by Vic Davis
“General, might I make a suggestion, sir?” chimed in Tencius who had proven to be a very able and skilled adjutant.”
“Yes, what is it Adjutant Tencius?”
“I’ve whipped the penal battalion into shape, nothing spectacular but they don’t drop their weapons now at least. I think it is time to put them to use. They should have the honor of leading the charge at the main gate.”
“A splendid proposition!” announced Vinks.
Pilgrim knew it should be horrified by the idea but couldn’t muster the moral outrage. These adjudicators had been pawns, wittingly or not, and useful tools as well for the Council infiltration teams that had infested Privil’s Landing. At least they would prove useful to a noble cause now, admittedly for a short time, until the charge lance fire hit them. It gave Pilgrim no pleasure to envision their fates, but a sorry ending was unavoidable.
“What about that Omega?” asked Breaker. “We could use it to get up over that gate quickly and do some serious damage.
“The idea is not without some merit,” replied Stinky. “But you will have to send your friend Humble along with it, that Mong as well I should think. I don’t believe those three will be willingly parted anytime soon.”
“You have a point. This is all or nothing though, we need to get past this slip point. And it’s only going to get worse the closer we get,” warned Breaker.
Pilgrim felt the deep-seated moral qualms stirring yet again as much as it tried to repress them. Was there a way to spare the penal battalion? “Perhaps we should try the same thing we did at the last slip point. It did work rather well after all.”
Stinky hovered there aghast. “You can’t be serious? That wall is going to have three, four, who knows how many times more troops on top of it and behind it. This one won’t crack as easily as the last one. And once we are behind them again, we won’t be able to do much besides fight to the death surrounded.”
“We could use the artifact weapons then,” argued Pilgrim. “No use saving them for later if we can’t get past this choke point.”
“I suppose so,” muttered Stinky grudgingly. “I hate to do that. I had hoped we could save them for a desperate situation, but you might be right. We need some way to make a quick breach in the gate.”
“I agree,” added Breaker thoughtfully. “The formula for success against a defended slip point is always the same: breach, then exploit aggressively. That gate or a section of the wall has to go quickly; we need to punch a hole. Usually, we would lay siege and get some source-charge canisters up close.”
The mention of the source-charges struck a chord somewhere inside Pilgrim’s core; the note rose up into its transom in the form of an epiphany. “I’ve got an idea on how we punch a hole in that wall; it might even do more than that. But I’ll need some things.”
Vinks was intrigued by Pilgrim’s enthusiasm. “What do you need?”
“Source-charge canisters, lots of source-charge canisters,” replied Pilgrim mischievously.
Few among Vink’s staff thought the plan would work. In fact, most thought the idea was borderline crazy: likely a catastrophe in the making. Stinky seemed fascinated by the idea. Breaker was also among the few to embrace it but had still warned that sending source-charges through a translational gate was risky. Valor had done so in Timathur only because they could figure no other way to enter the citadel to deliver them; the target had been deemed worth the risk at the time. As long as one didn’t pull the fuses and mix the ingredients before one transited, the risk was present but minimized. Pilgrim countered that it was depending on exactly that fact.
What Pilgrim proposed was a stretch for its comrades to comprehend. Sending through a wagon packed full of source-charge canisters ahead of one of its Fibonacci lashes seemed more likely to gift the enemy a load full of precious explosives than actually cause them harm. Breaker had seen the void beneath the citadel of Timathur; even so, the idea that it could be reproduced and harnessed offensively was met with mild skepticism. Lacking any better alternatives, Vinks gave the go ahead; the plan was quickly brought together.
“I’ll give the order for the advance as soon as the shock wave passes,” signaled Vinks. “I’m assuming there will be a shock wave in the ether, or will there be something else?”
