by Skyler Grant
"I've never turned down an upgrade before. Let’s do it," Erika said.
If we both survived this somehow and reconnected to the Network, it would experimental gardening for her.
"We're in," I said.
"Then let us begin," Bright said, stepping towards Hot Stuff and resting a hand on her shoulder.
29
Light flared around Hot Stuff and when it faded the blue flames surrounding her were gone. To a human it would have seemed to have happened in an instant, but I wasn't human. I saw the flicker as Hot Stuff vanished, I saw another instant of movement and she was back meditating in the center of the room. Another, and she was in a different outfit. The images were coming too quick for the human mind to process, but my drone's eyes caught them and even my limited sensory network in this host was able to process them.
"That was fast," Anna said.
"So wasn't. My control is still not perfect, but at least if I slip now I'm only going to kill a few people and not wipe out a planet," Hot Stuff said.
I had my drone back up a step. Well, there was another me out there, somewhere. Still there was no point in being incautious.
Caya stepped closer to Hot Stuff , looking her up and down. "Interesting."
"You're next," Bright said, moving towards Anna and reaching out again, This time took longer—it still seemed from a human perspective to happen within seconds, but in comparison to the time Hot Stuff required it was over three times as long.
Anna's attire had changed too when Bright's light faded, her combat suit replaced with a set of lightweight armor that wasn't of my construction. The belt held multiple tools and an organic processor compatible to host my processes. I did appreciate that, at least. Again, it wasn't my design, and must be Bright's.
"And just like that everyone unfreezes," Anna said with a grin.
"Only a few seconds from our perspective. How are you?" Caya asked.
"Better. I wouldn't say I came to terms with my power, but we have a compromise. The pain is less," Anna said.
"Your turn," Bright said to Caya.
Bright reached out and together with Bright they blazed into two pillars of light, one white and one green. Even with my enhanced perception I couldn't track their movements. It was no instant thing this time around. Forty-seven seconds ticked away before Bright and Caya appeared in the middle of the room as the flashes of light turned solid.
"And I thought I was a slow learner," Anna said.
"Turns out unascension isn't actually a thing, although we gave it a try," Caya said.
Bright said, "It is, simply not for you. Your pattern seeks out greater complexity and it will not be denied. Be careful and remember what I told you, do not cross the line."
"Does this mean it is my turn?" I asked.
Bright nodded and pressed a finger on my drone’s arm. Light flared.
The others were still present although they seemed like statues. This wasn't that abnormal for me. Given how fast my thoughts worked I was used to waiting for people in their clunky meat suits to catch up.
"We've met someone with a temporal core that can do it better, although not for as long. You are almost interesting," I said.
"It is unrelated to the crystal I bear. Unfortunately, I will be able to give you no time to adjust to the crystal once I transfer it over. It is part of how I have sustained myself so long and once I move it, I will begin to perish," Bright said.
"Then why do it? Just because your friends ditched you doesn't mean you can't make new ones. We have a sociopath who creates nightmare realms now, if you want a roommate situation," I said.
"Those I was waiting for are not coming. Before I grant you my gift there are things we must discuss. When danger comes will you fight or flee?" Bright asked.
"We've done both. We'll keep doing both and pick our fights. It is a surprisingly simple concept some very intelligent people don't seem to grasp," I said.
"I have hopes you can avoid this one. It is only for that hope that I don't give you more information of what you might face. There is strength in ignorance," Bright said.
"That is what the powerful say and the stupid believe."
"Perhaps," Bright said, pulsing light. "But it is my decision. If you trust what I have said at all, abandon your pursuit of these ships. It is my belief they have learned the terrible truth and they will burn for it. Do not join them upon their pyre."
We might not have a choice after we returned through the gateway, depending on how much of our fleet the main version of myself had managed to preserve.
"We'll consider it, but cowardice and hiding hasn't served you very well," I said.
"I suppose not," Bright said, as one her glowing arms plunged into her own chest. The light grew to a dazzling level and then faded as she tore out a crystal. It was large, spherical, and looked something like a giant, glowing white pearl.
The light within Bright shifted from white to a dull orange.
I reached out my drone's hand to the pearl. Contact. White lightning arced up my arm and encased my body, but it wasn't the display of physical energy that worried me.
I could feel it along the psionic tendrils that made up my mind, that invisible Network that helped to connect me to all my drones. I'd thought this environment would shield my main self from the risks of taking this crystal. I was wrong. I felt the layers of dimensionality peeling back as I reconnected with myself. Across space and on multiple worlds millions of drones were screaming, and ship systems were flickering, as the biological parts of the Network were overwhelmed.
This was why every human taking one of these crystals had passed out for the time. The bulk of the transformation was on the psionic level and biology was simply too slow and stupid to keep up. Even mine, as distributed as it was, couldn't manage it.
I slipped from consciousness.
