The illuminated limb of Abaddon passes beyond the horizon, leaving only a dark planet below, save for a few points of light. Bellerophon has taken its time on the return voyage, both to conserve fuel while towing a derelict Celestial spaceship and to give the surface infiltration team time to get into position. By now, Riddle should have had a few days inside Helheim to make her arrangements. The strike target for the distraction-meteor has been chosen at the mountain peak next to the city's night-decoy, which puts the impact within ten miles of the city itself.
From the decompressed shuttle, Tasha can see the cable-towed mass of ceramic and metal (and probably several bodies) that is about to be dropped. It's almost certainly going to survive reentry.. and the shuttle will be following it. Explosive charges will make sure some of the wreck breaks apart, to better cover the shuttle's own course change - and then it will be time for the hybrid and her petite human cohort to jump as well. It's hoped that they won't need to use the parachute.
Armed and armored, Tasha wears her modified powered armor and carries more weaponry than she ever has. Each item has been treated for a night time infiltraion: a matte black coating has replaced calm white surfaces, glossy blacks, and bright reds while her karnor helmet has been replaced with a standard Vartan to further mask her identity. The gauss rifle and a locally made submachine gun are stored in a large pod for protection during insertion, while her pistol and shock baton are shielded by their containers strapped to her suit. Various tools join the fray, from wire cutters to other items she carries for Yue's use. The presence of so much offensive and defensive equipment, however, does little to ease the tension she feels.
A steady, hackle-raising anxiety along with a twist of the stoamch unsettle her, something she's come to expect from missions of this magnitude and danger. She tries to mask it, even from herself; she knows showing too much uncertainty undermines confidence in herself and what they're about to do -- something she can't allow. Not every from herself, she reiterates inwardly. "ETA?" She asks, still looking over her equipment in what is now the seventh pass.
"Belle should start her run.. now," Gabriel says. And the spaceship does begin to thrust. A few seconds later the cables are released from the derelict and Bellerophon veers off, while the ancient wreck continues on. "We'll be following it down now," the Karnor announces, and the shuttle begins to change its orbit.
"Copy," says Tasha, feeling uncharacteristiclaly quiet. Her minds keeps trying to veer back in to the muddy waters of genocide, the choice to kill, and the decisions behind the process and what they mean for her life, efforts, and claim to legitimacy. But she keeps pushing them away, as she has kept pushing them away since the encounter with the Berserkers. And while she may have a number of high-stress, high-danger missions under her belt, she's rarely had them strung together. Dealing with the aftermath of one during another is new, she recognizes, and does the best she can.
There isn't much to see, beyond what the shuttle's displays show. The mass falling ahead of them is dark, against a dark landscape below. It's only when the atmosphere begins to glow around it that it's visible. Gabriel actually brings them in closer. "We want to avoid the turbulence zone," he explains. "It's still going to be a rough ride though," he warns. Soon the shuttle is shaking while it tries to keep to the vacuum zone in the wreck's shadow, while superheated plasma streams past around them. "We don't want to heat up ourselves.. cooler we are the less noticeable we are.." Gabriel says.
Tasha nods; no one is looking at her but teh reflexive motion of interpersonal understanding helps ease her mind. "I remember the lessons about planetary insertion, but I didn't expect we'd be doing it this way. I bet Kaa would have a lot to say about this," she remarks, head finally lifting from her review -- she's gone over it so many times it's become more nervous tick than prepatory requirement -- and watches the widening glow of plasma fire. "You be careful, okay?" It isn't needed, she knows, but saying it helps too.
"I'm still a decent pilot, even if I don't whistle dirty limericks while I'm doing it," Gabriel points out with a bit of humor. The windows show nothing but fire outside, but at least it isn't touching the shuttle. "We'll be breaking away in a few minutes, that will be the worst of it."
"We should spend some time together. You know. After this," Tasha insists as fire envelopes her gaze. It makes her blood run cold; it wasn't that long ago a plasma fire filled her vision, and that time she had neither a spacecraft nor a shield to save her from the heat. Idly she reaches over and rubs the left hand of her suit, now with an unused digit, the product of racing too close to the flame. "A picknick. No, maybe dinner? Somewhere nice."
The breakup charges fire, splitting the wreck into a large chunk and several smaller ones that tumble away. This breaks the slipstream, and the shuttle is buffeted violently. The tumble it follows mimics the debris, and isn't entirely deliberate. It takes Gabriel a minute to begin bringing things under control. "Starting the drop run," he announces, as the cabin begins to pressurize. "The impact should scramble their radar enough to hide our deceleration. Once the shock wave passes, you jump."
