The System

by Skyler Grant

The last was bold. There was no long-distance communication with a library. Utilizing one meant going in person, and usually staying a long time to find what you needed. A local library would be small, but for a hungry young power like us would allow us a steady income from visiting guests as well as a portion of fees collected from the library itself.

  "We cannot speak for the Library," the Valgor said.

  "You wouldn't be here if you weren't in communication. Work it out," Flower said, with her arms folded.

  The Valgor went silent. Unlike a human there was no fidgeting, no nervous gestures, as time passed. It was forty-three minutes until it again deigned to respond.

  "We agree to the up-front fee. Completion, one million. A two-cycle library card for Sol."

  Even taking out the agent fees it was far higher than we'd have managed to negotiate on our own. Despite that, Flower shook her head, "This is a civilization with far superior technology to Sol. The risk to them is extreme. We insist on the last term."

  That wasn’t even in the council's power to directly grant. Still, there was a lot of crossover.

  What behind-the-scenes wheels of power the Valgor had to grease to pull this off, I was happily unaware of, and it was a long three hours until it next returned a response. Time enough for Anna to have crawled back onto one of the seats to take a nap and for me to move my own drone to rest. Flower's mechanical body was better able to tolerate the wait. I really should have made an appearance in mine. I just didn't like the thing.

  "A local branch for three-cycles under standard fourth-tier civilization terms with a contract to be renegotiated at that time if Sol has not risen to that standard," the Valgor said.

  It was a fair enough deal. Depending on wealth, influence, and culture, galactic civilization was sorted into seven tiers. Sol was debatably between a tier six and seven placement. We were home to multiple intelligent species, even if several of them were of my own creation.

  Tier four was the first of the "good citizen" levels. Civilizations that had proved over time they were contributing member of civilization and good neighbors. With the Library willing to deal with us on those terms, if we succeeded it would be a good start towards the rest of the galactic community seeing us in a similar light.

  I shook Anna awake. She looked around blearily.

  "What?" Anna asked.

  "We've got a deal. It is your call, but I'm going to recommend you take it," Flower said.

  The two studied the terms and then Anna went about making it official. Galactic civilization thrived on contracts and Anna was putting her DNA on a lot of them to seal the deal.

  With the up-front payment, just trying to complete this assignment would keep the embassy doors open for awhile. The question was, could we do more than that?

  10

  The next meeting was on Earth. It was the one place I could be reasonably sure there weren't surveillance devices monitoring our every word.

  Myself, Anna, Caya, Amy, Sylax, and Ophelia met to discuss our next steps. I wasn't expecting anything useful from Ophelia at the meeting, but as the Queen of Earth we could hardly exclude her from the meeting.

  Despite Flower having been so helpful, we did exclude her. The Kidari might be happy with fifteen percent if we succeeded. I was sure they'd rather have the full cut by succeeding themselves.

  "So how do we find these people?" Anna asked from her seat at the head of the conference table. Having a mission had put her into war mode and she was wearing her black and red battle armor. The black cowboy hat was the latest and silly addition. I'd enjoyed designing her new pistols at least, the smallest power-projectors I'd built yet that could toggle power-enhancers and dampeners. Anna could maybe take someone alive in a fight now instead of simply obliterating them.

  "Back when the Earth was still fragmented, airships utilized a dimensional-drive that left signatures which could be tracked. We haven't yet figured out how to do the same, but we do have sensor data from the attack," Caya said.

  Amy said, "You are so smart. Can we adopt her, sis? Our family needs another member."

  "You never offered to adopt me," Ophelia said with a pout.

  I said, "Everyone not tied to this planet left you behind for a reason. You're just not a keeper. I'm happy to do the SCIENCE, but I remind you that a theoretical solution isn't an actual solution."

  "I think you're amazing. Think about it, they can literally stab you in the back every single day for the rest of your life and you'll come back for more," Amy said enthusiastically. Ophelia didn't look comforted by the thought.

  "With enough time, I think I can figure out a solution to the problem," Caya said.

  "Fine. Caya and Amy, you're the best mathematicians among us. Figure it out or figure out you're stuck and let us know. What else have we got?" Anna asked.

  "We know it isn't anyone important on the council, because they'd already have library access. Our prey is someone on the outside," Sylax said.

  "A banned power?" Anna asked.

  I said, "The last time I spoke with Hot Stuff she had a job offer for a highly illegal delivery outside our galaxy. Perhaps she’s involved? We could be looking at an outside government."

  "Why go so far for knowledge they probably could have stolen closer to home?" Sylax asked.

  "And how would they know to steal it at all if they're strangers to our galaxy?" Anna asked.

  "Pure speculation isn't helpful," Caya said.

  Sylax told her, "Of course it is. I've hunted a lot of people who hunted me and you always have to figure out how and why they came at you. If you know that, you can usually figure out where they went to ground."

  Caya was arguing for a purely evidence-driven approach, while Sylax was focused on deciphering the motivations of those involved.

  "Sylax, you're our connection to the scum and villainy of galactic civilization. Nobody knows anything?" Anna asked.