“There is a wave, general, but it’s more like a voiding of the ether than an explosion. It dissolves everything: ether and flow— and source,” replied Pilgrim. A strange thought struck it: what did Etheria feel, if anything, when the void reaction occurred? If it caused her pain or annoyance, she did not mention it, but Pilgrim had not specifically asked either. She had described an intense frustration with influencing what went on within her polytope corpus. The entire stay in Etheria’s higher nodes of existence seemed almost like a dream now: a long-forgotten memory.
The preparations were quickly completed. The army formed up in a column on the road ready for a mad charge into the void that would breach the main gate. The wagon was placed just off the side of the road, well out of enemy charge lance range. Pilgrim gave it a quick inspection then called Lacks and Steadfast over to help with the gate. They hovered together just in front of the loaded wagon waiting for the command from Vinks.
Runners from the back of the column finally arrived to bring messages from the combat units designated to act as rear guard. Vinks heard them out then turned to Pilgrim. “We are ready. You may proceed whenever you wish Pilgrim.”
Pilgrim gave Vinks a snappy salute with a tendril and turned its attention to its two assistants. “Here we go. Just help me move the energy into the gate. I’ll do the placement. We need it to be wide though.”
Steadfast was excited to the point of nearly bouncing off the surface of the flow. “You can count on us Pilgrim. This will be fun.”
Lacks was somewhat more reserved but still eager to help. “Let’s give our full focus to Pilgrim here. This gate will need some oomph if it’s going to allow that wagon to pass through.”
“Yes, of course,” signaled Steadfast with barely moderated enthusiasm. “I’m ready.”
“Good,” announced Pilgrim. “Let us begin.”
They hovered silently in a triangle and began to pass the energy back and forth. It seemed as if the entire column was watching; at first Pilgrim was a little self-conscious but soon fell into the work with an effusive zeal. Steadfast and Lacks were accomplished Channelers; Pilgrim admired their graceful, superbly intuitive moves as they passed the information back and forth, then around to Pilgrim.
Just as they had agreed, Pilgrim sought out the coordinates by performing the required recursive computations, mapping out the ether that formed the slip point. It was like looking through a keyhole into a dimly lit room covered in fractal wallpaper. The gate sprang into existence: a shimmering membrane of translucence announced by a flash of infotons. A murmur of awe rippled down the length of the column now poised and ready, anxiously awaiting the command for the assault.
“Now,” ordered Pilgrim with a quick wave of a free guide tendril. Zuur pushed the wagon forward quickly and into the gate. Pilgrim detached from the connective web that sustained the gate leaving Steadfast and Lacks to carry the load, which they did with ease. The Fibonacci lash was already several numbers down the sequence in Pilgrim’s transom and uncurling to detach from Pilgrim’s form as the wagon disappeared into the gate; the lash followed it quickly then the gate collapsed.
Every transom in the column turned to the slip point. Nothing happened.
Zuur began a low rumble of a chuckle, but Stinky cut it off with a quick jab of a tendril. Pilgrim fixated its attention on the enemy fortifications hoping to sense something, but each moment that passed brought only more certainty that something had gone wrong. “Oh well,” signaled Pilgrim, “back to the drawing board I guess.”
Vinks tried to remain unperturbed, but Pilgrim could sense the dismay on its form walls. “That was a lot of source-charge,” observed one of Vink’s staff that Pilgrim did not recognize, probably
the quartermaster.
Adjutant Tencius gave the ovoid a stern look. “It was worth the gamble. Pilgrim’s schemes might appear unorthodox, but they get the job done. I saw it get swallowed by an Omega and then get itself blown up in the bargain. Pilgrim hovered away without a scratch.”
“Thank you Tencius,” signaled Pilgrim a little embarrassed by the description of the event. “But I think this one was a dud. We should—”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” announced Lacks alarmed. “Look!”
Pilgrim felt it before it saw it. A disturbance in the ether that spiked with an alarming sensation of pent-up energy. Where the translational gate had formed and the wagon had disappeared, there now hovered a glowing luminescent ball of pure infotonic energy; it was growing.
