Tasha doesn't remember making it to the Medical Bay. She only recalls leaving Melchior and then waking up on one of the beds with a life-collar connecting her to it. She's not alone - the next bed over has a sleeping Hakeber, also fitted with a collar and several tubes linking her to her bed.
"Urrrgh," moans Tasha, who reaches for her forehead and rubs her face. This again? Sometimes it feels to her that she's spent much of her career in the MedBay. It takes her a moment longer of discomfort fueled confusion to realize, if time alone is the metric, she she's not wrong. Between her lesser injuries and the major stint in the tank, she's been in the MedBay longer than she has been on active duty. She reconciles the fact with the recollection she's accomplished a great deal between recovery periods; if she hadn't she might start to feel incompetent.
Some god I am.
Rolling over, Tasha calls out, "Hake-bear, are you dead? If you are, can I join you in a moment? I think my head is trying to kill me."
"Hello Tasha," Remiel says, wearing his white doctor coat and sounding too cheerful. He looks at the monitors over Tasha's bed, and says, "Looks like your swelling is starting to come down. Do you remember how many fingers I was holding up the last time you woke up? And I don't think Hakeber can hear you, I've got her under sedation."
"You have fingers?" Tasha asks, turning to follow the voice and squinting through the haze. It's awfully foggy in here, she decides. "Is there a leak? What happened? Do I want to know?"
"Do you know what happens to an engine when it runs out of oil?" Remiel asks.
"It makes funny sounds and smoke comes out?" The young woman envisions herself walking back to the ship, uttering a ear-splitting noise, then falling over with smoke coming out of her ears. It certainly feels like her head broke. She frowns, then asks, "My studs weren't smoking were they?"
"Very nearly," Remiel notes. "They were well above body temperature, and all of the brain tissue around the neurowires is inflamed. You've used up almost all of your acetylcholine, dopamine, glutamate and blood glucose. I don't think there is permanent damage, but I've had to bring your body temperature down to keep your brain cool."
Tasha grunts at the discovery, rubbing her face all over again and this time to hide her embarassment. "I've been called a hothead before. It's nice to know I'm living up to peoples' expectations," she mutters, trying to sound cool about the whole affair. "Will I be ready in time for departure? Can I leave the MedBay?"
"Not until the swelling is down and you're producing your own neurotransmitters again," Remiel notes. "Same for Hakeber.. she wasn't as bad but had severe cerebral exhaustion and what I suspect is microwave induced inflammation."
Tasha scrunches up her face, teeth showing and eyes peeking around her hands. "Poor Hake-bear. Why did I ever talk her in to this? I should have known something would happen. I did know, but I'm supposed to rely on people and-- and ... " She sucks in a deep breath, angling her head back and holding before exhaling and flopping back on the MedBay couch. Her hands fall to the side of the bed, forgotten. "So it used microwaves, then. We didn't detect transmissions, not even from side channel analysis, even of non-associated systems."
"They were probably generated internally," Remiel notes. "We didn't get all of the systems disconnected immediately when the PersoComs were compromised. And you need to understand that limited AI systems like Melchior are not made to handle PersoCom style uploads. They're only meant to access your pattern recognition and intuition to augment themselves."
Tasha watches her doctor for a long moment, judging what to say next, frowning all over again. At length she says, "Times are desperate, Remy. I saw the warnings, but I needed results. Answers. If we can't trust the gods that speak to us, then we needed a new one that we could trust." She rolls her shoulders; what does it matter if she's a little more bruised than before. "I exited well before the terminal limit."
"You understand that the 'terminal limit' means death, right?" Remiel says. "You may look at AIs as gods, but only in the sense that are very simple, exaggerated expressions of specific functions. The God of Harvest, the God of War, the God of Healing.. you wouldn't ask those to perform outside of their definitions. Melchior is a combat Titan. That is his specific purpose, and what he is optimized for. Gods are limited. Pure AIs like that aren't like PersoComs - they can't have a varied set of skills or knowledge."
Tasha lifts a hand, and unsteady, shakey hand and points at Remiel. "That's wheer you're wrong, Remy. Mel isn't a combat Titan. We think he's produced directly from Library records. Ser Heraphel ordered his construction and doesn't know a thing about him. He has systems no one understands, he hosts a dead Khatta, he interfaces with Progenitor artifacts. He--" Her muzzle scrunches up all over again, face frusterated. "It, it. And that's not bad, it. He is fine, but it is correct. He, it, can do more. Even if we're pushing things. Besides, we all have to do more. Wear many hats? Right, Remy?"
"No, I suspect Melchior has a hidden PersoCom override with in him," Remiel says. "You've already found one hidden, that the primary AI is not aware of. When you entered that Forbidden Zone and froze up, Melchior initiated an escape maneuver but you said he seems confused about what exactly happened. And the 'elephant in the room' of course is his self-activation in order to confront Balthasar. Which his AI has no memory of, before you entered the cockpit."
"So I can't trust him, or them, or anything. It's all the same. At least he's worked for me. I don't think I even care anymore, as long as we succeed. Katha-hem can die, I'll reach the Hall. That's how it has to be, because the rest, the rest, won't even matter if we don't. If someone doesn't," Tasha counters. Her pointing hand looses altitude suddenly, jerking, before she pulls it in and rests it across her stomach. She sucks in another breath and squeezes her eyes shut against the pain. "Gods are terrifying Remy. We must be terrifying too."
