Bridging Ages, Bridging Worlds

by BlueDWarrior

Chapter 30: Mysteries of the Deep

=== BABW: A New Conflict ===

=== Chapter 30: Mysteries of the Deep ===

[ October 11, 2081 – Durham Domed Community, North Carolina, USA, Earth ]
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“Ah, Mr. Egret, it has been quite some time hasn’t it,” a sharp-dressed man said, as he welcomed one of his many clients that had quickly become a frequent, and favorite, customer.

“Amicable as always, aren’t you Ken?” Nathan replied, as attendants took their blazers in the (slightly) cooler early autumn air of Durham.

“Well I have to be, if no one else is. You know how many dour sad-sacks I have to deal with on a daily basis. Always “blow up this” and “death to whatever” that, whatever happened to just good old fashioned ‘I want to make a bunch of highly dangerous implements of conflict and then screw around with them in peace?’” Kenneth complained in a mocking tone, as the group of four rode the elevators back down to the ‘Toybox’.

---

After the brief elevator ride, Nathan was staring head long as the newest project on part of Ken’s literal underground factory.

“Mr. Egret of the Society for the Preservation of Humanity, I give you… the Thaumatically-Armed Gunboat[1], or the T.A.G. for short,” Kenneth announced with great pride as a pair of techs milled about inside the 20’ long and 7’ (at its widest) heavily armed motorboat.

“Ah yes, never know when they might be attempting to hide in plain sight amongst the urban ruins or out of visual sight off-shore. We will definitely need shallow and deep water capabilities.”

“One must be able to cover all fields and terrains, right?” Ken responded, as the techs continue to mill about. “In any case, this boat has a top speed of 200 mph, along with small hydro-thaum jets along the side to give a turning radius more akin to a light truck.”

“A boat that can turn like a truck in water… very interesting, especially given how long and well-stocked this black beauty looks,” Nathan replied, as the two of them joined the techs as they walked along the deck.

“The deck’s surface is designed and enchanted, if you will, to absorb and dispel water, to give maximal traction regardless of how much water may be splashing on deck,” Ken reported as they looked around the top-side of the boat.

“I’d assume these straps on the railing are for holding on if you are using a firearm over the side?” Nathan asked, as he looked down at the computer simulated ocean underneath the ‘drydock’ed gunboat.

“Yes they are, and if you come below deck with me…” Ken started, as the two of them climbed down the ladder leading inside the hull.

The two of them resumed the walk through, as they oversaw some more techs running diagnostics on the internal systems of the gunboat, as Ken resumed his thought. “You can see the bottom looks more technically impressive than the top, which is more for aesthetics and function.”

“Hrm, most Outsider computer centers aren’t as well equipped as this, and in far more space on their end,” Nathan thought aloud.

“In anycase, you have holograph-headsets for the long-gun aimers, and your ballistic guns have an effective range of 750 yards and the thaumatic guns have effective ranges of 800, both measures of course under ideal conditions. You also have the capacity for several dozen micro-missiles and/or torpedoes, depending on what mission you intend per gunboat. Not to mention, lots of storage space for any armor and weaponry that the crew and riders might be intending carry and use.”

“I see, we could think of this as a floating weapons platform, though of course you can only do so much if you weigh the vessel down too much,” Nathan thought aloud in response.

“Just like anything else, you can stuff a power armor with a thousand guns, doesn’t make a difference if the man inside the armor can’t move. Then he’s basically just a living turret,” Ken thought, following the same mental track as Nathan.

“And if we just wanted a mobile turret, we can have a drone do that. Won’t do us any good if we can’t recruit if we’re just using them as cannon fodder, bad for morale and all… speaking of which…” Nathan started, as he thought about it for a bit. “How is that other project of ours coming along.”

“Hrm, yes, that little project. I will say this, with the capabilities you want per drone, we cannot trust a true artificial intelligence with it. There is too much of a risk of it going rogue, as well as the unknown effects of magic on an AI. So we plan to keep just a normal drone intelligence loaded into them, which means you are still going to need human commanders and controllers.”