“Move! Now!” shouted Stinky with an amplitude that was as surprising as it was alarming coming from such a diminutive ovoid. The column scattered back away from the slip point and off the road in a near stampede. There was a flash from the point of the disturbance that seemed to chase them and prickle the exteriors of their form walls. Many of those fleeing shifted into battle forms hoping that it would speed them on their way or mitigate any incoming damage.
The tingling sensation subsided as quickly as it had manifested. The pell-mell rush of the column to safety slowly subsided. Pilgrim had been one of the closest to the eruption of the anomaly and risked a focus of its transom back toward its origin. Whatever had happened was now over. Nearby the bottom of a modest spherical void presently occupied the space where the road and the head of their column had once been. Pilgrim shifted its glance down the road to the slip point and was astounded: the fortifications were gone, removed entirely by the massive voiding that had occurred there also. The edges of the slip point now glowed with energetic excitement as if they had been heated to some informational super state, radiating infotons in all directions: a spectacular fireworks show.
“Well, that’s not something you see every cycle,” signaled Stinky with a deadpan tone.
Vinks agreed. “It is impressive indeed, chief engineer. But there is no time for gawking. We must be into that breach!”
Tencius and Bleaks were already on it. The attacking head of the column fell back into order after a brief struggle to reform, maneuvered around the newly formed crater, then surged toward the slip point. Stinky pleaded with Pilgrim to slow down and let the others form the tip of the lance but Pilgrim politely ignored the remonstrations; Stinky sullenly gave up and reluctantly joined the advance.
The scene of the voiding was even more spectacular than the glowing ribbon that now outlined the lip of the slip point. The flow had been excavated neatly on both sides of the vertex border, just as it had on the road, only in a vastly larger area: a perfect geometric sphere of annihilation. They descended down into the bowl of the voiding and immediately felt the odd tingling sensation again; the very ether seemed to be sizzling.
Pilgrim shifted into battle form as they ascended the far slope. They had yet to encounter a single enemy soldier. Perhaps they are waiting on the other side of the rim to greet them with a charge lance volley, thought Pilgrim. The roar of an Omega pierced the fizzing ether, giving it an even more disconcerting tone. Pilgrim twisted to the flank to pinpoint its origin and was relieved to behold a comical sight: long powerful tentacles, a fearsome geometry of form, Humble perched on top with Mong by its side.
The lip was surmounted; no enemies magically appeared to confront them. Pilgrim observed the devastation; unlike the aftermath of more conventional explosions, there was no flow dust to obscure perception in the ether. The devastation had been unnaturally clean; it appeared as if the flow of the fortifications had simply vanished without a trace.
Pilgrim searched for any organized enemy force but could find none. The way toward the interior of the node was now open. There was the semblance of a small town ahead: a row of barracks, some supply buildings, and a training ground perhaps. Pilgrim could not detect any enemy troops advancing from the area, although there was some movement indicating occupation, perhaps even an organized attempt to retreat.
The tingling feeling increased. Something did not feel quite right, but Pilgrim could not decide what exactly. Stinky was hovering nearby along with Zuur. They watched Humble, riding the Omega, advance into the town, accompanied by Tencius and the majority of their assault force. The flanks were being ignored but there wasn’t really much to worry about in either direction; most of the defensive structures along the slip point had disappeared.
“I don’t like this,” signaled Stinky. “Can you feel that?”
“Look,” shouted Pilgrim pointing back to the center of the spherical area that had been voided. “What is that?”
A small orb of energy had formed in the geometric center of the spherical area that had been voided; it pulsated with an ominously increasing frequency. Those who were still inside the crater began to flee searching for the nearest edge. Pilgrim glanced to the far side: Vinks, the army command post and all the supply wagons had not yet begun to make their crossing and were thankfully still some distance down the road. There was a flurry of activity as they began to slowly turn their wagons around to make some distance.
“We need to get out of here,” signaled Stinky.
“What is going on?”
“‘Unintended consequences’ is my best guess,” replied Stinky anxiously. “We need to move now!”
