FFFF

[X] sunhat
[X] bikini
[X] engineered leaves designed to look temporary
[X] thigh highs (waterproof)
[X] sarong

[x] Head to the Reefside Temple

After dressing, you head to the shuttle bay and drop into the gunners seat of the shuttle. It's a sparrowform vehicle, a fairly common and utilitarian design common on the edge of Garden space. The cargo bay and external weapon/sensor hardpoints are all standard and well known to you from the invisible recesses of your practical memory. What's non-standard is the stealth system, made from Nephilim parts the Writer obtained for you and assembled with Alex's instructions. Turn it on and you'll be next to invisible, even to military sensors.

The inside is as undecorated as the outside. The cockpit is a frontal glass bulge, the cre cabin behind it white walls for a coating of augmented reality. The ship has only a single small flex-dedicated shrine and a wall of climbing vines to relieve the blankness. The biggest internal change is the seat finish, which you did hastily after everyone sat down and realised how unpleasant the rubbery default material was going to be on a trip down with everyone in swimwear.

You've selected a mostly organic outfit. You're discovering yourself to be a flower girl. The leaf bikini appeals but reminds you vaguely of old religious iconography you can't quite place, so you decide to hedge your bets with a sarong and thigh-highs of sheer multilayered pink like flower petals, and a straw sunhat. It took a bit of time to arrange the leaves to look appealing without actually putting anything at risk, but it's time you had while you wait for the ship to reach its destination. Which is just about due.

"We're almost in position." Reizay reports over comm.

"Is anything looking at us?" Mirareki asks.

"I don't think so. The Chrysanthemum ships over Mesendra's Hope have us on their search radar but there's no evidence of focused emissions. They'll see you when you jump, but several other freighters have dropped off shuttles that have made atmospheric entry though. So it shouldn't be too suspicious."

"They probably don't care all that much." Luyu says. "The planet's too underpopulated to worry too much about air traffic control off the main routes." The four of her move into the bay behind you, and strap down in the jump seats next to the shuttle's forward lock. Luyu is wearing square, supportive sports style bikinis, each in an attractive three colour design that shows off a lot of her tanned skin and an interesting combination of muscles. She hasn't bothered with a sunhat, but each body has a different orchid culitvar in its hair, along with an array of bangles in gold and platinum. They're probably secondary aura emitters.

"I'm surprised they're not trying to isolate the planet, especially this close to the River border." Mirareki secures a heavy duffle in one of the overhead racks, making sure it's fully shut before shipping. "Aren't they worried about weapons smuggling?" She's dressed as tactically as you can be when going to the beach, with a nanoweave bikini under a soft light coloured jacket and sports cap, a pistol mostly concealed by the hem. "It's pretty tense down there. Big protests against the Chrysanthemum presence in Mesendra Bay."

"I doubt it" you say. "Weapon smuggling is fine if they want the Communion to start something."

"Seriously?" Mirareki looks at you.

"Yeah." Luyu nods. "They want a big battle where they can crush the Commune with firepower from orbit and capture as many of their fighters as possible up front. After that, they'll pull back and negotiate. The worst thing in a situation like this is an indecisive victory that leaves you with a giant guerrilla war. If possible you want the other side to feel like they started it and got smacked down."

Reizay's hologram nods. She gets it. Of course. "Anyhow, we're approaching the drop point. Juketta, are you ready?"

"Yes. Sorry. I was just doing a final check on my gear." Juketta bustles up the ramp. She's wearing a kind of tiny white bikini, made of three mathematically perfect triangles. It really sets off her blue skin.

"I didn't know they let maths botherers dress like that." Luyu says as they walk past.

"Perhapsk there's a lot of things you don't know about us." says Juketta as she hops up into the pilot seat behind you and straps in. "Ready to drop."

"Alright." Reizay says, she takes a deep breath. "Good luck. I'll join you when you head to the city."

