by Vic Davis
Once they departed Urta’s Rest and breached the next slip point, they were effectively locked into a death ride. There would be no turning back. There would be no ability to change plans; they would be completely committed.
They soon reconvened to find that Codex had no problems extracting the information. The odd Mesmer reported: “It seems that this place was the nexus from which they supported their various exploratory operations into the Great Desolation, and then later their subversion efforts into the Free Cities and to some extent Timathur.”
“What type of operations?” asked Breaker.
“Technical projects of various scales and scopes. Some were quite complex and originally started at their technical complex and libraries in Instrumentality. The work done here was more practical and applied. They most recently seemed fixated on finding Talents in Privil’s Landing. There are three halls dedicated to creating various mechanisms to nullify the ability of source-beings to use talents. They rely on the geometric placement of special types of materials: fragments of artifacts recovered from the Great Desolation. They did make attempts to duplicate some of the pieces but with varying degrees of success.”
“Yes, we saw the results in Privil’s Landing,” announced Stinky for the benefit of those not informed. “Commander Breaker, you were locked in one of these nullification devices were you not?”
“Just so,” affirmed Breaker. “I collected the fragments from the cages in the warehouse. I hope they have survived the journey here. Something about them hinted that they might be of use, even if we don’t understand exactly how they work.”
Pilgrim chuckled. “Why do I suspect that you are working on a plan, and this might solve some of your problems.”
Breaker smiled across its form walls. “Let’s go take a look at these fabrication halls and see what we can dig up. Think about how constrained our choices are going forward. We cannot risk The Shards. There are no routes to sidle around on the other flank. No, we must go straight at them down the Pilgrim’s Road and somehow manage to bust into Instrumentality, where no doubt they still have thousands of troops: their home guard.”
“And you think this nullification of the ether could be useful,” asked Vinks.
“If we use it in conjunction with one of our recent discoveries, perhaps it could change the entire tactical calculus of how we penetrate their defenses.”
“I don’t understand,” signaled Pilgrim starting to get annoyed at Breaker’s purposeful obtuseness.
“I think I do,” announced Stinky. “It might just work too.”
“Well, don’t spoil it, Chief Engineer,” signaled Breaker. “Let’s go scout it out and see if we are on the same page.”
They traveled deeper down into the lower levels of the citadel. The corridors were completely deserted. Voor and Codex elected to stay up top briefly and continue to try and extract any useful information from the captured technical workers. They would meet them in the work halls momentarily.
The first fabrication hall that they came across was empty showing signs of recent activity that had stripped the large workspace nearly clean. Breaker and Stinky scoured the workbenches looking for any clues or documents but found none. Pilgrim located the connecting passage that led to the neighboring halls: a utility corridor lined with storage spaces for tools and raw materials. They decided to press on.
From the cavernous space ahead came the telltale disturbances in the ether of source-beings at work: tools ringing off of flow, the soft murmurs of conversations signaled in the ether, large crates being shuffled this way and that.
Pilgrim noticed Xodd immediately. The large ovoid hovered supervising the activity: an imposing presence that radiated authority over its subordinates. Malador and The Old Alchemist were busily engaged in some dispute while working on a wagon in the middle of a large workspace; from the tones displayed on their form walls, Pilgrim suspected that things were not going well. As Pilgrim, Stinky, Breaker and Zuur approached the members of Xodd’s company took notice; a silence descended.
Xodd greeted them. “Welcome to my special projects room. Feel free to go find your own.”
Pilgrim noticed Breaker bristle at the suggestion. Even Stinky seemed put off by the brazen arrogance and effrontery. The Librarian that governed Pilgrim’s implanted weapon was mildly amused. Xodd and Radzak’s personality fragment were apparently well matched and suited for each other.
Stinky made a cursory inspection of Xodd’s project then asked: “You are building some type of war wagon?”
“Yes, precisely so. Malador and the old geezer here have an idea that might prove very useful. If it works, we might share it with you.”
Breaker was less than amused. “These artifact fragments here are valuable resources. We have some from Privil’s Landing. They can negate the ability of a Talent to exercise its special abilities. They seem to be able to modify the ether in some way. The cage you freed me from in that warehouse employed just such a contrivance.”
“Oh, yes,” confirmed the Old Alchemist hovering forward to address Breaker more directly. “I suspected such a situation. The artifacts are not made of flow. They resemble flow superficially, but they are something else entirely. Perhaps a hybrid of source and flow? Not source certainly. A pseudo source of some type. I would need a laboratory to analyze them and perhaps an eternity to come to the wrong conclusion.”
“I doubt that it will take that long,” interjected Voor’s lead pilgrim in an unusually authoritative tone. Its cluster of pilgrims accompanied by Codex and a gaggle of dominated technicians filed into the hall and assumed positions near a row of work benches lining one of the walls of the fabrication hall. “You see Codex here has the advantage of having absorbed the practical knowledge of these Council workers. And from what we can see, you are sort of on the right track, but what you desire is impractical.”
