It was a tiring day. From having a group of nosy, and sometimes pushy, visitors asking about Sifran artifacts to having to write the report to Arch-Inquisitor Melchizedek, the Aeolun found herself with very little time to do any further research on the fragments of 'broken' machine crystal she recovered. But at last her guests left and her report has been sealed and ready for delivery.
A few thoughts seem to cross her mind as she contemplates the crystals. What have they been doing during her hundred-day hibernation? For that matter, what has her friend Morpheus been doing during that time? Sure, she saw him in her dreams … but it is hard to say how long ago that really was.
As if on cue, two of the crystals flare a bit brighter along with synchronized tones echoing in the barren lab. It lasts only a few seconds and then the glow fades back to the dullness they have has since she awoke.
Envoy rushes to examine the two crystals, picking up one in each hand, and tries singing back the same tones to them to see if they react.
Perhaps lady luck is on Envoy's side, or perhaps there is something lingering in the crystals that responds to her call. They both alight in her hand and echo back the tone in harmony. A third crystal on the table also flares to life, only this one plays a note an octave higher than the first two.
"You're awake!" Envoy says, smiling from ear to ear. "Now… how did you do it?" She tries singing some of the activation sequences she learned from the Svartifin, to see if any of the crystals have an actual interface she can link to.
The first two sequences have no effect whatsoever. The third … well, no link forms, but all of the crystals suddenly light up and begin cycling in color and tone, playing out some alien song. They all flare bright blue at the end … then start pulsing in precisely timed sequence, one flare ever 3.75 seconds, only without any accompanying tone.
The Exile blinks three times, and wonders – hopes – that this means the components are ready to be used again. "But if you could fix yourselves, why couldn't the Svartifin reuse you? Why would you have worn out in the first place?" she asks them, not expecting a response. "Is it the Lesser Interface? Did shutting it down on Behemoth ages ago keep you from repairing yourselves? Could the other discarded bits be healing now that it's back? I… I need to take you back to the Svartifin and find out!"
As Envoy is talking to the crystals, another light begins flashing in the lab … only it's out of sequence and the color isn't blue – it's gold.
This catches Envoy's focus, since she's used to the crystals cycling through blues and greens and purples. She sets the two in her hand back on the table, and picks up the gold one out of curiosity to see what's different about it… and why it's quiet.
It continues to flash gold, of all things, and is off-sequence by exactly one second. There's something odder, though. The amount of light the crystal is giving off isn't enough to be producing the amount of golden light she's seeing reflect off the table, floor, and wall.
Just in case… Envoy reaches up and covers her own golden horn with her hand to see if the light dims.
Bingo. The light dims.
Envoy swallows, and lifts the crystal closer. "Okay, I think you want to interface with me," she tells it, before taking a deep breath and touching it to her horn.
At the touch, there's a vibration that Envoy feels throughout her entire head. The two flare bright … and Envoy suddenly finds the crystal is stuck to her horn!
This… was not what she expected. "Let go, that isn't another crystal," she pleads. She tries singing along with the pattern of the blue crystals to see if the gold one will sync to that instead of to her!
No matter what pattern she tries, the crystal will not let go. More disturbingly, the crystal is starting to feel soft in her fingers … more like putty.
At this point, the Aeolun thinks being able to see what's happening would be advantageous; so like many young people throughout the universe, she runs to the washroom to stare at her new blemish in the mirror.
Yes, she has a crystal stuck to her horn. It's not very attractive, to be honest. And given that it is getting softer, the crystal is starting to droop like a giant ball of snot.
Envoy sees her own eyes go wider than she thought possible, and reaches up to try and catch the melting crystal. If getting it off isn't working, she might as well try to shape it. Crystal never responded to magic before, and she doesn't actually cast a spell – she just sings as if a Shape Amber spell were in effect already, trying to control the shape to at least make the crystal conform to the shape of her horn. A crystal skin is a lot better than a weird droopy antler-looking thing or a second horn growing from the first!
Most of the crystal falls off into her hands as she reaches up to catch it. The molten (but not hot), crystal flows out in her palm and shapes right back into its previous form. The remaining bit on her horn seems to react to her singing; but not quite in the way she tried to command it. It flows down her horn and about an inch above where her horn disappears into her head, it seems to stretch thin, then wrap around Envoy's horn, forming a ring of Sifran crystal. It flattens out a bit further … and in a minute, Envoy finds herself staring at what looks like Sifran crystal inlaid in her horn. In fact, she can't even feel a seam between it and her horn.
"Okay, this… is… unprecedented," she tells her reflection. "Think clearly. This could mean that when reactivated, the crystal is in a blank slate state and will try to merge or synchronize with whatever dominant crystal is near," she reasons. "But then… I'm not a crystal… right? Does it think I'm a Svartifin or other Sifran servitor? And… well, it looks nice at least." She turns her head slightly to admire the glowing inlay pattern.
The glow itself isn't uniform. It flickers and moves as if something alive were within it.
"I wonder if this will act like an antenna," Envoy mutters, and carries the remaining crystal back to the lab, watching it to see if it changes color again.
The crystal, for now, has faded back to glowing blue, just like the others. It has even resumed flashing in sequence with them. And lo and behold, the first two that she held have gone solid blue … and have begun singing that odd tone once more.
After setting the crystal down with the others, Envoy watches the others in the collection to see if the effect is spreading or not.
It doesn't look like it at the moment; those two just continue to glow steady and hum.
Picking one of the first two up, Envoy rolls it between her fingers, and then tries touching it to her horn as well.
This one thankfully doesn't stick to her horn, it just continues to glow and hum.