You're a little worried about Reizay. She told you earlier she wanted to stay on ship with Atet, and gave you a big spiel about how it would be useful for her to do so because you didn't have an entire deep ship, and she could change orbits and provide electronic support from orbit, and anyway it would suit her speciality to to stay with the powerful ship mainframe rather even though she'd miss out on the beach and the adventure, and so on though an unconvincingly protracted series of excuses that seemed aimed as much at herself as you. It didn't seem the time to push it..

She's been a little off since the events on Scythia, the prison and the tower. And the two of the trinity Etta who didn't walk unconcerned up to the face of the cosmos and smash it were absent for a long time. It's been good to see Juketta surfaced and active for this project. You hope you'll see Minetta again soon.

And of course, everyone else died.

"Everyone G-safe?" Juketta asks, unnecessarily, as the shuttle would tell her if they weren't. "Alright, drop us."

The bay opens and you fall out a sky carved between night black above and the bright rainbow of Nereid below. Its seas are a beautiful mosaic, red and green and blue as alien algae and minerals fill areas of the water. Above it, green and white clouds. You can see the hurricane system hanging over the Narla's Hope, a great rotating grey funnel. You can see beacons and transmission sources, ships at sea, the stranger emissions of Nereidi sources.

There's a grey rush as the shuttle micro jumps, saving almost half an hour of usual decent, followed by the heavy bump and flash of a sudden atmospheric entry. Then you're low over the sea, a bottle green expanse of water extending out, then mixing with an area of bloody red.

"So question." Luyu says. "With all this stuff in the water, is it safe to swim in? Also, why is it like this?"

"It's mostly safe," starts Juketta, "but there can be some nasty chemicals in some areas. We think the old Nereidi civilization used a lot of deep magma vent taps and they blew during its fall. The red areas are minerals, not a blood tide. The actual pseudo-algae sections are also harmless, except during that biome's blooming season and…" " Juketta pauses, "...let me send you the colour guide. Anyway, it's an ancient Nereidi engineered ecosystem that transports oxygen and nutrients to the deep ocean. It's far more fertile than most ocean worlds."

"I'm detecting another beacon near the temple." Reizay says over the comm. "I think there's a team down there already… looks like just civilians. I checked their social media and they look like a real expedition. Some kind of university team with an academician and an influencer student type who makes videos. Archeo-Shorts."

"Oh yes, I watched some of her content. It's good, though a little light weight." Juketta says. "It's a well known site. It's not too much of a surprise to find other visitors. I've actually heard of the leader."

"There's also a group of ships far offshore. Wet navy. They appear to be four military vessels and a pair of support freighters, all belonging to some kind of conflict specialist group called 'ECHO CHAMBER'."

"Heard of them." Luyu says. "They mostly work for the Chrysanthemum, but they're not actually Chrysanthemum mercenaries."

"What does that mean?" asks Reizay .

"They're not under direct command from the Chrysanthemum war council, but have their own chain of command." Volunteer units like that are pretty common everywhere. You feel like you've heard of ECHO CHAMBER before.

The Reefside temple is some thousand kilometres west of the main settlement areas. It stands about fifty metres offshore in the centre of a lagoon, with coral reefs and trees that serve the same purpose of mangroves on all sides of it. On the landward side, the land rises up a great black and white sand beach, then vivid purple and green forests. The Temple itself is an organic looking structure like a small mountain, a pyramid of rock and coral coated with gleaming, black leafed plant life.

"Those are actually symbiotic," Juketta says. "They're one of the things that's kept the structure together for over a million years."

A white painted hovercraft is drawn up near the shore, and four figures near it watch as Juketta brings the shuttle into land, feathering the jets so as to be able to land close without spraying them with dust or zapping them with the anti-dust field.

The other team consists of a somewhat stuffy mature looking woman with a gleaming data external and long, burnished horns sticking out of her hair, a tanned young woman who gives off the air of a grad student, but whose obvious beauty and neon short-shorts suggest she's the front-woman. You guess those are the famous archaeo-shorts. A more unassuming pink-haired camera woman is looking slightly uncomfortable in cargo shorts and a mess of drone control and recording equipment.

The final woman wears shorts and a crop top with a pair of pistols at her hips and more gear on frames on her thighs. Of the group she's the only one who you think is a Communionist. She's quite eye-catching, with ivory blond hair and thick dark makeup on her lips and eyes.