Xodd laughed. “And what do you think that I am building? No, do not tell me. Just go away Voor. I don’t need you any longer even if my parasite argues otherwise.”
Voor seemed not in the least bit insulted, thought Pilgrim. They had obviously developed some form of adversarial relationship: not a good natured one to be sure, more like that of a parent to a rebellious child. “Captain Xodd, I have gained a significant insight into your thought process, having spent so much time with you recently. You lost your war wagon with the weapon mounted on it, so now you certainly desire a replacement. You hope to use the artifacts to reverse their dampening effect on the ether and instead amplify the energy that you command gifted to you by the Librarian you carry inside you. Is this not true.”
Xodd was silent but its form walls betrayed a growing consternation and anger. After a short deliberation Xodd signaled, “Do you wish to breach the great walls of Instrumentality? How do you intend to deal with the garrison there? Surely no less than ten thousand well trained inerts will resist your efforts. Is it not clear that we need an offensive weapon of some sort?”
“Those are excellent questions captain,” replied Voor. “But the artifacts will not work in the way that you desire. Have you not consulted your Librarian? If you do not care to believe its advice, you may consult Codex and the technicians here. We have learned much from them. They can help us assemble and align the artifact fragments in the correct geometry.”
Xodd was dumbfounded. “The correct geometry? What do you propose? That we construct a prison that will enfeeble us and then gift ourselves to our enemies? I expected better even from you Voor.”
Pilgrim watched as Voor and Breaker exchanged some symbols in a low murmur of signaling. They had obviously already put some thought into formulating a strategy for the near future. Breaker addressed Xodd: “We need to work together, and I have been remiss in not bringing you into the fold to discuss our plans and intentions. While it would be helpful if we could reverse the polarity of the artifacts, this is simply not feasible and even if it were, it would not be the best use of these materials.”
Xodd hovere
d forward to confront them. “The Radzak fragment says it is not impossible. Malador here believes it will work. The old geezer does too. Why do I suspect that you wish to dissuade me from wielding this power simply because it will be denied to you?”
Stinky became suddenly animated. “You have no understanding of how the ether works. You couldn’t begin to fathom the nature of the field and its intricacies. I’ve spent countless cycles shaping and changing its tensors with a child’s understanding of what I was doing. You have no concept of the dangers involved—”
Voor cut Stinky off as politely as it could manage. “What the Chief Engineer is trying to say is that ‘not impossible’ does not translate to feasible nor does it mean expedient or useful. Of all the source-beings here, I would think that you understand the meaning of useful.”
“Voor is correct,” interrupted Breaker. “We need a vehicle that will shield us from the type of storm that we experienced not long ago in this node. We intend to create another such storm in the node that harbors Instrumentality. We will use the shield provided by these artifacts to navigate through the storm while our enemies are incapable of acting. We will breach the gate at Instrumentality and then approach the citadel and penetrate it as well. Then Pilgrim will deliver its weapon, arm it and we will do our best to escape.”
Pilgrim listened to the plan wondering why it had never been briefed on it. The idea was direct, simple and worthy of something Breaker might concoct. Still, it would have been nice to have been informed. Did Stinky know about this? Pilgrim asked: “It sounds like a brilliant plan; was there some reason I was not made aware of it? Especially since you will need me to help summon the storm.”
“My apologies Pilgrim,” offered Breaker. “It’s been an idea that has been percolating within my transom for some time. Only now in Urta’s Rest after we have had such spectacular luck, have the pieces fallen into place. If it makes you feel any better, I have yet to fully brief Vinks.”
Stinky was now charged with an enthusiasm that it could barely contain. “The question now becomes whether we can build such a vehicle in two cycles. We will require the expertise of these technicians, and General Xodd’s cooperation of course.”
Xodd sighed heavily after engaging its Librarian in a brief dispute. “We agree to cooperate. I will have no peace otherwise. Malador and the old geezer will assist you.”
“Excellent,” signaled Voor motioning for Codex to get the work started. The technicians gathered together with Stinky, Malador and the Old Alchemist to discuss the arrangement of the artifacts, the geometry required and how they might be placed on the vehicle to be constructed. Stinky argued immediately for an enlargement of the wagon itself, perhaps the concatenation of several to be pushed by the occupants rather than pulled by Drothgar that would not handle the storm well, especially if they were not also shielded within the wagons.
Pilgrim hovered quietly over to Voor and discreetly asked, “What do you know about this Librarian that Xodd carries within? My own device seems to recognize it in some way.” Pilgrim froze briefly as the weapon’s controller once again reasserted its opinion. “It’s now told me as much again. The device over there implanted in Xodd is a sliver of a simulation of Radzak the Trembler. The intelligence of the weapon’s Librarian that was fashioned by Odnir is certain of this.”
“This seems to be the case. I have been able to sense things but not communicate directly despite what Xodd might believe. The device seems capable of some type of empathic emanations. It might contain some part of Radzak’s intellect, but its interface is that of its consort apparently. It drives Xodd crazy.”
