Unlike the ancient starship, the probably-more-ancient Dark Horse had a simple solution for radiating heat: the two 'periscopes' could be submerged back into the Maelstrom, which is close enough to physical reality for energy transfers to occur without violating conservation laws. This didn't prevent the crew from working up sweats with their preparations, which mainly consisted of stress testing the limits of the environmental suits.
In the tactical section of the bridge, the large holo-table had been filling in a map from the drone data, which was causing some problems of its own. The two specialists in 'weird stuff', Hera and Soshelle, hadn't left the display since the makeshift drones had been set loose.
"Do you think we should tell the others about this?" Hera asks her Confederate counterpart. "The signals can't be this corrupted, can they?"
"Maybe they aren't corrupted," the hyperspace engineer suggests. "Which may or may not be more disturbing."
Given her own suit was designed more for environmental concerns than battle, Tasha had little to do in terms of personal preperation other than run some diagonistic and test routines. What ended up being of greater concern was the shrinking number of hardsuits available to her, with no less than three now lost or destroyed and one having been converted for long duration Titan piloting. If this keeps up, she may need to consider ordering some contemporary models. As it is, she can only make a note of the low supply and return to the bridge to wait on the 'go' signal.
"Tell the others about what? Is it weird?" Tasha asks as she steps on the bridge, still oddly bouncy in her gait and intensely chipper despite the external conditions.
"No, the heat must be affecting the synchronization clocks," Hera says before noticing Tasha. Then she straightens up and tries to look innocent. It just makes her look tall, however. "Oh.. Tasha. Just trying to decipher some telemetry issues with the drones."
Tasha stops next to Hera and peers up at her suspiciously. "I'm still kind of Human, so is this an attempt to evade questions by being taller than me? I have noticed authority and tallness go together with Terragens." She clucks her tongue, which she'd never done before. "So what did you find? It sounds like the timing on the telemetry signals is off? Maybe coming from the future or too late?"
"The drones have synchronized clocks," Soshelle explains. "That way they can use the signals from one another to determine relative distances. Every signal has the time it was sent encoded within it." She then points to the growing map.. which as areas that seem to jump between being far apart and close together. "The problem is that the timestamps are telling us one thing, while the data in the telemetry being sent tells another."
"It sounds like the interior space-time is warped. We don't know much about the Thennenin and their technology, but most prior Galactics had reached a very significant level of technology before they, um, went away. This could be a side effect of their weapon, or something the Ogdru-hem have done -- the former seems possible and the latter I know is possible. I think the real question is why," Tasha turns to the display and while it doesn't make a lot of sense, she gets the gist, and so rubs her chin and points. "There isn't a lot of tactical benefit to short range random warping, so there must either be a reason or else it's some kind of malfunction or side-effect. Lingering weapon stuff. That sort of thing."
"The drones are not detecting anything odd, but the distances they cover don't match up," Hera notes. "But, the triangulation is always corroborated by the mesh except if the signal path follows the traveled path."
"I think Tasha is correct, and there are deliberate paths that follow a non-Euclidean geometry, so that along the path, space may be longer or shorter than space outside of the path," Soshelle posits.
"But why have corridors that go down to go up?" Hera complains.
"We haven't found any evidence of a transit system," the Eeee counters. "Maybe they wanted to be able to walk to where they wanted to go, just quickly."
"So little strings of warped space. It might be that it's a lingering effect of Ogdru-hem drones warping space to move within the ship more easily, just like we're doing but in a somewhat different dimensional fashion. If it's the Thennenin ... " Tasha pauses, then nods in agreement. "Transportation's the usual favorite use of warping space. As a weapon, it makes a lot less sense, and the Ogdru-hem usually don't leave lingering regions of warped space after transit. The transit system might even be a useful side-benefit of whatever superweapon they have here. After all if you can really warp space, well, why not use it for other things like travel?"
"This ship used overspace drive," Hera notes. "So warping space is what it normally does, but doing it inside the ship? I'm more inclined towards the 'taking advantage of a side-effect' notion."