“Disappointing, but anything to bolster our numbers in the near term, ever since those blasted White Knights returned to the field. We got the public and the resistance fighters emboldened now, and I’m starting to hear some nasty rumors,” Nathan grumbled, as he felt himself becoming more and more animated.

“What kind of rumors, Mr. Egret?” Ken wondered aloud, trying to figure the true thoughts of one of his better clients.

“That those projections they have been using are not merely routines like our virtual actors. That those entities are actual AI being powered by some kind of magic…” Nathan replied; his eyes focused on one of the spinning icons on the monitors of the array of computers and other devices inside the ‘cabin’ of the boat.

Damn, I was hoping we wouldn’t be pressed into that level of experimentation, but if we want to maintain any kind of advantage, then our hands may be forced… Ken thought with a flash of anger; he was concerned that AI being developed in this type of environment would be difficult to control.

“Rest assured that we will pursue a similar avenue of development once we are comfortable we can avoid a Rogue situation. Then again, those Ponies and their new allies may force our hand. I certainly do not want to give the world over to Machines in trying to keep Celestia and her hangers-on from taking it over,” Ken replied, showing sympathy for Nathan (and by proxy the SPH’s) concerns.

Then again, if I can make them dependent on thauma-drones for their forces… Ken thought to himself, as the two of them exited the reinforced-armor underside of the gunboat.

“So how do you like the product?” Ken asked, knowing full well how Nathan would answer given the look in his eye.

“I want as many as you can manufacture. In fact, I have a particular spot I want to patrol, scanners picked up a large amount of lingering energy south of Nouvelle Baton Rouge in Louisiana. Could be something we could utilize in ensuring control of the coasts and near-ocean,” Nathan replied, as the two of them walked somewhere more private to discuss specific terms

[ October 23, 2081 – Somewhere on the Astral Plane near Earth-Space ]
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“Oh this is so funny~ I’d love to see how Vague would react if something like this happened to him,” Venome said, as she laid out on her little corner of the Plane Between Worlds, just a psychic-link away from Vague’s mindscape; which she was currently barred entry to while Luna and Vague conducted their monthly counseling session.

“It’s so annoying not being in my usual little corner of Vague’s mind; but Luna drives a hard bargain. Especially when refusing her just results in her forcibly ejecting me,” Venome huffed, as she leafed through the manga she was reading; duplicated from the ever-growing mingling of the human information network and the ‘extra-dimensional’ gaps between perceived Reality that the made up the Astral Plane.

“At least your progenitor was kind enough to keep you around after the Void was purged from his being. I am not sure if I can completely move past the interminable wandering I was forced into after my contact with the full force of the Elements of Harmony those many moons ago,” a voice not-unlike Luna’s said, as Venome could hear the ruffling of feathers and the faint pressure of a powerful magical entity near her.

“I wonder how it is you can sneak up on Ponies, and others, with all that power you possess being linked to Princess Luna,” Venome said, as she raised the ground her manga laid on, as she sat up to properly put the figure in her line of sight.

Said figure was a ‘giant’ raven, almost the size of a falcon. Her feathers were a mixture of black along the body and the base of her wing, with the slightest of bluish tints in the current lighting of the ‘scape, and midnight blue along the fringe feathers of her wings and her tail; though there was the odd royal blue and white speck through her plumage. Overall, the large bird had a similar, but still distinct vision of the night sky when compared to her progenitor – Princess Luna.

“Normally I would be doing my observations across the commonwealths of Equus, doing my part to help to seed the nightmares that serve as the red flags of warning to our fellow Ponies. The reason I am not, though, is due to my intuition speaking toward an event; something of great significance befalling you and your progenitor in the near future, dear Venome,” the giant raven replied, as she stared at the offshoot of Vague’s psyche with eyes that felt perfectly balanced emotionally – a stark contrast to the barely contained furor of her former self.

“Ugh, that look of yours is… unsettling…” Venome said, as she shivered a bit, having magicked a bookmark in her manga and closed it, so she could focus on the falcon-sized mystical corvid in front and above her, perched in one of the many trees that filled the Pony’s astral estate. “It’s like you’re constantly judging me, Nyx.”

