44 Awakening
A soft white light greeted me as I cracked open my eyes. The room I found myself in didn't have the technological collage style that had become characteristic of my workshop. That particular aesthetic had been an inevitable consequence of the disparate items that had been added over time, as well as the piecemeal upgrades that had been implemented by both me and my duplicates. The presence of various innovative and additional features from my duplicates' side products also added a particular character to the Workshop.
The Workshop still looked good, since there seemed to be no way I could possibly get away from that result. Even a complete lack of planning in the layout and integration of new features still somehow came together with a certain elegance that impressed me on a regular basis.
Sometimes it was a little jarring how much of that particular effect seemed to function without my control or even my awareness. It would be one thing if there was an artificial style was being imposed on my work, but that's not what was happening. Looking at the result it was like what would happen if I had taken the time to carefully design the best looking and most appropriate design possible, except it all happened without any actual input from me. It still felt like my work, my taste, my sensibilities, I just wasn't the person actively directing the effect.
In a way, waking up away from that supernatural level of design perfection was slightly refreshing. It took a moment for me to figure out why. Despite the unnatural aspects of its creation, I still liked my workshop. It was home. I liked the way the design came together and the subtle elegance as form and function mixed. It wasn't off-putting in any way, so it took a moment for me to realize what I found comforting about the largely stark and futuristic design of the room around me. Then it hit me.
It was familiar.
I recognized it. Really, there was no way I could miss it. The only reason I hadn't jumped to the conclusion immediately was I had never seen it from this perspective. I moved slowly, taking in the space. The high-grade aluminum walls and exceedingly familiar layout. The precise arrangement of display screens, equipment, and access points. It was absolutely burned into my memory. Carefully, I made my way to a reinforced window and looked outside.
A stark lunar landscape greeted me. The shapes of other habitat units stood in sharp relief against the dusty gray of the moon's surface. More and more details flooded into my mind, dredged up from untold hours of obsession. Of a single-minded devotion to the concept, design, and implementation of Sphere's moon base.
No. No, this wasn't Sphere's moon base. I knew enough about the project to tell. Even before I'd gotten my powers I would have been able to recognize the differences. The little design changes. The parts that were compromised from the actual plans to make production easier, or better fit the theme. The truncated nature of the project, with minimal focus on things like living space and support systems and instead concentrating entirely on the big set piece items.
Little details, like the botanical dome being completely composed of glass with no support structures or redundancies in the event of breach as well as having insufficient utility connections for a project like this. Or the solar ring suspended above the habitat, a theorized device intended to simulate a terrestrial day/night cycle as opposed to the month-long rotation period seen by the moon. The structure was supposed to use reflected sunlight, artificial shade, and internal spotlights to accomplish this feat, but the idea was scrapped early in the project, and the initial design was admitted to never work correctly.
That is 'never work' based on its original design, not because you made a mistake during assembly that caused the plastic bearings to seize the first time you tried to rotate it, and then snap apart when you tried to fix it yourself, to a complete lack of sympathy from your family.
If I needed any more proof I could just look at the wall. Right there, sitting in front of me, was the raised structure that I had been convinced was evidence of some internal wiring or piping structure. I had composed theories about what it could be for, from secondary power lines to some kind of thermal regulation system that hadn't been included in the public plans. All together it took me way too long to realize I had been looking at an injection molding seam from the production of the toy rather than some secret system included for the purposes of total accuracy.
I wasn't in Sphere's moon base. I wasn't even in an approximation of Sphere's moon base. I was in a technical recreation of the Sphere Moon Base playset, complied with incredible accuracy and passion, but no more than that. It was still just based on a toy. No, it was based on my specific interpretation of a toy, and a toy that was very important to me.
That awareness was all I needed to put things together. Looking past the shock of suddenly finding myself in such an intimately familiar setting, I could feel the mechanisms behind it. The simulation was perfect, but only perfect in terms of the senses of a normal person.
This was a virtual environment. I mean, obviously. What was the alternative? That my duplicates had taken my incapacitation as an opportunity to construct an extraterrestrial base of operations in the exact form of my favorite childhood toy?
…actually, that seemed like a frighteningly possible scenario.
But that wasn't what happened. This space was all part of a simulation. A really good simulation, as evidenced by the fact that my technokinesis didn't immediately register the nature of the world around me. The idea of a fully immersive virtual world was a nice aspect of science fiction, either through VR goggles, brain interfaces, or some kind of holodeck. Unfortunately, it would never be fully immersive for me.
Even beyond the distance created by the knowledge that a space was artificial, I had a serious obstacle to any sense of immersion. I could sense machines, the energies within them and the results of their labors. It was like seeing a Disneyland animatronic when the mechanical components were visible. Suddenly any suspension of disbelief was gone and I was just watching a series of clockwork components play out. I could still appreciate the artistry in play, but I'd never be able to ignore what was under the surface.
This place was a significant step above your typical virtual environment. For one, it was fully immersive in terms of emulating senses. Sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell were all being recreated perfectly. Well, I mean I didn't actually start licking the scenery to verify taste, but there were aspects to how the air moved, the residue it left, and the relationship between taste and smell that was enough to convince me. Whoever had modeled this place had gone all out in terms of detail as well as accuracy.
The really impressive thing was the fact that I couldn't immediately sense any of the mechanisms in play. Not the mechanics of my link to the system or the system itself. Normally I would have some sense of what was happening. Either my neural implant connecting to different parts of my brain to facilitate the transfer of data or, in cases where the interface throne was used, I would be able to feel the neural mapping and magnetic induction in action as the high-definition sensor field read or wrote information directly to my brain.
I couldn't feel that. I could still feel something, but not clearly and not directly. Paradoxically, that was the real proof of the simulation. This system, advanced as it was, could only manage to convey conventional sensory information. I could see the room around me, hear the sounds of the environmental system at work and even feel the flow of air through the space, but that was it.
The Magitech constellation passed by as I noted the marked differences in my sense of the area. I couldn't feel the warmth of the machinery around me, or the depth of information that would come from connecting my pyrokinesis to the creation of the technology in question. I couldn't sense the function of the systems built into the moon base or discern any information about its construction or composition. Even basic information I would have been able to glean before Fate Finds You Interesting amplified my demigod abilities was absent.
Additionally, the Dragon's Pulse was notably absent. Even without focusing on the flow of life energy through the people around me there was always a kind of background circulation. It was like a current of energy that moved through the world, and was what made the otherwise impossible task of remote alchemy a trivial task. That was gone, and as a consequence the world around me felt somehow dead and empty.
There was another notable absence, and one I had only just started to observe. The magical powers that came with my striker unit weren't just about my internal stores of mana and connection to my familiar. They involved expanded awareness of the world. Not to the structured degree that was possible from Divine Child or Alkahestry, but still enough to be noticeable. It let me feel the currents of ether flowing through the world, which was another thing the simulation had failed to emulate.
It was kind of incredible how accustomed I had become to these new senses that were being forced upon me. I had only gotten the first of them at the start of the week, but already they were as natural as breathing. I wondered if that as part of the context the Forge had provided for most of its abilities. Not always full sets of memories, but always enough to at least make use of the granted powers properly. It harkened back to concerns over how strongly my mind was being affected, concerns that had been shelved in the face of one crisis after another.
