The Province

by Skyler Grant

  10

  Anna may have managed to get us out of trouble with Vinci. I say may, because in any Scholar diplomacy you must always be mindful that the other party is best positioning themselves for the next sneak attack. We'd been invited to send a lone science vessel along with a fleet to observe Queen Vinci giving a demonstration of her latest weapon.

  All of the other Royals except for King Boreas had a ship present. There had to be someone who took the bulk of the blame for what had happened against the Righteous and between him, Vinci, and myself, he had taken by far the least losses.

  Given that there was a reasonable chance this would turn around on us I had only backed-up drones on the research vessel.

  Caya, Anna, Sylax, Hot Stuff, Ophelia, and Amy had gathered in Aefwal to watch the test. Ophelia was getting increasingly disturbing after taking over Aefwal. While she wasn't capable of producing drones as I did, as a result of her absorbing the abilities from a Goddess of Fertility she had an easy time having children and she'd been having a lot of them, all identical clones of her. They weren’t like my drones, they didn't appear to possess any degree of independent thought, but instead one of the two personalities—Amy or Ophelia.

  The original Ophelia and a clone Amy were both present and they even nibbled on snacks. I'd had several cookie experiments running nonstop and several new varieties to try. Chokeweed was a carnivorous plant that made for a different texture in cookies and was proving to be very popular.

  "Wouldn't it be amazing if they all just started shooting at each other?" Anna asked.

  "I'd bet you Boreas is thinking about making it happen with a time freeze. Vinci will be on the alert for it though," Sylax said.

  Sylax never had managed to unfuse herself from all of her armor after her duel with Hot Stuff. One arm was still completely encased, a portion of one thigh, and half her face. Any attempt to cut her free led to the armor regenerating as well as her flesh. I don't think she was aware that the armor was spreading. It was difficult for even me to measure, but every day there appeared more.

  Hot Stuff plopped down onto the couch beside Sylax. She had neutralized her flames for the moment to hang out without incinerating everyone in her vicinity. "Could she stop it?"

  "It wouldn't be impossible to rig a chronometer inside a power-neutralizing bubble and have it doing constant checks with one outside. If any missing time was evident you'd instantly get an alert and know the length of time out," Caya said.

  That was rather brilliant thinking on her part and not at all difficult to implement. I'd taken enough Righteous prisoners in the hopes of building nullifiers that I had a ready supply of power-neutralizing goo.

  "You really shouldn't make intelligent suggestions. It is unfair to the others," I said through the drone I had in attendance.

  Ophelia flipped me off before taking a bite of cookie. "These are weird. You probably made them out of people."

  Cannibalism cookies had not passed any taste-testing. Did she have any idea how hard I worked to make sure the cookies I served were appetizing?

  "Do you have any clue what she is going to be testing?" Anna asked.

  The ships were flying along the high bands towards where Vinci had lost so many vessels.

  "Her ship is too well-shielded for me to get a peek inside. It looks as if she is heading towards the Reality Zero environment created by the missile. If I had to make a guess, she is going to show off her new Reality Zero designs to convince the others this war isn't a bad idea," I said.

  The lost battle shook the confidence of the alliance, another reason I suspected we'd been partially forgiven and let back in the fold. Vinci needed to be keeping friends, not shedding them.

  "I'm guessing something repair-related. Imagine the sight of all those wrecks powering back on and taking to the sky," Caya said.

  It would make a powerful statement to the combined fleet and it also fit well with Vinci's abilities.

  "How much do you think we should read into Boreas not being invited?" Anna asked.

  "It's a bad sign," Caya said.

  There were a bunch of shared looks, but nobody disputed the sentiment.

  "I've known him a long time. He is on the out, but he won't stay out. Timing is everything and for obvious reasons he is the master of it," Sylax said.

  This most recent bomb from the Righteous was an advance from their original designs by quite a bit. Ground zero was still showing as Reality Zero conditions with the alternation of realities rules growing looser the farther one got from that site.