30
Emma Prime
E.M.M.A
System Reboot
Upgrade has been applied
Greater Crystal: Pearl
You have gained the following new abilities
Power Resistance: Because of your upgraded abilities you are now resistant to the effects of any lesser crystal unless they are also upgraded by the effects of a greater crystal. This applies only to your core processors or a drone directly inhabited by you.
Burn: You can augment the abilities of any citizen of your empire for a short time. This is tiring to you and overwhelming to them, but for a short time will allow them to act as if they too were in possession of a greater crystal. In some cases this could prove fatal, leave lingering psionic damage, or cause long periods of unconsciousness depending on how long and intensely this effect is maintained.
The first thing I did was check my internal chronometer. Seventy-eight hours had passed.
Anna, Caya, and Hot Stuff were all still alive and had gotten back through the gateway. My drones might have screamed for awhile, but they didn't fall unconscious when I had. Admiral Dora had taken command of the fleet and protected the second planet until everyone returned through the gateway and could be extracted.
We'd lost a total of eighteen Juggernauts in the process. It was an expensive loss of resources. The Flare had been retrieved and was still undergoing repairs.
An incoming comm signal, Anna. She must have flagged an alert for when systems went back up.
"I see you've once again gotten absolutely nothing accomplished while I've been offline," I said. Anna was in her quarters aboard the Graven.
"Glad you're back with us. Any negative effects from the crystal?" Anna asked.
I was checking that myself. When taking one, Anna, Caya, and Hot Stuff all had different negative consequences, although so far I hadn't observed as much in Sylax.
"Not yet. Perhaps you just have an exceptionally low tolerance for pain," I said.
"I don't. Quite a lot happened while you were away. The council thinks they found the crystal ships. Our lead helped so they're paying us some, but are offering
more if we can help retrieving the Library." Anna leaned forward to tap at a screen.
I browsed the data files she unlocked.
The crystal ship-makers had a name now, the Jibali. They'd been one of seven intelligent species on their homeworld. Seventeen hours ago their fleet had jumped in and seized a matter fabrication station in the binary star system of Corvus.
Video feeds above the station identified them coming aboard after destroying the ships on guard duty. They were organic, with long bone plates in their skulls laced with crystalline latticework.
"Any idea what they're doing there?" I asked.
"No. Whatever it is, they aren't moving. Long distance surveillance has shown their fleet remains in place. The Library's transponder has been activated and it’s on the third planet in the system along with the fabricator," Anna said.
The fabricator itself was built of what had once been the first planet.
There was no reason for the Library to be on that planet. If the transponder had been silent up until now that was because they'd been keeping it off-dimension, hiding.
Seizing the fabricator could have been part of a larger plan, but the fact that they'd remained instead of doing a quick strike, and that the transponder was going off, meant that this entire thing was probably a trap.
They'd decided to provoke a fight and for some reason decided to do it there.
"What does the council need us for?" I asked.
"They say they're afraid the Library might be moved again. They really want it back. Only by retrieving it can they figure out exactly what the Jibali are after," Anna said.
Again, that simply wasn't true. We'd gone in search of the library logs ourselves, and we'd seen what they had been after. We still didn't know what they'd found, but the council surely did.
I doubted they wanted to determine motives so much as they wanted to make sure they could conceal information.
The Jibali were hoping to disseminate information. The transponder was their way of announcing legitimacy. A council fleet would be made of a lot of ships.
"They're lying. There is dangerous information there and we're disposable, if we come into contact with it.
My theory was easy enough to test. I briefly sent in a science vessel near the star, jumping it out as soon as the D-drive allowed. It was time enough for me to test standard comm frequencies. They were being flooded with noise.
A war of information then, along with the more traditional version. The Jibali must think they had a way to get the word out. Perhaps they already had, and the council had moved to block things.
I shared my theory with Anna, who looked troubled.
"I wasn't going to offer to assist. With you offline we had a reason and we've already got our cash. Plus, Bright said we shouldn't," Anna said.
"Are we going around trusting people? You've always been gluttonous, not naive," I said.
"Whatever she was, she helped all of us and died for it," Anna said.
That I didn't believe at all. Of course Bright had said so, but she was an ascended being of enormous power. It didn't make sense that removing the crystal would have killed her. No, Bright wasn't a fighter, she was a hider. I figured that she was playing dead and had set things up so that if we mentioned her, it would be in the past tense. No one would go looking for her.
I didn't feel the need to change that. If she wanted her privacy she'd more than paid for it. I could keep up a lie.
"If you want my advice I think we should assist. There is something dangerous out there. We need to be smart—well, not you, let's not be silly—but we as in everyone else need to know what it is," I said.
Anna considered for a moment and nodded. "Only if we do it carefully. The sharks surrounding us haven't been this big for awhile."
31
We rendezvoused with the council fleet several systems away from Corvus. I'd kept our forces light but versatile, every Angel and Orb I could muster along with several Juggernauts and Arks.