Really, with what had happened to the city, it felt selfish to be worried about something like that. My powers had let me counter a massive and coordinated threat. Not perfectly, but hours of working to keep Tetra from blaming herself for this situation had dulled the instinct to blame myself for every misstep. I was grateful for having the Forge, both in terms of what it prevented with my original trigger and for the power it gave me to actually make a difference in an otherwise impossible scenario.
I was still concerned about the state of my mind, but I wasn't going to be lamenting my mental condition. Monitoring, moderating, and mitigating it, sure, but considering how badly things could have been I wasn't going to hold any level of animosity towards my powers.
It was a conviction I hoped I would be able to hold, and hoped I wouldn't come to regret.
The sensory powers in question provided, with considerable focus and effort, a link to that actual source of this illusionary world. The device in question was an order of magnitude more complex that my old neural interface, and even considerably outstripped the medical system I had been connected to through the extended period of frustrating helplessness. I probably would have noticed its assembly and connection if not for the massive shock of the duplicates' procedure.
That… that had been something else. Taken to the volcano, that had been a worrying situation. The repeated instances of duplicates working through their entire duration while I was trapped and helpless had worn down on me to no small degree. Trapped, I was only able to think, comfort Tetra, and observe through my expanded senses.
I never had any idea if real progress was being made, only being able to gain a detached sense of my duplicates' emotional states. It had started to become a pattern. The initial flares of shock at creation as they caught up with the situation of the outside world and presumably the work of the previous sets of duplicates. The mounting frustration as their work progressed and they bounced between sections of the workshop. I could sense the technology being brought into existence, and then sense it being scrapped or cast aside, usually with a spike of frustration. I had vague awareness of different projects being attempted, strange forces being harnessed by duplicates uncertain in their actions.
That was probably the most unsettling part of my confinement. Feeling the uneasiness of someone with all of my powers was disconcerting, but it had nothing on the moment when that uneasiness turned to conviction. The feeling of a duplicate wrestling with a problem for their entire existence, and then, at the end of their existence, finally taking the plunge. Twenty percent time could be a frightening subject when all the duplicates were doing with it was indulgent side projects or outfitting Garment with everything on her latest wish list. Watching my duplicates struggle with the implications of an action, and then decide to push forward right at the point where they wouldn't need to address the consequences, that scared me.
The feelings of the next set of duplicates when they formed and reviewed the actions of their predecessors did little to calm me. I had a feeling the entire night had been spent building one desperate plan on top of another with each set of duplicates pushing things just a little further. The previous set crossed lines so the next set wouldn't have to, but then that set crossed lines as well. So, when a set of duplicates was reaching the end of their existence and decided to move me to the Volcanic Forge I was understandably concerned.
And, as it turns out, those concerns were pretty much justified. I lifted my virtual hand to my virtual chest. I couldn't feel the work of the duplicates, not here, not in this space, but I had back then. I had been incredibly aware of what was happening.
At least it hadn't been painful. That was a small mercy, and one entirely owed to the nanites that had been active in my system since… well, since I first healed from March's ambush. The technology of Nanite Sciences and Nanite Removal and Control had been able to suppress pain signals while still working to repair the ongoing damage caused by my fusion with Tetra. As such the procedure didn't exactly hurt, it was just frighteningly unpleasant for entirely separate reasons.
I wondered if I would have been as aware of the work if it happened anywhere else in the workshop? I had a sense of both fire and technology, but the volcano was a special union of those concepts. I had a special connection to it, and therefore a particularly accurate understanding of what was being undertaken.
There had been machinery added. I could sense it. The negative mass field projector wasn't that concerning, not after recently getting Material Synthesis Science, the power to create frankly insane metals when working in microgravity. No, the first major source of concern was the life support system.
I was already rigged into an incredibly advanced medical chamber, one that should have sufficed for any purpose. But there was new equipment present. Equipment designed to sustain circulation in the absence of a heart.
I was trapped, passively aware of what was happening as I was moved into position. Shifted from one set of life sustaining machinery to another. Things became fuzzier at that point, and that was probably a mercy. I knew my brain was damaged. I knew there was something about the medical system that had been set up that allowed me to retain awareness of my surroundings.
I wasn't exactly thinking with neural matter that was being choked and shredded by expanding life fibers. That effect faded as I was moved towards the new machinery. Thinking got harder and more distant. My sense of my surroundings blurred. Without the proximity of the volcano, I may have faded out of consciousness entirely, but I held on. I held on for a stupidly long time.
Build Rome was an incredible power. It amplified my previous rate of production over a hundred-fold. Combined with my other speed powers it meant the only technology that couldn't be completed in seconds was on the scale of large vehicles or industrial equipment, and even that only extended to 'minutes'. Unless I started building large spacecraft construction times were not a concern.
But that only applied to the creation of technology. Build Rome provided an increase to other forms of creation, but it was a doubling or tripling instead of the usual insane multiplier. Even so, there were only a few types of crafting that would actually take significant amounts of time. And this work was taking time
It had to be magic. Enchanting and the construction of arcane focuses were the last real commitments that took serious attention, both in terms of design and execution. I was willing to bet the design had been taken care of, but the execution of the project was another matter. A serious matter.
I could feel the work. Not perfectly clearly, but even in a diminished state, it was too much to ignore. Spiritual connections, thaumic crafting, the infusion of mana, the focusing of unseen forces, and binding of new and powerful metals played out in front of me. I was disconnected from the sensations of my body, but I knew what they had taken. Tetra was aware of it, and her moderated concern rather than blind panic helped get me through the ordeal.
The process concluded with an exertion the likes of which I had never experienced. Naming. They had Named their work. Named it with more power and force than anything I had ever considered before. Trapped with only a vague spiritual awareness I could almost perceive the impact on the Unseen on the object. The way its place in reality was being redefined by a handful of words. I could feel the flows of energy that until now had only been imprecise impressions drawn from a memory of light and warmth.
I was too disconnected from the world to hear the words used, but I could feel them. Sense them in a way that went beyond any principles of sound or phonetics. Balan Cuil Hûn. The words for divine power, life, and the physical heart. That was the name used, the power bound and defined by the strength of my soul, burned into the workings and changing it to something beyond the limits of a physical object.
Then the creation was implanted. No, returned. It wasn't some foreign body, some strange and unfamiliar device that had been tacked on. It was me, mine, part of my self. That was when I had fully understood.
It was improbable not to with the rhythm beating in my chest.
As if there could be any doubt at this point, it was my heart. Modified, strengthened, but still mine, part of me. I could already see the intent behind the project, the theoretical improvements and advancements possible, the way this could address issues and concerns that had been piling up since the start of treatment.
I would never have done this, but 'I' hadn't been fighting as part of generations of soldiers against an implacable problem in the wake of a major disaster. I wondered how this plan came together, how many duplicates had contributed to the idea, the design, the testing of concepts, each taking the plan just a bit further. One designing the integration, another the arcane focuses, one taking a few minutes to install equipment, or build secondary life support, or rig the medical system for easy transport. Piece by piece it had come together until everything was ready and there was no reason not to take the last step.
No reason beyond my own hang-ups around the concept, and I was fairly sure that the duplicates had abandoned any regard for those at least four cycles ago. This was beyond any mere treatment. It was a major and unquestionable upgrade.
I didn't know how I felt about that.
