The voyage in the Picnic Basket was really quite dull. There was little sense of motion unless one tried walking around, and there were no windows to look out and get a sense of speed or altitude. After an hour, there was a chime and an announcement for all passengers to secure themselves for docking. A minute later there was a very mechanical clunking noise from above, and a rattling of the entire basket before things settled back down.
"Welcome aboard," the voice of Harmonia announces. "Transit time to Pit of Himar debarkation range is ten hours." With that, the huge door begins to swing down. Beyond that is Harmonia's ventral cargo hangar. It's smaller than the dorsal one meant to accommodate spacecraft, with a flat ceiling and overall boxy shape. One section has been set up as a sort of lounge, with chairs and tables and bunks plus a kitchenette and a more permanent looking toilet and shower area. Privacy curtains are available to further divide the space as needed. The walls are.. just dull metal things, looking like any other hull material one might encounter in old Expedition craft or airships.
As she steps out, Tasha cranes her head to look around. "Hrrrm," she goes as she notes the carefully chosen features and the new additions. Though her memory remains a little fuzzy, she's certain she's never been to this part of the ship despite the obvious changes to camoflauge the Khattan Carrier from prying eyes. After a moment more, she steps aside to let the 'basket' and its other passengers disembark, offering them a, "Welcome aboard," of her own.
Mr. Invention strolls out into the hangar, carrying his and Katie's overnight bags to the rest area. Katie comes out next. "I like how quiet this ship is," she notes. Overhead, a pair of giant mechanical claws hold the Picnic Basket's handle, explaining how the transport is raised and lowered from the hangar.
"It is very quiet. Very ... disconnected, from the rest of the world," Tasha agrees as she she follows the two towards the lounge area. "It feels like only yesterday that I was here -- but also like I've been gone a lifetime."
"I've wondered how big this ship must be," Katie admits, walking next to Tasha. "The only person we've ever seen here is Dr. Zerachiel."
"He's been here?" Tasha asks, eyes widening a moment before she snaps her fingers. "Oh, of course he has. So has Gabriel."
Tasha shakes her head, then smiles. "I hope hope my memory straightens itself out before I attend the college, or I'm going to have a hard time! Anyway, months ago it used to be, that I was the only one here."
"How does it run without a crew though?" Katie asks. "Someone had to have built the Basket right?"
"This ship is smarter than most," the red woman notes as she drops in to one of the waiting chairs, then looks upward. "Isn't that right?"
"I have no basis for comparison, Tasha," the voice of the ship replies.
"Well I do, and I think you're the best," the mostly Vartan insists, smiling. "But I'm probably biased, you know?" She winks -- apparently at the ceiling -- then looks down. "Smart and modest -- so the opposite of me." The young woman then grins.
Katie laughs lightly at the joke. "Well, you'll be smarter soon enough," the woman notes. "What are you going to study first?"
"Oh, well, probably ancient technology, with classes in politics and history to round it all out. I need both, but while I have experience in ancient technologies, I have very little in the other two. I'm hoping that will give me a varied and interesting -- but not overwhelming -- list of studies. I am nervous, though. It used to be, I was, um, a little afraid of learning institutions. Jealous, and, um, angry," Tasha answers.
"Angry?" Katie asks. "Had some run-ins with students in the past then? And you should also think about taking modern technology as well."
"Think so? I'll add that to the list then," Tasha agrees, pulling our her -- apparently new -- datapad and entering the note in before looking up again. "I'd never met a student before, actually. The colleges on Sinai, and, well, most of the educated people on Sinai, they belonged to a world that seemed out of reach. A place I didn't belong, that looked down on people like me, so I did the same to them, even if I knew, deep down, I was just doing it to cover up my insecurities. My life before coming to this world was filled with a lot of that."
"We still see that a lot with Karnors," Katie notes. "It seems to run in families: some stick with labor, most go military, and a few add in higher education. Pack mentality, the theory goes. You stay within your group."