“To be perfectly blunt, I am. Thought it is part of my nature. I cannot simply dispense nightmares of warning to any and every Pony when the mood strikes. At that point, I am simply engaged in maliciousness more befitting my former existence,” Nyx replied, keep her look firmly focused on the Pony a few ‘virtual’ lengths below her.

“You could still be a little more subtle about it,” Venome huffed, her snide nature showing through in her tone.

“I will take it under advisement,” Nyx replied, her tone still dispassionate and even.

=-- --=

“And you are absolutely sure that something like this will help, Princess?” Vague asked of his patroness and Princess of the Moon.

“Eventually you will have to confront your feelings for the self-professed elite of the world, as well as observe the scene of your attempt against the other Elements of Terra. There was a reason you were drawn to the coast near your city of birth, aside from the framing you alluded to that day,” Luna responded, her blue mane waving in the non-existent wind of Vague’s dreamscape.

“Yeah but… well Richard is different, I mean… I guess,” Vague started, as he trailed off, not sure of what to say.

“And that is exactly what I am speaking toward, Mr. Vague. You are setting yourself up for more consternation later if you insist on putting people, especially adults in positions of power, upon a pedestal. I do not want to hurt you, or make you question Richard’s commitment to the cause, but at the same time, I want you to truly come to understand what he is attempting to accomplish through his work with us,” Luna replied, taking a more matronly tone, versus the sternness of a teacher.

“Fine, fine. I’ll do like you asked, though knowing you and your sister, one of you’ve probably already relayed a message to him about it,” Vague acceded, and then figured aloud.

“Of course we would. There are things about you all that I need Mr. Edwards to understand as well,” Luna replied, resuming her educator’s tone.

[ October 25, 2081 – South of Nouvelle Baton Rouge, USA ]
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“I should have suspected…” Richard Edwards said, as the human member of the HEA council and the blue Unicorn that bore the Terran Element of Water stood at the edge of the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.

“The insatiable blue that devoured one great city, and if it weren’t for a partially divine intervention, it would have devoured a second,” Blue Vague said, as he looked over the horizon, and the intermittent overpasses and large buildings that dotted the brackish blue waters of the Gulf.

“You are speaking toward your own near-fall from grace, as it were?” Richard asked of the blue Pony before him.

“Yeah, yeah I am. I guess that was part of why we’re out here today,” Vague replied as he looked back toward line, and the middle-aged medium-pale skinned man walking toward him. “I guess first things first… just in case if we run into trouble out here…”

“Hrm?” Richard grunted inquisitively, as he watched Unicorn take out a moderate-sized[2], roughly diamond-shaped, crystalline object, and wedged it into the ground next to him, as he channeled magic from his horn into it.

“And… done,” Vague thought aloud, as he recognized the unspoken question Richard had posed to him in that moment. “This little crystal is a Waypoint stone, just a little something in case we run into some kind of hostile element out here. And given the way the SPH must be thinking these days, they might have shoot-on-sight orders for anything not Human.”

“Even if they didn’t, I wouldn’t chance it,” Richard added, to the agreement of Vague. “Anyway, how could you fit something like that in your saddle bag?”

“Not to be overly facetious, but ‘magic’,” Vague replied, with a bit of levity, as he walked to the edge of the shoreline, and pointed a pen-shaped device out into the water. “And here is a little more, so we can get this little excursion underway for real.”

With a flash of light and a poink-sound, a large, modern motorized dinghy appeared in the water, complete with tiny, portable walk-on dock.

“I really shouldn’t be surprised by now, after all our time in Safe Haven, and yet I am,” Richard said in amazement, as he looked at the seven foot boat with the relatively tiny thaumatic motor floating in the shallow water, waiting for the two of them to board.

“I’ve said it before, and I still believe it – the four of us Conduits have gone from just talking about characters in a storybook to being said characters in the storybook,” Vague replied, with a bit of levity, as the pair headed off into the more-or-less open water.