I mean, I was in no position to argue about it. I knew how desperate things were. It was one of the few things I was certain of. I had been basking in the desperation of my duplicates the entire night bleeding into morning. Actually, I wasn't sure what time it currently was, since counting loops excluded any before I had woken up. I couldn't complain about doing whatever it took to fix things, and coming out of this with any kind of ongoing benefit should be a blessing.
But it was still wet tinkering. Self-directed wet tinkering. Okay, it was done by my duplicates, but I knew they were at worst reflections of my own mindset. They had been able to push past one of my biggest reservations, something I had been holding back on for the entire span of my time as a cape.
It was my trigger. That damn trigger and the nightmare of powers that would have come with it. There should be no comparison between what I was capable of now and the mess that would have resulted from that night, but I couldn't help but see it. I had shied away from so many applications because of that reservation.
It could be said I was paying for it now. Maybe that was too harsh, but if I had really engaged every avenue available to me would things have gotten as bad as they had? There were levels of cognitive acceleration, reflex boosters, or even implanted weaponry that might have been enough to let me escape from March's ambush. Once I knew something like that was a possibility I could take steps, fight differently and ensure she never got an opportunity to repeat it.
I had gone into a critical battle with less than the full arsenal at my disposal because of my own hang-ups and fears. I was willing to accept enhancements when the Forge handed them to me, just not seek them out myself. It was stupid and contradictory, but if these kinds of issues were logical they would never persist to the point of becoming serious problems.
The heart, my heart, it was an upgrade. It actually felt disingenuous to refer to it that mildly, but the only alternative would be to descend into poetry about encased stars, fonts of life, and the underpinnings of reality. The immediate effects were dramatic enough that I couldn't even fathom the full extent of its power. There was an immediate shift in the energy balance between me and Tetra. Whatever lifeforce or healing effect it was generating was well beyond what she was draining from me.
The second effect was the real reason I was able to understand how significant things were. It was like as soon as my heart was back in my chest the world suddenly came back into focus. My senses worked again, possibly even better than when I was in the medical interface. Actually, being shifted back was barely noticeable in terms of my perceptions.
Perceptions that then shifted to preparations for… this. I took another breath of simulated air and let it out slowly. It had no actual effect on the state of my distant body, but the sensation was there, and that was calming, to a certain degree. Clearly a lot of work had gone into this. Well, a lot of personalization. Build Rome made any technical work laughably short. I just didn't know if this was another stopgap measure or part of whatever solution had been concocted.
There was a knock on the door that drew me out of my thoughts. I somehow found myself reaching out through the Dragon's Pulse to see who it was. Even though I knew it didn't work here and I'd had the power for less than a full week it had somehow become instinctual. I guess once a sense becomes part of you it's easy to come to rely on it.
"Hello?" I called out. Once again, it felt strange. This was a virtual environment. I knew it was a virtual environment. I could feel vague impressions of the interface and connections through the artificial distance the simulation created between me and my body. I should have been fully immersed in code and communication protocols, but instead I was walking around like a normal person.
The door to the room opened. Opened properly, with the mechanisms that had been planned for the actual lunar colony internal doors, not the plastic hinges that the toy had used. The little mixture of details somehow brought me more into the experience rather than dragging me out of it.
I looked at the door frame as 'I' walked in. I didn't have the innate connections I was used to, not even the digital links from my cranial implant, but it was easy to tell what was happening.
"Hey." I greeted my duplicate. "Uh, can you fill me in on what's going on here?" I considered for a moment, then added, "and also what's going on in general? I've been a little cut out of the loop."
"Believe me, I know." He rubbed his chest in an almost subconscious gesture. I wracked my brain to recall the moments before I'd been connected to this system.
"Uh, so you're not the…"
"Not the copies who did this." He answered. "No, they're gone. We got to wake up with the improved heart." He blinked and shook his head. "Trust me, it's a trip."
I nodded slightly, then let out a slow breath. "Sorry, this is just…" I didn't know how to finish that sentence.
"I understand." He looked around. "They did get this mostly set up, so we were ready to jump in as soon as we caught up on things. I mean, they weren't the ones who designed it, but that seems to be par for the course in this situation."
It was actually somewhat comforting to be talking to the next generation of duplicates. That seemed like a horrible thing to say, but that was nested in the concerns over the nature of the duplicates that never really went away, no matter how much 20% time they enjoyed or how little the situation seemed to bother them. As unnerving as it was that the last set had effectively died it was good to talk to a version of me who was also put off a bit by the sudden biological upgrades.
"There's been a lot of that kind of stuff going on?" I was almost afraid of what the answer would be. Just feeling their reactions to the work had been bad enough. Now I had the chance to find out what they'd actually been working on.
He nodded. "Yeah. Pretty much anything that could make a difference had been looked at. They've really gone all out."
We both paused as the Celestial Forge moved again. It seemed the virtual environment did nothing to dull that connection. The Crafting constellation swung forward and I connected to a familiar mid-sized mote. Fixer. It was the third and final mote in a cluster of powers, the first two being Armourer and Weaponsmith.
It had the same structure as those powers, a mental database of designs and crafting instructions of titanic size seemingly stretching back thousands of years. While the first two powers had covered weapons and armor this one covered just about everything else. Every conceivable type of equipment was included, from the most basic camping supplies to impossible advanced technology that altered the fabric of reality. Thousands of pieces of equipment of every description and purpose. It was more than I could fully parse, but just the presence of multiple varieties of defensive fields, including one that teleported you out of danger drove home its significance.
Another factor drove home its significance, and not in a particularly pleasant way. I could tell these powers had some association with the Laboratorium based on the technology involved and the reactions of the skulls and older machine spirits. This power made the connection crystal clear, because it contained a database of cybernetic components. They were shockingly advanced and incredibly broad in design and application. The database contained everything from limb replacements that could fully pass for human to the designs necessary for the near complete replacement of the human body.
That was where things got bad. Lots of the cybernetics were cranial. Some were just interfaces, but others got into modifying the function of the brain. Serious modifications. Some were as simple as providing additional computational resources, but others went a lot further. You'd think the mechanisms for networking two brains together or removing a person's emotion center would be the worst the database had to offer, and they might be.
But only if you ignored the servitors.
The mental database of equipment cheerfully named 'Fixer' had detailed instructions for breaking down a person, erasing their brain, and rebuilding them as a meat robot. A near-mindless cyborg that would carry out rote tasks until it wore down to nothing. The precise mechanism for unpersoning someone was outlined with incredible precision.
It was grotesque and clearly intentional. The tasks the servitors were designed for could easily be completed by robots, but a great deal of work was being put into the creation of cyborgs that could fill the same role. Based on the variations in the creation process it was clear it wasn't always expected those undergoing the conversion would be willing participants, with some variations being absolutely tortuous.
Others were clearly designed with the use of vat-grown components instead of live humans. That was possibly the one redeeming aspect of this insanity. It didn't exist exclusively for the purposes of mindless cruelty or inhumane punishment. It was perfectly capable of taking cloned organs as its materials. The presence of a living human was somehow important.
Important in ways that started to come together when the more esoteric aspects of construction and design were examined. There was something that was trying to be prevented, something that needed these to be people, even if only in the technical sense, rather than unthinking machines. I didn't know what it was exactly, but it seemed to lean towards some incredibly advanced electronic warfare defenses.