"It's the same for Vartans, really. We have our family structures and we tend to stick to them. It doesn't help that Vartans, by-in-large, are viewed as more of a labor and military force than a particularly educated one. That seems to be true here, as well," the red woman says, nodding. "Thankfully the JEF does not use stereotyping within the current ranks. I hope that persists in to the future."
"Well, the military has always been the route to success for most on Abaddon," Katie notes. "My family has always been military. There are still a lot of civilian types though, even if they're technically part of a military organization, like the Knights Templar. I doubt your friend Hakeber has any actual military training though."
"Oh, wow, no," Tasha confirms, laughing heartily. "Hake was strictly academic support. Gabriel and I took care of most of the fighting on our last expedition. Well, mostly I did because apparently I escaped poverty and a lack of education just to end up doing everyone's fighting anyway." She grins, then shrugs again. "I don't mind it, though. I seem to be good at it, missing face and hand aside."
"Do you enjoy it though?" Katie asks, rather nonjudgmentally at that. "Did you fight a lot as a child?"
"I ... Hmm." Tasha cocks her head to the side, thinking. "I suppose I do, at that. As a kid, I fought all the time -- fist fights mostly, but there were some scarier moments with knives, clubs and that sort of thing. I knew when to run away, especially when people started drawing swords and the like. Don't make anyone with a bow or crossbow angry, you know? That more or less persisted in to adulthood, and well, until very recently when I tried to improve myself. But clearly, I'm still doing it. I've never said, "I don't want to fight anymore," or, well, tried to avoid that responsibility. I've been scared, though, terrified, and that's become more frequent. Suddenly I'm not in a bar room, with the worst that could happen is I break something, or, well, you know. Now every fight is life-or-death, and not always mine. A few fights I've been in lately were for cities, and one, well, for the world."
The red woman pauses, then shakes her head. "Two, actually."
"The Knights have boxing teams," Katie notes, smiling a little. "You might find one of those relaxing. Well, I mean in a stress-relieving way, since it's fighting, but friendly and nobody gets badly hurt."
"That sounds like fun to me," Tasha agrees, smiling. "The big fights matter, but, well, they're hard on my nerves. Harder still, when I fail. I failed once, and I don't intend to let it happen again."
Tasha takes in a deep breath, looking around for a moment with her ears canted back, a frown crossing her muzzle. A moment later she asks, "Um, ship? Would you mind if we take a walk? Maybe a tour? I think I could use a walk, come to think of it."
"Do you intend for Miss Vesuvius to accompany you?" Harmonia asks.
"Um, well yes but ... You don't think that would be wise?" Tasha asks, looking up.
"I need to know if her status is to be upgraded and what permissions she will be granted," Harmonia explains.
"Oh, well, no permissions. She shouldn't be walking around without an escort by another permission holder. She'll just be a guest with permissions the same as any other passenger unless escorted and specifically granted permission by the escort," Tasha answers before looking down and dhrugging a little. "You know how it is."
"Why do you look up at the ceiling when you address the ship?" Katie asks, and looks up too.. seeing nothing but ceiling.
"It seems appropriate," Tasha admits, looking up again. "I guess it's because I always think of ... the ship as being up above me. My friend, in the sky. Maybe, too, because whenever I think, or need to get away, or go to my 'own place,' I look up at the sky."
"Ah, I thought it was some signal so the ship would know it was being addressed," Katie says. Then she notes, "But you almost sound like you're addressing a deity up in Heaven or something."
"We're all deities here. The Enyo Club," Tasha insists as she drops her muzzle and grins at Katherine. "Don't you know? But maybe you're right. Maybe this place, it's, um, well, like a Heaven to me. And a reminder, of what I often fight to protect. The gateway to the beyond, and, um, the face of something greater. My friend, and my place. Something that I'm part of that's bigger than I am, and makes me bigger by being part of it. A reminder that I'm, um, more than just a person these days. Here, well ... Here I stand between two worlds, in more ways than one."
