« Back
Generated:
Post last updated:
daddy problems
Julie has a medical emergency. And several other emergencies.
Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is kind of losing track of all of the problems that she has. She should write them down, except putting them in the ship's computers would be beyond stupid and the shuttle's not exactly equipped with art supplies so she could put them on paper.

She recites them to herself, instead. Her voice is still gone from the days of futile yelling in the hold of the Anubis. But it beats trying to keep all of it straight inside her head.

Problem number one: She has four days of water and no more food.

Problem number two: She really, really thought this ship was on course for Eros, and if she's anything at all she is a competent pilot, but the navigation is bleeping confusedly and doesn't even have a course correction to recommend and she's not picking up any radio traffic from other ships headed to Eros. Or...from anywhere, actually. 

(Maybe she's too late and humanity has already gone extinct? But surely they wouldn't be that stupid. And surely it couldn't happen that fast.)

Problem number three: There are a bunch of people with a weapon that might destroy humanity and she's the only one who knows what it is, where it is, and what it did to the crew of the Scopuli and the Anubis. And also what happened to some other ship, she doesn't know its name, and she's still not sure whether it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time or whether its destruction was part of the plan. And they're going to deploy it in the Belt and she suspects the Anubis didn't have the only sample and the Belters will be able to defend themselves if only she can communicate the situation, which she can, once she gets to Eros, assuming she's not infected, which she has no way to check.

That's possibly too many things under one problem heading. Problem number three, revision two: Weapon, destruction of humanity, etcetera. Problem number four: Only she knows what's going on and she needs to get word to Dawes. Problem number five, she might be infected. Problem number six, all her friends are dead and she's sad about it.

There, she whispers to the computer screen. I think that's all of them. There is also an agonizing cramp in her leg and she suspects three of her knuckles are broken but it feels kind of ridiculous to even list those, alongside all of the other things. And she's lightheaded but that almost definitely folds in under either 'no more food' or 'infected'. What's the joke, an engineer's ship is on fire, so he puts it out. A mathematician's dinner is on fire, so he waits until it has engulfed the whole ship, gestures at the engineer, says, 'I have reduced the problem to a problem with a known solution' -

Problem number seven, isolation is bad for people and she might be going crazy, or whatever. 

She resets the sensors. There's no way that Eros just fucking went missing. Maybe she got turned around, but there's got to be something she'll recognize, out there, once she's casting a broad enough net.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Actually, nothing looks familiar. 

Well, there's a sun at approximately the distance it should be. 

But the sensors aren't even recognizing the stars. 

Permalink Mark Unread

What.


Problem number nine, she's going to die alone in space millions of miles from everything.

 

 

Probably, she is infected and it has driven her insane. Like, in one sense that's kind of a lazy thing to conclude, oh, I guess that I have just permanently lost contact with reality and should stop trying, but also it's the thing that instantly jumps to mind and is incredibly hard to dislodge in favor of any more actionable hypothesis. Maybe the sensors are infected. And are feeding her bad information. Maybe...when she last slept, she actually went into a centuries-long coma and has now by chance arrived at a different star. Maybe..... no, she's honestly not coming up with much even once she's very firmly told herself to stop coming up with variants on 'I'm insane'.

 

 

Are there stations. Planets. Moons. Maybe she has one of those weird aphasias that makes you unable to recognize sensor readings and she should try to navigate in by sight.

 

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The sensors can pick up on some further-out planets in the star system. Most likely cold and airless. One seems to be a gas giant with rings. 

- and one planet between her ship and the sun, much closer. At a quick scan it...could be Earth? Blue and green and brown, clouds over oceans. 

It's a bit too small, though, and there aren't enough continents. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mars could've taken out some of the continents if the war, hypothetically, had started, and also finished, already, even though subjectively it's been twenty, maybe twenty two days since the Anubis fired on the Scopuli.

 

 

That wouldn't explain smaller.

 

Going to Earth would be very stupid. She'd get caught, instantly, no way to take a shuttle into Earth orbit undetected, and her father must have people looking for her, and maybe he doesn't have another sample elsewhere which would mean she's the only person in the system who knows where the sample is, and shouldn't put herself in enemy hands.

 

 

Going to Mars would arguably be less stupid. She can't quite pull all the reasoning together right now because she's in the middle of a panic attack but she remembers before the mission. Dawes thought they shouldn't expect surrendering to Mars to be any less futile than surrendering to Earth. Julie had disagreed, but shut up, because it was true enough that it might be safer for her, not for them -

 

She peers at her sensors again, trying to figure out where Mars is.

Permalink Mark Unread

There is no sign of Mars anywhere close to where Mars should be. 

The next-closest planet is too far, too big, and not at all the right colour, and the sensors can't pick up any signs of infrastructure that should be detectable even from here. 

...If she looks a little closer at the coverage of the Earth-like planet, the same is true. In fact, there's...basically no visible sign of civilization, at least not from this high vantage point. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Julie is pretty much inclined to declare bankruptcy on the concept of knowing things. Maybe something has happened that doesn't make any sense and isn't the kind of thing that can possibly happen. Maybe humanity has gone extinct and she's the only one left. Maybe she is in a different star system entirely and will die alone no matter what she does. Maybe this is a hallucination. Maybe it is a complicated clever interrogation tactic and she is a prisoner. 

 

So. 


Where does she want to die?

 

She turns the ship for the planet that isn't Earth and has no civilization and is sending off no radio signals. She accelerates until the gravity pressing down against her chest stops her panic attack. She's heard that doesn't work that way for most people but it's always worked for her. 

 

And she takes several tabs of sedatives. Maybe when she wakes up she'll see the explanation that is eluding her right now. Her last thought as she falls asleep is of the entire planet Earth popping out from behind not-Earth, smiling, wearing a pointy birthday hat, yelling "surprise!"

 

Her arm is itching but it's been doing that since the Anubis and she hasn't manifested any other symptoms of infection and it's probably psychosomatic.

Permalink Mark Unread

Then eventually she will wake up and find the planet much closer! 

It's even more visible, from here, that it's not Earth. There are only two landmasses really big enough to be called continents at all. One of them is sort of Australia-like; the other is long and vaguely rectangular, the southern coastline hugging the equator and part of the northermost corner swallowed by icecap. There are islands, scattered and in chains, especially all along the western edge of the bigger continent. 

Still no radio emissions. No satellites, no orbital infrastructure at all. 

...The rectangularish continent has two land features that look like enormous craters, each hundreds of miles across, both almost perfectly round; going by colour and albedo, one seems to be a dry plain, the other a lake.

And their relative positions, as though arranged along an invisible north-south line, are matched by a streak that stretches between them, extending further north and south as well, where the surface is a different colour. Less green, more brown, but also other colours - purples, crimsons, deep indigo-blues, colours that don't really belong on the surface of Earth at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

She can't actually think what weapon would do that.

 

Her hand is hurting quite badly and the cramp in her leg managed to get worse while she slept and she's lightheaded enough that she suspects standing up, on a planet's surface, isn't going to work at all and nauseous enough that at this point the lightheadedness would be a pain to correct even if she had food.

It is very difficult to imagine how she might survive this but. It was difficult to imagine how she'd survive three weeks ago, too, wasn't it, and here she is. Wherever here is.

 

She charts a landing course. Broadcasts a message that presumably no one will have the infrastructure to hear. This is the Anubis-1, landing because of an observed lack of orbital infrastructure. After she broadcasts it she thinks 'maybe they won't speak Mandarin' and does it again in French and then bursts into giggles because this is objectively the stupidest thing anyone has done since Epstein.

 

And she lands.

Permalink Mark Unread

Once she's in close enough, she can see a few signs of surface infrastructure. Roads. Cities. Not very impressive cities, though. It looks...low tech. Lower tech than anywhere on the Earth she knows. 

She does not receive any answer to the messages, and no one tries to intercept or stop her. She can land without any fuss, in some fields of maybe-wheat, young and green, next to a meandering river. It's an idyllic early summer day, breezy and balmy under a clear blue sky. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is so confused that trying to even specify what she is confused about feels insurmountable.

 

Maybe the weapon does...time travel. Maybe the weapon does...travel to alternate universes.

 

She does the announcement in English and Bengali and Malay too, just in case whatever the fuck is going on in fact involves there being humans around who have some shared history with her humans. 

The atmosphere is breathable, or at least the shuttle thinks so. If she's hallucinating and about to step out onto the surface of a barren rock this is the moment of truth, she supposes. 


She steps out into the field of probably-wheat and immediately faints.

Permalink Mark Unread

The first people to chase down the ship they saw landing are some extremely confused farmers, who stare at their flattened wheat in baffled distress, and have no idea what to do about the strange woman lying in front of the ship. 

Eventually the farmwife points out that she might be hurt and maybe they'd best call for a Healer. 

The nearest town big enough to have its own Healing station is ten miles away, but by now other neighbours are arriving, curious and worried, and one of them happens to know that their village's very own Shavri - Healer Shavri, now, all grown up with her Greens and now a babe of her own - is visiting her mother. 

There's some tutting about the fact that Healer Shavri's babe is rumoured to have been born out of wedlock, which the locals disapprove of, but gossip quickly gives way to practicalities. 

One of the strapping young men runs off to summon Shavri, while the farmwife kneels by the woman and tries to shake her awake. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Humans!!!! ...humans who shouldn't touch her, not until she knows for sure whether -

- she shouldn't stand up again, everyone has trouble with their blood pressure when they return from months in space and the shuttle didn't even have the meds for it because when would that come up -

- she tries gesturing them away. Then she tries crawling back into her ship to get the stickers with the universal biohazard symbol on them, which she should've done in the first place, really.

Permalink Mark Unread

The local seems confused on how to respond to this, but does back off, making apologetic hand gestures. They don't impede her crawling back to the ship. 

The woman does send one of her youngest children running off back to the house; the boy returns with a jug of water and a cup, which he diffidently sets on a vaguely-flat-ish spot of ground. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They seem poor. This is yet another confusing fact she has not the slightest idea how to put together with all the other confusing facts. 

 

She gets the stickers and applies one to her forehead and one to the back of her hand. Her hands are shaking. Her vision is sort of swimming which is not really increasing her confidence in the bizarre information it is feeding her.

She goes for the water. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They seem nonplussed by the stickers, but don't try to touch her again, just watch from a distance. 

Permalink Mark Unread

After an interval of fifteen minutes or so, during which the sun rises a little higher in the sky and the air gets even warmer, a very young woman comes into view. She's wearing green robes, and riding a chestnut horse along a path between two fields. 

She dismounts, ties the horse's reins to a fence-post, and hikes up her robes to make her way through the wheat stalks. 

"What's going on here?" she says to the assembled farmers, in a language incomprehensible to Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There are more muttered foreign words, and gestures at the woman slumped on the ground and at the ship currently squashing half of their crops. The farmer-husband seems quite upset about this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The woman takes a few steps closer to Julie, then kneels, about a yard away, making eye contact but not touching her. 

"My name is Shavri," she says, slowly and carefully, in Valdemaran. "I'm a Healer. Are you hurt?" 

After a moment she repeats the words in Rethwellani, slow and halting. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't recognize those languages! Which might be because she has gone insane or might be because she is in another universe or might be because she landed in, where on Earth would possibly look like this, a wildlife preserve? In the Andes? 

 

She is, very obviously, hurt. Her hands are wrapped in thin white gauze with medical tape holding it on, she's dragging one leg, there's a mostly-healed deep bruise on her left cheekbone.

She reaches the water, takes a sip, makes a face. "Have you got oral rehydration solution," she says hoarsely, and then takes another gulp of the water even though it's a bad idea.

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow she looks terrible

Shavri can't understand what she's saying either. And the woman doesn't look local - or Karsite - or at all like what she's heard of the Tayledras...and her clothes are bizarre and whatever the...thing...on the field is, it's even stranger... 

She's incredibly confused and she doesn't like it. 

She wants a closer look with Healing-Sight, but first she would like there to be communication. The poor farming family whose field was crushed are claiming the woman seems scary, maybe dangerous, and that she's 'real skittish' and 'spooks easy'. Shavri does not want to spook her. 

Shavri takes a deep breath. She's never tried this before, but Van says it's possible... 

She reaches out with Mindspeech for the woman's clearly un-Gifted mind. :Can you understand me?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

What.

 

It didn't sound like speech, actually, just- like the concepts that those words, spoken, would have tugged on in her mind, if she was half-listening and not even paying attention to what language was being spoken -

 

She's so tired. And so confused. And so tired of being confused. But - but she's not done yet, right, no one can afford for her to be done yet -

I might have been exposed to a biohazard and I need to know where I am, she tries to think back at the blurry psychic person.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Wow that is strange. Shavri's certainly never tried to pick up an answer in Mindspeech from an un-Gifted person before. Though Randi's Gift is so weak, talking to him from more than a room away is a little like that; she has to do nearly all the work of holding a link herself...

The woman...thinks she was exposed to a disease? In her bleary surface thoughts, it's somehow related to the odd insignia she's wearing, for some reason, stuck to her skin instead of on her clothes. Shavri had wondered if it was some sort of foreign family crest or flag but apparently not. She has a feeling that 'disease' isn't quite the concept, either. 

:You're in Valdemar: she answers. :Near Snake Bends. I'm a Healer - I came to help: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, good, medical, that sounds like the right people to handle this situation. She hasn't taken the blood pressure meds, that's why the crawling, the shuttle didn't have them.

Not Earth, is it. The continents are wrong. And there are six nature reserves this large on Earth and I've flown over all of them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I don't know where 'Earth' is: The concept being conveyed - doesn't seem right for a country? Shavri is so confused. :Valdemar borders on Rethwellan and Karse and Hardorn and Iftel. When did you last eat or drink?: 

She can follow the concept of 'blood pressure' and 'drugs' separately but she's never heard of a drug that specifically affects that, unless the woman literally just means drinking water. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is some reason to think my perception of time and the ship's computers are not tracking "objective" "reality" but I think I last ate six days ago and last drank yesterday. Earth days. Exposure was - twenty-two days ago. Think it moves faster than that, when it kills people, think I'm probably clean.

Permalink Mark Unread

...The implication of that is clear; the woman thinks she might be insane. Though communicating that fact to Shavri would be remarkably coherent, for someone who was in fact out of their head. 

She's going to worry about the rest of her questions LATER. Like how in all hells a ship - which looks nothing like any riverboat she's ever seen - ended up in a wheat field nowhere near the river much less the sea. And what the blurry concept of 'computer' refers to. 

:You need food and water. And we should get you inside to a bed. You don't look like you can walk: Shavri frowns. :How contagious is this disease you were exposed to? Someone's going to have to carry you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She has no idea but probably they should, you know, wear a biohazard suit? She is probably the least qualified person here to figure out the appropriate precautions on account of how she is maybe insane.

She starts coughing and then vomits and loses all the water, which is great, exactly what needed to happen right now.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri watches this with concern, but doesn't move any closer. Yet. 

:- I don't know what that is: she confesses. :I - hmm - you look like hell, you need treatment. I'm...going to send the farmers away, so they're not exposed. I can...ask for an extra shift to wear over my robes, I guess? And...: 

She takes a deep breath. 

:I'm a Healer. That - means I'm more resistant to most diseases, if I'm careful: 

Also she has a two-month-old infant daughter, currently being watched by her grandmother while her mother runs off to respond to an emergency. But -

But without any treatment, this stranger might die. Especially if she is, in fact, ill with something serious. 

:Tell me about the disease you were exposed to?: she says, gently.

Permalink Mark Unread

Not a disease. A weapon. Eats people, animals, whatever. It's smarter when it eats smarter things. They want to use it against Belters. She was trying to stop them.

 

She was locked in a supply hold on the Anubis. For a couple days. Maybe longer. She screamed for them to let her out, and they didn't. And then there were sounds of fighting, she thought maybe the crew of the Scopuli had revolted... the drive shut down, they lost gravity, everything was quiet...She kicked her way out. Ship was empty. Quiet, until she got to the reactor room. There - it was blue, and crystalline, and had coalesced around the reactor core. Darren's head and torso were sticking out of it. He asked her to help. Then he -

She should be able to remember very clearly, she owes him that much, but actually it's all just kind of a blur in her head. She shut the reactor down and the thing stopped growing. She hid the ship somewhere no one would find it, and she set out for Eros.

 

But she touched it. The blue goo. When she first broke out of the cargo hold. 

Wearing an extra "shift" doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would necessarily help but she's not the medtech here.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri's feelings about this are mostly aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah; this feels WAY bigger than anything she can possibly handle, overwhelmingly so, and she doesn't understand half of what she's picking up in the woman's attempt to push thoughts back at her, and it's terrifying... 

- but, on the other hand, it's also fascinating. She wants to know. She wants to understand this, the - not disease, like a disease but - made to be a weapon - something that can infect people... 

 

 

She should absolutely not do this. 

 

 

:- I think that if I...almost but don't quite touch you, just rest my hand really really close - and I don't see any blue goo, which I don't - it's very unlikely I would get infected. And if I did I would notice, my Sight works on my body too. And - I think I should - I think we need to know what's going on here: 

 

 

She should NOT DO THIS and Randi would be within his rights, later, to yell at her about it. But. It seems she's doing it anyway. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie thinks the woman is claiming to have magic powers? Sure, why the fuck not, alternate Earth with magic powers.

 

Hopefully she won't kill all of them. 

Worst case I guess if you do catch it and your government panics and nukes this place from orbit they'll mostly just catch wheat fields, she thinks at magic powers medtech. It's probably not the most reassuring thing she could possibly have thought of to say but it has the advantage over most reassuring things that it seems true. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri has no idea what 'nuke' means except that it sounds AWFUL - does she mean a Final Strike - does she mean specifically Vanyel calling a Final Strike - does she mean another Cataclysm... 

It doesn't matter. 

:If it infects my hand I'll cauterize it off: she says, teeth gritted but mindvoice perfectly level. :If it's - too late, and I can't fight it off - I'll stop my own heart. And, er, I could warn the farmers that if I collapse over dead that they should stay away and maybe burn the whole field - would that be enough to stop it -?: 

She's pretty sure this won't happen; she's pretty sure that it's close to literally impossible that she'll become infected with...whatever this is...within even making actual contact, and while keeping her Healing-Sight at full alert. But it might reassure the patient. 

- and, more importantly, she SHOULDN'T BE DOING THIS, and the problem is that she can't not do it, but she can at least learn as much as she can from words, well, from mind-to-mind contact, before she takes the next leap of faith. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Don't know.

If you're infected and I'm infected you can use your magic powers to check the woman who touched me earlier and the grass around me I guess and then we can all get back in the Anubis-1 and fly it into the sun, that'd do it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:....we could do WHAT: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's pretty sure it couldn't eat the sun. Admittedly not quite as sure as one would ideally be about this sort of thing, but. It's not magic. (Magic is not a thing.) It's a weapon, and there's a limited mass of it, and the sun would destroy it. Honestly probably overloading the reactor core of the Anubis would've destroyed it but she was less sure about that and also...the Belt might need a sample. If their enemies have one. 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri takes a deep breath. Lets it out. Takes another. She STILL can't think of a way to say this that won't inevitably make her sound very stupid and ignorant, but. She'll just have to forge ahead. 

:- That, er, wasn't my question. How do you even get to the Sun? It's so far away: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh.

 

 

She is no longer confident that she is the least qualified person to figure out protocols for the biohazard. She might be insane but the locals are, uh....in hindsight probably the wheat is to eat not just because fields of wheat look nice? Farms on Earth have six crops growing together in a complicated engineered symbiosis fifteen feet tall, and irrigation ridges that are very distinctive from space - this isn't the point -

The ship can go to the sun, she thinks faintly. Where I'm from lots of ships can do that. People don't really want to go to the sun, but other planets are also far away, and moons and asteroids and so on, and it's the same technical problem.

Permalink Mark Unread

:.....Right: Shavri answers, faintly. :I...gods...: 

She is SO not the right person to figure out what to do about this unprecedented discovery. 

:- I think maybe figuring that out is a lower priority than you not dying?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Priority is telling Anderson Dawes where the sample is. But since I have no idea how to get to him - yeah. Not dying. 

 

 

I don't want to die.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri really especially cannot promise that she won't let this woman die. She wants to. But it's not just that it's a stupid idea; it would be lying

:I'm going to have a look: she says instead, and stretches out her hand, fingers splayed, pausing just a fraction of an inch from the woman's forehead. 

And she reaches further with her Sight, downward and inward - what's there? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, first off, she is in pretty bad shape! She's dehydrated and hungry and she's also ...atrophied sort of like someone who has been bedbound for months, her muscles not quite up to moving normally and her heart slightly misshapen and having a bit of a time pumping her blood. Three bones in her knuckles are broken and she clearly took a beating a few weeks ago that she hasn't really healed from since so much has happened since.

 

Also, there's something in her that isn't her. It has its own life force. It's everywhere. In her blood, in her muscles, under her skin, a thin film where a thin film shouldn't be. In three different places - on her arm, on her shoulder blade, on her foot - it has formed into a crystalline sort of structure, fed by her blood vessels, trying to poke through the skin. Not quite there yet. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri suppresses the initial, instinctive horror, and focuses on just looking.

She looks for a long time. 

 

 

Finally, she pulls her hand back. And spends a moment double and triple-checking her own life-force for any traces of that second, foreign presence, before she speaks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nope. It's not on Julie's skin, yet, and it's not in the air she breathes. It seems to need more structure than that.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri takes another deep breath. 

:- I think you have it. The disease - er, the weapon... I see something there. It's - making crystals under your skin -: 

She bows her head. In this sort of situation - well, nothing is like THIS situation, but in the broader sense - there's both never anything that could possibly be right to say, and only one thing she can say all the same. 

:I'm sorry:

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh.

 

 

 

The - woman who touched me -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'll check her in a moment. It didn't get me, I'm certain of that, it's not on your skin - I'd have to be in contact with your blood, maybe saliva or other bodily fluids: 

Another pause. 

:I...don't know if I can fix it. I'm really, really sorry. I, just, I don't want to promise anything I can't fulfill...: 

Another breath, and she looks the woman in the eye. :But I'm going to try. I can promise that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not acting very fast. I need to - there are people I need to warn. I don't know how I got here or where here is but - I really have to get back. If you can just - slow it down -

Permalink Mark Unread

This problem is way, WAY too big for her. In about the same way that a continent is too big for an ant to wear as a hat. 

:Right. I can try. - Er, I am worried that addressing your other problems - or even giving you food and water - might make it grow faster. So I should...maybe check that I'm able to kill bits of it, first: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Right. Uh. You can try that, and you can have my medical power of attorney, not like I'm listing Dad as an emergency contact here.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is pretty confused at what that concept even means, and probably she should ask and clarify, probably it's important, but also all of this seems dizzyingly important and huge and overwhelming, and she CAN'T wrangle all of it herself, on her own, right here and now. 

Focus on the thing she can do, then. :All right. There's a collection of it making crystals here, in your foot. And others, but I think here is...the least vital, so the least likely to, um, kill you if I somehow screw this up: 

She hesitates. Chews her lip for a moment. 

:...All right. I'm going to go ahead: 

And she reaches out with her Gift, focuses in on just this, just the life-force that isn't the woman's own, where it's tangled in this crystal, and - very carefully - tries to crush it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It reacts. All across her body, it flinches and races away from the touch of her magic, spreads out, is suddenly harder to see. Julie gasps. 

The crystal in her foot - dies, or goes dormant, or something; the life force doesn't seem entirely absent but it's much much weaker, barely perceptible. 

 

 

I'm gonna guess, Julie tries to think-say, that no one has invented pain meds better than booze yet? Because - I'd take some of that.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- We have better drugs for pain than that. I don't have any on me. I should - hmm...: 

She sits back on her heels. :I should check the woman who touched you, and then - figure out a way of transporting you without anyone touching you. And a place to put you...we'll have to ask someone to offer a room... If we get a litter over here, think you can crawl or roll onto it without help?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes. The not being able to stand up isn't the infection - well, she doesn't know that it's unrelated, but everyone has trouble standing up if they spend a couple years in space and the last couple months neglecting their cardio entirely and then don't even take anything for blood pressure when they land - she's plenty mobile she just shouldn't stand up. 

Alternately they could get a vac suit out of the ship and she could be kept in that, it's airtight obviously, though it's going to have, like, four hours of oxygen.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Hmm I - think we should wait on using that until we really need it?: Shavri isn't quite following the reasoning behind the time constraint, but 'about four candlemarks' comes across. :Can you just sit tight, try to sip some water - go slowly - and I'll set something up for moving you -:

Shavri stops, frowns.

:...Oh, just had a thought, I can check -: 

She leans forward, focuses her Sight on the little pool of mostly-just-water vomit now soaking into the flattened wheat-stalks. Is there any sign of the separate foreign life-force in it? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! Just the slightest traces of it, but it's there.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- All right, it's in your bodily fluids. So we're going to have to be really careful with that: Shavri glances around. :Will you be all right if I leave you here for a few minutes while I sort out, er, what to do?: 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well someone had better do that and Julie doesn't really feel up to it. 

 

I could go back in the ship? she thinks in case it's helpful? Probably could use the engine to sterilize this patch of soil though maybe need to eat something first.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Will it grow in the soil if we leave it, do you think? Or does it need people or animals' bodies?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

If this place is like Earth there'll be little animals in the soil. She doesn't know how the thing spreads, exactly, but if it were her planet she wouldn't chance it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Then I guess we'd better be as careful as we can. And - gods - make it up to the poor farmers somehow...: 

She stands up. :You just hang tight, then, drink some water. I'll go back to town and figure things out, and I'll send someone back with food: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Do the farmers not have insurance. She has no idea when that was invented, she's not really a big history person. She's pretty sure Basic is more recent than fields of wheat but insurance is a lot older than Basic.

 

She's too tired to think about this. 

Except what if she doesn't get less tired than this, since she's dying, and she's going to have to think about this while this tired, or else maybe fuck up and destroy this planet and everyone on it. 

 

I'll get back on the ship, she thinks at magic medtech, and does that.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri goes back to the farmers, hovering anxiously by their cottage. 

Before anything else, she asks the farmwife who touched the new-arrived stranger to come forward, and checks the woman over with her Sight. Any hints of a second, alien lifeforce there? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nope!

Permalink Mark Unread

At least ONE thing is going well. Shavri sags in relief, and smiles at the woman. "You're fine. You didn't catch it."

Permalink Mark Unread

And then she remembers the second part, and her smile fades. "Just...we...I..." 

Her courage fails her, and she looks down at the ground rather than meeting the family's eyes. "We need to burn the field. Just to be safe. I'm sorry - we'll figure something out for you, for winter - just, this - disease - is really bad, and we can't let it spread. I'm sorry." 

She flees before she can make it any worse. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The tavern-keeper has a back room he uses to store grain and root vegetables, with its own door opening to an alleyway. He agrees - reluctantly, under rather a lot of pressure, and only with the promise that Shavri knows the Queen and can make sure he gets some taxes off this year once the Heralds learn of this threat - to empty it and offer it as a sickroom where they can keep the poor woman isolated from the rest of the town. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri feels incredibly out of her depth with this sort of negotiation, but she bulls through it, running on the same sort of stubbornness that she pulls out when patients just won't. listen. and stop doing things that are going to kill them. 

She explains the setup she needs to the tavern-keeper's wife and daughters, who start hauling crates and sacks out, and bring in a straw-ticking mattress to lay on the floor. On top of a canvas sheet stolen from the awning, waterproofed with pitch, because it'll be a lot less costly to burn just a mattress than an entire inn. She doesn't know if the thing can eat wood. 

Shavri leaves them to it, and in one final, exhausting argument, talks the cheesemonger into letting her 'borrow' his cart, lined with the second half of the inn's awning. She doesn't tell him that she may end up having to burn it; that sounds like a longer argument than she has the energy for right now. 

Carrying a loaf of bread and a skin of apple cider - neither her first preference to feed an invalid, but they're what she could obtain quickly - she remounts her mare and treks back out to the field. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie has crawled back into her ship to lie on the floor and cry, which is kind of a waste of time but it's really really hard to pick her head up and do anything else. She keeps trying to motivate herself to do it by telling herself that this might be the best she will ever feel for the rest of her life, which will be measured in days, but it's not motivating at all.

 

Eventually she drags herself into her chair and gets the computers to simulate what'll happen if she turns the drive on in atmosphere to fry this field really thoroughly. What'll happen is that she will also fry the poor nearby town, and she gets the sense they can't exactly afford that, so she tries checking whether the thrusters can do it.

A voice in her head says that it's worth doing the more thorough way even if it burns down the town but -  she ignores voices in her head that are persuasive the same way her father is. 

 

When Shavri comes back she is slumped against the screen, pressing buttons and sipping water and blasting very loud breakup music since the computers didn't have music that was exactly appropriate for this.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri can't decide if she likes the music or not, but it's definitely intriguing and she wants Vanyel's opinion - which is off topic and can WAIT. 

:I have a wagon to bring you back to town: she tells Julie. :With a tarp just in case you vomit again and the disease - weapon -: it really needs a better name, :...anyway if that doesn't work, we'll burn it too. And I evacuated a room for you. It's not much but there's a bed: for some definition of bed, :and I can treat you there. Also I got food: 

She sets the basket with the bread and cider on the ground, and backs off. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mmmhmmm. 

Do you need me to burn the field or have you got that.

Permalink Mark Unread

:How hot a fire does it need? If we just - set it on fire normally, is that enough?: Shavri looks dubiously at the green wheat. :It's not the most flammable time of year. But I guess we could heap kindling on the spot we want burned in particular: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I don't actually know anything about the weapon. We were trying to recover a sample so we could learn this stuff. But - I can't use the drive in-atmosphere or I'll burn down your village but even the thrusters burn a lot hotter than, like, a wood fire.

 

 

She should know the numbers offhand but her head is swimming again; she checks the computer. 

 

3500K. Which is to say, uh, lots hotter.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri doesn't know how to interpret that number. 

:How, um, dangerous is that. I - don't want to burn down their house either, they've lost so much already...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's what I was checking, I was having the computers show me what it'd burn. It won't directly burn down the house but I guess fires...spread...and you don't have fire suppressants yet?

 

 

And then her vision blacks out, and she makes an irritated sound and flops her head on the console.

Permalink Mark Unread

Going into the ship is...probably a bad idea? The woman will have touched lots of things in it. But also she's getting pretty worried. 

Shavri hovers, anxious and indecisive. :Hey. You still with me?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

'm conscious. Sorry. Just can't see. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think maybe it's - a bad idea - for you to be doing risky things with the ship right now. We need to get you to a bed. I'll - hmm - I'll have them light a fire on that spot without touching the ground, and later I should be able to check if there's still anything left. It's...quite noticeable to my Sight, there's that at least: 

She takes a deep breath. Lets it out. :Do you think you can crawl back out and make it to the wagon without passing out? It's not far: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, I'll be fine.

 

 

 

She is not, exactly, fine, but she can keep moving. Her vision even comes back after a while.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri watches anxiously. From a distance. 

After a moment's thought, she retrieves the food and cider and moves them to the wagon bed, then goes back to waiting. 

:Eat and drink something if you can: she encourages, once Julie finally makes it to the prepared wagon. :It'll be a while back into town. - Oh, and drink this: She digs a small glass bottle out from a pocket in her robes, and adds it to the collection. :It's poppy-syrup. I want to have another go at killing the bigger crystals once we get back, and it'll be easier on you if it's had a chance to kick in first: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Painkillers! Painkillers sound great! Eating and drinking sound less great but she'll do her best!!

Permalink Mark Unread

:You don't want to take it on an empty stomach: Shavri warns her. :Try to get at least a little bit of the bread down - hmm, if you're nauseated and think it might not stay down, I can do a bit of Healing for that first? ...It'll be much easier if I can touch you, but the weapon isn't growing on your skin: Yet. :I think it's safe: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She'll just trust medtech on that because she's not really good at thinking right now.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri lightly touches the woman's hand, on the side opposite where the crystals are growing in her shoulder, and reaches in deeper with her Sight. She'll push a little bit of undirected Healing-energy to start, try to boost her body's defences against the weapon-disease, but she also has a closer look at the woman's stomach and gut; is there anything there she can see to Heal? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Just a thin film of other-life-force, which would probably interfere with the absorption of nutrients if there were any in there, which there aren't, and also various distress from having gone a few days without eating.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ughhhh, that is RUDE of it. 

Trying to murder the film will almost certainly make things worse in the short run. Hopefully it won't completely block painkillers from working. Shavri sighs, and instead focuses on soothing the irritation caused by days without food. 

:Feel any better now?: she checks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't, not really.

 

I'm fine, she tries thinking loudly. Her attempted loud-thoughts are barely distinct from all the rest of her thoughts.

Permalink Mark Unread

She is really not fine. 

Shavri backs off, and, again, double-checks her own hand for any sign of the foreign presence. :Well, just hang tight there. Try to eat a little bread and get the painkillers and some fluids down. If liquids are easier, the cider's sugary, your body needs that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She DOESN'T WANNA eat. She tries anyway but she's very bad at it; her mouth is dry and the bread just kind of sits there. The cider is a bit easier. 

 

 

 

The other life-force really likes the cider too!

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri tells the cheesemonger's son, who brought over the cart and the mule pulling it, that he can head back to the inn now, she'll catch up. 

She gives the farming family instructions on burning the contaminated soil and wheat-stalks. At the farmer's distraught reaction, she eventually relents, and helps mark out a circle with a ten-foot radius or so, around the spot. "Here. All of this, and I'll come check later if that's enough." 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're not happy. But they're also scared - of the ship, of the strange woman, of the threat they can't even see. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri feels bad about scaring them, but...well, she doesn't think it's an overreaction. 

Probably she should be doing other things about the situation, like getting word to Haven and her lifebonded - and Van - but right now all she can think about is the woman's precarious condition. Healing first, she decides. (This is only a little bit rationalizing why she should start with what she knows how to handle.) 

She re-mounts her horse and rides after the much slower cart. 

...

It takes them about twenty minutes to reach the inn, and the cart proves not to fit into the alleyway that leads to the back door. 

Shavri dismounts and ties her horse's reins to the nearest tie-able object. She points at the route. :Think you can crawl a couple dozen yards?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is shivering and newly bruised from bouncing against their cart and kind of thinking longingly that if she died then she wouldn't have to do any more things. 

 

If she dies then so will lots of other people, in the same way, because the plans will proceed.


Yeah, sure, she says to magic medtech, and then doesn't take further actions because saying that was very tiring.

Permalink Mark Unread

She looks awful

Shavri grits her teeth. :Don't. Just, um, can you sort of curl up? I'll - get people to help carry the corners of the tarp, and not touch you, and if they do touch you a tiny bit and get the disease I can probably kill tiny bits of it just fine. You look really bad and I don't think you should exert yourself more: 

She doesn't wait for confirmation of this, just starts yelling to the tavern-keeper that she needs four strong young men RIGHT NOW. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Good that someone is on top of doing things, because Julie is not! Julie is busy dying requiring medical attention, which is going to happen and then things will be okay somehow.

Permalink Mark Unread

Some people are assembled, and under Shavri's tight-voiced direction they carry Julie over by holding the corners of the tarp, which isn't the most comfortable ride but they manage not to drop her. The straw-ticking mattress has since been equipped with linens, and there's a warm wool blanket folded at the foot. 

Shavri has them set the tarp down and then sort of pull it out from the side in order to roll Julie off, and then she has them immediately fold the tarp and leave it in a corner, she'll figure out in a minute if it's contaminated. She shoos them out into the alley and then spends thirty seconds checking each of them, mainly their hands, for any sign of weapon-disease-alien-lifeforce . 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nope.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thank you. You're fine - you can go - um, if you can send me the inn's cook or something, I need to request some different food for her. Probably." If she can find a way not to have the stupid weapon-thing eat all of it before it can reach her patient. 

She goes back into the repurposed storeroom. Shuts the door, and checks the rolled-up tarp on the floor for signs of life-force before turning her attention back to Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The tarp is also fine. Julie is shivering and trying not to vomit again and scratching her arm in the place where there's a crystal trying to break through her skin.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri covers her with the blanket, and sags down onto the floor next to her. There's nothing for her to sit on. Maybe she should have asked that a crate be left. 

:If you need to vomit, try to do it in here: she says, retrieving the washbasin she requested from the corner. Getting her patient washed up doesn't seem like the highest priority right now. :I need to... Did you take the painkillers? I want to try to kill the biggest parts of it, but it's going to hurt: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Took some. Maybe you should do it now before I throw them up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think I'd better not wait: Sigh. :You just try to rest, all right? I don't need any more things from you. Next bit's all on me: 

And, hand hovering just above the woman's arm, she refocuses all of her attention on the crystal growing under her skin. Carefully, delicately, wrapping her Gift around it, laying it just here, here 

This time, rather than trying to crush it in one go, she just - tries to cut it off from the rest of the thing growing inside Julie's body. It's hard to describe exactly what mental motion she's doing, but she thinks she has the control to pull it off. 

What happens? 

Permalink Mark Unread

She can physically cut it off, as surely as if she'd put something down in between the two pieces. 

Both parts react to this. The smaller one contracts, gets spikier, causes damage to the nearby tissue - Julie gasps. The larger one - shifts, readjusts, changes its position in the body. And there's - something, playing through both of them, simultaneous, like they're still somehow in sync.

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't like that at all. It seems...intelligent? It seems to be reacting to her. Like an animal would. A smart animal. 

Shavri shivers, and then goes ahead and crushes-burns-rips with her Gift - she's going to cause some additional damage, she'll accept that, but she wants the section of crystal she has a grip on with her Gift to be dead. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It dies. The rest of it retreats into Julie's tissues, and Julie screams -- very weakly -- and then vomits again.

Her arm is bleeding copiously, both externally and internally. The blood vessels that were feeding the dead crystal are very confused.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri pulls her hand back, out of range of the blood-splash, and manages to get the basin to her without going too close to any other bodily fluids. 

:I'm sorry. It's okay, you're okay, I'm not going to do that again until I've observed for a bit. Just try to relax. I need to - stop bleeding...: 

She starts hunting around for confused blood vessels to patch up or reroute or pinch shut. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The infection/weapon doesn't interfere with that. Julie doesn't either; she mostly lies still, shivering. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri gets her arm to the point where it's no longer bleeding. She doesn't try to clean up the blood, for now; instead, she sits back, and spreads out her Sight. How is Julie's body doing overall?

Permalink Mark Unread

Under a lot of stress! She must have been in good health, before this all started. Her teeth are perfect, and she was muscular until quite recently. The hunger and dehydration would probably be tolerated all right, if they were the only thing wrong with her; the problems caused by having apparently been bedridden or something for a while are better now that she's lying down, but the infection is taxing her body everywhere on top of that.

Permalink Mark Unread

:We really need to get more fluids into you: Shavri says quietly. :I'm going to get you some broth - you need salt too - and maybe we can do sweetened herb tea. And I want to try to kill the film growing in your stomach, so you can actually get nutrition from food. But I think first I'd better let you rest a while, and...I'm going to focus on getting a really, really good look at it: 

Shavri's Sight is better-trained than most Healers, even at just nineteen. She's been practicing it constantly for six years, after all. She looks at everything. (Including - especially - her baby daughter, and she remembers losing herself for candlemarks on end, before, turning her Othersenses inward on her own pregnant womb, Looking closer and closer and closer...)

She picks the remaining crystal growth in the woman's shoulder, and lets herself fall in, and in, and in. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The crystal thing is complicated, internally, not in the way humans are complicated though in places it seems to be imitating human tissues, human blood vessels, other things that it picked up from Julie. It has a shocking variety of shapes and internal structures, and it seems to be pruning them, picking the ones that are having the most success in surviving and growing. It seems like there's more going on at a scale that's smaller still, too small for Healing-Sight to resolve; something like a nervous system, sending instructions out to all the other bits of its lifeform-- or not a life form, actually, nothing here could survive on its own, it grows only where it's tightly coupled to something that itself knows how to grow...

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, she could kill it by killing Julie. 

She isn't going to do that. For one, Julie has important information that no one else has. Two, Shavri is a Healer. She doesn't kill people. Not even when it could arguably be justified.

Shavri lets out her breath. 

:This thing is - smart. It's really scaring me: 

 

 

...after a moment it occurs to her that if the lifeform is intelligent, then maybe it can understand Mindspeech, but - gods - she can't worry about that right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah.

 

The Belters don't have good intel on this but - the first tests were in petri dishes, with nutrient solutions. Then with vat meat. Then with animals. Then with people. She suspects it's smarter when what it's eating is smarter. And she suspects at its full potential it's really, really smart. One theory was that aliens had sent it as a - terraforming arrangement. It lands, turns the planet into - something they can live on.

Just a theory, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Aliens?: Shavri frowns, tugging at the associations around that concept. :I - you mean - like beings from other planes?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Planes?

Permalink Mark Unread

:You know, um, like the Elemental Plane of Fire, or Earth or Air or whatever? You can summon spirits from different planes. Apparently. I can't, I'm not a mage: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Aliens are just a term for any life that evolved anywhere other than Earth. ....except this place. She has no idea what the explanation for this place is but, uh, it's not aliens.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh. So...not other planes that you can do summonings to, but - other worlds? With different suns?: Shavri shakes her head, half-awed. :- Anyway. I hope the thing isn't at its full potential yet. I can definitely hurt it. And - I don't think it should want to hurt you? Because it needs you or it'll die: 

She spends another moment thinking. 

:I want to try to clear it out of your stomach, but - more carefully. So I think I'll try going in as small and close with my Sight as I can, and just - disrupt its shape and structure. See if I can be efficient about this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie's pretty sure the test subjects did, in fact, die. Most diseases don't want to kill their hosts but it still happens, right, and this one hasn't had much time to be selected for less virulence, if that's even going to be operative next to the selection it can apparently do on itself. 

 

Yeah, seems fine.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is thinking the same thing, a second after the words are out, but she doesn't acknowledge it in Mindspeech. 

:All right. Er, let me know if it hurts too much:

She focuses in close on Julie's stomach, until that thin film of alien life fills nearly all of her Sight. What's the structure of it like, here, up close?

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems to be trying out several different ones! This area over here is a thinner film that seems to irritate the stomach less, but need more resources; this area over here is easily coughed up; this is sending out little swimmer particles, looking for something -

Permalink Mark Unread

She could try to kill it, but there might be an easier way here...

Shavri tests it on a tiny section, first; can she use her Gift to rip a slit in just the film, and peel it away from the stomach wall? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! As always, the rest responds, entwining itself more thoroughly with Julie's tissues or dissolving itself in her blood or pulling away from the site of the injury.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri thinks for a moment. 

Then she takes the jug of water and offers it to Julie. :When I tell you to go, please drink as much of this as you can, as fast as you can. I know it'll make you throw up again - I'm hoping I can just get most of the weapon growing in your stomach out that way, and kill it after, when it can't hurt you. Just throw it in a firepit, maybe, seems a lot more efficient than using my Gift: 

She makes her plan. This thinner, tighter film she'll try to tear off in strips like so, one two three four - the looser area she can probably just sort of yank at - the swimmer particles will hopefully just follow wherever the water goes. 

:- Ready?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Creative, Julie says unenthusiastically, and then tries to chug the water.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri goes after the film. She doesn't need it dead; she just needs it loose, floating rather than attached. She slices and snips and peels and tugs, aiming for the best mix of speed and precision she can manage. 

It's probably not comfortable at ALL for Julie.

:Sorry, sorry sorry sorry -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It is incredibly uncomfortable and then she immediately throws up and is then even more uncomfortable, somehow, which feels unfair, usually the one good thing about throwing up is that afterwards you feel a little better.

 

She whimpers kind of pitifully and tries to roll over but her stomach is cramping too much to allow it.

 

Most of the film is gone.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri will deal with the washbasin full of very contaminated vomit-water LATER. 

Right now, she can at least do some focused Healing on the irritated stomach lining where she ripped off the growing weapon-creature-thing. And she watches the remaining bits of film with her Sight, trying to gauge if and how fast they're growing to fill the gaps. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're growing, but slowly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Did it work?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes! I'm really sorry it was so unpleasant. I got almost all of it, though, and I think I can kill the rest before it can catch up. And then I can focus on Healing the damage it did, so you can hopefully manage to eat and drink a bit more and you'll at least get the nutrients first

Though the thing is still growing in her blood, amorphous, dissolved, impossible to fix onto; it'll keep feeding on her as long as that's true, and she has no idea how to selectively yank it out of blood without killing Julie. 

:- Does it have another name, by the way? Or can we make one up: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The research subsidiary that discovered it is called Protogen. They called it the Protomolecule. Great for their brand, I guess. 

Some of the Belters on the Scopuli, riffing off that, had started calling it the Maolecule, which was even less funny.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri feels like she's missing quite a lot of context and she doesn't actually care. :Sure, I'll call it the Proto. Um, I'll be right back: 

She ducks out and checks that the innkeeper's wife is alerted and working on invalid-food for her patient, and then returns to the musty storeroom and settles herself down to do as much Healing as she can on Julie's damaged digestive tract - while carefully making sure she's not offering any of that energy to the Proto by accident.

:Here. Try to get some of the cider down once you feel up for it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't really feel up for it but she can give it a try, after a little while.

 

 

She's thinking about the crew on the Scopuli. They're dead, of course. They knew it was a dangerous mission. They knew a lot more people would join them, if -

- how is she here? How does she get back home?

It's too much to think about. But trying to stop thinking about it and just exist in her head is miserable too, because she feels like shit. 

 

Don't suppose - you have something for sleep -

Permalink Mark Unread

:We've got things. I - don't really want to give you too many drugs, your body is so worn down. I can use my Gift to help you fall asleep, if you want?: She shouldn't do that a lot either, but Julie seems exhausted; she might well stay asleep on her own once she's out, pain or not. :And you could have a bit more of the poppy-syrup, I don't think you got the full dose before since you got sick after: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That sounds good.

 

 

 

Thank you.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri gets her the drugs. Then settles herself in for what promises to be an incredibly long afternoon. 

She wants to see if she can do some very cautious, very selective Healing, mostly on Julie's oddly misshapen and slightly-atrophied heart; she'll be a lot better off if her body can better handle circulation, but Shavri doesn't want to end up accidentally feeding Healing-energy directly to the Proto.

And, once she's fallen into a groove doing that, she can fit in some thinking. 

The big picture: she can damage and destroy the Proto, with her Gift, probably faster than it can grow, but not easily - and not costlessly for Julie. She can bolster Julie's body and health, but often this will strengthen the Proto as well; it's feeding off her. Probably her awful physical condition is part of what was slowing its growth, before. 

Eventually some broth arrives, the mug packed in cattail-fluff in a basket to keep warm. Shavri sets it aside and keeps doing various minor, targeting Healing while she waits for Julie to wake up.  

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is exhausted, but that doesn't mean she sleeps well. She mumbles in her sleep. Screams, once, during a bad dream. Scratches the spot on her arm where a crystal was recently growing. 

 

She wakes up disoriented and in a confusing amount of pain she assumes, at first, is from a maneuver she pushed a little too hard on. "Computer, read out our coordinates," she says hoarsely, and then - she's lying on what - she's where -

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is pretty used to patients waking up confused, and recognizes the signs. 

:Hey. It's me, Healer Shavri. You were asleep about three, four candlemarks. How are you feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She gets something of an impression of what a candlemark is but not much of one. Uh. Better, I think? Hungrier, which seems - good - unless it's just going to feed the infection - 

Permalink Mark Unread

:It will feed it, some. But I think less than before I worked on your stomach, and you need food badly. Think you can manage some broth?: She gets the clay mug out from its cozy nest; it's still fairly warm. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably.

 

She tries sipping it very slowly but her hands are shaky. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri would help but she doesn't want to touch Julie unnecessarily. 

:I want to try something else in a minute: she says finally. :Destroying the bigger crystal parts before they can get any more established seems important, but also it's - messy, and hurts you. I'm wondering if I could be more efficient and cut off the source of nutrients instead. It's feeding from your blood vessels. Like a tumour, sort of, and Healers sometimes treat those by pinching off blood supply rather than trying to kill all the tissue directly: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is only sort of able to follow this important medical information but the medtech seems to know what she's talking about. Sure, we can try that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You just try to rest and work on that broth. Tell me if it hurts a lot: 

Before turning to the crystalline mass in Julie's shoulder, Shavri checks the other two, the one in her foot and in her arm, where she already tried to destroy the Proto by force. What's happening now in those regions? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The crystals look dormant; they're not drawing blood and they're not growing. They're not dissolving, either.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well. She's going to try carefully nipping off their access to Julie's blood vessels pre-emptively, just in case they 'wake up' later. It seems like good practice before she has a go at the still-active crystal. 

She tries to minimize destroying the circulation to any of Julie's own still-living tissues, but she's willing to risk some of that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie's tissues in that area are pretty messed up anyway by the large crystal that's been using them as scaffolding! She's mostly not making things worse.

 

 

Julie sips broth very diligently until she feels nauseous again, and then puts it down. 

 

You might've, uh, already said this, but...where am I, exactly?

Permalink Mark Unread

:The kingdom is called Valdemar. The nearest town is Treebridge, the area is Snake Bends. Karse is south, Hardorn is east. But...it seems like none of that means much to you, if you're from an entire other world: Somehow. Impossibly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

I mean, it could be time travel, too, but I haven't heard of a Valdemar. And it didn't look at all like Earth, coming in.

 

I, uh, don't suppose you have any astronomers who have formed an opinion about, uh, what shape the galaxy is?

Permalink Mark Unread

Despite everything, Shavri finds herself smiling a little. :I bet my friend Van would know. Ooh, and - er, what's-his-name, the older mage he works with... Kilchas, that's it. He's not an expert but he plays around with astronomy in his spare time. I'm sure he'd at least know what's written about it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...Her smile fades. 

She looks down at her folded knees. :Speaking of that, I - should probably tell the Queen about you being here. And I guess we'll have to decide whether we can afford to move you to Haven. All the best Healers are there. It's where I trained: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ah. Yeah. Makes sense. Her heart rate jumps a lot.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri, of course, notices this. 

:It's all right. She isn't going to hurt you. She'll - be spooked, I mean, this is bizarre and nothing like this's ever happened before. But she's - a good person: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's met politicians and she doesn't think material scarcity and hereditary monarchies made them more virtuous and generously minded. And there are lots of good people who'd be strongly in favor of setting Julie on fire. It's kind of hard to even argue they'd be wrong.

But that's not actually really what she's worried about, it's just - you know. Being a piece in someone's game. When they won't care about the Belt. When in almost every meaningful sense, if contact can be made with home at all, her father has more to offer them than the Belt does. The rules by which the rich get richer and the poor get elevated and/or executed at precisely the rate that keeps them not too rebellious -

 

Yeah, she says, not sure how much of that the medtech got.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I know: 

 

 

:But...I think Valdemar really is different. It's hard to explain and I - don't expect you to take me at my word - but it is: 

And Shavri would really like to not be talking about politics anymore. :I'm going to ask the others to send someone riding for the nearest Herald on circuit - I'm not a strong enough Mindspeaker to reach them myself. And we'll get a message to Haven. In the meantime we need to get you stronger and the infection weaker. I've been working on cutting off the nutrient supply to the crystals I already hit, in case they're not dead and as practice for the living one. I want to try at that one now. It...might fight back, if it really is smart. Do you need more painkillers first: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I wouldn't turn them down.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri gives her the rest of the vial. :I'll have to get more: 

And she goes to work on the active crystal-growth, using the process she worked out before. Pinch off and Healing-cauterize the largest feeding artery first - then go after the smaller collateral ones, but this time making some attempt to re-route blood supply to Julie's other tissues if and when she can manage it - then systematically disrupting everything in contact with the Proto growth, right down to the capillaries.

There's going to be a lot of tissue death in there. She might need to cut out the entire growth before it can turn gangrenous. That's not going to happen in a candlemark, though; it can wait. 

She checks the vomit-basin carefully stashed against the wall. There's not much in there for the Proto to live off; is it even still alive in there? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not growing. It doesn't seem dead, exactly, but definitely dormant; it spread out throughout the water and hasn't moved or changed since.

Permalink Mark Unread

...It can wait. And then maybe she can test whether boiling destroys it or not.

She keeps working on starving out the Proto in Julie's shoulder, watching closely to see if it responds to this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It does! It - grows, suddenly, up through her skin, bursts out into the open air.

Permalink Mark Unread

--- eeeugh.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It's okay, it's okay - I've got you, I'm going to fix it -: 

Shavri is not panicking but she's switching to working VERY FAST, even at the cost of sloppiness; she wraps her Gift tightly around the crystal, not crushing but squeezing and holding, and trying to cut it off from the rest of the life-force spread through Julie's body; she flattens and smashes smaller vessels on all sides of it, until it's left swimming in a thin layer of destroyed, dead tissue. 

She pauses, and watches. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Life force panicking and squirming and racing about, life force melting back into Julie's tissues and blood... the crystal itself strains, wavers, like a plant seeking sunlight -

Permalink Mark Unread

She clamps down on it tighter, then even tighter than that, gauging exactly how much destructive force it takes before it goes dark and dormant like the others. 

Permalink Mark Unread

More than the others did. Substantially more. Not because it's free of Julie's skin, that doesn't seem to be helping it, but it seems like it's just harder to squish, and has more of an idea of how to protect itself. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is the WORST disease. Weapon. Whatever. 

By the time she's got it, she finds herself breathing hard. 

:I'm sorry, I know that must've hurt - I'm sorry - I think I should try to get it out. It's - not really attached to anything, I sort of just mashed everything in there. And your body will heal better if it's not in the way. It's - hmm - I'm not sure how, exactly, I can't touch it directly - maybe if I had two long spoons...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a vac suit with engineering gloves in the ship?

Permalink Mark Unread

She takes a breath. Lets it out. :I - guess it's probably a risk worth taking, going in there. I should - have you tell me where it is and what it looks like - and figure out if there's anything else it makes sense to grab at the same time. And make sure you'll be all right while I ride there and back...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vac suit looks like - it covers your whole body, it has a plastic faceplate, it's made of very tough materials... your government will want the drive but you aren't gonna be able to carry that. Once you have gloves you could grab my hand terminal? And there's a first aid kit that might not be redundant given how you seem, uh, poor...

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I can't think what the Heralds would do with the, er, 'drive'. But I guess it seems important for them to know about it: Shavri shrugs. :All right. Those three things. Can you describe what the first aid kit and the, um, hand terminal look like?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

First aid kit is white with a big red cross on it. Hand terminal is glass and about this big - she makes a rectangle of a few inches - and it's charging in a slot next to the monitors. The drive is the entire back of the ship, it's - did you see me landing? It's the thing that was very bright white.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right: Shavri sits back on her heels, moves her Sight out again to scan Julie's whole body at a glance. How is she looking, overall, compared to when Shavri first saw her sprawled in the wheat-field? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Better? Getting a little food and water in it helped. She's still very thoroughly infested with the protomolecule, but it doesn't have living large structures at this point. She looks unlikely to immediately collapse unconscious, at least.

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right, I’ll head over. Get through the rest of that broth if you can, okay? Um, I don’t think anyone without Healing Sight should be in here, but I can ask if someone can be nearby so you can call for help?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I think I'll be okay. Thanks.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri nods and heads out.

She passes the instructions about contacting a Herald, using her best ‘too busy to argue’ voice.

...And asks one of the local children to go by her mother’s house and explain what’s keeping her. She misses her baby daughter, and it’s going to become a lot more urgent soon - her overfull breasts are really getting sore - but she can’t risk having an infant in the sickroom. Or anywhere close to it, ideally. 

She rides back out to the ship. Past the burned circle of dirt; she stops, checks it for any remaining sign of the Proto.

Permalink Mark Unread

The burned patch itself doesn't have any. 

The ground beneath it - might? Not right under the surface, not a handsdepth past that, but a little deeper - it would be hard to recognize if she hadn't just been staring at it obsessively -

Permalink Mark Unread

....That’s not great. The fire wasn’t hot enough, she thinks, darkly - or they didn’t light it soon enough - she’s suddenly a lot more doubtful boiling, or strong spirits, will do anything at all...

Julie is doing better. They can bring her back out here, later - or sooner, ideally, sooner is better. Burn it hotter, harder. 

Queen Elspeth will make it up to the farmers, she tells herself firmly. Not fully, not enough, but they won’t starve...

She leaves the patch of scorched ground, and stands just at the opening to the ship, playing her Sight over the threshold and floor. Any sign...?

Permalink Mark Unread

No. Just gleaming metal and unfamiliar materials and no proto.

Permalink Mark Unread

She tiptoes in.

Her Sight only stretches out to a yard or two ahead, and even that is giving her a headache. She stops once she’s in, checks again, then looks around for any sign of the described items.

Permalink Mark Unread

Proto in - it looks like some kind of water filtration system in the wall? Proto on some metal canteens that Julie must have been drinking from. Otherwise clear. 

The first aid kit is wall mounted and helpfully labelled with an enormous red cross symbol, as described. The hand terminal is presumably one of the many glass surfaces in front of the chair. The vac suit is in a sort of closet in the wall. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She heads for the vac suit first, double-checks it close up, and then starts trying to figure out how to put it on.

Permalink Mark Unread

This takes some finagling because this society seems to have invented a bunch of new kinds of fastening, and the suit is airtight, but can eventually be accomplished.

Permalink Mark Unread

Once it’s on, can she move well enough to retrieve the first aid kit, and check which glass surfaces by the chair are removable and can be picked up?

Permalink Mark Unread

It's heavy, and deeply annoying to move in, like carrying a lot of weight all over her body, but it's possible, sure.

Permalink Mark Unread

She definitely can’t ride in this.

Shavri carries the items out of the ship and sets them a good distance off, then checks over everything with her Sight just in case, even though she should have been very careful about not touching any of the Proto.

Permalink Mark Unread

She is Proto-free!

Permalink Mark Unread

Then she’ll shed the suit and ball it up and try to get everything loaded up on the horse to ride back to town.

Permalink Mark Unread

The suit doesn't collapse all that small but it can be bundled with the rest onto a horse.

Permalink Mark Unread

She rides back to town.

No news on anything from the Heralds.

She carries her loot around the side alley and nudges the door open, checking the room with her Sight to make sure the floor is still clear and safe for setting items down.

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is curled up, breathing shallowly and sweaty. The floor is still clean and safe.

Permalink Mark Unread

She sets down the items and sits by the mattress, turning her Sight fully back onto Julie.

:Hey. How’re you feeling?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Tired. Sort of fuzzy. Did you - she has forgotten what magic medtech was going away for.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I got the first aid kit and your console glass thing. Are you in pain right now?:

What’s going on in Julie’s body? Anything odd happening in her brain in particular with the Proto?

Permalink Mark Unread

There's some Proto in her brain but it doesn't seem to be damaging surrounding tissue like it is in many other parts of the body. It's mostly just...tagging along? Circulating in the brain's tiny blood vessels, reinforcing or shadowing the structures of Julie's own mind.

 

Elsewhere the film is growing back and some Proto has formed clumps in her blood.

Little bit. Not too bad. She reaches weakly for the glass thing.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri nudges it closer for her. :Did you finish all that broth?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Did I? She glances around. Think so.

 

She takes the hand terminal and blinks at it for a moment.

 

Will it kill me to take an adrenaline tab from the first aid kit. I need to record a message for Dawes and I don't think I'm thinking clearly enough to do it right now.

Permalink Mark Unread

:What does an adrenaline tab do? I haven't heard of it, I don't think we have that drug: 

Permalink Mark Unread

's the thing the body does when you're in a dangerous situation, makes your heart pound and stuff. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh. You can just take that as a drug? Neat!: Shavri could probably imitate some of the effect with Healing; she hasn't because it really won't help Julie recover or get stronger in the long run. :I - hmm. I don't think it'll kill you. It doesn't seem ideal, and I might want to try to block the effect with Healing once you're done, so you don't tire yourself out more than you have to. But if you think it's important enough, I'm not going to stop you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Should be in a blister pack in the first aid kit with, uh, can you see symbols I think at you? Looks like this -

Permalink Mark Unread

She has to concentrate hard to pick up images from a non-Mindspeaker, but she can manage, and fishes it out for Julie. 

:I want to have a closer look at what's going on in your blood. But I can wait to actually do anything until you're done with this: 

And she focuses in deeper, on one of the clumps that seems to be forming. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The thing in Julie's blood seems to be trying to form a free-floating crystal like the ones that were trying earlier to poke through the skin. 

 

Julie takes the adrenaline tab and fiddles with her hand terminal and, once the tab hits, composes a message for Dawes; ideally it'd be something that relies on information only he has to put together, so he can use it to figure out what happened and other people can't. She's worried that if she aims too obscure it'll just sound like the ramblings of a dying lunatic, though. Halfway through she starts crying, which is embarrassing. 

Maybe it's in her head but by the time she's done talking she's in way more pain. She stops the recording and lies down and whimpers.

Permalink Mark Unread

Crushing the life out of the crystals seems awfully risky, here, and also the Proto is...learning defences against it? (Shavri hates it, and she's also deeply uneasy about whatever the thing is doing in Julie's brain.) 

She feels like she's just playing catch-up here, slowing and inconveniencing the Proto but not making real progress - though a quiet voice in the back of her mind whispers that maybe this is the best she can hope for. 

:Do you need more painkillers?: she asks Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Might, yeah.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Does the first aid kit have anything better than what I've been giving you?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably not, people snort the good stuff so no one puts it in first aid kits. There's a vague background implication that about thirty percent of people spend all their time doing drugs.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Shavri decides to worry about that baffling and weirdly upsetting snippet LATER. She gets out the second vial of poppy-syrup that she managed to obtain on her way back. At some point the poor village apothecary is going to want money from her for this and she doesn't actually have any of the Heraldic tax-reduction tokens they often use instead of hard coin. 

(Her breasts are really hurting.) 

She settles herself in a comfortable position and dives in deeper, studying the exact fine structure inside the beginnings of the crystal, looking for the most fragile part. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The crystal is trying to - absorb bits of Julie's blood? Tiny bits, at the very edge of what Shavri can see, when they brush against the crystal in the bloodstream. The crystal is trying to grab hold of them and take strength from them and then, usually, let them go.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is very frustrated with the Proto and is starting to run short on ideas for what to do. She wonders briefly if she could somehow, what, armor Julie's blood cells against it? But they're so small and there are so many and it feels impossible. 

She sighs and refocuses her Sight on the very center of the crystal rather than its outside; what's holding it together? How is it distributing and using the life-energy it's grabbing? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems like whatever is going on there is too small for her Sight to get a good look at. It's a lot. There's things rippling through the center, coordinating the edges of the crystal - but it's like trying to focus on something miles and miles away on the horizon, it's all so small -

Permalink Mark Unread

She is going to have SUCH a headache later. 

Well, she can see the ripples, and they seem important. If she pokes at the coordinating-center part with her Gift - not hard, but very precisely, a lot like what she's done on mice when she was studying nerves - what happens? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Disarray! The crystal stops what it is doing and - draws itself inwards? Starts reshuffling?

Permalink Mark Unread

- Promising? But if she gives it any time to react it'll get smarter

Shavri pokes it again. And again. And again.

Can she get it disorganized and drawn-inward enough that her Gift can clamp down on it and squish it easily rather than with great difficulty? 

Permalink Mark Unread

When she tries to crush it it dies as easily as it did the first time, instead of how it did the most recent time.

 

The Proto elsewhere scatters and flees, again. Julie shivers.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Are you all right? What did that feel like?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Suddenly really - achey? Tingly? Fuzzy? Dunno, really - what'd you do -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I found a trick to make it easier to kill the crystals, and I got one. I don't think that's what you felt, though? I think...when I attack some of it, the rest seems to notice, and it sort of - runs away and hides inside you?: 

She broadens her Sight again; does the Proto's rapid movement seem to have any effects on the overall flows and patterns of Julie's lifeforce? Is it causing harm to her each time this happens?  

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems to take something out of her when it suddenly moves or hides; she's considerably weaker now.

 

 

She shivers. That's - bad. Isn't it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't like it! Normal infections aren't smart like that - but we know this is smart. And...probably it won't get smarter as long as it's just inside you, right? It...might learn things, so I need to be careful of that, but I don't think it'll get better at learning:

No, it would need to eat more people to do that... 

:I want to kill the other clumps in your blood before they can get any bigger, because usually it's better to hit things when they're small, but it does seem to weaken you - I think it's drawing life-force from you directly, somehow? So I need to be careful not to push it too hard. Maybe you'd better drink some more cider and try to sleep and I'll just do general Healing to help strengthen your body, so we can try more things later. What do you think?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Can do that, yeah. Kit won't have painkillers but it will have sedatives, if we need that.

Do you mind if I put on music?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't mind, no:

She's getting really tired at this point, and she MISSES JISA. But - she isn't getting ahead enough, she can't afford to leave Julie overnight, especially not when food and water and rest all seem to help the Proto as much as they help her. 

Shavri settles back again, and this time hunts, specifically, for places where the Proto isn't, or isn't as strongly - where she might have a chance at sending unformed Healing-energy directly to Julie and not having it all snatched up instantly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Proto has spread out pretty thoroughly but there's not much in Julie's bones, especially not anywhere where it couldn't be fed by blood vessels.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, bones aren't the ideal place to send generic Healing-energy, but she might as well have a go at knitting the fractured bones in her hand.

And then she pokes around aimlessly for a while, mostly sending little pushes of Healing-energy and then watching, very closely, to see how Julie's life-force responds and how the Proto does. It's very good Sight-practice, really. Though she could do without the throbbing headache. 

Eventually she checks if Julie has successfully consumed any more cider and whether she's sleeping now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie sipped a bit more and is sleeping. The protomolecule seems to flock to healing energy when it's available, and is definitely in better shape, but so is Julie. 

 

Julie's hand terminal is playing strange angry music.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri isn't sure what to do next. 

She has some ideas, sort of, but they're all half-formed, and she's starting to feel blurry with exhaustion, on top of the headache. It would be tempting to stretch out right here on the floor, except that her overfull breasts hurt way too much to sleep. 

Eventually she sighs and hauls herself up. She...can go feed her daughter, once she's checked herself thoroughly enough for signs of Proto infection, and then she can haul a bedroll in here and get some sleep.

The stupid bowl of vomit is still on the floor. She doesn't feel very enthused about dealing with it right now. She leaves it.  

Once she's outside, she leaves the door ajar, finds one of the tavern-keeper's preteen daughters and offers her a copper coin, and asks the girl to stay nearby in the alley and get Shavri right away if she hears any call for help or other sounds of distress.

That accomplished, she begs a bowl of stew in the tavern back-kitchen, and sits down to check herself even more thoroughly for any sign of the Proto's life-force. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is Proto-free.

Permalink Mark Unread

Then she will head off to snuggle and feed her baby daughter, and endure some painfully awkward chitchat with her mother. She's gone for about two candlemarks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie falls asleep, briefly, and wakes up from a horrible nightmare about being devoured from the inside, which is actually happening, so, great job there, subconscious, you really got into some deep stuff. She tries to sit up and immediately is overcome with nausea and lies down again, only in a moderate amount of pain but having a really hard time distracting herself from it because it's not going to get better and she's going to die because they haven't figured out a cure yet.

Permalink Mark Unread

There’s water and cider within reach, plus the first aid kit and hand terminal still playing music. The door is ajar. Shavri isn’t back yet, and doesn’t arrive within the next ten minutes.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, doing any things would probably be very stupid, and also sounds impossible. She just lies there being miserable for what feels like a very long time.

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually Shavri gets back. She has another straw-basket-insulated cup of broth, and a second mug filled with warm, sweetened milk.

:Here. Try to eat or drink some of this. I’m...considering what to do next: She frowns. :Did you get an answer from the person you wrote a message to?: Shavri didn’t totally follow how the hand-terminal message sending works.

Permalink Mark Unread

I didn't - there's no way to get it to him from here, whatever here is. But - if someone finds my world, eventually - if you figure out what happens - and I'm dead, then. You could send it once you're back in the right star system. You just, uh, post it to a dating site, he'll know to check.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh: 

 

 

Shavri picks at her thumbnail. :You'll have to explain a lot more, if you want me to do that. I don't know how to use your glass thing and I have no idea what a 'dating site' is. But I think that's fine to do in the morning. You're not dying imminently, and - maybe we'll still find a way to cure it fully: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Remind me - later - to explain? If I need to?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes, of course. I'll keep track of all the important things like that, you don't need to worry: Shavri tries to project reassurance and steadiness in her mindvoice, which she doesn't entirely feel. :I think I have to get some sleep before I try anything complicated. I'm planning to sleep here, though, so you can call out if you need anything. And I'll have a thorough look first, to make sure nothing needs urgent attention: 

She turns her Sight back on Julie, first scanning her whole body and gauging if she's stronger or weaker than two candlemarks ago, then focusing in on various spots - the remaining clumps in her blood, her stomach and gut, the sites of the killed or dormant crystals including the one poking through her skin. Any significant changes? 

Permalink Mark Unread

She seems stronger than she was.

There's more protomolecule than there was two candlemarks ago, but it seems to be ...impeding her less? The stuff in her blood is moving, not clotted; there's some in her lungs, but in a very thin spray that doesn't seem to be affecting her breathing yet.

There's more in her head. A lot more, the life-force very bright.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it's better than it could be, but it still makes Shavri uneasy. And confused. She can't tell if the Proto is damaging Julie's brain, yet - if so it's at a very fine-detail level, not like the clumping crystals from before. She'll need to get a much, much closer look, and her head is pounding right now. 

:Drink some of this: she reminds Julie, pushing the cup of sweetened milk across to her. :You need nourishment. I'm going to get some sleep. You should too, if you can. Um, if the pain gets too bad again, wake me?: She could give Julie the rest of the vial of painkillers, but Shavri doesn't really trust her to be alert enough to keep track of time and space out her doses. 

She unwraps the bedroll she begged off the tavern-keeper's wife, and curls up against the opposite wall. Despite the worry curdling in her stomach, she falls asleep almost instantly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie sleeps poorly and wakes for good well before Shavri's back, coughing and having trouble clearing her lungs, and with an utter conviction there's a crystal growing beneath her ribs even though she objectively can't identify any evidence of this. The hand terminal is low on battery; she turns it off. WIthout the music everything seems a hundred times more hopeless.

 

 

She doesn't want to die.

 

 

By the time Shavri is awake she is making a list of her problems again. Maybe this is all a hallucination. Maybe the atmosphere is outside the ship's tolerances and it won't fly. Maybe I contaminated this planet and will get everyone here killed, and for nothing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri sleeps like a rock. 

Eventually - still in the very early morning - she blinks open gritty eyes, lies on the floor yawning for a few moments, and then sits up and, realizing that she must have slept for quite a long time, immediately turns her Sight on Julie again. What's changed? 

Permalink Mark Unread

She looks worse. Her life force is weaker, she's having trouble breathing, and the proto is everywhere, swimming through her veins, attempting to make crystals under her fingernails and in her lungs and in her tendons and in her nose. None of them are very large yet. 

She has her head in her hands and is muttering to herself.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Hey: Shavri shuffles closer. :How're you feeling? You - don't look great, honestly. I want to just push you some Healing-energy and then - try something, um, I can try to explain if you want but if you're feeling too fuzzy...:

Permalink Mark Unread

Scared, she says. Keep imagining it growing inside me - except it's not imagining, right - you can try stuff -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I know. I'm going to try my best and - I think we're still better off than we were when I found you, overall?: 

Well. Maybe. Julie's condition is less precarious, and there aren't any huge crystals again yet, but it seems like overall there's more - and stronger - Proto. 

She checks again that Julie's skin is still clear of Proto, then sets up a link and starts pushing a steady flow of Healing-energy, mostly focused on Julie's heart, which doesn't seem to be the spot of most interest to the Proto right now. Once that's settled and needs less of her concentration to hold, she turns her Sight briefly on Julie's smaller veins and her mouth and eyes, checking her current level of dehydration, and then has a closer peek at her liver and some of her muscle tissues, both places where she knows how to look for signs of undernourishment. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie's pretty undernourished! That's partially the fault of the proto but it's probably mostly just that she still hasn't had all that many calories in the last week, and she's spent them fighting off (or failing to fight off) an infection. She's also a little dehydrated, and - starting to get sick with a couple other non-proto things that wouldn't usually affect a healthy young adult at all?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'm going to get you more of that sweetened milk in a bit and I want you to drink all of it: Shavri says. :Just rest for now: 

Undirected Healing-energy will mitigate some of the effects of malnutrition, and she can knock out the other impending infections easily. It's worrying her, that the Proto seems to be - shutting down Julie's body's defences, or maybe just taking so much of her strength that she has nothing left? 

:I'm not going to try to crush any more of it right now: she explains after a little while. :It seems to - scare the Proto, I don't know how else to put it, and then it steals more of your life-force. But I figured out a way to sort of distract or confuse it, and I'm hoping I can use that to get it out of the places it's causing the worst problems: 

Right now she's worried about Julie's lungs. She dives in deeper with her Sight, focuses on one of the tiny forming crystals, falls down and into it until she can just barely see the ripples of something-like-energy traveling from the middle to the edges - she tests if she can push her Sight just a teeny bit further and closer, that's how she's strengthened it to this extent... 

Once she has a sense of it, she tries the same thing as before - a delicate poke, not breaking or tearing, just disrupting the pattern of those ripples. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto moves like a startled animal, flinching away from her, but not aggressive, just confused, maybe startled.

Permalink Mark Unread

This is really creepy. Shavri tries not to shiver. 

Hmm. Can she...sort of nudge it in the direction of not Julie's lungs? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It doesn't flee in a wholly consistent direction when prodded but it does generally end up away from the direction it was prodded from? It seems reluctant to leave Julie's lungs entirely, though, because if it's not hijacking blood vessels then it needs mucus membranes. It spreads out a bit, trying to identify other good places to live.

(Presumably it is not actually thinking those things, but the reluctance is noticeable and so is the search for where to go instead.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, she'll try to nudge it out of the major airways, at least, and push it toward the periphery, where it can piggyback on Julie's breathing for now but without reducing Julie's lung capacity too badly. 

Shavri guesses that a lot of her trouble breathing is inflammation and irritation responding to the Proto, and goes hunting for any of that which she can calm down, and any damage left by tiny crystals which she can repair. 

After a while, maybe a candlemark, she surfaces, and surveys Julie's overall condition again. :Hey. How're you feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Weak smile. Better. I think. You're really cool, you know that?

 

 

I should tell you - if I die, but you figure out how I got here, how to get the message out -

Permalink Mark Unread

There's another thought starting to gestate, in the back of Shavri's mind, but it's not out in words yet, and it can wait. 

:Sure. Just let me get you that hot milk first. Right now I...can't actually stop the Proto from pulling nourishment from you, so the best we can do is try to feed you enough for you and it both: 

She slips out, checks herself for any Proto, and heads for the kitchen. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's still not infected. It doesn't, actually, seem very contagious, lots of human diseases are worse on that front. 

So far. 

 

Julie lies down and tries taking deep breaths and shivers.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is back shortly with sweet cider in a waterskin and more of the broth and more milk-and-honey, this time mixed half with cream. 

:Here. This is as much nutrition as I can cram into one cup of liquids. Do your best with it, all right? It's fine if it takes you a while. How's your stomach feeling?: 

She has a closer look at Julie's stomach and gut. Maybe she can use her delicate-poking strategy to convince the Proto film to relocate a little and let Julie absorb the nutrients she needs? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto likes hanging out in Julie's stomach and gut and is reluctant to be poked away but not unpokeable. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie will do her best with the liquids but they're kind of nauseating after all this not-eating she's been doing! 

Permalink Mark Unread

:It'll get easier, I promise - you just need to get your body used to food again: 

Shavri's mindvoice is distracted - she's busy trying to, via discreetly timed miniscule taps of Healing-energy, herd the Proto out of a lengthwise strip of Julie's intestine - it can have the rest if it wants. She Heals the underlying irritation from wherever she's able to free up. 

Eventually she re-emerges, rubbing her eyes and blinking. Her head isn't hurting yet but she feels a bit dazed. :...Gods, sorry, it's easy to lose track of time doing that. You can explain the message thing now, if you're up for it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

If you figure out how to get to my world, and I'm dead, you're going to want to tell the ship the pilot's dead and put comms and docking on autopilot. I was going to Eros, border there isn't super strict, you should have signal well before you get to the part where they want to know your business and the ship's registration and insurance, you click on this - she demonstrates a marking on the screen of the hand terminal - and then this, to set your profile live and start looking for matches.

The terminal changes to show a shirtless picture of a man of Shavri's ethnicity, about thirty, handsome with very generic features. 

The pic's fake, Julie says. Everyone'll notice, the poster in the background is a dead giveaway, so I won't get many matches, but that's fine. It says I'm a dude named Lionel Polanski, which is a name Dawes'll know to look for. That's all you have to do, depending how much you're trying to avoid attention you can scrap the terminal after that.

 

 

That - wasn't a very good explanation, was it. 's hard to think.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It's enough for me to figure it out if I have to, I think. And - hopefully you'll be able to think better when you're not so weak: 

The silent 'if' hangs unspoken in the air between them. 

Shavri sighs. :I - we should talk. Sorry, I know you're foggy, but...you should know what's going on: She takes a deep breath. :I don't know how to cure the Proto. I'm sorry. It's - there's too much of it, it's too intertwined with you, damaging it tends to damage you even more. Short of a really huge breakthrough, I - I think the best I can do is slow it down, and get you a bit stronger so you can...have some time to figure things out...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah.

 

Might be - something they can do - at home. She doesn't really believe it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Maybe: Shavri rubs the back of her neck, which aches with tension. :So far the thing that works best without harming you is - so it's sort of based on research I was doing with nerves, you can use Healing to poke at them and make them fire off messages. Anyway it seems like something similar works on the Proto, and I can - convince it to leave vital organs alone. It's possible I could get it to - stop growing, stop taking so much from you, and then it'd be more like one of the slow-growing cancers that people can live with for a long time...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- huh. That'd - do you think you can?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't know. Maybe. It's the best idea I've got so far: Shrug. :The Proto - learns from what happens. It's scary but maybe I can use it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's not intentionally sending it but she's thinking that her father would kill for what Shavri probably now can see about the protomolecule. Has killed for less, if she's at all right about what plans were underway.  

 

She can't think of a good plan here and she's not sure if it's because her head is fuzzy or because there isn't really a good plan here. 

Do you, uh, know anyone who could make progress on figuring out how I got here and how to get back.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I don't, sorry. Maybe Savil, she's the most experienced at magic, but I don't know if magic is even what we need here. Kilchas knows things about astronomy, if that helps. Once we're back in Haven we can ask: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay. Thanks. Magic...might be what we need, honestly. Astronomy says this shouldn't have happened.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm, that's a point:

Shavri feels too tired and frazzled to think about this now. She settles herself against the wall, absently rubbing her breast, which is aching again. :Have some more broth. I want to see if I can get the Proto to let you absorb more of your food: She isn't sure how, but she's starting to shape better intuitions for how the Proto responds to her poking. 

Healing-trance is calm and peaceful and soothing, and the Proto is sort of pretty to Look at, however scary it is. She sinks deeper and further into her Sight with something like relief. Tries to get in even closer, this time, to see if the ripples in the Proto's life-energy or its very fine structure resolve any clearer with more practice. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a lot going on at a very small level. In some ways, the smaller she gets, the smaller it feels like she should get to really understand what's going on; it's happening at a very fine level, much smaller than the corresponding processes in the body. It seems to broadly be doing three things: replicating itself, forming crystal structures and substructures that channel nutrients to the crystal structures, and imitating parts of Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. 

 

 

A long time later, she surfaces, and tries to fumblingly explain to Julie what she saw. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. Do you have, uh, microscopes, I don't know when those got invented...

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don’t know - I can’t quite follow what you mean so probably not? We have telescopes. For looking at stars. Is it like that?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Kinda, only it's for looking at small things. I don't know how to build them. I could maybe figure it out if I wasn't so tired. Lenses are involved?

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri nods. :That might be enough for Sandra to figure it out, honestly. Don’t worry about it right now, just try to get some rest. I’m going to -: she stops, winces. :Actually, first I need to go breastfeed my daughter: The neighbor has a little one too and can feed her when Shavri is here - Jisa won’t starve - but she’s getting quite uncomfortable again. :Do you need anything else?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Headshake. How old?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Almost three months. She came early, though, so she’s little:

Permalink Mark Unread

Awwwwww. Hopefully she has not doomed the baby and the baby's entire planet. Congratulations.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you: 

Shavri heads off. Again, she's gone for a couple of candlemarks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie frets aimlessly and panics every time she coughs and gets steadily more fuzzy; she keeps half-drifting off to sleep and then startling herself awake.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri comes back with a bounce in her step. 

:Good news!: she says brightly. :The Herald on circuit is here, and we've sent word to Haven - Savil can do a Gate to the nearest bigger town. We'll make up a wagon more comfortably for you, we can burn the linens after - we'll need to leave in a candlemark - I've given them instructions for setting up a room for you, we'll probably use a stone Work Room that we can just fireball the interior of afterward -: 

She's in a good mood and excited and her mindvoice is very fast. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Great. Julie says. She has no idea if it's great but Shavri seems to think so. Haven is - the seat of your government?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes. And it's where the Healers' Collegium is, all the best Healers in the entire kingdom: 

She bounces a little on her heels. :We'll need to sort out some things before we go. Do you think you can manage using the ship thrusters to burn the field? I Looked at it and there's still dormant Proto further down, our fire wasn't hot enough. We can give the family a new farm: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shit. Julie tries to sit up. She isn't great at it. Yeah, I can - I can do that. We should probably hurry, in case it's been - dispersing itself, getting deeper underground -

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can bring you over in the wagon - I'll have someone get it ready. I'll take your first aid kit in case you need to take some of the thing you took before, to be more awake...? And I can do a bit of Healing while we're waiting for the wagon. How are you feeling?: 

For what feels like the thousandth time, she plays her Sight over Julie, first just scanning for her overall strength and the level of Proto activity, then checking up close in her lungs and gut and brain. It's nearly automatic by now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Proto is doing really well! It's grown back in her lungs and gut and is everywhere in her brain. There's also some spreading right under the skin on her arm and some right under the skin on her cheek, apparently trying to replace the function of the tissue there. Julie is running a fever, now.

 

'm kind of tired and out of it, Julie says. I should take adrenaline for the ship, just because it's important to get it right. I was having a bit of a hard time breathing, earlier.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri looks around for the waterskin of sweet cider, pushes it across to Julie. :Try to drink some more of this. I'll try to bring down your fever, that should help you feel less out of it: 

She settles down, gets a link up and starts a steady flow of Healing-energy - at least half of it's going to the Proto but right now she doesn't see a better option, and maybe it'll get the Proto to consume less of Julie's strength. Then she dives in deeper with her Sight, hunting for the source of the fever - is Julie's body trying to fight the Proto, or a different opportunistic infection, or is the Proto somehow causing it directly...? 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a minor opportunistic infection in Julie's lungs but it looks like mostly the fever is Julie's body trying to fight the Proto, which doesn't seem to mind the fever at all.

 

Julie drinks the cider, shivering.

Permalink Mark Unread

If the fever isn't actually helping then Shavri feels fine about poking the relevant metabolic pathways and noping it, at least for the next candlemark or two, she'll need to keep doing it. She whacks the minor infection, soothes some inflammation, and then allocates another few minutes to Looking as closely as possible at the Proto in Julie's lungs and trying her teeny Healing-energy nudges to coax it elsewhere or at least less in the way.

She muses, vaguely in the background, that it would be awfully convenient if she could talk to the Proto. Tell it that it needs to stop growing, because if it keeps this up then Julie will die, at which point it will die too - well, she's actually not sure if it's now strong and smart enough to keep going, wearing and animating her corpse, but either way at that point Shavri would feel just fine about burning the remains with the ship's thrusters. Note to herself, she should ask Julie for instructions on how to do that, once they're at the ship... 

After a while there's a knock on the door, and someone informs her that the wagon is ready. 

Shavri levers herself up, hands on her knees. :Julie, are you up for crawling out again? How's your breathing feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I can probably crawl. 

She can, though she gets winded every few seconds and has to take breaks.

Permalink Mark Unread

The wagon is lined with blankets and pillows on top of the waterproofed tarp, this time. 

Shavri brings the vomit-bucket, carefully covered to avoid splashes; just incinerating it seems like the easiest way to deal with it. She also checks whether the sheets or blankets on the straw mattress are contaminated with Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They are, near where Julie's face was.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri balls them up inside some clean canvas, carefully without touching them directly. Hopefully that'll do for the wagon ride. She stashes the bundle beside Julie, and then carefully perches on the back of the wagon, where she can let her hand rest just above Julie's ankle and keep going with the Healing-energy. 

She absently examines Julie's brain while the mule carries them out to the ship, trying to figure out if the Proto there is responsible for Julie feeling so fuzzy and out of it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It might be! The Proto in Julie's brain seems to be trying reasonably hard not to disrupt its processes - it's doing a lot less tissue damage there than elsewhere - but it's still in her brain, relying on her blood flow, and there's a lot of it by now.

 

Julie winces every time the wagon goes over a bump and vomits several times on the way there.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is starting to regret not bringing the painkillers with her. She does her best to poke the densest concentrations of Proto in Julie's brain into getting out of the way, and she can nudge Julie's bloodflow to increase by dilating the vessels in her brain a little, and pushing her heart to beat a bit harder. 

She flinches every time Julie vomits. Probably it makes sense to just burn the blankets she's lying on now, and get new ones brought over. Or beg them off the farmers, who're about to have to vacate their house with all their worldly possessions. 

Shavri is really not looking forward to that conversation. She distracts herself with the submerged peace of Healing-trance as long as she can, thoughts meandering slowly. Why is the Proto behaving differently in Julie's brain - why does it care...? 

On some bizarre impulse, just as they reach the field with the ship, she opens her Thoughtsensing fully; she's been shielding it until now, out of habit and because she doesn't want to invade Julie's mind, but now she focuses on the feeling of the Proto's life-force, and strains to feel for anything there to be read. 

Permalink Mark Unread

ĺ̶̙̪̂͋͐̓̔́̔̉͛̄͝͝o̵͓͈̤͉̞͍̫̬̭͊̃̀̐́̌̄ͅl̶̨̨̢͕̲͈̻̞͉͎̃̎̾͌̍̀͌̚̚ş̸̫͔̥͙̪̳̊͗̔͋̒͋̽̍̊͗̂͆̈́̚͜͝o̵̢̨̦̹͉̭̟̹̖̘̹͕͔͂́l̸̢̟̩̜̝͎͔͈͍̓̀̈̓͐̉̀́͊͐͘̚î̴̛̝̟̱̘̦̥̭̯̙͛̅͒͊̽̈́̑͋̌̚͘̕͜s̵̢̤͕̖͖̘̒̃̅ơ̷̧̙̹͚̩̼̹̬̳͈̗̈́̏͐̾̊́́̾̈͌̆̉i̷̞̼̻̠̟̞̼͗ļ̸͎͇̯̬̙̙̻̍͌͊̃͑͝͝ī̶̫̌́͠o̵͍͆̾́͐͝ḽ̶̡̠̯̬̫͋̐̈̓͜i̵͕͓̱̟̝̣̲̭̭̮͐̌̈̔͐̆̂͊́͒͗͋̔͘͜͝o̴̼͛̆̊̾͛̏̔͌͌̀̈̔̿̌̀l̶̬̪͈͉̘͂̈̒͠i̵̢͉͉̜̱͇̤̥̥̍̍̇̃̌̈́́͑̈́̒̀̚̕͘͝o̴̻̳̯̱̺͚̫̯̓̕͜ļ̷̡̖͖͉̝̟̓̈́̆̉̂̒͂̉̌̔͌͒͘ḯ̸̧̹̩̻̌

Permalink Mark Unread

...What. 

Permalink Mark Unread

l̷̢̼̫̈́̀̆̈́̈́͜ḷ̵̲̱̦͂̏̾̏̑͋̕s̵͇͍̮̘͑̅i̶̡̮̹̻̽̆͊ȕ̵̢͇͈̱̗̺̝̤̈͑͝͝i̴̢̝͎͕̲͉͈̻͂̂̀̀̋̚o̸̧̥͍̱͇̪̐̾̍͂͂͜͠i̷̡̨̛̲̘̜̦̫̻͗̿̌̒̌͝i̴̛̥̞̦̗̰͖͎̻̅̋̃̐͂̈̕l̸̼̳̪͚͇̺̐͌̋͂͗͆͌̕͠i̸̡̠̘̠̮͇̾͐͘1̸̹̮̈́̌̄͛͠í̷̢̛͙͕̤͂i̵͙͓͎͘ḭ̷̓̊́̕͠ȉ̴̝͎̗̹̹́͜ḯ̸̘͕̐ḯ̸̘̰͈̼̳̮̝̳̦͗0̸̯̣̗̞͔̜̊̀̈̈͜͝i̵̛͓̤̩̟͉̙̜̘̦̝̓̽l̷̢̼̫̈́̀̆̈́̈́͜ḷ̵̲̱̦͂̏̾̏̑͋̕s̵͇͍̮̘͑̅i̶̡̮̹̻̽̆͊ļ̷̡̣͈̖̱̬̼̮͉͚̫͖͛̐͌l̴̜͎͍͇̦̱̪̯̣̣͇̉̍̕ͅͅs̸̛͎̘̪͉͙͊̒̅̉̽̿̌͝͝i̴̡̩̰͙̘̗̜̺̣̺̱̾̔͌̆̍͆̍̓̇̍͆̈́͆̕͝ȗ̸̝̼̤̳́͗́́͘̕ͅi̷̧̢̧̙͓̗̭̙̪͍͓͚͂́̇̒̚͜ò̷̧̨̘̼̜͙͇̼̣̻̞̠͉̘ḯ̶̢̭̦̺̺͙̫͖̟̟̖̳̘̩͍́̈́̈́́̈̓̚ĩ̵̧̛̪̝̬͎͎̗̳͓̞̖͇̙̲̎͊̊͒̈́͘͘͜͠ḽ̴̛͉̳̠͊̃͒͗͒̀̽̏̽̉͛͘í̶̢̛̥̯̮͈̹̝̘̱̱̿͊̽̿́̌̃̆͆̐̇͝ͅ1̴̦̘̺̹̮̜̦̓͌̇̈́́͗̂͊͂͑̄͐͜͠͝i̷̛̘̤͕̎̑͜͝ͅi̷͈̩͍̘͓͉̻̭̗̥̽̋̋̂̏̄̄͠i̴̢̞̖̭̲̘̖̱̭͚̘̿̏̏́̾̏̄̅͘ͅȉ̵̧̼̻̮͚̹̯̝ͅi̶̢̝͍̫̜̋̐̉̇͒̈́̈́̔̚ī̵̼̦̏̅̃̕l̷̤͚̖͈̱̜̟͊̄̏̚ī̵̩͎̮̟̯̻̺̬͈̒̈́̄͒̈́̅̇̐̄͛̄̌́̕p̴͇̫͓̫̼̙̠͔͖͑̅́́͊̽̑͝i̸̡̛͖̯̫̩̱̤̜͐̀͛̋̽ĭ̴̩͕̯͕̱͎͉͈̺̫̞͉̘̝̱̐̌̽̌̀̓̊͐̈̕͠ỉ̷̧͇̯̭͔̞͙͙͖͖͙̈́͊̌̃̇́̂̌̈́͋͘͝ḻ̸̖̉̽̈̅̂͋͝l̴̨̜͇̻̞͉̠͉̠̓̎̌̈̕̚͝1̷̙̭͇̺̅!̶̭͂͌̈́̃̈́̋́ͅ1̷̬̫͍͍̭̌͊̎̈́̂͑̎̆̓̑̄̈͘͜͠1̵̢̛̗͉̯͕̤̖̰̜̆̈̐̊̈́̆̈̀͠͠ͅ1̴͉̰͕͖̫͗1̷̥͉̉̈́̈́́̂͂̑́͌͑̅̽̊̅͜͝1̴̧̱͈̺̮̪͚̩̲̤̰̠͚͚̓̀̃̔̄̈́̍̀̐̐̆̚̚̕

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri sits frozen for a few seconds, and then, without really thinking or planning, she reaches out with a Mindtouch, focusing on that bizarre, incomprehensible presence. 

:Do you understand me: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝

 

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

She gives up on words. Why would the Proto know words? 

She tries, instead, three little Mindspeech pokes in a row, like how she would tap at a Mindspeaker's shields. Tap tap tap. 

Permalink Mark Unread

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝      i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝      i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

That was...huh...still not words, still nothing like any human surface thoughts, but - that felt like a question? 

Tap tap tap, she confirms. 

She takes a deep breath. 

:?:

She doesn't really know what question she would ask, if the Proto could possibly understand it. What are you. What are you doing here. Can you stop. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝            i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝                  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝    i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝   i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝              i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝   i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝          

 

 

 

 

 

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝  i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     ?

Permalink Mark Unread

It's a pattern - she can tell it's supposed to be a pattern but she's not seeing it yet, it's not odd numbers - Vanyel would have seen it by now - 

She tries to think of conversations she's had with Van; every once in a while he digs up some ancient treatise on math and gets excited about it, she remembers every time because his eyes light up a little when he's explaining something that interests him... 

Oh. 

 

: !   !   !   !   !      !   !   !   !   !      ! : 

 

: !   !   !   !   !      !   !   !   !   !      !   !   ! : 

 

: !   !   !   !   !      !   !   !   !   !      !   !   !   !   !      !   ! : 

 

 

:?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝    

 

 

 

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝      

 

 

 

i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝     i̶̫̦̗̲̟̜̟̼̩͉̫̪̇̇͋̿̽̎ͅi̵̧̺̗̣̩͇̩̾̈́̾͑̅̈͒͜͜͠ͅȉ̷̛͓͍̻̬̘̼͖̤̭̮͈̭͎͒͆̍̋͗̆̚į̴̡̜̙͙́̇͊͐̈̆̉̾̿͠l̸̡̗̅̀̉͌l̴͉̼͙̤̂̂̓͗̌̄͑͊̂̽̇͠͝l̶̢̢̞̩̟̫͚̳͇̪͉̟̈́̄̌̊͋͆̇̽̊̊̐͆ͅl̸͚̲̮̀̎̋͊̓̅̾i̷̞͔͍̱͉͚͕̹͔̱̣̾̀͐̓̈͝1̸̙͚̺̅̇̄!̶̢̡̮̱͔͍̻͎̑̀l̷̜͑̔̍̓̿̑́̌̚̚ì̷̳͔̤̪̜̹̩̯̫̖͕̿̾̉́͝ͅḭ̷̧̫̲̺͛ļ̵̼̳̼͔͔̣̤͔̇̈́̇͋̎̎́̂̆͝͝      !

 

 

 

!̴̢͔̖̲͈̠̣̦̬̤̗̭͖̦̞̒̏̚!̷̛̠͈̜͎̝̝̭̻͙͎̩̟͈̔̉̐̒́̇̏͗̈́̆!̸̲̻͖̥̞̝͍̳́͂̽̚͝͝^̷̛̜̱̠̥̫̺̓̀̈́̒̈̑̽́̈́́̚̕̚(̵̫͇̹̝̱̻̥͕̘̱̹͊͛͆̍͂̇͛̈̉̀̓̿-̷̢͙̱̝̟͈̒̾́̇̇̄̐̓͜͠͝͝!̴̢̢̨̣̤͇͎̖̤̙͓͉̣̂̀̅̀̄̄̆̈̏̀̿͘͠!̴͓̔̉́͊̀͋̕͝!̵̧͕̿͒̊̑)̶̗͚̱̮̱̗͍͚̍̾̔̃͛̔̕

 

 

(note to readers: this text box should display twenty three instances of the text used in the above few boxes, followed by an exclamation mark, followed by one instance of new text of similar length.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, she's achieved something that vaguely resembles communication! 

Does she know any other number sequences...? No, Van would be much better at this.

Instead, she takes a deep breath, and tries to push an image across - her own Sight, focused on the Proto's life-force, the way it shows up glowing-blue, brightest in Julie's head.

(She tunes out her perception of Julie's body as much as possible, not that the Proto seems likely to learn anything it doesn't already know about how to kill her.)

(Maybe she can show it how not to kill her...) 

:?: she adds, and waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's a longer wait; there's a high volume of - something happening. More of the proto is swarming in Julie's brain. 

