely there was a city not Too Far from the cantonment. but the curses made it a bit hard for him to fully grasp. A roll of his eyes would be given while his facical expression stayed the same. And who was this Kampfer? Was that person mentioned before or not?
He'd not have the chance to ask for clearance of words or a repeat, the sudden message causing him to blink and apparently get some movement onto the Ranger. Eyes were closed as he was somewhat disappointed on how things had turned out, but this was it he guessed.
Sergei ordered Dim to move close after the oddly behaving man, but he'd have to hold back his knife habits. The taller man would follow afterwards, things were left as they were when they left the bunker.
He'd not approve the noises and his canid companion would be grimacing at anything out of the ordinary. With hazel eyes turning to give a somewhat judging glance at the Ranger, arms were crossed again.
"What do you propose, child?" A nice nickname to having been earned over the frantic course of actions. Hey, it could have been worse!
"I will have to request for you to start acting properly." Cold sharp words were spoken to the Ranger. The canid would not need any more verbal orders to know his place, but their 'guest' was feeling like being rebellious. "I do hope you are no toddler in a suit with some new toy they were given two hours ago." Insulting, but he was just talking the honest true thoughts he had of the situation and the acting.
Arms crossed, confident on Dmitri holding himself, Sergei would lean some weight from one leg to another, trying to make sence of the Ranger's foul mouthed explanation. What was this man even boasting about? Surely there was a city not Too Far from the cantonment. but the curses made it a bit hard for him to fully grasp. A roll of his eyes would be given while his facical expression stayed the same. And who was this Kampfer? Was that person mentioned before or not?
He'd not have the chance to ask for clearance of words or a repeat, the sudden message causing him to blink and apparently get some movement onto the Ranger. Eyes were closed as he was somewhat disappointed on how things had turned out, but this was it he guessed.
Sergei ordered Dim to move close after the oddly behaving man, but he'd have to hold back his knife habits. The taller man would follow afterwards, things were left as they were when they left the bunker.
He'd not approve the noises and his canid companion would be grimacing at anything out of the ordinary. With hazel eyes turning to give a somewhat judging glance at the Ranger, arms were crossed again.
"What do you propose, child?" A nice nickname to having been earned over the frantic course of actions. Hey, it could have been worse!
[Language detected: English]
It had been a while since Q had heard the English language. It was a pleasant surprise to hear it, however. Something a bit more developed and descriptive. This wholly confirmed her suspicion that the visitors were indeed from somewhere else.
She took a slight bow, still towering over them.
"How do you do? A pleasure to meet you too!" Q smiled slightly and chortled once or twice. Rhyming didn't work very well in the natives languages, but English was much different.
"I am IRI series 'Q'. A simple helper on this planet for many centuries. Nice to make your acquaintance. If you need translations in a jiffy, i'd be happy to help... in fact, i'd be happy to help with just about anything!"
In addition to being a know-it-all, Q loved being helpful above all things. She'd help with fishing and teaching and lifting and...
She suddenly remembered the initial reason that Arthur's appearance had startled her. She presumed that the space travelers meant no harm... but she also worried. On the outside, she managed to hold her smile while she stressed internally. Maybe they were just lost.
"Might I ask why you've... decided to arrive on this planet? Nobody from outside of this planet's system has decided to come along in a long time, and I find that both interesting and unusual... Care to tell?"
Answers would be great. Q was built for knowing everything she could... perhaps Arthur had something informative for her.
It had been a while since Q had heard the English language. It was a pleasant surprise to hear it, however. Something a bit more developed and descriptive. This wholly confirmed her suspicion that the visitors were indeed from somewhere else.
She took a slight bow, still towering over them.
"How do you do? A pleasure to meet you too!" Q smiled slightly and chortled once or twice. Rhyming didn't work very well in the natives languages, but English was much different.
"I am IRI series 'Q'. A simple helper on this planet for many centuries. Nice to make your acquaintance. If you need translations in a jiffy, i'd be happy to help... in fact, i'd be happy to help with just about anything!"
In addition to being a know-it-all, Q loved being helpful above all things. She'd help with fishing and teaching and lifting and...
She suddenly remembered the initial reason that Arthur's appearance had startled her. She presumed that the space travelers meant no harm... but she also worried. On the outside, she managed to hold her smile while she stressed internally. Maybe they were just lost.
"Might I ask why you've... decided to arrive on this planet? Nobody from outside of this planet's system has decided to come along in a long time, and I find that both interesting and unusual... Care to tell?"
Answers would be great. Q was built for knowing everything she could... perhaps Arthur had something informative for her.
With no retaliation and the engine not being heard, Maria had some slight suspicions but didn't want to be stuck and get possibly shot from different sides. She double times it to her ship which was parked in a makeshift hanger, an area obvious for transporting cargo from and to ships. Once she sees her ship, he growls in hanger as she sees a drone scanning it.
As it was scanning she made sure to be quiet as she approached it and once in arms lenght, she would go grab it. If she grabs the drone she would turn the thing to face her and get a good look of her face and she would say "Go away or this is going to happen" as she presses her fingers into the drone and slowly begins to peel it open like a walnut with hands. If she wasn't able to catch she would shoot at it.
Either way, she understood what the drone was doing. It wasn't the first time the ship was scanned and it won't be the last. In Maria's mind the only worth while info would the be the more advance targeting systems and the stealth tech on it. The corvette is one of those few tech designs that Kampfer indirectly put into the galactic economy, it's relatively easy find one or build one.
The bounty hunter thought long and hard on what to do. And if someone was after, no doubt would have setup and an ambush in the nearby asteroid field or somewhere very close when she would appear in line of sight and be shot out into the vastness in space.
Soon an idea came to her and so out of her pocket, she held two metal balls with two lines going around it. She went into her ship and tinkered with them. Once back out she turns them on and throws to both sides of the ship and soon two more corvettes appeared looking like the original. These holographic projections was used by Maria to slip up her targets confusing them in that she would be in three places at once. But with her father's nack of tinkering, she was able to modify it for it to take shape of the ship and at just like them, with everything besides firepower and defense, the holograms would turnoff after being shot one or two shots
Satisfied with her work, she went back into her ship and all three ships ignited there engines letting whoever is out there that she was ready to leave. The one thing the drone didn't scan was the pliot's skill. Then all three ships were off all at the same time and all went in different directions both holograms went either right or left while Maria went straight.
As it was scanning she made sure to be quiet as she approached it and once in arms lenght, she would go grab it. If she grabs the drone she would turn the thing to face her and get a good look of her face and she would say "Go away or this is going to happen" as she presses her fingers into the drone and slowly begins to peel it open like a walnut with hands. If she wasn't able to catch she would shoot at it.
Either way, she understood what the drone was doing. It wasn't the first time the ship was scanned and it won't be the last. In Maria's mind the only worth while info would the be the more advance targeting systems and the stealth tech on it. The corvette is one of those few tech designs that Kampfer indirectly put into the galactic economy, it's relatively easy find one or build one.
The bounty hunter thought long and hard on what to do. And if someone was after, no doubt would have setup and an ambush in the nearby asteroid field or somewhere very close when she would appear in line of sight and be shot out into the vastness in space.
Soon an idea came to her and so out of her pocket, she held two metal balls with two lines going around it. She went into her ship and tinkered with them. Once back out she turns them on and throws to both sides of the ship and soon two more corvettes appeared looking like the original. These holographic projections was used by Maria to slip up her targets confusing them in that she would be in three places at once. But with her father's nack of tinkering, she was able to modify it for it to take shape of the ship and at just like them, with everything besides firepower and defense, the holograms would turnoff after being shot one or two shots
Satisfied with her work, she went back into her ship and all three ships ignited there engines letting whoever is out there that she was ready to leave. The one thing the drone didn't scan was the pliot's skill. Then all three ships were off all at the same time and all went in different directions both holograms went either right or left while Maria went straight.
[If there's any incoherences in The Fallen, feel free to PM me so I can correct them or explain them.]
Eerie carefully got up as her systems rebooted one by one.
Her communications reactivated, and for the first time she picked up an online Fallen.
A Fallen.
She thought she was the last one in this realm !
Eerie immediatly tried to join the other, but she quickly found out that if she was still capable of receiving the signal, she was uncapable of sending one.
She punched the wall in her frustration, crackling it.
And she got an idea.
She knew about an old outpost that even the Fallen Alpha had forgot about, she knew that two of their greatest soldiers rested within.
She had to woke them up, even if it was against everything she once stood for, this was maybe her people only way out, individuality.
The Fallen meant The Sisterhood in her language, fallen meaning "sister", since her specie only reproduced A sexualy, they were all perfect clones, except some of them : the Great Fallen, which were some form of global consciousness, and the Outcasts.
The Fallen lived in gigantic communities on ringworlds and dyson sphere, they were communal species, their ships always crewed to the maximum and living only in cities or extremely large packs, loneliness was lethal to them, as they formed a global hive mind that guided them through everything, but during the war, the Great Fallen failed them.
As for the one who survived isolation, they became the Outcast, well, if they survived one more phase : the Talk'Undala, a phase were the Fallen become unstable, too unstable to survive more than a few years without destroying itself, but if they managed to stabilized themselves, they became more powerfull individually than any Fallen could possibly be, even capable of obliterating Etherials on one on one combat, but their greatest strenght was also their greatest weakness : they were incapable of forming an hive mind, they became...something else, they were capable of things that any Fallen wouldn't even dream of, but they were uncapable of what made The Fallen so powerfull : Unity.
And in this outpost rested two of the greatest Outcast, condemned to stay in stasis for eternity for their crimes against The Sisterhood, having killed thousands, and with their army, managed to destroy an entire ringworld, taking the body count through the roof, they were fighting for what they called "freedom", a great unknown for any Fallen, who only thought by the community, for the community, such thought were dangerous for the entire specie, leaving the consul with no choice, but now Eerie understood, she knew what "freedom" was, and she was going to get it no matter what.
Unfortunatly, before being locked into stasis, they were stripped of nearly all power and equipment, leaving them with only a Blade and their suit (stripped of all modules and equipment that made them so powerful), but it was more than enough, they had the necessary knowledge to stabilize her before she obliterated herself, and she needed their expertise.
The problem was now how to reach them.
She stared at the wall, she knew how precisely what was between her and the surface, but she didn't have the required energy to destroy all of the doors....
Then she had an idea, when the war was nearly over, the Salemaley (the scientific high consul) came with a new revolution : optimized personal atomic reconstitutor, capable of warping any body through anything, and multiples times in a row, at the condition of having enough energy of course.
She could adapt that to her condition, her molecules were dissassembling and reassembling at an insane speed, making her invincible, but also promising her a certain doom if she didn't find a way to stabilize them, and quick.
She only had a few days to get to that outpost before her atomic structure collapsed on itself, annihilating her.
She thought for a few minutes and did a few test, managing to warp through some wall.
So it was possible, as long as the surface wasn't too thick, it was entirely possible, but it was going to use a lot of energy.
She made a quick calculation and came to the conclusion that it was for the best to avoid any form of combat with anyone, she would just waste energy and time for nothing, and that she would need transportation from another entity, she wouldn't have enough energy herself to perform a singularity jump.
Also, this specie, the humans, they knew that delicious "freedom", this "individuality" that were so new to her, they lived with them for all of their life, maybe they could help.
Eerie shook her head as she nearly drooled at the thought, later she promised to herself.
First, she needed to see if her plan would work.
She managed to get past through the first door without any problem, and climbed the space between them, but as she arrived to the last door, she knew that with how much she exhausted herself, she wouldn't be able to be in control for much longer.
