There were many things to do in the days that followed, but perhaps none proved more immediately important than convincing Jane, the commander of the Adamant, that the choice Mary had made was really worth the risk. In this, the rigorous standard your oldest friend had demanded of you in outlining the proposal proved most welcome.
When the time came, you took the call in the small study the Magi had afforded you. You'd configured the nanolayers to match the decor of your office back home, and though the room was a little smaller, the similarities remained quite soothing.
"You're quite certain there's nothing I can do to convince you to try this somewhere else?" were the first words out of your captain's mouth. She looked fresh, and focused, but you could see the marks of lingering stress. And recognise your part in it.
Jane had a duty no less than your own to every member of the Adamant's crew, to lead and protect them in service to the mission. With every risk taken, that pressure increased. Revealing yourself to Kicha had been such a risk. Entara, the poor, ancient survivor of the effective genocide of her species had been another. But in both cases, the breach had been restricted to a single person. This…
"If this goes wrong," Jane continued, unconsciously mirroring your own thoughts, "goes wrong here, we aren't going to be able to hide it. Not like we might have been able to do with Entara or Kicha, if those encounters had proven to be mistakes. We both know that even a minor energy discharge on the scales you've outlined here will be trivial for the Shiplord pickets to detect."
"And you know what that would mean, Amanda." She frowned, eyes dark with worry. "You sure that this is worth that risk?"
She wasn't just talking about the risk to the Adamant, and all the few hundred souls who were part of its mission. There was the broader risk to humanity, and everything you were trying to obtain. If the Shiplords discovered you here, the very heart of their racial trauma, the consequences for humanity didn't bear thinking on.
And yet.
"I am," you replied, forcing calm into your voice. "Because even if this is simply an unknown expression of Mary's linkage to humanity's web, we need to know. And if it's more than that? Even a fragmentary link to the echoes here could be a path to understanding we desperately require."
Jane's lips parted, concern clear in her eyes, no doubt more to come from her words. Yet instead of letting her, as you normally would, you brushed the response firmly aside.
"Vega, Mir and I will do all we can to minimise any risk in this endeavour. But," you grimaced. "I'm not sure you're asking the right question, Jane. I don't think we can afford not to do this. We need an answer to this mystery, even if it's nothing we can use."
"I understand that," Jane sighed. She brushed a hand through her hair and then shook it back out, expression conflicted. "And I admit, I sometimes wish you didn't make it so easy for me to do so. It would be so much easier to object if I didn't properly understand what you were suggesting, or why it mattered."
You spared a moment to thank Mary for her foresight, again. "I can see that," you confessed. "And I know I've not been kind to this mission's risk profile. I wish I could tell you that this would be the last time, I really do."
"Don't be." Jane's lips curved into a small smile, stopping any further apologies dead in their tracks. "I know what this mission is for, Amanda. Which means I know why you're doing this. Even if I didn't understand this specific endeavour right now," she shrugged. "I'd still concede the point.
"Because this is the mission we committed ourselves to when we left Sol. I never would have made some of the decisions you have, but I can't argue with your results." She flicked her fingertips in a precise pattern, nodding once. A moment later, the reason for the motion registered, and your eyes widened.. A virtual countersign for your proposal.
Jane's hadn't needed to do that. You could have gone forward with this plan anyway, solely on the basis of your position as the mission lead. But for your FSN support to directly support the proposal meant a great deal. And told you exactly how much her next words meant.
"You've all our support, Amanda. Do your best with it."
You dipped into a small bow instead of your usual nod, temporarily speechless.
"We will," you told her, after a breath restored your verbal functions. "That I can promise."
It took until the end of the week for everything to be ready to come together. Fortunately your meeting had taken place on Tuesday. Mary spent much of it buried in work at the living computer that acted as archive and gatekeeper to the Consolat's knowledge of the Secrets, guarded by Kalilah this time. You'd have gone with her, but your presence was needed at the Magi, working with Vega and Mir to prepare a section of the base for what you intended to do.
Each day she returned from the ancient repository more centred, energised by the challenge of a system that had been designed to demand proof of a user's understanding before dispensing relevant data. As safety measures went, she was ambivalent as to its effectiveness. But, she noted one evening, it had seemed to keep the Shiplords out.