  "Everybody thinks they know something. In fact, we're still a popular theory, but we know it wasn't us. If anyone really knows something, I don't know how to find it in all the noise, although I'll keep listening," Sylax said.

  I said. "We have to rule out anyone outside our galaxy. I know I suggested the idea, but if that’s the case can we agree they are effectively out of our reach, so any further action is pointless?"

  Anna nodded. "We're not at a stage to solve that mystery, so let’s focus on the solutions we can address. If an active member of galactic society is responsible, then the council would have already identified them. So, a reprimanded power?"

  "What about complete strangers? A civilization that arose in one of the regions allowed to go fallow?" Sylax asked.

  Caya suggested, "An ascended civilization that descended, or a race that evolved after them on one of their worlds with access to that kind of technology?"

  Anna rubbed her eyes. "We need something tangible. Do we have anything?"

  "What about the Scythe?" Ophelia asked.

  "We kicked their asses, and they didn't use crystal technology or dimensional drives," Anna said.

  "But their whole thing is about learning from other races right? Sort of assuming their nature and using them against the galaxy?" Ophelia said.

  It was an interesting idea. Ridiculous, of course, since Ophelia suggested it. But when we'd fought the Scythe they had seemed somehow familiar with power crystals.

  "We've been putting off following the lead the Scythe gave us when we shut them down. I could follow up," Sylax said, just a bit too excited at the thought.

  Playing diplomat was probably hard when you were a killer born and bred. Sylax had also bonded with her claw, which so far as we could tell was an original Mercurian. The Scythe wiped out their whole civilization, the claw likely held a grudge.

  "It might be worth following up," Caya said. "I don't have a lot of faith in that as a lead, but the Scythe are at least hostile to the galactic civilization. Even if they are not directly responsible they might have an idea who is."

  "
Sylax, put a team together and find out what they know. Now, we need more ideas," Anna said, looking challengingly around the table.

  Simply wanting something didn't make it so. It was a lesson that Anna never seemed to learn.

  Ophelia said, "What if they're like us? We got shifting technology and crystal science from what happened to Earth. Flower once told us we weren't the only planet to go missing after facing a Scythe invasion,".

  Yet again with the Scythe. However, this time I could find few faults with the idea at all.

  "I can get us a list of those from the galactic archives," Sylax said.

  I said, "If you can get us a list, I can send ships to investigate. Galactic civilization seemed unaware Earth had returned until Warmonger contacted them. It is possible for an advanced civilization to return and the council to be completely unaware."

  "Do it. More," Anna said, leaning forward.

  I'd say this behavior on Anna's part wasn't helpful, except clearly it was. Sometimes humans worked best when you gave them unreasonable demands. It was something to keep in mind with my own drones. As a species they set such limited goals for themselves. I sometimes did the same. I hated myself, but Anna’s insistence was working on me too.

  I said, "The Yomo were the last council member to possess both crystalline and dimensional shifting technology. Galactic records state they ascended nearly four million years ago. The next example is much further back.”

  "You have a location of their homeworld?" Anna asked.

  "It’s not in our sector and it will take us several jumps. Like all ascended civilizations their world was supposed to have been scrubbed clean and reseeded after their departure."

  "But perhaps something was missed. We'll send an expedition. That gives us three leads to follow up, plus Caya and Amy's investigation of the signature remains to see if we can directly track them," Anna said.

  It was a start. There were nods around the table.

  "Do you think Hot Stuff will assist if we ask her?" Anna asked.

  "I think she's happy putting everything we've done behind her. I don't think we should ask unless it becomes an emergency," Sylax said.

  Anna, Hot Stuff, and Caya were the most powerful of the crystal holders and I believed they still had untapped depths to their abilities. After all, the three crystals combined ripped Earth away from its home universe and threw it into another.

  Anna frowned at that. Sylax and I had to work together to convince her to let Hot Stuff go, and it never sat well with her. Anna, like most humans, wanted to be liked and wanted to be in charge. She said, "Fine, but keep her in the loop and let her know that we might be calling."

  It seemed like a good way to get Hot Stuff to shut down her communications array. Except it was more complicated than that. Earth was her home and she did have friends here. I thought that if we did need her she'd come running in the same way that if the Flare ever found itself in danger I'd be sending Juggernauts to assist. The obligations we had to each other didn't end just because of distance.

  11

  The Scythe were ultimately a psionic threat, parasites that infected other races and seized control. One could think of them as a galactic virus, taking over races and worlds, and using them to kill the galactic system of which they were part.

  It was unfortunate, giving my own psionic nature. It was how I connected to my drones and my ships. Fortunately, I was prepared for this and did have ships built with non-psionic links. They'd function and I could even run them with a local version of myself that would later be integrated back into the whole, and could still communicate by non-psionic means.

  The Juggernauts were a bit underpowered compared to most ships in my fleet. The defensive value of neutralizing the Scythe's ability to control was more than worth it. With Sylax in command of the operation I jumped three Juggernauts into the Vekora system, where the Scythe had invited us to in their last communication.

  The system was in a quarantine zone, a sector of space the Galactic Council officially discouraged travel.

  Vekora had six planets, two gas giants and four others. All showed signs of construction, so there had once been an advanced civilization here. The gas giants each had several large stations in orbit, and all the other worlds had colonies on their surface.