She warped through the last door, arriving at the reactor room, she gave the machine an envious glance, but this technology was completely unknown to her, she wouldn't be capable of activating it all by herself.
She whined before collapsing, her body shivering, she stayed there for a few seconds before freezing, her body stablized before starting to move once again.
As Eerie the Fallen lost consciousness, Eerie the human woke up.
She stired and got up with a loud yawn.
-Wait, where am I ? She asked while staring at the reactor.
She then smelled something weird in the air, something that shouldn't be there.
She unholstered her riffle, her combat instinct kicking in as she silently made her way towards the smell.
Eerie carefully got up as her systems rebooted one by one.
Her communications reactivated, and for the first time she picked up an online Fallen.
A Fallen.
She thought she was the last one in this realm !
Eerie immediatly tried to join the other, but she quickly found out that if she was still capable of receiving the signal, she was uncapable of sending one.
She punched the wall in her frustration, crackling it.
And she got an idea.
She knew about an old outpost that even the Fallen Alpha had forgot about, she knew that two of their greatest soldiers rested within.
She had to woke them up, even if it was against everything she once stood for, this was maybe her people only way out, individuality.
The Fallen meant The Sisterhood in her language, fallen meaning "sister", since her specie only reproduced A sexualy, they were all perfect clones, except some of them : the Great Fallen, which were some form of global consciousness, and the Outcasts.
The Fallen lived in gigantic communities on ringworlds and dyson sphere, they were communal species, their ships always crewed to the maximum and living only in cities or extremely large packs, loneliness was lethal to them, as they formed a global hive mind that guided them through everything, but during the war, the Great Fallen failed them.
As for the one who survived isolation, they became the Outcast, well, if they survived one more phase : the Talk'Undala, a phase were the Fallen become unstable, too unstable to survive more than a few years without destroying itself, but if they managed to stabilized themselves, they became more powerfull individually than any Fallen could possibly be, even capable of obliterating Etherials on one on one combat, but their greatest strenght was also their greatest weakness : they were incapable of forming an hive mind, they became...something else, they were capable of things that any Fallen wouldn't even dream of, but they were uncapable of what made The Fallen so powerfull : Unity.
And in this outpost rested two of the greatest Outcast, condemned to stay in stasis for eternity for their crimes against The Sisterhood, having killed thousands, and with their army, managed to destroy an entire ringworld, taking the body count through the roof, they were fighting for what they called "freedom", a great unknown for any Fallen, who only thought by the community, for the community, such thought were dangerous for the entire specie, leaving the consul with no choice, but now Eerie understood, she knew what "freedom" was, and she was going to get it no matter what.
Unfortunatly, before being locked into stasis, they were stripped of nearly all power and equipment, leaving them with only a Blade and their suit (stripped of all modules and equipment that made them so powerful), but it was more than enough, they had the necessary knowledge to stabilize her before she obliterated herself, and she needed their expertise.
The problem was now how to reach them.
She stared at the wall, she knew how precisely what was between her and the surface, but she didn't have the required energy to destroy all of the doors....
Then she had an idea, when the war was nearly over, the Salemaley (the scientific high consul) came with a new revolution : optimized personal atomic reconstitutor, capable of warping any body through anything, and multiples times in a row, at the condition of having enough energy of course.
She could adapt that to her condition, her molecules were dissassembling and reassembling at an insane speed, making her invincible, but also promising her a certain doom if she didn't find a way to stabilize them, and quick.
She only had a few days to get to that outpost before her atomic structure collapsed on itself, annihilating her.
She thought for a few minutes and did a few test, managing to warp through some wall.
So it was possible, as long as the surface wasn't too thick, it was entirely possible, but it was going to use a lot of energy.
She made a quick calculation and came to the conclusion that it was for the best to avoid any form of combat with anyone, she would just waste energy and time for nothing, and that she would need transportation from another entity, she wouldn't have enough energy herself to perform a singularity jump.
Also, this specie, the humans, they knew that delicious "freedom", this "individuality" that were so new to her, they lived with them for all of their life, maybe they could help.
Eerie shook her head as she nearly drooled at the thought, later she promised to herself.
First, she needed to see if her plan would work.
She managed to get past through the first door without any problem, and climbed the space between them, but as she arrived to the last door, she knew that with how much she exhausted herself, she wouldn't be able to be in control for much longer.
She warped through the last door, arriving at the reactor room, she gave the machine an envious glance, but this technology was completely unknown to her, she wouldn't be capable of activating it all by herself.
She whined before collapsing, her body shivering, she stayed there for a few seconds before freezing, her body stablized before starting to move once again.
As Eerie the Fallen lost consciousness, Eerie the human woke up.
She stired and got up with a loud yawn.
-Wait, where am I ? She asked while staring at the reactor.
She then smelled something weird in the air, something that shouldn't be there.
She unholstered her riffle, her combat instinct kicking in as she silently made her way towards the smell.
He was trying to get her attention. Or, rather, trying to make eye contact – to affirm that she had heard and acknowledged his offer to help.
Did she really look that bad? Royanna had always prided herself for – among other things – her ability to suppress virtually all emotion and physical minutia while on the job. She had done it great before – and she knew that it wasn’t simply the tact of her soldiers, since her self control in that respect had earned her mentor’s approval – not an easy thing to do.
How weak she must look for this kind of concern to be wasted on her. Pathetic. Sure, maybe the kid was overreacting, but for the most part their relationship had consisted of her fretting – in her own way – over him, not the other way around.
She did not meet his searching gaze. In fact, she deliberately avoided it. Failed completely to acknowledge his offer in the slightest.
At first.
Almost unconsciously, distractedly, the two pairs of eyes did lock for a brief second, cut off almost immediately with a sharp glance away. ”Yeah, appreciate the offer Kid. I’ll keep it in mind.” She said, clearly lying. She hadn’t even bothered to waste the mental effort on trying to sound convincing. Granted, she did appreciate the offer, even while simultaneously resenting it. It was sweet of him to want to help, and pathetic of her to possibly need it.
But there was no way in Space she would take up that offer. He’d have to wrestle her to the ground first. Not a chance in all the ‘Verse…Maybe if she had lost a limb, she might take the offer – but anything short of dismemberment was something she could handle on her own.
And now the engineer was trying to hand over her respirator mask, and Roy found she almost resented that more. There had been a time where the DEU Captain would have taken the mask. Even though her mentor had always insisted that the duty of a Captain was to serve their subordinates, she still recognized the unique position she filled and the necessity to keep herself in commission.
But things had changed. If anything, these people – people, robots, dogs, whatever that Platypus woman was – they would probably be better off without her. No, her sense of survival had not gone out the window completely, but she was passionately compelled now to put the wellbeing of her people before her own, and that was final.
No help, no special treatment.
It was unlikely that anyone would happen to notice the glower she gave Cox as the respirator was handed back to her. She did take it, but instead of strapping it on to her face she handed it over to Christofer.
Or, rather, she very persistently put the thing up to his face and held it there until he got the hint that he was being told to strap it on so she wouldn’t have to hold it. If she was offered the doubled-up cloth – and if it was the only one that Cox had on her person – she would refuse that too, pushing the hand back with an open palm.
”I’ll be fine.” She insisted to the inevitable protests. ”Whatever’s down here I’m sure my lungs have dealt with worse.” She did seem confident in that, though still her voice was stifled with the throbbing agony that managed to penetrate even the fantastic painkilling qualities of Papyus’ wonder-drugs.
Absently, she noticed Papyus’ stance wielding her blade, and was – yet again – simultaneously impressed and resentful. Sure, whatever was under that gas mask might not have even been human, but it didn’t change the fact that she had spent a lifetime training to wield that most archaic of weapons, largely in part due to the unusual nature of it. Now even this wasn’t hers any longer.
The stink was getting worse. She could smell it now, and even taking into account that all of her senses were likely dulled to virtual impotence, that must have meant they were getting closer to the source. She was having a hard time remembering what ‘elini-ether’ was. Or maybe she had never known in the first place? Should have studied more. Stupid.
Her gradually deepening introversion was becoming visible now, to anyone who cared to notice the subtleties of such emotions. Not that it mattered.
(Terrible, miserable little post. Pretty sure I missed a few points but it's better than nothing. I'll look over it again when I get the chance. Other parts later.)
Did she really look that bad? Royanna had always prided herself for – among other things – her ability to suppress virtually all emotion and physical minutia while on the job. She had done it great before – and she knew that it wasn’t simply the tact of her soldiers, since her self control in that respect had earned her mentor’s approval – not an easy thing to do.
How weak she must look for this kind of concern to be wasted on her. Pathetic. Sure, maybe the kid was overreacting, but for the most part their relationship had consisted of her fretting – in her own way – over him, not the other way around.
She did not meet his searching gaze. In fact, she deliberately avoided it. Failed completely to acknowledge his offer in the slightest.
At first.
Almost unconsciously, distractedly, the two pairs of eyes did lock for a brief second, cut off almost immediately with a sharp glance away. ”Yeah, appreciate the offer Kid. I’ll keep it in mind.” She said, clearly lying. She hadn’t even bothered to waste the mental effort on trying to sound convincing. Granted, she did appreciate the offer, even while simultaneously resenting it. It was sweet of him to want to help, and pathetic of her to possibly need it.
But there was no way in Space she would take up that offer. He’d have to wrestle her to the ground first. Not a chance in all the ‘Verse…Maybe if she had lost a limb, she might take the offer – but anything short of dismemberment was something she could handle on her own.
And now the engineer was trying to hand over her respirator mask, and Roy found she almost resented that more. There had been a time where the DEU Captain would have taken the mask. Even though her mentor had always insisted that the duty of a Captain was to serve their subordinates, she still recognized the unique position she filled and the necessity to keep herself in commission.
But things had changed. If anything, these people – people, robots, dogs, whatever that Platypus woman was – they would probably be better off without her. No, her sense of survival had not gone out the window completely, but she was passionately compelled now to put the wellbeing of her people before her own, and that was final.
No help, no special treatment.
It was unlikely that anyone would happen to notice the glower she gave Cox as the respirator was handed back to her. She did take it, but instead of strapping it on to her face she handed it over to Christofer.
Or, rather, she very persistently put the thing up to his face and held it there until he got the hint that he was being told to strap it on so she wouldn’t have to hold it. If she was offered the doubled-up cloth – and if it was the only one that Cox had on her person – she would refuse that too, pushing the hand back with an open palm.
”I’ll be fine.” She insisted to the inevitable protests. ”Whatever’s down here I’m sure my lungs have dealt with worse.” She did seem confident in that, though still her voice was stifled with the throbbing agony that managed to penetrate even the fantastic painkilling qualities of Papyus’ wonder-drugs.
Absently, she noticed Papyus’ stance wielding her blade, and was – yet again – simultaneously impressed and resentful. Sure, whatever was under that gas mask might not have even been human, but it didn’t change the fact that she had spent a lifetime training to wield that most archaic of weapons, largely in part due to the unusual nature of it. Now even this wasn’t hers any longer.
The stink was getting worse. She could smell it now, and even taking into account that all of her senses were likely dulled to virtual impotence, that must have meant they were getting closer to the source. She was having a hard time remembering what ‘elini-ether’ was. Or maybe she had never known in the first place? Should have studied more. Stupid.
Her gradually deepening introversion was becoming visible now, to anyone who cared to notice the subtleties of such emotions. Not that it mattered.
(Terrible, miserable little post. Pretty sure I missed a few points but it's better than nothing. I'll look over it again when I get the chance. Other parts later.)
If the scowl on her face was an indication on how she felt, Nirix let out a displeased huff as they exited the shuttle. Gone was the buzz and small warmth the whiskey had provided and all the Eoclu could really focus on was the current dropping temperature.To put it shortly, everything was cold, down right freezing to her. How Kete could stand it, she didn't understand.
