Days of Wasp and Spider II: Final Solution
by Luna-tic Scientist
Preread by: KMCA
Edited by: ssokolow
=== Chapter 01: Prologue ===
Sector Chief Orgon swept down the hospital corridor at the centre of a travelling zone of Security staff. To either side walked one of the Pit's close-quarters specialists, compact People with the attitude of coiled springs and eyes that never rested. A respectful three paces behind walked a servitor, rubber shod hooves silent on the fused stone floor. The creature was also a highly skilled security operative, and only had one job -- defend her Master against any threat that might penetrate the rest of the cordon, or extract him as fast as possible. Like the pair of combat specialists, the dappled grey mare was in full armour and festooned with equipment -- although, in her case, it was life-saving rather than life-taking.
Out in front of the little group were pairs of armoured gryphons, coursing through the hospital and blocking off corridors and rooms in advance of the Sector Chief's party. Raised voices could often be heard from the other sides of those temporary roadblocks, but no one was going to try too hard to get past three hundred kilos of gryphon, especially when the creature in question wore the decals of the 'Screaming Talons' Ripper group.
No one impeded the Sector Chief.
There was an open door ahead, with an angry looking doctor standing in the entrance. The male, a pale furred individual with tiger-stripe markings on his cheeks, was pointedly ignoring the hulking gryphoness who had one set of metal inlaid talons wrapped around his arm. The doctor's eyes narrowed as he saw the little procession coming down the corridor.
"What is the meaning of this- this disruption!" he said, trying to pull his arm away from the gryphoness' vice-like grip. "This one has patients he needs to attend to and doesn't have time for this circus."
"Thank you for your time, Doctor Hemanth. This one is Sector Chief Orgon of Hive Security." Orgon's reply was calm and measured, something that only served to anger the doctor further.
"This one doesn't care who you are! Either arrest Hemanth or let him go. He has more important things to do than play a part in this theatre." The doctor gave his arm another tug, stumbling when the gryphoness suddenly released him at a signal from Orgon. He glared at the trooper, who stared imperturbably back.
"That will be all, trooper," Orgon said with a nod. The gryphoness snapped her beak in salute, then stepped back to let the People have access to the room. The Sector Chief gestured to the door and smiled. "Doctor, shall we?"
Hemanth clenched his paws, then stalked into the room, followed by Orgon and the dapple grey servitor. The room was packed with machines, some wholly electronic, others hybrids packed with arrays of varicoloured crystals. At the centre of this clutter of instrumentation was a high sided bed, which was occupied by a shrunken and distorted figure, barely recognisable as female. There were odd lumps under the patient's skin, arms and legs twisted like it was an angry child's doll. A cluster of tubes ran down her throat, through jaws wedged open with metal clamps.
At a glance from Orgon, the pony lit her horn and swept a plane of white light through the figure. "Hey! No magic in here, these instruments--" Already alarms were sounding and warning lights strobed on several consoles. The patient twitched on the bed and Hemanth stepped forward, only to be intercepted by one of Orgon's bodyguards. "Servitor, this one orders you to stop!"
"Do not worry, Doctor, I will not allow your patient to die," the mare said, all her attention focused on the bed. Her magic shut off and she turned to Orgon, bowing her head. "Master, Agent Salrath has only been given basic stabilisation treatment. She has fifteen separate temporary circulatory bypass modifications and requires artificial support for kidney and liver function. Bone splinters have been removed from her abdominal cavity, but the broken bones have not been repaired. It will require a significant amount of work to bring her back to operational performance."
Doctor Hemanth threw up his paws. "What does the pony expect? This one's patient was only delivered yesterday and--" he yelled, stopping when he realised that the pony wasn't listening and hadn’t responded with the customary fearful cringe, then rounded on Orgon. "This one knew the patient was one of yours as soon as the servitors flew in through the priority vehicle bay and straight into the triage centre. This one has been stabilised and is awaiting treatment by our trauma specialists. Come back in another megasecond and Security can talk to this... Salrath."
Orgon smiled, a rare genuine smile for one in his line of work. "This one values your candour, Doctor, but that is not an acceptable timeframe. Can the servitor wake the Agent up?"
"Absolutely not, this--"
"Yes, Master. The Agent is being kept unconscious by a series of neural blocks; I will have to remove them all before she can speak. There will be some discomfort if she is to remain lucid." The mare spoke loudly, cutting off the Doctor's words and leaving him open-mouthed in shock. Her horn lit and a glow settled over Salrath's body. She looked at Orgon, who nodded, then closed her eyes.
