//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Arcadia // by obscurica //------------------------------// Fluid dynamics are hard. There are a number of things that determine atmospheric flow within the confines of an extraordinary, unimaginably large generational colony ship. Angular acceleration and velocity are the biggest factors – but they aren’t alone, and aren’t necessarily the majority of relevant effects. Internal structure accounts for a lot of it – and so does the thermals, the sources of which have now gone silent. Solvency for the ship’s internal dynamics takes up a significant part of its overall computational power – and requires, absolutely necessitates, constant maintenance and repairs. All of which was now thrown into chaos. The evacuation order throughout the Core was not initially taken seriously. There was, perhaps, a time when mandatory drills were regularly conducted – historical documentation from the earliest age even suggested that off-ship maneuvers were considered necessary, for a time. But eras of peace had taken its toll; the most anybody knew was where the exits were and how to progress through them. Worse, perhaps, was the fact that they only knew this much because the Princess’s calm, authoritative voice was regularly repeating the instructions across every display wall along the major corridors and within every home. It did help, at least a little. When the ship shook, the effects of the tremors magnified by the Core Shaft’s suspension, and the lights flashed off, illuminating the Shaft in the ruddy, red glow of emergency lights as backup capacitors clicked on, there wasn’t nearly as much chaos and casualty as there could have been in the resultant panicked stampede for the elevators. “She knew this was coming,” muttered Bowen as he absentmindedly accepted the emergency respirators handed out by Kuguzan medical responders at the base of the 45th Spoke. Around him, children were crying into their mothers’ arms, the old and enfeebled hurriedly treated for histamine-related complications, and the mutterings of confusion and discontent filled the air. The familiar dusklight of Arcadia’s evenings was gone, replaced by Surfaceside lamps and torches that cast nightmarish, unfamiliar shadows across the buildings of the Spokecity. Above them ominously groaned the Shaft; a rippling, malevolent and alien noise that seemed to echo in perpetuity. The ambient mutterings made a crescendo into notes of alarm as the Core Shaft seemed to crack – livid veins of otherworldly black vining along its surface. Onward towards Command. “She knew this was coming,” asserted Bowen to nobody in particular as he hurried out into the claustrophic night, the grand and endless expanses of the Arcadia now far too cramped, far too narrow and far too close for the comforts of many to whatever now infected the Core. He needed to find a network café. “But what the hell is she planning?” Already, what should’ve been a warm simulation of a summer night was quickly chilling. The clouds had come swiftly, bringing with them sheets of rain over Hopesville. Mayuya had raced against the storm on her way back to the library and residence at center of town – a race she lost, soaked to the bone and shivering by the time she and Spike managed it past the door. “Your core temperature’s sinking dangerously,” noted Spike hurriedly. “I’ll get you a towel and some clothes.” “No time!” snapped Mayuya as she started rummaging through bookshelves. “J-just get me an immunobooster or something. And s-see if there’s any hot water in the kitchen. I need to find everything I c-can on the Elements of Harmony…!” “And just what are the Elements of Harmony?” demanded Vaiva as Mayuya turned around and jumped, startled by the Alkonost’s sudden appearance. The heavy rain had hidden the shorter girl’s approach. “And how did you know who that… that girl was, huh? ‘Lunatic Sea?’” Mayuya paced back nervously as other dark shapes approached the open doorway. “What are you, a spy for her?” “Simmer down there, girl,” said Sylva. She and the others that Mayuya had met throughout the day stepped in, sheltered by a thin, gauzy cloud held aloft by Kichouko, rainwater sliding down a faint, crackling sheen of electromagnetic energy. “She was as scared as any of us. She ain’t no spy… but she does know what’s going on. Don’t you, hon?” Mayuya looked nervously at their expectant faces and nodded. “I was doing research on early Arcadian history. That’s how I knew about the… she was called Luna, over a thousand years ago, and was part of the Arcadian fleet before the civil war around then. She commanded the Arcadian escort ships, including the cruiser Kaguyahime, and managed to subvert and destroy everything