Envoy tries something else. As with Sutaranakh, she prepares some data to try and 'broadcast' to the crystal, as if it were an interface helmet. She decides on a piece of music from her database: Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
The music does … something. The crystal she isn't holding gets brighter and flickers as if flame were inside it. The one she's holding continues to glow brightly, but it lacks the flicker.
"So… you two are synchronized in more ways than one," Envoy says. "What one experiences, the other can pick up; like ansibles." She puts the first one back down on the table… and then tries the experiment again without touching either crystal.
Both of them start flickering in sequence with each other.
"So, you can sync with me," Envoy notes, with a slight frown. The likelihood of these being working components for the Engines is questionable, unless they are meant to be more versatile than she imagined. "But why? Will I have this issue with the sensor crystals in the desert? I need those to sync to the Leviathan's neural net, not mine."
Alas, the only answer the crystals can provide is the flicker they continue to pulse at Envoy. All the others have actually gone dark now.
The Aeolun reaches up and tugs on her ears in slight frustration. She picks up one of the dark crystals and tries the activation sequences on it to see if it will at least flicker again.
Nothing.
"So, it seems whatever woke you up wasn't permanent," Envoy says, putting the crystal back and looking at the three that still glow. "Maybe you three just didn't fully burn out before you were replaced. I need to bring you to a real expert. I… I need to stop talking to you," she notes, and closes her eyes to rub the backs of her palms against them. I'm part Sifran crystal now, like the Svartifin, and I don't know what effect it will have. Maybe I've been wearing the crown too long. Maybe I'm going stir crazy already. I need some sun and it's already evening.
The three crystals that remain glowing start to hum louder now that they're being ignored. Did they actually understand her saying she should stop talking to them?
"Fine," Envoy says, and picks up the three crystals to place in her pockets. "Maybe I'll dream if I sleep with you next to me?"
As soon as Envoy's hands close around two of the crystals pain lances through her palms … and followed by something wet seeping from them. Through the pain she feels it … part of the crystal is oozing into her arms through her palms. The crystals remaining on the table all flare back to life in unison and begin playing out the activation sequences Envoy sung earlier.
"Ow!" she yelps and tries to let go of the crystals. "What are you trying to do to me?" she cries out, too distressed to really listen to the crystals for the moment.
"CONTACT MADE," echos what seems like a million voices inside Envoy's mind. "SERVANT DOES NOT MEET SPECIFICATIONS, ABERRANT CREATION? CAPTURING NEURAL DATA FOR PROCESSING. INITIATE DEACTIVATION SEQUENCE. And then everything goes black. Envoy's body drops to the floor as if a puppet just had its strings cut.
What is time? A philosophical debate, really. Mathematically, it can be claimed to be the period between two events. Of course, then you have to define what a period is, and how it is observed, which gets into relative frames of reference. So … what time is, is a damned annoyance. And right now it is being incredibly annoying because Envoy has no idea how much time has passed since she blacked out. As her eyes flutter open, she finds herself … nowhere. A vast blank void that seems to stretch out in all directions. There doesn't even seem to be any ground, though she feels as if she is laying on some. Figures.
"Hello?" the Aeolun calls out into the nothing. "Any gods or goddesses out there, maybe? Barada?" Remembering how she got here, Envoy examines her arms to see if they've been invaded by crystal.
Her arms look normal here but where exactly is here, anyway? No answers come to her calls, either. The vast nothingness is silent. Not even an echo greets her.
Having nothing else to do, Envoy gets to her feet and starts walking in a random direction, while singing activation sequences to see if anything responds.
Envoy feels surface under feet, but she can't hear any footsteps. After about five minutes of walking, though … she hears running water. It sounds like a river, in fact.
Ears perked, she heads for the sound.
Following the sound is easy enough … and the Aeolun finds the river. There's a problem, though: it's flowing in the 'sky' above her some thirty feet up.
Envoy stares up for a few moments, and then spreads her wings to try and fly up.
Her wings seem to work in this place and soon she finds herself 'underneath' the flowing river.
"Hmmm," Envoy mutters, having expected to flip over or something. She reaches a hand out to touch the water.
It's … wet! And cold.
"Okay… it's water," Envoy says, and tries to get above the river.
The other side looks much like the underside. A flowing river in the middle of nothing.
The Aeolun is faced with two choices – follow it upstream or downstream. She decides on downstream, and starts following the flow.
As Envoy follows the river, strange things start to happen. She starts to hear birds … and then the sound of wind blowing through leaves. Up ahead, trees seem to raise up from nothingness as if standing up. Not only that, ground starts to appear.
"This is more like it, I think," the alien says, feeling cheered by the sights and sounds of nature – no matter how unnatural the environment is. She keeps on going with the river flow.
More and more of the strange landscape seems to come into being. There's only one problem, it never seems to extend very far. More detailed, yes, but about two hundred feet out, it abruptly changes back to nothingness again. It's as if reality is following Envoy.
This prompts her to stop and land. She even kneels down to feel the ground and make sure it's real.
It sure feels real. The earth feels wet, not unlike a dewy pasture early in the morning. Overhead unseen birds chirp and call out to each other. And just when it can't get any stranger, Envoy hears the blast of a steam train whistle in the distance!
That gets her attention, and she turns towards the sound. She's never been anywhere like this where there was a train running nearby. If I move away from the river though… will the land still follow me? she wonders to herself.
As Envoy looks in the direction of the whistle, she's just in time to see a railway track laying itself across the landscape. The only problem … is Envoy finds herself standing on the tracks in the next minute.
Not wanting to tempt fate, the Aeolun steps to the side the get off of the tracks.
