Somewhere beneath the Old Cemetary, in a room lit by the glow of electric torches and suffused with the low hum of distant machinery, an alien creature sets a piece of parchment down on a makeshift table.
Next to the parchment goes a fresh-cut feather quill, and a small cup of water-based ink.
Envoy looks at the arrangement for a few moments, then closes her eyes and tries to clearher mind. It's no simple task, either. Sneaking Pathfinder and her children from theBabelite Embassy stirred up all manner of conflicting emotions and memories.
And questions… always questions.
Ever since recovering from her second communion with the Temple computer, the Exile haswondered about the way the machine created virtual people to interact with. The idea ofhaving a seperate personality for each functional area is an intriguing one, and one thatEnvoy has been using to gradually take control of her own mind.
Carefully, and with many errors that require her to start over, Envoy sorts each threadof consciousness until she has them seperated into three categories. Then, following themetaphor of seperate personalities, she imagines a room with three people in it.
The first figure is the smallest, literally a child. Or what Envoy might have looked likeif she'd ever had such a physical phase. It fidgets, rocks and occasionally wails or laughsat random. Whenever her mind's eye focuses on the child, it reaches out with chubby armsand begs to be picked up. Envoy dubs this creature 'Person'.
Nearby is another characterture of the Aeolun, emaciated and with huge eyes that gleamwith addiction or fanaticism. 'Probe' is ever hungry for information, and mutters a constantstream of questions. Its eyes jerk from one thing to another, always seeking but never lingeringfor long.
The final person in the imaginary room bears little resemblance to Envoy, save for having thesame white and gold coloration. The rational part of her mind, the one representing the memoriesof her creators, is symbolized by a dragon. It observes the other two, and coldly evaluatestheir strengths and weaknesses. The Person is underdeveloped from having its resourcesconstantly taken over by the Probe, causing its frequent confusion and social mistakes. The Probesmercenary acquisitiveness doesn't help either. The detached logic of this personality hasearned it the moniker of 'Robot'.
Robot pushes Person and Probe into a closet. While this clears Envoy's mind of emotionaland other distractions, it is at best temporary. The two subminds aren't shut off, afterall,just quieted. All of their noise is just building up until Envoy lets them back out again.
Envoy opens her eyes again, picks up the quill and dips it into the ink. She has to writea letter, and only the Robot can really handle it. In her usual meticulous printing, theExile writes using the stylized Savanite Formal icons:
I am sure you have your hands full with internal affairs of state, but I wanted to bringyour attention to a potential threat or threats you may wish to deal with quickly.
It would appear that the Nagai Empire, if not actually staging it all, has captured analleged Savanite terrorist leader. Whatever the truth of the incident, the fact that theprisoner is to be tried in the Empire hints that the Nagai are looking for an excuse todiscredit the City of Hands, possibly in prelude to an invasion or other attempt to takecontrol of the City.
Thanks to our mutual enemy, N, the Temple knows about the Map Room. Unlike N, however, theydo not know how to use it, unless it is identical to their own method for plotting thecourse of Rephidim. Should the Nagai Empire attempt to take the City, I believe theTemple would be more likely to destroy the City than allow the Map Room to fall intothe Empires coils. I therefore urge you to seek a mutual defense or other form of treatyalliance with Rephidim. Your bargaining goods could be the Crystal Hands, which I thinkthe Temple would be happy to have. A public alliance with Rephidim may be enough to curbthe Empires interest in acquiring the City.
Removing the Crystal Hands from the City would also defuse the threat posed by N'sknowledge of the Map Room. While you probably have set up protections to prevent thosewith access from being possessed, it may still be possible for N to pass the informationon to an enemy or enemies of Rephidim who would then seek to capture the City for theirown ends. The only living Nagai that I know of who might have knowledge of the Map Roomis Dean Malthus of the Sphere of Mind of the Collegia Esoterica of Rephidim. If he doeshave this information, however, his actions give the impression that he does not wishto share it with the Empire. His allegiance to the College is apparently greaterthan that to his own race.
I hope the logic of my arguments overcomes your personal dislike or mistrust of me. Ifyou need help in contacting the Temple, or in other matters on Rephidim, I am at yourservice.
Please give my warm regards to the Lady Creen Song, and to the Princesses Emerald Eyes,Jade Eyes, and Storm Hand.
Envoy the Exile
Envoy sets aside the quill and caps the tiny ink jar with a wax plug. While the inkdries on the parchment, she thinks about whether or not she can send the letter alongwith Pathfinder and her cubs. If they are captured enroute to the City, by either theNagai or the Temple, the letter would probably be translated. If it fell into the handsof the Inquisition, she is certain she would never see the light of day after being broughtin for questioning. If someone like Inquisitor Ciar thought she could even conceive of thescenarios in the letter, he would have probably beheaded her, burned the corpse, and thenhad the ashes scattered to the winds.
Once the ink is dry, the Exile folds and seals the letter carefully. She'll have to decidewhether or not to send it along with the Savanites when she sees how they are being takenoff of the sky island. For now, she just hides it in a waterproof letterpouch.
Once again, Envoy closes her eyes and imagines the room. The Robot releases Person and Probeback into the room, and it is immediately wiped away by the whirlwind of feelings and memoriesthat thinking about Third Vision and the City of Hands released. Self recriminations aboutnot berating the Queen for her harsh judgement, or showing how her own actions let to Envoy'sown suffering. More recriminations about even entertaining the thought that her advice wouldbe considered in the first place, or that the Queen hadn't already made and acted on the sameconclusions. Demands to use the information about the map room to force Third Vision to tellher all that was known about Necropolis and her goals. Anger, guilt, betrayal… too many thingsto sort out.
Once the flood had passed, Envoy opened her eyes again and felt exhausted. Even though thelittle mental trick to supress parts of her mind was getting easier to initiate, the aftermathwas getting worse the longer she kept up the supression. If only she could permanently weaken the Probeenough to give the others more room. Perhaps she should make another visit to the Sphere of Mindto ask about options.
After Pathfinder is safely away, and I've decided whether to send the letter or not,she promises herself. She wouldn't mind finding out what Dean Malthus really learned fromhis posession by Isstan's spirit, as well.
For now though, she decides to sleep, and dozes off in her seat.
