The micromanipulator gauntlets were starting to wear the fur from little spots on Vanca's paws. The skin of the bare patches was sore, despite the ministrations of the military medic who was starting to make pointed comments about the length of time she'd been spending in the prototyping rig.
The vast and complex thaumic space of the Arclight projector surrounded her with a swirl of lights and colours. Shapes moved inside it, some discrete like tropical reef fish, others connected and strung together with webs of fine fibres and vaporous flows, responding as she delicately altered the quantum waveforms associated with one of the banks of active cancellation crystals.
There was a quiet cough, little more than an unconscious clearing of the throat, from one of her audience, and Vanca's ears twitched. Cougher has started again; next it will be Shuffler. Her concentration wavered, mind distracted and trying to track the stupid noises her audience of military techs were prone to make. No sound of boot-and-concrete, instead there was the rasp of a claw running over fabric. Of course, Scratcher; this one should have known. Vanca could see him now, hunched over and with a slightly bored expression, paws jammed into the pockets of his equipment vest and moving like they had a life of their own. The desire to scream at them was strong and building.
The ponies, in contrast and despite their far greater efforts, were absolutely silent, even to the point of controlling their breathing. Vanca could feel that she was at the laser-focus of their attention, and it made her motions steady again, despite the fatigue. A wave of her paw altered the drift direction of a plane of hafnium atoms at the heart of one crystal, nudging it into the right position to match the model she'd constructed over most of the last two days. It will be easier to replace the crystal than reverse these changes, she thought, pushing the idea of failure away.
The alterations were fundamentally the same as those she'd developed for the portable shield generator, but the scale of a full-sized Arclight projector was almost daunting. The Hive only has twenty of these things left... she thought, relaxing slightly as one of the ponies intruded into the thaumic space. It replicated her changes, first slowly, then with increasing speed, across the other elements in the array. Vanca nodded slightly, the motion constrained by the high-resolution visualiser crown and its optical connections to the research-grade volumetric thaumic scanner that surrounded her like the petals of a flower.
The servitor, the highest-rated specialist in crystal thaumic systems that the Military could lay its paws on, had gigaseconds of experience that spanned most of the development of Arclight, all the way from the early models, and it showed. It sighed quietly, magic shutting off. Vanca blinked and waggled her jaw, dropping out of the visualiser's induced lucid dreaming state.
The reef-and-poison-gas virtual space evaporated, revealing the innards of the Arclight projector, harshly-lit by rows of brilliant lights. A great, hollow geode, lined with inward-pointing needles, held up by a set of gimbals that allowed it to rotate freely in all directions. At the moment the thing was split in half, the whole aircraft pulled nose away from tail. Despite its size, it was small against the flat plane of the factory's assembly floor.
"Well?" Vanca asked, directing her question at the lead pony and ignoring the motion of Shuffler, his boot scuffing the smooth floor. She pulled off the visualiser, then stood and carefully edged out of the scanner's detector elements to massage the aching muscles of her calves.
"Master, I have propagated your modifications to all the nodes within the suppressor array. This Arclight unit will no longer be an effective suppression device, but..." the creature looked uncomfortable for a moment, then ruffled its wings. "...I think it will perform as you intend."
Of course it will! Vanca curled her lips in a snarl, then bit back on what she was about to say, nodding instead. Not just a simulation of sapience. "These ones will see," she said, keeping her voice calm. "How long will it take the pony to re-energise the array?"
"Five kiloseconds to close the aircraft back up, and..." The pony lifted its head as if to gaze into the crystalline interior, but kept its eyes shut. "...at least another twenty to magically align the nodes to your specificati--"
"This is not acceptable! The servitor will complete the work within--"
Vanca took two fast steps and backpawed Scratcher across the muzzle. "This work will not be rushed," she snarled, stepping forwards as he struggled to get his paws out of his pockets. "This pony has twice the skill of this one--" She raised a paw to strike him again, but a paw gripped her upper arm, arresting the motion.
"That's enough, Academician," Agent Lilla said, pulling her away. "Ulamir, call the medic." She gestured to one of the other techs to help Scratcher, who was cradling his bloody muzzle in his paws.
"This one is not sorry," Vanca said stiffly. "The wrong order to the servitor could result in failure."
"Lilla knows... but don't do that again." She frowned at Vanca, but her lips twitched as if she was struggling to suppress a smile.
Vanca grunted, then shook Lilla's paw away and turned back to the servitor. "No matter what these fools say," she said, gesturing to the huddle of techs, "the pony knows that it is critical to the Hive that this work is successful." Vanca said the word carefully, pausing to make eye contact with the pony. "Accuracy is far more important than speed when trying to suppress a specific spell type. Does the pony understand?"
"Yes, Academician," the pony said, lowering its head. "We will begin at once." Its horn lit up and subtle colours flashed over the aircraft.
"Vanca isn't in the servitor's chain of command. How did she manage to...?" Lilla looked at her appraisingly, then turned to watch the servitors work.
"Because this one actually knows what she is talking about, and the ponies have watched her work. They know she is right, and they know that those idiots will at best slow the work down. They will complete the task in spite of them, not because of them." She prodded Lilla sharply on the shoulder, hard enough to make the Agent look annoyed. "Lilla will make sure that no one interferes with their work. No 'suggestions', no hovering and no supervision until they are finished. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Master," Lilla muttered, sighing. Her comms bracer pinged and she glanced down at it. "Command has something else that needs your talents, Academician," she said, gesturing to a grey pony who'd just entered the assembly cavern.