After a few minutes of more or less silent sightseeing, Richard decided to break the silence with a seemingly innocuous question. “So what was life like growing up for you?”

Vague turned around on his seat, from overlooking the edge of the small boat to looking Richard in the face, as he thought of his answer. He continued to think of what he should say, trying to find the words to not make it seem like his decision to convert was frivolous or anything of the sort.

I should just tell him as best I can, if he thinks it's frivolous or whatever, we’ll just go from there… Vague thought, as he realized that he should just tell the story as neutral as he could and let the conversation germinate from there.

“Well, I lived with Mom and Dad until I was about fourteen, at which point they left to join the staff of a Megachurch in the Atlanta Domes, and I stayed behind with my then alive but ailing grandfather in Nouvelle Baton Rouge. Eventually he died, but it wasn’t until I graduated from high school and got fast tracked into the University of Missouri system. Eventually I graduated from there with a degree in the computer sciences, and I lived in Nouvelle Baton Rouge until a short while before you met us, after we Converted.”

“Hrm, seems like a fairly mundane existence…” Richard thought aloud, as they continued to slowly motor around the floating and protruding ruins of the many urban areas in South Louisiana before the waters rose. “Though minus a certain event a few years ago, I would have thought the same of myself.”

“I’m not sure how a Domer would have a mundane existence, as you put it,” Vague replied, as Richard continued.

“Dome life is very stifling. You are constantly in this rat race to be better than your neighbor in some asinine fashion. To have bigger vehicles, bigger toys, better sexual partners, bigger houses… it was a game my family simply refused to play, especially the men in my family. So, as per family tradition, our first job was working in either one of our retail outlets or in one of our factories. Since I didn’t think I was really physically cut-out for assisting drones with labor, I decided to work in the store. Started at cashier, and basically went through every intra-store position in about a five year span…”

Seems like his dad and granddad had more sense between them than most entire Domed cities have in total… Vague thought, as Richard continued on.

“After that five years was up, I was promoted to a corporate office in Rochester, NY, which was responsible for pretty much the entire Northeastern US and Southeastern Canada. And from there, I climbed my way up from regional liaison, which basically meant I was a go-for between that super-office in Rochester and the smaller offices and stores in the region. If at any point I quit, I would basically lose all claim to any hereditary benefit I would have gotten from the company, aside from a small allowance per month that most members of the family get.”

“I’m guessing that’s to weed out people whose heart or head weren’t in trying to run the company properly,” Vague surmised, to the agreement of Richard.

“Indeed, so from there, I worked my way up again until I made vice-president in charge of said region at age 33. From there, you may better recognize my achievements if you are familiar with recent corporate dealings…” Richard started again, before trailing off to see if Vague did indeed remember said history.

“Oh um, let’s see… I think I remember reading about it in the last couple of years… Oh right! Over a five year span, you consolidated power by appealing to the noblesse oblige in enough of the other upper echelon of officers and shareholders to when, after the unfortunate illness your father died from about nine years ago now, you became majority owner and CEO of the company after a rather short but metaphorically bloody succession battle.”

Richard nodded, as he could feel an ominous wind blowing nearby, and something less ominous (by far) sitting below the surface. “In about a two year span, there were numerous firings, revenge firings, buyouts, backdoor deals and swaps made trying to gain control of the company, since it was during the beginning of what we now refer to as the Singularity. Eventually, I was the last man standing on the mountain…”

Vague watched silently as Richard looked over the edge of the boat, into the murky, polluted waters of the Gulf, and up and out at the various buildings, ships, and other things that made the old cities look like a graveyard of mid-century urban life. “Look at it Vague, look at what the idiocy of the last two hundred years plus of industrial life has given us. We had the power to stop all of this before it started, when we saw the projections; but we were too scared that it would destroy the society we had built to that point. Now we have a second chance with a more explicit power to fix and grow beyond this society, but others at the top of the pyramid want to prevent this from truly taking root in an organic way. The only question I ask to that is… why? Why?”