but the Arcadia itself. According to legends and records, it was the Elements of Harmony that stopped her rampage.” Mayuya slumped into a chair in frustration and anxiety. “Only, I don’t even know what they are, where they’re found, or even what they did to her! And she’s already subverted the ship’s network! I was hoping to find more in Hopesville’s collection, but without the primary library-“ “The Elements of Harmony: Historical Notes and Analyses,” called out Pinkie from near a glass display case. “What- how-“ started Mayuya as she rushed over to the pink-haired baker. “How did you know?!” “Well, duh! If it hasn’t been seen in a thousand years, obviously you gotta check museum displays!” said Pinkie happily, skipping away as Spike came in with a tray of tea. “How does that even make… actually, I guess it does kind of…” Mayuya stared down at the climate-controlled case, where a moldering, wood-bound book sat; the words on its covers from a barely-remembered language. Aurelia gently patted her on the shoulders. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, shaking her head. “Pinkie is… she’s kind of like that.” “But it wasn’t even labeled- I had to use translator software to even know it was Late English-“ “Ahem. Lady Kira,” said Kichouko as she sipped from a teacup. “I believe we have more pressing issues at-hand?” She made a face at the taste. “…such as what temperature these leaves were steeped in. Spike, dear, Camilla sinesis gets rotated into the crop schedule only once every three Cycles. Please don’t waste it needlessly.” “…you’re right. Right. Let me just…” Mayuya slid a fingertip against an unseen latch under the lip of the glass cabinets top. It clicked, and she carefully lifted it open… What was “identity?” What were the peripheries and limits of self-recognition? What constituted its form and substance? Repairing shattered bone and butchered organs – that was… was almost child’s play now. Suspended animation would solve so very many technical problems on the voyage – give it nearly limitless reach and choice amongst the endless black velvet sea of heavenly spheres. It would allow them to switch from the demands of any possible port of call to every possible port of call. And, for the most part, it was feasible. Up until, at least, one started working with the human brain. The controversy had been growing since an Israeli lab attached the first crude prosthetic cortex onto the exposed brain of a lab rat, granting it restored senses and mental capabilities once lost. At what point does the emulation of cognition become the act of cognition? To what extent can a thought be replicated? These were questions that have been asked before, even in centuries past. But as their fates grew dimmer, and the windows of opportunity closed one by one, they were questions with renewed urgency. And it was tied to queries of grander, even more fundamental scope. What was to be their fate? To what extremes will they go to survive? She had already made up her mind as to the answer: to thrive, to the farthest lengths. Her sister disagreed. It was their first serious fight. It was far from the last. Mayuya’s first hint of any background machinations was in Kichouko’s boutique, not far from the library. The rain had subsided as quickly as it had come, replacing itself instead with fierce, chilling gales. The fashion designer had insisted that they begin preparations at her place – there was, she claimed, something there that was absolutely necessary to their cause. “…environmental suits,” said Vaiva, disbelief and skepticism in her voice as she looked down on the rainbow display. “All-environment suits,” corrected Kichouko primly. “They were a special commission from an industrial contact at New Chicago, near the 33rd Spoke. Two for each race. Heat, cold, shock and vacuum-resistant.” “…in rainbow colors.” “Bright pastel is fashionable this summer,” said Kichouko, self-satisfied by her craftsmanship. “I’ll just need a couple hours to refit them to our sizes, and…” Mayuya picked up the light purple one, her extended senses picking up the low electron thrum of nanocontrollers and electronic interfaces. “…Miss Suzu, who did you say commissioned this?” Kichouko gave a puzzled frown. “The instructions were handed to me by an agent from 33rd Industries. They didn’t say who specifically made the order.” She paused in recollection. “The instructions were very specific. Down to the size and accessories, even.” “The 33rd is specialized in materials and nanotech research and development,” said Mayuya distractedly as she checked over the interfaces. “Under the Princess’s direct supervision.” There was a short length of silence from Kichouko, then a gasp. “…d-do you mean the