181: Exodus
CROWN
My worries may have been valid, but my new Terminal didn’t have the same level of independence that Duck had. That was a relief.
Oh, he wasn’t like Switchboard. Much like Duck, Grem—as he called himself—didn’t share my thoughts and did his own thing. Where he differed from Duck was in his level of power. I had a new tab in my interface and could restrict and allow Grem’s capabilities on the fly, though the option to create a new Terminal via the interface was still disabled. That was a little odd. Just about everything else was operational again, now that Switchboard was in place.
“Well, Grem, you should know why you were created. What do you think of all this?” I asked with a deep sigh. “I admit when I made Versus, I was angry and wanting to bite back at the other clusters… but maybe it won’t be a problem if I just leave them alone.”
Artemis settled herself into a seat to watch curiously as Grem scratched his chin and thought. The small gremlin snorted, then sat down so his legs dangled off the end of the table he’d chosen as his own perch. He dipped his cap at Artemis before turning to me to give an answer.
“Boss, that’s not a terrible idea, but it’s still the wrong one,” the new Terminal replied. “Maybe they’ll never come back, but they probably will. All it takes is one of them to decide they can steal a world or two and you’ve got the same problem. Giving them a good, hard kick so they know you aren’t going to take it laying down is a good idea. But…”
The furred head tilted to the side as Grem scratched at the base of a long, pointed ear. “You gotta watch it. If you keep hitting them too much, they’ll just start fighting back, and as clever as you are, you’re still a new kid here. Grab a world, and make sure they know why you’re doing it. Maybe two if they’re obstinate. Then you gotta stop, and let them know you’re stopping and why. If they know you aren’t after conquest, but you’re willing to bloody their nose, they won’t bother you.”
Artemis cleared her throat. “You’re applying logical patterns to beings that don’t share the same perspective. You can’t know any of those things.”
Grem shrugged and made a wobbling motion with his hands. “That’s not wrong, but saying we don’t know nuthin’ isn’t helpful. You gotta make a guess from something. The trick here is you gotta let them know your intent… that you’re not set on starting a long-term war. I may not know how these weirdos think, but I’m pretty sure nobody wants a war that lasts the lifetime of several universes, right?”
“Mmm,” I mumbled. “I see your point. We don’t know their thought process, but making it clear we aren’t going to roll over any time they come swinging at us is pretty basic. I agree though, we don’t want to start a war… but what if we find a way to rescue Orpheus? Maybe even Pleiades?”
“See Boss, that’s where you rely on being you,” Grem chuckled. He tapped his temple. “You have no idea how they vanished, do you? So trying to plan for it is stupid. You improvise if you find them, you’re good at that. Until then, you just keep an eye out, and maybe wait to see if Duck has anything to report back. Assuming she hasn’t run off to do her own thing.”
I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. “I don’t think she’d do that…” Even as I said it, I was beginning to regret making this Terminal. I knew what he was about to say.
“Yeah, she probably wouldn’t… but you gotta plan for it,” Grem insisted. “Don’t you? You sent her off because she could get info, but if she doesn’t come back you’re no worse off than you were before.”
Artemis clapped her hands, once again bringing attention to herself. “Fascinating, but why don’t we work on the current problems, hmm? I admit I’m still a little puzzled about this universe of yours. After all, it’s much larger than most… that’s generally the common failure case with new ones. They make their universe too big for meaningful interaction.”
The change in subject was welcome, and I silently thanked Orpheus for setting up her Terminal to be more in tune with my emotions. I stepped forward and made a passing gesture at the display. It was far too zoomed out to show any of the activities of the mortals, but I felt like doing the gesture anyway.
“Akasha says they’re already nearing the discovery of flight,” I noted. “I set up this universe’s physics to be variable, but there are some common threads. With certain materials and magic, the denizens can make floating or flying structures. Constantly fighting gravity is impractical—though some of the bubbles can probably do that—but this means that shortly after they manage basic sailing and vehicles, they should be able to reach the stars.”
Grem snickered, “You mean bubbles.”
“Yes, fine,” I agreed. “The bubbles. It’s not a short trip, but if they can get outside the bubble, that’s where things get interesting. The laws are a little different outside, allowing them to rapidly cover long distances between the bubbles.”
I traced several paths with my finger, though I didn’t check to see if the paths actually existed. It was just for demonstration. Artemis was paying attention, so it was working.
“Hundreds of cultures and even different evolutions,” I pointed out. “Completely alien beings and ways of life… and they’re going to all be interacting sooner rather than later. The edges of the universe are still going to be hard to reach, too. They move fast because of the currents, forming natural paths. If they try to travel outside those currents—like far enough to loop, or above the main disc—then it’s just like flying into space in my old universe. It would take multiple lifetimes to get anywhere.”