The heads-up display in Tasha's helmet announces inertial reference lock, and two virtual beacons are displayed: a red one for the landing target, and a green one for the pick-up rendezvous point.
"I'm ready," Tasha reports after she manages to steady herself. The straps and magnetized boots kept her from being tossed about but even her the violence is enough to rattle her. "I'm getting the data feed on HUD. Onboard database has updated successfully and diagnostics are still clear."
"Time to link up," Yue says, and unstraps herself from her own seat to connect her harness to Tasha's. No sooner that she's secured, the shuttle bucks and fights the shockwave from the main impact. Once it passes, the vessel slows drastically, until it's safe to open the outer door. "I'll see you both on the other side.. of the mountain!" Gabriel says.
Tasha releases her own seat straps and then it's her turn to link up. She steps infront of the entry pod, turns, and then gives the signal to intitiate the interlock. The EVA unit locks, her suit's artificial muscles kick in to full and she hefts the entire collection forward as she makes a slow walk towards the airlock. Despite freefall, she has to fight to keep the shifting weights steady and resist undesired movement -- a lot of weight to continue to control and it reminds her of wrestling a ptera.
"Proceeding to airlock," she reports. She commands the hatch to open through her interface, then steps inside and commands the airlock cycle to begin. "Cycling airlock, EVA in ten seconds." She sounds monotone, even to herself, though she isn't sure at all if she sounds professional or numb.
"Remember the simulations," Yue says. "We're 10,000 meters up, so the air will be too thin for your wings. You have to just let us fall most of the way."
"I remember." She steps closer to the outter hatch, peering at hr suit's internal display that's feeding her the external conditions and imaging. It's a logn way down -- and this close to a planet it's definitely down. One more system check is ordered and all returns clear. "We're go. Opening hatch."
Tasha orders the external hatch open and the near-emptiness of the exosphere greets her. She remembers a vague fact about the upper atmosphere being many thousands of degrees on average, but you wouldn't feel it due to poor particle density. She wonders where these stray thoughts come from in times of stress as she steps forward. "Exiting." And with that she steps off in to the sky.
As much as she's flown, Tasha never really had to fall before. And from this height, at night, she may as well be in outer space. Several miles to the west, the mountains are illuminated by the glow of the impact crater in the side of a mountain. Soon, though, the lights of Helheim come to life, both the decoy site and the city itself. The impact should have triggered every alarm they have, and searchlights begin to scan the sky and peaks. Then the spreading dust cloud begins to obscure them, reducing everything to a diffuse glow.
It's a vista Tasha has to view from the EVA suit's feed soon enough as she initiates thrusters and aligns the heat shield for reentry. The sensation of plummet fills her body, making her itch to spread her wings as one of the oldest Vartan instincts nags at her. "Holding up, Yue?" Another thrust of the EVA pod's array angles the descent towards the city, endless approaching rectacles showing her the way even as her suit provides orientation and position.
"This is the easy part," Yue notes. "I'll be clinging like mad once we're start flying.. not the most aerodynamic configuration here and I don't have a parachute if the harness breaks!"
"What should I tell the Terragens, if you don't make it?" It's a grim question as the young woman finds herself running cold as their destination approaches. She knows she may have to employ violence and she remembers from experience it's better for her focus and stability to prepare early on. Aside from that, it's a question she'd been putting off -- needs to ask.
The inflatable shield begins to shake after a few minutes, as the atmosphere becomes thick enough to buffet it. It does its job as a brake though, and the airspeed indicator begins to show them slowing. An indicator flashes, showing that it's time to jettison the now unneeded maneuvering pack.
"Smith knows what to do in that case," Yue notes. "Got your magic amulet thing handy once we're down?"
"It's safe in one of the containers." Another overdue process crosses Tasha's mind: prayer. Having spoken to god-like beings, she doesn't find the gesture out of place nor frivilous. It's been a while. Lets see. Kasaris. Goddess of Shadows and Secrets; the dark lady. Dagh's sister. A prayer ... She doesn't know the official -- or at least Amazonian-official -- prayers of the temple having focused on Abaddon's ethos, but she resolves to do her best with what she knows. In the shadow of this planet Abbadon, a secret in the night seeking higher mysteries, I offer my prayer to you, Kasaris, Goddess of Shadows and Secrets and give thanks for your work.
The air pressure reading shows it's safe to glide now, which means jettisoning the air-shield. Tasha's still moving at a hundred miles an hour though, but with her feathers encased in armor that shouldn't be an issue.