 

 

 

į̴̡̛̣̭̫͖͍̙͓̳̼̰̼̘̰̼̞̜͋̽́̑̋̇̑̂̚̚͝ͅi̴̛͔̲͉͗̓̒̎̏̃̇͊̒̏̅̔͘̚ḯ̷̧̢̪̞̤̣͇̲̖̯̬͉̯͎̪̤̜͇̟̖͑̎̾̾͌͆̔͛͑̽̍̂̄͜͜͜͝͝͝i̷̧̛̤̰̯̞̮̩̺̠͇͔͈̫͈͎͍̯̺̝̺̗͚̔̌̃̓̕̚͜l̷̜̺͔̪̲̪̺̥̹̣̠̮̞̳̇̄͑̄͌̓̿͗̇̈͂̂̃̈́͑̍̚͜͠͠1̵̙̟̝̣͉͓̹̼̭̆̊̍͒͋́̃̏̑̀͊̽̈́̇̏͌̌̓̈́̚͠ͅí̶̧̨͍̖̼͚̣̫̭͚͓͓͖͔̮̱͎̹͎͍̜̫̹̤̃̌̎͊̓̿̉̌̅͘͜͜1̴̢̡̯̬̗͔͓̝̻̘̩͎̠̗̩̣̖̻̺̫͖͕̞̐̏̽̿́̔͆̓̅̀̒̚͘ļ̸̧̨̤͎̹̳̬̺͓̮̥̼͈̳͈͔͍̱̟͓̐̾̾ĭ̴̬͕͔͎̮̳̱̰͓̩̭̳̦̖̟̲̬͌͑̅̈́̈́̍̽̈́͑̍͜͜͜l̸̤̝͇̦̙̰̠̩͖̖̣͔̬̟͍̘͖͆̓͜í̷̧̛̥̱̤̺̖̗̟̭̜̮̱̰̭͉͍̥̣̪̹̗̳͔̟̖̟̪̥̮́̈́̑́̈̊̿͋̃̑̐̈̆̌̋̀̓̕͝͝l̷̛̳̋̉͛̽̏͂͊̅̈́̅̑̆͋̇̓̑̽́͛͌̎̚͝1̸̧̧̨̭̬̺̠̣̺̳̬̻̘̼͙̯̝̬̓́͆̀͒i̶̡̙̻͕̬̰͚̜̝̹̜̤̥͖̹̠̲̱͍̱̝̔̽̎̔̐̈́̿͒̑̆̍͛̌̏̚̕͠i̵̢̛̗̱̞͉͍̮͑̎̿̊̀͗̐͌̓̊̈́́̚̚͠i̶̯̼̹͕͎̥̩͎̬̓̑̐͗̆̓̌̑̑͒̈͠l̵͙̺̼͍͈̟̣̫̮̞͈̥̲̜̘̦̥͕̖̣̱̩̘̬̫͉͒̃̂ͅị̸̢̼̪͍̗̻̖̱̹̘͈̰̜̻̓̈̂̉͋̓̅͛̔̓̅͊͋ͅͅl̷͍̟̣̖̹̹̙̟̯̘̖͓̲͈͕̭̤͉̤͎͍̱̤̂̀͐i̴̛̗̲͈͈͔̱̳̮͇͙̭̿̀̎̿̓̒̓͜į̷̢̨̧̨̡̨̜̗͍̺͕̖͓̘͔͍̳̫̼̳͉̯͍̪̺́̂̂̅̐̾͐̽̉̍̌̐̿̎͠͝ͅ1̴̹͕̣͑̀́̈́͒̓̀̏̈́͒̕͝į̸̫̓̔̎̽͊̀̇̌͗l̴̛͓̹͈̅̄͐͂̈̊́̄̍̀̄͐̆̕͠1̵̣͈̀̓̏͐͛̓͊̽͒́̉̍̆̌̆͋̃́͂̂̓͘̚̕͠h̷̨̧̧̯̺̫̜͔̘̳͈͔̳̼͖͕̦̮͉̻̘̠͖̙̞̜͉̪̊̾̃̈̂̂̒͗͌͆̒̈͒̎̏̾̌̉̆̋́̽̉́̄̑̄̋̕o̵̡̫̫͉̬̮̹͍̮͔͖̳̜̻̬̥̜͊̍̉̀̅̇̆̈́̈́̄̓̊͆̈́͋̀̃̏͊̈́̎̑́̎̚͠͝͝ş̷͎̩̟͖̗͍̲̦́̉́̈́̋̑̌̋̈́̈́̊̅͗͒͋̒̀̽͝ͅt̶̖͉̘̥̳̖͓͕̼̱̜̄̊͊͛̅͊̃̎͐̊̚͜ǐ̵̡̡͉͈̯̼͖̘̪̭̞̮͙̤̞͙͚̖̭̮̳͉̯̝͚́̀͆̀̅̎̌̒͐̀͒͂̚͜͜͠͠l̷̬̪͖̝̰̼͉̮̲̞͔̟̖̳̈́̃̈́͘ę̴̧̨̛̛̛̫͎̩̘̤͓̱̣̻͍̰̬͍̞̟̻͐̌̀̀̀̆͋͑̊͗̿̉́̄̅́̇̄̽̋̕͠͝͝͝͠!̸̨̛̭̤̖̭̫̟͈̘̫̩̩̜̼͊́͌̊̅͂̉͆̀͐̓͗̓͗͘͘͠ļ̵͇͙͕̻̼̦̣͊̽̔ȋ̶̖͑̏́̒͝l̵͈͎̙̬͍̙͕͎̯̾̚͝į̷͈̣͍͓̞͖̉̍l̶̨̡̠͍̫͉̜͙͈̀̉̏̅̌́̀͌̌̂̎͋̒́́̄̐͆̎͊̄̚̚̕͝ỉ̷̧̞͇̣͍̬͍͔̟̦̘̲͌́̍͐͊͂͐̓̆̿͂̇͌̒̌̃͐͒̍̀̀̂͑̚͠͝ǐ̷̢̧̡̧̟̮̠̰̹̗̩͚̯̣͈̺̞̳̲̳̳͉̙̰͎̞̲͍̦̞͐͆̏̒̾̍̌̿̃̍́̈̇̑̚̕͝͠į̶̼̭̋͛̾͗̋̀̒̉́͌̄͑́̉́̿͑̂̐̈̐͆̍̕͘͝ ̴͉̩̗̱͉̼̗̱̞̜̙̝̤̮͎͉̘̮̠̐̿̒̀̐͐͜p̶̧͔̮͚̳͔̝̳͖̮̻͙̙̘̤̬̮͛̅̓͛͘͝͠ọ̶̡̢̧͓͔̲̜͉͎̟͚̘̰͉̫̹̠̟̌̓̑̅̌̌̎͐̍̿̄̂̎̏͌̍̍̑̋͛͜͜͝͝ͅͅỡ̷̢̫̗̤̫̾̅̐̆͛͆̏̉͐͂͋̑̅̈́͆̐̄̿̒̔̑̅͝r̸̢̨͓͙͉̺͇͇͍͙̪͚̟̤̖̫̺̝͕͓̟̝̲͓̞̱̮̩̉̈́̈̒͂̇̍͋͆̽͑̒̈́͌̎̈́͑̇͐͑̒̒́̕͝͠͝͝͝ͅl̵̢̢̨̨̡̛̝̦̺̭̻̼̺̙͇̠͚̲̯̝̗͓͉̙͉̘̥̥̪̼͆̽̾͌͛̓̃͌͋͑͑͆̒̀̚y̶̨̧̢̨͕̘̦͓̺̲̖̘͔͔̭̘͍͕̽̅̚͜ ̵̡̯̮̹͔͎̦͈̲̺̙̗̻̼̗̘̳̅̌̀̕͝͠ͅͅd̷̢̨̤͙͈͎͖̺̞̱̯̝̪̥̤̩̯̣̀̎͐̉e̴̢̢̧̡͍͎̱̯̰͈͚͈̩̫̥̲̱̩̱̫̻̫̗̪̙͇͚͚̦͉̒̋̏̈́̈́̇̆̈͑̀̈́̌̅͋͌͋̌͊̕͘s̷̢̧̛̼̹͎̮̗͍̙̻̠̥̥̘̗̟͈̘͙͇̼̥̮͑̓̇͌́͊̓͒̌͐̇̈́͋̈̀͘͝͝ĭ̷̯̞͎͚͂̉͑͂͊̒̋͌̑̊̇͆͊̀̚͝g̶̛͈̱̈́͒͗̓̌̽̌̓͊̅̂̈͆̂̚̚͝n̸̡̺̮̭̟͇͇̫̼̱̅́̊̿̓̾̄̋̇̃̃̿̐̈́͐͑̍͑̚͘͝͠͝ę̴̡̼̜̼̗̰́̽̊̎͌͐͂̀͛̊̉̊̃̆̆̿͠͠d̷̢̧̡̧͚̰͇͉͉̹͕̺͚̥̮̀̀̄̿̔͌̽̚͜͜͝͝!̵̨̢̹̣̱͓͖̥̦̣̦̲͑͌͘!̸̧̡̧̛̠̬͎͎̝̳̩͖̹̝̼̞̙̘̜͔͚̗̻̝͗͒̎̈́̔̇́̄͒̓!̷̘͖̋̌͒̃͌͑̈́̒̅͒̏͝͠͝ ̵̡̧͙̙̙̲̣͙͚̝̪͍̟̫̗̆̌̏́̈́́̋͛̽́̈́̈̈͗͊̋̐̓̈́̐̎̌̚̚͠͝ͅi̷̧̧̤͎̞̰̟̯̞͌̽̓̒͆̏̽̑͑̒͝͝ͅĺ̵͙̫͙͚͔̦͑͒̑́̿̔͂̈́̑͑͑̊͊̃̔͆̊̅͛͋̈́͌̇͋̈́͂͠l̴̞̘͉͎̰͎͔̱̱͖̦̳̝̮̳̱̜̤͚̦̣̗̰̺͍̼͔͍͎̪̏̾̋̓̂̈́̒̽̌͒̎̏̎̋̔̃͛͐̌̋̽̊͐͘̚ḯ̸̡̢̢̨̞̺̻̜̰̞̘̙̬͎̦̟̞̰̰̤̮̗̝͎̯͛́̑͑̂̄̓̌̈́̐̈́̔̔͜1̴̡̨͙̱̳͖̩͚̮̲̤̙̤͎̖͚̙̊̏͑̅͗͑̾̚͝͝l̶̡̦͍͔͕͓̥̦͙̼̗̱̺͈̠͇͛́̀̓̽͊̈́̆̃͛̀̏͛̈́̾̆̂͗̆͂̽̚͘̚͜͝ͅi̶̡̛̺̬͓̝̦͕̣̰̘̒̓̋͂̂̽̓̈̐͐̆́̃̈́̑̂͝ͅͅị̸̲̮̮̰̗̭̲̾͋̆̆ ̷̧̞̗͔̜͇͚̼͓̑͒́́̃̓̑̓̽͗̏͌̄͆͘͠͠s̸̨̧͓̗͓̘͕͚̝̬̰̲̺̼̝̝̲̫̪̦̪͈͚͘e̴̡͈͙̼̫̥̲̩͇̲͎͓͓̹͓̟̭̼̅̓́̃́̂̂́̒̊̎̋̉͘̕l̸̡̗̺̜͓̬̪͆̐͗͗́̒̏̂̈́̈́͒͂̀̀̄͘̕͝͝f̵̺̪̱̤̺̾́͊̈̽̐̔͑̚͠ ̵̡̢͕̮̻̭̜̬̯̰̤̥̫̹͔͙̩̗͎̦̣̄͐̈́̑̅̀͌́̆́̿͗̆̾̂̂̅̿̈́̆͛̚͜͜͠ͅd̴̢̧̨̡̢̧̖̝̦̣̺̺̙͕͖͉͈̝̲̻̟̥͈͇͔̝͂̓͗͆̌̑̿̋̄̈́̈́͋͑͒̎͜ẻ̸͙̘̳̹͚̯̼̫̌̒́̓̄̀͗̏͋͑͊̒͆̆͐̈̚͜͝͝f̸̨̹͈̙͉̞̳̹͈͑̔̈̓̀͒͝e̶̡̡̡̖͈͕̜̫̫̮̗̠͓̘̟̾̌̀͛͛̐͂̏̓̆͋̇̽̈̕͝͠n̷̢̡̜͇͈͓͙͍̬͉̟̹̤̦͎͍̺̰̼̳͉͙̮̥̩͇͖̥̿͋̊̎̈́͐̉͗͑̔̅̋́͗̏̆͠͠͠͝s̶̨̡̛͕̖͉̙̦̗̩͕̝̮̺͗͊͋̀͌͛͝ͅę̵̳͎̬̲̮̺̩͔̹̺̉̈̏͊̉̂̐͂̓́̌̅͌̋̔͂͋̂̃̐̂͘͘͝ ̶̼̮͓̮͉̈́͆̌̀̋́̃̈̒̐̔͑̚c̴̨̛̥̻̠̪̜̮̪͎͙͕̠̖̻͕̼̳̺͇̱̱̯̱̣̘̻͚̹̓̂̅̾͊͑̋́̆̈́̀͒͊͐̽̇ä̵̧̠̗̺̲̬̪̙̯͔̜̰͍̲͚̼ͅų̵̢̧̗͙̗͉͇̭͕̳͉̥̳͓͙̼̯̪̟̜̫̲̤̠̘̾͌̇̑̎̓͆͛̎͆̚͜s̷̛̫͙̰͍̼̯̤̫͖̠̼̅̀̃̔͆̑́́̉́́͗̐̄̀͒̅́͒͌͌̾͂͘̚͠͠ȩ̵̫̼͇͇̗̟͎͕̟͇̣̼͆͐̊̅̑͆̉̑͌̈́̓̊̉̊̈́̔̏͊̿͂̈́̋̈́̕̚̕͘͘͝ͅs̸̤͙̻͔̙̻̮̟̜̖̼͋̎̉͒̈́̇̈́͛̒́̑́͆͛̇̆̇͑̆͛̅̾̀͘͝͠͝ ̴̛̭̣̝̘̙̺͓͎͉̙̍́̀͊̅̆̔͗̂̍́̈́̽̈́̽́̑̽̉̉͒̆̚̚͝͠ͅd̸̛̻͍̥͍̹͋̾̎͊͆̌̊͌͠͝a̶̧̢̢̢̛̹̜̹͎͓̹̠͍͎̺͙̦̹̺̦̼̥͛͒̃̾̀̊̾̋͗͋̋̑̏̒̿̈́̌̌̂̓͜͠ḿ̷̗͚̲̮͉̱̭̙̱̦̩͉̖̥̜͇̉͆̋́͑͆̃̄̓̀̆̕͘̕̕͝a̶̛͈̞̺̝͙̤̯͕̤͕̯͖̻̟͇̯̓̀̐̔̊̽̐̏͊͛̽́̆̔̂͘͠g̸͖̦̘̱̤̠͉̞̼̝̤̰͙͙̋͝ͅẹ̵̢̢̛͖̗̠̮̺̗̯̞̓̇͌̈͑͒͗̐̆̈͒̈́̓͗̌̑̌͜͝!̴̡̡̛͔͖̫̲͇͎̤̮̹̖͖͕̫̙̮͉̟̙̠͓̘̟̾͛̆͊̐͒̀͐̿̌͘̚ͅ   it produces, painstakingly, after a great deal of effort.

 

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

....Was that words? It's incredibly effortful to pick out, she already has a headache, and maybe she's imagining it in the noise, but - she's pretty sure it was something

Shavri's pulse is suddenly thrumming in her ears, her breath catching. 

She thinks for a long moment, and then pushes across another image. This time of Julie's lungs entangled with the Proto, a vague visualization rather than her direct perception - and she clumsily tries to picture the Proto growing and spreading and forming crystals, and then Julie's life-force going dark.

Then she tries to start again with Julie's lungs as they are now, and show the Proto receding from the airways, and Julie glowing more brightly, stronger. 

And she might as well attempt words. :If you can stop hurting her, I won't hurt you: 

She waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

í̸̢̧̧͇̯͇͈̲̹̹̘̲͔̯̞̼̻̺̫̪̭͎̠̭̩̩̺̝ĭ̴̢̨̛̲̳̗̣̺̼̥̰̹͖͎̞̠̤͓̺͕͓̟̩̹͈̗́͊̌̇͌̍̄̈́͛̍͒͌̃̃̃̆̀̅́̔̂̀̆́͘̚͜͠͝i̵̧̛̦̖̟̞͔̖͖̰̗̠̺̻̗̱͖̎̏̈́̂̀̔̏̍̂̅̽̂̋͂̃̂́̉̀̊̓̈́̀̀͗i̸͎̰̙̇̊l̵̨̡̡̡̻̳̖̪̜̲̫̣͓̯͙͎̲̬͇̹͙̫͎̜͙͖͙̎̓̏́͐l̸̺̱͓̣͇̥̲̻̜̗̼͙̗͂͛͛̏̃͑͐̅̆͠ͅͅį̷̢̢̡̢̗̻̹̥̯̗̪͙̖̣͙͕̱̯̗̼̳͕̞̝̮̠͎͑̃̀̊̔͐̃͛̀̈̅̂̈́̅͑͌͘͜͝͠ͅl̴̳͔͎̩͓͙̯̦̼͔͙͎̟̲̫̇̌̊̋́̇̑́̈́̐̓͜͝ͅḭ̷̡̛̞͇̝̖̥͚̜̩͍̅͂̈́͗̽̈͑͂̇́̋̓͒͗̀̑̌̈́̆͊̂͆̾͐̓̚ͅn̵̲͙̦͉̟̩̪̒̽͛s̸̲̺̈́̅̀͌̍̿́̇̎̏̌̓͐̓̚ȕ̸͚̯̺̼̫̽̀̐͌̑f̷̝͕͚̝͚̥͇̝͛̽̈́̊͘f̷̢̧̫̬̝̫̍į̶̱͖̖̜̼̬̜͎̳̝̼̫͍̩̻̠͈̈͗̐̿͊̏̂̚͠c̴̢̡̢͎̻̱͚̤͕̖̞̳̙͍̥͎̣͂̄͒̉̀̔̍̔̐̓̈́͊̔̎̿̅̂͊̊͗̕̚͠͠ͅͅi̵̧̢̻̺͕̙̞̙͊̽̅͜͜ę̶̥͈͔̘͎̘̜͍̭͔̘͌͗̑̃̌̔̎͛̃̏͆̓́̍͊̋̈́̃͑̿̏̈́̒́̕͠͠ͅn̴̡̫̤̗̥̼̺͕͕̲̲͗̓̀̿̄͌͗̈́͊̍̽̿̏ţ̸̧̧̥̞͚̖̙̥͉͔͉͉̣̠̟̝͇̟̺̦͚̞̰͚̳̐̋͊́̀̽̀́͊͊ͅ ̵̢̼͔͇̲̦̹͉̼̬̟̲̰̱̯̦̲͓͍͔̣͉̦̰̼̰̇͐͑̑̉͗͆͂̊̊̇̑̾̄͛͐̾͗̈́̈́̐̄͊́̏̏́̕̚͜͜͜ͅr̸̢̟̱̦̳͔̯̄͜͠ė̶̡̡̞͉̬̱͎̩͕̩͓͎̰̫̙̹̖̰̰̼̣͇̩̠̣̥͎̥̲̃̎́̋͒̋̈́̋͌͒͆̌̾͂͜͝͝š̷͎̬͇͉̲̱͕͎͚̥͕͖̃͆̓͆͋̇͑̂̈́̈́͊͋́͗̐̂́̓͋͘ơ̴̞̾̐̄͗̊̌̊̀̋̈́̂̀͗̏̿̇͌̎̾͂̆͘ư̸̧̢̡͉̲̜͉͖̞͓̺̣͍̱̭̖͉͖̱̜͚̘̩͚̻͙̠̱̆̍̏͛̅͋̈́̍̿̎̚͜ŗ̸̨̧̧̭̲͕̗̳̤͚͙̯͔̹̜̭͙̣̺̣͚̩̞̘̋͋̀ͅç̴̛̮̦̬͔̺̠̳̳̹̳͔̲̮̩̫̳͙̘̟͔̪̹̤͎͕͚̫͉͔̇̐́̿̽͑̄́͐̀̋͊̉̍̽͋͊̇̍̂͊̈́̓̂́͠è̵͙̜̰̦͈̬̤̮̯̓ŝ̴̨̢̛͔͓̣̪̪̱̱͉͎͕̝͍͈͚̏̐̿̏ͅ ̶̧̡̳͈̰͎̻͈̻̼̹͔̞̯͙̬̱͔̦͕̟̪̀̐͐͑̃͋͊̐̊͗̓͐̉̎̓͛̌̈́̍̐̏̊̓̇̚͘ȗ̴̧̺̳̲͎̯̠̳̠̫̜͍̲͇̟̗̫͙̦̥̰̠̩͈̯̘̪̹̦̻̾̊̇̀̓̌ņ̵̢̧̡̰̟̙̜̻̥̻͖̦̤̮͎͔͕͍̺̪͈͕͑͐̀͆̈́̀͗̑̔͒̾́̃̉́̆͂̿͒̈́̀͘̚͘͜f̵̧̡̨̢̯͔̩͉̳̥͔̣̗̖͈̘̰̤̟̗̗̰̏͆̑̐̒̅̾̈̓̓́̂̈́͐̊͌̕ͅá̴͎̖̠̰̖͍̺̩̬͇͗̋̌̀̇̈͋͑̎̑̎̋̚m̴̡̡̢̨̯̰̬̟̰̼̹̺̟͔̫͉̬̝͉̙̙̖̯̰̞͇̗̙͉̺̈́̏́̾́̒̓̍̓̏̿̓̊̃̀͗́͌̏͐̐̓̆̄̏̏̚͘î̴̛̞̬͙̼̱̣̟̰̰͗̇͂̋́̀͋̈́͆̽̈́͂̅͗̈́̎͌̔̌̄͝ĺ̴̢̡̹̼͔̳̯̲̦͈̃̄́̃i̶̙̭͚͙̺̥̮̪̪͓̺͖̼͇͕͕͙̥̱̼̩͖̼͈̮̍̈́̀͐̅̈́́̔̎̏͌̕͝͠a̸̡̨̢̤̼̰͚̹̠̹̝̦̬̖̫̗̬̝͇͍̟͖̓̓͜͠ṛ̶̨̠̳̠̳͍̩̥̯̹̳̼̜͔͆͒́̉̏͛̍́̿̈̏̿̿͂̕̚͜ ̶̡̢̨͇̮̺̗̻̳͉̙̦̰̹̩͓͑̔̿̃͝ͅŵ̵̢̧̖̲̦̩̰͓̰̳̮̙̘̲̝̲̭̭̼͒̽̿̀̊͂̽̈́͋͑̉̅̿̔̓͆͊̚͘͝į̸̨̧͍̬̲̻̰̙͔̬͈͙̠͕̣͓̥̩̣̪͔̱̺̗̭̞̰̳̯̎̈̌̓̿͂̌͌̕t̵̛͍͖̙͔̺̠̞̦̭̱̤͉̦̤͎͍h̵̨̪̖͍̰̘͖̰̫̺̟̮̤̻̭̠̮͐́̓̀̇̍̉͊̄̎͛̊̀͛̀͂̓̾͗̒̑̀̆̑̿͝͠͝ ̷͉͋̄̈́́́̍̃́́̔b̸̡̤͓̲̙̗͚͇͉̹͎̜̱̼̝̣͔͓̫̯̲̟͔̞͉̳̎̈́͋̓̅̐̑͐́̈̀̐̆̐͂̓̔͋͘̚̚͜͜ͅḭ̴̧͉̾́̈́͒̀͛̃͌̂̉̃͋̇̔͛͌̚̕͝͠ǫ̶̛̫͎̟̩͓̟̞̭͚͛̒̔͋̋̽̈́̓͊̾͋̂̒̿̕̚̚͠͝͠l̴̨͖͙̮̮̙͓̮̙͚̝̲͇̽͑͌̈̉̔̍́̿͐̉̃̒̅͘͜͝o̵̧̳͇͎̻̠̱̲͍̥̘̬̭̍͛̉̊̅̄͠ģ̸̢̧̢̡͕̬̣͕͇̙͚̭̝̹͎̜̮͙̬̰̺̥͖͇̝̒́̆̓̿ͅy̸̨̹̘̤͈̣͋̓̈́̐͗͗̈́̑̇͂̆̇͂̈́̅͒͗̇̆͂̇̾̚͘̕̚̕̕ ̴̢̡̢̧̨̩͎̞̯̥̟͍̪̩̖͇͍̲̣̯̘̤͉̮͖͚̮̓̓́͌̃͊̽̈̈́̇̽̈́̂̒́͑̿̈́̂̀̑̎̐͂͘̕̚͝ͅͅs̶̡̝̞̒͌͑̂̏̀̏̍̉̿̽̄̊͠y̶̨̛̲̳̭͕̲̤͖̬͉͉̮͓̱̣͓̲̬̻̞͎̱̤̬̦͛̀͊̈̋̉̇͋̓̾̂͆̆̿̑̔͘̕͜͝͝ͅs̴̙̗̲͕̔̈́̽͒̊͌́͒̋̊̅̈́͌̑̄́͐͘͠ͅt̸̞̻͉̲̥̟̮̺͕͈̩̾͊̃̅̌̅̉́͝͝e̴̛̹̙̝͉̥̥̞̣͚͑͐̈́̅̀̒̎̈́͐͂̊̎͐̿̽̓̽́̎̈́́̓͑̊̅̚̚̚͝m̶̧̛͉̙̫͚͈͔̪͆͋̽̑́͐̑͋̈́̋̆͆͗̀̚͝͝͝ ̷̞̋v̶̧̧̢̠̺̠͚̣̘̰͍̹͓̝̬͚͍͇͚̣͇̠͍̈́̇̇̄́̅̿̅̑̓͌̈́̿̇̀͆̊̚͜͜͠ͅė̵͓͇̗̽͐̅͐̌́̋̐͂̄̈́̓̈̊͋̐̓̚r̴̡̨̛͉̯̣̣̮̗͙͓͖̱͓̪̪͇̝̥̠͓̪̥͓̿͛̓̇̊́̍̋y̵̤͔͛́̏͋́̒͑̋̕͘ ̸̨̨̢̛̛̗͚͉̺̲͉̖̥̖̜̹̮̗͕͕̽͑̏̊̒͝ͅp̸̨̡̡̧̨̧̘̠̪̰̖̩͍͖̫̼̻͙͕͂̈͌̔̕͝͠ŏ̷̧͉͉̼͕̳̤̠̹̬̜̗̼̝̥͔̯͓̖̖̟̗̰̺̬̔̂͊̑̉̀̽͌̕͜͜͜͝ờ̸͕͇͍̪̗̥̀͑́͋̀̈̎͗̂͒̌̀̎́͂́͑̄͆̓̔̚͘̕͜͠͠r̴̢̙͈̜̟̼̼̘̤̯͙͉͇̗̺̈͜͝l̸̛̼͍̼̗̯̬̳͕̭̟̮̗̐̀̒̊̈̍̒͑̆̀̾̂̃́͆̎͆͒̆̐̉̇̽̆̀͜͠͝ȳ̶̩̬̮̹̜̼͌̈ ̶͕͚̹̟̳̮̭̭͚̭̥̟̼̾̽͌̏̉̊́̂́͛͝͝d̷̡̨̛̛̛̺̮͉̼͉̫͎͑̍̂̍̓͊̉̽̒͛̂̈́̌̕̚͜͝͝͠e̴̡̙̪̹̙̳͖̻̹̜̔͋̄͌̌̈͂̿̅̀͐͛͑̊͒̂̔̂́̈̀̚͝s̶̢̯̝̮̹̰̫͚͙̺̳̲̘̱̞̗͔̫̪̼̦̫̣̘̤̗̽̂͜i̶͉͙̎̈́̌̊̈́̈́͐̈́̂̕̚͘g̸̢̧̡̨̛̤̜̯̪̠̤̖̺̺̯̠̣͚͉̥͇͆̿̄̆́̊̀̑̾͑͗͆̓̏͑̆͗̔͊̾́̀̑̔̐͘͜n̸̢̬̥̻̦̖̘͉͔̹̞̈́͗̉̈́͊̈́̏͑̎̋̆̅́̏̏̔̐̍̅͊̾̆͆̓̎̇́̓̋͘ę̸̧̝̝̣̙̲̣͇̪̀̒̎̄̍͆̈́͛̾̿ḑ̴̧̧͚̟̲͚̜̜̝͎̮̯̹͙̮͍̙͇͈̩̤̘̟̝̙̗̑͌̿̈̀̂͂́̀̀̇̈̕̚͠ ̴̡̝̹̝͎̝̠̦̲̩̲̮̌͌̊͐̎̍̋͆͛̑̔̑̑̿̈́̄̊͠͠͠͝͝͝d̶̝̜͍̭̓̒͂̅̊́̅́͆͑̒̅͊̍̈̉͂̈̓̿́͝͝͠à̸̧̢̨̛̙̮̳̙̜̬̬̠͇̘͙̘̻̥͎̤͓̰̦͖͇̜͇͙̬̀̓̓͒̊͋͗̿̈́͛̾̔͐͂͛̕͘͘̚ͅm̸̧̧̢̭͓̼̟̖̪̱͙̪̼̠͍̪̫̯͕̘̮̝̙̬͈̐͜ͅͅa̶̢̛͇̻̱͕̯͍͓̠̥̹̪̻̖̳̖̪̬̝̝̲͋̓̃̅͌̓̎͘̕͠͝ǧ̶̥̱͍̺̙̄̀̀͂̆̀̈́̽̏̀̓̐̔̍͋̈́͘̕͠͝͠ȅ̷̡̖̖̬͙͖͓͙̜͓̲̥͎͎̹̻̈́́͗̏̃̋̑̈͑̂̍̇̏͜͝ͅď̸͎̦͗̿̉̋̓̐͂̽̓̒͌̈͂̓̋̈́͝͝͝ ̶̻̖̞͕̭̘̖̮̌́́̓̓͋̿̿͌́͌̆̎́̽͒̉͂̚̕̕͝͠c̴̨̛͕̰̝̤̻̜̪͕͍̬̙̘̗̞̝̜̭͌̍͌̈́͋̀́́́̈́̀̈́̍̿̓̓̃̍̉̌̿̈́ŏ̵̧̧̢̡̦͎̣̣̖̞͕̻̱͍̯͍̭̫̲̞̪̯͆͋̑̎̓̀̋͒̒̾̕̕ͅn̴̨̜̺̺̟̮̙̪̜̠̪̰̫͙̳̖͇̖͙̞͌̔̈́͊̉́̂̽̄̃̈́̀͜ͅͅͅs̸̨̰̙͈̞̯̀̅̓͛̍̍̃͐̔͛̓̀͆̃̎̾͗́̉̕t̴̨̢̛͙̖̬̙͎̫̞̼̟̬͓̖̜̜̞̲̜̜̖̰͍͙̬͊͒͛̋͒̂͑͑̔̊̌̄̌̂͐͐̅͝a̶̧̛̜̭̍̋̄͑́̃͑̃̀͊̾̎́̀͂̆̎́̀̕͘͝͝͝͝n̷͎̰̫̹͔̝̹̠̲̱̤͉̳̙̳͐̎̿͜͜ţ̸̳̬͎̓̀̎̇̊̂͑͛̚͜l̶̢̧͕̼͍͕̹̳̭̟̗̪̻̹͍̻̻̙̞̖̼͖͎̥̪͙̗̋̀̈́̌͐͛̔̌͝ͅy̶̡̯͎̘̰̩̝̳̼̙̪̮̺̮̳͎͕͖̱̭̍̒͊̉̋̿̊͐̂͆̈́́͘ ̷̨̛̖̘̲̩̱̫̦̺̥̥͓̥̻̯̽̀̓̏̓͗͌̅̆́̽̔̅͗͘͘͜͝ͅͅṋ̷̛̞̞̠̮͚͍̱͗̈́̀̎̃͊̇̾͗͝ò̵̻̟̳̭̹̍̈́͊̈̍̄͌̍̌̄̂̆̆͋͘̕̕ṯ̵͙̟͕͍̫̪̪̗͍̲̝̓̓͐̇́́̊͜ͅ ̵̡̢̞͓̹͖̗̹͉̗̙̓̇̿̕f̴̧̢̢̲̜̩̭͇̗͈̭̀̌̂̎̈́͒̅́̊̑͂͑͘͠ͅe̷̡̧̧͓͙̬̹̱͉͙̬͖̥̗̞͖̫͕͉̫̥͎̣̰͊͋ͅả̴̝͓̤̟̙̼̝̰̞͙̙̤͍̓͛͆̏͐̎̿̌͒̓̃̈́̐̉͆̏̓̉̌̂̈́̓̚͘̚͠ͅs̸̰͈̥̼̠̀̆̂̃̉͊̓͊͗͂̈́̑̆̓̄͋̐͘͘͠͠͝͝į̵̡̡̪̯̯͖̞͔̤̤͕͚͍̳̫̩͍̟͍̜͎͓͚͍͈̈́̉̎̊̀͐͒́̒̀͋͑̈́̽̆͝͝͝͝b̴͈͉̜̠̱͔̠̣̯̹̬͔̆͑̌̀̈́̇̕l̶̨̨̧̧̛͔̺̘̥̥̗̤͈̬̖͇̬̠̰͒̿̐̀͆̈́́̔͑͂̅̒̍͌̌̔͆̌̀̋͂̒̇̈̔̍̄͜ę̸̨̢͚̬͙̰͎̲̪͙̺͖̦̄̿̉̈́̓̽̔̒̃͋͐̏͑͂̊̍̅̀̐̂̀̅̐̚͘̚͜͜͝͝ ̷̡̧̡̣̬̮̹̹͈͇̹̲͎̬̝̲͗̽̈́́̿͂̽͛̏͛́͌͂̎͂̈̎̈́̐̑̿̊̃̽̐̚͜͝ͅt̸͉͙͌̐̾̈͂̌̂͗͆̊̍̓͛͒̈́̉̄̓͛̆͝͝͠ǫ̷̹̥̬̻̳̈́̅̽̾̌͋̑̄͛̿̓̅̽̒̎̓͐̉̄̓̂̀̃̚͘͠ͅ ̵̤̏̆͒͋̊m̶̛̳̤͋̏̄̆́̏̽͂͌͝ả̴̧̨̡̧͉̞̱̟͎̺̯̦̯̩̙̹͇̼̳͈̞̹̩̦̺̝̙̀͌͊͛̃͗̊̋̏́̓̋̿̇̚͜͝͝͠ǐ̵̞̩͚̹͖̦̬͙̠͉̇̃́̈́̚n̵̤̻͚͎̥̬̞͎͚͚̥̠͕̅̅͜t̴̢̛̰̱̲͓͙̮̳̪̲͕̤̖͓͇̲̟͇̱̦̝̣͈̭͈̠̂̎̉̓̈́̈́͌̅̏̿̈̃̆̓̍̅̾͋̅̑͘̕̕ͅͅͅa̷̧̢̨̛̖̣͔̮̥̫̜͓̻̰̰̠̯̓͌͗͐̂̏̽͑͑̂̆̊̊͑̔͋̌̏̈́͛̂̈́̑̐͑̐͋ͅͅĭ̴̧̟̠̻͙̗̪͑̎̀̏͆̿͊̇̓̋̈́͛̂͂̽̌̉̃͋̿͛̌̌̄̕͘n̶̢̡̨̛͍͙̥͈̱̳̰̤͔̮͚̦̹̲̮͉̪͓͍̝̤̗͕̼͉̊́̒̽̈́́̽̍̈́͊̄̆͛͐͛̂̒̚͠͝ͅi̶̧̡̡̧̛̙͇̘̯͎̗̰̺̳͑̄̿̉͌̆͋̈́̀̈́̒͋͐̋̔̅͗̉̂̽͐̚i̸̡̻̲̹̱͇̘͇͕̠̺̬̥̙̫͖͈̲̳͓͉̤̫̓̊̓̊̑̽̀̈́̎̔̊̿̽̆̍̄͗̊̐̑́̀̅͌͜͝i̶̲̖̟̲̻̠̮̲͛̈́̉̀̊̈́̈͠ǐ̸̛͈̺̜͉̖̥̖̤͍̓͛̂̀̌̀͝l̴̡̨̡͔͇͖͉̺̯̲̗̬̘̱͉͔͖̠͖̟͙̦̖̘̏̓̂̽ļ̶̨̧̛͚͔͎̞̦̳̳̼͍̭̟̈́̀̾̈́͗̅̂͌̌̆̓̐̾̑͗̎̌͌͋̎̄̇͆̄̚̚͝͠ͅl̵̮͔̠̝̩̼̫̙̦̩̬̲͙͙̞̺̟̗͕͙̄͒̀̿͌̓̈̄̈́̕͜͝i̵̧̫̟̤͕͙̟̰̠̺͔̟͍̫̗̮͍̣̩͛͗̎̿̂͛͆̓̀͗̐̄̈́͂͘̚̕ͅ

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

What's going on? Julie says blearily; it's been a while, and she hasn't wanted to interrupt Shavri while she looks so intent but - it's been a while -

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri pulls back from the Proto's alien thoughts. 

:I - can communicate with it: she sends, her mindvoice shaky. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

- god.

 

Uh. What does it ...want?

Permalink Mark Unread

:....I don't know yet. I can't communicate very well. It - mostly seems to be complaining that your body is - badly designed?: 

Shavri is kind of feeling like if the Proto dislikes it so much then it can LEAVE, but - it feels very new in some way, and confused, and if it's smart enough to know what dying means then of course it doesn't want to die...

She really wishes she wasn't feeling bad for a weaponized infection, or guilty about having hurt it. 

:I tried to tell it to back off your lungs so you can breathe properly. I don't know if it'll listen: 

Permalink Mark Unread

God, Julie says again; her mindvoice carries no implication that one says that believing in any. Should I - take a tab, burn the field -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Probably: Shavri nudges over the first aid kit. :Give me a minute, though, I have to tell the farmers to get their things and head to town. Er, how are you feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

....terrified?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I know. Me too: 

Though Shavri's own mind hasn't decided, yet, whether to settle on terror or hope or guilt or just burning curiosity, so she's feeling all of them at once in a muddy tangle. 

:One moment. I want to... I just want to try something: 

She reaches for the Proto's alien not-mind presence, again.

:Resources: she sends. :For you:

She centers a link, not on Julie, but on the densest area of Proto that isn't impeding a vital organ - and she pushes through Healing-energy, a generous flow of it, and watches and waits and listens. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It - shifts, swells, grows -

 

l̸̨̧̨̝̳͔͖͕̻̟͔̹̘̪͇̲̀̋ͅĺ̷̢̡̨̢̳͚̰̻̠̹̫̒̓͂̔̋̀͂̇͆̋̽̀͗͆͊̑̓̚l̶̡̨͈̟̱̭̠̟͕̖̤̿̒̍͆̊͒̕͘l̵͎̥̹̑͗̓̍̃͆̂͗͆̏̿̚͝ṙ̴̨̡̫̩̥͚̭̱͚̠͖̞̪̦͉̦̱̦͈̪̘̭̘̟̊́̓̀͑̍̍̏̄͌͒͒͘̚͘͜͝e̶̢̡̢͕͇̦̹̹̰̬̬̙̭͎͚̪̣̪͓̥͉̱̟̰̠̰̽͑̓̂̇̈́͌̿̌͛̓͒̔̿͒̀͌̆̐͋̀̈́̕̚̕͝͝͝͝s̶̢̡̧̩͕̜̭̤̙͖̞̺̱̏̒̐̑̌̽̑͑̐̐̑ǫ̷̛͕̥̼̼̘̞̘́̌̈́̔͒͊̎̀̾̈́̄̋͛̆̇̇̾̐̇̓̕̕̕̕̕͠ͅų̵̧͎̰̙̭̟͕͇̖̥̞̭̫̞͙͚̖̖̯̠͂̿̀͊̈́̓̇̾̿̊̀͒͑́̍̇̾͑̄̆̌̀͜͠͠r̷͉͇̳̗̭͈̩̹͈̗̥͓̼̼̘͓̺̝̒͛̀͊̔̈́͝͝ç̸̧̘͕͓̱͕̬̻͇̘̖̭̭̜̹̤̮͎̘̼̤͚̓̉̍̎̀́̂̇̀͗̃̿͑́̚̕̕͝e̶̛͖̬̗̝̜͍̻͇̙̯̹̠̙͕͉̗̺͓̯̳̱͖̩̿͛̈́͛̈́̆͛͂̒͂͛͊͂͛͘̕̕͝͝s̵͓̲̫̼̰͚̞̞͋̐̓͆͐̑͌̉̀̍̚͘͝͝ͅl̸̡̛̜̜̤̟̫̙͙̳̋̃̈́̔̊̾͌́̈́̄̃͂̈́̌̀͋̇̓͒͗̉͂̃̕͝͝l̷̨͈͓̺͙̤̯̰̞̺̟͎̹̖̬̫̬͉̖͇̜̽͂̉͐̇͊̋͜͠ļ̸̳̗̘̩̥̰̪̇͒̋̋̃̈͘͝ͅ      it replies, very seriously, after a moment.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Try not to hurt her: Shavri answers, with equal seriousness, and then she pulls away, and only afterward lets her hands tremble and her throat clench. 

 

 

:Can you get down and crawl to the ship now?: she adds, just to Julie, and she hops down to go talk to the farmers. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah.

 

 

And she takes an adrenaline tab and crawls, trembling, across the ground back over to her ship.  Hauls herself into it. Collapses on the floor, maybe loses consciousness for a bit, keeps crawling.

 

Everything hurts.

 

"What if my medic likes my infectious disease better than me?" is a stupid thing to be scared of.

 

 

"Fuck off," she says aloud in case the protomolecule can hear her.

Permalink Mark Unread

The farmers take the news with quiet resignation and mute fear. They bundle up their possessions - it's not a lot - and leave. 

Shavri dumps the bundle of contaminated tarp and blankets on the field next to the burned-but-not-enough circle of earth, and sets down the covered bucket as well, and then heads into the ship. 

 

:I want you to show me how to do this: she tells Julie, levelly. :In case I have to - later, on my own... I'm going to try to send you some Healing-energy first. Hopefully now I can tell the Proto to back off and leave it for you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay.

Permalink Mark Unread

And to the Proto:

:Resources for her. Not for you: 

She anchors a link on Julie's heart and starts sending energy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

i̶̧̩͇̜̤͍̥̥̦͈͓̹̫̣͇̭͑̐͑́̌̔̎̒̄̓̍̀̎̿̌̐̕͜͝͝i̷̧̡̧̝̥̤̞̤̫̲͇͕͙̘̪͎̞̣̲̫̲͓̺̠͖̩̗͛̀̉̎ͅ|̶̧̨̛̛̮̲̬͍͎̯͙̞͐̇̑̊̇̎͒͒͐͆͊̆͊͊͆̿̈̈̿͌͂̀͘͝͝|̷̨̧͈̻͍̠̽̂̄̑̓́̉͒̓̈́͒͝r̴̛͈̂̋͛̅̐̒̽͑̒̎͆͊͛̓̌̐̄̅̃̕͘̕͠e̸̛̛͎̮̮̣̮̟̣͙̭̭̱̒͌̈́̽͂̍̄̎̚͝s̴͚̖̜͚̬͓̣̝̻͉̝̙͎̹͓̹͓̆̽̎̇̅̈́̃͌̈́̚͜ͅö̸̖̼̙̗̻̳̺̮̞̠̝̭͚̱̘̜̻͍̼̤̝̩̺̱̭́̾̔̾̍̒̋́̆̈́̈́͒́͗̚̕̚ͅͅu̷̢̨̗͈̙̭̘̥̗̥̰͙̬͕̘̘͖̮̩̿̈́̾̄̓͌ṟ̴̢̨͓̪̖̭̫̳͉͙̤̬̞̫̪̱̳̥̪̩̞̭̺͎̥̀͜ĉ̷̡̢͕͙̼̼̲̬̱͇̮̻̱̱̰̬̃̈̈́͒̾́͒͋͗̎̊̌̈́̓̽̕͝ě̷̡̻̟̬̳͖̯̞̥̺̖̳̟̤̭͎̮̪͋͊̀̿͜s̶̡̧̡̡̛̘̤̬͇̍͋̋̾͆͑̈́͆̈́̔̔͐̓̔͊̀̔͛͆͐̽̇̑̾̚͜ ̶̧̜̹̭̰̜̰͙͉̃̅̃̈̌̈́̆̆̕f̶̨͕̯̣̝̟̳̱̗̖̪͙̺̫͕̟̱̺̯̺̰͚̥̱̮͉̫̔̿́̐̅͒̓̈́̇̽̓̿̎͊́̽̐̐͒͊̎̓̽͘ͅͅͅo̵̟͕̮͔͇͚͖͓̾͒r̶̨̠̯̜̰̗̭̼̬̖̥̳̥̟͕̩̩̰̮̫̲̗̩̥̔͗̆̈̅̀̐̈͐̿̊̆̇́̆̓̄̌̂͜ͅͅ ̶̺̠̼̥͔̦͖̏́̅̑͌̍͐̓͂͑̔̓̔͌̌̋͊̑͌̏̃̈́̿̕̕͠͝͠͠ṯ̷̡̡̮̜̣̩͈̠̦̘̪̞͎͗͛͒̽̅͑h̴̨̛͈͉̝̜̟̥̻̓̊̄̿̓͊́̽̚͝è̷͕̰̖̺̳̪͌̀̽̃̓̉̈́̀͆̎̔̒͌̄̃̓̒̐͘̕ ̸̢̩̖͓͇̲͉̲̖̬̫͙͔̼̝͔̥̙̺̠̏̀̔͠W̴̨̹̞̭̩̥̪̲̘̻̖̪̼̿͛̀̾̔́̌̓̐̈́ͅȏ̸̡̯̙̭̪͔͕̻̖̟̹̞̩̝̗̦̗̘̀̀͐̊̈́͗̿̈́͌̌̂͗̕͠ṙ̸̡̢̳͎̝̘͈̬̖͉͖̼̬̜̪̠̳̩̥̥͖̤̪̩̭̤͇̅̉̃̂́̌̃̆͛̓́͑͑̈́̓̅̇̂̈́̓͘͜͝k̶̢̡̢̙̭͍̬̤̺͙͔̗͓̭̳̮͍̬̣͉̝̜̪̘͈̑͊̌̇͐̕͜͝ͅị̶̧̢̡̡̛̦̞̻̼̖̳̰̞͔̙̲̯͉̜̙̳̼̳͈͉͓̞̟̓͛̃̈́̔̎̔͝ͅį̸̡̢͈̫̬̱̘͈̲̳͙̰͍̮͙͈̙͎͓̣̝͈̼̙̝͇̎̏͌|̵̢̧̧̗͍͕̥̗̳̩̳̝͙̼͇̭̻̤͙̱̬̥̠̲͚̲̼̱̀͗̒͑͌̾̔͌̓̉̏̓̅̀̅̍̓̊͒͝|̶̛͇̠̤̭̘̩͍̱̠̮̯͚̮̅̀̆̄ ?

Permalink Mark Unread

For the Work. For what work? Shavri doesn't know and right now she doesn't care very much.

:To keep her alive: Shavri takes a deep breath. Lets it out. Grits her teeth. :If you kill her, then I'll burn you. If - if you figure out how to not kill her - then maybe I can help you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

i̶̧̩͇̜̤͍̥̥̦͈͓̹̫̣͇̭͑̐͑́̌̔̎̒̄̓̍̀̎̿̌̐̕͜͝͝i̷̧̡̧̝̥̤̞̤̫̲͇͕͙̘̪͎̞̣̲̫̲͓̺̠͖̩̗͛̀̉̎ͅ|̶̧̨̛̛̮̲̬͍͎̯͙̞͐̇̑̊̇̎͒͒͐͆͊̆͊͊͆̿̈̈̿͌͂̀͘͝͝|̷̨̧͈̻͍̠̽̂̄̑̓́̉͒̓̈́͒͝r̴̛͈̂̋͛̅̐̒̽͑̒̎͆͊͛̓̌̐̄̅̃̕͘̕͠e̸̛̛͎̮̮̣̮̟̣͙̭̭̱̒͌̈́̽͂̍̄̎̚͝s̴͚̖̜͚̬͓̣̝̻͉̝̙͎̹͓̹͓̆̽̎̇̅̈́̃͌̈́̚͜ͅö̸̖̼̙̗̻̳̺̮̞̠̝̭͚̱̘̜̻͍̼̤̝̩̺̱̭́̾̔̾̍̒̋́̆̈́̈́͒́͗̚̕̚ͅͅu̷̢̨̗͈̙̭̘̥̗̥̰͙̬͕̘̘͖̮̩̿̈́̾̄̓͌ṟ̴̢̨͓̪̖̭̫̳͉͙̤̬̞̫̪̱̳̥̪̩̞̭̺͎̥̀͜ĉ̷̡̢͕͙̼̼̲̬̱͇̮̻̱̱̰̬̃̈̈́͒̾́͒͋͗̎̊̌̈́̓̽̕͝ě̷̡̻̟̬̳͖̯̞̥̺̖̳̟̤̭͎̮̪͋͊̀̿͜s̶̡̧̡̡̛̘̤̬͇̍͋̋̾͆͑̈́͆̈́̔̔͐̓̔͊̀̔͛͆͐̽̇̑̾̚͜ ̶̧̜̹̭̰̜̰͙͉̃̅̃̈̌̈́̆̆̕f̶̨͕̯̣̝̟̳̱̗̖̪͙̺̫͕̟̱̺̯̺̰͚̥̱̮͉̫̔̿́̐̅͒̓̈́̇̽̓̿̎͊́̽̐̐͒͊̎̓̽͘ͅͅͅo̵̟͕̮͔͇͚͖͓̾͒r̶̨̠̯̜̰̗̭̼̬̖̥̳̥̟͕̩̩̰̮̫̲̗̩̥̔͗̆̈̅̀̐̈͐̿̊̆̇́̆̓̄̌̂͜ͅͅ ̶̺̠̼̥͔̦͖̏́̅̑͌̍͐̓͂͑̔̓̔͌̌̋͊̑͌̏̃̈́̿̕̕͠͝͠͠ṯ̷̡̡̮̜̣̩͈̠̦̘̪̞͎͗͛͒̽̅͑h̴̨̛͈͉̝̜̟̥̻̓̊̄̿̓͊́̽̚͝è̷͕̰̖̺̳̪͌̀̽̃̓̉̈́̀͆̎̔̒͌̄̃̓̒̐͘̕ ̸̢̩̖͓͇̲͉̲̖̬̫͙͔̼̝͔̥̙̺̠̏̀̔͠W̴̨̹̞̭̩̥̪̲̘̻̖̪̼̿͛̀̾̔́̌̓̐̈́ͅȏ̸̡̯̙̭̪͔͕̻̖̟̹̞̩̝̗̦̗̘̀̀͐̊̈́͗̿̈́͌̌̂͗̕͠ṙ̸̡̢̳͎̝̘͈̬̖͉͖̼̬̜̪̠̳̩̥̥͖̤̪̩̭̤͇̅̉̃̂́̌̃̆͛̓́͑͑̈́̓̅̇̂̈́̓͘͜͝k̶̢̡̢̙̭͍̬̤̺͙͔̗͓̭̳̮͍̬̣͉̝̜̪̘͈̑͊̌̇͐̕͜͝ͅị̶̧̢̡̡̛̦̞̻̼̖̳̰̞͔̙̲̯͉̜̙̳̼̳͈͉͓̞̟̓͛̃̈́̔̎̔͝ͅį̸̡̢͈̫̬̱̘͈̲̳͙̰͍̮͙͈̙͎͓̣̝͈̼̙̝͇̎̏͌|̵̢̧̧̗͍͕̥̗̳̩̳̝͙̼͇̭̻̤͙̱̬̥̠̲͚̲̼̱̀͗̒͑͌̾̔͌̓̉̏̓̅̀̅̍̓̊͒͝|̶̛͇̠̤̭̘̩͍̱̠̮̯͚̮̅̀̆̄

 

 

 


It eats the energy. Not all of it, but about as much as it was eating earlier.

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

....Shavri is suddenly FURIOUS. Which probably isn't the best response, but she's tired and frazzled and scared and she misses her baby and wants this to be over - 

She dives in close-close-close with her Sight, again, and whacks the Proto, disrupting its signals, with the same precision as before but a lot more force. Not enough to kill it, but if the alien thing can feel pain at all, this should be enough to HURT. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

|̸̡̡̪̝̦͔͓̟͚̠͎̞̙̦̬͈͚̀̂̅͋̇̅̒̽͂̇̋́͐̇͛̇͋̕̕|̷̡̢͎̠̭͉̰̝̯̺̼̟͖̦̻̟̣͕̱̼̤͇̂̄̌́̚͜į̴̧̨̧̛̠͈͓͚̠̯̣̟͇͙̤͕̰͈͍̠̱̬̮͔͓̪͍̩̰͈̇̋͂́͌̾͋̓̆͛̇̔̽͌̌͝į̸̨̢̛̯̙̯̟͍̫̻̰̥͉̣̓̓͒̈́̍̇̀̐̾̽̌͒͒͊́͂͂̔̋͝.̴̡̛̛̳̹̜̞͙̠̤͚̜̜̗̟̱̬̼̣͓͙̟̖̀̇̈́̓͋̋̃͆̊̅̓̆̏̎̕̕̚͜͝ͅ_̸̪̩͚̣͙̙̻͎̮̞̯̝̺̦͈̺͓̘̱̠̤̜͇̥̱̲͖͂̔̃̾̃̐͐̒̾̈́͋́̿̚͘͜͝ͅ-̴̨̢͕̰̥͔̻̮̺̦̼̝̩̘̠̘͇̟͍̞̱̤̒͒́̌̒͛́͗̿͑̅̀̊̑͆̎̈̇͂͘͝͠͝͝ͅ`̷̢̛̛͙̣͈̦͇̭͈̪̘̅͑̀́̇̐̎̃͌̍̔͗͋̀̓̀͝͝ͅ!̸̡̢̨̛͙̠͖̪̩̺̦̮̙̲̜͕̜̹̞̳̒̑̀͂̎̌̂̕͝.̴̡̛̘̈́͋̅͌̾̓̋̎̂̌̀̅̊͗̃͆͛̆̎̃̌̽̿̿̓͆́̃̚.̸̣̫̥͙̥͇̄͊͐́̽͘͝ͅ_̷̨̡̛̤̗̤̰̖̦̖̣̹̱̳͎̳̘̩̜̑͒̓̈́̉͊̈́̀͐͊̐̀̋͜͝-̵̨͍̘̪̤̲͖̝̥͖͇̻̱̗̥̫̘̬̪̟̼̣̫͓͕̳̈́̈́͌̄͌̾͗̀̿̑̚͝͝`̵̢̛̛͕͇͙͈͈͓̫̰͖͈̰̘̞̟̮̯͕͓̟̜̠̜̤̗̻̍̔̔̂͗̿̉̐̆̃̆̂̄͊́͐͌̄̂́̈́͑ͅ!̴̛̝̫͎̳͍̹̼̹̙̿̀͒̉̍̅̇͑̎̉̌͂͋̿̃̈́̏̈̈́̐͐̂̿̀̊̕.̷̡̛̪̣͔͚̠̜͈̣̺̠̦̥̗͖̰͎͙͇̻͓̪͎̞͔̰͙̹̱̏̈̎͗̐̇͒̄̈̏̾͛̈́̕͘͝͝ ???

Permalink Mark Unread

"Urgh," says Julie as the sudden movement of the protomolecule does a hundred disruptive things at once.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'm sorry - are you all right - the Proto is being obnoxious...: She skims over Julie's body with her Sight, looking for anything in urgent need of fixing. :Let's just get this done: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I have no idea what happened but I feel like shit. If I'm not dying immediately then it probably doesn't matter.

 

She starts touching her fingers to the glass in front of her. Patterns flash on it. She remembers belatedly that she's supposed to be teaching Shavri how to do this.

Ship won't fly in atmosphere without all systems green. In space you can get it to kick off with nonessential systems not functioning, if you hit emergency mode, but in atmosphere, it's like, fuck that, there's one place you could be and it's got laws. ...Mars doesn't have an atmosphere thick enough to matter yet. They're working on it. Uh, anyway, systems. Sensors, that's this tab here, it wants you to read and approve all these messages, you approve them by clicking here. You set alerts to auto by clicking here. Engines, I'm manually inputting that they're fine, they're not but they're not immediately going to fail so it's really the least of our problems. You manually clear the engines for launch by clicking through each of these systems, one at a time, and inputting 'manual override, engineer signing off is Dr. Seuss - uh, it doesn't have to be Dr. Seuss, just, it's an ass-covering measure, system just needs a name...

...'m not explaining this very well, am I.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'm following you so far: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay good. Navigation, set to full auto, set our location as....doesn't matter because I'm about to tell it to use sensor data not GPS to navigate - set our location as Baghdad, it is like this place pretty flat. Then set it to use sensor data not GPS to navigate. Set course for - just put geosynchronous orbit. Obviously we're going to override it in a second but it's not going to launch if I tell it the plan is to launch and immediately abort. Safety, override all the messages same as sensors. Security, I have the auth codes scratched into the console here, see, you just enter that exactly as it's written. Fuel, tell it we'll sync up in orbit. And then press this to do automated safety checks. - and strap in. We're not going very far but you never want to be in a ship under thrust and out of a chair. She starts pulling some kind of vinyl contraption across her chest. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri digs out a bit of paper and writes this down carefully, then joins Julie in strapping herself in. Her mouth is suddenly dry, palms sweaty. Odd, she muses vaguely, how she's so much more anxious and jittery about a ship that will perfectly follow Julie's instructions, and not the weapon-disease growing in her that might destroy the world and is smart enough to TALK.

Healing, she understands. Giant blasts of fire are more Vanyel's thing, and she feels helpless in the face of it. 

She waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The systems finish their checks. Julie tells the ship to take off. 

 

There's a deafening roaring. At first they don't even move, but the windows show columns of white hot fire; then they move, sickeningly fast, and they're pressed against their seats as if there were a huge weight on them, and then they're tugged the other direction, just as forcefully, and then there's a bump and the roaring stops and they're still again.

 

Julie throws up.

Stupid fucking protomolecule, she says angrily. I can do 15gs without drugs when I'm not sick.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is that it - did we burn the things...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Hope so. There's a case to be made we should - turn on the drive in atmosphere - to make sure - but it'll burn everything a mile out.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shiver. :I - we can't - we'd have to evacuate the whole town first. I...guess it's Queen Elspeth's call. Can you - show me how I would do that, if I have to, to come back alone...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. So you'd want to do it right after you authorize launch, and you'd have to be kinda fast. You turn off power to all the sensors by hitting emergency, turning off backup power here, and then pulling out these wires here, set your location coordinates to the middle of nowhere, turn nav to manual and set course for Mars - her hands demonstrate deftly, doing all of these steps but the pulling out the wires in the space of about five seconds - and then set it to a 5g burn. While strapped in. Then you turn backup power back on and tell it to make an emergency landing, here, and I can't guarantee it'll land back on this spot but it should set you down somewhere flat within twenty minutes, it's a good little shuttle. She pats the console, which judging by the colorful error messages is emphatically telling her that they're in atmosphere and it absolutely won't turn on the drive. She cancels the instructions and the screen goes blank.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri takes notes. 

:I - can probably figure it out if I have to. Thank you. I - is it safe to get out now -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

You gotta do it fast because if you wait too long you'll be too high up. - 's fine to leave now. She grimaces. Though 'm really tired.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Let me have a look. See if there's anything I can do: 

Shavri turns her Sight on Julie again, the same practiced scan. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's considerably more protomolecule and it's more - excited? Energized? It's almost like it picked up on what was happening. Julie has a lot of minor internal injuries from Shavri's earlier tussle with it, but mostly it's just that she got herself here through adrenaline tabs and crawling and now she's utterly exhausted. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You need to rest: Shavri takes a deep breath. :I'll carry you out. I just need to check it's not on your skin, still. And you have to try really hard not to throw up on me: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod.

Permalink Mark Unread

Carrying Julie is an intense workout, but Shavri is stronger than she looks - Healing work involves a lot of lifting and moving sick people around - and she manages it, though the walk to the wagon feels very, very long. She hopes they left it far enough out of range. 

As they pass the spot, she looks around at what used to be a field, gauging the damage - is there anything left of the farmers' cottage? 

...any sign of the Proto...? 

Permalink Mark Unread

No signs of the proto. The cottage is at this moment on fire. The wagon isn't, but there's a fine layer of ash over it.

 

Julie is fast asleep by the time they get there.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri settles her down on the tarp, and the ash-dusted replacement blankets donated by the poor terrified resigned farmers, and she perches herself and urges the mule back into motion. At a very slow leisurely pace. They're not in a hurry anymore; they accomplished what they came here for.

She doesn't try talking to the Proto again. She just watches it through her Sight - especially whatever it's doing in Julie's brain - and thinks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto appears to be in various places...eating and replacing Julie's tissue? The replacement protomolecule tissue still works normally; it's not obvious this would hurt Julie at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

......What. 

 

Eventually, Shavri works up the courage to reach out with a Mindtouch again. 

:What do you want? What are you doing to her?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̷̨̧̛̣̺͇̬̦͔̰͈̹̝̆͑͌̿̌̄́̅͆͗́͘͘͠.̶̬̥͆͆̅̆.̷͇̂̏̑̑̀͌̏̍͑̒͊̊͂͠í̴̧̡̖̯̲̮̪͇͍̱̫͙̪̿̃̆̎̀͘͝͝|̷̭̱̜͉͔̟́̄̐͊̄͑́͛̌͠|̸̨͙̠̖̙̻͚̖̒̋̅̂̎̈̕̚c̴̨̻̣̮̚ò̴͕͚͎͍̦̠͖̖̲̫̘͐͠ͅn̷͎̞̒̏̄̓̆͋͂̚͠f̴̡̪̰̥̬̱͙̣̥̩̺̝̮̪̅̀u̴̧̫͓̟̘̟̠̥̲̒̌̑͜ş̵͎̘͉͇̝̬͑́̒͜ͅĭ̷̧̟̫͈̟͈̙͓̠̪̙̫̙̾͛̈́͝͠ở̴̡̧̢͚̪̪͖̭̦͎̱̭̈́̐͒͐̅͑͒̽͘͝͝͝͝n̷̪̺̝̲̺̬̯̫̿̾̑̋̕.̸̡̗̣͕̘̩̬̪͕̝͇͇͕̄̑̀̐̓̎̃͒;̵̼͈̽̓͊̈́̏̃͑́̒ĺ̷̥̺͙͓͙̳̳̪̥͇̥͙̎̓́͘͝ē̴̛̠̺̪a̸̡̞͙̭͍̜͍̓̔͜ͅŗ̸͈̞͔̺̯͚͙̺̜͍̟̦̓̀̀͒͆͗̆̃̈́n̵̖̯̹̣̮͔̞̈́́͌i̷̧̫̲͐͗̀n̶̨̨̧̳̻̭̺̗̬̱̱̈̓̓̉͌̓̾̽g̵̡͇̭͎͍͔͖̠̗̹̙̲̞̈̈͜.̵̖͈̲͓̣͂͐͜/̷̛̭͓͉͖̳̭͈̮̤͇̮̠̈̓̆͗͆̅̈́̆̉̾̚̚ȓ̴̞͈̗̝̘̯͈̈́̽̈́̌́̂͛͆̾̕̚͘͜ͅé̶̛̹̦̲̹͕̠͕̠̬̹̙̑̈́͂͊͑̀̇̂̉̒͐͝s̵̢̝̮͎̥̱̜̳̯̋̏́ͅȍ̷̡̢̗͖͕͕͕͙̘͈̣́ṹ̸̡̼̼̯̹̹͉̮͑͗̀͆r̴̛̰̰͈̭̽̾̂͋̃̀͊̃̍̈́̿͋̚͝c̴̡̨̱̦̫̮͓̯̙̭̺̖͍̙̈́̀̇͒̋̅̂̌̾͘͜ė̶͙̝̼͌̑̊͝͠ś̴͎̘̫̀́͊͆̈͋̈́̄͠;̸̘̺̿̍̈̅̂͊͝͝:̸̦͔̫̺͔̇|̶̝̺̮̺͙̱̲͍̝͚̦̊̒͆̓̊̄̀̈̀̊͑̈̿͘͝ͅi̸̧̡̛̖̙̰͍̪̗̺͖͙̫̠̇̔͌

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:What are you confused about?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:̷̧̢̨̱̺̣̫͖̪͍̟̺͓̣͚̗̤̰̖̭̤͇̌̎́́̉̓̓͆̓̕͜͜\̴̨̛̦̻͇̻̫̩̳̘̻̬̞̟̞̯͕̺͚̍̀́͑̒͆̈́͑͒̑̐͂̋̔̈́̅̂̈̔̇̔̕͜͠͠ͅl̵̢̯͎̤̭̩̬̼̱̘͓̭͎̪̰̩͂o̶̡̢̨͉̱̦̳͓̙͕͙̝̲̩̰̥̰̥̗͗̌̍͐͐͐̑̈́͗͋͂̊̅̅̈͛̎̂̈́̏́̆͗̅̔̋͑̚̚͜ć̴̢̡̱̫͚̯̬̤̪̰͓̟̫̣̣̼̑̇̀̽͑̓̈̾̈́͊̏̊̐͛͗͗̃͗̔̈́͘͘͜͝͝ͅͅà̷̞̖͉̖̦̟̲̭̹̬̭̤̥̤̼̜̭͂̾̌͆̓͌̆͐̒͑͌̓̈́̈̎̀̆̑̆͘̚̕͠l̴̨̧̡̢̨̠̮̳̥̟̖̫̬̘̩̮̦͇͉͕̥̐̐̌ę̸̪͓͔̩͈̲̜̤͕̼̜̖̗̝̱̰̺̳̹̩̘̗̭̟̹̖͙̆̋͜n̶̖̯͚͍͙̣̘̘̗̘̗͚̅́̊͗̽͐̀̀̾̑͒͝t̶̨̘̻̘̂́̂̍͜i̸̢̨̡͖̩̠͎̬̺̞̩̹͕͖̖̗̹̩̦̗̹̳̪̥̼̫̭̟̔̔̂́̎̎̇̈́̈́̌͛̈̽̒́̎̿̅̌̿̽̕͘͝͝͠͝t̶̨̛̛͇̮͓̠̗̻͈̟̲̬͈̗̟̥̖̤͇̬̺̗̰͈̱͎͛̒̐̀̃̎̅̾̀̍̄͂͌̈̆̈́͒͗͗̈́̽̈̒́͜͝͠͝i̵̛͇̱͕͈̩̦̞̠̹̝̠̼̣̝̼̗̤͕̓̔̈́͌͌̾́̽̄̉̈́͆̏͑͜͝͝ͅė̶̡̧͔͉͓͖̖͎̼̙̳̼̖̮͗̽̑̌͆͋͌͘̚̕͜͜ͅş̷̧͚̠̖̟̻̙̟͎͈͎̼͍̓̎̾͆̋̿̒l̸̨̧̳͙͈̟̮̻͍̰͚̱͇̙̺͎̫̤͚̙̥͖̂̔̀̀̃̑̈́͘͘͜͠ͅơ̵̡̩̦͚̻̥̟̬̬͖͙̺̖̰͉͑̾́͒̈́͊̄̊̀̀̇́̇̇̑̽͐̽̚̕͘͝ç̸͓̰̮̙̜͓̫͙͖̫̟̊̇̏͂̈́͜͠ͅͅa̵̛̟̮͙͇̘̒̇̾́̑͌͗̎̓l̸̠͓͕̱͓̮͈̍͛͑̓̐̽̌̐͛͗͐͛̏̇̃̈́̾̋́̚͝͠i̷̧̼̮̱̝̘͍̣̖͕̺̘̻̻̹̱̫͕͎̎̒̓̐̌̋̑͘͜n̶̢̙̣̫̺̟̳̲̪̖̙͎͇̣̥̻̤͖̟̯͙̪̞̗̣̹̪̜̘̊̅́͗̽͐̎́̾̀͐͌͗̏̿͒́̑͛̐̋͂̈́̀̽͘͘͜t̸̢̘̤̦̺̠͚̳̳̞̙̺̤͍̺͕̜̞̖̳̗̦͚͉̩̗̋͂̑̅̀̓͊̀̔́͑̇̈́̊̔͂͑̈́̑̒̀͜͝ë̶̡͙͉̜̟̖̻̰̬̥͉̥̗́̐̔́̈́̀̉̀̒͗̄͋͒̂͐́̓́̀̽͐͋̍̐̃̀͘͝ļ̴̢̺͚̥̳͎̳̹̭͇̺͉̞̫̫͈͕̳͛̈́̑͜l̶̛̜̱͚̝͙͒̇͂̊̉̈́͑̈́͒̽̌̑̀͆̐͌̆͗̃̈́̏̄̀̐͜͠͝͝ị̵̡̛͕̫̬̠̘̤̬̟̪͔̱̩̬̬̙̙̙̘͉̦͈͖̬͖̙̔͐̇̇͌́̎̍́̽̈́́̊̓̃̀̀̊͋̌͗͒̕͘̚g̴̹̲̠͎͖̭͍̮͍͎̯̖͆̉̋̓̀͛̒͐͑̇̕ȇ̵̢̢̢̪͙̰̳̲̺̻̯̗͈̤͈͑̄̊̑̃̍͗̂̀̋̿́͆̎̒͛͒̈́̇͆̆͌͋͊͘͘̕̚ͅn̸̡̧̙͚̫̣̠̝̰͓͕̱̯̲̮̫͙̪̜͍̣̗̩̹̱̓̈́̿̍̚͘c̸̮̘͌͌è̸̢̢̛̲͖͉̗̥̤̪͕̪̦͉͌̈́͠ş̴̛̠͊͂͆̐̓̽̈́̏̈́͝͝`̸̨̧̧͖̙͖̹̤͍̠͉̭̼͇̗̼́̉͑̂͐̚b̷̪̟̘͎̹̫̟̜̲̗̣̮͇̓̾͌͐̅̐̒̎̔̕͠ͅa̴̢͖͔̮̦̖̱͕̤͗͐͑̎̈́͗̂̆̐̑̒̃̌̓́̕͝͝r̵̢̨̛̘̭͉̭̦̬̙͙̠̙͈̹͇͈͓͈͔͓̺͕͔͕͇̗̫͖̾̊̑̆͂̽͊̓̎̏̾̂͠ṙ̵͖̐̓̇͑̉̌̀̅̏̐̋́̿͊̈́̅̐̾̕͠i̵̜̝̬̲͇͕̣͛́̍͋̉͗̄͗͆̾͋̎̊͒̔͌̋̈́̄̑̑͑̐͒̾̎͐̌̾̚é̴̡̤͈͖̤̘̪̤̞̹̬̥̯̟͑̈́̌̿̽̈́̎͊̈̍̉̃̐́̍̌̅͊̑̿̚̚ͅŗ̴̪̦͓͙͙̻̜̱̼̪̋̀͌̓̔̓̌͊̚͘͜ͅs̸̡̭̪̥͖͔͚̣̫͔̼̯͕̟͍͇͂̈́͑̈́͋͘ͅͅṫ̷̨̢̛͍̠̮̭̰̟̦̻̞̫͕̞̺͗̏̈́̏͛̾̀̿͐͆̀̔̊͛̅̐̋͜͝o̷͕̝̽̀̉̃̃̉̒͊͝ț̵̡̰͙̯̬͇̖̜̯̭̫̱͕̠̹̟̬̹̿̈́̿͌̊̊̍͂̊͊͊̃͂́̉̌̓̆̈́̅̌͒̎̾̂̕͘͜͝͝͝ḩ̸̧̡̧̛͙̺̬̭̭͙͔̠͈̙͖͚̣̳͓̠͇͎̮̳̱̥͈̙̉̂͐̽́̾͛͋̔͗̍̋͛́̀̀̇̑͘͝ͅȩ̷̝̜͚̙̯̜͓̥͇͈̋̏́̎̏̊̏̔̎̔̇̈́̏͛͒̑̈́͗̉̾̈́̃̂͑̿̃͘͘͠͝W̵̢͓͓̥̙̭̜͖̖̟͑̔̚͝ơ̴̡̡̢̥͍̼̰̞̣̜̠͕͈̺̣̮͊̆̿̉̈̇͋̒̄͐̅̇͋͑͘͘ͅr̵̢̢͙̣̻̝͈̼̩̹͉͚̱̊̋̇͂̾͊͂͊͑̊̕͠k̶̡̢̧͙̲̩͕̘̼̩̰̘͎͚̞̺̰͉͕͕͉͌̏̎͛͗͌̐̾̄͝͝͝.̴͎̎̔͛̉̋̓̈́̾͊͐̒̄͊̎̂͑̾̔̒͛͘͘͠r̶̝͉̹͓̱̟͎͈̲̬͑͜ͅȇ̵̠͉̺̘͓̖͔̼̝͚͒͛̀͋̽̐̈̿̑̆̓̓̊̑̈́͌͝͝s̴̨̨̧̢̧̝̘͎̗̟͙͙̭̲̱̙̝̰̝͈̠̦͓̮̺̘͇͕͚̙̿͆̂̂̏́̀̈͛̿̍̀̀̀̀͘ő̶̧͖̼̹̱̬̺̼͕̯͍̱̜͓͍̱̮̻͙̓̄̊̃̏͛͌̕ͅù̷̧͔͓̪͇̰̭̰̝̲̫̳͕̐̈́͌̓̓̅̒̑̈́͗̈̒̿̆̍̈̀̀̎̚̕͝͝͝͝r̴͕͔̳̖̺̝͌̅̾̾̅̆̿͑̈́̍̑͛͋͝͝͝c̵̛̾͑́̉́̓͆̓̌́̐̌̀̄͛̀͘͘͜͠è̵̫̹̠̤̽̂̇̕͜s̵̨͎͔̣̘͇͈͓̞͍͍͓̠̘̩̗͕̙̦͕̮͙͎̬͖̎́̓̋̕ ̴̨̢̪̭̜͓͔̘͓̰͔̗̂̓̎͂̏̐̑͋̉̿̈́̚f̶̡̢̻͇̝̗͙̮̣̹̹͚́̅̉̌̄̿̐̍̎́̉̐͠ớ̸̧̡̱͉̘̩͕̖̗͎̮̗̪̣̈́̓̓͛̊̃̈́͗̈́̓̑̅̇͛̋̓̎͐̃͋̈̈́̆͋͝r̸̨̢̪͔̱͕̻͔̗̙͉̲̬̜̘̰̞̥͕̩̰̣̤̫̀̾́́̏̅̿͐̈̓̊̆̿̈̄͗̈́̽̋̓̑̕̕͝͝ ̵̡̛͓̪̙̪̫̝̖͎̜̯̬̟͍̪̺̹̭̯̥͗͛́̽̍̇̉̀̍̔̿̔̂̆̊̀̓̽̆͌͊͘̚t̵̛̫̲͚͗̌̌͊̽́̑̇́̈͆̌̃̓̋̆̅̇͌̕̕̚͘͘͝͝͠͝h̵̢̘̯̞͚̳̠͍͈͕̭͐̿̅̽̍͆̀̑͌́̌̕͜ͅe̶̞͐̃̃͋̐̀͑̽͗̅͒͆͌̓͛͐̆͛̆̌͆͒͊́͋̑͠͝ ̴̨̧̡͔̜̲̲̖͓̼̟̠͓̮̮̖̰͔̆͆̅w̶̡̡̡͓̥̰̼̝̖͎̺̝̭̽̆̀̉̈́̅̐̀̋͆̆̈̊͐͊͊̓͐̆̌̇͗̚̕͝͝͝o̶̡̨̲̯̠̺͙̪͙̪̜͎̥̞̯͇̘͇͍̗̲̰̤̼̹͇͍̔͑̆̈́́͛͆̎̽́́̽ŕ̵̢͇͔̘̹̘̯̞͎̪͕̗̻̙̠̰̥̜̗͔̤͖͔̣͉͚̗͕̜̻̈́͑̄̏̿̏̀̋̽̑͌̾̅͗͋̂̅̂̿̎͌͘̚k̸̡̹͖̞̩͎͓̭̯̤̦̭̻͓͌́̀̾̑͑̏͌̚ͅ.̷̨̨̞͎̹̩̟̘͖͉̣̗̻͍͕̗͙̙̦̉̓̿̅͂̀̈́̈͒́͑̂̊̈̿̾̚̕͜͠\̶̢̢̧̧͈̣͕̰̗̝̪̻̫̩̣̤̼̩̞̘̞͙̱̮̹̅̋́    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Where are you from?: 

After a moment. 

:What are you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

c̶̨̥͇̻͉̹̱̼͙̞̲̈́͊͗̉̿͋̌̔͗̌̕͜͜͝ö̸̧̳̫͍͉̣͉͓̖̗̼̰̘̫́ņ̷̧̗̼͖͙͖̤̮͍̖̖̰̣͖̔̾͝f̶̡͓̜̠͉͖̯̺̦̩̼͈̏̾͋̍͗̅̂͜͝u̴̢̫̼̞̖͉̜̻̺̦͇͍̭͈̒͗̇͒̓̾s̵̢̯̺̰̣͍͇̅͑̃̓̈́ͅi̷͍̊̋̈́͒̌̇̾̔̋̿ȍ̶͙̙̻͚͒̅̾̏͝n̶̥̬̱̙͉͍͐́̄̌̑͐̉͗̏̚͜͝

Permalink Mark Unread

:You don't know what you are or where you came from?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

c̶̨̥͇̻͉̹̱̼͙̞̲̈́͊͗̉̿͋̌̔͗̌̕͜͜͝ö̸̧̳̫͍͉̣͉͓̖̗̼̰̘̫́ņ̷̧̗̼͖͙͖̤̮͍̖̖̰̣͖̔̾͝f̶̡͓̜̠͉͖̯̺̦̩̼͈̏̾͋̍͗̅̂͜͝u̴̢̫̼̞̖͉̜̻̺̦͇͍̭͈̒͗̇͒̓̾s̵̢̯̺̰̣͍͇̅͑̃̓̈́ͅi̷͍̊̋̈́͒̌̇̾̔̋̿ȍ̶͙̙̻͚͒̅̾̏͝n̶̥̬̱̙͉͍͐́̄̌̑͐̉͗̏̚͜͝

Permalink Mark Unread

:Do you not understand my question?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

c̶̡̯͖̱̯̠̳͓̋̈́͗̀͛̊̈́̚͠o̷̧̯̤̰̜̣̪̻̹̳͐͆̋̑̈́́̓͌n̵͎͓̎͋͑̈̀̋̃́̈́̋͌̚̕ͅḟ̶̹͖̻̺͎̼͋͂̊͒̈́͌̄̎̐̏̚ŭ̵͉̖͇͕̜̣̯͒̓̇̎̈́͋ͅš̷̘̗̪̀̾̊̂̇͝i̵͇̯͎̤̼͇͖̰͛̋̑̑͛̈́̀̓̀̈́͆̄̊͑ṏ̵̡͉̲̟̣̪̓͌͂́͑͌̊̌́̓̑n̷͇͉̩͈̲̩̘̯͚̣̤̦̼̾͜l̶̨̛̫̳̮͎̘̭̏̽̄͋á̴̡̢͉̪̫̘͙̲̊̊̈́̃̃̒̎̍̽͗́̃c̶̨̢̼͍͔̝̤̰͎̄̃̇͗͂̔̉́̍͆͠ͅḱ̸̫͔̱̺̞̄͂ī̶̛̼̀͐̓̔̊̒͆̌̈̕͜͝ņ̴̼̼̜͗̈̃g̶̨̨̥͋̈́̔͑̎̊̀̽̊̆̕͘̚͜ͅć̵̢̡̻͈̺͓̣̥̯͉̼̣̬̯́̌͗̋̓͘ǫ̵̳̓͆̀̂̈̚n̴̛̛̦͙̹̹̯̝̖̂͛̓͜ţ̸̮͔͉̥̈̀̍e̴̡̛̛̜̞̠̪͎̤̟͓͙̠͊͝x̶̠͔̪͖̦̙͐̏̃̋͐̃̍͒̚͠͝ͅt̶̢̖͓̟͚̣̯̠̺͔͓͌͋̑͒͆͋̆͠ȧ̸͍̖̇͐̂̊̚̚c̵̡͕̖̉̇͗̃̀̂̃̽̐͆͐͌̚͘͝q̷̘̞̣̜̖̻͓̼͚̳̙̹̜̳̀̏͒̀͑͂̈́̆͌́͝ͅú̶̧̝̤̼̮͚͚͕̤̲̜̻̔̅̈͑͑̚͜ĩ̶̢͇̗͕͉̝̦̳̻͍̒͜r̸̨̮̪̬̯͖̺̃̾̓̈́̒̑͛͌̆͘í̴̼̩̪̈́͂̓̉̐̊̍̂͘͝ǹ̷̢͉̼̹͖̮̬̩̟̺͍̲̍̍͆͌̾̏̋̓͠g̴̡̠̠͔͎̻̱͚͚̭̝̜͕̬̑̾̀͒̐̈́̆n̵̨̹̻̬̠̤̓̿̀̓͛̓̾e̵̛͎͕e̶̛̼̜̜͛̎͋̏̆͆̽͝d̴̢̦͉͉̹͚̟̱̯͇̙̭͔͔̎̃͑̊͂̈́͜ȩ̷̱̩̝͗̓d̷̡̦͚̺̬̫͚̼͕͎̻̙̣͗͗̀͒̒̈́̒͜͝͝c̴̛͓̥̹̟̠̅̇͆́̅͐͆̃̈́̿̀̃̕͝ͅǫ̴͔̈́n̴̤̠͌́̏̀͗̑͑̎̿͐̃̄̽͜ͅṫ̵̡̨͉̲̩ȩ̵͔͙͎̑͌̉́̈̍̓͠͝ͅx̴̡͉̼͉̠̻̝̲̐̚t̴̢̺̣̺̻̹̺̮͐̅̽͒̊͂̀

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri REALLY WISHES this were more reassuring. 

:What is the 'Work' you need resources for?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̸͕͔́͑̓̊̂̋.̷̥͖̹̊̄̈́̈́͑̈́̈́͘͝Ṫ̸̛͕͓͂̒́̂̏͒̎̽̈̑́̀͒ḩ̶̙̟̱͍̱͖̬̖̽̓̂̓̍͂ͅę̸̧̧̯̙̼̖̼̤͙̖̻̈́̄̓́̎͊̽̔̊̋͝ ̸̢̥͓͖̹̮̙̩͚͘W̷̢͓̣̺̮̤̺͚̭̙̭̫͌̉͜͜ǫ̸̖̞̺̣̠̩͕̗͈̖̦̥̿ͅͅŕ̴̨̞̯̘̩̼̦̟̙̮́͋̐̿̃͋͊̚͜͝k̵̯̤͂̆̑̆:̷̦̝͚̓̄̏̒̃͘

 

Permalink Mark Unread

That is so unhelpful. Shavri stomps on the urge to slap the Proto with Healing-energy some more until it learns to be less FRUSTRATING. 

:Can you - slow down?: she says after a moment. :If you kill her, you won't get needed context: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̴̹̥̳̦̱͍͉͓̦͕͖̤̠̜̓͐͐̈̓͆̈́̐́̉͒̉̓͜͠'̴̨͖͈͍͈̫̰͈̺̻͙͚̩̼̻̀́̈́̀̀̀̒͝c̷̢̳̤̪̠͕̬̙̳̬͋̋̀̀̉͂̉̄̓̌͗ờ̵̛͈̱̪͚̬͚̰̠̣̜̲̽̂̋̍̎̈́͂͋̚͜n̶̢͍͉̞͉͉̝̠̖̪͕͈͚̓̅́̈́̏̀͘͘f̸̡̲̪͉̾̎́ų̵̖͚̮̠͚̱̟͚̱̪̹̟͉̪̀͊̇͂͋̀̋̕͘͘͝͝͝s̴̡͍̦̲͖͎͖̤͍̋́̽̊̀̂͌͂̐̊̚͠į̷̺̬̠͔͕̝̰̰͈͓͓̻̣̎̽̐̆͛ͅo̴̡̘̘͓͎̲͎̳̦͖̍́̌͆́͌͆͝n̵̢̫͓͉̬͇̜̰͉̹͍̄̂̀͜͜w̵̢̟͎̻̱͊͛̅̃̾̿̐̔͛͗͑͋̉̚͝ḩ̶͙̤̥̺͇͓̝̰̮̘̞̞̝̍̂̽́̍̏́̉̐̌̈́̌͜ĭ̶̭͔̒͛̄̓̈́̓͗̆͂c̶͖̼̻̙̪͕̦̳̗̤̙̹̰̜͐͛̏̓͐͘͜ḩ̵̛͖͍̥̪͔͙͙̉̋̊d̸̩̤̟͙͍̱̘̪̽̃̈́̇͐͝ë̷̩̲̫̩̩̹̜͍̪̣̾̌̾͛͝͝ͅş̵̤̤͕̳̞̇͐̎͒̍̇̀̄͌̀͘̚͜t̶͎̹̑̽͘r̷̘͈͒͑̄̈́́̀̊̈́̈́͛̈̾̀͝ư̴̢̘̱̳͚̘̩̫̼̪̍̌̋̓͊̽͛̚͜͝c̶̡͓̭̖͚͚̗̅̐̆̊̌̌t̸̰̹̳̘͍͖͙͈̪͗͋̉̈́͜i̵̢̳̖̘͔̔̈́̋̈́̀͑́̇̈́̑͆̕͜o̶̫̼̤̞͈̠͗̇́̈̊̋́͑̿̚͝͠n̵̨̨͇̪̔̃̋̽̍̄̏̈́̕m̸̧̡̧̨͕̞̻͙̟̜͉̳̻͒̆̓͌͐̎̓̊̿́̾͊͗̋̃a̶̡̯͍̭̯͚̣̟̪̹̔̎̈́̔̓̀̈́̚͘͝t̶̛̛̻̱̱͗͂̓̈́͠c̶̛͔͚͉̺̳͕̮̙̮̍̓͌̈́͋͋̈́̃̅̌̕h̴̬̖̹̠̲͎̼̖̿̈́ͅȩ̴̡̬̫̦͎̝̤̔̾̓̂͋̽́̌̈́̌͘̚s̷̨̜̮̝̗͙͙̘̰̰̮̝̻̏̔͗̓͛̉́̄͛̇̚͜k̶̢̧̧̛͖̗̞̲͉̜̣͋͒͗̃̒̃͐̾͌ͅḭ̶̧̦͔́̋̒̔͊̿͝͠ͅl̵̡̬̘̩̖͈̪̭̺̟͈̤͒͐͆̀̃̂͘͜͝l̶͎͇̝͎̀͊͑̕ǐ̸̢̡̟̗͇͔̠̜͉̝̉̏n̷̨̧̡̗̗͓͚̫̬̰͍̰͑̍͊̈́̍͜͜ǵ̸̨͓͍̠̥̩̬͗͂̍̃̃̀̓̎̾̔͂̐͘̕c̶̩͈̮͖͔̬͌͗̏̈́̈́͑̚ǫ̵̡̛͎͙̻̬̖͕͚̑̽̓̓̓̈́͊̕ͅn̸̤̳̪̞̳̩̳͔̬̝̙̣̼͒͐͊̐̔̈́̿̈́̍͒͑̎f̸͕̰̄̍̊ǔ̶̞͓̲͚̠̜̪͙̈͌̀̈̐̔̓̿̌̓̄̓͒s̶̺̠̩̘̲͔̟̺̱̳̫̱͂̈͛͌̎̃̐͘ì̵̫̳̗̜̯̭̪̦̫̪̳͗̄̂̍͑̀̆͑̕o̵̹̱̼̠͐̾̄̓̀̇̇́̽͂̚̕n̸͙̋̍͊̔̎͛͠w̸̡̨̢̩̭̰͔̦̯͔̺̓̊͘ḩ̸̥̩̌͗́̉̉̄͛̾̾̚͝ĩ̸͉̯͙̼̎̅c̵͚̻̙͌ḩ̶̩̳̫̯̗̝͔̙̼̟̉́̆̑ā̸̪̰̞̪̘̠̯̩͍̙͚͈̫̹͕̅͝c̴̮̣͚͖̝̼̙̟̰̔̈́̅́̽͠ͅť̷̨̡̝̺̟̣̭̼̗̦̎͌̂͆̎̚î̴̢̲̻̳̱̲̳͉͚̑̈͒̂͘͜ŏ̸̢͕̖̰̐̆́̕n̷̨͍̣̳̼̲̲͇̱͂͗̉̃̀͜͜s̷̭͙͓̞̳̰̥̬̟̺̲̯̥̆͂͊͒͆̄̀̇̎͠ͅď̵̼͍̭̤̮̤͚̓̀̎̀̓͌̈́̚e̶̡̨̡̘̱̹̗͍̖̩͗̀̓̍͑̒̒̍͐̕͠͝s̶̛̟̬̙̩̻̙͕̟͍̀͂̔͋̑̇͜ţ̵̢̺͕̤͓̣͕̹̩̞͔̮̆̀̆͛̌̚ͅr̶̭͍̠̱̬͂͛͊̐̈́̓́͊͒͐̉̀̽̕̚͜ͅȏ̷̧̨͖̩̳͙͉̘̜͇͓̙̾̑͌̓̋͗̿͌̃́̌̏͂ý̵̥̣̣͈̎̏̕͠c̸̪͖̍̊͂͒̊͐͊͑͑̓̾̈̀̕̚ŏ̶͙̖̿̓͋̉̀̇̓̽͋͑͂̀͌͝n̷̮̞̙̝̒͗̈́̄̏́̇̌̈̕͠f̸̠͙̖͇̗̲͕̌̾͗̾̈́̓̆̆͆͋̽ͅu̶͎͓͎͌s̵̢̛̻͓͚͚̀͐͛͊͑̌͛̿̓́̏͌̉͘i̵̡̗͓̫͉̇̄̐̀̑̇̓̒̈́̅̌̀͝o̷̡̡̞͍͓̮͓̞͓̹͒n̵͎͎̲͎̩͒̍̐̾̾̚̚w̶̧̡̧̢͎͔̭͍̟̫̰͈̏͌́̋̾͒͝h̴̨̳̯͙͖̙̥̤̬͔̀̈̏̏̂̽̆͌̃͂͌̕̚̚į̷̛̛̳͚̙̖͉̰͔͍͕͖̬̝̯̀̆̓̿͆̑͆̔͂̂͝c̴̨͈̯̭̊̈́̔h̴͍̫̙̱̺̙̰̺̓͆̾́͛̌̒̈ä̵̲̟̘̞̝̃͌̎͊̓̔̊̆͝c̵͔̫̝̗̖̒̐̈́̋̈́͌̍͆͒̚͝ṱ̵̪͔̺̫̓͒͐̄̿̒͛́̎͊̐͝i̸̡̧̡͇̖̳͙̬͍͈͓̬̘̬͛̈́͊̇̀̔͑͜o̵̡̯͇̞͔͓̣̙̺̣͂͂̽͌̏͋́̀n̵͖̼̙̰̾̒͋s̷̡̡̱̜̪̖̗͙͚͓͔͖̰̎̾͛͋͌̅̓̂͘͜͠r̸̬̯̦̤̥̣̙͇̳̙̥̭̙̍ë̶̦̤̭͍̰̪̯̼̣͖̘̤̼̹̙̈́̿̾̏͊̀̄̓͝t̸̟̗̤͉̝̜̝͕͕͋̔͊͐͝͝͝a̷̢̛̼̗̭̫͈̱̭͛̓̅̒̀̀͗̊̆͆̐͒̕ͅļ̷̧̟̙̩͕͖͖͔̺̭̯̺̫͐͂̄̓͊͛͒͑́̅̃ͅi̸͈̗̞̯͙̒̑̇͑̊̔͂̽͘͝͝a̸͈̹̮̋̈́̍͐t̸̺̬̮̜̤̼̩̦̻͐̚͜͝i̶̡̨͍̱̙̠̹̺̳͆̒́̾̓̂̑̓͠͝ȍ̵̤̫̥̱̹̟̪͈͝ņ̷̡̳̤̞̺̯̲̜̝̦̩̈̽Ç̷̧̖͍̒́͛̓̎̄̎̅̄̐͜Ǫ̷͈͓̟̞̺̮̠̖͔̭͔́̌̀̇͂̃͐̌̚N̴̢̡̧̠̣̱͈̬͙̹̫͇̪̱̺͂̍̉͊̾̈͗̆̍̾̂̅͆͂̕F̴̨̰͚̝͕̬̘̯͐̅Ů̴̺S̶̟̞̀́̇͛́̈̊͘̚I̴̩̘̰͖̲̪̮̲̱̦̠͑̉̀͐̊̄͋͜O̷̗̱̝͖̩̾́͗N̵̡̡̝̯̯̙͔̘͚͓̲̞̥̕!̸̖͈̰͍̜̙̀͒̀͐̆̅̾̐̈́̅͗.̵̨̨̖̟̋̽̀́̍̎̀͗͝;̴͍̽̒̇̒̈́̂̉͝

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

:I'll Heal her a bit: Shavri says, and drops the mind-link, focusing instead on Julie's various minor injuries. 

When they reach the village square, a Herald riding a Companion is waiting for them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is still asleep; the Healing seems to be helping, and has returned some color to her face. The protomolecule is eating some of the healing-energy and at least temporarily not making things worse.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are we ready for the Gate?" Shavri calls out to the Herald, hopping down from the wagon and heading to retrieve Julie's hand terminal and the vac suit from the back room. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Just about! Should I give word to the relay?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Er, not quite yet, I - need to collect my daughter." And run away before explaining anything to her mother, because how in all hells is she supposed to explain THIS. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It'll be fifteen minutes or so, is that enough?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, should be." 

Shavri asks one of the tavern-keeper's children to run to her mother's house and have her come over. She won't bother packing the belongings she brought with her; none of them are that important and all are replaceable. 

She bundles up the ship materials and then stands in the doorway and checks the room thoroughly with her Sight for any sign of Proto contamination. 

Permalink Mark Unread

No proto except in Julie.

Permalink Mark Unread

She leaves the room, tells the tavern-keeper's wife not to use it again for a week just in case of something she's not sure what, packs the items into the wagon alongside the first aid kit, and then takes Jisa from her mother. Who looks at her expectantly, but it's not that hard to beg off and then look very busy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

More like twenty minutes after the message was sent, a Gate goes up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They cross.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh man the protomolecule NOTICES that and is EXCITED. 

 

:̴̢͙͇̹͖̻͉̃̒͂͌̎̎̈́̈́͘͠.̴̢̨̛͈̼̬̟̱͔̜̻̺͓̂̇́̓̈́̄͊̄ͅr̸̡̨͎͍͙͕͍̣̮̍̅̀͐͑́͘͠é̵̢͕̦̝̗̩͇̯͕̱̞̭͉̟̉̍̈́̽s̵͕̭̞̫̯̾̆̌̎̆̇̅̈́̃̾͛o̵̢̻͎̜̲̿̓͌́̓̆̇͝͝ȗ̴͇̮͙̍̇̅͂̀͋̿̀͊̃̕͜r̴̡̘͎͓̝͓̩̝̖͕̬͛̃͆̾̐̋̿͒̇̄c̶̗͉͙͚̲̮̠̲̲̹̥͔̈͝ë̷͔͕͎̣̮̜̱͚̕͠͝ͅs̵̨̰̗̳̱̜͖̯̃̾̃͊̎͊̓.̶̘̝̥̌̌̾̍͊:̸̢͓̗̩͖̳́̽̈́̆̆̑͆͑̔͗̐

Permalink Mark Unread

Ummmmmmm that is NOT REASSURING. 

:Not yours: Shavri says tightly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Herald-Mage Savil takes down the Gate. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gemma's there, looking simultaneously curious and exasperated. "Shavri. For the sake of all the gods, what've you managed to discover this time." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri could really use a hug, but she should be extra cautious probably, even though she's pretty sure she doesn't have any Proto on her. 

"Let's get her to the room. She needs rest and fluids and - more Healing than just me...gods, I need to explain, there's so much - Savil, where's Van -?"

Permalink Mark Unread

A snort. "Hiding. Given the Gate and all. He's barely got Healing, though, why...?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I want to talk to them. I - I think I could use his advice." 

And they trundle the cart with Julie toward a specially prepared Work Room. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie wakes up a few times during all this process but being surrounded by several presumably medical professionals and security and people competent to make decisons about biohazard containment is actually very reassuring and she mostly falls right back asleep.

Permalink Mark Unread

They get her settled in a cozy cot with a non-scratchy feather-filled mattress, and nice blankets and lots of pillows. All of it will presumably have to be burned later, but they can do that. Vanyel would probably be delighted to throw some enormous fireballs around a Work Room. 

Shavri sits down, and tries, haltingly, to start explaining things to Gemma. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, a very long way from Haven, a mage is currently scrying using a quartz focus, the spell fixed on a field which is still somewhat on fire, then swooping down to more closely examine the...whatever it is...that caused the flames. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's a class-6 range shuttle of the type that sit in the bay of a small gunship; the Anubis had three of them. It's not made for atmosphere, so no particular effort was put into making it aerodynamic; it's squat and covered with sensors, and the drive is currently facing southwest because it's equipped to land in twelve different possible orientations.

 

To a person from Velgarth the most notable thing is that it's clearly of human make, metal, but much larger than anything humans could reasonably build; a hundred feet end to end. It has windows, and an enormous circular engine-thing forty feet across, and then smaller rockets all around that, fixed in every possible direction. Three of them fired, earlier, to produce the flames and launch the whole thing into the air; those same ones fired again to land it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth scries the site for a long time. 

Eventually he sets aside the focus and briskly leaves the room. 

:Nayoki. The foreigner is no longer on the site. I would like to retrieve it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Are you sure: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You saw what it did: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Yes:

Plans are made. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It takes another couple of candlemarks before everything is ready. 

Finally, two dozen of Leareth's best Adept mages, all trained in concert work and several of them able to Gate from a scrying-image, are assembled in a remote northern location.

Leareth himself is directing the operation from the nearest underground bunker; he wants to examine the artifact himself, but after they find out whether bringing it through a Gate causes it to explode. Entering it demonstrably doesn't; he's had continuous scrying coverage on it ever since its fiery descent through the sky triggered several dozen of his various wards and alarms, and they've seen people go in and out, including a Valdemaran local. 

It would be very convenient if he had more spy coverage on the town, with someone who knew something. But, soon, they'll know more. 

 

<On my go> he tells the assembled mages. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And an enormous Gate goes up, round and parallel to the ground; the near threshold of it is scaffolded on a wooden structure purpose-built for this, the far end is freestanding and clears the biggest circumference of the ship. 

It's an incredibly advanced working, and takes nearly a minute between the first flicker of Gate-energies in the field and the moment it fully stabilizes - presumably enough to set off all sorts of wards in Valdemar, but not long enough for anyone to do anything about it. They don't have a lot of Gate-capable Herald-Mages, and the strongest of them is tired, right now, from already having done one Gate. 

It goes up, uninterfered with, and the ship crashes through. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It lands badly; there's a crunching and snapping of metal before it arrives at a rest, this time with the drive up.

 

Up close, the metal is clearly some totally unfamiliar alloy, shaped very finely. There's writing on the side.

Permalink Mark Unread

Exhausted-yet-alarmed mages rush back to get some distance, shield themselves, wait to see if it's going to explode or catch on fire. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It does none of those things! It's well-engineered. Inside it, a faint alarm alerts the occupants that some systems are broken. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They approach again, cautiously, and split up the task of scanning the exterior of the ship with mage-sight for any signs of traps or wards or, really, anything even slightly informative about it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

No traps. No wards. It's like the people who made this forgot all the magic they knew the instant they finished it. 

 

There are airlocks, in twelve different orientations. 

 

The writing on the side is in an unfamiliar alphabet but it's the same on each side, too, and painted on.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mages contact Leareth for further instruction, and then start investigating the airlocks, trying to figure out how to get inside from here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The instructions plainly written in Mandarin, Martian Hindi, English and Malay will be of no help to them. There are also handles, with a sort of trigger on the inside of the handle so it'd be very hard to open by accident but is possible to do on purpose even in a vac suit.

Permalink Mark Unread

They thoroughly explore all the possible ways of interacting with the door. 

- on further instruction from Leareth, one of the mages who has Farsight scopes out the inside of the ship before they try entering, with the aid of a mage-light if necessary. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The ship has a small footprint packed with small rooms: a room with vac suits, a room with access to the drive, a room with access to the other ship systems, bunks, a kitchen, a gym, and a main navigation room. All of them are currently filled with blinking red lights, and alarms. All are empty. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The blinking lights and alarms aren't exactly reassuring, but the situation seems stable, at least. 

They don't go in, yet. Leareth is being PARANOID and, instead, they summon and wait for a Fetcher with a rabbit. The rabbit is Fetched into the interior of the ship. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The rabbit doesn't think much of the interior of the ship and hides beneath a table.

 

 

It doesn't die or anything.

Permalink Mark Unread

They leave it in their for fifteen minutes, and then the Fetcher retrieves it back into its cage.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, scrying focus in hand, watches the process from his bunker. So far so good, but he's not relaxing yet. 

<Have a Healer examine the rabbit> he instructs the mage on duty for comms. <And sterilize the interior of the ship. The foreign visitor arrived already seriously ill, and we are unsure of the route of contagion.>

It's probably not airborne - if it were, the Healer he's been spying on would surely know, and even if the incubation period were longer than two days, they wouldn't have made the decision to Gate the foreigner to Haven of all places. 

Permalink Mark Unread

A Healer is Gated over, to hang out in a tent set up nearby and examine the rabbit. 

Ten of the mages team up and cast the standard spell that mages can use to render unsafe drinking water safe without boiling it. It's a variation on a mage-light. They repeat the process with all the known variants of the technique, and put lots of extra power into it, in case this disease is particularly resistant or something. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

This is DELICIOUS and much appreciated.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The rabbit, after an intensive examination, is declared perfectly healthy and clear of any sign of unknown disease-causing lifeforce. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The ship is still flashing red lights and warning its crew that it took impact damage and several systems are offline or at risk of breaking. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mages, of course, have no idea what the warnings mean. They can see the damage for themselves, though. 

