The titan bay on the Dainty Mauler is cramped. Aside from Melchior and Blammo's rebuilt titan, the space is cluttered with bits and pieces of other Titan type machines, usually hung on the walls are piled up in the corners. There aren't any powered gantries or cranes, just complicated arrangements of chains and pullies for moving things around. Lighting is also placed haphazardly about, resulting in lots of shadows.
Half in and half out of one of those shadows stands Bumper, pipe in hand, as she waits for Tasha to leave Melchior.
This hangar is a lot more disturbing when I'm piloting. If I didn't know better, I'd think it disturbed you too, Tasha thinks to her machine as she takes in the bay. She didn't notice it before, when she was on foot, but while connected to her Titan the scene has a distinctly macbre feel; she has become so intertwined with her machine that while piloting it the pieces strewn about feel less like spares and more like dismembered limbs -- that they could be her limbs. She has been the Melchior, in a very real sense, and so it would not be untruthful.
The machine's head swivels, then fixes on Bumper. The pipe is noted and it piques her anxiety. "Be down in a minute," Tasha informs the momentarily smaller woman, the truth but also a delay tactic as she executes a scan of the room. Of the shadows. She knows if the Titanians really wanted to bring her down, she'd stand little chance, especially not on their home turf. But she came to lay out her cards and call, to see what their ultimate position on her is and force a confrontation early if necessary. Better now, than later. Better when she's prepared to deal than too distracted or too built up on emotions.
The shadows are just shadows, with nobody lurking about in them - just more junk. Bumper appears to be the only person in the chamber, and if Titanians are at all consistent there wouldn't be any automated systems in here. Unsurprisingly, there are materials in here that Melchior can't identify, and no way to scan beyond the walls themselves.
Tasha decides it'll have to to. What's more, she didn't really expect the Titanians would jump her like a group of back alley thugs. While the rest of the universe may think of Titanians as simple but technologically adept barbarians, Tasha knows better. If they wanted to grab her, they have better ways and she suspects she'd never see it coming.
And so she exists the cockpit.
After clip-clopping to the deck, she straightens and rubs her back. "I've been sitting a lot lately," she complains to the bigger Titanian woman. "Hi, Bumper."
"Rustpuppy," Bumper replies with a half-nod. "Come to join up for good this time?"
Tasha cocks her head to the side, pausing in her stretching to peer at the woman out of the corner of her eye, birdlike. "Join up permanently?" She asks, ears perking up a split second later.
"You bring fancy Titan, no disguise this time," Bumper points out. "We just got back. No going out for awhile yet. Your wolf already leave ship. Why else you be here?"
"Oh. Huh, I didn't know I could join up." It had never occured to the young woman, though she supposes had things been different she night well had. Or may yet do so, though it seems unlikely. She quite almost did back on Sheol, when her relationship with the Karnor Elite was still uncertain. She relaxes from the stretch and then gestures back towards the Melchior. "Mel's here because I couldn't get out to pick up Eli any easier way." And because I'd rather have backup, even if just moral support. "But anyway, I came to talk to you too. Maybe you and the Captain? About where we stand, and other problems."
Bumper looks down at the floor, then back to Tasha. "What wrong with where we standing? Floor is strong," she notes.
"Uh, figure of spee-- It's a Terran thing. Don't worry about it, it happens to me all the time too." She then takes a moment to look at the floor too, not really seeing it but taking the time to gather her thoughts before looking up again. "Bumper, why'd you give me the ship? Let me walk off with the Niss, send me off to kill old Yama? And what about having the ship, isn't the Mauler in real trouble with the Titanian fleets if they know what happened? That you've been helping someone like me?"
The glowing pipe shifts over to the opposite side of Bumper's mouth. "Lots questions," she says. "Ship was shiny, but useless. Didn't think you make it work. Niss only talk to you anyway. No idea if that real or you hearing voices. Not an artifact if it alive though, not our problem. Needed to know what plant-god really is - alive, machine, thingy. Alive.. so, not our problem. Titanians all got their own things goin' on. Each ship a nation, see? Get together to defend stuff no want others to have. Take away stuff they got that shouldn't. Other than that, do what we want."