--= Roughly Nine Years Ago =--

“So can I count on your support in the upcoming shareholders convention in two months?” a relatively young man asked of one five years his elder.

“Why?” the older man asked, as he looked with nonchalance at the younger man.

“Peter, what do you mean why? With me at the helm of this company, we can finally start fixing all that has broken in society. We’re sitting on the cusp of a revolution in robotics, nanomanufacture, and AI that will completely up-end the current order of things,” Richard asked of his friend and senior co-worker.

“No that’s just my point, Rich… why? Why go through all the trouble and the effort? What are they worth out there? Not much as far as I can tell,” Peter replied as he looked back at man five years his junior.

“How can we just leave them out there in a world that is almost literally rotting inside out? They aren’t just going to sit there and idly wait for infrastructure and ecology to collapse to the point it can’t support them. We need to start working now on a world where they can still thrive and have worth, even if a machine could theoretically do the work of a hundred men,” Richard replied, his confusion turning into concern for what his friend was thinking.

“I would ask why keep the hundred around, then? What do you think we need a hundred people for if one drone worker or decision making AI will do the job all the same, or even better? And then what could we even find for them to do? It doesn’t make any kind of sense, Rich,” Peter said, as he got up to walk out of the room.

“No wait… you can’t tell me you are going to give your support to Masters? He’s been trying ever since ’64 to sell our tech to the military and private contractors,” Richard then asked, grabbing Peter by the arm as he did.

“I am. Your father’s and grandfather’s time is over. This whole concept of noblesse oblige you all try to promote is nothing more than infantile sentimentalism. The day is soon coming where the proles are going to turn their attention toward us, with our material wealth, and I will not be caught with my pants down when that day comes…” Peter said, as he jerked his arm away and stormed out of the room.

“The hell do you mean, Peter? Peter, Peter!”

--==========================--

“Even after the succession was settled and I consolidated my power to eventually become majority owner on top of being CEO, there were still stragglers. Eventually, I had to rid myself of them…” Richard continued, as it was apparent to Vague that the man was in and out of deep thought.

--= A few months after the previous scene =--

“Do you understand why I’ve called you in, Peter Vaughn?” Richard asked, as he looked with a stern look toward his former mentor in the ways of the corporate structure.

“No, but do enlighten me…” Peter replied, with a snide tone.

Richard sighed, as he hated it when Peter knew something and just decided not to tell him outright, and Peter knew that. “You know I have a vision for this company beyond making money and growing our share from quarter to quarter, correct.”

“Yes, some misbegotten notion of saving everyone or some such…” Peter replied, the derision dripping in his voice as he did.

Richard rolled his eyes and sighed again, as he realized that this conversation had a high chance of turning quite ugly, despite how short he intended it to be. “Yes, in a reductive way that is what I am looking to do. I dunno if you think I mean literally handing every man, woman, and child on this Earth a briefcase that says “How to live like a King”, or just an inordinate amount of cash, or both.”

“Effectively that is what you’d be doing. I wouldn’t give anyone one Global Credit[3] unless I thought it’d get me two in return,” Peter responded.

“And that right there is why this world is screwed up. I refuse to suffer anyone’s presence if they are going to even potentially undermine me,” Richard stated, his anger now starting to truly well.

“So what are you saying, Mr. Edwards?” Peter asked, narrowing his eyes at the man who was five years his junior, but now catapulted to the very tip of the corporate pyramid.

“What I am saying that effective immediately, you are hereby terminated. You will receive severance pay equal to your average salary projected over the next three months, as well as any bonus compensation, with things such as paid time off converted according to the formula agreed upon in the bylaws regarding executive compensation. I should hope you have all of your offices cleaned out by close of normal business today, and any company material returned to office security; otherwise I will prosecute you for corporate theft and/or espionage to the fullest extent of the law allowed,” Richard replied with a cold matter-of-fact-ness.

“And so it has come to this? Can’t accept anyone with a divergent ideology?” Peter asked, as he felt he was going to get a couple more answers before Richard had him physically removed from the premises.