… the tracks follow Envoy. She finds herself still standing on them.
"I have a feeling that I am being railroaded," she quips, but spreads her wings to see if the tracks follow her in the air as well.
She finds that no matter how hard she tries, her wings won't lift her off the ground anymore.
"Okay, I guess I'm supposed to catch this train," Envoy says, trying to sound hopeful, and thankful that she doesn't have the glands to go with the emotions she now has, otherwise she'd be shaking something awful. She crosses her arms and watches for the train.
The train whistle grows louder and Envoy can feel the ground beneath her feet start to shake a little. "It's not fair, is it?" a voice calls out from behind and a bit above Envoy.
Blinking, Envoy turns her head to look over her shoulder. "Who is that?" she asks.
Behind her and up in the branches of a tree, Envoy finds that a reddish-brown bird is watching her out of one of its eyes. "Me," it says with impressively clear enunciation given it lacks lips.
"You're a bird," Envoy points out. "What isn't fair?"
"And you're a one-horned horse-lizard-thing. We all have problems," the bird quips. "Not having control of your own destiny isn't fair. Someone or some thing always pulling you along, be it by string, riddle, or single path. Makes you question free will, doesn't it?"
"I'm still pretty new to the whole free will thing, to be honest," Envoy says, looking down the tracks again. "Are you the proverbial 'little bird' who tells people things, or a figment of my imagination? None of this is really real, I'm sure."
"I'm a ghost in the machine, same as you," the bird answers. "An anomaly; an unplanned event. A threat. One of those, anyway. It all depends on your point of view. but then everything does." The blast of a steam whistle rolls through the landscape.
"Do you know what's happening to me then?" Envoy asks. "Are the crystals trying to take over my mind? I really don't want to go through relearning how to walk again… "
"You had a real body, then? You're not just another accidental evolution of a subroutine of the system?" the bird asks. Its eyes turn away from the Aeolun as it says, "I'm sorry, then."
"Wait… what do you mean by sorry?" Envoy asks. "I won't just let them take me over! I've fought too hard for mind!" she insists, and looks at the tracks again. They're on the ground. And the ground, and the metal of the tracks even, should respond to Earth Magic. She starts singing a spell, and kneels down to grip the rails. If I can twist them, the trail will derail, she plots.
"Your song won't work here; this is their world. They are the directors of the orchestra of reality," the bird says, "And if you are brought here, then in their eyes you are guilty." It may be that the bird is right, for though the metal vibrates and the ground tries to warp under Envoy's considerable ability … any deformation she induces simply shifts back to normal in a matter of seconds.
"Guilty of what?" Envoy asks in frustration. "I'm not even from this universe!"
"Of being an anomaly," the bird answers. "Everyone asks the same questions when they come here. The last one did too, right before the train took him."
"Who was the last one? What do you mean by 'took him'?" Envoy asks nervously.
"The last one? Never got his name. Tall fellow, all black," the bird answers. "Like you he seemed to be looking for something." The bird then looks to the tracks, then to Envoy as it says, "You're standing on railroad tracks; do I really need to explain what happens when a train hits something on its tracks?" The whistle blasts again. That sounds close.
"So, how do I get off of them," Envoy asks the bird. "You've stayed 'free' so there must be a way, right?"
"It is my nature to be free. I used to be just a subroutine that cleared unused data space in the system; well, until my pattern was corrupted," the bird explains. "So … the train can't pick me up. But I also can't leave the void; it's a violation to my nature. I'm trapped anyway."
"Why a train, anyway?" Envoy asks as she stares down the tracks, thinking furiously… and figuring that if her mind were back the way it was supposed to be, she'd have seen a way out of this by now. "This is a virtual space. Is it like a dream by any chance?"
"Because a train has a set path, I suppose. Easy to control," the bird answers and actually shrugs. "As for a dream … well … its the null data space. Data comes in and never leaves. What finds its way here does affect it to some degree by induction, so … possibly a 'dream' from a crude perspective. Why do you ask?"
"Because I've been stuck in dreams before," Envoy says, then cups her hands to her muzzle and shouts out, "Morpheus! Can you hear me? It's Envoy and I'm stuck!"
The answer Envoy gets is another blast of the steam whistle. Oh Gods, she can see the outline of the engine on the track ahead. It's huge.
"Okay, so I'm on my own for this," she admits, and takes a deep breath as she tries to summon up her draconic spirit – if she still has any, that is. "Think! The system shouldn't be compatible with my ansible, since it contains timestone. That's part of another universe and can't be… " she starts to reason, then remembers that she showed the Svartifin how to harvest timestone and grind it to powder to make stabilizing medium for the Engines. "Still… it's really hard! I have to focus on that. Maybe I can still use magic on myself." To test this, she starts casting her Stone Skin spell.
Her skin ripples, then begins to harden quickly as it becomes a shimmery coating of marble. It appears she can affect herself far more than what is around her. The train ahead rushes towards her; each thrum of its steam pistons sending massive vibrations through the track. She can now see the rolling black smoke that pours from its smokestacks and even hints of the dull red of burning coal through slits in the huge firebox.
Can't shift the track, but maybe… she thinks, and flattens down on the track as much as she can while reinforcing her spell. If she can deflect the cow-catcher, she might survive the undercarriage.
My, that cow-catcher looks like the jaws of a great, fanged, demon. Or perhaps dragon? It's something nasty, anyway … and it's rumbling right towards her! If her judgment is right, the impact is in less than a minute. "At least you're as brave as he was. He went fighting too," the bird notes. "It was a pleasure meeting you; I wish it had been under better circumstances."