Tasha scratches ehr head. It's all very straightforward; so straightforward is messes with her brain. She'd been staring at conflicts, million-years-deep mysteries, politics and the cunning of Terragens so much so lately she'd forgotten how direct the Titanians could be. She even had plans in mind, should things go badly. The lack of apparent complexity and difficulty momentarily combine to stun her. "Huhnnnn," she grunts, then her head shakes. "So that's it, easy right? Well, one less problem then? Uh, where was I ... Oh. Still have other problems. You said you fought the dark things before?"
"Since Vartans go off on own, yeah, when we can," Bumper claims. "Best when it just something to clean up, old summoned things. Harrowers, lloigor. Old servants, follow certain rules."
Tasha pauses at that, then asks, "You say harrower and lloigor like they're two different things. They're not two different names for the same thing, then?" Clarity is something she can ill-afford to ignore.
"Different things," Bumper says. "Harrowers formless, no really exist in our dimension. But they servants. Lloigor also servants, but mostly physical, mostly real when need to be. Serve bigger things."
"The Ogdoad." Tasha nods, she knows that part at least. And she knows something else. "And the laws, I know about them. Not the details, but I know they exist. Summoning rules, rules they make deals by. Something about 'mental flensing' and souls, though maybe those are the same thing? Collect it all, for their masters, if I remember right. Save their masters from their prison, Erebus. " She squints. There's one more part, though she isn't certain she ever knew it. A place. Was it her dream, or ..? "In the core, I think? But maybe not this one? Barren world, with monoliths?"
"Oh, yeah, Erebus," Bumper nods. "Old-ma maybe seen it. Dead world, orbits galactic core black hole. Maybe in ergosphere, not sure." She removes her pipe and taps out some of the ashes, looking thoughtful. "How it go? Ogdoad create Ogdru-hem, so they always have foothold in a reality. Ogdru-hem make lloigor to serve them. Ogdoad make Outsiders, Outsiders make Star Seeds. Seraphim chosen from first races to prepare the way for harvest. Ogdoad not stick around.. dangerous. They want to wait until everything is ready. Longer they stay in real world, faster they are found by the hunters."
Tasha's face wrinkles up. More pieces fall in to place, but none of it is good news. "And Waymakers, and the Wayfollowers. Energy beings, from another reality. They've been fighting for ... " Tasha blinks, then shrugs; a nervous laugh. "Well, time doesn't really mean anything at that point, does it? Just local time, little battles. Islands of light, that sort of thing." Her head shakes again. "Uh, Seraphim rebel. Kill the other sentients, for resources and maybe to prevent the harvest? Or bribe the Ogdoad. Wayfollowers interfere, crippling the Seraphim, life comes back. Harvest is coming now. Wayfollowers can't stop it, maybe Adam can but Adam is crippled without His Archons rejoining Him. New species get help from Archons, but not all; those species working out their own strategies. Do I have it right?"
"Not sure," Bumper says. "Xylphrim trap Ogdoad in Erebus. Hope they get eaten by Wayfarer gods, mebbe. Change when they become Sifras. Only care about themselves. Don't want souls. That just put them on the menu for the Waybuilders and their god."
Tasha's ears slowly flatten to her head. "There's another god above the Waybuilders? And they want souls, too?"
"No, they just destroy anything that eat souls," Bumper says, and rubs her ear. "I think. But.. lots of universes. Can't check every one, so sometimes the Ogdoad get their harvest before moving on. Otherwise they stop trying, if they always get stomped for it."
The young woman nods slowly, ears still flat. "So what is a soul, Bumper? Why do the Ogdoad want them, why can they be used to summon their servants? Who has them, and what do they do?"
"Ugh.." the Titanian goes, and looks a bit uncertain. "It.. the impression you make on spacetime," she says uncertainly. "Path through time, through fourth dimension. The universe observing itself, or something. I guess it tasty, or addictive, or have special energy for higher-dimensional beings."