  Vinci's flagship signaled the fleet to stop and all ships came to a halt. They were just inside the distortion area. Powers would still function, but at a dampened effectiveness. At least nobody was falling out of the sky.

  I'd thought that Vinci would make sort of speech to hype whatever it was she had planned, but Vinci wasn't the type. The demonstration should be able to stand on its own. Her flagship fired a missile, a chemical-based propellant carrying it deeper into the Reality Zero environment.

  I could get some real readings on the weapon. It was both familiar and foreign all at once. The projectile’s design appeared to be based on the Righteous missile that brought down her fleet.

  Rainbow waves of energy rippled out as it engaged and I detected dimensional warping and fracturing. The Reality Zero environment was torn apart, abilities and power levels sporadically flaring.

  I knew what the missile was supposed to be—the opposite of the Righteous weapon. To return the local environment to what it had been before. It wasn't right. Oh, Vinci had accomplished that more or less. Rather than restoring things properly, powers were actually more enhanced in this small slice of dimensional space. Reality had shredded a little more under the onslaught, and started to come apart.

  This was dangerous in high bands. The laws of reality simply got too hostile for even powered forms of life, and this region was now a lot closer to uninhabitable.

  "Well, that was pretty," Anna said.

  Anna didn't understand, of course.

  "Was that her adaptation of a Righteous reality-altering bomb?" Caya asked.

  And, of course, Caya did.

  I sent the sensor data over to Caya's tablet. "If you can take a break from your misplaced effort to emulate Anna's physique by a vigorous consumption of cookies, I could use a second opinion of what I just witnessed."

  While she looked over the data I just kept analyzing. How could Vinci have done this? The Righteous technology seemed to rely upon two key components, Source Orbs and the Beryl crystal.

  Crystal dust had been fused into glass spheres and acted as substitute for Source Orbs. Vinci's missile also contained a small teleportation gate signature with unfamiliar dimensional energy coming through from the other side. It was similar in nature to the Agate and Beryl energy, and yet of a completely different wavelength.

  There was only one explanation. Vinci had discovered the Chalcedony crystal.

  That no doubt helped to explain the recent production upgrades at her factories and her eagerness to press a new war. The bottleneck to her abilities had been accessing raw materials and energy, and she was now in possession of a source of incredible power.

  If there was any doubt before, the Agate had to be kept a secret now. Vinci would do anything do acquire it. I wouldn't be surprised if this entire war with the Righteous were to get the Beryl.

  "I’m seeing small rips in the fabric of reality. This isn't good," Caya said.

  "Rips?" Hot stuff asked.

  "We're in danger of a new separation event in the vicinity of that bomb detonation," Caya said.

  "Simplify that, say again," Anna said.

  Caya frowned and let out a low breath. "Picture the Earth of the pasts as a rose. The Cataclysm came along and plucked the petals and scattered them everywhere. It's a poor analogy, since we actually wound up with more petals than the Earth ever had, but it is mostly true. The pieces are still there and you can travel between them and it’s all still
a little rose-like. What Vinci just did very nearly shoved one of the petals into a grinder."

  "I hate grinders," Ophelia said.

  One day she might contribute something useful to a conversation. It wasn't going to be today.

  "She can wipe all of her enemies completely from existence. She is so smart and ruthless," Amy said, sounding rather cheery at the thought.

  "I don't think it is intentional. For all that we've been working at killing each other for a long time, we haven't been tugging on the fundamental nature of reality. Now we have two sides in a war trying to do just that," Caya said.

  Sylax looked about as happy as I'd ever seen her, the half of her face not covered in armor sporting a broad grin as she leaned back into a couch.

  "Well, you look as happy as if you just skinned somebody you don't like," Hot Stuff told her.

  "Our overly sentimental overloads just got told reality is being destroyed," Sylax said.

  I was not overly sentimental, I was incredibly practical, and I happened to live in this reality.

  "We can try diplomacy," Anna said doubtfully.