"What does Merlon want?" Vanca asked, "The pony already knows everything Vanca does about the Arclight refit programme." Her ears went up at the injuries on the mare's body, a mixture of small burns and shallow gashes, all bearing the raw look of hasty thaumic medicine. "These ones won't be ready to test the teleport denial systems for at least..." She turned to glance at the other ponies; they had already mated two halves of the Arclight projector together and were just starting to shift the outer hull back into position. "...a hundred kiloseconds, perhaps two."
"I believe this relates to your other work, Academician," the pony said, "on the Lunar Kinetic Driver and the way the last shot was deflected."
Agent Lilla made a choking sound, then inhaled sharply. "Vanca has a way to stop the Hammer?!"
"Not quite," Vanca said, waving a paw sharply. "Pony, Vanca doesn't see how this will help the Hive; it is dependent on the rogue doing the work for us."
"Yes, Academician, quite correct. Strategist Orgon has not shared his detailed plans with me, but I suspect this is what he desires." Merlon lifted one hind leg and stretched it, wincing slightly. "We need to leave immediately."
How will Orgon manage that-- Realisation struck, blowing away the thought. "The pony is going to teleport this one?" Vanca took a few steps to a mobile workbench, rummaging through the clutter on its surface and producing an instrument with the blocky look of a prototype. "Ready. Vanca suggests the pony get some distance from the Arclight before jumping," she said, stabbing at buttons under a tiny display.
Pearly-grey magic condensed around Vanca's midsection and Merlon flexed her wings, hindquarters bunching. "You are relieved, Agent Lilla," Merlon said, then brought her wings down and leapt into the air.
"Damn right Lilla is! The pony won't make this one disappear!"
Merlon laughed and waggled her wings, then flew for the far end of the assembly cavern, climbing rapidly. "Ready, Academician?" she said, still smiling.
There's something not right about this pony, and this one has to trust her life to it... but the chance to traverse a wormhole! Vanca tightened her grip on the instrument and nodded. Wait, why doesn't this one just talk to the rogues remotely? She opened her mouth to speak--
~~~discontinuity~~~
===
Gravity felt her eyelids droop. They'd picked a quiet spot on the valley side, overlooking the sweep of the transfer camp. Lines of ponies, the inmates from four breeding centres, wended their way from the river bank and across the flood-meadow that occupied the rest of the valley floor up to its steep, glacially-excavated sides. At the tip of each line were a few ponies removing Blessings; others moved up and down the line, talking to those waiting and settling any uncertainties and nerves. It seems to be going well so far... Gravity thought, her mind wandering as the fatigue slowly washed out of her body. The freshly freed clustered in little groups, drifting away, then would take off with an escort to vanish with little pulses of light. The sound of hundreds of teleports, a continuous rumble like that of distant lightning, washed over her.
"There must be discipline," Halla said. "Without a strong chain of command there will be factions and chaos in the time where we need solidarity the most." Ellisif clacked her beak quietly and made a sound a little like a chuckle, which Halla ignored.
"I will not force anyone to fight," Fusion said gently, "and I suspect we'll have enough other tasks to keep everyone occupied."
"You ponies, perhaps," Halla grumbled. "I can't fault the speed at which the new settlements are being constructed. You are all just so eager to be useful. Anyway, it's not the will to fight that concerns me, more who they will want to fight." She shook her head and sighed. "I never thought the dogs would sue for peace so quickly. There have already been desertions."
"A few pairs and family groups dispersing into the mountains to live alone." Ellisif fluttered her wings, stretching out each foreleg in turn, flexing the talons. "What can they do? I think we should take advantage of them -- give them supplies and good will, tell them they can come back. They can act as scouts. I doubt many of the actual soldiers will go."
Halla hissed, eyes narrowed, then relaxed and nodded grudgingly. "They'd be too much trouble to guard, I suppose." She turned to Fusion. "So you won't interfere when we have to enforce the law?"
"If your people want you in charge, however you want to place yourself at their head, and as long as you rule fairly and with their consent..." Fusion looked uncomfortable, unfolding and folding her wings. "...then I suppose not."
"I wouldn't turn into a despot, if I were you," Gravity murmured, looking at Halla with wide, innocent eyes. The gryphoness opened her beak, the closed it again, shrinking away. Gravity held her gaze for a long breath, then turned away, attracted by the sight of a pair of ponies making their way up the steep slope to where they talked. Is that...?
"We haven't done all this just to replace one set of masters with another," Fusion said, "but I won't interfere with how you want to set up your new society, should we get a chance to do so. I certainly don't want to make all the decisions. It was one thing when there were just a few of us, but now..." She waved a wing over the expanse of the valley and its lines of ponies.
"Well, I think you are out of luck, at least for the time being. You saw how Orgon was acting." Ellisif dragged her talons through the thin alpine vegetation, gouging up gravel and small plants. "He knows you are the real power here... and you are, no matter what I or Halla or anybody else thinks. He doesn't take us seriously."
"Then we will make our decisions together. I won't go alone."