Thinking back to the Laboratorium and how easily its countermeasures had torn through Dragon's assault and suddenly it made a lot more sense. Not enough sense to justify doing …that to someone, but I'd grown up in Brockton Bay. I knew what desperation could drive people to.
"You finished unpacking that?" The duplicate asked.
I looked up at him and nodded. "Uh, yeah, I think so. Not really what I needed to see right after that surgery, but you know, the Forge."
"I know." He let out a breath. "That surgery's not going to be the end of it, and probably won't be the worst." He gestured towards the moonscape. "That's what this was for. Gave us a chance to talk to you before we made any serious decisions."
I swallowed and swore I could feel a cold sweat building. "I appreciate that. Um, what do we have to go over?"
"A lot. And not here. I just came to get you once you settled. Everyone else is over in the botanical dome. Come on." He gestured and started to walk down the connecting conduit. I took a breath before moving to follow him.
"Who else is here?" I asked as we turned at one of the junctions.
"Everyone we could get. The other duplicate is sitting this out to keep an eye on things, but we wanted as much support as possible for this." He smiled slightly. "Plus, everyone wanted to get a chance to talk to you. Apparently we don't really count."
His dismissal of his own importance was said with such levity that I didn't know what to think about it. "So, what is this place? I'm guessing some kind of virtual environment enhanced by magitech, or maybe soul interfaces from That Undefinable Thing?"
"Actually, it's mostly Technosorcery. That power works like mad with stuff like this. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to rig a soul conference through something as basic as a set of VR goggles, much less the tech we have running." He explained.
I paused before asking my next question. "Hey, not sure if you want to get into this right now, but going by how far you had to push things for something that should have worked through my implant I'm guessing I'm pretty messed up?"
There were a few more steps before he replied. "Yeah, really messed up." He slowed his pace and let out a sight. "Honestly, without all the physical boosts you've got going I doubt we could have managed. I can tell you, even waking up without Tetra fused to us isn't particularly pleasant. We're lucky the potions have been improved to the point where it can handle that, but it's still no picnic."
"The neural link not working? That's because Tetra's in my brain, right?"
"Unfortunately. It's something we've been able to kind of work around, with this place being an example, but it's reached the point where we need to make a decision, and that's not something we're doing without checking with you first."
The last duplicates had waited for this set. Because of that I'd be dealing with copies who woke up changed. They knew where I was coming from. It was a common point, and might make this talk a bit easier.
Or maybe they just didn't want me yelling at them about the sudden heart surgery. That seemed like it could be equally likely. I considered the possibility as the Size constellation passed by and we closed on the botanical dome.
Up close I could see the dome had been scaled up from what had been represented in the toy. It still had the same exterior design, but was more in line with something that would serve an entire moon colony rather than a half dozen action figures. The dome was basically an indoor park with multiple levels suspended under a curved layer of tinker tech glass. Once again, the actual and toy designs were blended with the park spread over a half dozen suspended platforms rather than the two that had been represented in the playset. The 'ground' layer was a basic park with grass, paths and a few trees. Upper-level platforms had different arrangements of plants, usually in the theme of a certain kind of famous garden.
"Hey, Jozef!" A voice called from the edge of the lower level. Looking across the space I could see the shape of Aisha frantically waving at me. Standing near her were the solid but still strikingly colored forms of Fleet and Survey's human avatars. My duplicate returned the wave before I could and started towards the group.
I followed after him and met the group halfway across the dome. "Uh, hi everyone." I offered a little awkwardly.
"It is good to be able to communicate directly with you once again." Survey replied while Fleet nodded his helmeted head. It was odd actually speaking with the A.I.s as a primary means of communication rather than as a supplement to direct the data connections from either my implant or interface throne. I'm not sure if they found anything odd about it as well, or if they were just happy to have some means of communication.
"Yeah, things have been all over the place since you got yourself wrecked." Aisha added. The girl was wearing a tight-fitting bodysuit, which struck me as odd for this environment. I appeared in the closest thing I had to casual clothes these days, and My duplicate was similarly dressed. It didn't seem like the kind of arrangement where you would design custom avatars, and there was still the question of how Aisha was accessing this in the first place…
Then it hit me. "Soft suit?" I asked.
The girl smiled and turned slightly to show off the interface layer of her armor, which could honestly have passed for gym wear. "Yeah. Already had it for that connection to my armor so the copies said they just needed to jack me in." She looked around the dome and took a deep breath. "Didn't figure it was like this inside your computers."
"It's not usually. This is new."
"Our work." The duplicate cut in. "Well, that's a collective 'our', but yeah, just put together tonight."
"Normally there'd be a lot less simulated plant life and more interfaceable data streams." I added.
"An unfortunate compromise given the nature of the current situation." Survey agreed with a slight nod.
"I like it." Fleet said flatly, and in his usual fashion didn't elaborate. Looking around I couldn't help but wonder if his approval had something to do with the simulated launch vehicle and lunar rovers that were visible outside the dome.
"I'm with Fleet. Better a place like this than some Tron nonsense." Aisha said with another grin, as if the only difference between this and my conventional interface was a lack of blue glowing lines. Still, it was nice to see her joking. I hadn't picked up much from Aisha during my incapacitation, but what I got suggested a level of pressure and tension that no one her age should have to deal with. Being the one who dragged her into this, at least officially, I couldn't help but feel accountable. Seeing her at least able to joke at the situation got a smile out of me.
"Is this everyone for the talk?" I asked once again frustrated that I couldn't just sense, scan, or directly access the information on other people connected to the simulation.
"No, we've got more." My duplicate answered. "Um, the Matrix connected, but it's not exactly going well." He pointed towards a nearby fountain I had overlooked. And once again, frustration at actually having to look even though I knew this was a simulation but infuriatingly couldn't just access its underpinnings.
I wonder if I've wound up with some kind of control problem when it comes to technology?
Near the fountain was a shape. Not the shape of a person, but something with roughly the right dimensions. Watching, the form began to shift. Actually, it had always been shifting, you just had to watch for a few moments before it became apparent. The change was actually much faster that it should have been, but still smooth enough that it was easy to overlook. That was the result of the lunar gravity. It made the water fall slower and move in odd splashes, creating a kind of time lapse effect on the shape in front of it.
As we looked it shifted from a roughly human sized block to an abstract blob, then something like a Rutherford model of an atom, then to an indistinct humanoid figure that shifted to a miniature version of the Gun-EZ, then back to a similar but definitely different sized block.
"The Matrix is adjusting to the constraints of this environment when accessed through a conventional interface, and as such will be absent from the coming discussions." Survey explained.
"I didn't realize you had a third A.I." Aisha said as she looked at the shifting mass. I couldn't sense the details, but it seemed like it was assembly shapes out of small components, like sand sculptures rather than perfectly morphing from one to the other. Still, if it was content with that then I wasn't going to disturb it. I wasn't sure how its development was progressing, but at least attempting to come up with a self-image was a big step forward.
"So, anyone else?" I asked, looking around the otherwise empty park.
"Oh, you're going to love this." Aisha said with a smirk.
"Upper levels. We've got things set up for the meeting." My duplicate clarified.
