Entropy's Heralds: Pilgrims Path Book 3

by Vic Davis

  Steadfast was not convinced. “I know, but perhaps this new more linear geometry has some special effect that we have not yet discovered.”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” chided Lacks becoming exasperated.

  “No, sadly it does not,” confirmed Stinky as they hovered up to their old friends. “But there is no harm in experimenting, I guess.”

  The two True Path Channelers perked up and hovered over to the approaching group delighted to find Pilgrim and Breaker there. “Commander Breaker! Your Channeler cadre is reporting for duty,” effused Steadfast.

  “Yes, we are sir,” confirmed Lacks with a lazy salute. Although Lacks was the nominal leader of the duo, and they hardly formed a full cadre, it had long since learned to accept Steadfast’s youthful exuberance.

  “Excellent!” replied Breaker. “It’s good to see you both again. You two might not know it, but you will be crucial to our plans going forward.”

  Steadfast laughed. “Aren’t we always, Team Leader?”

  “Yes, but even more so than normal. Speaking of crucial members, where is Grivil? And where is the rest of the assault group?”

  Lacks’ form walls clouded with some emotion like embarrassment: not for itself but for someone else perhaps. “Well about that, it seems Grivil might have a problem.”

  “What kind of a problem?” asked Breaker.

  Xodd began to chuckle. Breaker turned to the former Council general with an inquisitive expression on its form walls. “You know something Captain Xodd?”

  Xodd still bristled at the thought of not being in charge of the operation. The ‘thinking machine’ was intelligent and capable no doubt, but Xodd was a natural leader. It had resolved to follow orders only to the point to which they agreed with its own inclinations. Should their goals become misaligned: adjustments would be made. “I have my suspicions. I suggest we go see for ourselves.”

  Lacks led them a short distance to a small shelter that had been set up nearby. Outside were gathered Malador, Block, Groz, Mong and most of the original surviving members of Xodd’s company of mercenaries with a few of the recent recruits filling out the ranks. Inside they found Grivil tended by Pipper. The Old Alchemist sat in a resting place near the back. The former commander of the Hegemon’s Channeler cadres and a singleton master had suffered a bout of recidivism: an escape from its inner demons offered by a plunge into inebriation.

  “Where did it even find the intoxicants?” wondered Pilgrim out loud.

  “Stashed away in Urta’s Rest no doubt,” signaled Stinky. “Fortunately for us it seems to have exhausted its supply.”

  Pilgrim looked around the floor of the tent to confirm the allegation: vials on the ground, an empty box that must have stored and disguised the contraband. Vinks had very strict rules about such things.

  “I’ve hidden or thrown away as much as I could,” signaled the Old Alchemist from its corner. “Grivil is particularly adept at finding the stuff though. It almost seems like it has a special talent that allows it to locate intoxicants wherever it goes. I’ve thought about coming up with a formula for a substitute but never had the laboratory equipment to undertake such a venture. It would be an interesting challenge—”

  “Yes, you old geezer, you have been a real hero helping poor Grivil out,” interrupted Xodd angrily. “I don’t know what we would have done without you. Although, I expect imagining that might be amusing.”

  Stinky examined Grivil’s helpless form sprawled out on the floor and sighed. “We need Grivil to help create gates. If it stays in this sorry state, things will be difficult, especially once we reach the city walls of Instrumentality where we will need Grivil the most.”

  The Old Alchemist was undaunted by Xodd’s opprobrium. “Leave it to me, general. I will nurse old Grivil back to a functioning state of cohesion. I have seen it in a far worse condition. We shall ride in one of these wagons while the Drothgar are pulling us to the slip point. I have some special tinctures which will speed the de-toxification process along its way.”

  “It will have to do,” signaled Breaker. “Everyone! Find a station alongside the wagons for the march. We seem now to only be missing our commandos.”

  Lacks pointed a tendril down the road. “Here they come now, commander.”