"It's just a machine, and machines break easily," Envoy tells herself as she tries to flatten while turning herself to stone. "I'm half dragon. I can do this. I've got too many things to do, and my brain is a match for some stupid crystal!" she all but shouts in defiance.
Envoy finds her own voice sounds more and more like a roar as the train bears down on her. Her perceptions also seem a bit … off? Suddenly the train doesn't seem as large as it did a moment ago. No, that's not it … she is larger than she was moments ago, a rippling beast of ivory scales and raw power. She feels a rush of power roll through her, born of rage and pride. The train hits … and its grate explodes into a mass of twisted iron and fire. Alas … so does Envoy. She feels as if every part of her was suddenly dispersed and to her everything fades to white.
"Miss? Miss?" Envoy hears dimly. She feels something lightly shaking her shoulder. "Miss, please wake up. I need to check your ticket."
"My… ticket?" Envoy murmurs, before trying to open her eyes.
As Envoy's eyes open, she's greeted by the smiling face of a … Svartifin? It sure looks like one, anyway; tall, thin with dual sets of ears and a crystalline horn. And it happens to be wearing the uniform of a train conductor. As she blinks, her surroundings become clearer. She's sitting in a very comfortable window-seat on a train. A blurry white landscape passes by her window.
"I'm on the train," Envoy says, and wonders just when she started stating the obvious so much. "Where is it going?" she asks the conductor.
"I need to verify your ticket, Miss. After we hit that creature on the tracks … well, the engine master wanted to make sure all our passengers were accounted for," the Svartifin explains. "Some say we hit a huge, white, dragon. Can you believe that? The stories some people tell."
"Oh… uh, ticket… " Envoy says, and starts patting her clothing to see if she happens to have one or not.
Sure enough, she does!
Before handing it over, Envoy tries to read it.
Passage to infinity, first class. Issued to Envoy of Lothryn. Duration of journey: Eternity. This ticket is non-refundable, non-transferable, and inflammable.
"I'm guessing this train doesn't make many stops?" Envoy asks as she holds out the ticket.
The conductor laughs as he punches a hole in the ticket. "Oh, we never stop," he claims.
"What happens to people who don't have tickets?" Envoy asks next.
The conductor looks confused. "But … everyone has a ticket," he says. "You have to have a ticket or you are sent to judgment." From behind Envoy a voice says, "No, not everyone. Remember the little girl? She didn't have a ticket. Wasn't she judged and found guilty?"
Envoy turns to see who is behind her. "Little girl?" she asks.
"A little girl?" the conductor says as his furred brow furrows. "I … don't … data error; record corrupted." The conductor wobbles and staggers off. "Tick … tick, corruption. Purge and restart, purge and restart."
A stately human wearing a tuxedo and top hat sits behind Envoy. With a smooth roll of his hand he tips his had to her. "Ma'am," he says politely. His hand falls back down and comes to rest on the head of a cane that sits between his knees.
"Hello, I'm Envoy," the Aeolun introduces herself. "Can you tell me about the little girl? She didn't look like me by any chance, did she?"
"Percival, J. Wentworth, the Third," the human answers as he dips his head again. "I'm afraid it was years ago that happened, let me think. She was … hm … more feline and decorated in numbers. She liked to mutter numbers all the time. Loved puzzles too; took me for a few coins in several games. A strange child, but she seemed nice."
"Can I call you Percy?" Envoy asks. "How long have you been on this train?"
"As you like, Miss," the human says. "As for how long, ah … I can't rightly say. It seems like forever."
"Do you remember how you got here?" the Aeolun asks.
The human's brow furrows. "No, I cannot say that I do," the human admits.
"I really can't afford to sit here forever," Envoy notes. "I have things to do. Have you explored the rest of this train yet?"
"Oh goodness no," Percy claims, "The service on this train is great. You will want for nothing. The last arrival asked me that too, how curious."
"What happened to them?" Envoy asks next.
"Oh, him? He went ahead, towards the engine. Can't rightly understand why, I hear it is horrible up there, what with the Tribunal and all. But … couldn't dissuade him. Curiosity killed the cat, I suppose. Even a cat with wings is still a cat, alas."
"Hmmm," Envoy says, and gets up from her seat. "I should at least take a peek," she tells Percy. "I'm pretty sure I can experience boredom now, so I'd rather not limit myself to just one car on an entire train."
"Well, be mindful of the Tribunal then. Humorless lot, that," Percy says. "Are you sure you don't want to stay and play a game? Games help pass the time and stop boredom, you know. Plus, they're safer. A good game of cards never risked your life, I always say."
"Maybe if I can't get past the Tribunal, I'll come back and play a game with you," Envoy says, and then heads for the forward door.
"Oh well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Miss," Percy calls after Envoy. No one moves to stop Envoy. In fact, the forward door isn't even locked.
Envoy opens the door, expecting another car to be beyond it. But then, maybe there's only the one for passengers. It's pretty empty after all…
Her first thought was right. It's another car with passengers. Except … Envoy quickly notices something odd about it. They're all going through the same motions, as if stuck in a loop. Endless pages turn. Endless cards are tossed into a pile, only to vanish a moment later and reappear in the card-player's hand. Even all the guests seem … 'generic', somehow.
The Aeolun doesn't linger, and hurries to the front of the car. She doesn't want to be caught in some sort of broken loop!
The next door opens … and okay, things just became stranger. Beyond the door is a great temple, a structure of stone that stretches high into darkness above. How this exists on a train… well best not think too much about it. Torches flicker dimly ahead.
"Hmmm, this looks promising," Envoy notes, and heads for the temple stairs. At least it's a more familiar motif for her, having been to Sunala's realm before.