I might, if you are too stubborn, Gravity thought, squinting at the climbing figures. Their approach was slowing and both ponies were clearly nervous. Dam and Sire! I didn't think the medics had finished with dam yet. She watched them for a few moments more, the chatter of Fusion and the two gryphons little more than an irritating background noise, something about how to select the right people for governing the civil part of their new state. Why are they coming here? Oh... she thought, breathing out softly as confusion turned to understanding. She glanced at Fusion, who was nodding earnestly at something Ellisif was saying, then stood up, shaking briskly. "Fusion, we need to take a break."
"But I--" Gravity reached out with one wing and pushed Fusion's muzzle around until it was pointed at Plasma and Helium. Fusion fell silent, nostrils flaring and eyes wide. "I can't. I failed them too badly. Our sire made that perfectly clear."
"They came all the way up here, by hoof. It's unlikely he wants to shout at you again."
Ellisif stood, gripping Halla on the shoulder. "Come on, we can thrash out the details later. I want to see how the troops are doing with those new gunships." The other gryphoness grumbled something indistinct, but didn't move until Ellisif tightened her talons, then shook her off with a glare. She finally stood and followed Ellisif as she jumped into the air and swooped down the valley.
Reaching out with one hoof, Gravity tapped Fusion on the chest until she stopped staring at the approaching ponies. "Come on, let's go down to meet them."
"There are another six breeding centres to clear out, I think we should--" Fusion was breathing rapidly, nostrils flaring.
You can't tell me you are ready to run that wormhole spell again. I'm still tired from just holding up my end of it. "What, our dam, just out from under the care of the medics, has walked up a mountain to see you, and you want to fly away?"
"No, but--" Fusion jumped to her hooves, strands of pastel mane fading to plain pink.
"You went through the heart of Naraka and faced down half the dogs' fleet. Don't tell me you are afraid of talking to our parents?" Gravity said, hooking one wing over Fusion's withers and applying enough force to make the mare stop fidgeting.
Fusion's head drooped and her body sagged. "What if it is worse than last time? Our sire hates what I've done, what if our dam does too?" Her wings shifted under Gravity's embrace, wrapping around her barrel. "If I don't open that box it can't hurt me. Better to never know than find out the truth."
"You'd rather live in uncertainty? What if they don't think like that? You'd just abandon them without support in this new and chaotic world?"
"No," Fusion said, shuddering. "I'd rather face a dozen Arclights."
"That's what I thought. You are stronger than you think you are." Gravity snorted. "Certainly stronger than me. I could never have held myself together at the start of all this." Her eyes became distant, focussed on some internal scene. "I very nearly turned you in, at the beginning. I can't help but think what might have happened if I had... I was going to call Salrath, did you know that?"
"That would have ended very badly for both of us," Fusion said, sniffing and rubbing her eyes. The colour of her mane started to return.
"Oh yes. And Naraka would still be taking its terrible harvest. If you ever think you did the wrong thing, if others say you made poor choices, remember that."
"There's still a whole world of ponies to save." Fusion shook out of Gravity's embrace and took a step towards Plasma and Helium. The pair had halted a score of lengths below and were looking up at them. "As much as I want our parents to be happy, all those others have to come first." She opened her wings, then closed them and half trotted, half slid down the scree slope, Gravity following her down.
"Sire," she said, lowering her head in Helium's direction. He stared back, seemingly rooted to the spot. Plasma, her cream coat looking like she hadn’t groomed in days, shuffled a little closer, ears forward and with a frown across her muzzle. "Dam, how are you feeling? I didn't know the medics had finished with you."
"Fusion, lift your head up. You look like you are afraid of being kicked. I've had a long talk with Helium and I know everything that has happened over the last days, and--"
"I'm so sorry," Fusion said, head drooping further, "I've hurt so many ponies, got you nearly killed, I..." She swallowed, mouth opening but no words coming out.
Behind her, Gravity sighed. Oh, for the Maker's sake! She cleared her throat loudly, staring meaningfully at Helium. The stallion jerked as if stung, then jumped forwards.
"Yes, you have." Helium blinked, suddenly looking at her like it was for the first time. His ears flicked back, lying flush with the sides of his head.
At his side, Plasma stirred uneasily, looking confused. "My mate, we talked about this, I thought--"
"You talked, not me. I said I'd help you get to Fusion, but I can't do this, I can't... The Master's service is hard, but it was always their right to make decisions for us. " His mouth worked like he'd eaten something foul. "You killed so many of them... and how many of our friends died when the Hammer came down upon us? Ponies we've known for over a gigasecond, ponies who could have lived for several more." He made a choked sound and shook his head, taking a stumbling step backwards, his gaze now fixed on Fusion. "I said at the start that I wondered if it might be better if you had died, but now I'm sure. You have brought nothing but death and destruction to us all. I have no daughter." Another step and his wings opened wide in the dim overcast, sending him soaring back down the steep valley wall that Plasma had climbed so painfully.
Plasma let out a neigh, high and shrill, cut off by a sudden gasp and shiver of pain, but there was no response from the rapidly receding Helium. "Mate, no..." she said, trailing off, then wheeled to face Fusion and Gravity. "I knew he was having trouble with this, but I thought he was okay with it. I thought he'd come to terms with it all." Her head drooped, muzzle brushing the small alpine plants. "I'm so sorry."