Nirix absolutely hated this planet.
Trying to ignore the urge to start shivering, Nirix observed the city before them. The streets all looked like unfinished paintings, so much of the canvas was still perfectly white, yet still covered in meager splotches of muted colors. Briefly looking up, the light of the sum above struggled through the murky clouds, but even in its weakness it was enough to blind. For now, it appeared that nothing had changed in the last seventy years Nirix had traveled to this dreary and cold planet...
She didn't know whether to find that comforting or very disappointing.
Why of all places, did her job take her here? Whoever was her client, she hoped they would be paying her well. This planet was a challenge enough.
Squinting against the light, Nirix was vaguely aware of Ketin dragging her off to who knows where. From the inflection of happiness in his voice, he appeared to be happy or well at least excited to some degree. She had been worried when the Da'len had witnessed Kampfer's minion disposing bodies by the airlock. She had found that entirely unnecessary but said nothing and let her silent show her disapproval. But now, his disposition had changed completely and Ketin seemed more so back to his usual self. As she was dragged past a vendor, the warm winter coats and hot drinks caught her eye before her gaze fell on Kete once again. Frowning at his actions, Nirix looked more like a disapproving mother than someone being dragged by the half breed.
He didn't have to steal, Nirix could've easily bought them sunglasses.
"Da'len, wherever are we going? If you are trying to get to Ronin then you are going in the wrong direction..."
Nirix absolutely hated this planet.
Trying to ignore the urge to start shivering, Nirix observed the city before them. The streets all looked like unfinished paintings, so much of the canvas was still perfectly white, yet still covered in meager splotches of muted colors. Briefly looking up, the light of the sum above struggled through the murky clouds, but even in its weakness it was enough to blind. For now, it appeared that nothing had changed in the last seventy years Nirix had traveled to this dreary and cold planet...
She didn't know whether to find that comforting or very disappointing.
Why of all places, did her job take her here? Whoever was her client, she hoped they would be paying her well. This planet was a challenge enough.
Squinting against the light, Nirix was vaguely aware of Ketin dragging her off to who knows where. From the inflection of happiness in his voice, he appeared to be happy or well at least excited to some degree. She had been worried when the Da'len had witnessed Kampfer's minion disposing bodies by the airlock. She had found that entirely unnecessary but said nothing and let her silent show her disapproval. But now, his disposition had changed completely and Ketin seemed more so back to his usual self. As she was dragged past a vendor, the warm winter coats and hot drinks caught her eye before her gaze fell on Kete once again. Frowning at his actions, Nirix looked more like a disapproving mother than someone being dragged by the half breed.
He didn't have to steal, Nirix could've easily bought them sunglasses.
"Da'len, wherever are we going? If you are trying to get to Ronin then you are going in the wrong direction..."
Ketin did not answer Nirix's question. Instead, with a nearly imperceptible shiver, he got the sudden urge to grab a jacket, despite the obvious fact that he already had one.
So Ketin did just that. Aware of every pair of eyes, every mind, every little twinge in the electromagnetic field that indicated some minute aspect of life or sentience or action. He was a million places at once, a hive with invisible threads in the billions, each grasping onto an electron for as long as it was within the range, and letting go without having ever interacted with it in the first place. The eye saw.
This kind of thing - the sunglasses, and in a moment, the jacket - had become as second nature to Kete as the day-to-day comprehension of existing in multiple minds and eyes. He had yet to stop walking, having taken Nirix's hand again after putting her new sunglasses on, now letting go again to lean to one side, reach out halfway, only to retract the arm at the last second as he realized that one of 'himself' was just about to look in the direction of the cerebral core that was Ketin Clarke, the little foxkin guy who constituted the central nexus for one of the most advanced information processors in the Galaxy.
The motion of grabbing was so fluid and natural that even when he decided at the last second to cancel his pilfering it hardly looked like so much as an extravagant gesture. A waving of an arm - unless one knew what he was doing already, and who could?
Hindered not at all, it was no different than going to pick an apple from a bin, but catching a better specimen out of the corner of the eye and deciding to grab it instead of the original. The first jacket went un-stolen, but the second - the same stall, one rack down - was plucked and slung casually over a shoulder. He even had the deftness to leave the coat hanger dangling empty and inconspicuous.
"Oh, here, you might want this, too." he said with a rather adorable smile, as he went about the four-second-process of acquiring the coat, and slowing pace just enough that he could lightly toss the jacket over the Eoclu's shoulders. She would find that it was a perfect fit. Brown leather some shades lighter than Kete's own coat. It was shorter, and the collar was lined with a very short, cream colored synthetic fur - a woman's 'bomber jacket'. It was fantastically warm, lined on the inside with delightful softness - and only Ketin Clarke could have known on the first try exactly what size and cut would fit like a most exquisite glove.
He hated to be cold. The only thing he hated more than being cold was someone else being cold. Couldn't have that.
Still he had failed completely to answer Nirix's question, of course. Some seconds passed and he at last decided to remedy this, not giving her time to comment on the coat before speaking. Despite this, he still managed to sound as if he had only just registered that someone had said anything at all. "Huh?" He spun around to look up at her, but still did not stop walking. "Oh, yeah, I'll get over there later." He said, with blatant dismissal. Totally unconvincing - and in reality this was quite unintentional. He was so caught up in thinking about what was in space, the thing that was dying the longer he waited...
The pair rounded a corner, and wedged between two buildings of approximately equal size was one that was shorter, but made up for the height with a rather vast array of satellite dishes that were turned this way and that. They spread onto the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, and there was one large protrusion dominating the center in the form of a radio tower - or something that looked like a radio tower, but was in reality a high-speed aethernet hub. Otherwise, the building was relatively normal - perhaps a little cleaner, a little more stately, definitely a professional sort of place.
Kete didn't stop, and didn't miss a beat. He released Nirix's hand just as they got to the door - double glass doors - and proceeded to burst through the doors in a totally authoritative manner. His presence had in one swift gesture dominated the little office and gotten the full attention of the woman at the desk, who looked up from her computer screen with a start. She began to say something, but was cut off by Kete - who spoke now in a manner which was far more than merely uncharacteristic.
Kete embodied authority. He was suddenly a man accustomed to giving orders and being obeyed. Words were fast, prompt, even stern. After all these years, he had never forgotten how to sound like he was in charge - even if it was a demeanor which he rarely had use for.
"Authorization code alpha-BBsix reclamation procedure fourteen priority double S. This institution is to be evacuated immediately and operational control to be handed to authorized CDA agents. The operation is highly classified and not to be reported under any circumstances. Please input a code E-I and evacuate the premises immediately."
As the half-breed spoke, the young woman's eyes gradually widened as the realization began to sink in - the realization that something big was going on, and that she was to play her part in it by getting out of the way and letting the higher Civil Defense Agents take over. She wasn't even really a CDA agent at all, but she liked to tell herself she was.
"Uh, r-right away sir." She stammered, fumbling at the holographic keyboard for a moment, entering some characters, decisively stabbing the 'enter' key. Right away, a smooth, synthetic female voice came softly over the intercom speakers in the ceiling.
"Attention all staff, a code E-I has been issued. Please evacuate the premises in an orderly fashion. This is not an emergency. Civil Defense Agents will be taking the operation over momentarily. Thank you for your cooperation."
Kete never dropped the façade. The secretary stood and promptly – if somewhat uncertainly – made her way out the door. The self proclaimed ‘CDA Agent’ did not wait for the remainder of the casual, no-panic evacuation to be complete. With the secretary gone, he strode past the desk and into the elevator, which was already open. He did not press a button, but by the time Nirix would be in with him the light for ‘3rd floor’ would already be on. The doors slid closed, the elevator ascended. Kete stepped out into a short hallway, straight through another door, into the central nervous system of the Satellite Defense Agency – or, at least, this meager branch of the planet-wide organization which kept the orbit around Daedalus free of catastrophe on a daily basis.
Again, not a second’s pause. He knew exactly what he was doing – monitors were already lighting up, waking from sleep-mode, doing all sorts of inconspicuous things.
Kete still did not actually know much about computers, but he could so naturally talk with them that all he had to do was send the mental equivalent of input and they would react no differently than any given apparatus of his body. They were arms, eyes, ears, extensions of himself. He was, in a vague and surreal sense, already in orbit, already tilting one of the direct receiving satellites to the direction dictated by some other little part of his mind-extension to be the most likely direction in which the weird little code seemed to relate to.
He had fed the code into every apparatus he could. Most systems did not know what to do with it – but the ones that did would get to work immediately. He did not know how it worked, but he could work it.
Still, he was anxious and for a subtle moment, in the relative silence of this little room surrounded with screens and keyboards and monitors and displays and machines and computers, he might let some of the anxiety slip through the focus, the directional certainty that something must be done.
He leaned over the most centralized user interface – largely holographic, a touch-screen with minute gestures on light printed in the air – he manipulated something, merely responding simultaneously to certain prompts while mentally he gave orders and ‘talked’ feverishly with the machines.
Machines which had no minds. They did not ‘talk’ back. They were not alive. They were parts of himself that he told what to do and did not question the mechanics. But this signal, this was something different. He wanted to talk to it. Was such a thing possible? He had no way of knowing.
But within minutes, every orbital satellite in orbit around Daedalus capable of receiving signals of any kind were homed in and focused on the exact point from which that faint trace had come. That meager little disturbance of wavelength would find itself suddenly spread liberally around a planet, with ample potential to direct itself wherever it felt it needed to go – though all signs would point to the plentiful and capable monitors and computer banks in the local branch of the Satellite Defense Agency where one little foxkin seemed very intent on saying ‘hello’.
Or, at least getting something.
Minutes passed, and it would take some time probably for the weak, frightened little signal to make its way to the massive host of receivers now awaiting its’ arrival. Kete gave a huff, collapsed into a chair which he may or may not have known the location of prior to falling back.
He still seemed distracted, but at last he was able to perk one ear, turn to Nirix and give a quirky, half-cocked smile and an almost sympathetic furrow of the brow.
”The thing that made Kampfer turn off my eye.” He began, without preamble. He seemed cheerful enough, certainly relieved. He had now done everything he feasibly could, and was all up to that little signal now. ”It’s like…A distress beacon, but different. I don’t know if I can really explain it. It sounds afraid. I think it’s…it’s dying. And…and I’m like a radio antenna, y’know?” He pointed a waggling finger at his left temple, never letting up on the little grin, and seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that he may or may not have been talking about things that he would normally keep to himself. He had long since forgotten how much she really knew about him, and admittedly he didn’t really care anymore.
”So, I was try’na get a bead on it, but Kampfy I guess thought I shouldn’t. So now I’m try’na pick it up again usin’ the big-boy-toys, y’know?”
And the worry came back now, the concern, the anxiety that was far from overwhelming him, but lingering nonetheless. ”I just…hope we’re not too late, y’know? I mean I know it sounds weird but I really think something…or, or someone, I dunno’…”
Words drifted off and he shifted airy gaze back to the monitors.
Okay. Okay. Just think.
THINK, STUPID!
Something changed. Something is here that wasn’t here before.
It’s impossible, but it’s obviously true. Things are different now. She could handle this.
She was suddenly aware that time was a thing, and it was a thoroughly uncomfortable feeling.
She lay in the sand for a long time, just trying to come to terms with this new world she lived in – this strange world where things appeared when they weren’t there before. Where time was relevant.
Deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths. But inevitably all she managed was a great, heaving huff. Fingers played stressfully at her hair. Just accept things. There’s no reason why new things can’t appear.
Need to go look at it. Need to. Need to go…
Need to go get things.