"Katha-hem isn't a god," Remiel claims, as he checks on Hakeber. "The other reason I suspect another hidden intelligence in Melchior is that damned poem. 'My wings variable' is the phrase. Could be taken to mean 'my variety of wings' or 'variety of operating modes' - a hint that there might be a secondary operating mode.. which we've sort of seen."
Tasha flaps her hands against her chest. Her eyes roll, but she winces for the gesture. "Secrets, secrets, secrets. Vartans eat the dark stars, Mel's got special modes, the Progenitors have their secret powers, star-hem has its. Se-crets!" Another wince. She stills her hands and forces herself back, eyes closing again. "What good are they if we can't use them, anyway? I've been chasing them since I started this, and it's fine if you figure tehm out, if you have time. That's fu-uuun. But do we have time, this, ti-me?"
"On the ground there is a hill," Hakeber mutters, "Also a serpent within a well. His tail is long with wings wide. All ready to flee by every side. Repair the well fast about, That thy serpent pass not out.."
"Hmmm, does she normally talk in her sleep?" Remiel asks Tasha.
"That serpent can-" An interesting assortment of things the serpent can do with itself follow, half-slurred, half-falling to the harsh click-squawkery of Vartan, before Tasha rolls over to face the opposite direction of Hakeber. "So the thing is in its prison and the prison needs to be reinforced. Why doesn't anyone say this c-clearly? Do-es the universe think I li-ke riddles and puzzle and poems and rhymes? I don't. They're, um-- um ... "
"Pretencious! Agh~"
"O-ow. No-no. Nuh-uh."
Turned on her side, Tasha can see the table next to her bed, with her data pad on. The message light is blinking on and off.
And so Tasha reaches for it, uncertain if she's doing it because she wnats what's on it, wants her comfort device, or justbecause the light's blinking is too much to resist. She stretches to reach it, half sliding off her own table, then snatches it and retreats. "Mi-ne!" A half roll and she's working it beneath her wings in her own dark.
The screen lights up with Nora's face. "Tasha!" she barks. "You're alive! But you look like the bad end of a weekend bender. Can you remember things yet? I think I've figured something out!"
Nora is treated to her sister's face scrunching up in ways she's never seen before, and all of it looks ill. The dim lighting only makes her look that much more gastly. "Loud, so l-loud. Shhh, my brain," she insists in heavily accented Standard. She waggles a hand at the screen to emphasize her need for quiet. After squeezing her eyes shut a moment, she then cracks one open a sliver and asks, "What youn found? Should pad, brought things from-- from M-el."
Nora's face is replaced by a map of Abaddon, with the Gateway Tower at the far right edge of the display and Katha-hem's crater at the far left. The Imperial Life Dome, Confederate Life Dome, New Zion, Expedition City, Star City and the Pit of Himar are tagged, along with Tartarus and a few other outposts further east from Expedition City. "I had SAINA bring me some records from the base library," Nora explains. One of those far outposts is highlighted. "700-odd years after Landing, this Expedition outpost was the first one to encounter a daikaiju, some 50 years after it was founded." A little scorpion-shaped icon appears next to it. "That was Whiplash, which pulverized the base. I'm pretty sure it's the same type you fought at the dam, but this first one was smaller. It then moved south to attack the Celestial outpost.." This is highlighted next.
"The snakes were ready though, and drove it off," Nora narrates. "Nothing is seen for another 50 years.. and then Tesla shows up and wipes out the Celestial Outpost. Every giant-monster attack since then has focused on Expedition City... and then recently the Pit."
Ruled lines appear on the map, showing the distances from the crater to those outposts, and then to the Confederate ones and Star City - both of which are closer to the crater. "The Silent-Ones and Confederates have never been attacked, despite being closer," Nora explains.
Tasha eyes the little icon of the scorpion-like monstrocity. Part of her wants to reach out with her thumb and squash it, petty as it might be. "S-so it attacks centrals a-and, rrk-ca-t-wak, co-cooperation points. Dis-ruption. Hrk-wak-ka-kaha." Inside her personal cave, the young woman lays her head down on her arm and flattens her ears. "Take data from outposts, may-be?"
An overlay window shows data from Bellerophon's scans. The deep radar (using neutrinos) and surface mapping lidar (using a laser) don't show any feedback issues. But the radio-based ground-penetrating radar shows a buried signal in the return. "It's radio, I think. That's what Katha-hem sees or uses to communicate or whatever. The Silent-Ones don't use it for communications, and the Confederates uses a tight-beamed, low-power point-to-point system. Also, neither of them uses any unshielded electronic systems. The Confederates use actual neurons in their tech, and the Silent-Ones only use electricity for motors. The Celestials and the Expedition use electricity for almost all of their higher technology, and that produces radio noise. Expedition City broadcasts radio as a navigation beacon and for other uses."
More events are displayed, showing various attacks by the giant monsters, the times between them and the results: in every case, the attacks where turned back once the creatures sustained some damage. They never fought to the point of serious injury.
"I'm pretty sure the goal wasn't to destroy Expedition City," Nora says. "It was to keep them from venturing closer to Katha-hem. There's also an issue with the Whiplash you killed. It was bigger than the one that first appeared, which pulverized the Expedition outpost. It should have torn through the dam in a few minutes, but only scratched through the outer layer and broke open the outflow pipes."
