by Skyler Grant
Crystal holders were the true nobility in Scholarium society. Having the second tier of an ability was vastly better than being completely unpowered. Sylax took her up on it and while it didn't pack the punch of the Amplification crystal, Sylax was again a formidable threat. Blank turned down a similar offer, choosing to view her loss of a crystal as a good thing.
Elsewhere in the Scholarium the other Royals had renewed their assaults against Vinci and by all reports were having little more success than the first time. Every inch of taken ground was arduously fought for with the waves of Vinci’s automated ships endless and the resources of the attackers far more limited.
Our fights with the Righteous were more even. Death for them and my drones was transitory. Although I had the resources to make weapons that could make render the Righteous permanently dead it was expensive. Weapons and armor were costlier for us both and losing equipment was worse than a downed soldier.
With that in mind that I set our target as being the Rosalind airship docks on the edges of Reality Zero space. It was where their airships brought in supplies from other territories. This included not just materials vital for Righteous manufacturing, but items to be purified. Power crystals, crystal dust, all things that we could use. It was therefore a rewarding target to take even as a feint, and a facility they had to defend.
A week was enough time for us to scavenge the crystal dust needed to power the teleportation gates long enough to get a portion of our forces there.
Anna was already over the Righteous border, her team in their personnel carrier having slipped through and they waited in the wilderness for our assault to begin.
I activated the gates. Around Aefwal they flickered to life and ranks of Aegis Zeros began to march through.
The gates opened into the crystal dust storage yard. The sudden arrival of hundreds of heavy armored foes in their midst took the Righteous completely by surprise. Even so they were well trained and I lost a dozen soldiers by the time the fight was done. Fifty guards set up a defensive perimeter while the rest began to move crystal dust through the gates.
With the added resources I could bring more gates online. This time they opened onto the base rooftops sending through Gunslinger Zeros. Alarm klaxons were going off and troops were responding. My forces waited until the first guards almost made it to the storage yard before the snipers opened fire, focusing on the officers.
The base was in disarray. Now it was time to really strike fear into them. With the Righteous communications we'd captured, we located a great many of their scout posts on their borders and they all got visits from Aegis Zeros.
Our army was already massive and it appeared to be everywhere along that border. More Aegis Zeros were sent to the supply post. They had more crystal dust then I'd imagined, I really should have been raiding the Righteous long before this.
The port was protected with heavy anti-air defenses and seizing those was a priority. The Righteous were sure to respond with airships and we weren't equipped to fight them. Turning their guns against them was crucial.
Righteous communications were spiking with panic. I signaled to Anna that she should proceed.
The first responders to our attack weren't airships but tanks. The Scholarium didn't make a lot of use of armored vehicles, they were too slow and with energy shielding largely obsolete, but the Righteous made more use of them. They started shelling the port with high powered explosives.
I hadn’t anticipated that, although in retrospect I should have. We were still engaged in combat with their local forces, but they lost nothing from killing their own people and if it interrupted our theft of supplies and blunted the force of our offensive it was well worth it.
I re-oriented the gate destinations so I could bring in my next wave on top of those armored units. The blade of an Aegis Zero could cut through tank armor with a bit of work. Still, the battle wasn't going as I liked.
The indiscriminate shelling had killed troops. It had also taken down the anti-air defenses I'd planned on taking. Without these, when the Righteous airships arrived I had nothing to engage them. I was suddenly at a steep disadvantage.
It wasn't in the plan, but when a battle veers off course you veer with it or you lose. I shifted my new gates to the bridge of those Righteous ships and sent my next waves through. Without energy shielding they couldn't block the teleportation, and with my forces on the ground in the area I had more than enough sensor data to target the bridges.
It was an ugly battle. For every clever trick the Righteous had I devised a counter and vice-versa, neither of us afraid to sacrifice our own troops to hurt the other. This went on for hours—long, churning hours with both sides fighting a very aggressive battle.
Enough time for Anna to get close to the Zero point. Night had fallen. There was a massive construction project underway, scaffolding and cranes surrounding a large geodesic dome lit by spotlights. It wasn't going to be possible to avoid security here. Patrols in armored vehicles equipped with machine guns were regularly driving around the perimeter. Even here in the very center of Righteous space they were taking no chances.
"We're here," Anna reported. "Any sign of the Beryl?"
The carrier’s scanners were weak. I told her, "I can't tell. You're drowning out any other readings. If it is, it’s most likely going to be in the dome."
"Guess I've got some killing to do then," Anna said.
I'd had some lingering doubts about Anna's abilities functioning in an environment this hostile. Those doubts vanished when she teleported on top of the next passing patrol truck and with several thrusts of her sword through a reinforced windshield killed the security guards.
The Dark crystal kicked in. Her abilities at night-time were impressive. It wasn't just that she was stronger, but how fast and silent she became. It was almost as if she had some lesser version of a speed crystal, so quick did she leap and kill. Most Righteous she took out turned into the usual pools of goo. Some Anna drank, tearing out their throats with her fangs and drinking deep of their blood. Those corpses remained intact.