Why?
Dimly, ever so dimly, she recalled once having something. A number of things, actually – though she was not precisely certain as to what they were. But the more she thought about it, the more certain she became – yes, she had once had things that she did not have now. Change had happened before. Nothing so utterly bizarre as this, but yes, yes! She had once had things, then she didn’t. She had put the things somewhere. She, or maybe someone else?
No, why was she continually coming up with this stupid idea of ’someone else’? Suddenly she was considering impossibilities now?
But then, the impossible had already happened, so maybe in regards to logic all bets were now off?
Had things. Things were somewhere else. Things were in…in…in the towers!
She had to go get those things. She wasn’t sure why, but she was certain now. She needed those things. It was an impulsive need, but that was okay.
Without allowing herself to think about it anymore, merely submitting to the inner will to do it, she stood. The sand shifted at her feet. With clumsy enthusiasm, she again scaled the sharp crested dune and again gazed down upon the impossible thing. The towers were so far away. How long had it been since the distance of something had mattered? Had it once mattered?
It occurred to her that she could change her location – that even though the towers were the only construct in the world, they still constituted a place to which she could go. It made sense. She was very far away from the city.
And then she wasn’t.
Gilded bronze walls that glared the white-hot sunlight towered over her. It was dizzying to look up at the wall, gently curved inward, and above it the towers scraped the sky.
It had been a very long time since she had moved like that. But that realization further confirmed that it had been a long time, which meant something had changed. Maybe she was just coming to the realization of some extra sense that had been lost to her. Change. Change. Change was a thing now. It was a thing before. Maybe it was always a thing. Maybe it had just been a very, very long time since change had happened. Maybe that’s why so long ago was so fuzzy. So fuzzy.
The things weren’t outside the wall, stupid.
So she was no longer outside the wall. Surrounded by the shimmering metal now, a forest of geometric spires that stretched up, up, up, until the whiteness shone only in the occasional sharp beam which cut dank, cool air like a razor knife.
She looked around, almost absently. Where were the things? She bit her lip.
She was no longer outside now. It was very dark – super dark! Too dark. She couldn’t see a thing and it was beyond horrifying. Immediately panic overwhelmed her, she flailed about in the inky black nothingness, stumbled, fell. She scrambled about on the floor, whimpering, arms reaching out for something, anything – there was a wall. She touched the wall, felt it, palms against it, nuzzled into the wall – it didn’t help.
But then, the lights turned on.
Right away she felt horrendously stupid. She was blushing a bright pink glow, even though there was nobody around to mock her at the utterly pathetic sight.
The lights were cyan blue, some were white. The walls, the ceiling, the floors, all gilded bronze. The hallway stretched on forever.
She had to walk now. She didn’t want to end up inside one of the walls or something, and after that third time she recalled that she needed to be more careful with this sort of thing.
So she walked. She followed the hallway deep beneath the surface of the world, deep within the bowels of the great superstructure of the city of Isandril, and she looked about curiously. Yes, certainly there was something in here somewhere that she needed to get. She would find it sooner or later.
then she would go explore the new thing.
”Receiving you, Kingsbane. You want the boss, yeah? Hold on.” Isha Lastrow seemed too busy even for the obviously very important Benedict Severin. But then, she had always been…distracted.
”Transferring you over to the surface camp for two-way.”
Relaxing ‘elevator music’ could be heard now, for some twenty seconds. Maybe twenty five.
”Harkahn speaking.” Came a voice at last – it was also sounding distracted, initially. Then apparently the person on the other end glanced at the screen to the little message that Lastrow had sent along with the transfer; [Benedict Severin of Kingsbane]
Before the old man could respond, Dorin Harkahn was already flying off the handle – but not in a bad way.
”Oh, Professor Severin! It’s great to speak with you in person again. Look, we’ve got some seriously good @#$% down here. The whole city, Severin, it’s not a city at all. It’s one huge machine and we can’t get at the inner gadgets but it looks a heck of a lot like the stuff inside the Notspace Drives in the Stella. If we can figure out some way to get inside, we- OH, you weren’t looking to talk to the Captain were you? He and Alex went off to the city center a while ago-“
Harkahn’s words drifted off as he was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that he had forgotten something very important. He dimly perceived that he had felt this way before in the very recent past.
Again, he started up like a motorboat and didn’t give the old Physicist half a second do interject – unless, of course, he felt the desire to butt in, which would cow the clearly overzealous Scientific Administrator of The Stella Viventium.
”The Captain! He and Alex went off to the city center. They didn’t say anything about what they were doing but I can’t believe I didn’t think of going after them sooner.” There was some rustling bout – movement on the planetside end. Muffled words as he spoke to someone else, seeming to be continuing the never-ending process of managing the entire operation. Attention returned then to the two-way.
”Listen, Severin – I think we’re on the verge of some really groundbreaking stuff here. If the Kingsbane and Stella can help each other out, we need to make sure it happens. We might be just about to learn a lot more about Notspace and the applications it could have are, are, Nono, over there, four units left. Severin, I think you should get down here. The more big brains we have working on this the better – oh, and you said Tech Support’s ships retreated? Good. I guess whatever the Captain and wife are doing down there must be a big enough deal to scare them off after all.”
It was all color, all light. Glowing cyan, shifting spectral marvels before eyes that did not exist. Colors incomprehensible to the human mind, shifting madness in ordered beauty. Light – the heavenly cyan glow in geometric patterns all around the cavernous, domed chamber. The pillar of unknowable non-existence its’ centerpiece. The couple standing before it – just standing, just standing, silent and expressionless.
This was a feeling that the couple were quite unaccustomed to. In all those years, decades, centuries of existing and not-existing, they had never felt something anything like this. They were more real than they had ever been – and yet they were nothing, nowhere – darkness and void and emptiness within themselves, surrounding their bodies.
It was Notspace in its’ truest form. It was pure – mostly pure – and it was real…Yet, obviously, it was simultaneously entirely unreal. It was unnatural, yet fundamental – and to the couple, it seemed as if they were finally at home…
And simultaneously as if they had fallen into suffocating black ink to drown perpetually for all eternity.
But time – what was time here but an abstract idea?
This place, where that most legendary of late geniuses Paeryc Petrovalyc had arrived, had shredded through the very fabrics of time and space, of reality and unreality, had broken the barriers of time itself and created the impossible realization of true, unadulterated paradox.
He could see him now – as he existed in memory – standing with The First People. They spoke, though he could not hear nor comprehend their words. It was only a vague notion, perhaps merely a figment of the mind induced by the utter strangeness of this place. But then, Aelyn an Alexa were strangeness embodied.
And Aelyn-Paeryc Petrovalyc’s eyes were inky black no more.
They were white. The irises were as normal a luminescent hazel as ever. He could not see his reflection in the impossible pillar of unreality, but he knew now.
It did not add up, though. He was not so bewildered by this strangeness so as to lose the semblance of logic. Hadn’t his eyes become that way when the explosion happened? When he was unintentionally flayed by the glass which contained the serum of condensed Notspace?
But it did not make sense now. The scars, the points of his injection into nonexistence – Notspace was no serum, no physical substance. He had been working on immortality too – had it been that, perhaps? No, it would not account for his nonexistence.
Damn. Damn! All this time he had existed and not existed. All this time he had been chasing in his brother’s footsteps, following the trail seemingly laid out for him in the distant past and the far, far future. Was it a game to him?
It didn’t matter now. He was long dead.
But Aelyn-Paeryc was alive. He existed, even if he did not – and he needed to know why. And now they were here, they were at the incomprehensibly ancient place called Isandril by the very people who had worked with Paeryc to create Notspace itself, to fundamentally shatter all the rules of the universe, to laugh in the faces of the Dimensional Lords, to rebel against them, against space and time itself, against everything. Here he was, and there were no answers!
A sudden swell of rage fell over Aelyn-Paeryc and he slammed a fist down onto the featureless console before him.
He cursed, fists clenched. He cursed into the void between existence and non existence. The whole number between zero and one. The absence of everything, the presence of everything. He cursed it.
But he did not flicker.
And his eyes. His eyes were normal now. How. How?!
ANSWERS!
But no answers would come.
He felt hollow. Despair replaced rage – and again, he did not flicker. It should have been incomprehensibly liberating to not be plagued with the need to control himself so strictly in order to continue his pseudo-existence. It should have been a feeling of utter freedom, but it was only hollow emptiness and nothingness now. He had no purpose. No purpose. Why exist at all? Why cease to exist?
No, he was being stupid.
Here where time and space did not act as they had been intended to, here where nothing made sense, where all the laws of the universe were thrown out the window – where the ultimate, unchanging, static factor of time itself became nullified by the utter impossibility of the Notspace – here he could look back and see, and know, and see, and know, and see, and know.
A rapid shift of emotions, but he had settled down again. He knew things now. The First People had told him. Not directly, but through the theoretical blood they now shared, the connection of Notspace which brought them together in paradox and impossibility. Yes. Yes.
Yes.
The featureless panel rose to his waist. He looked down at it – and it was no longer featureless. It was decorated with blue lines that glowed, white lights that shone brightly but not overwhelmingly. He had unlocked the controls.
And he knew what they did.
Gently, ever so gently, the pad of a finger descended to just barely contact the metal. There was no sound. The line of light moved, shifted as if the gilded gold were liquid and not metal. Depth where there was none. He and Alexia both were simultaneously hit with the feeling of having remembered something very important, and the mild self-criticism of having failed to realize it sooner.
He was going to find Earth. It would be a long time yet, but he was going to find Earth. He had the key now. Notspace had led him to the key to Earth. To incredible power at his fingertips. The power over reality – reality from which he had been so cruelly barred for so very long. He did not exist still, but he existed now, and he had Isandril, and he was going to find Earth.
Oh, right. Of course. There it was.
How could she not have remembered that sooner? Stupid.
There was a little room, among a lot of other rooms and hallways, and inside it was a little box, in which were the things that she once had, then did not have, and now had again. They consisted of a pair of gloves, a black cap, and a remarkable projectile weapon along with corresponding holster. She was overwhelmingly happy to have these things back, though she was not sure why. They all fit so nice. So familiar.
He was frantically trying to get all the information down before he forgot again, even though it was no longer necessary. It seemed everyone in the research team had been struck with the simultaneous feeling that they had all remembered something very fundamental, and they all felt stupid for having taken so long to remember it.
Still, Harkahn was not going to take chances.
Isandril is a machine.
It resembles the Notspace Drives on an incredible scale.
Next step: Access the innards via City Center.
So Ketin did just that. Aware of every pair of eyes, every mind, every little twinge in the electromagnetic field that indicated some minute aspect of life or sentience or action. He was a million places at once, a hive with invisible threads in the billions, each grasping onto an electron for as long as it was within the range, and letting go without having ever interacted with it in the first place. The eye saw.
This kind of thing - the sunglasses, and in a moment, the jacket - had become as second nature to Kete as the day-to-day comprehension of existing in multiple minds and eyes. He had yet to stop walking, having taken Nirix's hand again after putting her new sunglasses on, now letting go again to lean to one side, reach out halfway, only to retract the arm at the last second as he realized that one of 'himself' was just about to look in the direction of the cerebral core that was Ketin Clarke, the little foxkin guy who constituted the central nexus for one of the most advanced information processors in the Galaxy.
The motion of grabbing was so fluid and natural that even when he decided at the last second to cancel his pilfering it hardly looked like so much as an extravagant gesture. A waving of an arm - unless one knew what he was doing already, and who could?
Hindered not at all, it was no different than going to pick an apple from a bin, but catching a better specimen out of the corner of the eye and deciding to grab it instead of the original. The first jacket went un-stolen, but the second - the same stall, one rack down - was plucked and slung casually over a shoulder. He even had the deftness to leave the coat hanger dangling empty and inconspicuous.
