No good deed goes unpunished.
Id gone and talked to Wrath to help jog us out of our funk - and found myself sohow the middleman between clan and Undersider politics, since Id had the misfortune of being the one to suggest the plan out. Worse - most of the Undersiders knew as the sword saints family, which ant a lot of people trying to cozy up to to get an audience or ssage across to her. She had an actual fan club down here, people who were completely convinced she was sent by the goddess as a champion. Kidra I an. Wrath had her own fan club, for just about the sa reason, and they were way more religious about it. Also more tal-y. And most had glowing eyes too. The creepy kind.
Id have directed captain Sagrius to chase off Kidra's fan club and clout chasers, but the poor man hadnt done anything to deserve that kind of cruel and unusual punishnt. So I handled it myself with creative and subtle excuses. I think so of them might have caught on when I claid my pet fish was drowning and I needed to go, but thats life.
Nevertheless, I escaped each ti. And so long as it wasnt through a window screaming, I consider it a diplomatic success. I think among the Undersiders I've been listed under the category of a marine animal that hid under its shell day to day and scuttled around in the night when nobody was around to watch.
Which led blessedly back to my little workshop, nice and tucked away. Like walking into the baths after working around the low-heat sections for a few hours near the externals. The workshop doors opened up wide to let through, the two knights outside giving a nod as I strolled in.
All my stuff was where I left it, with one additional Winterscar knight ditating within the room. Given the contents inside my lair, and how curious the Undersiders could be, Id elected to always have at least soone inside this room to guard it at all tis. Normally that was myself, and occasionally Kidra or one of her bodyguards back when the rest of the expedition hadn't yet arrived.
Never Ankha, I wasnt about to go ask her to stand around in a room for a few hours with nothing to do. I have so self-preservation instincts left after all this, sohow. Her minions were just as likely to knock over sothing fragile while trying to bug the room, so they were also out of the running. Couldnt rely on anyone but family these days. But they served as excellent bouncers, courtesy of Ankah's top tier minion training.
The Winterscar knight stood as the bouncer now, giving a curt salute to as I walked over. Master Winterscar. Nothing to report, no intrusions detected. Are you planning to remain for long?
Yep. I said, already setting my sack and haggled goods down on a table. If Im lucky, I might even get more than two or three hours before soone cos knocking at the door trying to sell sothing.
Ill take my leave then, my lord. He said and bowed.
Thanks for the work. Hope it wasnt too monotonous while I was gone.
Better the calm than the storm. He said, giving a few more half-truths about enjoying the mont to clear his mind despite the outright pain of guard duty, but surface knights were trained and took their work seriously. Especially keeping watch over what is now the House and Clan's greatest secrets.
If the Undersiders still sohow stord past three Winterscar knights - which would already be amazing in it's own right, those knights did not ss around - and those undersiders sohow got into this workshop, they wouldn't get any kind of working Occult gear. When I inscribed fractals, I was very quick to make sure they were covered up and hidden away. Specifically the soul fractal, which was the ultimate key to all the tech I worked on. I didnt have the luxury of waiting to be back ho to work on this, but I wasnt going to take any chances either.
When the door closed and I was back happily alone with all my trinkets as company.
And one extra.
That was extrely odd, because I dont rember a small comms unit transceiver being in any of my project plans. Cathida seed to detect it at the sa exact ti that I did, cycling through her shields just to verify they were still online and working at peak capacity, while I yelped out for a scan around the room. A quick pulse showed no other recording devices or caras anywhere, the only thing different was this.
The little device blinked green, signal open. Cannot allow machines on surface. The comms box said, voice crackling with static, as if aware I was staring at it. Machine city on surface - disaster. Will destroy balance. Abandon path. Acknowledge.
It took a few seconds for my head to reboot and reassess the situation. Sohow, even with two elite knights guarding the entrance, and one knight outright standing inside the entire ti, all in relic armor that would be constantly vigilant, this comms unit had managed to find its way inside.
Hello mysterious voice in a box, nice to et you too. I said, letting my mouth take the wheel while the rest of was running down the list of possible ways this could happen and what to do about it. Mind being a little less cryptic?
You bring machines to surface. To build second Sanctuary. It said, ignoring my attempt to be cordial with it. City will be destroyed. All will die. Not a solution.
So. Whoever was on the other side of this comms unit, they had clearly overheard Wrath and I talking shop. They snuck under Wraths security and vision along with my own.
Thats very not good. Not a lot of people capable of doing that.
You know, its usually polite to tell the other who you are first, or so introduction. Maybe tell your favorite food or what you do for fun.
Not relevant. You cannot bring machines to surface. Acknowledge.
Given the broken wording, I had a hunch on who was speaking. Maybe it was one of the Screars that had walked in with ? That one with the scar, Yrob, spoke like this. Wrath wouldnt have thought it would be a security issue, so that explains how it had overheard everything. Youre a machine, aren't you? I asked, trying to get it to feed so more info.