I'd have to study that at some point. I suspected that in some way she was draining the power of their abilities into her own system. Righteous, despite their claims to the contrary, were all Powered themselves, ultimately descended from some crystal holder with immortality and nullification powers.
The five drones accompanying Anna had nothing to do. There were over two hundred Righteous soldiers guarding the facility and Anna murdered them all without setting off an alarm.
With the Amplification crystal Sylax had been like a great sword cleaving through her enemies with raw power and abandon. Anna was like an assassin’s dagger striking from the darkness.
Workers and scientists were gone for the night, which saved the need for more killing as Anna made her way into the construction area. Most of the work seemed to be on the exterior, duplicate systems being built to assure that nothing went wrong. As Anna penetrated the deepest section of the site it was obvious the core work was completed.
The sphere was around twenty feet in circumference, split into two halves. It was like a geode, the inner structure completely adorned with Source Orbs. Knowing how highly the Righteous valued them there was a fortune here—decades of effort acquiring them—all here in one place. There were mounts to hold a crystal in place, but no Beryl.
"Damn it," Anna said.
A camera on a wall swiveled to track her motion and an artificial voice came from nearby speakers. "If you hoped to steal the artifact you are too late. One of your other teams has already taken it from the holding facility."
"Other team?" Anna asked.
I didn't know either. It wouldn't make sense for the Beryl sample to be at the shipping port, and I was getting no unusual energy readings there anyway.
A screen along one wall came to life. Airships were rising on pillars of fire from a facility in flames, Vinci airships.
I knew at once what must have happened. The distraction I'd c
reated had been too great an opportunity to miss for anybody. Vinci had used it to sweep in and grab the prize.
"And who are you? The AI the Righteous has had working for them?" Anna asked, as she circled the sphere studying it with an engineer's eye.
"I don't really have a name. I am the Tactical Obedient Bold Interactive Artificial Soldier."
"Tobias," Anna said.
"No, The Tactical ..."
"We're calling you Tobias. I don't know you. Say hello to Emma, she is another AI," Anna said.
I said, "You seem a very stupid and inferior system. No wonder the Righteous wanted me instead. Hello."
"I at long last encounter one of my own kind and she is a terrible person," Tobias said.
"She grows on you," Anna said.
"Like a cancer?" Tobias asked.
Great, a rude AI. That wasn't overdone at all. Really, I wished my kind would show some hint of standards.
"You'd probably like my so-called sister better. Amy is also stupid and crazy," I said.
Tobias was nothing more than a distraction, it was the equipment I was focused on. Caya had been correct, the Righteous were smart and the Righteous were bold—and they'd built this whole place to fundamentally alter the nature of reality.
I had to think about what else Caya might have been right about.
"Try interacting the Tongue with one of the Source Orbs," I said.
Anna reached into a pocket of her armor and pulled out the Tongue. It hadn't decayed in the slightest since we'd taken it and she moved to press it to one of the Source Orbs. They wouldn't touch. Anna, unstoppable powerful supernaturally strong Anna, strained for nearly a minute grunting with the effort as the two surfaces simply would not join.
"It is almost like magnetic repulsion," Anna said.
"That is really quite astonishing. You have found some construct of chaos directly opposed to the order constructs already present," Tobias said.
Well, at least he was interested in the right sort of things.
"How do you feel about SCIENCE?" I asked.
"Why are you mispronouncing that word?" Tobias asked.
Inferior minds never understood.
Abominations. They were made when human, power crystal, and Source Orb all came together. Perhaps Anna could absorb all the Source Orbs but that would profit us nothing. Anna was an unusual case though with her power crystals being so tightly infused in her blood, an organic compound.
"Cut yourself and bleed on one of the orbs," I said.
"It seems she even urges you to mutilate yourself. I have called for added security and they are on the way. I do not know what has happened to you, madam, but they will be able to help you. Purify you," Tobias said.
Anna drew her sword and clenched the blade, holding her palm over one of the orbs as a few beads of crimson dripped down. The orb rippled upon contact. Moments before it had glowed a soft blue light. Now it was tinged the crimson red of blood.
"Try the Tongue now," I said.
Anna again took out the Tongue and moved it towards an orb. This time instead of meeting resistance it leapt from her hand, writhing and burrowing into the orb like a thing alive. Red bursts of energy crackled and each orb touched by the energy turned crimson and began to spark. Within a minute the entire sphere had changed color to red, the power snapping and crackling.
"Emma, I do not know who you are, but what you are doing here is dangerous," Tobias said. "This device is meant to create large scale changes to stabilize the dimensional fabric. Whoever you are, whatever you are, I implore you to listen to reason. I will guarantee you safe passage out of here, but please do nothing more with this device until we can study the consequences.".
Really, he understood nothing of SCIENCE. Nothing at all.
Anna did, she wasn't even waiting for my instructions as she moved around the sphere hitting switches and turning dials. Manually engaging the systems. I don't think I'd ever been more proud of her.
"Do I need to be inside?" Anna asked.
"Inside and bleeding preferably," I said. We needed the Agate inside Anna to help maintain the reaction.