"Oh, here, you might want this, too." he said with a rather adorable smile, as he went about the four-second-process of acquiring the coat, and slowing pace just enough that he could lightly toss the jacket over the Eoclu's shoulders. She would find that it was a perfect fit. Brown leather some shades lighter than Kete's own coat. It was shorter, and the collar was lined with a very short, cream colored synthetic fur - a woman's 'bomber jacket'. It was fantastically warm, lined on the inside with delightful softness - and only Ketin Clarke could have known on the first try exactly what size and cut would fit like a most exquisite glove.
He hated to be cold. The only thing he hated more than being cold was someone else being cold. Couldn't have that.
Still he had failed completely to answer Nirix's question, of course. Some seconds passed and he at last decided to remedy this, not giving her time to comment on the coat before speaking. Despite this, he still managed to sound as if he had only just registered that someone had said anything at all. "Huh?" He spun around to look up at her, but still did not stop walking. "Oh, yeah, I'll get over there later." He said, with blatant dismissal. Totally unconvincing - and in reality this was quite unintentional. He was so caught up in thinking about what was in space, the thing that was dying the longer he waited...
The pair rounded a corner, and wedged between two buildings of approximately equal size was one that was shorter, but made up for the height with a rather vast array of satellite dishes that were turned this way and that. They spread onto the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, and there was one large protrusion dominating the center in the form of a radio tower - or something that looked like a radio tower, but was in reality a high-speed aethernet hub. Otherwise, the building was relatively normal - perhaps a little cleaner, a little more stately, definitely a professional sort of place.
Kete didn't stop, and didn't miss a beat. He released Nirix's hand just as they got to the door - double glass doors - and proceeded to burst through the doors in a totally authoritative manner. His presence had in one swift gesture dominated the little office and gotten the full attention of the woman at the desk, who looked up from her computer screen with a start. She began to say something, but was cut off by Kete - who spoke now in a manner which was far more than merely uncharacteristic.
Kete embodied authority. He was suddenly a man accustomed to giving orders and being obeyed. Words were fast, prompt, even stern. After all these years, he had never forgotten how to sound like he was in charge - even if it was a demeanor which he rarely had use for.
"Authorization code alpha-BBsix reclamation procedure fourteen priority double S. This institution is to be evacuated immediately and operational control to be handed to authorized CDA agents. The operation is highly classified and not to be reported under any circumstances. Please input a code E-I and evacuate the premises immediately."
As the half-breed spoke, the young woman's eyes gradually widened as the realization began to sink in - the realization that something big was going on, and that she was to play her part in it by getting out of the way and letting the higher Civil Defense Agents take over. She wasn't even really a CDA agent at all, but she liked to tell herself she was.
"Uh, r-right away sir." She stammered, fumbling at the holographic keyboard for a moment, entering some characters, decisively stabbing the 'enter' key. Right away, a smooth, synthetic female voice came softly over the intercom speakers in the ceiling.
"Attention all staff, a code E-I has been issued. Please evacuate the premises in an orderly fashion. This is not an emergency. Civil Defense Agents will be taking the operation over momentarily. Thank you for your cooperation."
Kete never dropped the façade. The secretary stood and promptly – if somewhat uncertainly – made her way out the door. The self proclaimed ‘CDA Agent’ did not wait for the remainder of the casual, no-panic evacuation to be complete. With the secretary gone, he strode past the desk and into the elevator, which was already open. He did not press a button, but by the time Nirix would be in with him the light for ‘3rd floor’ would already be on. The doors slid closed, the elevator ascended. Kete stepped out into a short hallway, straight through another door, into the central nervous system of the Satellite Defense Agency – or, at least, this meager branch of the planet-wide organization which kept the orbit around Daedalus free of catastrophe on a daily basis.
Again, not a second’s pause. He knew exactly what he was doing – monitors were already lighting up, waking from sleep-mode, doing all sorts of inconspicuous things.
Kete still did not actually know much about computers, but he could so naturally talk with them that all he had to do was send the mental equivalent of input and they would react no differently than any given apparatus of his body. They were arms, eyes, ears, extensions of himself. He was, in a vague and surreal sense, already in orbit, already tilting one of the direct receiving satellites to the direction dictated by some other little part of his mind-extension to be the most likely direction in which the weird little code seemed to relate to.
He had fed the code into every apparatus he could. Most systems did not know what to do with it – but the ones that did would get to work immediately. He did not know how it worked, but he could work it.
Still, he was anxious and for a subtle moment, in the relative silence of this little room surrounded with screens and keyboards and monitors and displays and machines and computers, he might let some of the anxiety slip through the focus, the directional certainty that something must be done.
He leaned over the most centralized user interface – largely holographic, a touch-screen with minute gestures on light printed in the air – he manipulated something, merely responding simultaneously to certain prompts while mentally he gave orders and ‘talked’ feverishly with the machines.
Machines which had no minds. They did not ‘talk’ back. They were not alive. They were parts of himself that he told what to do and did not question the mechanics. But this signal, this was something different. He wanted to talk to it. Was such a thing possible? He had no way of knowing.
But within minutes, every orbital satellite in orbit around Daedalus capable of receiving signals of any kind were homed in and focused on the exact point from which that faint trace had come. That meager little disturbance of wavelength would find itself suddenly spread liberally around a planet, with ample potential to direct itself wherever it felt it needed to go – though all signs would point to the plentiful and capable monitors and computer banks in the local branch of the Satellite Defense Agency where one little foxkin seemed very intent on saying ‘hello’.
Or, at least getting something.
Minutes passed, and it would take some time probably for the weak, frightened little signal to make its way to the massive host of receivers now awaiting its’ arrival. Kete gave a huff, collapsed into a chair which he may or may not have known the location of prior to falling back.
He still seemed distracted, but at last he was able to perk one ear, turn to Nirix and give a quirky, half-cocked smile and an almost sympathetic furrow of the brow.
”The thing that made Kampfer turn off my eye.” He began, without preamble. He seemed cheerful enough, certainly relieved. He had now done everything he feasibly could, and was all up to that little signal now. ”It’s like…A distress beacon, but different. I don’t know if I can really explain it. It sounds afraid. I think it’s…it’s dying. And…and I’m like a radio antenna, y’know?” He pointed a waggling finger at his left temple, never letting up on the little grin, and seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that he may or may not have been talking about things that he would normally keep to himself. He had long since forgotten how much she really knew about him, and admittedly he didn’t really care anymore.
”So, I was try’na get a bead on it, but Kampfy I guess thought I shouldn’t. So now I’m try’na pick it up again usin’ the big-boy-toys, y’know?”
And the worry came back now, the concern, the anxiety that was far from overwhelming him, but lingering nonetheless. ”I just…hope we’re not too late, y’know? I mean I know it sounds weird but I really think something…or, or someone, I dunno’…”
Words drifted off and he shifted airy gaze back to the monitors.
Okay. Okay. Just think.
THINK, STUPID!
Something changed. Something is here that wasn’t here before.
It’s impossible, but it’s obviously true. Things are different now. She could handle this.
She was suddenly aware that time was a thing, and it was a thoroughly uncomfortable feeling.
She lay in the sand for a long time, just trying to come to terms with this new world she lived in – this strange world where things appeared when they weren’t there before. Where time was relevant.
Deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths. But inevitably all she managed was a great, heaving huff. Fingers played stressfully at her hair. Just accept things. There’s no reason why new things can’t appear.
Need to go look at it. Need to. Need to go…
Need to go get things.
Why?
Dimly, ever so dimly, she recalled once having something. A number of things, actually – though she was not precisely certain as to what they were. But the more she thought about it, the more certain she became – yes, she had once had things that she did not have now. Change had happened before. Nothing so utterly bizarre as this, but yes, yes! She had once had things, then she didn’t. She had put the things somewhere. She, or maybe someone else?
No, why was she continually coming up with this stupid idea of ’someone else’? Suddenly she was considering impossibilities now?
But then, the impossible had already happened, so maybe in regards to logic all bets were now off?
Had things. Things were somewhere else. Things were in…in…in the towers!
She had to go get those things. She wasn’t sure why, but she was certain now. She needed those things. It was an impulsive need, but that was okay.
Without allowing herself to think about it anymore, merely submitting to the inner will to do it, she stood. The sand shifted at her feet. With clumsy enthusiasm, she again scaled the sharp crested dune and again gazed down upon the impossible thing. The towers were so far away. How long had it been since the distance of something had mattered? Had it once mattered?
It occurred to her that she could change her location – that even though the towers were the only construct in the world, they still constituted a place to which she could go. It made sense. She was very far away from the city.
And then she wasn’t.
Gilded bronze walls that glared the white-hot sunlight towered over her. It was dizzying to look up at the wall, gently curved inward, and above it the towers scraped the sky.
It had been a very long time since she had moved like that. But that realization further confirmed that it had been a long time, which meant something had changed. Maybe she was just coming to the realization of some extra sense that had been lost to her. Change. Change. Change was a thing now. It was a thing before. Maybe it was always a thing. Maybe it had just been a very, very long time since change had happened. Maybe that’s why so long ago was so fuzzy. So fuzzy.
The things weren’t outside the wall, stupid.
So she was no longer outside the wall. Surrounded by the shimmering metal now, a forest of geometric spires that stretched up, up, up, until the whiteness shone only in the occasional sharp beam which cut dank, cool air like a razor knife.
She looked around, almost absently. Where were the things? She bit her lip.
She was no longer outside now. It was very dark – super dark! Too dark. She couldn’t see a thing and it was beyond horrifying. Immediately panic overwhelmed her, she flailed about in the inky black nothingness, stumbled, fell. She scrambled about on the floor, whimpering, arms reaching out for something, anything – there was a wall. She touched the wall, felt it, palms against it, nuzzled into the wall – it didn’t help.
But then, the lights turned on.
Right away she felt horrendously stupid. She was blushing a bright pink glow, even though there was nobody around to mock her at the utterly pathetic sight.
The lights were cyan blue, some were white. The walls, the ceiling, the floors, all gilded bronze. The hallway stretched on forever.
She had to walk now. She didn’t want to end up inside one of the walls or something, and after that third time she recalled that she needed to be more careful with this sort of thing.
So she walked. She followed the hallway deep beneath the surface of the world, deep within the bowels of the great superstructure of the city of Isandril, and she looked about curiously. Yes, certainly there was something in here somewhere that she needed to get. She would find it sooner or later.
then she would go explore the new thing.
”Receiving you, Kingsbane. You want the boss, yeah? Hold on.” Isha Lastrow seemed too busy even for the obviously very important Benedict Severin. But then, she had always been…distracted.
”Transferring you over to the surface camp for two-way.”
Relaxing ‘elevator music’ could be heard now, for some twenty seconds. Maybe twenty five.
”Harkahn speaking.” Came a voice at last – it was also sounding distracted, initially. Then apparently the person on the other end glanced at the screen to the little message that Lastrow had sent along with the transfer; [Benedict Severin of Kingsbane]
Before the old man could respond, Dorin Harkahn was already flying off the handle – but not in a bad way.
”Oh, Professor Severin! It’s great to speak with you in person again. Look, we’ve got some seriously good @#$% down here. The whole city, Severin, it’s not a city at all. It’s one huge machine and we can’t get at the inner gadgets but it looks a heck of a lot like the stuff inside the Notspace Drives in the Stella. If we can figure out some way to get inside, we- OH, you weren’t looking to talk to the Captain were you? He and Alex went off to the city center a while ago-“
Harkahn’s words drifted off as he was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that he had forgotten something very important. He dimly perceived that he had felt this way before in the very recent past.