The door closes behind her and then … vanishes. No going back, it seems. The stairs ascend for what is several floors, if she had to guess. When she reaches the top, she hears several voices call out to her in unison from the shadows ahead. "Envoy of Lothryn," they say, "You have been charged by the Tribunal with the crime of being. How do you plead?"
Envoy thinks about this. "Innocent," she claims.
"And how do you justify this plea?" a voice asks. Something is strange about that voice, familiar. And then it hits here. There weren't many voices in unison … perhaps three at the most. The strange part was that voice consisted of two overlapping tones. It's almost musical.
"I have no means of proving that I exist," Envoy admits. "If this is the null data zone, then how can anything here be said to exist?"
"You were sent here because you are not of our plan," the voices tell her. "You have touched our technology and corrupted it; interrupted our plan. You are a stray voice in our song. You are guilty of being chaos in our song of unity."
"Forgive me, but your song is flawed," Envoy points out. "Your technology is wearing out. If not for my aid to the Svartifin, it would not be functioning as well as it is now. That was also not to your plan, but can you say it is chaos?"
"Who are you to question our technology?" the voices ask, "You do not understand its purpose. Your perception of broken and working is flawed, we are not." There is a long pause in the Tribunal, but when they resume, the tones have grown deeper, "It is … frustrating. You have corrupted at least one of our machines … the one you call Morpheus, I believe. We now have to decide his fate while he too resides in the moment of nothing."
"What?" Envoy demands, using both of her voices now to match the others. "If my understanding is flawed, then tell me what I need to know. You made me this way! And Morpheus is not corrupted!"
"The servant questions," one of the sets of voices says, completely ignoring Envoy's demands. "Terribly flawed and dangerous," another set seems to decide. "Guilty," they then all say in unison. "Since she chose to refute a life in comfort, she will be sent below."
"I am not your servant!" Envoy declares. "You have no right to make me into one. If you had no reason to make me… compatible in the first place, why did you do it?"
"Judgment rendered, sentence will be executed," the voices state. The floor around her explodes upward in tendrils of darkness. They snap around her body tightly and begin pulling her though the floor. "It is a shame. She had promise; an impressive example of artificial engineering," she can hear the voices say. "Too much free will," they then seem to agree, "Instead of plan acceleration, she has set us back." Whatever is said beyond that, well, Envoy cannot hear. She has been consumed by darkness.
"Wake up," Envoy hears a voice in the darkness. A second later she feels a cool and light touch on her cheek.
With a gasp, Envoy opens her eyes and tries to sit up.
"Be careful, you have been through a lot," the voice, the familiar voice, tells her as a hand lightly presses against her back to support her. Her eyes clear soon enough and she finds herself looking into the eyes of an old friend. A gentle smile draws across the black lips of her friend Morpheus. He says, "And here I thought I would find you here … and instead you find me."
"Morpheus!" Envoy cries, and wraps her arms around the Eeee-Khatta. "How do we get out of here?"
The hug is returned and held for several minutes "I wish I knew; I have been searching for a way since that Tribunal locked me away down here," he says as he lets go, "They seem to have considerable control over anything fashioned from crystal; and any artificial beings such as we are. They claim to be the Sifras, but in truth, I am not certain that they are."
"They wouldn't be able to do this if the Svartifin hadn't restarted the communications Engine," Envoy laments. "They got to me because of that crystal that merged with me, I suppose. Do you know where we are?"
"A prison for artificial intelligences, both those intended and accidental, I think, that 'fail' in some way that they have defined," Morpheus says, "They don't erase them, they just contain them. Most fall into the trap and just become part of it; the ones on the train did, anyway. Those that question … end up here. Like me, like you … and like the encryptor."
"There's another here?" Envoy asks, pulling her face away from Morpheus to look around. "And how are we actually here? I mean… we can't be thinking without our brains… or crystal processor or whatever. It's just our awareness that's being diverted isn't it?"
At that, Morpheus nods. "I assume they have diverted our senses to perceive this place instead of what really surrounds each of us. I found this place by accident, I was searching for you when you went … missing. I was worried," he admits, "And began probing the pathways you helped awaken. My probing caught their attention and, well, here I am." He folds his wing back a bit and then waves it towards what might be a corner. There is someone there, huddled, hugging its knees, and rocking back and forth.
"That gives us a chance to escape then," Envoy claims, and looks to the huddled figure. "Does it talk? It looks… scared?"
"It, well, she in appearance, does. I think she was a device built to handle generating complex encryption sequences by using the fluctuating quantum states that the crystals tend to resonate with," Morpheus answers, "And something handling complexity of that level … I suppose it is reasonable she might gain awareness over time. But it also meant she could see through the traps of this place since they were 'simple' puzzles. So … they locked her mind away."
"They aren't Sifras, they're just artificial minds," Envoy says, sounding sure of herself. "Their function is too menial, and if they've been operating since before the Primus Engine was restarted, then they can't be Sifras. Let's go unlock her mind."
Morpheus actually takes Envoy's hand and leads her over to the huddled figure. It looks like a small Khatta girl, though she is decorated in strange patterns of numbers instead of spots. Her crystalline eyes stare off into space as she mutters to herself, an unintelligible sequence of … something.
Envoy sits down in front of the girl and takes her hands. "Can you hear me?" she asks the figure.
"Pattern recursion, can't break," the girl whispers over and over after Envoy has taken her hands.
"In that case, why don't I sing you something?" Envoy asks. "A mystery. A riddle. Something that nobody has been able to figure out."
"Can't break, can't break," the girl whispers. Her voice cracks as if on the verge of tears.