Not relevant. Acknowledge danger bringing machines to surface. Acknowledge you leave path.
Cheeky little thing. Clearly didnt want to play hanger ball with .
Why cant you tell Wrath or so of the other machines this directly? I would think a dire warning like this would get their attention.
The box was silent for a mont, as if judging how much it wanted to say. They cannot know. Knowledge must be constrained. Less know, better.
Youre going to have to be a little more convincing than that. I dont usually listen to cryptic mysterious scrapshit, as a general rule. If youre not going to tell your na, or why you want to talk to out of everyone here, lets start with how you got this comm unit into my workshop.
You bring machines up. You expose too much attention to surface. You break your purpose. The box said, clearly refusing to answer the question. Worth a try.
Yrob seed like the most obvious choice so far, except that it was still a Screar, and would have been torn apart by any of my knights and had its skull used to kick around for fun. Not to ntion theyre rather large and hard to miss.
Second option was that this comm box could sohow walk around on its own. I picked it up, giving a closer look to see if I could spot small legs or so propulsion systems inside. Nothing jumped out at , both figuratively and literally. The comm unit looked like a regular comm unit, and given how it was designed, I was strongly suspecting this to be default equipnt from the Undersiders rather than anything machine. Even had a few scratch marks, making think it was outright flinched off soones belt.
So the machine stole a comm unit and sohow snuck it inside here. Odd set of talents.
Not sure what you an by purpose. I said, sending out orders to the knights nearby to search for possible intrusion. Sealing off my voice to just the helt, I asked for Journey to do so lifting for . What range is that comms unit capable of?
The box was scanned, a battery of different tests weighed and judged before the armor had a few hypothetical ideas. Probably nearby communication, as far as Journey can guess. Cathida said. Short wave, directed. Anything more than a few hundred feet and itll be static garbage. Whoevers on the other side, theyre nearby and dont want anyone else to notice or pick up the transmission. Awfully shy of them.
Can you triangulate the direction?
Running it right now. Damn thing was built to stop exactly that kind of sleuthing, Journeys going to need so ti to filter through the garbage data. If you can, walk around with it, itll help log signal strength. Buy so more ti deary, insult its mother or whatever you do best.
"Aren't you the one with the creative insults? I just piss people off by breathing."
"Exactly deary, and you're doing such a great job at it." She said, the HUD cycling through a bunch of panels as her suites booted up. This wisecracking armor had the audacity to draw a thumbs up in dashes and lines for a few seconds on display while the rest of everything was loading up.
The box wasnt aware of Cathida and I scheming together, continuing its rambling, clearly wanting to tell it that I was going to sohow convince everyone. It certainly liked to repeat itself.
Lets say I do manage to convince the machines to stay down here. Maybe they can all run off in a few hundred directions and lay low along the other machines. How about Wrath? Because leaving her down here where she can be picked off by Relinquished isnt on my to-do list, so were at an impasse. I said, half-honest and half just forcing it to keep talking while Journey did its thing.
A percentage ca up on display, showing ten percent.
The box was silent, as if grinding their teeth. Then it crackled back to life. Feather may go, remain inside safe colony walls. It said, reluctantly agreeing, sounding a lot like it was offering a compromise. Better keep under colony. Do not go outside. Danger. All other machines, do not bring. Extre danger. You break purpose. Too much attention. Too much go wrong. You ruin your purpose. Abort. Acknowledge.
What purpose? You keep ntioning it, and it's not making any more sense each ti. Be specific. I asked, honestly confused. Machines have directives, as far as I understand it, but humans are gods damned free to co up with whatever purpose we want.
A pause. Then it spoke again, sounding annoyed, like it was speaking to a toddler that refused to understand. And to be fair, I wasnt exactly in a good mood, expectations from random people did that to . Underground humans have purpose. They fight, they explore. They fight the war. They explore the depths. They are the soldiers. Surface humans do not fight in the war. Surface humans do not explore underground. They are not the soldiers. What are surface humans?
Twenty percent. Journey was sure taking its sweet ti here.
When you an soldiers, you're talking about the Imperials? Tsuyas army? I asked, taking a wild shot. Surface dwellers had been a thing even during the fabled empire. Maybe even older than the empire for all I knew.
Yes. Yes. War against the machines. Try to retake world. Machines war against humans. Try to exterminate all. Has not worked. Humanity still here.
I rolled my eyes, I noticed.
You did not notice. You do not see. Has not worked - because of you. What are you?
Has not worked because of ? No not , he ant what I represent - the surface humans it seems so obsessed about. Are you implying that the war isnt done and over because of sothing the surface clans are doing? Except, we dont fight machines normally. Or at all. Almost all scavengers are banned from going underground, except for knights and traders. And they're rare, sent out every so often only when needed. Were basically completely removed from all this.
