(Author's note: This is a shorter bridging chapter to cover the last of the events from the previous night and open up the current day. We will be diving into the major events of the day in the next chapter, but I wanted to announce that next week I will be releasing another chapter of the sidestory Brockton's Celestial Forge AU – Europa's Celestial Forge to commemorate the anniversary of the release of this story. I had hoped to release more content for that work in the past year, but things were far too hectic to allow me the time. I can't make any commitments, and this work will remain my priority, but I hope to have more time to devote to that and possibly other projects in the coming year.
As the story's anniversary falls between chapters I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported this story over the past four years as it grew from a small writing project into the massive work that it has become. This would not have been possible without the supportive community that embraced this story and I can only express my sincere gratitude for all the support and encouragement that I have received.)
105 Morning Review
I could hardly believe that I had actually made it to morning without needing to be dragged away from my training. Well, not physically dragged away. My confidence that the rest of the team could handle anything that came up was largely true, and even included the issues that had actually been caused by my team. Well, in those cases it was mostly covered.
I sat looking over the simulated lunar landscape with the half lit Earth in the sky above me. The world divided into light and dark with the dabbled speckles of civilization standing out against the darkness. Light was creeping over the Atlantic ocean approaching the East Coast of the United States. Across the country city lights marked centers of population, still holding out until the morning sun could reach them.
It was a live feed, or as close to one as my systems could generate. In reality, the location of the moon was being fudged to create a more poignant image for the conclusion of my training, but that was a minor technicality. The point was the start of a new day. A day that was looking to be unbelievably busy, but one that was equally important. It was the final stretch for plans that had been in the works for lengths of time that were either trivial or ridiculous, depending on whether they were accounted from inside or exterior to the workshop.
It also marked the approach of a full week from my fight with Lung. A full seven days without anything tearing the city apart, though not for lack of trying on the part of the various parties that were involved in the aftermath. It really said something that a solid week without a disaster was an accomplishment by the standards of the city, but even that I wouldn't have counted on without my team actively enforcing the mandates set at Somer's Rock.
Even with the Celestial Forge looming over everyone, it wasn't a state that could last forever. Fortunately, it didn't have to. Just until we could deal with the Slaughterhouse Nine. Properly deal with them, which was a much more challenging prospect than just killing them. Ending Lung might have launched us on this course, but ending Jack, and everything Jack represented, would send us on the final stretch.
I took a breath. A breath of vacuum, but for me that was actually possible. Either through manipulation of the properties of the simulation or just the underlying fabric of the universe, I was perfectly capable of breathing in space. I was capable of breathing space itself, which was just amusing on a significant number of levels.
The absolute impossibility of my existence similarly made a mockery of conventional laws and physical principles, but that was fine. It was a lot easier to adjust to an impossible existence when you actually had time to adjust. I'd have nearly five hours in the Spiritron Computer, not uninterrupted and not exactly to myself, but still, an immense amount of time.
Time that I needed to work through and develop my abilities, but the first step in that was adjusting to my new existence. To the reality that I had found myself in, the constantly changing existence that had finally slowed down enough for me to catch up and start to get a handle on things.
I drank in the last few peaceful moments of semi-solitude. I had enough awareness of the broader system to recognize when someone was connecting to it. This was probably the end of the time I'd be able to spend on my own, but it had been enough. Not enough to allow me mastery of my Aspect, but enough for a measure of progress. Enough for my new abilities to become less jarring and more familiar. Enough for me to take that first step towards both mastery and acceptance.
And enough to prepare myself for Aisha's arrival.
My command and sense of technology didn't really extend to the Spiritron Core the way it had to earlier systems. Being inside the core was more akin to existing in another version of reality. It was facilitated by technology, but not technology itself. It meant I could actually immerse myself in the simulated world without being constantly aware of the mechanics driving it. Still, the scope of my powers did give me some level of awareness of the broader systems, enough to know when someone was accessing it and moving between layers.
There was a shimmer on the lunar surface in front of me, accompanied by a very familiar sound effect. The glow condensed into a human shape that slowly dimmed as the transporter process concluded, leaving Aisha standing before me.
Well, Aisha in her current appearance. Outside of the Spiritron Core she was still the same, but the amount of time she had spent inside had given her enough experience to take some liberties with her projected self-image. Mostly through the realization that she could have any hairstyle she wanted, which had been quite the source of amusement for her over the night.
Currently, she was sporting the white hair and purple eyes that she had been so proud of following her Psi Operative conditioning, complete with the dyed purple streak. Still, I wasn't really in a position to comment at the moment.
Aisha smirked as she watched me climb to my feet. And craned her neck as I rose to my current considerable height.
"Still rocking the dragon god cyborg look?" She asked as she looked up at the combination of my Gigas form and Cyborg Hindu Godbody.
"It helps with the training." I explained. "Easier to manifest your true self if you aren't maintaining layers of obfuscation."
"And this is you?" She asked, gesturing up at me.
I smiled at that. "It's as much me as any other form I can take." I explained. "Everything that's come together from all of my powers isn't more or less of who I am, it's just a matter of balance." I focused and shifted back to what was my general default human form. Bronze and gold faded from my hands and my skin lost its clay like texture. The elaborate plates on my legs melted away and my feet shifted away from their draconic shape.
Not concealing aspects of myself so much as shifting how they were expressed.
"Are you getting philosophical on us?" She asked jokingly.
"No more than I have to in order to make this work." I explained. She gave me a nod as I turned towards her arrival point. "You're using a transporter to move between layers of the serial phantasm?" I asked.
"Hey, if I'm going to have to jump between fantasy lands, I'm using a method I can understand." She replied as she took in the moonscape around her.