"Then there must be something tremendous in here to allow for personal-level space-time shortcuts. Can the drones show the surrounding region where the warps begin? Before and after a warp. If it's for transit, there's probably some sort of warning or border transition to show it's part of an intentional system. If it's just floating in space, a side-effect or lingering damage seems more likely," the winged fluffy-collared woman suggests. She tucks her helmet under her left arm and taps her head. "Besides, all ships like safety, right? There must be safety elements if it's intentional."
Soshelle manipulates the map, this time showing just the odd discontinuities in the data. A moment later there are images from the telemetry. The walls are.. flat and smooth, pretty much. There aren't even any places that would obviously provide illumination. "No changes in the corridors that can be seen," the Eeee points out, "But the locations seem to hint at something. Further aft, the transitions are farther apart and of shorter distance, compared to the ones to the fore of us. Although.. they could be the same distance from a central point, but longer in spatial effect."
"The main reason to transition space is because you don't want to be in the area between, so I think the areas with significant warping are transitioning past regions where small carge and personnel would have little or no interest in being. That could be solid-state equipment, automated cargo, stretches of hangar, maybe even damaged areas and the effect is there to avoid contact with internal damage. The area with shorter jumps is probably the main crew area, with engineering, the weapon, hangars, and so on the region using long jumps." Tasha points again at the map, circling aft with a finger. "Aft might contain the main crew area then. The fore seems like brief stops before the next long-range transition. When I think of what that would be like, I think conveyors to ship mooring, empty spaces, and machinery."
"Or dangerous areas," Hera offers. "Which automatically makes them the most interesting. The jumps are only along these corridors though, so there must be a way to get to the skipped over parts."
"The drones are still mapping," Soshelle notes. "There is a lot of ship. We've been focusing on the corridors of course."
"They night be automation-only, and have special worst case scenario access ports. Those will be a lot less convienent, but they're probably fast once we figure them out. They'd have to be, for emergencies. But the ship's probably in security lockdown and I doubt it will just assume we're friendly. We might have had an advantage if we had a Celestial on board, but to the Thennenin we're all going to be weird, new aliens, alliance unknown." Tasha gestures at herself, making a circle motion around her head; very weird aliens. "I have noticed there's been no security response, not even an AI message or automated distress. It's very silent for a damaged warship."
"We've got Scholar Shiftless," Hera points out.
"I can't think of any power sources that would last this long," Soshelle notes. "There shouldn't be any power sources left to run any sort of security system."
"I'm ... not exactly sure he's what he seems to be. He hangs around Thoth. He may be no more a Naga than Thoth is a wingless Vartan," the fluffy-collared woman points out. "I've never even seen him do anything except sleep and ... carry things. Somehow. I mean I could try can call him to the Bridge, I've never considered summoning him seperately. It might be worth a try." She then nods to Soshelle. "That might well be the case. Even the low-power mode will be hoping there's a super-low-power mode by this point. That the space warping is still present suggests a seperate system that either has its own power or does not need any once started."
"Permanent spatial manifolds could be created with the proper sorts of exotic matter," Hera claims. "After all, gravity and mass don't have power sources. But.. it's the tiny size and specific nature of these that has me grasping. Unless they're bigger than they appear, or all part of the same disturbance and we're just seeing the corridor parts."
"We haven't tried have a drone go back through one of them," the Eeee notes. "But the signals get through."
"Some sort of complex manifold of warp space all around some central warp? And at that center, whatever makes this ship so interesting. I've seen Ogdru-hem warp space to that degree, they're very good at it, but I've never quite seen a technological version. We should be prepared for exotic technology, even exotic to the Thennenin." Tasha places her helmet on the table to free her hands, placing them both down on the table's edge and leaning in. "Lets see what happens if one of them tries to go back? There could be a one-way forward and backward warp pair at each location."
It takes a few moments to send new instructions to one of the drones, but then several minutes of waiting while it backtracks, all while watching the live feed from it. It passes through transition point.. and keeps going. The feed doesn't show anything to indicate a spatial shortcut.
"Ogdru-hem.." Soshelle mutters while they watch. "Like an Ogdru-hem."