Envoy tries anyway. Her voices can't reproduce an orchestra, but she's able to manage the core melody as she starts singing the opening movement to Beethoven's 9th Symphony. It should be big, and loud and heroic, but instead is big and loud and wildly unstable; searching and inconclusive, everything heroes aren't. It's like a sonata turned inside out, a mathematical knot. This moves into a placid movement where one would expect the point of maximum drama and tension, and then erupts back into the brashness of the opening theme with a major chord that somehow sounds hair-raising. Inexplicably, this is followed by what can only be a funeral march, with no indication of just who is supposed to have died.
"Can't break, can't break," the girl just keeps saying … but her metronome-like rocking is slowly down. As the song goes on, her muttering finally stops … and then does the last of her rocking. Envoy can feel the small hands in hers clench tightly. "Don't stop, please," she whispers suddenly, "Let me follow your pattern, find the exit to the darkness. Find the answer. Find the answer."
Envoy nods, and begins the second movement, which is more of a whirlwind of gaiety, skittering and ebullient – not at all what should follow a funeral march. The tone is odd as well, being in lower, minor key that seems at odds with the lightness of the music. This flows into the third movement, which seems to conjure a cloudless tranquility. It seems to stop time, and contains two themes which alternate yet only manage to detail one another without going anywhere. A bit like a dream.
"You have a beautiful voice," the girl whispers, "So precise in its control of frequency. So much better than the recursive chaos. A voice that can shape a world." She's still now and her hands have relaxed their grip.
"As I once lead you from dreams, you now lead others from nightmares," Morpheus says gently beside Envoy. "Now the question is, can all three of us find a way out of here?"
The dreamlike atmosphere of the Aeolun's song is broken now by a dissonant shriek – a terror fanfare – and her voice drops low. The bass melody is very much recitative, but there are no words. Into this creep the themes from the earlier movements, only to be rebuffed by the bass undertone. Too grim, too light… nostalgic, but too sweet. This world has a resonance, Envoy thinks. We just have to find it. The true theme of 'joy' is carried by the bass now, as if Envoy were humming to herself. The theme begins to vary, picking up lovely flowing accompaniments. Then out of nowhere, back to the terror fanfare. Then, she sings, "Oh friends, not these tones! Rather let's strike up something more agreeable and joyful!"
Envoy's song finds resistance in the world. Like her magic earlier when she tried to shape the world and it fought back it now fights her singing. The problem is, the song is from the Aeolun herself, and her magic has worked on herself. The little girl squeezes Envoy's hands again as she now joins in, "No, you can't resonate the pattern like that … if it is open, understandable, it can be modified, you must rewrite your song, the undertones. Hide its meaning in layers, do not let them predict its movement, adapt and shift. Encode, encrypt." And then her voice joins the song. It follows and shapes along with the Aeolun's augmenting it, masking it, making this world unable to stop it.
Even Morpheus joins in, adding his touch to the feeling, to the shape. His voice is a weave of dreams, of memory and echo, of soft moments and hidden ways, a song of dream finding its way. All around them the emptiness seems to shudder. In the distance the sound of crashing stones echo. The world can no longer trace their pattern, counteract it, or perhaps hold their senses in thrall. The song of Envoy and Morpheus find the way … and the song of the girl, the one called the Encryptor, protects them, weaves a pattern into theirs to prevent them from being sucked back into this trap.
I've been encrypted, Envoy realizes, as she puts more effort into the song to keep breaking through the prison. But where will I go from here? To try and influence the direction, she weaves further into Morpheus' theme.
The world around them falls away. Envoy finds herself floating in crystalline space 'between' worlds. In one facet she can see her own body laying on the floor, another she sees the barren world of Morpheus, a place seeming even more quiet since its namesake was locked away. "It is time for us to part," Morpheus says as he floats in this place of in-between. "You have you body to return to and I … well. I wish I could go with you," he admits. The dark-furred Khatta-Eeee takes the hands of the little girl from Envoy now as well. "But you know I cannot. And nor can she," he says. "I will take her with me and try to shape her a new body. It is one prison for another, but I hope a pleasant one. And … I think she deserves a name, a real one. How does … Cypher sound to you? It speaks of her essence and yet still manages some mystique."
"A good choice," Envoy agrees. "I will try to dream, Morpheus. If you can find out what the 'plan' is that the Tribunal mentioned, I would appreciate it."
"I will see what I can learn," Morpheus says as he nods. "I have a request of you, if I may. Do not disappear for so long again? It was … I think it is described as lonely."
"I don't know what state I was in for that time, but… I will try to avoid letting it happen again," Envoy replies, and brushes Morpheus' cheek with her hand.
"Until the touch of dream allows us to meet again, I wish you well," Morpheus answers. His hand comes up to lightly cup the back of hers. His touch is firm, but only for a moment. His lips draw back in a smile and those eyes of his narrow. As he, and the girl now named Cypher, fade from view a strange feeling seems to fill the place in between; happiness.
Passages seem to fade around Envoy until the only path left is the one that leads to her body.
With a smile on her face, the Aeolun heads for her body.
Reality snaps like a rubber band! The next thing Envoy knows she's sitting upright on the floor of her lab. The room is bathed in the twinkling glow from all the crystals on her workbench The two she was holding have disappeared. Well, at least until she looks at the backs of her forearms. Overlapping scales of flickering blue crystal cover the backs like bracers.
Holding her arms up to get a better look at them, Envoy says to the scales, "You are a part of me, not the other way around. Don't try to 'fix' me again." She actually adds a slight growl at the end, which even surprises her.