“Is it intelligent? Will it help us?”
“It will do its best. Xodd is not easily manipulated. But we can count on one thing to channel Xodd’s cooperation.”
“What is that?”
“Its desire to hurt the council and its unshakeable will to achieve its revenge.”
“Interesting,” signaled Pilgrim taking a closer look at Xodd as it gave orders to its company members. “I must admit to having similar motivations. But I find it difficult to even imagine what the next cycle will bring. Until now, revenge almost seemed impossible; I had no choice but to muddle forward in despair. Now, we might be able to actually finish this.”
“I would caution prudent optimism,” signaled Voor. “We are still in a race to beat the opening of the last two seals. For all we know, they have done so already. They might be emerging from their prison to destroy us even as we hover here signaling of your desire for revenge.”
Chapter 18
The Best Laid Plans
The second seal collapsed without warning. The inhabitants of the prison orb watched with barely restrained joy as the tortuous confines of painful infinite recursion shifted into a more accommodating infinite plane. The effects were immediate: a liberating sense of increased freedom, a clarity of thought that had been unthinkable an eon ago, a growing sense of apprehension mixed with urgency.
Tens of thousands of intelligent entities had been thrown into the computation that had loosened the second seal. They had been tricked into traveling through a dimensional gate only to be trapped and stored in prisons not that different from the one that confined the three. The essence of their information patterns within the ether had been used to power a brute force attack against second seal.
The intellects of the beings incarcerated within the prison were at a disadvantage; the very nature of the prison enforced a fuzziness of being that was debilitating. But gradually they had explored and identified the underlying precepts of the device which imprisoned them: the craftsmanship was familiar. The insights enabled short cuts to be fabricated from Talents discovered and captured in Privil’s Landing: a minor guild whose ability was a crude form of empathic perception. They had worked flawlessly as hacks in the algorithm.
That Which Exfiltrates emitted a howl of ecstatic celebration, then shouted out a well-known popular Aldruathezai slogan: “Order to the multiverse! Dissolution to the Entropists and Chaoticists!”
“Control yourself,” warned That Which Sublimates. “We are not free of this prison yet.”
That Which Contrives politely attempted to dismiss any concerns. “General, the third seal is trivial, we are all but assured our freedom.”
That Which Sublimates was not convinced. “Breaking the third seal requires that we effectively go blind until the code is cracked. We must be assured that we will have no interference while the computation is completed. Such a miscalculation would be extremely detrimental to our plans. Can we say with assurance that we are in such a position? Again, I ask: what do we know?”
“We know that the nomad army has not moved from its shrine,” replied That Which Contrives. “They have probed in small groups all the way down to the fortifications that secure the slip point, but no farther. They seem quite content to build their strange tower— monument, or whatever it is supposed to be.
“It worries me that they behave so strangely,” announced That Which Sublimates. “Surely, they must realize the advantage that they possess in the node militarily. They could push us hard by pressuring the slip point and yet they loiter and occupy a useless crater. What hidden intentions are they concealing? Might their behavior be a ruse?”
“Impossible to say while we are trapped in this prison,” replied That Which Contrives. “The slave creatures that we command can offer no serious explication. We must seek to counter the threat with what forces are available.”
“To this end an additional emergency conversion of troops is underway,” added That Which Exfiltrates. “But they will not be ready, if we begin the dissolution of the Third Seal now.”
“What is the status of the traitor Baloris?” asked That Which Sublimates. Its two lieutenants could not help but detect a note of recrimination in the question.
Neither lieutenant was eager to answer but That Which Contrives knew that dominating Sinthis to fulfill the duties of Baloris had been its task. “We have been una
ble to locate the Baloris. It seems possible that the Baloris might be trying to organize an insurrection or rebellion against the council in the core nodes. It tried to place a crony in charge of Urta’s Rest but that has been corrected. The army there under Vodd continues to search the surrounding settlements. The slip point on the Pilgrim’s Road has been secured.”
That Which Sublimates restrained a chuckle at the thought of Baloris trying to organize resistance to their rule. “The Baloris was always an odd creature. I want it captured cohering and conscious in this ether. I have plans for it that must not be disrupted.”
Both lieutenants seemed eager to see their general fulfill its ambitions for dealing with the slave creature. A thought occurred to That Which Exfiltrates. “General, when we are finally free of this prison, what forms will we take when we reenter the polytope? The last time we did so, the gate which pierced the veil assisted us in choosing our forms. I remember the astonishment that we all experienced after the falling. It was not what was expected.”
“Have no worries there,” answered That Which Sublimates. “Was I not formidable when I destroyed the Heretic Who Trembles? Such will be the case again. We cannot not translate as anything other than the immortal supreme powers that we are by our very natures.”
“The polytope was restrictive,” reminisced That Which Exfiltrates. “If I recall correctly the instantiating field was rather primitive. The most efficient shapes tending towards some variation of a sphere. More complex structures required focus and concentration.”