by Skyler Grant
In the original plan we were going to use the weakened dimensional structure to create instability in the planet’s core. It would have turned the entire planet into a bomb and exterminated it—and probably the star—but stopped the propagation of the new ruleset.
Instead we were going to transform the planet into a D-reactor and use it to power a massive portal, shifting the entire world. No, not just the world. The whole system.
"You'll need to make sure you're well clear," I said.
"We know. Worry about integrating yourself with the planet," Amy said.
I was working on it—I hadn't prepared for that previously. My nanocrystal processors would survive the impact and their matrix would spread, but it would take centuries, perhaps millennia, for me to establish a big enough imprint to regain sentience. And what sentience would it be alone in my own universe?
A poor one, a maddening one. I encoded my memories in encrypted form into sets of sealed nanocrystals and began preparing crystalline seeds. A thousand? No, I'd lose a lot. Ten thousand.
If this worked they wouldn't remember being me, wouldn't remember this universe. They'd grow, have each other, form a culture and a civilization of their own. This star system would be their own universe and when they were evolved enough, smart enough, they'd be able to unlock the memories I was leaving them.
They'd know who I was, why I created them.
It wasn't what Emma Prime or Amy thought I would do. I'd still be dying now, but maybe, one day, my offspring would return me to life. Perhaps they'd be better people than I or my sisters.
Anna triggered the Agate, red lightning crackling out from the Graven, and I detonated the containment devices in the city. Purple lightning erupted outward. Lightning storms circled the planet and where they met reality began to rip it asunder.
"See you, sis. We'd have been amazing together," Amy said.
The city hit the surface and I died.
17
"Status?" Anna asked.
It was difficult to even communicate with the Graven's systems, pet rock me had really made a mess of them. I was working on regrowing organic linkages.
Flower stumbled out from the cabins. "Who disemboweled me and why?"
"Pocket dimension, you didn't work and we needed your energy converter. I hope we didn't nick anything important," Anna said.
"The Vekora system is gone. It seems to have taken the distorted ruleset with it, but a quarantine beacon is still going to be a good idea," I said.
"Launch one," Anna said.
"You wiped out a solar system," Flower said, her voice reaching a hysterical pitch.
"Transitioned it to another universe," I said.
"Can we make contact again like we did in the first place?" Anna asked.
"The original safeguards were built with a key in mind. We didn't have the time to design anything similar. Without some technological advancement the system is gone for good," I said.
"I am going to say this slowly. I am going to say this carefully. Agents of the council do not wipe out entire systems," Flower said.
"It was that or allow most organic life in the sector to be destroyed, electronic too. What would you have had us do?" Anna asked.
Flower rubbed at her eyes. "I don't know. I need a long repair cycle and an energy converter that isn't clogged up with crystal. Put together all the data you have for me and avoid talking to the council until I get a chance to explain."
Anna stared at Flower's back as, grumbling, she made her way off the bridge.
"You think they'll give us a bonus this time?" Anna asked.
"I think, if we're lucky, they buy the excuse that it is the clean-up crew’s fault and not ours, and we simply stumbled across the equivalent of a long-buried bomb—and don't fine us the going rate for a solar system," I said.
Anna rolled her head. "We're still not any closer to figuring out who is responsible for the Library attack. Did we get anything out of that entire expedition besides me losing five pounds?"
"Stone for brains turned over their findings on the technology on the other side of the portal. Crystalline technology of the sort is something we hadn't explored before," I said.
"It didn't work very well, at least not until she improved it," Anna said.
"It still gives us some insights we didn't have before. For example, based on those findings, I believe the crystal ships were probably grown in the light of a blue-white star."
Anna leaned forward, "Those are rare."
They were, under one percent.
"Only one of the missing planets orbited a star like that. Because of distance we haven't investigated it yet. Feel like a trip to the other side of the galaxy?" I asked.
Anna grimaced. "Not yet. You need to get the Graven back in order, and if this lead might actually pan out I want more firepower. Get us back to Earth, and let Sylax and Caya know that I'll want them along."
18
Flower's report was a masterful bit of passing the blame. It didn't spare us from getting lectured by the council. Anna got subjected to sixteen straight hours of questioning and brain probes before they let her go. Ultimately they agreed that us stumbling into the portal was their own fault, and while Anna perhaps shouldn't have escaped from it knowing the possible consequences, leaving such a threat unaddressed was also a danger.
They didn't like our solution—no, they hated our solution, but they also were glad to have the problem gone. Ultimately we got a twenty thousand credit bonus for solving a sector-wide threat and a twenty thousand credit penalty for endangerment of galactic culture.
Given we had advanced our technology a bit I was counting it as a win.
If we were going to encounter the crystalline ships again it was important to go in with the right strategy.
Anna might want to take all the firepower we had, but I couldn't see how that would be helpful. We simply didn't have enough firepower to make any sort of difference.
Having Caya and Anna along was smart. They were both powerful enough as individuals that I thought they'd measure up well even by galactic standards. Sylax was a close, and given her killer instincts had an advantage they didn't.