I’d already explained the basic idea of the bubbles to Artemis, so this cleared up her last question. The young Terminal walked slowly around the edge of the display, tapping the ethereal image thoughtfully. She nodded at last.
Grem stretched and hopped off the table. “Anyway, Boss… you’ve got a few of the older ones already exploring, so it won’t be long now. You need to decide who is going to be keeping an eye on this. Me or you? I don’t mind checking in on your mushroom to see what mess he’s gotten into.”
“Mmmhmm,” I mumbled again, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “I should probably be the one to keep an eye on Wanderer. I’m still confused how he managed to start the Empire’s fall within just a few years. Mortals work so fast, it’s a little dazzling. If I weren’t so busy I’d try out an incarnation and live through it… that would be pretty wild.”
Grem gave me a funny look, but it was Artemis who laughed out loud.
“You sound like you want a real break!” Artemis smirked and waved a hand. “I don’t blame you. You may have slept for ages in torpor, but that isn’t actual rest. Most administrators handle things much more slowly, but between your plans and the duties of being High Administrator, it probably seems like you can’t take a rest to just observe.”
I collapsed backward and sighed, staring upward at the ceiling of my sanctuary. “Why am I surrounded by Terminals with attitude? The ones Orpheus left with me weren’t this bratty. Switchboard is nice and professional. What is wrong with you two?”
It was Artemis who answered, this time with a gentler tone. “Orpheus and the others only created Terminals through the interface, even though Orpheus should have known better. She let herself grow dependent upon it. Lazy, I suppose you could say, though she was so very busy maybe that isn’t fair.”
The fairy-Terminal perched herself on the chair nearest me, dangling legs off the side. “What you have is what she called an Adversarial Terminal. That’s what she did when she created me… trying to replicate what you did with Duck in a more controlled manner. And I guess what you just did with Grem right here. I suspect there’s a lot more that can be done with Terminals than even she suspected, if you put your mind to it.”
I glanced at my interface, with the Terminal tab still greyed out. “So what you’re basically saying is you want me to keep breaking things even now? I guess I can do that.”
“That’s why you made me!” Grem boasted, thumb jabbing his chest.
“No, I made you to argue with me… which I suppose you’re doing,” I grumbled. “Or at least causing an argument. I do wonder what the side effect of splitting your soul too much might be. Can you damage yourself making Terminals, or will you just fail to do it if your soul isn’t strong enough? Maybe the interface was a safety measure to keep damage from occurring?”
Grem tumbled off the table and sprawled on the floor. “Ugh. I’m dying. So much time wasted… doubting and questioning. Crumbling to dust… before the universe truly lives…” He rolled over and crawled toward me. “Tell my wife… I listened until the end…”
Both Artemis and myself stared at the small gremlin, but at least I got the joke. With a heavy sigh, I rolled my eyes. “All right. Fine. Settle down and I’ll nudge things forward a year back in Regalia, which should give us maybe fifty here. We’ll see where things go.”
The gremlin gave me a thumbs up with his clawed hand before rolling over and climbing to his feet, done with the theatrical performance. Artemis was looking puzzled, but I could only grumble.
“Why are my so-called Adversarial Templates all such drama queens?” I asked to myself. “Do I have some penchant for melodrama I’m not aware of? I’m starting to get worried.”
Without waiting for a reply, I sped up the time dilation and waited a few moments, then slowed it down to a more manageable rate. About forty years had passed in Versus, and roughly one year on my original world. I knew I’d have a backlog of weirdness accumulating, but I waited a moment before checking my messages.
“Thanks, Boss!” Grem grinned a fanged grin at me. “Looks like there’s been a lot of movement. Look at ‘em go! We might have first contact between the bubbles real soon now. Could even get a decent chunk of energy from this.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Anyway, see what you can do about loading the idea of the afterlife into their dreams, Grem. Even with the accelerated time, I didn’t want to mess with proxies to do the job. I would leave it to my Terminal. “Just don’t appear to them in that body.”
Grem snickered, “I’m not an idiot, boss. I’ll do something for each species I guess.” He shot up in height to appear as a dark-skinned, normal-looking human man. I wasn’t a fan of the ascot he adjusted with his wide grin, but he was probably trying to get under my skin.
“Sure, whatever,” I muttered. “I’ll check in on the whole collapse of the Empire going on and see if Wanderer’s picked up a wife somehow. I think I need an incarnation soon just because I’m getting pretty baffled by mortals.”
Artemis laughed, “And Orpheus was just as confused by you! See why you were so frustrating?”
I just grunted and checked my messages, then sighed. This time, it was one I let out slowly, with a slight voice at the end. Grem noticed and glanced over.
“Keep going,” I said, gesturing. “I need to talk to Sena. Looks like she finally wants to get out of the afterlife.”
I really should have given her more attention.