“No. I can accept divergent ideologies. I don’t need everyone working under me to agree with what I am attempting to accomplish. But I will damned if I let anyone into a position of power in this company that will actively work against what I am attempting to accomplish,” Richard replied, continuing to stare the slightly older man down.

“That is disappointing. I would hope you not so naïve… then again I guess naïve would be the wrong way to think of it. I think your time outside the Domes have made you far too… sympathetic to their plight; and far too willing to destroy this fine company in pursuit of helping a population that is far too gone to save. But… I suppose nothing an ex-executive and best friend would say could move you at this point, no?” Peter replied, as he tugged on his tie.

“Especially not if it is you. I don’t care where you end up, or who you work for or have under you. It just can’t have anything to do with me, anymore,” Richard replied.

“Then this is goodbye. Though I suspect we will cross paths again before long…” Peter said, as he walked out of the office.

=============================================

As Vague observed the middle-aged man deep in remembrance, he looked over the edge of the dinghy again, as he could feel some kind of resonance in his horn that translated to a melody.

Shoo-be-do shoo-shoo be doo~

I’d assume you heard that, Vague? Venome asked telepathically, as she sat on a rock in Vague’s mindscape, observing the terrain through his eyes.

I think I did, Venome. But what that little tune is I can’t say… except it feels… oddly familiar… Vague replied, as he looked as lost in thought as Richard did.

I have my suspicions, but I’m too far removed from the Astral Plane proper to say one way or the other… Torra-borous replied curtly, before another thought came across his consciousness. There must be a fissure of mana or an active spell being cast down beneath the water’s surface, and I believe that is causing the resonance that is producing this short tune.

So you figure if I can get down there and assess what this source is, we can figure out what is producing it? Vague asked, trying to figure out where to even start looking.

It’d be the best chance, given what we appear to be looking at, at the moment… Torra-borous replied.

Richard came out of his trip down memory lane in time to see Vague deep in a similar contemplating as his. “Say Vague, what’s goin’ on in that head of yours?”

“Picking up something on my horn like a radio antenna, gonna take a dive to see where it’s coming from,” Vague thought, as pulled something else out of his bag, that sat in the middle of the small boat with the two of them.

“I don’t think a re-breather is gonna be enough for what you intend to dive into…” Richard mused in some measure of grounded bewilderment at what the blue Unicorn was apparently intending to do; knowing that normally divers had to wear heavy anti-pollution suits to dive in such waters.

“Point 1 – this is more than a simple re-breather. Using a combination of Weather, Water, and Wind magic (say that three times fast), it’s a miniature electrolyzer. So it’s gonna produce pure oxygen so long as I’m in something that’s more than 70% water by volume. Speaking of which, point two – I’ve been practicing the Deep Diver spell at the behest of Princess Luna, who was apparently angling me into this decision for some time, before she or Princess Celestia talked to you about this whole trip,” Vague responded, as he tested the sonic projector on the device, which let him speak normally while the device was over his nose and mouth.

“I’m assuming this spell would protect you from whatever is in this water?” Richard asked, as he found an old skyscraper to act as a mooring for the dinghy while Vague prepared to dive.

“It will act as a barrier for water and any microbe or chemical living or dissolved in the water. So long as there isn’t some kind of mutated sea predator, large sharp or blunt object, or SPH Diver in these waters, I’ll be fine so long as the spell is active,” Vague replied.

“You’ve thought quite a lot about this, haven’t you?” Richard asked with a chuckle, impressed at the planning skill of the Unicorn.

“I have to, this isn’t something I can just do on the fly given who or what might be in or around these waters,” Vague replied, as he tested the water to get the right balance for the protective nature of the Deep Diver spell. He then took out a radio handset, a pair of binoculars, and a pad computer and hoofed them to his partner for the afternoon. “All of this is to help track me underwater. There is a crude sensor for high concentrations of magic of either kind in the pad, and an app that will give you a rough radar layout for them. The binoculars and the radio should be self-explanatory?”