Again, he started up like a motorboat and didn’t give the old Physicist half a second do interject – unless, of course, he felt the desire to butt in, which would cow the clearly overzealous Scientific Administrator of The Stella Viventium.
”The Captain! He and Alex went off to the city center. They didn’t say anything about what they were doing but I can’t believe I didn’t think of going after them sooner.” There was some rustling bout – movement on the planetside end. Muffled words as he spoke to someone else, seeming to be continuing the never-ending process of managing the entire operation. Attention returned then to the two-way.
”Listen, Severin – I think we’re on the verge of some really groundbreaking stuff here. If the Kingsbane and Stella can help each other out, we need to make sure it happens. We might be just about to learn a lot more about Notspace and the applications it could have are, are, Nono, over there, four units left. Severin, I think you should get down here. The more big brains we have working on this the better – oh, and you said Tech Support’s ships retreated? Good. I guess whatever the Captain and wife are doing down there must be a big enough deal to scare them off after all.”
It was all color, all light. Glowing cyan, shifting spectral marvels before eyes that did not exist. Colors incomprehensible to the human mind, shifting madness in ordered beauty. Light – the heavenly cyan glow in geometric patterns all around the cavernous, domed chamber. The pillar of unknowable non-existence its’ centerpiece. The couple standing before it – just standing, just standing, silent and expressionless.
This was a feeling that the couple were quite unaccustomed to. In all those years, decades, centuries of existing and not-existing, they had never felt something anything like this. They were more real than they had ever been – and yet they were nothing, nowhere – darkness and void and emptiness within themselves, surrounding their bodies.
It was Notspace in its’ truest form. It was pure – mostly pure – and it was real…Yet, obviously, it was simultaneously entirely unreal. It was unnatural, yet fundamental – and to the couple, it seemed as if they were finally at home…
And simultaneously as if they had fallen into suffocating black ink to drown perpetually for all eternity.
But time – what was time here but an abstract idea?
This place, where that most legendary of late geniuses Paeryc Petrovalyc had arrived, had shredded through the very fabrics of time and space, of reality and unreality, had broken the barriers of time itself and created the impossible realization of true, unadulterated paradox.
He could see him now – as he existed in memory – standing with The First People. They spoke, though he could not hear nor comprehend their words. It was only a vague notion, perhaps merely a figment of the mind induced by the utter strangeness of this place. But then, Aelyn an Alexa were strangeness embodied.
And Aelyn-Paeryc Petrovalyc’s eyes were inky black no more.
They were white. The irises were as normal a luminescent hazel as ever. He could not see his reflection in the impossible pillar of unreality, but he knew now.
It did not add up, though. He was not so bewildered by this strangeness so as to lose the semblance of logic. Hadn’t his eyes become that way when the explosion happened? When he was unintentionally flayed by the glass which contained the serum of condensed Notspace?
But it did not make sense now. The scars, the points of his injection into nonexistence – Notspace was no serum, no physical substance. He had been working on immortality too – had it been that, perhaps? No, it would not account for his nonexistence.
Damn. Damn! All this time he had existed and not existed. All this time he had been chasing in his brother’s footsteps, following the trail seemingly laid out for him in the distant past and the far, far future. Was it a game to him?
It didn’t matter now. He was long dead.
But Aelyn-Paeryc was alive. He existed, even if he did not – and he needed to know why. And now they were here, they were at the incomprehensibly ancient place called Isandril by the very people who had worked with Paeryc to create Notspace itself, to fundamentally shatter all the rules of the universe, to laugh in the faces of the Dimensional Lords, to rebel against them, against space and time itself, against everything. Here he was, and there were no answers!
A sudden swell of rage fell over Aelyn-Paeryc and he slammed a fist down onto the featureless console before him.
He cursed, fists clenched. He cursed into the void between existence and non existence. The whole number between zero and one. The absence of everything, the presence of everything. He cursed it.
But he did not flicker.
And his eyes. His eyes were normal now. How. How?!
ANSWERS!
But no answers would come.
He felt hollow. Despair replaced rage – and again, he did not flicker. It should have been incomprehensibly liberating to not be plagued with the need to control himself so strictly in order to continue his pseudo-existence. It should have been a feeling of utter freedom, but it was only hollow emptiness and nothingness now. He had no purpose. No purpose. Why exist at all? Why cease to exist?
No, he was being stupid.
Here where time and space did not act as they had been intended to, here where nothing made sense, where all the laws of the universe were thrown out the window – where the ultimate, unchanging, static factor of time itself became nullified by the utter impossibility of the Notspace – here he could look back and see, and know, and see, and know, and see, and know.
A rapid shift of emotions, but he had settled down again. He knew things now. The First People had told him. Not directly, but through the theoretical blood they now shared, the connection of Notspace which brought them together in paradox and impossibility. Yes. Yes.
Yes.
The featureless panel rose to his waist. He looked down at it – and it was no longer featureless. It was decorated with blue lines that glowed, white lights that shone brightly but not overwhelmingly. He had unlocked the controls.
And he knew what they did.
Gently, ever so gently, the pad of a finger descended to just barely contact the metal. There was no sound. The line of light moved, shifted as if the gilded gold were liquid and not metal. Depth where there was none. He and Alexia both were simultaneously hit with the feeling of having remembered something very important, and the mild self-criticism of having failed to realize it sooner.
He was going to find Earth. It would be a long time yet, but he was going to find Earth. He had the key now. Notspace had led him to the key to Earth. To incredible power at his fingertips. The power over reality – reality from which he had been so cruelly barred for so very long. He did not exist still, but he existed now, and he had Isandril, and he was going to find Earth.
Oh, right. Of course. There it was.
How could she not have remembered that sooner? Stupid.
There was a little room, among a lot of other rooms and hallways, and inside it was a little box, in which were the things that she once had, then did not have, and now had again. They consisted of a pair of gloves, a black cap, and a remarkable projectile weapon along with corresponding holster. She was overwhelmingly happy to have these things back, though she was not sure why. They all fit so nice. So familiar.
He was frantically trying to get all the information down before he forgot again, even though it was no longer necessary. It seemed everyone in the research team had been struck with the simultaneous feeling that they had all remembered something very fundamental, and they all felt stupid for having taken so long to remember it.
Still, Harkahn was not going to take chances.
Isandril is a machine.
It resembles the Notspace Drives on an incredible scale.
Next step: Access the innards via City Center.
For the alien parasite known the Dendril's are quite known not to mutate out of there classes, but one in particular has, especially as old and ancient as the Dendril on Isandril. Once a regular Dendril Pyro roaming the sands, something went different with this one as if it some how assimilated itself, being a living organism of the Not sytsemson the planet. Soon out of the shifting sands, a giant scorpion machine like creature burst out of the sand. It's beady red eyes scanned the city ahead in the distance and detects signatures that it hadn't detected for a very long time as crab like face huggers crawled all over its body, in which it continuously produces.
Soon it yells out "Aelyn-Paeryc Petrovalyc! Brother of Paeryc Petrovalyc! Husband to Wife Alexia Petrovalyc! EHHHH&#$&*%(#&@*($" static as it declared the names at the end and soon releasing a very loud and thunderous energy signal, similar to the infected cruiser back at Earth IV. After essentially venting, the giant scorpion Dendril went back into the sand with its drill like pincers and headed directly towards the city, where Aelyn and his crew are.
Soon it yells out "Aelyn-Paeryc Petrovalyc! Brother of Paeryc Petrovalyc! Husband to Wife Alexia Petrovalyc! EHHHH&#$&*%(#&@*($" static as it declared the names at the end and soon releasing a very loud and thunderous energy signal, similar to the infected cruiser back at Earth IV. After essentially venting, the giant scorpion Dendril went back into the sand with its drill like pincers and headed directly towards the city, where Aelyn and his crew are.
Nirix found the coat to be a great comfort.
It was warm and perfectly lined with the softest of fur to block out the harsh cold. With a relaxed sigh, she nuzzled into the bomber jacket after quickly inspecting it for tags or clips that would indicate it was a "stolen" item. The Da'len most definitely deserved some sort of gift after supplying her with such a gift. The thought of a stiff drink crossed her mind almost immediately but she quickly dismissed the thought. Nirix wasn't so sure on getting Kete drunk, especially since after their little side trip, she wouldn't be able to keep her eye on him.
But at the moment, there were more pressing things at hand.
Their entrance at into the Satellite building was one that left the Assassin in awe. Ketin's whole demeanor changed in a blink of an eye and as he gave orders out to the poor frighten Secretary, Nirix too, almost believed the tale he wove as if it was his profession. Ketin could probably convince a King he was nothing more than a common palace servant.
Nirix couldn't help but crack a smile of her own.
Following him as he moved around in urgency, She stayed silent and merely observed his movements. Nirix wasn't sure what exactly he was doing nor why it seemed so important to him to invade a Satellite Defenses building but she followed him nonetheless. If it was important to him, then it would become important to her.
It was awhile before Ketin said anything, his focus diverted to the many monitors and computers around them. In the silence, all that could be heard was the light beeping and clicks of machines around them before suddenly Kete tumbled into a nearby chair and spoke.
"It's always your eye huh?" She said, with a light smile. He could do wonders with that thing, if she understood it correctly. Reading memories was one, that she definitely remembered well.
"Don't worry Kete, you'll save that....signal thingie" Nirix was trying to make him feel better, hopefully it was working.
She didn't think it was.
It was warm and perfectly lined with the softest of fur to block out the harsh cold. With a relaxed sigh, she nuzzled into the bomber jacket after quickly inspecting it for tags or clips that would indicate it was a "stolen" item. The Da'len most definitely deserved some sort of gift after supplying her with such a gift. The thought of a stiff drink crossed her mind almost immediately but she quickly dismissed the thought. Nirix wasn't so sure on getting Kete drunk, especially since after their little side trip, she wouldn't be able to keep her eye on him.
But at the moment, there were more pressing things at hand.
Their entrance at into the Satellite building was one that left the Assassin in awe. Ketin's whole demeanor changed in a blink of an eye and as he gave orders out to the poor frighten Secretary, Nirix too, almost believed the tale he wove as if it was his profession. Ketin could probably convince a King he was nothing more than a common palace servant.
Nirix couldn't help but crack a smile of her own.
Following him as he moved around in urgency, She stayed silent and merely observed his movements. Nirix wasn't sure what exactly he was doing nor why it seemed so important to him to invade a Satellite Defenses building but she followed him nonetheless. If it was important to him, then it would become important to her.
It was awhile before Ketin said anything, his focus diverted to the many monitors and computers around them. In the silence, all that could be heard was the light beeping and clicks of machines around them before suddenly Kete tumbled into a nearby chair and spoke.
"It's always your eye huh?" She said, with a light smile. He could do wonders with that thing, if she understood it correctly. Reading memories was one, that she definitely remembered well.
"Don't worry Kete, you'll save that....signal thingie" Nirix was trying to make him feel better, hopefully it was working.
She didn't think it was.
Independence writes herself a status update.
New star system sucks. Boring. A couple of rocks around a star, with few easily-obtainable resources. Repairs are... still frustrating. Some of the damage has been there since before she went to sleep. Some of it is more recent (that signal really disturbs her). Psych evaluation is... complicated, and that outburst earlier would have been extremely embarrassing had anyone been there to pick up the signal. Still rather embarrassing, actually. By all rights, she should be taken offline and given a good diagnostic at a specialized facility. Unfortunately, even if she weren't alone, nobody alive (at least, to her knowledge) has the authority and clearance to deal with that. In addition, she can't deactivate herself, as that would potentially violate her self-preservation directive. Conclusion: continue operations (such as they are) as normal. She adjusts a couple of monitoring programs, and sets them to alert her should she become too erratic. 'This is definitely a perfect system, and nothing could possibly go wrong,' she thinks, sarcastically.