Princess herself commissioned – oh, it’s always been a dream to design something for her, but-“ “I wouldn’t know,” said Mayuya, shaking her head. “The Princess would always talk about my work and research when we’re together. She didn’t… didn’t talk much about her own.” She hesitated, a dark look crossing her face. “Um… I’m sure the Princess’s alright,” said Aurelia as she tentatively took a light yellow suit. “I don’t know what that… that girl meant by what she said, but it’s the Princess… right? She has direct control over the ship, so…” A kind hand rested on Mayuya’s shoulders. Mayuya shook herself out of her grim reverie. “You’re right. The Princess has… she’s shown me techniques and capabilities far in excess of what I thought were possible.” A hand tightened determinedly over the stiff fabric. “Miss Suzu, you said it was rated for vacuum work?” “Why, yes – a difficult standard to meet, as there hasn’t been demands for such in centuries.” “Then I at least know where the Harmonies are.” Life was breathed into the suit under her touch – diodes and indicators lit up as authorization, recognition and confirmation was exchanged between her and the apparel. “Please ask Spike for my credit account details, Kichouko. I’ll pay whatever the cost of the gear in full.” Mayuya walked briskly towards the dressing room. “Spike, alert the Guards after I leave – it may take more than one attempt to-“ “Whoa there, sister.” Sylva slammed a hand against the doorframe. “And what do you exactly mean by that?” “W-well, I’m going alone, of course,” said Mayuya, puzzled by the farmer’s upset expression. “Aw hell no, you ain’t! Vaiva, toss me that orange one. Kichouko, you tell us what all these fiddly doodads do while we make our way.” “What, but – it’s too dangerous! I can’t ask you to risk your life!” protested Mayuya, stamping her feet angrily. Vaiva laughed as she tossed the garment over to Sylva’s outstretched hand. “And you think we’d be okay with you doing the same? We’re Crew, Mayuya.” “We work together!” said Pinkie happily as she helped Aurelia tie back her long hair. “…or w-we perish alone,” muttered Aurelia, her hands trembling slightly as she unwound her wings. There were… things that lived in the unkempt forest of the ship’s stern. Automated maintenance units were sometimes seen scurrying through its undergrowth, headed to purposes unknown. It was rumored that some of the oldest, most inscrutable yeoman units hibernated amidst its centrifugally distorted forest… and, whispered giggling generations of Hopesville youths, daring each other to sneak around its peripheries, that they’ve gone feral in the intervening centuries. Horror stories were told of what lay beyond, stories and nearly forgotten memories of radioactive heat and grotesque mutations – relics of the nuclear thunder of the ship’s ORION engine. It was not uncommon, in some centuries, to speak of a fourth race – a degenerate chimera tribe, afflicted with the hellish curse of those lean and distant years where the vast assembly of the engine itself was cannibalized to feed the desperation of the many, regardless of the consequences and heedless of personal safety. Such stories were wildly exaggerated, claimed the Core. They still had camera feeds directed into the depths past the Everfree, telling of a lonely and desolate expanse of vacuum-preserved corpses, mortal and RYUU alike, and abandoned machinery. It was a gravesite, nothing more – nothing could live within it, at least not for very long. Mayuya desperately hoped this remained true. Their gear, claimed Kichouko, could easily stand the radioactive spillovers left behind by the cracking of the gargantuan pushplates, designed to catch repeated blasts from thousands of shaped nuclear charges, and itself pushed to and past its limitations in that desperate flight from a dying world. She had joined in, expressing optimism she didn’t personally feel, with the theory that the radiation would even be a boon – the enemy they faced would be just as hindered as Kichouko and her, were she to use any form of nanotechnology to pursue them. And, as far as she could tell, their enemy was all-nanotech. An all-devouring nightmare, unhindered by ethics, by morality, by limitations, and which flourished with greater strength and capability the more it devoured. “…s-so we should be just fine!” she finished lamely as they half-hiked, half-crawled their way up against centrifugal force, the Kuguzan farmer and baker helping her and Kichouko along while Vaiva and Aurelia scouted ahead – or, in Aurelia’s case, nervously flew ahead, well within sight. “…within the engine bloc. With all that radiation. And lack of air,” said Sylva bluntly. “…well, if you put it that way…” “Here, hold