"The current dam is built on top of the original dam that was put up shortly after the Pit appeared," Nora explains. "And that dam was built by Earth Magic."
As she waits for Nora to respond, Tasha remembers something she meant to do. Fiddling with her datapad with fingers too clumsy from pain, she eventually makes to locate the summary she had prepared using Mel's own systems. Her hand hovers over send as Nora begins to speak again. "So he's a big radio ... " A sudden splutter of laughter escapes the hybrid, something she desperately wishes she could have stopped as pain and the pleasure of amusement shoot through her mind in equal measure. After a sputtered cough and a great deal of wincing, she's back in focus in more ways than one, tears in her eyes. "Radio-s-s-star, ha, Nora. Radio-star." She wipes her eyes with her free hand, then hits send before pain or loopiness causes her to lose it. "H-hokay, hokay. Kaa-hak. 'Kay. Right, so, not attacking. Why? Look at data sent-" she points at the screen, " ... we think observer. Like Harmonia. Daltoona Station, look like Harmonia. Source of stator goo. Ogdru-hem, may-be. Second here. Watching, waiting. Scou
ts."
Another point appears on the map: Harmonia's original location, well within the 'range' of the monster attacks. "I think this thing isn't very bright, or at least not very creative or quick," Nora says. "It took 50 years for it to make a giant monster. It may not be able to do much beyond its observer purpose, except defend itself. Which implies that it needs to defend itself, because it's vulnerable. I need you to do something, Tasha, when you're feeling up to it.."
Tasha nods, or rather bobs, her head. "Can-do-sis-ter." She even salutes, albiet just as wobbily as her nod. "May-be Sifra ... Oh. Oh!" She waggles a hand at the screen again. "Quantums. Uh, quan-tum-ka-riiick-tal-ala-ka-rrk-ka-na!" More waggiling. "Ba-se level in'erference. Dis-ruption. Kee-hak. Same thing, breaks technology. Can't th-ink." The hybrid squints, then scrunches her face in a comical level of concentration and focus. "Quantums disrup-tion of higher thought pro-cess. Can't think better. May-be?" She leans back, dropping her head on her hands, exhausted. "May-be." Another salute. "What doing? Kaa?"
"You really sound out of it, Tash," Nora says, sounding worried. "Your PersoCom told me you came to Abaddon in the company of mages, and that you personally knew an Earth Mage.. one of the bunnies. I need you to talk to her and find out what Earth Magic can do with gravity. Also, while you're there.. Back on Terra at this one spacer bar, I heard a story from this guy who claimed to have been through a Titanian raid on his ship. He said the first sign of attack was when all the stators died. Not just turned off.. they became inert. So.. maybe ask your Titanian pals if there's any truth behind that?"
"Naw, don't neeeeed," Tasha insists, rolling her head back and forth. It's really very comfortable under her wing, in the dark. Nesting, someone called it some place, some time. She yawns cavernously before going on. "Read data sent. Uhm. Kark-na. Yes, stators. True, th-ink s-so. Can t-track me, Source-part. Re-so-nice. Uhm, nince. Nince. Can track stat-or. Same way. Pro'ly. Both can do-it. Re-so-nince. With hammer, take ship-p. With ha-m-mer, fi-nd me. F-- find stat- ... stator." She shakes her head out, lifting it and blinking groggily.
"They've got the quantum resonance signature for stator matter?" Nora asks, to be sure. "And.. hammers? What do hammers have to do with it? Maybe.. uh, when you're more rested. I'll see if I can dig up anything else in the base records about radio and microwave events not related to the Phantom."
"Ham-mer," Tasha murmurs, head down and looking like it's not coming up again, at least not for hours. "Iso-dope? Ha. Tope. Material ... one two n-ka, a-ka, ni-ka. Uhmmm." Her hand waves feebily at the screen, as if she might communicate by ad-hoc gesturing alone, too tired to continue talking.
The end of the conversation is confirmed suddenly by the camera view on Nora's end pitching upward and settling with a view of Tasha's wings, the light sparse through the feathers like scattered stars against a dark sky.
The next Tasha wakes up, she feels much better, and not like she was fatally hung-over. Hakeber is also awake, but still looking a little strung out. "I feel older," the Scholar says.
Tasha's head, peaking out from beneath her wings such that only her nose and the tip of her muzzle are really visible, replies, "I forgot to warn you about that part. Sorry, Hake-bear." Her tail swishes, a shh-shh against the side of the bed. "Want to beat me up?"
"Huh?" Hakeber replies. "Why would I want to beat anyone up? I want ice-cream. And oysters. You can't get them on Abaddon though. Abu-Dhabi sure had good food.."
Remiel pops up again, and notes, "I don't think you've suffered any brain damage.. either of you. You were a bit over-stimulated due to some microwaves, Hakeber. The shielding in Fred's quarters was never finished, apparently."
"Good thing I eat lots of pizza," Hakeber says.. for whatever reason.
"When I make mistakes, I think about getting beat up. I'm really very straightforward Hake-bear." Tasha reaches up, touching her neck for the sign of the collar. "My head feels baked, but it was a good beat-up. I beat myself up with research. Mom would be proud." More wagging. "Was Nora here? I think she wanted my hammer."
The collar is gone, although Hakeber still has hers on. "You have a hammer?" Hakeber asks in confusion.
