Forgotten Starport
Everything in this room is made of crystal. It's another huge chamber. At the center of this massive chamber is a massive, sleek, crystalline structure, narrow at the front and expanding outward as it goes backward, ending in a starburst-like uniform array of sleek 'wings'. Given its size and shape .... it's a spaceship made entirely of Sifrian crystal. About one hundred feet in front of it is a great semi-circular archway, large enough for the entire ship to fly through.

It's been some time since Envoy requested her lovely friend, the ship, to make a quantum absorption matrix. She had time to get a snack for lunch, have a nap if she wanted, or learn how to play tiddlywinks. But now, she's back in the starport, and has to negotiate with the ship to hand over the matrix...

After entering the ship once more, Envoy heads for the engineering section and looks around for the less-than-postage-stamp sized lattices. "Hello, Bucephalus," she greets the ship, hoping it's cooperative mood is still in place after her promise that the lattices will be used to stop the person that stole its engine components. "I've returned for the lattices, if you have them ready."

"I am thrilled. This is me thrilled. Can you not tell?" the ship asks in a deadpan voice. "Yes, they are complete." There's a click, then a hiss, and a panel slides up and a tray out. Resting on the surface are several small flat crystals, each no bigger than a human's fingernail.

"And the access codes are using standard encryption?" Envoy asks as she leans over the collection of crystals. "They aren't in active mode right now, are they?"

"The access codes are standard, yes, and no, they are not active. An unlicked lattice that was active would be tantamount to a bomb," the ship points out.

Envoy removes a transparent envelope from one of her pockets and places the crystals into it one at a time. "Thank you," she tells the ship. "These should be very helpful in dealing with the thief and recovering any undamaged components for you."

"That would be appreciated. For a defect, you are surprisingly competent. I shall have to dismantle and analyse you sometime," the ship suggests.

"I will endeavor to return the favor," Envoy replies. She isn't certain if she'll be using the ship anytime in the future, once she has an independent means of powering the gateway. She heads for the forward section so she can debark and meet with Morpheus.

"You are still in one piece," Morpheus comments once he looks up from where he was fiddling with a glass orb; specifically rolling it between his fingers. Where did he get that? Who knows; it's Morpheus. "Success?"

"Hopefully," Envoy replies, holding up the bag with the energy absorption crystals in it. "Cipher needs to decrypt their access codes though, unless you are able to?"

"Not my forte. So, yes, you would need to ask Cipher to do it," Morpheus admits. "Are you going to contact her?"

"How can I do that?" Envoy asks. "You're the one that usually does it, but if there's a way for me to do it directly I'd be interested in learning it. I've got the Morphean crystals in my tiara.."

Morpheus hmms. "I am sorry, I forget sometimes you are not a planet and lack the spanning functions necessary for that," the construct apologizes. He reaches out to take the bag from Envoy and says, "Give me a moment to contact her and let her find the sync nodes for these by tracing through me."

Envoy frowns slightly at being reminded that she's not a planet. It's an old sore spot. But probably not a goal for the immediate future anyway.

"At least not being one means you do not have a large rump," Morpheus tries to joke as he clasps his hands around the crystals and closes his eyes for a bit. He seems to go sort of limp, and not in the way of sleeping, but more like a puppet that had its strings cut.

That also disturbs Envoy a bit, and she grabs onto Morpheus's shoulder just in case he's about to fall over. It's just a remote body after all, like she used to be. These things should not bother me, she thinks, worrying now.

There's no breathing, nothing. The body is basically dead weight without consciousness. Time ticks by, minutes, even.

"It should not be taking this long," Envoy says to the body, and gives it a little shake.

One of Morpheus' eyes open and his body seems less limp. "Why are you shaking me?" he asks, blinking. "Cipher is working on them now. She wanted to 'chat' a bit first; she was feeling lonely. Which is odd, and confusing for her. She never felt anything before and was concerned something was wrong."

"You aren't very present on Morpheus then while you're focused here?" Envoy asks. "We need to recover the node that Victor has, so we can create a remote for Cipher to use."

"No, most of my focus is here," Morpheus admits. "I did not think it would be an issue; but then I also did not expect a quantum encryption system to develop emotions, either."

"But did she develop them because of being isolated?" Envoy ponders. Then she shakes her head. "It doesn't matter how she got them. She has them now, which means she will have emotional needs that we need to help her fulfill."

"That may not be easy. It may be some time before we can recover a functional node," Morpheus points out.

"Then we should also be trying to make one," Envoy suggests, and frowns slightly. It isn't something she's going to be able to do anytime soon, and Morpheus may not be able to create anything that complex either. "Getting the one from Dr. von Bronson is still our most likely option. Assuming he hasn't damaged it with his crystal replication efforts."

"Or we create something close, and deal with limitations it may have," Morpheus suggests. "Besides the ship here, the felines seem to have some crystal-based tech and may be able to help build something passable."

"But is it compatible?" Envoy asks. "The ship claims that the Silent-Ones are set to replace the Aelfin as the basis for the next Sifran servitors because of their facility with crystal technology. And I don't think their optical computer systems are much different than the one in my brain. But I don't know if the crystal intrusions in my horn are interfacing with the optical processing part of my brain, or just the ansible part. And.. I don't think I could build another version of my brain either."

