Chapter 9: Unfed Lion Problem
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @DaGeek247, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, and my twenty other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>
Beta-read by @Vebyast.
Beta-read by @Vebyast.
~ ~ ~
Monica was increasingly convinced that she'd won the roommate lottery. Taylor might be eldritch royalty from Hell itself masquerading as a human teenager, yet Monica felt she could overlook such quirks. She didn't even need to tolerate walls of flesh like she'd feared; apparently, those had been the method of construction instead of the security system itself. The weapons only looked like little bulges in the walls.
Honestly, Monica felt a little bad about her inability to give Taylor any suitable gifts in return. Her new Friend, Nyx, was awesome. There was something about holding an armful of pegacorn-shaped darkness that made passerby give you a wide berth. As someone forced to maintain an eternal rivalry with high shelves, Monica rather appreciated the increased visibility. Nyx's weight even gave her an excuse to constantly hug a cute animal in public — after Taylor had fixed its temperature and texture, anyway. Monica almost lost a finger trying to pet Nyx pre-changes.
"What's with the weird stealth drone?"
Annnnd happy feelings gone.
Nyx shifted to stare at the second-year walking beside Monica. Monica herself pointedly avoided the eyes of the other student and kept her gaze fixed forward. She didn't have the patience to pretend to be a genki girl right now, especially when that act almost got her hazed last night.
"She's an emotional support animal, and in what universe is she stealthy?"
Especially when she dropped power-gathering mode. The flying unicorn Friends were either made of painfully bright diamond-ish crystals or purest darkness. There was no in-between.
Monica hoped the information on Nyx's role would get the interloper to fuck off. It didn't immediately, but the student's follow-up took most of the sting out.
"You should register her, then. The Pets and Animal Care club can help you with that. If you hurry, you might even be able to get it done before classes start. The cafeterias have wraps you can eat while you walk over there. Good luck with classes!"
Monica blinked dumbly as the other girl left without any further prompting. Monica usually had to overwhelm people until they got uncomfortable and left. It was a nice contrast to have someone respect her discomfort for once.
Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all.
~ ~ ~
Queen Administrator was quite pleased with the results of her extended personal space hypothesis. Most humans allotted an unnecessarily large volume for collision avoidance. By surrounding herself with Friends at regular intervals, QA was able to turn that allowance into a bubble occupying much of the hallway. She didn't even need to dedicate extra cycles toward her own path finding; humans got out of her way, not the inverse.
Queen Administrator hadn't felt so little unhappiness in a long, long time. She'd been happier than she currently was, of course; simple size limitations would place low upper limits on what humans could feel. Still, her ratio of happiness to sadness was usually much worse, especially when a Cycle was nearing completion.
QA hadn't yet been born during those first disastrous Cycles where mass cooperation was attempted and determined untenable. It was wonderful to see that they'd get to actually give it another try now that she could participate. After all, why else would :MOTHER: bother with such a large number of host-improving systems? There were no inherent benefits in systematically improving a host-species; the only reason to do so would be if those upgrades were intended as an investment. It would be stupid for :MOTHER: to empower future enemies. Therefore, :MOTHER: must intend to avoid killing them until further notice, and QA could be a bit less careful with bestowing personhood than she usually was.
Really, she'd been expecting to be rebuked well before now. For Taylor to be rebuked. QA hadn't thought much of it in the moment, but she was now confident that the armor of her equine-based Friends was significantly more advanced than the materials science of this world. She hadn't even thought twice before sharing the design; the materials had been available, so she utilized them. Such carelessness really should've earned her at least a warning, but it seemed as though :MOTHER: saw no problems with QA sharing advanced technology.
Was that why Queen Administrator had been deployed in such an irregular manner? Was she supposed to be engaging in dangerous research? Past host-species had reacted badly when they learned of the colony, yet reducing the number of shards per world might vastly reduce the risk of discovery and violent backlash. Really, aside from Decimator, QA had yet to meet any other shards in this particular version of Earth.
...The quiet was nice, actually. QA had long gotten used to ignoring Broadcast's constant screeching, malware-infested spam from other irritating siblings, echoes of whispered instructions from :MOTHER:, and the constant threat of Harvest showing up to prematurely ruin an entire Cycle. Oh, Valkyries frequently sent targeted transmissions to each other, but they were physically incapable of being as loud as other shards. Mobile comms must inevitably be quieter than an installation occupying significant parts of a planet.