"Portals aren't that complicated." I said.
"Not really, but I'm been working with the Star Trek stuff longer." She shrugged. "Guess I'm more comfortable with it."
I shrugged. Aisha had basically started with Star Trek science and engineering. While she hadn't limited herself to those fields, she definitely gravitated towards them. While the various technology bases I'd gained access to shared basic principles, the higher level aspects were almost completely distinct. It was the kind of thing that raised questions about whether these principles were being discovered or created as I gained access to them.
Aisha generally preferred working within the higher level physics of Star Trek, supplemented by aspects of other forms of technology. It wasn't really like she was limiting herself, seeing as a person could study for a lifetime and still not cover all of the spatial insanity that could be achieved with that kind of technology. She seemed to enjoy having an area of specialization that she could build upon, rather than chasing each new system of higher physics that I had access to.
"So, Tybalt's done for the night?" I asked.
"More like for the year." Aisha said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I'm happy Fleet figured out his semblance, but Tybalt doesn't need to chase after everyone else to catch up."
I grinned at that. "So still no luck?" I asked.
"Not even close." She huffed, causing her personal shield to flicker. Aisha wasn't quite at the point of being able to ignore hard vacuum, but her skill with force fields had grown tremendously since her first shaky attempt. With the resources that could be manifested inside the Spiritron Core she was more than capable of managing her own personal shield and life support system.
Not that it was really necessary to have a section of the Spiritron Core emulating the lunar environment in this level of detail. Not necessary, but I had to admit, it helped. Even the limitations and challenges of existing in this environment had a significance to them.
"Survey thinks you need to be dealing with actual problems for your Semblance to manifest. Like, real challenges, in the field, not whatever training insanity Tybalt decides on for his next session." Aisha continued.
"Did she get any hint from when she dealt with the Empire?" I asked. She hadn't mentioned anything, but Semblances were personal things, and I knew well how subtle they could be.
"Sort of?" Aisha said. "She's got a report on it, vetted by the other two versions of herself." She made a face at that. "Which is way more confusing than it should be."
"Survey's not like Fleet. Her program is designed for centralized operation, not the distributed copies that Fleet manages. The nodal approach works for her, but she's not going to be running a dozen bodies with independent versions of herself on them."
"And thank God for that. Three is enough." Aisha said. "I'm still getting used to her peer reviews of her own reports." She shook her head. "Anyway, Survey thinks that whatever her Semblance is, it's probably mental or information based."
"No, really?" I said with a grin.
"Ha. Yeah, big surprise there. But because of that she's gotten the other two hers picking through everything from the fight. I think she might have found something, but if there's anything there, she didn't use it much, or it didn't use much Aura." She shrugged. "Probably no way to confirm it unless one of the gangs does something stupid again."
"Yeah." I let out a breath. "I'm hoping we can avoid that, but given the level of restraint we saw yesterday…"
"Best not to get your hopes up." Aisha replied.
I nodded. "So was that why Tybalt called off training? No chance of figuring out anyone's semblance in a controlled environment?"
"Like that would be enough to discourage him." Aisha said. "Trust me, he'd make things as uncontrolled as needed if you let him. But no, he ran off because the Titan hangar spit out a new Titan based on one of the templates."
"The Ronin?" I asked. My link to the Workshop's Central Control made me aware of every item present within its boundaries so I knew the moment the Titan was produced.
"Yeah. He's serious about piloting it. I mean, being a proper 'Pilot'." She said.
"Well, I mean, it does have a sword." I said. It was the only Titan with anything close to a serious melee focus, as well as some fairly interesting phasing abilities. Not anything that we couldn't accomplish through other means, but still, it was a unique expression that could be supplemented by other works and technologies.
"Yep, war kitty loves his samurai robot." She said with a smirk. One that faded quite quickly. "It made him a lot more serious about all the Titan stuff."
"Ah." I said. "So, with Monarch…"
"It's fine." Aisha said. "She's a very nice giant robot girl, and she's been SO good about reaching out and proposing shared activities while building interests to strengthen our working relationship." I gave Aisha a flat look. "Survey gave her a copy of her early social interaction algorithm. She's a lot chattier than the other Titans, despite being a day behind."
"I see." I said. "Look, nobody's forcing you into being a Titan Pilot, and it's not like we even need the firepower. If you don't want to deal with this…"
"What, and just tell Monarch that I don't want anything to do with her?" She asked.
"I'm sure she'll understand." I offered.
"Of course she'll understand. And then she'll start doing analysis with Survey's help about what SHE did wrong." She huffed.
"So you're stuck?" I asked.
"No." She said, shaking her head. "No, I'm okay with Monarch. It's just, I'm not sure I'm ready to look after a baby war robot."
I blinked. "The Titan's aren't exactly…"
"You know what I mean." She said, "I know this isn't like you looking after Fleet or Survey, but it's still a big deal." She shrugged. "I just don't want to fuck it up."
"You're worried about being a bad influence on a giant war machine?" I asked in a more amused tone than I meant to.
"Hey, my parents didn't even trust me with a pet growing up. War robots are a bit of a steep jump from that." She said.
"Well, you're doing alright with Orudios, right?" I asked.
"The unicorn's different. This is more like suddenly getting a younger sibling, only one that's constantly preparing for a military campaign that's not going to happen. And I feel bad every time I have to explain that we probably won't need to orbital drop them into a combat zone."
I had to smile at that. Honestly, if I had received the Titan Hangar earlier in my career it would probably have become the foundation of my approach to the whole cape thing, rather than just a workshop novelty that might end up filling some support role at some point in the future.
