080: Darkness, Peering – Two
The halls of the Pelekys, the severe arches of the internal architecture curved like ribs above Queen Kaizoku as she strode down the corridor, clearly intent on wherever her destination would end up being. A twist here, a turn there, and finally she stood before a closed door, lifting a hand to press the call button.
A chime rang out, but there was no response for an uncomfortably long moment. Kaizoku was motionless as she waited, and eventually the door did open before her, and she stepped inside.
The space within wasn't very large, just room enough for a simple cot and a short table in the centre of the room with walking space around each without fear of bumping into anything. Bare walls, bare floors, there was nothing in this space to make it homier than a storage closet. Kneeling before the table facing the door was the Knight of the Tomb, her helmet removed and her sidearm placed on the table before her, fists loosely clenched to either side of it as she stared intently at Kaizoku.
The armour she now wore looked to be in better condition than her last, no longer the bleached appearance of something that had once been coloured, but hard plates purposely a bare, almost luminescent white. There was something distinctly primitive about them, as if the design was pulled from a more medieval time period, rather than modern sensibilities. Even her flexible undersuit was white, and the tracery of circuits that could be glimpsed between the armour plating spoke to greater protections than just physical alone. An odd, segmented cape was draped around her shoulders, partially obscured by the fur mantle she wore, the both of them as white as her armour. As white as the rest of her.
Knight though she was, she looked as much a warrior queen as Kaizoku herself as she sat there, completely motionless except for her pale, colourless eyes, which never strayed from the Queen.
"You do know we have the facilities to provide more in the way of creature comforts than this?" Kaizoku said, glancing around the room as the door hissed shut behind her.
"Unnecessary." Was the Knight's reply.
Kaizoku couldn't help but scoff at that. "So be it. Now that you have settled in, perhaps you would deign to answer the myriad questions that your appearance has spawned?"
The Knight said nothing, merely giving the briefest of nods as she raised one gauntleted hand to motion for Kaizoku to have a seat at the table. There was no chair, only a cushion on which to sit. Lowering herself down into a graceful kneel, Kaizoku quickly found that the Knight was seated on a riser so that she was looming over her, which she acknowledged with a slight smirk.
When the Knight remained silent before her, Kaizoku took the initiative to get the conversation rolling.
"Firstly, I would like to extend my thanks for how handily you conducted the execution of that raider. We nearly lost one of our own due to that insignificant whelp's untimely interference. The indignity of their death was well deserved."
The Knight just nodded in acknowledgement.
"As for the most pressing question, I must ask what has happened to both the Program and the Pelekys itself," Kaizoku continued, "The Program is completely unresponsive, though we are able to see that it is still functional. Were it organic, I would say it is in a coma, a state which should not be a something an artificial intelligence could enter into. As for the Pelekys itself, all but our most basic systems have gone offline, stranding us far from any supply outposts with naught but our maneuvering thrusters to propel us forward. We've supplies to last us for some time, but not indefinitely. These systems going down happened the moment we docked your Storlayacas within our cargo hold, so one can only assume that it is the cause of our current condition."
"You would be correct." The Knight said, and elaborated no further.
"Is there a reason for that?"
"Yes."
The slight twitch of her artificial hand against the table was the only outward sign of Kaizoku's displeasure at that terse answer, the Knight remaining impassive before her stare.
"I would be thrilled to know the reasoning for it, and as you have sworn yourself to my service, I feel I must press for an answer." Kaizoku said, her voice low and dangerous.
That got the slightest hint of a smirk out of the Knight, who leaned back slightly as she said, "Good, you have bite. A pusillanimous vaunter has no place in what is to come."
"And what is that?"
The Knight gave her a measured stare, as if she were divining some truth about the woman who sat before her. Kaizoku met her look unflinchingly.
Eventually, the Knight said, "Something so lost to time your people have no name for it, but those who came before were prepared for its return."
Frowning, Kaizoku asked, "Do you mean the Leviathan?"
"If only." The Knight replied with a breath of a laugh.
Kaizoku levelled a glare at her, and finally the Knight capitulated.
"Your ship and artificial construct will be restored in due time. They required… upgrading, for what lies ahead. As for what that is, I cannot say."
"Cannot or will not?" Kaizoku demanded.
The Knight of the Tomb went very still at that, more so than she already was, her eyes taking on a strange, glazed look. She sat there in silence for a moment, before a tremble raced through her form, her eyes clearing as she said, "Cannot. Not yet, at least. Conditions have not yet been met."
Kaizoku made a noise of displeasure. "I don't suppose you can reveal what these conditions are?"
"Your combat skills, for a start. The Storlayacas chose you, and I need to see why." The Knight told her, "That is my purpose. I was chosen to make sure that the purpose the Storlayacas were created for is fulfilled. It was why I was taken from my world in ages past. Chosen. Worthy. I have to make sure that the rest of you are worthy as well."