Permalink Mark Unread

<We can send in an exploration party> Leareth declares. <Full shields, maximum caution - assume hostile presence> There probably isn't a hostile presence, but, well, paranoia. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They crack open one of the airlocks. Some amount of Fetching and application of mage-force is involved. 

The least tired of the elite mages, a team of five, check their personal shields and activate various shield-talismans and then enter. They spread out, casting mage-lights to see the space better. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The airlock has two doors with a console on the wall that controls them. Through it there's a storage locker and then a room with six strap-in seats and large glass screens that are flashing warnings. Past that there's bunks, toilets, system access, and engine access. All empty.

Permalink Mark Unread

They spend a candlemark inside, checking every room, and every nook and cranny, searching for magic, and also any non-magical hazards or booby-traps. They're careful to avoid touching the flashing glass screens. They collect anything portable, recast the sterilizing spell on it, and carry it out; at Leareth's instruction, they do this with great care and without ever touching the items directly, using Fetching and mage-work instead. 

Other mages are holding an impermeable mage-barrier around the ship. When the exploratory team emerges, the Healer comes out and checks them over, just as thoroughly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's no magic. The ship doesn't seem to be designed to be hazardous to interact with, though some of its systems are crushed and not functioning correctly and look like they could collapse by accident (they don't). 

 

 

 

Portable things: some metal canteens, torn-open packets made of an unfamiliar thin material more durable than paper, replacement parts in the engine room, small chemical packets in the bathroom, thin paper in the bathroom, replacement light fixtures.

Permalink Mark Unread

All of these are collected and laid out inside a tent erected for this purpose, enclosed in its own separate mage-barrier.

Does the Healer see anything wrong with the team of mages sent in to explore? 

Permalink Mark Unread

They all seem to be in perfect health. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth spends another full half-candlemark thinking about what to do next. 

He wants to see the artifact for himself. At this point, he's certain it was built by a civilization far more technologically advanced than this one. Probably without magic at all, given that they've seen no traces of it. And Leareth is the only person in Velgarth with enough expertise, built up over centuries and millennia, to have a chance at interpreting the alien engineering... 

There's a risk, of course, but...for once, it's not clear to him that the risk to himself is unnaturally high. If the ship is from another world, then - that means it isn't of his world, where the gods scheme against him. (Unless They've already found a way to turn events to Their own purposes - which he has to assume They have - but Their Foresight is likely to be clouded by this unexpected event...) 

He sketches out the various considerations on paper. Thinks through contingencies. 

Eventually, he gets up, gathers his full set of shield-talismans including several that no one else knows how to make, and Gates to the location. 

He debriefs for a while with the team of explorers, who are still quarantined from the others in a separate tent, just in case. They draw up a map. They show him the tent with the various miscellaneous items. 

And then Leareth activates all of his own shields, and steps into the ship, all of his senses and instincts on full alertness. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The alarm is still going. It's now warning not just of systems failures but also that one of the airlocks is damaged and that ship sector is no longer airtight.

There are no minds in the ship. There's still no magic.

Permalink Mark Unread

He moves cautiously through the ship, still on alert for any hint of magic or minds, but mainly focusing on the various glass screens with his ordinary senses, gauging whatever he can about what the systems do

After a few minutes, he heads for the area that he now suspects is some sort of power source or propulsion system. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The drive is enormous, probably half the bulk of the ship; it's accessed by a metal walkway with railings. Some of the components are at least legible. The largest part by mass is a metal cone, smooth and featureless, made of a material that'll absorb unfathomable amounts of heat and shaped to collect nearly all the heat from the drive's operations that isn't expelled as exhaust. Everything else is harder to figure out. There are mirrors. There's a feeding system for fuel and propellant. It seems to be fueled by some kind of highly compressed gas, in liquid form at this pressure, and by ....ordinary water? It's almost out of water, though. 

 

 

 

The ship is badly damaged but it's still an extraordinary, unlikely coincidence that the floor held up under the earlier exploration and snaps in two now, dropping Leareth into the water filtration system, and another extraordinary, unlikely coincidence that this mistakenly triggers a blast door to attempt to close on him as he falls.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth doesn't scream. He flings power into his shields; the shield-talismans are already up at full strength. They take the brunt of the blast door's attempted closure. This isn't very good for either the artifacts or the door itself, but Leareth is unhurt. 

He doesn't, quite, have time to raise an unscaffolded Gate before he lands in the water. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Farseer currently assigned to watch Leareth's progress does yelp out loud. 

He's also a Mindspeaker. :Leareth. Status report: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Floor collapsed. No injuries. I am going to Gate out: 

First, though, he blasts the general area with the sterilizing spell, just in case it was too thoroughly blocked by the tank walls on the last pass. He takes ten seconds to cast a bright mage-light and study the area he's fallen into.

Then he Gates out. To an area a mile away. He lands on hands and knees, quite a lot of water spilling through the Gate along with him. 

<Keep your distance> he tells the mage on comms. <I am - this was suspicious - I need to think> 

Pause. 

<Please send the Healer, though.> 

Permalink Mark Unread

The water filtration system appears to have been cracked when the ship was dropped through a Gate; it's all shiny chrome tanks and pipes, several of them badly damaged. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth crouches in the empty tundra. 

After a moment, he blasts the area with not-mage-light again; it's not generally good for humans to be in the radius of the spell, but he's very, very well shielded.

He's soaking wet now, so he raises a weather-barrier while he waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

After some discussion, they decide to Gate the Healer over rather than making them trek an entire mile. 

She steps out twenty paces away from Leareth. "Safe to approach?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"- I am not sure. Be very cautious, I think - use your Sight -" 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's something there. On Leareth and also on the ground, sinking rapidly into it. There's not much of it, but it's growing, it really likes the Gates and it really likes the sterilizing light. It doesn't seem to be doing anything, yet, just spreading, as quickly as it possibly can, and growing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer stops dead where she is. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Oh," Leareth says, very quietly. 

For a long minute, neither of them moves. 

 

 

 

 

"Do not approach," Leareth says finally. "Keep your distance. Do you - what is it, what should I -?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The sterilizing spell is worse than useless," the Healer says finally. "And - I think Gates feed it, somehow... You could try fire. On the ground. Or ice." 

Permalink Mark Unread

....He could Final Strike. 

Leareth can't help being immediately aware of this, a contingency sitting in the back of his mind, the tradeoffs, the losses and gains... 

"More distance than that," he says. "I will - I am going to stay here. It was in the water...?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Y-yes. In the ground now. Growing." 

The Healer breaks and runs. 

Permalink Mark Unread

No Gates. 

Leareth stares at the ground - he can't see the alien-world disease, of course, but he knows... 

He taps a node, heat-shields himself, and then blasts the tundra with SO MUCH FIRE. 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's very rude! And they were getting along so well!

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth cannot, of course, fireball his own body. (Unless he's willing to sacrifice this body, lose most of this lifetime's memories again, start fresh in a month and repeat five years' worth of preparation...) 

:You can approach cautiously: he tells the Healer, in Mindspeech this time. :Please check if - if that did anything: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer approaches very, very carefully, stretching her Sight out ahead to its maximal range of about ten yards. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The ground seems dead. The other lifeforce is still present, but only on Leareth's skin and the tissue beneath it.

Permalink Mark Unread

She relays this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth sits down on the scorched ground. 

"You can come close enough to assess it more closely," he says after a long silence. "Do not touch me." 

Privately, he's thinking that this is OBVIOUSLY enemy action - it has the signature of the gods all over it, the worst possible luck. 

In the back of his mind, he's terrified. But fear won't help, so he sets it aside. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer approaches to within a yard, squats in the ashes, and runs her Sight over Leareth's body. 

How bad is it? 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's not actually a lot of it, but it's kind of everywhere - on Leareth's arms, legs, torso, neck. Its signature is actually getting fainter as it spreads out. If it were all in one place there wouldn't even be enough of it to see, but to Healing-sight it's more distinctive.

 

It's still not apparently doing anything, aside from spreading out.

Permalink Mark Unread

She focuses on a patch of it on Leareth’s skin. Can she kill it with a focused burst of destructive Healing energy?

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! (The rest of it reacts, scattering faster and deeper.)

Permalink Mark Unread

....What. Diseases don’t do that.

She goes after the rest that’s still on his skin, destroying it, more hastily now - at worst being sloppy will give him minor skin damage, no worse than a sunburn. Not at all like fighting it off inside his body.

It’s not a huge exposure - or so she hopes - maybe his immune system can still fight it off. She sets up s link and starts feeding him Healing energy to help out with that.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is busy trying to think of projects he needs to hand off, if he dies or becomes seriously ill. And, despite himself, he’s distracted by trying to notice whether he feels at all unwell,

Permalink Mark Unread

Healing energy! What a good idea!

 

 

 

(Leareth feels completely fine.)

Permalink Mark Unread

A few minutes later, Nayoki arrives. She stays twenty yards out. 

:We should evacuate you somewhere safe: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- I am not clear if that will help: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You might become very ill. We should at least bring you indoors: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth thinks through the implications for a couple of minutes, in silence. 

:All right: He names a place. It's underground, remote, used for minor records storage; importantly, it's surrounded by bedrock. :You will stay away. One Healer can come in. And - find out what is happening in Haven right now. Please: 

He nods to the Healer, and then raises a Gate for both of them to cross.

Permalink Mark Unread

Gates!!

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, in Haven, Julie is bundled up cozy and warm in a soft comfortable bed, and Gemma, in a meld with two trainees, is feeding her a steady stream of Healing-energy and fixing various minor issues. 

And Shavri perches on a stool. She's saving her energy, now that there are other Healers, but Mindspeech isn't that tiring. 

She is attempting, using mental images and some words, to explain to the Proto how human digestive systems work, and therefore how to avoid breaking Julie's. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̸̮̖͌̒̈́̍̀̈́͌̀̒͆̀͂͊̕͜͠'̶͙͔̲̤̝̗̳̠̙̳̃͒̃̃̏͋͌̔͑̐͑͘͘͝i̷̳̯̩̯̠̟͔̟͈̠̩̓́̀̑͆̂͝͝n̷̢̧̨̮͔̰̝̜͚̤̋͐͑̏̓͑͜ê̴̙̬̻̙͕͑͒̃͂͛͝f̷̡͙̰̘̟͔̱̟͚̞͍̫͎̰́f̴̨͉̼̤̭̹̙̭̉͋̀͒̆į̴͔̬̼̫͖̤̲͖̪̗͓͆̓̈́̋c̴͍̪̫͓̭͍̜̗̖̻̿͒̇̆͛̔̂͗̚͠i̸͔͈̯̳̰̗̱̊̊̿è̴̢̙̳̗̰̼̱̙͓̟̭̱̟͆̒̂̐̈́n̸͕̽̃͑͑͂̈̀́̄͐̈́͠͠t̷̨̮͉̠̲͎̥̞̯͖̙̰̟̘̏̎͆̿̎͑̈ͅ ̵̙͑͛̈́͋͐̅́̈́í̶̩̙̮̩̥͕͌̎̓̓̀̔m̵̨̡̥̪̺̭̗̈́̎͋̋̓͋͑͘͠p̴̢̹̟̞̫̺̭̟̩̹̪͊̈́̊͌̇̾̇̓͘ȑ̶̗̖̭̖̬̄͗̃̿̔̚͠ợ̴͓͙̻̼͚̯͇̀̐́͋̂̈̀̑̌͂͜͝v̶̧̡͉͖̯̥̠̤̤̼͒͊ȃ̷͓̲͈̤̺̲̙͓̳̀͆̾͂̀͆́ͅͅb̴̨̛̹̯̞͇̦͇͇͚͉͇̈́͗̒̿̂̈́̐͌̀̅͝͝͠͝l̵͔͚͎̖͈̈̀̚͜͝e̶̛͓̻̪̖͚̲͉̦̲̦͓̰̘̼̗͛̏͌̂̃̑̀͂|̶̡̥͚̠̣̤̩̼̠͓̔̓͂͒̉̀̃̊̊͠,̴̢̢̦͖̘̱͓͖̘̼̗̗͎̞̌͜͠

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...You know, that's fair. Er, can you not try to fix it right now, though? If you go fast then you break things because you're missing context: 

And for what feels like the millionth time, she expands her Sight to scan Julie's body as well. How's she doing? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Better! The Healing energy is clearly doing a lot for the protomolecule but it's not doing nothing for Julie, either; she's a little stronger and better rested, and most of the damage done the last time the protomolecule panicked is undone.

 

It's growing a lot, though. The Healing is really helping. It has more thoroughly replaced a stretch of the tissue in one of Julie's arms, where it earlier tried to grow a crystal; this doesn't seem to have disrupted blood flow or damaged the nearby tissue or anything, but Julie's arm glows eerily on that spot, now. It's doing the same thing in a few other random places -- on her breast, on her pelvis, on her cheek.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri pushes across a mental image of the crystal from before, then the new replacement tissue. :? What is your plan?:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̴̛̘̟̋̓̀̐|̵̡͓̜͇̙̬̽͊̆͆̅̋̈́*̸̧̢̳̣̪̩͚̫̣͎̞̏̒̀̃̅̈́̾͘ḿ̸̧͖̘̦̟̹͉͕̑́o̸̢͇̝͓̜͇͛͛͆̓̎̀̈́̿̌̊̀͊̓͜r̸̞͔̤̺͍͙̬͈̫̮̉̇̓́̏̒̃̕͘ͅe̵̳̭͕̻͆̍̑͑̐̆̓̄̿̍ ̸̡̖̲̪͙̠̘̪̼͎̣̪͇̉̐̀͑̈́̄͐̅̄̓̀̚̕͝ŕ̶̢̛͉̫̪̳̩̹͑̊̈͊͆̌̉̑͗̈́͑͘͘͜ȩ̷̲̮̩͉̫̹̤̪̟̔̎̄̀̀̀̄̇̀̄͐̚s̶̯͈̜͚̪̬̪̤̟͎̈́̍͛̓̄̊ȏ̶̧̤̝̪̻̊́͆̏̽̋̑̍͌͛̿̾̊ừ̵̬̥̼̎̿͂̉̅̾́̄͌̔͝ͅr̸̩̣̈́̑̓̅́̅ḉ̷̟͙̟̮̤̤͙̃̂̓̏͗̈͌͒͜͝ė̸̗̜̋̓͆̂̏̐̽͝͝s̸̱̠̥̱͕̹̤̣͍͔͖͂ͅ ̸̛̮̯͓͇̊͒̀̑̈́̆̔̎̊̇͝͝m̴̢̼͉̤̰̝̈̉͛̈̀̿̚ǫ̴͇͓̫̼̩͖̱͍͋̍̀ͅr̷̢͍̥̖̫̿ę̶͚̝̗̯̳̣̈́̋͛͒͑̓́̐͝ ̷̩́̇͂̎̏i̶̯̹̠̟͍͍͒͐̅͋̊͑̊̌̋̕͝n̵̹̦̿̀͌̇̈́̈́̋f̵̢̲̮̤͇̘̫̂̾̒͆́͋͝o̷̺̰̥͔̞͕̞̲̗͍̙̼̻͖͎͐͊̾r̸̢̧͖̣͍͉̤̳̫̳͕͓̙̜̈̍͋̍̑̑͠ḿ̵̝̇̌̂̀̑́́̈̃͊̒̏̐͜ä̵͈̫̩̲́̾̄̈́t̴̼̹̥̳͙̼͍͓͛̋̿̀̔̾̉͑͛͌̓į̶̨̛̝̤͔̠͂͌̐͋̔̊o̷̧̧̡͓̤̥̣͕̩̪͎͍͖̖̳̐͆͋̀̔̊͋̀̀͘̕͘̕n̸̢̢͙̙̻͍̼̞͇̽̏̌̎̓̉͘͜͠ͅ ̵̛̜͂̈́̄͝s̶̡̬̣̜͖̟̱̲͊̽̐͛̐͌̅͊̐̈̄͒m̷̛̻͓͉̺̗͔̳̀́̈́̽̌͐̔͠ă̵̙̥̺̖̪̰͕̔̕ͅr̴̞̭̬̻̯̠̩̻͖͕͋̊̈̾̊͌̕ͅẗ̷̻̱̘̺̩̣̬̖͈̫́̓̚͜͝e̴̡̨̡̛̤̝͚̗͍̦͚̟͇̳͆̂͌͊̾́̉̄̉͋r̴̫͙̱͚̟͓̳̮͚͙̲̘̬̓̽̉ͅ*̴̧͇̖̭̝̞̺̹̭̻͕̆͜.̶̨̡͉͎͔̠͇̻̗͉͔̬̝́̀̅̋̌̏̚͜͝ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri isn't sure if 'more resources' necessarily requires 'from Julie'. 

:Can you - live outside of her and eat, I don't know, sugar?: She pushes across a mental image of a crystal sort of wriggling out through the spot in her arm where it previously broke through the skin. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

.̴̛͍̥̼̀.̵̧̨̞̮̟̘͔̳̳̲̻̪̰̠͈̟́̋̄͌̑̐̉̿̈́̏́͆͛̾̃̉̑̆͋͊́͘̚͝͝t̴͚̜̯͓̜̹̞̘̠͌͊̓͝ͅẉ̷̟̬̤̮͎̯̙̝̊̓̒̐̉o̶̧̨̧̢̳͚͓̯̦̰̻̠̘͖͍̝͎͕͍̖͍̝̘͍̓̈́̒̎́͋͂́̅͗̈́͋̆̍͆̚ͅ ̸̡͖͎͙͖̻̞͖̰̖̥̯̩͔̭̜̗̝͉̮̭̟͈͋̂̽̋͗́͗̍̂̊̐͑̊́̐̀̐̌͆̚̚͠ͅç̷̨̘̪̣̬̞͍͙̣͈̘̻̰͈̮͈͕̏̎͛̏͑̉́͂̅͝ȏ̶̧̨̨̯̝͇̻͙̙̫͕̰͓̗̜̗̲͓͚̗̙̫̲̮̐̅̌̎ͅn̶̨̡̨͚͎̹̯̻̫͙̻̝̺̘͙̭̦͍̪͈͚̝̗̙̞͉̙̖̊͗̐͋̔͊̽́̃͊̆̎̇́̐͌̊̉͒̕͜ç̸̲̜̖̥͎̪̹̪̰̘̰̩͕̭̟͚̲͖͔͙̟̩͎͇̠̗̓̄̎̏̉͆͆̄̃̏́̔̐͊́̚͝ȇ̴̢̨̛̟̗̤̙͙̰̥̻̻͕̬̠͍̭̥̜̫̪̼̥̖̮̫̫̽͋̋̌̀̽̈̒̽͂̀̄̇̄̓́̿͒̈́͆̚͘̚͜p̷̛̜̻̆͋͆͑̃͐̀̅͋͑̈̍́̓́̋̈́̇̌̋̾̅̾̃̚͘͝͠͝t̵̳̮̰͎͍̩̹̞̭̫̹̞̝̻͍͈̻̭̟̆̓͂̇̿̽̓̈́̈̌̈́̏͐̊̾̿̈́͗̀̿̓̚̚͜ͅͅs̵̢͙͉̯̼͖͉̲̯͎̪̼͕͎͓̟̼̖̹̹͎͖̬̳̭͈̈͌͐͆͐̚͜.̸͇̫͐͋ ̷̢̳̲͎̮̰̞͇̭̝̯̦̙͓̼̪͑̍̀͒͂̈́͛͌͂̋̒̔̅͋̕ĺ̶̢̖̫̫̠̼̱̙͇͛̆͝ì̶̧̢̡̧̢̬̣̞͉̫͚̽̈́͛̄̉̽̆͘̕͝v̸̧̜̮͚̮̮̗̘̣̺̭͆ȩ̸̢̢͎̠̟̜̞̳̹̠͕̥̞̙͍̖̇͘ ̸̭̎͒̀͆͑̅̑̎͑̓̎̒̐͂̅͆̃̈́͘̕͠͝o̷̧̢̜̹̳̙̼̠̰̗̞͉̫͚̭͈̲̍̎́̑̈̈͐͌̌̀̿͐̀̅̇̈́̃͋͝͝͝͝͠ứ̶̢̘͎̱̫̘̩̫͖̣͎̞̥͙̪͑͂̐͑̊̇͑͒̈́̃̿͠t̷̖̥̦̪̩̓͛̀̋͠ś̵̙͙͖̼̝̪̳͇̱͚͍̟̱̼̜͎̟̰̯̐͗͋̋̈̊̎̃̌̀̍̃̀̓̇͘̕̚į̴̹̝̬́͊͗͗̎͛́̀̇̀͝͝d̴̢̢̛̗͉̹͙͚̟͔͓̗̬͎̞̖͔̺̞͋̀̏͊͊́̐̇͐͠͝͝e̶̹͖̞̳̭͎̳̝̦͎͎̾̐̀̅̓̐͆̍̽̇̎̀̈́ ̸̨̨̡̛͚̭͉̟̖̮͉̩͖͔̼͍̲͂̀̋̅̏̆̍̾́̒̑͆̇̒̈́͝͠o̸̢̧̼̣̰̘͙̘̻̹̭͍̠̼̪͉̝̔͌̈̓̍͗̄̎̍̃̑̂́̓̌̚͘͘ͅͅf̶̧̧͓̥̜̘͚̯̘̼͎̫͍̠̯̻̳̙̫̝͉̼͎̘͈͙̾̀́̉͋̉̆͗͘͜͠ ̷̧̖̞̖̮̗̜͎͇̗̮̩̮͍̯͗̀̔̍̇͊̔͊͗͒̄͜͜͠ͅh̴̡̧͚̣̙͔̖̹̖̩̽̍̅̌̿̉͋̀̍̏̔͂̿̾̇̈́̈́̈́͜͠ͅe̴̢̡̡̛̝̬̺̬̰̰̻̱̣̱̫͎̦̮̩̳̮͖̩͈͖͖͈̗̻̯̪̋͑̈́̆̌͂̃͋̈́̉̀̄̏̽̽̓́̈́̍͘͝͝r̷̡̡̢̢̯͖͈̥͈͍̦͇͎̰̜̼̜̩̞̩͉̜̘͇̼̯͂͂́͂̓̎̀͂̆͝.̸̨̧̛͎̻͔̱̹̳̳̥̰̭̺̩̺̦͈̳̻̖̘̲̰͕͈̭̗̱̏́̀̾͗̓̀̾̃͗̿̒͆̅̐̆̏͘̕̚̕͜͜͝͠͝͠ ̷̢̧̞̜̫̭̼̰͚̗̣̘͒̎͌̔̓̃́̀͌͑̍̀̓̈́̈́́̄͗̑̅̏̈͊̃̎̕͝͝c̸̤̘͍̩̻͉̻͉̮̺̣͙̣̻̰͈͎̲͕͎̑͑̔̂͆̿̇̊̓̍̓͆̀̒́̓̎͂̂͛̄̀̑͊͌̚͝͝͠͝ơ̴̢̢̝̰̙͇̟̤̪̹̙̬͇̣̣̗̪̠̰̣̪͚̭̳͖̱͐̇́͌͐̓́̑̈́̚͘͜n̶̡̧̪̯̱̥͙̮̪̤̯͇̜͉̥̦̥͙̖̑͌̋̉̆̍̃̃͊̍̄͘̚͠f̸̢̘͕͇̖̪̼̹͇͎͖͕̙̜̩̘̠̘̙̺̘͑̈͑̈́̇̀̉͘͜ͅu̸͖͖̼̲̐̄̓̅̐̅̾̚͠͠ͅs̵̡̢̠͉̲̞̭̖̰̣̫̼̝̏̈́́̾̈͑̈́͐̏̅̉̐̈̾͐͑̃̑͐̀̒͗͘͜͝͝ͅè̸̡̧̟̻̜̫͈̞̲̫̞͇̼͔̜̙̩͙̝̲̮̪͍̩̺̟͙̑̌̃͊ͅd̴̛̛̥͉̤̣̰̖̘͍̰̜͕̝̰͎̮͚̞̏͂͊̉̐̕͘̚͝ ̷̨̨̙͚̙͉̗̙̰̤͔̻̫̦̣̫̭̊̊̏̌͑̕͜͝ͅͅ'̶̛͍͔̺͉̈̎͂͑̀͂̋͒͊̍͊͒́̈̐̔̄̉̅͊̋̄͆̋͘h̷̢̢̘̬̝̲̯͙͓͖͕̖̤̦͚͉̲̖̣͂͊̾̑̓́͑̇̊̔̏̌̅̾̂͛̃̀̾̓̊̊͐̎̚̕͝͝e̷̢̧̢̡̛̲͚̫͎̺̻̹̗̜͖̦̥͔̜̥̬̮͒̾̓͒̏̉͛̎́̇̎̇̋́̑̀̚̕͜͠͝ṛ̴̨̩͉̞̏̀͂͗̽̍̾̕'̷̧̢̢̰̱̗̹̥̲͖̼̫̲͙̩͕͔́̃̉́́̈̍̾̀̊̈́̕̕̕̕͘̕̚͜͝͠ͅ.̷̲̤̲̹̞̥̱͚͔̌́̐̓̈́̓́̅̈́̅͛̐̉ ̶̨̨͔̞̞͇̲̪̮͈͍̲̜̥̦̬̹͓̤̪̖̣̳͍̱̓̀͒̀̓͑͊͌͗̉̍̏͐̽̈́̑̋̚̕͘͝͝l̸͕̬̝͓̮̃̾̔͒̎͆̑̆̀̚͘̚ỉ̸̬̗̳͖̪̮͍̰̼̑̔͂̌̔̽̈́̈́̎̇̽̍̆͗̾̈̑̽̊͒́̽̕v̴͙͎͕̯̙̲͔̻̞͖̥̱͈̳̖̑̔̃̊̏̉̐͗̓̋̽̿̕̚͜ͅͅe̷͓̞̭͓̱̫͖̓̍̋̽̍́ͅ ̸̗̹̻͆͂̆̉͠a̵̧̧̛̦̺͈͕̖̼̹͓̰̜͇̟̥̮͎̭̮͉̐̔͊̒̌͛̐̋̎̌̈̃̃̇̀̑́̋̐͗͂̕͘͜n̵̡̡̮̖̼̝̩͌̀̽͂̈̾̔̆́̀͘͘͜͜͝ỷ̶̛͔͎͉̣̪͓͔͉͙̟̦̦̖͙̪̣͙͍͓̒̔̅͗͊̊̏̒͑͒́̐̽̓̈͑̅̇̈́̇͊͘̕̚̕͜͝͝ͅw̶̢̱͍̻̜̮̼̞̱̯̱̯̗̦͓̪͚̘̰̯̝̖͊̂͆̊̐͌̿̉̾̑͆̌̅͗̊͑̈́̑̂̈́̀̈́͝h̸̨̤̝̻̰̙̤͙̩̥̳̱̺̕͜e̵̛̛̦̩̼͍͓͚̳̹̻͛̈͋̕͝r̶̛̫̝͚̗͂̃͐̀͛̓͛̊̐̾̇̅͋̿̈́͗̒̊́̿́͑͌̌̌͌̚͝é̴̛̛͍͇̱̘̦̞̫̘͔̩̀̍̂͋̈́̿̈́͆̈́̐̄͑̋̇̂́̾̍͑̊͘͘̕͠ ̷͉̀͒̈́͗͆͘ṫ̷̡̟̣̺͇̘̠͇̥̘̹̤̲̜̣̪̠̹̹̩͖̳̺̰̪̪̱́̃͗̔̀̈̃͌̉̇̎͜ͅh̵̨͖̬͖̭̦̲͛̏̃́͌͊̀͆͑̅͑́̓̈̇̔́̇̏̄̊̿̓̔̕̕̕͘͜͝͝i̸̡̡̢̻͍͙̠̳̝͙͙̥͕͈̦̥͍̳͛n̵̳̰̻͆̋́͛͆̀̔̐̎͝g̶̡̣̲͚̰̻̠̩͍͖̣̘̮̃͌̍͐̃͑̀̏͂̔̈́͒̔̓̕̚͝ͅs̸̡̬͙̙͉̰̠͉̳̰͉̫̗̜̀̒̉͐̂̏̿̄͂͋͐́̈̒͌̄̓̊̃̚̕͝ ̴̡̡̛̯͈̟̟͈͉̣̞̬̬̜̹̃̈́̊̽̈̿̈́͂͒̔̕ͅr̸͕̲̱̠̘͎̥̼͈̲͓̅͗̍́̀̏̈́̄̓̎̆͛͂̆̍̊̀̍̂̒̎̒̔̕͝e̶̛͙̭̮͖͓̫̳͚͓̭̥͔̺̮̯̰͖͚̞͂̀̋͂͒̍̍́̂͑̎̓͗͜͠͠ͅͅp̷̡̧̢̨̺̙͎̲͉̟̣̭̬͕̥͇̑ͅl̶̨̧͔̝̗̼̳̖̦͉͙̤̳̱͖̬̥̗̥̥̥̥̺̞̘̈̒̇́͂̈́͆́͗̅̆̉͑͂͘͜͜ȋ̷̡̧̫̫̮͍͓̲͉̥̯͍͖̤̖̭͚̪͎̣̪͓̯̲͎̮͉͚̲͍̽̆͐̀̉̀̅̃͑̅͆͊̚͠͠c̸̬̣̰͓͇̪͇̲̝͓̥̲̪̠̰̗̦̮̲̍̀̿̿̈́͆̃̍̄̿̇̓̍̄͆̈ả̸̛̗̥̼̬̫̥̠̘̥͉̫̘̮̞̝̱͚̹̞͎͕̳̬͙̹̳͊͂̋̂̒͛͂̄́͐̎̎͗̔̅̄̈̈́͛̕͘͜͝͝t̷͈́ẽ̵̡̧̢̛̩̘̭̻̗̙̜̬̲͖̳͎͈̠͉͙̬͔̗͉̽̅̃̽͊̈́̈͂̀͑̎̎̌̍̑̓͂͜͝ͅͅ,̵̢͍̩̩͇͙̀̌͋̕͘ ̸̢̻͙̖͓͕̱̫͖̼̉̀͂̆̌͒́̍̊͌͋̃̔͋͊͋̒̊̋̂͐̌͝͝g̷̢̡͉̝͇̘̣̰̺͖͔̥̠̭͍̗̗̱̅͑͗͊̉̅͊̀́͜͠r̸̘͍͙̠̫͑͂͗͂̇̓̃̽͋͘͜͝o̵̧̨͎͎͚͎͔̙̜̊̌̉͐͂͛̀̓͆̊̈́̓̐̂̐̐̒͐̈́͜͝w̷̧̻̘̥̥̝̱̹̱͑̏̏̑̋ ̸̨̛̛͉͉̤͍̂̊̎̎́͌̿́͗͌͆̎̀͐̂̍̏͑̉̓͘̕͜͝͝͝ͅͅą̷̘̠̹̟̥̘̎́̔̇̇́̊̎̍̿͑͑́̈́̆͂͌̀̉̊̌͑̈́̓̕̚̕͜͝͠ṅ̴̡̢̡̛̗̠̪̲̬̠͈̙̝͇̝̬̺̠͙̟̀͛͒̄̔̓͐͛̎͐͒̌̓͒̔͜͠ͅỵ̶̨̧̨͍̙͉̝̻̠̦͕̱̱͖̬̮͍̖́̒̇̇͊̑̓̿̓̂̈̆̊͒̎̂̒̈́̇̇̊̓̒̌͛̐͐͝͝ͅͅẁ̶̨̡̢̧̭͔̺̜͔̼̤̣̘̯̝̗̖͇͍͕̣̘̒͛͆͐̂̽͒̐͆̾͜͜h̷͔̺̹̺̱̊͋͊͛̈́̽̂̇̊͛͊͗̌͊̐͐̽̌͌̉̈́̓̃̉͛̈́͜͠͠e̵̡̢̧̮͔̝̭͔̮̹̗͎̫̝̙̥̲͕̺̪͗̒́̋́̿̒͋̇̀̕͠͝ṙ̶̨̨̢̛̯̰͇̥͉̤̝̙̙̬͉̺̫̐̅̿̽́̅́̄̐̓̓̏̅͑̀̎̓͒̾̾̋̔͛̂̕̚͝͝ẻ̴͎̟͙̩͙̗̝̲̀̆͆͐̅́̇́̈́͑̈́͑̊̿̐̑̉͊͐̽͊̅̕̕ ̴̡̢̡̧̭͙̺̮̥̠̳͙̻̳̫̱͖̖̩͇͇̂͛̑̾̔̈́̓̈́̀̚͜͠͠t̸̡͕̙̫̭̦͔͈͖̤̖̼̰̩̠̝͇͗̊ͅḩ̶̨̤͔̗̤̳̟̹͎̬̬͕̠̺̭͍̰̺̱̦̄́͗̂̌̈͛͗͂͋̎͊̋̀̽͝͠ę̵̨̧̠͇̪̖̮̱̭̘̻̫͍̖̮̦̲̻̣́̾͂̅̆͂̔͂̾̉̂͊̎̏̽̂͆́̆̕̕͜r̸̛̞̣͕͚͎͎̱͎̯̯̊̉̋͆͛́̎̀̕ȩ̶͖̖͕̝̟̝̮͎́͌̍͌̀͂̋̈͋̈́̆̈́̋̆̕͜'̶̗̠̯̘̹̺̖͚̘̞͓̎̑̑̾̎̋̃̔̅̅́̔͘͘̕͝͝ͅs̴̢̧̗̜͇̖̪̝̯̥̖̜̻̹̀͑͆̍͐̆̀̂̅̀͂͜ͅ ̸̛̛̱̮̩̌̆̓̀̑̒̐̈́̑̒̄̐̂͗̈̄̔̿͋̆̌̋́̚͝ŗ̸̢̭̝̝̻̺̮̼̘̻̠̇͐̍̆͛̄̅̌͒̇̈́̏̃̀͒̽͒̂̈̀̿̒͛͘͘͘͘͝e̴̝̲̲̝̳̩̦̻̤̙̯̗̫̫̖̒̀̐̊̇́̇̎̏̿̉͘͠ͅͅs̶͎̘͎̱͂̐͠ȏ̴̡̖̲͔͍͙͉̬̫͎̜̞̫̰̝̳͍̥̱͕̻̪̦̙͘ͅͅu̶̧̜̣͉̭̬̲͎͕͖̭̞̯̾̅̀̈́̉̎̎̑̈́̊͋̌̃̋̆̄͂̌̀̏̎̔͝͝ͅŗ̴̹͖̘̙͆̆͗͑ͅç̷̝͖̟͚̺̱̼͇̺̹̮͈̻̙̯͓̬̪̂̓͛̓̊́̽͊̈́̓̊͋͑̕͜ȩ̸̦͔̥̮̰̳̗̰̂͒̓͛̇́̀̄̉̈͌͌̕̚͝ͅs̵̯̠̐̐̈́̃̅̎̀͗̐͂͑̅̋͛̎̕͜͜͝͝.̷̨̛̖̞̼͙͇̦̠̻̱̬̩̹͇̗̟̯̭͙̙̮̅̄͆͋́̿̈̋̃̀̅̐̅̆̈́͝ͅ

 

 

 

 

 

 

̴̧͙̝̘̘̲̦͍̙̰̖͈̗̈͑͑̇̌̆̒̃͊̃̅̓̉̏͊̑̐́̈́̇̕͘̚s̵̡̬̯͖̠͓̞͎̜̔̃̀̏̑̒̊̄͊̊̄͂̀͂̌̒͌́͌̚͘͠ę̸̢̪̗̝̙̜̩̘̜͉͔̰̪̲͓̩̍̄͗c̵̛̫̔̓̾͛̅̒́́̿́̈̈́̊̄͗̋̊͘̚o̸̢̢̡̧̘̙̳͚̝͍̳̟̱̝̗͎͓̟͔̩̻̲̖̤̜̹̞̅͗̋̾̃̈́n̸̡̡̧̨̢͎̲̲̬̮̦̪̱̳̜̯͇͎̲̪͈̺̩̙̻̎́̂̈́͜d̷̛̛͖̩̮̲̤̜̘̰̒̇̍̀́̊̊̌͛̉͘̕̚͜ ̷̛͇̲̱̩̯̯͍̹̻̝̲̖͔͓͎͉͓͉̩̯̗͉͚͕̜͂̊͌̄̀͛̓̽̓͗͋͒̃̽̅̽͊̽͘̚͜͝c̷̛͈̦̭͌̑̓͑̔́̀͒͑̎́̒͆̂̉̚̕͝ö̴͇̝͍́͆͛̐̌̂͐̑͌͠n̷̡̨̺̝͚̳̹͓͉̼̫̠͕͉̖̲̺͔̜͍̗͍̰͛͜c̴̣̪̗̱̲̺̫̫̱̻̼̬̰͆̓͜ͅē̵̛͔̯̲̬̥̜̳͉̣̺͇̾̅̽̈́͐̌̌̏͊̉̑̓͗̉͆͐̋̈́̀̈̕͘͜p̸̡̨̩̱̖̩͕͈̟̺̼͈͔̱̫̻̮̩̳̾̓̐͂̐̉̍̕͜ţ̶͍̣̲̞̜̦͈̥͈̘̠̠̞͇͔̭̳̲̩̰̘̠̃̽̿̌̐̒̆̐́̀̏̎́̉̈́̍̐̃̄̈́̐̃̐̕͜͝͝.̵̡̢̡͉͎̱̯̩͖̖̜̱̼̼̝̗̲̲̺̙̖͉̯̱̫͙̪̪̭̬̓͐̈̑̅͂̒͆͒̃̀̏̾̿̆̂̾̀͝ ̴͚͖̣͓͉͔͇̳̹͖̹͚̹͈̝̗̀͊͋̽̋̎̑̓̈̑̍͗͝ș̵̡̧̡̥̲̲̙̠͇̝̺̻͈̭͍͈̹̜̹̣͔͙̬̬̮̤͙̐ͅͅų̵̯̣̝͖̗͔̘̭̫̙͙̮̩̭̲̗̻̘̈́͑̓̈̂̇̍̋̒͋̀̈̒͂͌̋̈͜͝ͅg̸͈̎́͝ă̴̪̜̐̓́̀̑͒̀̃̌̒̏̿̓̃͊͝ȑ̵̛̛̼͙̳̝̟͔͔̈́͑͛̓́͌̋͐̅͂̽̓̈́͂͐̚̕.̶͙͉͕̞͈̼̣͈̘̓̅̒̉̈́̀̐̑͜͝ ̵̥̤̖͓͖͚̫̣̲̄͌̓̎́͛̐̇̀͜͝ͅŗ̴̡̞͖̝̩̳̯̺̬͎̖͓̤͍̙̰͇̀͐̓̓͋̓́̚̕͜͜ͅe̵̪̊͆͆̿̅̎͊̈̀̅̅̎͘͠͠š̶̨̡̧̢̛͓͚͕̰̠̹̟͍͔͙̭̖̖̞̠͎̐̂̋͋̑̇͛̆̃̌̽͂͆̆͒̈́͗̾̂̚͘̕͝͠ͅͅo̴͍͓͙̟̬̞̦̜̘̗̣̝̘̠̯̗̗̽͜ͅứ̵̧̛̛̥̭̖̦̞̩̱̘͙̭̪͉̝͓͚̺̦̪͚̀͛͆̚͜͝ṛ̵̢͈͇͇̳͉̻̥͕̟̞̮̙͔͓̜̪͎̤͉̯̖̓̈́̈́̈̆̓̈́͆͌̏̍̾͆̓́̌͂̚͘͘͜͜͝͝͠ͅċ̷̣̜̟̀̎͂͛̔̀̄͊͠͝ȇ̶̛̛̩͇̞̬͎̥̺͈̲͔̲̩̙̠̹̟͊̂̐̓͋̏͋̈́̃͐̋̀̿̔̈̔͒̇͆̈́̿̚͝͝ͅ?̵̧̢̺̟̙͓̳̞̤̙̜̠̳̱̠̦̤̤̦̙̫̭̤͖̜̹̟̈́̋̆̅́̀̌͊̔͐͒̀̓̀͌̚͘͜͝͠͠ ̷̢̢̰͍͙̯͎̼̲̻̟͙̞͔̮̟̖̖̥̗͎͉͔̤̗͈̓͗̓̒̒͊̿͊̑̽̈́͐̓͛̏̒͆͜ͅs̸̡͎̳͎̰͚͉̪̟̞̙̩͙̼̅͒̈̔͐̾̓͌̕u̸̡̜̪͙̮̗̦̘͎̟̥̬̤̳͓͙̹̯͐̚͜g̶̨̡̨̧̼̩̭͍͖͙̦̥̜̮͕̉͊̑̃͑̄͌͑̿́̔͐̑̀̿͌̅̄̈́̽̿̓̚̕͘͜͝͠͠a̵̡̡̢̹̻͕̼͓͎̟̜̩̦͔̟͙̠̲̦̪̪̦̜̻͈̋̅̒̎̄̓͒͂͑̈́̌̽̌̋̍͘ͅͅr̸̨̧̡̗̯̺̝͇̫̩̹͖̙͉̦̉̂͊͌̂͒̈͌̽̈́̋͜͠ͅ ̴̨̢̢̺̥̖̝͚͉̮͙͈̲͚͇̖̺̹̼̼̫̮͗̍́̓̿̃͌̐̆̇̃͒̿̏͑͛̄̉̏̍̽̚͘͘͝ͅṋ̷̢̛̭̫̮̱̻͖̱̣̙̲̞̐̃͆̀̄́͌̐̄͆̽͌͒̽̍̆͑͘͜͠͝o̴̢̨̧͚͍̤̤̹̦̘̹͇̠̣̹̹̫̗͉̺͖̠̎̃̏̊͊́̃͒̔͛͊͒̄̀͒̃̐̿̃̀̚̕̕͠ẗ̸̢̛͎̠̮͎̣͉͓̤̩̝̥͚́̒̍̈́͒̌̌͌̈̉̈̂̄̀̏̊͂͌̏͆͝͠ͅ ̶̨̭̞̟̮̠̩͚̫͉̣̞͔̪̭͔̪̲̃͂̽͘̚͜ͅr̵̢̡͎̖̤̹̻̫̝̟̦͈̹̟͍̩̞̬̮̫̝͍̳̟̙͊̉̐̈́̌͑͆ͅe̸̫̓̐s̷̨̢̢͍̮̜͇͙͍̦̝͔̦̯̟̹̦̙͍̲̫̩̞̬̲̃̄̃͛̂̋̿̀͛̅͌̓͋͠ͅͅơ̴̧̡̲̘͚͉̙͖̬͉̘̹̻̜̪̟̺͍̅̐̉̑̆̆̋͑͆̏̾̋͒̉́͌̽̚̕͘͝ͅư̵̢̡̡̢̗̲̤̠̝̹͍̻̻̠̻̮̳͎̝͕̫͍̙̗͇̈̅̒͌́͛̌̍́̃͆̈́̋̈̎͘̕͝ṟ̴̭̳̯̠̱̘̽̀͘ͅç̵̨̹̜̳̰̲̲̜̦̗̣͍̹̝͉̙̼̻̭͌̅͑̿̈́́́̅͂̊̅̃̌̕e̴̢̨̧̻̖̟͚͕͚̙͖̣̞͇̬̹̪̤͇͖̍̋̂̎́̈́̓̑͋̀̐͒̍̀̍̚͜͠.̴̡̥̱̞̮͓͔͎͖̤̿͑͌͆̀̉̃̔́̈́̾͊̒̾͐̿̌͒͐̓͐̚͘͜.̷̧̡̨̛͍̣̲̟̝͇̞̫̣̳̪̮̩͊̀̊̈̔̆͂͋̐͐͒̏̍͝͝

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

....Wow. 

:Humans, er, don't just...keep growing bigger if there's more to eat. This is her: A mental image of Julie. :She's an adult so this is as big as she'll get. And she would be less sick if you could live somewhere else: 

Mental image of the Proto separating itself from Julie, growing its own body - she finds herself imagining it humanoid even though why would it be. 

:And - sugar is a resource for humans? Maybe not for you, maybe you eat different things. But you seemed to be eating it before: Mental image of the cider and Julie drinking it and her stomach where the Proto was liking it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̵̫̮̲̞͊̈́̄̈́̓̔̈́͋̅̂̂͠*̷̧̨͎͇̬͎͓̯͕͕̗̘͔̽͌̀̂́͝n̸̡̦͎̪̭͎͔͍̰̫̾̈́̂͊ō̴͙̦͚̬̾̆̇̅̚͘t̷̝͇͓̤͚͇̹̩̒͐͒̀̇̈̀ ̷̡̓̑̌t̸̲͇̣̪̼̲̔̃ḩ̴̖̜͉̃̎͛̀̔̇̍͂̓̔ě̴̩̥͍̣͓̞̏͆̇̅͒͘ ̷̛̛͓̖̙͚̊͛̈́͌̐͑͒̾̋̇̚ͅc̵̣̟͕̘̥̫̭̳̝̩͍̠̹̅̄̓͋̑͌̕̚ȯ̴̜̫̘͐̍́̔́̌́̀͘ṉ̶̢͊͌͊̍̆̓͝f̶̧̢̨̱͕̱̲̘̝͇̭̱̟̰͑̍́͌͜͝ư̷̛͍͔̻͚̠͈̼̗͍͎͌̿̄͗͋̓̇̔̈́̐́̅̏ͅͅs̷̡̡̟͕̯͇͍̱̝͎̪̮͎͈͚̏́͂̔̍͂̽͐̚i̷̹͔̘͓̎̔̍͜ơ̶̡̫̦̍͐̒̎̌̏͛́̀͠͝͠ņ̸̙̘̮̋̇̂̅́͗͜ͅ.̸̡̡̢̣̣͎̞͎̱̉̔̆̑̏̈̕̚͝*̴̧͂̋͆̽̿̉̐

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'm sorry. I don't think I understand what you're confused about, then: 

She yawns. :I need to go: Her breasts are hurting again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule munches away contentedly at Julie's tissues.

Permalink Mark Unread

A while later, Gemma wakes Julie with a gentle pat on her shoulder. :Hey there. I need to bother you to drink some broth again: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie feels weird. Kind of the way being on good stimulants is weird; you're energized and alert and know on some level it's hollow, that there's nothing underneath it -

Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Permalink Mark Unread

The trainees help prop her up. Broth is spooned into her. They're very experienced at doing this without requiring her to exert almost any effort. 

:How are you feeling?: Gemma checks. :Are you with it enough for me to give you some updates on your condition?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- think so. Yeah.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. I - don't really know if this is good or bad news, but -: 

And she gives a brief summary of what the Proto is doing, according to her Sight. 

:We don't know why. We...don't really have the option of stopping it, not without killing you in the process. But - right now it's not killing you, at least: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I don't think our scientists had any luck with - that. Maybe the telepathy helps though?

Permalink Mark Unread

:- And Shavri thinking of it. I - wouldn't ever have considered trying that, honestly: Shiver. :It gives me the willies. But I guess, if we can save your life...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That'd - yeah. Thank you.

Permalink Mark Unread

:You're welcome. Once you finish that broth, feel free to sleep some more: 

She goes back to feeding Julie Healing-energy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth rests on a mattress on the floor in an underground stone bunker. He doesn't actually feel sick at all, at first, but the Healer insists he lie down anyway. 

He thinks, and plans. While he still can, is the thought in the back of his mind. This is so clearly enemy action - and he has a growing suspicion that, indeed, it was steered by the gods of his own world, and that They have no idea what They've gotten into. 

According to the Healer, the foreign life-force already growing in his blood seems purposeful. As though it possesses some minimal sort of animal intelligence. Not like any disease they've ever seen. 

Not paranoid enough. 

He's still waiting on word from the spies in Haven, on whether the foreigner - or her Healer - are still alive. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is so much energy here! It is delicious and invigorating!

Permalink Mark Unread

A couple of candlemarks slide past while they wait for updates, and then for confirmation of plans with his various agents. 

Leareth asks the Healer for updates on what’s showing up to Sight every five minutes, and is perhaps more distracted than is totally strategic by constantly checking whether he feels ill at all.

Permalink Mark Unread

The unfamiliar agent seems to be spreading out through Leareth's body, exploring, and eating his reserves very enthusiastically; other than that he doesn't notice effects, yet. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer watches the infection for a while.

”I need to try to slow it down. I - this might not be pleasant -“

Can she kill some of the infection in his bloodstream?

Permalink Mark Unread

She can!

The rest of it panics. It does a hundred different things all at once; some shredding tissue here, some working its way into his bloodstream here, some forming little crystals, some forming little blood clots -

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth gasps in startled pain. :What -:

Permalink Mark Unread

”It’s okay, you’re okay, just hold still -“ The Healer is not at all sure that ANYTHING is okay. 

She backs off. Focuses on checking Leareth’s condition with her Sight. 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the blood clots is going to cause problems, and there's a little bit of internal bleeding in a couple of places, and swelling in some more, and his immune system is now full-on panicking about the situation and possibly going to swell his throat closed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is abruptly feeling terrible! He's achy all over, weak and shivery and tired, and foggy too, thinking is suddenly harder which is the scariest part... 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer spends ten seconds talking herself out of panicking because now is so incredibly not the time, and then she asks Leareth if he can Mindspeak for reinforcements - she doesn't have the range - and then she focuses on calming the immune response enough that that alone doesn't kill Leareth in the next five minutes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is pretty sure he reasoned through a policy of NOT pouring arbitrary numbers of his people into trying to salvage the unsalvageable, but he's not sure if, like, five more people would count. 

Talking is hard. :Should I Final Strike: he asks the Healer, blearily. :Is it too late: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"- What? No! Please just relax. Are you getting help? I don't have it, it's only bloodborne right now - please get a few more other people in here..."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is very unsure if this is the right call, but also he's aware that, right now, he's a lot more impaired than she is. 

He passes the message, and then curls up, shivering. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Thirty seconds later his team outside Gates in five more people. Three Healers, a mage and a powerful Mindspeaker for comms. 

Elsewhere, a different team is accelerating their plans. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's still not that much of the stuff but it's growing rapidly and moving rapidly, causing a bunch of problems at once.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's somehow already nightfall. 

With other Healers to cover for her, Shavri's been able to grab a NAP, and a proper sit-down meal, and then, after checking on Julie again, a longer break to snuggle Randi and feed Jisa in their room. She's in a much better mood. 

Little Jisa is asleep in her crib now, and she's wandering back over across the Palace grounds to the Work Room sickroom. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Shavri?: A familiar Mindtouch. :Did Savil tell you about–: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She feels a bit bad for not greeting Van on her return, but to be fair, she was BUSY.

:...She hasn't talked to me, er, I was behind shields most of today. Tell me what?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:There was a Web-alarm. We checked with Farsight... The ship's gone: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:What?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Gods - someone should've told you sooner - is your patient stable enough to talk to us? We need to - we have no idea what happened–: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:She's been sleeping, mostly. But - I guess this seems pretty important. Did Savil want to come over?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:She Gated out again to - to try to figure out what happened... I can come talk to her: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Sure. I'm headed there right now: Shavri flashes him a mental image of the location, and then breaks into a jog. 

Is Julie awake right now? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. She woke with muscle aches and now is grinding her teeth and fighting off more nausea.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri sits down, offers Vanyel a stool, nods to Gemma. 

:Hey. We - er, something's happened. This is Herald Vanyel. He needs to talk to you - are you up for that?: 

She repeats her scan of Julie's body. What's going on in her stomach and gut this time? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel sits down, fidgeting, and nods stiffly to her. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie tries to remember if she's been told what a herald is. Probably security. I can talk, she says.

 

 

The protomolecule is attempting the same thing in her gut as in her skin, at this point, replacing the tissue that was there with its own. The area looks inflamed. She's definitely in worse shape, despite the fact that whatever it's doing is less blatantly destructive than the crystals. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri really doesn't feel like arguing more with the Proto. Instead she just starts pushing Healing-energy at the area, focused on soothing the inflammation. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow she looks awful. Vanyel feels guilty about bothering her when she's so sick - and irrationally annoyed with Savil for leaving him to handle the socially awkward part - but it is important, so he pushes ahead. 

:Er, we - there was a Web-alarm, that's our ward system, and we checked and...: He swallows. :Your ship's disappeared. We don't really know how. Is there - could it have, um, flown away by itself...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What.

 

 

Julie is too tired for this.

 

Can I - take another adrenaline tab -

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Um, if you don't try to do anything physical, I think it'll be all right?: She's very weak but they can keep pouring energy into her. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It makes her head clearer but this doesn't actually help, at all, with processing security's baffling claim.

 

The ship has autopilot but I didn't set it to fly away on its own and that's not the kind of thing that happens as a software malfunction!

Permalink Mark Unread

:Can you, er, think of any other possible way it could've just...disappeared on us...: He scrunches up his face. :Savil said the disease you have is - smart? Was there any on the ship, could it have, I don't know, taken it over somehow...?: This seems absurd but also literally everything about the situation is absurd. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's some on the ship. It's - it's not that smart. I don't think. I guess maybe software systems are a lot easier to learn than biological ones - but I feel like things would look different if it were capable of taking over computer systems - god.

Do you, uh, see it? In the sky? The drive's very visible and even if it's just using the thrusters - Shavri said you have telescopes -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh! That's a good thought. I can ask Kilchas to go look - it's getting dark now...: 

He ducks out of the Work Room so he can pass on this message. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yfandes is pacing unhappily in Companions' Field, and jumps on the opportunity to reach out to him. 

:Van, we should tell Taver and Lancir. That it...could be him...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel has been TRYING NOT to think about Leareth. He flinches. 

:I don't see how it could be. You think he, what, snuck in and flew away with it -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:We don't know what he could be capable of: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He doesn't want to think about it. Partly because it's an awful, horrifying prospect, that his terrifying immortal destined enemy might, one, have good enough intelligence on Valdemar to know about their alien visitor, and two, have been able to steal the ship fast enough that no one saw what happened...

:Talk to Taver if you want: he says dully. :I - want to talk to the Proto. In case it knows anything: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Worry. :Are you sure that's safe?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel scowls. :Stop being a mother-hen. Shavri's been doing it: 

He storms back into the Work Room and shuts the door. 

:Shavri. How do I talk to it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

And now Shavri is giving him a concerned look as well. 

:You can pick it up with Thoughtsensing. Helps if you use Healing-Sight to find its life-force and then focus on that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel nods, sits down, and tries this. 

There is, in fact, a life-force there. His Sight isn't nearly as well-trained as Shavri's, but he can still tell that it's absolutely everywhere in Julie. 

Not his problem right now. He leans into Thoughtsensing instead. 

:Can you understand me?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


.̶̛̲̺̺͓̩̬̗̥̲̻̮̞̝̓́̏̒̾́̌͒́͘͜*̸͕̜̠̗̻̥̊͆̓̽̂͂͗͋l̸͉̞̰̈́̅̒̌̎̃́̈̄̈́͆́̈͜͝͝i̷̙̼̝̙͒̏i̸̖̮͑͊͋̒̔̚l̵͓̙̫̔͌̾͜*̴̫̫̥͚̙͎͉̳̬͕̋1̷͉̲̓͗̽̾̅̆͝`̵͔̮̣̤̈́́͐̓͋̑̓͑̈͘͝|̵͍̄͊̏.̷̢̛͔̼̼̥̄̐̍

Permalink Mark Unread

:- What? Shavri, that didn't work at all - er, I mean, there's something, it's...I don't even know what it is...it's not normal thoughts...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri makes a face. :I guess I can try:

And to the Proto:

:Someone else is trying to talk to you. Can you understand him?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̸̧̛͕̜͖̹̣̩̱͙̲̍̆͑̃̆͗̇̏͛̎̊̄͝͝*̶̡̞̺̭̝̣̜͑̏͐̎̒̂͐͝͝#̵̨̧̪͓̟̤͚̯̘͚̜͓͓͈̼̿̏!̴̛̜̭̝̮̬͇̭̝͍̬̯̥͇͔̝̆̄̂̐̉͑͗|̷̨̥͎̫̟͉̭̪̟͚̞̮̖̳̃̆̆̚͝͝.̵̛͎͕̼̤̹͉̯͛̃͗͊̈́͘͘ͅ`̵̨̛̳̠͔̣̩̫̹̝̜̽̇͗̃̅͘͠.̷̱̠̣͙͖̺̗̭̺̀̇̌̋̔̅̽̔̀̾̚*̴̢̨̭͆͝ĭ̵̧̛̻͚̙͚̤̀͌́̅̈́̆̽͠l̸̡̡̞̼̱̟͈̪̠̘̗̜͓͎̅̐͛ ?

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

What. 

She tries the repeated-Mindspeech-taps sequence of prime numbers again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yay! Prime numbers!! It will happily prime numbers back! It's nice to have such interesting conversations.

Permalink Mark Unread

After that, she pushes across a mental image of the ship, with the bits of Proto she remembers seeing in the tank. 

:Do you know where this went?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 


.̴̛̯̤͎͉̣̖̹̜͇͉̎́͋̑̈̿̍͐̍̐̚̚|̶͔̟̙̜͓̜̯̀͐̊͋̈́̀͒͒̌̀*̸͓̏̽ ̵̧̹̭̲͕̣̰̓͋̈̂͜͠k̵̪̭͎͎̘̜̩̪͇̫̻̰̬̩̂̋͗̈͘̕͜n̶̢̖̑̂̈͑͌̃̽̎̽̾̀ǫ̵̦̬͓͝w̷̢̥̱̠̰͖̘̙̝͖̿̓͒͌̔͂̎̈́n̵̨͙̭̱̈́̿̎́́͌͂̑̅̃̐̅͌͘̚ͅ!̷̨̨̛̛̰̲͉̫̥͇̬̞̖͇̺̩̈́͋̏͌͊̀̄͜*̶̢̜̮̠̣̻̩̝̼̩͇͚̅͋̀̿̊̓̊̽̀͂̑̑̈́̚.̷̨͇͖̙̹̦̣͈̥͚͍͓̺̈́̿̾̂̉̓͑̿̀̇̐̀̔̾,̷͉̰̠̗͍̤͉̣̱͖́̀͊͗͌͗̓̅͜͠͝*̸̧̨͓̟̼̞̘̤̖͍̲̈́́͐͗͐́̂̋̊͑̀̚͠ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Where is it?: 

She mentally imagines a map of Valdemar, tries to push across the concept that they used to be there and now they're here, and the ship was left there but now it's ???? and they want to know where it went. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, very far north, a couple of wards go off. The people on duty watching them are completely unable to figure out what the alarm means or corresponds to. 

Normally they would consult Leareth on something like this, but when the usual communication channel is used, it turns out that, apparently, Leareth is unavailable right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is because Leareth is currently semiconscious on a mattress on the floor in an underground bunker. It's hard to breathe and everything hurts and he's starting to have trouble tracking where he is. 

Approximately every thirty seconds he keeps trying to ask the Healers whether it's bad enough that he should just Final Strike now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

At the same time as the wards are going off, everyone watching the infection in Leareth's body sees it do...something...there's a sudden change in its energy signature and it yoinks some more of Leareth's reserves but they can't really tell where it's going... 

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually someone else is Gated in, and sits at Leareth's bedside. Mattress-side. Whatever. 

:Leareth. Are you still with us?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm?: He tries to turn his head and look at her, but his vision is kind of blurry. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:We are hoping to have more help here soon: She doesn't need to go over the details with him right now. :Just hang on. Please do not Final Strike yet. Let me worry about that - if I think you ought to then I will say so: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh: 

He closes his eyes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki sits in silence for a minute. 

...And then, just out of curiosity, turns her Mindhealing Sight on, not just him, but - whatever it is that's growing in him, that seems purposeful and maybe even intelligent... 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is, in fact, something there. Nayoki's metaphor is producing - something fungal with spores? 

Permalink Mark Unread

What. 

 

 

 

After a long moment, she tries Thoughtsensing as well. Is there any content there to be read? 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Bizarre uninterpretable strands of thought and a faint echo of - a woman riding up a road, asking a question urgently - this way or that way? 

Permalink Mark Unread

What. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri isn't sure what's failing to work about her question and so she keeps trying different ways of asking it. 

She pictures the road. Pushes across memories of times she rode north or east or south. (She's never been west and doesn't actually know what the road looks like but she can try to push across the sense that this is a direction too.) 

She pictures the ship again. 

:Where. Which way: 

She waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

:̵̘̤̯͔̬̯̟͖̰̼̻̠̖̱̦̑̆̉͑͐̕͝͝;̶̧̟͈̗̗͗̃̽̍͐̑̍̈̈́͝'̴̢͍̗͖͍̝̞̯̯̩̼̻̥̆̅̈́̔̂̍̏͆̐̀͘͝*̸̡͉̙͔̠͓͖̬͇̠̺̱̒̂̉͋͝ͅ?̸̡̡̢̝̣͍̺̥͚͍͕̈́?̴̛̥͍͙̣͔͓̰͌̇̽?̶̨̛̭͍͈͇̮͚͖̟͓͇̭̬͓͆͒̔̋̾̐͐̀̄̊̎́?̷͎̗̈́̀̇*̶̛̙̞̗̪̯̪̖̯̤̯͔̅͂̉͂͌͋́͒̋͘͘͘͜͝͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah she is so frustrated. 

:Nevermind: 

She turns back to Vanyel. "I - think maybe the Proto took the ship. It seems to know that the rest of it is somewhere else - maybe, it's really hard to understand... But if this part of it can talk to the part on the ship..." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably this should be terrifying but, in fact, Vanyel is mostly relieved at the possibility of a non-Leareth explanation. 

"Oh," he says quietly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"- No, but I'm still confused." Shavri is half talking to herself now. "It doesn't make sense... Oh, er, it understands math. By the way." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Huh." Vanyel drags a hand over his face. "I - gods - is it going to take over the world." 

Permalink Mark Unread

This doesn't seem like a question Shavri can answer right now. 

She goes back to eavesdropping on the Proto's cryptic inhuman thoughts, in hopes that this might eventually be more informative than asking it questions that it clearly doesn't get the point of. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 


.̵̢͇̲̺̺̏͆̅͐̒́͊͆͐͜͠͠͠.̴̧̤̻͎̖̫̺̩̅͐̈́̈́*̷̛͎̙̰̈́̃͛̓͊̑̉̀͝1̵̡̡͍͔̖̠̭̞̂̇̀͋͂̍͠͝!̸͉̜̺̦͍̫͚͉̒̉̂̌̂̐̈́̑̏̓̉̄̒͌̕`̶̰̫̭̠̰̜̬̠̻̖͓̝̲̪̹̄̊̈͗̈́̽̋͊͂̾̔͋̅̍̏|̵̩̱͖̹̽͗̈́̓̔͝͠.̷͔̻͖̩̓:̷̭̝̰̹̮̖̿̄̏̔̎̓̈́̿̌̕͠.̷̢̧̻̗̙̲͎̺͉͎̜̔͑̑̈́͂̿͗̿̄̂̐̇̾̚͠,̶͇͈͔̙̰͈̺̺͕̲̤̳̖̀̀͑͋̑̂̐̈́́̓̍̂̃̀̚͜/̴͕͎̘̥̤͍͓̘̻͊̐̂̎̌̄͂͛͑͊͘̕͠ͅͅͅ|̴̮͒͆͋̽]̵̡̛͔͈͔̳̥̝̯̺̱͆̈́͐`̵̨̳̤̬͈̲̼̲̲̏͆̉͂̏̓̊̂́̒̇͛̓̄̚!̵̨̩̣̰̳̦̟̦̪͒̉̾͆̔͝1̴̺͎͈̑͜_̴̧̛̼̫̲̈́̈́̅̍̒̒̆̋͒̔̍.̷̳̻̥̝͎͕̰̫̝̀͊̐̄̚͜_̶̧̛̜͈̠̾̕.̸͙̪͉̟͒̇̎̏̂̋̓̇̚.̷͖̩͗ͅ,̸̗̓͋̅̌̇~̵̧̝̣̙̜̥͉͉̰̜̻̼͚̌̑̋͂͑͗̔̈́̍͜*̸̨̢̛̛̱̥̳͐̀́͐̑̐̃̽́̀į̶̥̠̳̳͉̻̰̥̗̞̲̲̖̓͗͘ͅl̵̡̧̩̰̖̟͙̹̳̫̺̳̖͇͌̌̄̌̃͒̋̀́͆̔́͆͝i̶̠̥̥̞̼̙̓̓̑l̷̢͙̯̘̤̤͍̬̥͉͉̀̇̄̂͜͜͝`̷̺̰̼͙̱̒͜ͅl̴̨̨̜̞̪͎̯̩̞̮͖̙̭̈́̿̔̍͐́͋̒́.̵̛̦̦͍̠͇̙͍̻̞̞̓̕͘͠,̵̧̘̅́͐:̷̡͕͕̍̃͆͊̄͊̉̿ḻ̸̲̮̀͐́̀̓̓̽̏͌̎͠͠ị̸̢̨̛̪̯̱̹̭̫̞̜̘̀1̶̨̘̻͉̺̰͚̖̫̯͉̫́́͆̎̀̊̕͜͜ͅ

Permalink Mark Unread

Nooope this is not helpful. 

She checks on the state of Julie's digestive system again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

More or less the same.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. It's going to be such a long night. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel spends a minute feeling incredibly awkward and useless, and then stands up. "I'll go talk to Kilchas." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri nods, and readjusts her position on the stool, and settles in to wait out the candlemarks ahead. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- it is not, in fact, going to be a long night. 

 

 

Approximately ten minutes after Vanyel leaves, a Palace groundskeeper is making his rounds. And then peels off and discreetly follows one of the Healing-trainees rotating in for the Work Room Healing-meld coverage, carrying a tray of liquid food for their patient. 

He slips away. 

Long distance Mindspeech is detectable, in theory, but someone has to be looking for it, and nobody is. 

 

 

Another five minutes later, the Web is suddenly screaming with alarms as an unscaffolded Gate snaps up outside the Work Room and a dozen mages pour through. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Vanyel is at the top of the astronomy tower with Kilchas, looking for any sign of a new star that shouldn't be there. 

He collapses in a heap, screaming in pain. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Kilchas senses the Web-alarm but he is KIND OF BUSY. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki steps through as the other Adepts form a perimeter. 

The door of the Work Room is closed. She opens it. 

:Healer: she says. :I have a request: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri yelps and falls off her stool. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is the one who pushed very hard to at least ask for permission before straight-up kidnapping the Valdemaran Healer and the foreign patient. It seems likely to result in much better cooperation. 

:We have another victim of this infection: she says. :He is in critical condition. We - would deeply appreciate your expertise: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is INCREDIBLY CONFUSED and mostly her mind is shrieking a nonstop refrain of oh gods oh gods oh gods what's happening. 

She's tracking the situation enough to process that part, though. 

It's very not good. 

Focus. 

Deep breaths. 

:Julie: she sends. :We - situation - some people just arrived, they - someone else is infected, they want our help fighting it -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Guh - what -

- who? I - guess we can try -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Who?: Shavri asks the strange, incredibly foreign-looking woman - where's she from

Permalink Mark Unread

:That information is classified: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What. 

This makes NO SENSE. 

 

 

...An embarrassing number of seconds later, the second half clicks into place. :Did you - did whoever you're working for accidentally find the ship...?: 

It's missing. It has Proto on it. Proto which, maybe, can talk to the rest, the smarter part of it now growing in Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't answer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri takes a deep breath. 

:It's a weapon. It's really dangerous - do you have it contained -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes: No overtones at all in her mindvoice. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Whyyyyyy is this happening to her. 

:...I guess you need our help. But - my baby daughter, I need - can I bring her -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I do not wish to delay. Two minutes: 

Permalink Mark Unread

In that case she can RUN. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And, inevitably, Randi chases after her. "Shavri! You can't - please - what are you doing -?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

She does not yell back 'saving the goddamned world' but it's VERY tempting. 

"They need a Healer who understands this disease. I'll be careful. It's going to be fine - please don't try to stop me -" 

And she reaches the Work Room. 

:Julie, I think - if I'm doing this you should come with me, is that okay: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is blearily sitting herself up and trying to think. - sure. Is this - another government? Another faction within your country?

Permalink Mark Unread

:They told me it's classified but they seem really in a hurry, I'm guessing the patient's in really bad shape: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Didn't the ship only get stolen a couple hours ago? What'd she do, drink the propellant?

She attempts to stand.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- No, don't, we'll carry you: 

Julie's skin is still clean. Shavri double-checks this anyway, and then snaps instructions to the strange woman - probably this is rude or something but she's in a really bad mood and Jisa is waking up in her arms and threatening to scream and she just, desperately, wishes things would STOP for FIVE MINUTES. 

Some people pick up Julie on a litter which they apparently have right there on hand. And then they hustle through a Gate. 

Shavri follows. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're in flat empty tundra. There are some tents. Some worried-looking people bustling around. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:This way: the strange woman says. :We are avoiding direct Gates to the area where he is - the Proto feeds on them - how sick is your patient...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Not in critical condition but not great: Shavri tries to follow the woman and focus her Sight on Julie at the same time. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is looking around in fascination. Julie's proto is indeed enthusiastic about the Gate.

Permalink Mark Unread

They cross some sort of mostly-invisible but slightly shimmering barrier, and suddenly there's a small hut and a door! And then stairs. The Adept mages with Nayoki carry Julie's litter down said stairs. 

The stairs go down for a while. 

There's a door. Then another door after a short hallway, almost like an airlock. 

There's a set of underground rooms. 

Permalink Mark Unread

In one of them, a man is lying on a mattress, sweaty and shivering, clearly feverish, his skin colour ashy. He doesn't seem aware of their arrival. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh gods, Shavri thinks, quietly in the back of her mind. 

There are a number of Healers around him, not wearing the standard uniform but it's still not hard to tell. 

She squats and dives into her Sight. How sick is this mysterious person? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He has less of the protomolecule than Julie but it seems to have done more damage, maybe because it took root a lot faster and took more out of him in the process? It's also not as organized as the protomolecule in Julie, buzzing around anxiously rather than forming tissue and crystals; this might be because he's mounting a very strong immune response, whereas by the time Shavri even met Julie she mostly wasn't doing more than running a futile fever.

Permalink Mark Unread

Honestly the immune response is actually more life-threatening in the short run, but the local Healers seem to be trying to work on that. 

She Mindtouches Julie's Proto again. Pushes across a brief skim of how Leareth's body looks to her Sight. 

:Causing damage. Can you - tell it to stop that...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̸̜̃͗́͑̐̿̔̔̔̓̒̄̿͝*̴̨͎̞͍̲̗̣̯̱̜̍̈́̊̿̈̾̂͘͠.̸̡̪̩͈͖̻̝͇̯͎̟̬̮͈̅̿̑͜ǘ̴̲̼̗̲̰͊́̾͋͠ņ̴̛̦͖͕͇̼̲̙̘͗͂̽̈́̋͛͑̽̂̊͘͜͝ḑ̶͖̺͎͙̼̬͌͌̈́̄͘ě̸̲̝̝̭̺̜̪̦̦͙̀͒̾̋̀͌̊͝͠ͅr̸̳̍̀̈́͛̏̀̌̈̾̑͝͝ ̴̧̜̳̖̣̪̂̄̀͋̕͝ǎ̷̛̮͔͋́͂̈́̃̊̃̾̌̐t̶̛̹͈̞͓̻͎̤͓̩͒̾͐͆̒̄̄̇̽ͅt̸̢͙̠̠̗͚̭̦͈̄͂̐̌a̶̡̢̫̪̤͍̘͆̅̿̋́̇͜c̵̟̟͛́͊͑̎̚̚͝k̸͚͗̌͗̉̃̇͘̚͜͝.̷̨̞̱͖̥̖̥̟̠̠̝͚͔͋̂́̉̀̈̔͝:̸̡̨͙̹̹̭̻͈̩̮̪̿̄ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:We'll stop attacking. ...Er, unless you mean his immune system: she tries to push across some of the gestalt-concept of this along with her Sight. :I can - try to stop that - but he's dying so I, er, I can't really blame his body for fighting back...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̸͙͈͇͇͎͓̘̙͠/̸̢̠̝͔̙̟͔͙̰̣̺̲̞̳͐̎̀̍c̵̨̛̹̯̯̗͚̩͆̾̇͌̇́̆̽̈́̑̕͝o̸͇͇̮̬͔̫͈̍̎̃̌̈́̓̄͂̾̃̽̚̚̚n̷̠̱̂̈̈̽̈̏̋̚f̶̢̧̛̛̼͈͓̬͑͒̄̏͗̉̆͘͝͝u̵̘̤̪͙̦͕̲̙̲̦̙̹͐̈͛s̶̨̤̺͎̳̲̖̣̥͍̬͚̙͈͒̀͗̽̀̓i̷̢̢̙̣̠̩̪͍͇̟̱͚̼͑́̑͂͑͠͠o̶͍̪̫͎̜͕͂͌̌͒̔̍̉́̇̈̒̌̉̀͘ͅņ̵̭̜̳̻̭͚̺̦͖̠̭͗͂̈̅̓̊̀̂̓*̷̗͔͙͚͖̤̣̈́̀̕͘|̵̨̜͈̩͆̑̓̆͒̿́̅̑̐̋̄̊̓̈į̷̦̱͉̹̤̯̘͎͎̮̝̦͐̿͌̔̎͑̓͜!̶̢̱͉͙̩̮͍̣͎̣̩́̓̀́̄d̶͉̻̮͈̟̰͙̥͌̃̌͋̇̄͌͘̚å̶̜͍̙͚͔̫̋̍̇̑̈́͗̍̚̕͠ņ̵̢̖͇̼̲͍̖̈̋̀̎͘͝g̵͔͇̜͓̦̋̌̓́͘͝ę̴̧̛͙̫͈̻̻̗̥͔̥̺͒̌̓̈́̽̀͊͗̌̂̊́͠r̶̡̧͚̤̠͉̗̂̿̌̒̐̓̈̍̚ͅ?̷͙͙̗̻̺̤̆͛̎̐͑̍̊̀̉̓͛͘.̴̡̧̯͙̠̟̖̱̘̠͔͉͙̏́̆͝

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaand yet again Shavri is wishing she DIDN’T feel sympathetic to the alien weapon infection...

And yet.

:...I’ll keep you safe. I promise. I - I won’t let anyone kill you - I know you want resources but you’re taking them from him and he could die and then -:

(A sudden intuitive inkling of - well, one of many many things the Proto might not yet understand...)

:If you cause too much damage here: mental image of her Sight on Leareth’s body, :then resources will be - will be permanently lost...:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

.̸͙͇͈̬͒͊̎̑̐͋̑̓͝͝/̶̝̗͔̳͙̬͊̄̂̔̏̈̉̕͠c̶̢̬̣̼̝̣̏̚o̵͔̜̜̘̜̠̗̹̟̭̜͙͕̭͕̒̇̿͒̿͒̇͛ṇ̷̮͕̮̻͇͍̻̈͐͜f̷̨̺͚̱̝̰̈́́̓̀̐ữ̴͇͕͉̼̟͖̣͠s̴̢͖̣̈̔̉̂͑̓̉̆̚͝͝i̸̢̯͇̩̠̣͔̹͂͌̈́͌̽̄͊͋̀̓͌͠o̶̡̧͓̮̻̟͈̻̫̗͓̝͑͗͆̇̆̑̓̓̾͌͌͊͠ͅn̴͙͓̭̾͗̓.̸̨͉̬̈́̿̌͒̀̄̓̎̽̿͜ͅm̴̜̟͙̝̟͚̞̠̠͓͚̣̜̫̪̐̑̚e̴͈̍̊́̃̂̔̽̇̓̑̆̽̂̚̕m̷̡͔̮̜͍̤̞͍̟̥͎̌͠ǫ̸̮͖̺̖̩̩̲̞̀͐̎͊̓̐́́͛͒̈͌̒͝r̶̡̡̢̛̭̝͈̩̱̩̜̤̎̏̋̐́̀́̒͋̋̊͘̕͝y̶̧͉̼̘͈̲̌͑͌ͅ.̸̥̳͖̼̃̅̀̔̆̎̓̄̐̎̊̑͒̇͘i̶̛̲͒̈́̆͒̐́̎s̷̼͈̼̹̗̈́͗͂́͊̾̇̀̉̇͛̚͝͝.̸̘̜̠̠͖͋͌ả̴͓̝̰̈́ͅd̴̬̗̪͈̺̓̈́̉̒̎̈̓̔̕͝͝e̵̢̿̾̏̂͋͌q̴̧̢̛̮̜͈͙͎̫͓͍̪͔̳͎̈́͑̒͒̈́̕u̵̩̰̝̪̺̇̒́̅͗͛̄͂͗̈̕̚͝a̸̩̹͊̆̀̓t̴̖͉͎̭͌̑̍ȩ̷̯͇̖̖̣̮̘͉̑̒͋̈̕̚̚͝ͅ,̵̢̛̛̱̃͊̅̃́͘̕͝ṯ̶̯̤̀̒̓̊̽̎͆͆h̸̤̰͙̗̬̥͙̦̘̱̦̱̏̌̂̍̚͜ę̷͕̗̙͈̟̍.̵̫͉̝̮̭̩̥͔̪̳͈͇̄́͜͜c̵̹̪̲̋͗̌̃̄̐̓͌͠ŏ̶̧͚̯̻͖͉͖̺͍̼̞̲̳̉͐̍̚n̸̦͇̠͙̤̥̹͉̝͍͓͙̫̠͛̿̾̑́̏̒́̍͗̈́̕͘͘s̶͎͑̀́͗̑͐̕t̴̳̑r̵͖̮̫̞͇̬̣̻̬͚̦̼̤̻̄̽͆̂̾͋̏̃̓͝ͅa̵̬̤͌̄̈́̄̐̃́̚͜͠͠͝ͅi̶̢̨̡̨̛̼͔͉̣̫͎͈͌̀̔́̓̐̾̍n̵͎̙͔̟̖̬̖̖̖̜̜̪͖̽̔͋͛ţ̴̬̘̦̳̭͈͇̈́̀͆̎̀s̵̖̦͂̔͝.̶̡̜̫͉̠̟͓̯̳̤̩̮̣̈̒͆̈́̄̉͊͘͜ͅa̷͙͌̿̈̓̊͘r̴̡̺̲̹̭̞̾̏̈́̈̚͘̕͘ę̷̡̢̪̖̬͙̺̩̝̩̭̥͒̈́̂̈̅̋̅̃͊̏̂̈̊̿͜͝ ̴̮́̀̌͆̋̀̎͝͠ë̴͔̼̮́̅̒ĺ̵̡̡̡̡̘̱̩̜̲̰̩̝̘̽̽̒͒͒͂̌̈́̈́̋͐̉͠s̶̡̛͈̫̘̓̃͌̍̎̇̊̄͗͠e̵͎͕͉͚͇̤̬̼͚̝͐̇̍́̌͗̀̾̊̈́͘ͅͅw̶̭̺̺̩̤̟̌̔̃̓͋̅̐̑͝ḩ̷̛͕̪̬̘̔͒̒̄͊̇͌̽̿̔̈́͂̚͠e̴̡͚̹̗̳̳̱͉͈̪͎̝͘ͅŗ̶̪̣͖̻̰̻͇̘̤͇̰̇̈́͗̎̇̔͒͂͗̒̋̕ȩ̷͔͓̫̩͍̬̯̝̫̮̘͆̽͛̍̓̓͑̔͂̅̚͝.̷̺̹̺̮̳̞̀̄͗ͅ*̴̰̼͝

Permalink Mark Unread

:Then what is the constraint. I - I can try to help:

She tries to push across the feeling of - goodwill, of wanting-to-help, of understanding why this is hard -

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̶̧͕̌̈́͊͆̇̿͂͝.̸̼͍̰̖͚͆̂̓̀̀̾̔͊́̂͘͘w̷̰̩̭̬̼͈̱͊e̶̼̭̥̺͚̪̪͎̘̜͇̩̎̈́̎̈́̏̂́͋͛̈́̌̈́̈́͠͝ǎ̵̡̖̦̥̝̩͇̏̑̈́͛̕ͅḱ̵̼̞̬̮*̶̛̱̪̩̐̓͗́̑̍͛͂̀͑͆͘͠s̵͕͕̗̺̮̓ḿ̸̧͚̗̩̜͉̗̳̱̓̋͑͛̂̒̍͛̍̋̀̌͝å̷̝̫͑̊̇̐̍̌̓͗̏̏̔́̕͜l̸̨̧̰̱̰͖̞̙͙̖̟̝̙̅͂͛͆l̵̪̹̣͉̙̱̣̘̀̀̑̉̚*̶̡̡̗̼̟̺͎͙̬̀l̶̩̏̍͛̈̔̈̈́̀̅̈́͗o̸̡͕̻̅w̵͕̭͕̘̭̖̰̺̘̅͑̈́̔̈́͒̔̑̕͠-̵̘̬͙̳̦̯̝̉́͐͐̽͜͠͝r̵̲͇͉͕̺̀̐͌̀͂̀̾́̐̓͐͘̕͝e̷͇͍̹̬͙̞̥͕̯̤̼͚̰͆͊̕ş̶̢̡̛̦̲̝̳͇̗͑̓̑̎̂̈́͛͋͘ǫ̷͙̲͓̥̲̻̪̪̏̈́͊̑̓̽͂̒̎͑͒̏ǘ̴̢̢͇̰̹̭͚̳̼̼̼̪̳̹͕̒͊̿̈̓̀̅̒̕͝r̷̩̐͗c̴̨̨̘̼͚̝͕̫͚͔̠̖͗͘ȅ̶̫̗̆̀ͅs̴̞̜͉̮͇͚̖͚͎̪̉̆̊̅͋͆̌͝ͅ|̷̢̡̝̮͖̞̯͙̘͙̗̩͕̯̠͛̓́̅͊̋͂͒̀́̿́̚.̵̢̡͍̫͎̮̘̞̺͉͔̻͎̩͐̄̈́̅̀̐̐̆̌̚ͅ

Permalink Mark Unread

:I’m...sorry? Can you - slow down?:

Permalink Mark Unread

 


.̴̛̥͕̮̜̜̭̘͖̠̖̅͂̉͝!̴̡̢̥̗͎̝̞͖̹̹͈̗͔̞́̈́́̐̋͂̑̎̊.̶͎̯͚̹̜̥̬̫̦̦̠̂̚

 

 

 

 

It - does seem to slow down? It's - more floating in Leareth than buzzing in him. It does the same thing in Julie, even though its activities there are less disruptive.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you. That was good:

(It feels important to communicate this, even if it's so far from enough.) 

She tries to Mindspeak all of the Healers. :Don't fight or damage the infection. I'm...trying to negotiate with it...: 

Okay, put in words that sounds INCREDIBLY STUPID, but still. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri's Mindspeech isn't very directionally-shielded, and Leareth's instincts are pointed at tracking his environment even when his conscious mind is mostly out of commission. 

- trying to negotiate with it - 

Leareth is able to notice that he's feeling very slightly less terrible. 

He opens his Thoughtsensing fully. Attempts to search for any second mind-like presence within his own body -

Permalink Mark Unread

That sure is a mind! A really deeply unfamiliar confusing mind, but a mind!

Permalink Mark Unread

Even semiconscious, Leareth can follow that the deeply-unfamiliarness of the mind means it - probably? - won't understand human language...

He wordlessly pokes at it.

Tap. 

Pause. 

Tap tap. 

Pause.

Tap tap tap. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ  .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ  .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ  .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ !    .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ !  .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ .̶̨̢̡͚̼̤̳͓͔͚́̍̈́́̍͑̋͘*̷͍̖̘̫̥͔̖̩͚̪̥̪̄͒̈̐̈́̎́͊͊̏͜/̶͉̥̟̍͌͐!̶̜̩͓̠͔̜̌ͅ !

Permalink Mark Unread

....Huh. 

Leareth is barely able to track where he is right now, but he does his best to push back wordless-recognition - 

 

- and then form a mental image - 

 

 

y = x^2

Permalink Mark Unread

, it responds instantly, and then something that isn't quite possible for Leareth to hold in its head but which is quite plainly the four-dimensional extension of the concept, and then the fifth.

Permalink Mark Unread

:!!!: and for a moment he's almost alert, pulled in by the sheer delight of recognition - 

 

He thinks at the Proto:

and then 

Permalink Mark Unread

 , it replies, and then a sort of overlay of ...all other regular shapes, tiled; they don't lie flat in a plane, and the protomolecule seems to be gesturing at some feature of the way they lie which makes this obviously so.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is (momentarily) curious and delighted - but his head hurts and all of his skin is tender and tingly and he feels nauseated and feverish and very very ill, which is so distracting. 

 

He thinks for a moment... 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Curiosity, delight, wonder - 

 

 

...Gods he feels terrible...

 

 

:Please do not kill me. I - want to learn - to show you things - to, to...: 

Leareth is running out of strength, and the mental energy to hold together concentration. He trails off, curling up, shaking. 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's not math at all! Very confusing.

Permalink Mark Unread

Did you, Julie thinks at everyone around when it looks like no one is immediately dying, spill any of it on the ground or give it to your governments to threaten each other with or anything. Because it can destroy the world. If you do that. So you shouldn't.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Some spilled on the ground: Gesture at Leareth. :He burned it very thoroughly. The Healer thought it was dead:

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay. Sigh. Is the ship operational. I need it to get back.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It...was damaged some, when we transported it. We can of course help repair it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is finding it hard to breathe again. This is especially frustrating when what he wants to be doing is going through all the areas of math he's studied and seeing what other surprise insights the alien entity can offer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And who are you people? A different planetary government? A - Valdemar rebel faction?

Permalink Mark Unread

Glance at Leareth. :It is - complicated. He is better placed to explain but he is incapacitated:

A pause, while she weighs up the pros and cons of offering some explanation herself.

:His name is Leareth. He runs...various operations, north of Valdemar. Where are you from?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Local OPA, okay. She feels warmer towards them.

Earth. It's another planet, around another star.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is really wishing that Leareth were with it enough to do the asking questions part. 

:Right. Your ship - can travel between stars?: She is clearly shocked and impressed. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is mostly ignoring them, her Sight focused on Leareth. 

:We might need to completely knock out his immune system: she says to the Healers working on him. :I think the Proto is reading it as hostile, and...well, it's not actually going to do him any good in the long run and it is doing harm right now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is curled up in a ball, panting and shivering uncontrollably, not really aware of his surroundings at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Are you sure? We...can try: The Healers are very dubious, but there is a reason they brought the Valdemaran Healer over, and it's because she's the one here with any expertise. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:No, I'm not. But I don't have any other ideas: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Then they will start working on shutting down Leareth's entire immune system, even though this sounds like a terrible idea. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The ship cannot normally travel between stars! I don't know how that happened! There's a fastest anything can go, and it's not fast enough to get you between stars in a reasonable amount of time. I'm imagining maybe there was a ...wormhole I slipped into? Or something? I've never heard of it happening, though.

 

I need to get back because the protomolecule - it's a weapon. And people are planning to use it against the Belt.

Permalink Mark Unread

Her eyes widen. 

:What is the Belt? Who is attacking it and why?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

-'s the outer planets and asteroids in our system. The ones which aren't very inhabitable. We don't know very much about what they're planning, but they were taking the sample to Eros, and they'd sent a bunch of security there. Tens of thousands of people. There aren't research centers on Eros, there's no scientists there. We think they meant to deploy it. We don't know why.

 

My father is the one organizing it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Gods. I - he will want to help you, I think. If -: glance at Leareth, :if he survives -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is somehow feeling even worse but he's a bit less groggy, and trying very hard to drag himself fully awake. He has his Thoughtsensing open, and he's only half able to follow, but half is enough. 

He coughs. :Not...a weapon... Complicated. Do not...hurt it...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:What?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri surfaces from trance enough to notice that a conversation is happening. 

:...I think he might have a point. It's...very alien and very confused but it is smart, and - I don't think it's trying to be our enemy, I think it, just, somehow doesn't understand a lot of things about us: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Good at math: Leareth manages to push out, his Mindspeech overtones full of the strong conviction that of course this is incredibly important and calls for cooperating with the alien as much as they can. 

 

He focuses hard, and thinks at the Proto:

Permalink Mark Unread

, it replies cheerfully!

Permalink Mark Unread

It's amazing and beautiful and Leareth doesn't want to die he'll come back but the alien entity won't come back with him - probably?? he isn't sure - and every time he thinks math at it, it comes back with something ten times more complicated than he can understand - he would run his god-plans past it except that's clearly the sort of thing you should think about for a long time and establish very firm trust before doing, but in the meantime he can start working on that trust - 

He starts to flesh out a visualization of another fractal; unlike for the alien, who apparently finds this effortless, he needs to concentrate pretty hard. 

He gets as far as 

- and then realizes that he's going to throw up. Which is really incredibly rude timing, he was doing MATH. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The other Healers are being careful enough to notice and back off; the mattress is going to be Proto'd but none of them are.

Shavri reaches out to the Proto with a Mindtouch again. :What are you doing right now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri doesn't have the slightest idea what that is supposed to mean! 

She turns her Sight back on Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's not in very good shape! The Proto is causing less ongoing tissue damage but there's a lot of damage already done and his body has been kind of attacking itself in the process of trying to fight the infection, and the Healers' attempt to block his immune system is now causing lots of new problems. Also he's just about out of reserves, since the Proto has been cheerfully eating them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She refocuses her Healing-Sight on the Proto activity in his body - is it still slowed-down? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! It is doing what she said and floating around being very slow.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Are you - experiencing less hostility?: she asks, pushing across her Sight of Leareth's body and the immune processes now calming down. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̶̧̰͓̞̖̖̽̂̅͘͠*̷̡̰̙̱̩̟̼͓̹̳͉̤̆̓͜͜ṇ̴͛͒̉̀͗͆͘͘ỡ̴̢̠̣̰̖̪͎͈̖̗̦̬̘̤̮̑̉͆̊̊̌̇͛̇̓̽̏t̸̛͉̜͑͆́̌̈́̄́͊̆̈́̓̎͠͠,̶̡̬̣̗̝͍̻͉̭̻̳̃̌̐̔͑͊̉́̀̐̆̽͘ũ̶̩̺̯̯͓͕͈͍̦̼̞̂̆̓͗͑̊́̅̏̃͜͠n̸̡̧̰͖͙̻͍͖̘̞̥̰͕̒̑̈́͛̆̆̊͒͗͛́̈͋̈́̕d̵̛͇̈͌̀͋̃̅̈́̃̚͝e̷͙̘͖̯̩̭̱͙̱͔͍̥͓̹̖͂̒̄̋̋̇͐͆͛̕͝r̶̡̪̘͈̥̤̘̓͗͌̇̆̋̋̾̅͠͝͠ͅ.̵̧̨̢̢̝̱̟̻̣͚̱͎̔͊́͌̓̄͐̈́̔a̴̛̘̟̪̯͖̜̤͗̑͒̓̔̒͐̏͌͠ṭ̴͍̼̪̝̞͎̖̙̲̜̐̾͑̽͊̒́̋̍͋͐̎̕͝͠t̶̢̥̠̼̺̣̼̲̬̠̿̈́̌̂̔̈́̃͋̄̇͊̚̕̕̕ȁ̴̮̬̥̱̬͉̯͕͌̏̒̓̏ç̴̛͇̘͉͈̬̰͍̂͐̀ͅk̸̲̀̉͛̾̒̅̏͆͌̾͘͠͝*̴̧̱͉͚͕͍̐͂̆́̀̐͌̏̚͝t̷̺̬̤͗̀̒̐͆̊̚ȩ̴̡̡̛̳̦̺̤̟̼̌͗s̸͙̟̗͇͚̪̣͔̈́́̏̔̀͆͛̍͆̐̏̀̃̚͜t̵̡̛̬̤̫̆͊̒̅͘ ̸̨̧̯̺̠͉͔̘̞̥͂̑͜͝͝ͅs̷̱̣̲̣͓͂̋̏͐͜͠a̸͈͓̒̒̓̽̓̂̆̌t̸̡̨͍̠͉̣̞̠̱̦̙̝͎̠̫̽͗͘͝ĭ̶̯̜̻̲͍̭̹͙̘̝̰̫͚͘͜s̷̨͚̯̹̒͜ͅf̶͚̠̩̘͠a̴͕̙̟͎̞͙̭̞͕̻͗͗͊͗̄͆̈́̇c̷̛͕̙͇͇̜̅́̒̓̈́̎t̷̢̳̝̠͔̣̬͕͍̃̈́́̊̓͜ơ̴̧̡̼̬̦͔͚̹͙̫̔̓̅̀̅̃̑̅͘̕̕r̷̺̮͎͋̉̅̇̒̒̊͂̑͂̚y̵̢͇͍̰̜̘̟̝̲̖̰̤͌͗̀̍̉͠?̴̘͂*̵̧͙̮̅̈̑̋̎̓͆̉̂ļ̷̛̬̻̘̬͍̭̠̥̘̆̃̅́̃̈́͗̌̄͝î̶̱͈̥̤͔̜̘͍̺͔̥̟͐̆́́̀̃̃̇̐`̸͍͎̞͔̠̮̆̄,̷̻͈͈̳̹̰̞̠̠̯͈̜̞̪̀͗͂̇̒́͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri again has the feeling that she's not quite having the same conversation as the Proto is. She's not sure what to do about it. 

:...Yes, that's satisfactory: she goes with. :Um, we need to Heal him: She focuses her Sight on some of the un-repaired spots of internal bleeding. :I want you to not eat those resources:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̵̫̭̣̞͓̟͙̰̫̭̮͙̻̒̀̚͜͝*̸̢̢̛̞̬̯̳͓̩̠̰͙̘̐̍̀̐̋̿̋̈́̇̕͝|̵̯̪̪̩̌́̍̇̊c̸͚̤͈̱̯̝̟͎͖̯̮̦͍̳͖̓̈́͝ǫ̸̬̽̅̿n̷̜̜̼̝̬̯̖̪̾̂̈́͌͂̀͒̈́̓͗͑͠͝f̷̤͉̩͐̅ủ̸̮͇͚̻̪͎̈̎̑̆́̿̈́̆͊̋͠s̷̛̱̈́͊̔̔̋̈́́́i̷̤͈̹̥̿͛͑̃̾́̚o̵̞͎̭͖̺̙̪̟̓̑̓̓̃̓ṅ̴͖̬̈̍̑̎̚*̶̧̢̦̻̙̜̺̰̼̪̝͖̩͛!̸̢͖̯͇̊͛̀̌̇̀̎͜͝`̷̧̳̟̟̩̤͑̿̐̑̐̆̍́̋͗͠͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ughhhhh why is this so impossible

Right now the main problem is that Leareth is in shock, his heart beating fast but ineffectively and his blood pressure dangerously low, and Shavri doesn't know how to tell the Proto to stop making that worse, let alone how to help her fix it. 

She gets a link up and starts pushing Healing-energy across, mainly focused on Leareth's heart, coaxing it to beat slower and stronger. And she tries to convey to the Proto her half-visual, half-spatial prediction of how he'll look if she succeeds, with more oxygen making it into his bloodstream and then to all his tissues, and to the Proto as well...

Permalink Mark Unread

It eats the Healing-energy.

Permalink Mark Unread

Gaaaaaaaaaaah. 

She's failing to communicate something and she doesn't understand what's going wrong! She's so frustrated about it! Also she's already learned the hard way that hitting the Proto about it will do the opposite of help! 

...Hmm. 

She stops trying to point the Healing-energy at Leareth, and just lets the Proto eat it. But keeps showing it the mental image of Leareth's heart under Healing-Sight, what it's doing right now and what it should be doing. 

:Can you - put some of your resources here?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


.̵̥̺̩̜̗̙̠̃̉̑̇̀̈́̓̀͌̍̾̕͠,̸̡̛̲̻͚͔͂̉͐̄͑̿̎͆̏̓̇̾̔̒c̷̢̡̧͈̮͕̩̟̬͚̐͑͘ơ̵͖͕̟͍̤̼͙̮͖̽̓̈́̎͌͋̓͋̔̈́̋̇ṉ̶̛̤͕̏̄̊̋̈͛̆̋̅͛̕͜f̸̖̤͉͓̑́́̿̈́͛̿̕u̶̼̲̞̠̙͗̈́s̶̨̢̨̮̥̦̤͓̼͔̣̝̜̗̙̈́̓́̐̑͊͂͐̄͗̈́̚̚i̸̠͈͔̱̾̐ớ̷̫̙̟͍̜̟̯̘̭͇̝̝̿̍̂̉̕̕ͅn̷̛̛̗̣̍͆́͒͗̈́̀̈́|̶̡̡̛̳͚͖̥̜̬̰͈̼͛̓͑̀̌̃̈́̑̋͛̚̕̚͜͝ͅ!̷̨̩̪̐̒̄̆̕̚ͅ

 

 

But it does sort of move its mass towards Leareth's heart.

Permalink Mark Unread

Does this actually help in any way? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Not...yet? It's still moving very slowly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, if it's not killing him right this second, she can wait, that seems safer than telling it to go faster and risking it ripping his body apart from the inside... 

What was the patient's name... Leareth, that was it. 

:Leareth: she sends. :You with us?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm?: He feels so sick right now and it's making it hard to have thoughts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You're a Mindspeaker - were you talking to it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes. Math: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...Who even is this guy and why is he so - like this.

:I don't think it wants to kill you: she says, :but it's - not really getting anything I try to explain to it. It - said it was missing context - I think it might be trying to grow really fast so it can get information, but growing fast will kill you. Apparently it speaks math really well though - if you can think of a, a way to explain something using math, that - might help...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is way too out of it for this conversation. He's already forgotten the beginning by the time she finishes, and he's not sure he gets the question she's asking him. 

:...let it grow?: he offers, :can you - more resources...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Honestly that sounds like the WORST idea, but...maybe it will be smarter? And understand her better? 

:It eats Gate-energy: she says to the woman called Nayoki. :I think - maybe - if we give it something else to eat then it won't eat so much of him. Can we -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki can raise a Gate right here right now, on the doorway to the stone hallway, less than a yard from Leareth's mattress.

:...Is it helping: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri dives back into her Sight, scanning Leareth's body - and after a moment she thinks to check Julie as well - 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is growing in both of them! It is still following her instruction to slow down at altering their bodies. It's now swarming in Leareth's head like it is in Julie's.

Permalink Mark Unread

...On reflection, it seems probably important to understand why it's doing that. 

Shavri pushes across a mental image of the brighter glow in Leareth's head. :Why?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

      ?

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri has no idea what that is! 

 

 

...weird math guy might know? She pushes the mental image across to him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's eyes fly open and he instinctively tries to sit up, which doesn't get far. :!!!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Apparently he does! Not that his burst of not-very-coherent wordless Mindspeech recognition-excitement is especially useful. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is that me: Leareth thinks at the alien. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a long pause where it projects undirected confusion.

 

 

Then - the strange three-dimensional graph, again, but this time with millions of its nodes lighting up, flashing to one another, the weights on the connections between them shifting, and Leareth's question echoed back at him :Is that me:. With precisely the same Mindspeech overtones.

Permalink Mark Unread

:!!!!!!: 

For a long moment, Leareth can't manage anything more coherent; he's dizzy, overwhelmed, filled with a mix of awe and horror.

