Auranosa Paydirt

[Jackie Cat]

Betel took only a few seconds to reply, but for a being who usually took a fractional moment to think of a response, the delay was noticeable.

"Ah," said the Porygon2.

They looked to Sada, as if some helpful guidance would come from her direction. She smiled blankly, not picking up on any silent plea.

"Well... I should probably re-initialise the network," they began, haltingly. "But I do recall attempting to redirect Director Parallax's summon command to instead call a possible ally, or at least an individual favourable to the Wayfarers. Given the extremely limited window of opportunity, my disorientation at the time, and my limited experience with summoning in practice, it seems I may have made... an error."

"That seems likely," agreed Sada, cheerfully. "However, there doesn't seem to be any deleterious consequence of that error. Our displacement in spacetime puts us about two weeks after our previous engagement, and the world appears no different."

Porygon2 couldn't really wince, but Betel somehow managed a pained expression, with a little wobble in their levitation. Instead of addressing Sada's claim, they turned to Virga.

"I apologise for your inopportune and unideal summoning," they said, meekly. "If you wish, I can attempt to send you back, but the process may... not be procedurally sound at this time. The situation would improve considerably if certain other factors were first addressed."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Virga hesitated. Of course her immediate thought had been that if the one who called her here was now awake, then perhaps she could put this farce behind her, and return to the comfort and security of her old form, and the blissful solitude of the deep. The deep that the sea missed so dearly, not just here but back home as well, for it had been so long since it had been able to live peacefully, without reminder of the shattered balance.

It was no doubt what her chosen would have preferred, as well.

"'Improve considerably'? What does that mean?" Virga asked, flicking her tail. "What other factors?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"One moment, please. Analysing."

The Porygon2 hummed, and the air around them warmed as their processors worked to understand incalculable amounts of data pulled directly from the Astral Plains by the Radiant soul inside their body.

"This reality's metaphysical fabric is under greater tension than at almost any other time in its history," explained Betel, in a subdued voice. "And there are individuals alive at present who wish to further increase that strain. This entire planet, and its many millions of souls, are at risk of catastrophic ontological collapse if that stress is not ameliorated, and further stress prevented."

"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," said Sada, as if it were just another item on her agenda, like an overdue book return, or stocking up on coffee. "I never took the trouble to inquire as to the eventual purpose of the Lighthouse program, or the other CDE projects—beyond their scientific merit, or their personal value to myself. Betel, are you now aware of your intended purpose, or that of the ARK Units?"

Betel tipped forth and back, nodding like a 'drinking bird' office desk toy. The movement was slow, hesitant.

"Only as a faint impression. The resolution of information obtained from individual sources in the noosphere tends to be low. You would need to confirm my speculation directly—I recommend confronting Arthur about the subject."

'Confronting'. That was an unusually strong word for Betel's typically tepid lexical register.

"Still, the impressions I can gather tell me that if one were to sufficiently thin out the fabric of this reality, and accumulate sufficient personal power, they could re-make the underlying rules of the universe. Much as Alexander attemped only recently, but on a more fundamental level."

Sada's expression, almost invariably positive, now grew stiff and cool.

 

[Chibi Pika]

(Virga suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at "catastrophic ontological collapse"... why couldn't this cursed place have normal problems?)

Jade winced, her ears flattening. Thaaaaat was about what she'd expected the result of the mass-summon to be. To the point that she wasn't entirely sure if sending all the newcomers home right away wasn't the right course of action. (It occurred to her that voicing that thought would seem like some kind of personal bias, given her own summon... but that wasn't what she'd been thinking, and she didn't want anyone thinking that.)

"Well, we hopefully still have an in at the Congress, given that everything that happened in the CDE was supposed to be secret, even from the rest of the Covenant. And we still have Articuno as an ally, so... maybe we can get to the bottom of this. And then we can all go home, and that'll be less stress on the world, right?"

She paused, tail swishing. "But... I guess we should probably meet up with everyone else first, before we decide what to do next." She especially wanted to catch up with Silver, ask him about the prisoner he'd freed, the one who might know where Starr went...

 

[Jackie Cat]

Sada nodded, then cocked her head.

"I did not realise that the Wayfarers and Articuno were collaborating," she remarked. "They may well be an invaluable ally."

The dragon paused, biting her lip and bringing a great clawed hand to her chin.

"And... I suppose I am, too," she mused.

Betel chirped and beeped encouragingly. The little 'bot would certainly want their creator and their friends to be aligned and working together.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Virga clacked her beak. "Hrm. I suppose communicating with other allies would be preferable before taking risky action," she said begrudgingly.

Jade's tail swished, and she gave Betel a hopeful look. "Do you think you'll be able to figure out where everyone's at? Now that you're feeling stronger." She also couldn't help feeling curious who else had been summoned, since Virga was the only newcomer that'd appeared in the garden with her and the others.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Oh, you mean: can I reinitialise the network? I think so, yes."

Betel glanced at Sada, as if seeking encouragement, then whirred again as they processed the task. Eyes glowing with Radiance, cooling fans venting heat from their CPU, Betelgeuse went to work...

...

...

...

Test.

 

[Chibi Pika]

It was just a single word, but it felt like a world opening inside her head. She could hear Betel's voice in her mind like she always used to, familiar and yet different somehow. Clearer, more confident even. She felt Virga's surprise brushing against her own, almost like an echo, duplicated through their own private link.

'I can hear you,' she said.

And then there was the flood of connections, scattered and disorganized. All the input that'd hovered in the subconscious parts of her brain for months, which had been quiet ever since awakening in the garden, suddenly on full display, and multiplied. So many new souls... She could feel them, scattered across the continent, but there.

A vast glacier and starlit snowfield. Western rainforest and southern marshland. A dead town and a temple made of stardust.

'This is... gonna be a lot to catch up on.'

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