"It's a very clean transition," Tasha notes, trying to sound focused in the hopes the others won't be taken in by any lingering fear of the Ogdru-hem. Sometimes she forgets just how horrifying and unnatural they can appear; even when they're not actively malicious their existence doesn't mesh well things like 'reality' and 'sanity'. "That it's so clean makes me thing it's intentional. Any elder Galactic relying on something like the Library would cleave towards elegant, effective devices, with high safety. But, um," and here she glances at Soshelle, " ... there is the possibility they're using a captive Ogdru-hem. It woudn't be the first time they've done it."
"Why would you bring a captive Ogdru-hem to an.. Ogdru-hem fight?" Hera asks, but sounds uncertain at the end. "That sounded better in my head," she admits.
"The Ogdru-hem were created as tools. Each holds a special function which is often reliant on their nature as semi-otherwordly. If the Ogdru-hem can be captured and forced to do what you want, then that special power becomes your power. And, their powers can shatter stars, teleport planets and bend worldlines." Tasha spreads her hands, wiggling her fingers. "You could say they're like magic, or having a cheat card in a game of Poker. They let you break rules. I've encountered three seperate captive Ogdru-hem, so it seemed, um, popular. I've been told the ancients had little idea of how to permanently destroy them, so capture is especially attractive."
"So maybe there's a weaponized cosmic monster close by, which requires a ship this massive to contain it?" Hera asks. "One that couldn't be controlled by Luk'thu. Or.. maybe it was controlled, who knows what happened. It didn't get used, apparently."
"If this fleet was organized by the Thotep entity, is it reasonable to assume they had access to the means of controlling Ogdru-hem?" Soshelle asks Tasha, since she's the expert on these things.
"The size may or may not be indicative. Some of them are dimensionally compact or even not physical as we are, made of, um, memetic-stuff and concepts. Their masters didn't just use mass, gravity, and the small and big. They seemed to have drawn from many elements of our universe. If there is one here, that's my job. You won't have to talk to it; I'll be doing that. I think I'll be able to sense it's presence once we're inside, too." Tasha frowns at the question, but not because she doesn't know the answer. The answer is unpleasant, and she isn't sure how to broach it. "I know for a fact Thotep knows how to bind Ogdru-hem. He seems very good at figuring out how to bind beings in general, which may be one of his ... Well. There are ways to summon and bind them, either forcibly or through, um, exchanges. Oh, and Thotep appears to be at war with their masters. They are similiar class of entities, but their universal alignments differ."
"So it's more like fight fire with fire, which I never understood," Hera says. "It's a flatlander thing. But if that's the case, does it follow that there's a control mechanism.. that wouldn't be affected by technology, that is."
"It's, well, arcane." Tasha wiggles her fingers; arcane. "You can sort of control them through the usual methods you can force physical beings to do things, unless they're not physical of course. But, what you're interested in the exotic methods. The Shadow-beings have their own rules, and if you know them you can use them too, but those rules can be as exotic as they are and the Ogdru-hem don't exactly deal in material resources. What the actual binding is and its nature is beyond me, but it's sure to be some combination of real-universe and exotic arcano-tech. Usually there's an actual prison assembly, a statsis field, crystal shell, or other literal, obvious container."
"Well, we should be able to get an idea of where it is by mapping the anomalies," Soshelle says. "But there must also be a direct route to it somewhere, unless it was too dangerous for anyone to be near."
"The tentacles," Hera suggests. "We don't know how far in they go. We haven't seen any in the drone footage. Maybe they're in the missing spaces too."
"I might be able to see it," the remade woman notes, tapping her forehead. "For complicated reasons I can now percieve Shadow-dimensional and some memetic energies. Beings like the Ogdru-hem are full of the stuff, so I might be able to percieve it even through half a ship of bulkheads." She turns to Hera and nods once again. "Shattering the prison may have been the goal, or destroying the Ogdru-hem inside. They're not invincible. The hostile drone containment pattern may have been intended to supress the Ogdru-hem in here, to prevent it from doing whatever it is it does. I think if we follow the tentacles it should point us in the right direction, or at least to some critical system of interest."