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

Shavri also can't think of anything to say or do - she only half-understood the rapid exchange and she's TERRIFIED. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Nayoki?: Leareth manages. :Sight: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki was not listening in on the Mindspeech back-and-forth, and is nonplussed, but she shifts some of her focus away from the Gate, which waves a little, and turns her Mindhealing Sight on Leareth - and on the spore-arrangement growing in him...

Permalink Mark Unread

The spore arrangement has more complexity, more going on in the folds of its spores.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth, I don't know what you wanted me to see?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Made copy. Of me: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:It did WHAT: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Do not kill it. Important: 

Inconveniently, Leareth is now having a very hard time staying conscious. He's so tired. He wants to ask the Proto what its goal is, but probably he needs a - a mathematical formalization of that question - and he's too drowsy to even start on that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is still kind of shaking on her stool. 

:Did you - did you do that to Julie too: She pushes across her Sight-impression of Julie's body. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay that is INCREDIBLY CREEPY. 

And...good...maybe...? 

But so so disturbing. 

Math guy seems excited about though? 

 

 

Shavri finally tries to pull herself together. :Julie. It - we just found out - it makes...copies of people...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- what, like, uploads them? Shit. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't know that word, but...yes. It copied you. And Leareth. Leareth...seemed to know right away what it meant, when it was showing him a weird net thing, it was all tangled-up strings...: She flashes across her already-vague memory of the linked-up graph. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- yeah, that's how you - represent brains as math. 

Permalink Mark Unread

How does math guy possibly know that? 

:Do you think that - that the people using it as a weapon know this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- dunno. They're not telepaths. Not sure how you'd communicate with it if you weren't telepaths.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I...think maybe it wasn't meant to be a weapon. I don't see why someone would build a weapon that did that: 

Assuming someone did build it, as opposed to it, what, just being an alien from another world...

Permalink Mark Unread

Dunno. Suddenly exhausted. Some people thought it might be for terraforming. Make the planet into something its creators could live on. Has she already said that? Whatever.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh. Huh: 

She sighs. 

:You should rest. I - don't know what this means, yet, but - I guess it might make sense of why it wants resources so badly. I'll keep trying to Heal you. And talk to it. In case I can eventually get the point across: 

Sight-scan on Julie - what's her condition like right now? 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a lot of very active proto and that's sort of incidentally doing some damage even though it's trying not to. And she has very little energy, and is still probably underfed.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Think you can manage to drink something?: Shavri asks her. 

Permalink Mark Unread

I can try.

Permalink Mark Unread

She asks Nayoki to have someone get her some sweetened warm water or milk, and then starts feeding her unformed Healing-energy, on the principle that maybe the Proto won't eat all of it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto indeed only eats like half of it. She's getting very full of proto, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri tries to point this out to the Proto in Mindspeech. 

:You need to stop growing here. No space. Can you grow somewhere else: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

It gets busy doing something.

Permalink Mark Unread

...This is maybe very concerning! Shavri can't tell! 

:- Nayoki: she says abruptly. :Maybe it can grow in animals. Can we - get it some - I think maybe if it has more space it'll have more...ability to think...: 

If it doesn't, and it stays set on eating the entire world, then - she isn't sure what to do but it's probably not too late for a mage to Final Strike the entire room, which is sealed off from the surface. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes, of course: 

She moves the other end of her still-active Gate to somewhere else - the other place is also underground, but apparently it's underground and houses some rabbits and chickens and such, because she starts darting back and forth across it carrying over cages. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri takes a rabbit out of its cage, stroking its back; she usually does Healing-research with mice but rabbits sometimes, she likes them. Aside from their stupidly fragile digestive systems - the Proto is going to have complaints about this, probably... 

She shows the Proto the rabbit through her Healing-Sight. :Can you grow here. If I let you touch it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̴̨̧̲̬̣̗̹̭͙͈̬͎̄̒̾̓̆̈̽̕̕͝|̶̡̬͓̞̼̘̟̝̝̻̣͖̪̦̐̀̅́̊̀̇̓̃̆̌͋͊̆s̶̛̳̼̤̠͈̘̼̹̻͉̱̞͇͖͊̀̇̋̈́̌̈́̕͜t̷͓͗̑̍̅̚͝ą̸͒͑̀̑͆̀̈́́̓̑͘b̷̠̭̻͇̺͔̀͊ĺ̷̢̢̲̥̫̟̍̃̈́̔͝ȩ̷̞͔̞̮͇̠̩̞̯̩̬͋̐.̸͖̮͍̰̈́̒̐̀̓̄̉͌̇͑r̷̢̧̡̨̢͖̺̗͉̗̤̻̈́͑̇̍̽̇̉́̆̒͘̕̚͘ͅͅę̶̛͎͙̦͖̞͔̲̘̬̾̒̀̃̀̀̈̕͝ͅṕ̷̱̻̙̟̩̳͍̗̃l̶̨̧̛̳̭̼̲͉̮̝̹̺̯͗̎̋̉̌͒́͐̀̑i̷̹̲̾͗̂̇͝c̸̢̧̢̢̮̘̞̦͖̼͔͉̼̔̆͑̄͛́̄̊̒͊͋̽͐͠͝ą̸̩̯̙͖̟͓͍̬̖̀͌̀̍͊͋͌̔͜t̴̡̧̛̤̬̪̜̩͎̰̖̥̙̲̅̅o̸̤͇͙̖͐͒̽̂̑́͌́̆̀͌̑͘͠͝ͅŗ̵͎͉̭̼̩̣͛̈́͛̇̿̌͘͘͘s̶̢̬̱̳̤̻͎͍͈͍̩̟̗̋̀*̴̨̨͙͚̪̖͕͚͕̯̘̜͉͍̆ͅ.̸̗̘͇͚̼͙̘͕̦̦̂̀̉͑̚ļ̴̺̜͔̟̺̠͙̘͉̰͊̈̈́͂̇͐̑̉̈́̀̊͝ͅi̶̤̫̺̝̻̬̖͙̾̅̏̀̊̑̀̌̐̉͆?

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri isn't sure what that means. :Can you - check: 

This might be a terrible idea. But maybe not. 

There's still some Proto on the mattress where Leareth vomited on it before; the Healers are all appropriately worried about biohazards and no one has actually tried to clean it up, they just sort of nudged him to the side. It's kind of in his hair. He seems too out of it to be bothered by this, at least. 

...he looks really bad right now. Shavri is getting so worried.

She plops the rabbit on the Proto'd mattress spot. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It takes a little while but the proto does worm its way into the rabbit and start growing there.

Permalink Mark Unread

There are now a dozen rabbits in cages and half a dozen chickens in a box. 

Nayoki takes down the Gate.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Possibly Shavri did not think this through. 

She points to the rabbit. :Can you, er, use Fetching or magic or something to put it back in the cage. I shouldn't touch it. Just in case: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- All right:

Nayoki does this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Baby Jisa, who's been mostly napping or gurgling contentedly while strapped in her wrap on Shavri's back, is now starting to whimper. 

...this is an important reminder that WHY DOES SHE HAVE HER BABY IN THE BIOHAZARD ROOM??? 

Come to think of it, gods, how did she end up here? It felt like every decision made sense at the time, and yet, here she is, hundreds of miles from anywhere, trying to save a complete stranger - plus someone who was a complete stranger until two days ago - from an infection that, if it gets loose, might destroy the world. And she can't leave because she's the person with the best chance of talking to it. And she might die. 

Randi she is NOT going to think about that right now. 

Fine. She won't die. She will be smart and competent enough to save these people and figure out how to contain the weapon-infection-brain-copying-alien and convince it to play nice, and then she'll go home. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki can take Jisa, who immediately starts wailing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri wants to cry, but she swallows her tears, and just scans both of them for any sign of the Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nope!

Permalink Mark Unread

This time Nayoki takes screaming Jisa out via the stairs, re-sealing the room behind her. There's a pretty strong argument that she shouldn't be here, either, when things are looking this bad, and Leareth would probably have said so if he were more alert. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri closes her eyes and puts her head down on her knees. Just for a moment. 

The room goes silent. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule chews on rabbit.

Permalink Mark Unread

After a minute of collecting herself, Shavri goes back to feeding Healing-energy to Julie, who has now been delivered some honey dissolved in warm water in a cup. 

:How are you feeling?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Dizzy. Tired. Confused. I think the confused isn't because I'm sick.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Trust me, I'm confused too:

Is the Proto in Julie's body still growing, or has it shifted its growth-focus to the rabbit? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It hasn't totally stopped in Julie but it is mostly working on the rabbit.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it's something. 

What about Leareth's Proto? He's now fully immunosuppressed, Shavri wouldn't even have been sure you could do it that thoroughly, and the Healers are pouring Healing-energy into him and working on various internal injuries. 

Permalink Mark Unread

His proto seems to have settled down and be nondisruptively integrating itself into him.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Maybe it's going to be okay? Somehow? 

After another ten minutes, she asks the other Healers if Leareth is stable enough that one of them can watch Julie and she can get some sleep. She has no idea what time it is, but it has to be late. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is sleeping restlessly. The shock-response is clearing a little now that his immune system is no longer attacking everything at once in the process of fighting the Proto; his body is pretty depleted, and his heart still isn't pumping as well as would be ideal, but he's no longer at risk of imminently dying. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri crawls over to the adjacent room and curls up right on the stone floor. 

Despite her intense exhaustion, she spends a while worrying about her various problems before she manages to fall asleep. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie sleeps fitfully and wakes up when she's having trouble breathing again.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer watching her has a look, and then wakes Shavri with a Mindtouch. :I don't know what to do without hurting her worse - Leareth was fine until we tried to fight the infection directly...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Achy and gluey-eyed with exhaustion, Shavri drags herself back over and turns her Sight on Julie. What's the Proto up to in her lungs? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's trying so diligently to become an airborne pathogen! None of the things it has tried so far work very well but it's still working on it.

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

:You don't have to do that!: Shavri says instantly to the Proto. :Do you need another rabbit - there are more -: she shows it the row of cages through her eyes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

.̶̥̜̹̔*̴̧̲̻͕̥̪̘̞̫̹͓̜͇̓͆̃̈́̽̍̓̆̈̃̈́͘͠͠r̶̢̧̧͖̺͂́̾̆͂́̒͝͠ͅĕ̶̬̼͕͇͔͚̞̮̱͈̩s̸̡̧̺̳̪͇̳̲̠̺̥͕̘̓̈̓̐̽͛͘ͅo̶͇̭̞̲͈̗̘͉͙͐̓̑̔̋͆̅̅̆̓͂́͗͘u̶̧̦̜͍̗̼̻͙̣͔͙͔͌͂ͅr̸̼̬̭̫͓̘̪̥͎̺̞̃͋͐̔͝c̶̨͈̼̮̘̣͔̯͈̝̮͎̣̘͂̍͆̀͒̀͘͜e̷̢͍̳͚̙̟̰͇͕̾̉̂͐͗͛̾́̾̀̃͝͝ͅs̵̼̰̙̲̻̪͓̻͐̏̆̊͘?̴̢͎̭̼̱̙̣̮͔̠̣̼̜̊̄̉͛̅͝|̵̩̖̱̖̮̣̲̽̈́̊̍̓͠ͅ.̸̧̡̡̞̮̖̙̻̙̝̥̗̉̈̑́̌̐͑̓́*̴̢̧̜̘̱̻͛̈́̈́̂͊͠͝

Permalink Mark Unread

:You can have them as resources. You just - you can't have all the resources, we need them too - and you're causing damage to her...: 

Her mind is already flashing ahead. If the Proto figures out how to be airborne, then - then the only way to keep it contained will be to keep this room entirely sealed. Which means they'll run out of food, sooner or later. And die. And all of them will get turned into Proto... 

She very carefully brings a second, clean rabbit cage right up next to the infected rabbit. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Is it in my lungs again - feels like it -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Something like that. I'm trying to get it to stop: 

She goes in very close with her Sight and tries to figure out which of the Proto's activities is actually causing the problem this time. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's trying to spin off little floating motes of proto and the process is damaging surrounding tissue and also making it hard for Julie to breathe.

Permalink Mark Unread

She shows this to the Proto. 

:You need to stop: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.

.̵̛̮̝̖̝̫̱̰̥̥̼̍̀̌̓̿̀͛̓͗͐͗̚͝͝ͅ|̶̘͋̔̍͆̉̈͆́̄͠͝Ǫ̸̛̼͎̳̙̳͇̦̣͇̫͔̆̍͑̒́ẖ̸͖̖͉͈̗̖͍̝͆͘͠͝.̷̮̘̪̈̓̓̀̄̿̿̐̀̾̏̚*̶͈̱̠͒͌̆̏͊͒̿͐̔̎͝

 

 

 

It stops.

Permalink Mark Unread

Communication! She's so pleased about it! 

It feels like she should give it some sort of reward, so she brings over a third rabbit cage, and cautiously opens the doors and shoves them together so the rabbits can lick each other without escaping. And she pushes some Healing-energy into the infected rabbit. :Resources: she offers. 

Then she turns her Sight back on Julie's lungs and starts trying to undo the fine-scale tissue damage. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule chews on rabbits.

Permalink Mark Unread

A while later, Leareth wakes up. 

He still feels terrible, and now he's an unpleasant combination of very thirsty and very nauseated, and his head feels fuzzy, but he can - mostly, sort of - think again. 

He reaches out to the Proto with Thoughtsensing.

Start with something simple.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

It's so beautiful. 

 

 

....Focus, Leareth reminds himself. He drags together all the concentration he can muster - he needs to be clear with this, he has it fully formalized in math in his notes but he doesn't have his notes with him. 

and he pushes across all the accompanying, underlying math of the simplified, idealized scenario...

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

>̷̯͈͕͉̳̫̹͐̒͘|̸̢̨̥͓̹̞̩͔̥̭͇̙̥̪́̐͑̔̃͗c̴̬͚͍̤͙͙͍̓̓̔͜o̵̧̡̧̻̙̥̯̜͕̯̦̩͈̤͍͛͐́͆̆͊n̸͙̺̋̓̋̔̈́́̓̊̉̚̚f̷̛̟̥̞̟͉͙́̆̇̑͊̿͂́̈́̈̈́͆͘u̸̡͉̪̗̞̮͎͂̇͒̈̀̾̐̾̐̚ś̶̢̢̯̱͖̤̮̲̈́̓̄̾̊͘̕͠i̸̧̧̠̰̠̻͙̥̫͖̫͒͝ȍ̶̢͊͊̃͒̆̂͂̓̕̚͜͠ņ̷̢̛̫͍͍͉̥̦͍͇̘̼̍͂̈̂̏́͜!̵̧̧̱̦̮̮̠̟͌͗͊͐̉͊̍̌͒̾͗̚!̷̨̧͔̙͚͙͍͚̖̰̹̯̙̹̈̎̂͜͠!̸̩̘̪̩͇̊̈́̿̆̋̇̇̒̐̃̋̇̎͑͜͠*̴̨̛̭̝̣̲͈̬̬̝͔̻͔̎̒̉̂̽̓̽͑́̇̆̂͑͜ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has only the vaguest of guesses about where the confusion is, but - not pure-math enough, he's guessing, not sufficient clear that he's just talking about a, a set of axioms and premises and the numbers that fall out of particular patterns... 

He needs to concentrate very hard for the next part, and it's making his head hurt, but: 

And the fully specified, fully deterministic mathematical rules:

The simple simulated world is an infinite, two-dimensional orthogonal grid of square cells, each of which is in one of two possible states, live or dead.

Every cell interacts with its eight neighbours, which are the cells that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent. At each step in time, the following transitions occur:

Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies.
Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.

Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies.
Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

There is no immediately obvious response though the protomolecule seems to be thinking.

 

 

 

 

(There is an immediately obvious change of behavior in the protomolecule in Leareth's blood, to Healing-Sight.)

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the other Healers immediately grabs Shavri, who grudgingly emerges from Healing-trance working on Julie's lungs, checks that Julie is generally stable, and then slips over to Leareth and goes in as close as she can on some of the Proto swimming around in his blood. What's it up to now? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It is diligently implementing Conway's Game of Life for some reason.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri doesn't know what that is! ...Is it causing more or less or the same amount of disruption, by doing this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's sort of early to tell, but possibly less? It's forming little crystal structures but its numbers aren't increasing on net, and the structures don't get very big or very disruptive.

Permalink Mark Unread

She is super confused, but she'll leave it alone! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has no idea that this is happening, since none of the Healers have informed him. 

He thinks for a while, and then starts trying to pull together a complex tangle of concepts, not all of which are fully rigorously-defined-in-math in his head - but most of them are - 

- and he pushes across quite a lot of other context, the details of exactly how this can be implemented in magic - the tiny example version isn't good for much, but the concept scales... 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

There's a long pause. Eventually:

 

 

:̶̨͓̭͎̯͙̜̼͖͇̼̺̣̤̺̇̽͆̑.̶̺̂b̶̧͉̩̖̯̞̥̩̩͙͈̻̏̏́͑į̷̖̓̈́̿̍͛̇̈́̅̈̚͘͝g̴̰̒̐̓̅̆ğ̴̨͖͖̭̭̈̏͜e̷̻̠̍͛͌͒͆͋͋̽͛̈́͂͛͊͋͝ȓ̷͍̦̳.̴̺͊*̴̡̛̘͎̼͚͇̩̌̔͆̊͜ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- What do you mean by 'bigger'?: Leareth has no idea if this is an observation or a question or a request or something else entirely.

He flashes back the memory of when the Proto showed him his own mind captured entirely in math, in nodes-and-linkages. :Bigger: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.̷̧̛̺͈̜̠̮̰̝͑̅̅̐̃̈́͐̀̈́̀́̌̇͂̑̎̍̓̈́͒̄̅̾́͗̕̚͝͝*̴̧̨̨̰̻͚̠͙̘̥̝͉͈̪̪̞̐̃̑̏͊̊͒̇̀̓̔̓̉́̀͂̚̚͝͝͠d̷͚̪̭̪̩̲̙͆͜i̴̗̻̥͎̊̇̀̊̀̓͌̌͌̆̔̂r̸̹̞̙͜͝ē̶̦̹̟͑͛̓́͐͋̌͆͐̈́͐̓͘͘c̷̺̪̤̪̪̪͕͙̲̓̃̈̉̒̔͌t̷̡̨̡̛͔̪̠̜͔̙͙̫͉̳̲̜͎̩͖̬̀͜͝ï̵̧̻͎̩͍͔̖͖͎͈̲̭͉̙̱̝̞̱̞̜̙̬ͅv̷̢̛̛͙͙̭̘̪̣͕̬̯͉̟̲̰̟̟͈̫̓̆̎͛̈̓̓̅̋̇̆́̂̌̆̽͗̃̀̈́͜͝ė̶̖̰͚̮͓̭̰̤͍̈̈́͑͝͝͝:̵̨̛̟̤͚͕̫̼̝̱͎̭̰͆̓̈́͒̉̉̀̋̇̈̏̑̀̈́͜͠ ̵̧̡͖̟͉̻͍̗̬̺̞̝̳̦̜̠̟̾̈́́͆͂͂̀̿͋̔̀̿̈́͝t̷̢̢̛̬̥͚͎̳̬͇͔͉̩̗̦͍̼̦̲̺̃̃͌̇̇̀̐̿̄̀̾͐̂͆̆̔͗́̃̏̃́̿̚̕͝͝͝h̷̢̡̡̨̛̻̣̱̖̺̦̗̳̙̖̬̲͍͍͈͇̞͖̦̬̐́̓̃̄̄̍̓̓͑͊͂̄̏̾̅͑̽̒̐͘̚̚͝͝e̸̛̜̗͈̟͇̣̲͓̭̲͇̩̪̎̉̐̎̏͋̈́̈́̆̄̅̐̃̓̎͋̈́̾͘̕͘̚͝͝͠͝ ̴̡̨̡̭̾̔̏̚W̶̝̥͚̥̺̯̩͕̦̟͕̪̌̆̽͘͝ǫ̶̢̤̩̜̪̱̮̙͕̤͙͈͔̭̘̞͎͉̳̫̫̼̦͖͇̺̀̂̉͗́r̵̢̙̟͙̝̓̇́͆̈͝k̸̡̨͉̺̞̼͓̤̥̰̗̹̰̘͚͎͚̟̮̝̏̔̂̓̚͝ͅͅ.̶̧̡̛̹̰͎̭̮͇̪̠̝̻͔̝̰̣̮̮̦̟̫̝̘̰̙̠͚̼̞͑̅̐͗́̈̑͗̓̃͠͝ ̶̦̬̟̗͓̩̘̤͇̳̪̭̰̻͇̰͖̱̣͍̥̰̞͓͂̅̔̿̓̌͂́̄̏̀̆̂̑̈́͊͘͜͜͠ͅẗ̸͍̝͈́͊̒̓́̍͂̍͛̿̒̃̋̂̍͘͠͠ờ̷̻̽̅̈͂̐̎͊̀͐̿͆͂͒̌͂͗̈́̊̉̍̅̚͘̚̚͠͝ǫ̸̛̖͇̙̖̗̱͙̼̮̱̺͈̞͚̼̃̾͆̈͑͊̽́̀́̃̋̑̃̓̊́͛͌̉̽̚̚̕͝͝͝͠͝ ̵̧̡̲̙͖͚̖̟̱͍̫͍͎̘̜̫̻̗̋̄ͅs̵̢̢̡̝̖͇͙̰̘͓̖͇͚̮͎̺̲͕̤̭̝̤̯̬̼̞̱̒̆̀̇̎̓̎̅̄̓̽̈́̐̃̓͋́͊̀̈͘͜͝ͅm̷̨̛̫͓̗͓̹͉̪̘̟͇̉͑̂̽̎̉͋̿̽̌̎̆͆̆̕̚̚͜͝͝ã̵̫͙̞̰̖͈̺̖͉͉͖̮͎͈̄͋̋̋͂̐̋͋͊͗̚͝ľ̷̢̧̛̪̤̳̜̝̘̘̠̟̂̇̑͌̀̒̓͐̂͒̿́̂͑͊̈́̒̂́͒̚͘͠ͅl̵̢̫̰̤̙͇̞̟̬̘̖̽̊̆̉̒̃̅̈́̍̉̑́̌̆̀̽͋̆̈́̚̚̚̕̕͜͜ͅ ̸͖̼͙͔̜̻͍͈̦̺͓̲͕̩̌̓͛̆̏̎́͐͋̓̒̈́̆͗̋̈́̕͘t̶̨̠̪̯͕̰̮̯̠̯̥͓͎̼̰̝̺̳̅̀̋̒̂͒̒͒͊͑͋̾̑͌̒͊̌̂̄́̒̍̾̈́̒̑̚͘͠͝ͅờ̵̧̢̨̛͓̦̩̫̯̬͔͉̰̝̖̺͖̥̺͎́̅͊͆͌̈́̐̍͐̇͒̏̋̎̚͘͜ͅͅ ̷̨̺̲̝͔̗̯̘̹̖͔͈͖͓̮̘̥͋̾̃͊̍̊͊̇̐͌̐͐͌̃͘͠͝͝͝ͅi̸̢̧̧̧̖̪̙̱̯͎͖͎͕̝̻̼̖̖̱̟̲̹̭̜̰̻̦̘̳̊͑́̋͑̅̋́̀̓͋̍̀́̔̅̓͂́̉̃̀̓̀͐̈̃̽͘͠ṃ̶̯̰̳͖̪̜́̇̀́̃̌̽̒͆͋̎̑͒̂̐͂͑̀͒͗̓̃̔͑̆̄̌̚͝ͅp̴̛̖͛̿̓̉̏͋̂́̈́͛̅̍̍̊͑̉̾̋̃̿̏̕͠l̸̢̡̛̛͖̠̣͙̹̙̬͈̭͉̤̹͎͇̫̥͚̻̙̬̗͎̱̘͔̝̉́͂̾̍̌̿̌̉͊̊́̿̌̕̚͜ͅė̵̡̨̧̹̞̩͍̯̭͕͙͈͇̥̯̟̭͙̦̋͌̅̇̆̂̍̔̋̚͝m̴̛̛͍͍͙̎̍͑͋̐͛̀̍̐̏̓̓̆̀͌̾̇͂͘͘̕͠͝͝͠e̸̺͉͈̜̟̘͇̱̫̥̺̱̝͈͈̜͖͎̖͛̅͊͂̓̌̏͛͋̇̓͝͝ņ̶̡̢̫̖̮͇̻̯̖̜̠͖̙̻̤̣̮̀̊̃͋͗̓̔̊́̏̆̎͛̾̾̈̈́̓͛̕̚t̶̨̟̘̯͍̖̻̖̠̻̝͇̩̤͈̻̭͍͇̗̜̜͎̫̳̲́̏̋̉̌͑̒̓̑̊͗̈̽̇̎̈́̿̿͘ͅ ̷̡̗͕̱͖̥̘̮͓̰̖̥͎̹͚̻̮̖̣̳̜͂́͆̎̎̋̐͛́̔̂̿̒̈́̓̀̎͆̀́̚͜͠ͅͅd̸̛͍̜̪̺̫̦̭͓͖̙̱̣̱͓̤̠̠̲̻̹̻̄̀į̶̢̨̨̩̘̜͇̯̤̻̣͕͕͗̇͒̎͌̿̈͂́̑̓͛̅̀̇̐́̊̌̇̓̚͝͝r̸̨̘̆̾͊̊́̓͗́̿́̌͊̌̕͘͝ͅe̴̢̨̩̪̬͓̥̟͉͖̯͓̯̦͈͂̀̄͒̓̀̉̉̓̾̆̕͝͠ͅć̸̢̢̡̨̧̧͖̭̩͈͔̮̘̥̫̞͈͆̎̎͌̈́̈̀̃̊̾͌̅͛̃̓̃́̀͂̆̋̚͘͝͠ṯ̴̘̠̙̞͎̫̖̱̱̈͋̎͂̌̆̍̍͌̏͛͑̕i̸̡̢͈̪̭͚̘̯̭͕͔̬̜͍̞͎͚̟̩͙̰̠͚͍̪̝͕̒̋̀̅́͂̐͂̐̑͐̚v̷̰͎͎͎̝͓̺̟͚̼͍̬̜̹̩̮͚̬̅̓͂̃̋͂̂̑̏͜͠͝ȩ̸̧̣͍͍͇͓̲͕̩̺͖͖̼̣́͛̈́͋̿͆̔͊̿̓̅̓̍̃̄͆̀̋̈̂̾̽̾̎̚̕̚͠͝.̵̛̹̠̬͎̞̼̤̪͇̰̘͚̯̠̩̣̓̈́̎̂͂́̅̐͗̓̓̕͝͝͠ͅ ̴̢̡̜̘͇̳͇͙̭̱͍̝͎̱̹̖̗͚͓̞̭̬̙̠͈̼̱̯͆̅̒̅̈͋̈́̾͆̾̈́̑̀͋̚̚͜͝ͅb̸̧̺͇͎͔̠̜̱̟̹̰̜̗͖̖̱̥̝̳̥͉̓͒̀̈́̽̓̋̾̋͌̚͜͠͝i̴̢̨͔̳̟̗̒g̸̼̟͖̮͎̯̏͐͒̒̿͘͝͝ḡ̶̟̰͓̟̩̅̑̿̈́̓̔̿̉͐͒̓̅͂̐̌̓̐̍̉̔͛̔̑̕͜͠͠è̵͎͉̦̠̫̘̫̓ŗ̴̡̭̟̙̲̬͎̹̞̰͉͓͖̟̳̪̜͕̀̀̋͛̾̎̀̂͝͝.̷̨̹̦͍̫̬͇̫̲̳̈̾̈̐̐̅̕ ̷̧̢̛̳̳̝̥̯͎͈̳͍̘̜̣̭̫̝̲̠̫͙̙̦̻͋̾̆̆̉̏̒́́͒̕͝͝͠ͅḑ̷̨̙̲̤̣̳̙̱̹͓͈̫̪̭͎͕̯̹͋̀͂̋́͋̃͌͘̚̕ͅi̸̞̖̇͒͐̇̀͑̉̇̃̊̆̽̑́̌̂͊́̉̄̈́̽͌̓̐͑̎͘̚͝ŕ̵̭̯̝̗̾̀̓͗̀̈̂̏̈̆͐̓͗̀̀͊̿̋͐̓̋͑̍̕͘͘͠ͅê̵̡̛̤̗̺͈̘͔̻̯͔̹̪̟̬̟̳̤̘͙͚̗̂̈͗́̑͒̎̓̈̇͐̐̂̀͂͆̋͐͘͘͜͜͜͝͝͝ͅc̴̨̢̛̩̰͓̠̫͙͙̫̬͉͔͈̻̱̣̤̭̗̱̣̾̃́̐̽̑̎̃͋͑̃̌̆͂̊͘͝ͅt̵̢̛̲͈̩̭̬̝͈̫̜̺̪̯̩̯̞͇̋͋̋̐̏͐͒́́̑̄͗́͛͐͛͛̿̕̚̚͜͝͝i̶̛̺̊͋͊̅̇͒̓͋̅̐̌̌̽̀͛́̆͝͠͝͠ͅv̷̨̨̘̮̰̣͇̙̳̳͆͗̎̓͐́̍́̐͠ͅͅe̸̢̩̭͙͕̻̻̠̭̍̑͗̀̑͒͒͘͜͜͠͝:̶͓̮̪̺̰̻̘̯̫̝̆́̆̉̿͛͑̔͐̏̋͂̒̽̌̈̋̑̑̕ͅͅ ̸̧͈̳̹͇͓͖̺̬̦̤̩̤͓̝̞̟̱̦̺̈́̾͆͗̅͗͂̀̌͌͒̍̉̓̃r̴̡̜͕̭͍̦̲͔͚͍͙̲͉͍̙̬̯̙̮̭̥͔̙̹̥̀̎̑̾͑̂́͌͜͠ͅͅe̷̡̮̗̫͓̭̱̗̺̘̦̼̥̝͂͂̈́͂̒̊͑̋̔̈p̷̡̡̧̢͉̜͈̖̪̠̞͎̯̺̘̳̺͚̱̰͎̠̬̤̪̠̍͌͂̓̃̓͗̐̆́̄̊͜͜͝ͅõ̶̧̢̨̯͖̤̙̟̬̦̳͕͇̠̥̯̤̜͖̦͖̖̭̩̊͗͂̔̾͐̿͗́̍̑̒̄͘r̶̢̨̡̨̨̨̨̫͓̗͚̺͚̼̠̞̬̙̤̲͊̋̉͗͆̈́̊̊͒͗͆͋͂̕ͅͅt̷̡̨̧̩̰̖̻̘̻͉͎̰͚̩̥̖͖̙͉̤̞̟̖̣͔͕͇̻̻͊̌̇̂͐̀̌͗̋͐͋̓̐̽̆̍͊͒̉́̆̀̆̏̚͝͝.̶̧̧̛̗̼̼̲̼̖̣̱̪̹͓͉̈͆̑͛̉́͑́̈́̍̚ ̵̧͍̖̹̼̼̺̱͍͕̻̻̲̦̩̿̆̅̑́̌͗̾̃͌̃̕͜ẗ̴̢̧͎͎̦̘̟͈͙̖̬̬͚̬̗͓͉͓̖͙͍́͊̓̄͗͜͠ͅo̶̢̢̝̳̳͓̦̲̘̲͉͚̬̺̗̩͊́̓̓͛̌̀̈́͂̈́̂͒̀͂̓̀̊̽͐̐̒͆̽̚͜͝͝͝o̵̻͇̐͌͌̐̒͘ ̵̧̜̱̭͓͚͎͔̦̲̳̖͚͇͚̔̃̈́̄̃̏̓̎͒́́̆̊ͅş̷̬̟̗͙̭̪̪̖͖̠̖̎̊͂̔͂͂̀̄̒͛̂́͋͌͌̇́̀̀͘͠m̴̨̡̛̛͍̺̮̯̫̪̫̝̯̀͂͋̌̽̔̈́̈́͑̔͌͂̎̋̑̽́͂̕̕ą̵̡̢̳̳̜̦̰͖̭̟̳̰̖̮̪͔͎̰͉̞̖͖͈̱̘̫͔̭̠̃̈́͊̏͊̇͋͝l̸̢̧̊l̴̡̛͖̯͚̘̞̲̱̭̺̪̈́̏͐̇̎̔̈́̈́̓̾̓̐͑̎̀͂̎̾̿̚̚̚͜͜͠͝͝͝ͅ ̵̧̦̼̰̱̰̣̳̼̙̹̟͙̦̠̱̹͓̄̌́̔̽͌͋̾͋͛͑̒́̈̔̅͝͝͝t̵̺͎͍̫̆̇̂̀͂̿̌̍̂̊̔̅́͗̍̓̒̃̈̎̚͠ō̶̳̽͊̐͋̏̈̓̂̃̒̀͒͂̓͒̀̔͛͐͒̌̄͐́̄̅͘ ̷̗̤̘͕͕̦͚̤̳̣͔̦̻̖͒̂̕͜i̵̧̨̧̛̥̦̼̪̞̗͙̹̰̮͎̳͙͔͉͙̖̖̽̐̑̈́̓͆̆̀̄͗̀͘̚͜m̸̧̨̡̛̛̘͔͚̗̝̞͔͈̫̞̟̭̰͔̻̼̙͓̥̱̦̠̮̽͒̓̃͌̆̈́̓́̂̂̎̿̊͐̽̾̒͛̈̈̊̀̍̕͜͜͜ͅṕ̸̥̪̱̭͚͇͈̬͚̟̿̈́̊̌̀̄͘ͅͅͅl̸̛̞̗͖̲̗͚̀̋͊͐̎́̂͊̾̆̾̌̈́͑̓̌̌̚͘͝ë̴̡̛̟͚́́̀̌͊́̐̓͛͑̌̋͊̋̍̐̓̀͒̔͒͊̌̍̔̆̿̄͘m̸̡̨̹͕̥̮̤̖̘̜̻͈͍̲̬͒̃̈͐̇̇̈́̽̽̒͂́̏̇̓̾͛̊͆̈́͐̕͝ͅe̶̜̬̥̥͔͕̫̯͚̰̜̜̫̗̓̅͑͂̈͌̃͒̐͠͠͠n̴̨̢̜̙̰̥͚̝͙̦̻͓̣̱̒̓̓͋̒͠ţ̷̻̰͖͔͚̲̤̬̘͈͖̗̩͈͚́͋̄̎̿̀̒̑̃̽̑̐̒̓͘͝͝ͅͅ ̸̡̰̘̮̦̳͉͚̻̮͉̹̫͓̫͙̗̾͐̅̇̈́̈́͑͊̾̓́̓̐̈́̈́͜ḑ̶̨̛̝̣̣͍͎̬̞͓̬̝̫̜͖͈̗̣̦̾͊͂̐͌̈́̎̽̇͋̓̓͋̀̈͐̐̀͒̚̚͝ͅį̸̨̧̭͙̻̮̻͔̺̜̞̞̰̻̝̣̠̝̻̤͔̳͇̭̰̳̉̂̀̿̓̅̈́̄̽̓̓̆̀̃̆̅͐͂͘͜͜͠͝͝ͅŗ̵͉̆̍͆͛͋̇̾̋̎̿̀̍͊̓̋̕̕̚e̶̡̛̞̰͇̮̗͇̝̬̜̙̊̈́͒͋͋̿̋̉̀̌̽́̐c̶̨̛̠̟͕̠̟͕̙̱̗͕̖̹̮̺̘̪̭̭̿̌̀̇̈́̀̏͆̏͆̇͂̀͂̇͐̄̔͝͝͝͠t̵̡͈̳̼̦̺̰̳̣̟̞̰̭̩̤͎̲̞̙̎͌͒̂̋̈́̇̔̂͛̄͑̓̾͛̂̾͌͌́͆̈́̕͜͠͝ͅį̸̡̥͖̻̗̻̻̥̞͍̝̼͕͙̼͓͙̠͋̈́̃͊͂̈́͋̽̌̔̏͒̆͐̉̈̑̽̐̃́̒̑̑͘͠ṿ̶̡̢̛̮̜̹̮̜͙̜̙̜͙̪͓̰̙̣̳̙͓̳̹̓̇͊̔̐͛͗̃͑̐̀̔̕͜ę̸̛̛̛͇̭͖̩̺̦͚͈̞̳̘̤̠̫̩͚̣̳͎͎͖͇̬̗͙͍͛̈͒͆́̀͋̓̿̈́̊͒̀̅̋̉̈̈̉̑̓̐̚͘͘̕͜.̴̡̧̨͎̼̤̺̥̜̮͙̖͚̝͊̆̆͘̚ ̸̡̧̧̠̼̟̦̥̠͖͖̙͈̬͇̰͔͖̫̤̮̖͙̠̿̽͊̎̅̉̔̇̈̈͗̌́̔̚b̸̪̲͈̋̂̔͋̔̆͗̈́̈́͛̐̾̀̂́̄̽̉̀̿̚͘̕̚͝͠͠i̵͈͛͂͂́̒́̉̍̀̾͊̈́̀̑̈́̋́͆͠͠g̴̛̛͍̰̰̑̏̔͑̈́̽̅͋̂̀͗̍͗͛͆̓̌͌͂͛̂̾͠ģ̵̧̨͎̖͍̝̹̖͇̟̭͚̩̬̟̩̭̞̠͓̲̼̗̖͑̈́̍͛̈́́́̀̎̇͆̆̇͜ͅͅę̶̡͙̦̺̺͇̞̤̞͍̀̒ͅr̶̝͍̠̮̹͚̍̅ͅ.̴̢͔͉̖̪͖̦̙̝̜̬̝̏̔̊͐̎͌̀́͊͆̊͗̂̽̔̎͒̀͜͠ ̶̢̛̫̪̯͖̻͙̔͋͋̃͜ḑ̴̯͉̤͍͙̖́̈͊͐̓̒̒͑͋̑́̿͆̌̔͐͗͐̚͝͝ͅi̴̡̛̛̪̙͈̪̫̗̱͖͓̫̻̥̫̎̈́̎̈́͊̆̅́̌̒͗̈́̃̍̇̏̄́̆̓̚̚̚̕͝͝͝r̴̪͓̗͆̀̅̌̐̃̈́͂͛͂͛̑̒̅̏͒̈̓̎͌͌̈́̆̽͝͝ͅẻ̴͇̱͎̜͕̺̤͙̇̌̀̍̎͑̈̀̂̔̄͋̓̑̊̏̈́̆̕͘͘͜͜͝͠c̴̡̥̟͔͓͖̻̺͆͒͗̀͐́̽͑̅̄̈̑̎̑̉̉̇͋̌̄̿͊͂̕͝͝͝ṱ̶̨̡̡̢̯̳̜̗̮̺͓͇̠̳͕͕̙̈́͂ḯ̵̡̨͚̞̤̮̯͚̰̙̹͎̤̗̟͔̣͎̤̈́͂͊́͆̽̀̽͌̋͐̽̊̇̓͑̊͛͛͊̋̽̈́̚͘͠͠͝v̶̯̙͎̬̫̽̇̃̃́̄è̷̢̧̧̧̡̛̛̜̻̰̭̞̪̲͎̯̂̎̋̿̈́͒̾̋̎͂̓̍͝:̵̢͚͚̝͕̆̌͋̒̏͛̽̿̒̀̿̈́͛̾̎̎̈͘ ̴̛͕̣̤̟͈͖̓̏͋̈́̑́́̅̒̌̃͑̃̂̑̃͌̕͜͝͝͠l̶̜͇̽͌́̎̌̒̿̑͊̉͋͐̽͌̓̑͛̋̌͊͊̆̄̄̏̒́͘͝ę̸̧̨̧̛̛̱̬̬̬̯̙͍͙̙̳̜͎̪̗̗̱̱̗̣̯̖̹̥̤̩̟̅̎̄͐͊͑̓̉̈́́̐͆͑̈́͌̆͑̋̌͝ä̵̛̬̝͍̣̼̠̳̫̗͔̰̭̙́̉̈́̉̑̎̃̽̌̋̉̃̈̃́̂̈́̔̄̀̕͠͠͝͝r̸̢̧̧̨̢̦̮͈̭͖̗̲͈̮̥͕̠͍͔͕̩̩̘̞̱͔̹̅̍̉̊̉͌̃͂̃͗̓̏̑̀̊̓͌̐͒̎͘̚̚͝ͅͅń̵̛̫̩̱̪͙̠̣͎̦͈̪̝̲̓̊̓́̎̈́̍̏̒͂͊̆̏̎̈́̕͜͝͝͠͝͠?̷̨̛̬͔̺̙͓̦̝̲͔̻̣̮̹̮̖̘̫͙̮͎̲̞̟̼̥̪̇̅̌͛͆̄͠?̸̛͎̞̟̪͎͕̤̖͒͊͆̅̒͒͑͐̾̒̎͐̅̄͋̍̈̕͜͝?̸̘̼̦̮̰̫̯̺̉́͒̑̈͐͛̏̇͗̆̐̑̈́̄͋͛̐͑̅̾̆̿͊̿̕͝͝ͅ ̵͉͕͖̦͍̙͊̽̅͂̑́̎̔̂͆́ṱ̵̡͔̝͇͔͔̭̞͔̲̙̗͕̲̬͛̑͊͑̉͗̆͂̉͆̔̒͑o̶̲̙̻͎̰̲̮͇̮͍͕͊͆̈́̏̒̓͐́̄̅̓͘͝ͅö̵̧̧̧͔̠͙͙̜͎̲͔̤͓͖̯̠̖̈̔̈̽͜͜͠ ̷̛͖̝̜̭̮͇̱͇̄͗͋͒͗̑̔͒̋̏̈́͐̈͌̃̑̋̀̍͗ͅͅs̸̢̛͓̥͉̞̺͕̖̈́̍̎̇͐͐͊́̀̆̏̐͗͆̿̀͂̽̈́̇̿͝͝͝͠͝m̵̧̧̻̼̝͙̠̭̮̟̘̮͇̫͎̩̠͙̬̱͍̂͆̀͑̏̓̐̈́͒͛͌̍̌͘͘̚͜ã̵̡͎̯͉̫͙̈͌͛̅̓̓̄̓͊̍̈̓͆͗͑̕̚l̴̨̰̠̮̝̫̯̝̩̽̋̾͋̃̍̓͜l̸̮͇̮̤͚̦̟͚̤͒̓̔͋́̇̂͒͘͘ ̷̧̨̘̞̞͇̝̼̞͚̩͍͇̫̈́͑̒͜t̶̨̡͖̫̦̻̞̝̘͈͖̮̬͙̫͕̭̫̱̣̣̺͎̮̪͎̟͎̲̼̆̊̆̀̆̑͒̉̊͘ó̵̪̯̯͖͚̣͓̝͋̃̃̔̈́͑̔͊̃̈́̐͊̿̅̏͐̉̏́̏̎̏̿͑͆͗͜͠ ̸̢̬̱̮̪͓͓̫̒̀̓͂̒̋̑͝ḭ̴̧̡̨̻̼̤̥͕̦̤͖͎̞͎̬̭̫̠̝̲̼͓̙̖̇̐̾͌̉̌̈́̎̔̈̍̇̋̒̓̈́̓͑̌̕͝͝͝ͅm̵̡̖̪͔͉͍̯͔͇̗̺̫͈̖̈͆̈́͜ͅp̶̨̡̬͖̯͈̈́̀̊͊̌̑̀̾̽́͑̔̊̎͗̀̿͂̀̆͑͐̕͠͝l̶̡̨̛̤̖͓̜̫̹̗̖͈̟̓ȩ̵̢̧̛̦͔̩͍̣̼̣̩̘̰̞̞̳͓̪̠̰̯͈̰̀̎̓̎̇̉̉̀̅̽͝m̶̞͔͍̫̤͎̟̩͙̠̥̣̫̥̱̳̫̦̗̪͙̬̒̇ͅę̸͓͍̯̮̤̽̄̾̂́̂̾̅͊̌͛̀̎͆͑͝ǹ̷̨̡̡̧͓̦͔̟̱̞̙̟̦̱̗͕̫̠̜͉̠͇̣͂̅̒͋̐̈́̍̒̇̎́́̒̀̍͂̓̉͛̚͘̚͜͠t̵̨̲͖̩̤̲̳̺̚ ̵̡͓̩̦̖̦̬̟̀̃̔͐̽̇̈́͋̉̑͑͜d̸̢̨̢̤̭̱̖͖̲̰̹̼͚͈̄͋͒͊͘͜͝͝i̶̯̫̪͈̰̬̼̘̠͙͎̹̞̞̼͖̐̒͂͊́͑̍͑̿̂̀̋͂͐̅̆̉̕͝ͅͅŗ̵̢͍̮̯̣̜̗̂̈́͒̓̎̇͊̒́͋̿̄̉͗̃̂̈̑̈́̎̀̍̎̎͛̉̕̚͠e̸̢̧̨̮̝̮̩̱͍̦̫̝͙̜̼͖͓̯̯̹̥͌̒̎͆́̉̓̈́̅̌͑̌̾́̕͘͘͠͝ͅc̶̛̛͇͖̰͖̝͙̟͊̓̓̾͒̽̎̌͑̈́̇͆̋͌̄͛́̿̄̀̕̚͘͠͝t̸̨̛̩̣̪̹̬̭͓̙̯͉̬͔̮̩̺͙̩̗͈̟̹̑̊̒́̿͆̅̇́͋̊̑̍͘͝í̶̡̗͓̜͙̠̹͉̗̜̘͚̔͆̍̌̒̋͝v̸̡̨̧̢̪͉͍̟͕͕̰̺͔͖̱̤̬̖̰͓̀͐̉̑̍̓̍͊͋̊͒̓̓̂͗̀̈̇̏̍̀̊͒͌̈́̈́̚͘̚͠e̸̡̨͇̗̣̖͖̠̝͓̺͈̭͓̬͇͖̤̥̤̳̊̏̓͋̕.̷͙͙̹̝̹͈͙̱̦͉̹̝̗̱͙͋̓͘ ̴̢̨̛̻̗͎̥̭̗͎̼͔̰̪̲̩̘̙͊̔̑̅̈́̈̈͗̀̋̾́̋͂̌̓͘͝ͅb̸̢̹̩͕͇̙̦̫͓͖̠͕͎͙͉̠͇̫̝̜̗͔̣́͒̑̾͐͆̄̆̌̈́̑̿̓̎̐̋̈́͒̑̒͂̏͆̄̚̕̚͘͝͠i̶̜͕̜͒̓̿̀̉̃̽̌̀͌̄͊̀̚͝͠ģ̸̜̣̰͈͉̣̼̦͙͉̪̫̺̯̖͂̂̒̈́ģ̸͙̮̱͓̹͖̤̙̃̂̂̈̿͋͒̿̔̂͒͂̒̑̓̊̓̈͗̓̇̄̿̕̕͘̕͜͝ͅȩ̵̡͍̪̠̗̻̲̼͈̼̰̝̃̓̕r̴̢̡̖͚͎̯̝̩̙̞͔̠̫̬͚̦͖̯͓͚͍͉̀͊͑́̆́̉͊̇̑̉̌̈́̾̔̔̂̒̓̆̓͌̆̏̀̀̕̚͜͜͝͠.̶̧̢̨̖͎͙̲͈͔͈̬͓͈̝͈̘̣͔̭̞̫͎̝̬̄͑̈́̐̇̒̓ͅ*̷͓̜̰͚̥̱̬̹̤͍̙̝̟̫͓̖̥̮̄̐̏́̏͑͠͝|̶͖͓̈́͒

 

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Oh, you need to be bigger, to - understand...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

:̷̤̠̙͎̦̮̫̑̆̆͑͊̄̾͆̾̌̆̕͝`̸͕̜̬̮̯̳̞̞̥̖̰̘͆̍̔͐̈́̏͋̂̾̎̇́͂͝͝ͅͅt̷̛̜͇͈̝̅̀̄̑̈̽͠ǫ̵̺̱̥̜͉͇̻̻̖͖̯̣̝̇̉̄̃̈́ṑ̶̙̘̝̣͔̳̹̰̳̮͕̦͇̫͛̃̆̈̀̋̄͘.̴̢̨̫̊̋͌͌̐̑͗̄͝͝͠͝͝s̸̡̡̛͍̮͍̫͈̹̦̀͊̉̾͂̀̐̂̓̿̈̐̏̎ͅm̶̢̞͔͕̪̯̙̙͎̆̂̂̇̏̂̓͆̕͝a̶̞̍͐l̵̢̛͕̖̫̟͖̬̞̯̲̻͙͑̈́̒̆̕ḽ̷̯̃͐̈̆̅:̸̧̦̩̗̈̀ͅ*̵̱̦͙̖̯͍̯͉̜͖̒̊̾̈́̂͌͆͋̽̽͌̋͝ͅ

 




And then a sort of question, the automata game shoved back at him: is this still what I should be doing?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Doing?: Leareth asks blankly. :It is - just an example...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion!

Permalink Mark Unread

:You can stop: 

 

After a long pause, trying to force thoughts through the glue in his head: 

:- How many more resources do you need, to be big enough. Twice as many? Three times, ten times?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

.̴͇̪̗̥͖͔̓̓͗.̶̧̤̟̰̳̲̜̼̦̫̪̩̂̿͐̓̀͛̄̃́͆͝͝ͅ|̸̧̬̮̺̤̫̅̐̀̽̀̕͝3̶̡̧͇͖͈͔͓͚̮͚̫͗́̍̆̾̂͌̓̍4̶͎͚̣̲̭͇͕͌͐͌͘ͅď̴̪͎̝̱͎̖̅͑̄͋͗̚ͅở̴̛̛̟̤̩̟̭̩̿̀̇̌̓̈͗̅͑̈́͝ṳ̵̙̫͇̣̭͉̜͓̹̙̣̹̇͘͜͝b̶̭̣͇̹͕͓̪̓̑͐̿̊͆͊̒̏̋͜l̸̛̳̲̝̺͈͐͊͊́̑̆̍̃̽͊̅̅̌ͅi̶̗̥͍̜͎͒̐͐͂̚n̷̝̙͙̼͙̫̾́͋̈́̄̌̈̓̓͘̕͘͠͝͝ͅg̴̛̼̠̞̟͚̟̰̖̱̯̖̀͑̆͌͒̎́̀̾͆̈́̂͝͝s̸̫̠͓̗͎̩̪̼̖͍̓́͋͋̈́̏̕͝ͅ ̴̨̫͕̼͖̭̙̭̰͖̦̮̣̣̭̀̀̿̈́͌̊̈́͘o̸̯̍̈́̉͊̅̃͛̈́̈́̊̊͜͝f̶̡̨̟̼̱̖͗͋̾̏̊̓̾̇̾ ̶̱͙̘̤̙̘̭̘̞̜̪̠͔̤̠̀̏͐̎͆̍͗͘c̶̢̻͖̫̜̭̤̤̦̜̬̱̖̻̓́͑̈ͅú̸̢͚̯̗͚̰͙͍̼͎̖̙̂̐͛̽̌͋̎͠͝ͅͅṟ̵̣̙͚͐̓̒͆̈́͐́̀̽͝ṙ̸̛̭̀̋̇͆̉́̄͝e̸̺̮̭̹̟̓̏̄̽̃̅̈́͆̔͒̕̕̚n̴̢̝̹̎̅̆͐̇̎̿̇̌̏́̀̒̏͝t̶̪͈͈̟͔̜̟̲̺̥̻̤͍̼͂̿̓ͅ ̷̧̣̺̍̊͐̉̾͋́̒̋̔͊̚͜͝ṙ̶͔̱̦͓̦̺̤̩̫̗̭͇̘́͆̅͊̌͂ȩ̵̣͎̼͚̜̠͆͋̏̊̓s̸̡͍̞̬̺͈̞̓̕ͅǫ̷͖͇͕͖̎̆̏̎̚ͅu̴̦͉̗̪̙͖͈̙̿̾r̷̻͈̦̤̪̗̖͚̖̜̙̍̏c̸̡͉̹̭̞̪̳̬̒͑̆̂̈͠ͅë̵̥̟̠́̌̌̀̅͐̓̅͝s̴͎͈̩͙̊͗̌̐̏̍͌͗̐̎̈͘͝͠.̷̞̝̱̬͖̱̮̮̘͕͉̼̫̰̐̋́̒̐̈́̍̾͌̍*̵̨̨̨̹̼̳̠̬̼̤̅͋̾̀̆͋̌͆̃͐̚

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth runs exponents of two in his head for a while and...no he's too bleary to do this from scratch and doesn't have it memorized that high, but - that's not even in the millions, it's in the billions... 

:I can get you...three doublings. For now. And you - need to go slowly. Carefully. Minimal damage: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

:Do you understand that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

   ?

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth can't tell if that's meant to be a cryptic answer to his question, or if it really is a complete non-sequitur. He's also very sleepy again and his head hurts. 

He can think some prime numbers back. It's not as shiny but maybe it'll keep the alien happy for a while. 

(After a couple of minutes of this he falls asleep.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule keeps growing.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri snatches naps, and feeds it more rabbits until all of the rabbits are infected, and figures out that Nayoki is somewhere on the surface and within her Mindspeech range so she can ask after Jisa.

She and the Healers regularly check each other and all the non-patient-occupied room surfaces for any sign of Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It doesn't seem to be airborne yet - it only makes it onto surfaces when someone vomits, or pees, or bleeds, though the rabbits do all of these things as they get more infected.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is inclined to let the Proto do what it wants to rabbits as long as it's not killing her human patients. She suggests they turn one of the stone side rooms into a rabbit-quarantine-zone so they don't need to worry about every single surface in the room ending up contaminated. 

She swaps her attention between the two human patients as they sleep, feeding them Healing-energy, checking them over for any new Proto damage, fixing what she can or pointing it out to the other Healers. She seems a lot better at using her Sight on the Proto, maybe just from her additional two days' of practice. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth sleeps uneasily, half-woken every once in a while when he starts coughing or some new body part is hurting. At one point he manages to vomit in his bed again, too half-asleep to take any actions to avoid this.

He feels more and more...not just tired, but fuzzy-headed, and oddly weak and heavy, as though his limbs are turning to waterlogged driftwood. It's harder to remember where he is, or what he's doing here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a lot of protomolecule in him. It's growing a lot faster than in Julie, maybe because it keeps eating his reserves.

 

It's not trying to hurt him but it doesn't, actually, know much about how humans work, and he's made of all these yummy stable replicators, and it is recruiting a lot of them.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is definitely worried! When she notices specific damage it's doing, she tries to tell the Proto what not to do, but she has a feeling a lot of the mess is happening at a scale that's smaller than even her Sight can reach. 

...also they have a growing problem with the part where they squashed his immune system to stop it from attacking the Proto, which is that now half a dozen garden-variety opportunistic infections are trying to sneak in through the gaps, and killing them is doable but it's hard for even all of the Healers together to keep up. 

She helps them try to wake him and get some sugary water into him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is so unhappy to be woken, and it turns out that he cannot, actually, keep down any fluids. 

He's just barely lucid enough to think the beginning of the Fibonacci sequence at the Proto, and not quite enough to form words to communicate with the humans in the room. He meant to tell them to feed the Proto more cows. Cows and Gate-energy. It's important. He can't remember why. 

He drifts away into fog as soon as people stop talking at him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They try to wake him again in a candlemark. He's unresponsive. 

Shavri is quickly headed from frustrated to FURIOUS. 

:You're hurting him: she tells the Proto, angrily. :You have to stop it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


.̶͉̔̑̀͘:̵͚͓͍͈̖̥́̐̈̈̇̍̐͌̑̈̆̇͝*̸̢̪̘͎̞̣͎̼͐̒̅͑̎͋͆͆̓͂̂̅͝͝?̷̡̞͕̰̹̦̯̘͉̰̘͚̻̎̃́̌̃̓͜͝?̶͇̠͈̄̑͆͑͛͐͋̾̀͒͌͑?̶̢̳̺̭̰͖͇͋̎͊͂̾̍̂͊̇͒̂̈́̒?̶̞͖̼͆̐̐?̸̡̨̡̘̖̩̹̹̣͙͕̯͛̿̉͂̄̈́*̶̜̬͍̳͙͚̟̰̖͓̙̇̂͘͜|̵̡̹̩̣̏̈́̀̈̽.̷̧̨̨̭̯̜̥̰̮̠̪̞̤̙͂̒̀̈́

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You like talking about math, right? You can't do that if he dies!: 

She's trying to figure out what's even there to fix, here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's definitely something pervasively wrong, in his body, but it's still too diffuse for her Sight to narrow in on. His pulse is weak and irregular, but she can't figure out why, there doesn't seem to be anything structurally wrong with his heart... 

While she's deep in trance, Looking, he stops breathing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Damn it!: 

She grabs a hopefully-non-Proto'd part of his arm and shakes him, pinches him hard, taps at his mind hard with Mindspeech. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He twitches and takes a breath, but he's still not waking up at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Stop it!: she shouts at the Proto. :Just stop. Stop doing any things -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It does that! All of it, not just the bits in Leareth.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you: 

And she focuses on pouring Healing-energy into Leareth, trying to stabilize his faltering heartbeat, steady his breathing - 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's almost enough. 

Almost, but not quite. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

"I would not normally do this, but circumstances are unusual." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's life-force goes chaotic the moment his heart stops beating, and Shavri loses the energy-link to him, and swears loudly - she starts to instinctively reach in and remembers she shouldn't touch him and swears even louder - 

She flings undirected Healing-energy at him, hard enough that her vision dims, just like she's done once before on a riverbed years ago. When she was a terrified child. 

Shavri isn't a child now, and she isn't terrified - she's furious

She shoves the sense-impression of her Sight, of Leareth's collapsing aura, directly at the Proto. 

:Dying! This is dying! Help me fix it!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't care if there's a copy of him! I want him alive!: 

She tries to show the Proto a mental image of Leareth's heart beating under her Sight, like it was before, but she's worried this is going to be another of those things that the Proto is inexplicably totally unable to understand. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̷̨͍̼̺͖͕̐͘͜;̶̧̢͖̭̭̈́̅́̋͘*̵̧̬͔͍̝̰̯͌_̸̻͎̓̋̂͝-̷̢̇̉̇͑̾̈́͋͑͗͗1̴̨̛͖̟̝̊͌͑̈̔̈́̄̓!̷̡͇̝̬̳̮̦̞̺̺́͗̊ͅ`̵̞͖͙̻͊̂`̸̧̢̳͈͖̥̟̝͕͓͚͓͖̏̿̀̿̿͆̄̐̽̀̚;̷̘̞̺̣̝̫̰͈̬̲̝̒̐́̈͒̊̍͗̂̔͛̇͘̕͜͠~̶̢̹̣̪͚̗̻͕̣̙͎̗̽͗̃̏̇̋͗́̑̾͝ͅͅ.̴̮̦͈̠̱̰̒̔̂͌̓͘͠|̷͓͗͒ļ̷̨̯͙͚̳͉̉͌͜͜ĩ̷̛͙͙̘̭̮̟̦̇̋͛̀̈́̏̈̃̚͘͝͝ĺ̷̛̗i̷̡̨̤͔̯͎̜̗̺̋͊̉̃͌ͅ!̶͓̅̑̆̅͂̊̓͘̚*̵̢̠̗͙̬̙̝͙̬̬̱̪̲̺̑͌͆̌̀͛̑̑͜

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

FINE then she will just have to save his life by HERSELF. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The situation is sufficiently out-of-context that Leareth spends quite a few subjective-seconds looking around in bafflement before he makes the connection with a certain, fairly popular Valdemaran ballad. Herald Vanyel currently isn't speaking to him, but he's sung it to him before. 

"You are the avatar of a god," he says, flatly. "Why are you speaking to me." 

(And why couldn't it have been a thousand years earlier -) 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The constraints have changed." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can you be more specific." 

Permalink Mark Unread

The shadow-faced figure offers no answer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not exactly complicated to generate for himself, though, once he has a minute to think, with (mostly) full information on the alien entity that infected him, and also his mind working. 

"My soul is not under your remit," he says. "You took special action. You...wish to send me back?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

A flicker of approval in those brilliant sapphire eyes, impossibly visible despite the shadowed face. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"A Power tried to kill me. The ship, the floor... But - not You?" He narrows his eyes. "It serves Your ends, for me to go back?"

Well, he would go back anyway, but to go back immediately. 

Maybe the Proto will actually just eat his corpse and grow uncontrollably, if he's no longer inhabiting it? Or maybe... 

They called it a weapon.

It's not, it's so much more than that - terrifyingly and awe-inspiring and the most important discovery of his two-thousand-year lifetime - but it is dangerous, in its...innocence, its ignorance and confusion, its smallness, incomplete and lacking the reasoning ability, it's like a tiny child that happens to be capable of complex multidimensional math... 

And somewhere, someone is taking the deeply ill-advised action of using that against their enemies. Another world is in danger. 

The foreign woman was talking to the Valdemaran Healer, about getting home - he tries to dredge up the fog-shrouded memory - she wasn't sure how her ship had done it, it shouldn't have been able to travel between stars, too far, but something happened - a 'wormhole', he thinks he remembers overhearing that thought-concept... 

It sounds like a Gate. 

He wouldn't have thought Gates between worlds could be possible, but - well, much of the problem is that no one has ever been there, to know the way. 

But the foreigner came from that world. And, perhaps more importantly, the Proto did. The same alien intelligence - well, infant intelligence - that's currently infesting his own body... 

The Proto may not be clever at most human things, but it's incredible with math... 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Shadow-Lover does nothing to interfere with Leareth pacing and thinking. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's annoying that he can't run any tests. And that he isn't sure what shape he'll come back in, or how much he'll be able to remember. 

He can plan, though. 

And the Proto has a copy of him. One which might - if given enough resources, enough energy - be able to run faster than his fragile human mind. At worst, he just needs to remember the right questions... 

Leareth spends a VERY long stretch of subjective-time thinking, in the Shadow-Lover's realm. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It feels like an eternity to Shavri, but in reality it's probably less than thirty seconds. 

 

 

:I think I've got something -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I have a link!: one of the other Healers confirms, triumphantly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's heartbeat steadies, though his pulse is still slow and weak. 

He takes a ragged breath on his own, coughs, and then tries to vomit again; fortunately there's barely anything in his stomach to contaminate the bed any further. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ugh," Shavri mutters, but it's not anywhere near enough to crush her JUBILANCE. She is nearly bursting with triumph. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The other Healers are talking mostly in Mindspeech, but there's enough half-involuntary swearing happening out loud that it's likely woken Julie by now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Before everything went to hell she spent months on a ship with forty OPA operatives. She sleeps right through it.

 

Wakes up a little later anyway, though, coughing.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is still pretty distracted with stabilizing Leareth, but she briefly turns her Sight on Julie. :Are you all right: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. Cough. You should - figure something out with it - quick, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I know. ...We nearly lost the other patient. Think he'll pull through, but...:

Shavri trails off, and has a closer look at Julie's lungs, trying to figure out what exactly the Proto is doing now that's causing problems, or whether it's even actually related. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're just getting kind of full of fluid; it's probably indirectly the protomolecule's fault but it's not trying to become airborne there anymore.

Permalink Mark Unread

Fortunately this is, at least, a problem more comparable to ones she's treated a lot in other patients with more standard diseases, and Shavri can pour some Healing-energy into fixing the damage that's leading to it, and also loosen and coax the fluid higher up so that Julie can successfully cough it out. Which is gross and very contamination-risky, but better than her suffocating. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The moment Leareth regains even a flicker of consciousness, he starts struggling and trying to sit up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Try to relax and hold still: one of the Healers immediately Mindspeaks to him, :it's all right - just stay calm, we've got you -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's also coughing, and shivering again, and he feels absolutely awful, but - something important - he spent a lot of time trying hard to memorize it, in a white empty place where his head felt clear and spacious, and nothing hurt. 

:I know...how to reach...your world: he sends to Julie, the instant he's capable of getting coherent Mindspeech to someone un-Gifted. 

Permalink Mark Unread

What? - how -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Magic. Complicated. Need...the Proto's help...: 

And to everyone nearby who's a Mindspeaker: 

:Need more fuel for it. Any biological matter - not people - cows, plants - we should stage underground... Ten times. As much. Smarter. Then - maybe - can figure out the rest...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It would be a lot more reassuring if he sounded more coherent and also hadn't just NEARLY DIED. The Healers aren't really sure what to do given the givens! 

Someone Mindspeaks Nayoki and tries to explain. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Now that the emergency is (apparently) over, Shavri is drooping with exhaustion. She doesn't at all feel qualified to vet whether the mysterious math guy's plan makes any sense at all. 

:...Maybe it would help? It - tries to follow my instructions, I think it just doesn't understand most of them. It's - clumsy, it doesn't know how not to hurt them: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Apparently this is her call. 

:All right: Nayoki declares. :Take a sample of it. Contained. I will Gate it to the new location once it is ready: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is incredibly tired, but also this is important, and he's worried he might forget it if he lets himself sleep first. 

He starts visualizing at the Proto again. Mathematical representations of Gates. Of interplanar interactions. Of some theories he's only just started to form, armed with just the knowledge that the visitor's ship can travel between planets around a star, and also somehow ended up here... 

  ? 

Permalink Mark Unread

!!!!!!

 

 

*̸̤̩̅̽͂̆͂͌̏̄̋̚.̶̱̤͈̻͖̌̉̈́͊Ţ̶̺̤̝̗̤̻̣͎̞͍͆̀̐̋̐͊̂͐̐̇̚͠ḩ̴̯̝͕̻̝͍̓͊̾̈́͋̋͘e̵͕͎̘̫̜̺͂̊̿ ̷̨̩̗͔̣̙̤͖̦̦̟͓̔̾͐͝W̷̞͂͐̐͂̽́͐̀͝ô̷͖͇̦̪͍̋͂̆̈́̉̅́̉̚͠͠r̶̤̣̙̣͉͉̓̐̾̽̀̑́̉̚͝k̴͍̥̱͇̯̐̋̉͐̿̈͝*̴̧̢̱̘̜͉̗͙̺̬͌͛͆̌͆͌͋͐

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth goes very still. 

 

:Is that - what you were made to do...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̶̡̥̤̩͍̙̮̭̮̣̺̣̜̽͜*̵̥̱̱̗̥͚͍̱̱͉̹̤͓̪̞͆̏̓̋̀̉͛͝c̷͖̜͓̱̈́̈ò̶̡̻̺̳̩͚̝͓̭͌̒̔́̇̑́̾̃́͝m̶̨̛̘͉͆̓̄p̵̢̣͈͗̑̉̓͛̈͐̎̃͘͝l̸̪̪͔̗͎͓͛̌̿͒e̸̺̤͎̫̖̙͊̃̔̏͑̆͛̌t̴̛͔̬̼̪ę̶̖̹̱͕͍̪̗̜͈̤̫́̔̇̓̑̀̏̓̈́͋̚͜͠.̸̟̠̱̻̩̪͇͇̳̗̞̭̙̪͐̈́̽̈́͂͆̿̑̊́͘̕͠t̴̙̫̦̰̫̤̟̖͎͑ͅh̷̨̲̹̰̺͉̥͈͍͔̠̍͂̋̊͋̎̃͛̕͝͠ͅę̴̯̻̞͎͓̅̂́̔̈́͋͛̕̚͜͠.̸̡̧̖̼͔͕̗͓̲̘͊Ŵ̸̙̼̤̪̮͍̟͖̇͌͘ͅo̷̢̢̺̼͉̱͚̙̻͐̀̀̄̚r̴̡̲̞̞̖̲̻̜̦̄̍̓͛̅̅ķ̶̧̧̢͉̖̯͔̙̀͌*̴̨̙͚͔̪̲̱͚͖͚͒r̸̻͕͕̥͚͗̔̃̄̌͠e̵̪͙̳̺̻̦̬̭̟͍̺̳͓̮̐̊p̴̱̱͇̎͊͑̎̀̽̑̔͐̚͝o̶̢̨̡̟̲̝̘̦͍̘̝̳̙͗̓̅̏̋͐̓̐̚͝r̶̡̛̠͓̤̱̽̍̉̅͜͝͝ť̸̫̼̗͖͔̖̮͇͚͆͊͑̆͌̀,̴͉̪͕͎͚̟̣͕͚͍̏̆̐͊̌̾͗̾̚̚ͅh̵̰͌͋̈́̋̚͝͝ơ̸̡͙͖̗̪͙̱͆̄͒̆̒͆m̵̢̧̡̛̻̙̮̥̟͍̜̞͈̟͜e̸̖͎̰̹̳̳̹̖̽̑̂̎̐̂͠.̵̨̧̱̣͍̖̟̓̐́͋͗̕͠ͅ*̸̡͖̳͔͔͕̓̄̒̈́̋̎̆̈́͛̋̀͘͜͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Where is your home: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is starting to have trouble concentrating, but he imagines himself, here on this world - the Void, the planes spreading out around him - imagines (very vaguely) the Proto stretching out a wormhole - 

:Which way will you go: 

Permalink Mark Unread

....into the wormhole.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that was uninformative, but it's probably his fault for forming the query in a confusing and unhelpful way. 

There are some calculations he has to run, for the Gate search-spell he worked out theoretically in the Shadow-Lover's realm, how to anchor it on the rest of the Proto - assuming it still bears some sort of relationship to the part left behind on another world. Normally this would take weeks on pen and paper, but - well, he has the Proto right here. 

He starts thinking math at it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It thinks math right back. Even faster than it did earlier, when they were comparing constructs - this is clearly the thing it is designed to do. 

It takes it about two seconds from getting the specification of the problem.

Permalink Mark Unread

.....Leareth is in awe. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He can't cast it right now. He tries to Mindspeak Nayoki, but apparently 'up on the surface' is outside of his range right now. 

The Proto eats mage-energies... 

He sends the Proto a mental image of his own reserves. :Resources. You ate them - can you - give them back...: He pictures the process in reverse. :So that I can help. With this Work: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth tries the same query a couple of different ways, but he isn't hopeful. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule remains confused.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has been pushing through the last few minutes on adrenaline, which is quickly running out.

:Remember the answer...?: he manages. 

And is asleep about ten seconds later. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri yawns and hugs her knees and switches her gaze back and forth rapidly between Leareth and Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule swirls petulantly in their blood. 

    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

...Wow that is so creepy

:Wait: she tells the Proto. 

How bad is Julie looking, right now? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Not great, not terrible? She doesn't seem to be having whatever problem most recently hit Leareth so hard but she's still, well, significantly eaten at this point, and even though the protomolecule isn't growing it can cause some problems without doing anything at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Still no doing any things here and here: She marks out Julie and Leareth's bodies with her Sight, then stands up so she can go Look and point out the rabbits. :Do as much as you want here. And - more resources for you, soon: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is confused by these instructions somehow and goes back to work in a random selection of places that are not the ones Shavri designated.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ughhhh.

Maybe the problem is that it doesn't understand her sensory impressions? 

She picks a random spot in Leareth's body where it's started doing things, goes in very deep and close. Pokes at the swirling currents of energy that the Proto is constantly sending around itself - very very gently, she's not trying to be disruptive, just noticeable.

:Stop doing things here: she tells it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It confusedly stops part there and part in a rabbit's eye and part in Julie's lungs.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Shavri is now baffled

:Thank you: she tells it, and then starts keeping a lookout for places where its activity is causing trouble, so she can keep trying to tell it to stop in those places, even if this only sort of works. 

Permalink Mark Unread

A couple of minutes later, Nayoki confirms that she has a plan for feeding several hundred livestock to the Proto! Mostly sheep and goats, not cows, but there are lots of them, in good health, and she can Gate over a (very carefully contained) sample right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...She's welcome to take some rabbit piss or droppings? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Maybe she'll grab one of the Fetchers to put some of that into a bucket without anyone having to touch it. 

She wants to confirm this plan with Leareth, but he's not exactly conscious, so she goes ahead and Gates in and the Fetcher collects some rabbit waste-products and they Gate out again to somewhere else. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is barely staying awake at this point, but she smiles a little to herself. 

:Resources: she tells the Proto. :So many resources. Far away - can you tell it's far...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̸̡̞̤̺͒̏͊̀͊͜ͅ:̶͇̗͍̎͌͌̀̎̄́͋͝n̵̤̯̣̮͒́̋̒̒̈́̈́͜ớ̷̧̖̙̗̹͚̌̎̆̽͆̀̿͝ṫ̴̗̉̾́̏̄̋̂͊̔̆̇͘̚͝ ̵̡̰̮͈̝̝̼̥͗̈́̽̀́͆́̎̈͘ͅf̵͓̫̘̦̳̪̱̺͈͈͋a̴̪͎̤͓͈̤̩̰͕͇͓̱̤͔̟̎̋̌̋̈́͋͗̎͑̀̂̃͒̚r̴̢̡̤͎̘͇̥͇̃̈́.̸̰̦̜͈̙̗̉̑̿̏͋̕͠*̷̧͈̩̆̎͝͠

 

 

And it grows.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can feed it Gate energy too, over in the underground livestock pen seventy miles away, where it hopefully will help the nearby Proto grow rather than the Proto living in humans. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It does seem to have that effect.

 

It is mostly successfully leaving Leareth and Julie alone, now, while it devours all the sheep and goats.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth sleeps fitfully, keeps half-waking with the feeling that he needs to be doing something very important, interrupted by the Healers telling him not to worry and just rest, which isn't entirely reassuring but also staying awake is so hard. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri waits a while, making sure the patients are stable, and then checks herself over very carefully for any sign of Proto before asking for a place to sleep with her daughter.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki can get them a tent? 

Permalink Mark Unread

At this point she would probably sleep in a hole in the ground. She's exhausted. 

She goes up to the surface, by Gate since there are several dozen mages on hand for minor errands and also they're not avoiding feeding the Proto, and she retrieves Jisa from one of Leareth's employees, apparently some sort of mage-researcher, who happens to also be breastfeeding her own toddler and has been somewhat unwillingly shanghai'd into wet-nurse duties. 

She sleeps. Even Jisa's fussing barely wakes her, just long enough to shift around on the bedroll and resettle her on a breast. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule devours its herd of livestock and settles into some kind of enormous glowing crystalline form.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth eventually wakes up more fully. He's feeling...well, still pretty sick, but it's much more a normal kind of sick, and he can mostly think again. 

He checks his Mindspeech range - still can't reach the surface, there's a lot of rock in the way - and then he reaches for the part of the Proto that's right there inside him. 

He tests how well his visualization ability is working, which again is a lot closer to normal, and then sends the Proto:

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

...Huh, that's not conceptually familiar at all. 

:What is that?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

.    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

...Equally unfamiliar, and yet - somehow not quite as much in the odd liminal space between 'pure math' and 'picture of a natural phenomenon'; it doesn't specifically resemble anything he's studied drawings of from Healing Sight, but it's...more in the direction of that sort of thing...

Leareth puzzles over that for a while, before pushing back the concept of the first thing being inside/a part of/a brick in the building of the second one, and :?: and then :...bigger than what/part of what?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

...Fascinating. 

He pushes back the concept of 'middle of the scale' / 'what is the next scale of component made of the previous components' ? 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

The math it gets right instantly. This it thinks about for a long time. Several minutes, even. 

 

Eventually:

 

    ?

Permalink Mark Unread

:!!!!: 

That he's seen! In drawings from old treatises written by the best Healing-scholars of the past millennium, and once, in this lifetime - and thus a memory he retains in visuals at all - through concert-Sight with one of his researchers. 

He thinks back: 

 

and 

Permalink Mark Unread

!

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Yes. My brain -: 

And then he concentrates even harder, and shows it a memory of Nayoki's Sight, from the first and last time she Looked at his mind and showed it to him in concert-Sight - it's a very different abstraction of it, he's not sure if the Proto can follow that yet, but he tries to push across the concept that it's the same, just a different angle, or a different lens, a different sort of view... 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


.̸̡̢̧̯͎̪̬͍͍͇̀͋̏̈́̆̉̈́̊̓;̵̧͕̙͉̣̪͖̲̖͎̺͂̽̐̉͗̃̓̈́̈̀̑͊͘͜:̷̡͍͈̗̦̆̍͗͛'̸̡̢̛̮̩̳̤̻̜̫͇̜̾̏̄͛̏̃̾͊͂̂̕̚~̷̢̢͈̱̠̪̖̳͙̣̙̪̖͖̐ͅï̷̡̛̦̳̬̳̞̯̩̍̉̈́̊͂͜|̶̨̀̈͐͛́̈́̍̀̔̀̕̚.̶̻͖͋,̶̩͙̲̳̠͍̲̘̲̫̹̬̗͛͛̏̀̐̏̓̄l̷̛̛̹͍̪̹̟͖͓̙̥͔̫͉̝͕̈́̾͗͗̔͑͜

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that's a lot of abstraction and conceptual sophistication, he's kind of not surprised it isn't clicking. 

...Yet. The Proto clearly knows a lot more than it did when he went to sleep, and it seems - easier to communicate with, too - not more human, not any less alien, but just - smarter. More flexible in its thinking. 

This is awe-inspiring and also TERRIFYING and he really ought to spend a year or two thinking through the ramifications...

He doesn't have a year or two. 

:Thank you: he tells the Proto, not that he particularly expects it to understand the concept of gratitude (yet), and then he rolls over, and stretches out his Thoughtsensing to see if Julie is awake. 

(One of his Healers, noticing that he's woken up, immediately starts haranguing him about drinking some fluids, but he can probably multitask that.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is hazily half-dreaming about running around Ceres infecting everybody and she knows she shouldn't but somehow she can't stop.

She wakes up after a little while, gasping for air and shivering.

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the Healers is keeping an eye on her while Shavri sleeps. 

:Are you all right?: he asks her. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, I'm being eaten by an alien bioweapon, but other than that, great.

Permalink Mark Unread

How eaten is she looking right now, and how many problems is the Proto causing? Leareth’s Healer isn’t as good at this as Shavri but he’s had quite a lot of practice by now.

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't actually look much worse than when she went to sleep. The protomolecule has replaced the tissue in her arm thoroughly enough that there's now a blue glow visible on the surface of the skin, and it's back to hanging out in her lungs a little, and she's still undernourished, but nothing looks immediately likely to kill her.

Permalink Mark Unread

She too will be handed some sweetened warm water to drink! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth tries to prop himself up on one elbow; he has just enough strength for this. 

:I wished to speak with you: he sends. :About - your world, and the geopolitical situation we will be walking into if I manage to return us there: 

Permalink Mark Unread

-yeah.

 

She contemplates abusing the adrenaline tabs some more but she must be running low on them, and if they're going back she's going to need it then.

What'd you want to know?

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, too, wishes he were alert enough to properly organize his questions, but he'll do his best.

:There is - one faction which intends to use the Proto as a weapon against another? Why? Is this with official approval of their government, or...something more complicated...?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Complicated. Our solar system has - Earth, where we started, Mars, which we colonized a couple hundred years ago, and then lots of other moons and asteroids and rotating stations that have a lot less gravity - I don't know if you know the concept - it's kind of important - uh, gravity is the pull that lets you walk on the ground and make objects fall down and stuff -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am aware of what gravity is: Though he's suddenly VERY curious what their scholars - or the Proto - might understand about it that he doesn't. :And you have - people living under conditions with less of it, and this is relevant to the politics of the situation?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. Belters can't live on Earth or Mars, not without a long expensive course of drugs and physical therapy and often not even then, and Belters look different than Inners, and have higher rates of all kinds of genetic problems because there's also lots of radiation in space. 

Earth owns the Belt. Formally. And Mars polices the trade routes, they've got more ships out in deep space. And neither one gives a shit about the Belters, and people fight back, and then that makes the Inners hate them more because they're like, oh, you're the people who blew up our ships, you're the people who hijacked that station, you're the people who rioted - they should hand over power and let the Belt govern itself but it makes them very rich, right, we mine the asteroids for deposits that are rare on Earth or Mars, and Mars needs water from the Belt for their terraforming project, and - if only Earth backed off, Mars would fill the vacuum, and if only Mars did, Earth would, so they ought to coordinate but they don't trust each other -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ah. That...does fit. It sounds messy: 

A pause. 

:The protomolecule comes up...where? And how did the relevant people obtain it? I had assumed at first it was designed by scholars on your world, perhaps in secret, but it - seems very far beyond your technological level: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Phoebe. It's a moon of Saturn. Irregular orbit, probably originally a captured object that had been travelling through deep space. There's a research station there. They - well, we were assuming they had developed the protomolecule but now that we've seen it, I'm pretty sure they found it. Something put the protomolecule on a rock and sent it through deep space to the system and then it ended up orbiting Saturn, frozen, for billions of years, until we dug it up.

 

 

We suspected they were planning to deploy it in the Belt but we didn't know what it was, or how, or why. Now - probably it told them to, right? Told them it needs to eat people. And they were like, well, okay, we have all those Belters running spare, because they're fucking sociopaths.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Do you think that they can communicate with it? Your world does not have mind-magic - I am not sure how else one could speak with it, it is quite remarkably alien: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- I dunno. Maybe they had some other reason? But - they were taking it to Eros. And they'd moved private security to Eros, tens of thousands of people, bought out every gang on Ceres, armed them well. I think they meant to set it loose on Eros. I can't think what else would've - explained those arrangements -

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

:Neither can I: 

Permalink Mark Unread

's my father. Funding it, at least, and he's not stupid and he's very hands-on so almost definitely authorizing it.

Permalink Mark Unread

- How does one possibly respond to that. 

 

 

:I - am sorry: 

A pause. 

:...Was it - also his doing, that you were exposed to it...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

No. Or, I mean, it's not a coincidence but I'm sure he didn't want that. He hired people to kidnap me and take me back home. That was - one of the things that tipped us off, that they were planning their move. And then we tried to stop their ship - the Anubis - on its way to Eros, and we lost, and they killed everyone else but not me, presumably because -

- and then the proto got loose on the Anubis, and killed all of their crew, and I was locked in a cargo hold, and I kicked my way out of it, saw what happened, hid the Anubis, took a shuttle, and tried to go to Eros to contact my people. But I was infected. And also I didn't make it to Eros, I ended up here. No idea how that part happened. Maybe the proto's fault?

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Maybe? By accident, perhaps - I am not sure it is intelligent enough to plan ahead to that extent - unless the mass of it back in your star system is much larger than what is here: 

A pause. 

:...I cannot remember if I said, yesterday– whenever that was: he's very much lost track of time, :but - I learned what it is for. What it was made for, I think. It...makes interstellar transit routes. Wormholes: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Well shit.

 

So I guess there's not just the question of whether we can make the proto friendly, there's also - whatever's on the other side.

Permalink Mark Unread

If Leareth had any more energy right now, he would probably have thought ahead that far, but in fact he hasn't. 

:Yes: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie's not very with it but her society has a lot more background tropes about first contact with aliens. I need to get home before they try again on Eros. Doubt the sample in the Anubis was the only one they had.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I know: 

Leareth takes a few slow breaths. 

:If I am to do this in the next day or two, I will need to ask the Proto for help. With the calculations and theory - it is really quite well specced for this. I do not think we know enough, yet, to make a call on whether to trust it. I...also do not see many other options. It would take me months if not years, alone, and - that is assuming I, we, recover from this illness at all...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

You still have it contained, right? We could get its help with the math and then - still nuke it, if we need to later -

Permalink Mark Unread

:For now, yes. Other than the small quantity on your ship, it is contained to two locations, both underground and surrounded by bedrock, both of which could be - taken out by Final Strike: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's an alarming telepathy-concept.

My world has non-suicide ways to do very big booms. It'd be a hassle to steal them but, uh, you stole a spaceship, so you could manage it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Noted. Though I observe the spaceship was, at the time, unguarded, and I hope your people have reasonable security precautions around these technologies: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Every spaceship has a fusion reactor, it's how they move. Uh, fusion is...the thing the sun does, to be hot. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Oh. And - how difficult is it, to turn one into a weapon?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- not.

 

Some got in the ground here, when I first got here, and Shavri thinks I got it all with the thrusters but on a planet that wasn't so goddamn impoverished I'd have used the drive to make sure. The only hard part would be overriding the safeties that'd try to prevent you from firing up the drive in atmosphere.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Ah: 

He closes his eyes. Why does he have to be so tired right now, when the most important events of the last millennium - no, possibly this is more important than the Cataclysm - are in the middle of happening? 

:Has - that happened? In your world - people using this as a weapon...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ship engines? Belters use whatever they have on hand, when they have to. Earth and Mars have better weapons.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- What can the better weapons do?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- there hasn't been a war in a long time, not a real one. But Earth and Mars could both wipe each other out if they wanted to. It's just - not that hard to destroy shit, right? If you can make an asteroid spin to give it artificial gravity to turn it into a mining hub, you can also chuck it at your enemies. I think even before we were in space we had nukes, and mutually assured destruction, all that. ...maybe that was after we were in space? I'm not really a history buff. It was before we colonized Luna and Mars.

Permalink Mark Unread

Unwanted memories surge up. Leareth nudges them aside. 

 

:- Yes. It is not that hard to destroy: 

The Mindspeech overtones are controlled, but still bleak and tired. 

Permalink Mark Unread

I don't think Earth and Mars'll blow each other up. Not smart, picking a fight with someone who can fight back. I'm worried for the Belt.

Permalink Mark Unread

So is Leareth, but he doesn't know what to say. 

:...Is there - someone in a leadership role who you trust, back home?: he asks her eventually. :Because, well, neither of us is in ideal condition for high-stakes decisionmaking, currently: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Anderson Dawes. He sent us out to meet the Anubis. He'll be looking for me. He'll know what to do.

Permalink Mark Unread

:What is his role? And background, experience?:

Permalink Mark Unread

He's OPA. The Outer Planets Alliance, the organization that fights for Belters, and would take over from the cops and corporations, if Earth ever gave us independence. There's no one in charge, but he knows everyone on Ceres, and he's already read in on the protomolecule situation, and people know I run with him, so it'll be fastest just to go to him.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Read in on the protomolecule situation - can you unpack that? What did he actually know, when you last spoke?:

(And how much will he be inclined to disbelieve them about Leareth's discoveries, but he doesn't include that in Mindspeech.)

Permalink Mark Unread

All we knew was - Protogen on Phoebe had discovered something or invented something. A weapon. My father expected something to change soon. They sent tens of thousands of mercenaries to Eros. And there was a ship en route there from Phoebe.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Could you give me more context on 'Protogen'? And on Phoebe?: 

And also half a dozen other things, but Leareth doesn't have enough working memory slots to keep track of all of them, right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Protogen's a company owned by my father. Research, drug development, private security. Phoebe's the satellite of Saturn where the protomolecule was found.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is it - normal, in your world, for drug development research and - private security -: (the concept coming across, in its closest mapping to something Leareth knows, is approximately just 'small mercenary companies') :- to be done by the same organization?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Mao-Klikowski - that’s the umbrella company - does everything. Shipping and logistics, that’s how it started, and then you have research teams to optimize your logistics and security to deal with pirates and longevity research because rich people always end up trying that, there’s a philanthropy arm that gives expensive presents to Earth orphans... I think Mao-Klikowski has a stake in the Mormon generation ship... uh, antitrust law is mostly only strict on centralization within an industry so in that sense I think it’s pretty normal but Mao-Klikowski is bigger than anyone else except maybe Epmim on Mars.

Permalink Mark Unread

He has so many questions but he's way too tired to pursue most of them, right now. 

:What is Epmim: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Martian. They do military tech, mostly, because Martians. I don’t know all that much about them, I think the good acceleration drugs were them.

Permalink Mark Unread

:What is - I think I am missing context on Mars. Also, what are ‘acceleration drugs’?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Uh, Mars is very militaristic, compared to Earth, they have universal service so they get to spend everyone's teens drumming it into them that they're outnumbered ten to one by Earthers and had better be ten times better. - It's three to one, if you're looking at GDP not population. 

Acceleration drugs are - so, when a ship is speeding up a lot faster than the natural acceleration due to gravity, it's hard on the body. The constraint on how fast ships can go is how much acceleration the human body can take, the engines could do way more if not for the thing where they'd kill their crew. Drugs give you a couple more gs. When I'm not, uh, dying, I can do 25 for a burst and a sustained 14, but I was a shuttle racer. You can't move a warship at that speed or you'll lose the unluckiest ten percent of your crew.  

Permalink Mark Unread

:That is - fifteen times greater than gravity here on the surface? It sounds incredibly uncomfortable:

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, it sucks. Kinda fun once you get used to it, though. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't sure whether he agrees with her concept of 'fun', but also it feels like they're getting off track, so he lets it slide. 

:Right. So our plan right now is - I ask the Proto for help figuring out how to transport us back to your world, and once we are there, we find Anderson Dawes. ...And presumably we try to avoid any of the other factions learning that this world exists. Does that sound right?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

....I mean, you seem to be super poor? Possibly you want Earth and Mars to know all about you and to come see if colonialism goes better if you try it in the 24th century. But I guess it'll be complicated as hell so you might not want to deal with it right away while there's the protomolecule emergency.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I would like to assess the situation for myself before I make any decisions on whether their help - whatever the strings attached - would be net positive for our world. The situation is...complicated, here: 

Julie doesn't have any context on Velgarth or its gods, and it's definitely relevant, but Leareth is both too tired to figure out an explanation, and to reason through whether he trusts her enough that explaining it is a good idea. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, seems reasonable. She's too tired to try to think through what she expects from letting Earth or Mars at a new world. Maybe they'd exploit it like they do the Belt? But - they'd have a harder time justifying it to themselves, with people who so clearly resemble them, their own past. ...probably mostly there'd be NGOs and missionaries and somewhat exploitative mining agreements...

We find Dawes and stop whatever they're trying on Eros while keeping you secret, and then you can scout out Earth and Mars and figure out who'll be helpful.

 

It is an optimistic plan that might work. It's been a while since she had one of those.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth does not at all expect this first draft of a plan to work, and is mainly hoping that at some later point he'll have more capacity to make actually-fireproof plans, or - delegate it, somehow, if he can drag together the energy to explain to Nayoki what even needs delegating... 

:All right. You - should rest, I think - I am going to need your advice more later:

He closes his eyes again. It's very tempting to go back to sleep, but he's now alert enough to be very aware that the situation in Julie's world is time-sensitive. 

After thirty seconds of gathering himself, he reaches for the protomolecule again. In his experience, it's often helpful to start with some friendly small talk, so he concentrates, and then offers up:

Permalink Mark Unread

, it agrees delightedly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't sure how to explain the question he has, or whether the possibly-smarter-now protomolecule will be capable of understanding it, but - 

:Do you remember how you came here?: he asks. :And - where you were before...?: 

He accompanies this with his best attempt at visualizing the ship-layout as he remembers it, and the concept of Julie and the Proto's presence in her, and then he mentally pictures the wormhole concept again, and :?:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

.̴̧̨͚͇̥̟͖̳̳̙̟̥̝͇̟̽̂̀̂͌͒̐̈́̓̑͆͘͝|̶̹̱͕͙̫̙̭̲̻̻̪͒̐͐͌̅̃͆͘i̸͔͎̟̟̤͎̙͕̒ͅn̶̨̳̙̼̼͎͍̳̱̉̃͛͂̄͜͝f̸̢̻̠̙̜̺̠̗̜̿̊̐̔ó̴̡͚͕͔̫̬̇͆̎̓̆̾r̴̨̖͖̮̪͓͌̑̒́͌̈̀̋͌̐̓͜m̷̡͚̜̘̩͚̭̜̈́̔̿̄̄̓̓͜ä̵̯̜͈́̒́͊͊́̒͊̐͆̊̌ͅt̸̡̳̻̩͖̦̙̜͓͍̙̞̪̂̑̄̎͛̈́̒͜ͅì̸̙̰͉͔̪̟̪̖̮̖͖̾͗̉̋͜o̴̢̡͙̱̞͈̳͙̤͖̹͉̯̓̋̓́̄̇̓͌̀̊͛͘͘ͅň̴̬̀͒̓͝.̶̢̺͍̻͖̙̤̬̼͎̼̊͆̓͛̿̀̅͒̆͑͘͘͜ļ̶̧̨̧̛͓̦̜̥̲͈͈͕̝́̀͐̏̈́̒̀̇̒͝ỏ̶̫̞͍̝̏͌̄̏̌̔̐̀̕s̵̫͈̬̱̱̺̖̳̲͆͑̑͛̚s̴̢̟̙̪̣̦̞̜̜̫̜͈̟̃̔́ͅ*̷͇̰̖̞͕̠̰̐̿̈͑̾̔̊͗͛̃̾̑͌̚̕b̶̢̭͂̾̑̊̂͋̃̈́̓͑́ẽ̸̻͇̲̫̦̜͚̘̚ç̴̩͇̦͇̀̓̀͒͒͛̔͜a̵̢̙͙͔̯̭̝̖̽͜ų̴̡͇̝̯̼̝̘͎̝̝̃͊̈́̔̈́̕̕ͅş̸̦̪̺̟̯̭̪̼̭̩͙̣̼̄̄͒̽̄͋̑̎̇̿̂͜͠͝͝e̵̢̧͔̫̞͎͕̓̊͒́̃̀͗̏̕͜͝~̷̡͈̦̠̹̪̣̻̦̗̫̙́̓͂̂͊̋̍̍̾̆̋̽͋͜͠r̵̛̠̤̬͉͍͎̻͉͈̩̭̗̙̗̆͊̈́̎̀͗̄͊̃͠ͅȩ̸̣̟̳͚͐̀̓ş̴̧͔̪̝̞͍͙̞̫̮͚͕̆̈́͋̍̽̂̈́̿̍͆͝ò̴̞̳͈̘̻̠͖̗̱̠̪̮̍͜u̵̝̯̯͖̥̝̘̽̉̑̈́̀̓̇̍̄̔͑̕̚r̵̡̛̗̲̣͕̞͙̖̾̇̒̔́̇̃̉̄̃͠ͅç̶̛̛͚̭̘̜̆̎̀̀̓̑̾̒̎̿̀͠e̶̢̗͕̩͌̐͆͌̔̌̒̈́̃̇,̶̢̫͚̝̤̝̳͔̝̟̜̇͌̊͊̀̆͝ḻ̶̜͖̭̹̫͓͔̂͆̄̋͜ì̷̻͑̓̓̑̎m̸̧̢͙̹̗̬̦̞̻̲̦̯̜̺͓̆́́͗͋̓̚͘͝į̵̧̨̢̘̠̲͇̻̪̹̦͌͂̄̈͛t̵̨̨̢̛̳͓̱̦͇̪́̒̀̀͆̇̚͘a̴̺̪̮̥̠̻̦̐̽̅͋̎̈́̌̂͐̎ẗ̴̥̮͔͓́̒͊͗͒̄̂̍͌͂͌́̕͘͝ì̵̢̥̠̥̼̞̟̘̆̓̂͐̀̐̓͘͘ớ̵̛̛͖̒͐̑̐͊͒͂̾́͒n̴̡̰̳̪̣̬̫͍͊̌͜s̵̮̀̀̈́̄̀͒̊.̵̨̡̛͎̱͚͓̿̄̆̿̏̉̚͘͝*̸̡̢̙͉̰͙̪̫͉̠͕͓̳̇̌͊

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh: That's inconvenient but not all that surprising. 

:I want to go back: he adds. :To where the rest of you is. I need your help - I will need to run a Gate-search on...the other part of you, I think...and I have not done this before: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


.̶̡̯̠̠̠̫̭̩͇̺̻̥̟̙͕̑̿̆̃͌̋̄̇̓̐͆̈́͊͝|̶̢̢͍̜̜̱̞͍̗̝̫͍̂̅̀͘|̶̛̗̉̈́̾̃̚͝*̸̢̧̨̙̮̣̠̬͔̬̪̱͍̲̫̂̎̈́͒̾́̐̒̆̕͝.̸̧̮̥̮̮͓̝͕̆̄͛̏̍̄̕͠͝;̸̧̣̫̲̰͈̝̈́͑̌̋̇̄̑͝l̸̡̧̨͉̘͚͖̙͈̱̳̹̈̓̚͝͝͝ͅ!̴̧̢̗͈̣̣̼̰̳̳̎̀͜`̵̬̝̣̗͖̬̲̪̭̻̩͆͛̈́̈́͜l̴͇͍͍͕̻͙͇̻̖̥̪̖̙̃.̷̛̤̮͈̞̤̟̙̰̪̦͚̉́̄͝'̸̛̲̗̖̝̲͉̝͛̉̈́̎̍̋́͛͑͒̕͠.̷̨̢̛͓̭̬̳̰̫̜̅̆͗͑̅̔̓̋ǐ̸̢̨̡̜̞͇̭̼͔̠͍̫͖̂ḯ̸͎̟͚̯͈̣̂̓̿̾̑̃͗̚͜͝ͅ"̷̛̮͉͙́̋̾̆̍̓|̸̢̨̹͕͇̣̦̝̲̤̾́̽͘ͅ*̴̘̬̯͓͔̟̗̱̹͈̝̲̲͗̎͌͌́̎̀̿̇̆͆̄͝ͅͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably he needs to communicate this part less in human-legible words and more in the one language the Proto speaks fluently, math. 

He pushes across the formalization of the Gate-search concept again, and holds up the blank place in the spell-specification, and then the concept of the Proto as he's speaking to it now, and then the mental image of Julie's ship, and he tries to convey 'earlier' - though come to think of it he has no idea how the Proto experiences time passing...

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

There's a long pause where the proto does nothing except lap up Leareth's magical reserves.

 

 

Then, very tenuously, it offers - something like a lot of curved lines converging -

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't really following at all what this means, but he leans in closer with Thoughtsensing, trying to absorb the thought-concept in as much detail as possible, staring at it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

....it can try other things? Lots of curves instead of lots of lines? A....cellular automata setup that solves the problem, like the one Leareth showed it earlier?

Permalink Mark Unread

At some point it clicks. Oh. It seems to be - trying to specify the Gate-search formalization back to him? Leareth isn't sure yet whether this is going to solve any of his problems, but it's definitely very, very impressive.

:!!!: he sends back, with approval and gratitude, and then thinks, trying to drag back one of the insights that he's pretty sure he had while he was in the Shadow-Lover's realm... 

- Right. 

Specify the search-process. Then, in the empty spot left for the destination, the Proto - he doesn't know its structure to Healing-Sight so he just pictures its signature under Thoughtsensing - but then carefully, delicately, carve out an exception - he's looking for the Proto but not the part of it here... 