"Nora hasn't been here," Remiel says.
"Nu-uh. Woudn't give me one, in the soul eater room. Should have talked more ... uhm ... Better." The hybrid begins to move, edging towards the edge of the bed. When her knee finds her datapad, she picks it up and puts it in her mouth as she begins to slide, or more accurately pour, herself off the bed like so much boneless mass. "Got to get ready," she insists.
"Get ready to take a shower and eat a proper meal?" Remiel asks.
Rrr-dy," Tasha replies noncommitally around her datapad. She hits the floor and sinks to her knees, only to rise up a second later and wobble to her feet. Rather than head for the exit she walks over to Hakeber and leans over, almost bonking her on the head with her datapad before she remembers to take it out. The Scholar gets a kiss on her forehead. "Don't die," she murmurs affectionally. "Read book, need translation. Don't die. Or go crazy. I be mad." And then a hug follows.
"I found the rest of your poem," the scholar notes, after wobbling a bit from the kiss and hug.
"Is it about snakes?" The half-Vartan steps back and cocks her head to the side. "Is it pretencious?"
"It's a rambling, confusing mess," Hakeber claims. "It wasn't part of Eve's journal.. I think. Seemed tacked on. Something called 'The Ripley Scroll' from ancient Terra. You've got excerpts from it for the Magi, but there's a lot more that might relate to who knows what.."
Tasha steps back to lean her butt against her previous sleeping spot, activating her datapad for recording and then hugging it to her chest. Her ears perk forward, attentive. "I love mysterious poems. Tell me, tell me, Hake-bear, before I go, to do my hair."
"There's a bunch of stuff about marriage and stones and water and blood.." Hakeber says, as she fumbles around for her own notebook - but Yue probably has all of them.
"That explains everything," Tasha remarks, managing to keep her expression perfectly straight. "I marry the snake in blood and water and then the wings show up and the hall of souls dances beyond the gate. Everything's fine, it's all obvious really."
"It is?" Hakeber asks, wide eyed.
"Sure it is, Hake-bear." Tasha spreads her arms. "Do you still want you notes or do we need the the stars to be in the right place and the dark things to exit the sea? Or was it air." She cocks her head to the side. "I think it was air."
"I.. just want ice-cream," Hakeber admits. "Not even any beer. It's all probably back in the room, scattered around.."
Tasha nods her head, tapping record off again. She tucks her datapad in to ... She realizes she isn't wearing much except her undersuit, so runs a finger along her thigh and tucks it in there. "Remy will get you ice cream. I have to get ready for a flight out to the Pit and report in that I'm not dead or a zombie. Unless I need to be sedated." She turns to eye Remiel. "Do I? Please?"
"I'll give you something to take so you'll sleep when you're ready," Remiel says, and goes to the pharmacon and has it dispense some pills into a plastic bottle, and also a tall cup full of liquid, into which he puts a straw. "Drink this now, too," he says. "It's sweet."
"I like sweet." Tasha sips the drink and bats her eyelashes at Remiel, stuffing the bottle next to her datapad. She licks her lips after having a taste, then thumbs towards the door. "I'm going to go back to pretending I know what I'm doing and am not completely lost, now. Hokay?" She blinks once. "Hokay." And then she's drifting off, back to shower and more work.
After drinking the fruity concoction and washing up, Tasha feels more clear-headed. Gabriel is still asleep (and there's a glass and empty pill bottle next to his bed, so it may be a prescribed sleep). It's probably a safe assumption that Nora is still in her own quarters, and Yue is in Fred's with Hakeber's rambling notes.
Tasha stands besides Gabriel's sleeping form and frowns. She hasn't been able to do a thing for him lately and their last time togetehr ended in panicked rambling about wreckless and deadly answers to even scarier questions. It all makes her feel ashamed, both of herself and her limitations and of how the stress has pushed her beyond being able to provide much as a mate. She's been too deep in the fear, the terror, the overwhelming threat to see much beyond it and certainly to feel more than nervous. Romance has vanished; he gaze has become a tunnel.
Shaking her head she rummages through his things to find a sheet of actual paper, then writes on it using a nearby pencil. "I love you. I'm sorry about how I've been acting. When this is all over, lets go on vacation." She thinks of adding a part about not meaning what she said back near Gateway, but she isn't sure she didn't, and so ends with, "Be back soon I hope." The paper is trimmed and folded in to a little stand up heart and placed on Gabriel's nightstand, then she's off to find Yue and Nora.
"Nora, want to join me in Fred's quarters?" The hyrbid sends over the ship's systems.
A moment later Nora joins Tasha outside Fred's door. Nora is also carrying her datapad, clutching it like a talisman.
"Is there a special knock or anything?" Nora whispers to Tasha.
Good old datapads. At least they weren't attacked. I need my brain. "Nothing special, but I have my pistol with me." Tasha hits the button and announces, "It's me and Nora, coming in." And then she heads inside.
The lights are one this time, instead of the candles, which makes it all seem less eerie. The papers have been collected up and placed in several stacks on the desk, where Yue sits. She's still got a pile of them in her lap. "Did you bring a sandwich?" the human asks.
"I'm not your neo-Karnor pet," Tasha jibes back, then she waggles her datapad at Nora behind her. "That's Nora, probably! I'm advanced." She sticks her tongue out and walks over to drop down beside Yue, jostling her like a small tidal wave on the ocean that is the bed. "So, find anything? Please say it's more riddles and jibberish."