  “Yes, I think you are right. Let’s place them in front of our vehicle. The order to start will come soon.”

  Fifteen Hegemon Commandos led by a burly ovoid named Nob reported for duty by the command of Adjutant Tencius. In addition to forming part of the final assault group, they were to provide security and protection if any of the enemy managed to make it to the storm rider vehicle. An unlikely event thought Pilgrim. If anybody made it that far then things were probably past the point of salvaging.

  “Will you look at that!” shouted Steadfast pointing to an enormous shape lumbering up behind the commandos. “It’s Humble and er— its pet.”

  Pilgrim was pleased to see its old friend once again. Humble had formed a deep bond with the orphaned Omega. Just like Groz and Mong, they were now inseparable. They still tended to give their allied troops the jitters, but trepidation had slowly given way to toleration if not acceptance. On more than one occasion they had laid into the enemy to help or defend their comrades and their actions had grudgingly won respect.

  “Reporting for duty, Commander Breaker,” signaled Humble with a grin on its form walls.

  “And just in time. You and your friend will be with us all the way to the end. Although, I’m not certain what effect the dampening field will have on its talents. Probably the same as it does on everybody else. Can you keep it calm and under control if that is the case?”

  “You will have no problems with us, commander,” replied Humble. “We will try to stay out of everyone’s way.”

  The order to march was passed down from Vinks at the column’s head and they were all soon underway. The flowscape on either side of the Pilgrim’s Road did not look to be very challenging: broad flat semi-polished planes punctuated occasionally by cylindrical pillars striated with unusual types of flow. The Old Alchemist made several mad dashes to inspect some of the most unusual formations until Breaker ordered it to cease its investigations. A halfhearted plea for the benefits of advancing the study of the interactions of flow and ether was lodged but immediately given a stony reception by Breaker. The Old Alchemist glumly restricted itself to annotating comments about its observations and caring for Grivil during their rest periods to tend to the Drothgar and absorb source-rations.

  Two uneventful cycles passed; Breaker reckoned that they had reached the center of the node if not somewhat farther. Reports had come back from the runners: no contact with the enemy on either flank. Vinks now seemed to grow more concerned despite the continuing run of ‘good luck.’

  “I’m trying to figure out how the enemy thinks,” signaled Breaker to the group that was now marching along nearby: Pilgrim, Stinky, Xodd being the most notable. “Putting yourself in your enemies form walls can help you identify and ask the correct questions or explain the observed data. For instance, how is it that we have met no resistance in this node? Are the Council command and control authorities even aware of our approach? Here I think Captain Xodd could be of assistance.”

  Xodd grumbled, uninterested in discussing its previous service as a Council chief enforcer. “I have told you what I know. I do not wish to elaborate any further just as you seem determined to keep your own plans for breaching Instrumentality a secret.”

  Breaker made dismissive wave of a guide tendril. “You have spoken only in broad outlines of fortifications and troop levels. What I need to know is how the council gives orders. How are decisions made? Who executes them? How do they evaluate the strategic situation?”

  “That is simple to explain,” answered Xodd. “The Endarchs are each responsible for a different sphere of operations. Baloris for instance commanded the military forces. They have no doubt replaced it with some other cloned lackey. Unfortunately for us, it will be
an improvement.”

  Voor had been hovering nearby and now joined the conversation. “You discount the intellects imprisoned in the orb. They are the true source of every order that the Endarchs execute. We do not know how this is done. Codex suggests that the so-called ‘Demon Princes’ are master dominators. They strive to bring order to reality, to defeat their true enemy: entropy.”

  Xodd made a scoffing signal of derisive laughter. “More fairy tales to frighten raw recruits Voor? You persist in these delusional fantasies and offer nothing solid as proof.” Xodd’s parasite objected but was ignored. They had agreed to disagree and Xodd felt no need to resume the dispute.

  Stinky, now interested in the conversation, asked Voor: “How does Codex know this? Such a fact or theory has never been shared before.”