"I have no idea if it is compatible or not; I have not examined it in any detail. I did not wish to intrude on their good graces," Morpheus notes. He pauses again, looking distant. "She's almost done. It was very basic," he says after a moment.

"Basic for her," Envoy corrects. "If we get her a remote body, it likely won't be able to handle that sort of processing. You and I know what that's like, at least."

"Do you think losing that would be work it for her?" Morpheus asks, curious. "Being ... lesser?"

"It may have been her defining characteristic for most of her existence, but the reality is that she's evolving past that," Envoy says. "And she's being held back now by her old nature. It isn't like handling big numbers is necessary for her happiness. It will be an issue though, until she really learns what having a physical body opens up for her."

"I suppose it also depends on how she is defined. Most would consider her a tool; not really a person. I don't even know how she developed sentience. But then I do not know how I did, either," Morpheus notes and shrugs. "I do worry about her, though. It's like ... having a daughter, sort of."

"If you and I can survive sentience and being more than we were created to be, so can she," Envoy says with certainty. "I've mostly adjusted to being an individual now, after all, and it only took a few years."

"Although for both you and her, I suspect that becoming aware of sentience and individuality as an option helped," she adds.

"Possibly," Morpheus concedes. "But you also have to consider something; we are part of the Sifrian network. What if that network must be shut down. Will that mean we will cease? Could you do that?"

"My plan involves commandeering the network instead," Envoy says. "However.. I do want to talk to Elsa Daedelus about her cloned brain imprinting process. I want a viable backup for you and Cipher."

"Do you think she even remembers how it was done? It was a considerable time ago for a human to remember," Morpheus points out. "And would a brain even provide enough backup space for me? I am on a planetary scale; it might require some sort of singularity matrix to contain me."

"It depends on how much of you constitutes you," Envoy notes. "I have a vast amount of memory information from other sources. But I do not consider it to be my memory. Personality does not require a vast amount of storage. And I may be able to replicate the basic function of my ansible memory system. It's possible to harvest raw timestone from the small universes generated by the engines of Behemoth."

"And now we get into the conjecture of what constitutes a person. I think you just wish to de-planet me," Morpheus remarks and smiles slightly. "Also, she just finished," he adds and holds up the envelope. "And says hello."

Envoy smiles, and then takes a deep breath. "Alright, time to see what these little things do," she says. "By first attaching one to something that isn't alive: the battery crystal."

"Suggestion, we withdraw to the testing chambers. They have blast shields," Morpheus points out.

"Are they strong enough to matter?" Envoy asks, but does head for the tunnel back to the not-so-secret base. "We really need to install a train or something between here and there," she comments.

"What, is walking too ... pedestrian for you?" Morpheus comments and smiles. "Icarus can theoretically teleport himself if he had the power for it. Well, loosely teleport, it's space-folding."

"He can teleport after he's finished with puberty," Envoy claims. "Mainly I was thinking of something for making fast getaways, or transporting material, but I suppose I can handle that if needed. How were you able to access the gateway here from Morpheus? It had to have been on standby power at least. The ship said gateway-to-gateway links required permission from each one, so you must have managed that. Did Cipher help?"

"Yes, wel, Cipher rewrote some of the security protocols to bypass that," Morpheus admits as they go. After a long walk, a levitation, an elevator, and more walking, the pair make it to the testing room; a simulated battlefield within Von Bronson's old base. It's quite in here, enough that every footstep tends to echo. Envoy also has flashbacks of memory of watching Twelve die here due to complete systems failure.

Simulated Battlefield
A massive hanger easily fifty feet high and been made to look like a battlefield. The walls look like they're formed from thick concrete, probably more than ten feet thick, more that enough to absorb a major explosion. The room is littered with the remains of destroyed machinery as well. All of them show telltale signs of energy weapon scorching as well as more conventional bullet holes. And that isn't all ... in the center of this room is what looks like a massive combat robot that's roughly humanoid in shape. It's fifteen feet tall, with what looks like hydraulic driven legs and arms. To make it more frightening, it appears to be clad in inch-thick metal plating. The plating shows signs of a few dents, but nothing seems to have penetrated it. Massive gatling guns are mounted to its forearms and appear to be chain-fed from a h opper on its back.

"Ugh," Envoy says, and rubs her forehead while closing her eyes. "I do not know if I will ever get used to random recollections. At least I'm not getting them with full fidelity, otherwise I'd actually be reliving them."

"There are imprints on this room. I can see them in the localized energy fields and magnetic fluctuations from the walls," Morpheus notes. "People were trying things they shouldn't in here. Now, you said you wanted to try and use the battery with one of the lattice' correct?"

Envoy nods, and retrieves the twisted circle of crystal from her robe. "Turning this into an actual self-generating power source will be useful. Especially for powering the gateway without the ship, along with powering the Gravy Boat so that it doesn't fall out of the sky if the battery charge runs out." She sets it down on a conveniently flat chunk of concrete, and says, "Can you transfer the access codes for the lattices to me?"