The figure on the bed twitched slightly but otherwise didn't move. Her eyes snapped open and she screamed, the cry made thin and ragged by the tube down her throat. More flickers from the pony's horn and she relaxed slightly, then her eyes went wide as the tube was withdrawn and the clamps removed from her teeth. She coughed, a dry hacking that made it sound like her throat was full of sand.
"Alive," she croaked, lips curling slightly in a pained grin, then her eyes flicked to the Sector Chief. "Are the servitors dead?"
"This one believes so, but proof will have to wait until the Institute has been excavated. It is possible they are trapped within the beam chamber; detailed scans are not easy through the shielded walls."
"Salrath doesn't trust--" she said, breaking off with a little gasp of pain as the mare's magic made fragments of bone move under her skin.
"No, Orgon would suppose that she would not. This will be checked, if only because the World Court demands it. Unfortunately, the extent of the damage makes it a difficult task, or so the engineers have told this one, so the Auditors have not pressed the issue." The Sector Chief gave a shark-like grin, then nodded in response to Salrath's slight smile in return. "Salrath is to be commended for her actions; she has exposed a grave threat to the Hive... which means that the Agent now has the traditional reward for a job well done. This one feels that there is a task quite suited to Salrath's particular... talents." Orgon turned to the Doctor. "Hemanth is thanked, but his services are no longer required. Security will take responsibility for this patient."
The Doctor looked at Orgon like he was something that should have been passed through an incinerator. "Fine," he said, throwing up his paws and marching angrily out of the room. "Take the Agent and all your filthy animals and get out of this one's hospital."
The Agent pricked up her ears in interest and Orgon smiled inside. Salrath had her gryphon, and this one has Salrath, he thought.
Over the next kilosecond the pair talked through the Security Chief's idea, while the servitor gradually pulled the jigsaw of Salrath's shattered bones back together.
===
The morning after Fusion's recovery was a source of much needed calm. That, and a deep and unshakable feeling of guilt. It took a constant effort of will not to fly to the Sector Security Hub right now and pull Random out of whatever hell the Masters were inflicting on her. Instead, Fusion took low, careful flights around the area, becoming bolder as it became obvious that there was no sign of any Master activity within the range of her eye or her magic.
The wilderness was pristine. Old growth pines covered the sharp-edged hills and ridges, deceptively small for their age. The mare sectioned one to count its rings -- a small one, no more than a few hooves across -- and found they were too small to see without magical aid. A hundred years, at least; the trees living through a short growing season that was very nearly over, if the cold snap in the air was to be believed. "That's something," she said to the forest from a rare clear patch on the top of a ridge line, "too cold to grow anything useful, and the Masters never did have much of a call for wood."
I'm going to have to find something else to call them, she thought, even the language they gave us is riddled with things that reinforce their dominion.
Mind busy, she took a dainty step over a rock, bending her head to nibble from the tips of a stunted pine growing from a crack in one side. They were dark green and tough, but there were some tender buds at the core of the spiky cluster. Her teeth made short work of the small mouthful and Fusion made a face at the astringent taste. Not actually unpleasant, quite refreshing in a way... Her stomach grumbled; a reminder that she'd missed most of yesterday's meals. She looked out at the forest speculatively. Not sure I'd like to fill up on the stuff. That aftertaste was bound to be a defensive chemical.
Fusion took a deep breath, wincing at the sharp jab of pain from her half-healed ribs. --a metal bar, its tip trailing through her fur before the Master brought it down with enough force to crack bone-- The mare flinched anew, the memory stark and fresh. She'd been very careful on the short flights; there was only a generalized ache from her side, nothing more than what you'd expect from bruised muscles, but the stabbing sensation was an unpleasant reminder that she was far from fit. No aerobatics for a while, she thought wistfully, then glided off the ridge and down to their little camp.
Something terrible had happened; Gravity looked as if she had fallen asleep, but was sprawled out on her side like a dead pony. Lilac was staring at her, a look of intense concentration on his face, tongue between his teeth and a flicker of blue light about his horn. Fusion's eyes widened and a flash of horror ran through her like an electric shock. He's using magic--
Later there would be time for regret and self-recrimination, that she'd been so stupid as to trust this youngster who'd had next to no interaction with other ponies for the vast bulk of his short life, but at this moment... Her own power bloomed exponentially, hornlight filling the darkness under the trees as arcane claws sped through the shadow world, ready to shred and tear, more magic building a barrier of force between the stallion and her sister. Energy sufficient to pull the hill apart, focused on a single young pony.