You get out, save two Luyus staying in the craft just in case it does turn into a fight, and walk down to meet them.

"Good day to you," says the professor, while the influencer looking girl speaks into a camera drone about your arrival. "I wasn't aware that there was going to be another expedition here at this time."

Juketta steps forward and grabs her hand. "Ah, you must be the famous Academician Anabis." She shakes the woman's hand vigorously. "And you're filming with Archeo-Shorts? You must be Jessica."

"You watch my content?" The grad student says, sounding surprised.

"I'm a travelling historian and they came recommended for introducing this topic." She smiles.. "I'm Juketta, these are my companions." She introduces each of you.

"This is Alawen, our security" The professor indicates the tall Communion member, who nods, her eyes not ever lifting off you. "and Bethany is the camera woman."

"It's a pleasure. You're also investigating the reef side temple?"

"Yes. We've been wanting to film here for a while, and well, what with everything going on this could be the last chance." Jessica says. "Is it the same for you?"

<<What should I tell her?>> Juketta sends to you.

[ ] Tell them little, just say you're also here to document the temple and try to maintain separation.
[ ] Tell them little but try to enlist their help, don't tell them what you're specifically interested in.
[ ] Tell them you're looking to examine a particular set of murals, but not why.
[ ] Tell them the specifics, and that you're investigating the potential existence of extant creatures that were depicted by the Nereidi.

[X] Tell them you're looking to examine a particular set of murals, but not why.

<<Tell her we want to examine the murals, but don't let on why.>>

<<Okay.>> She sounds a little sour about the deception, but goes along.

"It's much the same for us." Juketta says. "The truth is we're touring throughout the Corner Stars. We heard about this temple and the Nereid murals inside. Given the instability here, we thought we'd better rush our trip. We're particularly looking to see the Stars and Diamonds Mural, on the third layer down."

"Ah, are you a university team?" asks the academician. "Stars and Diamonds is an unusual choice. since there's not been a lot of headway made on deciphering it."

"I am an ordained Eternalist. I have a particular interest in such things."

"It's rare for an eternalist to have such capable company." The academician looks you over. "Or is this a Journey to Inflorescence style situation?" Juketta laughs dutifully. They're obviously conferring on their own secure link. Reizay flags the transmission, even though it's pretty quiet, but this crew is obviously kitted up for a potential warzone, and neither she nor Alex can casually break it. "Still, I see that you are a well accredited historian, if you want to see the temple, I'm sure you can join us."

"Thank you." Juketta says.

"I'm afraid we'll have to climb. The entrance is at the top." The academician says, and points to a set of worn steps in the side of the structure.

<<We'll stay out here and watch the shuttle,>> one of the two remaining Luyus sends. <<Don't want to scare them.>>

<<Okay.>> The other two and Mirareki move forward to help Juketta and the academician and camera woman unload a rigid inflatable boat from the other team's shuttle. You wonder if you should help too but you can see that Jessica wants to ask you things, and there's probably enough hands already so you loiter up the beach with her.

"So I checked the feeds. You were on Scythia recently, weren't you? You did something heroic."

"Yeah, we were on Scythia." You check the local information systems. She's not sending live video at least.

"Don't worry, nothing you say to me will go out till I upload everything when we get home. I'm not going to compromise you. I just want to know if you're going to involve me and my crew in anything dangerous."

"That's nice of you." You glance at her, then relent a little. "We really are just here to see the temple though. Even sinister tactical teams like ancient ruins."

She laughs, which is good, you weren't sure you'd land that one. "I'm not going to begrudge you liking old things." They have the boat in the water. "Come on." She leads you down to it and you follow, binding your hair into a ponytail in preparation for potential tight quarters.

It doesn't take too long to row across to the base of the temple, and the steps on the side, while oddly spaced aren't difficult to climb. As you go, you see the organic coating up close. It's actually quite complex, with at least five different species of immotile life coating the structure. The black broad leaved climber winds around in complex patterns that allow another species of fat, waxy vines to climb up, and there's a three colour rainbow of lichen coating the surface below.