The EVA thrusters fire and the two spin until Tasha is aligned face-down. She takes in a deep breath, staring out at the black landscape of ominous sweeping beams and glittering, star-like lights. She'd say it was beautiful if it didn't make ehr hackles want to jump off her neck. "Here we go, hang on! It's going to be rough until I can stabilize." One final moment of hesitation and then her wings snap open.
The wind does seem intent on tearing Yue away from Tasha, enough so that she has to fight going into a tumble. But it also helps to slow her down further.. she doesn't want to come in too fast and crash into her target, especially since it's hidden under the cloud of dust and ash. The glow beneath isn't uniform now. Some sections go dark, or flicker, while others glow very bright and red, adding smoke to the mix: there are fires down there, whether a result of the impact shock or due to deliberate sabotage isn't clear. What is, however, is that the beacon in Tasha's AR view is centered on one of the dark areas.
Even with the powered assist it's a fight; Tasha remembers trying to fly in hurricanes and tempest winds as The Rake tried to evade them, on dares, and just to see if she could. There were a lot of cuts and scrapes from those forays, some she still has. She wonders what the crew of The Rake is doing right now, and if they could ever imagine little Tasha is plummeting to the ground, preparing for a raid. The reflections are chased away again, this time by a HUD timer. "Releasing EVA." They tumble briefly as the pod speeds away. "Sending self-destruct code ... Recieved." In two minutes the EVA will detonate, appearing to be nothing more than additional debris. "Decelerating and preparing for approach ... Now." More shaking, more hanging on.
At least she has more natural control now from her wings. Thermal imaging helps to penetrate the dust, so Tasha can at last make out the general shape of the target building. The church is the tallest building in the city, and the only one not built entirely like a bunker. There's a dome atop the hexagonal structure, and it has actual windows - some of which should be broken from the air and ground shocks. If not, a broken window under the circumstances probably wouldn't seem out of place.
The young woman's mind turns to a hammer in her array of tools -- 'direct action' entry is something she is prepared for. On a level the idea of smashing the speciest regime's precious windows strikes her as absurdly petty, but also really funny. Despite ehrself a grin forms on her muzzle, lasting well in to the approach. "I see the landing zone. It looks clear; making the approach. This is it." She stoops, accelerating more and angles towards the rooftop. A mix of speed, precision, and last-second braking are all required; it'll be the toughest landing she's ever attempted.
Her hoof-boots strike sparks when they hit the reinforced concrete-and-steel dome, and then Tasha is jogging to shed speed, finally stopping just short of stepping through one of the skylights. "Are we there yet?" Yue asks.
Tasha teeters, then nearly falls back as she backpeddles away from the skylight edge. After a exhales of relief, she balls a fist and thumbs it down on Yue's helmeted head. "We're down, release!" Even as she says it she takes her other hand and begins removing the equipment pod that partially holds Yue to her, her other hand joining it shortly after.
The woman is a bit shaky once on her feet again, but soon kneels down to inspect the skylight in the darkness. "Looks like natural quartz instead of artificial sapphire," she notes. "There are cracks, and a steel frame.. let's look for one with more damage."
"Lead on. I'm a bit too large to risk pearing in the skylights so I'll keep watch," as they move Tasha opens the equipment pod and pulls out the submachine gun, slinging it over her shoulder, followed by a collection of equipment too large to secure to her suit during reentry. The pod is then placed on her back, between her wings, still carrying the gauss rifle and the largest equipment pieces.
The young woman then turns to sky the skyline, struck by the chaos of their approach and the slowly dimming mushroom cloud in the distance. She doesn't think she'll ever get used to seeing destruction on such a massive, in-her-face scale.
There is a lot of activity in the streets of the fortress-city, as emergency vehicles respond to fires. The alarms are all still ringing, and plenty of other buildings seem to be without power.. at least, the ones with windows that would show light. Yue checks the other skylights. Since they're quartz, they aren't exactly transparent and just meant to provide diffuse sunlight. "Here," the human calls, having found one where the frame has buckled and concrete around the retaining bolts has crumbled.
Tasha turns away from the bedlam, her right hand pulling the hammer from her side. Like everything else, it's been treated to a matt black coating, even the metal. "Treachery is really something," she murmurs as she steps forward to examine the window. After reviewing it a moment, she lifts her hand and down comes the hammer.