  "Do you think Vinci won’t press every advantage that she has, especially if the risk is centered in enemy territory?" Sylax asked.

  "What about the Righteous? I mean, they're total pricks, but aren't they trying to save the Earth?" Hot Stuff asked.

  "If they just laid down their arms and allowed Vinci to exterminate them, we might prevent any more damage to the structure of reality afterwards. That doesn't seem likely," Caya said.

  Anna drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair, even forgetting about her plate of cookies for a moment. "Can Vinci's weapon be improved so it doesn't have the negative consequences?"

  That was a question for me if ever there were one. SCIENCE would hold the answers.

  Vinci's design was crude and refinements were possible, but I didn't think that would really make a difference. What her bomb was doing was releasing a large-scale blast of dimensional energy which was then shaped and attuned by the crystal dust spheres. Those spheres reflected the nature of our existing reality and warped the local dimension to mirror that worldview.

  The yield of bombs could be increased or decreased by changing the amount of energy discharge, but the fundamental issue wasn't that her bombs weren't working well enough—it was that they were doing exactly what they were designed to do. The dimensional fabric was pretty weak already and it just couldn't handle the strain.

  "Unlike some I could name she is actually good at her job. I could make more elegant bombs, but the problem would persist," I said.

  "Then I don't see where we have a choice. If she is a grave threat to the world, then we can't be an ally in good faith to her plans," Anna said.

  "That’s why I'm grinning," Sylax said to Hot Stuff. "War, I really love a good war."

  "You got beaten, humiliated, and conscripted by the right team then," I said.

  "My sister is so smart and so deadly!" Amy said happily. "But so is Vinci! This thing isn't a problem if she doesn't have to use it. Let’s just team up and wipe everyone else out of existence with normal weapons."

  It wasn't the worst thought my haphazard copy ever had. Vinci had already pitched how compatible our world views were, and if anyone could help her become powerful enough to accomplish this without utilizing her new bombs it was us.

  Anna said, "I can't see a way that ends well. Vinci is powerful now, but she isn't powerful enough to take on the combined might of the rest of the Scholarium, even with our assistance."

  I wasn't sure that was the case, not if she had the Chalcedony.

  Amy said, "While I think that you are smart and pretty, and just a wonderful Queen, you know the rest of the Scholarium doesn't agree. You can't go to war with Vinci, you don't have the punch. If you can't wage war against her, then you have to wage war beside her."

  Anna looked tired. "We're not going to do that. Let’s keep our cities on the move and be careful not to let Vinci know where they are. Keep up appearances for now, but we're looking for a way out. Boreas might be on board, and the Divine."

  "What about King Carnage? I know he’s more of a threat than you'd like and uncomfortably in Vinci's circle, but if you're thinking of launching an attack against a far superior power you need somebody like him," Caya said.

  "Do we have anybody like him instead? Most powers are replicated out there to some degree. Can we get the ability without the baggage?" Anna asked.

  Caya frowned. "I don't know of any, but I can ask around. There are a few Scholar settlements outside of politics I can approach."

  "Blank still has contacts within the Righteous. She's about as popular there now as you are within the Scholarium, but we can have her reach out and see if there is someone that will hear our concerns," I said.

  "You already know talking is only going to start people thinking. Killing is the only thing that ever makes a difference," Sylax said.

  "It has worked out brilliantly for you," I said.

  "Hasn't it? I led our Queen around on a leash and had her piss the floor, and I'm still here because I'm so damned good at everything," Sylax said.

  Anna said, "Emma, teach her not to be so free with her words. The rest of you get on it and find me some options."

  I wasn't Anna's torturer. Still, I suppose I could manage something. I teleported Sylax into a testing cell. Even as one of the city’s District Lords she wouldn't be able to escape easily. A lowered ceiling would see her down on all fours and just a bit of time would test the limits of her bladder. Once she'd embarrassed herself to Anna's satisfaction I'd set her free.

