Neophyte World Builder

CROWN

I’d left Switchboard behind just to handle the various connections, and to analyze the whole mess of bubbles. He didn’t have nearly the creativity and independence of Duck, but he could speak. Since I imagined him handling a switchboard, I named him after it, and manifested him in a haptix body. Multiple arms seemed useful for that, even if the whole thing was controlled mentally.

Maybe I just really liked the idea.

It was pretty strange having him in there. With Duck, I could vaguely sense her if I tried, and even communicate… but I couldn’t sense her moods or desires. I’d thought that was normal, up until I created Switchboard. With my second Terminal, I had a general sense of how much he was occupied, what he was thinking of, and so on. It wasn’t distracting, but it was always there, if distantly.

I couldn’t directly see through their eyes or anything, but if I wanted to, I could give a little more attention to that odd sensation in the back of my mind. That would distract me, but give Switchboard a lot more of a mind of his own, at least while I was doing it. Now that I’d experienced it for myself, I realized this was how Orpheus had trained me by leaving a Terminal. Whenever she’d paid more attention, the original Orpheus must have given her more processing power.

It was a weird sensation, but not unpleasant.

Since that wasn’t my immediate problem any longer, I stepped out of the control center—or whatever it was—to greet the three that were waiting for me. Grumbling, I pushed the door closed again.

“Not sure I’m a fan of my new name,” I muttered to the trio. “Seems a bit pompous, don’t you think? Maybe Donut is the right idea.”

Ember laughed, but Trent just made a vague gesture with his tentacles. This time, I could clearly understand it as an indifferent shrug. Duck tilted her ears up in an elfin smirk, but didn’t argue. Of course she didn’t.

“Trent, good to see you again,” I said to the tentacled horror who had been so friendly before. “You can head back to your world now, if you want. Or you can follow me to mine. I’m going to see if there’s anything else that needs to be done since I’ve been in torpor. I didn’t have time to really investigate deeply, but I’ve renewed the shielding around the cluster, so we should have some safety for a little while.”

“What about Orpheus?” Ember asked. “Do you have any ideas on how to find them? Or a plan?”

I shrugged. “I’m working on one, but I need to make sure my world is secure. There are a few things I want to think over before I make any plans on that front. I’m also still pretty low on energy for myself, and need a few cycles to recharge before I can push through any plans.”

“I’m surprised you could make a Terminal then,” Ember pointed out. “How much does that cost?”

“Depends on how smart they are,” I answered, shrugging again. “Switchboard is pretty intensive, but that just means he docks my energy growth. I set it up to pull from the tithes for now. We’re pretty low on energy there, too, but I’ll work with what we have.”

Being low on energy was relative. The cluster had possessed over fifty thousand Reality Points in the bank for use on cluster maintenance and defense. That was a lot for me, but I’d then spent over half of that on shoring up the “armor” Orpheus had made. I had a feeling cluster costs were going to be a lot more than my personal needs.

Ember hesitated, so I cleared my throat and gestured for her to follow. “Come with me for just a little bit, I do have some questions to ask. They might help me find Orpheus.”

Duck looked at me curiously, but fell into step alongside me. “You uh, aren’t angry at me, boss?”

“I am, but we can talk about it later,” I muttered. “I have some words to throw at you.”

The elf’s ears drooped, and her tail almost dragged on the nonexistent floor we were somehow walking upon. “Okay, boss.” Duck knew I wasn’t happy, and she was right to feel bad about it. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about her yet, but if letting her squirm a bit helped make her more willing to hear me out, I was fine with letting her believe the worst.

Trent slithered over to the exit with me, but his tendrils contorted oddly in uncertainty. “I believe I will return to my universes, High Administrator.” His sudden deference to me was… unnerving. I’d expected more pushback from a one-universe newbie like me becoming the new High Administrator.

For that matter, how had he known? Was there a sign above my head now or something?

“You can call me Crown, Trent.” I glanced at him and tried to smile. “This is temporary. I intend to get Orpheus back… and Pleiades as well. I’m only doing this until they can be found and brought back.”

I watched as Trent’s tentacles twisted almost into a knot.

“If you believe that is best,” the alien administrator finally replied. He stopped at the singular door in the blank white room, allowing me and the others with me to go through first. His tone carried more deference than I’d like… a tone I hoped was at least out of respect and not just humoring me with what he thought I wanted.

This was already turning into a headache.

Ember hesitated before following me, but she fell into step behind Duck and myself as I returned to my sanctuary. I remembered her particular makeup, and now that I knew I could, I quickly requested a size filter for her, shrinking her down to just above my height.

I didn’t want her to think I was trying to intimidate her by making her shorter than me, so I left her the taller of us… but I really felt awkward talking to her chest all the time.

If Ember disliked what I’d done, she didn’t say anything about it. I hoped that wasn’t because of my newfound station, but if it was I also hoped our discussion would put her at ease.