Katherine gives Tasha a long look, then asks, "You.. ah.. you don't have the same sort of relationship here that you do with your Titan's avatar do you?"
"What??" Tasha asks, her ears shooting up and eyes widening. "N-no! No! No," she insists, holding up her hands. "If anything, Harmonia's like my daughter! Or, um, well, she's older and smarter than I am, so maybe, um, like a ward, someone I'm helping! If anything, she makes me feel guilty!"
"Guilty about what?" Katie asks, leaning forward now.
Tasha's ears flatten as she looks away, leaning forward and folding her arms. "I suppose, well, that she depends on me. That sometimes I'm tempted by her. That I have these thoughts about what I could do, and, um, I'm not as strong as I wish I was. I do my best, but I wonder if it's good enough. If I'm good enough. So much depends on me making the right decisions, not failing. And I failed once ... " Tasha drops her head, rubbing at it and shaking her head. "I just don't want to fail her, Katie. I can't fail." She mutters before taking a deep breath and shaking her head against her hands. "Not again. I can't look away and I can't fail."
"Failure is always a possibility," Katie notes. "Every commander has to accept that reality. It's just not possible to control for everything that could go wrong, be it weather or judgment or illness."
"Then it's a good thing Heaven is on my side," Tasha says, leaning back and closing her eyes. "And you too, Harmonia. We help each other, don't we?"
"You are my pilot," Harmonia replies. "You give me direction."
"That's what I need. A pilot. I think maybe Gabriel fits," Tasha says, a smile returning to her face. She smacks her hands down on the chair arms, then pushes herself up. "Well, I'm tired of sitting around. I mentioned a tour, so how about we go to the bridge? Staring at these walls is making me clausterphobic."
"How can you be claustrophobic in a room this big?" Katie laughs, and gets up. "I guess we'll be back in a bit, Mr. I!" she calls to her manager.
"I will have dinner ready when you return," the man notes.
"When you've been in a tube as long as I have, in a virtual space, you learn clausterphobia can extend to more than real space," Tasha insists, offering ehr arm as she walks towards the exit. "Just remember: don't touch anything and no pictures, please. And if you're a spy, better tell me now!"
"I don't even know how to operate a camera," Katie admits. "The photographer does all that."
"Do you ever do your own shining?" Tasha asks as they exit the hangar, leaving the pre-rendered space.
The faux-Abaddonian decor gives way to the normal brass-and-silver gaudiness of Harmonia. The corridor is wide, with the clockwork motif in the walls, and curves off clockwise.
"I leave my hair to the.. professionals," Katie says, trailing off a bit as they enter the corridor. "This.. is a ship?" she asks.
"Welcome to Heaven, or at least a heaven. Probably Vartan, definitely Khattan," the mostly Vartan says with her hands stretched out, walking along. "Yes, this is Harmonia, although she didn't always have that name. We actually don't know what her name is, and it's likely she didn't recieve one when she was send her many thousands of years ago. I found her -- well, we found each other -- several months ago. Harmonia, like myself, had been under the scrutiny of the entity known as 'Abaddon,' but I helped her see there was another way. And, well, given how things turned out, it can definitely say it was for the best."
As they walk along, Tasha angles towards a flooring that looks like liquid gold, stepping on to it. "Conveyor floor," she explains as she is carried away. Once Katherine is caught up, she adds, "So, this is my other home. It's kind of a base of operations for other projects, mostly my personal ones. Harmonia tells me she doesn't mind, but, well, you know how I feel about that."
"This is quite a 'base of operations'.." Katherine notes, looking around.. and down. "I want to take my boots off and wiggle my toes in this.. stuff. I suppose this is the secret to your long-range over-the-horizon communications between the Pit and Tartarus?"
"That's right. We installed the relay some time ago," Tasha explains as they move along. "And you may want to avoid taking your shoes off. Despite what it looks like, it's really something else entirely. Harmonia has transformable construction technology, allowing for a variety of temporary and permanent construction projects. The hangar back there is all fake, which is part of why it felt clausterphobic."