"It's more riddles and gibberish," Yue confirms. "And it's incomplete. There's a lot of stuff Hakeber wrote down verbatim just to organize her thoughts I think, or so she could tackle them later."
"Well we definitely need all of this translated, but poor Hake-bear might not survive it all. I'm not sure what to do." Tasha dropsback on the bed, arms and datapad under head head as she stares up at the ceiling. "At least Mel and I were able to make some progress, back before my mind melted. We think think there's a connection between the Ogdru-hem and Khattan stator technology, for one, and his recods show Daltoona Station is of the same design as Harmonia. Combining that with other information suggests that could be their primary production facility for Ogdru-hem-based blood stators." Her shoulders roll. "Not so useful right now though. What else? He thinks the power play against the Silent-Ones may have been entirely to possess the Seraph, so it couldn't be used against the Ogdru-hem. That's something we can use. We could try and make another one, we know who made the first and they're still mostly around."
"Weren't they glad to be rid of it though?" Nora asks. "I doubt making another one would be viable. Frankly, 'going big' and gathering more power probably isn't the way to do this. Anything we used would have to be more dangerous than the target itself."
"We have the Markers though, we can shield it from outside influence. If we used Mel and I, we could maybe do it." Another roll of Tasha's shoulders. "I did okay with the first one, after all. I haven't blown up a city or become a queen. Of course," and here she glances back at Nora, "we could just ignore it. Aim for the Hall. We can shield ourselves too and leave. Or we can just send me alone, use Harmonia or the Bellerophon and a catapult. Build some rockets."
"Wait.." Yue says, and shuffles through one of the piles. "Ogdru-hem," she reads. "The Red Lune. The Spirit of Water. Red Sol. The Red Sea." Then she looks to the others, "Does that mean anything to either of you?"
"It sounds like alchemical code," Tasha observes, surprising herself with the realization. "I've heard it before in the Titan mission poems. The red sun. Red is ... The reddening. Um, rubido? It's something to do about an actual or metaphysical refinement process. An old code to hide science, the Khattans reused it."
"Melchior doesn't have a Mind-of-Light," Nora points out. "That's the only technology that's been shown to work with Sifran crystal. Which we also don't have, other than the Magic Lantern."
Tasha nods to Nora, waggling a foot at her. "We'd ask for help of course. It's in our charter to deal with these things and this is a big one. Besides they owe us for the Reaper, it'd be rude and probably dishonorable to balk at helping us fight after we helped them so many times. Especially because I'd say so. A lot."
Yue actually gets the book, and flips through it. "Here it is, in Anglic, near the end: On the ground there is a hill.." She holds the book out to the others. "It doesn't make any sense to me."
" ... a hill with a snake, and the hill is falling apart, repair the hill so the snake can't escape? That sort of thing?" The waggling foot gets waggled towards the exit. "hake-bear mumbled it in her sleep. It sounds like a prison, but I don't know why a Ogdru-hem would be a snake. The imagery of them I've seen is mostly random eye and teeth and things. They sound like static, and move like bugs. Their doorstep version is even weirder."
"It's all symbolic stuff.. a serpent with wings is a dragon, right?" Yue says, handing over the book.
(Insert text from http://www.levity.comalchemyrscroll.html )
"Well, of course." Tasha accepts the book and sits up, looking it all over. Her brows immediately arch. "Well this is fancy. Is that a bird with a human head? I hope that's not supposed to be me. I look terrible in a crown. I've been told that." Her head shakes as she reads more. "Well, it all looks like the same thing as the Magi mission poems. Here." The young woman accesses her pad quickly, then hands it to Yue in return. The screen shows the poem, all three sections and the finale. Upon looking back to her own confusiing work, she comments, "It sounds to me like, "If the serpent escapes the stone loses power. You need to figure out what the dragon and the well are. Gravity can be wells, right? What do we know that can contain a dragon, if it's an Ogdru-hem? Sifran prisons, the prisons of the Ogdoad, Titanians can do it ... The gaps in air and land ... and ... " Her face scrunches, but then she snaps her taloned hand. "The crystal stack!"
"Gravity wells," Nora nods. "Planets are gravity wells. But.. Katha-hem is surrounded by planetary crystal structures, so maybe that is the well.. And this stuff about Phoebus sounds like Silent-Ones technology.. but some of this could be referring to our crystal stack too. Elixir Vitae - elixir of life. White stone is the Marker? What's the red stone then?"
"Or it's all unrelated and the Khattans just used the bits they wanted," Yue suggests.
"Except it's in the Kamp's bible.." Nora points out.
"We've thought the crystal stack might contain a Harroweror other form of Ogdru-hem. We saw something like that with one of the pieces, it all resonates horribly when placed in water, just like the poem suggests. It was, um, a little starfish-thing. It was like the clone from my clone." Tasha scratches her nose a moment, then continues with a reply to Nora, saying, "Phoebus could be Adam. Hake said she 'found the rest of my poem,' and this part," she stabs at the new one above the Magi poem lines, "is new. Father of life, maintainer, that could be the Star or Adam, who leads the Progenitors, who raised life. I think Eve is or was his wife. He has many names, because many cultures gave them to him. They all do. So do we, come to think of it. Uhm. It sounds like we should use the Markers somehow, with light. That it makes a philospher stone." Another nose scratch. "Red is blood, I think. White is bone, red is blood. So a red stone might be a living person, or just blood."