I was kind of pleased that I didn't need directions. This whole thing had been a childish passion project, but those were the kind of things that stuck with you. Actually, being able to use the information I read years ago in a Popular Mechanics issue on the upcoming moon colony, including in this case the layout of the botanical dome, it made it feel like it wasn't a complete waste.
"Hey?" Aisha had moved closer as we walked through the complex. Once again, and this was becoming a theme of frustrations, we had to walk because of course bringing mystical interfaces into a virtual environment meant you couldn't just edit your current location or anything simple like that. Considering how much affection I had for this environment it really said something that those specific frustrations were pushing their way to the surface.
"Yeah?" I answered, largely to distract myself from the ruminations on the particularities of this mystical/technical mix and how it had somehow introduced more limitations than a normal simulation.
"Uh, this is Sphere's moon base, right? Like, what was going to be built if things didn't happen like they did?"
Despite the reference to the Simurgh I found myself smiling slightly. "Not exactly. This is based on the promotion stuff they released ahead of the project. The actual plans changed multiple times, and some of this was overly simplified right from the start." I looked out the dome at the lunar landscape. "They even changed the build site. This is based on the first proposal, not the place that actually used to land the pieces they sent up."
She nodded. "Still, pretty sweet. It seemed like a nice setup, and even had a park for the oxygen production." She saw my reaction and furrowed her brow. "What?"
"Carbon cycles in a closed system are complicated as hell. I mean, that's Sphere's specialty. Was Sphere's specialty." I added, the thoughts of what happened almost banishing my momentarily lifted spirits. Still, at Aisha's gesture I continued. "Plants, particularly when they're fully grown, are pretty much carbon neutral. To actually supply enough oxygen for the people here you'd need significantly more than this, and it would need to be growing constantly. Either crops or something with extremely rapid growth. You'd need to worry about fertilizers and then storage of biomass, what happens when it breaks down, and about a thousand other problems." I shook my head. "It's easier to just use CO2 scrubbers like everyone else and deal with deficits either with supply runs or some tinker tech application."
"Huh. So, what was all this going to be for?"
"You know how it looks like a park or garden?" She nodded. "That's it."
"They were going to put a park on the moon… to have a park on the moon?"
I shrugged. "This was supposed to be a long-term assignment. You put a bunch of people in metal containers with nothing natural and no way to get away from each other and you'd be lucky for them to last a year. It would be like working on a submarine, but worse in every way. People need to get out, get away from things, for their own good. Downtime, and a place for down time, it's essential."
"That is an apt parallel of our current situation, and a policy that should be adhered to following successful treatment." Survey cut in suddenly.
I blinked. "I wasn't talking about…"
"Oh, you were absolutely right. Really need to get that official in some way." My duplicate added.
I spun to speak with him when Fleet saw fit to say "I agree." The A.I. was completely unmoved when I turned to glare at him.
"Hey, your own words." Aisha quipped. "Can't argue with that."
"Did… did I just get outvoted?" I asked while everyone around me acted conspicuously innocent. I wracked my brain to try to figure out if this had been some kind of set up or if I just blundered into it and allowed everyone else to take advantage.
"Hey," my duplicate said, "take it from someone who is actually dealing with your mental state. Spending this time laid up does not count as actual rest. I know there's a lot to do, but for the sake of every duplicate to come, take some time to yourself and delegate."
The general attitude of the group, somehow even shared by Survey and Fleet suggested I wasn't getting out of this. I gave the most noncommittal nod I could manage and covered the last few steps of the flight leading to the level three garden.
And stopped.
The garden was one of the smaller platforms, with a ring of festive plants surrounding a small sitting area. The sitting area was occupied by two people. People I had never seen before and at the same time could recognize in an instant.
One glowing red, pulsing with a steady rhythm, the same rhythm I could feel from the distant awareness of my own heart. The shape wasn't clear beneath the glow, but I had a sense the mass of fibers followed a particular pattern that if mapped out would match the arrangement of threads that were spearing through my physical body. It was like a hollow representation of my own form, but slightly ashamed in its posture and curled in on itself.
The second form was already up and moving towards me by the time I had a chance to register its presence. Every movement and shift in angle caused the figure to change, folding through thousands of variations of color, fabric, and design, all shifting like a spinning kaleidoscope. All except for the pure white gloves that framed the shifting mass of fashion as it launched towards and encompassed me.
Returning the hug of a being without any true form was a challenge, but I persisted, squeezing down on the fluid form. Fabric shifted under my arms, changing weave, composition, and color seemingly at random in a chaotic but also warm embrace.
"Hello Garment. It's good to see you."
The gloves squeezed around me briefly before breaking their grip. Garment stepped back in a rainbow of fabrics and styles, seemingly taking a look at me to some approval.
"Hey, you were the one who made these clothes. Isn't that a little self-indulgent?"
Even with her form shifting through a thousand different fashions with every movement she still managed to seem endearing in her dismissal of the idea. I didn't know how my duplicates had managed to establish the connection, but I was grateful to have Garment here. Whatever the mechanism that determined forms in the projection it either seemed to be having difficulty capturing her, or she was somehow taking advantage of the variance allowed. Either way, it created an image that was more like looking into a vortex of immersive concepts than any physical shape bound to three dimensions.
"Uh, hello?" The voice caught me off guard and pulled my attention away from Garment. It was a little like the voice Survey first developed, the one she used outside of her lawyer persona, but had some slight distinction. The tone of the voice wasn't what drew my attention. It was the way the red glow fluctuated with it.
Garment reacted almost as quickly as I did, quickly leading me towards the bench where the projected mass of life fibers was 'seated'.
"Tetra?" I tried carefully. There really wasn't any way to make eye contact, with nothing to make eye contact with. I didn't have the expanded senses I had grown so used to. Still, in the back of my mind I could feel the distant connection. The link I had been focusing on through the entire ordeal. I may have been separated from it, but it hadn't been broken. I could still feel it.
"I'm sorry about this." The mass of life fibers, the most dangerous biological creature on the planet, the only truly alien life form ever encountered, apologized meekly while curling into herself.
I remembered the reassurances I had made and how they had helped me from falling into those modes of thinking myself. "Don't be. If anyone is responsible for this it's the ABB. We're working to fix this. Assigning blame isn't important." I watched as the fibers slowly unfurled. "And it's good to hear you speak, Tetra."
Through that distant connection I could feel pulses of relief, gratitude, and comfort. Tetra didn't seem to really have a readable body language in her projection, but it was enough to go on. We were together and we had plans to review. Plans that would be able to get us out of this mess.
Slowly the rest of the group started to gather. Aisha seemed a bit uncertain about Tetra, but was doing her best not to show it. In contrast Garment was incredibly comfortable with the erratic mass of crimson energy and worked to get Tetra settled in. Unsurprisingly there were enough seats ready for all of us. With everyone seated, on an elevated platform surrounded by the surface of the moon with the earth hanging in the sky, we began our discussion.
Or we would have if the Celestial Forge didn't suddenly make a connection to the Alchemy constellation. Everyone at least recognized what was happening and fell silent to give me and my duplicate time to process the new ability.
The ability was called Thaumaturgical Focus: Transmutation and focused on a particular art of magic, or magecraft to be accurate to the terminology used in that particular art. The power opened up an entirely new type of magic, even if I was limited to transmutation effects within that system. Transmutation was specifically related to spells that interfere with aspects of an object, either overriding existing properties or granting entirely new ones. It was rather focused given my impressions of how wide reaching this kind of magic seemed to be, with my granted skills being limited to reinforcement, alteration, and projection.