The already fractured crystal gives under the impact, falling in chunks into the chamber below. While the outer steel cage is twisted aside, Yue removes one of the tools from Tasha's kit - a descender. The electromagnetic anchor is placed on a nearby steel buttress, and the line spooled out. "We go down together, then pull the line down after. The winch doesn't have power to pull us both back up anyway."
"Right, one more descent." After falling from the exosphere, descent down a line barely registers to the hybrid as a concern -- just as something she'd like done quickly. She draws her submachine gun, then holds her left arm so Yue can climb on to her arm. "No use waiting up here, lets get inside." With Yue up she grabs the line and climbs over the ledge, eyes scanning the area below as her weapon sweeps back and forth.
It's dark in the chamber below. The winch silently drops them fifty feet or so, and then a switch cuts power to the magnet so the line can be retrieved, leaving no evidence behind. They land in an aisle between pews, which are arranged like in an amphitheater. There isn't any sign yet of anyone coming to investigate, but at least the sounds of the alarms and sirens are muted in here. "Magic time?" Yue asks once she's back on her own feet.
Tasha nods, then crouches down to further obfuscate her silhouette ashe she fishes out the mysterious arcane object. She has no idea who made it, nor when and especially not how but she can sya the same for a great swath of her equipment. The difference here, she thinks as she studies the item, is that the rest of her equipment doesn't rely on an alien's cludge solution to mind-boggling ancient and advanced technology -- or so she thinks at first. It strikes her that, no, the Horse counts too. She tries not to think about that as she fiddle with the device, turning the disk clockwise until she hears a click.
I hope you're enjoying this Kasaris, she offers. A secret mission chasing even older secrets, complete with a dramatic flair to hide it all. If she were a goddess of secrets, she'd be watching with a tub of New Zion popcorn.
Everything beyond the Obfuscation field becomes brighter, if devoid of color. The amphitheater takes up a large part of the building, with entrances near the middle of the stacked rows like a stadium. Instead of seats, there are long, curving pews, but the dais at the focus of it all has a pulpit like any other cathedral. There's no altar, but a twenty foot tall iron crucifix rises up instead, with a white ceramic figure on it. It looks female, but without any true definition. Even the face is a blank oval, making it look more like a fashion dummy than a religious icon.
"Eve," Tasha remarks as she leads Yue towards the rear of the cathedral. She figures that if the building is anything like the various churches, sacred ruins, and other similiar sites she's visited there will be a back exit for the priests, which will then lead to offices and living quarters as well as the vaults used for storage. She scanes the back wall and the side areas, searching for anything that screams 'employees only.'
There are curtains hiding the back.. and sounds in the distance, that sound like people arguing.
The hybrid halts. In case Yue doesn't notice it, she also holds up a hand, then points towards the noise. After making sure her companion understands, she continues towards the rear at a slower pace and listens.
Wherever they are, the arguers aren't in the chamber behind the curtain. There's an echo, which would place them further down a corridor at least.
Not wanting to test the artfact's power unduly, Tasha quickens her pace towards the rear and waves Yue to follow. As they approach the rear she cranes her neck up, staring at the figure she assumes is Eve. It's the first time she's seen any representative of Eve and only the second non-Titan representation of the Progenitors she's observed. After ordering her suit to copy the current image frame to record, she nods to Yue and proceeds towards the curtains.
"Yue, can you slide under? I don't want to disturb the curtains searching," she notes, turning to watch the cathedral's interior in anticipation of Yue's attempt.
The human unfolds a tiny periscope device, and slips it under the curtain, moving it around a bit. "Room's clear, one open door at the back leading into hallway I think," she reports.
"Clear on my end too. Lets go." Turning, Tasha pushes through the curtains and then holds the drape until it stops swinging, letting Yue enter before carefully returing the length to how it was. "I'll take point," she then states, having the heavier armor. And so she proceeds towards the doorway at a walking pace, weapon up.
The door opens into the side of a hallway, which curves away to the right and left. There's some light around the right arc, bright enough to cast shadows. That's where the noise comes from - it might be arguing, or it just might be that everything sounds like an argument in the Bosch dialect. There squeals from valves being twisted open, and the occasional rumble in the ubiquitous steam pipes that seem to feature in all Abaddonian architecture. Whoever it is must be trying to restore steam pressure to the local generator. To the left there isn't anything in the way of noise or light.
"We can try to hurry on, or try to stop whatever lighting repairs they're trying to make and give ourselves more time in the dark at the cost of a confrontation," Tasha notes, both to review for herself and as a question. "We don't have maps this far in, we're blind but we need to proceed."