Rooted to the spot, Fusion followed the distant shape of Helium. Her legs trembled, bile leaving an acid tang at the back of her throat. "I told you, Grav, didn't I tell you?" Fusion's voice sank to a ragged whisper. "Opened the box and found out it was full of poison."
"Oh, Fusion," Gravity's ears drooped and she leaned into Fusion, teeth working along the ridge of her mane. "He'll come around."
"Will he?" Fusion said, the whisper fading to almost nothing. She didn't react when Plasma pressed against her other flank. "What if he's right? We've made a kind of peace with Lacunae, but what will the other Hives and the Court do?"
===
~~~discontinuity~~~
--Merlon appeared at the centre of the operations room. There was more space here than she remembered; another pony was busy moving the consoles to further increase the empty area, which was carefully marked out with warning tape. A landing zone! She carefully deposited Vanca on the floor, stepping away when the Academician waved an instrument in her direction.
"Too fast!" she snarled, stabbing at the controls. "This one needs better equipment."
Merlon ignored Vanca, watching Orgon come out of a side room. He looked tired and rumpled, as if awoken from a brief nap. "Master, I have the Academician. Is there anything else you need?" Merlon bowed her head, dropping to one knee.
"This one will have an important task for you in a moment," Orgon said, looking at her in surprise, then waving his paw with a vague upwards motion.
He didn't expect that. When was the last time I bowed correctly? Stupid mare, you know he thinks that sort of treatment is a waste of time! Merlon stood and pricked her ears forward, trying to look attentive.
Vanca ignored Orgon when the Strategist cleared his throat, only looking up from her instrument when he gently placed a paw over the display. "Academician, this one understands the first of the modified Arclights is in production?"
"Yes, yes." Vanca pulled the machine away, trying to see the display, then sighed when Orgon persisted. "What? This one has much work to do."
"Vanca's work on the Hammer strike. How likely is it that the ponies understand that they very nearly deflected the shot?"
"How could they not? This one has to assume--" Vanca fell silent and looked thoughtful when Merlon shook her head. "Really? Vanca supposes that the level of feedback isn't great..." She grinned. "That would be a shock for the Court, if their next strike went somewhere else." Her mouth dropped open. "Wait, the Hive has opened a dialogue with the rogues? One that does not involve the exchange of missiles?"
Orgon gestured at the screen, currently showing a view of some alpine landscape, dotted with the pastel colours of many, many ponies. "Of a sort. Negotiations are not easy..." Orgon paused, lips lifting in a smile that did little more than expose his teeth. "...actually, they are very easy when the other side has all the power. All this one can do is make it expensive for them. It is fortunate that the ponies are not especially demanding."
Vanca narrowed her eyes. "This one is happy to help, but why is this one here? Vanca can tell the pony what she knows over a video feed and not be distracted from all the other things the Strategist wants her to do."
"Yes, Vanca could... but Orgon thinks this would be better explained in person. In any case--" He turned and did something to one of the consoles, replacing half the video window with a different view. A carefully manicured landscape, with regular fields and a distant ring of mature forest, under a blue sky. Over to one side was a pyramidal building, half hidden behind a swirl of pastel motes. "--Orgon thinks Vanca and her instruments might like a closer look at this." There was a flare of white-gold and a point of distortion opened in the sky, showing refracted and distorted copies of mountains. The motes flew upwards and into the scrambled space, vanishing.
"A kilosecond-scale, macroscopic wormhole," Vanca breathed, then shook herself. "Why would the rogues let this one go? She has... history with those two."
"Because, so far, they have been true to their word and have received everything they demanded." Orgon gave his chilly smile again. "Vanca brought Fusion into the world; she is the mother of the pony revolution. Orgon thinks that will help her reputation."
Vanca flinched. "This one was a fool," she said bitterly. "It should have been obvious to any intelligent observer that the servitors were fully sapient and not just clever simulations. Vanca didn't see the truth." She stabbed out a paw, poking Orgon in the chest. "The information was suppressed; how many knew?"
Patterns tumbled through Merlon's mind, easily visualised power that could freeze that paw solid or rip it from Vanca's arm in a welter of blood. She stepped forwards, but Orgon made an unobtrusive gesture and she subsided, pushing back the sudden urge for violence with gritted teeth. She must show some respect!
"Not as many as Vanca might think. The Church is very useful in that regard. Research into the minds of the servitors is against doctrine, so is not funded." Orgon gripped Vanca's paw, pushing it away. "This will no longer be an issue; the ponies are busy building a new polity, one with enough power that all these ones will hopefully not be killed. Vanca understands that the Court will use the Hammer against us, as a prelude to putting Lacunae under full administration, yes?"
"This one has done a significant amount of work for the military; she understands." Vanca pulled her paw away, then waved it at the screen. "How will it all work? The Church has a firm hold on the minds of the general population. They will not take kindly to this reversal of fortunes."
"Ask this one in a gigasecond. In the meantime, there will be a period of adjustment. Orgon anticipates that those with sympathies towards the Maker's Path will require the most adjustment." He shrugged. "He also imagines that saving the Hive from destruction will help."
"And if they fail?"
Merlon felt laughter bubble up in her throat, bursting out as a kind of strangled giggle, silenced when both Masters turned to stare at her. "I think, Academician, that none of us will worry about anything anymore."
"Does the pony need to get some rest?" Orgon asked, holding her gaze.