“Have a seat, both of you.” I gestured upward to the control center. “Up there. I’ll put the display up again and look things over while we talk.” It had been over a full cycle while I was stuck working on the World System problems, so I’d finally gotten enough Reality Points to feel comfortable “wasting” a fraction to display my world map again. Another cycle or two and I could safely use proxies again.

Ember looked at Duck, who just gave an elfin “shrug” of a tailflick and muzzle twitch. With the translation working again, Ember got the idea and settled into a chair, wiggling slightly before settling. It was a near-human reaction that brought a faint smile to my lips.

“So. You’re going to help me figure out a few things, because you were human once. At least so I presume.” I clasped hands behind my back and walked a few steps, just looking over the changed world I’d left behind. I had a sudden urge to ask Akasha some things… or even just to have her here with me.

Or someone else.

I pushed the thought aside.

“When I say the names Orpheus and Pleiades, what do they sound like to you, Ember?”

I opened with the question instead, pausing to see if she properly understood what I was asking.

Ember tilted her head. Her eyes didn’t blink—I’m not sure they could—but I got the distinct impression I’d baffled her with that question.

“Uh… their names? What am I supposed to hear?” She shrugged and tucked her arms behind her head. The human gesture made me wonder if her creations had those same mannerisms, or if she’d kept them and only used the body. A curiosity I had to shelve in light of where I was leading her.

“Mmhmm, but what do you hear?” I pressed her with a stare. “Do they sound familiar? Like any name from human history or myth?”

Once more, Ember shrugged. “Maybe? They sound kind of… Native American, I guess. Just words. If they mean something, I don’t know the meaning.”

Interesting, I thought.

“They’re Greek to me,” I said aloud. “And I don’t mean they’re an unfamiliar language. I mean Greek myth. Pleiades is the name of seven nymphs from mythology, who bore many children from the gods. At first, I thought it was a reference to the star cluster named after the nymphs—our jobs being cosmic and all—but then I remembered the name being mentioned before I’d even known what I was doing.”

I could tell Ember was curious, but waiting for me to finish. Duck had her head tilted as well, but from the way her ears twitched I knew she was starting to put the pieces together. So, I continued to lay out my theory.

“It took me a long time,” I admitted. “And my own perceptions messed with me. I saw Orpheus as a woman, when I first arrived, so the meaning of her name kept escaping me. Orpheus was a Greek myth as well, though I struggle to remember the details. I remember he descended into the underworld to retrieve his lover or something, but failed at the last moment because he turned around too soon.”

“Like Lot’s wife in the Bible. The one who turned to salt.” Ember gestured at the air. “Because she turned around to look at Sodom.”

I shrugged. “Sure, I think I remember that story. Anyways, my point is that I think I’m hearing the names this way for a reason. Seven nymphs, seven universes to anchor the cluster. A lost lover. Searching for them in places unknown. It lines up a lot.”

Ember stared at me blankly, and I remembered Orpheus hadn’t confessed the situation to her. It didn’t matter, she recovered quickly.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to call yourself the chosen one,” she chuckled. “You might be successful, but you’re talking like it’s destiny.”

Duck, surprisingly, perked up to speak in my defense. “No, no. I think he’s on to something. I get what he’s saying. He’s not the chosen one, he’s just saying that these aren’t coincidence.”

“Right,” I agreed. “It’s not that I’m fated, it’s that Pleiades has been established to be a genius. He invented the World System. The interface. Other clusters don’t have it, it’s his. This administrator’s craft and skill were far beyond mine, but he somehow failed and vanished. Don’t you think he’d have a contingency? Multiple contingencies? Maybe some that could guide someone to fix the problem?”

Ember frowned, but she didn’t say anything.

“Maybe it’s a coincidence, but given the cosmic scales and intelligences we’re dealing with, can we afford to ignore it?” I asked quietly. “We should at least see if it makes sense.”

Duck, of course, had to poke holes in my theory. It was still her job to do that, after all.

“Okay, so now you know their names mean something. What are they telling you and what will you do?” She sprawled back in her chair and just looked at me contemptuously, challenging me to answer.

To that, I had to shrug. “I don’t know yet. I’ve made some connections, but how it’s supposed to help me out, I don’t know. I just wanted to confirm the name thing while I work on my theory. In the meantime I’m going to attack some clusters and show them not to mess with us.”

Duck’s ears perked up, and Ember tilted her head. “Are you sure that’s wise?”

I chuckled, “No, but we’ve been playing defense for too long. We need to at least figure out how to bite back or nothing will change. If we keep just turtling up they’ll wear us down next time they attack.”

Ember frowned, but couldn’t argue with that. “Sure, but how are you going to do that? We were never taught how to go on the offense. Were any of the other administrators?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I chuckled. “I’m very good at breaking things.”