"That's ... weird," is all Tasha can think to say about the matter. She can't think of what something would do with such a thing, or how it could. Uncertain what more can be said about the matter of souls, she changes subjects. "Um, so. Waybuilder gods wants souls untouched, Ogdoad want to eat them. Harvest is coming, Wayfollowers mucked up the Sifra's selfish self defense. Then they, uh, sort of freaked out about it." Her muzzle wrinkles. "Which means now it's time that I tell you I'm going to go meet Adam. I think I even know what He wants with me, and why He's been protecting me, maybe. Doesn't understand the Archons, they're too much like us. Needs someone to explain it. Mel's here to explain Adam to me, I think. Going to do it soon, came to warn you."
"No Harvest," Bumper says. "Ogdoad trapped or dead. No one to harvest souls for. Sifra just kill everyone."
"Why you ask about dark things, if you just want to see Adam?" Bumper then asks, after tilting her head.
"You see, the Wayfollowers made a mistake. The Sifra are really badly off now. Their Clients are almost done, not many left to replace them. Sifra would have replaced them by now -- throw out crystals, see who is good with them. But they can't watch taht anymore, I don't think. So they opened their doors and are looking at us now, the people living here. But maybe that's going to fail. Has to fail, because if it doesn't they'll fix their infrastructure and kill us all. Everything will start over. The dark things tell me, and other ones too, they're waiting for the Sifra to fall. There are drak things here, waiting. Maybe trying to help it succeed. Sifra fall, prison breaks. Prison breaks, harvest starts again. Wayfollowers knew it too late, drove them insane. When they made new life, they sped up the harvest, either for Sifra or for Ogdoad. Everyone dies either way," Tasha explains at length, shuffling back and forth in a slow pace as she does, arms behind her back. "Read old Eve's book, stole it fro
m Kamp. Talked to dark things, Titanians, lots of others. Temple, Khattan spies. Looks bad. Yama thinks so, too."
"Mmmmm, yeah, could be bad, mebbe," Bumper says, and sucks on her pipe for a bit more. "Not sure how many Ogdru-hem are left. Was.. hundreds? Some specific number. But Old Ones, First Ones.. they hunt them too. Hard to imagine any here, in nest of the ones that destroyed most of them. Any left must be good at hiding. So.. solution obvious. Kill all the remaining Ogdru-hem. Sifras fall.. not matter. Nobody to unlock the prison."
Tasha nods slowly, it seems reasonable enough to her. "And I'll meet Adam, see if He knows anything that can help. Maybe as a backup? Could call the Waybuilders or even the Waygod, maybe. That fix thing things too. Though ... " The young woman squints again, chewing on her lip a moment. "Then we'd have the Waybuilders and Waygod to worry about, I don't know much about them." She sucks in a breath and then straightens, ears out to the side. "One thing at a time, right? Here's one for you: There's an Ogdru-hem here. Katha-hem. Thing I thought was Abaddon. Take a look."
And then Tasha fishes out her datapad, handing it over once the relevant images and material has been brought up.
The Titanian looks through the images and other information, her pipe shifting from one side of her mouth to the other as she progresses. "Crazy thing, sitting there," she comments. "It been making lloigor?"
"Our favorite daikaiju. We even managed to analyze some of the remains. They're just big meat-robots. Simple things, for all their size," the hybrid woman confirms. "It tried to corrupt Harmonia, me, the Seraph." Then she frowns, looking away and shaking her head. "More, too. Almost got Bellerophon, while I was away. Got our PersoComs." She glances back, her taloned hand pointing its thumb towards the sky. "We've been planning its destruction. Orbital strike plan's all there, too. Just look it up. Can't move,e asy target, or so I hope. But I think, maybe we ought to talk to it first? Kind of stupid? Good idea?"
"Ah, hmm," Bumper ponders as she looks at the plans. "Talk? It try talk to you before, yeah? Must be desperate. You need weather map - know where winds blow, where debris fall. Dunno if all the pieces can still survive. Can't burn it with antimatter though - gravy guns not work in Sifran space." After another moment, she says, "Drop stuff on it head probably work though, if hit hard enough."
"Or get Vartan weapon," the older woman offers as she hands back the pad.
Tasha takes the pad back and frowns as she peers at it. Vartan weapon, she repeat, mulling the term over again. It's not the first time she's heard of it, but the details have never been elaborated on and certainly aren't obvious in Vartans. "We're thinking iron slugs produced locally, launched from Harmonia from orbit, or safer, an L-point -- L3 maybe or -- or deep space. Don't know what it can retaliate with, so throwing rock from behind the sun, or from the shadows, then hiding. That sort of thing." And then she looks up, meeting Bumper's gaze. "What's a Vartan weapon, Bumper?"