The laughter came back, and Merlon clamped her jaws shut, so all that escaped was a breathy whinny. "I--" She swallowed, closing her eyes and lowering her head. I cannot keep this secret any longer. The laughter died in the memory of what happened to the Security ponies, five lives turned to steam and glowing charcoal by hot green light, flashed through her mind. What she might say, all those internal practiced confessions, piled up in the place of the hysteria, so many words that none could escape. If I am dead, I cannot help. We are working with the rogues, so perhaps it will be different now? "I am sorry, Masters. I am fine. Today has been difficult."
"The pony has that right," Orgon muttered, laying a paw on Merlon's withers. She leaned into the touch, increasing the contact, and he left his paw there. "This one needs someone he trusts to act as an envoy to this new... equestrian polity."
"Vanca is a scientist, not a diplomat!" The academician snorted, shaking her head.
Something about Orgon's stance and the way he reacted to Vanca's words lanced straight to the back of Merlon's mind, and her eyes went wide. No no no no--
"Yes, Academician, Orgon is aware of that." His eyes flicked up to the sky for a moment, sighing silently, then he looked back to Merlon, his gaze settling on her like a crushing weight.
"Yes, Master," she said, the words nearly inaudible. That's it, then. "Will..." Green light, burning flesh. "...will I be allowed to return?" They will try to do to me what I have already done to myself. How can my Master trust me ever again?
Orgon was silent for a long time. "The pony may not wish it." He remained standing next to her, the paw that had been on her shoulder moving to fiddle nervously with his comms bracer. "In the end, these ones will have to work with unconditioned ponies if they are to survive. The pony knows more about the internal workings of the Hive than almost any Person; she is the perfect representative. This one needs the others to trust him, at least a little..." Merlon's ears drooped, tears starting to leak down her cheeks. "...so to answer the pony's question, in some capacity, yes."
Merlon sniffed, clearing her throat. Now! Do it now! "Before you decide, Master, you need to know that I have betrayed you already." She fell to her foreknees and then to her belly, closing her eyes, but couldn't ignore the slight sounds around her body. Quiet footsteps, the feeling of being at the centre of a rapidly opening circle of empty space. There was still one person next to her: Orgon.
"What does the pony mean? What has Merlon done to make her think that?" Orgon's voice was quiet, nearly silent.
"It was during the questioning of Scalar. I was alone, surrounded by suspicious and nervous Masters. You gave me a mission, Master, and I couldn't think of a way to complete it successfully without..."
"But the pony did complete its mission. Orgon has seen the reports from the Security ponies she has trained in the new magics."
I have passed on everything I learned. Trained a cadre of Security ponies on the new magic. Merlon nodded, fresh tears squeezing out from under closed lids and running down her muzzle. I am no longer useful. "I did. I--" She swallowed, then inhaled a great gasp of air. "I removed my own Blessing." There was a sudden wordless exclamation of shock, echoed from a number of throats around the room. Her muscles tightened and she hunched, trying to become so small that she might disappear. Merlon waited for the near-silent hum of Orgon's hidden weapon, or the sudden jack-hammer thunder of the security guards' railguns.
"This makes a lot of sense, now that Orgon thinks about it," Orgon said in a distant whisper. "It was the only way the pony could have extracted the Council core group in the way that it did." His paw touched her on the head, just below the horn. "So for all this time, Merlon continued to serve, despite all she knows," he said, voice stronger but the words unsteady.
He's not angry! Why is he not angry? She opened her eyes, seeing the wonder on Orgon's face. What does this mean?
"Relax, Merlon," he said, "this one is surprised, but considering all the other things that have happened over the last megasecond... he always knew the pony had untapped reserves of strength. Orgon thought that the shock of the others removing the pony's Blessing would limit her usefulness, but since she's already done it..." He smiled suddenly, extended paw running down her muzzle to gently lift her head up. "These ones might be able to surprise Fusion yet."
===
"They are sending Vanca? What as, some sort of a present?" Gravity kicked at the ground, glaring out across the busy valley. “Maker’s breath, imagine that one wrapped up in ribbons, nice bow on her tail…”
"She has information about the Hammer and Hive defences." So why her and not a military expert? Fusion snorted and shuffled her hooves. I suppose all of them will stay well out of our direct reach, at the other end of the clairvoyance link. "I still get the occasional nightmare about her and that automatic surgeon..." She shivered, then ruffled her wings. "It might also be as a present. Orgon is ruthless; he may well think of her as expendable."
"Well, it better be massively useful, whatever the reason. I'm not averse to breaking the rest of her bones."
"We cannot inflict enough pain on them to make up for the past," Fusion said, her tone neutral.
"I'd like to give it a go," Gravity muttered, then sighed. "Fair enough. I will wait to see what the bitch says. How is she getting here?"
"That's the other part of the message, I think. We're getting an envoy. It's the same dapple-grey mare who interrogated Scalar. Her name is Merlon."
"Showing us they can use stolen magic." Gravity's tail lashed, sending blue-and-sparkle almost-hair flying. "We'll see what she's made of, after that Blessing comes off." There was a sense of building power from Gravity, of brutal magic just below the threshold of real. "She won't be able to hide anything from me."