That wasn't to say they were in any way useless. Reinforcement was the most basic of the properties and that still allowed incredible levels of enhancement. Essentially, defects in a material would be filled with magical energy, allowing them to function beyond what should be physically possible, taking something to an entirely new level thanks to the improvements of the reinforcing energy.
Alteration was closer to what you would think of if someone said the word 'transmutation'. It was giving properties or effects to objects that they usually wouldn't have. This was the type of transmutation that could alter the form or function of physical objects in the world.
The final ability was projection. Well, it was technically known as Gradation Air, but it definitely was about projecting the forms of objects into the world. The objects are created from emulating material composition with magical energy and shaping that energy into the form of an object. The 'Gradation' part is based on how the object fades out after it's creation, the magic that composes it being constantly eroded by the natural forces of the real world. 'Air' is just a reference to it being created from and fading to nothing.
Normally projection is fairly weak magic. It's difficult to create meaningful objects with projection and they're usually weak and fragile when compared to what you could manage with reinforcement. Still, there were ways around that. You can improve the quality of projections through better understanding of their construction and mechanics, which was an advantage that had been practically built for me. It also had the important feature of actually creating something. The object was worn down by natural forces after creation, but it was still an actual created object, not a temporary summon or energy effect.
That meant all of my creation powers would apply. Everything from production boosts to quality increases to resource reduction. It was all applicable to projected objects. In this case, 'resources' were related to the magical energy that was required to create the item in question. Mana. Now, I had existing sources of mana from other abilities and casting systems, but fortunately this ability came paired with another smaller mote that provided its own access to magical energy.
And brought with it some serious concerns.
The mote was called Magic Circuits. It gave me 20 magic circuits of extremely high quality. Magic circuits being paths within your soul that collect magical energy and allow you to channel it into spells. By the standards of this type of magic 20 wasn't a particularly impressive number, but the quality made up for it. All together it provided a new source of magical energy, completely compatible with several of my other types of magic. There was just one problem.
"What the fuck?"
I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice. Frankly, I didn't even try. This was the last thing I needed to deal with right now. I was about to work through whatever collection of horrific treatments might be necessary to split me from Tetra. This was not the time to have the nature of my powers called into question.
I had gotten a lot of powers from the Celestial Forge. So many really that thinking back to that first week of grinding away and hoping for a single connection seemed like a different lifetime. So many powers meant significant variation between them. I'd already reflected on the various forms my power could take, the way it expressed itself, and more importantly the content of the abilities.
They ran the gamut, and yeah, certain themes came up. I still referred to Grease Monkey as 'all the cyberpunk' sometimes, and other powers seemed to follow their own trends. There were even a few that I referred to as 'generic fantasy' or 'generic magic'.
Magic runes were a common trope in fiction and myth, and I could use them. That wasn't a red flag on its own. A lot of powers had weird applications, and drawing designs on an object to empower it is easily within the range of what you could see from parahumans. Alchemy was another thing that seemed straight out of fantasy stories, but Cask is a hero who does pretty much everything I could with mixtures. Sure, he doesn't do it as well, but there's a difference between power levels and inexplicable powers. The range of power possibilities was enough that even getting a smithing power called Dwarven Craft that could work with a material called mithril didn't raise any alarms, nor did the Elven Enchantment power shortly after. Even when types of 'magic' involved familiar spirits it seemed reasonable.
That was probably because I could just file it under 'generic magic'. Magic that you saw in so many stories and movies and comics that it just blended together. That made it seem natural, like it was a perfectly reasonable way a parahuman ability could express itself.
Magic circuits weren't 'generic magic'. They were specific magic. Very specific magic. Specific to the point where I had only heard of them in this form from one series. Specific because, to the best of my understanding, they functioned exactly the same way they did in the show. The magic I had just received lined up with what I knew about the mechanics of the show. This was too much to be a coincidence, as much as I hoped it was.
And that was bad, because if this wasn't a coincidence, then what did that mean, and more importantly, what did it say about the rest of my powers.
"Uh, Jozef?" Aisha's attention brought me back to the table where I was facing a concerned series of faces and one moderately distressed duplicate. "What, was it a bad power?"
"Uh, no, it's just…" I stumbled over my words.
"Look, you don't need to get into this now." My duplicate cut in. "We have a lot to deal with. We can table this, deal with it later."
His adamantness on the issue surprised me. Apparently it surprised the rest of the group as well. Confusion and concern were spreading around the table. As appealing as the idea of avoiding my problem was I couldn't let this cause a problem. Not now, not with what was about to be discussed.
"Why do you have to deal with it later?" Aisha asked. "I mean, it's clearly serious. Is it going to get less serious later?"
"A commitment was made to disclose details of obtained abilities at the earliest opportunity for purposes of cataloguing and pattern assessment." Survey said in what seemed like a fairly clipped tone. Fleet nodded from his seat next to her. Garment made an encouraging gesture, the kaleidoscope of outfits cycling rapidly with each movement. Even Tetra seemed to unfurl slightly.
"I would also like to know." Her voice came, along with fluctuations in the glow of the fibers. I had to wonder if some of her hesitance and meekness was the result of being so deep within a simulated environment, something completely antithetical to her nature as a predatory parasite.
The duplicate looked over them then glanced at me before replying. "Look I know it seems important, but I promise you, we can get into it when…"
"I have magic circuits."
The looks of surprise that greeted me varied in intensity, but contrasted sharply with the duplicate's exasperated groan.
"Sorry, what?" Aisha asked.
"Like in the Princess Gwenevere sequel series? Little paths in your soul that let you use magic powers?"
"Your power just gave you magic circuits?" She looked at me intently.
"Yeah. Part of the last power."
"Look, you don't have to…" The duplicate tried, but Aisha cut him off.
"How many?"
"Twenty." I answered, and her face fell. "But they're pretty good, by the standards of that kind of stuff."
"So, you can use magecraft?" She asked before turning to the duplicate. "He can use magecraft? You can use magecraft?"
"That is what my power specifically called it." I replied. "I'm not sure what it means exactly, but…"
"Holy shit," she muttered, "this is like the Gundam thing."
I frowned. "What Gundam thing?" I thought for a moment. "Gundanium? We just got that technology. And only just got the power to actually make it without needing a Lagrange point. How can there be a thing for that already?"
"Wait, what's Gundanium?" Aisha asked.
I gave her a confused look. "It's a kind of super metal. I just got the technology behind it along with a power that lets me work crazy fast, and then got a related power that helps with its production. Otherwise, you need to be at gravitationally neutral points in the Earth's orbit where you can also treat the metal with high intensity space radiation, and even then you'd only be producing it on the nanoscale.
"So, it's the kind of thing that could be produced if we had a bunch of space colonies and that kind of stuff?"
I gave Aisha a questioning look. "Yeah, I guess that would make it easier, but what does that have to do with…"
"Okay." The duplicate raised his voice, causing all attention to spin towards him. "Okay. We got a power that is seriously similar to a work of fiction. The power isn't dangerous or volatile, and the exact nature of the connection, while concerning, is something that we can and will be able to explore later. Hopefully after we have dealt with the crisis at hand and recovered from this significantly long night."