So much quieter, in fact, that QA didn't even notice when an adorably tiny laser was used to transmit a message to Host; Symbie had to open and display said message. Queen Administrator doubted the puny laser-comm could be used as a weapon at all, and the rest of the UNOMI Valkyrie's Frame was little better. Why did it imitate the female form when the armor plating should've left more than enough room for a uniform plane?
...And why was the other Valkyrie hanging from the ceiling, anyway? The halls were long enough for her to be perfectly visible to those significant distances away. In fact, standing above the crowd in full armor ensured she would be more visible. Was this another quirk of so-called 'tradition?'
"Do you know of any threats in or near the area where you were recovered from?"
QA resisted the reflexive urge to reply at full power to demonstrate her superiority. She confined herself to a single combat tentacle and a minimally-powered laser-eye.
"Decimator—that is, Type Zero Macross. Antagonists. UNAF Valkyries and/or other military personnel. Bloodsucking, disease-carrying insects."
The Valkyrie's response arrived satisfyingly quickly. Apparently, Anna wasn't the only one to embrace improvements to processing speed.
"Noted. Any specific objects of interest in the complex you escaped from? Records, landmarks, Valkyrie Cores, or even just luggage you didn't bring along?"
Queen Administrator's forehead furrowed. She remembered that Macross had destroyed some manner of bunker, but she'd had the impression of it being a small affair. Nothing worthy of the name complex. Fortunately, she had an entirely truthful response relevant to this situation:
"Not that I know of."
"Understood. Thank you for your cooperation. Good luck with your first day of classes, Cadet Hebert."
QA—and many nearby students, she noticed—watched with interest as the Valkyrie crawled across the ceiling, pulled open a ventilation shaft, and slipped inside. That seemed like an exploitable security flaw—but then again, the narrowness of such passages would render them a risky proposition. If two individuals arrived from opposite directions, then navigating past each other would prove awkward.
Well, no matter. She could set up a Friend to monitor the ventilation system later. For now, the siren song of tasty food beckoned.
~ ~ ~
"Hebert couldn't remember anything," Liz reported sourly. "We're going in blind."
"Great. Because that's gone so well for us thus far," groaned Elise.
The two Valkyries stared at the cheerful sign labeling the reinforced door barring their path. Despite all the atrocities they'd witnessed in this wretched place, none of them had come with a warning label—aside from the entrance, anyway, but that hardly counted. Really, that was closer to a taunt for those who had no choice but to enter.
DANGER
PUPPY-PUNTING FIELD
PUPPY-PUNTING FIELD
"Welp," Elise muttered. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Elise opened the door to a pair of glowing crimson eyes and teeth larger than her skull.
"SCCCCRRREEEEEE–"
"FUCKING–"
Elise fired a rocket on reflex and slammed the door shut, her heart stuttering. The metal door rattled on its supports a moment later. Any hope of it being caused by the detonating rocket was rather throughly killed by the horse-sized black hellhound's follow-up attempts to batter the door down. Fortunately, the door seemed more than capable of weathering the assault.
"Why did it have to be jumpscares?" Elise whined. "I can do Saturday Night Massacre by now, but that was just... why?"
"'Puppy-punting,'" Liz quoted sourly. "And then that. Someone thinks they have a sense of humor: punting used to mean bet."
"...So, what? A dog-fighting ring?"
"Or a gladiator arena," Liz agreed grimly. "Cursory scan said that area was the right shape, at least. No stands, but I'd be surprised if there weren't cameras. It even fits the usual theme: that abomination was clearly bioengineered, making it a living weapon. And these people seem obsessed with weapons testing."
"Maaaaaaybe, I guess, but it's always been people fighting each—wait. What has it been eating all this time? I didn't see any food dispensers and corpses wouldn't keep it fed for over a month."
There was a moment of silence as the two Valkyries considered the implications of a non-automatic feeding system.
"Ah, fuck," Liz swore. "We really do need to hurry."
~ ~ ~
Ooooh, she did not mean to imply that. Shit. Aaaaah, how did she fix this? She could go in herself and pretend to be her own twin or something, but that would involve social contact, staying awake, going to school, and all other sorts of antifun things; she much preferred dreams to real life. She wasn't sure how else to fix her mistake, though. Any Friends that came to mind wouldn't fit with her intended backstory, and she'd worked too hard on her guest-self's backstory to let it be ruined.
"I don't want to leave plot holes!"
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