The panic died as Gravity lifted her head, watching Fusion as she slipped between the trunks and landed on the slope. "Sorry, should have warned you," she said, sleepily. "Lilac has been practicing thaumic medicine on me. For the basic stuff he's very good; given training he'll make an excellent medic."
Lilac smiled, finally turning to look at Fusion. His eyes widened and his ears drooped, a faint whinny escaping his lips as he caught a glimpse of the fast fading dregs of Fusion's magic. "Sorry, I didn't mean--"
"No, Lilac, I'm the one who's sorry. You just caught me by surprise, that's all." Fusion stepped closer to examine her sister's side; there was a scar under the fur, but the flesh looked whole, like several months had passed rather than just a few kiloseconds. On the ground next to the ponies was a small pile of sharp-edged metal and stone fragments, all covered with a film of blood. Trust, Fusion thought, there must be trust between us. "That looks like an excellent job, Lilac."
The fear vanished from his face and he smiled up at her tentatively. "Would you like me to do the same for you? I saw what that Master..." He trailed off, swallowing.
Fusion folded her legs and lay next to her sister. Trust, she thought. "Yes, Lilac. I'd like that very much."
Off we go again! It's like I never stopped...
3631676 The ride never ends...
Don't need to even start reading it yet, given the track record with the old, but another to enjoy looking forward to reading.
Yay!
Faved with the force of a thermonuclear detonation. On top of an orphanage. On Puppy Day.
Do you intend to keep the same cover art?
And Salrath returns, like a bad penny that's been run over by a steamroller!
Goddammit, Salrath really deserved to stay dead. Vile thing.
3632076
Every great story needs a disgusting villain.
3632078
I'd still rather see her dead sooner rather than later.
Endlösung der Ponifrage.
3632764
What?
3632957
The Final Solution.
That servitor with Ordon (Marlon from the end of last story?) has me intrigued. The way she ignored the doctor makes me wonder if her Blessing has been tweaked such that her ingrained obedience is specific to Security personal only.
And Salrath lives.
On the other hand, more chances for Fusion or Gravity to brutally murder her. Silver lining?
3633121
I can't really can't open Wikipedia on mobile, so....
3633377
Wikipedia has a really good mobile format, what are you talking about.
"When freedom burns
-The Final Solution-
Dreams fade away
And all hope turn to dust."
3633139
I don't know if I recall correctly, since it was quite some time ago that I read that one chapter, but I think that Luna / Celestia took off Random's Blessing, and in the last chapter of the first part, the advisor pony says that she'd make for an excellent Security pony, so possibly Secponies have their Blessings removed after they prove their loyalty.
3633121 It's a pretty obvious connection to make, but I don't think that's what Chaos has in mind. Although ... hmm. My initial thought about his plan may also be wrong; it could be something in between the two.
You're thinking of Nazi-style genocide. I was thinking MAD-style global holocaust. Perhaps a bio-weapon gone out of control is Chaos's true plan. Or it could be something else.
3633789 I suspect it's more that Security ponies have to prove that they can put the overall objectives of the Masters above the orders/welfare of individual Masters. I suppose it's quite a challenge for a pony with the Blessing to do the mental gymnastics required; Random not having one anymore may have made it easier to pass the tests (without having the Blessing hammering her in the back of the skull). Meanwhile, her ingrained obedience keeps her from failing the evaluation in the other way.
3633381
Ah, there it goes.
As to the subject material, I think that is a very strong possibility in the fast future. As for right now, however, they'll have to get their shit together first.
Prediction: Random will be indoctrinated, and will become a Security meatshield. Then Fusion will kill her. And I'm still convinced that Lilac will die by the end of this.
Also, looking forward to the inevitable fight between Gravity and Ordon's bodyguard-pony. I expect positively copious amounts of blood.
God DAMN, I had forgotten how much I love this story.
3633789 I'm not sure about that. (Can't remember either) She's still got the "worm" sitting threateningly at the back of her mind that's causing her to resort to self-mutilation to stay sane. Then again, considering that it was held back by the magic of friendship, it's possible that she's just mentally disturbed with a massive guilt complex.
Thanks for all the comments, folks (now I get to see how many actually finish reading Wasp...)!
===
3631892
'By default' would be a better way of putting it -- I keep meaning to track down/commission something epic, but it comes a distant second place to actually writing the thing.
3633789,3634346
One of the downsides of a serial posting, those little details lost to the past. No comments on the other speculation, but Random still has her Blessing -- the 'worm' is her way of thinking of the effects.
===
Woo-hoo -- first downvote! I'm impressed that whoever it was managed to get all the way through Wasp only to be disappointed by Final (and all in a day, too!).