One glance around the table told me that, while there was certainly something significant going on here, this definitely wasn't the time to get into it. Just looking at Tetra, feeling the anxiety through our connection was enough to remind me. I didn't want to go back to an extended period of being paralyzed and cut off from everyone else. Tetra was clearly having a hard time dealing with both the situation in general and the precise nature of this kind of connection. The fact that there didn't seem to be any bickering between her and Survey should have tipped me off. Garment seemed to be a comforting presence for her, but that would only go so far. We needed to deal with this.
"Alright, I understand." I surrendered. "Let's get to the real issue. What is the situation like, and what are our options?"
Rather than seem relieved at the change in topic it only seemed to bring up a different shade of concern from my duplicate. "Bad and limited, in that order." He sighed before continuing. "I didn't bring specifics because this isn't the medium for them, and frankly any analysis that could be done has been done. When Tetra reformed within your reinforced body it created a kind of exotic matter interaction. We've had to build new types of scanners just to figure out what's going on there, much less how to get you apart."
"And can you? Do you have a way to separate us?" I asked. His expression wasn't encouraging.
"There are all kinds of ways of 'fixing' the situation, but that's not the problem. It's what happens when we try." Looking at him I could somehow see a combination of all the frustration I had suffered combined with the struggles of every duplicate who had worked on this problem before him. "Most of the fixes we have for a problem like this won't be particularly good for Tetra. The health of an invasive organism isn't generally a priority for medical effects."
I swallowed. "How bad would it be for her?" Aisha was watching my reaction with interest for some reason.
"Results range from completely obliterated to merely crippling damage. Since Tetra's mind is distributed through her fibers there's only so much permanent damage she can take before it starts impacting her, and it's not a particularly high threshold. She'd be able to develop again but…"
"Not the same." Tetra's voice came out hollow, and Garment leaned towards her.
"Same reason we can't risk waiting for the workshop to restore her. We don't know what the threshold is for triggering that effect, or if any of her development will hold after she's restored." The duplicate continued.
I sighed. "I'm assuming the rest of the options are unpleasant from the other end? Serious damage to me in exchange for getting Tetra out safe?"
"Not an option." Tetra declared in a flash of light.
The duplicate's lips quirked up slightly. "That's been her stance ever since we made contact. There are fewer ways to get her out safely than there are to heal you at her expense, and they have more issues. In addition to other complications, there's a chance we could trigger St Andrew's Candle if the extraction goes badly. In addition to being a complete waste, that would mean we'd be unable to do any more work until it burns out."
I had forgotten about that. Well, not forgotten exactly, just not considered how it would impact things. The candle had been included with my Prismatic Laboratory. It was single use, but activated on a critical injury and burned for ten minutes. As long as it burned I became totally invincible to any new injuries. It hadn't even occurred to me that it might trigger during surgery. In addition to wasting one of my strongest trump cards it could disrupt an already critically sensitive operation.
"There are some ways around that, but they aren't pleasant. Generally, you're looking at permanent changes. As in, new, custom built body changes."
I shook my head. "While I'm sure we could do an incredible job with that, I don't think I'm quite ready for that. Plus, you know, potential complications." He nodded. There were so many exotic effects centered on me, so many little nuances of the Celestial Forge that when transferring my mind or even my soul to a new body I wasn't sure what I would be able to keep. I know some of the unexplained powers still got to Survey, and I honestly couldn't say what would happen if I just took a download option. It was too much of a risk.
"I figured." He shot a glance at Survey who seemed to take offence.
"The protomatter body was a perfectly acceptable failsafe to prepare in advance of this meeting." She declared indignantly.
"Protomatter again?" Tetra replied in an exasperated voice, then the glow of her body shifted and I felt something through our link that might have been embarrassment. "I mean, whatever will help the situation."
"It's fine." I assured her.
"Yeah, except it's not." My duplicate sighed. "Look, if neither of you are going to accept something that might hurt the other person, then we do have other options. Just understand, if these were good options then we would have opened with them, or just forged ahead instead of setting all this up."
I felt unsteady as I turned to my duplicate. "How bad…"
"Bad. Bad as in getting into elements of our powers that we haven't liked thinking about. Bad as in we're digging into the serious crisis stuff. Bad as in we've had eight generations of duplicates working on the same problem and we've only gotten different shades of bad."
I swallowed. "What are the options?"
The duplicate let out a tired sigh. "The options are we risk you, we risk Tetra, or we risk neither of you and do something you might be uncomfortable with."
"You're not going to tell him what you're going to do?" Aisha aside in surprise.
"No." It was a flat answer. "This has been building up all night. We have solutions, he just might not like them." He turned to me. "There's a lot going on out there, both in the workshop and in the world in general. We could sit here for the duration of the next six copies and agonize over the options available to us, but it will still come down to the same three categories. Do you want to hurt Tetra, do you want to convince her that we should risk you, or do you want to take the third option?"
I looked straight into my duplicate's eyes. "You're doing this to take it off my shoulders. So that I won't be the one who picked whatever the solution is. That's why you're keeping me in the dark."
"You shouldn't have to live with a decision like this, and we won't have to."
"Jesus Christ, that was intense." I turned towards the girl sitting across the table.
"Aisha…"
"No, fuck, let me speak." She took a breath. "I know things are getting heavy here, and they're heavy out there too. I get that, but this…" She gestured at us. "It's like some kind of martyr off, and that's not what this is about. I get your power can be scary as fuck, but I also know these guys, all of them, over the entire night, have been trying to help as much as they can. Both you and the city. So okay, they've found some stuff that might be a bit weird or unsettling and they don't want you to have to make the call. That about right?"
The duplicate gave a tired nod. "Pretty much, if we're being honest."
"Then, crazy idea here, why don't you trust them?" I gave Aisha a blank look. "They came in here with a plan, and I'm betting it wasn't to talk you into shredding Tetra." She gave the mass of life fibers a quick glance before continuing. "And this entire setup just reeks of an attempt to soften the blow of whatever thing they've found that will save everything, but probably involve some weird reality redefining bullshit. So just trust that they're doing the best they can, which means you're doing the best they can and let them help you actually get back on your feet."
The end of Aisha speech rang out across the dome leaving the entire group in silence. There was a brief moment where she looked like she might be feeling embarrassed for speaking out, but steeled herself quickly.
I smiled, both at her earnestness and the point she was making. My duplicate seemed to appreciate it as well. I shared a look with him before turning back to Aisha.
"You just want me to get out of here so you can see that Princess Gwenevere magic." I joked.
"You're damn right I do." She admitted shamelessly. "But the rest of it stands. So, you good?"
"Yeah." I replied tiredly. "I guess we've got a clear path ahead of us." I turned to Tetra. "Looks like we're finally getting out of this, free and clear."
"I'm grateful for that." The fibers spoke in a soft voice accompanied by pulses of red light.
"So," I started, "how do we actually get out of here?"
"Wait, you don't know?" Aisha asked and the rest of the group started to rise. "I thought you could naturally handle all this technology stuff."
"Normally yes, but this is serious magitech. This place, it's closer to another realm of existence than a computer simulation."
"Yeah, computer simulation wasn't going to cut it with the condition you were in. We had to go a bit further." The duplicate replied.
"Right, heavy stuff." Aisha muttered. "Heavy stuff all night, I guess."