  Codex hovered nearby but chose to remain silent. Voor took this as a cue to continue speaking for the Mesmer. “The Codex spent a long time alone and isolated pondering the talent that it possessed in this universe. Its memories of its existence prior to passing through the gate are still very much intact. It was constructed by other intelligences, according to very different principles than those that governed itself: principles much similar to yours, Stinky.

  “In any event, The Codex believes that it was the function of its information patterns that was the determinative factor: analysis, computation, rationalization—”

  “As intelligent beings, we all do these functions though,” interjected Stinky. “There is nothing special or unique in that.”

  “True,” signaled Voor. “But Codex was a so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ hyper specialized in data analysis. We think this is what made the difference. Its consciousness was an emergent property generated by the extraction of information from a different set of complex patterns.”

  “We are straying from the key issue,” remonstrated Breaker lightly. “The question is not only the source of these orders, but rather the chain down which they flow. Let us assume we face masterful strategists, residing in your prison in Instrumentality. How easily can they enforce their will? What can explain the good run of luck that we have enjoyed so far? Most importantly what will we encounter down this road?”

  Pilgrim had been silent for the conversation, not feeling that it had much expertise to add nor information from personal experience. A thought occurred though, and Pilgrim said, “If their goal is to ensure the cracking of the final two seals, and they are very close to achieving this, then perhaps they have pulled back in a defensive ball; Instrumentality might now be an impregnable fortress for all we know. The slip point might have been reinforced with an entire army.”

  Breaker nodded on its form walls in agreement. “Yes, this would explain why we have encountered so little resistance on the way. Why the slip point defenses until now have all been garrisoned by their normal allotments as far as we can tell.”

  Xodd scoffed at the idea. “You give the Endarchs too much credit. And I do not believe in imprisoned demonic super intelligences. But we shall see. Do we have any alternatives but to charge head on into whatever traps they have set up?”

  The silence that followed was taken as confirmation of Xodd’s grim observation.

  Chapter 21

  Riders On The Storm

  The run of good luck had held the remainder of the way across the node. The left flank guard under Tencius encountered a small detachment of troops from Citu, curious to see what the unidentified formation transiting so close to their home was doing. There had been a brief skirmish: a solid rebuff administered to the Council troops. The enemy had retreated as quickly as they had appeared and given up on any thought of pursuit.

  The storm rider assault group and the column protecting it had arrived at the slip point to find it heavily fortified and occupied by Council soldiers. Reinforced scout groups were sent forward by Vinks; several small Council patrols were ambushed; the defending garrison was surprised by the force that showed up on its doorstep. This advantage was quickly nullified by the unsuitable conditions discovered at the slip point: an unusually narrow gap defended by an imposing gate and thick flow walls. In front of the gate were row upon row of occupied trenches, bunkers, and barriers.

  Vinks ordered the column to disperse and take up siege positions. The supply train wagons were emptied and used to build make-shift barricades. Alacrity and Hegemon regulars formed a fusilier line behind the line of defenses in case of an enemy sally. Vinks set its few engineers to the task of pretending to construct siege equipment: an impossibility since no equipment or even raw materials to do so were available.

  Stinky had been examining the fortifications since they had arrived; a sullen expression had crept into its form walls and only grown increasingly stronger the longer it scanned the opening in the vertex barrier wall. “I don’t think we could have chosen a worse slip point.”

  Breaker concurred. “It would have been difficult. That has to be one of the narrowest that I have ever seen. I wish Captain Xodd had informed us of this before we had arrived. Worse still, it is the only one into the node across this vertex edge.”

  Xodd laughed with a tone that bordered on mockery. “You might have shared your requirements for whatever it is you hope to achieve here. Instead, you have declared that you will summon a storm but not explained how. Such unnecessary secrecy has had unintended consequences, none of which are my doing or fault.”

