Adamant Blood

“It was a complete waste of time to search the ship,” Mark said.

“Not true,” Lola replied. “You have demonstrated a good head for leadership, yet again, though I am rather certain that hiding this conversation is only something that can happen for the next 10 minutes, while we have it.”

Mark felt a bubbly sort of warmth at her saying that, but he focused on the problem. Lola, Sally, Isoko, and Mark, were at the front of the ship, hiding from Eliot’s sensors, and from Derek’s knowing vector, but that was only because everyone was respecting the wishes of Mark and them to have a private discussion about a Big Topic.

That respect was going to run out soon if they didn’t come out and tell them all what was happening, afterward.

“We’re going to tell them all, right?” Sally ‘asked’. “I want to tell them.”

Isoko said, “As soon as we leave this room we’re either going to have to tell them, or they’re all going to get furious, and rightly so, and Derek can’t keep a secret for shit, so if we tell them, we tell the world. It’s one of the reasons why no one has been willing to give him real power.” She looked at Mark. “So we’re telling them all, right? And thus telling the world, and starting a Second Reveal, for real?”

Sally said, “The demons aren’t going to like people knowing that they can be perma-killed with enough adamantium.”

Lola said, “The Two Worlds will want to work with Addavein a great deal once they know what he really represents.” She looked to Mark, adding, “And you, as well.”

Mark laid out his new theory, saying, “I’m pretty sure that Okuana has known how to kill demons for a long time, and probably from his time in the Dragon King’s empire. The demons are supposed to be ‘helpers’, or whatever the fuck a ‘daemon’ is, so there have to be normal ways to execute them… Or to ‘turn off’ their programming, maybe? Perhaps that’s all Dominant is doing with the adamantium; he’s forcibly pressing a metaphysical ‘off switch’.”

Lola was deeply uncomfortable as she said, “I do not like thinking of demons as assistants… and to call the Gods ‘assistants’ too was quite difficult to hear.” She softly added, “Quite difficult.”

Sally just frowned at the ground, at the wall, at everything.

Isoko asked, “Have you done one of those system questions about the demons? Asked System Prime about it?”

“Yeah. Didn’t work. System Help will tell you about anything on the Status screen, but anything beyond that gives you the same response— Here.” Mark could tell Isoko was holding on to a big hope that Mark had simply been asking the System in the wrong way, so he simply said, “System Call, Help. What is a demon? Display readout for all present.”

Sally looked to Mark, muttering, “You can ask it questions?”

A blue box appeared in the air for everyone, attaching itself to the air right in front of a wall.