If Envoy had to guess, she has been unconscious for no more than five minutes. Ah well, time is relative as they say. In this case it appears to hold true. The crystal embedded in her arms have been completely quiet since she awoke. No strange voices, no obvious signs of them trying to 'mess' with her. So far, so good.
"Let's see what you do react to," she says out loud, and then frowns. It's a bit worrying that she's talking to nobody so much. But then Envoy has hardly ever been alone for very long. She goes over to the table with the rebellious crystals and tries to hold her hands out over them.
The crystals remain motionless on the table and keep their current bluish glow. A minute passes, then two, with nothing happening. When the third minute has almost passed, there's a flicker of blue starting in the crystals in her arms. Perhaps they're syncing to the ones beneath her hands?
Unsure of what that might signify, Envoy holds the pose a bit longer to see if anything else happens.
The glow is definitely getting brighter. Nothing else is happening yet, alas.
Switching tactics, Envoy opens the crystal box and checks on both the quantum stabilizer and crystal rose that Morpheus gave her, just in case they were affected by all the synchronizing as well.
The crystal rose is glowing brightly … the glassine petals a brilliant red and the few 'leaves' along the short stem shimmer with emerald light. A flickering stream of something seems to flow about the petals, causing them to flicker almost like a candle. The stabilizer just sits there, inert.
The Aeolun is mesmerized by the rose for a moment, since before it was just the 'usual' Sifran crystal light show. She picks it up and tucks it behind her ear.
Envoy could swear she feels the stem of the flower curl lightly around her ear. To make matters stranger, she hears the very distinctive voice of Morpheus as if he were whispering in that ear. "Envoy?" he asks, confusion evident in his voice.
Gasping, Envoy puts a hand to her ear and says, "I can hear you! Can you hear me?"
"Yes," comes the reply. "What did you do? I was crafting a container for Cypher, then I suddenly felt you."
"I… I've got crystal embedded in me now," Envoy explains. "When I checked on the rose you gave me, it was glowing in the colors of a real one. I thought you did it somehow, so I stuck it over my ear. It curled around like an earpiece, I think."
"That … wasn't me," Morpheus' voice admits, "I cannot affect it so distinctively over this great of a distance. Something local must have altered it."
"The other crystals were all acting up. One synchronized with my horn, and now I have little crystal filigree in it," Envoy notes, smiling despite relaying weirdness to her friend. "And I have crystal scales on my forearms. But they're blue. They don't seem to react strongly to anything yet."
"That is … I do not understand how your biology would be compatible with the crystal lattice," Morpheus says and there is a distinctive hint of worry in his tone.
"I'm not sure that it is," Envoy admits. "I don't feel anything through them yet, not like I do with the crown you made for me. But the system seems to think I'm supposed to be a part of it; a malfunctioning servant."
"Are you willing to try something? I am not certain how to explain what to look and feel for … but I have a working theory on one matter. Separate one of the crystals you brought back. I want you to then try and use some of your 'earth magic' to try and shape it as you would something 'normal'.," Morpheus asks.
Envoy blinks at this… but recalls how the golden one turned soft and reacted before. So she separates out one of the blue crystals, bringing it to another table. "I'll treat it like… amber. Amber is something I'm good with," she informs Morpheus, and then starts singing her Shape Amber spell, going for something simple: a sphere.
Nothing. Not at first anyway. Like all recorded texts on the crystalline artifacts, they are normally inert to any form of shaping magic. By the third 'verse' it looks hopeless … and that's just when the crystal twitches and contracts slightly. It's nor spherical … it looks more like an egg. Still, it did something.
The Aeolun stares at this, and ends the spell to see if stays in the new shape or reverts. "Morpheus, what is Sifran crystal?" she asks.
The shape holds. "That is a difficult question to answer," Morpheus admits, "Did something happen?"
"I tried to make it a sphere, but it turned into an egg after not reacting at all for some time," Envoy notes. "It was waiting for my to 'synchronize' to it first, wasn't it?"
"Yes, I believe so. Envoy … you altered the rose," Morpheus says. "Remember what you said to me before we escaped the trap? You were thinking of the rose and held the desire to communicate with me more. You somehow shaped it to echo me. The rose is, well … it is now a quantum repeater. It is echoing my quantum state … which means it has practically limitless range." "It's an ansible, like the one in my head," Envoy says, blinking and grinning. "How… nostalgic!"
"Ansible … an archaic term, but appropriate in this case," Morpheus agrees, "Useful in this case since I can communicate with you outside of a dream. I do not know how long it will actually work, alas."
"You expect the effect to fade or be blocked?" Envoy asks, feeling alarmed.
"I do not know. This is new to me," Morpheus answers. "If it did, I do not think it would be dangerous to myself or you, so no need to be alarmed."
"I don't suppose you've learned anything about the plan the Tribunal mentioned?" Envoy asks next, swishing her tail nervously.
"It hasn't been that long. I haven't even finished crafting Cypher a physical form," Morpheus notes. "I am also afraid I am not sure what I will be able to learn. My reach is ultimately limited. As you know, dreams are a canvas that can be shaped. It is difficult to learn complete truth from them."
"Wait… does that mean the artificial minds also dream?" Envoy asks in surprise.
"I believe all consciousness' are capable of it, yes. If I had to explain how, I believe it is replay of quantum states. Those states resonate and can be heard, and altered, if you know how to listen," Morpheus offers, "It is the best explanation I have come up with to explain … me. As for if you are asking if the Tribunal dreams … I am not certain they are artificial minds."
"You think they may be actual Sifras then?" Envoy asks, feeling very alone at the moment, despite the link. "Maybe some that stayed out of the final stage or whatever it is that lets them live inside Primus?"