"When you say 'follow' the tentacles, you don't mean in the sense we did getting in here right?" Hera asks. "Going inside of them?"
Tasha leans back, ears laying back. "Noooo, that would get us lost and maybe not even in this universe. Maybe I could try following one, but what I really meant was following them externally. They're still going to have to enter real space. Unless they don't. In which case, um, yes we may have to use the tentacles."
And then Tasha's ears perk up. "Oh. Sam called them 'hypercolons'. That's digestive, and suggestive. They were trying to feed. If that's the case, the tentacles were offensive and either going for crew or else some other being. Maybe not an Ogdru-hem."
"So, if this whatever is the weapon or power source for the weapon, draining its energy would have made sense," Hera says, nodding. "But.. are there other things that aren't Ogdru-hem that would explain what we're seeing." She points to the map, just as one of the drone dots winks out.
"Well, the Ogdru-hem, Ogdoad, and Outter Gods aren't the only hyperdimensonal, hyperuniversal powers in the multiverse. You've already seen another in our friends the space whales. Thoth and his ilk are a third. But Thoth's kind don't exert that sort of power, and a Waybuilder is very unlikely. So it could be a fourth party, a machine, or, well, another Ogdru-hem like we've discussed. The resources of the previous Galactic Civilization were vast, they may well have met beings I know nothing of." The blonde canine cocks her head to the side. "Energy drain and an Ogdru-hem is the most likely choice though, they wouldn't try and eat one of their own."
"I don't see why they wouldn't try to eat their own," Soshelle says. "There is another possibility as well: it is a similar being that the Thenanin created themselves. In any case, if it does not require power to maintain these spatial anomalies, it cannot be completely beholden to the laws of our universe. Power requires fuel, and after millions of years or longer no fuel known fuel source that could fit inside of this ship would have lasted."
Tasha nods to this, pointing at Soshelle now. "You're right. I think it's safe to assume we're dealing with something otherworldly, here. Lucky for all you, that's my specialty. I will negotiate with the being and see if I can convince it to align itself with us. We can see about repairing damage, the possibility of motility, and ridding ourselves of the hostile drones over the hull. Then, we see if this exciting new weapon can destroy a fleet of dangerous superweapons, and we're out of here." The young woman claps her hands together: All very neat and tidy.
"That does not sound like a simple task," Soshelle points out. "However, we did not think to bring a black hole with us, so it will need to be attempted at least."
"It will," Tasha agrees with certainty. "I can't in good conscience simply leave this many dangerous weapons here for someone to find. The whole point of this has been to protect the universe and its people, and while I mainly focus on external threats leaving these obvious internal ones laying around would be irresponsible. If we can't repurpose it, it has to go. And if we can't do it, I'll tell the Titanians about it later."
"So.. Titanians with superweapons is safer than leaving them where they've sat undisturbed fore eons?" Hera asks skeptically. Demonic space beings, sure. Trusting Titanians though..
Tasha spreads her hands. "They're not all bad, you know! Or maybe you don't so I'll tell you: They're also very concerned with destroying old, dangerous things. I spent some time with them doing exactly that. I even had a Titanian mentor. I don't discriminate when it comes to these things. Still," and here her hands fall and she shrugs a little, "I can't deny they might use them at some point. They're just not very concerned with politics and conquests, or genocide and Clients. And, they know how to destroy things like this. I'll make sure the saner ones get the message."
"Mmmm," the Belter grunts. "I'll take your word for it. Should we be asking the demon or demon-hunter about any of this, or is it safe to say they may not be unbiased about things?"
"Oh they're very biased, but they're knowledgable. We'll ask their opinions as we go. We don't even know if there is an Ogdru-hem here, and if there is all three of us should detect it." Tasha peers at the map a moment, then taps the central column the ship is currently moored near. "And it's probably near or on the axis somewhere. If it needs a ship this large the equipment may well be large, too. Placing it off-center might throw off the mass distribution, but I could be wrong and it that's not important."