The details of her work were still coming together at week's end, with her intent to complete any final touches to the summary report during whatever recovery period the triple working of you, Mir and Vega might inflict. And if it did nothing, well, the planning meeting wasn't scheduled until Monday.
Even so, you felt a little nervous as you led your dark-haired friend into the room that three of humanity's most gifted Potentials had been pouring their Practice into for days. For what you were about to do. For what you might find. And, most of all, what it could do to all of you – none more so than the woman at your side, who'd been your friend for almost as long as you'd been able to truly understand the term.
Preparing the Ground: 33 + 44 (Amanda+Vega+Mir Practice/2) + 20 (Multi-tool) + 15 (Calm the Void) = 112 vs 60/80/120. Second Degree Success.
Marginal imperfections in final design. Minor increase of complexity to final working.
The room all but glowed to your senses as you stepped inside, but only once you stepped inside it. You'd shaped intricate patterns across the once-smooth walls with your multi-tool, the device returned to your hand for this effort after long months of disuse. If your old Artefact had possessed its own intellect, you'd have called it overjoyed to be a part of things. And it had reminded you of your other Artefacts, too. Clever things, which you'd already discussed with your fellows how to turn to the work ahead. Particularly the Mender's Eye.
Into those patterns, Vega had poured the fullness of her own gifts, blending techniques so recently discovered and refined to invert her aptitude with Miracles into something truly unique. She transformed your, naturally inviolate, webworks and spirals into a catcher for Practice itself. A web that would capture and guide any unexpected energy surge, or so you hoped. And from there, the energy would flow down into the centre of the room, to where Mir's contribution lay.
There was no pattern to mark the younger Third's creation, though you tried not to think about when you'd started to consider someone nearing their forties young. His part was purely felt, a sense of peace that suffused the entire room, growing gently stronger at its heart. There it intertwined with your markings and Vega's power, sink and ground both for any power caught in Vega's net.
It was an intricate, elegant creation, and the only regret the three of you shared was that it was still imperfect. Oh, the issues were subtle, but for any as skilled as the three of you had become, quite clear. Fortunately, none of them were beyond your ability to resolve.
"You mentioned issues?" Mary asked, her voice pitched low, the feeling of the place making it almost reverent. "But there's so much energy soaked into the walls that I can't imagine it's something serious."
"Minor imperfections in the non-physical structure," you replied, pointing two fingers towards the centre of the room. "It'll require some level of split focus from one of us, to keep it all running properly. It's not a perfect result, given how important this could be, but nothing we can't handle together."
The next words out of Mary's mouth made you smile. "Did you consider bringing in someone else from your Heartcircle, to do that instead of one of you?"
"We did." You nodded. "But we've already set this up for the three of us. Bringing in another Potential would mean reworking sections, and we might make more mistakes in the process."
"You could also find better paths," she pointed out, riposting gamely. Yet the humour vanished as she glanced across the room again, her smile slipping to a level line. "But… You're confident in this?"
"We've had time to talk about this a lot, thanks to our links and Unisons." The resulting conversation had actually involved the entire Heartcircle, but the result had been the same. "There's a lot of detail, but in short, yes. We're confident."
Mary nodded slowly, green eyes thoughtful. "And what about your Unisons?"
"What do you think I meant when I said we?" You asked, a gentle lilt on the edge of the question robbing it of any sharpness.
"I suppose that's fair." Mary laughed. She glanced across the room again, eyes lingering on the patterns in the walls. "Is it wrong that this seems a little sparse?"
The incongruity of the question won a smile, though it didn't lack substance. The room at the base of the Magi was essentially bare but for your own additions, every other aspect of Practice woven into the space invisible to the eye. Small monitor blisters had been placed to provide overlapping sensor coverage, of course, but the only real furniture of note were four chairs at the centre of the room.
"It is a little odd, I suppose," you mused. You traced a finger across your mouth for a moment, considering the statement. "Do you think we should change that?"
Mary shook her head. "I think it's just fine. Familiar, even."
"What's that supposed to m-" you broke off as the meaning penetrated, laughter bubbling from your lips. Mary's eyes danced with matching humour, and if you hadn't already been laughing, her smile would have been infectious.