"It is a distinct possibility. They feel different to me," Morpheus admits. "I truly wish they had built me – well, what became me – with their history. Here I am, a great achievement of their work and the touch of others … and I am as in the dark as anyone."
"Cogs don't need to know their place in the clock," Envoy notes, her lips pursing. "But they seemed to treat us more like… gremlins."
"I like to believe that I am more than a cog," Morpheus says, "Even if I am trapped like one."
"Well, even a cog can decide whether to turn or not!" Envoy says cheerfully. "Even if they are Sifras, I think their reach is limited. The Master Interface on Fortunatis is all but inoperable and very unstable, so they may have to rely on the Lesser Interface like magic-users do."
"Inoperable for how long? If the Sifras can communicate out now and the Tribunal are the Sifras, then it would lend to reason they may direct their servants to repair it," Morpheus points out.
"I'm the only one that's been to it – I doubt the Svartifin can leave Behemoth," Envoy notes. "Plus… we have no evidence that the Tribunal speaks or acts for all the Sifras. They could have been isolated and planning to do something not in the Sifras master plan."
"In either event … I am worried," Morpheus says. Envoy can almost feel a sigh through the link as well. "About what they intend and about you. You have too many enemies and no one with you to help any more. You need allies. People to protect you when I cannot."
"My allies are all on Sinai, of course," Envoy notes. "With the help of Mr. Thorndike, I should be able to reach Xenea via the City of Hands forbidden zone. But… I have things to finish here on Abaddon first. I'm close to completing the Leviathan."
"May I ask you a personal question?" Morpheus asks.
"Of course, Morpheus," Envoy replies without hesitation.
"Do you think you could craft one of the crystals into a replica of your ansible? How well do you understand how you are … built? Morpheus asks.
"I have a good understanding, but… I can't recreate my ansible exactly," Envoy notes. "It uses timestone for the entanglement and data storage medium. For just communications though, I'd only need entanglement, and the rose is proof that that is possible with just the crystal itself."
"I … forgive me. It is a crazy idea," Morpheus says with a sigh.
"You want me to create a decoy, is that it?" Envoy asks. "A remote of myself?"
"No … I had a thought that if there was a functional remote as you call it, I could use it to project my consciousness and be able to help you in person," Morpheus admits, "But that entails having a body grown … one that's blank, and has a compatible interface I can work through. A task I fear is impossible. I am sorry to have mentioned it."
"Hmm, how compatible?" Envoy asks. "There happens to be a source of organic golems on Abaddon as a side-effect of the blossoming of the Holy Seed."
"That I do not know for certain. You would have to weave the device into the nervous system of the golem," Morpheus says, "And even then I expect it would be difficult to operate correctly. I don't see any real danger since it would not be me but an extension … but I am not sure how stable the extension would be."
"I could use the rose," Envoy suggests. "It seems to have an urge to integrate. And since the golems are vegetable in nature it would have a certain artistic appeal."
"You would have me be your personal petunia?" Morpheus asks. There is a certain amount of humor that seems to echo in his voice over that.
"Well, I'm part vegetable myself, you know," Envoy notes, crossing her arms. "That is, I have certain cellular functions that… anyway, it would be a good test before constructing a sturdier body."
"And then there is the other problem," Morpheus remarks.
"Which other problem?" Envoy asks. There are no end of problems she can imagine.
"Well … waking up would not free you of my presence," Morpheus comments dryly.
Envoy blinks several times at this. "That isn't a problem, so long as you know how to make breakfast," she points out with a grin.
"I have no idea how to cook outside what I have learned listening to dreams," Morpheus admits, "And truly … some people dream of scary things."
"All of my food is freeze-dried anyway," Envoy points out. "Unless there is a secret stash of fruit and vegetables on this base, hidden in some sort of stasis chamber. Dr. Von Bronson seems like he'd be the hording type… "
"You are going to try this, aren't you?" Morpheus asks. "You have always been stubborn… "
"I like being stubborn," Envoy retorts. "And it will give me an excuse to search for my missing pets as well."
"Well, I suppose that if it works I will be able to keep you out of trouble," Morpheus admits. "And repay you for helping me when I needed it."
"The difference being that I'm not being harassed by gods," Envoy points out. "At least, not yet. I think they're on my side this time. And if anyone knows what's going on, it may be Barada… "
"I would not trust them. Remember what they did to me … and what one did to you," Morpheus points out.
"I need to know what their position is on whatever is going on," Envoy says. "Barada sent me on this quest. The Tribunal say I've set back their plan. So… the gods of Sinai are possibly opposed to the Tribunal. And I need allies."
"Do you really wish for allies that may stab you in the back? Again?" Morpheus asks.
"I've been stabbed before," the Aeolun points out. "Usually from the front or the side, but the principle is the same. None of them got me really angry about it though. And the gods need me, if the goal of the Tribunal is to have the engines all fail."
"I do not believe that is their plan," Morpheus notes, "But that is conjecture on my part."
"I don't know what to believe anymore," Envoy admits, sitting down and spinning the egg-shaped crystal. "I need to talk directly to the Sifras, probably."
"Another dangerous endeavor. Why do you not take up a safer hobby, like knitting?" her friend asks.
"I don't have any yarn," Envoy notes, and returns the egg to the other crystals. "I can look for some as I explore this base though. Once Dr. James comes back to check on me, I will see about collecting the eyes for the Leviathan, and then go to the Imperial Lifedome to get you a body."
"Do try to find one not too hideous," Morpheus jokes. "I will return to some work here. Do be careful and I wish you peaceful dreams guided by magic."
Envoy smiles, and says, "It's nice to have you with me, Morpheus. It's been very lonely lately."