  “Old habits die hard,” lamented Breaker with a sigh. “This narrow slip point is going to disrupt everything. I don’t see how it will work. Stinky, is there a chance that there will be enough room to pass after the voiding?”

  “I don’t see how it will be possible,” answered Stinky. “We have no experimental data of course but judging by the voiding that we engineered at the slip point to Urta’s Rest, the unstable area will more than cover that narrow gap. If we want to increase the yield by adding more source-charges with the hope of increasing the intensity of the storm, the size of the unstable area will presumably be larger. We are assuming a linear relationship, but it might well be exponential. Without more data, we are groping blindly.”

  “What if we just use less source-charges? Try to keep the area of effect minimized,” suggested Pilgrim regretting the suggestion almost immediately as the main problem would still be unresolved: namely the extensive fortifications on both sides of the slip point.

  Vinks said as much, “But the fortifications will still remain; we will have to fight through the barriers and bunkers at great cost. It might be beyond our capabilities.”

  “One way or another we need to destroy this fortification,” asserted Breaker. “And don’t forget we need a bigger storm that lasts longer. And we also need to get into the node. Doing all three seems to be impossible.”

  “If this voiding is anything like that last one, there will be an opportunity to get some troops into and across the crater before the energy discharge begins,” signaled Stinky.

  “What about resonance points?” asked Pilgrim trying to be helpful and make amends for its last suggestion. “We could obliterate the slip point defenses, surge as many troops through as we can manage; then take a resonance point from behind to get the storm rider vehicle through.”

  “I like the concept,” signaled Vinks with a tone of praise.

  Breaker turned to Xodd. “Well, Captain Xodd, what do you know of resonance points on this side of the node?”

  “There are several, but I don’t know their exact positions. They are well guarded; I can assure you of that.”

  Vinks was eager to get things moving “We will send Lacks and Steadfast down either side of the vertex edge barrier to locate a resonance point— with a suitable escort of course. Once a resonance point is found we will send the storm rider vehicle. Then we will commence our destruction of the slip point fortifications.”

  “This could be tricky general,” signaled Breaker. “We will need to husband our Channelers. We need them to help Pilgrim form the gate for the source-charge wagons to b
e sent through; we also need them to open the resonance point. And of course, they need to find one first.”

  “If Grivil has sobered up, we can put it to work,” suggested Pilgrim. “Between the two of us, we should be able to form the gate and maintain it long enough to allow me to send the Fibonacci lash through.”

  “Sober up?” inquired Vinks. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Just get it done.”

  On Xodd’s suggestion, Malador was consulted before Lacks and Steadfast were dispatched. The former Council siege engineer had worked on several of the resonance point defenses before it had joined one of the armies sent to campaign in the neighboring “core” nodes. As far as it could remember, there was a resonance point less than a quarter cycles march. Vinks was unwilling to completely trust Malador’s recollections, so Lacks was dispatched with a scout party on Trissa to confirm the location. The ride was arduous, but a runner returned to confirm the existence of the resonance point.

  Stinky and Breaker used the time to make their final preparations. Two wagons were lashed together and filled to the brim with source-charge canisters. The assault group was assembled and put on standby just behind the fake siege line; the remainder of the Hegemon Commandos under Tencius were formed up and ready to follow them across the void crater before the etheric instability manifested itself. They would remain and fight if resistance were encountered, otherwise, they would retreat back to the main army.

  It was hoped that the size of the voiding would not only eliminate most enemy resistance but also provoke an even bigger storm. Stinky had begun to have some worries. A virtually non-existent data set and a complete lack of underlying theories gnawed at its confidence in their plan.

  Stinky sought out Vinks to express his concerns. “We assume we will get a bigger yield in the strength of the storm, but what about the delay in its formation? Last time there was a period of almost two cycles before it appeared. If this variable is dependent on the size of the voiding, then we might have to contend with the storm while we are bringing the vehicle across the resonance point. I think we should wait until the vehicle and the Channelers are in position.”