Jessica leans close. "The plants are part of what's preserved the structure for more than a million years." She says. You can't help but notice that her dark auburn hair and tanned but light skin makes a nice contrast to your much darker skin and silver hair. The camerawoman has noticed too, cause she's filming you both. "They keep away other plantlife, and bind the building together, plus they nourish the still living parts of the land coral below. We think they also prevent it from growing out of control."

You ask a few polite questions about the prevalence of the plant around the planet (only on other Nereid buildings), and the usage the plant has been put to (the local security says they use it on a few of their own buildings). At the top, you pause to admire the view. It's nice to be able to just look out at land and not have to immediately worry there might be Nephilim hiding in it, but you should turn back to the task at hand. The entrance awaits, under an overhang, that blocks out rain and sunlight alike.

"Do you mind if we get a shot of the two of you going in first?" Bethany says, pushing back a strand of pink hair.

"I think we can manage that. If it's okay, Academician?"

"Please." The academician smiles a bit indulgently. Archaeo-shorts, for all its neon hotpants gimmick, is a very well viewed channel. You wonder if the academician gets any benefit from it. Or is that being too cynical? Maybe she just likes a very keen student who's bringing her knowledge to others.

You walk down the steps into the top of the temple, darkness on all sides of you beyond the puddle of light from the entrance. Jessica pulls out a flashlight and begins to play it around the walls. The top space is pillared and smooth, surprisingly dry smelling, as if the sea air can't penetrate into the building. Jessica's light pauses on a mural across from you, where the figure of a Nereidi stands in the shallows, looking up at what might be this very beach. A stooped figure shaggy with moss, or tentacles, that shroud the elongated head and amphibious limbs like a cloak. The dramatic reveal might have been intended because one of Bethany's drones is poised at the perfect angle to catch it.

"These murals cover most of what we know of Nereidi history." She tells you was you walk in further, the rest moving in. "We've found other ruins and other carvings and murals, some of them with what might be different versions of events, but this is the main source, which itself is a problem. Them coming back will hopefully allow us to gain a more complete understanding of their history."

"They might wonder what exactly we're doing wandering around their sites." Luyu looms behind everyone, Bethany moving the camera to pick her up, which she seems to enjoy. "Has anyone ever asked them permission for any of this?"

"Not really." Jessica admits. Though it's not like you did, either. "So far, communication really is actually difficult. We've only got the very basics of their language."

"The Chrysanthemum has come on the assumption that they will desire to take this planet from us." Alawen speaks for the first time. "When they would be more advantaged by trade."

Juketta coughs politely, seeing Luyu taking breath to speak. "I believe the mural we want is three levels down. Shall we?"

Around you, the temple is all shadows, shivering in the searching beams of torches and drone lights. It's huge and cool, like a natural cave, but you constantly pick up the murals. They're drawn in more than just the old human visible light spectrum, and Alex and Reizay are talking on and off about information content as you go. Entropic analysis indicates more deliberate content in the murals than is immediately apparent, but it's proved so far impossible to decipher.

Jessica is definitely hitting on you. She's beside you any time she's not doing a segment, and she's always standing close, inside the normal limits of personal space, smiling and explaining what is known about Nereidi history. You try to ask intelligent questions.

"You like her." Alex whispers in your ear.

"Are you jealous?"

"Not ever of a human, for you will always be mine. Pursue your desire. She might prove useful, and those are cute shorts."

"She shouldn't be involved in the world I'm in. She's only twenty."

"I could point out you only have about a month of actual memories," she says, "but more to the point, she has her own wants. Don't believe she's so naive as to not know you're bad news. If she chooses to get involved with you anyway, that's her decision. Or do you believe that you can so casually override people's judgement for their own good?" You feel, for a moment, the memory of fire. "People complain when I do that."