"The Ogdru-hem's blood is exotic matter," Nora says, rubbing her chin. "We don't know what it looks like, if it's even visible. Maybe it's the red stone? It might be some phase of dark matter that can be manipulated by material forces."
"Those Markers aren't made of matter," Yue points out. "As far as we can tell, neither are the Sifran crystals."
"Hell, I'm not made of matter," Nora says. "It doesn't matter in practice. I can do stuff like I was made of physical material. The universe doesn't seem to care what stuff is made out of, just how it interacts."
"It might, but it also talks about the Bird of Hermes -- who is me apparently -- and the variable wings, who is Mel. Maybe that's what it's suggesting? Mel has hidden systems, if we take the Origin Markers, add a light based computer interface, "That is so bright," link it to Mel and provide the, "red and the white," blood and bones, a pilot, then something will happen? Why make Titans? There's nothing to duel out here, except each other. I've long thought they were made for more and from what I've discussed with others, Mel seesm to be a 'bridge to the divine,' and way for one of us to understand higher beings. There is a system inside that can house a conciousness. What if Adam has been trying to help us all along, and we just can't hear it? That he's too injured to do more? If Yue and I are right, the Markers might be Adam, or parts of Him, they're made of the same 'immortal stone' Progenitors are supposedly made of. Extra-universal materials, stone like," Tasha suggests, sitting up and gest
uring a bit widlly as she does. "Maybe this is a blueprint."
"Assembly instructions?" Yue asks. "Would a Mage be able to decipher it?"
"I bet the Twelve-Times-Twelve could," the hybrid replies, waggling her hands at Yue in her excitement, "They built the Seraph, they already know how to work with a Magi Titan and might have been using these instructions in the first place. They'd have access to the poem in they had a pilot with the original link. Queen Jade-Eyes would probably help us, especially if she knew the danger and that it might explain the attack on the Star Empire."
"Wasn't the Seraph modified over generations though?" Nora asks.
The youngest shakes her head. "No, I don't think so. But even if it /was/ they only had Sinai-level technologies. /We/ have everything from Sinai to Abaddon to /all of Galactic/ technology. I can even dredge up /Old One and First one technology if we need it." Her hands wave further, almost like wing beats. "The mythologies of the Progenitors mention two specific types: The stone-like Proegnitors, the /Wayfarers/, and the /Archons/: Suits of armor. What is Mel, except a big suit of armor? Where di they learn the design from? The Library. Where did the Library come from? Past sentinets. What were the past sentients? /Old and First Ones/. When were the Progenitors around? /The same time as they were/."
"The Wayfarers and the Waybuilders," Yue notes, and digs through papers again. "The Ogdoad and the Waybuilders aren't friends.. the Waybuilders kill the Ogdoad or punish them somehow when they invade a universe. Which.. means the Ogdoad may already be gone, if they were trapped here for a billion years. Their enemy could have found them already."
"What I can't figure out from this is the bit losing the virtue of the stone if the 'serpent' escapes or.. 'be there a gone' whatever the hell that means," Nora points out. "Does that mean we are expected to deal with Katha-hem in order for Tasha to meet Adam?"
"The only way to know would be to go to their prison and look. I think I've seen it, and in seeing it I think it may still be active -- or at least the Source thinks it is. It's a barren world in the galactic core, covered in monoliths. Erebus, that's what it's called. I saw it when I slept in the Source's prison. I thought they were my dreams, but they're its. Aelfin, eyes full of danger. Why would I fear an Aelfin? I wouldn't, they would," explains the hybrid. She then turns to Nora and leans foeard using her once-waving arms to brace herself over the book. "Wel, if it escapes it'd warn the others about me, wouldn't it? About us? It already tried to kill us. If we die -- maybe just if I die? -- then the stone no longer has someone approved to deliver it. The Progenitors won't let just anyone approach, after all. The stone becomes powerless because Mel and I are dead."
"It may not have been trying to kill us," Nora admits. "The PersoComs deleted the scan data first. Why bother if they're going to kill us? Because first and foremost Katha-hem wants to remain hidden. So the primary order was to hide its presence, then cause as much damage as it could."
"And drive anyone else mad?" Yue asks. "Hakeber was the only one affected like that. I was shielded in the shuttle, the others were in the artifact bay."
"Make us afraid," Nora suggests. "Hakeber was terrified and terrifying. It's like the giant monster attacks - more to keep anyone from looking closer than to destroy things."
Tasha leans back and nods to this. "Well, if the stone is the planet, if Katha-hem leaves maybe the planet loses power? We know the Sifra can trap them, that they draw upon power from higher dimensionalities. With so much of the Sifra infrastructure destroyed, maybe they're using whatthey can like backup batteries?" She glances at Yue. "And I was far away. So, hide itself and destroy those who found it."
"The Sifras beat the Ogdoad, so it's a fair bet the Ogdru-hem can't use or resist Sifran technology," Yue says, shuffling papers. "The Ogdru-hem predate the Sifras, I think. Because the Ogdoad was expecting a different enemy. Now I wonder if the Sifras imprisoned them as a sacrifice to that enemy, just so it wouldn't look to closely at them."
"Or they just couldn't destroy or banish them themselves," Nora suggests. "Maybe they needed them for some future use."