He holds that up. :?:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

.̶̛͇̲̼̭̰͓̻̝̣̜͍̣̖̪͖̫,̶̢̜͍̭͎̭͙̬̹̳̙̳͕̿͆̏̈̓́̃̈́͌͌̊̎͑̃͐͂̈́̔̎͐̽̾͊͘̕͝ͅ:̴̡̜̙͖͇̞͓̲̫͍͍̹̘̜͔̱̗̞̱͕̲̺̟̉̀̊̔̌̓̿̅͗̈́̄̑̈̿̆̽̍̄͑͆͘͘̕͜͠ͅ.̸̢̡̧̹̣̙̘̖͇̱̦̯͇̙̻̮̞̯̳̝̻͍̝̳͚̈̔̇̆̃͛̇ͅ:̵̨̡̢̗̫͎̭̩͎̼̣̻̣͓͎̟̲̫̠̯̦̦̬͊̔̍̒̀̀̾̔̽͜͝"̷̧̢͔͉̙̣̗͍̯̺̅̈́͛͗͗͋̈́͑̃̒̚̚̕̕'̶͎̥̼̻̟̖͙̖̞̾̌͑͂̇̇̏͛̈͛̓̋͌̍͒̏̈́̀͛̽̎̓͐̏͘͘̚̕͜͝ͅͅļ̴̰͚̻̖͖̼̙̩̭̺̬̞̭̹̙͙̏̔̌̀̓̈́̄͊̾͗̐̍͌͋́̋̆ͅĭ̸͔͓̳͍̹͙̫̟̍͊̽̂͝͝*̷̨̺̦̩̺̥̐̀̈́̾̊͋̈̄̎̃ĩ̵̤͉̝͍͓̩̮͙̹̗̻̠̐̔̊̽́́͆͝!̷̡̡̢̛̲̞͎̟͓̩͙̱͕̪̥̙̹͙̬̳͚̪͍̠̆͋̀͗̒́̍̽̿̂̕̕̚͜~̸̡̤͍̰̖̘̹̗̼͉̰̰̱͓̜̗̰̹͉͇̇̒͋͑̓ͅ`̷̣̻͎̝͓̟̮̫̝̞̭̪̇̈́͗̓͊̎͋͋͗͊͘͜͠ͅ.̶̧̡̩͎̥̦̯͚̭̱̖̖̞̼̙͍͈͙͔͙̈́̃̔͐͑̃̇̔̑̏̅̿̽̒̍́̎̍͐͆͑̐̿̔̕͘͘͜͠͠͝ͅ`̷̧̪̞̻̱̤͚͔͚͖͇̙̹̖̈́̌̌́̔̄̈́̅̃̉͐̅̑̈́́̍͛͑͊̇͂̐́͘͜͝;̶̡̨̧̨̭͕̦̱͉͈̟͚̗̫͔̩̭̯̼̳̖̪͎̘̘̲̪̺͖̈́͊̊̿͂̆̈́̀̑̑̆̊̅̀̆̓͐̋̓͑̈́̌̔̓͆͂̾̎̑͜͠.̴̛̰̳̘̣̞͋̀̔̎͛̏̀̔̈́͒̃̿͐̔̆̀͝͝,̶̡̧̨̢̧̢͙̦͙̬̗̫̻̬͈͉̘͉̫̳̲͌̄̃̾̆͌̏͌̈́́͌͗̿͌͘̚͘͜͠͝|̵̡̢̻̞͊̄̊͒̋l̴̨͓͍̟̼̳̺͇̼̊̏̑͋̈́̾̄̀̊̈̎͊̓̊̇͑̈́͊̽̿̈̚.̴̢̨̛͉̣̖̫̭̟̲͇̺͚͈̮̝͔̽͐̄̄̀̂̅̅́̈́̓̈́̈́̚̕͜͝͠͝,̸̥̳̘̭̪͇̮̙̞̝̺͇̹̗̙̹̺͙͎̻͍͚̝͎͉͚͊̀́͜ͅi̸̢̛͔͈͕̫̦̙̪̻̭̫̭̜͔̝͛̋̇̈́̅̊̿̋̔͋͂̈́̋̈͜͝͠*̴͓̽̐̈͜.̷̨̛̛̛̠͉̬̩͇͕̼͖̲̰̣̬̗̌̓͌͛͛̈́͂̓̋̓̚͜͝ͅ/̷̧̦̝̥̩͇̲̒̀̂̈͂͐̍̊͆̚̕͘͘͘͜,̷̛̘͎͈͇̜̤̟͕̠͈̬̠̞̦̩̝̙͔̮̼̖̥̮͛́͋̿͊̽͒͌̈́́͂͊̾̽̇̎́̆̾̂̀̉̄͘͝͝͝'̶̧̪͖̞͚͖̱̩̺̼̰̥̅͜"̶̨̺̭̙̱͚͖͎̗̫̞̙̹͈̘̟̩̜̓́͜;̷̡̨̤̫̗̞͍̪̪̤̤̗̟̮̟̙͔͎̞͍͔̱̼̱̤̅̈́̀͋͒͛̒̈̎̄̄̓͘͝͝͝:̶̙͓̪͕̜͔̤̯̰͖̓́̈́̈́̐̾̆̀́̔̊̋̂͛͒͌̇̃̅͋̀̕̚͝͝͝    ?

 

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't sure where the Proto's confusion is, or what to do about it. Possibly he could try with a specification of its structure under Healing-Sight, but he doesn't have the Gift and would need to pull in someone else, and he's quickly running out of energy. 

Maybe he'll try again later. 

:Thank you: he sends, and then starts pushing across prime numbers again, since the Proto seems to like that and it doesn't take much effort on his part. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Happy protomolecule!

Permalink Mark Unread

Is there some way to charge my phone?

Permalink Mark Unread

(Leareth is drifting off to sleep mid-prime-number and no longer paying enough active attention on Thoughtsensing to pick up on this.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the Healers is paying attention, but they're also very lost.

:Um, what is a 'phone'?:

Permalink Mark Unread

She waves the hand terminal. The ship can charge it.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer is thinking that Leareth would probably feel comfortable running with just that as instructions but he doesn't at all

:- Can you, um, give me directions for where on the ship and what I need to do...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, uh, you pop it into the socket next to the main screen on the right, it clicks right in.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Can you - think a mental image of that at me?: The Healer is still uncertain how to look for the ‘main screen’ or ‘socket’. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Uh, sure. She tries to think of where you charge a hand terminal on her ship.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Er, I'll do my best: 

The Healer hands off to one of the others and asks for a Gate to the ship. It seems safer at this point to have only Healers entering it at all, given the unknown level of Proto contamination. 

He cautiously levers himself in through the hatch, Healing-Sight and Thoughtsensing extended fully. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's proto in the water filtration system in the walls, and a little bit on the console where Julie must have handled it; the bit on the console looks very small and is dormant. Thoughtsensing isn't picking anything up.

 

The ship screens are still flashing and repeating warning messages.

Permalink Mark Unread

He doesn't know what any of the flashing warnings mean, and tries to give the screens a wide berth while looking around for where to plug in the hand terminal. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a nook for it next to the screens.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer realizes that he didn't think to ask how he could tell once it's working. Maybe it'll flash or make noise? He tries placing it in the nook. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It does light up with some baffling symbols.

Permalink Mark Unread

He stares at them and tries to memorize the pattern so he can show Julie once he's back, and then he - very very carefully - tiptoes out of the ship and checks himself over thoroughly for Proto contamination before requesting a Gate back. 

Leareth's people have set up a sort of camp around the stolen ship, including a large mage-barrier over it to protect it from the elements; they're not sure if it copes badly with getting wet. A few of the mages and Fetcher-Farseers - a very useful Gift combination, that one - are starting to survey the damage, at least the parts of it that are legible to them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The water filtration system and the mechanism for some of the airlocks are pretty crushed! Core ship systems are pretty well protected and seem intact, though there are a couple hairline fractures that might be bad news.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, as a start they'll work on draining all the displaced water out, since probably it's bad for the ship for it to be in places it's not meant to be. This is done incredibly cautiously, with Fetching, transporting it into sealed glazed-earthenware jugs brought in for the purpose. They want to ask Leareth later whether he wants it burned or not, but a Mindspeech message confirms he's still asleep. 

They draw schematic diagrams of the ship and the damage and the hairline fractures; it's likely fixable by mage-craft, but also it seems wise to run it by both Leareth and Julie, once they're doing better. 

The Healer Gates back into the underground facility and informs Julie of the lit-up baffling symbols. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is running a fever again and only half awake. She smiles vaguely, though.

 

Sounds right. Thank you.

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually, Shavri returns from her break - this time, after having grabbed half a candlemark to make small talk with the woman who's been taking Jisa while she's busy, which she's certain Queen Elspeth wouldn't see as enough vetting but she herself feels pretty okay about it. Whether or not she has any idea what's going on with this - country? faction? rebel group? - these people seem competent and reliable and they need her. 

She settles herself back on a stool in the underground makeshift hospital room, and examines both of her patients - what's the Proto been getting up to? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is still asleep. He's also running a fever, as the Healers back off gradually on suppressing his immune system. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is still trying to replace swathes of tissue with protomolecule-tissue. It's getting a bit less clumsy about it, but it's still not exactly nondisruptive. It's still mostly concentrated in the head and otherwise dispersed throughout the bloodstream. It's doing all its crystal-building over in the room formerly containing sheep.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri spends a while going in very close with her Sight and trying to Heal the disruptions, first on Julie and then on Leareth.

...Apparently the Proto is supposed to be smarter now that it's turned a roomful of sheep into crystals. Maybe it'll be easier to talk to? 

When Shavri notices a particular way that it's being clumsy in its tissue-replacement, she reaches out with a Mindtouch, sharing her Sight of what it's doing, contrasted with Julie's normal tissue, and then flagging where it's causing damage in the process of eating. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 


!

 

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Do you understand?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

There's a pause and then it - Mindtouches her back, rather than just having thoughts where she can read them.

 

 

: :̷̳̯͍͕̞͙̟̗͉̤͂̈́͛ų̵̡͈̰̮̺̐̄̋̔̀̕n̶̛͚̘͇̞̘̭̪̑͋̉̂̓̽͠d̶̡͖̗͕̜̙̱̯̖̥͈̣̂͛̒̄͆̉͜͜ȩ̸̲͉̮̔̊̄̈́́̌́̈̍̉̽̔́͆ͅr̸̢̳͙̞͈̬̥̱͚̠̘̹͈͍̾́͌̌̒͠ͅs̴̛͖̖̫͖͚̳̮̠̠̙̗̒̿̈̈̄̒̉̿̑̏ṯ̶̬̼̩̝͉̞͈̪̰̬̫͕͐̈̆̾ä̶̜͍̥̖̹̝̲̫̼̥̺͕̭͙́̆͌̅͌͜͠n̴̨͕̘̥̯͈̭̪̙̫͎͈̜͖̼͑͋̀͂̽͛͑̅̒̐̈́̂ḏ̶̤̯̭̻̣͉͚̎̆̍͒̈̍̚̚:̸̛͚̖͖̘͔̼͎͆̀̽̍̀͆͗̏̑͝  :

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow!!!!! 

Permalink Mark Unread

...On reflection, also terrifying. 

She focuses in on her Sight again, another spot where the interface where it's eating more of Julie's tissue to replace it is leaving a ring of damaged tissue and inflammation, which Julie's immune system is probably interpreting as an injury or infection and is responding to with the fever. :Inefficient: she tries to convey. :It would be more efficient if there were less disruption: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 


:̴̫̭̇͒͌̄̓̈́̌̈́̌̃̋̇̕͝ȃ̸̛̯̲̩͕̣͉͈̞̒̌́́̈̔̄̾̀͑͒̉̐ţ̴̙͈͍̪̫̪͚̭̜̟̭̙̀̓͊̽͊̍̀͑̒̂̀̑̈́̔̚t̶̡̰̘̭͚̤̥̰͎͇̳͕̦͙̍̉ẹ̸̢̛̙͓̪̟̠̪̤̦̥̝̣̥͠m̵̲̼̙̄͛͆̊͝p̶̧̩̣̺͕͕͔̤͕̄ͅṫ̵͕͕̰͈̝͓̰̫̕!̵̧̛̤̭̪̹͍̦̥̗̳̳͉̍͌̈̑͋͆͋͐̏̚͝:̸̫͐̒̈́

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Sure, you can try it. Very small: She mentally delineates a tiny area of tissue, no more than a couple hundred cells. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule diligently chews away, but somewhat differently than it was doing so before; there's less damaged tissue left at the edge.

Permalink Mark Unread

:That's better. Good: 

She goes back to Healing the previously-damaged bits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

A while later, Leareth wakes up, and reaches out drowsily with Thoughtsensing, checking who's nearby - including the current quantity of Proto-thoughts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Lots of proto-thoughts! The proto is growing. It's so happy and healthy. It is learning from Shavri how to not cause a lot of fuss as it grows. It has made one of his fingers glowy. It considers this a significant improvement.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth rolls over and looks dubiously at the glowing finger. 

Eventually he wakes up enough to gather his concentration and think: 

Permalink Mark Unread

,it agrees cheerfully.

Permalink Mark Unread

Awwww. 

:I want to keep working on Gating back: he sends after a moment, showing the Gate-math again. :Mainly I need a way to target the search: 

Does the Proto seem to follow this? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It follows the Gate-math, echoes it back to him.

Permalink Mark Unread

He shifts his mental emphasis to the empty spot where the search-destination needs to go. Holds up a :?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It sends back -

 

- what might be an answer? It's not in a familiar format, exactly, it's an instinct for how everything in the universe is connected and the work of connecting these two points could be - scaled down, compressed, translated -

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow. Leareth's breath catches on a burst of awe. 

He stares at it for a long time, leans in closer, pulls on one bit of the compression - 

- and only then realizes that the Proto is actually holding its own end of the Mindspeech link. It doesn't feel like a human Mindspeaker but it's very definitely emulating the Gift. 

:!!!!: he sends, directed at this fact. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̶̢̝̦̟̜̘̖̮̝̹̖̺͂;̸͖̟͠ą̶̇͑͂̀́ḏ̸̢̧̨̞̣̞̝̙͙͚͈̩͚͍͑̀̑̉͑̂̒̏͋̎͘͠e̷̡̮̟͙̞̮̣̳̞̯̫̻͆̅̈́ͅq̴̗̬̠̪̂̀͊͗̔͐̈̅̒̍͝ű̴͉͉̔́̆̒͆̽͊ȃ̸͔͑̈́ṭ̷̫̼͓̱̰̜̻̞̙̬̹̬̊̔̔̍̎̈̈́ͅê̸̡̡̲̻̩̪̖̱̼̗̳͍̝̞̈̀̄̿̃̕̕̚͜?̶̪̼̫̦͒̈̐̂̄̐̏̇͂̄̓̾̃͝ͅ*̷̢̣̠͚͎͍̎̇́̓͆̈̒̇̓̚̕͠͠ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes! Very adequate: Leareth isn't sure if the Proto is asking about its new Mindspeech capacities or the answer for the search-query, but it applies for both. 

He can't quite follow the solution enough to double-check that it makes sense, or translate it to what he needs to hold in mind to use it. 

:I am very tired: he tells the Proto. :Resource limitation, for understanding it. Can you - make that less...?: He's not sure what the Proto would have to do differently but maybe it can figure that out with the Healers. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

There's a long pause and then -

 

- he feels great. Like he could run a hundred miles, or punch through the wall.

 

 

 

:̷̩̻̀̓̔̈͒̂̂̂̅̾͑̍̕͝.̸̟̊ȅ̸̡͓̼͚̀̄͑͋̿̽́̑̀͋͌͘x̸͔̳̩̳̂̍͗̂͊͑͆͠͝p̷̗͓̖̟̪͇͓̝̣̠͊̓̾̄ĺ̵̨̛̜̭̺͚̪̩̰̗̻̰͓̝̏̑̉̽̏͒̓̐̚ŏ̶̧̩̯͎̻̏͊r̸̛̪͍͓̔̂̓͒̇̿͌̈́̌ą̴̨͓̺͇̦̱̲̱͔͇̟̰̫̞͌ẗ̵̛͍̬̥͚̤̹̙̟̩̝̻̱̠̳̪̓̋̓̕ơ̶̧̡̬̯͕͖̜̥̲͖̦̿̏̆̇̽͒̈͋̒̏͌͘͜ŗ̷̨̫̦̥̥̞̩̓͘͠y̴͈̲̖̰̣̯̺̣̳̦͓͕͕̍ͅr̵̘̟̥͍̳̯͎͙̀̐̓̉ȩ̴̩̱̰̋s̸̨̛͂͑̆̊̉͒͛̾̈́́̏͝o̵̤̜̥̘̾̃̀̊̃͑̀̂ͅǔ̴̠̓̂́ͅṟ̶̡̳̹̞̳͕͍̙̪̣͉̮̻͐͒̓͂c̸̢̻̫̣̖̝͎͍͔̒̓̈̿͗͑̒̅͂͜ȩ̵̨̛͖̳͚̤̮̬͚̱̗͕̂̐́ͅė̶̩͇̳̣͖̠͉͆͊͗̇͊͌̑̈́̈̾̆͠x̷̨̪̥̟̫͖̥̬̳̦͎̤̙̋̚p̶̜̥͔̱͇̤͑̃̾̍͌̓è̸̦̪̙̻̦̄̂̀͋̀̀̓͗́̒̎͂̍̚n̴̞̝̩̽͛̅̈́͒͝d̴̨̢̨̛̤̻̦̰̱̞̪̭͓́̌͊̾̊͋̀̚ĭ̴̛̠̯̥̫̝͚̫̝͚͗͑̄̄͘͝t̵̜͔́̅̋̎̂̀͐̚ų̶̯͇̥̘͕̼̣̪̼̝͈́̉͛́́̇̊͘ṟ̸̢̥̊̅͑̈́̾̀͂͝e̴̘͕͔̟̩̮͈̼͉͖̩͎̙͚̔̐͋u̶̜̜̳̩̻̥̼̓̓̄̀̈̀̋̔̋̒̚͠ṇ̸̦̣̹͈͖̬̬̜̲̗͉̖̰̋́̆͋̋̃̽͑̅͋̓̀̑̾͝s̴̘̯̜̲̖̰̈́̀̐̑͛̈͒͌̕u̷̢͈̪̯̿̏͛̾̀̊͂̚s̵̨̧͉̻̞͈̳̲̙͕̘̣̈́t̸̜͉̩̤̞̱͒̍͊͛̈́̒̃́̔̍̽͝ä̴̡̪̥͔̞͖̳́̄͐͆͗̚͘ï̶̛̱̱͚̙̦͖̱̋̉̌̿̾̏̀̽̍͝͠n̶͔̪͓̘̯̼̱̫͑̀̓̀͋͒͗̕͝a̵̱͙͚̭͉̮̓̋̃̿̚͝͠b̷̭̯̲͐l̴̯̖͔̗̮̲̃͒̀͗͑̍͛̋ȩ̴̙̜̖̰͒͆̽́̓̃̌͌́̀̐̃̕̕

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth was not expecting it to work that well and it's kind of alarming, but - well, it is what he asked for. 

:Give me one minute: he tells the Proto, mentally specifying the count of a second and that a minute is sixty of those, and then he dives with all the concentration he can manage into staring at the search-routing in the Proto's weird format. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri twitches a little, blinks, and then leans closer to try to figure out what the Proto is doing in there. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's buzzing around so energetically and it's definitely going to give him a seizure if this keeps up but it's not going to do it right away.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth focuses very very hard on understanding the Proto's model of the destination routing. 

If he in fact gets a full minute of this without having a seizure, he'll probably get most of it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It is going to make it sixty-five seconds before it causes a seizure!

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri Mindspeaks it seconds before she sees that this is about to happen, with :stop!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okaaaaaay if she insists.

Permalink Mark Unread

She reaches in immediately with her Gift, trying to set right all the various cascading disruptions that the Proto was causing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is not quite enough to stop Leareth from having a seizure! Though, with quick intervention from the other Healers as well, they're able to prevent it from affecting his breathing - much - and break him out of it in less than thirty seconds. 

Leareth lies on the mattress, sweaty and limp with exhaustion. It takes him another couple of minutes to properly wake up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri dumps Healing-energy at him and waits. 

Since she can't ask him what in all hells he was THINKING, yet, she asks the no-longer-buzzing Proto. :What were you doing and why: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̷̨͖͍̮̝̱̺̰̲̹͇̿̽̀̾́͐;̵̤͂̄̓̏̅̿̆̑͝.̸͚̆̿̒̍̿̅̈͒̎̉̇̚̚̕͝ị̴̞̫̺̟̭͇̼͎̙̉̋̔͌͑̒͌̊͂̅̕͜m̸̡̗͎̬̟̈́̉ṕ̵͇͕͓͈̖͎̻̈̂̈́̄͗͂̌̽̒̇͑̚͜͝ŗ̴̛̥̩̹͖͊̔̈͑̽̃̍͆̆͆͝͝ơ̶̡͍̙̦̎͆͊̑͑̌͗͛͆̇̈́͘͜v̸͙̟͌̉̅͆̃̂̅̉̂̃̈́̅͝ȇ̶͉̹̫̭̘̞͉̼͍̳͆̅̐̆̎̊̑̃̉̓͜m̵̝͓̻̰̊͐͛̕ę̶̨̲͙̹͓̮̹̉̃̽̀̌̈́̄̊̿̚͝ͅǹ̸͔̗͈̥̦̠̯͇̥̟͈̍̉͛͐̈́̄̆̑͘ṫ̴̡͙̬̜͕̥̰͉̣̠̬̯͗͆́̄͊̒̑͝s̸̡̛̠̳̝̔̋̊͆̔̕̕͜!̷̡̳̹̽̈͌̏̚͜͠

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Really? Improvement at what? You caused a lot of mess!: She tries to show it said mess. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̶̡̢͓͎͐̏̇̈̾͜ͅi̷̹̰͈̩͉͈̻͈̝̅m̸̢̲͎̳̤̖͍͑̍̓̇͗̂p̵̖̜͇͕͔̤̩̪̤̺̅͋͠ͅͅr̷̘͛o̴̢̥̙̼̅v̶̢̖̞̺̳͍̻̖͓̓̒e̸̬̱̫͍͓̫̱͓̺̼̣͔̖͐̽̈́̈́̈́͋̀̆̒̈́̆m̸̤̜̍͒̊̃̽̓̀̔͜e̵͎̥͇̫̭̜̹̺̞̻̗̮͗̔̈̉͊̐̌́̃̏̔͆n̸̢̧̛̠̲̰̼̯̻̜̥͚͚͐͌̏͛̈́ͅt̸̪͔̰̂ ̶͍̺͉͈̦̆͊͛̊̈́̂͆̽́̓͛̽͊̆̃ͅi̴̳͈̥̍͛͆̈́͠ṉ̸̅̉̈́́̈͒̂̐̾͝c̸̡̨͇̲͔̙̖̘͖̲̞͇̳̣̒̀̄̈͗̽ͅo̶̝̐͗̐͛̆r̷̡̧̙͔̈́̄̌̔͌͐̔͐̾̋̌̉̾̈́͝ř̶͕͓̝̓ę̷̡̛͔̣̤͙͇͇͖̭̒̕͘͜͝ċ̸͈͔̻̺͈̤̱͍̲͎͔͚̃̾̋̇̿̇̃̾̌̿͘̕̕ẗ̴̥͙̫̬̻͈̞̺͎͕̒͘͠͝͠?̴̡̛̬̪̹̳̠͙̦̎̿̈̆̾̐̌͆̀̈͌̉͋̾:̴̧̫̦̳̱͙̹̹̺͉͍̬͉̊

Permalink Mark Unread

:It looks like it was bad for him! He'll be all right, I hope, but - seizures sometimes cause brain damage: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̸̞̩̎̎̎́̿.̴̛̪͇̪̟̹̭̭͖͊͑̒̔̾͘͜͝ͅn̴̡̡̩̘̫̺̪͓̭̙̦͍̳̣͂̒̃͂̓͂̓̐͘͝ͅe̴̠̫̳͇͈̗̩̖̙̍̓́̏̔͐̽̕͘͝é̵͇͚̞͕ḑ̴̛̙͙̘͕̼̲̣͚̮͔̝̫̦̠͌̏̍ ̴̧̨̲̰̼̗̘͔͙̃̽m̶̧̢̨̻̺͙̞̖͙̪̱͖̂͜ȯ̶̡͔͎̦̹̝̗͉̜̞̖̼̺̂͑́̿̊́̉̔͒̚̚͝r̶̺̝͛̍é̸̲̦͖͙̙̰̪̘͖̟̘̑͛̎̓̉̌̿͒̾̿̋̕͝͠ ̴̨̢̨͇̘̫̮͍̞̠̩̖̙͛̈͌̂̍r̵̢̼͖̆̊ë̶̯̽́́͌͊̌̄̄͂͋̾͝s̴̱̳͗͑͐̿͝o̷̢̬̰̺̩͖͍̫̱̘͚͊͊̃͐͝ͅų̷̡̭͙̉̄̓́̈́̋͛͛̕̕͝͝r̴̢̦̣͛̄̃͐̔̄͐̓̽͆̂̕͠c̷̣͒̏̑͗̇̂͋͐̈́̓̋͆e̴̛̹͚͓̳͔̠̊̐̌͆͒̊̆̂̎͐̽̕ş̷̝̱̙̜̜̭̄̆̇̈̌̓̎͘:̶̢̢̢̲̠̳̩̜̩̲͕̘̳̱̦͂̐͂͛̏͊͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You do? How would that help? You could just do more things harder at his brain! And I would rather you did fewer things!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̸̙̑̿̎̄̃̕͝͝,̷̜͍͚̱̖͉͚̜̓́̊̐̍̇̈̕͝:̶͕̩̘̩̇͑̇͠l̴͈̳͔͊̔͒̈́͌̎ȉ̸̛̘̠̖̻̪̇̿̓̄̋͑͠:̶̧̱͎̣͎͈̆̉̐̇͗͌̇̂͗̈́͜͜͝'̴̢̤͉̰̳̘͓̄̒̓͗͛͂̒͝͠"̵̲̜̦̭̻̜̭̗͔̩̟͙̞̫̈́͒͛̇̍̈́͜͝~̷̛̼͐̍̈́͒͌̽̇͌̓̅͗͊͝!̷̳̟̹̥̺̩̾̏̀̔͌̍ͅḷ̶̰̤͔̗̮͖̺̯͍̎̐̓̂̓̒̇͗̈̑͜͝l̷̡̡̮͍͍̫̗̙͈͈̖̦̩̾̏̎͒̔̔:̶͔̅̒͆;̵̙͇̈͂̍̾̋̓̑͘ͅ'̵͚̱͔̀-̴̢̗̯̗͓͎̯͐̎̈̋̐͒̉̄͘͝͝*̸̛͎̠̫̬͉̬͇̩̝́͑̒̓̏̀̓̍͋͛̍̋.̶̛͔̱̤̘̭̮͋͛͋̇̀̒͐̎͂̒̕,̵͕͈̝̠̦̞͎͎̄̈́̎̌̉̉̈́̇̒̌.̴̲͍̱̟̝͇͛͛͂̏̔̌̓́͝͝;̴̧͈̪̦̹̞̿̆̀̆͘͘*̷̧̟̝̳̠̬̓̽͋̈͛̅͂͘͠ͅ!̴̧̟͉͚͔͋̃`̶̡̢̰̼̭̣̘͍̭̙̲͍̜̲̅̏̔̍͜͝'̸̜̼͓͎̥̑̾͜"̶̢̙̝̣͕̩̬̝̹̟͌̕

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri isn’t surprised that didn’t work, but she is irritated. She breaks off the Mindtouch and focuses on sending Healing-energy at Leareth.

Permalink Mark Unread

Who starts waking up a minute or two later, though he’s still very groggy. 

Thoroughly disoriented and operating on instincts, he reaches blearily for the nearest and most familiar mind. Which is the Proto.

:Where - what...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̸̙̑̿̎̄̃̕͝͝,̷̜͍͚̱̖͉͚̜̓́̊̐̍̇̈̕͝:̶͕̩̘̩̇͑̇͠l̴͈̳͔͊̔͒̈́͌̎ȉ̸̛̘̠̖̻̪̇̿̓̄̋͑͠:̶̧̱͎̣͎͈̆̉̐̇͗͌̇̂͗̈́͜͜͝'̴̢̤͉̰̳̘͓̄̒̓͗͛͂̒͝͠"̵̲̜̦̭̻̜̭̗͔̩̟͙̞̫̈́͒͛̇̍̈́͜͝~̷̛̼͐̍̈́͒͌̽̇͌̓̅͗͊͝!̷̳̟̹̥̺̩̾̏̀̔͌̍ͅḷ̶̰̤͔̗̮͖̺̯͍̎̐̓̂̓̒̇͗̈̑͜͝l̷̡̡̮͍͍̫̗̙͈͈̖̦̩̾̏̎͒̔̔:̶͔̅̒͆;̵̙͇̈͂̍̾̋̓̑͘ͅ'̵͚̱͔̀-̴̢̗̯̗͓͎̯͐̎̈̋̐͒̉̄͘͝͝*̸̛͎̠̫̬͉̬͇̩̝́͑̒̓̏̀̓̍͋͛̍̋.̶̛͔̱̤̘̭̮͋͛͋̇̀̒͐̎͂̒̕,̵͕͈̝̠̦̞͎͎̄̈́̎̌̉̉̈́̇̒̌.̴̲͍̱̟̝͇͛͛͂̏̔̌̓́͝͝;̴̧͈̪̦̹̞̿̆̀̆͘͘*̷̧̟̝̳̠̬̓̽͋̈͛̅͂͘͠ͅ!̴̧̟͉͚͔͋̃`̶̡̢̰̼̭̣̘͍̭̙̲͍̜̲̅̏̔̍͜͝'̸̜̼͓͎̥̑̾͜"̶̢̙̝̣͕̩̬̝̹̟͌̕, it says sulkily.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Wow that really does not make this situation any less confusing or upsetting! Leareth tries to reach out further, in case Nayoki is nearby - or anyone else he trusts - but no it seems not. 

:?: and he pushes across a (very vague and confused) sense of Gate-math. 

Permalink Mark Unread

!

 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not the most intuitive of formats, to Leareth, but - 

 

 

- but after a few confused groggy seconds, he sees it. 

 

:!!!!:

Leareth is still kind of wavering on the edge of consciousness, and his Mindspeech is correspondingly flaily and in and out of focus. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

, it agrees proudly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth thinks back recognition and pride and gratitude, and then - 

 

:...What - just happened...why do I - not remember...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn’t a Healer and this answer could stand to be more helpful. Oh well.

He tugs at the foggy threads of memory.

:- Your solution. Should work. I think. Good enough. Worth trying: 

He’s not sure, but it’s not like he’s ever tried to Gate to another world either. At some point he has to decide that he’s sure enough.

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri rests a hand on his shoulder. :Leareth. Hey. Are you with me:

Permalink Mark Unread

Mindspeaking her is actually, weirdly, harder than with the Proto.

:Yes: he manages. :We are - north, camp... Today is -: he gets stuck for a few seconds on retrieving the date but eventually manages it. The Healer is going to want to check how confused he is, and he would rather get on with the work at hand.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that’s more reassuring than she’d feared. :Good. Do you, er, have any idea what the Proto...?:

Permalink Mark Unread

:I asked it to:

Permalink Mark Unread

:What:

Permalink Mark Unread

:Needed - to think clearer - less tired...:

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

:Well. Please don’t do it again: 

Since Leareth seems kind of stabilized, she returns her attention to Julie.

Permalink Mark Unread

And Leareth returns his attention to the problem at hand. 

:Energy requirement?: he thinks at the Proto.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̴̥͎͛͑̉͊̌͆̔̆̊͘̚͝:̴̡̢̫͔̦̠̙͈̪̊̇͛̆̿́̓͠e̵̢̜̻͍͖͔̫̥̞̪̜̰̖̽̊̋̍̉̓͊̿͒̈́̀͑ͅn̷̗͑̎͘ȩ̶̛͖͎̤͖̥̳̘̩̹̦͙̓͊̅̈́̇̅̒̈́͒͠͝͝r̴̢̨̞̜̗̻̼̲̿̀͗̀̊̀̎̉́͌͗͝g̴̛͈̼̖̳̾́̂̉̈́͘͝ỹ̵̢͎̲̭̺̪̫̤̉̄ ̵̧̟̣̩̦̤̣̜͓͔̰̘̄̌̓͝͝͝ͅģ̴̧̧̼̞͕̥̬̺̿́͛̊̒̚ͅę̶͇̖͖̮͇̖̌͗̌̆̅̔͊̀n̷̢̤̹̳̙̩̣̱̆̃͝ͅḙ̵̡̝͈͂̍͂̑̍r̶͓̗̼̳̖̱̭̩͈̈́͗͆̒̈́̀̂̽̀̊̔̉ͅͅá̴̧̧̛̟̯̻̠̯͇̭̎́̉́̈́̍t̷̢̡̟̱̪̖͇͓͔͔̺̽͌͂͊͑͜í̸̧̝͔̪̣̹̫̬͚̰̤̼͋͆̄̃̏̌͂͌͗͛̚͜͠ͅo̴̮̊̉̾n̶̨̛̯̖̙̎͆̅̈́̍̌̾̓͂̊̀̍͘!̸̣̭͓̳́͌͗̃̀̅̚:̴̨̲͓̤̤̠͎̘̤͍̱̥̫̄͗̎̐̂̚͝ͅͅ

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't sure if this is intended to be an answer to his question, which was probably an ill-formed question from the Proto's perspective anyway. 

:Energy generation!: he agrees, and then visualizes the Gate-math again - but this time, rather than focusing on the search-destination, he moves his attention to the power input - remembers the feeling of power leaving his reserves, how that looks to mage-sight... 

:Need more power: he adds. :How much?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̴̢̢̤̠͈̗̯͖͕̤̿̑̃̎͂̿̍̾̃̉͊̒̀̑:̶̡̳̮̖̤͍̗̣̫̝̈́p̸̧̺͚͍͉̠̘͔̩̜̼̻͂̓ő̵̧͚̩̬̯̓͛̀́̊̈́̔́̔̔͘͝w̴̛̲̃̋̂̅́͆̏̌̚̕͘ȅ̵͍̦̫̥͓̦͓͇̟̲̱̬́ŗ̶̮̟͎̝̜̤͍̭͒̈́̈́͑̈́́̀̄͂̕̕͘̕͜͜ ̷̨̡͎̮̲̦̱̘͚̆̀͛̐̓̌͂͂̇̈̉͝ͅr̴̙̪̱̣̺͙̬̟̼͆͊̑̿̋͂̀̚ĕ̷͎̩̯̹̙̪͇̞̪̖͚͒̓̊̀̎͗͂͊̔͘͝q̸̮̤̥͉̻̜̦̯̪̣͉̱̼̇͜͜͝ǘ̸̳̱̰̪́̔̒̋͌̆̀̾͜͜i̴̛̥̻͈̍̀͑̃̎̿̐͑̍͒̕ŗ̶̦̟͔̰̜̝̊͂̂̉̈ͅȅ̷̡̠̺̞̼̟͔̻̼̫̯̹́̌̾ḿ̴̤̘̗̐̀͌̀̏̿͗̕͝͝e̷̗̐͛̄̏̍͐̀̕n̸͙̥̮̗̮͇͚̩͙͎͙̹̱̂̓̋̐͊͛̍̏͛͊̓͂̈̚t̸̘̄̄̑́́̔͛́͑͌͛̈́͘̚ś̸̞̓͝ ̴̨͍̐̂͘t̷̨̨͎̣̗͙̆į̵̨͈̘̟̹̻̂̒̓̎́n̸͚̝̘̫̠̭̝͇̬͔̲̐͑͛̃̀͊y̷̨͚̰̦̯̠͕͍̼͔̆̐̈́̓̇̕̚͝͝ ̶̡̰̺̣͉͓͓͓̫̘͉̀̀̈̀̒̌̉̇͛͗́̑́̚b̴̥̳̯͙̥̦̮̞̐̈́̊̂̀ṷ̴̫̅̉́͂̚͝ț̴̡̭̣͊̑̇̉ ̸̧̢̥̞̭̭͕͔̙̘̦̺͈̱̆͌͛̑͜͠͝͝͝p̶̧̡͍͖̤̯̗͓̱̩͖̹͐̔̾͛̉̊̽̀͝ͅō̴̢̫̰̙̠̦̑̏͊̉̑͘w̴̛̮̪͔͍̣͍̞̞͓̰̭̤̉̄̌̌͊̑̒͌͒̚͘͜͝͝ę̸͇̰̻̟͍̝̳̣͈̯̝̙̐͋̏͂͆̐̀͂͌͗͊̆̚͜͠͝r̸̹̰͕̺̰͓̹͙̥̩͎͙̤͎͋̈́̌̎͗͊̇͑̈́̆̿̚ ̵̢̼̝̪̕ģ̵̳͐͗͂̑̈́̇͝e̵̳̪̫̦̖͈̞̱̝̖͈̼͈͕̍̓̀͌̋͆̋͂̀͌̚͠͝ͅn̷̢̨͍̖̞͇̯͇̐͑͂̓͐͑̔̅́̉̕̚͠͠ȩ̵̛̺͔̗͉̪̤͋̓̃̌͆̉͛̅̑ŕ̷̘͕̺͎̀̃̀̓͠ͅa̶̼̼͕͕̯̺̥͆͗̿̓̂̒̒̌͗͘͠ţ̸̨̮͙̠̱̠͎͎̞̼͗į̷̪̫͈̖̦̻̹̣̤̥̺̜̾̏̓̅͋̆̅͗͗̌̚ố̶̧̩̠̜̤̤̖͎͍͕̱̟ͅͅn̷̢͈͉̗̻̬̠̞̟͋͒̐ͅ ̴̛̥͈̪͉̦̙͓͍̯͑͑͑̋́̊̓͗̆̔̄̾͘͠c̵̨̨̡̬͔͙̰͎͚̝͕̼̹̓͐̆̓̅́̇̿͒̀͋̐̀͠ú̷̜̼̒̽̀̀̀̀͒̀̋͒͝r̷̨̡̝̪̰͖͍̠̙͔̲̫̰̒͝r̵̨̜̩͕̞̖͍̞̙͎͂̇̈͊̔̂̽̈̇̍́͠ę̴̦̳͖̬́̈́̈́̄̈̅͐͒͂̃̀̾̉̕n̵̨̧̩̗͔̖̳̼͓̺̙̯͔̗͂͗̈́͆̎̾ͅt̷̡̙͔̞̖̀̐͘͝l̵͈̬̫̫̩̃͒y̵̧̢̩̱̩̿̆̉͆̐̓̀̍̒́̿̓̊́̚ ̴͔̬̩̠̌̈́̄̀̅̐̋̇̏i̶̧̡̟̦͎̟̺̖͔̟͐͐̓͐̍̀̌̒̈̇̓̕̚m̷̧̖̫̼͈̯̪̂͆̊͋̔̀̓͠p̷̛͍̰̘̜̲̟̮͍̗̞͛̉̐͋͂̀̀̈́̔͌̕ͅͅȏ̸̧̢̧̯̭̰͍͎̲̙͙̦͊͂̅̋̊͜͝ś̷̡͍͖̤̱̩̩͚͒͐̅̌͛̀͛̅̄͌̄͘̚͘ś̷̹͎̠̹̉i̵̡͕͙̳̣̼̙̾b̸͔͈̱͍̺̼̮̥͓͚͖̍l̷͉̝͐̎͛́̓̈́̔͘ē̷̥̭̦͇̗̊͊́̽̌̎̇̕͝.̴̫͚͉̓͛͑̐̓̑͋:̷̻̋̄͘

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth - is not at all sure that he wants to even consider helping the terrifying alien entity gain the ability to ARBITRARILY GENERATE POWER which is...apparently something it understands and can do...which in hindsight makes perfect sense given that it apparently makes wormholes through spacetime itself but he somehow still failed to think through the ramifications. Probably because he's still seriously ill and recently almost died and thinking at all is very effortful.

...He has no idea what to do. 

:- Nayoki?: he tries. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He cannot at all reach the surface. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Can you call Nayoki?: he asks, to everyone nearby. 

     (This includes the Healers on his staff, who pass this along.) 

Leareth takes a deep breath, and reaches for Julie. :...I just. I - I learned something. About the Proto's capabilities: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mmm?

Permalink Mark Unread

:...It can....generate arbitrary - well, very large - quantities of energy...: 

Somehow Leareth feels as though this came across as much more significant in his thoughts than it does now, saying it to Julie, who after all comes from a civilization capable of building ships that can travel between planets, if not different stars - 

Permalink Mark Unread

- oh, yeah, I guess that'd be a big deal at your tech level. You, uh, I don't know whatever the fuck the aliens know but if you want to jump the human tech tree you rotate a magnet inside a wire, and you can build watermills that do that, and then you can power cities. You need precision manufacture for fusio- for the thing that powers the ship -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. Thank you:

It...is possible, no, very reasonable, that he should think more, or run this by someone else who can think better, but.

He reaches for the Proto anyway. Pictures Julie's ship, as it appeared to his eyes and to his mage-sight.

:Power. How?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

?

Permalink Mark Unread

:?: 

 

 

:- I need - more concrete - math, matter, what, show me...?: 

(Leareth is vaguely aware that his thoughts are becoming increasingly incoherent and he should plausibly just wait for Nayoki but he's so curious.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

The next attempt is even less comprehensible, bright and cloudy and baffling. It's saying that you - build overlapping-clouds and the process releases lots of energy?

Permalink Mark Unread

:????: but he's so tired and it's so hard to stay awake... 

Permalink Mark Unread

And then, abruptly - or maybe he lost consciousness somewhere in the middle - Nayoki is there. 

:Leareth. Leareth? Talk to me: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:.....?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's starting to be very worried about him. 

:- You called for me? What is it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He just wants to sleep. 

:The Proto. Can - power - but not now, not yet - ship, ask it how... what it needs to - but do not give it that -:

Permalink Mark Unread

This could really be a lot more helpful. 

 

 

Nayoki reaches to take Leareth's hand. Squeezes.

:You rest, now. I will take care of it: 

(She really hopes so, anyway.) 

 

 

And, after a long, anxious hesitation, she thins her shields and reaches out further - with all of her Othersenses, Mindhealing and mage-sight as well, feeling for whatever she can pick up from the Proto... 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is sulking. 

 

 

:̴̫̟͎̹̻͎͖̤̟͛͜͠͝m̴͙̝̬̪̣̹̙͙̝͗͒̉̈́͛̕͝ͅo̴̢̭̺̾̍͂͌̀͆̈́̌̌̄̈́r̷̫̮̲̫̟͕̝̱̦̖̟͌̍̒͐͆̀̔̇͆ë̶̳́̓͋̈́̋̅́͌͝͠ͅ ̶̡͐̐̊̒̈̈͐̓̒̈͛͘͝͝͠r̵̩̣̩͕̥͚͖̥̞͐͗̒̏̏̒͐̏͘̕͘e̷̳͙̝̻͊̇̑͂s̷̞̺̳̞̭̣̘̥̟̫͓̠̥̜̒̊̕̚͝͠ǫ̸͎̖̝̣͎̞̣͎̞̥̻̑̈́̊̌̂̚͝͝ų̴̺̦̝̦̲̣̰̗͉͔̰͔̤͓͌̏͊̆̔́͘r̷̰̩̙̱͈̯̺̞͕͕͕͙̎̆̽̔͊́͑̿̅̇̚͝c̴̣̳̬̲̯̮̮̅e̷͉̖̻͎̙̼͓̩̳͌s̷̞̗̏̍̾̑̈́̚.̵̜͕̱̙̻̭͓̂̌͛̑̌̍̈́̔́͗̀̑̓͘ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

She so badly wishes Leareth were alert and taking charge of this, but he seems to already be drifting off to sleep. 

 

 

After a long pause, and ten seconds of steeling herself, she reaches out with a Mindtouch. 

:My name is Nayoki: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

Confusion.

Permalink Mark Unread

She really wishes Leareth had given her any amount more instructions, or even just suggestions or context, for this. 

Sigh. 

:What do you need?: she asks the Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̴̫̟͎̹̻͎͖̤̟͛͜͠͝m̴͙̝̬̪̣̹̙͙̝͗͒̉̈́͛̕͝ͅo̴̢̭̺̾̍͂͌̀͆̈́̌̌̄̈́r̷̫̮̲̫̟͕̝̱̦̖̟͌̍̒͐͆̀̔̇͆ë̶̳́̓͋̈́̋̅́͌͝͠ͅ ̶̡͐̐̊̒̈̈͐̓̒̈͛͘͝͝͠r̵̩̣̩͕̥͚͖̥̞͐͗̒̏̏̒͐̏͘̕͘e̷̳͙̝̻͊̇̑͂s̷̞̺̳̞̭̣̘̥̟̫͓̠̥̜̒̊̕̚͝͠ǫ̸͎̖̝̣͎̞̣͎̞̥̻̑̈́̊̌̂̚͝͝ų̴̺̦̝̦̲̣̰̗͉͔̰͔̤͓͌̏͊̆̔́͘r̷̰̩̙̱͈̯̺̞͕͕͕͙̎̆̽̔͊́͑̿̅̇̚͝c̴̣̳̬̲̯̮̮̅e̷͉̖̻͎̙̼͓̩̳͌s̷̞̗̏̍̾̑̈́̚.̵̜͕̱̙̻̭͓̂̌͛̑̌̍̈́̔́͗̀̑̓͘ͅ

Permalink Mark Unread

:What kind of resources? What do you need it for?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̷̡̗̀̒͒̆̑͂͗̓̒̀̈̏́̄́̀̈́̈́̽̉̕͝͝ș̵̯̳̐̉̒̐͂̈̌̐̐͛́̚̚ẗ̴̨͉̼́̈ͅa̵̧̢̠̭̣̳̤̲̟̱̗̥̦̝̝̞͆̎̓͜͝b̸̡̡͓͚̦̭̞̳͎͍̳̘̳̹̱̰̪͒̔̂̎̉̒̀͆͋̎̊̌̽̈́͊͘͘ͅͅļ̴̱̖̤̣͉̱͚͇̟̰̲͓̘͖̤͎̬̝͙̺̬͖͗̏́̋̃͗͑̎̇̀̔̿̚ͅę̷̛̛̛̤̪̭͔̭̙̫̣͉̣͙̲̼͇̥̗̪̦̓̂͌̑̅́̾̂̑̍͊͜ ̴̡̧̛̟͔̣̬̼̰̺̤̰͖̮̼͈̟̟̝̬̻̖̦̳̪͇͖̇̑̄̾̐̓̑́̍̈̃̐̾̀̏̏̆̊̚͜͠͝͝͠r̶̨̰̤̯̪̟̪̟͚͙̘̄̒ͅè̷̥̟̝͓͙̻͓͉̰͎ͅp̶̧̢̡̨̢̖͈̲̦̹̫̘̙͕̬̫̩̩̱̜̞̼̲͉̹̐̂̅́͊͐͑͗̊͛́̓͘͜͝͝ͅl̴̡̰͎͙̹̘͖͓̗̪̩̥̱̱̲͓͂i̴̛̦̋̔̀̂̐̾͆̒͊̏́̇̈́̉̉̇̈́̐͠c̷̡̣̩͈͚͔̖͈͈̦͇̞͔̈́̇͊̈́͊̐̈́̈̌͊̑͒͝a̶̧̛͙͖̪̖̫̼̳̐͂̌̂͛͋͒̎͊̅̀͊̓͊̾͘͘͝t̵̢̢̛̖̪̤̳͕͚̜̟͚͙̗̩̬͇͖̟͚͕͕͙̘̲̥̗͋̑̾̽̀͂́͐̃̋̐̑́̃͋̔̓̀̆̕͘͘͝͠ờ̷̧̢̢͔̬̪̣̭͎͍͎͖͛̎͛͂̄͜͜͝ṟ̷̨̧̧̞̞̙͔̞͉̘̩̳̫͉̥̘̖̮̭͚̞̦̹̦͚͐͑̎̈́̏̑̈́̈́̄̍̾̉̂̔̓̉̿̕͘̚ş̴̢̡̱̬̱̬̭̭͓̳̳͓̩͉͔̤̮͙͇̗̩̂͑͗̅̄̍͊̄̅̅̅̒̚̕͜͝͠͝͠:̸̨̛̩̜̣͉̫̣̣̖̙̤̖̣͚̬̘̭͚̞̬̹͔̥̙̊͒̌́̑̈́̃̅̿̉̉̇̍̅̎͝


̵̛̳̲̼̪͈̭̗̞̱̎̍̓͛̑͆̐̓̈́̈́̊͐͌̊̋̉̃̆͂̇̒͘̕͘̚͝
̶̨̢̧̭̜̻̦̗͙͍͓͖̼͙̞̜͔̞̳̬͊̌̐͊̇̀̿̆̽͆́̆̆̌͐̈́͘͘͠ͅ
̵͕̰̞̖̜̙͙͓̜͉̤̋̒ͅ:̸̡̡͕̺͎̭͓̜̘͓̺͉̘͙̠̹̩̺͚̺͍̱̬̐̏̂͑̈͒̇̿̌̇̀̓̓̿̕̕͘̚ͅc̷̡̧̯͓̺͖̞̮̖͓̳̠̤̲̮͙͔̫̫̭͖̣̭̫͙͆̔̿͌̇̿̿̿̉̓̓́̌̋̾̔͒̚̚ŗ̷̢̡̙̘̙͎̩̰̠̠̱͍̯̰̲͉̖͎̠̲̊̈́̇̐̇͂̔̿͘̚̚͝͝ę̵̧̢̛̛̦̖͎͎͖̹̮̭̗͎̺͇͙͓͍̮̻͎͚͎͚̝̱͉̻̲̈̍͊̈̋̑̉̾̅̋̈́̈͒̎̏́̽̈́͂̿̆̏̿̅̋̊̚͜͝a̴̗̩̬͖͋̒́͐̈̈̅̈́͗̂̒̿͝t̸̨̠̯̤̹͕̥̭̙͈͔̬͚̠͉̓͋̔̈́͊̌̍̈́̓̄͠ė̸̢̨̪̼͔̫̝͐͛̂̈́̍̋͒͋̓́̀̓̀̓̿̾̈́͘͠͝͠͠ ̴̧̨̤͓̘̣̠̦̥̤̝̻͕̪̻͚̰͚̗̭͖̜͍͖̼̬̗͌̌̏̍̔͛͗̃̔̃͂͌̌̄́̈́̔̂͆͒̐̊̕̚̚͜͝͝ę̴̡̡͓̠̣͕͔̘̫͕͎͇͓̭̤̯͔̯̮͓̤̜̫̺̄͊̄̓̃̆̈́͛̋͊̓̀̅̎̉͘̚̚͜͝͝n̴̨̢̰̠̣̦͖̦̪͚̭̤̫͖̯͈̻͍̙̩͚͇̝͈͂̆̀͋̑̐͗̈́̏̈́̅̊̀́̅͊̇̇͛̄̉͒́̀͘͘̚͜͜ͅͅe̴͍̗͈̞̘̳̙͖̩̯̻̣̜͈̬̻̣̦̜͋͛̐̎͂͊̆̀͘͜r̶̍̂̅̓̇͜͠g̴̲̱̤̜̥̩̯͆͗̿̀͂͊̃͂̔̿̄̈́͆͊̽͐̂̈́́̀̿̿̀̎͆̉͝͝y̷̦̋̃̊̓̎͑͑̂̀̄͊:̴̡̳͖͖̭̻̝͍̟͔̾̒͑̔̾̈́̅̃̊͘

Permalink Mark Unread

And Leareth wants that energy. 

Giving it a roomful of sheep worked fine the first time. Apparently. 

:More sheep?: she tries to ask, pushing across a mental image of them as well. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Approval!

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right: 

On the one hand, from an outside perspective this is a terrible idea. 

On the other hand, it's not like they have an abundance of non-terrible options. 

Nayoki gets to work on clearing out another secure underground site, and obtaining more livestock to stick inside for the Proto. This takes a couple of candlemarks to finish, at which point one of the Fetchers is recruited to Fetch a bit of the Proto-crystal from the first site into a metal pot and carry it through a Gate to drop on an unsuspecting mix of several hundred goats and cattle. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Resources are consumed! The goats and cattle die in various horrifying ways, faster than the first batch.

Permalink Mark Unread

The staff assigned to monitor the new site are finding this pretty disturbing! 

Back in the makeshift hospital, whenever Julie is next awake, the Healer asks if her hand terminal is going to be 'charged' by now and whether someone should retrieve it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Should be, yeah. Thanks.

She feels particularly foggy when she next wakes up; she examines herself suspiciously for anything the protomolecule might be up to, but doesn't have a good guess.

Permalink Mark Unread

As usual, the Healers monitoring her are very pushy about coaxing her to drink something calorie-containing; this time they have sweetened fruit juice. 

The first Healer gets back with her hand terminal. :Here. How are you feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Like shit. Thanks, though. She takes her hand terminal. Mind if I put on some music?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Please go ahead: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri, yawning, shifts her attention back from Leareth to Julie, gauging the Proto's current state in her body; she badly wants a break but it seems responsible to do one last check first. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule isn't directly making more trouble than it was yesterday but it seems like some of the effects of having her body significantly occupied by an alien parasite and her immune system suppressed and barely eating are catching up with Julie; a lot of things look vaguely off in a way that could become a bigger problem.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. She can probably try to head off some of the bigger problems, but...really she's feeling quite out of her depth, here. 

:Julie?: she asks. :What sort of medicine does your world have, er, if we were able to get you back there for treatment...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Uh, depends what's wrong with me? You want, I dunno, a heart transplant, Earth's got you covered, but they don't handle intelligent alien parasites every day.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. Hmm. What I'm seeing right now is...mostly your body is just very depleted. You were starving for a while and we still haven't caught up with that, plus there's the strain from the Proto - and your stomach and gut aren't in good enough shape for you to eat a normal amount, much less what you really need which is twice as much as that. And your immune system isn't doing that well. Can your world's Healers...feed people in other ways? Or boost their immune systems?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- probably. Do we have a way to go back?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think Leareth has a plan. I’m not sure how much longer he needs to - to make it work…:

Permalink Mark Unread

Belters don't have access to the really good medicine but I bet they'll be able to figure something out.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm: 

She pushes a little more Healing-energy across. 

:- All right, er, take care - I need to go get some rest:

Shavri isn’t even sure how many days it’s been. Time is starting to lose all meaning. When she lies down again with her baby daughter, on a bedroll in a  hastily erected tent in the cold tundra, she thinks vaguely that she really ought to get a message back to Randi - and the Healers - make sure they know she’s all right but still needed…

She falls asleep before completing that thought.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth’s staff anxiously watch the Proto with Farsight as it eats all the cattle and goats and turns them into blue crystal. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule chews through all of the animals and then starts chewing through the rock containing it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaah.

Permalink Mark Unread

Thirty seconds later, Nayoki Gates to the room where Leareth is and wakes him with a forceful Mindtouch. 

:We have a problem: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Her strident mindvoice is hurting Leareth’s head, and everything feels gluey and slow-motion.

:?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Tell it to stop - tell it to stop right now -:

Permalink Mark Unread

What. 

Act first, questions after.

:Please stop eating any more resources for the moment: he tells the Proto, groggily and with a note of tired apology. (And with some interpretation involved, probably Nayoki is panicked because it’s growing too fast, or causing some new problem by eating things…)

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

It stops.

 

 


:̸̮͈͑.̵̛̥̃͒̾̂̏̅̃͐̾̓̕͝;̸̨̩̤̹͙̯̟̗̳͑̉͋̎̓͂̈́͂̾͘̕:̵̬̠͑̓̆̑̋͛̃͗̑'̸̡͈̙̼̪̺̫̰̄̅̿̀"̵̮̓̿̉̀̄͝*̶̨̡̨̟͈̠̳̱̹̈͐͆̽ͅͅ"̷͖͈̲͔̮̍̾̈͠~̸̛̩͆̈́͗͆̆̀̾̀̿͆̄̋͗͠ḻ̵̰̤͚͖̈́͐'̷̣̪͍̦͔̖͂̿̆̏̔́̆̂͘̕į̷̡̯̼͍̹̩͔̭̥̖̝̼̌̂l̵̬̾̽̃̉̈́̐̔̾̕i̸̛̜̦͈̝̪̰̞̓͐͐̇̅̅͌̐̃̋͘͠i̸̩̠̝͐͐͐̽̈́̒͑;̸̨͈̲̳͈̲̲̖̝͓̻͊́̄͋͐̒̚͠͠.̸̗͙̹̬̥̼͚̈͂́̔͋̌͋͗͛̿͘͜͠,̶̪̩̬̦͍̰͛̈̓̏̍̿̓͋̋   , it mutters sulkily.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

:Nayoki. What: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:It started eating the bedrock! We cannot contain it– oh. Apparently it has stopped: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Of course it stopped. He asked it to nicely. 

Leareth rolls over, rubbing at gummy eyes. He is TOO TIRED for this. 

:You were eating matter which is not aliv– not made of stable replicators?: he asks the Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

:̸͉͕̙̱̜̟̎͛ͅ.̴͇̊͒͋̇̽̆̇͋̊̂̚b̴͇̞̗̣̘̬̭̤͓͋̇̾͒̓î̷͕̅͛͛̌̎̀̕͝ģ̵̛̭̦͖̟̻̹̻̞̎̆̃͋̈́̎͘ͅģ̶̬̭̠̝̯͙͉̣̯̬͕̋e̶͚͊͗̈͋͌r̴͕͍̚ ̴̡̢̻̻͉͚͔̘̱̣̫̠̹͍̯͐̿̄̈́͐f̵̳̤͔͎̖̲͔̻̭͒͝o̶̡̼̹̟͕̟̬͛̿̿̿̚r̵̮̘̟̼̖͓̍̎̐͌͋̿́́̆̈̕ ̷̥̫̱̠̞̜̱̖͚͔̣͇͈̲͎̄͛̚̚ț̸̨̨̧̰̤̹̼̩͓͔̐̔́̊͛̊̐͒h̶͓̮͂̔́̐͑͋̆̈́̑̚͝ḙ̷̺͒̐́̉̓̍͂͒̑̈́͠͝ ̸̨̲͇̝̰͉̇̋̆̍͗̔͆͒̆̉̊̿̽W̸̺̹̦̺̫̺̠͔̫̌̅̓̿̓͛̈o̷̜̣̤̯̘͐ŗ̷͙̝̖̖͍͙̉k̸̡̨̨̡̫͇̣̰̫̩͎̥̥̓͒̃̄͂̌͗͝ͅͅ:̸̭̬̬̀̿̀͊̿̀̔͌͆̓̈̋͐́͜ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I know you want to be bigger. But - please slow down. We can get you more stable replicators if you stop consuming anything other than those: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Confusion!!

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am sorry. Just - wait, please: 

Leareth takes a slow deep breath, lets it out, and tries to prop himself up on his elbow, maybe that will help him feel a bit more awake. 

:Julie?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Yeah? Julie says blearily. She's been half-sleeping, having repetitive nightmares and an increasingly hard time telling what only happened in the nightmare and what happened in real life.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Apparently the Proto can eat rock too, once it is strong enough. I - am not sure what to do - it stopped when I asked but I am reluctant to fully trust its cooperation…:

Permalink Mark Unread

Ugh. Fuck. 'm I awake?

Permalink Mark Unread

It takes Leareth a few seconds to parse this.

:...Yes? I am fairly sure this is real and not a dream. I - it would be simplest if we could just - leave, now - but I cannot meet the power requirements for the Gate - the Proto claims it can but that it needs to eat more resources first...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

God. Okay. 

 

Can we - give it your moon or something. Or - an outer planet, if we've got enough time to get there -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Could your ship travel there - and take the Proto with it…?: 

A pause. :I think it is somewhat damaged, from when I stole it: Leareth’s mindvoice is matter-of-fact, with no particular sign of embarrassment.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, if the ship were working it could get to your moon in a couple of hours. I don't remember how near your nearest planet is but it'd be longer, days but probably not weeks? ...this is at 1g, I'm a little worried anything else would kill me right now.

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie's world presumably has much more advanced astronomical sciences. :How badly would it affect Velgarth, if the Proto ate our moon?: Hopefully it wouldn't need to eat all of it but Leareth wouldn't want to bet on that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...good question. Have you got tides.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Well, on the coastline, yes: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Those would stop. Otherwise I think you'd be fine? Earth'd be fine and I think our moon is bigger. I didn't get a great look at yours, though. Uh, weird stuff will happen to your rotation eventually but that'll take hundreds of thousands of years, we can leave it to our grandkids to figure out.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...All right. We...should relocate to the ship, I suppose. Figure out the damage. My people were assessing it earlier, they made diagrams...actually it seems plausible the Proto can help repair it...:

Leareth closes his eyes. Tries to gather his strength.

And then Mindtouches the Proto again. :We need to travel elsewhere, in the ship: He pushes across a mental sense of Julie's shuttle. :There will be resources there. Can you - move yourself into it...?: 

Leareth does his best to picture the blue crystals doing this, but he's getting increasingly bleary. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, the proto starts chewing on the rock again.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki gets word of this about ten seconds later. 

:Leareth! It is growing again!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth manages not to mentally snarl at Nayoki. He almost snarls at the Proto instead, but catches himself. 

:- Are you eating more resources and growing so that you can reach the ship?: he asks. :What is your plan, show me -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It shows him -

 

a Gate, but not exactly a kind of Gate he's ever cast, tiny and round and thresholdless, hanging in the air, blossoming outward from its starting point to engulf the protomolecule in its underground locker and then inverting on itself to drape its contents around the reactor core of Julie's ship -

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's breath catches on a note of awe. And fear. 

...There's no going back after that point, is there. Assuming it hasn't already been too late for the last however many candlemarks. 

More than anything, he wants more time to think. About a hundred times as long as he has, and with his mind actually working. 

He's not even sure whether this scenario is one of the things he thought through in the Shadow-Lover's realm. There are vague flickers in his memory but nothing solid. He could try asking the Proto to buy him thirty seconds of mental clarity again, but one, the Healers would stop him, and two, in fact he can't afford to give himself a seizure right now, it was already kind of stupid the first time... 

Leareth reaches out toward Nayoki and Julie's minds, mercifully nearby. He pushes across his blurry sense of the Proto's plan. 

:- Would work. But - point of no return - letting it become too powerful for...us to stop it... I, I think it will cooperate. To the extent it understands how. So, better if it is stronger. But. Could be wrong. And, no going back: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

:- I trust your read on it more than my own: Nayoki admits.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It is very alien. But. Not made to be a weapon, not - for destroying things... And, possible to talk to, to cooperate with -: At least, he thinks so. Hopes so. 

Permalink Mark Unread

What's, uh, the alternative. To trusting it. At this point.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Destroying it with your ship. Killing both of us. It - is not a very good alternative. And would leave no way of reaching your world to pass on a warning: 

(That isn't necessarily, entirely, true, if Leareth comes back - but he's suddenly uncertain, something is off, it doesn't fit that the Shadow-Lover could grab his soul at all - he doesn't understand why, what changed, whether it would change back, in the confused fog he isn't sure whether he understands anything anymore.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

And there's some proto there, too, isn't it.


I guess let's go to the moon. How did you even break my spaceship with medieval technology, did you launch a trebuchet at it?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am not sure how! We did not intend to - we were being careful... We moved it through a Gate. And then - were unlucky, somehow - looking back I am fairly sure the gods who dislike me were involved: 

He hopes Julie doesn't ask for clarification on that, because he's way too exhausted to explain it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

In Julie's culture asking questions about someone's religion is about as rude as asking questions about their miscarriage. Also she's very tired. Okay. Well, I'm not an engineer but we'll see if I can fix it. Or if the proto can.

Permalink Mark Unread

Come to think of it, Leareth has SO little idea what the gods would have been hoping to accomplish with this particular piece of meddling. Surely, if there's anything worse from Their perspective than Him, it's the strange alien intelligence that can grow anywhere and eat anything and builds wormholes to other stars. 

:All right: 

To Nayoki:

:Let it proceed:

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

:And - can you arrange to move both of us to the ship as well, by Gate, without contaminating anybody else - and select a team to accompany us, we will need some volunteer Healers, mages -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am coming with you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth considers trying to argue that someone needs to stay on the ground and take charge of his organization while - while something, he still isn't sure how this ends - but it sounds like far too much effort, so instead he just closes his eyes, and waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It takes the protomolecule a long time. It's trying to do something entirely new, and it's still kind of confused about what its creators keep asking of it. But it eats away at the rock, and at more rock, and at more rock, building tiny tunnels, turning the rock into an odd kind of cheesecloth through which tiny crystals can bloom, and it shifts and quivers and fills the air in its holding-cells with twinkling little motes.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Julie falls asleep again).

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drifts in and out, through confused hazy dreams of strange otherworldly fractals and inside-out Gates that glow blue and crystalline... 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki wastes five minutes watching him doze, tense and worried, and then heads back to the surface. Calls together some of Leareth's other staff for a meeting, delegates plans - 

Someone interrupts, informs her that the Valdemaran Healer wants to talk to her. 

...Sure, fine. She can do that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shavri is wearing her baby in a cozy sling-wrap against her chest. (It was a present from one of Leareth's other staff and she's so delighted with it.) 

She squares her shoulders. It's taken her candlemarks to pull together the courage for this. 

"I need to go home. You have lots of other Healers here, right, and it's been days - I have a family... I've tried to explain everything I figured out to them. And maybe you can - send messages, if they have questions? Or I could come back if there's a real emergency. But I can't stay any longer. I'm sorry." 

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, it's not like they can take the foreign Healer with her baby to the Moon with them. Also the fact that they're going there at all is - plausibly sensitive strategic information? She would ask Leareth if he were awake, but since he's not, she's going to assume it needs to be kept secret. 

"All right. We can arrange a Gate back for you, then." She'll...track down a mage who can Gate from memories, that'll work and then she won't have to worry about it any more. She has more than enough to worry about already. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Thank you. I - good luck." This feels like a very stupid thing to say but she has to say something

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki works on assembling a team of volunteers. Mages who are willing to help carry Leareth and Julie across a Gate on litters, and then come with them to the Moon, on a ship full of Proto, and gamble their lives that Leareth is right and the alien entity is possible to work with... 

The Farseers keep watching the Proto as it eats rock and grows. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It eats a lot of rock, hollows out a big crystalline cavern in which strands of glowing blue are draped against the walls and ceiling like weird alien ivy. The air is full of blue motes.

 

And then it makes a Gate. A tiny Gate, too tiny to see, though mages can sense it. The other end opens on the reactor of Julie's ship. The Gate expands, and draws the protomolecule into it, and contracts, leaving only a little bit of protomolecule behind.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's beautiful. And horrifyingly. 

Nayoki Gates back down to the sickroom and wakes Leareth. :It is time to go: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm: Leareth has a headache, plausibly because he's twice in a row, without entirely waking up from his confused dreams, told the Healers to leave him alone when they tried to bother him to eat and drink. 

He manages to roll onto the stretcher unaided, though. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Another of the Healers prods Julie awake and asks her to do the same. 

:...Shavri gives her regards: he adds. :She's going home to Valdemar, rather than coming with us: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah? Uh, tell her good luck - and penicillin! Tell her about penicillin!

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Uh, you're going to need to explain that slightly more?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...I don't know much more than that. I'm sorry. It's an antibiotic, it fights bacteria, I think it grows on...bread? Possibly your magic healing is just better.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer smiles at her. :Seems worth passing on to her, anyway, I bet she'd be delighted to try studying it: 

And the Moon-team assembles, and carries the two of them through into the ship, which has been very, very carefully shifted so that it's in approximately the orientation it's supposed to land in. 

One of the mages unfolds a large sheet of canvas, showing Leareth their structural diagrams of the damage. :Can you ask the Proto if it's possible to fix the crack, here -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He can do that. 

:Ship damaged. Need to check it is safe to fly, repairs if needed, can you...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

Confusion!!

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, that's disappointing. Not entirely surprising, though it would have been convenient if the ship were one of the things that the Proto understood instantly.

He'll keep trying different mental formulations of it, including asking one of the Farseers who's been studying the ship and has Mindspeech to share their Othersenses directly with the Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage tries showing Julie the structural diagrams instead. :We're pretty sure this and this aren't essential, for the trip we're making -we're bringing a separate supply of water - but this crack could be bad, what do you think?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I mean, it's not great but we can wear a suit when we go near the reactor. Or, uh, just not go near the reactor since the proto lives there now. It looks like some of the thrusters are broken but that won't matter as long as you get some of the ones that aren't broken facing down. The really important thing is the drive, can you tell if anything got out of alignment there - 

She is also checking the computer for this information, but some of the systems that monitor for problems are themselves offline.

Permalink Mark Unread

They have a sketchy diagram of what they checked in that area, and can get the Farseers to check again; if the ship has any records of how it's supposed to be aligned, that can be brought up as images or diagrams on a screen or something, that would help a lot. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The ship does have that! It's really important it's aligned perfectly because all the waste heat needs to go out the back of the ship, not into it, or it'll fry them. Or alternatively it might just fail to ignite, which is a less catastrophic problem normally but pretty bad right now because the thrusters do not have that much fuel left.

Permalink Mark Unread

What kind of fuel do the thrusters need? They're wondering if it's possible to make out of materials they have on Velgarth - or maybe ask the Proto, Leareth suspects it can learn almost arbitrary materials-processing techniques if they can figure out how to explain what they want it to do. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- it's liquid oxygen - uh, air is made of a couple of different things, oxygen is the one people breathe, I don't know how to separate them at your tech level. Uh. It's that and ...some byproduct of lamp oil but I don't know which one... 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'll ask Leareth about it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is on approximately his dozenth attempt at conveying to the Proto that this ship is a mechanical system for moving through space, to the Moon, which has lots of nice rock that the Proto can eat, but in order to move through space they need the ship to be fully working and not broken... 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̸̨̳̰̺̘̫̺̠͍͍̮̃̑́̇͒̿̎̈́͘:̴͖̩̇̑̋̃͒f̴̡̤̞͙̘͈̩̘̞̝̗̺̩̌͋̐̋̀͂̄̌̅͗͘̕ͅl̶̰̟̏̓̍̆ą̸̬͖̖͓̺̮͎̲̀͆͐̃̈́̾̈́̈́̾̋̈́̐͒͜͜͠w̵̡̖̔̆͝e̵̢̛̻̲̠̫͈͇͉̘̼̫̯̿̽̉̎́̀͂̃̅́̕͠d̶̮͓̬̰͒͑͛̉̈́͊́̌͊̕̚͝ ̶͉̟͇̗̺̭̲̹̳̟̊͝ͅd̵͖̥̠̥͈̣͉̺̱̅̋̈́̑̋͜ë̸͇̼̺͙̖͇̼́̌̍̏̉̀̚͜ͅs̷͙̝̈́́̅̂͝i̷̛̤̖͇̗͚̳̻̾̓̈̌͐͌̇̉̚͝͝͝͝ģ̵̛͚̹͈͂̈́͒͂͂̔̿̂̒̀̓̓͒n̸͇̼̖̈́̎͑̾̒̈́͆̽̈͌*̷̡̨̗̭̦͔͚͖̘͔̙̱͗̄͌̃̓͌͐̌̎̀́͆ͅ.̶̬̝̅̏̽͂̓͆͂̐̉̑͘ī̷̧̡̯̘̙͎̹͍ͅn̸̡̡̢̜͓̥̝̺̜̝̺̓̊͑ę̴͚̠̣̻͇̗̻̥͕̤̮͙̍̓̀̾̎̿̇̒̅f̸̻͙̭̺̈́̇̇̓̍̊͠f̴̢̯͉̮̼̣̦̦̩̺̝͈͉̂͑͜ï̷̢̮͎͔͍̹̟͖̥͍̯̋͆́̕ç̷̥͇̲̮̺̓̌̎i̷̡̮̗̪͖̥̺̇̆̾̾̓̾̂̎̍̃̈́͝ȩ̵̡͍̼̖̜͔̗̬̈̀ͅn̵͇͕͕͉̞̪͑̉̆̒̍͌̏͂̍͋͗͠ͅẗ̸̪́̒̂̄͘;̷̩͕̺̗͙͎̺̠̥̗͗̅̈́̀̾͋̚͘͜͝͝"̶̢̧̡̢̤̦̝̠͍̱̹̭̖͋̏̂͘͜͝

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gaaaaaaah. This would probably be very endearing of the Proto if Leareth were less eager to go back to sleep

:I am sure there are better designs but I think it is too far to Gate. At least while you are this small, and you cannot eat any more resources here to grow bigger, we need to go to the Moon first before you grow any more: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 


Sulking.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

When interrupted, Leareth drowsily confirms that a spell exists to separate the components of air, he has it written down somewhere, probably this book in that records-cache... Does Julie mean the kind of lamp-oil made from animal fat or plant-seeds, or the kind of oil from underground, he thinks they have different components. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Underground. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Probably you need large quantities of it? I am not sure how to obtain that without a great deal of initial investment in - presumably your world has more advanced technology for this, if you use it in your ships... Do the thrusters have enough to take off from the ground: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. So long as the drive works once we're in the air.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, Leareth's mages are still very carefully checking it against the ship's records on how it should look. Is it damaged? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It doesn't look it.

Permalink Mark Unread

They still take an entire extra candlemark to look it over, but finally declare that they don't see any signs of damage. It seems like it was pretty well protected. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth spends most of this candlemark napping, and is only woken for the final decision - go or no? 

:I think we go: he decides, after giving himself a full minute to consider it. :Julie, how do we set a course for the Moon?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nav's gonna be all confused, I'm probably going to need to be at the computers. ...probably with an adrenaline tab so I can concentrate. Ugh. This is the proto doing its best to not fuck with us?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think it is trying quite hard. I...would consider asking it to help you think better, except that when I asked it for that, it was successful and then caused a seizure: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. Well, I should avoid having a seizure, I don't think anyone else here can pilot a confused shuttle.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth does at some point want to see if the Proto can do the same thing as before except one-tenth as much, or something, and have it be more sustainable, but now doesn't seem like the time and Julie definitely isn't the person to experiment on. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki brings over the first aid kit so that Julie can take another adrenaline tab. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Then everyone can strap in and she will attempt to launch. The launch...might knock me out? There are drugs for that but I'm really sick. If it does you should try to wake me up and if that fails I've told the computer to go to your moon I'm just not sure it'll work.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers glance at each other. :Right. We'll do our best: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:And we should all secure ourselves, right?: Fortunately they can do this with magic rather than try to figure out seating on the ship for this many people. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie cannot tell they're doing that and looks really confused. You need to be strapped in, the launch is going to straight-up kill you if you aren't strapped in.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Simplest with magic: Leareth tries to explain, blearily trying to share his mage-sight with her for a moment so she can see the bands of force holding everyone gently but snugly in place. It's nice; it means he can keep lying down. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Is it going to move with the ship?

Permalink Mark Unread

:It is anchored to us and to the ship surfaces, not the ground outside, so it ought to unless the drive interacts very strangely with magic or something? And we are all shielded as well, so we are much harder to injure than you would expect: Everyone has the best shield-talismans, ready to shift to the high-intensity shielding used in combat; it'll drain the stored mage-energy quickly, but apparently this isn't going to take long. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is not going to worry about this any further. 

Okay. Time to takeoff, sixty seconds. The system check is flashing a lot of warnings but none of them actually mean the ship cannot go or will not hold air (the back half won't hold air, but they're not in the back half).

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth closes his eyes and lies still, waiting. 

(All of his people are VERY NERVOUS.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie would try to cheer them up but she's honestly not totally sure this ship won't explode on them all. Thirty seconds.

 

 

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. 

There's a deafening roar. There's a perfectly standard amount of turbulence. There's a lot of gs. She maybe passes out, but if so it's very brief. 

We seem to not be dead, she observed tiredly, once the acceleration stops sitting on her chest quite so badly. Gonna tell this thing to go to the moon.

Permalink Mark Unread

The rest of Leareth’s people relax, but only a little. 

Leareth drowsily thinks prime numbers at the Proto, as a sort of apology.

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto is very happy. There are lots of resources in this reactor core. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie has her shuttle cruise to the moon and then disables all the beeping warnings because maybe they'll kill her and maybe they won't but if they don't they're going to drive her insane. 

You don't have to be strapped in now. Halfway through we'll flip, but I can warn you when it's coming up.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki wasn’t going to ask, but she’s very relieved about this. 

They leave Leareth’s mage-force restraints in place, since he has neither the physical strength nor spare magic to catch himself if something happens, and also he’s drifted back to sleep again.

They wait.

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie puts on a Belter home-directed-and-edited romantic comedy supposedly set aboard the generation ship the Mormons commissioned at Tycho. Hopefully it will be too incomprehensible to the locals for them to judge her taste in media.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is captivated! She slips in closer and watches intently the entire way. She has no idea what any of the characters are saying, of course, but if anything this makes it more intriguing.

(Most of Leareth’s other staff think they have more important things to do, like the ongoing Healing-and-monitoring of their two patients, or watching the outside of the ship and the behavior of the drive - and the Proto, of course, they don’t quite trust it not to start eating the ship they’re in before they even reach the moon…)

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it's not going to eat the reactor core, if it did then the reactor core would stop feeding it and that would slow down its growth a lot! It might eat some of the other unnecessary matter around here.

Permalink Mark Unread

The patients are stable aside from their ongoing opportunistic infections problems and their periodic more worrying problems with organs getting overwhelmed by all of the things that have happened to them recently and dying tissue releasing things into the bloodstream and stressed hearts contemplating taking a day off. 

The protomolecule has made Leareth's whole hand glowy.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers can stop the problems from spiralling into life-threatening problems, but this job is getting very tedious. 

Permalink Mark Unread

After a while Leareth wakes up, slightly less foggy than before. He spends a while just lying on his back and looking at his glowy hand, trying to figure out if he has normal sensation and motor control in it - it's sort of hard to tell because he's feeling weak and shaky in general. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He has motor control! He does not really have sensation.

Permalink Mark Unread

That's irritating. Leareth muses vaguely on what the Proto is getting wrong, here - as far as he knows from Healing-research he's read, these are both done by the body via nerve fibres - if Shavri were still here he would be more sure she could track down the problem and communicate it to the Proto, but it doesn't seem like the most urgent thing. 

:How much further until we reach the Moon?: he asks Julie, rolling over to try to get a look at her screens. 

Permalink Mark Unread

We're gonna flip in ten minutes, at the halfway point.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Is there a way to view outside the ship? I have never seen the stars from outside the atmosphere, before...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Awwww. Yeah, for sure.

And she turns the windows transparent.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth stares out. 

After a minute, he dredges up the energy to haul himself into a sitting position and get a better angle, even though it makes his head swim. Or maybe the slight blur to his vision is more related to the way his eyes are prickling a little, with some emotion that's oddly hard to name. 

They're on a ship in space. Really and truly. Despite all the frazzled planning that went into this, in a way it's only hitting him now. 

Not even the gods can reach them, here. 

He stares out at a million points of light, and knows that they aren't within reach, not yet, but they could be - they were, for whatever civilization once built the Proto and, presumably, sent it out toward alien stars... 

Eventually he turns his head - 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Inspires a lot of poetry. Before we'd settled any other planets people used to believe all kinds of optimistic things about how seeing how small and fragile the world is would make us defend it. But then, well, people had to be people.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

After a minute Leareth lies down again, but keeps watching the sky. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They reach the halfway point. All right, strap back in, we're going to flip.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki absently makes sure that Leareth and all the Healers who aren't mage-gifted themselves are secured, while not taking her eyes off the romantic comedy she's still watching intently. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The drive cuts out. The gravity cuts out. Julie stretches, relaxes, wiggles her toes. Then hits the thrusters, pinning everyone unpleasantly to their seats again while the ship rotates.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

The protomolecule Mindtouches Leareth. 

 

 

.̵̡̯̹͍̦͚͚̻̳͖̺̥̈́̄͆̆͌͐́̉̏̕͜͝͠|̶̛̳̱̦͌̍̍̒̎̍͊̔́͛͒́͝͝r̵̢͈̻͍̠͌͛̈́͗̌̾̂̋̈́͒̎͘͠ḛ̶̡̳͓̹̫̠͇̮̻̜̼͉̜͂̑̈̈́̃̋̊́̈́͝s̶̠̞̦͚̠̹̰̱̅̓́̓́̒̎ȯ̶̺̯̙̭̘̱̦̰̼͓̣̤͒̇̑ͅử̴̛̙̙͉͕̫̮̊̊͂̄̂͋̈́̾̄̊͝͝ṙ̶̡̭̘͇͎̉̔͋̔c̵̢͍̗̳̬̻̔e̷̛̥͙̱͉̼̥̞͖͑̃̈̉s̷͉̺͚͉̦̜̒́͆̏̀͋͘͝?̶̧̢̨͙̤̟͉͈̲̠̙̠̆́́͂̑̇̂̈́͆̂̇́͊̕͝ͅ*̸͍͓̭̏̆̅̄̊́̑̾͌̋͑̚͝͠  it asks plaintively.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Soon: he tries to reassure it. :Halfway there - look -: He shares the navigation-schematic from one of Julie's screens, not that it's necessarily in a format that will make any sense to the Proto; in his foggy-headed state it barely makes sense to him.

:You need to wait - stop growing until we are there -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

:̶̣̦̲̤̥͖̬̿̈͋̿́̓̑ͅ.̴̜̩͖̱͈͖̻͌;̷̧̢̬̠̤͓̪̗̞̳̖̫̞̤͐̍̏̋̓̽̋́̅͐̚̕͠͠͠'̴̪̈́͒̈́͋̌̽̆́̚"̴̛̗̹̦̊;̴̤̼͖̙̙͈̤̳̞̫͖̦̼̏́́̓̓̄̈̓͐͑͐̑̚͠'̷̧̲̭̦̝̟̜̖̩̩̱̦̱̉̓̽̍̀͊͑͛̌̓͒͋̓͜͝"̵̬̦͖̘̣̮̦̠̫͎̞́̋͂.̵̧̥̩̬͖̖͕̅́̎̈͑̒̀̎̌̒̊̚͠ͅ,̸̡͙̯̲̱͇̆͆̆̚.̵̨̰̼̬̔̈́͛̏̐̔͗̍̾̚!̷̼͖̤͍̻͍͗̃̈́̅̎̿̓̚͠ͅ.̵̧͎͕́̄l̶̨͖͉̖̳͎̤̲͎̖̗̱͍̍̒̽̈́͝;̵̛͙̰͕͎͎̱̻̗̔̍̑͛̀̎̑̇̊̑̆:̴̟̦̰̻̜̝̖͋̋̽̂̎͋̿̀́̌͜͝͝͠ị̵̡̪̲̭̠͇̦͔̎̕ͅl̴̝͍̬͖̻̩̫̔͐̃ͅį̷̼͓͎͎̘̞̩̰̖͇̪̺̄̊̈͘'̷͓̈́̐̄͛̽͝͝|̵͉̣̦̪͊̋͊̄̈́̐̃`̵̟͇̮̘̹̯̩̲̅͊͘~̸͍̙̠̮̈̐̃̓̇̕͝.̵̧̡̳̜̀̓̔͛̏̔̑̄̇́͝,̵̢̨̮̩͙̺̘̬͔̂̎̿̋̈́͑̎̂̕:̸̨̲̤̰̮̙̘̭̖͚̄̃̓̊̑̎̕͠

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

And now the drive is facing the moon and she can turn it on again. You can unstrap now, should be smooth sailing from here.

Permalink Mark Unread

It belatedly occurs to Leareth that maybe the Proto was upset about the drive being off. He's still pretty unclear on how the drive works

:Better now?: he asks it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̵̡̞̭͍͙̼̱͈̼̩̻̆̃̆̉̐̂ͅ:̶͔͍͉̼̹͖̙͖̮́r̸̪̤̻̗̥̞̭̝̫̟͔̺̟͑̈́̚ȩ̴͔̺͙̤̦̖͈͖̺̩͗̒̏͆̀̿̿͒ͅs̸̛̥͔̰͓͇͖̰͚̞̙̦̥͖̹̄̍̎͗͛́̀́̉̋͘͘͝͝o̵̧̬͍̰̭̟̳̬̠͎̟̣͉͑͆̒̀͛̓̐̎̃́͐̕u̸̧̨͈͚̪̞̪̱̻̟͠r̴̨͉͖̝̝̩̪̹͈͚͐̇̋̂̈́̈́͌̑͊̆̽͛͛̚͠c̷͙̺̉̔̾ḙ̵̫̻̌s̷̗̀̎́̈́̂͌!̴̡͕̈̓͛̈́̓:̴̢̢̛͔͉̰̮̦̳̳͇̳͚͎̮̽̈̀̽̊̏̂͆͝

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Belter lovers prevent a catastrophic ship failure and make up their differences. The moon approaches. Julie sets the ship to autopilot and tries very hard not to fall asleep and falls asleep anyway.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is trying much less hard not to fall asleep, but he's still awake a little longer than her, captivated by the starscape through the transparent windows. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki thinks the stars are pretty but the romantic comedy is a lot more compelling! 

She tries to pay some attention to what little she understands of the ship's navigation, though, and pokes Julie with a Mindtouch when she thinks they're almost there. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mmmmrgh why does she feel like she has an awful hangover and also spent the previous day shuttle racing and also someone kicked her in the ribs a few times and also she's allergic to this laundry detergent - oh, right, because she is infected by an alien parasite and on a weird medieval planet which she hopefully hasn't doomed to be eaten on her way to its moon. That's a pretty good reason, really.

 

Her vision is hazy and takes a while to clear up but she can confirm that the computers are on track to land. Strap back in, she advises everyone blearily.

Permalink Mark Unread

They do this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is woken by the g-forces of the thrusters, from a confused nightmare about fractals with some awful hidden flaw propagating through them. He's disoriented enough that if he were any less depleted of strength, he might well have managed to actually throw a levinbolt at the nearest sound, rather than failing to scrape together the strength for it before remembering where he is. 

:Is the Proto behaving?: he asks Nayoki. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's been watching the romantic comedy, but she can ask the mage-Farseer who she tasked with watching the (much less interacting) reactor core, now home to all the Proto crystals draped around it. Does it seem to be trying to eat any vital ship components? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It has eaten all the safety rails and walkways and so on but nothing critical to the reactor's functioning.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it's not like the Proto particularly needs safety railings. 

:As soon as we land you can eat the rock outside the ship: he tells it. :As much of it as you want. But not anything else in the ship itself: 

Permalink Mark Unread

???????????!, says the proto.

Permalink Mark Unread

It makes a lot of sense that the Proto is confused! And it's still frustrating. 

:Some resources are being used for other things and those things would break if you ate them. But the rock here is not being used for anything else, and so you can safely eat it so that you will be bigger and stronger and understand more things, and - then it will be less confusing: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

They land. Julie unstraps herself. One small step for man, she says very tiredly, because she feels like it's her duty or something, and then she falls back asleep.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth hauls himself into a sitting position again, since this at least makes it harder to fall asleep by accident, and briefly tries to think how they can let the Proto out to eat rock without also letting all the air out - oh right... 

He pictures the Gate-inverting motion it did before, pictures the Proto extruding some of itself onto the Moon's surface that way, pushes that concept across to it with a note of approval and encouragement. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto is upset again that the drive is off but after a little thought it Gates some of itself out onto the surface of the moon.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth stays awake for a while to see if it's going to manage eating the rock and growing or if it needs more coaching - or more cows or something, though he hopes not, getting them here would be such a challenge even by Gate. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a lot of it, by now. It had been fairly compressed, in the ship; here, it spreads out across the ground, looking a bit like a glowing pool of water with something moving beneath the surface, and it covers almost an acre of ground. 

It doesn't seem to need any coaching. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ask me if you have questions later: Leareth tells it, in vague hope that once it's smarter it might have some new kinds of understanding, and then he curls up on his bedroll on the floor of the ship sitting on the Moon, and goes to sleep. 

He dreams of seeing Velgarth from space, a blue-green-brown marble swirled with clouds, and as a backdrop, fractal patterns tracing leaps between the stars...

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the Healers hands out food from a pack of it. They finish setting up their makeshift buckets-and-tank for cleaning wastewater and making it drinkable again. 

They wait, unsure what comes next. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nothing visibly happens right away except that the blue area spreads, slowly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Lotta hurry-up-and-wait, in war and space travel, Julie observes, when she next wakes up, a while later. Her lungs feel full of proto again but it's doing a better job; she can still breathe. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Definitely seems like that's the case: The Healer hands her a waterskin of fruit juice. :Drink up, please: 

Some of Leareth's mages are grabbing their own turns napping; they're planning to sleep in shifts, here.

Permalink Mark Unread

She's so sick of fruit juice. She obediently tries to drink it, though. Puts on a new show. 

 

Her kidneys have been very busy filtering all the bizarre things happening in her blood and are starting to have a breakdown about it.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's Healers are really wishing they had Shavri here for this - she's sort of inexplicably incredible at the particular intersection of 'figuring out what's going wrong' and 'actually communicating to the Proto how to stop breaking everything'. 

The woman with the best fine-detail Sight has a close-up look at Julie's kidneys, though, and tries to push across to the Proto their sense of what's currently going wrong and what it needs to do differently to address it, while the others focus on dumping Healing-energy into her and directly Healing the struggling organs. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It will try even though Julie is a very bad design and very hard to live in.

Permalink Mark Unread

Can the Proto...have a bit less of itself in Julie? Now that they know it can relocate at all, the Healer with the strongest Mindspeech and best mental-visualization ability starts trying to explain to the Proto that maybe it could...move some of its activity out of Julie and into the rock outside the ship? 

(They do this very cautiously, since at this point the Proto has actively replaced a bunch of Julie's tissue and having her be infected is...probably not reversible, but maybe they can at least lighten the load?) 

Permalink Mark Unread

There should be more of it outside the ship but it doesn't really comprehend why there should be less of it in Julie.

Permalink Mark Unread

Is 'because they're asking nicely' at all persuasive? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is so confused and frustrated!!!!!!! It echoes back everything they are saying at them in their own voices at increasing speed.

Permalink Mark Unread

...All right they will stop asking it to do things when it clearly isn't following, and just focusing on throwing as much Healing as they can at Julie and trying to catch up a little. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth eventually wakes up; yet again he's pretty sure he feels worse than before, and isn't sure if this is because of the infection or the recent g-forces he subjected his body to. 

He asks Julie if there's any reason they can't run the drive for a while, without actually going anywhere, maybe just going in circles around the Moon? The Proto seems to find that energy helpful and he wants to let it grow, now, so it'll be smarter and he'll have more hope of teaching it various concepts necessary for actual cooperation here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's not much left on the thrusters but I guess it's not that hard to take off from a moon. We shouldn't plan on being able to land again, though, if you wanna go hang out in orbit now.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Noted: Sigh. :I need to...think it over...: 

Leareth spends a while trying to do this, and feeling like he's definitely failing to think of a number of probably-important considerations, but asking Nayoki to help doesn't turn up anything new. 

Eventually he tries to ask the Proto, mostly in mental images rather than words, whether it'll cause any trouble if they have the ship in orbit (and presumably some of the Proto there to take in the tasty resources from it), while the rest of the Proto works on eating the moon? Will it be able to move itself to rejoin the ship once it's done growing? Or - and this part is more hypothetical and harder to picture - eventually cast a Gate big enough to just move the ship and itself through? 

Permalink Mark Unread

?

Permalink Mark Unread

...Okay, he's pretty sure the grown Proto will be able to handle arbitrary sized Gates just fine. 

He's also pretty sure they don't want to wait for the Proto to literally build a wormhole, to Earth or anywhere else, that seems like overkill for their problem and also way too time-consuming. But that conversation will be easier to have in a day or two when there's more Proto. 

:I think we should take the shuttle to orbit and use the drive: he tells Julie, wearily, and closes his eyes again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

All right. 

 

Strap in, she tells everyone, and sets the autopilot, and closes her eyes, just for a bit, on the ride up.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is exhausted enough that he nods off a bit despite the acceleration. Lately it feels like even just Mindspeaking the Proto leaves him tired. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki checks in with the Healers. 

She's worried. About both of the patients, because they're going to need Julie if they want to make contact with her world in a non-politically-disastrous way, but moreso about Leareth. Leareth is her person. She doesn't know what any of them would do, here, without him. 

- of course, there's the echo-of-Leareth that lives inside the Proto, now, but she has no idea how to relate to that, and her thoughts bounce away. She goes back to watching Julie's current show. Wondering if it makes sense to try to learn the language, for when they do travel to Earth. 

(...If. It's still an if, not a when.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is out for twelve hours. The show concludes and the next one on the computers is a drone cooking show. The one after that is low-gravity sports. The one after that is a show about a polycule raising a toddler on an orbital science station. 

 

Julie has a couple of quiet seizures, visible to Healing-Sight and not very visible otherwise.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers try to half-wake her every once in a while to get more fluids down her. This is annoying enough that eventually they pull in one of the mages who also has Fetching and Mindspeech, to see if they can piece together some concert-work arrangement that lets them Fetch small amounts of fluids and nutrients into her stomach without needing the 'swallowing' step. 

They're alarmed about the seizures, and focus on throwing Healing-energy at her brain to mitigate the negative effects, plus tracing down whatever metabolic or other abnormalities are triggering this.  

Permalink Mark Unread

They're just waiting, now. Leareth mostly stops trying to do any planning, or strategizing, or really having coherent thoughts at all. Save his energy for when it matters most. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto spreads out thin and shimmery across the sunny parts of the moon, and eats, and eats, and grows.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers figure out their Fetching technique. Now the biggest problem is that Julie is incredibly protein-deficient, and this is a lot harder to address by fetching spoonfuls of easy-to-digest liquids into her stomach. Also her digestive system isn't working that well thanks to all the Proto involvement. They're really hoping that the medicine in Julie's world will have better solutions to this, but they don't have that yet

Maybe they can make some protein-goo by sort of mashing beef jerky in a bit of water, and then - attempt to show the Proto close-up Healing-Sight of one of the nearby examples of a healthy human gut, then the comparison with Julie, and try to convey that it needs to help get more of these particular nutrients into her bloodstream?

(Julie's bowels are also very sluggish and half-shut-down, since she hasn't been eating anything solid for so long, but for now they'll intervene just enough to try to head off an actual bowel obstruction.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

The next time she's awake at the same time as Leareth she asks him worriedly will it, uh, tell us. When it's ready?

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth hasn't had many periods of alertness recently.

:- I will ask it for a time estimate: 

Very blurrily, he tries to Mindtouch the Proto and ask how many seconds until it's big enough for a Gate to Earth. He can specify how long a second is but he's not concentrating very well and all the concepts are coming across kind of muddled. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

.̶̧̛̔͌͊̊̀̾̽̈͗͊̃͠:̷̨̨͇͔̯͎̠͓̜̠̩̞̫̗̪́̀́̋̆́̄́͐̄̀̓͝D̵̲̠̗̤̿̍̈́̋͘e̷̬̎͌̂̋̄̀̏͠p̷̡͚̿̾̐̒͐͂͊̅́̐̽̎̈a̸̧̛̜͍̺̫̘̓͗̋̌r̸͈͕̦͍͇̠͔̜̻̬̥̋̎͗̒͆̔̅͐̽t̴̛͎͔͈̫̝̹̂̀͗̎͋̈̐̽͘ū̷̲̞͎̍̃̀̀̓́̿͒̈r̷̡͚̪̬̠̥̠͆̈́̉̌̾͂̚͜͠ë̸̢̡̜͖̭̞̦̩͚̼̥͖̖̳́ͅ ̷̧̧̲̖̫̘̼̀͂͝͝ï̷̡̟͍̼̻̟͈̯̲̃̐̓̆̚̕͝n̸̛̛̙͇̞̖̤̄̐͗̏͌͗̌͛̎̈́́ ̸̨̝̮̯͖̮͎̾̃͂̅̋͝͝͠ͅͅṱ̴̨̢̧̢̥̮̼͙̖̝́̏͗̎͜ͅȩ̴̤̳͔͎̭̦̾͂̓́n̵̪̝̯̥̤͔̘̑̀́̃́̐͠ ̶̨̛̰̫͇̲̱̖̟̹̮͉͆̌̔̽́͊́͛͌̑̋̚̚ͅs̶̻̪̤͚̃̿ḛ̸̢͔̤̙̲̝̄͒̿̏̋͠č̸̞̫̝͚̮̟̬̞͍̽̏̔̅̿͜͜ó̸̧̨̟͖̱̱͚̘̯̂̌̄ņ̷̡̘̘̲͍̓̈́̏̉̏͗̂̀̔͐̉͜͝d̴̢̬̳̠̬̮͇̋̏̋́̃̍̋̀̋̀̍͊̚͝s̶̡̱̥̲̟͎̹͓͚̭͎͓̮͙̅͜?̴̦̰̳̰͕̝̆͊̌̍̉̆͊́́̈́͌͗͌̅͂:̷̨̬̥̳̠̈́̿̀̄̔̅̏͌̀͜͜

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:No! Not yet. But - you could?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̶̛͙͍̥̗̗̲͇̮̯̲͋͌̌̊̏͌͆̇͒̚͜͝͝:̶̧̣̼͉̺̑͌͜͝l̴̨͍̘̰̰͔͙̳̰̗͔̾́͛́̉ơ̵̹͇͐͊̽̒̃̃̑̍͝c̶̖͉̞̟͔͊ͅḁ̶̧̛̱͎̳̒t̵̛̼̥͓̻̭̙̝̑̿̅̆͂͌̈́̃̔̀͘ỉ̴͇̖̲̗̟̗̓̓͊͋͗̿̅̍̇͌o̴̭̍͐͛̃̿̑̍ņ̴̬̬̣̩̠͇̞͍̂̏̂̂̄̓̐̕ ̷̨̨͉̻̙̳̦͚̠͉̝̺̩̖̫͂̎̑͗͌̑͐̈́̓͛͘ò̶̧̨̰̮̙̮̞͖̖̮̲̐͌̈́͂f̷͎̼͋̓̀̇̃̌̃̍̔͛͂̌͝͝ͅ ̵̩̯̺̲̦̲͉̖̥͂́̃o̵̢̠̯͚͉̿̔̓̅͆͐̈́͂̏̈́̎̋t̸͉̫̜͇̮̙̦̖͉͕̺͚̂͆͛̓́̕ḧ̸̛͔̯̞͔͍̘̳́̄̇̌͂̾̀͊̕̕ͅé̸͈̹̖̰̾́̌͒̐̏̀͋̏̕̕ͅř̴͍̹̱̬̮̦̰͎͙ ̸̧̻̝̖̮͕̤̞͍̙̬̦̬̠̆͆͊͘p̷̧̛͕̩͇͑͌͆̇̉́͆̄́̾̃̾̋̋r̸͔̩̘͙̤͊o̷̢̨̨̪̹̭̯̘̗̻̰̻̰̹̠̊̉̓̒͝ţ̵̦̼͕͖͙̠̔̐̿̇̓̏̀͋͊͜͝ͅǫ̶͚̙̫̰̟̼̤͉̥͎̊ͅḿ̸͍͉͖̬̞̝̓̑̓͐̅̂̚͝͝͝͠͝o̴̧̺̻̎̃͛͗͂͛͋̃̆̀̚l̶͚͕̰̺̱͕̳̪͍͔̻̥̫͉̄̇̅̏̚ȩ̶̡͓̺̹̱̲͂͗̆͊͐̏̌͌̑̔̽̅͜͝c̵̢͕̟̥͎͍̭̘̺̞̄̆̀̓̈̂̓͗̕̚͝ų̵̧̺͙̦̗͇̭̹̉̈́͘l̶̪̰͙̐̔̈́͂̀e̶̡͍͔̩̲̮̤̼̜̹̺̒͆̆͒͑̐̓̍͛͜͝ ̸̣̜̜̺̒͑͐̾̀̈́͆̕w̸̧̛̬̜̤̌̃̈́̎͒̃̆̃͆̕͝ͅi̸̧̛̠͓̝̳̦͔͚̳͉̲͎̲̬͈͊̈̋̊̑̆̉̽͆̿̾t̷̙̘͗̾͋̾̃̓̑̒͂͠h̴̜̝͓̜̠̼̺̫͗̈̈́͛ ̴̢͍͉̬͔̱̯̦̯̹̥͎̳͋̾̃̔͝į̶̣̱̝̰̮̩̥̀͆͑́̒̑͛́̀͐͊͠ͅn̴̛̹̗̹͉͍̈́̽̈́̂̾͂̽ͅc̶̢̝̗̭̣̫̦̫͉̦̱̞͎̤͗̃̑̾̊͆̀̈́͜ô̸̡̢̝̦̜̬̼̙͈̞͔͈͓͑̄m̶̧͉̪̖͇̖̗̾̄̑͋̑̍͘̚̕͘p̸͎͂̈́͊͂̈́͝l̷̠̖̭̠͎̱̘̘̘͓̂̆̽́̎ȩ̶̘͕͎̣̝̠͓̞̯̬͖̈́̉͝ͅͅẗ̶̢̡̝͚̣̻͓̺̞́̄̃̎̿͂̌͊͛̈̾͝ͅȩ̸̢͖̻̙̱̺̱̭͖̎̔̀̿ ̷̨̟̙̻̣͆̎̊́̃͊̄͒̽̂̉̐̚W̷͕̝̫̯̯̥͌͐̇̀̋̾̃͜͜ǒ̴̡̢͉̹̠͍̖̭̠͓̥͈̚r̷͕̽̈́̓̋̈̊̈̾̾̊̎̀̏̍͠k̴̰̬̂̌̅̈:̶̯̪͚̺̈́̉̇̔͋ͅ ?