"Avoid confrontation," Yue suggests. "It's unlikely they'll get the lights restored before we're done.. Riddle would have made sure the steam was cut off closer to the source."
"Rely on Riddle. So, same old plan. Lets go. Left." As stated, the hybrid woman is soon making her way down the left path away from the sound of what they assume to be repairs in process. She figures the holy of holies, where the core of the Kampfengruppe's sacred beliefs, would not be right next to generators and other banal infrastructure. As they go Tasha checks if her suit is making a note of their progress, She can't rely on active sensors, but she can at least record their progress for rewind.
The inner wall of the hallway has several curtained doorways. All of the ones they've encountered so far are open, showing empty cells. The only furniture is usually a short table with a candle on it (some of them are even lit) and a bedroll of sorts on the floor. After passing three of these, they come across one that's closed. There's still light flickering inside, indicating a candle.. and sounds of heavy breathing.
Tasha slows, then swaps her weapons and pulls out her stun baton and her pistol. Firing shots at what she assums is an unarmed human who is cowering from the earthquake is something she thinks is uneccessary, too loud and too likely to leaves bodies. That's why she brough the stun baton; by club or by shock it's her way to limit blood and sound. The pistol is in case she's mistaken. With these she edges around the alcove, glancing at Yue to ensure she's keeping up.
Yue gets down on the floor, and slips her periscope under the curtain again. A moment later, Tasha sees a tiny window in her display as Yue sends her the feed. There are two humans in the cell, and they are the palest, most naked things Tasha has seen. They aren't albino - their skins have been bleached to be white. Neither has any hair - the female's face is visible, and she even lacks eyebrows and lashes. Her eyes are closed, but each eyelid has a filled blue circle tattooed on it, with a matching set on her brows above and cheeks below. The heavy breathing has nothing to do with fear and everything to do with how some humans behave in a blackout.
Tasha pauses, uncertain what to make of what she's seeing and feeling a twist in her gut. She had expected priests and priestesses: rail thin scholars, fat theo-politicians, hard eyed preaches and a myrid of other types at home in their element -- be that actual religion or faith in power. These thin, decrepit beings are the last thing she expected so close to the heart of the Abaddonian Kampfengruppe's religious heart. She wonders if they, like so many other groups that made planetfall, have deterioriated to a state barely resembling their original beliefs, but she also can't rule out that she's seeing exactly those old beliefs and that she's the one as figurtively in the dark as she is literally.
Tapping Yue's shoulder, Tasha indicates they should move on. Staring won't provide her more, and the figures make her uneasy.
Yue retracts the scope, and moves on. "Even the lips and nipples were bleached," she whispers, even though nobody outside the field could hear through the suit helmets anyway. "Priests, meant to look like Eve?"
"I always thought of priests as fat, fit, or thin and smart. These people look like they're being starved. Maybe it's intentional, their choice, or ... " Tasha decides she doesn't want to state the or. After several steps in silence, she admits in whisper, "I didn't expect that."
The next two chambers passed are a bathroom and a dining hall with concrete furniture. Finally, almost 180-degrees from the cathedral entrance is an actual door - or double doors, in this case. They aren't labeled, but there is a mechanical lock beneath one of the handles. No light is coming through the keyhole though.
It's only now that Tasha realizes why she didn't expect the pale, painted figures. Why she didn't find them familiar. She realizes it's because she was looking outward, external. It's then that the figures become familiar, intimate. Though not the quite the same, she does remember one being who was painted up, a fearful aproximation of a goddess painted in flesh: herself. In a shudder the figures fall neatly in to her concept of a church, right next to her own role.
As the chill slowly passes, the hybrid woman examines the door. She urges herself to move and at length removes the set of mechanical entry devices they brought along and hands them to Yue. "You deal with the door, I'll keep a look out," she insists, trying to mask the unease. Trying not to think that maybe she's still playing her old role, that maybe she's painted up and dancing still. She tries to think well of the Progenitors.
The simple lock yields quickly to the spy's manipulation. The door is opened slowly, to check for any telltale squeaks.. but it seems the hinges are kept well oiled, at least as far as opening the door a mere inch or two goes.
Hearing the door open, Tasha turns from gazing down the hall and in to memory over the barrel of a gun. She glances back, then nods to the woman and proceeds inside with her.
The room is larger than the others they've seen.. at it is a mess. The earthquake from the impact spilled the contents of several bookshelves, knocked over candelabras and jostled ink bottles off of writing desks. It looks like a library.. but there are open books near the desks that are nothing but blank pages, awaiting transcription.