"Well, I suppose if this is what the rest of the ship looks like then it makes sense to keep the basket-bay more.. familiar," Katie notes. So far they've traveled along the corridor but there have been few doors. Some are small, and some are very large, and none of them are marked. "How do you find your way around?"
"I trust Harmonia isn't leading me in circles and count my blessings she doesn't like practical jokes," Tasha answers, smiling. "Most of the ship is off-limits, even to me, and I respect that desire. I try to get her to meet more people though, and to work past her shyness. I hope that some day, she won't need me anymore."
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Katie asks. "What was she doing before you found each other?"
"Monitoring. For what, we ... Well we're still working out the details," Tasha answers. She turns to look down the dark corridor they're following, adding, "Harmonia has claimed sentience, and I respect that claim. As her, well, steward, or as my ward, it's my responsibility to help guide her along that path and to help her find her own way. It's why, while I am captain of this ship, I try to refrain from abusing that power. I'm captain because I must be, due to limitations, but I'm not a captain in the sense that Gabriel is."
"I suppose if you're the only crew, you'd be captain by default," Katie notes. "Or else a coxswain."
"Well, I also have the right parts," Tasha admits, tilting her head foreard and tapping at the back of it. "Harmonia, like Melchior, uses a neural interface system."
"Interesting.. were they made at the same time?" Katie asks. The corridor is becoming more familiar now - Tasha is sure the last fork they passed leads to the upper hangar.
"No, I believe there was several thousand -- perhaps ten thousand -- years between their construction, but we lack accurate data. The Melchior was specifically created for the Expedition while Harmonia had been in service, in one form of another, well before that. I'm somewhat concerned at this, because if her original mission recalls her, she could be subject to centuries of isolation and a refit, which may jepordize her sentience," Tasha explains.
"Ahh, we're almost there," the red woman notes.
Before much longer, the pair is brought into the bridge - even though it only has one station in it. The spherical space is displaying the infinite-depth gear-space around them, as usual. "Do you wish to alter current transit mission, Tasha?" Harmonia asks. The clockwork Vartan avatar hasn't appeared yet, but that could simply be because Tasha hasn't asked for it.
"That's not necessary, but thank you Harmonia," Tasha answers as she makes her way towards the platform, then turns to ascend the stairs. She pauss before the chair, glancing back. "I really like the clockwork here, don't you? When I first came here, I was in awe of the place. I still am. It was from the orderly progression of gearwork that I chose the name 'Harmonia,' who is a figure of accord, order, and peace within the Olympian faith."
"It doesn't make you dizzy at all?" Katie asks, focusing now on the pilot seat with its ornate framework. "Mr. I would like that chair though. He likes complicated artsy stuff.."
"It certainly is complicated," tasha agrees as she turns around, lowering herself in to the seat and leaning back. When the neural studs connect, her gaze becomes distant, unfocused, for several seconds. She then blinks, exhaling and visibly appearing to relax as she settles in. For once since Katherine has seen her today, she looks genuinely at peace. "It's order, multiplied, macroscopic and micro. An orderly world, and peaceful."
"It's certainly more orderly than the real world," Katherine says. "And way more orderly than dreams." She sits down next to the chair, and watches the gears. "I used to stargaze. I suppose it's the same thing - you look out there and the stars are constant, orderly. Most of the time anyway."
"It's just light, did you know that? Old light, long on its way. They may not be there anymore, the stars. But we remember them, none the less. It makes me wonder, if anything is still out there. I've heard that Zion still exists. Somewhere out there, Varta too. And Earth, Gabriel's homeworld. Ours too," Tasha murmurs, and as she does, the screen changes ...