on a sec – ooph.” Sylva shoved aside a rotten trunk blocking what to their orientation was a steep, uphill trail. “Things ought to get lighter after a few hunner’d more meters. Ain’t that right, Aurelia!” she called out. “Y-yes!” Aurelia responded, perched on the branch of a massive, wooden arch where two oaks had conjoined. “There’s a small spring up ahead too.” “Oh. Good,” said Kichouko laboriously. “I must say. This is… more strenuous an excursion than I’d thought.” “Huh. I suppose we could take a short break up ahead,” mused Sylva. “Aurelia! Tell Vaiva to-“ “RUUUUUUNNNNNN!” screamed Vaiva as she dived towards them desperately. Behind her, illuminated only by the light of their shoulder lamps, loomed a wall of black claws. Open warfare upon the streets and corridors of the Command Nexus. The flash and boom of armaments against nightmarish forms. The cries of anguish of the ambushed and tormented. The silent, eerie shuffling of a growing mob of the damned. There were roughly ten thousand guards amidst the entirety of the Arcadia’s population. Only a few hundred were in uniform at any one time – policing in a panoptic surveillance society is minimally required, after a few centuries of adjustment, and mainly exists to settle private disputes with as little public spillover as possible. Most of them effectively held two jobs – training and drilling every few quarter-Cycles as a means of bolstering their credit valuation while working in more mundane enterprises the rest of the time. Of the handful that had seen active duty and conflict, absolutely none of them were prepared to go against a foe such as this. The Commander-General of the Guards, second in command to the Princess herself, was not a man unused to terror. The ship’s surveillance security was not perfect. In his sixty years of duty, he’d crossed knives with five dozen murderers and lunatics – an excess, he felt, compared to the more sedate years of his immediate predecessor. And here he faced his sixth, and it was not an enemy he could simply knock out with a taser and leave in the brig to rot. Lunatic Sea. Ichor oozed across every wall, smearing its way across every surface. An endless, vast sea of darkness. An ocean that was slowly engulfing him from the feet up. He could hear her. She was speaking to him. Insane whispers coaxing through his implants. A thousand voices, all of one madwoman, pleading, seducing, coaxing, demanding, threatening… “Where where WHERE IS IT WHERE ARE THE ELEMENTS” He fought the intrusion. A thousand years of Kirin cryptographical arts was his shield. And he was especially augmented against such means of attack. Embedded software rallied against the attempt to rape his thoughts for privileged secrets. A thousand years of what was still ultimately and merely human cryptography was drowned like a starved rat against a crushing tide of darkness. Sh- she knows- I’m sorry- stop- the pain- the-/I know- I know now- For the barest moment, the sea stood still. A rippling scream of hatred and frustration lanced its way through the bulk of the Core Shaft. A lightning bolt, carrying a single urgent message, crackled its way sternward. She had neglected this possibility – a thousand years of plotting, and her sister still outguesses her- STALL THEM They were trembling. Cowering desperately behind the same rotten log that they had dismissed as a mere inconvenience just a minute ago. The five of them, desperately praying for the passing of that monstrous shadow. The five of them? There was laughter. Mayuya’s curiosity got the best of her. She was the first to tentatively look over the log and up the hill. Pinkie was laughing. Bowled over by the gust of roaring black, and still laughing. “Girls, there’s nothing to be afraid of!” she called out. “See?” She pitched a muddy, unidentifiable handful over to Sylva. It was nothing more than a round, wheeled servitor, nearly choked in moss and swamp sludge. Its tool-arm clicked and whirred pathetically – they were far from an uncommon sight throughout the ship, though usually found in sewage pipes, organic reactors, and other areas of dirt and grime. Vaiva pumped her wings over to the biggest pile, and pulled a gnarled tree branch from it. “There’s hundreds of these suckers! I thought it was a monster! …n-not that I was scared or anything, I was just worried for you girls, so-“ “We all made fools of ourselves,” interrupted Sylva, tossing the drone away. “Well, we wasted enough time here. Let’s get goin’.” Mayuya was staring at Pinkie the entire time. They didn’t break eye contact as the others hiked along farther. “…but... Pinkie. …why did they stop?” The baker merely gave her a dazzling smile, and skipped along effortlessly to join the rest.