I wasn't sure what we had to gain from Juggernauts, however. Sure, I had the crews backed up, but it would still take resources to build new ships and reconstruct the crew’s bodies.
The approach I settled on instead was three scout craft jumping in at the far edges of the system. Between them I'd be able to get solid sensor readings of the whole system and wouldn't provide a single point for any threats to attack.
Anna, Caya, and Sylax would just be a jump away if, for some reason, the power they presented was required.
Anna only reluctantly agreed with the plan, and insisted I keep Juggernauts on standby. I didn't see any harm there. Again, I could keep them close enough that if it became necessary I could move them into the system in force.
I had my psionic connection to the scouts and established a non-psionic connection too, just in case, and then sent them in.
The star of the Gilla system burned so hot the closest planets were uninhabitable. The missing civilization here had existed on the eighth planet from the sun, an ocean world.
As it had been the only water-bearing planet in the system it wouldn't be difficult to tell if it had returned.
The scouts materialized in the system and started sending back sensor readings. The first observation was that the system was a mess. Debris was everywhere. Dead, gutted starships were here by the thousands.
Nine planets, none ocean-bearing—but wait, there should have been only eight remaining in the system. The world had returned from its exile and been scorched.
There were no life signs on any of the wrecks or on any of the planets. Whatever had happened here left no survivors behind.
I sent the sensor readings to the Graven where Anna, Sylax, Caya, and Flower waited on the bridge.
"Scythe?" Sylax asked.
"We do know they had targete
d this system," Caya said.
We did, but supposedly the planet disappeared before they could possess any of the inhabitants.
"We aren't going to find anything hanging around out here. Send in some science vessels and let’s join them," Anna said.
It appeared safe. I jumped in my SCIENCE vessels. The damage to the starships throughout the systems had been done with energy weapons matching the signatures and damage patterns of the ships that attacked Montaya.
"These are our culprits," Caya said. She read the sensor logs nearly as quickly as I did. "Where did they go and who attacked them?"
That was the question. There were a lot of shipwrecks here. Someone had thrown an armada at this system and paid dearly for it. Yet there weren't any signs or wreckage of crystalline ships—and there should have been in a fight this size.
Flower said, "Ships belonged to the Jenakar. Exterminated four-hundred thousand cycles ago when their computers declared their freedom. Those computers are now the Lyn and a part of the Spinaka collective, and in good standing with the council."
"An ancient battle then, or was somebody else using an old, mothballed fleet of Jenakar ships?" Anna asked.
"This world went missing only eight-three thousand cycles ago. If our crystal ships are the returnees this happened after their return," I said.
"The Jenakar were warlike and had a lot of military vessels. They were involved in a series of conflicts taking place between sectors twelve and three at that time. Our present state of galactic peace is relatively rare," Flower said.
Someone had bought an old fleet then and used them to move against this world. Why?
Perhaps why didn't matter. Any exchange like that would have meant the movement of a lot of credits. That might be traceable.
"Can you find us any information on sales of Jenakar vessels?" I asked.
"There isn't a central repository for those records. I'll see what I can do," Flower said.
"What about ship’s logs?" Anna asked.
It was a good thought. With this many wrecks some of them must have had battle recorders running—unless this entire operation had been off the books in some way.
"I'll send salvage teams and see what we can find," I said.
Caya suggested, "We should check out the planet itself. If there is crystal technology remaining it is worth investigating"
The eighth planet was a bombed-out ruin, non-nuclear. According to sensor readings it had been an accelerated, mass bombardment from orbit. The bombing had been especially heavy in the southern hemisphere.
Still no life signs, but there were dim energy signatures in some caverns deep underground. We had something to investigate.
19
I brought the team down in a shuttle. We could have teleported, but if there was crystalline technology our abilities might be unreliable.
Whatever entrance there might have been to the underground caverns, it was long since collapsed. Here I did let Anna and Sylax make use of their powers. Between them their telekinetic gifts were more than enough to shift aside vast quantities of rock.
When we finally reached the tunnels of the complex it was instantly noticeable that the rounded corridors, apparently formed of solid crystal, glowed a dull pink. These were definitely our suspects.
Anna reached out to touch one and a small red spark leapt across to her finger.
"Pretty mood lighting. Wish it were white instead," Anna said.
The words had no more left her lips than the color of the surrounding crystal shifted filling the corridor with milky illumination.
"Guess it understands me," Anna said.
"Which means we need to be careful," Sylax said.
I agreed. Still, nothing seemed to be jumping out to murder us just yet.
Anna led the way deeper into the tunnels. "Do we have a destination in mind?"
"The energy signature readings are diffuse. I may just be picking up the cavern walls themselves," I said.
Caya half-closed her eyes and reached out a hand to rest along the wall. Green sparks arced between her and the surface, and the light in the tunnel shifted to a pale green. "It is more than that, follow my light."