Kaizoku hummed thoughtfully. "Do the creators of these things trust the judgement of their creations so little?"
"It is not a matter of trust," the Knight clarified, "But of certainty. The Storlayacas are particular about who they choose. Mercurial. If you aren't ready to face what is to come, then I must make you ready."
"And you really cannot give us any more information as to what this looming threat is?"
This got a noise of frustration out of the Knight. "How would you describe colour to the blind? The texture of an object to someone who had no sense of touch? I have been shown - been warned - but I cannot explain it in a way that can capture the scope of what is to come. It's big, it's bad, it's ancient, and it hates. Accurate, but inadequate."
"And who, pray tell, warned you?"
"You know full well who." Was the Knight's unamused reply.
Doing nothing to stop the disbelieving laugh that cracked out of her, Kaizoku asked, "You expect me to believe that you were plucked from your world by the Hyttan themselves?"
The Knight said nothing, just stared intently.
And that wiped the amused smirk off of Kaizoku's face.
Stood in front of one of the windows that looked out into the void, General Grim stared out at the green and cyan nebula that dominated the view. She was completely still, hands clasped behind her back, her expression unreadable.
The sound of a door opening in the distance, footsteps approaching. Madame Augury came and stood at the General's side.
"A fine predicament we're in." Grim said without preamble, "I don't suppose you have foreseen a way for us to get our systems back up and running?"
Twitching slightly, the lights of her eyes flickering in the depths of her hooded helmet, Augury took a moment to reply. "I see us moving forward from this place… I do not yet see how."
Grim let out a humourless laugh. "And you saw nothing of the Knight in your visions?"
"No," Augury told her, an odd clicking rumble of displeasure coming from somewhere in the depths of her chest, "And I believe purposefully so."
Shooting her a sharp look, Grim said, "The source of your visions, they can deny as much as provide?"
"So it would seem…"
"And where exactly do these visions come from? Who, exactly, is sending them?"
It was Augury's turn for a humourless laugh as she said, "Easier to describe colour to the blind… texture to the touchless…"
"And that eats at you, doesn't it?" Grim said, turning to face Augury, "You implied that we are to serve a greater purpose when we met, but you don't know the full scope of it, do you?"
Hands twitching as if she were actively suppressing some instinct, Augury said, "As I said, to describe something to someone who can't understand it will leave much nuance behind. Like you, I lack the sense needed to understand."
Grunting in displeasure, Grim asked, "Then what insight can you glean?"
Augury twitched again, an odd groan burbling from within her before she tipped her head back, her eyes flaring white.
…the Knight, gun in hand, expression blank as she fired on some unseen foe, a great white shape looming up behind her, large enough to blot out a sun…
…the Hand, raised palm resting over her clavicle, as if she was pressing to feel that something was still present beneath her armour, her expression one of concern…
…the General, her arms braced against a holographic display that showed a strange, formless shape spreading across a star system, her mandibles ticking in agitation…
…the Chancellor, sat in an opulent chair with a data pad in one hand, and a glass of wine in the other, her expression growing dark at whatever information was displayed before her…
…the Queen, bleeding, her crown shattered, alone in some industrial space as some great shadow loomed over her, larger and larger still, her teeth grit and her remaining eye burning with defiance…
…the Program, its avatar blinking frantically down the screens that lined a corridor, sparks following in its wake, small fires starting up soon after, and the whole structure violently shaking as something came to pass…
…and suddenly Augury found herself being pulled…
No quick flash of scenes she barely had the time to parse - always a witness to events, never a participant - Augury found herself standing in what appeared to be a foyer of some kind of building. The pale, gently curving lines of the architecture, the almost organic look to the building materials, there was only one race that constructed their buildings like this.
The Hyttan.
Augury stood up straight, more alert than she normally appeared, her perpetual twitching falling away as she turned to take in her surroundings. The only thing of note was a door off to her left, and she walked up to it, reaching for the control panel to open it as she neared.
The instant the door snapped open, she was overcome with a light so blindingly white that she could practically hear it. She did not shy away from it, however. Instead, she shielded her eyes with her hands as best as she could and stepped out into the blinding glare.
Her sight was slow to adjust, the forms of buildings gradually coming into view as she made her way down an empty street. All of them Hyttan make, all of them brilliantly white under the glare of whatever was radiating such an aggressive light. Coming out into what looked to be an open park - everything from the plants to the decorative fountain at the centre of it were as white as the buildings - Augury looked up and found the source of this blinding light.
Sources, plural. Two pure white suns in orbit around one another, both the same size, hanging there side by side.
But they weren't just suns. They were eyes.
Against the off-white sky, Augury could make out the outline of a head, a torso, arms, the rest of this thing's massive body lost where it descended below the horizon. A shape like a Storlayacas, larger than worlds, than entire stellar systems, and it was staring intently at her.