"I suppose it is a bit similar," you admitted. It had taken you several moments to master your reaction, but you couldn't find it in yourself to begrudge it. "Though at least this time, we're planning for it."
"We planned then, too," Mary said. "It's just that what we expected and what the Metaconcert event actually did weren't the same thing. Could be that the same thing happens here, today."
"And yet you still want to try," Vega said, speaking from the door behind the two of you. You turned to find the Harmonial leaning against the doorframe, her Aegis fully extended. She must have tucked her hair back, as not a single dark strand strayed past the line of her ears. You'd considered that entirely unfair, once. Now you were just used to it.
"Somehow I don't think I'm alone in that," Mary replied. Vega chuckled.
"Choice in clothing gave her away?" Mir's voice bounced through the doorway, preceding him by moments only. He, like Vega, wore his Aegis extended. Mary raised the one hand, thumb and two fingers separated around an invisible gap.
"Just a smidge."
"Then I suppose I should match." You suited action to words. Aquamarine and silver light flared around you, settling into the comforting weight of your Aegis, and you cracked your neck as it settled into place. A silly gesture, maybe, but it still held meaning.
"Let's get this on the go."
Invisible power swirled across the room as you took your seats, with you taking the seat at Mary's right hand. A swift thought signalled the Magi that you were about to begin, and to be ready to evacuate if something did go wrong. Kalilah, freshly back from Mary's latest excursion, would be preparing to sear the Midnight Dreaming from the heavens instead. But that was her role, and you couldn't dwell on it.
Instead you took a deep breath, unconsciously matching the timing of your fellows, and reached down into the seemingly endless well of power that secured your soul. The patterns of it had grown more complex since your conversation with Tahkel, though it was hard to say if that was a result of current change, or of you simply becoming aware of it. And yet for all that, it still resonated as it always had.
This is you, those patterns seemed to whisper. No matter what you might become in the future, they would always be you. It was a comforting reminder, though also chilling in a way. If the patterns were still you, then you had changed. And, as Tahkel had suggested, changed a great deal. Coming closer to the Uninvolved, whatever that truly meant.
:Ready, my friend?: The question flicked out to Sidra, your Unison. Their reply you felt more than heard, a steady presence of certainty and peace that whispered of fleeting veils and the strength of sight. It wasn't speech, but it left you no doubts as to their preparedness. At the centre of your Aegis, the working set there shortly before the Third Battle of Sol pulsed the beat of one rousing from slumber. And beside it, ahead of it, the last physical artefact you'd created came to life.
Your Mender's Eye had been designed as a medical scanner, and in that role it would always excel. But there was a world of difference between the Clarions it had been used to create and the truth of the Artefact. The streams of power all across the room suddenly snapped into focus, leaving reality behind as a faded overlay, barely visible through the surging currents of Practice that surrounded Vega, Mir, and yourself.
Mir's focus and Focus poured into the working around you, settling into the markings, and the weave of Vega's creation bound to them, with an ease you'd have scarcely imagined of him but a few short years ago. The light born of your combination was gentle, soothing, and you felt the energies of the room around you still as it touched them. They hung there for a moment, shivering in the light of Mir's soul.
To Hold The Peace: 78 + 25 (Mir Practice) + 10 (Light of Peace) = 113 vs (70-30 [Prepared Ground] =] 40. Greater Success.
Then all of it poured like water down through the patterns you'd forged, caught and guided to the creation of the Peace Focused. And there, it simply vanished. It didn't drain or disperse, Mir had told you that either of those options could still hold the faintest possibility of being detected, if placed under enough strain. Instead, one of the purest creations of the man's Focus you'd seen in your life caught the power streaming into it…and then it was gone. Just…gone.
That wasn't the whole truth of the matter, of course, but for the purposes of your efforts here today it was all that mattered. Mir's Focus demanded total serenity, and Practice made it true. The last eddies of rogue power faded from your sight, and you extended a hand to Mary, wreathed in the shimmering green-gold that you'd become used to seeing in moments like this.
Across from you Vega raised her own hand, infinite patterns of pure radiance streaming out of nothingness to wrap her fingers in a lambent star. Her eyelids flickered, light dancing beneath them, and she matched you perfectly when you spoke.
