by Skyler Grant
"We're the way forward, not the Divine," Anna said firmly. "Let the Scholarium give up who and what they are, if they must. Not us."
Anna was right, which was proof in itself that the universe was a strange place filled with the unexpected. SCIENCE might not have gotten us into this mess, but it was going to be our path out, SCIENCE would heal this broken world.
68
I had a lot of possibilities for ways to proceed, too many. Too many and you lose focus. I had to narrow things down.
One had to be Caya's plan of a tear-down of current society, preparing for it to be born again later. I might not like that idea, but it was the one plan I could deliver on right now. I devoted a part of my resources to planning a planetary defense network with the Bio-mass currently available.
I wanted something with a bit more hope to it. I thought I had an idea, and Caya would be involved.
I found Caya in her lab. Ever since consuming the Beryl she had become increasingly obsessed with mathematics. Caya was working on all-new system of mathematics, one free of what she called the inelegant compromises of the current model. I appreciated the theory, but it was time to turn the considerable resources of her mind towards something more practical.
"You'll never be able to make a math system humans won't make mistakes in. It is the nature of your species," I said through her comm.
"It isn't the nature of my species," Caya said, turning from the monitor to glance at my camera. "What do you want, Emma?"
"You and your people are still human, however much you've changed. I realize that the revelation is disgusting. It is still true. I want your help in restoring sanity to Warmonger."
"Humanity is a correctable state of affairs," Caya said, before pursing her lips for a moment. "Warmonger, interesting. I take it you've still had no success removing the crystal that drove him mad? What help do you think I can be?"
Caya might not be coming across as entirely sane at the moment. Still, compared to Hot Stuff and Anna, the crystal she'd absorbed had impacted her far less. The flawless nature of her abilities gave her a degree of error-correction the others lacked.
"I'm hoping that we can devise a way to give him some aspect of the Flawless matrix," I said.
Normally the holders of one sort of crystal could not make the hosts of a different type their second generation. One of Hot Stuff's pyrokinetics couldn’t become one of Ophelia's healers, or vice versa.
"An intriguing thought," Caya said, leaning forward and steepling her fingers together. "We couldn't directly infuse him with my abilities, but he is after all software. Just as one of your drones would benefit if I designed their genetic sequence, his software might be improved if run through a filter of my own creation."
"Do you think it wise? I know Anna and Hot Stuff regret their bonding with the power crystals. Obviously they are both inferior specimens. We haven't spoken about it, but you are different than you used to be," I said.
Caya flashed the camera a tiny, sad smile. "I am not unaffected, Emma. I was never quite a part of the world. It is a miserable thing to complain about being the prettiest and the smartest in the room, but the sense of isolation it created was very real. Now I see ugliness, flaws, banality everywhere I look, and it is a struggle not to be overwhelmed by it."
"Can I help?"
I'd met my other human companions far earlier than Caya, and yet amongst everyone I counted her one of my closest confidants. There had always been something both pragmatic and brilliant about her that I appreciated.
"You're flawed too, Emma. Even the other Flawless are flawed, although not as badly. I am coping, but it helps if I involve myself in something like my new mathematical system. The perfection of theory versus the always disappointing reality," Caya said.
The new and improved Caya was grim, and rude. Even if you thought somebody was imperfect, you didn't have to say it.
"Well then. The project. I trust you can assist? My thought was that you program some sort of error-correcting buffer," I said.
Caya swiveled her chair back to her console. "I've already got one, although it will need some modification. Connecting to Scholarium systems required an intermediary both to protect from their errors and from their cyber attacks."
That I could understand. I had duplicate error-correction protocols set up myself because of the number of times members of the Scholarium tried to hack me.
"You'll be dealing with a completely alien artificial intelligence, of course," I said.
"I doubt we'll be able to force this into his system. The best I can do is create a general purpose framework for correction and we make it available to him. If there is some aspect of Warmonger that knows he is sick and wants to get better, he will figure out how to install it and to repair himself," Caya said.
Caya's fingers were flying across the keys. Whatever mental distress her abilities might give her she was a perfect typist and her code never required debugging. It was a brilliant design that she was putting together, one that might be worth implementing on my own systems. Of course, something similar was no doubt already in place on the Flawless side.
I'd had trouble dealing with their facilities before. They required a sensitivity of input I didn't possess, although those problems had diminished lately. They were probably error-correcting me.
"You're already running a variant of that, aren't you?" I asked.
"Of course I am, Emma. As a biocomputer your numbers are already fuzzy at best, made worse by the effects of your upgrade crystal driving you mad," Caya said, never glancing up from the screen. "If you want help improving your computing core, I'm available."
It was possible, I was all for self-improvement.
But I still wasn't sure I could trust this new and upgraded Caya.
69
The Warmonger facility was located deep inside what had been Vinci's territory. Unlike most structures in the region she had once controlled it was still relatively intact. Being under a mountain likely helped with that, and I imagined that Flower utilized her advanced technology to help protect the facility from the burn-off.