Fusion marshalled her own strength, letting the ghosts of patterns hover in her awareness. Orgon didn't even try to get us to leave her enslaved. He really is serious... or this is a trap. How many ponies could this Merlon train? She ran through what it would take to capture Gravity and herself, all without raising an alarm, then shook her head. We are too strong for such subtlety, and he'd have sent a bomb already. There was another thump-and-flash, this one away from the normal teleport arrival zone.
A grey pony appeared, carrying a single dog and surrounded by a halo of unidentifiable objects. Fusion's heart-rate trebled, then she relaxed, shadow sight showing nothing unusual about the packages or the dog she carried.
"I'll get Redshift to check her gear; it's probably better if you greet our guests," Gravity muttered, staring hard at the slowly descending pony and her cargo. "He said he was nearly finished with checking that tactical map table the security ponies brought along. You don’t need to worry about getting interrupted by Halla or Ellisif, either. Both of them are practically ready to lay an egg, or whatever it is gryphons do, they are that excited."
Alleged full access to Lacunae military positions and what intelligence it has on the other Hives... I suppose it has to be real if we are to help each other. "Live births, just like ponies," Fusion murmured. "Spiral too, please. I want to make sure Vanca isn't carrying something subtle."
Gravity jumped into the air, hovering for a few moments. "I think it's too late for that, Fusion, what with all this lot! I'll bring our other guests as well," she called down, then headed towards the knot of transport aircraft the dogs had sent to support the gunships.
Fusion nodded absently, watching as the grey mare landed gently a length in front of her, neatly arranging her burden of bulky packages. Vanca was deposited last, the Academician staring back at Fusion with wide eyes. Something on her wrist bleeped, then one of the packages emitted a mournful wail. "Sorry; this one was carrying a thaumic sensor, for the wormhole transit--" Fumbled prodding of her bracer silenced the alarm.
"I certainly hope that is all you have," Fusion said, her ears folded back and magic forming a glittering shell around Merlon and Vanca. The other mare just nodded meekly and didn't attempt to break the field shutting her in. Shadow sight had already shown a lack of anything high energy or more than the normal crystal thaumic systems she was familiar with from her time at the Institute, and Fusion relaxed her grip on the power.
"This one has--" Vanca cleared her throat, ears drooping as Fusion continued to stare at her, then gritted her teeth. "This one has information on the operation of the Hammer; she assumes that Gravity Resonance is the pony to discuss this with?"
"I remember the last time we met, Academician." Unable to move and shoved into the maw of a thaumic imager, robot arm descending to her face. "You were going to cut open my skull while I was still alive."
Vanca looked away. "This one has done many things that she is no longer proud of. Does the pony want a full accounting of Vanca's crimes? There were five other experimental subjects before Fusion; all of them are dead. Three died instantly, the other two were euthanized after receiving unsurvivable doses of radiation."
"Is that all?" A particle beam, carrying enough energy to turn an adult pony into an indistinct shadow on a wall. Blood was thundering in Fusion's ears, and the shimmering pastels of her mane were moving like waves on a storm-tossed sea. She started to feel warm, and Vanca moved away slightly, paws coming up to shield her face. “Hardly worth thinking about, really.”
"Directly, yes. Vanca was indirectly involved in the deaths of up to fifteen more, as she was a part of a number of wide-ranging studies." She dropped her paws and stood up straight, squinting directly at Fusion. "The fact of pony sapience is not generally known or believed, but this is no excuse. Vanca is not stupid and should have realised the truth, but Korn was the one who dealt with the ponies." Her ears drooped when she mentioned Korn's name. "This one's Student knew, Vanca is sure of it." She twisted her paws together, then let them fall. "Well? What is the pony going to do?"
Breathing hard, Fusion turned tight circles, hooves kicking scars in the thin soil. "I am sure there are other dogs who have done far worse things. Was Vanca ever involved in Naraka's work?"
The Academician flinched. "No. Fundamental thaumic research never required that much... material."
"Foals, Vanca, foals!"
"Yes, foals. Hundreds and hundreds of foals, killed over a gigasecond or more. Vanca is not a believer, but many of those in the biothaumic sector consider what they do to be the Maker's work. They are either convinced, as Vanca was when she gave the subject any thought at all, that ponies are just a clever simulation of sapience, or they believe they serve a higher power."
Fusion closed her eyes, focussing on her breathing and pushing away the sudden desire to rend and smash and burn until there was nothing left. "What do you have for us, Vanca?" she asked finally, voice raw but under control.
"Flight and delta-V profiles for the Hammer strike. This one believes Gravity could have shifted the point of impact if she'd known the Hammer's operational parameters."
Grav isn't going to want to hear that. "I should be with her for that briefing; she already thinks she failed us." Fusion watched her sister take off with Redshift and head in their direction, two dogs following in a haze of violet magic.
"Who are those People--" Vanca's mouth dropped open and she took an unconscious step forwards. "This one was told he was dead!"
"I pulled Korn and Captain Rthar out of the volcano that was Naraka. We saved them from the Hammer strike because it was the right thing to do, even though that probably cost us the lives of two ponies or gryphons. When you return to the Hive, you will tell them that."
Vanca didn't reply, just rushed forwards to embrace Korn, who stood there, blinking and confused, next to Redshift. "What is this?" he asked. "The gryphoness said these ones were being given back to Security, but Vanca is here, and all this... this stuff." Half enveloped in Vanca's hug, he gestured at the bustling surroundings with his muzzle.