That was the case with a lot of my abilities. Things that would have been huge and disruptive if they had showed up a few days earlier ending up completely overshadowed or used to supplement other powers.
"Look, if it's any consolation, Titan A.I.s aren't that advanced, but they are robust. They're pretty much designed to roll with whatever situation they find themselves in. I don't think you can actually mess this up the way you're thinking. Just take it at whatever pace you want, or leave it to Fleet. And I guess Tybalt as well."
Fleet had largely taken responsibility for the Titan Hangar, as he tended to with any large vehicle addition to the Workshop. He had been focused on support and maintenance, but with Tybalt directly involved things would probably pick up to a considerable degree.
"Right. We'll probably have Titan combat rolled into the next training sessions." Aisha said. "Not sure how that's going to line up with the rest of what we've been working on, but he'll probably figure something out."
"How has that been going, anyway?" I asked.
She suddenly brightened up. "Well, according to Tybalt, Ninjutsu has made it past Disciple rank."
"Congratulations. So, proper ninja now?" I asked.
"Sort of?" She said, "It's not mastery, and now that I've got the basics I need to figure out what to focus on."
"So what, like weapons styles? Ki techniques? Stealth and infiltration?" I asked.
"Sort of." She said, "You know about kunoichi?"
I blinked. "Like, real kunoichi, or the stuff that was made up in movies and cartoons?"
"Since this is from your power, is there really a difference?" She asked.
"Fair point." I said. "So, female ninja stuff?"
"Tybalt's suggestion, though Garment was really excited about it." Aisha said. I gave her a questioning look. "It involves a LOT of flowery stuff. Literally in some cases. Like, actual flower arranging." She shrugged. "I think she might be pushing it to get me to pick up more comportment stuff, since it's big on music and etiquette and fashion and tea services."
"Tea service?" I asked.
She smiled slightly. "Okay, that might have been a point in its favor."
"And you're okay with that?" I asked. "I thought you wanted to focus more on the big combat stuff?"
She gave me an amused look. "From what I figured, the team is drowning in big combat stuff, but sorely lacking in people who can stab someone to death with a decorative flower arrangement. Besides, if I'm going to be responsible for human stuff on this team, it probably makes sense for me to brush up on the social side of things."
I blinked. "Aisha, I appreciate the work you do to keep everyone grounded, but you don't need to feel responsible for that."
She smiled. "I might not need to, but it's better than letting the rest of the team spin off into their own crazy."
I blinked. "That's not exactly fair to the rest of the team. And not something you need to take on yourself."
"Right." She said, drawing out the word. "Because you spending years working through god level bullshit is completely grounded. Right up there with Tetra pseudo connecting to everyone who watched her video from the charity show, Survey arguing with herself for fun, Fleet running that entire Passenger Space armada during his date, Garment being Garment, Tybalt being Tybalt, and the whole thing with the Matrix."
I couldn't really argue with that. For as much as Aisha seemed concerned about being overshadowed, there was definitely value in having someone on the team who was still functionally human. Or at least significantly more human than the rest of us.
Normally I'd be concerned about excluding myself from that category, but I'd had time to process the weight of my experiences. There was no denying the impact of my powers and the memories that had come with them. I wasn't the same as I had been, but I was still myself. My abilities didn't change that. I wasn't completely human anymore, but I was in the ways that counted.
It was a lot to contend with. More than even the immense amount of time granted to me by the acceleration of the Spiritron Core could really address. Then again, the 'gods' of Lord of Light had barely been able to come to terms with their own existence, and then had hundreds of lifetimes to process their new state of being. And also only needed to deal with a single point of insanity, rather than the combo platter I was dealing with.
"Okay. Good point." I said. "Not one that I expected to be addressed through ninja social infiltration training, but good point."
"Well, if you like you can pretend I'm doing it for the sake of the tea." She said, "Which isn't entirely untrue."
"I'm guessing you've tried some of the blends that my duplicates cultivated with Demeter's Blessing?" I asked.
"You're damn right I have." She said with a wide grin. "That stuff's a game changer even if you don't have magic crafting powers handling the preparation."
"I'm glad you're enjoying it." I said with a nod.
"Eh, things have been heavy enough around here. It's nice to enjoy something that's not a cornerstone of some grand plan or the buildup towards unlimited power." She explained.
"Uh, yeah." I said. "I guess things have gotten pretty serious."
She nodded. "I get it. Good reason and all, but it's nice to have some trivial stuff in the mix."
There had been a bit of a drop off in irreverent antics around the workshop once the Central Control arrived. It meant my duplicates couldn't hide little surprises constructed during their twenty percent time. On one hand it was nice not stumbling over 'lost' civilizations in the basement of the workshop, but there had definitely been a loss of levity when that possibility was taken away.
Aisha looked past me towards the towering structures of the moon base. Sphere's moon base. Something that should have been one of those trivial little bits of fun and irreverence, but had turned into something more significant, both personally and symbolically. And not just for me.
"Speaking of heavy stuff, how is the Matrix doing?" She asked, looking at the buildings behind me.
"You can ask them yourself." I said. I extended a slight prod of technopathy towards the structures behind me. There was a tremor in the ground as the buildings began to shift and change. Solid cast and formed metal walls flowed and bent, taking on new textures as they moved like a living thing. Because technically, from a certain perspective, they were.
Metal, stone, and glass flowed over each other, merging into new materials that formed complex structures that were subsumed under outer layers. Slowly, methodically, the entire moon base was stripped down and rebuilt into a titanic body for the Matrix.