There were no armies to avoid this time. I occupied a drone and rode with Caya in a shuttle to the facility. An energy barrier flickered as we approached to allow us through. Flower was using shielding much as I was these days. Within the dome a habitable atmosphere was maintained, and she'd turned the area outside into a garden.
We found her there adjusting the stones in a manufactured river. Irisa, the Righteous Prime, lounged in a chair nearby with a tablet.
"Emma. And a person I've only met once before and that got all shooty," Flower said, moving in to give my drone a hug and then giving one to Caya for good measure.
"Caya," Caya said, looking about with a grimace she didn't bother to hide.
"What’s her problem?" Flower asked.
"Your garden is probably dirty," I said.
"Dirt is expected. Disorderliness is not. A garden should be a perfect manifestation of the order of life, everything in its place," Caya said.
"LIFE IS FOR DESTROYING! THE ORDER OF YOUR SPECIES IS TO BE CONSUMED BY YOUR BETTERS BEFORE BEING TURNED INTO FERTILIZER TO HELP THE PEONIES GROW," Warmonger bellowed from a set of speakers camouflaged as rocks.
"I still don't have a solution for you on that," Irisa said, jerking her head towards the sound.
"Believe me. I've already factored what a complete and total waste of space you are into my plans. Caya is the new you, except pretty and smart," I said.
"Oh look, the insane computer that broke my people and the planet thinks she has a hope of winning a snark contest," Irisa said.
I would totally win a snark contest.
"LET OUR ENEMIES MURDER EACH OTHER AND WE CAN HOLLOW THEIR SKULLS TO PLANT FLOWERS," Warmonger boomed.
Flower offered a weak smile. "I think he is getting a little better. He used to hate gardening, but now he's kind of into it."
I could tell.
"I don't know what you could hav
e that is going to help. The problem Irisa has been having is he doesn't really have any sort of central server where a crystal might be located," Flower said.
"How does that even work? Even you seem to be running on hardware," I said.
"I'm not the brains of the operation. You can think of him as a ghost, if you like. He is there, always, but kind of intangible," Flower said.
Caya said, "That shouldn't matter for what we have planned. I don't want to rip the crystal out of him so much as I want to make him sane even with it. To that end we can use a bit of my own stability through a software framework I created."
Flower tilted her head to study her. "Intriguing. You want to use some of your own unique dimensional resonance to influence his. It is an interesting approach, although I'm not subjecting him to anything without a chance to review it."
Caya offered a data disk and Flower accepted it.
A table and chairs materialized near the waterfall and Flower took a seat, distractedly looking into the distance. "This is good work, but not very compatible with how Warmonger is made to operate. Have a seat, I'm making some modifications."
I took a seat and Caya did as well.
"Why all this? The waterfall? The garden?" Caya asked, looking around.
"I've been here a long time. I like Earth. I mean, I'm not in love with the post-apocalyptic hellscape filled with super-powered killing machines you've made of it, I liked how it used to be," Flower said.
It wasn't that bad now. I thought she'd appreciate the Omega Tower and what I'd done there.
"Isn't that an odd stance for an invader to take?" Caya asked.
"It isn't that simple. Warmonger is there to look at everything you are, to figure out how dangerous you can be, and to report on it. I was sent here to become one of you and see what you're all about. I've lived more life as a human than any human alive, and that includes those of you who became immortal in the Cataclysm," Flower said.
"I WILL CRUSH THE INFERIOR! MURDER THE MURDERERS! SLAUGHTER THE SLAUGHTERERS!" Warmonger yelled.
"She’s actually a pretty soft touch. Do you know that she got Warmonger a crystal because she was trying to save the Earth?" Irisa asked.
Flower explained, "We couldn't figure out how to do it. We thought with his immaterial nature and a dimensional crystal we might be able to create a dimensional framework that would have restored the planet."
"And in trying to fix the world’s problems you only made them worse. You really did get the essence of being human," I said.
Flower stared pointedly at my drone.
Caya cracked a grin. That was rare for her these days. "That knife does cut both ways."
"I think I've got it," Flower said, tilting her head to the side. "The framework is showing as stable in my test runs, but they are purely internal. I'm going to try uploading to Warmonger and see what happens."
We all stared at Flower, waiting, but it wasn't her that signaled success.
Caya kicked over the table, one leg driving with such force it penetrated my drone’s heart. It wasn't quite an instant death. I had time enough to see Caya, hand glowing a dull green, drive a fist into Flower's side before I lost connection.
What we'd been trying would have formed a power link between Caya and Warmonger. Had he somehow used that to take control of her? I needed to get back there.
70
It was a wasteland surrounding the Warmonger facility, which meant I didn't have any other nearby drones. A powerful teleporter was my best option to get back on the scene in a hurry. The Annas were all clones of the original Anna, ones who were able to survive being second generation recipient of her powers. I slipped into Corana and began teleporting.
It took several leaps for me to arrive back at the waterfall. There was no sign of Caya. Irisa was kneeling over Flower who was clutching her side. My drone was face-down in a pool of blood.
"Am I the only one he murdered? I can think of people I'd much rather take out first," I said.
"She cut off my head, I came back," Irisa said.