  One was far more developed.

  There were life signs, although not nearly as many as there should have been.

  We'd only been in the system for a few minutes when I received a hail on the same comm frequencies the Scythe had used in Sol.

  I let Sylax know. This was a potentially hostile situation and she was in charge of it.

  She said, "Put them though. I do hope they aren't going to let this go without us killing anything."

  I opened the channel and a video feed came through. I didn't recognize the species, a broad elongated skull a bit like a hammerhead shark and filled with curved and pointed teeth. The communication was in our language though, we were expected.

  "You came. And here I thought you might be boring. It is so rare to find a species willing to rush stupidly into known danger. I'm Hex," said the figure.

  "The last Scythe we met overestimated his chances too," Sylax said with a feral grin.

  "That was a surprise. We love surprises. Of course, he'd already been wounded by a species far more intelligent than yours and you had help, so it wasn't really a fair fight. Not that we engage in those," Hex said.

  We had that in common. I cheated any chance I got. The comm signal was coming from one of the space stations orbiting a moon of the second planet out from the sun, but that might not be its true origin. Scans showed it was once a communication hub and the Scythe might still be using it for that purpose.

  "While I enjoy throwing threats and flirting as much as the next girl, we're here looking for information, not to play with you," Sylax said.

  "You just came to talk?" Hex asked, disappointed. "Well, I'm not going to allow that, but I will hear you out first. I'm sure we can make an entertaining wager."

  Sylax nodded and I sent a limited sample of recordings of the crystal vessels attack.

  I couldn't read the alien’s expression, or even tell if the Scythe's host was seeing the images directly or if it was watching them from another body. I didn't know how the Scythe operated.

  "Technology similar to your own. We live in the darkness, we see things other do not. We can offer insight. A wager! A beast dwells in a tower on the third world. Slay it and we answer your questions. Fail, and we inhabit your forms and you’ll watch us destroy everything precious to you from within a prison of your own skins," Hex said.

  Sylax yawned. "You threw me naked up against a dragon last time. I kicked its ass because murder is what I do, and I'll kill you, if you give me a reason. Just answer my damned questions."

  "Our little game isn't optional. With this wager you are limited to deploying your ships currently in the system. Any new arrivals will be instantly destroyed," Hex said.

  I said, "Then up the stakes. You tell us what you know and you free this system from your grip. Not in some sneaky, murderous way—which I assume is your default, as you are just some cardboard cut-out of overly dramatic villainy."

  Sylax rolled her eyes. Playing rescuer wasn't of much interest to her.

  "These things?" Hex asked. "They're mostly just hollowed-out shells at this point. We pop out, they probably just drop dead. I mean, evil or not, that is just dull. They were stockpiling fusion bombs and we'll see they go out with a bang."

  Given how the Scythe operated, that would probably be against someone else.

  "I'm psionic and can take over your network. You get to miss your little apocalypse. Stakes should hurt, shouldn't they?" I asked.

  "If you want the game to matter. You want to try to save this meat instead, then we don't answer your questions," Hex said.

  Sylax muted the comms.

  "What is your fucking problem, Emma? We didn't come all this way to save a bunch of shark-faced lose
rs," Sylax said.

  "Do you believe they really know anything? If it was them, they would have already bragged about it. Instead, if we win, they'll cheerfully say they don't actually know anything, do something monstrous, and laugh in our faces as they urge us on our way. You're hopelessly evil, you really should know the routine."

  Sylax chuckled at that. "Please, I'd break the deal and kill us anyways. I'm the murderous and bloodthirsty kind of evil, not the stupid games sort. Fine, we make them hurt and give up something they value. I'm up for causing pain."

  At least in matters of sadism she a reliable vote.

  I unmuted the channel.

  "We play for the locals then," I said.

  "Oh good. This is going to be fun," Hex said, and killed the channel.

  I picked up new energy signatures from the third planet. A fleet of ships were activating in orbit. Each was far smaller than a Juggernaut, but still powerful.

  Sylax narrowed her eyes at the sensor readings. "And we get to use just our three ships, huh?"

  "That was the deal," I said. I could test other strategies, but when the Scythe made any threat I tended to believe they could back it up.

  "Trust me?" Sylax asked.

  "You know the answer to that. Never. You have a plan?"

  It might seem strange that I would be willing to defer to Sylax, I was after all amazingly intelligent and creative and she was, well, not.

  Still, when push came to shove Sylax always found a way to come out on top. I'd made my best efforts to kill her more than once and while I'd won, she just kept on surviving. Sylax was a killer to the core and she was good at it.

  Sylax rapidly tapped at the keys. I could see her plan now and I didn't like it. Still, I put into place what we needed to execute it.

  12

  Psi-blockers might stop me from communicating with my drones, but they didn't dampen crystal powers. If I'd upgraded a drone they retained those upgrades.

  Sylax's plan had all three Juggernauts moving at speed towards the planet, the first two playing shield for the third which she was aboard. It was a predictable strategy and one that the Scythe were expecting. Blindly charging at a target wasn't the most brilliant of strategies.