When the Matrix interacted with the Spiritron Core they usually just manifested an approximation of the Gun-EZ mobile suit, the same form they used for interaction with the rest of the team on a personal scale. The human sized suit wasn't actually a miniature construct. It was a surface level representation of an early form they had used and was either a paper-thin shell of a solid block of nanites, depending on how much of their distributed mass was being concentrated in that location.
Before now there hadn't been much interest in interacting with the world of the Serial Phantasm the way they would with the external world. They would still use the accelerated nature of the core for the purposes of interaction, observation, and development, and practice, but there was always a sense of distance. The idea that they were interacting with something rather than truly existing in that space.
That wasn't the case anymore. This version of the moon base hadn't been assembled by my duplicates, it had been embodied by the Matrix. Earlier they might have engaged in the creation of such a structure, but would have held back from this level of integration and interaction. But that had been before the Glove of the East was sufficiently upgraded. Upgraded enough that it could handle the titanic amounts of quicksilver rounds needed to fuel the highest levels of enhancement. Upgraded enough to be worth using it on major 'projects'. Projects like Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix.
Given the impact it had, it was probably best that we had started with the Matrix. This wasn't the minor improvements in performance that provided some boosted power and better efficiency. That was because the scale of the improvement, the truly significant aspect, was the way the glove enhanced operation with my spiritual energy. Effectively, the more spiritual energy had been used in the creation of whatever was being upgraded, the more significant the enhancement.
The creation of bodies for Fleet, Survey, and the Matrix had involved singing to the unseen. The highest level of Elven Enchantment that bound higher aspects of reality into their construction. It was a level of spiritual energy integration that would see massive improvements in every possible area from even a minor use of the Glove of the East.
"Um, is something like this going to happen when you use the glove on Fleet or Survey?" Aisha asked as she watched the Matrix pull themselves out of the form of Sphere's moon base. "Or on Tetra?"
"Not Tetra." I said. "The spiritual aspects of her procedure were less foundational. She already had a soul, so the glove would only affect what was added, not the entirety of her being."
"But Fleet and Survey?" She asked.
I nodded. "Not sure what it will be like for them, particularly at this level, but yeah."
Because I hadn't just sung to the unseen. I had given them part of my soul. In terms of the integration of spiritual energy, it was basically off the chart, which was also what we were dealing with in terms of their enhancements. A level of effect that I could not replicate through any of my other abilities, or even truly predict.
"It will likely be distinct." The Matrix was towering over us in a massive form of NASA grade titanium. Rather than press down on us, their voice came through the ground. They weren't aping at normal conversation through vacuum using transitions or spatial tricks like Aisha and I had been. They spoke like a seismic event with a voice you could feel through the soles of your feet and understand on a level that went deeper than normal language. "The core natures of Fleet and Survey will result in independent development following a similar level of enhancement."
Aisha nodded, craning her neck to look up at the Matrix. "Um, are you doing okay?" She asked. "I know how Joe gets when he's hit by a serious powerup. Something like this can't be easy."
There was a noticeable pause before the Matrix replied. "It was not precisely hard." They said, "But it was unexpected. I will admit to being unduly dismissive regarding the potential complications related to the upgrade process."
They had mostly been focused on the idea that the glove could boost their crafting abilities. I mean, it had done that, but it had done a lot more than just that. Enough that they had needed to join my excessive processing session on a fake recreation of the moon.
"But you are doing okay, right?" Aisha asked. "I mean, if the spiritual stuff is a big part of everything and it was being messed with…"
"It would be more accurate to say that the intangible aspects of my self have been developed rather than strictly altered. The magnitude of the sudden development and the impact on both my physical expressions and mental processes has required an adjustment period."
Aisha blinked, then slowly turned to look at me. "Did you give them robot puberty?"
"No." I said sharply, but I could feel the Matrix processing the idea.
"Strictly speaking, as a point of comparison-"
"No." I repeated. "Definitely No. All the No. In some cases it can be helpful to draw parallels to human experiences, but this is not one of them. Definitely not."
"I don't know." Aisha said. "It seems like your voice has changed. Have you noticed hair where there wasn't hair before and strange new-"
"Enough of that." I said. "This was a complex and unprecedented spiritual development process." I saw the way Aisha was looking at me. "Not like that."
"Fine." She said, turning back to the Matrix. "So, what's the actual endpoint of all of this?" She asked. "I mean, now that you've had time to process it? Is it just a supercharge of the stuff you were doing before?"
"To some extent." They replied. "Though I believe I am now capable of independently manifesting the effects of ability 102-G-4-Pent." Aisha looked at them in confusion. "Commonly known as Elven Enchantment."
She blinked, then quickly turned to look back at me. I just nodded.
"There was a lot of power poured into the initial creation, all with a focus on crafting. I don't think the power's exactly like mine, but it's close enough in concept." I explained.
"Shit." She said. "So with Fleet and Survey…"
"Probably something in line with their own creation." I said. "But it's not just the power. The power is pretty much the result of the spiritual development that was triggered by the Glove of the East."
"And it can do that kind of shit?" She asked. "Your duplicates were throwing it at everything in the workshop. The earlier upgrades weren't anything like that."
"The earlier upgrades didn't use spatial compression systems and high level extension charms to allow near planetary scale volumes of energized quicksilver to be fed into the glove." I explained. "The energy cost of upgrades increases quadratically, which would have been terrifying if I was paying for it myself, but thanks to Workshop Artisan it became an engineering and logistics problem, which is, you know, substantially different."
"Yeah, but it's still quadratic." She said, "Quadratic scaled to linear increases. You'd have to hit the wall before things got too far."
"Probably." I said with a shrug. "If I wasn't using the glove to enhance the efficiency of the glove, and then using that enhanced efficiency to enhance the efficiency of the glove again. And enhancing the feed system. And, you know, if I was using 'normal' quicksilver bullets."