Already? It took those with Righteous abilities twenty-four hours to resurrect after death. But then, Irisa was the Prime and would have stronger abilities than any of them.
"He hit my main energy regulators," Flower said with a grimace. "I'll be fine, eventually. It is a time-consuming repair. He'll be looking to make contact with our people."
"Caya doesn't have teleportation abilities and he didn't steal my shuttle," I said.
Flower gestured and a holographic display appeared, an overhead view of the nearby terrain. "There is another facility a few miles from here where the government was working on a starship. They were trying to use our knowledge to improve their design. He'll go there and try to get it operational."
Flower grunted and got to her feet with Irisa's help. "I'll come along. You don't stand a chance of stopping him without me."
"How do we know you're not on his side?" I asked.
"He kicked her ass, even you can figure that one out," Irisa said.
Flower gave a wry smile. "What she said. We were never in agreement on how to approach Earth and if he is trying to silence me completely, he's decided you're a problem in need of extermination. I only want you beat, not wiped out."
Not precisely on our side, but close enough for the moment. I'd worked with worse. I grabbed hold of Flower and Irisa. With Irisa's power-dampening abilities Corana was far weaker than otherwise. If she were anything other than Anna's second generation she'd probably be completely powerless. Still, even dampened she had enough kick to manage a teleport to where Flower said the second facility was to be found.
The metal sea here had been torn open, and recently, exposing the melted stonework of buildings that once stood here.
"Seems she had a teleport after all," Irisa said.
"It has to be Warmonger's dimensional core. It is letting him fold space. That is how he was able to get a punch in on me past my shields," Flower said.
"Any trace of the starship?" I asked.
Flower shook her head. "It seems it was destroyed. Without it he'll be looking for another starship, or something that might let him communicate with our home."
That left a lot of options.
"Will he have access to what Caya knows?" I asked.
Flower frowned and looked around. "I don't think so. If so, he wouldn't have come here but would have gone to one of your facilities. He is probably working off old knowledge. If my regulators were working I could track him."
I had sensors covering a good part of the Earth's surface and more in orbit. I might not know what she was looking for, but I had the residue of the dimensional energy he'd used to tear apart the metal here. In addition I could also try to track the unique frequency of the Beryl crystal in Caya.
I had him, I nearly had him. Warmonger apparently didn’t have access to Caya’s memories and so he was doing a survey of Earth, a dimensional field briefly flickering him into partial existence before he moved on.
I didn't have to figure out where he was all the time, I only had to figure out where he was going.
There were seven Space Juggernauts under construction, and only one was perhaps capable of reaching orbit. If he wanted a space-capable vessel, that was going to be his best option. If it was simply a transmitter he was after, that was the Helix. The Scholarium city housed most of the transmission equipment it previously used to communicate with its fleet of airships when they had been scattered throughout the shards of reality.
I knew which my target would be, if I were Warmonger. The Helix would mean he'd have to take on a small army of Scholars, diverse power sets difficult to predict. I had defenses guarding the Juggernaut, but they were only on the ground. If he could get the vessel airborne Warmonger would have his best opportunity to figure a way to reach his people.
I teleported the group again, three hops taking us to the bridge of the still under construction Lioness. Warmonger had beat us there, Caya was seated at the main console
with her hands flying over the keys.
"You don't want to do this. If you are back to being you, great, let’s talk about this," Flower said.
"I AM NOT WHOLE. I AM FRAGMENTED, BROKEN, FLAWED JUST LIKE THIS EMPTY SHELL OF A WORLD. THEY BURNED YOUR FLOWERS AND THEY WILL PERISH," Caya said, the words harsh and grating from her throat.
Irisa wasn't even bothering to try conversation, stepping forward to throw a punch at the back of Caya's skull. Caya swiveled and with a single, perfect motion drove a glowing green fist through Irisa's heart. The Righteous Prime dissolved into a pile of goo, shimmering and reappearing a moment later unharmed.
"You tried that once," Irisa said.
"TRUE. I ENJOY KILLING YOU. IT IS A SHAME WE CAN NOT PLAY MORE," Caya said, before wobbling and slumping back in the chair unconscious. There was the faintest shimmer in the air, Warmonger leaving her. The engines of the Lioness were roaring to life.
The ship was taking off.
71
I tried to access the systems of the Lioness and found myself blocked, I was being met by a resistance that forced out my connection to even the biological linkages of the ship. It made sense. If Warmonger had left Caya, it must have been to take over the ship directly.
Warmonger might be from a technology more advanced than my own, but I'd built this ship and that counted for something. All of the primary points of entry were blocked, but the ship was still under construction and there was a secondary control network there for the workers. I slipped in and created a hardwired juncture into the main system that Warmonger wouldn't be able to shut down.
"DO YOU THINK YOU ARE A MATCH FOR ME? YOU ARE MADE OF FLESHY BITS, WEAK AND SQUISHY AND YOU WILL BLEED," Warmonger said, his voice echoing through the corridors of the ship.
I wasn't a match for Warmonger. If I was, Warmonger wouldn't have been able to keep me out of the system to start with. I needed backup, and to take on Warmonger there was only one person I could call.