"Are you ready?" You both asked Mary, who'd yet to take your hands. Her eyes were fixed on the diagrams around her, a half-ring of analytics drawn from the room's sensors, struggling to articulate what was happening into something that made sense. Yet she didn't seem uncertain, just in awe.
She lifted her hands from her virtual displays as you spoke, looking down at them for a moment. Then she reached out, and your heart swelled as you recognised a total lack of shaking in her long fingers. Presented by the unknown, by a triple-working in the vein of one that had entirely changed her understanding of reality, she still trusted you completely.
"I am," she said, very softly. And your hands met.
And See Through Harmony Renewed: 79 + 50 (Amanda + ½ Vega Practice) + 20 (Mender's Eye) = 149 vs (70-30 [Prepared Ground] =] 40. Critical Success.
Miracle ch-
Interrupt
The plan had been for you to use the moment of connection as a catalyst for analysis, teasing out the true patterns of the web of humanity. Your hope had been to find something that could explain your progress here, at the birthplace and grave of the Consolat, those who you believed had first wielded something like Practice.
That plan could still be pursued.
But as greengold met patternwhites in a moment of sublime harmony, a moment of connection, another presented itself.
In what little spare time you'd had around your work here in this room, you'd started to investigate whatever had happened – twice now – on making an FTL jump. There, in that instant of transition, you'd felt the presence of the hall where Tahkel had first met you. And within, two figures. One that radiated all the impossible presence of an Uninvolved, the expected host, your mind liked to imagine. But the other, the other was familiar. Human, even, though how could that be?
Now you knew that, for all your doubts, you had been right. You had no idea who they might be - a Thoughtcast from Insight, waiting for you perhaps? It certainly seemed the most likely option, but you couldn't imagine Phoebe sitting there for weeks on end, just in case you noticed.
No. This felt like someone else. Someone who had the time to wait, and the gift or skill to attract Tahkel's attention. Vega's thoughts flashed across your own as the image of that star-spun cathedral flared across your shared mind.
:What…is that?:
Yet it was only one half of the vision. In the other, you beheld the soul of your oldest friend, almost lost in the fastness of a truly immense pattern that only now started to make sense. It had, you realised, been sunk into the fabric of humanity so deeply that looking for it made it seem natural. But it had begun decades ago. You weren't sure how many from this far away, but for that ring of glimmering starlight to have evaded your sight for so long, even through all the complexities of the Metaconcert even? It had to be old.
So, a choice before you now.
You could follow the image of a vision that waited in the space between spaces, what Insight and many others called a void. Tahkel, or whatever substitute might be present, would surely greet you kindly. But how much would they be able to tell you about what you suspected was happening with Mary? Uninvolved were clearly vastly powerful entities, the formation of billions of willing souls into a singular existence.
But how much would those souls know about what humanity had created? Tahkel had scarcely believed your abilities to be possible, until they'd observed them during the Third Battle of Sol. Even if they knew nothing, though, at least the mystery of the figure standing beside the Uninvolved in the moments of jumping would be resolved. And it wasn't as if you'd leave empty handed, even if whatever Uninvolved waited for you proved obstreperous. This moment of connection, of harmony, it would stay with you. And that would give you much.
Yet the other option was to remain as you were, staring across the patterns of dust and starfire that seemed to surround your most treasured friend. Something was going on with Mary, that much was clear. But to truly understand what, it would be best to stay.
No Mary to help you with your decision this time, you lamented, for a moment remembering that old decision when an Elder First came to offer you a place as one of their apprentices. You'd just have to do your best.
Two paths. Simple enough then.
Which would you choose?
[] Visions: Pursue the memory of the star-woven cathedral where Tahkel met you, and set you on this mission. Who waits there? What might they know, or be able to tell you?
[] Tracing Ripples: Stay here, stay now. Trust in your own abilities, and unravel the truth with them alone. You will find your way to whatever lurks between jumps in due time, now that you recognise it.
In either case, you will receive the full roll value of both relevant actions. This vote will influence how those events unfold, and is likely to lead to enhanced results in whichever option you choose. For now, the containment of the working is holding strong.