3631676 I agree, but I feel forgotten... Meh, if you need me you know where to find me
I hereby claim the one hundredth up vote!
Hurrah!
3633139
Well remember that the blessing isn't clever enough to actually read a pony's mind and punish them objectively; rather, it detects a pony's guilty thoughts and converts them into physical pain.
It's been mentioned that as a pony becomes older, the indoctrination becomes part of their personality, so that while the blessing remains, it wouldn't be strictly necessary for obedience.
Marlon is an interesting character, as from the whole 'outlasting several security directors' description, she is potentially the oldest Servitor we've encountered so far. I'm sure she (and the other security ponies) are still blessed, but given her age and unusual experience, it's possible that her perspective has evolved is such that she is capable of more than might be expected. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen, but I expect her to be a wildcard.
3635390 I actually kind of meant that as a possibility when I made my previous comment, but I guess it wasn't clear from what I wrote. 'Tweaked' is a little vague.
3635435
Sounds like we're in confused agreement, then
I had just taken 'tweaked' to imply some degree of intention
'tis all good.
3634847
You are absolutely right and I do apologize; an oversight caused partly by incompetence and partly by working off a multi chapter doc. Fixed.
3635560 Oh I do mean that that I think it might be intentional, just that it could be accomplished through Security mentally conditioning their servitors rather than through modifying the blessing directly. Or both, I suppose.
You know, I am glad Knighty restored the option for viewing the desktop variant of the site on mobile devices... Cause I just now realized that... I WAS NOT FOLLOWING YOU!
Fixed!
Finally got some time to read the two new chapters. It's hilarious and ironic that Ordon's such an effective Sector Chief in part due to his willingness to ask a servitor for their opinion. And is Lilac still FUBAR and just being a champ about it? I'm unclear on that.
3633121
I prefer The Final Countdown.
[youtube=IliwQImJrYE]
And so it begins.... again!
This is such a great story. Really, I can't think of a single sci-fi MLP fanfic that comes anywhere close (and if you've got some, let me know, because we need more high quality sci-fi stories!). Your worldbuilding, characterization, and descriptive imagery is all wonderful. I love your take on magitechnology, it's perhaps my favorite part of the story besides the plot itself.
This story is Akira's tone and ambiance meets MLP's world meets LotR's epic scope. That's the best way I can think of to describe it.
Seriously, during Gravity's battle in the Beamline chamber, all I could hear in my head was a mix of the Tron, Inception, and Akira soundtrack. And that's one epic freaking vibe.
Extremely well done so far, and I can't wait to see where things go from here.
3633139
I interpret it more as a matter of testing & training. It's similar to questions that come up in connection with Asimov's Three Laws, albeit with a bit more flexibility: What do you when you have conflicting orders from two Masters, one of whom may be confused, panicking or an enemy agent? What if a Master demands that you put him or her in real danger? How do you handle a situation where no matter what you do, at least one Master will die?
Ordinary servitors seem to prioritize protecting Masters over obeying them, e.g. the servitors who evacuated the People from the research center after Gravity's little outburst and refused to let them back in. While they'll take other orders from any Master, they have a concept of their master. They also understand that Masters from other hives might wish their Masters ill, which is why our heroes were able to convince Lilac to restrain Officer Lagorth.
The Security servitors were also protective of their Masters, but apparently understood that letting trained professionals go into danger was for the good of the Hive. They seem to have been trained to have a stronger sense of just who "their Masters" are, letting them ignore orders from unknown People outside the proper chain of command. Restraining panicky or hostile People is really just protecting them or the Hive.
I'd imagine standard Security training would also involve handling ethical edge-cases of the Blessing and staying functional in situations where others would succumb to fugue: the servitors outside the beamline chamber were fighting through it, and coming back around to Marlon, Security wouldn't have weighed her down with life-saving equipment if they thought she couldn't focus enough to use it in an emergency because she was feeling guilty that someone slipped past her. Given her experience and position, I'd expect her to be much better under pressure than the doomed servitor team.
I'd say Marlon ignores the doctor because she knows that The Sector Chief Is Her Master. She's his last line of defense, and if she didn't disregard others' orders -- if she even paused to consider obeying anyone but Orgon -- an enemy infiltrator or domestic terrorist could take advantage of it to harm her Master. Finding a reliable servitor and making sure she recognizes proper command authority is less prone to failure than technomagical controls that can be defeated by a stolen uniform.