It's a sight familiar to Tasha, though not an uneasy one as the last was. Sinai has only just reinvented the printing press; hand-copying of all things book and letter was the only way she knew until under a year ago. To her, it's practically nostalgic and it reminds her of the smell of Captain Eyeshine's inkpot, the scribbling of Knight scholars and of home. "The library. I doubt they'd leave the Book out in the open, but we can't be sure. Lets look around." But she isn't home, she reminds herself, and so she begins to search.
"If they're transcribing by hand, there should be multiple copies," Yue notes. "From what we've seen.. look for a white cover, or six dots or a crucifix or a humanoid on the cover." She goes to the writing desks, to search out a 'fresh' copy that might be complete.
While Yue checks the fresh copies, Tasha busies herself with the old ones. She tries to find what might be a master, or any book with the configuration the spy suggested. The older the better, she inspects nearby offerings and scans more distant ones visually so she doesn't need to leave Yue without the protection of the artifact.
There are many white-covered tomes, some large and some small, that sport the six-dot symbolism - although to Tasha it brings to mind the two columns of three dots found on a six-sided gaming die.
The stray thought that Eve may have been a gambler strikes the hybrid who immediately quashes it. Having met god-like beings, and chasing other ones, she believes in divine wrath and isn't about to court it in a church. A human church no less, and she recalls she's only a tiny fraction of humanity -- something that still unnerves her. "Sorry," she whispers in apology, hoping the added effort will stave away divine displeasure.
Uneasily Tasha then picks up one of the white covered books, activating the translation program the cobbled together using Hakeber's knowledge and Fred's skill. The cover is flipped open and Tasha waits for the translation to begin.
The first page isn't a title page or index like a normal book would have - but it is promising, since it's a circle with two human figures in it, a man and a woman - a representation of humanity's Marker, presumably. The next page is full of hand-written Boschian script, interspersed with strange symbols.. and no page number. In the AR display, a few of the words begin to shift to Standard.. but not all of them. Script is harder to parse for a machine than print. A few words do stand out though: Eve, and Mother and History.
"This one mentions Eve," Tasha reports, flipping another page and finding herself increasingly engrossed in the tome that might be what they've been seeking. Hakeber needed spies and deals, she had to evacuate a small army for just a snippet more, and now here in her hands may be the book from whence it all came. The Kampfengruppe's sacred writings, the Book of Life; The Book of Ascending in to Light. She knows it may be a watered down copy, but that does little to its alure. "The translation is failing, but it still looks promsing."
There are entire pages of symbols, sometimes with only a few words translated. No page is without symbols. And there are several hundred pages - but no way of knowing if this is an 'abridged' or complete edition. The dots hint that it's the book studied by the priesthood though.
"What've you got?" Yue asks, holding a smaller book with a humanoid figure on the cover.
"What language is this? These symbols?" Tasha isn't even sure it is a language and not pictigrams, abstract art or something else entirely. She turns to hands the book to Yue, though finds herself reluctant to do so. Understanding or no, it feels like answers -- answers to questions that have been lurking in her mind ever since she found the Melchior.
"No idea," Yue admits. "But my book doesn't have them. I think it's the interpreted version that the laity is given." She offers her smaller book to Tasha, which a quick glance through is more organized, with page numbers and an index and what might be hymns from the way the text is structured. It's still giving the translator fits though - which may be the point. If all of the holy books are transcribed by hand, under candle-light - and no known electronic versions exist - then it may be a deliberate attempt to prevent the information from being readable by machines.
The deception and difficulty make sense to Tasha. She considered gathering what she knows about the Progenitors in a series of paintings or a large, painted volume in multiple langauges for the very same reason. "It's still mostly untranslatable," she admits, feeling like every page may provide some grand answer only to be disappointed again and again. At length she almost feels like she could tear the answers out by desire alone, pent up frusterating and the desire for simple clarity coming to a head from being so close.
"Hakeber can probably make something of it," Yue says. "I just checked my playback, and pages look blurred in it. They're using masking-ink. So you can't even record or transmit a useful image of a page. We should go."
Tasha sweeps her gaze across the room, hopingto find something else that might lead to answers. She feels so close. "We weren't supposed to take anything," she notes, using it as a brief excuse to scan the room again, "But it doesn't look like we have a choice, do we?"
"My copy is from the newly transcribed pile, so it's not likely to be missed," Yue notes. "And with this mess, who knows how long it will take them to notice a priest-copy missing."