"You will have to consume my heart to get them," Morpheus says with a straight face. "Or failing that, I just have to do this," he adds as he reaches out and grabs onto Envoy's horn. There's a bit of stabbing pain in her head as there's a rush of information, and for a moment, Envoy feels a bit dazed and everything around her seems detached before slowly coming back into focus.

Envoy blinks several times. "You need to be more gentle next time," she tells Morpheus, and then tries to sort through the information package as best she can.

It's mostly a series of very long activation codes that trigger specific instructions, such as 'draw', 'discharge', 'slow draw', 'maintain level X, where X is a percentage' and 'self destruct'. What is it with Sifrian artifacts and self destruct commands?

"Now.. to see if one can be safely integrated," Envoy says, removing a lattice from the envelope by the tried and true 'lick the pad at the tip of my finger so it is sticky' method and pressing it to the battery crystal. Then she just has to figure how to merge it into the larger crystal.

So, she starts singing to the battery, to see if it has an option for connecting.

Well, it sticks to her finger just fine, and she's able to press it against the battery without either exploding. Those count as victories, right? After a moment, the battery responds. It has a terrible 'singing voice', but it does seem to have some sort of 'integrate' function for bonding with other crystal components...

Hoping that it will work to integrate the lattice and not stick to her finger, Envoy tries activating the integration function.

It seems to do something, in that the lattice sinks into the battery. Unfortunately, so does her finger.

Envoy sighs, and tries to pull her finger back out, singing a bit more chidingly at the battery.

It's sort of like extracting her finger from a child's 'finger trap' toy. So, it takes a bit of work to extract her finger. When it does finally come out, it makes popping sort of sound. "I am sure there is a joke here, somewhere," Morpheus comments.

"Which you are wisely not going to make in my presence," Envoy says, giving Morpheus a look. She then starts singing again, and tries to set the lattice for a 10% maintenance level to see if the battery can handle it.. and how much 'magical energy' that actually translates to.

The air around the battery seems to ripple, and the twisted crystal starts to glow. From her proximity and experience, she can feel the storage levels going up ... and if she had to translate it, a ten percent storage level is something akin to twenty mages powering a single ritual.

"I'll need to have Violette check this too," Envoy says, but smiles. She's happy with the outcome, and it's certainly more than enough power output. Enough for multiple mages to draw on if needed, which she thinks even Latania may appreciate. Certainly enough for the little Gravy Boat.

"Are you sensing anything weird from it, Morpheus?" Envoy asks her partner. "Especially anything Tribunal related?"

Or Latania may call her an idiot messing with things she does not understand. This does lead to a thought though, what would 100% output connected to Icarus do?

Morpheus gets a distant look again. "No. I sense no communication to any other systems or interfaces. So, unless it has a secret channel it uses, it doesn't talk outside of what it is bonded to," he says as his attention returns.

There's no way I'm going to have Icarus run even at this level, Envoy thinks. One or two percent should be plenty for either of them. Enough to allow Icarus's systems to function properly, at least.

So far, things seem stable. There's no ominous hum indicating a catastrophic explosion is imminent, at least!

"Well, I suppose the next test is plugging one into me," Envoy admits. "I don't know what effect it might have on me though, in terms on what systems I have that might draw on it."

"You're sure you want to do that?" Morpheus inquires. "What if something bad happens?"

Envoy blinks, and asks Morpheus, "What sort of something?" Still, she picks up the battery and slips it over her wrist, so it can sit against the crystal on her forearms. And then she stares at it to see if anything happens.

She removes the ring and sets it back on the concrete for now. "At least I can turn it off if it's attached to me. I need to know if there's a risk or not before giving one to Icarus."

"Yes," Envoy says, but doesn't move to do it just yet. "Where do you think it would be safest to attach one?" she then asks Morpheus. "There are these obvious crystals on my arms, but also the bit in my head. Which part would look less weird if it were glowing all the time?"

"Well, a glove could conceal glow on your arm, but your horn glowing wouldn't be, not without a sock, and it would mess with nighttime vision," Morpheus points out.

"Hmm, it's all connected to my skeleton anyway," Envoy notes. "I think I'll go with the arm then, and see how it goes." She pulls back the sleeve over her left arm to expose the crystal scales, then tries to get a second lattice out of the bag.

Getting the lattice out isn't that hard; it sticks well enough to her finger. Putting it against her forearm also is easy. But so far, nothing has happened...

Envoy starts singing to her own implants, searching for the 'integrate' function.

And Envoy finds it! Fortunately this time her finger doesn't sink into her own arm as the crystal grafts itself in ... but that might have been preferable to the rush she suddenly feels. If Envoy doesn't know what an orgasm feels like, well, now she does. It's explosively pleasurable; she feels like she's glowing all over! And that's when it gets weird, she starts seeing shapes around her, almost like the time she tapped into Icarus' eyes. It's not as detailed as what he sees, but now she can almost see the equations that make up everything around her! This would probably be exciting, except she hears a soft voice declare System overload! Inflow rate exceeding absorption capability of host!