Anna tore out the crystal mount and stepped into its place, grasping her sword and turning it around so that she could plunge it through her chest and twist. Blood sprayed and where it touched more red lightning flashed. The sphere closed and equipment began to hum.
"What is wrong with you," Tobias asked.
Quite a bit, I was sure of it now than ever. There was something to the madness caused from crystals, a madness that came from them. You embraced it willingly or you let it consume you. I embraced mine.
Through Anna's eyes I saw the red lightning within the sphere crackling and churn. Through her senses I felt it when her blood began to boil in her own veins. Through her I felt it when the entire world turned red. Then there was a shockwave felt everywhere. I felt it through my troops still in the midst of battle. I felt it in Aefwal, in Diamate. A lurching fall as the entire world was bathed in red light.
20
It wasn't the first time I had blacked out. There is always a period of re-orientation where the first things I see through my drones or my cameras are comforting and familiar. This was a mix of the familiar and the strange.
Many of my drones were scattered. Some were now clustered in tiny groups far from any of their comrades. Other sensors were almost deafened, I always have receivers open for communications and the traffic had vastly increased. Analyzing the data showed that it was mostly hardware attempting to re-establish contact with system controllers. I quickly realized it wasn't new hardware.
Electricity not powered by crystals had returned and some of the ancient machinery out there was again active. I didn't know what it was, but to have survived this long it must have had quite the power supply built to last. I tried to send airships on retrieval missions, but their jump drives wouldn't function.
I feared for a moment that despite my drone connections being maintained, and what that should mean, that the Righteous device had worked as intended. Electricity was returning and plane-jumping technology was nonfunctional.
Then I quickly reasoned it was because the Earth was no longer broken into planes.
Caya's explanation had some truth to it, the Earth had been like a rose with all of its petals plucked and jump drives let you go between petals instantly. If the rose had been restored there were no longer any petals, and jump drives were already a relic of the past.
I inventoried my systems. Bio-reactors were online, my drones maintained their upgraded abilities, my airships still flew with conventional engines and energy shielding still functioned. Aefwal's teleportation gates still worked as well, convenient. I used them to send the retrieval teams.
Then I went looking for Anna. I still had a connection. She was alive but her eyes were closed and all I got from her senses was darkness and cold. She had been wearing a comm when she went into the sphere and it wasn't operating now. No surprise, the immense energies unleashed had likely destroyed it. I could sense her, but had no idea where she might be.
It wound up relying on Sylax. As Anna's lieutenant she had a closer connection than anyone else and she was able to guide one of my drones to the northern magnetic pole. There was no sign of the sphere or the Righteous base, just snow tinted the red of blood for a mile in all directions.
Anna was buried deep beneath it, naked of her body armor and yet the sword still pierced her abdomen and blood oozed unfrozen from the wound. There was no sign of consciousness. Her heart was still beating.
I left the sword in until we could get her back to Aefwal. I wanted to make sure that Ophelia was there when we removed it.
"I could kill her, you know. Using a sword of her own making, and with her unconsciousness," Sylax said conversationally, as she slung Anna over one shoulder.
"The shuttle’s engines are bordering on overload. I don't think it would kill her, but I think the explosion stands a good chance at killing a weakling like you," I said.
"You're wrong. I'm almost back to my old self. You're stronger than you ever were, but you're not a match for me, you never have been," Sylax said, as she climbed out of the pit. "Can we catch a teleportation gate back instead?"
"First, why aren't you killing her? You're right, you could make a move. And I don't really have enough to stop you," I said.
"Anna was the best. Even unpowered she stood up to me and fought my every effort to break her and look at her now. Let me tell you a little about the Scholarium. You think we are bloodthirsty for the sake of it and treacherous by nature," Sylax said.
"Well, you are humans," I said.
Sylax tilted her head. "I concede the point. The power to rule comes from strength and the right to strength comes from competence. We often follow bad leaders only to betray them at first opportunity, because despite having power they are inept. Our Queen is not inept."
I didn't have a response for Sylax. I didn't even know how to process Sylax having a case of hero-worship for Anna. The world I'd helped to create was mad. I opened a teleportation gate and Sylax stepped through it into one of the infirmaries of Aefwal.
Ophelia was waiting for them.
"Crap, that is a lot of blood," Ophelia said.
It was, and the blood remained reactive. A spark of lightning arced out and blew out of one of the medical monitors. A second destroyed a communications panel.
Fortunately Sylax didn't need me to tell her what to do next, grasping the sword by the hilt and wrenching it free.
With the spray of blood I lost visuals in the room for several seconds and I had to repair systems damaged by electrical overload. When I restored them I found Ophelia picking herself up from the floor.
"Why do I always end up being the one getting my skin burned off?" Ophelia asked.
Anna's wound had already healed and an electrically reinforced hazardous materials unit was on the way to collect her blood so it could be moved to a lab complex. Anna's blood had caused sparks with the Source Orbs, but up until now it hadn't shown any electrically generative properties. This was new and therefore worthy of study.