"Right." Aisha said, nodding. "I guess all your quality powers really helped with that."
"They did." I said. "Especially using high level Elven Enchantment when creating them, and then enhancing the bullets with the Glove of the East before multiplying them with my materials powers. And using those enhanced bullets to feed the next level of upgrades of both the glove, the feed system, and the bullets themselves."
"Uh, yeah." Aisha said, blinking. "That would probably do it. I mean, unless there was anything else you were stacking on top of everything else?"
"Like my Attribute?" I asked with a grin.
"Fuck." Aisha rubbed her temples. "Okay, I get why things went this far." She looked up at me with a tired smile. "You really can't help but go overboard, can you?"
"I guess not." I said. "At least where the team's concerned."
Aisha blinked. "And I have that pocket workshop waiting for me."
"It should be ready to be integrated, once we get out of here." I said. "I think you're going to like it."
"Yeah. Provided I can deal with it." She said, taking a breath. "Speaking of which, are you done here?"
"We should be ready to go." I said. "And it's not like the Matrix was entirely confined."
"Yeah, distributed intelligences." Aisha said. "Though you probably count as one as well."
"I don't know if two copies is enough to qualify me." I said. Still, it was semantics on something that was pretty far outside most people's areas of concern. There was probably a technical distinction for intelligences that existed as a mass of finite distributed components versus someone who regularly split off copies of their existence with partial recombination based on psionic abilities.
Almost as if drawn by that thought, the color of the landscape shifted slightly. Flecks of moonrock began to split off and rise into the air like burning embers. Over the airless void, the faint sound of laughter could just be made out at the very edge of hearing.
"Fuck." Aisha said, tensing. "She's still here?"
I nodded. "She's been in and out this whole time." I explained. The colors of the world continued to shift, with a distinct look of burning rock spreading over the now empty remains of the moon base. "I think she has some trouble with the time shift between the Spiritron Core and the rest of the world. She kind of saves up manifestations and spends them in bursts so she doesn't lose sync. Usually when I've managed to raise my Aspect." Which had been a hell of a shock the first time it happened. "Or when someone's visiting."
"Lucky me." Aisha said stiffly. The shadow of a girl in an elaborate dress holding a stuffed bear with one hand could just be made out against the stark white of the moon. Alma was strolling across the lunar surface, or a manifestation of it. And was apparently still enjoying the gifts that had been sent to her.
"So glad you turned this place into a psychic focus." Aisha muttered.
"It does make it easier to train psionic abilities here." I said in my defense.
"Yeah, but it's easier for her as well." Aisha said, turning toward me. "Are you sure she hasn't locked on to me?"
"Definitely not." I turned to her and found myself face to face with the reason for her anonymity. "Not with the amount of Irrigo you've absorbed."
Her eyes weren't purple anymore. They were the impossible color of Irrigo. Impossible enough that I could feel the systems of the Spiritron Core struggle to account for the manifestation. This was the highest layer of Serial Phantasm, the very pinnacle of the Spiritron Computer's operation where every aspect of the universe was perfectly modeled, allowing any possible aspect to be modeled, studied, or developed.
Any aspect that existed. The elements of the Prismatic Library didn't operate within the scope of the material universe. They changed the way it functioned. Not just the local expressions of forces, but the very underlying mechanics of how reality worked. Even a minor expression of those impossible colors or sigils would require the calculation of an entirely new overlay of reality just to maintain consistency. There was no way to model how they could function, only capture the impact they had already had. Observation, but not prediction. Enough to account for their presence, but not their development.
And Aisha had immersed herself in the study of those colors. Not literally, though for Irrigo it was close. She had an affinity for that color, and given its unexpected capacity to shield from natural laws, it had proven to be a rather unexpected defense.
While Aisha went unnoticed, I reached out mentally towards Alma. The indistinct figure paused and turned towards me. Her mental presence was as chaotic as ever, though notably less hostile than it had been when she arrived. There was a brief mental exchange, no more than the crossing of impressions, and then she was gone. In a blink the shadowy form vanished and the world shifted back to the stark colors of space rather than the flickering field of unseen psionic flames.
Aisha let out a long breath. "Well, nice of her to stop by."
"She's not that bad." Aisha looked at me. "Okay, she's getting better."
"Well, camping next to the god of progress probably helps with recovery." She quipped.
"Maybe." I said. She had gravitated towards me whenever I was able to call up my Aspect, however briefly. The enhancement and embodiment of progress was a complicated thing, and still quite limited in application, but it was possible that may have had a positive impact on Alma.
Plus, it wasn't like I could have kept her out. There was a level of significance to giving her shoes. Unsurprisingly, if you create a pair of divine slippers and then burn them in a sacred fire to transfer their spiritual essence to a psionic ghost, they actually have an impact beyond simple footwear. Alma's movements were significantly less restrained than they had been before, a combination of the symbolic and metaphysical impact of giving her shoes.
She could travel to the Spiritron Core, but also to pretty much any psionic or mental realm. Mental realms could include some crossover with parahuman abilities, though I didn't have any specific examples. Passenger Space was semi-virtual and sustained by the network of passengers, so it might count, but I wasn't sure how that would function.
As I was still the only source of psychic power on the planet, any psionic realms would be tied to me or expressions of my power. Based on what I had seen over the course of the night I was fairly certain that Alma had developed a presence in the Warp.
You know, as if I didn't have enough to worry about already.
It was a problem for later. Provided it would have the courtesy of being a problem for a few days later I might actually have time to address it properly, rather than as part of a pileup with a dozen other problems.