You ignore her and concentrate on what Jessica is telling you. "As far as we can tell from the murals and what deep oceanic sites we've been able to investigate, the Nereidi first rose to technological civilization around two million years ago. Their initial takeoff was slower than humanity. There is no evidence that they had the same kind of alien contact which quickened humanity into starflight, or even the kind of rapid progress from an industrial revolution, but neither was there the kind of climatic disaster humanity created that almost wiped them out. We know that from geology. Instead, they seem to have engaged in an extensive and well thought out program of Nerediforming of the oceans, and made extensive development of fluidic computers to organise their society." She aims the torch at a mural of a complicated mechanism worked by many Neredi. "At some point they were able to discover starflight, though we believe they may have used some form of portals rather than ships as we don't find significant evidence of space borne artefacts, and settled through much of what is now known to be Garden space."

"And they were wiped out in a war?" Mirareki says.

"The most common believe at the moment is that it was an alien invasion, though some people think it was a civil war. That's actually the room with the murals that we're going to, you'll be able to see–"

You round a corner and see white teeth in the light, massive jaws opening ahead of you. You've stepped in front of Jessica, then abort the gun draw as you see the creature is very dead. The skeleton is at least four metres long, a massive, long being with huge segmented jaws. The skull has been broken in violently, and there's not a trace of flesh on it.

"It's a tyrant-newt!" Jessica steps past you, giving you a quick smile at your protectiveness which just makes you feel sillier. " Not actually a newt, but they look a lot like earth news, really they're closer to lung fish. The Tyrant-newts are ocean amphibious apex predators, pretty fierce on land too. This looks like an old one... I wonder what it's doing here. Local animals usually avoid the temple."

"Do they avoid the temple because something in here breaks their skulls?" Luyu asks, looking around at the darkness.

"Nobody has ever reported anything dangerous here." The academician laughs. "... there are a few ghost stories, nothing more."

<<I don't like this.>> Luyu says. <<Miri, can you get the screen out?>>

<<Yeah I'm already moving to take information control of the area.>> Mirareki looks around. Despite this, you can't help but smiling a little, since when did she allow Luyu to call her "Miri" what's worse is that Mirareki didn't even notice.

"Your mural is right here." Jessica doesn't seem too put off her stride, and waves to the light drone, which concentrate their beams on one section of the wall, illuminating a view of the space above a rainbow world. Not Nereid itself though, the continents are not the same. Above it, a constellation of shapes. Stars and Diamonds indeed. You recognise the forms of the Diplomat, a wave of them rising to meet– something. That area of the mural has been deliberately defaced. Just looking at the thing gives you an unexpected jag of anxiety, reinforced by Alex's similarly strong reaction. You take a deep breath, running though a half forgotten calming exercise.

"No one actually knows what this one depicts." Jessica says. "From context it's about the war that ended the Nereidi civilization."

"Are all depictions of the enemy defaced like this?"

"The ones we've found so far, yes. Though, this is where one of the problems of investigating the site comes. One of the mysteries of the temple we still don't understand is the ordering of the floors." Jessica says. "The histories seem to jump from the start of Nereidi civilization to the end. Then there's a whole bunch of floors depicting what appear to be the middle part of their civilization, then more of the later period in the basements. Those are unfortunately the hardest to access as there has been some damage down there."

"Were you intending to visit those floors?"

"Wouldn't be much fun if we didn't." Jessica smiles. "With you guys in tow it'll probably be easier. There's three lower galleries that have been mapped out." She pulls out an AR system into the air.

"There are three parts of the lower floor that run out through the basement of the temple. We're hoping to map them all, but I'll let you pick where to start:"

[ ] "The Path of Stars. We call it that because the entry is set with sapphires picking out Nereid's local starfield. There's images of Nereidi looking up at other Nereidi who seem to be reaching down. What's unusual is that the Nereidi on the ceiling are rendered in metal, which is almost unheard of in Nereidi monuments."
[ ] "The Path of Spears. It's decorated with a lot of spears and harpoon iconography, but it may depict military, or technical weapon history more generally. There's some patterns similar to the hard-to-decipher elements of Stars and Diamonds."
[ ] "And then there's the Path of Clouds. It has representations of planetary scenes which seem to have been damaged or defaced with clouds of darkness. It's unclear if they were part of the original composition or not, but they seem to be consuming whole cities."