"Dunno, but must exist," Bumper replies with a shrug. "Vartans meant to hunt down dark things like Ogdru-hem. So Horus must give them means of destroying them. Something only Vartans can use. Maybe that why Khattans indenture Vartans.. to get weapon, or keep it from being used. It out there somewhere. Or old records of it being used."
"Well," Tasha begins, scratchingher head as she eyes her datapad, "I really don't have time for another deep space treasure hunt right now. I have to think of whether I want to head for the Hall now, or deal with Katha-hem then do it. And if I deal with Katha-hem, I have to think about how." Her nose wrinkles, her head shakes, and she feels like she's done that a lot today. "Maybe Adam knows. Or maybe the Marker knows and Adam can read it for us."
"So, you want answers before deciding," Bumper says with a nod. "Who else is there to ask hah? You no need our help, do you?"
"Uhhh, no maybe not this time." Tasha rubs her nose, the scrunching having brought back the old itch. "I think I -- we -- can handle it. I just wanted to work it out with, and ... " she looks up again, head tilting and shoulders shrugging apologetically, " ... make sure I wasn't going to have to fight you too. Gabriel's been worried, and I was, too. We thought you might see me as another artifact to bury or hide away."
"Oh no, we gots other plans for you, if you survive this," Bumper says, smiling and wagging her tail.
Tasha lowers her pad and peers with open suspicion at Bumper, ears up. "Oh that sounds good, and don't Karnor at me! Why do I feel like everyone's agent?" Then she sticks her tongue out at her on-off mentor figure. "Probably because it's true. Well, then you can do this for me: If I don't survive, or worse, I want you to be the world's last line of defense in Katha-hem tries for revenge or, w I don't know, uses me to do it. He-- It tried that before."
"Ooo.. tricky that," Bumper says. "Not supposed to act against inhabited worlds, yah? But you gots local Titanians. Could ask them. Prolly be all fired up to find giant monster."
Tasha frowns at that, waving her datapad in an airy, circular gesture of uncertainty. "I don't know if they're ready for Katha-hem, see? Maybe even this whole world isn't. We don't know enough about them, the Ogdru-hem. But that'd be out of my hands anyway, since I'd be out of the picture. Last time it tried to turn me in to one of its agents, so you might be fighting me, too. Better I just tell you to be ready, and not tell you how."
"Oh, want bomb collar then?" Bumper asks, still smiling and wagging tail. "Remote control! But we always know how to find you anyway."
"Noooo," Tasha replies, drawing the word out as she eyes Bumper all over again. "It's bad enough you know where I am." Then she squints. "Why can you do that, anyway? Are you detecting the Source, or something unique to me? If it's the Source then you know where it is too?"
"You sing," Bumper says. "Hammers hear it, like hear other hammers. Your... resonance... was changed by Source."
Tasha barks a laugh at that -- she always thought her singing was the last thing peopled wanted to her until very recently. It was much like her cooking, except her cooking is still awful. "But other people don't sing. So what's this resonance?"
"Everything sings," Bumper says. "You song just have extra bit, that hammers can hear. Exotic element."
"Prolly let you talk to Horse, to Niss, to He-Who-Moves," Bumper adds. "And to Katha-hem."
"It's nice to be exotic," Tasha sing-songs, fully realizing how rediculous her saying that is, given her life had mostly been about hating being different. But much has changed. "Well, here's what I'm going to do about Katha-hem. I'm going to send it a message, in gravity, in eee-em, and if that fails by magic. I'm going to make it math, I think, that's what the Terragens do when they try to talk to aliens. It'll be math about its position, a few orbital strike entries, and the formations of the crystal lines near it. Then I'll try to tack on a request for a response. If everything goes well, I'll fly up and say 'hello.'"
"Oh, it not respond to those, they never do," Bumper says. "They use dreams. Always. Like telepathy, sorta. They don't listen for other stuff, it just make them itch.. and when they scratch, you get trouble. You make it itch when you take those images, I bet. Got scratched?"