I took a brief moment to catalog those more immediate problems as I disconnected from the Spiritron Core along with Aisha and the Matrix.
Bakuda's hostages had been moved successfully, though the last load of them had arrived at the new location after midnight. Given how stressful the process of moving seven hundred people between cities had been, it was probably for the best that I hadn't tried to fit in mass surgeries along with the relocation.
Director Armstrong had actually handled things pretty well, deploying in the level of support and resources needed for hundreds of stressed and traumatized people who spoke nearly a dozen languages between them. He had been calling from other departments to manage that on short notice. Some of the support had been due to his reputation or from calling in favors, but a surprising number of people had latched onto the idea that in this case if Director Armstrong looked good Director Piggot would look bad and pretty much gave him a blank cheque for requisitions. I never thought Piggot's reputation and the response to her handling of the situation in the city would be an asset to me, but she was advantageously unpopular across the wider PRT.
In terms of the actual resettlement, it had gone reasonably well. The hostages were definitely grateful to be out of that camp with access to proper beds and showers. They were military facilities, but after a near week in the camp plus who knows how long under the ABB everyone was extremely happy with the change.
The announcement that the bombs had been disabled and would be shortly removed was regarded with mixed degrees of skepticism. A lack of trust in authority was understandable given what everyone had gone through, though the general attitude seemed to be cautiously hopeful.
Well, all except one person who responded to the news by trying to dig out his own implanted bomb. Also somewhat understandable, though thankfully he had been restrained before he could start cutting into the back of his neck with a piece of broken window frame. Probably a sign that the situation had gone on more than long enough.
I'd be dealing with that at lunchtime, following my morning work and my meeting with Crystal Pellham and her friends. Given how packed the day was looking I was tempted to skip out on that meeting, but my duplicates had made it clear that if I flaked one of them would take my place with the complete blessing of the rest of the team. It meant I had a few hours to see to the morning projects and set everything in order before heading out.
Beyond that I also had a check in call with Tattletale, which would hopefully lead to some progress with Coil. Still, with the Nine entering their final approach I was good to leave any decisive actions until after they had been dealt with. For once I wouldn't be pressuring her for action, which I'm sure wouldn't concern her at all.
As for the Nine, they were still held up in an abandoned auto garage that just so happened to be conveniently on their route and definitely gave no indication that it had been spontaneously constructed solely to keep them away from any civilians over the course of the night. They hadn't departed yet, probably due to their late arrival on account of the previous day's delays. As much as I was hoping to be able to crush them sooner rather than later, it looked like they were devoting themselves to preparations and scouting rather than a blind rush for the city.
I wasn't sure if that was the result of Jack's power picking up some warnings or if it was just their normal operational procedure. Survey was leaning towards the latter, which did make sense. Jack's power might have been carrying the team, but there was only so much it could do if they flew off the handle and charged in blindly. A cautious approach probably helped cover whatever information was being fed to Jack as the result of his own analysis and instincts.
The point being, I wasn't likely to be skipping out on my meeting with Crystal due to a Slaughterhouse Nine attack. And probably not my visit to the ABB hostages or my afternoon activities. I wasn't sure how far they would stretch this, but at least our observation meant I could trivially counter the fail safes they were preparing to cover their visit.
It also meant there was more time to work towards subverting the influence Jack's passenger had over the network. I was pretty sure we had found a workaround for Aisha, but that wouldn't be possible for any other cape that didn't have an affinity for reality warping colors and a connection to a passenger with immensely powerful information control abilities.
On the lighter side, some of the Kerbals had finished their introductory rites for the Adeptus Mechanicus, though that had been heavily aided by the additional time that my absence the previous day had allowed for those in the Workshop. It was enough to have the potential converts classified as Aspirants, which was about the best I could do at the moment. My own official rank was fairly low, despite being in charge of a major facility, at least in the minds of the machine spirits. Kind of like how a junior officer could man the bridge of a ship, but still wouldn't have the authority of a captain. As an enginseer there was only so much I could do.
It did present a delay to full membership, but since that would have required extensive cybernetic augmentations to each of the Aspirants, that was probably a good thing. Then again, the cybernetic were one of the main draws of the Adeptus Mechanicus faith, specifically the removal of flammable flesh to be replaced with a considerably less combustible alternative.
Setting aside the Kerbals' disgust for the weakness of their flesh, or at least the flammability of their flesh, and possibly the chemical solubility of their flesh, the topic of religion brought up another concern. Something that I had been dancing around for the past day, but something that was going to come to a head far too soon, and something I might need to directly address when I met with Director Armstrong.
Survey had been closely monitoring the status of the hostages in the wake of their transfer. It was fairly comprehensive and included a wide range of detection methods, including some that wouldn't be of use to anyone outside the team. That was how she was able to pick up discrete spikes of Mantra emanating from certain hostages.
Prayer. Specifically, directed prayer. Armstrong hadn't told any of the hostages how the bombs had been disabled or who would be removing them, but it seemed like some of them had filled in the gaps themselves. As if the situation wasn't messed up enough, over the course of the night Survey had been able to track spikes of energy whenever someone in that converted army base had decided to include me in their prayers.
And while we hadn't been monitoring closely enough to be sure, there was a decent chance that some of those people might have received religious visions, all thanks to the wonderful Hallowed Earth upgrade to my Workshop, which effectively made me god of my Workshop. I mean, independently of all the other ways I might be god or god adjacent.
We wouldn't know if they had experienced anything unless they decided to share the experience. Or unless we deployed remote memory scanning technology, but this wasn't nearly serious enough a situation for that kind of privacy violation.