Back to more immediate issues. Independence can't just jump around the galaxy at random, hoping that she remains undetected. She needs a plan for what she'll do, should she get detected. And really needs to run more quietly when she enters a new system. As for her nav charts, she compresses the data and files it away. She doesn't want to lose them yet, but she doesn't think they'll be much use at the moment. She begins a new chart, using her rogue planet as its point of reference, because why not? Then she references with the galaxy itself, to get a more useful coordinate frame. Finally, she sets up a program to continue charting things as best she can.
With Nav info handled, to a degree, Independence turns her conscious attention to a plan of action in case she drops into a populated system. Well, first and most obvious thing is to run silent. Not that she's particularly silent, being what she is. Still, there's plenty that she can turn off when not needed. Missiles, turrets, fabbers... Oops, life support is actually still offline. She adds that to the repair queue, just in case. A quick check confirms that her physical avatar is not, in fact, in serviceable condition, and she sends a drone to pick it up for repairs, while she loads into a backup. Those are hard to repair, and harder to replace... but she updates her Ragnarok protocol, and adds that to the upload.
Right. Nothing of interest to her here, except some small amount of raw materials in too small amounts to be worth the effort. Maybe a dedicated mining ship could make it profitable, but that's not what she is. Independence picks out another star, spins up her hyperdrive, and jumps.
New star system sucks. Boring. A couple of rocks around a star, with few easily-obtainable resources. Repairs are... still frustrating. Some of the damage has been there since before she went to sleep. Some of it is more recent (that signal really disturbs her). Psych evaluation is... complicated, and that outburst earlier would have been extremely embarrassing had anyone been there to pick up the signal. Still rather embarrassing, actually. By all rights, she should be taken offline and given a good diagnostic at a specialized facility. Unfortunately, even if she weren't alone, nobody alive (at least, to her knowledge) has the authority and clearance to deal with that. In addition, she can't deactivate herself, as that would potentially violate her self-preservation directive. Conclusion: continue operations (such as they are) as normal. She adjusts a couple of monitoring programs, and sets them to alert her should she become too erratic. 'This is definitely a perfect system, and nothing could possibly go wrong,' she thinks, sarcastically.
Back to more immediate issues. Independence can't just jump around the galaxy at random, hoping that she remains undetected. She needs a plan for what she'll do, should she get detected. And really needs to run more quietly when she enters a new system. As for her nav charts, she compresses the data and files it away. She doesn't want to lose them yet, but she doesn't think they'll be much use at the moment. She begins a new chart, using her rogue planet as its point of reference, because why not? Then she references with the galaxy itself, to get a more useful coordinate frame. Finally, she sets up a program to continue charting things as best she can.
With Nav info handled, to a degree, Independence turns her conscious attention to a plan of action in case she drops into a populated system. Well, first and most obvious thing is to run silent. Not that she's particularly silent, being what she is. Still, there's plenty that she can turn off when not needed. Missiles, turrets, fabbers... Oops, life support is actually still offline. She adds that to the repair queue, just in case. A quick check confirms that her physical avatar is not, in fact, in serviceable condition, and she sends a drone to pick it up for repairs, while she loads into a backup. Those are hard to repair, and harder to replace... but she updates her Ragnarok protocol, and adds that to the upload.
Right. Nothing of interest to her here, except some small amount of raw materials in too small amounts to be worth the effort. Maybe a dedicated mining ship could make it profitable, but that's not what she is. Independence picks out another star, spins up her hyperdrive, and jumps.
System CG-84-FOXTROT-NOVEMBER-B89
Mining base Thêta, Sundriver Patrol.
Edward Fidelis was a captain in the ASNET corporation navy, he was commanding a group of 2 Type 1 AME frigates, 2 Type 2 and 1 Type 5, the first type being standard issue with energy weapons, the second with extras mass drivers an the Type 5 was equipped with missiles and advanced sensors, both long and short range, he was currently protecting a gigantic mining operation in this system, which was focused on the insanely rich asteroid field, remnants of the system's star which had collapsed and detonated, leaving only a little neutron star, the system was heavily defended by star wings, star bases and fleets, but he was the only group in his sector, the nearest friendly being the star base nearby, the closest unit being the 11th system star wing, 1 hour away from them in non-warp propulsion.
-Sir, we got an unidentified vessel in approach vector, hyperspace jump. Said the captain from Sundriver 5 through the secure squadron channel.
-So it's not one of ours ?
-Yes sir, it isn't equipped with the instant quantum drive, however, it's system seems to be decently advanced, the ship is fast, it will be here in a few seconds.
-Hmmm...What size ?
-Battlecruiser or battleship, impossible to say more until it's out of hyperspace, it doesn't have automated jump identification, or it deactivated it, impossible to know.
-Damn, okay, all ships, stand by ! Await my orders.
-Roger that Sundriver 1, Sundriver 2 standing by.
-Sundriver 3, standing by.
-Sundriver 4, standing by.
-Sundriver 1, this is Sundriver 5, the target as entered quantum sensor range, it's a military vessel, heavly armed ! It's badly damaged but still operationnal.
-Anything else ?
-I'm launching scans, but I can't guarantee the results sir.
-Do it.
-Roger that, commencing scan....
The long range transmitter came back to life as a transmission reached them from the command station.
-Sundriver 1 this is Sun Leader, what's your status, over ?
-Sun Leader we have an incomming contact, battlecruiser size ship apparently, we have confirmation that it's military, but we don't know from who, and why it's here, but we're 100% sure it's not one of ours.
-Roger, do not engage combat, repeat, do not engage, follow procedure FOXTROT-80-95-12-BBT.
-Copy that Sun Leader, Sundriver 1 out.
The captain of the Sundriver 1 looked through the window as a for a split second space distorted, revealing a beaten battlecruiser.
-Well, time for presentations, lieutenant, open a channel to this ship.
-Yes sir ! Channel five is open, commencing broadcast now.
The captain leaned foward to the camera looking at his currently blank screen.
-Unidentified vessel, this is captain Edwar Fidelis from the Asmragoth of the ASNET corporation, you are entering a restricted area, please stand down and decline you identification, as well as your intentions, know that all attack will face immediate lethal retaliation from our forces, however you are free to not decline your identification as long as you leave this system immediately.
He patiently waited for the ship's crew answer, or whatever was piloting that ship.
Mining base Thêta, Sundriver Patrol.
Edward Fidelis was a captain in the ASNET corporation navy, he was commanding a group of 2 Type 1 AME frigates, 2 Type 2 and 1 Type 5, the first type being standard issue with energy weapons, the second with extras mass drivers an the Type 5 was equipped with missiles and advanced sensors, both long and short range, he was currently protecting a gigantic mining operation in this system, which was focused on the insanely rich asteroid field, remnants of the system's star which had collapsed and detonated, leaving only a little neutron star, the system was heavily defended by star wings, star bases and fleets, but he was the only group in his sector, the nearest friendly being the star base nearby, the closest unit being the 11th system star wing, 1 hour away from them in non-warp propulsion.
-Sir, we got an unidentified vessel in approach vector, hyperspace jump. Said the captain from Sundriver 5 through the secure squadron channel.
-So it's not one of ours ?
-Yes sir, it isn't equipped with the instant quantum drive, however, it's system seems to be decently advanced, the ship is fast, it will be here in a few seconds.
-Hmmm...What size ?
-Battlecruiser or battleship, impossible to say more until it's out of hyperspace, it doesn't have automated jump identification, or it deactivated it, impossible to know.
-Damn, okay, all ships, stand by ! Await my orders.
-Roger that Sundriver 1, Sundriver 2 standing by.
-Sundriver 3, standing by.
-Sundriver 4, standing by.
-Sundriver 1, this is Sundriver 5, the target as entered quantum sensor range, it's a military vessel, heavly armed ! It's badly damaged but still operationnal.
-Anything else ?
-I'm launching scans, but I can't guarantee the results sir.
-Do it.
-Roger that, commencing scan....
The long range transmitter came back to life as a transmission reached them from the command station.
-Sundriver 1 this is Sun Leader, what's your status, over ?
-Sun Leader we have an incomming contact, battlecruiser size ship apparently, we have confirmation that it's military, but we don't know from who, and why it's here, but we're 100% sure it's not one of ours.
-Roger, do not engage combat, repeat, do not engage, follow procedure FOXTROT-80-95-12-BBT.
-Copy that Sun Leader, Sundriver 1 out.
The captain of the Sundriver 1 looked through the window as a for a split second space distorted, revealing a beaten battlecruiser.
-Well, time for presentations, lieutenant, open a channel to this ship.
-Yes sir ! Channel five is open, commencing broadcast now.
The captain leaned foward to the camera looking at his currently blank screen.
-Unidentified vessel, this is captain Edwar Fidelis from the Asmragoth of the ASNET corporation, you are entering a restricted area, please stand down and decline you identification, as well as your intentions, know that all attack will face immediate lethal retaliation from our forces, however you are free to not decline your identification as long as you leave this system immediately.
He patiently waited for the ship's crew answer, or whatever was piloting that ship.
Arthur was quiet happy to hear that the other fellow robot was able to speak English and that he now didn't have to worry about stressing his language adapter system. "Oh thank goodness" he replies as if he was sighing as he drops his shoulder a little in sign of relaxation. "Its a pleasure to meet you Q" as he gives her an elegant bow. With a quick scan, he saw that Q was a robot more of a female representation and from judging from appearance looks pretty smart...things that he looks for in a fembot. He goes ahead and responds to her question and says "Oh we arrived here because I wanted to do some exploring and not be cooped up in some stuffy base as my Lordship is getting his operation done" in a happy tone. He tilts his head at Q and says "How did you arrive here?"
In the underground air base, Papyus continues to lead the group, she wanted to take off her mask and get whatever was lodged out so she doesn't sound like Darth Vader when she breathes, but she needed her mask to see through the darkness, but thanks to the giant flood light behind her, there was signs that also pointed to the medbay even though there were highly faded, but everyone can agree that big red cross means medicine of some kind and so with Cox and the signs it should be soon until they arrive at there destination.
In the underground air base, Papyus continues to lead the group, she wanted to take off her mask and get whatever was lodged out so she doesn't sound like Darth Vader when she breathes, but she needed her mask to see through the darkness, but thanks to the giant flood light behind her, there was signs that also pointed to the medbay even though there were highly faded, but everyone can agree that big red cross means medicine of some kind and so with Cox and the signs it should be soon until they arrive at there destination.
Independence assesses her plan. Result: unmitigated failure. Cause: unknown technology either detected her while in hyperspace, or immediately upon exit. She's inclined to dismiss the first option, but... well, things change, and technology marches on. That's not a very comforting thought for the AI. Well, no use hiding when you've already been spotted. She spins up her fusion plants and starts charging her hyperdrive. There's an awful lot of signal noise coming from those ships... she's being scanned. Wonderful, they're not being particularly polite, it seems. She charges her combat shields, but does not activate them, and sets triggers to charge weapons, just in case. Wait, that one's not a scan, that's a comms signal. She routes it through her decryption suite, and reduces power. Well, she does have the new avatar... She changes course to station herself at a hopefully-respectful long range. Scans would indicate a 67% spike in the battlecruiser's power systems, but readings would drop back closer to initial levels as the Asmragoth's transmission arrives.