"And when it tried to take Harmonia and I over, it wanted us to eliminate the cities. It wanted me to kill the Progenitors. It might only go beyond the basics of 'hide and cover up' if it detects a chance to do more. Otherwise it just sits there and carries out its usual defense and observation tasks, like a-- A satelite or something." Tasha turns to Yue again and tilts her head. "You think so? We know nothing about the Waybuilders other than they don't like the Ogdru-hem and were the Progenitor's gods. And maybe also the ones who exiled the Progenitors. Now that I think about it, we barely know anything about the Ogdoad either. The Source said they're harmless, but also confirmed they eat souls."
At Nora's last, tasha nods to her. "They did experiments on the Source. It told me directly," she confirms.
"Harmless now that they're imprisoned," Nora guesses. "So.. what we do know for certain about Katha-hem is that it avoids direct confrontation. It uses others to try and reach its goals, either by making monsters or convincing others. But it can't talk to just anybody. It needs something that can utilize radio. Those giant horror-monsters from the Forbidden Zone used radio. It would be a good idea to revisit that area and see what the little ones are doing without the big one to control them."
"Oh.. and the monsters can't affect things created with Earth Magic, I think," Nora adds. "Maybe any magic. That's Sifran technology, after all."
"It would be handy to know what those monsters are made of," Yue says.
"Then the Bellerophon should launch when it's ready and investigate them. I'll take Remy back home with me along with the samples and copies of these poems. I should probably take the Markers too, unless you wnat one here to shield the central computer systems. Remy and I will work with Vasterlion, the Mages, even Queen Jade-Eyes and see what we can figure out. Hake-bear will keep working on this translation. Yue, you should try and keep her from falling apart. Don't let her destroy herself." Tasha scratches her nose again, sitting back and looking down at the book in her hands.
"Vasterlion," Nora mutters. "He's got a bioroid Titan right?"
"Probably several. He makes-" Tasha's brows arch. "He makes them. I'm sure he'd help us, if we ask. He already is. We've probably helped his business in countless way by letting him look at these things. Between him, the Mages, the Twelve and maybe the Silent-One facilities we'd have a lot to work with."
"What do bioroids have to do with this?" Yue asks.
"From the records I've looked at, Katha-hem only seems to be able to detect technology that uses electric circuitry and radio emissions," Nora explains. "So if I'm right, Confederate bio-tech is invisible to the beast."
"And Silent-Ones tech is also probably hard for it to detect," she adds.
"Bioroids use a different from of communication and aren't as easy to attack or detect. If this is a blueprint, then maybe we'll need that. If not, bioroids would still be useful in other ways." Tasha taps the book's surface with a nail. "They'd make good scouts or soldier, like Nora says. Katha-hem would have to rely on other methods to deal with them, if it could detect them."
"Decoys," Yue says. "If you're right, you can drop radio beacons to distract this thing away from where you want to approach it."
"We can still use the cannons to collapse the canals leading from it.. or feeding it," Nora says, tail wagging. "Repair the well fast about."
"If we want to be complicated we could even fake some minds and AI to go along with it. Make him- it think we just blew each other up. If it thinks we've been beaten, maybe it will relax." Tasha rolls her shoulders in another shrug. "Maybe it already thinks we're gone, but I wouldn't bet on it. Also, maybe we should run experiments with the Markers and some Sifran crystals to see if they react to anythng said in these poems. It may be advice to help us."
Tasha nods vehemently to Nora's suggestion. "That's good, it can't shield them that far out, can it? I wonder what it's feeding on, anyway? Does it need to eat like we do? Is it leeching off the crystals?"
"We can't plug them into MOTHER, they don't seem to use light," Nora notes. "But if you're right about the Stardrop manipulator, contact with a Marker could.. I don't know. It might affect us ghosts."
"You never did any experiments with the Markers and the toporgic from the aliens, did you?" Nora asks as well.
Tasha's brows arch, but then a grin begins to form. "Clean you of sin. I don't know, that might break the Marker, cleaning Nora of sin," she asides to Yue, leaning her head closer to her in an exagerated tilt.
"Eh, let's try it with the toporgic first," Nora says with a grin. "Also.. you should see if magic has an effect on that stuff."
The lean pauses, but Tasha frees a hand from her book to point Yue to her head while she says, "We've done very little experiments other than the usual spectrographics and such. That's really your department, or rather, Eli's. We were too afraid to risk them or whatthey might do anyway, except now that risk doesn't seem like much, does it?"
"Magic may be the key here," Yue says. "We know it works on this world. Nora's got evidence that Katha-hem doesn't want to come into contact with it, even by proxy."
The lean persists. There's more pointing. "Then we'll just try them all. I guess that will be up to me and my team of, hrm, Remy and whoever else decides to join us. Vasterlion at least, we'll need their facilities."
"See if you can get some of the monster flesh to take to the Mages too," Nora suggests. "See how it really reacts to magic."
"Go to Mage Alivestorus," Yue says. "He's a raccoon-man, works with Chaos Magic. If anyone can make sense of that poem, it'll be him.. if you can get him to make sense at all."