Since she's presumably passed the toughest vetting and training that Security has to offer, I'd assume Marlon's indeed completely loyal, but what with her experience and everything she's learned while blending in with the furniture, I wouldn't be surprised if there's more going on under that emotionless façade or if she's later able to entertain the idea of supporting the rebellion. She's certainly in a unique position to give nudges here and there to policy, and I suspect Orgon has some emotional attachment to his #1 assistant.
I'm also interested in this Maker's Path group. They'll probably be important, but I wonder where their philosophy falls between "sapients should be free", "wholesome work makes us strong" and "client races will rise up and overthrow us"? Have I overlooked any earlier clues about them?
Even after editing, this comment / analysis turned out much more long-winded than I'd planned...
Also, every time I see "Security pony", the image that comes to mind is Blackjack from Project Horizons.
...gassing the Jews?
The Final Solution is a good title, I think.
We all know how the story 'ends'. Celestia and Luna are the only servitors who survive, we presume. Therefore, it would be easy to conjecture that the Masters kill all the servitors they can to deny conversions to the enemy. There is still the matter or the 'normal' pony races coming into being. Perhaps the Masters split them up into three types to make them easier to control by decentralizing the powers to different bodies, as it were.
This way you can have your genocide and still have a set of useful (but less threatening) slaves.
I look forward to following the path of this drama, even though I know the Titanic sinks at the end.
Here I thought Lilac had been hit with a laser, and been pretty much told he'd starve to death.
Salrath :O that bit** REALLY needs to die.
3636812
Park your van down the street -- there's space between those from the NSA and GCHQ...
3639954
Thank you -- glad you are enjoying the show!
3640288
That's an excellent bit of analysis; thank you for posting. I won't comment on your speculations, but your interpretation of the conditioning is spot-on.
Hey Luna-tic Scientist, is there a separate name for this series? Or is it just the "Days of Wasp and Spider Trilogy" or something?
3641987 **Crappy car rolls to an incomplete stop and bumps the fender of the NSAmobile.**
Thinks to self... 'Meh, they deserve it. I really need a new car though...'
**Pulls out long range microphone and binoculars and follows Luna-tic Scientist in a totally sciency and not at all creepy way!
3642047
If I could think of one there would be! I normally just call it 'Wasp', or DOWAS.
I'm open to suggestions!
World 2-1
Fusion x1
Fusion Start!
Both sides regrouping for the next big clash. I'm eagerly looking forward to it.
Also, every story description should begin with "all the while unaware that something lurking at the bottom of space-time wants them all dead."
Yay, the story continues!
(Did I miss Lilac healing his own injuries earlier? I remember he was missing most of his guts or something...)
3632076
On the bright side, it means Celestia will have an opportunity to kill her. She seemed a bit disappointed earlier...
3655666
He got some attention from the securitypony medic, enough to stop him dying immediately. He's still missing important bits, but it's the complications that are now the problem, not the blood loss (he's also been working on himself to the best of his abilities).
3655800
Ah, okay then. I hope they can fix that before he starves...
Looks like not much time has passed between the two stories, then again, this is the prologue.
3633771 Hehehe, always nice to see another Sabaton fan around.
just finished everything. started from the the top once more, just finished now. my God, its beautiful. ish.
i get the feeling that the trhings we see the sisters go through now will be on a much larger scale. and the masters now know Gravity can teleport thanks to her showing her hand in the beam camber battle . my prediction is that after security reviews the tapes and witnesses, and discovering that they might not be dead after all, they will go straight to Lacunae hive, either to wait for Fusion and Gravity, or to kill everyone there. meanwhile, F&G will have already gone back there to see what help they could get (fusion is out an eye, lilac needs medical assistance), to start a rebellion, to see their friends and family before things go haywire, yadda yadda etc. when security gets there they will either find an army of serveitors sans Blessings, not one, but two super-powered ponies to deal with, or they will come just in time to assist the whole of Lacunae in the act of ripping G&F to peices.
i also wonder, fusion was able, with normal magic, to overcome the suppression ring on her horn, if only for a short time. could grav and fusion together blow out a thaumic suppressor? i wanna see that. it would make quite a bit of their rebellion become more possible.
now, Chaos. is he going to be doing any more manipulation in the heads of Fusion and Gravity? i think not, as he is demonstrably worried about what happened when he did. but just thought id pose the question.
Salrath is back! lets kill her again! plz? PaxMano33 want blood.
if i had more time, id guess where she'd fit into this mess. but im about to go out to dinner with the fam. imma cut it off here. ill try to return! love and brohoofs to all!
3695356
To know that this thing is worth rereading gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, thank you. Keep up with the speculation; I don't do much planning, so it frequently it shows me possibilities I might have missed...