"Spatial distortions play havoc with solid-state and quantum electronic systems, even optical signals will encounter event horizons," Soshelle notes, and gestures to the corridors. "These may be the only safe passages for mechanisms.." Of course, as she says that, another one of the drones winks out of existence. "Or not. That would have been a predicted transition zone boundary. The probe either did not appear on the far side, or has been jumped out of range."
"Well I hope some poor world somewhere didn't have one of our drones land in someone's coffee, but I think we have a budget for setbacks like that." Tsha tilts her head, thinking, then nods. "Well, we won't learn much more standing here. We'll get the full drone review, then gather everyone for a strategy session. We talk, decide, and then we head out or leave."
"I'm going to alter the drone mapping algorithm slightly to avoid these points where the others have vanished," Soshelle notes. "I think we have enough data to predict where they will occur now. It will limit the initial mapping, but once we have the safe area mapped we can afford to sacrifice drones looking for alternate routes around the non-Euclidean zones."
"That sounds like a very reasonable thing to do. I'll go check on the others, see how everyone's doing, then gather everyone for our strategy session. That should give you two enough time." Tasha beams a smile at the two Humans, then winks. "We Humans have to stick together, don't we?" After a laugh she scoops up her helmet and heads for the aft.
The key to any large meeting is apparently coffee, at least when dealing with people who are tired, just waking up from or ready to start taking one. It may also be the first time gathering the entire crew into the bridge, although the Phins only appear on screens rather than try to add their bulk into the cramped space. The winged folk all stay to the back, as a courtesy.. and they tend to be taller anyway, or able to hang upside down from the ceiling. The mapping is done, with special display elements added to cover the 'virtual' distances involved in some of the paths. A few kilometers ahead of Dark Horse along the central axis is an unmapped zone that is marked as the potential 'source' of the spatial distortions.
"Hoookay, everyone," Tasha begins from the center of the room, gesturing towards the big map behind her, "we'll be discussing our 'attack' plan for the ship tenatively designated the Nidhoggr, or World Serpent. We've identified numerous spacial distortions within the vessel we believe are intentionally placed, but because there can't possibly be any power left, we also believe we're dealing with an exotic source for warped space-time, a source that is possibly at the core of the design and intention of this vessel, and quite likely core to whatever weapon it contains, as well. I tenatively propose three teams for exploration: One to locate engineering, one to locate the CiC and Bridge, and one to approach the unknown source of the distortions in an effort to identify it and make contact. I'll be in the last group. Volunteers for leading the other two groups? We'll need a balance of skills throughout, leaning towards each team's focus."
"I can lead the CiC team," Gabriel says. "I've got some training in.. ah.. such things." He isn't about to admit that early Karnors trained to board and capture starships. "I'll need someone who can possibly understand the systems though, although they can be over comms. We don't have a lot of suits for this."
"I can probably help with deciphering the Thennenin systems," Amuntaton volunteers.
"I suggest brdegdeg our favorite sleepy Naga," Tasha notes, nodddeg towards Thoth's person-luggage, "as the Thennende vessel may identify the good Doctor as familiar should power be restored. Right now, you're the only Thennende=descendant life form we have on board. I highly suggest we also not send any of our Shadow-touched members to the command centers, as they may be identified as hostile."
"Fine by me!" Hakeber says.
"I can go look at the engines," Modo says.
"Thoth may also be familiar to the Thennenin, which is another bonus. I'd suggest one more person as well, to round things out. Four is a good number. Uh," Tasha glances at the map again and nods, "For the engineering team we'll obviously need a technically inclined group. Modo, thank you. There may be exotic matter and other drive-issues. This may well just be a survey and scout task only depending on the status of engineering. I'd also suggest Shojo, since there may be wreakage and dangerous enviroments, so injuries may occur."
"I don't have a hardsuit," Hera notes. "Neither does Soshelle." They are, respectively, the experts on exotic matter and spatial engineering, after all.
"Then we'll have you communicate through coms only, which also lets you have access to the Dark Horse and our AI. I'd still like two others to go with Modo and Shojo. Lacci, engineering usually has wide corridors, want to try piloting the Grunt? It may be needed to clear the way." Tasha turns to the young Vartan, ears perking in her direction.