Pilgrim relented; they fled toward the small town. Zuur let out a rumbled laugh that spiked a wave of anger in Pilgrim. “Enough Zuur! I’m getting sick of your cynical sense of humor.”
Zuur repressed the remainder of the laugh. “We mean no offense to you Pilgrim. ‘Unintended consequences’ abound in this existence and all the others too. It is our way of dealing with them. I apologize if it brings you discomfort or pain.”
Pilgrim abashedly regretted his admonishment but made no reply. They hurried forward onto a segment of the Pilgrim’s Road that led into the small military town. There was fighting up ahead. Stinky raised a tendril. “This is no good for us. We are separated from our army; everything has been thrown into confusion and we have no idea what we are facing up ahead. We must be careful. If it comes to it, we set off on our own and try and avoid all contact with the enemy. Perhaps we can make it by ourselves to Instrumentality?”
Pilgrim was about to object when there was a flash of energy from behind. A huge arc of raw informational energy danced off of the pulsating orb in the middle of the crater jumping randomly within the sphere of excavation. Pilgrim could not see if there were still any of its comrades within the crater and turned to go back to check. Stinky objected. “No, Pilgrim. It won’t help. We need to move forward.”
Pilgrim knew that he was right but resented the advice. “We are not leaving everyone behind.”
Stinky assumed a pedantic, lecturing expression on its form walls. “Our mission is to deliver you to Instrumentality in one piece. Nothing else matters. The sooner you understand that the better.”
Pilgrim knew better than to start a debate. Stinky headed off toward the town and the fighting. Zuur followed alongside hefting its statue turned battle club in two corded tendrils. Pilgrim reluctantly followed. They made their way into the cluster of buildings ahead but could never quite discover a battle in progress. Occasionally they heard the shriek of an Omega, Humble’s friend they presumed, but could not pinpoint its location. It seemed to be enjoying itself which Pilgrim thought was a good sign.
The town was laid out in a simple grid. In the center was a flat square training ground abutting a headquarters for the slip point garrison: a simple structure with two stories, ramps leading to the rooftop, an attached officers’ quarters and cantina. The adjacent buildings on the training plaza consisted of assorted barracks, an armory, and a mess hall for the common soldiers.
Pilgrim led them across the open space to the headquarters; inside they found Breaker and Bleaks already sorting through the dispatches and records that
had been maintained in a rather un-sophisticated filing system. The command post was austere: a main room with desks for scribes, a side room for guards, an interrogation room that looked like it hadn’t been used in some time, and a commander’s quarters that consisted only of a resting place.
“I wondered when you would get here,” signaled Breaker without even halting its search of the scribe’s tables.
“Something has gone wrong,” replied Pilgrim. “Vinks is cut off. The breach is charged with some type of energy. We need to go back and figure out what to do.”
“A runner just arrived to inform me. Already on it,” signaled Breaker still intensely searching through a pile of reports that were strewn all over a desk and onto the floor. “But I was hoping you could tell me what was going on. I take it you have no idea.”
“‘Unintended consequences’ apparently,” lamented Pilgrim. “Hopefully of a transient kind.”
“I see,” signaled Breaker. “Well, the good news is that we seem to have the luxury of some time to figure out what is going on, assuming there isn’t a relief column lurking just down the road. Your little trick did have the benefit of eliminating basically the entire garrison here. They were packed into those fortifications. We would have never made it past them without a long siege or horrendous losses.”
“It will be little consolation if our supply train is stuck on the other side of the slip point,” observed Stinky. “We might need to consider some changes in our plans.”
Breaker continued its search through the documents. “Agreed, but I am hoping to find some bit of crucial information here: dispatches, movement orders, reinforcement requests. I need to put together a picture of what the council thinks they are facing here.”
“And have you had any luck?” inquired Pilgrim.
“Too soon to say. It would go faster if we had more transoms on the job. I’ve sent Tencius to assess the any threats. We’ll head back to the slip point shortly once we know we are safe here. Until then let’s see what we can find in these documents.”