The bulk of the fleet were council species ships, well above the technological average of the galaxy and considerably more impressive than most of what had originally faced the crystal fleet at the sector government.
The plan was simple enough. They were going to jump in and engage the fleet while also destroying the matter fabricator. Once they had cleared space and the third planet of any space-borne defenses they would signal us to join them in the assault on the planet’s surface. We'd secure the Library, utilizing our dimensional technology if necessary, and when we'd gotten it free of the planet and jumped clear they'd mop up any remaining resistance.
Anna, Caya, and Sylax were all aboard the Graven. Hot Stuff had returned to command a hastily recommissioned Flare. Her original crew was dead, but I'd replaced them with drones.
"Quite the party," Anna said.
"And prepared for even more violence than they're letting on," Caya said, tapping the screen of a console. We had a match on one of the ships from our stolen Balakai library data.
Starburn
Role: Stellar Destruction
Loadout: Fusion Accelerator
1390 GSU (Galactic Standardized Units) shield strength.
1 Singularity Drive
4 Stellar-Core Reactors
Crew: Unmanned
The Starburn has one purpose, the complete destruction of a solar system by destroying the supporting star. Sustained beam-fire from this vessel will result in a supernova. Requiring a unanimous vote of the Galactic Council to utilize they are the ultimate statement of Council Displeasure.
Anna studied the readout, frowning. "None of the plans mention anything about destroying the system."
"Not to us. They might be planning to kill us along with the Jibali," Sylax said.
I doubted it, they wouldn't need the Starburn to kill us. Either that thing was the contingency plan, or we were.
Our goal was to learn what secret the council was hiding and we wouldn't do that if they burned everything down.
I switched my focus over to one of the members of the Scholarium who'd taken a brainworm. Called Slick, he had the ability to make things oily. That was disgusting. He was on the right ship though as part of the engineering team working under Queen Forge.
When she'd first sworn her allegiance we'd killed Carnage, who had the ability to manifest weaknesses in any system. Forge had wound up claiming that crystal herself, and it paired well with her mastery over matter and her ability to upgrade equipment.
I didn't want this going through any comm system. The fleet out there might be able to monitor it, so I walked the oily meatsuit to the bridge. Highly absorbent boots on him, Forge wasn't an idiot.
"Emma here to see the Queen," I said to the guards.
They exchanged glances. "Prove it?" one hazarded.
I only got through three of his passwords before I was allowed through the door. Forge wore a combination atmospheric suit and armor that had a distinctly antique vibe.
"Emma. Not your usual wear," Forge said.
"Maybe if you had any proper drones aboard," I said.
"I let you have your spies, but only where they don't see anything of importance. Why are you here?"
"Cut your bridge monitors," I said.
Forge gestured and nodded. "We're clear."
"Angular ship, four bronze trapezoids near the prow. I need it to have a critical accident the next time it is used, and we need nobody to suspect it was us," I said.
Forge let her eyes play over the visual feeds of the fleet. She didn't move to zoom in on the vessel. Good.
"Outside of my range unless you want us to draw suspicion," Forge said.
"I can boost your power," I said.
"Oh? I didn't know about that little trick. Let's see what we can do then."
It was my first time trying my new Burn ability. It was strange connecting to someone non-Networked like Forge. I felt my ability extending from Slick and the link snap into place.
Forge took in a deep breath.
"Oh, I like it. Give me a few moments to get my bearings."
Forge was lying, she wasn't taking a few moments to get her bearings, she was upgrading her equipment.
"I can feel you. We have a limited window you medieval fantasy reject," I said.
Forge half-closed her eyes and frowned. Now she was focused on the right target at least, but it seemed to be giving her some pushback.
Forge cried out and her spine arched. "Done. Stop."
I cut the power and Forge slumped back in her chair.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I don't know. I don't want to know. That thing is strange inside, twisted, larger than it should be with knots and twists where they don't belong. I did the equivalent of weakening a strap holding a saddle in place. It looks fine, but when they put weight on it, it’ll snap. At eighty percent power that thing melts down," Forge said.
People without a basic understanding of SCIENCE were so tremendously disappointing.
At least Forge wasn't slippery. I let myself untangle from Slick.
The fleet was jumping out in the final transition to the target, heavy combat vessels, then the light assault craft, then the Starburn along with several support ships.
It left us alone with a few command vessels, watching from a distance.
We were the contingency plan, left in place just in case that ship failed to do its job. There was a complete communications block on the Corvus system. The fleet should lift it when they secured the system.
Instead our next communication came from one of the command ships.
Scythe presence. Fleet compromised. Withdraw and return to your home system to await further instructions.
They didn't want to say more than that, their singularity drives already flaring up as they jumped away. If the rest of the fleet had already fallen to the Scythe this position was compromised, and no wonder they wanted to get away. Perhaps we were lucky they bothered to warn us at all.