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Yes. If there is only one other such location, it must be that: 

Leareth is trying to remember if this is the first time the Proto has referred to itself so specifically, musing on whether this shows another jump in its intelligence. 

...oh, right, another conversation he should have. :We left some of you behind: A mental image of the room that the Proto Gated most of itself out of to climb into the ship. :Can you - stop growing there? Let it stay dormant?:

The alternative is trying to destroy what was left behind. Probably by Final Strike, now that the ship is occupied elsewhere and the thrusters are out of fuel anyway. There are several reasons why Leareth prefers not to resort to that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

.̸̧̺̦̗̹͎͎̈́̃͗͛̌̅̾́̒̊̚͘͜͝͝;̸̛͓͛͒͊̈́͒̍͠t̸̰̯͓̲̫͉̬̪̗̃̓̆͜ͅh̴̤̠̱̑̂͒̇͊̏̿̀̍́̄̏̕̚͠e̸̯̞͚̳̝̔̅̀͋͂̈͌̏̕ ̶͈̬͍̠̣̩̚W̴̮̮͎͖̮̙̹̞̞̓̊͌̓̀̎͗̈́̈́̿̕͜͝͝͠͠ͅo̷̤̱̖̰̳̬̫̦̫̳͚̹̖̦̟̐̿̉̓̑̍͛̐̍̐̑̑̊͝ŕ̷̡̠̬̬͚͙͉͔̬̗̬̯̬̓̽̀͂͐̈́̎͝ͅͅk̴̡̘̭͈̱̲̞͠ ̸̼̙̥̪̽̆̈́̀͛̔̔́͗̚̚͝i̶͕̺͚̳̮͋̃͗̕ͅs̴̛̻̖̼̘̔̃̈́̑̾ͅ ̷̧̡͍̗̠̫̯̪̹̣͔̙̽͌͂̈̽̌̓̑̆̐ͅͅḯ̵̧̢̡̧̛͍̪̗̼͓̮͓͈͓̅̒̐̎́̀̚̚n̶̨̛̹͖͙̪̠̼͈̻̦̞̺̫͂͗͒̉̽͑̾̇̈́̔̕ç̶̲͒͛o̴̠̣̮̙̱̭͔̝͚̖̪͌̌͑͋͑͒̿̀̀̉̚̕m̸̡̛̞̦͎̒̈́̾̇͛͒͋̀̌͝͠ͅͅͅp̶̖̤̈́l̵͎̳͌e̵̛̘̩͉̹̬̘͍̩͔̰̮̺̋̈͆̽̎̀͠ť̶͈͈̣̽̅͒̚͝͝͝e̷̡̢͍̦̻̩̝̣̳̹̲̙͊́̕ͅ ̸̙̙̗̣͖̖̜̮̿͛̈́̏́͌̊̚h̵̨̢̢͕̖͍͚̞̯͔̘̰̤̥̠̊e̵̢̨̝̫̫͇͖̲͍̲̭̥͆̃̈̑͋̽͊r̸̯͇͙̥̬̣̳̩̱̱̤̞͋͐͂̊͛̽͐̓͐͑͌͜͜͠é̶͙̟͇̦̋͊̓̀̚ ̴͉̘͈̗͋̎͋a̸̡̟͔̙̹̘͇̻̰̱̘͖̪̋̅̍̆̎̓̃̊̐͒̚͘͝͝͝ľ̵̨͈̣͍̻̜̹̖̎̏̓̈́̆̍̈́̋̏̇̕͜͝ͅs̵̯̰̼̰͓̏̉̊̑̽͘͠͝ͅo̶̤̭͐̆̉̓̈́̿̀͂͗͘͘:̸̠͙̗̬̐͛͋͌̊̏͑̕͝͝

Permalink Mark Unread

:We do not need the Work done here. You were sent to Earth, not here -: 

Leareth stops. Thinks briefly. A wormhole to another star...would be incredible. And have a million different ramifications which he's far too tired to think through right now, but. 

:...Not yet. Maybe later: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

....stubbornness.  :̵̡̧̛̥̭̗̬̦̗̟̀͒͝C̸̡̞͉̼̟̮͙̝̪̉́̅̄̄̽̾̎̂̉̊̈́͛͝o̷̧͚̮̙̯̰͓̰͎͊̉̀̍͋̍̃̒̂̀͗̈́m̴̖̱͊́p̴̤͙̦̓̋̍́̾l̷̠̏͛̆͂͊̿̋̎̋̎̽͘͝͠ȩ̶̢̤̹͎͉͈̻̱͕̳̻̻̥̽͗́͐̋͆̏̌̌͋̑̚ͅt̵̢͙̙̲̪̠͚̞̥͈̭̻̍͒̐é̴̢̧̨̠͚̟͔̜͛̿̓̋ͅ ̷̧̘͕̗̞̼̄̈́͒̏̕͝t̸̙͈̳̏́̀̉͊̄̓͌̆ḩ̸̧̧̧͖̟̼̙͖̤̥̭̝͇̞́̀̃ë̵̜̩͕́͆͛̇̂̎̑͗̿͑̂̀̇ ̶̛̰̞͎͕̎́̆̽̑̀͗̓͒́W̷̜͍͙͓̊ő̷̧̡͎̺̞̺̗̙̲̻̭͓̓̆͝ŗ̸̛͖̮̣̟̺̹̣̮͑͋̀̄̄̓͗͊̈̾͝ǩ̵̡̭͇̫͎͎̼̼̬̻̠́̏̿̒ͅͅ.̴͖͔͇̗͉̦̙͆̈́͐̽̽̚:̸̛̪̰͇̲̟̻̠͇̰̖̼̂̎̇̎̾̾̋̾̒̓́́͘͝ͅ

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth can hold his own, when it comes to stubbornness. :No. Wait: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 The protomolecule does not respond further but it's evident even from its extremely alien thoughts that it does not consider itself obliged to listen to Leareth about this.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well. Then Leareth is going to activate his talisman against Thoughtsensing to full strength, since apparently the Proto has Thoughtsensing now - though of course it's in his brain, too, but hopefully his nonverbal thoughts aren't very comprehensible to it yet - and he passes on some directionally-shielded instructions to Nayoki, who together with the mages should be able to figure out how to boost the comms spell enough to reach Velgarth from the goddamned Moon. 

They should leave the remnants of protomolecule alone. Hopefully they'll go dormant anyway, once the rest is gone and it's in a cavern with only rock surrounding it. If it starts growing, they can Mindspeak it and ask it to stop. If it doesn't listen...

They should wait as long as they can, but they have his instructions to take it out by massed Final Strike before this becomes impossible. 

Incredibly drained after this, Leareth tells the Proto it can keep eating, sleepily relays to Julie that apparently the Proto could go now but he wants to rest a little first, and then closes his eyes again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto eats the moon in silence.

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie tries to rest too. This is surprisingly hard considering it is all she's been doing lately.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth can fall asleep easily enough, though he keeps being woken by the various not-exactly-mysterious aches and pains in his body. The main problem is ever waking up feeling actually-rested

At some point it'll have to be good enough. The Proto has spread out over quite a lot of moon, now. 

He drags himself as awake as he can manage. Briefs Nayoki on the plan. 

:Julie? I think we should go: It keeps being tempting to see if the Proto will be easier to communicate with as it gets bigger, but there are time constraints on the other end, too. :Do you have any instructions I could try to give the Proto, on where to Gate to exactly? I assume we do not wish to immediately draw the attention of the authorities on Earth. Or Mars: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. Uh, if it's moving the whole ship it can just drop us in space somewhere in the system, out past Mars, and we can get to Ceres from there.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I doubt it would know 'Mars' by name - how many planets out from the star is it...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Fourth one.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, then Leareth will try to instruct the Proto that, when he says it's time, he wants it to do a Gate to somewhere in space well outside the orbit of the fourth planet from the sun, and to pull all of itself as well as the ship through to the other side. And then they can help the other protomolecule there with its Work. 

(And with not murdering everyone Julie has ever known, ideally.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Now?

Permalink Mark Unread

He takes a few deep breaths. 

Warns everyone to secure themselves, just in case, he has no idea what this sort of Gate will be like. 

(And, of course, he feels very unready for whatever is going to be waiting for them on the other side...) 

:Now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

And a tiny Gate opens in the air, swells neatly to encompass them, and as soon as it has done so they are -

 

- in a cargo hold of some kind, on a ship -

Permalink Mark Unread

- shit did you tell it to do that -

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule keeps peaceably expanding its Gate to encompass the whole of Julie's ship, which is quite obviously not going to all fit on this other ship.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Stop! Not here!: 

Leareth tries to conceptually show the Proto how the ship will definitely not fit in this cargo hold, and the other ship will break, and that would be destroying resources. 

:Go back, start again - no - move the Gate. Move it - a million yards: Surely, hopefully, that's far enough not to hit anything important. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Exasperation, and then the Gate moves, and deposits their ship in the vacuum of space.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Jesus fuck what -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:I did not ask it to do that but I also did not tell it to please avoid Gating into any ships and I clearly ought have: Leareth is slightly hyperventilating. He forces his breathing to slow. :Did you recognize that ship. I...have an inkling... I think that the rest of the Proto might be there: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She stares at her instruments. "That's a... gas hauler with Baratnas Gas - it's hailing us -" 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"ID yourself and what the fuck was that."

Permalink Mark Unread

She suddenly cannot think of even a mildly convincing lie. "We're as confused as you are. Our instruments were showing empty space right up until we practically ran into you. It's a crappy old panel, I'd attribute it to that except - did you not see us either?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"ID."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Anubis 1A, en route to Ceres."

Permalink Mark Unread

Dead silence from the other end of the line.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...They could transmit a warning to the authorities. Right. If they wanted to, and - guess what is happening here -?: 

Leareth wants more time to think, not an instant emergency, but. 

:Nayoki. Did you see enough of the interior to Gate to the other ship: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She knows exactly what Leareth is planning and she doesn't like it. :Yes. I think so: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Adrenaline gives Leareth a trickle more alertness. :Please Gate to the other ship. Immediately set-command anyone within your range to stop doing thi– to stop anything that is not essential to the continuing function of the ship - and then come back. I want a mage-Thoughtsenser and a Healer to cross, they will check for other crew outside your radius, and look for any signs of the Proto there. Do it now. Fast: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki doesn't like this at ALL, but when Leareth gives orders in that tone, you don't hesitate. 

She lifts her hand and raises a freestanding Gate and shoves her head across; she has quite a lot of range, for a Mindhealer, she can hit anyone within a hundred yards, or fifty yards if there are metal walls in the way. And her Thoughtsensing is extended, and should be able to cover the entire ship and warn her if anyone is outside her range. 

In about half a second she's sticking her head through. 

:STOP:

:- continue ONLY activities essential to ship function: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Power down and prepare to be -" he is in the middle of saying to the Anubis 1A, and then he stops talking.

Permalink Mark Unread

"- what did you do - those are Belters -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:They will not be injured, just - temporarily stopped from doing things - sorry but I am not leaving anything to chance here -: 

He does pause briefly, though. 

:...Julie, if they are Belters, I - suspect I will want you to explain. After we check things: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Baratnas is a Belter gas company.

 

 

Though they were absolutely about to tell Julie's ship to hold still and be boarded, which - doesn't make any sense -

Permalink Mark Unread

It's been scarcely ten seconds since the Gate went up.

The Healer is through and looking for any hint of Proto life-force to Healing Sight, two mages are through and shielding Nayoki and the still-open Gate, and Nayoki is finishing her Thoughtsensing check of who she just got with her set-commands and whether there are any minds that are in her Thoughtsensing but not Mindhealing range. 

And ruthlessly reading their surface thoughts while she's at it, if they're not shielded which she's guessing they won't be since they don't even have Mindspeech here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is Proto in a sealed metal compartment in the middle of this storage bay! 

 

 

There are four minds on this ship; she got the nearest two of them. The other two are racing towards the bridge not because they know their ship is being invaded but because they were alerted urgently fifteen seconds ago that the other ship is claiming to be the Anubis 1A.

Permalink Mark Unread

And it did something in the room with the protomolecule, though they weren't able to figure out how and now figuring out whether the protomolecule is still there will have to wait -

Permalink Mark Unread

Probably they should just fire on the other ship now and ask questions of the debris afterwards.

Permalink Mark Unread

Damn it where is that person - she's not a Farseer - Nayoki snaps out some mental orders to the mage who is a Farseer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- and who is feeling VERY in over his head, but he's one of Leareth's elite mages for a reason. He can get Farsight coverage on the mind-location Nayoki is showing him within about a second, and he can't do unscaffolded Gates but he's practiced Gating on anythign even vaguely reminiscent of a doorway and he can whip his mental 'eyes' around and find something that works and then Gate, another two seconds, and then he'll be in range to throw some compulsions at this person -

Permalink Mark Unread

Who is climbing a ladder down to the bridge, and now falls.

 


What the fuck.

Permalink Mark Unread

Indeed, what the fuck!

Permalink Mark Unread

- gas? She holds her breath and heads over to the control systems to try to see if there's anything on the cameras - wow, there sure is something on the cameras - 

- can she vent that section of the ship before they get to her

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage tries to sort of cushion the person's fall with a force-net, he didn't mean to actually hurt him, and then he looks around for anyone else who needs compulsioning to STOP. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow that is not a reassuring thought at ALL.

To the nearby Healer and the second mage who crossed with her:

:Shields up and stand by for emergency Gate out -: 

And to the other mage who's just Gated across the ship, she shoves the new location-sense of this other woman's mind. 

:Here. Stop her. Now. Fast: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's going to be EXHAUSTED after two back-to-back crash Gates from Farsight, but sure he can do that. It'll take about another fifteen seconds to land the Farsight coverage, find a usable threshold-scaffolding, and get the Gate up, though. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, who has no idea what's happening, waits tensely. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- how are those people moving - and they're not even in combat gear, what the fuck - 

 

And then she, too, stops moving.

 

 

...this is definitely some kind of bizarre nightmare.

Permalink Mark Unread

Is that everyone on the ship. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is one more person on the ship! He's asleep.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, she doesn't want to exhaust all her people. 

Julie's ship is still close enough for her to reach Leareth with Mindspeech. 

:Threat under control for the moment. Locating remaining crew - person - on board, not currently a threat. Will question the other captives. They - seem to have reacted with hostility to the ship's identification: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth...is pretty sure he told her not to go across? 

She's handling herself fine, of course, unsurprisingly. 

:Proceed, then. Update as you learn more: 

He sits up, reaches for Julie's mind. :They seemed hostile toward your ship, once you identified yourself. Can you think of any reason why that would be the case: 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Nayoki snaps out orders to the team; the second mage can go with the Healer, who has strong Mindspeech, to find a way to reach and then and restrain the sleeping crewmember or whatever-they-are, the other mage can catch his breath for a bit and then compulsion the woman to follow him and herd her to join the other prisoners, who Nayoki will head to herself. Finding their way around their ship is going to be annoying and slow them down - if the sleeper wakes up and is hostile, she'll have the order the mage-Farseer to Gate again, but they should try to avoid making a commotion so this doesn't happen.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

...maybe what the Anubis did is publicly known?

 

- god, maybe they've attacked Eros already...

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Oh: 

 

 

:I...can ask the Proto if there is more of it in this star system - I think it would know - I can ask it to stop consuming more stable replicators, if the other parts of it are doing that...: 

Actually doing the asking, in a clear and Proto-translated enough way to get it across, is a lot more effort, but he pushes through. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

There is more! Only a little bit more!

Permalink Mark Unread

...Can it give him any information on the other part's immediate surroundings? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

If he asks it to stop growing over there, and 'over there' is in possession of Mars or Earth - he's managed to lose track of which faction has it, again, the geopolitics here is confusing and he's out of it - then it might raise suspicions. On the other hand, if he doesn't do that it could be eating people. 

:Please keep to minimal resource consumption there: he tells it. :For the moment, until we - understand the situation here: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is tossing Mindspeech-impressions back and forth with the Farseer, trying to piece together a mental map of the ship's interior and where the various incapacitated crew are located. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Two of them are on the bridge; one is on the deck above that, and the woman is down near the reactor core.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, the mage-Farseer can start hustling the woman from there to the bridge, and Nayoki will - maybe relocate the two on the bridge to the deck above, so they won't be right by the command center of the ship if they somehow slip loose of the various mental controls and want to shoot at Julie's ship. 

How direct a route from the cargo bay to the bridge can she find? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer and other mage are still trying to chart a route to the sleeper. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's a single central ladder used to move between levels of the ship. The very low gravity is a bit disconcerting, but otherwise it's perfectly navigable.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki reaches the bridge - not making any particular effort to conceal herself - and has a look around, both at the physical surroundings and also the prisoners' surface thoughts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is bizarre and terrifying! How did these people stow away on the ship? They checked it pretty thoroughly after the last time someone stowed away on the ship!!!!! Did they somehow get here from the bizarrely nearby ship - but how would you possibly board a ship secretly - 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Anubis. The people who nuked the Cant. He's going to punch them. Somehow.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Walk up the ladder: Nayoki orders them. 

And in her normal Mindvoice, 

:We are not the ones who harmed your people. I promise. I am sorry to hear of it. We will - try to explain, soon - but it seems likely that whoever did this, they are our enemies as well: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What now they're psychic?

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems encouraging that they are claiming not to have nuked the Cant but what are the odds there are two different secret unknown factions with bizarre unexplained abilities running around.

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't bother with anything else, yet, just commands them to follow her until they reach the third crewmember on the next floor, at which point she starts throwing together some simple physical restraints with mage-energies. It's not like these people have any Gifts to resist with, and it's less invasive than leaving set-commands on them.

...She does think to look for weapons, first, both with her eyeballs and via a bit of digging in their minds. 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of them has a Martian machine gun slung over his shoulder. The others aren't armed.

Permalink Mark Unread

She relieves him of the gun and makes sure all three are very restrained and then takes off the set-commands. :I apologize for that: No reason not to be polite; the assumption is that these people are Julie's allies, after all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Elsewhere, the mage-Farseer is still hustling the woman toward Nayoki's current location. 

Have the Healer and her mage-partner managed to find a route to the sleeping person yet? 

Permalink Mark Unread

These people consider the apology bullshit.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Who the fuck are you."

Permalink Mark Unread

"How did you board the Roci?"

Permalink Mark Unread

A route to the bunks has been found!

Permalink Mark Unread

She doesn't understand the language at all but she can pick up the meanings from their surface thoughts okay. 

:My name is Nayoki. I work for a man named Leareth. We are both from - another world, one we call Velgarth. The Anubis landed there - by accident, somehow - and eventually we found a way to travel here, by magic, to - pass on warning about the protomolecule. But it seems you are already aware of that threat?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

(The sleeping person is compulsioned to HOLD STILL and then woken with a firm Mindtouch.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"Okay, here's an idea, what if you stop saying things that don't make any sense and try, instead, saying things that do make sense."

Permalink Mark Unread

Sleeping person wakes! He's so confused!

 

 

(His eye collects an urgent report for his superiors...)

Permalink Mark Unread

The 'eye' shows up to Healing Sight as...not biological? Which is honestly REALLY COOL and the Healer immediately wants to ask so many questions about medical technology here. 

:What is your name and role on this ship?: she asks instead, since his surface thoughts are not immediately informative. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Urgh what - uh. Kenzo. I just ended up here by accident, I'm not even with them - who are you with -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:That’s none of your business right now: the Healer says, because this is easier than trying to figure out how much Leareth would be okay with her saying. :Who are you with, if not them?:

Permalink Mark Unread

"Nobody! I just had to get out of town in a hurry and stowed away on this ship!" He's lying.

Permalink Mark Unread

This seems really complicated! She feels so unqualified to deal with it! The mage she's with doesn't have any more training in interrogating prisoners than she does - that's a different team, generally - and he's not a Mindspeaker. 

:You're lying: she says coldly to the captive. :How did you really end up on this ship: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are you Earthers, who do you work for -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Not Earth. No one you know, I imagine. Why are you here: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't want any trouble. I'm going to get off the ship as soon as we get to Eros."

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. This is impossible. Maybe she can just...leave it...and make Nayoki come back. 

:Stay here -: she starts. :- Oh, wait. Your eye - whose medical technology is that? Does this ship have a medic, do they have access to that kind of tech, if not who would, where...?: 

She does, after all, have two critically ill patients, both of whom might benefit from medical technology that can provide REPLACEMENT ORGANS - if they do eyes can they do hearts -

Permalink Mark Unread

Ah shit they noticed. Most people don't. "It's a prosthetic," he lies. "I was injured in a car accident, a couple decades ago." It's a video recorder. It reports to his boss.

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. 

(She is not trained for spy work, and is mostly internally screaming and, in the background, disappointed that it's apparently NOT amazing medical technology.) 

She manages to think on her feet. 

:Oh, right. That's very neat: 

Is it reporting to his boss RIGHT NOW? She really hopes that he knows whether or not it is and that she'll be able to find it in his surface thoughts by staring a bit closer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He is in fact thinking about that! He needs the ship's computers to make a transmission from here, and that's going to be hard to do. Once they're somewhere with internet access it'll report automatically.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, they can keep him from getting to the computers. And then hopefully someone else who isn't her will be able to figure this crap out. 

What else should she– oh, right, of course. 

:What do you know about the protomolecule?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The what?" Not lying, this time.

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. 

:Nevermind. Stay in this room for now: 

She asks the mage to stay and guard him, and heads off to rejoin Nayoki. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Who is still on the bridge, waiting for the mage-Farseer to reach her with the fourth crewmember. She's feeling very unsure where to go next; she can't exactly blame the locals for not believing her explanation. 

:Leareth: she sends. :We may need Julie to come explain. Is she up for that?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am not sure. What are the names of the ship crew? I can ask if they are familiar to her - oh, and is there a medic of some kind on their staff -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What a good question! 

:Do you have a medic on board this ship?: Julie asks the man whose body language leads her to think that he's in charge. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, we don't."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is picking up meanings from his thoughts, not his spoken words; is he telling the truth? 

:Are you the commander of this ship?: she adds. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't have a medic. They had one, but he died. It's a bit of a sore point. "Yes. Who are you people?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh no. She's curious, and wants to give her condolences or something, but now isn't the time and also she doesn't really want to reveal that she's reading his thoughts, it might be useful to keep in reserve. 

:It is complicated. You - may as well think of us as a separate, independent faction. We are not allied with Earth or Mars; we may wish to ally with the Belters, to provide aid against the protomolecule threat. Please tell me your name and the names of your crew: 

She says this in ordinary Mindspeech; if he refuses to cooperate and she can't nab it from his mind then she'll consider set-commanding him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He is incredibly confused that she doesn't already know. It was international news.

Permalink Mark Unread

:You should assume that we are not up to date on any recent politics in this star system:

And with a push of Mindhealing added, :tell me your name: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"James Holden. This is Amos Burton, our engineer, and Alex Kamal, our pilot." If they don't know anything maybe they don't know to look for Naomi.

Permalink Mark Unread

(Naomi is currently being forcibly mind-controlled to follow the other mage-Farseer, who's making slowish progress to the ladder because he's EXHAUSTED and spending most of his effort on not visibly swaying.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki passes these names on to Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Holding a Mindspeech link even at a range of a handful of miles - and with Nayoki doing nearly all the work - is making Leareth's head pound. 

He passes this information on to Julie, though. :Nayoki thinks it might be helpful for us to go over so that you can explain yourself, since you have more context. Do you recognize their names?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Not at all. I should probably explain, though, just because I have context - lemme put on a suit - 

 

It turns out she is too tired to successfully do this.

Permalink Mark Unread

There are a couple of Healers right there who can use their Sight to help while making sure they avoid contaminating themselves. And they're going to accompany her, obviously. 

They're pretty worried about leaving Leareth in Julie's ship with only one Healer to keep an eye on him and no backup, though? But it's not like he's in great shape to negotiate with these people? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He isn't. He kind of wants to be there anyway, but also he won't make a good impression at all in this state. And he's biohazardous too and ought to wear a suit and this seems very hard. 

:I think I will manage for a little while: 

Damn it, reaching far enough with Mindspeech to get Nayoki's attention HURTS. 

:Need a Gate: he informs her, and then briefly passes out from the effort. Maybe has a small seizure, though again it's noticeable only to Healing-Sight. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Shit shit damn it. Maybe they're going to send one Healer with Julie through Nayoki's next Gate, and the Healer who went to scout can rejoin them and then there'll be two Healers with each patient. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki raises another Gate. 

The Healer helps - well, mostly drags - suited-Julie across. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage-Farseer is just about there, too, he's currently seeing if Naomi will climb the stairs of her own accord or if he needs to compulsion her to do it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi is super furious with these people but she wants to see if the rest of the crew is all right and will cooperate with going up the ladder to them.

Permalink Mark Unread

The rest of the crew seems to be unhurt at least! They're immobilized in - some way which isn't immediately apparent - and sitting on the floor of the deck above the bridge. 

Also there's a tall black woman in very strange clothes standing above them. Beside her is a glowing door-shaped outline in midair, the area inside the outline showing the interior of a completely different ship rather than the rest of the corridor, and a man in equally bizarre-medieval-reenactment-esque clothing is approximately-dragging yet another person through. New person is wearing a vac suit. 

Permalink Mark Unread

What the fuck.

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie crosses the threshold and flops on the ground, tiredly. You should let them pick up comms from my suit, she thinks at her allies. They'll need to get at their computers.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Julie needs comms to talk to you: Nayoki relays to the four crew. :Where are your computers?: 

The other Healer reaches them, out of breath, and Mindtouches her, but Nayoki slaps away the link with :in a moment: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"On the bridge. Who's Julie?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki gestures at Julie, slumped on the floor in her vac suit. :She is our ally now, but previously she was working with the Belters. I am hoping she will be able to explain things better since she has more shared context with you:

Privately to Julie, :- I do not want to let them go down to the bridge, in case they manage to shoot at your ship. If I go down there briefly and show you what I am seeing, will you be able to tell me what to pick up?: At least, she's really hoping the crew will have a portable hand terminal or something like the one Julie has. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, that should work.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki makes sure all four crew are immobilized - she gives Naomi some mage-energy restraints and then takes off all the mind control - and then slips down the stairs and plays her eyes over the area until she sees some screens that look promising. She shoves the images at Julie. :Any of these?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 


This is a Martian gunship. What the fuck.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I thought you said it was a Belter gas hauler!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's what it looked like from the outside!!! And how it identified itself to my ship! But that is the bridge of a Martian gunship and not the bridge of a Belter gas hauler!

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Well: 

 

After a long pause, :I suppose Leareth's paranoia was appropriate yet again. Is there anything here I can bring up for comms?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah probably. 

She can find a portable speaker among their stuff.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki carries this up the ladder and sets it down in the middle of the approximate-semicircle that the crew are arranged in. :Julie, do I need to turn it on or something: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Testing -"

She's able to bridge to it. "Okay. Uh. I'm gonna explain what's up but first and most urgently why are we on a Martian gunship?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's legitimate salvage."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Does Mars think so?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't give a shit, honestly."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is that why you're disguised as a gas freighter - they'll guess off your drive signature, you know -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We disguised that too. Who are these people and what do you want."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're friends of mine. I work for Anderson Dawes."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Why were you on the Anubis."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We got captured. How do you know about the Anubis."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It murdered our friends."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

"- Eros - is it there already -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"- what?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is TOO TIRED FROM THIS and practically crying with frustration. "There's a bioweapon and they were going to deploy it on Eros. Is that - when you say the Anubis murdered your friends -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"It nuked them. We were answering a distress call and it nuked them. We don't know why. The bioweapon - the blue glowy thing?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes. What do you know about it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Honestly not at all clear why we'd tell you that."

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie tries to take a deep breath and ends up coughing and gagging concerningly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Both Healers are immediately at her side, one getting a link to her and dumping Healing-energy, the other focuses on trying to clear her lungs. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki really wants Leareth's input on where to go with this! The problem is that apparently he knocked himself out and had a seizure just from trying to Mindspeak her earlier! 

She has no idea if these people are possible allies, but it - definitely sounds like they're enemies of Mars. They have resources. They know something, even if they're refusing to say it.

(And, however little they understand right now about the different factions here, whoever nuked a ship is almost certainly not someone Leareth wants to befriend.) 

:I will share what we know so far: she says. :As a sign of good faith: That's exactly how Leareth would put it, she thinks.

Deep breath. :The protomolecule is - not exactly a bioweapon, though we fear someone in your star system intends to use it as one. It seems to be an agent built by some advanced alien species; it is somewhat intelligent, we can communicate with it using our Mindspeech, and it seems to exist with the purpose of building wormholes to other stars? It will, however, eat people to grow stronger if given the chance. We come from another world, we have magical abilities, and we wish to stop it from being deployed to eat everyone on Eros: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"You're from another star system?" That's very obviously bullshit but he can't even think what it'd be covering for.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes. I realize it sounds implausible and I am not sure how to prove it, but - yes. I can demonstrate more of our magic if that helps?: She makes a mage-light. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That does not help."

Permalink Mark Unread

"The Protomolecule makes wormholes," Julie says once she can breathe. "Its originating species sent it out to our star, and probably lots of other ones, so when it arrived it could make a wormhole they could travel through. We don't know anything about them. Probably they're hostile; the protomolecule would've eaten Earth, if it'd landed there instead of getting captured in Saturn's orbit. I'm infected, and I travelled through some kinda wormhole on my way to Phoebe. I found another planet of humans. I acknowledge it doesn't make any goddamn sense but I was there and it wasn't our star. Maybe someone kidnapped some humans thirty thousand years ago. Maybe they're a genetic engineering experiment - they've got the psychic powers, they've got all kinds of other weird stuff - it's not really the point, right now, the point is stopping whatever they're going to do on Eros."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Who is planning to deploy the protomolecule on Eros."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"My father. Jules Pierre Mao. The CEO of Mao-Kwik."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They built the Anubis?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Why did they nuke the Cant."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I have no idea. What exactly happened."

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

"We got a distress signal from a Scopuli, two days out of our way. Someone -" glance at Holden - "logged it, so we had to go check it out. The ship was empty with a hole blown in the side. There was a MCRN beacon on the bridge. And there was a stealth ship - the Anubis - waiting for us. Fired on the Cant. Killed everyone except the team that was on the shuttle, exploring the Scopuli -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"The Anubis fired torpedoes. While I was a prisoner on it. Four of them. Would've been...four weeks ago."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"Yeah."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm sorry."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you know why."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I have no idea. I think it was - part of a plan that was subsequently interrupted. Because the protomolecule got loose and killed everyone on the Anubis except me."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"Well, we recovered and destroyed the Anubis, and destroyed the blue goo." There's a sample aboard the ship but he needs to think more before he tells them that. "Do they have another sample or is that it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't know. We could ask the proto."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sorry, you could what now?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, the psychics can talk to it."

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie has another coughing fit while trying to figure out what words to use to make this seem sane to these people.

Permalink Mark Unread

These are some very worried Healers! 

:Uh: one of them eventually asks the four crew, :I know you don't have a medic, but do you have any kind of medical facilities on this ship -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We have a med bay. I'd need to set the ventilation to isolate it, if she's got, uh, horror alien infestation disease."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We think it's not airborne but it also gets smarter over time so better to be safe than sorry."

Permalink Mark Unread

Honestly he DOES NOT WANT THAT ON HIS SHIP AT ALL but there's neither a polite way to say this nor a way to achieve it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can relocate her there in a moment - and ideally our other patient back on the Anubis: Nayoki says. :Where were you headed in this, er, legitimately salvaged Martian gunship? Do you know of a place we might go where we could regroup safely and communicate with Anderson Dawes?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We were looking for your shuttle. The Anubis 1A. We figured it'd gone for Eros, we hadn't seen a drive signature and it's the only place you could get on thrusters."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I was heading for Eros when I ended up in their system."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Why do you want to contact Dawes?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"So he can figure out how we can stop them from deploying the protomolecule on Eros!"

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

What is that about. 

Nayoki is going to do some discreet mindreading for a minute. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi doesn't trust Anderson Dawes. She doesn't trust Fred Johnson, who gave them the coordinates for the Anubis, either. They're both OPA and that means that a lot of people might die, if it achieves their goals. She is getting the impression that Julie is also OPA, even though she's an Earther, and - well, the only thing she knows so far about all this is that the Anubis destroyed the Cant

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki...is not especially inclined to judge someone for the trait of being willing to kill a lot of people if it achieves their goals, but she can also understand why this often, predictably, results in not being trusted very much. Leareth gets that. 

:We can make a final decision on this later: she declares. :I will give all of you some time to adjust to - us - and we will of course answer any questions you have, or meet any requests you can think of that would convince you I am not lying. And, which of you is best able to explain to our Healers how to set up in the medical bay?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can do it. If you stop doing whatever you're doing and let me suit up."

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right:

The Healer who did the earlier ship exploration is still fidgeting and looking like she wants to interrupt, so Nayoki sighs, holds up a hand, and extends a private Mindspeech link to her :What is it:

She listens. 

Shortly later, to all of the crew, :- were you aware that you have a spy on your ship with - some sort implanted eye device that can make spy reports using your computers or whatever 'internet' is?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - we knew about the spy but not the implanted eye device!"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Told you we should've spaced him."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is he one of yours?" he asks Julie.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I wouldn't know. Probably not, though, that's some expensive tech. Probably Earth or Mars or my father. The psychics can figure it out."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Anyway, we have him in his room and guarded, so I think he cannot make a report right now: She sighs. Glances at the ladder to the bridge. 

:- Julie?: she asks privately. :I want to give these people as much mobility as possible - if I keep them out of the bridge, is there any other trouble they can cause for us in the rest of the ship?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes definitely? There are a lot of ways to sabotage a ship if that's what you want to do. Probably they won't want to sabotage their ship but if they did.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, then she's going to sneakily put in some compulsions against harming any of their visitors (slash captors) and against sabotaging their own ship. They shouldn't notice this unless they try to actually do either of those things - in which case they probably will notice, she's not as good at subtlety as Leareth. 

:Guard the bridge: she tells the tired mage-Farseer. :You can sit down while you do it, just keep anyone else from entering: 

To the crew, :I am going to release you now. You can go anywhere you want except the bridge. Please do not do anything such that I regret this: 

And she undoes the restraints. 

:Naomi, which way to the medical bay?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Down. Through the bridge."

Permalink Mark Unread

Between the two of them, the Healers manage to pick up Julie in her vac suit. 

Nayoki considers doing another Gate right away to get more personnel across, then considers how much more Leareth weighs than Julie, who's both female and undernourished. Also there's the problem of contamination. Maybe she'll bring him over once she's actually in the med bay. 

:Could you please come with us to help us orient to it?: she asks, politely and without any attempt to compel this. A 'no' wouldn't be at all unexpected, here - and also it's a risky ask, presumably someone could do a bunch of 'accidental' or 'absentmindedly partial explanations' type sabotage in a medical situation, and that's the sort of thing that many people can slip past compulsions against deliberate harm. But. They definitely aren't going to get cooperation from these people if they never give any opportunities for it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure." She has absolutely no working theory of what's really going on, here, but the only people who know less than her about how the medbay works are ones who are in fact from another system.

She marches down to the medbay, very irritated, definitely contemplating sabotage options but not ones specific to the medbay, because letting the bioweapon escape would obviously accomplish none of her goals.

Permalink Mark Unread

The tired mage currently perched cautiously on a chair in the bridge lets them past, though he watches suspiciously (while trying very hard not to look tired.) The two Healers carry Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Once they arrive, Nayoki waves her hand and raises another Gate on the doorway. "We can bring Leareth and all the Healers over here," she calls. "And another mage, please." With one guarding the spy and one exhausted, she feels short on guard capacity. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth opens his eyes a little and moans as they carry him across - on a litter, he's not vac-suited. He's very disoriented, and the motion is making him dizzy; it takes all the conscious effort he can muster not to throw up, leaving none for other things like 'tracking his surroundings.' 

Permalink Mark Unread

The people carrying him look around for something bed-shaped. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There are reclining chair things? 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is he infected too, how sure are you it's not transmissible."

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer responds to Nayoki's glance by answering in Mindspeech. :We can see the Proto with Healing-Sight. It's transmitted by bodily fluids but it's not on his skin. And we can kill little bits of it if the floor gets contaminated or something: 

They flop him into the chair-thing, and stare in bafflement at the screens and mysterious equipment. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The medbay is designed so that idiots under stress and possibly severely injured can get emergency care. You can in fact use it solo as the injured person. Maybe they have genuinely never seen a computer before. "Put his arm in the cuff, strap him in, then follow the instructions."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They can't," cough, "read our language, they're compensating by being psychic."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fine. Put his arm in the cuff, strap him in, and I'll translate for you."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is TRYING to stay awake enough to follow this, but it's very hard.

The Healers put his arm into the cuff and try to figure out the straps. It's pretty clear just from watching them that not only have they never interacted with computers before, they've also never seen, for example, Velcro. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think we should take you out of the suit and see if the chair thing can treat you too?: one of Julie's Healers says. :I think we can avoid contamination: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sounds good, Julie thinks tiredly.

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi will put on work gloves and then velcro biohazard dude. The machine starts chiming almost immediately. "Okay, it says, his blood pressure is too low, and his heart rate is too fast, and his blood isn't clotting normally, and he's immunosupressed, and there's a unfamiliar pathogen, sequencing failed, kicking the whole room up to maximum biohazard protocols, it says everyone should put on a powered respirator - it's trying to walk you through putting in an IV line, do you know how to do that or do you need me to -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow that's REALLY COOL.

:All that sounds right - how can it tell, I thought you don't have Healing-Sight in this world at all - I have no idea what an 'IV' is -:

:- where are powered respirators, how does that work, should we put on gloves too -: 

Several Healers are half Mindspeaking over each other trying to ask her questions. The two attending to Julie wrestle her out of the suit with minimal direct contact, and get her into the chair with her arm in the cuff and the straps in place. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is digging the powered respirators out of a drawer and tossing them to them. "Yes, you should also wear gloves. The respirator filters the air you get so you won't get sick even if you're wrong and it's airborne, the computer's programmed to assume an unfamiliar pathogen is super contagious. An IV is putting something in his arm so it can give him drugs without him eating them. I'll do it." She does. The computer has a brightly colored walkthrough tutorial and can also watch with its camera to see if you're doing it right. "It's giving him drugs for the heart rate and blood pressure and clotting, and antivirals and antibiotics and antiparasitics and - it wants to try chemo, just in case, once he's a bit stabler -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ooh that's such a good idea!: All the Healers immediately cluster around to get a look at the IV. They're so excited and impressed. 

:I...don't think the normal drugs to kill the infection are going to work?: one of them says uncertainly. :It's - not even really biological: She doesn't have the faintest idea what 'chemo' even means but judging by the emotional overtones around the concept, it's not very pleasant. :Can we, uh, just tell it not to bother with that part? ...Actually I guess it might still be good, random other stuff keeps trying to infect him because of the immune things not working very well -: 

The second Healer teaming up on Leareth is now watching in awe with Healing-Sight, trying to figure out how the heart rate and blood pressure and clotting drugs work. 

The two with Julie quickly go back to their own patient, once they have gloves and respirators sorted out, and try to follow the 'IV' process with her too; they got a sense of it by watching the tutorial plus spying on Naomi with Healing-Sight including the stuff happening under Leareth's skin. They need to ask Naomi to translate what the machine thinks is wrong with her, though, presumably it's a similar set of things. 

:...although also she's kind of been starving, can the 'IV' put food into her body as well as drugs?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can tell it no on the chemo. No on antibiotics and antivirals and antiparasitics too? No idea if the IV can feed her but it'll know, lemme read the screen - it says she's anemic, low albumin, electrolytes weird, it's starting parenteral nutrition - I think that means it's feeding her -" Both screens are chiming frantically. She switches back to Leareth. "It wants him on an anticonvulsant -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Uh, does it - say anything about how toxic to the patient those are, I don't know if your medicine is better but in our world the herbs that kill worms and stuff also make people pretty sick -:

:I think I'm not totally following the difference between the three things, here, but if you can tell it to give him ones that are safe and non-toxic just in case, that should at least get the other random infections - that stupid one is trying to grow in his lungs again...: 

:Anemic is...not enough blood? Makes sense: 

:Anticonvulsant -: It takes a moment for the Healer to parse this via reading Naomi's thoughts for context. :Sure. He had a pretty nasty seizure a while ago and then lately it seems like just using his Gifts triggers a little one, it's...pretty worrying...: 

It's a lot of enthusiastic-and-or-worried mental voices at once, often slightly talking over each other. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi feels kind of like she's going crazy but she's felt that way since they first boarded her ship by materializing in its cargo bay, so. "Antivirals address viruses, which aren't alive, antibacterials address bacteria, which are, antiparasitics address, yeah, worms, we can probably cancel those, I don't think people get opportunistic worm infections on spaceships, it's probably trying that in case it kills the bioweapon - which you can check in a petri dish before you try it on your patient - Anemic is not enough iron but not enough blood can cause it."

 

The other screen proposes they give Julie a kidney transplant. "I....assume none of you are surgeons?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I am trying to follow the meaning of that word and - failing - do medics in your world have the ability to REPLACE ORGANS with DIFFERENT ORGANS -: 

:I thought I told you that! The person with the replacement eye -: 

:It wasn't a real eye though, it was a spy eye, I don't know if they have real replacement eyes–: 

The Healer cuts herself off. Stars over. :Uh, sorry. Focus, people. I - think none of us are surgeons. If it can tell us what's wrong with her kidneys on a really close-up anatomical level, or some sort of physiological information, that...might help us figure out how to fix it with Healing. I assume your world understands human bodies pretty well, if your tech can do this...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's vital signs are improving in response to the drugs being given, and he feels correspondingly slightly more able to think, but mostly this is making him aware of how incredibly awful he feels. 

:?: he asks the Proto, framing it as a sort of broad-status-update-on-what's-happening-from-its-perspective query. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There seems to be....a lot less mind in the protomolecule.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Let me tell the autodoc to explain the kidney situation in more detail - I'm going to auth it to make her a kidney for the transplant, though, because it'll take two hours and she might be worse by then -" She presses buttons. "It says, uh, ischemic tissue damage, rhabdomyolysis, transplant indicated....hmmm...I can get it to show characteristic ischemic tissue damage and characteristic rhabdomyolysis damage, is that the kind of thing you could use to figure out what it means..."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes! Please! ...You can just - make a new kidney? If it has - treatises or something, on how to be a surgeon, we might be able to figure out how to do that...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is ALARMED (mostly this shows on the medbay monitoring via his heart rate and breathing speeding up despite the drugs.)

There's less mind. That means...less Proto...either it destroyed much of itself in transit or - 

:- Did you leave most of yourself behind on the Moon: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Affirmative!

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, I guess someone can do a two-hour VR crash course in transplant surgery, why not. Uh, you're gonna want a headset for that, they're in the cabinet behind me - here's the explanation of what those kidney words mean -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaaaaah. 

It makes absolutely no sense to be angry with the Proto for not obeying his not-even-actually-specified wish that it leave Velgarth alone

:- How long will it - take that part - to consume the resources local to the Moon -? And...will that be enough resources to, to finish the Work...?: 

(Leareth is panicked enough that his already-overstrained heart is starting to throw some irregular extra beats under the force of additional adrenaline, and his brain activity is dangerously close to abnormal-in-the-seizures-direction.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Unknown!

Permalink Mark Unread

(One of the Healers volunteers eagerly for this; it sounds AMAZING and also, given that the medical machines here are taking over all the work of keeping the patients' vital signs steady, and doing a better job of it honestly, they have some slack to spare. 

The other three Healers crowd around for the explanation of what the strange foreign medical words mean.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Ischemic tissue damage is when it stops getting blood! Rhabdomyolysis is kidney damage caused by the breakdown of other tissues in the body, which the kidneys get overwhelmed trying to filter! Also there's some damage the autodoc doesn't have a word for, which clearly on the visual scans amounts to 'the proto ate and replaced that tissue'.

 

The headset can in a loud cheery voice with accompanying visuals offer a two-hour crash course in transplant surgery.

 

"It's gonna sedate him," Naomi announces at the latest alarmed series of bleeps from Leareth's autodoc.

Permalink Mark Unread

(The cheeriness is extremely weird but, to be fair to it, this is SO SO SO COOL and the Healer who managed to volunteer for it before any of the others could is loving his life so much right now.) 

:....Uh, why?: one of the others interjects to Naomi. :He won't like that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, it says, 'increased sympathetic nervous system activity leading to increased heart rate and ectopic activity' and 'increased central nervous system activation close to seizure threshold'. Does he have, like, an allergy -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:To sedatives? No, uh, he's just - the one in charge, here, and he's going to want to be awake and able to get reports from us and give orders -:

One of the others interrupts (excluding Leareth from the Mindspeech). :I mean, he SHOULDN'T though, right, he really needs to get some rest: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi cannot find words for how little she wants to be in the middle of a medieval psychic command dispute among the people who BOARDED HER SHIP while infected with an ALIEN PARASITE.

 

She neglects to stop the autodoc from sedating Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Very sleepy Leareth! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki has figured out how to don gloves and a respirator too, and sidles up beside Leareth's reclining-chair-thingy to hold his hand. She feels kind of weird about this but also she's been wanting to do it for a while, it just seems correct given, well, everything. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Awake Leareth would probably think this was odd, but in fact he's far too sedated to have any opinions right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi reads a couple more things off the screens - Leareth is also not getting enough nutrition, Julie should be on oxygen, and then says, "all right, now, I want you to give us control of our ship back."

Permalink Mark Unread

- Oh. Right. That. 

Nayoki takes a deep breath. :I understand perfectly why you are asking. And - I want to agree, since I think it is most likely we will be allies in this....: 

In this war? In these negotiations? Words fail her, mostly because she has no idea which of a dozen different ones would apply. :In whatever this is. But, I am not in command here, Leareth is, and so it will have to wait: 

Unfortunately this isn't necessarily the policy she wants to commit to - in the moment all she wants is time to think, and, fine, also the upper hand and the ability to interrogate these people at will...

Permalink Mark Unread

"What's your current bearing and where are you trying to go."

Permalink Mark Unread

:We are trying to obtain more local context on the geopoliitics in this star system; Julie explained what she knew but she is very sick, so -: 

Nayoki lets that mental script run while she thinks. What in all hells does Naomi mean by 'bearing', is it at all similar to the terminology Nayoki has vaguely heard of for ocean-ship navigation, can she figure out the answer by a bit of discreet digging-and-poking at Naomi's surface thoughts so she doesn't sound like so much of an idiot by needing to ask a clearly stupid question...

Permalink Mark Unread

She wants to know in what direction they intend to be travelling, yes. She suspects that the answer is 'they have no idea', and that they in fact probably don't know what the ship's current acceleration is, and are unaware that it has left their own ship far far behind by now, and that if anyone hails the ship they're going to have no idea how to handle it, and she's hoping that a few questions they can't answer will drive this pdint home and get them to concede that they have no business keeping the actual crew of a starship away from its bridge. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gaaaaah. 

What Nayoki really wants to do is demand that they stop sedating Leareth, and wake him to ask HIM what to do next, but. That would be stupid, and unhelpful in the long run. 

Instead she Mindspeaks the non-tired mage who Gated over and has since headed out to explore the ship. 

:Can you - discreetly read one of the other crew - find out how to cease this ship's acceleration and return to Julie's ship - pass that on to the bridge - also try to find out where they were traveling before we arrived -: 

Deep breath. She refocuses on Naomi. 

:Well, our plan was to find Anderson Dawes: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh huh. Do you know where he is?" Almost definitely Ceres, but she again wants to emphasize how far the psychic people are out of their depths, here.

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay is this person teasing her on purpose

:Do you know where he is?: Nayoki counters, tossing in a slight push of Mindhealing to force an answer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes," she says, and then looks mildly surprised. "He's usually on Ceres, at least. We could get there in a week at a fifth, which is what the Roci usually cruises at, except I'm not totally sure your patients are stable enough for the flip and burn." This sentence is definitely intended to be incomprehensible because these people need to realize how profoundly they do not know how to make navigation decisions in a starship.

Permalink Mark Unread

After their trip to the Moon of Velgarth, Nayoki is actually fairly sure that she understands this - not the units, 'a fifth' is still baffling to her, but the principle at least. 

:Julie: she sends, privately. :Is it true that Anderson Dawes is probably on Ceres? They claim the ship could reach Ceres in a week - is that too slow, should we attempt to Gate there -?: 

It's probably an utterly absurd Gate-distance, but several thousand - if not million - times less absurd than the Gate from Velgarth to Earth, which the Proto managed just fine - all they need is a memory from someone here who's been to Ceres before...

Permalink Mark Unread

He's probably on Ceres, yeah. Gating there - didn't know you could do that - yeah, that'd be good. Don't know that a week is too slow but - it could be -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Have you been to Ceres?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I lived there for two years.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. Good. Where - would be a good place for us to arrive, can you picture it...?: Pause. :I am guessing it would be a good idea to wait a little, so you can rest and the machines can feed you, but I do want to be ready just in case: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...my apartment? I'm still paying rent on it, it should be empty...she tries to visualize it.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you: 

Nayoki memorizes the visual as clearly as she can. (Which is pretty clearly; she's a strong Mindspeaker, not to mention her Mindhealing lets her slightly boost Julie's visual-imagination faculties specifically to help out, and also she has extensive Gate-training.) 

Once she has it, she - slots it into the search-destination for a Gate spell, but doesn't complete the spell, just holds it in place. 

And, diffidently, Mindtouches the Proto. 

:Look at this?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

???

Permalink Mark Unread

She...sighs, and lets the Gate search-spell run a little further - spooling out and out and out and out - 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not working. Maybe it's too far.

Permalink Mark Unread

Gah. 

She - tries to hold up the procedure that she's following, here, the exact thing she's holding in the search-spell, she tries to hold that up and show it to the Proto - 

And, and the same time, :- Julie, what are Ceres' characteristics - is it a moon, an asteroid, what is near it -?:

Permalink Mark Unread

It's an asteroid? It's in the Belt - the asteroid belt, there's a whole ring of them, but Ceres is one of the biggest - the settlement's built into it and kinda through it -

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki attempts to pass this set of specifications along to the Proto, just in case it can do a better job with them than she can. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Proto, which seems much dumber than it was a few hours ago, cannot.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh.

:Leareth could figure it out, I think: she says to Julie. :I cannot on my own. But - hopefully he will be well enough to try much sooner than a week. I - think probably in the meantime, we ought to work with the ship’s crew and start traveling there the long way:

After a pause. :- They do not seem to like or trust the ‘OPA’ organization or your colleague Anderson Dawes. I am hoping this will not be a problem, but I wanted to warn you:

Permalink Mark Unread

The oxygen mask makes it hard to talk, but Julie tries. The woman's a Belter. "Anderson Dawes piss you off?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Seems like his plan here wasn't so good, doesn't it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Anubis was well-armed. If we known that, maybe we hadn't gone, yeah. But - they use this thing on Eros -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Why Eros?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Earth and Mars won't miss it, yeah?

 

 

Who sent you after the Anubis? I hid it. Should've been very hard to find."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"Fred Johnson. He got a signal - yours?"

Permalink Mark Unread

She relaxes. Fred Johnson is also OPA. "Yeah. He tell you to bring it back?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't care what Fred Johnson wants. We nuked it, once we saw what was there." And then found a cryogenic freezer, with a still-contained sample, but she's not going to mention it.

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"If people gonya use it against the Belt, the Belt should have it. We can talk to it. Figure it out. Figure out a cure."

Permalink Mark Unread


She looks at the screens. She hasn't been reading their commentary on long term prognosis but the thing obviously isn't curable. She doesn't say that. 

 

"You're an Inner," she observes instead. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We can't choose where we're born. I know what side I'm on."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

"Well, tell your Inner friends to give us back our ship."

Permalink Mark Unread

" - I'll ask."

 

 

Can we give them their ship back? she thinks at Nayoki.

Permalink Mark Unread

At some point, insisting that she needs to wait for Leareth to wake up and be able to make that call is clearly a cop-out, and so is getting stuck in some pointless power struggle with Naomi.

:...I think so. But I want to meet with the rest of the crew first. I think Naomi might actually believe us, now, that we are from another world? And that is relevant, in terms of what resources we could call in from Velgarth for this situation: 

And to Naomi: 

:Are they stable enough that we could step out for a little while? I want to discuss some things with you and the others: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"They should be. Uh, autodoc will want to check if any of us have the pathogen in our blood or lungs, and then we'll need to do a decontamination shower before it lets us out."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. The Healers can check us too but redundancy seems good: 

With considerable reluctance, she lets go of Leareth's hand. She's not a Healer, but she thinks his colour is a bit better now than before? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers stay, one of them still watching the VR crash course on transplant surgery and the other three mainly still watching to see what the various drugs and treatments are doing, and attempting to figure out how to interpret the readings on various screens. The IV nutrition thing is BRILLIANT and they're trying to guess what's in it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi can read them what's on the screen but it probably won't be very helpful, and then they can decontaminate and head out.

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can meet on the bridge: Nayoki declares, once she’s decontaminated and out. :Can you go inform the others?:

There are places to sit on the bridge, but her main thought is something about setting tone; she does want to work with these people, not against them, and this means giving back their ship.

Permalink Mark Unread

She will go find her crew and inform them that the crazy psychic people who claim they're from another system want to talk on the bridge.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki dismisses the mage guarding the bridge, tells him to get some rest, and then sits down and waits for the crew tp assemble.

...And has an idea, for solving one of her current embarrassing problems and doing a demo at the same time. Assuming they can get it to work. 

She Mindtouches the Proto. :How far away is the rest of you, on Julie's ship? Do you have resources to Gate over to us here?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule diligently has the rest of it send out a radio shout. 

Need more resources.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is, of course, completely unable to benefit from said shout, except to the extent that the ship sensors can pick up and record it - not that she knows how to read any of the screens on the bridge either. 

:I will figure out what resources you can eat: she promises. :Do not eat the ship or anything on it: 

Next up: she builds a teeny, tiny Gate threshold in the circle of her thumb and forefinger. And extends the search-spell, anchoring on the interior of Julie's ship as she remembers it last, letting the spell tug energy from her as it spools out. 

Can she reach it? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nope.

Permalink Mark Unread

Inconvenient! 

She has inklings of a plan, but unfortunately, that requires someone to be both on Julie's ship and capable of flying it. They did leave a handful of people behind, but Leareth's mages don't currently have any idea how to fly the ship, and are probably pretty stressed about being out of the loop. 

She sighs, dismantles the tiny Gate, and waits for the crew to join her in the bridge. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They do that. They look suspicious and irritated.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki takes a deep breath. 

:I apologize for dropping a messy and complicated situation on you, when it seems you were already facing one. ...Also, while I think we were not unjustified in boarding your ship given that you were going to shoot at ours, I realize that is not the best footing to start off on. But, right now, I think we have the same enemies, and I want to work with you - which means trusting you, and giving you back command of your ship: 

Permalink Mark Unread

So suspicious.

Permalink Mark Unread

"They can't fly it," says Naomi. "They want to go to Ceres to warn Anderson Dawes, who the infected girl was working with, and they won't make it themselves. The infected girl says that the people who blew up the Cant mean to use it on Eros; we all oppose that; it might be enough to be getting on with."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Does she know where the people behind this are?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I assume she'd have said if she did."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Great. Okay. Alex, do you want to go see what the autopilot's been doing -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"On it." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are the patients stable enough for maneuvers?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We're doing a kidney transplant in a couple hours, we'll have to see how well she takes it. They're probably not going to get more stable, after that, since they're being eaten by the alien parasite."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is it a good idea to bother transplanting their kidneys and so on, when they're not gonna make it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Frustrated shrug in Nayoki's direction.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, this could be going a lot worse.

:We are still trying to - find a way to explain to the Proto how to infect someone in a nonfatal way - or leave their body, ideally, but I am not very hopeful on that front: 

A pause. :- Oh, you would not know. Important information about the Proto. It uploads people's brains, when it infects them; Leareth is fairly sure it can run copies of them, then, but not well currently because it is still small and resource-limited. Also, it was built by - some alien civilization we know nothing about - to make wormholes. It is very determined to do this and will not really be dissuaded from eating so it can accomplish this, but it is quite cooperative about eating livestock and then rocks rather than people. And it is fairly willing to learn other tasks - for example, it learned to imitate our Gate-magic, which is what I used to board your ship, but at much larger scale so that it could bring us from Velgarth to this star system: 

All of this is, again, something she badly wishes she could have run by Leareth before divulging, but Leareth isn't available and it's obviously relevant and Leareth, she's pretty sure, would want her to make an alliance with these people. Somehow. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"So the plan is - negotiate with the blue goo. Did - you name it 'proto' -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- I think the Healer who initially found Julie named it that, because 'protomolecule' was too long? And, yes. ...Leareth wants it. It would be capable of solving many, many problems that we have back on our world, and it is - not hostile, just very alien and hard to communicate with. It has cooperated with our requests whenever it understood them. And it understands more, the larger and stronger it is. Leareth decided to let it eat our Moon, so that it would be smart enough and strong enough to Gate us here: 

She lets out her breath a little. :But obviously your local situation was more urgent, so we came here. Also worth mentioning that Leareth currently runs a large and well-resourced organization in Velgarth. He could bring - well, if it were necessary or helpful, and the Proto can obtain enough resources here for another Gate, he could bring an army and several hundred people with powers similar to what I have. But the first priority is understanding the local situation and making allies here: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I....don't think we want an army from another planet here, that sounds like it would probably cause there to be more war rather than less war and there is already way too many people wanting to have a war. - where are we at, Alex -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Nowhere near Ceres, is that where we're headed? Is their ship accompanying us, it seems to have gone off on its own while we weren't at the controls -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Mars is gonna hit them up - the area's crawling with Martian patrols right now," he adds to Nayoki.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Well, if they try then there are still some people with powers - one of them is a Farseer who can Gate from Farsight - should I warn them that any ships bothering them are likely to be hostile? Also I had an idea to have them rejoin us. Several ideas but the first one is: I think we could use the Proto as a relay and have your pilot instruct our people on how to maneuver the shuttle? The Proto figured out Mindspeech when it was talking to Leareth. My longer-term idea is that the Proto could Gate directly over - or possibly Gate all of us to Ceres, if Leareth wakes up and can figure out how to explain that request clearly enough, I was unable to - anyway it needs to eat more resources before it can do that again: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"If Mars finds and boards the shuttle they'll have the blue goo."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can just ...call them...and tell them to follow us..."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think Mars will find it unexpectedly difficult to capture the shuttle if our people are warned! Since they will presumably not be expecting magic, and Leareth's people are very well trained. You can try to call them but they are not very familiar with operating the shuttle? Julie explained some of the very basics but we were mostly not doing anything complicated, before. That was why I thought using the Proto as a Mindspeech relay might help, it seems to have instantaneous communication with all of the parts of itself in the same star system: 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - what, faster than light?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- I am not sure, Leareth said it was instantaneous but - light has a maximum speed? Fascinating!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The locals glance at each other.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay why don't you have the, uh, proto, tell your crew on their shuttle how to answer a hail from the Roci, and then Alex can talk them through how to follow us, and then we'll head out of here - are there people looking for your drive signature?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- What? I am not sure. Julie might know: 

The ship has zero shielding of any kind against Mindspeech, so checking this is easy. :Julie?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She startles awake. Mmmm?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am sorry. The crew want to know if you think anyone might be tracking your ship's 'drive signature'?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, shit. Yeah. "s why I was planning to go to Eros on thrusters, before - stuff happened. Possibly we want to just get everyone over to this ship, lose mine?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Could we - explode it, or something? ...I think Leareth might be able to figure out a Gate routing to get the people here without it needing to catch up to us all the way - is he awake?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Leareth is very much not awake.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We could explode your ship, yes."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I could also disguise its drive signature, if I get over there, though it won't stand up to a close inspection and Mars is as previously mentioned on high alert right now - and they'll change those codes -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right. I think the first priority is making contact with them - I am going to tell the Proto to Mindtouch you, Alex, and also one of Leareth's people back on the ship, and to relay messages for you: 

And she reaches out for the Proto's mind-presence, mostly in Leareth and Julie's vicinity but not quite localized-feeling in the way human minds are. She tries to give it this instruction very clearly and specifically; she thinks she's slightly getting the hang of it, though Leareth would probably do this way better. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is that going to get me infected."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I cannot think how it would! I have been talking to it and I am not infected - the med bay technology confirmed that as well as our Healers. It is exactly the same thing I am doing right now to talk to you, and you are not infected with me

Permalink Mark Unread

He looks extremely suspicious but doesn't object further.

Permalink Mark Unread

?????????

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ooookay. We're hailing the Anubis 1A. They need to go to comms, should look like this, and put me on speaker..."

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems like maybe the Proto is confused about what she wants it to do, so Nayoki pulls it into a group-link with her and Alex, like she would with a human Mindspeaker; it's very hard to pull this off when one of the parties isn't Gifted at all, but Nayoki is a highly trained Mindhealer. 

And then she reaches to pull in other mage back on Julie's ship, just like she would if he were in range, he's not but the Proto is - 

Permalink Mark Unread

It works!

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's remaining staff on the other ship have been so stressed! They don't really know how to use the ship's various screens and controls to figure out where the new ship is let alone follow it but the definitely noticed when it slipped out of their range for Gates or anything else! 

They can get on the comms and follow Alex's instructions with only some additional stupid-questions-type prompting. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Then he will walk them through how to do some manuevers and get back on course to stick near the Roci. "How close do you need to be for, uh, 'Gate' range?"

Permalink Mark Unread

(They wait for Nayoki to translate this into Rethwellani and repeat it over the comm, which seems easier than keeping Alex in the group-link with the Proto.) 

"Nayoki should be able to get us once we're within a thousand miles," one of the mages offers. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki translates this back to Alex in Mindspeech. Makes a mental note that they really need to figure out learning the local language. Not all of Leareth's people here have Mindspeech, and it's conspicuous. 

:Leareth could do further: she adds. :If he were not sick. I - may try to speak to him in a little while, see if he can explain the technique he would use to me and then I can cast it. How long will it take for the ship to catch up to within a thousand miles of us?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Oooof. Okay, the sensors are going to all be pissed about getting that up close and cozy, you're going to want to disable some navigational safeguards - and also slow down - should be a couple of hours."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is staring at him in confusion. A thousand miles is 'up close and cozy?' 

:All right. If it is just a couple of hours, we should do it that way, and I will get everyone across and -: Oh. Damn it. :Most of the Proto is there. I understand why you would prefer not to have it on your ship, but I think it cannot yet follow us independently... Could we, er, navigate to the nearest decently sized rock and drop it off there? If it eats more then I think it will be able to Gate itself and catch up once Leareth has instructions for it. And then you could explode Julie's ship so our enemies cannot track its drive signature: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I am not at all on board with the plan where we make the alien goo smarter and more powerful."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are you sure it can do that? Where the Anubis was parked it seemed to be pretty dormant, until we turned the reactor on."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am not sure. Back in Velgarth, it very happily ate our moon. But that was after it was already quite big, and - it seems much more limited, now, I think it lost most of itself on the way across the Gate...:  

She frowns. She's pretty sure Leareth has a compelling argument for why, in fact, the best plan here involves feeding the Proto until it's big and smart enough to understand what's happening. But, honestly, it's not an argument she feels especially like making, right now. Not when the Proto is currently busy eating him and he's probably going to die - 

- and, given that they're light-years away from home, she doesn't know if they would ever get him back. Aside from the shard of him that, supposedly, is part of the Proto now - but if they defeat the Proto here on Earth then what... 

:I need to talk to Leareth. I will send someone else to translate comms instructions for the other ship: To Naomi: :- You probably do not need to come into the med bay, but I might need your help to figure out how to tell it that I need it to stop sedating him so we can talk: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure."

Permalink Mark Unread

Technically Nayoki herself doesn't need to be in the med bay either, she could delegate the equipment-poking to one of the Healers and then conduct the conversation in Mindspeech, but she WANTS to be. She's so worried about Leareth. 

She puts on the protective equipment again, which takes a while, and then heads in and stands next to Leareth's reclining-chair and directly pushes across what she's seeing on the screens to Naomi. 

:All right, what do I do to it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Uh, there should be an emergency override to get him conscious - yeah, okay, upper right corner -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right, thank you: She hesitates for a moment and then presses this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nothing happens for the first ten seconds or so - 

Permalink Mark Unread

And then Leareth's eyelids flicker and he wriggles against the straps. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth. Stay calm. I am here. No immediate danger: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He feels TERRIBLE but for some reason this isn't surprising - oh, right, he's infected with an alien parasite - 

- which he needs to check on right away - memory is catching up now - 

:Proto. Left behind. Moon: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This isn't especially coherent but Nayoki can do some interpretation. :- Oh, is that why it seems less intelligent. Is - do we need to get word back -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:It should be...rather obvious. If it - eats the Moon. And...not sure, but can hope - Moon enough by itself -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right: 

She takes another deep breath, and explains their current plan. 

:I need you to find out. What the Proto can do right now. Could it eat a rock if we find one for it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Asteroid: Leareth corrects vaguely. :I - maybe not - one moment...?: 

He reaches for the Proto. Starts out by pushing across: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

....Wow, as usual he is very outclassed by the Proto at everything-math-related. Leareth spends a while just staring at the beauty of it. 

Focus.

Damn it, what was the actual question Nayoki just asked him...? 

:What resources can you use right now?: Leareth asks the Proto. :Can you eat rock?: he pictures the Moon again, :or do you need more stable replicators -: and he pictures the cows and sheep. He's still too out of it to do very much translation for how the Proto would perceive both of these things differently from how humans do, but he does his best.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Stable replicators.:

Permalink Mark Unread

Damn it. 

There is, again, no point in getting angry with the Proto for inconveniently leaving most of itself behind in the Velgarth star system. 

:All right. There are not any stable replicators here that you can eat. I - will obtain some for you - but I need to gather those resources first. Right now we are in space and there are not any stable replicators that are - efficient and not destructive-of-more-resources for you to eat: 

A pause. 

:How much volume does the part of you on the other ship: a vague mental visualization to try to specify Julie's-ship-not-this-one, :take up? Can you - go dormant, for a little while, and fit inside a container? I give you my word - I swear by the stars - that if you do this, I will find resources for you, and wake you again when I have done so: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

:How big are you right now?: and he tries to specify that he means, one, the amount of Proto in this star system, not including what's in Velgarth, and two, in these units of volume, where one unit is 'fits in a Velgarth travel bag.' 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Confused.

 

And then, effortfully: The question doesn't make any physical sense; things don't actually have volumes.

Permalink Mark Unread

- wait, what?

Somewhat confusedly, to Nayoki, :- can you - ask the other ship to make their reactor put out more energy - maybe that will help...?: 

And to the Proto: 

:What is 'volume' an approximation for? It is - a useful approximation for me, from this viewpoint: and he tries to push across as much context with that as he can.

 :We need to destroy Julie's ship for - for strategic reasons. I do not want to destroy any of you because you are my ally. But it is not efficient for you to eat the resources on the ship where I am right now. On a longer timescale you will have far more total resources if you can refrain from that and let us transport you, hidden in this ship, to somewhere with more resources that you can eat safely. Will you fit?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Much too small to accept it. Lots bigger, for that. Big enough for the Work.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Oh.

Leareth thinks he understands. The Proto, at its full strength, could check that he means it - could see the pattern of a Leareth, understand it, play it out over time - but it can't do this right now. 

:I want you to be that big. But - my resources are limited, right now. So I - I need you to trust me, even though I can check. ...Please squish yourself as small as you can, on the other ship: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This will destroy resources! The protomolecule is confused, it's not supposed to destroy resources in that fashion.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Oh. 

Damn it, he keeps not updating enough on the Proto's sheer ability to solve engineering problems. 

:- No. Cancel that. Do not destroy resources: 

A pause, while Leareth tries to think.

(His heart rate is somewhat elevated, and so is his brain activity, but the anticonvulsants that the autodoc has been administering are doing their job.) 

:- Will it destroy resources if you squeeze down in order to fit into this: and Leareth pictures one of the travel-packs brought along by his staff, currently empty because it previously contained water which has now been drunk. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Underspecified!

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth tamps down the growing frustration.

:What other information do you need?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Permalink Mark Unread

The Proto is clearly asking for something? And trying to do it with the vocabulary it has. 

He’s so frustrated and this isn’t helpful at all.

:The part of you just in this ship. Is that - enough to eat stable replicators and grow later. If the rest in the other ship is lost: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

How to communicate this next part…

:I - do not currently have the resources to retrieve the part of you in the other ship. But I am still your ally. I will obtain resources for the part of you here in this ship - I know you cannot yet assess this, but I give you my word: 

A pause. 

:Do you understand: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Permalink Mark Unread

He - thinks this is an acknowledgment that the Proto understands the current plan?

Leareth is kind of worried that it will still panic and cause a lot of damage to his and Julie’s bodies if they explode the other ship, but - well, he’s in the best place to weather that, with both Healing magic and local technology on hand.

:Nayoki: he sends. :Do not try to retrieve the Proto from Julie’s ship. Do the Gate when you are ready and then destroy it. …If it is being pursued and the situation becomes more urgent, wake me again and I will attempt a Gate-routing for the necessary distance, but if not I think I ought rest: 

Permalink Mark Unread

…She has a lot of questions but probably none of them are worth keeping deathly-ill Leareth awake for. 

:All right. I will take care of it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth nods, relieved, and closes his eyes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki reaches for Naomi’s mind again.

:We are done talking - should I undo the override to keep him conscious?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The autodoc doesn't love sedating people, if it thinks he should be out it's probably right.

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right: And she can follow Naomi's instructions to reverse the override; she uses a push of Mindhealing on herself to memorize the pattern on the screen, in case she needs to do this again later. 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Leareth is trying to stay calm, and is definitely a lot less panicked than before - his heart rate is only moderately elevated - but he's finding it hard not to gnaw on various possible plans and contingencies, even though this is making his head hurt.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki squeezes his shoulder, and then starts repeating the procedure from before for being allowed to leave the med bay. 

:We can leave the Proto on Julie's ship behind and destroy it along with the ship: she adds, to Naomi. :Leareth thinks that it will not interpret this as hostility, or will at least accept reassurance from him: Or something. She's not really sure she follows his reasoning. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They have injured people on board, so he directs the other ship to do all of the high-g maneuvering involved in bringing their ship around and to within Gate range. Then he matches speeds. "Martian patrols have noticed all this, we've got some folks headed in this direction," he reports once they've pulled this off.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Psychic commander says current plan is to Gate their people off and then fire on their ship and then, I guess, cruise out of here for Ceres. - how long will it take -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Five days, at a fifth. If the fate of the world is at stake and all we could go faster, the patients are Earthers, they'd probably take it well -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can do, what'd it be, three days at 1g, no problem."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Three days at 1g will lay me right out."

Permalink Mark Unread

"This isn't going to be over when we get to Ceres."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki raises a Gate. Gets the three mages across, hurriedly. Dismantles the Gate as soon as she can. She's skimming the crew's surface thoughts but only half following their back-and-forth. 

:- Are the Martian patrols going to chase us?: she asks. :I - could maybe try to hide this ship behind an illusion: Leareth, she is certain, could manage to pull this off somehow. If he were well and at his full capacity. Herself, she's far less sure. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Since this is originally a Martian ship it came with their latest military codes in a safe we were able to compromise. We transmitted them last time they confronted us and we should be set until they change the codes, which they could do at any time. - they are unaware that this ship survived the destruction of the Donnager and will presumably change the codes the second they figure it out -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hiding the ship would be good, if you can do it. Or just the drive, that's what other ships can see at a distance."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. What aspect of the drive is it that the other ships can detect - light, heat, something else...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Just visible light would probably be enough to at least immensely complicate chasing us. The drive plume is much much bigger than the ship, though, and really bright, you can see it across the system."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki thinks for a minute. 

:I do not think I can straightforwardly hide it from all angles, but if I do it in concert with the other mages here, I can cast a very large light-reflective mage-barrier that would hide it from one angle? If we know where the patrols are, I think I could hide us from that bearing: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, we can give it a shot."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They'll talk to other ships and learn we're still visible from other angles, it might raise more suspicion. I guess it'd buy us some time."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Are the Martian patrol ships faster than us? If they ended up pursuing us, could they catch up before we could reach Ceres?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't know whose ship is fastest and that wouldn't be the limiting factor, it'd be how many gs we could survive. But that's a pretty bad situation to be in, and depending how freaked out they were they might dispatch a ship with no one in it to catch and nuke us."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is blowing up Julie's ship going to be very obvious and make them more likely to pursue us?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It'll be visible. I think it won't cause them to pursue us unless it helps them put together that there's a possibility this ship survived the destruction of the Donnager."

Permalink Mark Unread

At some point she needs to get a more complete explanation of how and why they ended up 'salvaging' this Martian gunship, but right now Nayoki is way too tired to care. 

:All right. Then - I think we should destroy Julie's ship - I will warn the Healers first in case the Proto reacts badly and does harm to our patients - and then we can wait and see if the Martians begin pursuing us? And in the meantime I will work out the best light-shielding technique I can, in case they do chase us and we need it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He looks at Holden.

Permalink Mark Unread

" - yeah, all right. Your crew's clear of the Anubis shuttle?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes. All of us are here: Along with all their magical artifacts; they left some food and water behind on Julie's shuttle but hopefully that won't matter. 

She considers warning the Proto, but plausibly that'll just alarm it more and make things go worse? 

She does Mindtouch one of the Healers, though. :We are going to destroy Julie's shuttle to stop the Martian patrol from taking it. The Proto - may react badly to this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay. When you're ready, then, Alex."

Permalink Mark Unread

Alex fires. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule mutters sulkily but doesn't have a strong reaction otherwise.

Permalink Mark Unread

"All righty, let's get the hell out of here."

Permalink Mark Unread

The crew of the Roci sits down and straps in. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can someone in the medbay give us an update on the patients?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki can relay this request to the Healers over there! 

Permalink Mark Unread

They can't read the screens but it at least seems like there aren't any new alarms going off! The various supportive care being provided by the machines is helping, they think, or at least reducing the workload on the Healers themselves. 

The guy watching the VR crash course on kidney transplants is almost done, he thinks. He doesn't know how to check how much longer the kidney that the machines are growing needs before it's ready. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi should actually be able to mirror the medbay's screens up on the bridge and read things to Nayoki to convey to her Healers with her psychic powers. "It says fifteen minutes."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am guessing we should not have the ship doing complicated maneuvers while that is happening? ...Although, we are in fact used to standard planet gravity, and Julie did not seem too badly harmed by it when she was on Velgarth: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"She's an Earther."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'll keep her nice and smooth while they operate."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you:

Nayoki settles herself in to convey medbay-screen-information from Naomi to the Healers.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers are so excited about getting to replace someone's organs with new better organs! Three of them are planning to focus on Julie while the fourth keeps an eye on Leareth. 

They've also literally never done surgery under anesthetic before and are kind of nervous about that part. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Does the autodoc want to knock me out? Might make sense for me to stay conscious so I can read it, unless you have that figured out.

Permalink Mark Unread

:We have one of their crew reading it for us from the bridge, so - up to you, I think?: 

What's the autodoc's opinion on this question? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's standard to do transplants under local anaesthesia. The patient is supposed to watch something very boring on the VR glasses, because it's bad for the operation if they are stressed or panicking or squeamish. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Several of the Healers feel that personally they would LOVE to watch their organs getting replaced with new better organs, but it's fair enough that not everyone is like that.

They get everything set up, taking their time and carefully following the instructions, and offer Julie the VR glasses. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, half-roused by the nearby activity, turns his head a little and watches drowsily through slitted eyelids. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie picks a cheerful cooking show.

 

The autodoc gives instructions on how to administer the local sedative, and administers some other medications that will control bleeding and clotting during the operation, and then starts issuing instructions.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer who watched the two-hour crash course follows the instructions! He has the considerable advantage that he can see everything that's going on directly with Healing-Sight, which at least partly cancels out the disadvantage that he's literally never done surgery before. 

The others keep a steady flow of Healing-energy going and are ready to control any bleeding that slips past, but mostly just observe. In awe. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The new kidney is significantly smaller than Julie's existing ones - it simplifies printing it and sticking it in - but it's made from her cells so it shouldn't set her immune system off. It looks - like a kidney. Healthy and intact and already alive.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

That’s so amazing! 

One of the Healers tries to instruct the Proto not to eat this one, it needs to leave it alone so that Julie’s body can work properly and then there’ll be more resources for both of them.

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion. It doesn't immediately start chomping on the new tissue, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

They hook up the blood vessels and Heal the connection-points and disturbed tissues around the site, and sew Julie up, and then - wait to see if the new kidney is going to do its job. Does it?

Permalink Mark Unread

The early numbers all look good.

Permalink Mark Unread

Phew! Maybe they can get to relax a little bit more now.

:We're all done: the surgeon-Healer tells Julie. :How are you feeling?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I've been worse. What's going on right now, exactly?

Permalink Mark Unread

:We got everyone off your ship and destroyed it so the Martian patrols can't get it. I think right now we're just trying to fly to Ceres as fast as possible? And hoping the Martians don't follow us, but Nayoki has some sort of fallback plan for trying to hide the drive signature if they do. We'll be at Ceres in either three or five days? The crew weren't sure how fast you and Leareth could handle going, I think?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

People do rehab from surgery on Earth. The flip'll suck but that won't be for a couple of days. And this ship flies very smoothly.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'll pass that on: 

They've been pretty distracted with Julie, but a couple of the Healers turn back to refocus on Leareth. What's the Proto up to in his body? How does the autodoc screen think he's doing?

They...should probably figure out what its recommendations are on the scale of the next few days - and what sort of prognosis it's giving - since it sounds like they're now going to be stuck mostly waiting for a while

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is mostly stable. The protomolecule is eating him a tiny bit, but slowly. He's in better shape then when they got here, at least. The system doesn't think he needs any transplants.

 

The autodoc's prognosis is pessimistic. It expects both of them to be dead in a week if they continue extreme measures, and recommends instead switching to hospice care.

Permalink Mark Unread

They're going to ignore that recommendation. For one, the autodoc doesn't know about magic Healing, and two, the difference between a day and a week might be huge. 

Though if it ends up taking five days just to reach Ceres, that's cutting it pretty close... 

The Healers discuss amongst themselves, and figure out a shift rotation where two of them will take the next eight candlemarks off to sleep - on the floor of the medbay, for lack of anywhere better - and then switch off. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki sits on the bridge with the crew of the ship. Fidgets. Occasionally pesters the Healers, or Naomi for screen-information-translation.

She's also starting to pick up a few words of their language, since she's skimming surface thoughts for word-meanings whenever the crew say anything out loud. 

Are any of the Martian ships pursuing their ship, or trying to contact them? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Not yet. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well that's something. 

Eventually she, too, swaps off with one of the less tired mages recently Gated over, hands them responsibility for the ready-to-hide-from-Martians duty, and asks whichever of the crew are nearby where would be a good place for her to get some sleep.

Also should they figure out something to do with the spy? One of Leareth's mages is still guarding him in his room so he can't make a run for the ship computers to send a prosthetic eyeball report to his superiors. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"You could ask him who he works for. He wouldn't tell us but maybe he'd tell you."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh. I might as well try that: 

She has ways to make him tell her, of course. Or drag the information out of his head whether he tells her or not. She's been kind of cagey about the full extent of Velgarth magic, though Holden and his crew must have some inkling of what Mindhealing can do, she used set-commands on some of them. 

So far she's pretty sure the spy doesn't know much about who Leareth is or how he got to this star system or what he wants, which means that even if he does get a report off it won't reveal all that much to his superiors, but it still seems pretty important to know who they are. 

She troops off to find her way to the bunk-rooms, and reaches out ahead with Thoughtsensing. Is the spy awake? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He is! Nervously chatty with his guards. 

Permalink Mark Unread

What's he thinking about–

On second thought, hold that.

What are the four main crew of the ship thinking about, now that she's headed off to do something else and is, as far as they know, out of earshot? She's been too distracted and worried about Leareth to do any in-depth mindreading for the last few candlemarks, but they've got to be incredibly confused. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're talking quietly. " - insane."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It doesn't make any sense. But I can't think why this is the lie anyone would choose to tell."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't like them."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We aren't running a popularity contest. They have - some advantages, in handling this situation, they know a little bit more about what the fuck is going on...and they clearly can't do it alone."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I looked at the autodoc for their leader. He's human. Could be an Earther. Maybe he is, and lying, but -"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"Well, there's an obvious way to check."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is there?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"We transmit what's going on! These people showed up in the Anubis shuttle, they say they're from another planet. Then either someone knows them, or no one does."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Then Mars will know we have their ship."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We are not telling Mars we have the Roci."

Permalink Mark Unread

It's Nayoki's turn to be very confused! 

They don't like her. That's fair and reasonable. They...think Leareth might just be lying about everything? That's - less reasonable, surely? They saw her Gate in, and were baffled by it. They experienced compulsions and set-commands. They know that Nayoki has Mindspeech, and can communicate with the Proto. If Leareth were lying about Velgarth, then - surely there should still be an enormous pile of unexplained mysteries? 

Nayoki is a bit offended at the claim that they can't handle this on their own, even though it's not wrong. She's torn between frustration at Leareth for not planning better, and guilt, that Leareth was delegating the planning to her, because he was dying, and he trusted her to get it right and she - didn't. Not that it's clear what else they could have done, really; they were already stuffing Julie's shuttle as full as they reasonably could, adding a hundred backup sheep wasn't an option. 

It seems incredibly disastrous for them to, what, send a message to the entire world somehow, informing them of Leareth's existence? Nayoki briefly considers trying to put in some compulsions against that, but it's kind of fraught as a plan, she's not good enough that they definitely won't notice. Besides, it sounds like they're leaning against for their own, sensible reasons; she'll just have to keep an eye on it. 

She closes her eyes. Focus. She can do this. 

And she informs the mage guarding the spy that he can take a break, and steps into the room. 

:I want to talk: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hey. I didn't catch your name, earlier -" 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Nayoki. Acting commander of this team: 

And she waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's so annoyed that just after he convinced the last group of people not to kill him - and it was a close call - now there are new people! At least they haven't threatened to kill him, but, you know, some people don't bother threatening first.

"That's one hell of a comms setup. I assume you can't tell me anything about it? Compliments to your engineers, anyway. Uh, just between you and me...where is this ship going? She's had a interesting couple of weeks."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I imagine so!: Nayoki looks around for a chair or something to sit down. :I suppose I could tell you our destination, but I think it would be fair to trade that for other information. The ship's crew told us that you are a spy - I want to know who you report to: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I'm not a political spy, he says. (He's lying). That's a great way to get yourself killed, especially these days. I did strictly legal corporate work. Legal, but not the kind of thing that makes you popular, and when I got in some hot water I jumped on the next ship out, which turned out to be this one, which seems to attract every shitshow in the solar system. (He's still lying, but not about that last part).

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki nods along, like she believes him and agrees; she lets her lips twitch a bit at 'great way to get yourself killed' and snorts at the ship attracting every shitshow in the solar system. 

She leans forward when he finishes, with a faintly conspiratorial expression. :It really does! We did not mean to come here specifically, but - we have an advanced form of instant transport over long distances, and the targeting landed us almost on top of this ship: She's not sure if the spy knows about the sample of Proto in the cargo hold. :Anyway. Maybe you can explain some more about the 'interesting' last few weeks? The crew were rather reticent when I asked: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Were they really? They picked an odd time to decide it wasn't public, it's all over the system. So as I understand it, this batch were crewing the ice hauler Canterbury, Jupiter to Ceres, picked up a distress call, got on a shuttle to go look at it, and then someone blew up the Cant right in front of them. They go on broadcast to the whole system, tell everyone that Mars did it and is coming to finish the job, then go silent. Which causes a big fuss, of course. Mars denies it. They're picked up by the Martian flagship of the Jupiter fleet, the Donnager, and then the Donnager comes under attack and self-destructs. They showed up at Tycho with this pretty little gunship, and I assume they're running some errands for Fred Johnson, now, but they haven't told me what. 

This is all basically true.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I think they found it suspicious that we were not aware, since it was international news, and they were not interested in enlightening us?: She frowns. :They claimed this ship was 'legitimate salvage' but I am not really sure what that means here, legally speaking. It belonged to Mars previously, and I assume they would object to this crew having it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

One assumes!  He is confused about her question here, who goes around taking over ships while being innocently confused about the laws relating to doing that? Uh, if they found it drifting with the crew dead or evacuated, that's legitimate salvage; if they killed the crew then obviously that's, uh, piracy and murder. If they stole it out of the Donnager's hold - well, I can't really think how they'd have done that, and Mars might pretend something else happened just to avoid the egg on their face, but that would be theft, not salvage. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right: Nayoki still has a lot of questions, but they're mostly related to her having no idea what any of the relevant laws are. Probably it makes the most sense to learn to read the language and then see if it's on the computers on the ship and whether she can figure out how to catch herself up. 

:What was the hot water you got yourself in?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh, uh, I'd been passing information on personnel and R&D at Luna Mutual on to my employers,: he is making this up on the spot, though pretty convincingly, :legal stuff, you know, not learned through wiretapping or trespassing, just old fashioned talking to people, but I got found out and their private security's nasty so I figured I'd ship out.:

Permalink Mark Unread

He's impressively good at lying and she's kind of enjoying watching the process, but he's also annoyingly good at not thinking about the true information where she can read it, which is making this take forever. 

She sighs, discreetly, and pushes a bit with Mindhealing. I am a powerful stranger. Your employer would want to make overtures to me. I will help him. You could negotiate with me on his behalf. 

If this doesn't work, she can straightforwardly throw a coercive compulsion on him, but it'll be VERY obvious, whereas this at least stands a chance of going unnoticed. 

(It has generally not occurred to Nayoki to have any moral qualms about sneaky use of Mindhealing, but if it did, she would still be of the opinion that it seems fine to do to lying spies with eyeball recording devices.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

"You know, what I think you ought to do," he says, "is take this ship to Earth, surrender to the UN, and explain what is going on. You won't get in trouble, I'm sure of it." He's not sure of it but he does work for them.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki leans in, shaping her face into an expression of hope-relief-doubt-disbelief. 

:- I hope that is the case! It would simplify things so much for us if there is a competent and reasonable organization that we can interface with here. What does the 'UN' do?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"...it is the government. Of Earth. They're very - competent, reasonable, democratically elected, a signatory to and the writer of most treaties regarding - spaceship theft, and other things that are going on...I think they would be delighted to get the Rocinante with even a partial explanation of what all is going on, and I'm sure that you and your friends would be well compensated for your work in sorting things out."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is reading all of his thoughts close-up. How much of that inspiring speech does he actually believe is true? And what is he thinking and not saying? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He thinks that the government is...well, a government? It has competent people, it has idiot strivers. It is definitely more competent than the random bunch of haulers who managed to find their way in the middle of this and almost instantly start an interplanetary war.  He expects Earth to be reasonably graceful about a stolen Martian warship showing up with the architects of the whole mess? They'll probably do their best to coerce whatever public statements ease the political situation but, well, that's pretty reasonable given that the political situation could explode into a war. And they're not going to want public statements from the bizarre comms tech people, who no one knows are involved (and who are more of an asset if no one knows they're involved.)

Permalink Mark Unread

She bows her head, briefly. :Thank you. I - will think on your advice: 

She pauses, then gives him a level look. :We are currently, however, headed for Ceres. One of our people has a contact there: 

Nayoki is paying SO MUCH attention to his reaction to this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not as good as going to Earth, in terms of his odds of surviving, but it's better than being trapped on a spaceship with hostile idiots. And he can arrange an extraction once he gets there. "All right."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki nods, in both thanks and clear dismissal, and gets up. :I will tell you if anything else significant comes up. In the meantime, I think you had best stay put here. The crew of the ship are - not very happy about your presence: 

She tries to convey in her mindvoice - and with a teensy push of Mindhealing - that she is less hostile and more sympathetic to his cause than the crew of the Roci, and he shouldn't necessarily trust her, he's not naive, but she's worth working with. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, he doesn't exactly have a lot of other options until they get to Ceres.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki passes this on via Mindspeech to everyone else on Leareth's staff here - they need as much redundancy as possible, in this situation - and finds a quiet corner of the ship, and settles herself in to get some rest. 

She needs to talk to Leareth. And she needs a lot more information on the various factions here. So far she has three different perspectives - Julie, the crew, the spy for the 'UN' - and she doesn't really trust any of them.

But probably, hopefully, that can wait until she's gotten some sleep. 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the other mages is now on mindreading-the-crew duty for the next eight candlemarks while Nayoki is asleep. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Anyone know anything about Anderson Dawes?"

Permalink Mark Unread

He's looking at Naomi but she doesn't answer him. She's thinking mostly that she wants nothing to do with the OPA.

Permalink Mark Unread

"That he's OPA on Ceres. But we already knew that."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Is Julie awake, we should ask her some more questions - and Alex, you should take a sleep shift, we woke you up in the middle of yours -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I trust these people about as far as I could throw them, and I probably couldn't."

Permalink Mark Unread

Amos is pretty sure he could shoot them.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't trust them either but that doesn't mean we shouldn't sleep."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, okay. Just don't let them paw at her while I'm out."

Permalink Mark Unread

"We'll do our best."

Permalink Mark Unread

"What'd you think of them?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"They're obviously listening to us right now."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Obviously. What'd you think of them?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think they're - incredibly bizarre? But they don't want the goo deployed on Eros, and we are rather short on allies."

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, it's not like the mage listening in on them can disagree on the 'incredibly bizarre'. Leareth is incredibly bizarre as a person, even to most people native to Velgarth; from the perspective of this crew, it's got to be even more absurd. 

...

The Healers trade off on sleeping, and try to take the opportunity offered by the life-support machines to focus on actually repairing damage rather than just playing catch-up at keeping their patients from dying. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drifts. Occasionally thinks some math at the Proto, when he can muster the concentration for it. He's mostly convinced himself not to panic about Velgarth, at this point; it's not like it'll help. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is on transplant-related painkillers and drifts hazily for a while, too, but she's healing remarkably fast (presumably due to the magic) and the machine tapers her off pretty aggressively, at which point she is unpleasantly conscious and not quite in pain but in quite a lot of sensation. 

She's alive.

She's going home.

She's being slowly eaten.

She starts crying, at one point, and the autodoc doses her for it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually, the autodoc seems to decide that Leareth is either stable enough, or at least calmed down enough, and starts tapering his dose.

He wakes up enough to ask Nayoki for a report on what's been happening and everything she's learned so far, which is way less than what he wishes he knew. This is still enough to wear him out, but for the first time in - however many days it's even been, now - he's reasonably comfortable, not feverish or nauseated or headachy from dehydration, and he sleeps surprisingly well. 

He wakes up feeling almost clearheaded. ...And, for the first time, with enough mental space to let it soak in that, no really, they're in another star system. One with starships; one where humans left their home planet and moved in on others. 

Mulling on Nayoki's report, he's...actually a lot more worried about the various local complications than he is about the Proto. All the Proto needs is for him to get it a few hundred tons of biomass and then a Moon-sized chunk of rock, and it'll be happy. And hopefully smart enough to work with. Now that he can THINK again he has quite a lot of ideas about how to build up its concept base; he could even try to load it up with a simplified version of the infrastructure for letting a Velgarth god communicate in human-legible ways. The Proto is - plausibly less alien than that, after all. 

He has a suspicion that getting this to happen is going to be very bottlenecked on the fact that several powerful groups seem to be on the edge of going to war with each other. Oh, and the part where their main allies right now are, as far as he can tell, four random transport logistics-specialized crew with none of the qualifications or experience they would need to handle something this big. And they hate the OPA. 

Think. What are his options - no, back up, what are his questions... 

Leareth chews on this for a while. 

Eventually he checks if Julie is awake. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is wistfully contemplating cheesecake and fuzzy socks and nice things that are hard to obtain when working for freedom fighters in the Belt. Mmmm?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Are you feeling somewhat better? I wanted to ask some more questions, now that I can actually stay awake for it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I think I'm all right. She tells the autodoc to get her more alert, though, because probably it's important to not fuck this up.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. So, to start with, this is what we have learned since arriving here -: 

He fills her in on everything Nayoki learned, from questioning the spy and from mindreading the crew. 

:So our spy works for the 'UN', which - he believes to be reasonably competent and not inclined to commit atrocities, but I am reserving judgement until I know more. Our crew work for...it is unclear to me, actually, they followed orders from 'Fred Johnson' but they seem to hate the OPA. They are provisionally helping us reach Ceres but I would not count on their continued alliance if anything else comes up. The spy will presumably try to send a message immediately to the 'UN' - which would contain rather little on us, I think he does not know about the protomolecule at all and is assuming Nayoki was from some obscure Earth faction with advanced tech - I need to decide whether to stop him or allow it, or deliberately send misinformation I suppose: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- I assume my father's bribing some people high up in the UN but probably not all of them. And I - doubt they know they're enabling Eros, maybe they'd back out if they knew. I forget, did we - talk about how politics work in my world, at any point -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Not in detail? I...am a bit hazy on what we spoke about before; I did gather that neither Earth nor Mars are monarchies, and that the 'OPA' is an organization but not a national government: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Earth and Mars have unified planetary governments. They didn't always but they do now. Earth's a democracy - every adult votes, every five years, for the Secretary-General. In Mars everyone votes for representatives who form a government and pick a prime minister. The Belt and the outer planets in the system are mostly ruled by Earth or by Earth and Mars jointly, but Earth doesn't give a shit about Belters and treats them horribly, so the OPA is organized to try to change that. It has lots of different people working under the name. Some, like Fred Johnson, are trying to - be respectable, act the ways the Inners approve of. Others don't think that'll work. I asked Naomi her beef with Anderson Dawes and she said his plan wasn't so great, was it, so I think that's - disagreeing about tactics, right, not disagreeing about goals...

 

The UN wouldn't openly use the bioweapon on Eros. I don't think they'd lose any sleep over it happening, though. Earth and Mars will mostly be jockeying to make sure the other side doesn't have something they don't.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth absorbs this. Thinks in silence for a minute.

:We know there is one primary location with more Proto in this system. Presumably in your father's possession. Perhaps with the approval of the UN, for studying it at all, but not for the Eros aspect. There is not much of it; it feels less intelligent than it did after I fed it a hundred sheep, and it does not seem to be growing, so - I suspect it is still in a secret laboratory somewhere? I have been considering how to ask the Proto and find out where. The difficulty is, at its current intelligence it cannot follow instructions nearly as complicated as what I was giving before. But it does seem to have retained Mindspeech... Which means it ought also have receptive Thoughtsensing. And, most likely there would be laboratory workers within its range, who might or might not know anything important...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- at least they'd know where they were. She sits up straighter. And they might know how much the UN knows, or - what the larger plan is - the destruction of the Canterbury seems calculated to ratchet up tensions between Earth, Mars and the Belt, but I don't know towards what end -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am very confused about that part! Holden and his crew seem certain it was the Martians, but - as far as I could tell, from Nayoki's report, they did not actually see the attackers... And it would not have been obvious to me that any of the major powers here would want the situation to escalate toward war, which - seems to be a predictable outcome even if they had not predicted that Holden and his crew would immediately broadcast what happened to the entire star system: 

Leareth isn't sure how he feels about that particular decision. It's not at all obvious that it was strategic - and it was fairly stupid, from some angles, since it made them some very powerful enemies and the crew of the Roci clearly don't have the skill or resources to handle that - but, still, there's something refreshingly direct about it. 

He would really prefer they not send everyone a message about Leareth's arrival, though. 

:Anyway. I can work on asking the Proto to do that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I can try asking them why they think it was Mars.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I would appreciate that. Nayoki thought that they wished to speak with you more anyway, once you were feeling better: Leareth sighs. :Thank you: 

He closes his eyes, and lets himself take a couple minutes to rest before he tries reaching for the Proto with a friendly message of:

 

Permalink Mark Unread

, it agrees cheerfully.

Permalink Mark Unread

They can exchange a bit more friendly chatter in math form, and then - 

:There are two parts of you in this system, far apart. I want you to passively read the thoughts that are happening near the other part, and then relay and project them to my mind, here: 

And he adds as much nonverbal context and specification as he can, which is quite a lot, he's had practice and he's thinking more clearly now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

There's a long, considering pause. Then -

Permalink Mark Unread

- distinct change in activity, most similar to when Phoebe was cleared, but it seems a little different from that -

- ruling out six hundred plausible prospective triggers on the grounds that they happened in the last month and didn't provoke the same response -

- is that sufficient justification to run another live patient test? -

- I thought those were on hold pending Thoth -

- what's up with Thoth anyway -

- infosec....I'll suggest another live patient test with the immunosuppressants and we'll see if it's approved or not, hmm?

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth manages not to react immediately and ill-advisedly. Instead he thanks the Proto and tells it to stop now - it's distracting - and takes thirty seconds to absorb this, and then immediately Mindspeaks an update to Nayoki. 

And then reaches for the Proto again. 

:I think they might give you more resources. Stable replicators. I - you need to be careful. You can eat the resources, but - non-destructively, all right - like the Healers showed you -: 

Oh. 

It hits him like a brick to the face and he isn't sure how he failed to see it earlier. 

:...You learned talking-like-this, Mindspeech, from - here, my mind -: he pictures the dense neural-network that the Proto showed him before, :- just an engineering problem - the Healers have another sense... If we - let you grow there, too, could you - solve that engineering problem as well, and show us...: 

Leareth's mind is racing, and has to make himself slow down and carefully unpack all the concepts down to the level of concreteness that the Proto might, possibly, stand a chance of understanding. 

Needless to say, it's a huge thing to ask of his people, when they still have no idea if the Proto infection is survivable. But, all of them know what they signed up for. Before, it was war. Now it's something far stranger and more complicated. 

He waits to see if the Proto will offer any response. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

The proto is confused. But they want it to solve problems. It can solve problems. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...This is definitely a gamble. But - they can almost certainly make it the case that the initial infection is a lot less damaging than it was for either himself or Julie. Healers have a lot of control over their own bodies, often even better than what they can manage working on another person. They can - make the best of this. 