Lacci's ears perk up as well. "I suppose I might be useful for that," the Vartan admits, looking a bit surprised. "Who will be left to go with you though?"
"I can go with Tasha," Samael points out. "I don't need a suit."
"Sam doesn't need a space suit, so he's an obvious choice. I can try and pilot Mel as far in as possible, so I'll be less vulnerable, at least until I need to exit. Because of the nature of where we may be going and what we may meet, my options are limited. I don't think anyone wants to have a walk down fractal hyper-dimensional tentacles to meet what may well be an equally hyperdimensional being who can warp space?"
"I had a boyfriend like that once," Yue claims.
"Is that an 'I volunteer'?" Tasha asks, leaning forward and smiling, ears forward.
"Can Mel keep cool?" Katie asks.
"Well.. I do have some senses that might help, possibly," Yue notes. "I can tell if you are being influenced, anyway."
Hrrm goes Tasha, who glances towards the exit in thought. "I'll have to ask. He's built for planetary operations and we considered using him on a world with high volcanic activity, so it seems likely. Still, I'd better double-check. And Yue," she turns to the woman, "you can come with me in the cockpit, that way you won't have to stare at the weird landscape and can keep me in check if anything manages to get to me. We can also have a swarm of drones come with us and bring some extra medical and other supplies."
"Medical supplies? Through that mess?" Modo asks, and rubs his chin. "They generally don't like heat and radiation. Shielding will use up power, and the drones are at lowest usage as is. Might be able to set up stasis options.."
"I meant a few med kits and some sedatives in the cockpit, actually," Tasha admits, holding her hands out, "not a train of drones carrying my luggage, that's what all of you are for." She smiles, then holds up her hands in a 'don't throw your snacks at me' defensive fashion. "What I mean is we'll take a few drones to help you all keep track of us. Oh, and maybe some beacons. That way, if we can't return, you may be able to locate our route and send help, even if it means sending the whole Horse to locate our beacons."
"I'll carry your luggage, but not your baggage," Aaron claims.
"Beacons are easier," Modo says, sounding almost disappointed.
"You're partially the cause of my baggage!" Tasha looks like she might toss a snack, but resists the urge. She fluffs up her neck ruff as she thinks a moment, looking around, hard suit partially opened around the neck because she learned quickly a neck ruff doesn't like tight outfits, and then says, "Alright, if there's no further ideas, we'll form up each team and the team's will work out their own strategy, which they'll report once they're ready. Those remaining behind will focus on operational control, information, support, and if necessary rescue and relocation of the ship. We'll all try and keep in touch, but I have a feeling each team will be busy with its own tasks and with talking to the ship, so Katie you might be busy. Don't be afraid to tell any of us to quiet up, either!"
"I'll ask Kaa and Moka about shortcuts as well," Katie says. "If we can get teams closer to their objectives without having to go through most of the ship, operational time would be greatly improved."
"That's a great idea. This will be like trying to navigate a city, we'll have kilometers to deal with if we avoid the warps. If we don't it's still a long ways. We should consider setting up signal relays at regular intervals as well, to make sure we can keep in range." Tasha looks around again, then raises her brows and her ears. "Any other suggestions? Questions?"
"We can probably use the deployed drones for communications and navigation," Soshelle suggests. "Other than that, I can't think of anything else."
"Don't make any weird deals with monsters," Aaron suggests.
"Then we'll split in to groups and begin next-step preperations. And Aaron, making deals with and fighting monsters, gods, and what-not is sort of my job. Stop giving good advice a year too late!" Tasha then makes shooing motions towards the combined group. "Alright! You know what to do! Everyone staying on board is team four, essentially, so all of you should assemble as decides if you need to fill special roles. Hake, you'll be weird arcane support. Kaa, you're always the pilot. Moka, data processing and leadership. In an emergency, pleae work with the ship's AI and the others to come up with a solution."
"I will prepare med-bay," Jonas says.
"Always a safe bet with me on a mission. If I die, someone kill me, because I like this body and don't want to wake up as a ... what haven't I been ... " Tasha scans the departing crowd. "A Lapi. Or a snake."