"Alright." Spotting nothing else, no side door to illumination not the hand book to secrets, Tasha admits defeat for the time being. She looks down at the book in her hand, then looks around quickly and picks up several others of the same symbols but different sizes and designs. With a heave of her breath she nods; it'll have to do. "Lets get going."
Things are quieter on the return route. The priest couple have either finished or are taking a break - either way, they are quiet, and the candle light is out. There is no longer any activity in the hall itself near the chapel door, but some voices from beyond the curtains in the cathedral.. though they seem spread out.
Tasha halts behind the curtain, then slowly eases backward. "I think they're in there, spread out ... Maybe searching? Take a look," she urges Yue while her hands stow the stun rod and the pistol, opting for the machine gun in case things get out of hand.
Yue uses her scope again under the curtain. "They're assessing damage it looks like. Electric torches, checking out the support structure.. one of them is cleaning up the quartz where we came in. There's a ladder on the dais, but nobody on it. They're probably going to use it to check the statue after the structural stuff. Nobody between us and one of the aisle exits though. If we go slow, we shouldn't be seen."
"Then lets go. We'll have to be careful with the curtain." Tasha moves around Yue, then slowly -- very slowly -- shuffle her way through the obstruction in the hopes the disturbance will go unnoticed if it's only slight, perhaps mistaken for wind now that the dome has been breached.
It appears that the priests (and priestesses) have their attention focused upwards, as the beams from their lights play over the arches supporting the dome. One calls out when cracks are found, and all of the lights briefly converge on that spot. The priests are easy to see, certainly: they're dressed in long white tunics that nearly reach their knees, over white slacks and white slippers. It's impossible to tell men from women though, except maybe by height. The only one not looking up is collecting debris in a sturdy sack. That one has a light strapped to their head for convenience, but isn't as bright as the hand-held ones.
Despite herself and knowing the people here would likely as soon as spit on her as talk to her, Tasha does feel a bit guilty. She doesn't know how much damage was produced, nor if anyone was injured, but she does know her passing damaged a city. She tries to comfort herself by recalling these people are likely her enemy, but it only works so well. She thinks on this as she edges along against the walls, aiming for the left side exit away from the group focusing on the ceiling.
The Obfuscation is still holding.. but the view beyond it does seem to be slightly dimmer than it was at the start, so the charge may be failing. The exit isn't that far though, at least. The corridor is short, leading to a lobby with several entrances out onto the street and ramps heading underground, since of course there would be underground roads as well. Some of those have a lot of dust around their mouths though, probably blown out by the earthquake.
"I think the artifact is running down, we should expect it may fail before we leave the city. Up or down? Down looks like ... " Tasha peers in to the dark, noting the dust but not able to see how extensive the damage is, " ... it could be blocked but it means fewer people will see us and the haze might help. Up means the streets, the lights, and the emergency crews but if I can get a clear path I can fly us out of here."
"We need air," Yue says. She gets her harness ready to be strapped to Tasha again and asks, "How much clearance do you actually need for takeoff?"
"My suit's holding, we haven't been down here that long. With the equipment, um, everything else ... Sixty feet would be better, but I can go with less if I have a drop," Tasha reports as she once again starts walking, this time heading for the exit to the streets. She peers out, looking for obstacles and personnel.
There's no need to check if the doors are locked, since the glass in one of them has already broken out, giving plenty of room. There's still a lot of smoke outside, and nobody has turned off the alarms. This particular street seems unused at the moment - but it may just be that most non-vehicle traffic is underground at the moment. There aren't any lights or windows in the nearby buildings either.
"Climbing will be a problem too, I'll need room to ascend and it'll be slow while I put most of my effort in to climbing. We'll be most vulnerable during that time, assuming we're not spotted on the ground," continues the hybrid as she edges out of the exit. Hakting, she cranes her neck to look around and likes what she sees. "This is probably as good as we're going to get. Climb aboard the Tasha Shuttle, and I'll begin my run." She then begins stowing her own equipment, everything except the gun.
Running with entire person strapped to your torso isn't that easy, but at least Yue wraps her legs around Tasha so they don't get in the way of her own. Then it's just a matter of judging the direction of the wind.. and running.
Tasha pulls out a sheef of paper and holds it to the wind, checking direction before wadding the piece up and stuffing it in a pouch. She then jobs to the roadway, hunches down and then she's sprinting for all she's worth! Racing down the roadway she recalls the wind direction and the satelite map layout of the city, bringing the latter up and linking it to her positioning system. It's a good several seconds of sprinting and takes longer than she expected, but soon she's up to speed and beginning to rise above the ground.