Of course, 'the best of it' will still, by default, kill them slowly - but it might give the Proto one more resource... 

He reaches for Nayoki's mind. :Is this a terrible idea?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Wow. It is - very you: 

A pause. 

:- I could take it. If it had Mindhealing Sight, it might gain a great deal of skill at understanding and communicating with us:

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

 

 

....Somehow he had still failed to think of that, even after thinking of the first half, which should have made it obvious. 

:No. Not yet. I need someone who can hold command here, if my condition deteriorates again. Someone who can - decide if we need to cancel the attempt to save Eros, and focus on gaining enough resources to return to Velgarth: 

He's pretty sure it's not the time to make that call, yet, but he knows exactly what he would do. They have a Martian gunship. They have a crew that could be compulsioned into helping, or at least coercively mindread to get the information that his people need to fly this ship; not very efficiently, but enough. They could track capture another unarmed ship. Feed the Proto some...biomass, whatever kind is available. Find it an asteroid somewhere as soon as it's big enough to eat that. They already know that the timeline to get it strong enough for an interstellar Gate is measured in days. 

Hopefully they won't have to test whether that would work. There's an awful lot of possible upside to be gained, if they can form alliances here.

Permalink Mark Unread

After a half-hour of discussion amongst themselves, the Healers agree on their volunteer. She's the one of them with the weakest Gift, and with minimal Mindspeech, which makes her less useful for other roles. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki really hates this plan but Leareth isn't wrong, about the upsides, and she feels a bit stupid now for failing to think of it back in Velgarth. 

:...Julie. We have a plan. It is going to sound kind of terrible, but I think it could help you and Leareth - and maybe others - Leareth just learned that the scientists studying the protomolecule are considering another 'live patient test'...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. Do we know where they are?

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Not yet, it was not conveniently in their surface thoughts and then Leareth wanted to figure out a way to not kill more people, first. They mentioned Phoebe, and...Thoth? But Leareth was not sure if that was a place or a code name of some kind. He is planning to listen in more, now, and see if he can catch the location: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is already making this request of the Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's no place called Thoth.

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule reports -

activity still consistent with some kind of state change at 23:01:60 -

- I've got nothing. 

- I want that live test.

- I'm writing up the application, give me a minute. You can cosign it, if you want, but since when has that sped things up.

- Keep it short and sweet.

- Can we try segregating it, see if we observe the state change in both parts -

- Let's give it another ten minutes first -

Permalink Mark Unread

They are being so unhelpful at giving him the information he wants. 

Leareth can be patient for another ten minutes, and see if anything even slightly informative as to location comes up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not very complicated to get a Proto sample from Leareth. The Healer obtains a swab of it, and - wow this part takes a LOT of willpower to overcome the very reasonable aaaaaaaaaaah flinch response - licks it. 

And then sits down in one of the normal chairs, since the medbay only has two of the patient kind, and tells her immune system to chill, and waits. Sending friendly reassurance at the Proto, because that might help? Lots of yummy resources here. Not hostile. But be patient, slow, this is what 'destroying the resources' looks like, this is what doing it right looks like... 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule spreads out on her tongue and observes and tries to copy, clumsily. It doesn't hurt, yet. 

 

Elsewhere the team submits their live test request and complains about how Thoth gets project approvals faster despite having clearly a worse ROI.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth passes all of this on. Including that he's pretty sure Thoth is a place, some sort of another research base, presumably code-named. 

And then, eventually, :- I am going to try something slightly more invasive, I think. It will confuse the lab staff immensely, but...probably 'humans from another star system with telepathy' will not be their first thought, if I have the Proto relay a tiny bit of Mindspeech just saying 'where are you'?: 

He includes Julie on this as well as Nayoki, in case she has more context than he does on why this is actually a horrible idea. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...well, it might occur to them that the proto is saying it, which could be either good or bad. It might at least delay the trial.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

It...definitely seems like it would make the situation a lot more interesting, in some direction, if the team assumes it was the Proto. Leareth agrees it would be better from his perspective if the human trial at least happened after they had their own data point, over here, about how smoothly a Proto-infection can go when a Healer is directly involved in micromanaging it. 

Leareth cautiously phrases this new request to the Proto. (He's assuming the staff won't try to actually answer, but it's very hard for someone to hear a question and not even think the answer in their own heads.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Where are you?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Secret research station on Io, several of them think instantly. And then the implications -

"Did anyone else hear that?"

"I heard that."

"Ditto."

"Me too."

"Did anyone not hear that? - okay, write down what you heard, so we can corroborate -"

"I'm going to replay the recording -"

"Write what you heard first."

"Yes, I did that."

 


"There's nothing on the recording."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is, honestly, really impressed with this research team! In terms of competence and coordination with each other, if not ethics. 

He relays this information to Julie and Nayoki right away, sends warm approval to the Proto - it's doing such a good job with his instructions even though they must seem so bizarre and inexplicable to it right now - and keeps listening in. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healer hangs out with her Proto infection, although honestly she's not very busy and she kind of feels bad for not helping the others with their actually-sick-patients.

She...feels sort of fond of the Proto? Which is a ridiculous way to feel about the alien parasite that you're letting eat you so it can copy your Healing abilities and maybe get better at not killing the people it tries to eat. But still. It's so earnestly trying. It reminds her of her niece when she was a baby and learning to stack blocks, she was so bad at it but also so impressively persistent at trying... 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki, who's been participating in the conversation from outside the medbay so she doesn't have to decontaminate again, looks for whoever's awake from the Roci's crew so she can ask them what and where 'Io' is. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's a moon of Jupiter. Why?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Privately, :- Leareth, how much should I tell them?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:As much as you think is sensible? We are trying to work with them: Leareth is distracted by spying-via-Proto. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth used magic to look for the rest of the Proto in this system. He thinks the secret laboratory is there: 

She has no idea whether Holden will ask a lot of questions about the magic or not believe her or just sort of accept it along with the rest of the bizarreness. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sufficiently advanced technology, etcetera, etcetera. He doesn't argue it. "All of it? If we destroy the secret lab there'd be none left?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow, Leareth is going to be so upset if they try that! 

:I am not sure if it is all of it or just most of it:

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm. Think we should change course?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:…No. We need more information, which Leareth will work on obtaining. And more resources, which we can obtain on Ceres. The lab is - likely to be well concealed and well defended: At least, if SHE were running a secret lab she would do that, and Leareth thought they seemed competent. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It is pretty hard to defend a surface installation against space."

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am not an expert in tactics here, but - I think we should not get into a fight that could invite retaliation while we have sick patients still on board this ship. We need to get Julie home: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This seems like super weird priorities, given that there are more than a million people on Eros! He tries to think how to phrase his objections and lands on "Uh, isn't her home....Earth?" even though this isn't the most important one.

Permalink Mark Unread

:She wanted to go to Ceres: 

Sigh. She's - not sure that he doesn't have a point, about her apparent priorities not making sense, given what she is and isn't willing to say to him.

:Leareth is obtaining more detailed intelligence on their plans. If we can learn their timeline for Eros, we can plan around that. He is confident that he can communicate with the Proto and tell it not to spread aggressively, if we are not able to prevent the release in time: A pause. :Where is Io located, relative to here? How much extra time would it actually cost us to stop by Ceres first, versus going directly there?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Jupiter's pretty near Ceres right now, like 3AU? Which is to say four, five more days, if we're stopping at Ceres, and if we keep burning hard, though that's going to be rough on Naomi and I'm not sure what's important enough to burn hard and not important enough to skip Julie's family reunion."

Permalink Mark Unread

:- And if we changed direction right now and headed for Io instead of Ceres?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We'd get there about twelve hours later than if we were going for Ceres."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is still very confused about the logistics of space travel, and also feels like Leareth would be following this just fine and she's just not as quick on the ball as him, which is frustrating and embarrassing. 

:Right. And - hmm - slowing down and speeding up costs us time, right? Could we - plan on passing close to Ceres but not on stopping? I can find out from Julie whether that would let us send a message without it being intercepted: Nayoki is ALSO still very confused about how space messages work, it's presumably not very analogous to Mindspeech. :And - maybe Leareth would be able to route a Gate there, if the Proto helps with the math to make it as efficient as possible, and we time it just right...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, if we fly by Ceres that'll slow us down much less than if we stop there. We can tightbeam them from here though it's not impossible to intercept. Tightbeaming Tycho is probably better, because Fred Johnson has better sensors than anyone else and I assume has a way to get in touch with the OPA on Ceres."

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right: 

After a long moment of thought, :- how long do we have to decide. Before we would need to start slowing down, to make the stop at Ceres: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Flip's in an hour. We can push it back one without too much trouble, or we can push it back up to six and give my crew a really bad time on the way in."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Noted. I - will try my best to have a decision for you in an hour: 

She heads back toward the medbay. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has been intently Proto-eavesdropping on the scientists. What are they up to now? 

Permalink Mark Unread

They have confirmed that they all heard the same sentence, and that one of them with a different native language kind of thinks he heard it in his native language but he's not very sure. They're doing a brain scan on one of them to see if anything unusual can be detected. They've queried other lab staff to test the range (it doesn't seem to extend through the blast doors they're using for protomolecule containment.) They've identified unusual protomolecule activity that might have corresponded to asking. 


And they've tried to answer. Not with the name "Io", which they assume wouldn't mean anything to the protomolecule, but - 

"This is a satellite of a gas giant, circling a star that is in the 79th percentile for size and 370million half-lives of tritium old."

Permalink Mark Unread

They're trying to talk to it! Despite the fact that they are also seeking approval to infect a human subject - when, he assumes, all their previous subjects straight-up died and they have no way at all of knowing that this time might be different - this makes him feel a burst of warmth towards them. 

He instructs the protomolecule that it can keep listening, and refocuses his attention on Nayoki as she dons the protective equipment and re-enters the medbay. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth, Julie: 

She's silent for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts, and then gives a summary of Holden's response, and what their two options are. 

:Julie, how risky would it be to transmit a message to Ceres rather than stopping? And, Leareth - can you figure out with the Proto what the maximum Gate distance is that you could cover, with the Proto's help at routing? It seems...not impossible, that we could movie you and Julie to Ceres that way. If we are going to take the ship onward and try to destroy the lab: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- If we are considering destroying the lab, then - I think I want to stay on the ship. In case there is a way to evacuate the human experimental subject or subjects: Pause. :And the Proto itself: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You want to rescue it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...It feels important, to - be an ally to it. For it to understand that, later: Leareth closes his eyes, suddenly tired. :And, honestly, it may be more straightforward to cooperate with the Proto than with any of the human factions in this system: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki makes a face, then looks over at Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

We found the lab? I think it'd - work fine - to message Anderson Dawes without stopping, if we already know where we need to go next - uh, I am not in favor of growing the protomolecule to wormhole-making size, here, it's kind of like a well-intentioned genius toddler but its creators were pretty happy to wipe us out for fuel for it, and it's going to try to reach them, right -

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I do not disagree, but I am still in favour of growing it some amount, with external safeguards, to give it a chance to be smart enough that it can update its goals at all. Right now it clearly cannot, but I do have ideas, for what I would do with it, I have...done related research before. And I think there is a vast amount of leeway between 'strong enough to transport us instantly around the star system via Gate', which would be an incredibly valuable resource here, and 'strong enough to complete its Work': 

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right. I - think we will proceed onward, then. Julie, can you work with me to draft a message that we can transmit to Ceres? And Leareth will try to figure out if a Gate is possible - Julie, would you prefer to return to Ceres if possible, rather than stay on the ship?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I"ll stay on the ship. I don't think being on Ceres would really improve anything, and containment's easier on a ship.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I understand: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am still going to try to figure out Gate routing, with the Proto. It seems like a generically useful capability to have, if we can manage it: 

He closes his eyes, thinks for a moment. 

:- Nayoki, Julie, the scientists in the lab are trying to communicate with the Proto. They have very thorough containment mechanisms. It - might give us more options, if I have the Proto ask them for resources, communicate that it just needs biomass and not people. And I do not think it should make it any harder to destroy from space, if we choose that option: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I doubt they have, uh, cows, on Io.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Would they have whatever technology made the kidney for you? I am not sure the Proto needs more than living cells: 

Permalink Mark Unread

They should have that, yeah.

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right. ...Nayoki, what do you think? They - might delay the release on Eros, if the Proto is manifesting sudden new capabilities, no?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Maybe?: Nayoki feels like she has no idea how the decision-making process works for any of the factions here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am going to spend five minutes trying to think of how it could go terribly wrong, but - I suspect it is worth gambling on: 

Leareth closes his eyes, and spends five minutes trying to generate scenarios where this is a bad idea. 

There are a lot of them. But, honestly, there are a lot more scenarios where something goes terribly wrong in a completely unexpected way because two planet-spanning governments are on the brink of war with each other and there are dozens of confusing things happening here and he's desperately short on both resources and information. 

Sometimes the best option is to take a leap of faith. 

He sends the Proto some friendly math again, and then, very very carefully, gives it the instructions. Breaking it down to something the Proto understands also accomplishes the goal of making it much less human-seeming, not that he thinks the scientists are very likely to guess that a human from another world with telepathic abilities is behind the Proto's sudden new capabilities. 

He tells the Proto to ask for resources so that it can think better, and to convey that it needs 'stable replicators', with some context to indicate that any kind of living cell would do fine. (Does the Proto try to dispute this claim?) 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Proto agrees that it needs resources so it can think better and can use any stable replicators!

 

It informs the scientists of this.

Permalink Mark Unread

"How did it learn to - is it telepathy -"

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion. 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - sorry. Is the thing you are doing - are you taking an action in our brains, or somewhere else in the world?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion. 

 

 

In order to know more things, the protomolecule needs to be bigger, and needs stable replicators.

Permalink Mark Unread

" -you know, screw getting permission, they're not going to be upset we're going through test subjects too fast if we're getting this -"

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gah that is understandable given the scientists' previous work but also FRUSTRATING. 

He instructs the Proto to stop trying to relay things to the scientists. And then tries to explain to it, slowly and carefully, that if they feed it stable replicators like this - careful mental specification of things-like-himself-and-Julie-and-the-Healer, he shows it the neural network of his brain again - then it needs to go slowly and carefully and not destroy the existing structures in the process, but if it's given resources that don't contain a neural network close to the same amount of complexity, then it can eat them as fast as it wants. 

Does the Proto seem to follow this? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The proto disagrees. It can in fact go fast at eating anything.

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes, but he is asking it to not do that, because of - reasons that he will be able to explain better once it gets bigger. Because there's a kind of resource that's difficult for it to perceive, right now, but that means a higher expectation of more resources in the future - because this (image of the neural network) is itself a resource, and it probably seems very arbitrary to the Proto right now, but the chunks of stable replicators that have this are the same ones that can think beautiful math like THIS for it, and if it eats them too fast then critical information will be lost, and the beautiful math will be lost along with it... 

Probably the Proto isn't going to follow a quarter of that, but he's trying. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule copies neural nets when it eats them! Also they are not actually necessary for the Work.

Permalink Mark Unread

...It's not going to work, to ask the protomolecule to trust him. It - probably won't even work to tell it that if it keeps killing people they'll have to destroy it; it doesn't understand tit-for-tat dynamics enough for that to make any sense, it doesn't really understand that there are other entities... 

He asks it, as clearly and simply as he can, to relay to the scientists that it wants stable replicators that don't contain (this, the mental image of a neural network, which he really hopes the scientists will recognize.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

It conveys this.

Permalink Mark Unread

The scientists are so confused. 

"- what -"

" - why?" 

"Spend five minutes actually thinking -"

"In the past when we have fed you things, feeding you things like us caused more us-like behavior than feeding you things that are very unlike us," someone tells it.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth thinks as hard as he can. 

Considers, briefly, asking the Proto to boost him again, except that he really doesn't need a seizure again. 

 

 

 

:- Relay this: he tells the Proto. :Why are they studying you? What are their goals?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Why are they studying you? What are their goals? asks the Proto agreeably.

Permalink Mark Unread

- the scientists are even more confused now! They arrange to bring the proto both a human and a vat of bacteria while they puzzle over what the fuck is going on.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth tells the Proto to eat the bacteria as fast as it can, and that it can infect the human but should go slowly and carefully. Like it is with (this person, the Healer). It can do exactly the same sorts of things as what she's telling it to do in her body. 

And - can it Mindspeak the human it's infecting and relay for him? 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

Confused! Frustrated! Too many rules!!!!!

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay. He backs off a little. 

All he wants it to do is read the human subject's thoughts too and relay them to Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The human subject is terrified! He's in a big pit with a reactor and a horrifying blue goo and they just injected his arm with something and he knew that this research project was kind of sketchy but he figured that meant 'overcharging on defense contracts', not this. He is begging to be let out.

 

The protomolecule is spreading through his blood, quite happily. Munch munch munch.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't surprised. He's not pleased either.

He tries to set aside all emotions about it, because it would be very inconvenient timing if the autodoc decided he was too stressed and sedated him again. 

...The downside risk of opening communications with the scientists is that the lab might - what, evacuate or move or call in ships to guard it, or otherwise become a lot harder to destroy if they go that route? The upside is that maybe, just possibly, there's someone reasonable in charge. Without a lot of scruples, clearly, but...maybe someone who will update in response to new evidence, which Leareth has. 

The other downside is that he's currently trying to work with the crew of the Roci, and they're probably not going to react well to his current idea. 

:- I think I am going to talk to the scientists directly: he tells Julie and Nayoki. :They are - very competent at the science part, if not the ethical aspect. I - think I can at least convince them to step back and re-evaluate. Which will buy us time: 

He glances over at the Healer who volunteered to be Proto'd. Where does the Proto seem to be at, in terms of spreading through her body and, hopefully, exploring her Gifts? 

Permalink Mark Unread

(She's been talking to it the entire time, mostly directly showing it her Healing-Sight as she tidies up various little bits of damage it's doing, or tries to redirect it from one approach to another.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

It is spreading out and cooperating as far as it can with her instructions but there’s not all that much of it in her yet. It has barely started glowing in her mind.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's...probably not worth risking his Healer in order to let the Proto learn and grow faster. 

:I want you to do the same thing there that you are doing here: Leareth tells the Proto. :Be careful, follow the instructions to figure out how to copy what is there: If it's too confusing for the Proto to eat the bacteria differently from how it's eating humans, then it seems better to err in this direction. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Frustration! 

 

It seems to obey, though.

Permalink Mark Unread

With a note of apology and gratitude, Leareth thinks some pretty math visualizations at the Proto. He's a lot better at it now that his head is less foggy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Do you know what is mathematically cool? The Work. That the proto will be able to do once it is bigger.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. 

Leareth is tempted to say something to the experimental subject, first, but it's not clear what. There isn't much in the way of reassurance or good news that he can offer, here. 

He plans his opening spiel to the scientists. Asks the Proto to read their minds and relay to him again. He's curious if they have the capabilities to notice, yet, that the Proto is behaving differently than before with the human subject. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They've definitely noticed! They're recording everything and speculating intently, seemingly totally unbothered by the man's desperate pleas to be let out; not one of them has even had a passing thought empathetic about the unpleasantness of being eaten by proto. 


"...I think something must have happened with Project Thoth," someone says after a few minutes of observation. "This is a discontinuous jump in its capabilities, there's an explanation, the likely one is that it got big enough to - assimilate information it gained elsewhere -"

"Is Thoth the only other project?"

"Dunno, infosec. I've put in an urgent notice that I think we need to know, at this point."

"Is the Director -"

"Coming in. He'll be here Tuesday. We're authed for up to six more human subjects by then, and total biomass of three thousand pounds, unless we observe deterioration of the exterior walls -"

"Have we checked the news, in case Thoth, I don't know, did something big -"

"I checked. There might be a delay, of course, but - nothing yet."

"I want the next human subject to be immunosuppressed."

"I can start that now."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth listens. 

...Can the Proto relay mage-techniques as well as Mindspeech? It's clearly mastered Gates, it can interact with the world in a way comparable to how mages do it - and in this case he would be providing all of the detail work - 

Leareth tries to show his work to the Proto, while being extremely clear that it needs to wait through the entire explanation and inform him whether it can do this particular engineering challenge or not, rather than jumping right into trying it.

He wants to cast this particular (very subtle) compulsion on all the nearby lab staff, relayed via the Proto (since he would otherwise be far out of range) but otherwise unmodified. They should realize that it's important to think through everything they know about Project Thoth, discuss it, try to piece together any separate bits of information they have - they're suspicious that it's important and they're being kept in the dark and their superiors won't necessarily tell them what they need to know so they need to think... 

Can the Proto relay this for him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Uncertain!

Permalink Mark Unread

....All right. Time to make another gamble. (After quickly informing Nayoki of what he's attempting.) 

Leareth adds in some additional instructions for how the Proto should err on the side of failing at the task rather than on the side of being noticeable and obtrusive to the lab staff, and then...

(- a leap of faith - damn it he's still so tired -) 

:Go ahead: 

Permalink Mark Unread

And the proto tries it. 

 

 

Nothing seems to happen.

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

- Well, it was worth a try. 

Leareth thinks for another long moment. 

 

 

 

He instructs the Proto to relay what he's saying to the scientists. 

:- My greetings to your team. I am a scientist from a different project, one you were unaware of: this is not even, technically, a lie, :and we have had a recent breakthrough: 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - oh, it's relaying -"

"Have you measured whether there's lag," someone says urgently. 

"We're not getting audio, we're just getting, uh, brain waves that would correspond to it - can you confirm you can hear us -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth cannot, in fact, hear them in a useful or comprehensible way - the Proto isn't sending audio and besides he doesn't speak the language - but he can understand the surface thoughts accompanying the words just fine. 

He's not going to bother with the more complicated explanation, especially since he doesn't actually, just yet, want to make it obvious that he's a scientist from a different star system where the local humans sometimes possess magic powers.  

:Yes, I can hear you: 

A pause. 

:The Proto can also communicate directly but it is mostly interested in math. I am not sure if you have any mathematicians on your staff: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Several of them are mathematicians; they tried using math to communicate with it, but ran into the problem where it didn't seem to have any sensory modalities in common with them. "How do we - communicate math to it."

Permalink Mark Unread

:At this point, you ought be able to just think it and I will tell the Proto to listen. My latest breakthrough was working with it to solve the engineering problems necessary for communication: 

And to the Proto, :- they are going to think about interesting math for you. You can listen and answer if you want: 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of these mathematicians did his dissertation on probability theory and starts trying to explain it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Symbols and numbers are not math.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It does much better with visualizations: Leareth explains, belatedly. :Like this: 

(He is significantly better at adding detail to his visualization now that he isn't so foggy.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

, it agrees.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Like that! It is very impressive. It does also seem to approve of prime numbers, and likely of other numerical patterns or sequences: 

Leareth skims the scientists' surface thoughts via the Proto while he waits for their verbal response. (He is, at this point, still hopeful that they have no idea he's doing this or capable of it.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

These scientists are thrilled. They're trying very hard to convert their math knowledge to things expressible visually, and thinking them at the protomolecule, and looking things up on their phones, and one of them is transcribing, and one of them is trying to get an encrypted message to Mao. 

They're really really confused. They have tried a lot of things, and 'the protomolecule can communicate telepathically' never seemed like something that was a breakthrough away. There was optimism about slowing down the virus's progression in humans enough that in the intermediate stages they could say something useful about what it wanted, until that fell through; there was the Thoth approach, dumping more training data on it, but that wasn't expected to yield results as good as this -

-and then apparently there was a third project, which succeeded where -

- someone pieces together that at the conversational pace there can't be lightspeed lab, not unless the other secret lab is somewhere on Io. "Have you measured whether it's instantaneous," he asks urgently.

 


The human subject bangs on the wall until his hands bleed. The protomolecule fixes it with Healing and shows it to the Healer - did I do it right?

Permalink Mark Unread

....The Healer is DELIGHTED and AMAZED and :!!!!!! yes you did that's so good I'm so proud of you -: 

(This is arguably a really weird thing to say to an alien parasite, and yet. It figured it out so fast!) 

 

The poor human subject, though! And Leareth is clearly extremely busy and distracted. 

Probably the Proto can relay more than one conversation at once, though? 

:I want you to relay to only here: she says, very carefully offering a mental demarcation of the person being shown to her via Healing-Sight which the Proto NOW HAS which is INCREDIBLE she's almost giggling with sheer glee and triumph. 

And when she thinks it probably understands, :...can you hear me?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mess with the neurons in only that neural net, got it! In exactly that pattern!

 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Aaaaah!" says the man. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She spends a moment trying to gauge if this is a response to 'yes, he did hear me' or 'that did something else weird and bad'.

It seems like probably he heard her and this is just a very reasonable response to suddenly hearing a voice in your head, when you're already trapped in a pit next to blue goo which is eating you. 

:Please try to remain calm: she says. :I'm not one of the scientists from the experiment. We want to help you but I need you to stay calm and not make it obvious to them that I'm talking to you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He curls up on the ground and shivers and buries his face in his knees.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It's okay. It's going to be okay. I know this is awful. But we're coming and we're going to - get you out, somehow: 

(She is super not in a position of authority to promise that, on strategic grounds or in terms of whether it's literally possible.) 

:My name is Emril. What's your name? ...Er, you can think it loudly at me and that should work: 

She's trying to read his surface thoughts already but he's very panicky and it's not especially coherent.

Fortunately it seems like the scientists are incredibly distracted and probably aren't watching their live human experimental subject that closely, and also his behaviour is pretty reasonable given the situation, telepathic voice in his head or not. 

Permalink Mark Unread

His surface thoughts are mostly 'aaah'.

Are you my guardian angel? he thinks at her after a moment.

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril has no idea what that means. It's a very weird concept. 

:No, I'm just a person. I'm a - doctor, you could say:

She...briefly considers telling him that she consented to letting the protomolecule infect her so that they could try to save his life, and quickly decides this is a terrible idea. 

:The scientists doing this to you are monsters. But - no thanks to them - I think you're going to be okay. The thing they injected you with is called the protomolecule. It's - an alien. It's very powerful and very confused and they're studying it and have no idea what they're doing. But I - we - have more of an idea, all right? And I'm going to show it how to take good care of you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That seems kind of ominous. Does it mean he will have the alien's babies. He does not want that.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I'm pretty sure you aren't going to have the alien's babies!:

Telling them that she doesn't know what will happen, that they're figuring this out as they go, is probably not actually helpful, so instead she just pushes across nonverbal reassurance, and waits, while the Proto swims in her own blood as well. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, after several minutes of failed multitasking, eventually thinks to call in one of the other Healers with Mindspeech, and delegate to them the task of snooping on the scientists' thoughts via Proto relay.

He's suddenly very tired. 

:...The Proto mastered Healing-Gift: he says to Julie and Nayoki. :I - think this increases the odds that we will survive:

A pause. 

:I think I want to give it Farsight too, if we can. Possibly Fetching although this has obvious downside risks. It will help immensely if we decide to rescue their human test subject, which my Healer seems to have just promised him we will try. Nayoki, please feel out whether we have a...volunteer, for that: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Are we headed to Ceres or Io?" he asks when the weird invaders surface from whatever it is they're doing.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Io. Although it is not clear exactly what will happen there. Leareth - decided to open communications with the scientists at the research lab and claim to be from a different research lab in this star system, he is hoping to talk them out of the Eros plan by that route. And we do still need to transmit a message to Ceres as we go past: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I see," he says. "Sounds like a plan." It does NOT sound like a plan, or at minimum it sounds like a terrible one. He goes to find his crew.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki can get why Leareth at least wants to try this way before they go down the route of blowing up the lab from space, and he is putting a reasonable amount of care into not letting the lab team suspect that he is, right now, on a ship headed their way for exactly that purpose - but she's still uncharitably irritated with him for leaving her with the job of explaining his inexplicable-seeming decisions to this crew.

Who, to be fair, she's starting to find pretty grating. 

:Leareth thinks that we should hide our drive signature as we approach: she adds. :He has more ideas for ways to do this with magic, and we should have time to figure it out:

Permalink Mark Unread

Separately, after a brief rest, Leareth reaches out with Mindspeech. Hunts around for Holden's mind. 

:This is Leareth. I want to speak with you at some point when it is a good time. Privately. I...am confused and wish to better understand some elements of this situation, and of what happened before we arrived: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, we should talk. Is telepathy not private by default? I can come down to the medbay, I guess."

Permalink Mark Unread

:My half of it will be private by default. Though it might be more straightforward to have a conversation where you can actually see me and I am not just a disembodied voice: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, I'll come down."

 

He does this. Puts on his respirator and crosses his arms. "Flip and burn for Io's in twelve hours and honesty, we're not at all persuaded that your plan here is worth enabling."

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. :The plan where I try to convince the scientists that the ruthlessness of sacrificing a million lives is not actually necessary to further any of their aims? I - agree that they are unscrupulous but I do not think they were in fact planning to do this for fun: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The, uh, plan where we make the alien parasite stronger and teach it to be psychic and infect people with it. Stopping the mad scientists I am all in favor of."

Permalink Mark Unread

This isn't the main conversation Leareth wanted to have but...it does seem like an important and overdue one.

:I think I have not done a very good job of conveying my context and reasons for wanting to do this. If you allow me to explain, and you still think I am obviously wrong, then I would be interested in hearing your case for why: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"...okay, let's hear it."

Permalink Mark Unread

:- It would be helpful, for that, if you are at the point of believing that I am really from another world and that we have vastly different capabilities than those that your civilization possesses. Are you?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"...I'll entertain it? I don't have a different explanation. But - other worlds shouldn't have humans on them."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Trust me, I am just as confused on that aspect as you are!:

He closes his eyes. He's managed, through some sort of mindreading-osmosis more than anything direct, to pick up that starting with 'and our world has gods' isn't going to go well. 

:Velgarth is - in most ways, far less advanced than your civilization. We do not have space travel; we do not have electricity or computers; our total world population is less than a hundred million, and I cannot even tell you how much less because the planet lacks anything close to a centralized government, or the infrastructure to run that kind of accurate census. However. We - do have entities that are...somewhat like the Proto, in a way. Far more powerful than humans, superintelligent in some ways, but deeply alien and nearly impossible to communicate with. I am not sure where they come from. Perhaps they were built by a more advanced civilization, as the Proto was. I am not sure it matters at this point: 

How is Holden taking this so far? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, given there are some aliens, there might as well be lots of aliens, sure.  And there being lots of aliens is also sort of the beginning of an explanation for the other world having humans. "Uh, if you don't have computers you might not know this, but did humans evolve on your planet? Are there transitional fossils, closely related apes?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Unclear. We might not know if there were. There was - a very destructive event, the Cataclysm, a few thousand years ago, that could have erased much of that evidence:

Making sense of the mystery where Velgarth and Earth both have humans is fascinating, but not Leareth's top priority right now. 

:Anyway. Our resident alien superintelligences do not eat things - they exist outside of ordinary three-dimensional space - but they do influence our world. Steer events. After the last few thousand years of our history, it is fairly obvious they are steering away from technological progress. Which, as I expect you know from your own world's history, means that Velgarth contains a great deal of pointless starvation, disease, and suffering. I - have made it my life's work to study these entities and attempt to communicate with them, in hopes of changing this: 

He hesitates, looking at Holden, trying to find exactly the right words.

:- So, I think I am the closest the world has to an expert in communicating with aliens. That is where I am coming from, when I say that the Proto is possible to cooperate with. It wants to talk to us. It is eager to follow any instructions it understands: 

(It likes math. It - takes pride, or something like it, in solving problems and building things...) 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's cool. But, uh, we're using this star system. If someone wants to put it on a ship and send it off to Alpha Centauri at 15g, they can be my guest. - they can't have this ship, we're using this ship."

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Do you not want to see your civilization colonize the stars? ...And so much else, the protomolecule is - not a general intelligence, it is incredibly specific, but there is - just barely enough there, it can learn. It uploads minds - if we teach it how, it could solve death. I suspect energy production is a less key bottleneck in your world than in Velgarth, but it can do that as well: 

Sigh. :...Also, teaching it Mindspeech is the only reason we know the location of the lab at all. It is the only way that Julie made it back to this star system alive. I - am not sure what your crew's plan was, before we came, but I am certain you would not have succeeded at stopping the massacre on Eros: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"I think - those all sound great. I - suspect it won't be that easy, right. And it seems like the kind of thing where, if it goes wrong, it goes really, really wrong. Worse than Eros. There are 33billion of us. We are colonizing the stars, the Mormons have a ship almost ready to go and once the tech's less new everyone else will be right behind. 

It's sort of like nukes, right, you can use it for energy but the first thing we used it for was war, and we could easily have destroyed the world, and they're not even intelligent in their own right - I'm not saying I definitely think you're wrong, here. I think you should make your case to people."

Permalink Mark Unread

:...To be deeply uncharitable for a moment, I feel much more hopeful of convincing the Proto not to let itself be used as a weapon, than stopping the various political factions in your world from trying to use it as one: 

He closes his eyes. :Sorry. You - are not wrong, that the downside risk here is also very high, and - I am not sure I can convey all of the reasons why I think we can avoid that. They mostly boil down to 'the Proto listens, when we tell it to stop.' ...If it in fact manages not to kill the scientists' human test subject, which my Healer is working very hard with it on, I think that is substantial evidence: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"So the argument is, we should - feed it? Let it get bigger? Meet whoever sent it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:I want to let it get bigger up to a certain point, and then - once it has enough mind to follow, I want to - hmm, to partially reprogram it, is one way of putting this. To teach it human concepts. ...I am not sure if we want to let it complete its wormhole. Preferably we would find a way to do that starting from an uninhabited star system, in case its creators are hostile: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hmm. Okay. The Roci has a good transmitter. We've been lying low because we're the only survivors of the Cant and the Donnager and we probably have a lot of enemies at this point, but - this is important - I think we should tell everyone that there are aliens, and explain how you know all of this stuff about what the proto can and can't do, and warn them about the possible planned attack on Eros so Eros can take precautions against it, and then figure out whether to grow the proto bigger. And not destroy it in the meantime, I guess, though I still think we should bomb the lab since this thing seems very bad in bad hands."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes, good!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

After a moment:

:We obviously need to think longer before making a final plan. The fate of your world is at stake. You need to discuss it with all of your crew - honestly, probably include the spy as well, who by the way reports to the UN - and figure out exactly what to transmit. And we can consider whether our magic offers a way to make it less clear where the transmission is coming from:

:...Also, the conversation I had initially wanted to have was regarding your enemies. I am trying to piece together a clear timeline of events and infer which factions are aiming toward what goals, here, and I am still very confused. Can you start at the very beginning of your involvement here, and go through what, exactly, you saw - not your theories, just your concrete observations: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's all I said to anybody," he mutters irritably. "They can decide for themselves what to conclude. The Cant was two days out from Ceres when we picked up a distress call from a ship identifying itself as the Scopuli.  We went to check it out. It looked like there was no one around for a couple million klicks. The ship was dead in the water with a hole blown in the side, drifting near an asteroid. Empty, inside. No bodies. Powered down. Data cores gone. A portable transponder on the bridge had been sending the distress signal, rather than the ship actually sending the distress signal in its own right. We scooped it up.

Then, we got word from the Cant that there was a ship right near us. We figured at first it'd been hiding behind the asteroid. We started heading back to the Cant. The ship fired torpedos. Not at us, at the Cant. They - usually pirates aim for the drive. Disable the ship, steal its stuff, ransom its crew. They didn't do that. They nuked it. Killed everyone aboard. We got a glimpse of the ship. It was a stealth design. Of the known powers in the system only Mars has stealth tech.

There were five of us on the shuttle. We took damage from the debris field but we repaired the shuttle, called for help. The MCRN Donnager answered. While it was on the way to pick us up Naomi took the beacon apart. The beacon was MCRN tech. We figured - Mars had lured the Cant in, and then nuked it. And then they were coming to pick us up. So I sent out a transmission to the whole system, telling them what'd happened, telling them that if we disappeared - that'd be additional evidence -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Reasonable enough: Leareth makes a few mental notes. Stealth tech. The Scopuli. Who else might be able to buy or steal a Martian beacon. 

:Anyway. So what happened when the Donnager picked you up? Did you - confront or ask them about destroying the Cant?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"They cut the shuttle open with a dozen guns trained on us and interrogated us separately. They wanted me to make a statement recanting. They said Naomi had probably done it, that she was probably OPA. I - said I'd make a statement that got all of us home safely. But not the one they wanted. We were arguing about it, then the Donnager spotted an approaching ship refusing to change course, and switched to a battle footing. It was a tiny ship. They figured it wasn't a threat. Even when it split into four ships. But the ships had remarkably good weaponry, and got off a couple lucky shots, and suddenly it was a close thing. - I recognized the make of one of the ships, when they got an image of it. It looked like the one that nuked the Cant. So the captain directed her people to get me off the ship, to testify to that, and we evacuated under fire, and all her soldiers died along the way - so did one of my people - and then the Donnager self-destructed, presumably because they'd been boarded and navies don't let their warships get captured, no matter what -

- we could've gone to Mars but we weren't sure they'd let us out of prison before we were old and grey - and at the moment, no one knew we were alive, right, which is a pretty big advantage when you're in the middle of everything -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is confused. He's trying to pin the confusion down, to stare at it, but it's slippery and won't stay put... 

Fine, start with the most random-feeling part. :Do you have any reason to actually believe either that Naomi is OPA, or that the OPA would have had a reason to blow up your ship?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Their claim was that she was a Belter - which is true - wildly overqualified to run engineering on a dump like the Cant - also true - doesn't talk about her past - none of us do - and was hiding something during her interrogation. They could've been lying, though. People are - racist - against Belters, could've just been that. And they needed to pin it on someone, and pinning it on me or Amos or Shed wouldn't have avoided an incident with Earth.

The OPA does terrorism sometimes. Not blowing up random ice haulers, usually, but - it could've been nonrandom, if someone aboard the Cant was - a rival, or smuggling, or something -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Who else was on board the Cant? Anyone who would have been - relevant in any way, to either the OPA or Mars or the company studying the protomolecule, or any other faction?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think so! I'd known more of them for years, and they were - good people - but not - I wouldn't have expected them to be involved in anything -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. 

:Sorry, to clarify an earlier point - I thought I had remembered that you investigated on Fred Johnson's request. Did you ask him after seeing the beacon? If so, why?: 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

"No, no, we investigated the Scopuli because I just didn't want to leave someone out there to die. Wish I had. Fred Johnson came in later."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. So, up to that point: someone destroyed the Scopuli and - most likely someone, perhaps not the same someone, left a Martian-made distress beacon which you found. That is one mystery. A stealth ship of unknown origin - but the tech is possessed only by Mars, to your knowledge - destroyed your main ship after you found it. A second, though perhaps related, mystery. The Donnager's arrival is not mysterious, since they were responding to your own call for help. Their response was - reasonable, if the crew did not think Mars had done it, which is plausible even if Mars was responsible, it could have been highly classified: 

He frowns, thinks. :- And then the same stealth ship destroyed the Martian ship. I suppose it is not impossible that the leader of a classified Martian program would do this to maintain secrecy, but - it is still a point against our unknown ship being Martian, I think: 

After a pause, :All right. You are on the Roci now, lying low. What happened next?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 "Fred Johnson reached out. He'd seen the Donnager fight from his station, Tycho, and offered us a port. It didn't seem like a great idea but we didn't have a lot of options, and he was being friendly. We went. He helped us, uh, disguise the ship. Alter the reactor and the exterior so it'd look like a gas tanker, not a Martian gunship. And he told us that he'd intercepted a distress call from the middle of nowhere, and could use someone who could go check it out. We went. 

We found the Anubis. There was - that thing - in it. Dormant, at first, but once we powered up the reactor, it started moving."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth bows his head. :That must have been terrifying. I am glad none of you were infected: 

After a few beats, :- to clarify, this is the same ship where Julie was kidnapped and kept captive? And she had presumably already escaped it in the shuttle by the time you found it:

And somehow ended up in Velgarth, thus setting off this entire bizarre chain of events. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah. She presumably sent the distress call Fred Johnson was responding to, and then hid the ship, powered it down, left on a shuttle. When she wasn't there we figured she'd taken a shuttle - and you can see a drive from anywhere in the system, so she hadn't used it - and the only place you can get on thrusters from there is Eros. So that's where we were headed. But she wasn't on Eros, she was - apparently - with you lot."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. At which point she landed on Velgarth, I was infected -: he's going to skim over how, :and, after some discussion and studying the Proto, we took it to our Moon in order to grow it enough that it could transport us back. Julie thought she was the only one who had a chance of warning Eros: 

He closes his eyes. :I think I have the timeline solid, now. What I am not clear on is, one, who destroyed the Scopuli - and who then made sure it would be found, were they the same actor - two, whose stealth ship it was, and three, how the Anubis managed to get itself taken over by the protomolecule: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't think we know those things either."

Permalink Mark Unread

The Anubis destroyed the Scopuli, Julie thinks from across the room. The autodoc now thinks she should have a lung transplant as well as the kidney but other than that she's doing all right. Well. She's conscious about half the time and doesn't hate it too much. 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Right: 

Leareth drags at foggy memories dating to back when he was (more imminently) busy dying of Proto infection. :The Scopuli was your ship, before? ...Did you leave the Martian-made distress beacon: 

Permalink Mark Unread

No! We didn't have time to leave anything and we didn't have MCRN distress beacons. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Remind me of the circumstances under which the Anubis captured you from the Scopuli? Was the protomolecule involved, yet, at that point, or did you only see it after you escaped the hold of the Anubis?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

They'd suspected that the Anubis had the protomolecule on board. It was going from Phoebe to Eros, and they knew there was something planned for Eros, and they knew Phoebe was where the bioweapon - what they'd thought was a bioweapon - had been discovered. They'd intended to intercept it. Hopefully board it and learn more about what was going on. The Anubis had better guns than they did. There was a short fight, which they lost. No protomolecule involvement, though maybe the Scopuli damaged the Anubis in some way that enabled the later breach? She wouldn't have guessed they'd done any real damage but there's a lot of luck in that, and it seems more unlikely that the crew just packaged the proto badly or something. The crew of the Scopuli was taken aboard the Anubis. They recognized Julie, locked her up separately. Executed most of the others, she thought. 

 

At first they brought her food and water. And then the gravity went out and then - nothing. For days. Until she kicked her way out. By that time, the protomolecule was everywhere. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth nods. Absorbs it in silence for a minute, trying to hold the full picture in his mind. Find the blank spots in his map... 

:The Anubis was not a Martian ship, right? It was - from the organization your father runs, the one that is studying the protomolecule and probably bribing the UN?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes. Well, I think so. They had a sample, and they - obviously had orders about me in particular -

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is it possible that your father's team also has the stealth ship technology?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It'd probably require having a spy on Mars, but - that wouldn't be very surprising, really, next to everything else.

Permalink Mark Unread

:No, I agree it would not: Leareth lifts a hand to rub his forehead, which is aching again. :All right. I think that the simplest story here - the only one that hangs together at all, given what I know so far - is that the stealth ships belong to your father's organization, not to any of the planetary governments. The Anubis had a mission. You tried to stop them and failed. They– the simplest explanation is still that they had a Martian beacon, and left it on the ship as - some sort of decoy? To deflect suspicion to Mars: 

He glances at Holden. :Which worked. Then they destroyed the Martian ship as well - because it was too close to the secret? That makes much more sense than Martians destroying their own ship. And - now the two planets are escalating toward a war footing. I am guessing this is convenient for your father, perhaps because it draws attention away from Eros and the situation with the protomolecule:

Permalink Mark Unread

Which could've been the goal in the first place. If he was planning to release the protomolecule on Eros and try to communicate or negotiate with it once it'd had a million people to eat.

Permalink Mark Unread

:He could have done it with several hundred cows and an uninhabited asteroid! Though I suppose he had no way of knowing: 

Leareth looks over at Holden. :I think you are right, and we ought communicate with someone and explain the situation. Ideally we would not make the broadcast directly from this ship, but it - might be good to record and prepare it, just in case we are somehow ambushed before we pass Ceres: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well. I can do that, I guess, since I don't think your telepathy will work over video. We might be able to tightbeam Tycho."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. :It will not work, no - maximum range is several hundred miles. Remind me what - who? - Tycho is?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Fred Johnson's station. He has very good comms equipment, I bet Naomi can come up with a good secure way to contact him. We'd be trusting him with whether to release the message, but it probably beats having nothing. And if patching things up between Earth and Mars makes it harder for them to pull off whatever it is on Eros, all the better."

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right. I think - we should do that and we should also relay the message to Anderson Dawes on Ceres, for redundancy. We should include basic context on the protomolecule and the Eros plan as well - Julie, can you help Holden draft that?: 

He hesitates. :I think for now, we should not mention Julie's excursion to Velgarth or our magic. It will...probably confuse things more than anything else. Make the rest of the message more tempting to disbelieve as well. And - I may want that surprise in reserve, later, if things get worse: 

Separately, to Nayoki, :I want you to find Naomi and tell her that Holden and I wish to speak with her about comms. Additionally, I - want you to ask her if she is hiding anything relevant about her past or hid anything when she was captured by the Donnager. It came up while I was speaking to Holden. It might be relevant: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right:

Nayoki starts looking for Naomi. 

Permalink Mark Unread

On the bridge, being miserable about the gravity. She'd honestly go down to the sick bay except for the thing where it's full of alien.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki sits down beside her. Gives her a worried look. :Are you all right?: It's not by default obvious to her that it's related to the gravity, it feels totally reasonable to her

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'll be fine. Assuming we stop this thing."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Mmm: 

Nayoki stomps on the urge to fidget. :Holden wants you to figure out a secure way to contact Tycho, and - Fred Johnson, I think is his name? To pass a message explaining what has happened and our plans. And...I had a question for you: 

She looks Naomi in the eye, and opens her Sight fully. Including the Truthseeing. :Holden told Leareth, just now, that the crew of the Anubis accused you of hiding something when they questioned you. And Holden said you never talked about your past. I am aware this could mean nothing, but - is there anything there that could be relevant?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"No." If he were involved in this Julie would've known about it; it clearly wasn't a long list of people.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Are you sure? Is there anything that could be - politically relevant in general, to any of the factions? ...There are still some pieces of this puzzle we are missing, Leareth is confused: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's pretty confusing. What in particular is he confused about."

Permalink Mark Unread

:The tension between Mars and Earth. It - is looking currently as though Julie's father tried to stage an incident and make it incriminate Mars. Also the situation with the Belters and the OPA is confusing and we are not quite sure how it plays in. And...unknown unknowns, right, we came into this with no context. Leareth disprefers operating without context: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's understandable. But I don't actually know you people, and my life story isn't relevant here. I'm not in the OPA and I didn't destroy the Cant." That much is true.

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right: She'll leave it alone. :Can you get the message to Fred Johnson securely?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yes."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you: 

She relays this to Leareth along with the fact that wherever Naomi’s mysterious backstory is, it’s not obviously related to any of their current headaches. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth thanks her and then, since he’s not especially required for drafting comms, goes to sleep.

Permalink Mark Unread

One of his staff keeps eavesdropping on the scientists (and Emril keeps an eye on the human test subject and sends reassurance if he seems especially panicky.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

The human test subject is having a much worse time than Emril! His immune system is attacking the proto and the proto is fighting back.

Permalink Mark Unread

Danger!

Permalink Mark Unread

Here, this is how you use Healing to fix that! Calm down the immune response, but specifically like this, not everything. Can it copy her? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Not exactly, not at first? There's not that much of it there and it's not ideally distributed and it's also whirring around panicking about the danger.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It's all right. It's all right. I'll keep you safe. Just - calm, slowly, careful...: She isn't sure if the Proto is humanlike enough to respond to wordless reassurance but she can send lots of it! And throw in some less specifically-targeted immunosuppression, it's a lot faster and it's not like the human subject is in a room full of contagious diseases right now, aside from the one. 

Permalink Mark Unread

With enough repeat talking-through it can eventually manage!

 

Pride! 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's proud of it too! Also very busy trying to clean up the various bits of damage it caused while it was panicking, and show it how to help with that as well. The poor test subject has to feel pretty crappy, and she can't directly throw Healing-energy at him via Proto-relay - although, actually, can it share energy with more distant parts of itself? There's not much Proto in the patient yet but there's a whole lot of it right there, around the reactor. 

 

 

Elsewhere, eavesdropping happens. What are the scientists up to? Leareth's mage is expecting they'll have to wake Leareth himself at some point, if anything major comes up, but he's hoping to put it off as long as possible. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're in communications with the director and he's burning harder for Io; he can maybe make it by Monday. They have thought of lots more tests they want to do, and are mostly posing them to the protomolecule in visual math form. They're delighted by the results and covering a lot of ground; their society seems to know a lot of math Leareth doesn't.

 

They want to know a lot about the protomolecule's creators. They keep trying to work this into math questions.

Permalink Mark Unread

They are the protomolecule's creators. It will answer math questions.

Permalink Mark Unread

…Wow he cannot keep up with that math at all but Leareth is going to want to know all of it. Maybe the Proto can play it back later. 

He’s also not familiar with the calendar system. :How do I check what day it is today?: he asks Julie.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Autodoc, what's the date."

"It is Thursday, May 17th, 2330, Earth Unified Standard."

Permalink Mark Unread

:All right: He stretches out his Mindspeech to include Holden as well. :I think the lab director will be arriving there in - four days? Which means we will be there substantially sooner?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Should be. Where's the lab director coming from?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:I don't know. It's - sort of tricky to eavesdrop specifics without being obvious and it could be a classified location. I can work on finding out?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Doesn't matter that much. I guess if we wait to nuke it until then we get that person too but that's not - I don't have any idea how much it'd really solve -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Might cause more problems than it solves. Apparently there's also Proto someone else, or...was at one point, I wasn't clear? They talked about another lab. I couldn't figure out how to ask the Proto about it and get it to understand that I wanted to know where, though, Leareth's better at that but he's resting; 

Permalink Mark Unread

"What, uh, skills are involved in asking the proto questions, our world might have technology that'd help -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:It's...bad at understanding the concept of spatial distance? And it - doesn't really get that different people exist, I think, I'm not sure what it thinks is going on here, it must be so confused. It understands math right away, and I think Leareth is really good at sort of visualizing all his requests to it as math-in-some-way?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 "Huh. Well. We'll get to Io first, and can figure out what to do from there."

Permalink Mark Unread

:When do you think you'll be ready to send the message?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I want to talk to my crew. Not more than half an hour, though."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. :I'll keep, er, spying here, and relay anything else helpful that I find out: 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - sounds good."

 

 

And he consults his crew. Composes a video message explaining what they know that doesn't involve psychic people from another planet.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth wakes up enough to ask to review the message. He approves it fairly quickly, though. Mostly Julie has a lot more context than he does, here, and he's apparently pushed himself too hard, he can barely keep his eyes open or hold a train of thought right now. He immediately goes back to sleep. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki paces and works with the other mages on devising a technique to do something ridiculous with the visible light being emitted from the drive so that they can avoid detection on their approach to the lab. 

She does a lot of ambient mindreading. Especially when the crew are talking to each other or reading and writing text. She's starting to make some headway on picking up the language - she can recognize the ten most frequent words or symbols found on control panels and screens, now - but it's not fast enough. 

... 

Whenever Naomi ends up making the final transmission, she's going to hover out of sight, but not out of range of her Othersenses, and throw her full attention at following exactly what Naomi's doing and exactly what she's thinking as she does it. She liberally uses Mindhealing to make it stick, which will give her incredibly weird dreams tonight but it seems worth it this once. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth wakes up, eventually, still headachy and brainfogged but he's rested enough to hold a train of thought again. 

Two messages out, or will be out soon. But - that doesn't, actually, solve the problem, because none of the factions around here trust each other at ALL, and it's very possible that neither Earth nor Mars will find out anything from the OPA. 

He doesn't have much of a lead on getting a message out to Mars, and the crew will be especially reluctant. And, as Holden pointed out, they are using this ship right now. Having it repossessed suddenly would be inconvenient. 

He does have a lead on reaching the UN. One that's somewhat awkward to use, either he has to convince Holden it's worth it or - what, do it behind his back? Pretend his people screwed up and let the spy they were guarding sneak past and access the computers? 

...On reflection, that might actually work. And if they plan it really well, then the spy won't know it was the deliberate kind of accident, and - maybe he can even finagle it so the crew don't find out, at least not right away... 

Leareth chews on this multi-headed problem for a while. Decides he's too groggy for it. Mindspeaks Nayoki, asks her to sort something out. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She's been mindreading the crew constantly; at this point she knows most of what they do about the ship layout and logistics, if not the fiddly tech details. 

:Sure. We would need some sort of distraction, I think? To justify pulling your staff away: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Staging a Proto near-contamination incident is a terrible idea given his ongoing dispute with Holden. 

:- I could have a medical emergency? I am sure there is something I could override on the autodoc that would cause significant problems, if I did it when I 'meant' to do something else...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I will check it with the Healers first! I am not going to do anything actually-life-threatening: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki grumbles something at him and heads off. 

...The spy doesn't know nearly enough about the Proto or about the message sent to the OPA, and the context in those. Maybe she...can arrange for him to access that too, somehow, on his excursion - it'll be tight, getting it to pass unnoticed, though probably she can understaff the ship, if Leareth wants to talk to Holden again and then she frantically demands Naomi come help them with the autodoc again...

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth can do that. And talk to Healers.

It seems worth waiting for a time when as many people as possible are on sleep shifts. He bides his time. They won't reach Io for days. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Usually one of the crew is sleeping; sometimes two are. The rest of them cluster nervously in the bridge, whispering to each other; they've taken to communicating mostly in references to sitcoms from ten years ago because it'll confound the intruders. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The spy listens at his door when there are conversations outside it, which is helpful for causing him to know things.

Permalink Mark Unread

(Communicating in sitcom references is still costly to them, but it's less confounding than the crew might hope when most of Leareth's staff can READ MINDS, including from halfway across the ship.) 

Another eighteen hours pass before they both see a good opportunity and have a PLAN that literally anyone else on Leareth's staff approves of. 

Nayoki, after her own sleep shift, does some quiet preparations while illusioned by one of the other mages. She doesn't think they've mentioned illusions much. 

Then she goes to Holden. :We have a version of the spell-prototype to hide the ship's drive signature from all bearings except one. We would like to test it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, go ahead. - assuming it's definitely not going to, like, prevent the reactor from dissipating heat, or reflect the drive plume back at us, then we will die."

Permalink Mark Unread

:It should definitely not do that! It is meant to capture the visible-light radiation from the drive-plume, across many layers, and reflect it between the spell-layers so that it ends up released in a different direction, but without affecting the actual force that the drive is applying to the ship. This is going to be a brief preliminary test, to see if the concept works at all at scale, and whether the power requirements are tractable for longer periods: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Let's do it while Naomi's awake so she can notice if you're fucking anything up. If she says stop, you stop, got it?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right." Naomi being awake is fine; they can also keep her busy by yelling for help in the medbay, once the actual spell-test part of the plan is done. 

They'll wait. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's Healers are DISPLEASED but he's in fact a lot more stable now and this should be recoverable. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Naomi will come supervise their spell test.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is obviously not going to be personally involved in casting the spell, but there's been discussion - and Nayoki's mentioned to Naomi - that he needs to at least be alert so he can help them troubleshoot any problems that come up. 

He gets the help of the Healers and some translation from Julie to override some settings on the autodoc so he can be as clearheaded as possible; he's pretty sure the stupid anticonvulsant drug it's administering does, in fact, make him kind of fuzzy. He just needs to be able to think for the next thirty minutes or so and then the autodoc can do what it wants again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki explains the specs of the spell and what it should look like to the ship's sensors. 

(All of this information is, in fact, accurate.) 

It's a huge working; ships are big and put out a LOT of light as well as radiation in many other frequencies, so the redirecting barrier needs to be very large and also tough. They're already, at this point, pulling in every mage except for Leareth himself and the mage currently on-shift guarding the spy.

(And they've made sure to mention this and the test planned, out loud and in the local language since Leareth gave them orders to learn the language and practice it as much as possible.) 

When they get the go-ahead from Naomi, Nayoki Mindtouches Leareth. :Ready?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ready: 

Leareth does, in fact, want to get a good look at the spell in action; there's a dual purpose to this plan, they really do need to run this test. He's been painstakingly attempting to convey to the Proto how he wants it to help him boost his mage-sight; he's still not sure if this will work but it was worth a try. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:On my go: 

 

:Now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The spell goes up! 

It does not prevent the reactor from shedding heat; right now, it completes ignores all longer-wavelength radiation, which is a downside but makes it a lot more tractable. It does not reflect the drive plume back at the ship. It looks roughly like it should to Naomi's sensors. 

 

It's also taking a lot of impact from all the visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet light that it does reflect. Light does not technically have mass but it does contain energy and, in some fundamental sense, those are kind of the same thing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

(So far, at least from what Leareth can See, it's being pushed and deformed within the error bars of his predictions. Having the Proto is absurdly useful when one wants to do spatial-mathematical modelling of what is, approximately, just an engineering problem; the magic itself is way beyond what the still-small Proto can master right now, but the concept isn't.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki has NOT been running models with the Proto, and her surprise and shock are genuine - Leareth told her he would intervene 'at some point' but not that the spell was going to do something COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED - it's getting literally bent, into a shape much more like a flared cone than the neat cylindrical light-exit-path that they'd aimed for... 

:Leareth! LEARETH. Is this expected behaviour - should we abort -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Not yet - spell stabilizing... Need to check: 

And he flings all of his strength into probing more closely at how the vast working is holding up. 

(This is, in fact, ALSO something that he badly wanted to do, it's information he needs, he's the only one who can reliably work with the Proto on this.) 

(Whether the part where throwing his mage-gift around at full strength is definitely going to give him a seizure is an unfortunate side effect, or a convenient upside, is really just a matter of perspective.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers, including the Proto'd one, swarm in close and check the autodoc. 

:Julie: Emril sends, urgently. :Leareth - has to do magic - does the machine think this is safe, can you translate -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, I can tell you whether it's trying to sedate him? It's - not yet - uh okay that's a warning - yeah it wants to sedate him now -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Can you override it for ten seconds I am in the middle of something important -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is deep in trance, which makes it hard to tell how alert-and-oriented he is, but in Healing Sight his brain is definitely starting to do things that it shouldn't.

:- Cancel that, it should– Crap!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is not a lot of leeway for Leareth, right now, in between 'worryingly close to the seizure threshold' and 'past it, already having a grand mal seizure'. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:ABORT!!!: the Healer sends to Nayoki and Naomi both. :Leareth - medical emergency - need help–: 

...

Someone else is frantically reaching out to all of Leareth's mages, including the man currently guarding the spy, they need HELP with the spell-test - 

The mage in question has been engaging in friendly small talk with the spy, since he's supposed to practice the local language. 

"I - sorry - magic, emergency–" 

He slams the spy's door shut, slaps at the lock but does not, quite, actually, manage to lock it. And sprints. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Abort NOW: Nayoki snaps out, steadily and calmly but with emphasis. 

To Naomi, :- spell coming down - Leareth having medical emergency - need your help with the machines -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She lingers at the controls long enough to make sure the ship is behaving itself and that they haven't broken anything important. Once the ship looks intact she pings to wake the people on sleep shift and hurries after them down to the infirmary.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's people are skilled, and prepared. The shield-spell is carefully aborted and comes down, in a neat, tidy manner. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage who was previously guarding the spy's door drops to the floor, his face turned away from the doorway and his eyes unfocused, as he joins the group-meld and adds his own strength to their blend.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is, very unsurprisingly, now in the middle of having a seizure. 

The Healers are yelling at Julie for translations on the autodoc. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can it sedate him now? It's administering a seizure med - it also wants him on oxygen - and a regulating implant but we can think about that in an hour probably -"

Permalink Mark Unread

The spy walks out and heads purposefully for the Roci's transmitters.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's Healers hurry to follow the autodoc's instructions, as translated by Julie - one of them is also separately reaching for Naomi, who isn't currently sick and is thus a more reasonable answerer for questions - 

They approve the autodoc med-administration and get the oxygen set up. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Confirming test over - spell safely taken down: Nayoki sends to Naomi. 

And then she leans against the wall, on the bridge, and focuses most of her attention on Thoughtsensing the entire area where the spy is currently headed for the transmitters. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The spy is worried it's going to be really hard to get back in his room, and the crew of the Roci was about ready to space him already, but the new people seem less inclined to, and their existence is obviously very important information that changes the odds the UN will, for example, just fire on the Roci, which they must at least be contemplating, depending what they know and who they know it from. 

 

He reaches the transmitters and is distracted from all of this by the urgent immediate problem of sending off a coded broadcast. 

Permalink Mark Unread

A groggy Alex staggers to the bridge. "This had better be important."

Permalink Mark Unread

"They tried their drive-hiding thing and I think the Roci's fine but Leareth had a seizure and they need help with the autodoc. Can you run a systems check?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah." He starts this.

 

 

 

 

Squints, a second later, at the security questions. "Shit, Naomi, the prisoner's loose!"

 

Permalink Mark Unread

She spins around in the medical bay and heads for the doors. "Where -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh for fuck's sake. 

(This is within the bounds of what Leareth predicted might happen, at this point, and it's fine, everything is fine...) 

 

Nayoki listens in. Watches where Naomi is headed, tries to figure out whether any doors need to be messed with in order to give the poor spy enough time to get his message of - 

 

 - separately Mindspeaks the mage previously on guard-duty and tells him to run back to the prisoner's room and then frantically Mindspeak Naomi about how he was distracted for literally ninety seconds and the prisoner isn't there... 

Permalink Mark Unread

- this is also within his expectations of how this might go. Sure. 

 

:- Naomi! I was - guarding - Leareth, distracted - prisoner's gone, can you, cameras–: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah - we're on it - though actually it might be helpful to have one of you people take him down with that psychic paralysis thing, can you do that from anywhere?"

She is in the decontamination shower and very irritated about it.

Permalink Mark Unread

"He's in comms," he announces, and goes to kill the power to comms.

Permalink Mark Unread

(Leareth is, at this point, still very out of commission.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Gaaaaaaah does she need to cause any "random" electronic malfunctions - she can but she would prefer not to, where's the spy at with getting the message broadcasted - 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's close but he's had to override a bunch of things and he doesn't think it's out yet and also he'd like to say more than just the thing that'll be dumped from his eye, he has some useful context on it -

Permalink Mark Unread

- all right fine she's going to cause a random electrical malfunction then! One which is both vaguely-plausibly-related to the spell that was just aborted - the magic is still dissipating, she doesn't think this is too implausible - and will both disrupt Alex's attempt to shut down power, and also keep all his systems and sensors busy with lots of random noise for the next fifteen seconds or so. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has been given a sedative and, as a result, stopped having a seizure. 

 

 

Also he's deeply out enough that he isn't, currently, breathing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers are so freaked out and alarmed! 

:Naomi what's the autodoc saying what should we DO -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm going to get the escaped prisoner before he tells our enemies exactly where to find us! Ask Julie!"

Permalink Mark Unread

This is the WORST PLAN and they are never going to approve Leareth doing something like this EVER AGAIN.

:Julie! Help!: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Is the eyeball-recording message being transmitted yet. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! It's on its way!

Permalink Mark Unread

"It wants you to hook up an, uh, machine that'll breathe for him - not my oxygen mask it's more involved than that -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow, Leareth is super going to hate that! (....He really really deserves it thought.)

They follow the instructions. They're pretty good at it, at this point. 

Permalink Mark Unread

....All right. The bare minimum is done, now. 

Nayoki stops attempting anything in particular to delay entry to the comms area or stop people from shutting down the power supply, and sprints toward the medbay. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The crew of the Roci goes and finds their spy and sticks him in an airlock and has an argument. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth's staff listen in on the argument via Thoughtsensing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Leareth is not currently up for participating in any of this and probably won't be for a while! He's heavily sedated, on a ventilator, and the Healers are letting the autodoc do whatever it wants in order to get him stabilized.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is going to inform Holden and his crew that Leareth will almost certain have thoughts and opinions on the strategic considerations around what to do with the spy, and so they should wait until he's recovered enough to talk to them??

Permalink Mark Unread

"Respectfully, I'm not sure I give a shit about Leareth's thoughts and strategic considerations. You people are the reason he got a message off."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Can you use your psychic powers to tell whether he's telling the truth about who he messaged and what he told them?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I am telling the truth!" the spy says tearfully from inside the airlock. "I was trying to protect us. The UN will straight-up destroy this ship if they think you're their enemy."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I'm sure they'll try."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki currently hates everything about this stupid mission. 

She can confirm that the spy is telling the truth, at least. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril is feeling kind of overwhelmed, right now, but she's also very well trained. 

She helps out with Leareth (and Julie's) care; they're trying to put off a lung transplant by attempting to Heal the damage done by the Proto.

And she helps coordinate some of Leareth's other staff, to keep a rotation going for eavesdropping on the scientists in the lab on Io, which they're now getting awfully close to. Less than a day left, now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...at some point they're going to need to make a final decision on whether to try the spell they tested in order to cloak their approach? 

Nayoki asks Holden and Naomi about this.

Permalink Mark Unread

"We'd want to make it look like we had some kind of reasonable flight plan and only use the spell to hide our deviation from it."

Permalink Mark Unread

"I guess I can figure out what a reasonable looking flight plan here would be. Are we - decided on spy guy -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"You overruled me last time on spacing him and you were wrong."

Permalink Mark Unread

"You weren't!" objects spy guy. "I helped you get the Martian comms code, and now the UN knows that something weird is going on here and they shouldn't kill you on sight, which I suspect they were otherwise planning to do. And - whatever advantage the bad guys were hoping to gain from secrecy, it's gone now, right? The UN knows they have a bioweapon. That'll make secretly deploying it on Eros harder."

Permalink Mark Unread

Holden looks like he finds that kind of convincing.

Permalink Mark Unread

"I say we space him," says Amos again. "Not 'cause he's a bad guy, or 'cause he deserves it, or 'cause it would've prevented the last call, 'cause he's our enemy and we evidently can't hold onto him."

Permalink Mark Unread

Holden looks so unhappy about having to make this decision! "Let's - figure out the flight paths thing first."

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is...honestly, not very motivated to argue with the crew about this. She's so tired. 

 

However. Leareth is going to be SO UPSET if he wakes up and learns that the spy - who Leareth chose to use as an unknowing cog in his scheme - got tossed out an airlock. 

Nayoki takes the route of cowardice, and starts scheming a plan whereby if that happens, they'll Gate-yoink the spy into the room Leareth's staff have been sleeping in, and set-command him to silence and stuff him under a bed. Hopefully she won't actually need this plan, but it's made. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Anyway! The spell they've tested turns out to have tenable power requirements if used on the scale of hours (not days); it's not great for invisibility, it turns out, but they can definitely make it look like the drive plume is coming out on different bearing than the actual one. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ten hours until Io.

The Healers are trying so hard to get Leareth in good enough shape that the autodoc thinks waking him up and getting him off the weird high tech breathing machine is a good plan. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Alex thinks actually the smartest thing to do is appear to be heading to a station in orbit around Io, like a gas freighter might reasonably do, and then cut the drive at too high a speed, whiz by the station, and slingshot around the planet, maneuvering on thrusters, to end up near the site they want to nuke. This should be easier to conceal. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"What do you think we should do about the spy."

Permalink Mark Unread

Shrug. "There's a reason you're in charge."

Permalink Mark Unread

"...that reason is literally just 'you don't want to be'."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ah huh."

Permalink Mark Unread

(Nayoki considers, briefly, whether she could slip in some discreet Mindhealing to get them to not kill the spy, but she's too tired to act on this.)

She can help translate Alex's course suggestion into spell-directions for all the mages on board. 

Also she had better check in with the lab-eavesdroppers. What are the scientists up to, right now? Any word from their leader who is apparently Julie's dad? How's their human test subject doing? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The human test subject is still apparently in good health aside from the part where he's huddled in the corner talking to himself. That's a surprise; usually only immunosuppressed subjects make it that long. They're speculating that the changes to the protomolecule's knowledge and capabilities have made it more able to disable opposition within a person while keeping them alive; any agent would have an obvious interest in not destroying its host prematurely, were it capable of that, though of course the agent's interest in keeping the host alive wouldn't extend to keeping them sane or conscious. 

(The scientists are unbothered by this). 

They feed it more livestock.

They are mostly interrogating the protomolecule about its creators and the Work. They're interested in everything about it but those seem like obviously the highest-stakes elements of the situation. The protomolecule does not have much to say about its creators, other than that it was created, and serves its creators, and was created for the Work. The protomolecule has only slightly more to say about the Work. The Work is very big, and very important, and involves about as much matter as there is on Io.

Eventually one figures out the right framing to ask about what happens after the Work is completed and the protomolecule says that then it calls home. 

The scientists are so fascinated about this.

Jules Pierre Mao, speeding in, has been oddly taciturn ever since it was communicated that some other research facility is the one that had the breakthrough. It transpires eventually that communicated via classified channels to one trusted scientist that there's only the two projects - this and Thoth - and Thoth's sample was lost when the escort of the Anubis were destroyed fighting the Donnager and the Anubis was lost. Whoever's on the other side of this, they're not a Protogen research team, and they might be whatever the Anubis was lost to. This scientist is instructed to not think this anywhere near the protomolecule but the protomolecule's Thoughtsensing range is, by now, quite large.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki keeps most of this within Leareth's team.

She does communicate to the crew of the Roci that the scientists do not, currently, seem to be at all suspecting that a ship is approaching them in order to nuke the lab. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has been very stable for the last while and they're now less than six hours from Io - well, from the point at which they'll diverge onto Alex's course plan, it'll still take a while after that - and the Healers are now pretty determinedly going to override the autodoc and start getting Leareth awake. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ow. Everything hurts. Why does he feel so awful. 

 

Well before he's actually lucid enough to try to talk to any of the humans nearby, Leareth reaches vaguely for the Proto, and taps some prime numbers at it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

, it agrees cheerfully.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth starts to answer -

 

- fragments of memory are coming back to him, now. 

:Nayoki. Message?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ack Nayoki is so startled! 

:If you mean the message the spy was sending to the UN, it was sent. The spy is still alive currently but the crew caught him and they are very displeased: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is way too tired to try to deal with that. 

:Keep him alive then: 

Pause. 

:- how long?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:We will reach Io in about five hours. At that point, their pilot has a plan to hide and maneuver on thrusters into a position where we can bomb the lab: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Wordless acknowledgement. 

:...The Proto?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:They have been feeding it. It is probably bigger and smarter. I have not interacted much with it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- at this point Leareth is distracted by the fact that he's incredibly uncomfortable, mostly due to the breathing tube. Also several other people are trying to talk to him and it's distracting. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Healers are asking Julie whether the autodoc thinks they can get Leareth off the breathing machine - he seems pretty awake? He's not interacting with them but they're pretty sure this is because he's busy and distracted doing a different thing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"- yeah, it thinks you can probably take it out and swap it for an oxygen mask like mine. Should I have it walk you through that -"

Permalink Mark Unread

They would appreciate that! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drags himself back to his actual physical surroundings enough to listen to the Healers who are being very irritating and keep talking to him and telling him to do things like "cough". 

 

As soon as he's less distracted, he goes back to trying to talk to the Proto. How many doublings since it learned how to do Healing? What else has it been learning? 

(He is not especially coherent, yet, but he has a lot of practice forming questions to the Proto, and in a sense it's almost easier than trying to talk to other humans in words.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

 Julie, who is now herself very tired and not entirely steady-handed, will direct the autodoc in this and then close her eyes for just a bit. Presumably they'll wake her if there are more emergencies.

Permalink Mark Unread

Two doublings! Constrained by shortage of stable replicators it is allowed to eat. Recommendation: allow it to eat all the stable replicators it's NOT allowed to eat. It has learned [vague collection of Healing-concepts around suppressing immune systems].

Permalink Mark Unread

Its recommendation is taken into account and Leareth will think about it but for now its instructions stay unchanged. 

Can it Gate? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It can!

It Gates a couple of inches, to demonstrate; two little portals hang glowing in the air.

 

This is extremely exhausting for Leareth; it seems to be using his reserves.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth thanks it for demonstrating, sends wordless pride, and tells the Proto it can STOP NOW. 

Once the Gates are down, he attempts to ask where it's getting the mage-energies, and what possible alternate sources of resources would be. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Confusion. 

 

Once it's big enough it'll have more ideas.

Permalink Mark Unread

All right. 

Leareth offers it math for a bit, and then tells Nayoki that he would like a couple of hours to nap and let the sedatives finish clearing his system and after that he wants to talk to the crew of the Roci about their game plan here. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This would be a lot more reassuring if Leareth's mindvoice sounded less like someone who is currently VERY DRUNK. 

Nayoki relays this request to Holden. Two hours from now is...about ninety minutes before they start the fancy approach maneuvers for the bombing plan? 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure, we can talk then, glad he's doing better," says Holden distractedly. He is staring unhappily at the monitor where their prisoner is still sitting in the airlock.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth has some requests for Nayoki too, to prepare for when they do their meeting. 

 

Two hours later, he's at least mostly alert; he tries to prop himself more upright on his elbows, and finds that this is startlingly hard, his body is not especially keen on cooperating with him. 

He blinks hard, trying to make his vision focus more, and examines his glowy-Proto'd hand, and waits for the crew to be ready to meet and discuss plans. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right. We're getting near the lab."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth would really rather go back to sleep rather than dealing with this, but. :All right. I - think it is feasible for us to capture the lab intact rather than bombing it. I think this is worth doing. We will be able to obtain all their records on-site, everything on their computers, and send a message with more information if it seems appropriate: 

His lips twitch slightly. :Also, I expect they have medical facilities there. We could get all of the Proto off of your ship: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We have not got the resources to capture a presumably heavily defended ground installation, are you saying you do?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:With our magic - yes, I believe so. We have been eavesdropping on their scientists via the Proto, working on obtaining a map of the interior and a count of their personnel. My plan would be to have Nayoki Gate in, and use set-commands to paralyze everyone and stop them from resisting, and then capture the place from the inside. Most likely we cannot hit everyone at once, but separately my mages have adapted the drive-cloaking spell and can also use it to disrupt any comms signals and prevent the lab from sending out a message:

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right. I guess we can hang out in orbit as a backup plan."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Exactly. If Nayoki judges it is not workable, she will abort and Gate out, and we can destroy the lab:

After a long hesitation, :...Also, if we lose contact with Nayoki, we ought assume she was incapacitated or killed, and fall back on bombing it:

Leareth really doesn't like this, but Nayoki is very confident in her abilities here, and the scientists aren't expecting this at all. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you not have magic for extracting your people?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can probably Gate her out, if that happens. There will be people on hand to attempt it. I...do not want to assume it will be possible: He closes his eyes. :- The main way it could fail is that if the scientists respond to this by destroying the Proto presence there, we lose most of our window in. Though if the ship can get within a couple of hundred miles, we can also have Farsight on the lab: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can probably do that, if you're cloaking it, though we'd be in orbit and moving and not consistently that close."

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can work out a plan: Leareth tugs at the oxygen mask. It's itchy. :Talk to Nayoki - she has the plans for the lab layout and where she will Gate in. We just need the ship to be within five hundred miles, for her to be in Gate range, but as close as possible is ideal since it will go better if she is not tired from it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The Roci's a good ship, she can get in within a couple of miles if we need that."

Permalink Mark Unread

:- And still not be detected? ...Anyway, talk to Nayoki about the plan: 

Leareth is tired from just existing or something, and really needs to nap some more if he wants to be functional for the actual lab-invasion part. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki will get the crew of the Roci up to speed on everything they know so far about the lab. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"The lab's probably legit. It's not illegal to have secret research labs, and it's not illegal for them to have good security. Uh, do you know if your paralyzing people thing works through combat armor?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki isn't sure what it changes from her perspective whether the lab is legal per the local administration or not. She's been trying to find out about its security mostly by mindreading literally everyone within the Proto's range. 

:It should work through armor? It works through walls. Decreases range somewhat: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Then you should probably yourselves wear combat armor."

Permalink Mark Unread

:We can do that. I will also be very thoroughly shielded. ...I had initially intended to go alone, but if we can get Farsight on the lab, closer up, it will allow other mages to Gate into more peripheral areas that we do not yet have a good enough visual or other location-search-data on: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, I'm not going to argue psychic combat strategy with you, but if people shoot back at you they'll be shooting with guns and combat armor blocks those, and it's not even too bad to move in with Io's gravity."

Permalink Mark Unread

:We also have shielding that blocks projectile weapons! It drains power fast but this will not take long. I might as well try the armour on and test how it affects my work, though: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Then he will direct her to the weapons locker of the Roci, where there's powered combat armor and also lighter stuff for situations where the full thing isn't appropriate. The powered combat armor has guns built into the arms, obviously, and a jet pack and a grenade launcher and an optional antiaircraft gun. "...should've thought of this earlier so you had any time to learn to use the other features, sorry."

Permalink Mark Unread

She'll fit in time to familiarize herself with it as much as she can! This is SO COOL! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril sits with Leareth and talks to her Proto and worriedly keeps an eye on the human test subject and the nearby scientists' thoughts. She's pretty stressed about this next part; she isn't sure if she should be but it seems like there's a lot of room for things to go badly wrong. 

Permalink Mark Unread

On the lab, they're running the protomolecule through hundreds of tests, some that they think will have great scientific value, some because their culture ascribes them significance in excess of what they could actually learn from them.

Permalink Mark Unread

:While walking along in desert sand, you suddenly look down and see a tortoise crawling toward you. You reach down and flip it over onto its back. The tortoise lies there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs, trying to turn itself over, but it cannot do so without your help. You are not helping. Why?: the protomolecule asks Leareth.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Okay what.

Leareth is trying to take a NAP here and the question is so inexplicable and baffling and he's not, in fact, sure that it's real and not a dream. 

:- Because I intend to eat it?: he thinks drowsily back. Oh right this is the Proto, probably, he should - translate it, make it legible... :To...use its resources for my goals...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule conveys this answer very happily!!

Permalink Mark Unread

This is recorded in the 'slightly ominous responses' column.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Okay," he says to the nearest mage in the bridge, "tell your psychic buddies we are circling around for a rendevous with the mad science lab. We should fly over within about a hundred miles. I will have to explain myself to traffic control later but you should have your chance."

Permalink Mark Unread

They're on it! 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki, combat armor and shield-talismans in place, slips into Mindspeech rapport with the Proto and mindreads the test subject to get his sense of his surroundings, since the Proto's sensory inputs are...not very legible to humans.

She feels for the distance; you get a sense for it, after enough Gates. Too far, still. 

:Alert me ten seconds before our closest approach: she tells Alex. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril wakes Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drags himself out of a gluey sleep. He vaguely remembers answering some bizarre question about a turtle and he still isn't sure if that was a dream or not. He feels pretty terrible right now. 

Work to do, though. He asks Emril to have the autodoc get him more alert. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- and, when she gets the word, Nayoki spools out the Gate-search - this takes just under ten seconds - and weaves the other end, freestanding, and looks through for an instant before crossing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's a hallway with a plastic tiled floor and locked doors in three directions.

Permalink Mark Unread

Where's the human test subject. First priority is to grab him and toss him back through the Gate– okay, her other tied-for-first priority, which she will do at the same time, is to push her Mindhealing Gift range as far as she can, boosting hard from reserves since she doesn't have a node, and set-command everyone within a fifty-yard radius to STOP MOVING TAKE NO ACTIONS while she finds and grabs the test subject and gets him OUT of here - 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's cowering against the back wall in a thick pool of proto-goo, which has coalesced into some structures, some crystalline and some leaflike.

Permalink Mark Unread

He's also set-commanded not to move right now, she wasn't very discriminating.

She yanks him over to her with a force-net and flings him through the Gate that way; it's faster than grabbing him physically and also doesn't risk her getting Proto'd; it's probably a lot more disorienting and terrifying for him but Emril's right there on the other side. 

- all right, Thoughtsensing extended to its full limit, where are the minds, how many did she manage to incapacitate, how many were beyond her range but still in the same lab complex and where are they

Permalink Mark Unread

There are about two dozen who are incapacitated, scientists and research assistants taking notes for them and a couple of operations people running the machinery that's been conducting tests and providing math visuals. There's another dozen who aren't, mostly security, and they've noticed the breach and are triggering the lab's self-destruct, if the proto's getting out then the only thing that matters is stopping it -

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow. Okay. She had really hoped Leareth was wrong about that part, that in fact not everyone in this world would be as goddamned paranoid as him - 

Focus. She doesn't have a lot of time. 

She fixes in on wherever the biggest or loudest-thoughts cluster of security people is and mindreads one of them as hard as she can to grab a visual of the room and then - hold that - the Roci is moving really fast which is not going to help, here, but she stretches out to the full extent of her Gift and relays this to the mages on board, :- self-destruct triggered get in NOW find out what the failsafes are what we need to stop -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth wants you to get out if there's danger: the mage reminds her.

He, on the other hand, is cleared for a suicide mission here if necessary, and he's not delighted about it - especially given the part where they're in another goddamned world and might never make it back to Velgarth and so why does it matter that his next-of-kin are on file for the very generous death-in-the-line-of-duty benefits... 

He knew a long time ago what he signed up for, though. 

Every second he waits makes the range longer. He raises a Gate on the nearest vaguely-door-ish structure that showed up in the shared visuals and drops on top of whoever's there and compulsions the person and whoever else is around to FREEZE and then starts ransacking minds -

Permalink Mark Unread

Security people! They're so incredibly confused! Some of them were going for their firearms but didn't get to it before freezing. The 'protomolecule presumed to have escaped containment' alarm is triggered automatically, though, and it should collapse the building inwards with some high-powered neatly timed explosives if not disabled within a minute, and launch some missiles from external sites at the base in case the explosives don't sterilize the place. 


(They're upset about this! They don't want to die!)

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaah! 

Leareth's mage is going to try really hard to ram through some mind-control and get them to disable the alarm before it's been a minute! 

(There is a very brief back-and-forth on whether it's worth getting Nayoki over, but in fact the risk to her seems too high -) 

Information on the attack is passed on to Nayoki, who relays it to Leareth - via the Proto, the ship is still moving fast and now out of comfortable Mindspeech range. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is going to wait to see if that works, but if it doesn't they won't have a lot of time, so he needs to prepare other contingency plans first. 

Without actually Mindspeaking it at the Proto yet, he starts formulating how he would communicate 'danger, resembling this, you need to solve the engineering problem of preventing the building from collapsing.'

And he waits to hear the results of his mage's efforts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is preparing a force-net to grab all the scientists too and throw them into the cargo hold of the Roci. She doesn't want them to die if the lab is lost. For one, they might have a lot of key information. 

...She is, currently, undecided on whether to grab the Proto, though at least it's a lot less squishy than the humans here and might survive mostly intact if they manage to partially disable the protomolecule safeguards. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They can unilaterally disable a single alarm by marking it as a false alarm but, uh, there are quite a lot of alarms going off and the system is refusing to believe that they're all false alarms and wants an override from the director. 

(These people were not told that they could not override the 'blow up the facility' alarms and they're also not sure why their bodies are non-volitionally moving and they're mostly super confused! The director's not even on site!)

(The scientists are ENTIRELY upset about how these INTRUDERS are MESSING UP ALL THE DATA but they're very very upset about that.)

Permalink Mark Unread

:Nayoki, get yourself and the scientists out. Now: 

To his mage, :- prioritize disabling the missiles and then get out. ...Have one of them pull up a schematic if you can, I will - have the Proto try to mitigate the damage -: 

He has mostly finishes translating the DANGER, and his plan for what the Proto needs to do about it, into the sort of math-y visualization that the Proto understands. Usually. Probably. They don't exactly have a lot of time. 

 

 

 

:Danger: he informs it. :Here: 

Showing the location, not spatially, but based on the resources salient to it, the radiation from the reactor that it's feeding on - the explosives might also release radiation but he doesn't know if the Proto can eat it - 

:- Gate here and here and here and here - redirect these forces - optimization problem, fast, time limit -: 

He's giving the Proto all the information he has in the most legible format he can manage and he has no idea if it's going to be enough. 

Permalink Mark Unread

(Nayoki and the scientists tumble through a Gate into the Roci's cargo hold and land with a thump, the Gate snapping down within a fraction of a second.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Gate ALL THESE PLACES right now and EAT ALL THAT RADIATION? It can do that!!!!!!!

 

It's still drawing on Leareth's reserves, for Gates. It opens eighteen of them.

Permalink Mark Unread

They are very small Gates and the Proto is reasonably efficient, but Leareth is not exactly in top condition going into this, and the Proto drains all of his reserves in a fraction of a second. At which point the Gates are still up and now tied directly to Leareth's life-force and there are quite a lot of them - 

 

This is almost immediately obvious enough to panic the Healers, and within a second or so it's visible to the autodoc as well, in half a dozen ways that should not be straightforwardly physically possible in that time interval - his heart rate spikes, his blood pressure and oxygen saturation both plummet, his blood sugar is suddenly well below the safe threshold - his body temperature is abruptly multiple degrees too low and still dropping - 

Permalink Mark Unread

"It, uh, wants you to restart the machine -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:How long is that going to take - it's not a false alarm, he's dying -: 

It took her WAY too long to think of this - Emril Mindtouches the Proto. :What are you doing, you need to stop: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

Permalink Mark Unread

"If it's not a false alarm I guess I can dismiss that - dismiss that too - uh, it's administering more epilepsy drugs, and sedatives for his heart rate, and something for hypoten - for blood pressure - it wants to put him back on oxygen -"

Permalink Mark Unread

      :It's Gating from his reserves -: 

:Is the danger fixed?: Emril asks the Proto. :If it's safe you can take the Gates down: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is unconscious within two seconds.

Three seconds in, Leareth's body is approximately out of all its metabolic resources. He's not really responding to any of the drugs - his blood pressure is low enough that the machine mostly isn't getting a reading at all; his heart is still beating, technically, but not being very successful at pumping blood. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule has NO INFORMATION about whether the danger is fixed. The radiation is being eaten.

Permalink Mark Unread

"We've got, uh, missile launches - do you know what they're shooting at -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Everyone is VERY BUSY but one of Leareth's people still on the ship picks this up and relays to Nayoki in the cargo bay.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- The lab, I think, automatic safeguard in case of security breaches - we got the scientists out for questioning and can get our people out, not critical if the lab is destroyed but it would be better to take it intact for the ground facilities - we can: she thinks fast, this isn't at all feasible to address with magic the brute-force way but maybe if they're clever.... :- we can try to disrupt the electronics with magic and nudge the missiles off course - and can your ship shoot at them or something -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- about eight seconds in, regardless of the state of the danger, the protomolecule is going to be force to take down its Gates or else find a different non-Leareth energy source, because Leareth's life-force is crumpling inward as his heart stops beating. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril is yelling so many swearwords in three different Velgarth languages! 

:Julie does the machine have any ideas - we can't get a link to him now -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - it says, uh, do CPR - do you know CPR -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:I have no idea what that is!: Emril at this point expects the autodoc to have useful images to go with its instructions, and frantically consults the screen while the other Healers crowd around. 

(They're now completely ignoring the human test subject who Nayoki dropped off here less than a minute ago and who's been huddled on the floor in the corner.) 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, you don't need everyone on that, and someone should be putting him on the ventilator again - CPR is, like, chest compressions -" The autodoc is in fact doing an illustrative video, and also blasting music with the right beat.

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril feels that the music is incredibly tonally jarring but she supposes the timing-part is sort of helpful. Ish. 

The Healers know how to do the whole ventilator process now, at least! They can be pretty fast about it now that they've had practice. They're really wishing Leareth would stop DOING THINGS that resulted in getting that practice! 

With the compressions, and the autodoc throwing a lot of drugs into his system and also trying to fix the fact that his blood sugar is now unmeasurably low, Leareth is - not quite back, his heart is showing flickers of electrical activity but not enough to count as spontaneous heartbeats, the fragments of his life-force are still very weak and disorganized - but there are some very local patterns starting to resume and that gives the Healers a tiny foothold at pushing lots of energy at him.

Probably his biggest remaining problem is that his body temperature is almost ten degrees too low and bodies are not really meant to operate under these conditions. 

Permalink Mark Unread

None of the Healers have interrupted Nayoki to tell her about this development, since they're assuming she's quite occupied right now. She's coordinating all the other mages on using a combination of the ship's sensor-data and very quick-and-dirty scrying to locate missiles and murder their electronics with random electrical discharges and then thwack them hard with mage-force and hope this gets them to miss the lab. There's a lot of Io that seems totally fine to nuke. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not very occupied, as a planet. The Roci can shoot down missiles; this isn't meant for in-atmosphere surface to surface missiles, which aren't really a thing anymore, but they can at least trim some off and give the mages less to work with. 

 

 

The lab does not self-destruct, so probably whatever the protomolecule did worked at least temporarily.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's an extremely stressful five minutes but they get all the missiles downed. Some strike uncomfortably close to the lab, but - hopefully - not close enough to seriously damage it. 

Nayoki makes sure all the scientists are still immobilized, and spends a minute catching her breath, and then leaves a heap of mind-controlled scientists in the cargo bay and heads to check on Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They've gone through several iterations now of getting his heart beating in an organized rhythm for a few seconds at a time before losing it again; his body is still really unhappy, mostly about the severe hypothermia, which the autodoc is trying to treat but it doesn't have methods that much more effective than external heat and dumping warmed IV fluids into him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

- eventually, just before Nayoki actually makes it back to the medical bay and starts donning the biohazard gear, they get a pulse again and Emril manages to get a solid Healing-link to him fast enough and this time she can hold onto it. It sort of feels like she's trying to hang onto him by her fingernails while dangling off the side of a mountain, this is the hardest stupidest Healing-link she has ever tried to maintain, but she manages. 

She might as well shove her Sight at the Proto and ask if it sees any Healing it could do to help. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki stops in the doorway, frozen. 

:What HAPPENED?: she asks, directed privately at Julie because the poor Healers look so busy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He almost died. I don't know if it was related or just bad timing. His heart's beating now I think? So that's good. It mostly wasn't.

Permalink Mark Unread

There are about a dozen different things Nayoki should be doing, next. Leading the interrogation of the captured scientists, updating Holden and the crew, finding out the state of the lab and whether it was damaged - exploring whether they in fact have medical facilities - following up on whether the mage who was down there with the security people even got out alive - 

She's done multiple challenging Gates in rapid succession, not to mention pushing her Mindhealing Gift well past her sensible limits, and her head hurts, and Leareth keeps ALMOST DYING every time she leaves him unsupervised for five minutes... 

Instead of doing any of those things, apparently, she's going to park herself next to Leareth and, possibly, not leave until he's capable of answering a Mindspeech query to confirm he's all right. Which might take a while. She can tell he's alive but he's very deeply unconscious, barely showing up to Thoughtsensing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage in the security room with the security people has been poised on the edge of trying a frantic last-ditch Gate out for a while! It would have been a gamble, the ship was already well outside of his usual Gating range by the time Nayoki gave her last set of orders. 

...However, he seems to be....still alive...? 

He ignores the terrified compulsioned personnel and digs out a scrying-focus, before realizing he doesn't even have to bother with that, the lab has security camera footage. 

Does it seem to be intact? What's the status of the Proto? 

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems like a couple of the explosives went off before they were deactivated; the left wing of the building has collapsed neatly inward on itself in a way that would probably contain an escaping protomolecule, if it couldn't Gate. 

 

The protomolecule in the room on the base is thoughtfully munching on bacteria. The protomolecule is also in a bunch of other places, soaking up radiation. 

 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage tries to reach Nayoki via Proto-relay for further instructions, and gets a distracted order to scope out the lab, learn if it has any medical facilities, and also try if possible to ask the Proto to go back to the original reactor room? She thinks giving it clear instructions works better than asking questions about what it can do. 

...Sure, he'll Mindspeak the Proto and try firmly asking it go back to the room it came from? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Some of it goes back there.

Permalink Mark Unread

(The Proto's attempt to Gate from Leareth's reserves works - briefly - for the first Gate - and then stops working very hard and also thousands of miles away the Healers are panicking again.) 

 

...Okay, whatever, fine. He'll start hunting through the schematics and the security guards' minds to see if the lab has any medical facilities on-site. 


Back on the Roci, one of Leareth's other staff gets a very brief report and order from Nayoki. 

She Mindspeaks Holden and the rest of his crew, trying to sound like she has WAY more of an idea what's going on and what she's doing than she actually feels right now.

:It...sounds like we captured the lab mostly intact, and we've got all the scientists, er, restrained with magic in the cargo hold. If you want to question them. Also someone else is on site with the security staff, if you wanted to access their computer records?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Wow. Uh. Okay. Congratulations. Let's take the data cores, and - I guess someone should ask them if there's any more protomolecule and where it is -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Can you, er, tell us what the data cores look like? Or if we get the ship closer again, maybe we can Gate one of your people over to help look: 

She delegates to one of the others to go ask the captive scientists about other protomolecule samples, and read their minds in case they're not forthcoming with their answers. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, it'll be, in the computer, most of the stuff in there's actually just coolant but there'll be a metal honeycomb thing -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Instructions are exchanged back and forth via Proto-Mindspeech-relay with the mage stuck in the lab until he's pretty sure he knows how to retrieve the cores without damaging anything. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is a little more stable, now. There's not actually that much wrong with him, now that the protomolecule isn't directly eating his life-force anymore, and the autodoc has fixed the low blood pressure and other physical problems that caused. He's still hypothermic, that's slower to fix, but no longer enough to be life-threatening itself. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril prods the mage down on Io again, asks if he can try interrogating the security personnel about on-site medical facilities.

Come to think of it, maybe some of the scientists are trained as medics? They're presumably not motivated to help but they can be interrogated about it. She asks the mage interrogating them about protomolecule to add that question, and ask if they have medical facilities in the lab that they're trained to use to treat humans. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They do! Several of the suites of tests involved seeing how the protomolecule responded to medical interventions on infected humans.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, in that case they might actually be among the best experts here! 

Emril relays instructions around, asking the mage on site to check whether those facilities are intact as soon as he's done retrieving computer data cores, and - after a minute's thought - asking Nayoki if she can set-command the scientists to be cooperative and help them treat Leareth and Julie and their rescued test subject. 

Permalink Mark Unread

That sounds like the sort of complicated task that's very difficult to mind-control people into doing without huge risk, but Leareth seems less about to die.

Nayoki figures she might as well go over, very briefly introduce herself - she goes with "second-in-command to a powerful commander from a different faction with advanced tech, now in control of this lab" and...hmm, to start maybe she'll just ask nicely if they'll treat some Proto-infected humans in exchange for getting to study the Proto's behaviour?

She has no idea if this will go over well at all but it doesn't feel like there's much downside. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The scientists are so angry that their experiment was interrupted. They want to keep studying the protomolecule. They don't want to do anything else. They will begrudgingly study the protomolecule in infected human subjects in the hospital wing if that's the studying on offer.

 

Their minds are.....really weird, to Mindhealing. The bread looks neatly sectioned, different parts hardly touching.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki informs them, very calmly, that she is currently in charge here and that is, in fact, the studying on offer. She would like them to help train some of her own personnel on using their medical equipment, too, once they can get back to the lab. 

...She's so confused about their minds! Leareth's mind behaves a little like that, sometimes, especially when he's in the middle of handling an emergency and ruthlessly setting everything aside except the most urgent priorities, but this is a LOT more extreme. And - doesn't look reversible, much less at will. 

She passes on instructions that she wants to Gate all the infected people over to the lab's hospital wing as soon as the ship is within Gate-range again; with that, they should be able to clear the Roci entirely of any Proto presence, she hopes Holden and his crew are pleased about that. 

And, while she waits, she determines which of the scientists is least qualified on medical matters. And then pulls that person aside. She wants to do some poking at his mind, figure out what was done to him and the others.

At this point, given everything that's happened, she is pretty angry with the scientists and doubts she's going to feel that torn up about it if she breaks something in the process. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Only a few of the scientists have any medical qualifications, most of them have other specialties. 

 

 

This scientist is SO ANNOYED to have been disrupted from his science. He asks if he can at least have a pencil to write down his protomolecule observations.

Permalink Mark Unread

What the fuck. This is baffling as a priority, given the situation, and - well, given the rest that she's seeing, also really concerning! 

She gives him a pencil and some paper, though, why not. It'll give her a chance to spend three or four minutes watching his mind in action, when he's not focused on being scared of her. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He forgets about her almost immediately, caught up in trying to sketch out how the protomolecule speaks - he's a linguist - what it seems able to pick up from observing their speech, where it's mimicking, what sorts of parts of speech it's most likely to mimic...

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. 

In some sense, again, it reminds her of Leareth. He's the only person she's ever met with that uncanny ability to block out all distractions and make his mind focus on whatever he wants it to. 

Only, she's not sure that this scientist is, exactly, doing this by his own volition... 

 

Once she's had the chance to get oriented to his mind-bread a bit, she hunts around for the region that should be associated with fear - and/or anger, and the various pathways that can follow from both of those. 

Does it get any response if she pokes that area? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The area's not entirely gone but it's very thoroughly blocked - not a mindhealing block, something physical, like the way someone'll be blind if you cut the nerve to their eyes. Things that happen there don't go anywhere, they just die. It does not at all seem like he's doing this volitionally.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki generally thinks of herself as someone who isn't easily fazed. She works for Leareth, after all. She's used Mindhealing in combat and espionage, lots of times. 

...She is INCREDIBLY CREEPED OUT by whatever the hells was done to this guy's mind. 

What other areas are blocked in that way. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Empathy. Self-preservation. That's...mostly it? A lot of things seem necessary for modeling the protomolecule; he's thinking perfectly clearly about his linguistics.

Permalink Mark Unread

This is the most thoroughly messed up thing that Nayoki has ever seen! This is...saying a lot. Given who she works for. 

The Healers are all very busy but she's going to yoink one of them anyway. 

:Get over here: she tells Emril. :Something I need you to look at: 

She can't see how it was done, not with Mindhealing Sight alone, it's too - it's not the right level of abstraction. But if it's literal, physical damage, then a Healer in concert-rapport with her might be able to follow her lead and Look for the affected area. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril, very very reluctantly, leaves the med bay, decontaminates, and jogs over. She approaches quietly, slips into concert-rapport with Nayoki. 

:...That's incredibly fucked up:

Permalink Mark Unread

:Yes. Can you see what - how - this was done...?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...Sure. She's spent a lot more time looking at brains than she ever did before this week, since Leareth keeps having SEIZURES including SELF INFLICTED ones and she's supposed to fix this or something. 

Can her Healing-Sight, given Nayoki's Mindhealing visuals as a targeting aid, find any visible brain changes? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yep! There's brain damage in this whole sector of the man's mind. It looks like the electrical signals that usually make up thoughts are - dampened, interrupted, much less likely to propagate. The damage is physical, and very carefully contained to one section.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Can you fix that:

Permalink Mark Unread

Ack. Why this. 

:I have no idea! Usually you just can't heal brain damage, but this is so - precise. Maybe. Not...fast, though, I don't think: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- We are keeping this one as our human test subject, then. I doubt the others will care very much since they seem to have had their empathy and ability to feel fear surgically removed: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Aaaaaaaaah. 