  11

  We simply lacked the power to form any sort of massive alliance. Most of our overtures were rebuffed before we even got to present our case. It wasn't all negative, King Boreas was willing to work with us, and Caya managed to pull in several of the smaller Scholars. The stronger Divine were willing to work with us as well, but while individually powerful they lacked the armies or fleets needed to wage any sort of real war.

  It was familiar ground really, finding ourselves underpowered and outclassed in a struggle. Things had never come easy for us, we'd only gotten where we are by being smart and bold.

  In times past for smart solutions I'd have turned to Mechos or Minerva, but they were still out of touch and off on their own mission. That left me with Caya. I wished I could trust her more. Regardless, I was at the point where I had no choice but to fill her in on what I'd discovered about the Agate, Beryl, and Chalcedony.

  Caya listened attentively while I went over the details, occasionally glancing through the research logs.

  "That was quite the deception you pulled off on the Sword of Light. I bought it," Caya said.

  "Some might say you were perfectly gullible. You weren't alone," I said.

  "I understand the reasoning. This much power would get a lot of hungry hands grabbing for it, and secrecy made everything easier. What surprises me is how little use you've made out of that fact," Caya said.

  "The Scholarium is a predatory lot. I'd say keeping the secret has been making use of the fact."

  Caya shook her head, rising to her feet and beginning to pace. "Let us start at the beginning. These crystals offer a lot of power. You are using the Agate to power Aefwal allowing deploying the shields and warp gates in brand new ways. Vinci appears to be using hers to power her manufacturing and as a superweapon, and the Righteous as a superweapon of their own."

  "If I'd wished for blind mimicry masquerading as intelligence I'd be chatting with Sylax," I said.

  "Grasp the fundamentals before you move on to more advanced topics. These crystals themselves are not the danger but for the fact that two different factions are preparing them as weapons to use against each other," Caya said.

  "I'd argue that the Righteous intending to use them as a weapon which will obliterate our abilities qualifies as a danger. Still, simplistically your analysis is basically sound."

  "You aren't the only
one keeping things secret, Emma. What we need to do is leak the information of what Vinci has found," Caya said.

  I'd never thought of a solution so very political, but it made sense. I'd feared the threat we would come under if our possession of the Agate became common knowledge. Revealing the Chalcedony put Vinci in the same danger.

  "We need her to stop the Righteous," I said.

  "Doesn't preventing the destruction of the Earth come first? If the other Royals go to war alongside Vinci she has no reason to use her superweapon against them, it won't help her. If one of them captures the Chalcedony from Vinci, they would likely put it to a different use," Caya said.

  As usual, Caya was making sense. The idea wasn't without its negatives. Setting the other Royals on Vinci would absolutely allow the Righteous to make more progress. It was also our best option to keep the structure of our reality from taking any more damage.

  "Fickle loyalty becomes you," I said. "I'll record this in your file. Would you be able to aid in getting the word out?"

  Caya frowned at that, folding her arms. "If word gets back to Vinci what we’ve done, she would destroy us. We can doctor a log to fall in the hands of an information broker, really doctor it so that it frames someone else completely. I can do it, but give me a few days."

  I could do it in a few nanoseconds except I didn't know the personalities involved for the deception. I knew Caya well enough that I could trust her to do a good job with this.

  "I want the Beryl fragment to study," Caya said.

  "And I want minions that are less demanding," I said.

  "I'm good, and a different point of view. I'm not asking for access to the Agate," Caya said.

  "Done," I said.

  "So, what else are you hiding?"

  "Just because my plans are too brilliant for even a well-developed human brain to understand doesn't mean I'm hiding anything."

  "There are bits missing here from the raw data," Caya said, tapping her screen with research logs.

  I'd had no reason to go back and review the raw data with my own internalized sensor logs of the event. Going through the files again required only nanoseconds and revealed a disturbing truth, that she was right. There was data missing and I wasn’t responsible for hiding it—or maybe removing it.