It moved, then. Slow. Ponderous. A arm the length of an orbit reaching out to her, the fingers of its hand igniting as they forced their way through this world's atmosphere to reach her, casting a shadow upon her as it interceded between the light blaring from its eyes.
In the face of this titan reaching out to her, Augury was perfectly still, unflinching as a hand the size of the world closed around her.
Darkness, with Augury faintly illuminated within it. A shape formed below her - a hand, smaller than the one that had descended from the sky. An arm. A shoulder. A torso. A head. All of them with a faint, lavender tint.
Lianshae standing in the darkness, holding Augury in its palm.
The two beings stared at one another for a time, before Lianshae turned its head to the left, and Augury followed its gaze. Starting at Lianshae's feet, a brilliant white path formed beneath it, shooting off into the distance, stars igniting in its wake.
At least they did, until a strange, formless shape began to blot out the stars as it began to spread.
The two beings turned to stare at one another again, Lianshae giving Augury a brief nod, which the seer returned. Then, like it was tossing a bird into the air in order to allow it to take flight, Lianshae gently lobbed Augury forward. She rose in a wide, sloping arc, but the moment she reached the apex of her flight, she tensed and surged forward, like an arrow loosed from a bow, straight at the encroaching darkness.
Expressionless though her helmet made her, her glowing eyes narrowed in clear determination.
She stumbled as she came out of the abnormal vision, Grim's hand reaching out to steady her, the woman's expression falling into one of concern.
"I've never seen you react to a vision so." She said, an undercurrent of worry to her voice.
"I've never had a vision like that." Was Augury's breathless reply as she shook her head briefly, a hand coming up to clutch at her helmet.
Grim allowed her a moment to collect herself before she asked, "And what were you shown?"
Turning to her, Augury was perfectly still as she said, "Light. Darkness. The path laid out before us. Horrors await us should we walk it, but walk it we must."
"And if we don't?" Grim asked, all the severity of a general asking after the conditions of the battlefield.
"Then we die." Augury told her, as certain as the inevitable end of all things.
The cargo hold of the Pelekys, the space dominated by the six Storlayacas that now stood within it. Leaning back against the opposite wall in order to take them in, arms and ankles crossed, Chancellor Bathory, a woman of imposing height herself, was laughably small in the face of these massive constructs.
Her expression, however, told a different story. She looked on these machines like they were mysteries she would solve, not inscrutable relics that would thwart her.
The faint snap of something dematting in, and Bathory turned to see who was joining her, a knowing smile blooming across her face.
"Any luck, Red?" She asked as the Hand stepped up to lean against the wall next to her.
A mirthless laugh burst out of the other woman, her tail flicking angry behind her as she said, "The systems are completely unresponsive to everything I've tried to get them back up and running. Aside from physically gutting all our electronic components and replacing them, I'm afraid we're just going to have to ride out whatever it is that's knocked them offline."
"And the Program?"
"Pretty much the same. Now that we have all the Storlayacas that we seek, plus one we didn't even know was in the cards, I had suggested to the Queen that we delete it, but she's insisting that it's vital to our mission. Whatever that is now."
Turning to press a shoulder instead of her back against the wall, leaning in to the Hand, Bathory asked, "Are you doubting her?"
"No," was the Hand's reply as she mirrored Bathory's pose to face her, "I'm just concerned. There's much that all of us have kept secret from one another, and with good reason. But it feels like the time for secrets is drawing to an end, and I'm not sure what we're all going to look like when we have to come clean."
Bathory was motionless except for her eyes, and these dipped down to stare at the Hand's lips, her voice pitching low a she asked, "Do you regret it?"
"No." Was out of the Hand's mouth with not an ounce of hesitation, her voice growing dark with want as she locked eyes with Bathory, "And I won't when it comes time to reveal it either. But that's going to be the least of our problems, I fear, and as with everything we've done together, they're at the heart of it."
Bathory followed the Hand's gaze as she turned to stare at the Storlayacas across from them, the six of them impassive under their joint scrutiny.
Catching a laugh in the back of her throat, Bathory turned back to the Hand, telling her, "As dire as things will no doubt become, they chose us for a reason. If we weren't capable of bearing the weight they'll no doubt pile on us in short order, they wouldn't have called out to us so insistently."
Breathing out a laugh herself, the Hand turned back to her, smirking as she asked, "You're that confident, are you?"
"And you aren't?" Bathory shot back, "Our lives haven't been easy thus far, and we've survived despite the odds. What's one trial more?"
"You may be right." The Hand conceded.
"I am right," Bathory corrected, her eyes growing dark, "And I should be rewarded for it."
Grinning up at her, her eyes hooding, the Hand asked, "With what kind of reward?"
"You know very well what kind." Bathory told her, slipping an arm around her waist as she reeled her in for a kiss.