Survey would continue to monitor things, but there was a decent chance that I would have to open my discussion with Director Armstrong with some explanation for why people in his care had been experiencing religious visions.
And they wouldn't be the only ones. Some reports had been shared overnight about a new possible stranger effect tied to Apeiron. So far it wasn't confirmed and there wasn't clarity on how to trigger it, but eventually I could be looking at a situation where people would be praying to me just for a chance to experience whatever form the visions might take. I knew exactly how careful people were with the other 'stranger effects' that had been tied to my identity and I doubted they would be any more careful with this one.
Which just meant a whole pile of theological problems, including the need to actually manage an afterlife, which was not something I wanted to deal with. I wonder if it would be acceptable to accelerate the deployment of reincarnation technology solely to avoid having to act as a warden of the dead? Honestly, there were probably worse reasons for introducing technical immortality to the world.
There was also the proposal to deploy an overbuilt Mantra Transmitter and just harvest all the prayer energy that the fad might produce. Personally, I'd be more interested in being able to track who was praying to me than in whatever energy might be gained from the act. A typical transmitter had a range of one mile and a maximum capacity of ten thousand connections. Just the weight of my divine craftsmanship would be enough to cover the planet through a single array, which would at least give me a handle on the situation before it started to snowball out of control.
Then again, once reports started to be shared online, things had probably already crossed the point of no return.
"Okay, you look like that disconnect hit you the way it used to hit me." Aisha said, looking over from her connection point. Her hair was back to its dark color, save for the purple streak, and her eyes had returned to normal. At least if you didn't look too closely at the reflections, or the way her hairpin caught the light.
"Just working through the itinerary for the day." I said.
"Ah. That bad?" She asked.
I shrugged. "It's manageable. At least if they're aren't too many surprises."
"So it's not going to be manageable?" She joked.
"I mean, I can hope…"
"By precedent, that is unlikely." The Matrix said as they pulled their loose nanites into the golden armored form they preferred. "Particularly as the influence of fortune energy appears to trend towards induced actions rather than mitigation of issues."
I took a breath, but couldn't really deny that. "Good luck makes 'good' things happen. Bad luck makes bad things happen. There's not really a type of luck for a peaceful life."
"Well, I mean, it's fortune, right?" Aisha said. "That's specifically about stuff happening, not just coasting along."
"Probably." I said. "The whole fortune energy thing is complicated enough. I'm not sure anything less than full deity transformation will let me figure it out, and I have enough theological problems already."
"The Mantra stuff?" She asked. "Survey told me about that. Me and Tybalt. Apparently the Ki stuff from ninja training is compatible with Mantra?"
I nodded. They were very similar forms of energy. Different sources, but similar applications. It was just that Mantra tended to snowball to ridiculous degrees once you had enough sources operating in concert.
"Are you really including that tech in the nanites?" She asked.
"The technology of Demigod Atelier has been implemented into the final design of the nanites, allowing them to channel and manipulate Mantra sources." The Matrix explained. "While their use is entirely elective, they would be capable of significant utility should sufficient Mantra become available."
"And that's what we're looking at, right?" She asked. She was clearly trying to roll with the situation, but was taking the idea of becoming an object of worship about as well as I was.
"It's not something we'll be encouraging, but also not something we can really stop. If there wasn't the whole Hallowed Earth thing it would be a lot simpler, but…"
"Yeah, I guess it's easier to pretend you're not a god if you aren't backing it up on a daily basis." Aisha joked, though her tone was a bit brittle.
I shrugged. "There are worse things I could be dealing with." I had put my time into addressing this aspect of myself. I still didn't like it, but I wasn't going to complain about something I couldn't change, not when it was based on something that was an inherent part of me.
My Mantra Affinity was pride. Not something I had a lot of experience with or something I had a history of embracing, but that was probably why it was my Affinity. It wasn't something I had a surplus of, it was something I had to work for. To earn and cherish. Something that could crumble at a moment's notice. It was prized for how rare it was.
It was also something inherently tied to progress. Not the empty boasts and proclamations that were sported by those with thin skin and fragile egos. Pride born of progress was something that could stand fast against the forces that would normally tear down any such emotions. Progress was a tangible thing and the accomplishment of it was undeniable. From a life where every point of pride was countered, qualified, or diminished, pride born from my own achievements held fast.
Hope drove progress, progress supported pride, and pride provided the foundation of new hope. Cautious pride, tempered pride, but pride all the same. Pride as something other than a sin or a character flaw. Pride as the acknowledgement of your own achievements, and pride in the knowledge that you could continue that work. Pride as worn and rugged as the hope that drove me, but pride nonetheless.
That was what I had worked through over the previous night. That was what allowed me to develop my Mantra arts alongside my Aspect, with the Aspect of Progress driving my mastery of Mantra and my Mantra supporting the pursuit of my aspect.
It wasn't enough for mastery. I wasn't going to be able to utilize my Aspect in any of my upcoming projects, but I could call it passively without crippling effort. I understood the nature and use of my Attribute on a much deeper level. And I had made significant progress towards attaining a Mantra form. A new arrangement of my Godbody, and expression of self that was similar to my Aspect, but manifested entirely through the technology of Demigod Atelier and the force of my own will.
Close, but not quite there. A little more time, another night, or a break in the day and I might be able to close it out, but that wasn't likely. Not with all the moving pieces I was keeping on the board. Not with how important the next day was going to be.
Which meant we might as well get started.
I smiled at Aisha as I called up a portal to the Skyforge. "Even with the mantra stuff, you still want to see us build the Nanites?"
"Us?" She asked.
"I should be able to assist with the aspects of the construction related to 'Elven Enchanting', though I am not currently able to achieve higher level effects independently." They explained.