"Oh we got scratched all right. Gods or demigods scratch hard," Tasha replies, grimacing. She taps the side of jer jaw and then nods. "The first time I met it, it tried to attack me through the Forbidden Zone somehow, at long range, maybe because I was near Harmonia and it had been watching the area. Maybe it took a chance and attack me too, since we were close enough to make the effort easy. But I don't think it's watching there anymore. So dream mages."
"Which ... " Tasha glances at her datapad. "I'd better see to very soon. Eli's tired, but I'd like him to be nearby if anything happens."
"The Ogdru-hem not awake, see?" Bumper explains. "They sleeping. Dreaming and waiting. So dreams, yeah. You were dreaming maybe, and you got the resonance. Even machines can dream, if they can think. So yeah, go try dreams first."
Tasha nods; it's decided. "Dreams it is. It's hard to believe it's dreaming almost destroyed me -- almost destroyed us all. Scary. I almost became a nightmare from a nightmare." The datapad is slid away and the young woman turns to glance back at the Melchior, thumbing back at him. "I'm going to get going then. Say hi to Blammo and your son for me? And when do I get to meet your daughters?"
"Maybe if they visit me," Bumper says. "Or at big meet. Big party then! All the clans come together, feast and stuff. Sometimes wreck planet. But lots of those."
"You'll call me when that happens, won't you? I've messed with my fair share of gods, I deserve to be at a Titanian party!" Tasha waggles a finger at Bumper, but then steps forward and gives her a hug. "Enjoy your break. See you after this is all over, if I'm still here to tell you about it."
Just outside the walls, standing at rest near the road to the railhead is a giant black and gold statue of a Vartan. There are a few of the younger mages standing on the wall with their backs to the Titan, while another on the ground wrestles with an Abaddonian film camera. "I think I remember where.. uh.." Eli says, looking around. "I forgot what the symbol for Dream looks like."
"I'm sure someone will help us find the right person. I think they know be by now anyway, I'm a good customer!" Tasha and Eli make their way from the foor of the Titan towards the wall, the young woman taking the time to elaborate on much that happened prior to his return. By the time they're deep in the compound, she's mostly caught him up. " ... and they didn't contact me because of the viral attack, so I thought Gabe and katie were mad since I'd been gone so long. It was eerie stepping on the ship when I finally got back. Our PersoComs didn't make it, but maybe they might be restored?" She looks at the man in askance. "Well, how's my crew? My ship?"
"The dolphin pilot isn't lucky, he's crazy," Eli says, holding up fingers and ticks things off. "The Jotoki have pet kittens. There's a giant Silent-Ones Megatitan stationed next to Caltrop now. The Niss are hard to talk to. There's some minor.. uh.. scratches from what Kaa claims is a 'space kraken'. And the horse gets moody, or tired, or something.. Sometimes it just doesn't want to respond. Maybe it misses you?"
Tasha laughs at the first part and beams at the last. "Awww," she coos, even wiggling her ears. "I miss my Horse, too. If I wasn't so busy trying to Adam and deal with Katha-hem, I'd ahve returned by now. I never expected to be home this long." She shrugs, what can she do? "But we have a plan now, so maye I'll be back in a few weeks. That's a big maybe though. I have two greater beings to deal with and nothing is certain yet."
They pass by tent after tent, finally arriving at the one Tasha remembers handles intake and distribution of clients to the mages that might assist them. "Here we are. Do you know, I've hired several mages by now? I'm an awful Vartan. In we go!" And with that she slips inside.
The person staffing the table today is a Naga, and one that doesn't even wear Mage robes.. it's wearing a sort of dress, complete with skirt. A pink one, with a matching bow stuck to its head somehow (glue?). "Gree-TINGS, fellOw Sssthosoophants," it says, smiling as best a Naga can. Looking at Tasha, she asks, "Are you heRe to file a GREIVance?"
"Mage Antlers needs more sleep and I think your branch on Rephidim tried to get rid of me," Tasha replies, flowing riht in to the process of things with mages. She's met so many of them, worked with them that their craziness has ended up both ritual and society for her. Like visiting a new country, it's just how she can expect things to proceed. "But seriously, I need a dream mage. A powerful one. It's going to be dangerous and you'll probably want to be ready."