:...If you're sure about this? I can, um, try some things until we can make the Gate to the lab facility, at least. Patients are pretty stable. I might get called back if that changes: 

Emril hasn't specifically done Mindhealing concert-Sight before, and honestly that brilliant young Valdemaran Healer - Shavri, that was her name - would be better at picking this up on the fly. She gives it her best go, though, diving in very close with her Sight and applying some targeted Healing-energy, trying to coax dampened pathways into growing back stronger again. It's not going to be instantaneous; cells take a while to divide, and nerves in particular need some time to actually re-route. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki watches intensely with Mindhealing Sight. Now that she's past the shock of it, she's mostly back to being curious - and impressed, if she's honest with herself - rather than horrified. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's very slow going but there might be some response. 


The scientist pays all of this no regard, on the fourth page of his handwritten notes about the protomolecule's use of language.

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually Nayoki pulls herself away, after Emril complains that you’re not supposed to do that much Healing to brains at once, it’ll give him cancer. 

They’re not back in Gate-range yet, so she heads over to explain what they’ve learned from questioning the scientists - and what her people saw in their brains - to Holden and the crew. 

“Do you want to drop your captive spy in the lab too?” she adds. She’s picked up a lot of their language by this point, far more than any of the others.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, yeah, I guess, better than having him on the ship. Make sure he hasn't got wi-fi, first, unless we want the UN up to speed on all of this. - which I think we don't want them hearing whatever random transmissions their spy sends? We should tell everyone what's going on but all at once, so there's common knowledge -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Makes sense. Do you want us to bring the computer cores to the ship when we do the Gate, so you can look at their records?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, sure. I dunno if we'll be able to read them - depends what state they were in when you grabbed everything - but Naomi should be able to figure it out."

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right." 

The security personnel on site can be questioned-plus-mindread about wifi and how to make sure that the spy won't have access to it, and everyone assembled for the Gate. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Hauling Leareth through a Gate will require unhooking him from the autodoc, however briefly, and a period before they can get him to whatever machines are on the other side. Emril is very very stressed about this! Especially because who knows if the Proto might spontaneously decide to start doing Gates from his reserves again!

They are, however, ready to do the transfer very fast. They'll do two Gates, even though this is in some sense less efficient, it's better than trying to cram everyone including the deliberately-brain-damaged scientists and the spy into the Proto-contaminated medbay. 

One of the Healers approaches the human test subject and explains that they're going back to the lab, but that they're in charge now and they're definitely not handing him back to the custody of the scientists who did this to him.

And Emril explains the plan to Julie. :We're not expecting you to walk or anything - we'll have people carry you across once it's time. You'll need to be off the oxygen for a little bit but it shouldn't be more than a couple of minutes: 

And then they're in range. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki raises Gate #1, from the cargo area to the hallway outside the Proto containment pit. She's not totally feeling recovered from her last frantic sprint of heavy-duty magic, but she can manage and then take a nap or something. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The mage left behind on site has managed to reach the hospital wing, and raises a Gate from there to the medbay. First order of operations is handing the computer cores across. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril confirms that they're uncontaminated by any Proto, and gets one of the people with Fetching to move them out of the medbay so she doesn't have to decontaminate and be let out, and then she joins the team hauling an unconscious Leareth across. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki doesn't have a Gate-location in the hospital wing but she can get instructions from the scientists and hurry them in that direction.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's bigger than the one on the ship and has more beds and more machines. It also has a glass back wall and a viewing area with cameras, speakers, and a clear view of the patients.

Permalink Mark Unread

That's ALSO creepy but not surprising at all given the context she already has. And it's got enough beds for all three of their infected people. 

She carefully supervises the scientists with medical qualifications in getting their patients tucked into beds and hooked up to monitoring; probably they don't want to kill the patients, that would ruin the opportunity to study them, but Nayoki is dubious that left to themselves they would try very hard to make the patients' experience pleasant. (Not that Leareth would care, right now, he's still unconscious and trailing ventilator tubing which Emril is frantically trying to reconnect to the right machine as fast as she can. 

The other scientists are welcome to hang out in the viewing area if they want? Nayoki puts a mage in charge of guarding them to make sure they stay there and don't get to wander the lab freely. They can have notetaking devices though. 

She delegates to one of the other mages the task of hauling their spy off to an area of the lab where he definitely won't have wifi access. They can keep him under a small version of the signal-jamming shield they threw up over the whole lab during the attack, in the interim, but it's pretty tiring to maintain and not a good long-term solution. 

... 

Finally everything seems to be roughly going according to plan, and Nayoki finds a chair in the hospital bay and flops next to Leareth's bed. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually another of the mages finds her. 

"- Their leader is still en route. They were expecting him in...about thirty Earth hours?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

Ughhhhhhh.

Nayoki would really like to make this Leareth's problem once he's awake and lucid again. She's tired of everything being on her. Unfortunately, she doesn't know when that would be, and there are time-sensitive decisions to be made here. 

"Is there any way we could - fool him into thinking everything is normal, get him to approach close enough that I can blind-Gate to his ship...?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I really doubt it," the mage says unhappily. "Uh, some comms got out. We couldn't keep the jamming shield up when we started having to take down the missiles. Also I think - well, the security staff were thinking - the missiles would've been visible from pretty far out. And the damage from where they hit, too." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nod. Nayoki wraps her fingers around Leareth's limp hand. Closes her eyes for a brief moment. 

"Please pass on to the Roci that they have about thirty hours to decide whether to make a transmission and do that, before someone else arrives here. ...Can you find out how far away the missiles would have been visible from. If Earth or Mars saw it they might send people as well." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure, he can pass all of that along to Holden-and-crew by using the protomolecule as a Mindspeech relay again. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And Nayoki waits, still keeping an eye on the lab's medical staff to make sure they're behaving. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril is trying to get Julie properly caught up on the many, many recent events. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie was feeling kind of okay until she tried being off oxygen for two minutes, and now she feels like shit. "-m'dad's coming?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Apparently! Nayoki wants to try to kidnap him too but he - probably knows something happened to the lab, an alarm signal got sent and he would've seen the missiles. I don't know what he'll do: 

Pause. 

:- Would he be more likely to talk to you? Um, only if you're up for that, of course -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Dunno. I - don't really have anything to say to him. He - shouldn't've done this. They'll arrest him. Probably. Once they -" Cough. "Once people know."

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril is getting pretty worried about Julie again! The move was really hard on her - it wasn't great for Leareth either, his blood pressure did a scary dip when he was briefly disconnected from the autodoc's supply of IV drugs, but the Proto seems not to have messed quite so badly with his lungs. 

:It's okay: she says reassuringly. :We're going to make sure people know. He's - not going to be able to keep hurting people, anymore:

Well. Maybe. Last she checked in, the others were still trying to drag out of the scientists where this 'Thoth' facility has its own protomolecule samples, and she feels like she can't rule out that Jules Pierre Mao might have done something - desperate - in response to the lab alarm and the missile threat - 

Emril asks one of the scientists whether he agrees with the autodoc's previous assessment that Julie is going to need a lung transplant. They were trying to put off doing it on the ship, it seemed really hard. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"A transplant delays death by four, maybe five hours, in the average case. It's really only of interest if you're evaluating whether the protomolecule's pattern of colonization is repeatable within a patient - it has more similarities than its pattern of colonization across patients does. She developed infection primarily in the lungs? What was the time and manner of infection?"

Permalink Mark Unread

Gods, now she has to keep track of how much time's passed too, unfair. 

:I - think it's been well over a month by now. She was exposed a bit over three weeks before we, er, started treating her. We think it grew slowly at first because she wasn't eating much and it didn't have much access to radiation, and then we've been trying to communicate with it and show it how to be less damaging. The infection was sort of everywhere, but it's hard to get it to leave her lungs alone, it seems to need either access to her bloodstream directly or to air: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That might be a record for survival time," he says, delighted, writing it down. "Starving an immunosuppressed patient got us twenty-two days, on the upper end, mean of fifteen, and the absence of several normal stages of the protomolecule's development in a host."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Huh. Well, I'd like your help extending that record, I'm not intending to lose her. Or either of the others. If you've got tech to help us diagnose some of what's wrong with her more precisely, I can give the Proto better instructions on how to set it right, maybe - we taught it Healing: 

She has so far managed to avoid mentioning that she's infected too. Her Proto is mostly behaving itself; it's definitely eating her, but slowly, and it listens when she tells it to leave things alone, and she can keep her immune system on good terms with it. 

:We might be able to do even better with your, uh, other test subject: she adds. :Since it's still early and the Proto already knew how to be careful from the start. I've been showing it how to suppress his immune system directly, but I'd rather adjust that to be more selective, or he's going to start coming down with every single opportunistic infection at once. Oh, also Leareth is having a lot of seizures, did that happen with your patients too? If you could get us more data on what's going on there, that'd be great: 

Emril feels pretty weird about working with the creepy Empathy-less scientists, but it IS actually kind of adorable when they're all excited and pleased to learn about the Proto and talk to it, and they know a lot more about Earth's advanced medicine than she does. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They know a lot about Earth's advanced medicine, and a lot about the course of the disease in patients, though less about interventions for those patients. Seizures are pretty commonly observed, especially if the protomolecule is active in the brain. They procured a test subject with epilepsy to see if the course of the protomolecule was different but it wasn't especially.

 

They can start arrangements for a lung transplant for Julie.

 

 

Jules Pierre Mao's ship continues to approach Io at the deceleration expected for an arrival on the planet the next day.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki waits. And frets, which isn't productive at all but she's terrified that something else is going to go horribly wrong because she failed to think of some contingency. Also she's not sure if Mao's ship would have weapons and, if so, he would attack the lab with them from a distance, without approaching to normal Gate-range. Leareth can do fancier Gates but she is absolutely not going to let him try it. 

She does ask the medical scientists and the Healers to get him awake as soon as he's stable enough for it to be safe. 

She also makes a unilateral decision that they're going to feed the Proto as many vats of bacteria as they can during that time. She's not exactly keeping this secret from the crew of the Roci but she doesn't actively bring it up or anything. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And so, slightly against medical recommendations but not pushing matters too hard, Leareth is awake and off the ventilator about eight hours before Julies Pierre Mao's ETA.

He's pretty drowsy - he's on a LOT of anti-seizure medications, which make it frustratingly hard to think, plus he feels really incredibly awful and they're giving him painkillers - and he can't manage to speak out loud in more than a whisper, yet, but he can hold a Mindspeech conversation. He asks Nayoki to wake him every half-hour and give an update on Mao's ship, and to loop him in immediately if they receive any comms. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The crew of the Roci is decontaminating their ship very thoroughly and staying in orbit in case the base on Io needs nuking. Jules Pierre Mao's ship is coming from Earth so it's probably not a heavily armed warship but who knows anymore, everything that's happened recently has been very confusing. 

 

They have a transmission to the whole solar system ready to go but Holden has been persuaded to wait to release it until Mao is here, lest releasing it tip him off and get everyone on Io killed. He has emailed it to his mother who is terrible about checking her email, so if they all die it'll probably be noticed in a month or so anyway.

Permalink Mark Unread

Jules Pierre Mao's ship contacts the lab on Io when he's about six hours out. 

Permalink Mark Unread

One of the mages is watching the comms station.

Not that he knows what to do about the alert that they're being contacted! Aaaah! He alerts Nayoki. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She calmly asks one of the not-very-busy scientists watching from behind the viewing screen if they can receive comms here in the hospital wing, and if so to please help set that up, she'll know if they try any funny business though so they had better not. 

And she Mindtouches Leareth. :Hey. I need you to try to wake up a little, sorry - his ship is six hours out and contacting us: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Blehhhh. Leareth still feels incredibly terrible, but he'll do his best. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki, as the only one of Leareth's people anywhere close to fluent in the local language, will do the talking and translating. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"This is the Guanshiyin, a private vessel, on approach to Io, with who am I speaking?" a young male voice says once the scientists show Nayoki how to get comms in the medical bay.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth, what should I tell them:

Permalink Mark Unread

He's so tired. :Just the truth, I think. ...Not all of it, no need to reveal all of our capabilities, but I am not in the mood to navigate lies right now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This seems like probably a bad idea but whatever. Nayoki ALSO isn't in the mood to try to come up with a convincing story. 

"My name is Nayoki. I speak for Leareth, the - commander of our team. We have control of your lab and are holding your scientists as hostages. ...Also, while she is not our prisoner, we are working with Julie Mao and she is here on site."

Maaaaaybe that will convince her father not to just blow up the lab from orbit? 

Permalink Mark Unread

" - I see."

 

There's a pause.

 

"That lab contains a dangerous, restricted-access biological agent. If anyone has left the lab while exposed to the agent, the population center they left for may be endangered."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Trust me, we are more than aware of the dangerous biological agent! We are taking extensive precautions. ...Also, you were apparently intending to release it on Eros, so." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Another long pause. 

 

"Can we speak to the - commander of your team?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"He does not speak your language well but I will relay and translate. What do you want to say to him." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Pause.

 

"We understand why the OPA would have resorted to measures as extreme as - seizing a lab and taking hostages - if they believed we were going to release the biological agent on Eros. We of course categorically deny that we are going to do that. Is there some reassurance on that front we can provide, so that we can deescalate the situation, retrieve our hostages and our lab, and avoid the spread of the biological agent?"

Permalink Mark Unread

After getting the translation from Nayoki, Leareth considers this for a minute. 

:- To clarify, we are allied with the OPA currently but do not ourselves represent or speak for them directly, so I cannot say what reassurances they would accept here. I - would be willing to consider meeting your organization's leader face to face, if they were willing to come to the surface of Io alone and unarmed in order to discuss this matter and reassure us of your intentions: 

And, of course, there could be some additional mindreading verification... 

Leareth wonders what the Proto's Thoughtsensing range actually is, right now. He asks it, doing his best to phrase the question in Proto-legible concepts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki relays Leareth's answer out loud. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The protomolecule is constrained in range for that sort of thing by mage-energy, of which it has very little right now because it used it all to Gate everywhere. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, no," says the person on the other end of the line, after a shorter pause. "You can send a shuttle up to us, unarmed, if you want to speak face to face."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Give us a moment to consider that, please: 

To Nayoki, :- please find out if the lab has a shuttle which we could use. The Roci is not going to want to lend theirs. Or I suppose you could suggest that they send a shuttle to collect us. - Also I suppose we need to tell them that I am dependent on medical equipment currently: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki really doesn't like the idea of Leareth going up there alone. Then again, if she goes with him, she can get within Mindhealing range of Jules Pierre Mao... 

Do any of the scientists know whether there's a shuttle available on the lab base? 

Permalink Mark Unread

There's not; the shuttles go with the ships, and those have been elsewhere for the last couple of months. If they needed to leave they would've driven over to the nearest city on Io, which is a three-hour drive and has a spaceport.

Permalink Mark Unread

Somehow Nayoki had utterly failed to think about the fact that Io has other cities on it! They must be so concerned! 

Anyway they are definitely not going to drive Leareth three hours to anywhere. Taking him on a shuttle is bad enough. 

"We do not currently have a shuttle down here," she points out, coolly. "You may send yours - with a lightly armed guard, if you prefer - and pick up the two of us. Also, Leareth was...injured recently, and needs supportive medical care, so we will need a medic on board and will want to bring another of our own personnel." 

...It occurs to her belatedly that probably Mao has a way of detecting protomolecule contamination, but she can deal with that LATER. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"All right. We can have a shuttle there in ten hours. Our ship has limited medical facilities."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Stand by one moment while we discuss this, please." 

Nayoki relays to Leareth for approval, and also asks one of the others to contact Holden and explain. :The risk to us is not that high, since we have mind control and they do not, but I do want to know if they have any sensor data on Jules Pierre Mao's ship? And whether it would be smart to ask them to keep their distance from Io, even if it means a longer shuttle flight for Leareth: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is relayed. The convenient thing about Proto-Mindspeech is that it's not interceptible by other ships' radios. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They can see the ship's drive plume; it's heading towards Io. It changed its angle slightly, recently - probably just reflecting that it's not going to stop. He has no guesses on whether to do a longer shuttle flight, seems like it might depend on how stable Leareth is.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth? What do you think?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Mostly what Leareth thinks is that people should stop asking him to have useful strategic thoughts right now, he's tired and apparently keeps almost dying and his reasoning is CLEARLY very impaired. The medics and Healers presumably have a much better idea of how stable he is than he himself does. 

He can understand Nayoki's current overwhelm, though, and why she wants instructions from him. 

:- I think it is not in their interest to try to kill us. And if they do fire more missiles, somehow, then you can Gate our essential personnel out before they hit. I...think it is not worth asking them to keep their distance? The plan where they send a shuttle in ten hours sounds fine. That should give you and the others plenty of time to figure out medical equipment for transport. I would like to sleep now, please: 

Permalink Mark Unread

GAH. 

:- All right. On it. You can rest: 

If they do have to urgently Gate out then she would rather have a backup location in addition to the ship. Nayoki asks one of the scientists if they can pull up visuals of the nearest city on their computer. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They can do that! Satellite's useless, everything on Io's in domes, but here's high resolution Maps pictures.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, excellent, she can Gate from that and so can all of the other mages selected for this mission. She gets a good look, and shares it with all of them via Thoughtsensing. 

 

 

 

"- We approve of this plan," she answers over the comms. "We will be ready in ten hours." 

And then she sits and waits and watches Leareth sleep. Probably she should grab a nap too, at some point? She can do this right here, though, she has more than enough practice at sleeping in arbitrary uncomfortable circumstances. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't communicate for another eight hours. They then transmit the arrival time for the shuttle and a request for proof of life for the hostages.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki isn't sure exactly what they're looking for, there, but she can have all of them making short recordings of themselves talking? And transmit those back? 

Permalink Mark Unread

"That's fakeable," says Julie groggily, but she sits up and says, "hi Dad! Fuck you!" for the camera.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, if it's fakeable then Jules Pierre Mao can tell her what he wants instead that isn't fakeable. Nayoki is not, currently, very interested in having opinions on Julie's relationship with her father. 

She delegates getting similar transmissions from the scientists - which she can make them give with set-commands if they refuse, although so far they've cooperated with everything that let them keep studying the Proto - and sends all of that back to the ship. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't request further proof. They do ask for clarification about whether a few unaccounted-for people are dead or off-site or what.

(Two of them are dead, in the wing that exploded; two of them aren't known to the scientists at all.)

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki reports what she knows truthfully. She doesn't see any point in lying, or in waking Leareth for more specific instructions. 

When the shuttle is approaching, she has the Healers start getting Leareth unhooked from all the monitoring machines, and ideally switched to transportable versions of those - do the scientists know if the lab has that? 

Permalink Mark Unread

They mostly don't move the infested because of the risk of the protomolecule spreading, but they have a couple of mobile IVs and a wheelchair.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth goes along with being transferred into a wheelchair and reconnected to mobile IVs. He's off oxygen again, at least, so that shouldn't cause any horrible problems, and he mainly needs the IVs because he's still not succeeding at all at eating or drinking. 

They're ready when the shuttle arrives. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki hovers at Leareth's side, and stretches out her Thoughtsensing to read the shuttle crew's minds as soon as they're in range. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They're so stressed out and confused! They can't figure out who these people are or how they got the resources to seize the base and they're entertaining lots of wild hypotheses about who they might be, though none are as wild as the truth.

They're not planning to murder the envoys unless Jules Pierre Mao tells them to but they totally would if he told them to.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki doesn’t consider this surprising at all, or particularly an indication of bad faith. It’s pretty reasonable from their point of view.

She is, however, going to plop down some sneaky set-commands as soon as they’re within Mindhealing range. If she's on her game - which she hopes she is - then they won't notice, but they're going to have a very hard time doing any murder. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth sits in the wheelchair with his eyes closed and lets her handle it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"You're gonna have to strap him in for takeoff," one of the guards says. They don't seem to have noticed the set-commands.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki does that, trying to keep her expression totally level.

They also don't seem to have noticed the Proto infection? Leareth is wearing a glove over his glowy blue hand, and keeping it tucked under the blanket covering his lap; other than that, he looks like hell, but not in a protomolecule-infection-specific way. She's grabbed one of the other Healers to accompany them, not Emril, since they might as well not have two infected and thus potentially impaired people on this mission. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't mention it until they've taken off and are plodding across space towards the Guanshiyin. "And if each of you can put your arm in this medical cuff, it'll confirm you haven't been exposed to the protomolecule."

Permalink Mark Unread

....Well. 

Nayoki translates this to Leareth.

:Should we just go along with it?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Go ahead: Leareth doesn't see a better option, at this point.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki nods agreement and lets them put on the cuffs. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The cuffs confirm that Nayoki has not been exposed to the protomolecule.

The cuffs go on Leareth and immediately start wailing like a fire alarm, not that the Velgarth natives would recognize the sound.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

Welp. 

Nayoki tries to look realistically startled. "What does that mean?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

The guards have backed away, looking incredibly distraught. "Means he's - infected - must've been at the lab, we don't even have a sample on our ship - we should turn around, go back to the surface -"

Permalink Mark Unread

"- Your leader wanted to talk to him. Can we just - keep him isolated, and do that?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is very tired and is just going to see what happens. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I don't want to be on a ship with him! It's not airborne- supposedly - yet -" He is dumping rubbing alcohol from an emergency kit on himself. "Honestly we should just shove him out the airlock right now - he's not going to make it anyway, and we'll be infected too -"

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is quietly mindreading because why would he not. 

:It is not airborne. You will be fine. Nayoki -?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

This was, in fact, probably a bad plan from the start. 

:Remain calm. We are going to continue and rendezvous with your ship: 

It seems like the shuttle itself hasn't triggered any sort of alarm or lockdown? Nayoki pushes hard with Mindhealing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Wha-!" he goes about the psychic communications, and then tries to stuff his head into the rubbing alcohol, though he stops this when told to remain calm. He stands there stiffly, more sedated than calm. "You..." he sputters after a second. "You have no idea what you're dealing with. He's dead. You're only getting more people killed."

Permalink Mark Unread

:You are missing a great deal of context here: Leareth says, wearily. :Keep the shuttle going. ...Nayoki, make sure they do not send any comms signals about this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki sighs and applies some additional Mindhealing, and waits. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you? - it might be affecting his thinking," he adds to Nayoki. "We don't know if it can do that, we don't know much about it, but there are parasites that do that, hijack the hosts to make them engage in risky behaviors - there's an STD that makes you more promiscuous - please - please - I have a family -" 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is so predictable! And also so annoying! 

Nayoki looks sort of helplessly over at Leareth.

Permalink Mark Unread

Sigh. Fine. 

:Look. We understand significantly more about the protomolecule than you do - notice that I am using Mindspeech to speak to you? We can communicate with it as well. I have been infected for about a week, and both of them have been helping care for me and often in close contact that entire time, and they are demonstrably not infected currently. You will not be infected just by sharing a shuttle with us. And we do, very urgently, need to speak with your leader: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"You've been - you - you could have TOLD us so we could've worked out - precautions, separate air - I don't care what you think you know about it - also it makes more sense to negotiate with someone who isn't about to die -"

Permalink Mark Unread

:...We can do separate air if that would make you feel better. Nayoki?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Okay, whatever. She raises a mage-barrier around herself and the Healer and Leareth. It's permeable to air molecules and nothing much larger. It's also visible and shimmering in the air. 

:Happy now?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

The guy manages to calm his panic enough to think that shouldn't be possible and that he should warn his superiors. "I'll ask my boss," he says with a little bit of dignity which he is working very hard for.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ask him once we are ready to dock with your ship: 

Nayoki does her best to enforce this via mind-control. It's really not meant to be used for this sort of thing. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth keeps his head up and his eyes open, it's not going to help their cause right now to look like he's dying, but he, too, is working very hard for this. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Should've just nuked the base," the guy grumbles, but he takes no further actions until they've docked.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki raises thorough shields over all of them, and gets ready to wheel Leareth through the airlock. 

:All right. Tell your boss whatever you want to: She releases that aspect of the set-command. 

 

- she should be within Thoughtsensing range of everyone on the ship, from here, and Mindhealing range of at least many of them. What can she pick up on? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The guy is angrily telling his boss that the guy is INFECTED and also these are psychic people with mind control powers.

Permalink Mark Unread

That is very confusing but everything about this situation was already very confusing so he's not going to assume out of hand it isn't approximately true. Maybe the protomolecule can give people psychic powers. That was not literally on his list of hoped-for outcomes but it's the right genre, and they have some surprising out-of-the-box capabilities to have gotten this far.

 

He's excited to talk to these people face to face, though probably if the guy is infected it should be through an airlock. Things always go better when talking face to face. 

And Julie's alive. He's really glad that Julie's alive. It's one of those things you can never quite stop believing, when your child is missing in space, that they're alive somehow...

Permalink Mark Unread

....Nayoki is kind of impressed, honestly. Julies Pierre Mao seems pretty decent at thinking on his feet. 

She's in range, though, so she slaps some set-commands on him anyway. Subtle ones, right at the limit of how fiddly she can manage from here. If he starts thinking about murdering them or attacking the lab from space, he's going to find himself instead noticing that these people could be very useful to him and also remembering Julie. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drags himself to alertness, or as close as he can manage. 

:Nayoki. Relay all of this back to the lab, please. Just in case. ...And warn them to be ready to get out, if they need to: 

And, pushing his exhausted Mindspeech to the limits, he stretches out and makes contact with Julies Pierre Mao's mind. 

:I am here. I am ready to speak with you: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well. Those sure do seem like psychic powers. Also he is probably in danger. Also that means it can be done and humanity is going to have a chance at true freedom. - one thing at a time.

 

Welcome aboard the Guanshiyin. Can we get you anything? We have limited medical facilities aboard the ship. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am - managing all right, currently, but I am sure my Healer would appreciate access to more facilities: 

A pause. 

:...Your comms personnel denied that you had planned to drop the protomolecule on Eros. I am dubious. What were you really planning, and - why?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What implications do the psychic powers have for - well, probably he should just put his cards on the table, at this point. 

Some things are not wisely transmitted over tightbeam between ships and planets, even if I believe our encryption to be good, nor recorded on any computers. There were plans to do a controlled release of the protomolecule on Eros. They can be revisited, if that seems wise. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:What were you hoping to accomplish? ...Separately, I believe we bring new evidence and new capabilities, such that you should wish to reassess that plan, but still I want to ask. What -:

 

 

This man can't have had ANY IDEA that the people eaten by the protomolecule wouldn't, truly, be gone forever... 

:- what could possibly have made the tradeoff seem worthwhile? A million lives:

 

 

:- To be clear, there are situations where I would - make that trade, for an appropriately huge gain. But I am not sure what you hoped for, here, and I wish to understand; 

Permalink Mark Unread

One point four million, he corrects him, half involuntarily.

 

The protomolecule is an alien life form. It did not evolve, but was engineered. It can survive in a wide range of conditions but can grow only with access to self-replicating cells. We believe that its creators aimed it, originally, at Earth, the only place in the solar system where it could have functioned as intended, likely two billion years ago. It so happened that as the rock that carried it made its way towards Earth it was pulled into Saturn's gravity well, and became one of Saturn's moons. If it had made the trip it was intended to make, human life would never have existed on Earth.

 

This poses a number of urgent questions. DId the aliens know that Earth had not yet evolved intelligent life? Would they have cared? Did this do this elsewhere? Is that why the universe seems empty, when everyone's Fermi estimates keep turning up that it shouldn't be? And why didn't they follow up, in the two billion years since then? Are they still out there, or did they destroy themselves - and if they destroyed themselves, how'd they do it, how do we keep humanity off that course? 

More immediately, the protomolecule is a magnificent feat of biological engineering. It keeps killing its hosts, of course, but it's not trying to kill them - it's trying to change them. It doesn't do much interesting with bacteria, but in larger organisms, it tries rerouting blood vessels, adding or deadening nerves, replacing tissue and whole organ systems. And then they die. But it learns. It doesn't do the same thing twice.

I believe that once we can understand it - once we can communicate with it, if that's possible - once we can harness it - we can alter our bodies utterly. We could end aging. We could end our reliance on these fragile bodies. A million people, you ask, what could be worth that? Do you know how many days it takes 1.4million people to die unavoidable deaths of old age?

Three.

Permalink Mark Unread

Quietly and pointlessly, to herself, Nayoki is thinking that it's very inconvenient how Jules Pierre Mao is so obviously someone Leareth would get along with.

Permalink Mark Unread

That is way too many pieces at once and Leareth's head hurts. 

There are MULTIPLE more important bits, but his mind is stuck on the last one. 

He is really not very capable of mental math, right now, but he's gone through census-data on Velgarth. And he has the protomolecule. If he tosses it some calculations, throwing up some fairly broad error bars... 

What.

 

:- The population of your world is - in the billions to - tens of billions? If not more than that...?: 

Apparently no one thought to mention this to him. And, even more stupidly, he never thought to ask. 

Permalink Mark Unread

.....he took the psychic stuff in stride but now it is Jules Pierre Mao's turn to be incredibly confused. 

 

Uh. Where.....are you from. The....Amish? The Amish know how many people there are. The Swedish Sentinelese? How would they have gotten their hands on the protomolecule.

Permalink Mark Unread

It doesn't seem like there's much point in not just giving this man the key information he needs to make decisions. 

 

:From another world. ...Yes, I am just as confused as you are, both as to why both our planets have humans and how your daughter accidentally landed her shuttle there instead of on Eros. However. I am from another world and we have various magical powers, there. As well as - some problems, which are high context to explain but mean that we have much less advanced technology and a far lower population. I - no one here had said, how many people your star system has...: 

Permalink Mark Unread

What.

 

 

Well. All cards on the table is the strategy that is stable around things becoming even more ridiculous. There are more than 33 billion humans in this star system.

Permalink Mark Unread

....Calculating how small a percentage of that population he would have needed to make a god is a REALLY STUPID math problem to be trying to solve right now. 

 

 

:...Anyway. We can talk to the protomolecule and so we know some things about it that you do not, yet. It - was created in order to construct wormholes. It does not actually need to eat humans to do this, just bacteria will do. ...Also, for reasons which are deeply unclear to me, it uploads the people it eats. I suppose its creators added that functionality: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- huh. 

 

I...don't think we want it to build a wormhole, not until we have more of a plan for what we'll meet on the other side. I do want it to learn human biology, so it can stop killing its hosts. You must be, uh, also motivated to achieve that outcome. I think it might be able to become more capable in the abstract with just bacteria, but it needs humans to achieve the things I want for humans. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Maybe. It does not need 1.4 million of them, though: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well. If it needs ten thousand sourcing them is going to be a problem, but I have an organization dedicated to studying it, and will do what I can. 

 

Is Julie infected? You said her shuttle went to - your world - and you're infected - and she was in a hospital bed, in the video -

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Yes. She is - she was, already, when she arrived on Velgarth. We - my people have been trying very hard to keep her alive: 

 

After a brief pause,

:- We sent word to the OPA. They know everything that we knew when we set our route for your lab: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Who do you mean by the OPA. It's a bunch of terrorists who barely ever work together.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that doesn't exactly disagree with Leareth's own assessment, even if it seems incomplete. 

:Anderson Dawes, on Ceres. And Fred Johnson on Tycho. ...Separately, a spy on board the ship that found us managed to send a report to the UN, though I am unsure of its exact contents: 

Leareth is, for the moment, going to leave out the part where this was his idea and on purpose. 

Permalink Mark Unread

I need to think.

 

 

 

Well, the Eros plan is totally shot, anyone suspecting what's happening would be enough to make it probably not worth it. There's the risk they'd go to Eros deliberately despite the quarantine, try to get a sample. Also the risk it'd be traced back to him, and the risk of various agents on Eros flipping now that they're presumably under a lot more pressure. 

- Julie's dying, and the protomolecule needs to learn how to keep humans alive in the next week, not just eventually -

- spy on board the ship. They probably report to Errinwright, which is fine, Errinwright's read in. Fred Johnson, does he report to Mars? For enough money - no, enough ship machinery - he probably would. Mars might not know to try to buy him, though. Dawes will try to intervene on Eros. He should've read more about the various OPA factions - no, he quite reasonably didn't expect it to matter, because it shouldn't have - how did Julie end up in the middle of all this -

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki is picking up all of this. 

:- Leareth? What should we do?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Of course: Leareth tells Mao. He closes his eyes. 

 

:He wants to keep his daughter alive: he says to Nayoki. :We use that:

A long hesitation.

:And - perhaps we consider telling Holden's crew to go ahead and send that transmission. But - not quite yet: 

Pause. 

:I assume you have everyone on this ship under compulsions by now?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Still working on it. There are a lot of crew. I think that I have everyone in important leadership positions: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth, eyes still closed, waits and skims Jules Pierre Mao's surface thoughts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

If the uploading can be verified, the simplest thing to do at this point might be to go public - since other people already have the information - get out in front of the story - and convince some dying people to let the proto eat them and upload them, so that they can be retrieved when humans know what they're doing. It's going to be a tough sell but - maybe with good marketing? Maybe if he convinces his own mother to do it. She would, for Julie. 

What else. There's another world. Maybe it can be a source for people to feed the protomolecule without dealing with the suddenly-complicated local situation? Its locals will take the suggestion badly.

He could go to Mars. Trade what he knows for a sample and medical care for Julie and hospiced volunteers to get uploaded - Mars would have more people who'd volunteer - unless anyone involved has pieced together the role of the Anubis in the destruction of the Donnager, which would make things difficult but probably not intractable -

Julie's of course going to be undermining him at every turn. Maybe he can have the doctors induce a coma. Maybe he can buy off Fred Johnson and Anderson Dawes and convince Errinwright that his spy's report is wrong on some key points and then - have the same room to maneuver he did a week ago -

Permalink Mark Unread

....This has to be some kind of leverage, but Leareth's head feels full of cotton and he's not seeing how to use it, yet. 

:Nayoki?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:What?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:You are getting all this? ....Relay it to Julie, via the Proto. She - should know what he is thinking. Tell her that - that I could use help, and her local context, on - on figuring out how to use this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

....Sure. She can do that. 

 

 

:Julie? We are on the ship talking to your father, and -: 

She has no idea how to summarize so she just pushes the Thoughtsensing-impression across directly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Uh, okay, are you asking for...advice on what to do now?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth is wondering if we can - use this, convince him to cooperate with our plans?: 

Plans which they don't, currently, in fact HAVE, which is a substantial downside. 

:...Or we could tell Holden to send his transmission to the whole star system. I am not sure if that will help or make things worse, at this point: 

Permalink Mark Unread

 

I think you should, uh, arrest him. Because he committed murder, which is a crime. And you should drag him back to Earth where there'll be a trial. And then he'll go to jail. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki has very little context on how Earth's legal system works. She...somehow suspects it won't be that simple. 

:Hmm. I - do not think we actually have the resources to take this ship by force and transport it to Earth, mind-controlling people is kind of terrible for having them perform finicky tasks. I suppose if Leareth agrees, I could...ask Holden to fly the Roci past within Gate-range, and drop your father in there, and have them leave with him? And then they could bring him to Earth, or wherever: 

Nayoki only just thought of this plan right now on the spot and it's probably a terrible plan in a dozen different ways, but also she REALLY wants to be done here so she can get Leareth back to the actual medical facilities down on the surface. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure, if you can't just mind-control him to turn himself in.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Leareth? What do you think: 

Permalink Mark Unread

...Leareth's first, instinctive reaction is that NO of COURSE NOT, this is a terrible idea, Jules Pierre Mao is someone they can work with - possibly the best candidate for that so far - 

Then again, Mao is clearly not trying that hard to operate in good faith, given that he just reflexively considered feeding Velgarth to the protomolecule.

Because he's desperate to save his daughter. Which is sympathetic from one angle, and...kind of a massive failure at doing math, on another level. 

Not to mention there's the entire political mess between Earth and Mars, which he's pretty sure Mao actively nudged into place. Which - well, there are situations where Leareth would consider that - he's done worse, before - but he is not, currently, getting the feeling that Jules Pierre Mao is anywhere close to careful enough, about those sorts of decisions. 

He spends a few more moments skimming the man's thoughts. 

 

:Listen to me: he interrupts, finally. :I - did not come into this situation much inclined to trust you. And, right now, it seems to me that it would simplify matters vastly if I sent a transmission to both Earth and Mars clarifying the current situation, and then brought you to Earth. At which point you could make your case to them, for what resources you need and why: 

 

:Do you have a counterargument: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That seems - like a decision that requires more than five minutes of thought - no, that's rude, the man's dying - complicated. I think Earth and Mars would both react badly to the possibility the other had the protomolecule while they didn't. I suspect they could contain it, but I don't want to bet the fate of the human race on it. It would be much better for it to be studied out here on Io, where there'd be time to react to a containment breach, except that if it uploads people we should get dying volunteers and most of them are on the inner planets. If you send a transmission to Earth and Mars then a likely outcome is that they try to intercept your ship, and a nearly certain outcome is that we're subsequently in for months and months of wrangling over the protomolecule and who has access to it on what terms, and by then you're dead.

I think that instead you should not tell anyone anything more than you've already told them, and that leaves a lot more doors open, including going public if it seems like a good idea. 

With all due respect, you're completely new here, there's very basic context on our world you're missing. You shouldn't just - randomly do things. A lot of them can make everything worse.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...Yes, I am aware that I am missing context. That is why I asked you rather than doing anything unilaterally. To be clear, though, I was not considering giving either Earth or Mars the protomolecule, or your scientists or my Healers. Just you: 

Although, now he's actually picturing how it would go, sending Holden to drop Mao in front of the UN or something, and...he is not very enthused about that mental image. 

:Mainly, at this point, I am worried about Earth and Mars actually ending up at war. On false premises. Your organization was responsible for the decoy transmitter left on the Scopuli, no? And the destruction of the Canterbury?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes. I don't want a war, and there won't be one. He's pretty confident about this. There are people working for him high up in both governments.

Permalink Mark Unread

....That's actually a huge relief. Leareth had NOT been taking this for granted, and it - shows some forethought?

Though, of course, Mao could still be wrong

:Nayoki?: he checks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Done. We could take over this ship if we had to: Pause. :- I would very much prefer we did not have to: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth wants, with an intensity that rivals anything else he's ever wanted, to lie down and take a nap. 

 

:All right. We are - not currently friends, and you ought assume I am not on your side. However. You want your daughter to survive, and I would also rather survive, and our respect personnel have some different areas of expertise that could, perhaps, be combined. I - suggest you take a few hours to think, and propose a plan for what we should do next: 

Which will hopefully give him some time to SLEEP and then try to think and see if his mind can come up with anything better. 

Permalink Mark Unread

All right. I'll work on that. He would be annoyed if the man weren't obviously dying but it's hard to be annoyed with dying people. 

Julie must be dying too.

- not the time. 

He stands and leaves.

Permalink Mark Unread

If they go back to the surface then she won’t be able to read his mind. Short of sneaking a Proto-sample onto the ship, which would be going a bit far even for Leareth. 

Also Nayoki kind of desperately wants to lock herself in a bathroom and cry. On top of the entire messy complicated situation here, she’s homesick. It’s starting to sink in that they have no way of reaching Velgarth again, short of letting the Proto here get big enough to risk it eating Earth, and - probably they’ll be okay, they can still talk to the Proto and theirs is smarter, but she doesn’t know and probably never will and she’s never going to see her apartment again.

Not the time. 

She sits with Leareth in the ship’s limited-facilities medbay, and reads Jules Pierre Mao’s mind. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Jules Pierre Mao is thinking through what to do. This is, aside from being incredibly confusing, really good news. If the result of the Eros experiment had been this level of ability to communicate with the protomolecule, he would have been delighted, considered it well worth the cost. 

 

But the really confusing is sort of overshadowing the good news. Another world? Which Julie accidentally landed on? That's just - not the sort of thing that should happen, not the way the protomolecule making wormholes isn't the sort of thing that should happen, in a more profound way than that. It's bizarre even as a lie to tell, and if it's a lie he has no idea what the underlying truth is. And these people who are maybe lying or maybe from another world in a way that makes no sense and can't possibly have been an accident are the interface with the protomolecule - they're the people claiming it can upload people, they're the people claiming they can talk to it -

- no, his scientists also talked to it. For about two days, before their lab was stormed and they were taken prisoner. Was that about something they were on the verge of discovering? It can't have been about control of the protomolecule, if the strangers already had a sample. He would really really like more context on the strangers and their motives but the man is clearly dying and the woman's clearly not competent to take over for him and probably it's not worth delaying to try to drag more context out of people who likely won't even be involved in a week.

That suggests that the priority is to stop them from fucking everything up in the next week. Taking seriously that they're not from this world - (maybe the protomolecule made them? maybe the protomolecule made an entire other world for Julie to interact with? can it do that?), who are they hearing about it from? Julie, obviously. Julie's take on all this will be - that murder is wrong and only bad people would even consider it - no, maybe that's assigning her too little nuance, she likes her OPA friends and they're murderers - that murdering oppressed people is wrong? He never tried to develop a deep working model of how Julie would try to do geopolitics because by the time she was invested in that, they weren't speaking....the decision to tell Fred Johnson and Anderson Dawes everything feels like Julie, the rest of the suggestions don't particularly. Who else are they learning about this world from. His scientists, who have the suite of empathy impairments that let them do the protomolecule work, which would make them awfully ill-suited to this. Was there other staff at the lab? One human subject, a total unknown. 

This feels important but after ten minutes of thinking about it he's not getting anywhere.

 

If he didn't have to work with the confusing bizarre dying possibly-lying people what would he do at this point. Call off Eros (or rather, decline to reauthorize it); there are too many unknowns right now. Reach out to Errinwright and see if Earth will forgive all and offer up a research hospital in exchange for a protomolecule sample. (There's still the containment issue, why he preferred not to bring it to Earth in the first place - maybe Luna'd be better?) Reach out to Mars, see about the same thing, figure out who is going to do a better job. Maybe there's some way to spin the Cant and Donnager situations; maybe people will just forget about them in the thrill of contact with aliens.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Nayoki wishes she could disagree and be offended at his thinking she's not qualified to take over. Unfortunately, he has a point. 

She - thinks she could pull it together if Leareth actually died? Probably. She would do a lot of Mindhealing to herself, which arguably she should be doing right now except that she CAN'T bring herself to stop wanting to be there in the room with him. Although it's hard to tell if he even finds it very comforting so maybe that's stupid too. 

Also she has some context that Mao doesn't, which is that they have Healers, and it seems like he's still undervaluing how much they can accomplish by talking to the protomolecule and teaching it Gifts. She's pretty sure that if Leareth can manage to go another two days without some stupid emergency nearly killing him again, he'll be less sick and more with it - he was doing better than this before. 

Then again, they're still operating with a shoestring resource budget and zero local allies who she actually trusts, which is why those sorts of emergencies keep happening in the first place. It - was probably actually worth it, to get the spy's message out without burning even more bridges with the Roci crew...

She can see why Leareth respects Mao. He's...actually asking the right questions, actually thinking this through, in a way that none of the others have been. Not that she can really blame them; the crew of the Roci are clearly in deep over their heads, and Julie is...a very nice person, in some ways, and Nayoki respects her courage. But not really her sophisticated moral reasoning. 

 

 

 

She hates this and she wants to go home. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drifts in and out for a while. 

:- We need to know more about the political actors here: he tells Nayoki. :It would go much better if we can get a message to someone specific, and competent, rather than resorting to a system-wide broadcast. While we are here, can you find out what they know: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She can do that. 

Mao is smart and curious and actually trying to be adequately paranoid, and she doesn't really want to do more active mind-poking on him, he might notice. But hopefully there are some other crew around in Thoughtsensing range. 

She tries to filter for someone who knows as little as possible about what's currently going on - it seems like Mao hasn't immediately decided to brief all his crew, that's helpful - but who seems high-up enough and generally clever enough that she would trust their political assessments– 'trust them more than Holden's', she starts to think, but that's an incredibly low bar. 

Poke poke poke. Can she nudge someone unsuspecting into thinking about who's involved in the 'UN' leadership and what their traits are? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure; politics is on their minds anyway, what with having engineered the current Earth/Mars tensions.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is an elected position. Everyone on Earth and Luna aged 16 or older, or who has paid $3000 in taxes over their life, votes. (Well, turnout is about 40%, but all of them are allowed to vote). The current one is Esteban Sorrento-Gillis. None of Mao's people think much of him, when they think of Earth; he's a politician, he does what he thinks will be politically popular, he doesn't have real convictions, he worries a lot about what the history books will say about him. The Undersecretary of Executive Administration is the most important staff role, usually a springboard from which to claim the top job; that's Sadavir Errinwright, who some of Mao's senior people know works for Mao. They think slightly more of him; he's smart, and inventive under pressure, and personally ambitious. The Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration, Chrisjen Avaserala, is more of a problem - she doesn't work for Mao, and has an enormous wealth of political connections she uses to oppose Errinwright when she disagrees with him, and Sorrento-Gillis listens to her as much as to him. She's ruthless, but she's not corrupt; no one's sure what to bribe her with.

 

The Secretary-General has a full staff but most of the rest handle domestic policy, not space policy.

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki skims minds until she's pretty sure she has an overall gist that isn't too biased by any one person's idiosyncratic opinions, and then she summarizes it to Leareth. 

:What should we do now: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth really wishes the answer to that question could be 'sleep'. His body is incredibly unhappy with the length of time he's spent sitting upright in a wheelchair. 

...He wants to - not trust Mao, exactly, but it's very tempting to make that an alliance. Julies Pierre Mao is thinking strategically, he has contingencies, he has an inventory of his current resources, he's planning ahead - 

By itself, Leareth wouldn't necessarily update much on the Eros plan, or the empathy modifications to the scientists, or any of the other specific ruthless acts. He knows what he's willing to do, if his plans call for it. ...He's pretty unhappy about the Cant and the Donnager. Not, mostly, because of the deaths involved, or because it was illegal, or because it was by-some-definition-pretty-evil. 

Okay. Why is this making him so uneasy? 

It...feels like playing with fire? It feels like the kind of force that it's really better not to pick up and wield, because it can be very hard to put down again. Easier for him to say, of course, given his millennia of life experience and how he's seen close up what happens when geopolitical tensions spiral out of control. It's not just a matter of weighing up the cost of lives against anticipated benefits; there's something deeper there that's burned, and he's not sure that Mao is fully taking that into account. 

Jules Pierre Mao thinks that he can keep the situation under control, that whatever else happens, Earth and Mars won't actually go to war. But Leareth has been in not-dissimilar positions before, and miscalculated. 

- also it's unclear to him if Mao put what he would consider to be adequate thought, into the downside risks of feeding Eros to the protomolecule. It seems like Mao doesn't specifically know that once it's big enough it can eat rock, or anything about its other interesting capabilities, but...from Leareth's perspective, given what he knows, it's obvious that the point at which the Proto is that big, is past the point where it can actually be contained by force. He's hopeful that they can instead ask nicely. But that's because of context that Mao couldn't possibly have had, and still isn't fully taking into account, which is hard to blame him for - he's making so many massive updates to his world-model and he's trying impressively hard to attack his confusion productively - but still... 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's going in circles. Focus. He hates not having a long-term plan but he can't piece one together right now, he's still missing too much context. Which pieces are actually relevant, right now, for the next decision. 

He can work with Mao, probably. But he doesn't trust him to get this right, and it matters; the stakes are huge.

(Leareth is kind of upset about this, although he's nudging that aside, it's unproductive to be angry at the universe for failing to give him competent and aligned allies, and it's not like Velgarth was different in that way, he just had a lot longer to build...) 

(He misses Vanyel and that's even less productive.) 

...He's curious about Chrisjen Avaserala. A handful of people's thoughts isn't nearly enough to go on, of course, he could be wildly jumping to conclusions about her character. But the hints he has are - good.

He would like to talk to her, face to face. That would resolve a lot of his open questions. 

 

 

That still isn't a plan, damn it. 

 

 

:For the moment, I think we should - approach talks with Jules Pierre Mao from the angle of - building a strategic alliance. We will not reveal all of our abilities to him, but I assume he is not expecting full openness. I...think that I want you to stay on the ship as our liaison: And because Mao is a wily snake and he doesn't want to take his eyes off the man. :You can answer questions and offer demonstrations if he wants proof of our origins. I - should return to the lab and its medical facilities, for now. Tell him that I feel it would be wise to contact the UN, and that in particular I would like to speak with this Avasarala, but that we - understand we are lacking context, and will give advice but not go behind his back: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, that's at least sort of vaguely a plan. 

:All right: 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Oh, before you say anything - find out what Mao and the crew of this ship have noticed or inferred about the Roci. It seems they have not guessed that survivors of the Cant and Donnager attacks are currently crewing it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sure, she can poke some minds. It seemed earlier like Mao was assuming the ship was OPA? What sensor data and related guesses do they have about it? 

Permalink Mark Unread

The drive plume suggests an inefficient older ship that has modified its fusion drive a dozen times to keep it working. Competent but poor. Belters. Inexplicably hanging around Io near the site of the lab, having arrived at the right time for the takeover. OPA. They are trying to stay out of its strike range in case it has weapons. There's a fast shuttle aboard this yacht so Mao can get out if necessary, though he's in his seventies, and a serious chase would do his health no favors.

Permalink Mark Unread

That's all useful to know. 

A fast shuttle is also a way that Leareth could get out, if necessary. They could steal it, head for Earth right now...

- fine, it's tempting but a terrible idea. A shuttle won't have medical facilities, and Leareth's health status is a lot more precarious than Mao's, and who would fly it, mind-controlling some of Mao's crew is a very fraught plan. Also Leareth wants her to be approaching this as a potential alliance, and stealing their shuttle is the opposite of that. 

She'll keep it in mind, though. If she's going to be stuck here as a liaison anyway (damn it, Leareth, though he has a point that she'll be less distracted if he's at least not dying in front of her), then she might as well figure out the route they would have to take, and slip in some conditional set-commands, be ready to grab the shuttle and some crew and burn for Earth as fast as possible if things here spiral out of control. 

It's a few minutes since she checked Jules Pierre Mao's thoughts, she's been distracted. She does that first, before interrupting him to convey their plan. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mars has better medical facilities than Luna and he's still reluctant to risk Earth so he's prioritizing composing a message to his Martian contacts, thinking about what they'll know, what might get leaked, how all of it can be stitched together into them being glad to welcome some protomolecule patients and experiments in secret. Probably, though, the thing to do is to ask a lot more questions about the protomolecule and get a better sense of how sure he can be he wouldn't be risking Earth by taking the patients there.

- he should inquire about Julie's condition, first, it's quite possible she won't survive a trip inwards either way in which case quality of medical facilities is besides the point -

Permalink Mark Unread

She Mindtouches him.

:I wanted to give you an update on our plans. Leareth - is willing to consider working with you, and we can answer any questions you have about the protomolecule or about our world. He would like me to stay on the ship as a liaison; he will return to Io for the moment, since the lab has better medical facilities: 

- right, she needs an explanation of how they know who Avasarala is that doesn't include the bit where she's reading everyone's mind. 

:Leareth is aware that we are lacking important context, and that Julie being our initial contact in this system means our information may be biased. Based on what he has learned so far, Leareth has a tentatively positive impression of the UN's competence, and especially of Avasarala. He would be in favour of bringing this to their attention. However, he would prefer to work with you on this: 

Permalink Mark Unread

They didn't get that from Julie, whose opinion on any Earther politician is going to be - he doesn't actually know what it's going to be. Negative, though.

 

What exactly do you want to bring to the UN's attention? The protomolecule? I'm - contemplating it, but I think they might take abrupt action to try to get their hands on it, and I don't want it brought to Earth until I know more about the risk it'd escape containment - which you, actually, might be able to help me understand better.

Permalink Mark Unread

:The protomolecule, yes:

What would Leareth say what would Leareth say -

:It is obviously relevant to them - to the entire system - and...in general, things go better when leaders are making their decisions based on complete and accurate information, I think? Also, we might tell them of our world's existence. Leareth has a much larger organization back on Velgarth. We cannot currently return, the - transport method we used - was one-way, but with help we could find a way. I think Leareth might wish to ask your civilization for humanitarian aid on Velgarth, in exchange for whatever useful services our magic can provide: 

...This is leaving out the fact that the protomolecule is currently eating Velgarth's moon. Nayoki isn't sure she trusts Mao to do anything sensible with that information. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's still not convinced that Velgarth, uh, exists, as opposed to being a delusion, but if it does, then - humanitarian aid seems like probably a concession Earth or Mars would be perfectly happy about? He's having a hard time imagining Velgarth in enough detail to think through specific conflicts that might arise but if it's lower-tech, they won't be scared of it, everybody's entirely hypothetical debates about colonialism will be suddenly not hypothetical which - he'll think about later, one thing at a time - anyway, doesn't seem like a dealbreaker, if Velgarth is a real place that really exists.

 

I don't think that it's really the case that things go better when leadership is fully informed, he says carefully. Maybe it depends on the quality of the leadership, but the system on Earth is designed to elect the people who do the best on terminal clips, not the people who run the best government. I think we'll need to loop somebody in, but I'd rather know more, first, about what we're looping them in about. If you could let my scientists go back to my research, I think that'd make me a lot more confident in questions on protomolecule containment that seem important to answer before we talk to the UN or anyone else. 

 

I'm also interested in whether we should be rushing in order to save the people currently infected by the protomolecule. What's their state, how long do their doctors think they have to live?

Permalink Mark Unread

It's not unreasonable of him to be concerned that Velgarth doesn't exist but it's very annoying

:Your daughter was infected over a month ago, and is - arguably in better condition than when she landed on Velgarth, though it is taking a great deal of effort from Leareth's staff. - For context, we have Healing magic on Velgarth, which we can demonstrate to your scientists as proof. I think your scientists are unsure how to extrapolate a prognosis for her given that the protomolecule is behaving differently from their expectations. She is going to need a lung transplant but, with that, hopefully the Healers can show the protomolecule how to avoid damaging the new lungs? We will know more about that in a day or two: 

:Leareth was infected more recently, but also he has suffered - different complications, due to interactions between his magical abilities and the protomolecule. I am hopeful that he will stabilize more if there stop being emergencies where he needs to use magic. His organs are in better shape overall, at least: 

Permalink Mark Unread

So your best guess is that we have time?

Permalink Mark Unread

:That is my best guess. We will keep you updated on changes in her condition, of course: 

Permalink Mark Unread

All of the patients, please, he says, because it seems courteous. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:Of course. And I can give you a summary now of our observations about the protomolecule, if you want? ...The gist is that I feel comfortable with containing it on Earth if we keep it small; our Healers can directly See it, which makes it much easier to avoid contamination, and it seems to be under the impression that we are its creators and tries to cooperate with our instructions. Once it is large enough, though - perhaps one more doubling from its current size in the lab, we fed it several hundred livestock on Velgarth before reaching that point - anyway, once it is bigger it can eat rock. Which makes containment harder, for various reasons: 

Permalink Mark Unread

I can imagine. It had been among their projections about how the Eros project might go. Can it also eat steel, at that point or a shortly subsequent point? 

Permalink Mark Unread

:We had not specifically checked but I expect so. It did obey our instructions not to eat anything in Julie’s shuttle:

Permalink Mark Unread

Because it thought you were its creator?

Because presumably at some point it'll be smart enough to notice they're not, in fact, its creators. Unless these supposedly-humans from supposedly-Velgarth are its creators, in some sense, which - doesn't make a lot of sense but neither does anything else.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Probably, yes, and that may not hold as it grows. Leareth - was hopeful that it would be more possible to cooperate, not less, if it were more capable of understanding us. He…has extensively studied the concepts behind communicating with superintelligent but deeply alien entities. I am not enough an expert in this field to explain his position, though: 

Permalink Mark Unread

It might be possible to get narrow biological results out of it while it's small, though? If you've had some successes already?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Possibly. It - is confused about some very basic concepts, though - anything not related to its primary purpose as an engineering system. It...does not really seem to understand death. Or that multiple people exist separately from one another. Also, obviously its sensory perceptions are very different from ours, and it is often confused by spatial representations, for example, but that is more feasible to work around: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Its creators - evidently didn't expect it to be operating in a context with other intelligent life. 

He's not sure what that says exactly about their ability to get along with it, where it does exist. On the other hand, it's been two billion years; probably the creator species has changed, if it still exists at all (and probably there'd be signs in the skies, if it were transforming lots of worlds still...)

Permalink Mark Unread

:Evidently not: 

Leareth...probably explicitly had that realization, that if the protomolecule's creators had continued to be around for two billion years, there ought to be a LOT of wormholes by now. This seems like something that ought to be noticeable in the night sky even at Velgarth's technological level, and certainly at Earth's... 

- Maybe he didn't reason it through. He normally would, and Nayoki feels slow and behind and helpless in comparison, but he's in bad shape.

She's so worried and scared and she...doesn't know what to do, if he doesn't get better than this. 

However, it's not like she has a lot of choice. For now she'll just have to do her best. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth returns to the surface with the Healer and shuttle escort, and is extremely relieved to be helped back into his hospital bed. He needs a lot of help for it; he's too weak to even stand, right now. Also he's kind of having trouble breathing again - this seems like only half the protomolecule's fault, and half because his ribs HURT. And he's not actually feverish but his entire body aches and he's shivering. 

The Healers put him back on oxygen and get him an extra blanket and get him more painkillers. Leareth falls asleep while they're still in the middle of doing things to him. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril settles herself in next to him and pesters the scientists with a thousand questions about Earth medicine. She'll happily trade it for lots of intel on how the protomolecule is currently interacting with Leareth's body and the progress she's made and still making on teaching it to use its imitation Healing-Gift. The scientists are pretty all right to talk to as long as it's about intellectual topics that are relevant to them.

They have APPALLING bedside manner but that's not their fault, and besides, she works for Leareth, some of his scholars are just kind of like that even without the artificially-induced brain damage. 

...

The other Healer who learned how to do kidney transplants before would be delighted to help with Julie's lung transplant once that's ready to go. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie makes a point of not asking about her dad but she's not sure anyone is paying enough attention to her to appreciate this. 

 

She puts on the VR glasses for her lung transplant.

Permalink Mark Unread

It's WAY less stressful for the Healers this time! With the combination of Earth medical tech and monitoring equipment, actually trained doctors, and magical Healing powers - which this is a pretty damned good opportunity to demonstrate and prove - they should be able to get through it very smoothly and efficiently, and then give Julie a massively accelerated surgical recovery. 

How's the other infected human test subject doing? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's not that sick from the protomolecule yet but he's incredibly miserable and confused and is mostly huddled in a corner crying.

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril wants to be comforting but they're really busy and don't exactly have a lot of spare personnel. She spends a couple of minutes talking to him, giving an extremely simplified summary of what's going on, and then maybe she can encourage him to watch something engaging on one of the VR headsets so he's at least distracted? 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's DYING of an ALIEN PARASITE he doesn't want to watch calming movies!

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth sleeps for fourteen hours straight, not even waking up when the Healers turn him. When he can finally be roused again, he's still incredibly groggy from all the anti-epileptic drugs they've loaded into his system, and he spends most of the next day drifting in and out. Emril's found some sort of basic language-instruction program that he can watch on the VR headset, but his concentration is terrible and he keeps dozing off in the middle of lessons. He can't even manage more than very simple math thoughts for protomolecule small talk, it's intensely frustrating.

They're making headway, though. None of his organs are in great shape but none are threatening to quit either, and Emril is making a lot of progress on getting the Proto to mess with his brain function less, now that she has access to things like NEUROSCIENCE VIDEOS which is AMAZING. They start weaning down the drugs. 

It's still not until almost three days after his meeting with Jules Pierre Mao that he feels well enough to even attempt the careful strategic thinking which he so badly needs to do. 

He wants a report from Nayoki first. One that Mao can't intercept, ideally. They have a private cipher they've used for written messages in the past, and no one on Mao's ship even speaks much less reads any of the Velgarth languages it would be encrypting, so that seems adequate, probably, if she's allowed free access to their computer comms? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki sends him a summary. 

Jules Pierre Mao has communicated with Thoth - a separate secret research program, siloed from the lab on Io, previously involved in the plans for infecting Eros - that they should continue the search for the Anubis and otherwise stand down. They've been warned that the plan to attack Eros is known to another faction, now, and ordered to dismantle all possible ties to them; this apparently involves some security people recruited from gangs on another station called Ceres? Nayoki has a bunch more context on the previous plan for Eros, now, most of which is no longer relevant since Mao isn't stupid and isn't going to use a compromised plan. 

He's contacted Errinwright at the UN, the man who works for him, to alert him that there's a 'change of plans' due to 'another faction involved.' It sounds like, in fact, Errinwright has not been entirely forthcoming with anyone else at the UN on the spy's report, which is unfortunate. It at least seems like the report sent hasn't clued Mao in that Holden's ship, the one that the spy-report was sent from, is the same as the "OPA" ship lurking by Io now. Mao's very busy and the connection is tenuous since the spy didn't really have context on Leareth at all when he sent his report. 

Mao is still not sure that Leareth and Nayoki aren't just making up literally everything about Velgarth's existence. This is inconvenient, and it's hard to prove it conclusively given that Nayoki doesn't want to go around showing off the full extent of her abilities. She's demoed a Gate for him, and there's obviously the Mindspeech aspect, but from his perspective it's not absurd that this could all just be related to the protomolecule somehow. He's done some thinking through it but...mostly isn't fully propagating any new beliefs based on that evidence, while he's still unsure how much to trust it. 

She's absorbed a bit more context on the UN and Martian governments, since Mao has been doing a lot of thinking through whether to contact one or both of them and come clean about the protomolecule's existence. There's no one in the Martian hierarchy who seems an obviously good candidate for Leareth to try to loop in directly. Avasarala is still seeming like - not a bad option? But literally all Nayoki knows about her is filtered through the thoughts of people who aren't going to be unbiased on her trustworthiness or ethics. 

Permalink Mark Unread

This is very exhausting to process. 

Leareth argues the Healers into letting him take a stimulant. He asks for paper, and Emril brings him that plus one of the fancy high-tech tablets they use here, in case he wants to try using that for note-taking. It...definitely has a learning curve, and Leareth isn't in the best state for it, but it's not hard to do better than paper and he's pleased. 

He thinks for a while. 

...Hmm. Information relevant here: how smart is the protomolecule seeming, right now? They've fed it more bacteria and the scientists are talking to it a LOT. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's happy to talk to the scientists! It's a lot more limited than when it let them leave Velgarth, but well ahead of when Leareth first met it.

Permalink Mark Unread

All right. He...has been mostly operating on reflexes and very short-term planning, during their time so far in the Earth system. He needs to take a step back, think from first principles about - well, to start, what does he want, here? What's his endgame, which possible resolutions are happy endings? And what are the bad outcomes that need to be steered away from? 

Obviously he wants there to not be a war. Especially not a stupid war that Jules Pierre Mao started half by accident, overconfident that it would never go that far... 

...That's just the most urgent bad outcome to be avoided, though, and it's not, actually, the most important piece here.

He wants Earth and Velgarth to travel to the stars. He wants them to work with the protomolecule, learn what it knows - learn as much as they can of what its creators knew, they were clearly capable of so much - if they could do this, the same general capability applied to different problems could - just solve energy and resource constraints. A world without scarcity - where no one ever had to die, at least not forever... 

He wants that so badly it hurts. 

Permalink Mark Unread

...And then there are the real tail risks, here. 

What if he's wrong, and they can't work and cooperate with the protomolecule at its full strength? 

What if there is something on the other side of the wormhole that it so desperately wants to build, and that something is an existential threat? 

 

 

 

 

 

- The civilization that built the Proto is almost certainly gone. The rock where they found it, in orbit around an outer planet, had been frozen there for two. billion. years. It's not that a civilization couldn't in theory last that long - they wouldn't even be limited by the life of their sun, obviously - but. If they had those abilities, and were reshaping the galaxy, someone would have noticed

What could end a civilization with no scarcity and a general solution to death? There are boring explanations, like 'two billion years is a long time to maintain political stability', but...there are worse answers too. 

What if they were wrong about the protomolecule being alignable, and it finished its first Work and then kept going and ate them too? 

What if they built a bridge through space to the wrong other world, and found something bad enough that it destroyed them? 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth...isn't sure what he's supposed to do about that. 

Convince the protomolecule not to do its Work, even once it's big enough? That seems...hard. It's very focused on it. And it would leave so, so much upside on the table. 

...Sacrifice Velgarth, let the protomolecule do its Work there but not here? It risks a vastly smaller total number of lives. The problem is, in order to ever find out what happened there, the protomolecule needs to get them back, and for that it needs to be big enough that it will be impossible to contain if it doesn't want to cooperate.

The other problem with that plan is that he very, very badly would prefer not to risk sacrificing his world

Vanyel lives there. 

Permalink Mark Unread

All right. Focus. 

 

 

The thing he actually needs, as a next step, is a smart, sane, responsible ally. Ideally a lot more than one of them. 

Jules Pierre Mao...is someone whose language Leareth speaks. Far more than is true of any of the others he's met up until this point. And he's someone who sees the upside, too. He's...not even wrong, necessarily, that the cost of Eros would have been worth it. 

He's also - well, probably approaching this with a lot of the same blind spots that Leareth's younger self would have had. 

 

 

...It would help his aims a LOT, here, if Mao trusted him, and was willing to take his advice. Advice from a fellow doer of ambitious, audacious plans to transform the future of the world - but one who's a lot older than him. Who's tried and failed over and over and over. 

He could, if he wanted to, make a pretty convincing case for his qualifications. If he were willing to show his hand substantially more than he has so far. But he doesn't right now have a good enough sense of Jules Pierre Mao as a person to confidently predict how he would respond. 

 

 

All right. The obvious smart thing to do first is to talk to Julie. Tell her everything, see how she reacts - that'll be informative as to how Earth's cultural background filters how his life story gets perceived - and then lean on her knowledge of her father. Julie probably won't want to have that conversation at all. He can make the case for why it's so important, though. 

 

 

Other priorities: he should think some more about specific tests to try with the protomolecule, if only as a hedge against Mao doing his own thinking and coming up with plans that involve a lot of unnecessary murder.

Also he...needs to check his immortality method. He's very unsure what would even happen, if he dies here - both the sheer distance from Velgarth and the protomolecule infection could affect it - and it's important to know. Unfortunately it's not clear whether doing magic is safe for him. He...could bring Nayoki in on it fully? Not something he's ever done before, with anyone, but. Desperate times. 

- there's a copy of him, back there on Velgarth, inside an alien entity currently eating the moon. He has no idea how to think about that. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The stimulants are wearing off and Leareth's head is starting to hurt rather badly. 

He makes sure everything is down in his notes - loose end to tie up, he really needs to tell someone about the protomolecule on the moon back in Velgarth, probably he should tell Mao even if he doesn't land on the side of seeing the man as a potential sane and reasonable ally - and then takes a nap, which ends up being close to six hours of nap because he has no stamina right now for anything including lying in bed thinking. 

After that, though, he checks with Emril how Julie is doing now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Her lung transplant recovery has been going very smoothly, what with all the magic. She's still on a lot of pain meds but she's conscious and watching the news.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Julie? I - need your advice, as a local. On a somewhat complicated matter, and…not one you will find pleasant to discuss, I expect. Are you up for that?:

Permalink Mark Unread

Unpleasant? What a change of pace. Yeah, I can talk. Might be a bit loopy, they have me on the good stuff.

Permalink Mark Unread

:It is about - our situation, and my plans. And your father, most of all. I...know you feel that he deserves punishment for what he has done, and what he wished to do. I cannot say you are wrong, and in the long run I do not intend to let the world forget what he did to the Cant and the Donnager, and I am sure neither does Holden. However. In the short run, he is at least skilled and competent at what he does, and he has the connections here that I lack. And I...understand how he thinks. We are not dissimilar people, in many ways. I need to understand him better, though, if I wish to play the game of - of earning his trust so that he will take my advice. And so I need your help: 

He waits for Julie's reaction. He doesn't read her mind. Mostly because using his Gifts hard is risky, but also it's - not the kind of thing it makes sense to do sneakily. Not with an ally. And, so far, Julie is the best ally he has. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Did he convince you that you should work with him? - of course he did. There are lotsa smart competent non-murderers, you know.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Honestly he was not very convincing when he was arguing for it. And working with him would take considerable effort on my part, because he is still suspicious that we are making up the existence of Velgarth: Sigh. :To be honest, if using Velgarth mind-control were at all a reasonable strategy on causing highly intelligent and ambitious people to work cleverly toward exactly the goal you want, I would have ordered Nayoki to do that already. But it is not very good at that, so I am left with social manipulation as my best lever against him. And - well, I have only your limited perspective on who else is smart and competent and trustworthy, here, and it seems all the candidates have political agendas to push: 

Sigh. 

:- I think I need to be forthright with you about my own past and my recent projects. And then - you can decide, how much I am really like your father, at which point you will be in a better position to convince me to instead take him prisoner and haul him back to Earth, which I have a contingency-plan for: His lips twitch briefly. :Or you might decide that I am evil and you want nothing to do with me, I suppose. But - you are my ally, here, you are the only ally in this star system in whom I have significant trust, and I believe it is important for allies to be honest with one another, despite that risk: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Of course every decent smart person has a 'political agenda'. If you're decent and a smart person you'd try to do something about the world.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Indeed. I have agendas of my own back in Velgarth. It is not surprising, or an indication that they are less trustworthy, but it is a complication for me. And...the protomolecule changes everything, right: 

Leareth is SO ANNOYED at the Earthers, that they found this and their first thought was to turn it into a weapon. It's going to make everything else so much harder.  

He takes a deep breath. 

:I am immortal, and almost two thousand years old. In my first life, I was - more recognizably like your father, I think. Though perhaps I also had some things in common with you and the Belters you work with? I grew up in abject poverty, in a country called Predain. The neighbouring country was Tantara, and - things were much better, there. When I realized I was mage-gifted, I traveled there, to study under the best and brightest mage in the known world, Urtho, at his Tower. ...I was very young, and I was ambitious and ruthless and determined, and - not always careful enough. But I returned to Predain, and I rose to become an advisor to the King, and in a decade I managed to drastically curtail Predain's infant mortality, improve crop yields to end the famine of the decade before it, and enforce much better rule of law. I used some unsavoury strategies - our biggest infrastructure projects were fueled with blood-magic, from the executions of convicted criminals - but I tried very hard to weigh the costs and benefits, and on net I saved many, many lives: 

He watches Julie closely, trying to gauge her reaction. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Sorry, did you say you're two thousand years old? Or did I imagine that part?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I said that. Immortality is - difficult and costly, but possible, with Velgarth magic: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That's such a long time! That's like - the Han Dynasty era.

 

I, uh, don't think it says that much about someone's character to be a brutal dictator in the year 200 AD, they hadn't, like, invented human rights back then, though, hmmm, I guess I'd probably be pissed with him if we lived in the Han Dynasty and he was feeding people to bears but - sorry, go on -

Permalink Mark Unread

:I am fairly sure I never fed anyone to bears! And - our world was perhaps not very analogous to yours. Urtho definitely had opinions on human rights. Different ones than what your world holds now, I am sure, and he had blind spots, but nonetheless. His era was - much more advanced in many ways than the current one, in Velgarth. It was all lost, though. In a way that was...significantly my fault: 

He closes his eyes. All these centuries later, and it still hurts to recount. 

:- I did not start out gifted at politics, and I did learn, but...not enough. Urtho was alarmed by my ambition, and - had an ideological objection to mages seeking political power as well. I thought it would be enough, to write to him often and reassure him that conquering Tantara was not in my interests and I had no intention of starting a war. He was my first mentor and - in many ways my oldest and only friend. I thought we could trust one another. I was wrong. He became alarmed enough to start a pre-emptive war - which was stupid, but he never claimed to be a politician. I fought back. We were winning. He - was desperate enough to destroy his own tower before it could fall into my people's hands. He sent a strike team with a powerful superweapon he had built, in secret; he was a gifted inventor. I...had no idea. And he must not have realized just how dangerous his weapon was, because if he had known...: 

 

 

He takes a ragged breath. 

:The world was nearly destroyed. I - was killed, of course. But one of my immortality backup plans survived the Cataclysm, and I woke up in a new body, surrounded by devastation: 

Permalink Mark Unread

That...sucks? I'm sorry? This feels kind of inappropriate to the situation but she can't really think what else you're supposed to say when someone confides in you about dying in a magic nuclear war that was started by people scared of them.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth bows his head, acknowledging this. 

:- I spent a very very long time trying to rebuild. I had seen what was possible, right, at Urtho's Tower. I...did some very bad things, in the pursuit of that goal. I killed bandits for blood-power, so that the mages working for me could use weather-magic - the Cataclysm caused the climate to be chaotic for hundreds of years, it was nearly impossible to grow crops without weather-magic to mitigate those effects. It saved an order of magnitude more lives than it cost - mostly the lives of innocent children - but it was, nonetheless, a ruthless and awful path to take. I did it anyway: 

He pauses, thinking. 

:- Over centuries, I consolidated an empire again, and I tried to bring back the more advanced technologies lost with Urtho's Tower. It...kept failing. Over and over, in ways that it was eventually clear could not be mere bad luck. I was assassinated a truly implausible number of times, but - my failsafe worked, and I came back, and I kept working. The empire I eventually raised was...not a pleasant place, in many ways, it was very authoritarian, but at least no children were starving there, and its people were educated, and it was fairly prosperous. I abandoned it to its own devices after most of a millennium, when it was clear that luck - which I had by then realized meant the gods of Velgarth - was never on my side, and that this was as far as I could go. The empire still stands now. It is - still not a nice place. But nobody there is starving. I can be proud of that much, I suppose: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- sorry, the gods were - you mean, people had a religious objection to the things you were trying to do?

Permalink Mark Unread

:- No, I mean our world contains very powerful alien entities that have opinions about what happens on the planet, and intervene when They dislike what humans are doing: 

Permalink Mark Unread

- oh. Uh, that seems important, no one mentioned it before.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Oh. Really? I...apologize for that, I - have not been able to think very clearly lately:

Permalink Mark Unread

People said things about religion but I figured it was like Earth religion which doesn't involve powerful aliens.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Ah. Well, Velgarth also has religions that, according to my best guess, do not actually involve the worshippers interacting with the god in question. But here I am talking about the gods' direct interventions. They - seem to perceive the world mainly via Foresight, which is also a Gift that some Velgarth humans have: 

None of his people on this mission do; if they did, he would be very curious if the protomolecule could learn that as well. 

:Anyway. It seems that They dislike technological progress, for reasons I do not fully understand. They are - not very good at communicating with humans - a little like the protomolecule in that sense, I suppose - and They seemed uninterested in talking to me. My attempts to open communications always failed, and often resulted in my body's death. So I...spent a very long time thinking about the problem, and eventually concluded that I needed a different solution: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Some people think we should've just stayed hunter gatherers. I don't think it's a majority opinion but - there's sure a lot of things getting worse before things even start getting better.

Permalink Mark Unread

What Leareth is thinking is that he's pretty sure the people with that opinion never experienced growing up among nomadic cowherders. He doesn't say this.

:Perhaps. It depends how one defines 'worse', I suppose. Anyway. I...eventually settled on an incredibly ruthless plan to fight the gods on this directly. It is moot now, circumstances have obviously changed, but - I was never, ever going to give up and let Velgarth remain permanently in its current state. You saw rural Valdemar; you know what it would mean. And - I think that is a kind of ambition that I share with your father: 

Permalink Mark Unread

....we...haven't got powerful aliens, except the proto, stopping us from improving our society. We can just improve it, you know, without any genocide.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Yes, and that would dramatically change my approach. But - he is not wrong, that learning the protomolecule's capabilities has vast upsides. I am very irritated that he seems to have posed it to Errinwright as a potential weapon, but...he realizes what else it could do, and what humanity could learn to do by studying it. It could end resource scarcity forever - for Belters, for everyone. It could end death. It could let both our worlds colonize other stars. I saw that immediately, and I want it. So does he: 

(And leaking through in the overtones of Leareth's Mindspeech are echoes - of a tower against a starry sky - an endless determination colouring everything - a vow to never ever ever give up never to walk away never to die before the work is done -) 

Permalink Mark Unread

What exactly were you trying to do, back in Velgarth?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I was going to create a new god. One that would be aligned with humanity's flourishing - one we could trust, and communicate with: 

Pause. 

He has to tell her. It's a critical part of understanding him, and - he needs her to understand him. 

:- it is moot now, because there will obviously be another way, but - at the time my only workable plan, for the energy cost, was - ten million lives, for power. I hoped I could bring them back afterward, once a god existing which was willing to help. I was not sure, though: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Wow.

 

So you think Dad's relatable.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- I think he is wrong, on some of the tradeoffs he is choosing. I think if he - knew what I do now, after two thousand years - he would realize how much he is playing with fire. I am terrified that he will misjudge something, as I did in my first lifetime, and he is working at a scale where one mistake could destroy your world. ...But, yes, I feel that I understand him, better than - better than almost anyone else could: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie sits up. 

I think there are lots of people like that, actually. In our world, before it was unified, there were - people who collectivized all the farms, and sure, some millions of people starved to death, but it was in the service of industrialization, of prosperity, of the common good! There were people who rampaged across enemy territory decapitating babies and raping five-year-olds and opening fire on crowds of civilians. There were civil wars that swallowed up millions of lives, over which of a couple of evil assholes should be in charge. There was - all of that in the space of thirty years, within fifty miles of where I grew up. 

I don't even know that I can say 'and see, they were all wrong'. Probably they were right, by their own lights. Probably they figured if some peasants starved for the glory of the nation, that was worth it. Probably they figured the other side winning the civil war would be even worse. Probably they figured that the world didn't need more foreigner babies in it, anyway. It's not that they were failing to accomplish their goals, or that there's some grand beautiful unifying truth they could've understood that would've stopped them in their tracks. It's just that they - wanted something more than they wanted to not kill millions of innocent people. 

And probably that's - most people, probably most people want something more than they want to not kill millions of people, especially if they're far away, and strangers. Just, they haven't actually got the option to make that trade, because they're not clever and powerful with a brand new weapon no one understands. It's not about judging them. It's not about my father being - a rare breed of something, something awful we could clear out of the world. You and him don't have something special in common. It's just, people will do that, if they can, and if you stop them, then millions of people will be alive, and if you go along with them, then millions of people will be dead. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Honestly, I think that if true ambition were so common, I would have had a very different experience in Velgarth. ...I suppose it is not impossible that the gods selectively bred it out of our population, since anyone slightly less paranoid than myself would be set on fire for their efforts and would not come back. And - perhaps what is rare enough to be almost nonexistent in a population of thirty million, is very different with thirty billion: 

He closes his eyes. 

:Think what you will of me. My main point is that - I hope, maybe - that if I tell your father he is being an idiot and he should listen to my wisdom, he might listen, when he would not listen to anyone else: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He might, if he thinks you understand his grand vision. I'm not sure he has anything to offer you, though. He doesn't have this lab anymore. We do.

Permalink Mark Unread

:He has context on this star system. Potential contacts with the UN and Mars. - He seems very confident that his people would not allow a war to start for real. I - am dubious that he is not being careful enough, that is something I did, eventually, learn. But people know him. They do not know me. Also he has monetary and personnel resources, and I am...very poorly equipped on both of those fronts: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Anderson Dawes has context and knows people. He doesn't have as much money, because no one has as much money, but I don't even know what you need money for right now.

Permalink Mark Unread

:I have no specific plans, but - well, for example I could pay for medical care for both of us. Knowing what you know about me now, do you think Anderson Dawes is someone who would be...willing to work with me?: 

A brief pause. 

:- honestly we might have some things in common. Your world does not have alien gods, but it does have Earth and Mars, and it does seem - not in those powers' interests, to improve the state of affairs in the Belt. That is what Anderson Dawes is fighting. I - imagine he would be willing to be very ruthless, to achieve what he wants: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes. I think he'd work with you.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Do you think there is literally any possible way I could convince him to work collaboratively with the UN or Mars? I do not need him to like their leaders, or forgive them for any of what they have done. Simply to realize that - the protomolecule is bigger than any of the factions in this star system. And I do not have good feelings about a happy ending, if all the factions are mostly thinking about obtaining it for themselves first, to use as a weapon against their enemies: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Depends on what you mean by 'work collaboratively', probably. And on how stupid the UN and Mars are being.

Permalink Mark Unread

:...What is your assessment of how likely Mars and Earth are to be stupid? Do you have any guesses of which leaders in both powers are - the kind of people I could work with?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Mars and Earth are awful to the Belt but they don't want a war, probably they'll be possible to reason with. I don't know that many politicians. People say that the Secretary General's all right?

Permalink Mark Unread

:Noted: 

Leareth sighs again, heavily. 

:I - am concerned that given the starting conditions here, it will be very difficult to convince anyone other than your father's team to work with the protomolecule rather than against it. Nevertheless, I do appreciate that your father is...not a good ally in many ways. I need to think on the matter: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well. Good luck.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Is there anything else you can tell me about - your impression of him. What he was like to you, as a father; how you saw him interact with other people?: 

Whichever option he chooses, he HAS to understand Jules Pierre Mao. And he has a feeling that he doesn't, yet; that his mind is filling in a picture from a few scattered puzzle-pieces, and he has no idea how much of that is the right extrapolation, for this man's real underlying motives... And Nayoki could get that from deepscanning him, but that's impossible to pull off without Mao noticing 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's a shitty manipulative father. He can't handle people disagreeing with him and he's incapable of seeing them as equals. He doesn't give a shit about Belters and he hangs out with people who don't mind.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth nods, slowly. That...doesn't not fit with what he and Nayoki observed during their meeting. Jules Pierre Mao wasn't trying - not at all, really - to bring them on board as equals. He was tempted to write them off entirely. Because he thought Leareth would be dead in a week, of course - which is understandable of him, really. 

:Thank you. I - I need to think, and I ought let you rest: 

He closes his eyes. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie grimaces.

 

 

Then she grabs her hand terminal and texts someone.

[Hey, are you awake?]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Yeah. Lungs okay?]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Seems to be. You had a transmission ready to go, explaining everything?]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Yeah. For if that's how we decide to go.]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Do it.]

 

 

 

[Send it, tell people what's happening.]

 

[Otherwise they're just going to get away with it.]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Okay]

 

[Do you need an extraction]

Permalink Mark Unread

[They can give the proto orders]

 

 

[If they're that mad about it I'm dead]

[but I think they care about being the good guys]

[thanks for the offer though]

[does anyone on your team even know how to use a gun]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[Amos does]

 

[I haven't asked where he learned]

[Sent]

[Good luck]

Permalink Mark Unread

The autodoc is fretting about Julie's blood pressure. She puts the news back on.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth isn't actively reading her mind. It's - unfriendly, adversarial as an act, and besides he's way too tired. And if he'd wanted to minimize the chances that she would...react badly and do something about it...he would have had a very different conversation with her. 

He nonetheless has his Thoughtsensing just open enough to sense that she's agitated about something

 

:Emril? Message to Nayoki, ask her - if anything happens - do not wake me unless it is an emergency, though: 

And within a minute he's asleep. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Nayoki receives the message and barely manages not to groan out loud. What now

She's been taking a break, but she goes back to mindreading everyone in her range. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie is thinking she should really just up her sedatives and knock herself out but she kind of wants to die conscious, on the off chance that's what happens.

Permalink Mark Unread

They get the transmission, of course, because the whole system's getting it. He gets called over to see it right away. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"This is James Holden. When I last told the world what was going on, ships with stealth technology had just destroyed the Canterbury, after luring it to the Scopuli with Martian naval technology. Since then - well, I don't know if you're going to believe this. I don't know if I believe this. But there are some bad guys running around with secret plans to kill lots of people, and hopefully if those plans are not so secret, they're going to be running from the law, instead. 

Here's what we know. The stealth ships that attacked the Canterbury also attacked the Donnager. We witnessed the attack - Shed was killed in it - and I saw the ships. The same ones that shot down the Cant. Captain Yao of the Donnager wanted to get out the word - and wanted to avoid a situation where we died under suspicious circumstances, having just said that Mars would be clearly to blame if we died under suspicious circumstances - so we left the Donnager shortly before it self-destructed. Our Martian escort were all killed in the course of the escape."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

"What the fuck is this. - get us away from Io, now. Well clear of that OPA - I guess it's Martian - well clear of that damned ship and everyone on it."

Permalink Mark Unread

Holden continues explaining subsequent events. 

 

 

"...and then, our ship was boarded by a group of people claiming to be from another human civilization on a different planet, called Velgarth, where people have psychic powers. You're thinking, 'well, that's definitely insane', and I don't disagree, but I am not sure who is insane, here! I'm going to demonstrate the psychic powers, but of course, from your perspective that could just be video editing, though ask yourselves, where in the last three weeks did I have time to hire a fantastic CGI team to make it look like my ship is full of spatial portals? - they're distance-limited and mostly only usable for travel within a planet, we asked."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Farther clear of Io."

Permalink Mark Unread

Holden demonstrates various interactions with Gates. "We're sending video of their assault on the Roci, and all our sensor readings related to them, as an addendum. The timestamps should match the time their ship appeared out of nowhere pretty much on top of us, which they say it did because they told the protomolecule, which they taught to Gate, to Gate to the other protomolecule."

Permalink Mark Unread

 

"They WHAT?"

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

 

"....with them was Julie Mao, biologically and until recently familial-ly related to Jules Pierre Mao, the CEO of Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile, and she'd been infected by the protomolecule, as had one of their operatives - I say until recently familial-ly because Mao told us that her father had orchestrated all of this."

Permalink Mark Unread

Ack. Nayoki really really wishes Leareth had thought to explain what in all hells he was just DOING and WHY. 

She approaches the least busy and important-seeming crew member and asks, very politely, what's going on and whether she can please send a message back to her people explaining why she's suddenly running away with them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

And, back on the lab base on Io, Leareth's people who are now up to speed on basic technology use and monitoring comms - it's a lot easier to learn when you have some mind-controlled scientists who will also cooperate with just about anything in exchange for protomolecule data - relay to Emril what's going on. 

She prods Leareth awake. :I am sorry. This is what just happened -: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth is not especially surprised. He's not upset either, not exactly. 

He rolls over in bed, with a grunt - ow - and Mindtouches Julie. 

:You told Holden to broadcast the message he recorded?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah. 

Permalink Mark Unread

:...I am not sure 'good for you' is exactly the right phrase, here, but...it will simplify some things immensely. Which is a relief, because I am very tired and thinking is hard: 

He closes his eyes again. Flops back. 

:At this point, maybe I ought go ahead and send my own message to the UN and Mars. I have most of one drafted: 

Permalink Mark Unread

She relaxes considerably, enough that her machine chimes about the change in heart rate.

Doing the right thing is usually simpler.

Permalink Mark Unread

He finds the energy to turn his head. Smiles wearily at her. 

:If we can constrain his options enough, provide the right incentives here, then perhaps even your father will come to agree on that. And if not, well, maybe we can at least get the rest of this goddamned star system unified on it: 

Pause. 

:- I would, at this point, actually be tempted to head straight for Earth. Speak to this Avasarala face to face; she seems - the most likely to react sensibly and update quickly. Unfortunately I am reliant on the Roci and its crew for transport, unless we feed enough to this protomolecule for it to Gate that range again, which I think Holden would object to: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, the Roci's existence isn't a secret now, right, and Earth's going to be friendlier to them than Mars.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Could you send him a message asking if he would take me - us, I suppose, if you are willing to come? You are more comfortable with comms than my staff: 

Also, Holden is probably a lot more warmly inclined to her than to Leareth, right now. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Yeah, sure.

 

[Want to give me and Leareth a ride to Earth]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[Sure! Have you ever been to Niriept, I've been longing for a week's vacation there]

Permalink Mark Unread

That's not a place. Julie squints confusedly at her screen for a minute, then 

 

[I'm not a hostage, Leareth was cool, but now that everything's public he wants to go talk to Avasarala.]

Permalink Mark Unread

[To who?]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Deputy Undersecretary of the UN?]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[I don't think she was on the ballot and I don't pay the government that much attention]

 

[Anyway we can come get you and Leareth]

 

[If you're sure it's not a ploy to steal the Roci]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[I dunno how I'd be sure of that]

 

[He couldn't fly it]

 

 

[We are both dying here  :D]

 

 

[Terminal just autosuggested the rolling on the floor laughing emoji which isn't what I meant there]

Permalink Mark Unread

[He could make us fly it with his psychic powers]

 

[But the shuttle's on its way]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Thanks]

 

 

[He might want a Healer too? So we survive the trip to Earth?]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

[When all this is over he had better use his mind control powers to get the dispute over the Roci's ownership all cleared up]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

[If I outlive Dad I'll inherit a fortune]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

 

[That's not to say you should go murder him right now, due process is important]

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[that's your argument, 'due process is important']

Permalink Mark Unread

 

[Were you expecting me to say that he doesn't deserve to die? Because I want him handed over to Anderson Dawes who'll shoot him]

[but after everyone knows everything]

[and all the proto's accounted for]

 

Permalink Mark Unread

[He might change his will]

Permalink Mark Unread

[He won't change his will]

 

[But we are kind of getting ahead of ourselves here]

Permalink Mark Unread

[His ship is actually fleeing]

Permalink Mark Unread

[Figures.]

 

She reports this to Leareth.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Good. ...I should have thought of this earlier, this plan leaves the downside that now everyone in the star system knows about Io and we will be leaving the protomolecule sample unguarded. I think going to Earth is urgent, but - maybe you could transmit a message to Ceres? Ask if they are willing to station a guard here or something: 

Leareth lifts his head, with effort. Smiles crookedly at her. :Assuming you trust him not to steal a sample for himself and run off with it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

He might do that! But also he can't fight off Earth and Mars. Will the proto get upset if we kill most of it?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I expect so! The larger problem is that the Healers are somewhat relying on its current ability to understand instructions and learn to stop killing us. If we make it small and stupid again it will lose those abilities and might even lose Mindspeech, I am not sure how much computation that requires for it: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, shoot. Possibly telling everyone where they were was a terrible plan but in her defense so was partnering with her father. Can it....burrow into the ground and be inaccessible from the surface?

Permalink Mark Unread

:I can ask it?:

Leareth does his best to translate Julie's suggestion into concepts that the Proto will understand. 

:...Can you? There is not danger now, but there may be, later: 

Permalink Mark Unread

Hide? ...Hide from radar? Hide from bombardment?

Permalink Mark Unread

- Hiding from bombardment is probably closer to what he means? Leareth is still not sure that the Proto is understanding any of the spatial concepts he's attempting to convey, but he does his best to show it - underground - miles of stone in the way if anyone tries to blast it - 

Permalink Mark Unread

There is a very small range-of-possible-energies-of-bombardment for which miles of stone would matter!

Permalink Mark Unread

It seems actually fairly plausible, to Leareth, that the attacks that the nearby humans may have to offer would be within that objectively-tiny range! Although hopefully no one will bother the protomolecule here while he travels elsewhere.

Permalink Mark Unread

Well it is too small to eat rock yet but with a little time it can go burrow into the rock in case of attacks in that objectively tiny range.

Permalink Mark Unread

How much more would it need to grow? Leareth doesn't necessarily want it to burrow and hide now, but he would prefer that the protomolecule be strong enough to have that option, before he goes away. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Two doublings. Four to be airborne.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth conveys this to Julie. 

:- It needs another two doublings before it will be strong enough to hide underground. However, it could manage this just fine by eating vats of bacteria, or printed kidneys, or fabricated blood... I am not sure which is easiest. It seems plausible that some options would be more - educational, for it - than others, but we will be able to give it instructions anyway so that is not especially relevant: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Have they got vats of bacteria here? If not, blood's probably fastest - ask Alex where the Jupiter fleet's at, I don't know how fast Earth or Mars could get here -"

Permalink Mark Unread

...Leareth is not at all sure which of the systemwide powers is supposed to have this 'Jupiter Fleet'. Also he's not within Mindspeech range of Alex at all, apparently. 

:- Do you have comms ability, I cannot reach Alex. I...suspect that all the vats of bacteria available will already have been fed to the protomolecule, so blood is the next fastest option. Can you clarify what you mean by the 'Jupiter Fleet'...?:

Permalink Mark Unread

"...Io's a moon of Jupiter, the nearest planet. Both Earth and Mars have fleets deployed here, though Mars's is probably out of commission right now, the Donnager was their Jupiter flagship. So we know how long we have until they get here and try to get their hands on it.

 

I can text Holden, one sec." Her hands tap her terminal. 

[are earth and mars headed this way, who's closer, how far]

Permalink Mark Unread

"Hey, are we expecting company?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"The UN fleet's been burning Sun-ward since the Donnager blew. There's no one closer than Ganymede. And that's - 21 hours away, right now."

Permalink Mark Unread

Julie relays this.

Permalink Mark Unread

:Right. So - the UN is trying to get ships here, but they are most of a day's journey away?: 

He asks Emril how fast she and the scientists can 3D-print blood to feed to the protomolecule. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Emril has no idea! She does have an estimate of the current approximate mass of the protomolecule, though, and a guess that Leareth probably cares about proportional growth. 

She asks the scientist who she's been getting along with best. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They favor feeding the protomolecule people. It's better for its development. But the 3D printer can put out ten gallons of blood an hour.

Permalink Mark Unread

...Well, they're not going to feed the protomolecule more people right now, because they don't have people on hand (...and also they would DIE and that's kind of awful but Emril doesn't say that). Leareth is apparently in favour of instead feeding it whatever biomass they can print fastest, which is blood, it sounds like?   

Permalink Mark Unread

Yes, blood prints quickly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

It's mostly water, though. 

Emril awkwardly tries to look up some information about blood on the computer terminal; she can sort of read English now and mostly get the interface to do what she wants but she's slow at it. She does some mental calculations. 

That's...four hours, give or take, to make an amount of blood cells equivalent in mass to an adult human. Five people worth in the time it would take a ship to reach Io from Ganymede. That...does not seem like nearly enough biomass for two doublings. 

She tries asking the protomolecule anyway, hoping it won't be too confused about the concept of mass. And she relays her guess to Leareth. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Well, making the protomolecule impossible to contain on Io, which has other inhabitants, is a dubious plan to begin with. 

It doesn't actually seem like the main threat here is orbital bombardment. And if he leaves his mages on site, they can probably prevent anyone else from the other more likely scenario, of someone getting into the lab and obtaining a sample. 

Leareth asks Julie what she thinks. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Seems reasonably likely they'd bomb it, to me. If they think it's a threat to the whole solar system, which, like, it kind of is. They're probably less likely to do that if they know it's not all the proto there is?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:Probably. And it is - recoverable from, if they do bomb it. Though not ideal:

Leareth sighs. Tries to think. Start at the beginning - what are the constraints, what are his options...

:...Since we have time to prepare, I suppose one of my people could use Farsight to obtain a Gate-location in the nearest city. And - steal a shuttle there, somehow, and hide the protomolecule inside it - maybe one of the scientists is a pilot and could be persuaded to help... That also risks containment, but much less than feeding it until it can burrow underground, which we cannot do in time anyway...:

Unless they just go ahead and feed all the scientists to it, but he doesn't currently want to go there. Leareth is mostly just thinking-in-Mindspeech; none of that seems like a good plan. He desperately wishes Nayoki were still in range and possible to communicate with securely. Also he wants a version of Nayoki who's spent the last five years specializing in politics instead of obscure Mindhealing research, but that's a stupid thing to wish for. 

Focus.

:It seems wise to have someone on site who could negotiate with any ships arriving from Earth or Mars. Someone with local context, not just one of my mages, though I will leave them as well. But I want you on Earth. ...You could ask Holden if anyone from his crew would be willing to stay behind? It - might be dangerous, but at the very least I think my mages could evacuate the humans on site, if the ships arrive and bomb the lab: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I can ask him but I bet he's gonna say no."

 

[leareth wants to leave a person who isn't one of his on site]

[you have any volunteers]

Permalink Mark Unread

[he could have the spy]

 

Permalink Mark Unread

She reports this.

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Honestly, that is probably a lot better than not having anyone! And it is not as though it matters, anymore, whether he ends up managing to send a report to the UN, since Holden broadcast everything. I want to speak with him first, though: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure." Julie closes her eyes again.

Permalink Mark Unread

It takes Leareth a minute of drifting to remember that he needs to...take actions about this...if he wants it to happen. Also he vaguely remembers that the spy might actually be under guard in the lab, rather than on the ship. 

He tiredly asks Emril if she can have the spy hauled over; he doesn't feel like trying to Mindspeak someone in a different room, he's very tired. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The spy is retrieved and hauled over, under an improvised Velgarth mage-shield that blocks internet access; they've gotten the technique down pretty efficiently at this point. 

He's not told anything other than 'Leareth needs to talk to you', but he is being mindread throughout. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's so confused about what's going on but he's - still alive, so that's good - the message probably got out at least -

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth drags himself up into a sitting position and tries very hard to keep his eyes open and focused on the spy. It would be nice if he had more energy to actually think about what to explain versus leave out, but. 

:Julie and I are leaving and - going elsewhere now. I wish to leave someone local on site, because - Holden decided to broadcast a message explaining everything to the entire system, and now ships from Earth and Mars are headed this way, and it would be helpful to have someone who I trust more than Jules Pierre Mao's scientists to negotiate with them if that comes up. Can you do that: 

At this range, he can manage reading the man's thoughts to get a sense of his response. 

Permalink Mark Unread

He's so delighted about this! It's not being killed at all. It's not even being threatened. "Yes."

Permalink Mark Unread

:It is possible someone will decide to bomb the lab from orbit in order to destroy the protomolecule. Obviously I would prefer you - talk to them, and persuade them not to do this - but my people will be devising contingency plans to evacuate you and the other humans here if that happens. ...My people will also be guarding the protomolecule and will use force if necessary to prevent either faction from obtaining a sample. That seems like information you should have. Any questions?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh....no. I don't think so. Uh, is anyone in particular threatening to bomb the lab?"

Permalink Mark Unread

:- Not yet? I am not sure if anyone will, it just - destroying this lab could accomplish the goals of anyone who wishes to contain the protomolecule, right?: 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think that cat's out of the bag. I guess if they also shot down your ship? And destroy Phoebe?" Headshake. "I'll do my best for you." This is basically sincere; being valuable is a better survival strategy than being useless.

Permalink Mark Unread

Also the spy going to be the one physically present in the lab that might get bombed, which presumably gives him a strong incentive to stop it from being bombed. 

:Thank you: Leareth says, tiredly. :You can talk to my people if you have other questions later: 

And he Mindspeaks Julie to ask if the Roci is already sending a shuttle down to collect them. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah. It'll be here in an hour."

Permalink Mark Unread

:Thank you: 

Leareth closes his eyes, and waits. 

...He'll probably fall asleep within not too long. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Then he'll wake up when it's time to leave Io; takeoffs are hard to sleep through.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth was really hoping to be awake for this! He tries very hard to drag himself to alertness. 

:Thank you for coming: he pushes out to whoever's within his current Mindspeech range (which is about 10 yards). 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Uh, sure."

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth closes his eyes again, though he tries to stay vaguely conscious in case they need anything from him on the way. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They don't. They're not really likely to have problems solved by weird psychic powers between here and Earth; Earth and Mars's warships, should they decide to fire on the Rocinante, would not do it from within Gate range.

 

They unload their proto-ed passengers into the medical bay and head sunward.

Permalink Mark Unread

Leareth rests. He tries to squeeze in some bits and pieces of thinking about their situation, but he's very tired, and Nayoki isn't there to bounce thoughts off. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Instead, Nayoki is a long way away, and completely out of contact with Leareth. 

She's very stressed about it! This is one of the most stressful missions she's ever had to deal with. 

She is quiet and cooperative and reads all the minds within her range.