"We have an agreement with Lacunae; they won't try and kill all the enslaved ponies, and in return we won't turn the arcologies into charnel houses," Gravity said, glaring at Vanca, who didn't even notice. No matter how tempting that is becoming, she sent to Fusion, turbulent emotions filling the sharing with flashes of imagined destruction.
Vanca has information that may help you deflect the next Hammer shot. Try to stay calm; it sounds like you nearly managed to stop the last one.
Nearly. Gravity froze, not even breathing. So I could have saved them, then. A fragile calm covered the surface of her mind, over a deep layer of dark self-loathing.
We don't know what we don't know, Grav. What I said to Random applies to you, as well. One perceived failure out of ignorance or manipulation does not make you responsible for the whole catastrophe. You can blame me, if you want. I pulled you out before the impact. She glanced at Vanca; she had pulled away from Korn and was questioning him mercilessly, complete with animated gestures at something on one of the instruments she'd brought. Korn almost looked like he had of old, back when Fusion would stand meekly by and try and keep a blank face while Vanca interrogated him about some aspect of experimental design.
Gravity let out her breath in a single explosive snort. You already have enough guilt for the both of us; I won't add to it. Very well, I'll try very hard not to kill Vanca.
Redshift was looking at Merlon, a puzzled expression on his face. "What?" Fusion said. "Is there a problem with Vanca's gear? And where is Spiral?"
"She had to finish up with a few of the gryphons; there were injuries during your last breeding centre evacuation," he said slowly. "You did notice this, right?" He bent one wing forwards, gesturing at Merlon's head. The security pony's ears flattened and she shied away.
Fusion's power rolled out like a bottomless, luminous ocean, wrapping around and smothering the mare, before she'd even had a chance to think about Redshift's words. Merlon didn't try to fight, just stood helpless within the nested fields and spells containing enough destructive potential to reduce her to ash in a heartbeat. Fusion relaxed slightly, fighting to still her suddenly pounding heart. "What?" she said harshly.
"She's got no Blessing... looks like it was taken off days ago."
No glowing-green wires in the mare's skull, only a faint, nearly healed spot at the base of her horn. The aggressively swirling patterns in Fusion's mind stilled, becoming faint and vanishing. "How?" she asked roughly, advancing on Merlon. "Is it something the dogs did to you? If Orgon has been performing more experiments--"
Merlon's horn lit up and she shrugged off the remnants of Fusions choking power. "No! I did it myself," she snapped, pawing at the ground. "My Master only does what's necessary, and I did the same."
Fusion blinked, then shook her head. What did she say? How is that-- She took a deep breath, holding back her desire to drag Merlon close and shake answers out of her. "How, Merlon? How could you even consider doing that?"
"It was necessary," Merlon said hollowly. "I had my orders, but the Masters around me were tense and uncooperative. They didn't understand the urgency of my mission." She shivered, wings coming up to half shield her face. "The Blessing drove me to it. Made me cut myself out of the Masters' herd." Merlon smiled bitterly. "I won't ever taste the Maker's rewards for my duty. Your actions drove me to it. I couldn't complete my mission."
"I saw your mission!" Gravity snapped, her ears back. "You used Scalar's mate as leverage to make him talk. An innocent mare... how could you do that to one of your own?!" The shadows had deepened around her, independent of the brightness of the clouds.
"I had my orders!" Merlon shouted back. "How many ponies have your actions killed?" Her voice, high and shrill, sank down and became a low growl. "I bet you have no idea. There were hundreds on the fleets around Naraka, and your sister burned them without a thought." She snapped at Fusion, teeth closing on empty air with a loud clack. "What threat were those aircraft to you? You could have just left, but you chose, you chose to kill everything above the horizon." She glared at Fusion, breathing hard through flared nostrils.
Let me talk to Merlon, Fusion sent to Gravity, feeling the low creep of her sister's power like a carpet of cryogenic vapour flooding out from her body. Listen in if you want, but I think the information Vanca has is important. The extra shadows, unnoticed by Merlon, faded away as Gravity stepped back and used her magic to give Vanca a sharp nudge. The Academician stumbled into motion, dragging Korn along with a death-grip on his arm.
"Do you know what was in Naraka? Did you ever go there? Oh, Maker, so many foals, their horns being assembled into something that would render us unnecessary." Fusion's own breathing quickened, her eyes wide and staring off into what she'd seen in the depths of the breeding centre. Her magic fluttered and she looked away. "Did you know about Naraka?" she asked Merlon, her voice suddenly quiet.
"I did." Merlon nodded, her ears changing from pinned to an unhappy droop. "It must have been a horrible shock to find out like that, but you are wrong. Most of what you thought were foal horns were vat-grown from tissue cultures. The work there, the sacrifices that ponykind is making, are all to make better future for us all. When the Masters understand how to work without us, we will be able to follow our own path."
Nopony actually saw what happened at Naraka, is it possible that she is-- More memories, those of automated surgeons in the bright depths and the stories of so many dams from that place, filled her head to bursting point. "Is that what they told you? You need to talk to some of the ponies we rescued, and ask them how many foals they had, and where those foals are now." She snorted, pawing at the ground. "I think you will be in for a shock, because their most efficient solution was to take foals from dams, cut out their horns and feed the rest to gryphons. They'll free us, all right -- no need for ponies means we are of no use. Why bother keeping us at all?" Fusion closed her eyes and counted under her breath. "How old are you, Merlon?"
