"This was only the beginning of its cost."
The words turned in the air around you, but they seemed very far away when set against the horror that you'd just witnessed. You could feel the shape of your Masque through the neural link that had translated your reaction in reality. It was hard to feel anything else.
"I can see that one of you understands," Rinel noted, the image of the system frozen behind him as a terrible wave of impossible forces ripped across it. His veil shifted, expressing more compassion than you thought possible. "I am sorry for your brilliance."
It was difficult to reject that, and you didn't want to.
:Mary?: Amanda's voice came through the group link, and you could feel her concern. :What is it? What did you see?: More expressions of care flooded across the link to support you, though few held words. For a moment it was almost too much.
:I saw,: the words cut off. The yawning emptiness flashed through your mind again, breaking the sentence and making you shiver. How many million cycles ago had this single mistake almost cost…everything. How did you even begin to explain that?
"I saw," you said through the translator. "And yet I cannot understand."
Could it be that simple, you wondered. Could it be a lie? That would make it easier, wouldn't it. If it was propaganda, if a fraction of what you knew wasn't capable of ending more lives than you could ever count.
"They made a mistake," Rinel replied, his own veil shifting through into a deep regret. "They knew the theories that you clearly do, young pilgrim. But they thought that there was a way to create a collapse event that would self-stabilise after it reached a certain distance."
"How could they have been that stupid?" you demanded. The sheer anger in your voice surprised you at the time. But fear and anger have always been fast bedfellows. "That's like…it's like setting the atmosphere on fire and believing that it'll stop politely once it gets 'just so far'. You said the Gysian were careful. How did they make a mistake like this?"
"They stopped being careful." Rinel said. You weren't Mandy, or Vega. You didn't have nigh-supernatural empathy. But you recognised, with a little help, the agony in the Warden's manner as he added: "Because we made them feel like they didn't have any other choice."
"What do you mean?" Amanda asked. Her Masque still showed more confusion than understanding, but there was chatter across the group link, Iris taking the lead as she helped the Unison Intelligences coach their humans towards what the Shiplords had stopped here.
"What we were then is not what our people are today," Rinel said. "But the Gysian knew at least some of our strength, and recognised that there was no conventional method to defeat it. We think they cut corners, but it's hard to say. It's impossible to safely test a collapse initiator."
"In the end, we only know that they deployed one here. When our replies were insufficient to their demands, they used it. And the Light in Shadows gave their lives to secure existence from the cost of the Gysian's mistake."
"But that still," you struggled with the words.
:He's telling the truth, Mary,: Vega sent. :At least as he knows it. And if the Third is anything to go by, I'm not sure the Hearthguard know how to lie about what happened in these places.:
:It's still possible,: you replied fiercely. But there was a false echo in the words, and you paused a moment, trying to understand why. You weren't a social genius; your brilliance lay in understanding the world around you. So why were you so sure that this had been real? It had been like a whisper in your ear as you saw the readings change, a tearing of space and time coming together until it was replaced by something endlessly more terrifying than nothingness. You recognised the feeling of that certainty from…somewhere. When had it been?
"I'm not sure what more I can tell you," Rinel said. Their veil had shifted to a conciliatory framing. "What we were then didn't place monitors into the systems of other races. We tried to be good teachers. But that means that we lack a full understanding of the reasoning behind their insanity."
"Insanity is the only word for it," you shook your head, looking over at the others. They were almost there, but it was taking time that shouldn't be wasted. You grimaced beneath your Masque, then pushed on.
"Rinel is talking about a vacuum collapse," you said, the words carrying micro-gestalts to the group link. They weren't much, but it should give everyone but Iris the context they needed. "An event that ends reality as we understand it. And once one begins, truly begins," you clarified, "can't be stopped. Not without burning entire galaxies to dust."
"Yes," Rinel nodded.
"And these," you swallowed down screaming terror, hard. "These people tried to weaponize it."
"Succeeded, in fact," your host pointed out.
"That," you agreed. You tasted bile. "How is this system still intact?"
"That," Rinel said, "was thanks to the Uninvolved of the time. When the Gysian's weapon shattered reality, they reacted. We're not sure if they could have stopped its effects. It's possible, given what we now know. But your point about the energy cost is well made."
"We thought that the Uninvolved remained so until the War of the Sphere," Amanda said, and you could see the expression of confusion below her Masque in almost perfect clarity.
"They never communicated with us before then, no," Rinel shook his head. "But we knew they were there; we'd helped many of them down the path to becoming one. And stood vigil over all the others as they left the world behind. I know it must be difficult, given what you are taught today. But they weren't always seen as threats."
The Warden turned one hand up, and the image behind him started to move again. Waves of stress poured out from the newborn singularity, tearing across the system. Continents cracked and the star writhed beneath those attentions, warped by the sudden inclusion of a vast, new mass into the local stellar area.
"They held back the star's disruption, and gave us the chance to repair this shattered system once our own reinforcements arrived. We did our best, but left the scars as a reminder. For several hundred cycles they were the only memorial, until this station was constructed by the newly founded Hearthguard."
That was interesting, but not your field of expertise. You were focused, fixated even on the sweeping motions of invisible presences holding back the tortured scream of a sun that by all rights should have died. And not just holding back, but calming until it could continue to burn today. That was power, but also finesse on a scale that was far more intimidating.
I wonder…you thought, watching. Could Amanda match that? The energy requirements were considerable, but Purify had put that within her reach. The finesse though? You had no idea. Or maybe you did, but it wasn't important right now. You filed it away for later investigation.
"This doesn't quite explain why this place was built, though," Mir said slowly. "Do not take me wrongly, what happened here was a tragedy. But why was, is, it so important?"
"Because it forced us to make a choice." The reply was very gentle. "A choice that would be made again, and then again, and then a million times more across as many cycles. It forced us to choose, young one. Between one part of reality. And all of it."
From here the boarding team will split. Some will remain, some will go to help Vega, and others will seek specific knowledge. This vote will decide which one you follow, and you will only fully experience the one choice.
[] Mary and Iris intend to remain, they have many questions for Rinel about what happened here. Mir is also drawn to stay, as there appear to be deeper implications about why that he would wish to know.
[] Vega seeks to find a place within the great gallery at the centre of the station where she might tap into the well of remembrance. Amanda will go with her, to support the Harmonial, and seek answers to Mir's question more directly.
[] Write-in's are welcome. Ping me with them. PoV will depend on which option is picked.