"But not for much longer." The duplicate clarified. "And for the exit you need a conceptual exit, the door of each dome should work, or a remote recall to yank you out."
"Got it. Thanks for putting this together. It was better than just waking up after… whatever's going to happen." I said.
"No problem. And thanks for trusting us on this." He took another breath. "This night has been a special kind of stressful. I don't know how all of this is going to go over, but we'll be there. If you have any questions, we can explain them."
That didn't do that much to reassure me, but I straightened my shoulder and nodded. "Thanks."
"Recall should be starting soon, so no need to find exits." Because of course a virtual world as steeped in magic as this one would run on what was essentially Star Trek holodeck rules. "Oh, looks like the Matrix settled on a projected form. I guess that's a nice bonus to this."
I looked down at the lower level to see a tiny man-sized Gun-EZ stroll away from the fountain, apparently taking in the area. There was definitely more focus on the structure of the dome than the aesthetics of the park, but it was fascinating seeing my third A.I. consolidate into a new humanoid avatar.
At least until it vanished. It was followed by the members of the assembly, blinking out one by one until I was the final one on the platform. I took a final breath of the air of the botanical dome and looked over the lunar surface.
This was nice. The duplicates didn't need to do this. They could have had the entire talk in a virtual conference room. They didn't need to have this talk at all. I could have just woken up after whatever procedure they decided had the best chance of success. My mind was still racing, spinning nightmare scenarios, insane possibilities of magic and science that could come together to solve the problem at a horrible cost, but I worked to keep those thoughts under control.
It was serious, but Aisha was right. I had to trust them. Not just because there wasn't any other real choice, but because that was essentially trusting myself.
The world around me faded into darkness and I felt myself being moved. My expanded awareness was back, as was my connection with Tetra. I could sense the workshop again and track my movements through it. It was comforting to be back, even in the face of the impending procedure. I reached out with my senses, mapping my position.
Alchemist's Laboratory. I was being taken to the Alchemist's Laboratory. It had grown, expanded in response to my knowledge from Unnatural Skill: Alchemy. The possibilities of what the duplicate's plan could be narrowed, but didn't get anymore pleasant. This was the place with equipment for Belmont Alchemy. I knew dark rituals were probably off the table even if things were desperate, but I couldn't keep it out of my head.
Instead, we moved to a different level. My technological sense worked best on machines, but it could detect anything produced with directed purpose. The immense circle that had been masterfully crafted in this room definitely counted. There was a shifting and I realized I had lost the benefit of my medical systems. They weren't strictly necessary, not with the state of my heart, but it was as good a confirmation that things were going to start.
Even as I felt my duplicates move around in their final preparations I tried to work out what was happening. Alkahestry's healing was nowhere near what could manage my condition. Even after the expanded understanding from Unnatural Talent the best it would be able to manage was a holding action. Advanced Formulae had some fairly esoteric applications, including theoretical manipulation of living creatures.
No, not theoretical. I could see that now, see the potential it had. It was something that would take time to work out, but it was definitely possible. Possible to fuse two creatures into one. But that was pretty much the opposite of what I needed.
But the more I thought about it the more it seemed to fit. What I could detect from the circle seemed to be an advanced design arranged for fusion. Bits of additional information came into focus and I realized I was wrong. The components were there, but not arranged in the correct manner.
They were inverted.
Fission. Chimeric fission. It was insane. Put one creature in and get two creatures out? Even if you had the greatest alchemists on the planet…
Okay, I did, but still, even with the greatest alchemists on the planet, you'd never manage a perfect fission. There'd still be some of each creature left over, blended in. This wasn't like pulling apart a jigsaw, it was like trying to unmix paint. And that didn't even get into the real problem.
Equivalent Exchange. The rule wasn't just about the conservation of mass that my powers casually threw out the window. There was a cost to this kind of work, something that went beyond what Alchemy could pay.
And that was it. Somehow, my duplicates had figured a way around the highest level of the law of equivalent exchange. Something for nothing, a miracle paid forward, with no account for the implications. What had they done? What had they managed? What was it that let them do this?
I didn't get a chance to ask. I couldn't. I was there, in the circle with Tetra as I felt the energy build. Too much energy, burning red and flaring beyond what should have been possible. Tetra felt my unease and I worked to focus and calm myself for her sake.
Trust. It was hard, but I had to trust. My duplicates, they made a decision. But they were me. They would pay any cost before forcing it on someone else. That had been what the entire song and dance with the simulation was for. They wouldn't put this on me. They wouldn't put this on Tetra. They were taking as much on themselves as possible. There were a hundred horrible things that could have been done to facilitate this level of alchemy, but my duplicates wouldn't stoop to them. They had found another way, another source of energy.
And I had to trust that it was one we could live with.
The world went white. Stark whiteness flashed before my eyes. Structures and shapes passed faster than I could register. What might have been the shape of a man, what might have been a smile and a door. I didn't know. I didn't have time to register it before it was gone.
And I was gasping for breath, flailing and scrambling, then somehow finding my feet beneath me. Light, sound, sensation. It was all back. I was in a sub circle at the edge of a massive array. Across from me a mass of glowing fibers the size of a man flailed aimlessly. Garment, dressed in an evening gown in place of her shifting fashion soul, was hurrying towards it. Her. Tetra. She was out. Tetra was safe.
And then I heard her voice.
"Thank you."
And I could hear it. I could hear her voice when Garment reached her. It was like in the simulation, but clearer, distinct, and direct. Nobody else reacted, not even Garment. It might not even have been sound, but I could hear it. There was something, some cause, some change, some connection it signified. It was incredible, but I didn't have time to work through the implications. Not now.
One duplicate stood on each side of the circle, spaced between Tetra and me. They looked tired and uncertain, with a sheen of sweat covering their faces. But they also looked relieved.
Tetra was safe. I was safe. The worst of the nightmare was over. But this wasn't done. I wasn't done. Because something serious had happened, and I couldn't let it go. Before I figured out exactly what happened to me, before I found out what Aisha meant about magical circuits and Gundanium, before I checked on the city, or the Undersiders, or anything else, I needed to talk to my duplicates.
And I needed answers.
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Fixer (Light of Terra DLC 5 A Sky Filled With Steel - Warhammer 40,000) 300:
This Schema contains a massive database filled with the countless bits of equipment the denizens of Necromunda Hive Primus have bought, found, built, stolen or obtained by other means over the centuries since the Hive was founded. Inexplicably it also seems to contain an extremely rare, extremely valuable and extremely heretical to own database detailing how to build and maintain Admech servitors and cybernetic parts.
Thaumaturgical Focus: Transmutation (Fate/) 400:
There exist many special arts within magecraft, and now you have gained the knowledge of one of them. There are many schools of magic to specialise in, such as Alchemy, Memory Partition, Thought Acceleration, Transmutation, Jewelcraft, Curses etc. You could even learn the Emiya art of Time Manipulation, though you will have only the very basics, and will need years just to get to Kiritsugu's level, but you may possible go even further. You may not choose any True Magic with this perk. This perk can be bought multiple times
Magic Circuits (Fate/) Free:
You receive 20 magic circuits, each of the highest quality, upon entering the jump. These circuits are used to control both Od and Mana, internal and external magical energy respectively, and allow the use of magecraft. The more circuits you have, the more prana you get to play with.