The dust cloud has begun to settle, but only to be replaced by the smoke cloud. The smoke doesn't provide as much cover, but it does follow the wind and gives a path to follow that reduces visibility - hopefully enough to supplement the failing enchantment.
Tasha does the bests he can to gain altitude and keep in the particulate as she strains to clear city walls and buildings. Remaining aloft isn't as much of a problem as ascendin, didging buildings and keeping to their smokey cover, all of which expend effort to climb in evasion and redirection. She knows her flying alone won't be enough -- the rest she must trust to the artifact and what cover remains. Even if discovered she realizes there's little she can do but keep doing what she's doing.
At least the fires and heat from the impact are providing plenty of thermals to give extra lift. In due time, Tasha passes over the outer wall of the city, heading towards an unassuming peak deeper into the mountains. On the other side the shuttle waits, according to her inertial guidance system. It's a path chosen for it's lack of structures and rugged terrain which would make pursuit difficult. "How're you holding up?" Yue asks once they're in the clear, just another dark form against a dark landscape. "We should reach the rendezvous point in under twenty minutes now. I think we pulled it off."
"Now that we're up the suit is doing most of the work, it's not any worse than long distance flying so long as the suit has power," Tasha reports, feelings a bit like a robot as they depart undetected and unscathed. It all went very well, at least so far, and she notes that as she says, "It seems like all the planning and preperation paid off. I'm not detecting any movement behind us, and I didn't see any reaction along our flight from the main city. I still feel like something is about to happen though, but I always feel that way after these things. How are you? Thinking the Terragens Council should aim for Humans and Karnors with wings next?"
"I think the Vartans would object," Yue says wryly. "Besides, we've got flight packs available. I can't wait until we get back to Tartarus though, so I can finally take a shower after being cooped up in the shuttle all this time. Even though we'll be in orbit a few more days for surveying. Still.. I'll be back before Riddle.. she's at least two weeks out."
"I think I'll be filing reports and, um, well I think taking it eas- ... No I can't, can I? The cadets are on board, I'm going to have to keep at it and be around, otherwise they're going to think I get special treatment and that I'm either up to something or else I can't hack it. I didn't even ask if they were told about what happened with the Berserkers," Tasha groans, wondering now if pushing for more personnel was a good idea -- for her. She has to be a role model now as well as a pirate-spy-adventurer, or whatever it is she now does. "Maybe I should retire?"
"I doubt they've been told much," Yue notes. "And I imagine you'll be hovering over Hakeber's shoulder while she turns these books into something you can actually read."
"I do take my 'hover over Hakeber' job very seriously. It's one of my many valuable qualities along with genocide, Titanian disguises and stealing Terrans," insists the armored woman who spares a moment to roll her shoulders, starting to finally feel sore from having to wrestle weights around. Her suit provides power and strength, ut it does little to direct that strength leaving her own muscles to initiate everything. "Maybe I should ask for a promotion?"
"You forgot Bunny Wrangling in your skillset," Yue notes. "Bucking for Admiral?" she asks.
"So you noticed the bunny, did you? Or did you steal it from my mind like some kind of brain vampire?" The hybrid woman undoes a hand and then puts her knuckles to Yue's head again. "As for the promotion, don't you need to command more than one ship to be an Admiral? Or did you know that too Brain-" Thump. "-vampire." Thump.
"I still get to watch the security feeds while I'm in the shuttle," Yue claims in her defense. "And you didn't think to bring me a bunny, did you? I'd be just the right size for one, if Liza is a typically sized female."
"You don't want them," Tasha insists as she angles to avoid becoming part of a mountain. "They look cute, right? But they lure you in with that calm cuteness and they end up controlling you and you don't even know it. I played bunny-god for a while, I know." She dips, checks her map, then nods to herself. On track and almost there. "I suppose I could get you some bunny ears. Katherine says they sell them around here, don't ask me why."
"Sounds like a challenge!" Yue claims. "When I take my vacation on Sinai, I will definitely check out the bunny store." As they pass an outcrop of rock, a signal light flashes briefly further ahead: the shuttle.
"It looks like Gabriel made it down safely, too." Seeing the light and hearing herself say that Gabriel's fine comes as a immense relief. If there's anything she fears more than personal danger, it's a threat to Gabriel and by extension her friends and family, including Katie who has become more than either. "And don't think I didn't notice the baiting to get a vacation on Sinai. I'm still watching you, Miss Spy. But otherwise, um," she knocks on Yue's head, " ... thanks a lot for helping."