Independence opens her avatar's eyes and looks around. She is seated, as expected, in the specially-built interface chair on the bridge. They did say she could just turn bail, but she needs information. It doesn't hurt that they don't match any Hoffanite profiles. She opens a channel to the broadcasting ship. Video would show Independence's physical avatar seated, presumably, on the bridge. She would appear to be an organic, except maybe, her coloration
With the channel open, she declares, "This is the Laurentian Union Ship, Independence. This ship's primary objective is the acquisition information. All personnel aboard this ship have been in hibernation, and much of the computer's data is extremely out-of-date." She avoids lying, but for now, she decides not to be too open about her operational status. "I apologize; because of the poor quality of the available information, the restricted status of this space was unknown."
Independence opens her avatar's eyes and looks around. She is seated, as expected, in the specially-built interface chair on the bridge. They did say she could just turn bail, but she needs information. It doesn't hurt that they don't match any Hoffanite profiles. She opens a channel to the broadcasting ship. Video would show Independence's physical avatar seated, presumably, on the bridge. She would appear to be an organic, except maybe, her coloration
With the channel open, she declares, "This is the Laurentian Union Ship, Independence. This ship's primary objective is the acquisition information. All personnel aboard this ship have been in hibernation, and much of the computer's data is extremely out-of-date." She avoids lying, but for now, she decides not to be too open about her operational status. "I apologize; because of the poor quality of the available information, the restricted status of this space was unknown."
Edward looked at his screen, amazed by the rather...singular image, well, as much as something can be surprising at this epoqua anyway.
He made a quick sign with his hand outside of the camera's field of view, telling his soldiers to stand down, which his lieutenant quickly transmitted through the secure squadron channel, the captain tilted his head and "spoke", well, he communicated by thought to his commanding officer.
-Are you getting this ?
-Absolutely, please proceed with caution, this ship outguns you badly, and we won't be able to send you help in time, stay peaceful, but if things turns to the worst, just run away as fast as you can, as far as you can.
-Roger.
The General Stark (Sun Leader) stopped talking and instead focused on his screen, who was sending him the exchange live, Edward cleared his throat before beggining to talk.
-Miss, I am affraid that I do not know the Laurentian, (he types a few things on his holographic keyboard) and neither does my data base, which is both good and bad, good : you're not my enemy, bad : you're not my ally, which put me into a rather...difficult situation, you see, normally I would just kick you out of there, but it seems that my employers have other ideas.
He pressed a button which was flashing insistently, suddendly the communication was redirected.
Nowhere, GCC Headquarters.
Number 12 is a Fallen and for many humans would be considered a beauty, with her waist-long blond hair, her thin and athletic body, and her adorable cat tail and pair of cat ears, she was currently sitting in her chair in a white jumpsuit, legs crossed and a glass of fruit juice (Fallen hates alcohol) in her right hand, not much could be seen of her office, only a part of her glass desk with some papers written in an incomprehensible language.
Number 12 looked at her screen as the conversation was redirected to her through an intracable and undetectable sub-dimensional channel, she smiled at the hologram and took a sip of her glass.
-So, mylady (she put down her glass and uncross her legs) we have to talk, I would have gladly offered you some refreshment, but I doubt that you would be able to consume them in your current state, so let's get to the point, my real name doesn't matter, you can call me Number 12, 12 for the intimates, anyway, ASNET belongs to me, and you just entered one of our restricted areas, normally we would just kick you out, but you, you're special, you are commanding a ship of a design we had yet to encounter, and you claim to be from a nation that is completely unknown to us, so here is the deal, you hand me data on you creators, and in return, I give you...whatever you want, data, maps, repairs, ammo, technology, equipement, crew members, anything you want, so, what do you say ?
Number 12 crossed her legs once again and took another sip from her glass, awaiting for the AI's answer.
He made a quick sign with his hand outside of the camera's field of view, telling his soldiers to stand down, which his lieutenant quickly transmitted through the secure squadron channel, the captain tilted his head and "spoke", well, he communicated by thought to his commanding officer.
-Are you getting this ?
-Absolutely, please proceed with caution, this ship outguns you badly, and we won't be able to send you help in time, stay peaceful, but if things turns to the worst, just run away as fast as you can, as far as you can.
-Roger.
The General Stark (Sun Leader) stopped talking and instead focused on his screen, who was sending him the exchange live, Edward cleared his throat before beggining to talk.
-Miss, I am affraid that I do not know the Laurentian, (he types a few things on his holographic keyboard) and neither does my data base, which is both good and bad, good : you're not my enemy, bad : you're not my ally, which put me into a rather...difficult situation, you see, normally I would just kick you out of there, but it seems that my employers have other ideas.
He pressed a button which was flashing insistently, suddendly the communication was redirected.
Nowhere, GCC Headquarters.
Number 12 is a Fallen and for many humans would be considered a beauty, with her waist-long blond hair, her thin and athletic body, and her adorable cat tail and pair of cat ears, she was currently sitting in her chair in a white jumpsuit, legs crossed and a glass of fruit juice (Fallen hates alcohol) in her right hand, not much could be seen of her office, only a part of her glass desk with some papers written in an incomprehensible language.
Number 12 looked at her screen as the conversation was redirected to her through an intracable and undetectable sub-dimensional channel, she smiled at the hologram and took a sip of her glass.
-So, mylady (she put down her glass and uncross her legs) we have to talk, I would have gladly offered you some refreshment, but I doubt that you would be able to consume them in your current state, so let's get to the point, my real name doesn't matter, you can call me Number 12, 12 for the intimates, anyway, ASNET belongs to me, and you just entered one of our restricted areas, normally we would just kick you out, but you, you're special, you are commanding a ship of a design we had yet to encounter, and you claim to be from a nation that is completely unknown to us, so here is the deal, you hand me data on you creators, and in return, I give you...whatever you want, data, maps, repairs, ammo, technology, equipement, crew members, anything you want, so, what do you say ?
Number 12 crossed her legs once again and took another sip from her glass, awaiting for the AI's answer.
Independence blinks, surprise showing on her face as her communication is transferred to another party, but her expression returns to neutral rather quickly. She smiles slightly at the mention of refreshments, though, until her face once again relaxes to a neutral, almost non-expression. "I am..." she hesitates, just the smallest fraction of a second, "Independence. I don't command this ship, it's my body. This avatar can consume food and drink, but it serves little purpose outside of social encounters." It's also a hassle to deal with afterwards. The avatar continues, her expression shifting. Less than pleased. Perhaps disappointed, or ashamed? It's back to neutral before she finishes her next sentence. "As for my creators, it's extremely likely that this ship is the only remaining part of the Laurentian Union. Still, there are certain things which I cannot share." She pauses, looking thoughtful, then adds, "I can forward you a list of things I require, and what I can offer in return." Even as she says this, she assembles said list, with requests ranging from navigational data, to dossiers on current major powers, to exotic raw materials, and offers including dossiers on both the Laurentian Union and another faction called the "Hoffanite Empire", and her own navigational data to aid reference. After a moment's consideration, she throws in an offer of some low-level information on AI. Judging from these people's reactions, sophisticated AI don't seem to be as common as they were in the Union. Sending the lists, unencrypted but not actually containing any useful data yet, Independence adds, "I hope we can come to some kind of agreement."
Number 12 smiled at the other name, Independence ? Tss tss tss
As the other transfered the files, Number 12 looked through the data, integrating it and absent mindedly nodding to whatever the ship might say.
-AI files, really ? No, we have AIs, we have no need for this, I am just surprised that your creators were stupid enough -no offence- to hardwire you to this ship ! For me, it's some form of slavery.
She would suddendly stop as she sees the navigation data and the star map.
-Ooooohhh, right, that time, jeez, it has been a while since then, if I remember well, I was still in Asazalsachion at that time, wow, you must be a bit rusty -No offence-, and your data is rather....basic, but still interesting, very well, I agree to this deal, here are the data you asked for (she pushed a button, sending the other the data, but none of it mentioning the GCC, Tosh or the C.E.L.L.) the material should be there shortly, if you need anything else, please, don't hesitate to ask, also, you are unemployed now right ? Me and my...colleagues would certainly have use for a ship such as youreself.
She stopped a second and frowned while taking another sip of her juice.
-By the way, should I designate you as a ship, or an AI, I honestly don't know (she looks at her glass and then looks at the camera, shaking the glass a bit) want some ?
She smiled at the hologram and waited patiently for the other's answer.
Sector 9-9-48-00-LIMA-FOXTROT
The two commanders looked at their wrists before parting way and getting on board of their respective battleships, the station personel quickly loaded the materials and the two massive warships took off from the station and warped trough hyperspace.
Anybody with a good eye could see that the two ships were meant for stealth, and not for combat, one of them was filled with scanners and surveillance equipment and was cloaked, the other had the requested cargo inside of it, and was perfectly visible, even if extremely hard to detect due to it's material and passive equipment.
The Spec Ops station resumed it's operations, silently cloaked into deep space and carefully scanning each and every inch of the sector for intruders.
As the other transfered the files, Number 12 looked through the data, integrating it and absent mindedly nodding to whatever the ship might say.
-AI files, really ? No, we have AIs, we have no need for this, I am just surprised that your creators were stupid enough -no offence- to hardwire you to this ship ! For me, it's some form of slavery.
She would suddendly stop as she sees the navigation data and the star map.
-Ooooohhh, right, that time, jeez, it has been a while since then, if I remember well, I was still in Asazalsachion at that time, wow, you must be a bit rusty -No offence-, and your data is rather....basic, but still interesting, very well, I agree to this deal, here are the data you asked for (she pushed a button, sending the other the data, but none of it mentioning the GCC, Tosh or the C.E.L.L.) the material should be there shortly, if you need anything else, please, don't hesitate to ask, also, you are unemployed now right ? Me and my...colleagues would certainly have use for a ship such as youreself.
She stopped a second and frowned while taking another sip of her juice.
-By the way, should I designate you as a ship, or an AI, I honestly don't know (she looks at her glass and then looks at the camera, shaking the glass a bit) want some ?
She smiled at the hologram and waited patiently for the other's answer.
Sector 9-9-48-00-LIMA-FOXTROT
The two commanders looked at their wrists before parting way and getting on board of their respective battleships, the station personel quickly loaded the materials and the two massive warships took off from the station and warped trough hyperspace.
Anybody with a good eye could see that the two ships were meant for stealth, and not for combat, one of them was filled with scanners and surveillance equipment and was cloaked, the other had the requested cargo inside of it, and was perfectly visible, even if extremely hard to detect due to it's material and passive equipment.
The Spec Ops station resumed it's operations, silently cloaked into deep space and carefully scanning each and every inch of the sector for intruders.
Independence offers a polite smile as she shakes her head at the offer for a drink. "No thank you. And... it's not so much that I'm hardwired to the ship, as True-Level AI like myself have... serious issues migrating from our original hardware. The fact that I was built as a ship is actually really liberating," she says with a bit of a chuckle. "'Rusty' is right, though. Some of my systems had actually gone down before I was woken up. Most of that is repaired, though. I'm a ship /and/ and AI. The hull, systems, and this avatar are all my body. I admit, I wasn't originally designed to operate without a crew, but my previous crew conducted extensive modifications to allow it when it became apparent that my final directive would... outlast them." She looks uncomfortable again. Bad memories, maybe. "I've recieved your transmission, and I'll forward the second half of my data upon reciept of the raw materials."
As they talk, Independence continues to scan the space around her, using mostly passive sensors, though she lets a few pings out. Curiosity would be understandable, right? Right. Of course, it helps that she's fairly confident in her ability to survive.
As they talk, Independence continues to scan the space around her, using mostly passive sensors, though she lets a few pings out. Curiosity would be understandable, right? Right. Of course, it helps that she's fairly confident in her ability to survive.
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