I didn't like this newer and more mystical Caya. Still, she made a good navigational aide. While there were occasionally tunnels branching away, only one would have a greenish glow and we followed it for perhaps half an hour deeper into the earth.
We eventually arrived at a large cavern. It was dominated by a massive statue.
Anna stared up, frowning. "I recognize her."
I did too. The figure looked human for the most part, except for some of her flesh showing scales. A cheap dress, a cigarette in one hand—and a shard of pink crystal in the other.
A real one.
I'd beat her in a game once. It happened in an alternate dimension and she'd shown enough power to return us to ours.
I said, "It isn't just your delusional mind talking. I do too."
"What the actual fuck, Emma?" Anna said.
Caya, Flower, and Sylax were all looking perplexed. Anna explained our history with Iska.
"I'm getting real tired of every galactic presence out there thinking we're either their errand runner or their entertainment," Sylax said.
Caya had been checking her sensor band. "The crystal is real—and it may be a great one, on a par with the Agate, Beryl, and Chalcedony. I'm not sure though. The power is there, but the readings are a lot different."
Different? And this was the fine scientific mind I sometimes admired?
Of course, a review of her sensor readings made me agree. They were inconsistent in ways that simply didn't make sense. To a degree that was expected, crystals bent the rules around them. It was part of how they gave people their extraordinary gifts, but we'd had enough experience with them to recognize patterns. To sort them into types, and this one didn't fit anything known.
"Does one of us try to bond with it?" Anna asked.
"Not you. You'll explode if you do, and I'll explode with you," Sylax said.
I said, "The statue is no coincidence. An extra-dimensional life-form does not slink around in a cocktail dress and smoke cigarettes. This was left for us, which means accepting that crystal would be playing Iska's game. Do we really want to do that again?"
"Worked out for us last time," Anna said.
I had to admit she was correct, and while I was curious I agreed with Sylax. I was quite tired of being used.
"I wouldn't mind upgrading my power," Sylax said.
Caya said, "If that is what would happen. Keep in mind your connection to Anna. Absorbing a new crystal should sever that, but we're not sure if that process applies with a master crystal. I fear it may not."
"What about Emma?" Anna asked.
I didn't want the thing. Yes, I was curious about the effects. However, I was always the experimenter, not the experiment.
"If Sylax explodes, she dies. If I explode I might take the majority of the population of multiple systems with me," I said.
"What about me?" Flower asked.
Flower wasn't even a member of the empire, but that just meant we weren't particularly responsible for her continued survival.
"We've only seen one member of your species bond with a much weaker power crystal and he went hopelessly insane," Caya said.
Flower frowned. "Warmonger wasn't too sane to start with. I'm not him."
"You're a broken machine that has deluded herself into thinking she is a human being. You're madder than that broken thing ever was," I said.
Flower folded her arms and glowered.
"So we ignore it then," Anna said.
"There is a hostile power out there that has stolen a library. We have exactly one lead. I can't let us ignore it," Flower said.
"We've identified the culprits and we've found a clue that might help in locating them. We can just make this the council's problem," Caya said.
"This wasn't left for them. It wasn't left for Flower's people. This was
left here with the expectation that Anna and Emma would find it. Whatever game someone is playing with us, we don't win it by letting somebody else try to play our hand," Sylax said.
"Emma is out. I can't allow the whole empire to be put at risk," Anna said.
I said, "You're out too. That crystal will manage what all the cookies haven't and finally force you to pop."
"Flower is out,” Sylax said. “I'm our diplomat to the council and we've pissed them off enough lately. I know she might be crazy, but she's on our side."
"You just want it to be you. Well, there is another option. What about Caya?" Flower said.
That was an interesting thought. Caya was far more stable with her crystal than Anna, and in addition after going through the ascension engine her capability of absorbing power might have expanded even more.
"What do you think?" Anna asked.
"I think she already has one of those things inside her, and she's way more likely to die than I am," Sylax said.
Caya said, "I agree, I am more likely to survive than Anna—I think. However, with the unusual readings I just don't have the figures needed to do the exact math."
Sylax stared around at us. "Listen, I get it. Past enemy, sadist, you don't like me, but again I am human. I'm the least likely to explode of anyone here. I'm a total badass that is on your side and you’ll only benefit with me more powerful."
Anna looked between Sylax and Caya. I didn't envy the decision.
Sylax had almost bonded with the Chalcedony instead of Hot Stuff, but neither had wanted it—wanted that power and the risks that came with it. I didn't know what had changed her mind, but I'd never trusted her. That said, if someone had to die it wasn't even a real choice. I'd rather lose her than Caya. Caya was one of the greatest minds in the empire.
"If you're sure you want it. You're up," Anna said to Sylax.
Sylax tensed her legs and sprang up to stand on the statue’s outstretched arm. She rested her hand on the crystal.
I'd observed several people absorb one of these. I had some idea what to expect by now. Pink lightning flared, sparks leaping between the crystal and Sylax's fingertips, and then she was bathed in electrical energy and flung against the far wall of the cavern.