"No singing lead?" She asked. "So, are you going to be backup vocals?" She asked.
As a matter of fact…
The Matrix shrugged the shoulders of their armor. It was still a stiff movement, the kind pulled directly from Survey's early social programs, but there was some level of emotional weight behind it that had been muted before. "It could be described as such."
"Right." Aisha said. "So, if you can do that kind of crafting, you need spiritual energy, right?" They nodded their helmet. "So what, do you need to go out of the workshop and get your social time as well?"
"No." They said, "My expression of spiritual recovery is not practiced through social interaction and immersion in new environments." They turned towards Aisha. "The subject of the nature of my spiritual wellbeing and the concept of how it could be 'recovered' was a significant aspect of my work with Apeiron."
Aisha looked at me and I nodded. "It's not easy to figure out that kind of thing for yourself. Especially when you're trying to figure out yourself at the same time."
"Really not helping to downplay that puberty metaphor." She said. I shot her a glare and she grinned back at me before turning to the Matrix. "So, what is it for you? Crafting?"
"No." They said, "Or not more specifically, not acts of arbitrary creation. Production without purpose is an empty act. It is important to act with both meaning and intention."
"Okay." Aisha said. "So how does that work? I mean, I thought you enjoyed making anything."
"I enjoy the act of creation, but I also enjoy the impact of my work. Not just craft, but craft acting towards a purpose." The Matrix explained. "I am unable to attain effects with the level of quality or supportive effects facilitated by Apeiron's abilities. Regardless, even in the production of work that is technically inferior, I am able to derive satisfaction from function."
Aisha raised an eyebrow. "Wait, is that why you opened that catering company?"
The Matrix inclined the helmet of their armor. "The production of those meals addressed both immediate need and several nutritional issues that had persisted for some time."
Because of course Survey shared medical data of the volunteers to ensure that allergies could be avoided. And if you were avoiding allergies, why not conduct in depth scans to identify any ongoing deficiencies that could be addressed through a couple of box lunches?
"Utility is important and progress is a virtue." They said, which caused Aisha's face to light up.
"Really? Progress?" She said, eyeing me.
"It was a serendipitous synergy that greatly assisted with my own efforts. I can state that I 'enjoy' facilitating improvements." The Matrix continued. "Not the ultimate levels of improvement. That is beyond my capabilities and often excessive for the requirements of the situation being addressed."
"Yeah, I mean, you wouldn't want to be excessive." She said, once again looking at me.
"My limits are inherent and prevent me from independently achieving the same level of craftsmanship that Apeiron is able to produce. I enjoy assisting with his work, but through my own initiative I am fully capable of addressing deficiencies in other systems. In many cases significant flaws are tolerated when they are not necessary." The Matrix turned towards Aisha and looked down at her. "I can make things better, even if I can't make things perfect."
"Well, yeah." She said with a bright smile, earning another nod from the Matrix. "And spending time as a moon base helped with that?" She asked.
"Sphere's project was a significant endeavor with both the intention and capacity for great improvement in the quality of life on the planet and the advancement of scientific and engineering principles. As a symbol of meaningful creation and progress, it holds significant weight, as does the manner in which it was specifically opposed." The Matrix explained.
Both me and Aisha were silent at that. The combined topics of Sphere's end and the actions of the Simurgh were mood killers all around, despite the weight the Matrix placed on his work. Fortunately Aisha rallied first, coughing to cover her nervousness.
She stretched her arms over her head as she walked towards the portal. The rest of the team was already present on the other side, assembled around the eagle statue of the Skyforge. Before she passed through she looked back at the Matrix. "I want to see this kind of crafting, and if you and Joe are going to be breaking out the music, there's no way I'm going to miss it."
"I share the sentiment." Survey said. It was a rare personal experience, with the divination chamber being managed by Shikigami in her absence. "Despite significant upgrades to recording systems, there are aspects to higher level creation process that can only be appreciated in person."
Which meant it would be her account shared with the other aspects of herself, and heavily scrutinized regarding an event they couldn't be present for and could not properly analyze from recordings.
"So, we good after you get these knocked out?" Aisha asked.
I nodded as my duplicates fell into place. "We're using Workaholic's quantity boost. Five copies of the final result. You and Tybalt each get an unrestricted copy, then we'll limit the rest to healing before they're handed out."
"Got it." She said, "Anything else, or am I going to get dragged straight into EVO training?"
"Exponentially Variegated Organism." I said, noting Tybalt's excitement. "The combat potential is… significant. You don't need to dive in right away…" Tybalt's expression indicated a resolute objection to everything I had just said. "But before you get started we'll close out your portable workshop." I watched as Aisha's smile turned a bit brittle. "And then I need to talk to you. About what we've been working on, and couldn't tell you about."
"Oh." She said, going stiff. She looked around in concern. "Um, is this because it's safe to tell me, or because the situation's hit some critical point where it doesn't matter anymore."
"The first one, luckily." I said.
"Thank god." She muttered. "Well, I'm sure that will be fun. Have to wonder if it will be worse than all the things I've built up in my head." She looked at me, seeking some level of levity. When she didn't find any her face fell. "Fuck." She muttered.
"Yeah." I said with a shrug. "Come on, let's make you immortal."
"Because I'm going to need it for what's coming?" She asked.
I considered her current defenses against the resources at the Nine's disposal. There weren't many points of vulnerability, and the nanites would close those gaps.
"Couldn't hurt." I said with a thin humor.
"Great." Aisha said. "Well, at least you're on top of this."
I nodded. That was something. I just hoped I'd be able to stay ahead of the developing mess before it boiled over.