A view of Abaddon stretches out before them, but it soon replaced by a starmap, with animated stars, and familiar planets around a familiar sun: the Primus System. Then the map pulls away, and the Primus System is but a dot, a grain of sand amidst an untold infinity. The words, 'Assessing distance ... ' appear, then 'Unable to quantify non-flat space, providing estimate ... ' and then numbers. Huge numbers, and a line -- and at it's terminus: "Earth."
"Also known as 'Terra,'" Tasha explains. "Old Terra. Earth. The Sol System. The birthplace of humanity, and the Karnors."
"I've seen pictures," Katherine says. "There are even some forbidden texts about Terran history. Only the highest ranked generals have access though." She watches the map spin and zoom. "It's so far away, in time and space."
"Some day, I want to go there. Maybe when I'm old, or just older, when everything is done and it's time for me to step aside and let others take my place. Maybe sooner, if I should ever become too big for the world," Tasha says as she watches the stars. "If I had a ship that could make the voyage. Maybe 'they' will give me one, if I ask."
"I'm not sure the Expedition was ever meant to go home," Katherine suggests. "I mean.. we brought everything to set up a colony, even if the resources got scattered."
"You know me, I'm never satisfied," Tasha says, looking down with a smile. "Besides, there was more than one reason why we were sent here. And more than one reason why we cou;dn't leave." The red woman then reaches up and taps her head. "Which is why some day, I may need to leave, too. It depends how the future goes, as always. But it wouldn't be right to interfere with what remains. I don't know. I guess that will depend. Balthasar's gone now, and so is Abaddon. The sky is getting clearer. Which reminds me ... " Harmonia, how do you feel about Abaddon's destruction? "Anyway, as you can see, I get reflective when I'm up here."
"I do not understand the question," Harmonia replies over the link, so only Tasha can hear.
"Deserts are good for that, and Abaddon is almost all desert," Katherine says.
The entity who attempted to manipulate you, Abaddon, appears to have been destroyed. According to Melchior, he perished in our battle, after he shut me out of Balthasar's systems. He was one of the few entities you met, and the competing choice with what I offered. Now he's gone. I wondered if you had any thoughts on the matter, or any regrets, Tasha sends by way of explaination.
The woman then nods. "I agree. I've spent some time down there alone, too, and it always makes me think." The view of the stars shifts again, replaced by the flat expanse of Abaddon's red desert. The image then flicks again, Tasha frowning, as the viewpoint steadily traces across another section. "Are you religious, Katie?"
"Not really," Katie notes. "I don't want to be a dogmatic Karnor after all," she says with a perfectly straight face.
"I have no emotional association with Abaddon," Harmonia explains. "I does not matter to me that it no longer exists."
Tasha smiles at the joke. "So you're not just a pretty face, but educated and funny, too? It's a good thing I have my shiny throne here, or I might feel a little jealous." She winks, then reaches over and tugs Katie over she she's leaning against her leg. "Sometimes, I still can't believe you're even talking to me. Did you know, when you smiled at me the other day, I ran in to a bulkhead?"
Alright, I just though I should ask. As the two beings who knew him -- that we know of -- it seemed appropriate that we should think on him, and who and what he was, and wonder if we made any mistakes, or had any regrets. I've never killed anyone before, and I wonder sometimes, if I could have handled the situation better. It worries me that I was so angry, so afraid I didn't think to ask the questions, or really speak with him. And now he's gone. I'm glad he is, given what happened, but I wonder, Tasha thinks as she smiles at Katie.
"He was not alive. He was not killed. Just erased," Harmonia claims. "Sentimentality is a difficult concept for me."
"Good to know I've still got it - even without the shiny hair," Katie says, grinning. "I am getting hungry though."
It's fine. I'm not urging you to learn it, though empathy is something that i think you should explore. For my part, I'll probably think about what happened for a long, long time. The red woman looks down, asking, "Is that so? Well lets go eat, then we can grab a nap and we'll be fresh for launch." I'm going to head back now. It's good to see you again, and for what it's worth, I'm glad things have worked out between us how they did.