Yes. Yes. Exactly. Purpose. Think human. She bribes mites to build you hos. The box said. She designed frostbloom to keep you fed. She calls down power to keep you warm. She sends Deathless to keep you together. She blinds enemy to keep you hidden. Why this? What are you?
Thirty three percent.
She. That had to be Tsyua.
I felt sothing on the back of my tongue. An answer was shaping up, and making my hairs stand on edge for how utterly ruthless and pragmatic that answer was.
The comms box went quiet for a mont. And then it went completely unhinged when I wasnt answering. Tree is cut down, ten tis, regrows ten tis - if root never destroyed. What are you? Armor is destroyed, a hundred tis, regrows a hundred tis - if fresh resources still available. What are you? Fire extinguished down to ash, a thousand tis, rekindled a thousand more - if ember still exists to reignite fla. What are you? Data is deleted, a hundred thousand tis, recopied a hundred thousand tis - if original never erased. What. Are. You?
There was a click, and the box went dark.
Cathida grumbled, You scared it off. Best Journey could find is that its northwest within three hundred ters. Thats a few dozen buildings to search through.
I wasnt listening much. Her voice flowed over like static.
Tsuya didnt see individuals, she saw roles and macro movents. First ti we t, she was perfectly willing to murder any amount of us so long as it served her end goals. Lord Atius was half convinced that the book left behind by Talen could have been a honeypot made to catch Relinquished, even at the cost of a clan. Because sothing was out there wiping out evidence on the surface.
What was the role of surface dwellers? Why had she gone through all that effort to keep us alive, fed, warm and hidden away? And how that related to the machines never being able to truly wipe out humanity.
It wasnt that humanity had eked out survival sohow by gritting our collective teeth and finding ways to beat back the darkness like Id thought. It wasnt that the goddess had gone insane over the years and forgotten about hunting down humanity, like Wrath had thought.
Ive seen the history Talen wrote, how past cycles of destroyed civilizations were dredged up and old things relearned. The key here was that they were destroyed.
Relinquished had won. She'd likely won many, many tis before. Wiping humanity off the earth again and again.
But Tsuya had a hidden ace. Sothing that let humanity keep returning. Thats why the machine goddess hounded after Tsuya as if there were no higher priority.
Its because there really wasnt any.
So long as Tsuya lived and held onto her secrets, Relinquished must have realized she could never end humanity. We'd be back sohow, again and again. From Relinquished's point of view, humanity would reappear from nowhere.
What are you? The machine behind the comms had asked, and the answer seed so obvious to now in retrospect. I sat down in stupefied silence into my chair. The greatest con ever pulled off in history.
I hide the most important things in a place she cannot conceptualize any longer, and she does the sa to .
Shed said it to herself, in the recording shed left behind. I hadnt realized what she had ant back then. She hadn't been talking about the gods damned book.
What are you? We were the ergency backup copy.
So long as the surface clans remained alive, Tsuya could always restart even if Relinquished wiped out the entire world. The discussion I had with Atius rang bright in my mind again. In the dim light of the room, using his coats buttons to display a board ga, pieces placed around.
Quirks that make little sense. He said, putting down pieces on the table with each sentence. Traditions that seem silly on the surface, only because the context behind them isnt exposed. The world doesn't make sense, simple solutions seem evident and yet haven't been implented. Often it's what you don't see that's the more important lesson. The dark spots in history.
The dark spots in history.
Why the occult had never really taken off, even if Talens book showed how to make simple heaters all surface clans would have replicated a million tis over in a few months. Or why the internet was never made, even if a random reacher nobody like already had so rudintary ideas on how to implent it - as a teenager no less.
If I could have thought of that, others had. And so of them would have had far more connections and skills than I did. Others who would have actually had the smarts, talent and connections to make it happen.
The internet would spread in every direction. All across the surface at first. And then it would have eventually started to spread down underground in so way. So where was it?
The dark spots in history.
To keep a hidden ace, it had to remain hidden. Anything that could make too much light in the dark could potentially break Relinquisheds geass.
Such as a direct wired connection to a location that shouldnt exist in her mind.
There must be sothing that kept watch over the surface, quietly wiping away evidence and progress where there should have been. Destroying entire sites, even if two humans happened to be walking inside, all on the chance that her enemy would find a backdoor past her ntal barriers.
Lord Atiuss unknown hostile entity that he'd taken such care to avoid triggering. It wasnt machine. It was Tsuya herself.
Cathida pinged my comms. The knights outside signaled soone was approaching. Wrath.
The Feather hadnt ever co out looking for like this before. When she opened the workshop door, I knew sothing terrible had happened.
We need to prepare. Wrath said, eyes filled with panic. Shes coming.
Next chapter - Mother pays a visit (T)
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