"DAngerouSsss?" the Naga asks, looking surprised. "We only have One Dream Mage.. uh.." she picks up a ledger and flips pages. "Mage Neesa of Dream. She came in the day before with a Vartan. She hasn't checked out so Musssst still be in camp."
"Oh! Well that makes things easy then. Eli?" The hybrid glances back at the man. "Lets go find Neesa. I didn't want to involve her, but we don't have a choice now and we can meet up with my 'apprentice' too. Your job will be to stop Remiel from murdering me once he finds out what we're going to do." What the young woman doesn't say are the true weight of ehr reservations; she really didn't want to involve Neesa for Remiel's sake, and Neesa's as well, but with options limited and lives potentially on the line it's the safest of many unsafe paths, so it's Neesa or something altogether scarier.
As Tasha heads back out, she calls her thanks to the receptionist, dragging Eli along behind her.
Neesa is easy to find by following one's nose - Tasha knows the fragrance the mage likes to use. This leads to the sole tend with the symbol for the Sphere of Dream on it. The flap is closed though, so it isn't possible to just look inside.
Tasha scoots up to the flap and, leaning in, calls out, "Fuuuuudgyyyyyy," in a sing-song voice. "It's me!"
"No it isn't," the voice inside the tent claims. "I'm hallucinating from lack of steak."
"Then I'm coming to haunt you and torment you with terrible nightmares," Tasha insists as she pushes her way inside, waving Eli to follow. "I hope you're well rested, anyway!"
Neesa is sitting up from her bunk, and wearing a nightgown still - although nothing racy enough to cause Eli any issues, since it's thick and baggy and probably takes the place of bed sheets. "Almost well-rested. What are you doing here? I thought you were hold up for the duration?"
"I finished my holding pattern, now I'm on the attack," Tasha insists as she pulls a chair, turns it around, then drops herself on to it with her head laying on the backrest watching Neesa intently. "I need your help to dream-contact something. Something big, and old, and dreaming. You might have heard something almost destroyed Bellerophon? Well, we're going to say 'hello'."
"Oh, so a god-meet dream," Neesa says before yawning. "Not Morpheus or any of the others though, I guess? Something local?" she asks. "And if you've been in dream-contact with it before that will help."
Tasha bobs her head upon the chair. "Yep, that kind of dream. And I have, I think. Did Remy ever tell you, that something called Abaddon attacked me? It wasn't Abaddon, it was this thing." The young woman pulls out her datapad, activates (it defaults to the same material she had been showing Bumper) and tosses it on to Neesa's bunk for inspection. "Eli's here because he has to be, but also to keep an eye on me and use his scientific nose. Is Shojo around? I might need him to beat me up if I go crazy, or something."
"He already left on the train," Neesa says, and stretches. "Alright then.. when did you last eat? It helps if you have an empty stomach."
"I don't remember so that's probably good." Tasha pushes herself to standing, letting her arms swing back and forth as she works up her nerve. "You might need some muscle if that thing messes with my head. Just be aware. I'm pretty sure neither of you count!"
"Oh, you'll be paralyzed anyway," Neesa says. "But I can tie you up too if you think it'll be necessary.." She opens her travel pack and starts selecting bottles.
"Might as well." Tasha continues to walk around, arms swinging. She doesn't expect and physical activity, but the effort helps prepare her mentally. She thinks back to all the dreamscapes she's been brought -- or dragged -- to and what she learned from them, intent on not being just a observer this time. "What should I do?"
"Lie down on the bunk," Neesa says. "This'll take awhile to set up, so I'm going knock you out for the duration.."
"I love that I don't have to wait through the boring parts these days. Stasis, magic, drugs ... " Tasha drops on to the bunk and wiggles until she's comfortable, weaving her fingers together underneath the pillow she rests her head on. "It'll be like that fun time we had on the Mauler, when I slept for three days."
"Less noisy though," Neesa claims. "This will take about ten seconds, so breathe deep," she instructs, and wets a rag from one of the bottles, which she then holds to Tasha's nose.
"Wet rags and bottles." Tasha takes a deep, deep breath. "It's almost like being ho--" And then continuity drops under the table.