"I have served, in one capacity or another, for more than four gigaseconds." Merlon lifted her head, ears forward. "Long enough that I have seen many things. There are far worse places in this world than Lacunae Hive. They treat us well, they really do. I wish I could convince you that what you are doing will get thousands of ponies killed... the Court will not stop until we are all dead. All this--" She waved a wing, encompassing the wide expanse of mountains and valleys. "--will be burned away. You think the Hammer is the worst of it? It's the biggest stick, but every Hive has enough weapons to sterilise every other Hive. Do you really think you can stop them all?"
===
General Ininil was trying to complete his preparations, checking things that had already been checked and re-checked a dozen times to make sure the visit would be flawless, but the servitor was making him nervous. It wasn't even in his office, but he could see it wandering through the laboratory and engineering spaces, two glass walls away, like it owned them, studying everything it could poke its stripy muzzle into. The stripes extended all over its body, bright white and deepest black, from spiky mane to the tuft of its tail. Even its wings fitted into the pattern, with alternating black-and-white feathers. It carried no equipment aside from a comms necklace, and had no insignia or uniform.
This one still can't believe it, Ininil thought, a dangerous sense of unreality creeping in from the edges of his mind as he stared at the creature. The Monarch's personal guard, here. He must be somewhere close.
The pony wasn't alone; another twenty of the striped horrors were patrolling the complex, their magic probing instruments, offices and People with equal efficiency. The one in here with him suddenly froze and turned in Ininil's direction, studying him with eyes so dark that they appeared to be holes into some sunless space. What has this one forgotten? What has it seen? His heart rate accelerated and he resisted a sudden urge to burrow into the floor. They locked gazes, but it was Ininil who broke away first, eyes searching his console for something to distract from the soulless scrutiny.
The camera views of the Project Seraphim vault showed little; the shape of the single adult specimen, codenamed 'Harq', nearly filled the armoured chamber. It looked like something that had been carved from metal, a titanic statue made by some mad sculptor, all spines and sharp edges, but the other sensors told the truth. It glowed in the thermal infrared, comfortably warmer than a mammal, but that was only at the surface. If you could get through that unreasonably tough and scaly hide, the temperature would rise exponentially, fuelled by blood that more closely resembled basaltic lavas than anything with water in it.
By long habit, Ininil checked the radiation monitors, worrying over the light tickle of gamma radiation that escaped the creature's body, before flinching at the sudden alarm window that overlaid his office wall screen. Now what? he thought, suddenly irrationally angry at the interruption he'd been desperate for. Strategic thaumic alert-- He leaped to his paws; two strides and Ininil was through the door and into the high-level analyst bay in the next room.
"Report!" he snapped, then froze, transfixed by the swirling graphics and power spectra overlaying the main map. There were two spikes on the long-range thaumic scans, and it was immediately obvious what had triggered the alert. "Is Lacunae powering up its strategic arrays?" he asked numbly. Other displays showed Baur's own assets coming on line: strings of readiness reports from scattered mass drivers and fast-moving magic suppression systems, hunting for the first sign of a hostile spell locus.
"No, General," the lead analyst said. "The profile does not fit and the locations are all wrong." She highlighted a spot on the map, deep inside Lacunae territory and the source of one magical surge. "This is one of their breeding centres; the other is deep inside... that. The gravity wave detectors have also been going crazy... their signature matches the intelligence reports from the battles inside Lacunae."
The pink-stained and unnaturally stable clouds had grown since Ininil had last seen the global overview, covering nearly ten percent of Lacunae's northern highlands. "Show this one," Ininil said, fidgeting as the master display filled with two dimensional time-and-frequency plots. "What does the physics team say?"
"Same effects on space-time, but persistent rather than pulsed. They say the hole is likely to be over a dozen lengths across."
Making strategic decisions on stolen data. Was it fed to these ones? The reliability was high, and the military scientists all said it was real... A tunnel through space-time, from a breeding centre to that magically isolated zone. "They are evacuating the breeding centres..." he breathed, then froze, suddenly aware of a bulky, stripy shape at his elbow.
"That is an interesting development," came a cultured voice, and the servitor stepped to one side to let the Monarch pass. "What are the implications for Our response?"
"Yes, Monarch!" Heart thundering, Ininil moved carefully to a spot that allowed him to face the Monarch and see the main screens, ever conscious of the blank machine-like gaze of the servitor. "They are moving their breeding stock to secure locations. This one has no reliable estimates for the timescale of the operation, but it could be very fast. These ones will soon lose the ability to significantly impact their numbers."
"The need for a first strike is more pressing." The Monarch nodded absently, studying the same displays, then smiled, genuinely happy. "This seems like the perfect opportunity for a field test of the Seraphim prototype."
"Monarch," Ininil said carefully, "the control interface is still not completely reliable. It is likely that Harq will assault unauthorised targets."
"Lacunae will turn into a free-fire zone as a result of their grotesque failure; there will be no adverse consequences. The Court will just be happy the crisis has been averted." The smile grew into something vicious. "...and if the situation cannot be resolved, these ones will reluctantly have to activate Strix."