"Dimensional rocks, monster chunks, Origin rocks, Remiel, peoms, Sifran rocks -- do we have a spare stator core? -- magic, is there anything else? I'd like to have room for at least one change of clothing. Whatever you might think, I am tired of wearing my armor. I have bruises," asks Tasha. She then peers up at Yue, who is distinctly not petting her head right now. An internal note is made as Tasha sits back up. "I see you were busy asking around when I was napping. I'll ask Mage Scary Deer, she can make anyone make sense whether they want to or not."
"Deer shouldn't be so frightening," Yue says. "Are you going to tell any of this to Riddle?"
"Oh sure, why not? She did risk her life to help us. I'm surrounded by Human-based craziness anyway, why not more Human spies," the hybrid replies, waggling her hands at both Nora and Yue. "Besides this is her world, too."
"Don't forget to pick up your bunny," Nora reminds. "I haven't seen her since she helped you stagger into Med Bay though. She might have been with Gabriel.. or else back outside the ship."
Tasha's ears go askew. "With the way she can sneak around, maybe we should just send Liza to deal with Katha-hem. "Here's your bomb," she'd say in that soft voice, then one that's always telling me I need take better care of myself. Have you heard her sigh? How can such a sweet sigh be so scary?" She shakes her head in wondr at it all. "I'm glad she's well, though. I, uhm, forgot to check actually."
And so Tasha's ears go down further. "That's another thing, I barely seem to have time for anyone anymore."
"She was in quarantine with the recruit candidates," Nora says. "Kept them sane, probably. I assume that's what she does for you, Tash. Should have had her in here with Hakeber probably."
"I can keep the Scholar.. relaxed," Yue promises.
"I'll assign her to keeping everyone here sane while I'm gone then. She can deliver food and cheer people up. Hake-b-" Tasha cuts off in mid-sentence to stare at Yue, then lean in and peer at her, eyes squinting, about a foot from her face. "What are you up to, Miss Spy?"
"I can tell when a person is stressed," Yue points out. "That's what my psychic abilities are best at, after all. And Hakeber was practically sweating cortisol when we found her."
"I must make your brain buzz all the time then." The young woman leans back, but keeps squinting for some reason. "Well, you take care of Hake-bear then. I'll have Liza stop by regularly to provide food." She leans over and snatches her datapad back, then checks it. "Not much time left, so I need to get dressed for my flight out and see about packaging all the samples and other supplies with Fred. Check on Mel's diagnostic too."
"Don't forget Remiel," Nora points out. "You'll do better talking to Mages with his girlfriend at your side."
"Remy needs to finish up with Hake-bear. I'm sure he'll be down and ready before we leave." Tasha sands up, still carrying the book, which she tucks in to the pockets of her Liza-designed coat. "I'm sure Fudgy will be of great help too. Well," she takes a moment to look around, really look around, and then returns her gaze to the two other women, "I guess I'm leaving again. It was nice to be back for," she checks the time again, " ... less than a day. Don't get any more viruses without me, hokay?"
"Sure you need to take the book with you?" Yue notes. "Will be difficult to translate if it isn't here. And being caught with it would be.. problematic. I can transcribe the poem for you."
Tasha pulls out the book again, then shrugs and tosses it back. "I don't really need it, I think I'm just used to pocketing interesting things by now. Please transcribe it and have it ready by the time I depart, Yue." The young woman then steps back and leans over to kiss Nora on her forehead, giving her a very tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay too," she murmurs.
"I'm indestructible you know," Nora claims during the hug.
"I can believe it," Tasha agrees, hugging once more and then stepping away. "Maybe there's room for a Captain Nora Argentine on the Dark Horse, some day!" Her voice drops in to a poor impersonation of an actor from one of the radio dramas. "If you play your cards right, sister." She then tucks her coat close about herself, flipping the collar up, and walks out.
There's a bunny waiting in the hallway just outside the door. She has her arms crossed, her posture is very upright, including her ears, and her nose is not twitching.
The hybrid woman is immediately glad she has huddled in to her coat and, quite so, hunches a little more in to it. "Oh. Liza. You're-- you're very-- very here." She glances down the hall. No easy escape. Why is she trying to escape her personal assistant slash maid? She looks back to the smaller woman. "I was just ... " She can't quite bring herself to say "going."
"Just about to prepare for dinner?" Liza asks. "The doctor said that you need to eat a big meal with plenty of meat and vegetables."
" ... just about to prepare for dinner with lots of meat and vegetables," Tasha finishes. When did her ears go flat? She tries to get them to go back up; it's unseemly. At least she manages to straighten her coat and not because she feared Liza noticing she had been using it to look like a cheap spy from a cheaper radio production.
The doe smiles at the reply. "Miss Hakeber will be joining us. I will cook. There are certain additives the doctor wishes me to include," Liza says, and gestures towards the galley. "After you, ma'am."
It's the second time Tasha has felt like a prisoner on her own home. "Thank you, Liza," she says in what she hopes at least makes her sound like she has some hold on this master-servant relationship of her's. Then why, she wonders as she walks -- is escorted -- does it feel like she has no control at all?
"It's all for your own health," Liza assures. "You need to spend conjugal time with Captain Akkers when he wakes as well. There are some things I cannot do for you in your absence, after all."
"Well-- well good," Tasha insists. She can still take care of some things, after all. It makes her feel more in control. Then she wonders if that, too, is a trick and and this is how Katherine feels all the time. Being wealthy is complicated, the young woman decides as she makes her way toward the mess hall, once again guided by a mysterious force that seem to be everywhere at once.