Chapter 240: Power Play
I had severely underestimated how long it would take to check through several thousand people for soul knots. Luckily, Elody had recovered enough from her injuries to join in the effort. Still, even with her help, we had spent half the next day working at it and hadn’t even gotten halfway through the city.
Everyone we scanned was coming up clean, and I didn’t understand why. Why had they made the soul knots in the Arena of everyone they could, but no one within the city? This further cemented Timon’s theory that there was a conspiracy above us that we didn’t fully understand yet. Strangely, it was almost comforting to just be another victim and not a prime target if that were the case.
It would mean we hadn’t made more enemies without understanding exactly why. Even if we didn’t understand their motivations, not being the direct target of their aggression was almost certainly better than having their entire weight thrown at us. I wasn’t sure if that would last past our return attack, but I also didn’t overly care. Mostly, I just hoped it meant they weren’t expecting us to fight back.
I had also woken up this morning with a new idea, and as the day had worn on, it had wormed its way more and more into my active thoughts. The previous day’s considerations about the GPA problem had taken root and forced me to consider what we were even still using them for at this point.
Leaving Elody to continue working with Glunderlin on scanning the residents, I went in search of Pryte. We had technology to acquire, and I needed to run some ideas by him before we did that. But before either of those things could happen, my walk was interrupted by a message.
| Maud: Well, the good news is we found Squidlen and we’ve already launched into chaotic space. Dave: Good news implies bad news. What’s wrong? Maud: Wrong is a strong word, more like very unexpected. The moose apparently followed us. Could it go invisible before? :/ Dave: I don’t believe so. I thought it could just teleport. Well, and the shields. Maud: Yeah, it can do that now. I have no idea if this is a good thing or not. Corey: It at least explains where the moose is. Alpha was beginning to get very worried. Apparently, they often spend mornings together bird watching. Alpha: Could not find, was scared. Thought friend lost. Maud: Aww, it’s alright, Alpha. He’s here with us. I promise to bring him back home safe and sound. :) Alpha: :) Dave: I wonder why it followed you, though. I know the moose had seemed oddly tied to Alex, but I wonder if it was more William, and we just assumed Alex. Maud: Hard to say, still no talking out of the big guy, but I’ll let you know if that changes. Gotta go, the connection is getting harder to hold. :( Karlinovo: It should be easier when your ship is at rest, though the deeper into chaotic space you go, it will still become increasingly difficult. There may come a time when you don’t have the needed core energy to make the connection at all. Maud: I don’t like that at all :( Dave: Same, but we knew that risk already.
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