Richard took a few moments to swipe at the app that showed a map and marveled internally how a ping for Vague showed up, but then groaned a bit when he saw the range was only a 50 meter radius. “Half a football field’s length either way isn’t very large given the amount of area we could be covering, Vague.”

“Yeah, but we have to consider the experimental nature of the sensor. 50 meters is about as accurate as something that sized can be,” Vague replied with a shrug, his voice slightly distorted by the microphone in the re-breather.

“Alright then…” Richard acceded, as he watched Vague activate the spell fully, and then hop below the water’s surface.

-= Roughly a half hour earlier, in the Livingston (LA) Domed Community =-

A man in a blue mask stood at the dock, the mask of ‘sadness’ on his face belying the giddiness in his actual heart. A giddiness produced by the project his good contact in Durham had completed to a far enough degree to take live.

“Look alive, people… we have reports from the drone scanners that a large source of thaumatic energy is forming north of the ruins of New Orleans. I want everyone on the TAG to double-check their equipment, the divers to triple-check - I am not having our gracious supplier losing face with this new project due to error on our part,” Nathan said, his face completely obscured and his voice modified to prevent anyone who wasn’t in the know figuring out who he was.

The men and women in the black suits and armor ran around the covered dock, as the outside door with the black-and-white shield (hastily painted on it) began to creep open, the sullen stench of the foul water of the Gulf of Mexico beginning to waft in ever so slightly.

“What are we going to have to do to be rid of this stench once and for all?” Nathan thought to himself, his mask firm, while his face beneath scrunched due to the odor.

“A lot, but this is an undertaking I personally welcome, Leader-3,” Peter Vaughn said to Nathan through his implant.

“Of course you would Peter, and truth be told, you are right. I just want to know what the hell that thing is in Old New Orleans, and why it’s basically setting off anything thauma-sensitive we have along the coast…” Nathan thought ‘aloud’, as he tried to think of what could be powerful enough to register like that.

“And that is why you are out in the field – to assess that. So I would highly suggest that you and your people get on with your assignment,” Peter replied, his tone becoming slightly terser with each passing moment.

“Sure thing,” Nathan replied curtly but politely, as he ended the connection so he could focus on his (apparently) assigned task on hand.

Even though I should want there to be absolutely no interference down in the old ruins… a part of me is hoping those damned White Knights show up. At least then I could put the T.A.G. through its paces in earnest, and wouldn’t that be fun… Nathan thought to himself, as he retreated to a control center to monitor the T.A.G. from afar.

As Nathan was musing over what he wanted to see down in old New Orleans, Peter sat at his control desk in current Manhattan, musing over his history with the leader of the Human-Equus Alliance.

“Where did everything go wrong, Richard? I thought we were going to make a good tandem, take this damn world by storm. Truly begin to rebuild it something greater than a massive holding cell for those useless parasites we call Outsiders,” Peter wondered aloud, as he scrolled one of his old folders full of photos to one of him, Richard, and Claire from 10 years ago.

“Then again, given how your father and grandfather thought, I should have only surmised that the son would be too busy thinking about how he could be a hero to the masses. That nobles oblige you all always talked about, such an outmoded concept. What is constantly feeding the rats nibbling around the edges of our havens doing for us? Nothing, it’s doing absolutely NOTHING to benefit us. I thought you would have seen that from your lofty perch, Richard. But either that white horse has blinded you, or you are blinding yourself to the reality of our situation,” the man holding the mask of Anger continued to complain, as he stood up and looked out of the window at Manhattan.

“We sit here in these Domes. In these Domes waiting for the day, waiting for the day we can reclaim the Earth from the teeming hordes, Richard. And you are not only supporting them, but you are in league with even MORE teeming hordes to ensure we can never get rid of them! Why? Why are you sitting here delaying the inevitable, Richard? Answer me!”

As the man with the mask of Anger continued to rant and rave, an image appeared on his mirror near the door – a woman beyond age but seemingly the epitome of human beauty. Though where Gaea possessed hair like a raven, but skin fair as any North European, this woman had hair white as chalk, but skin black like obsidian; as if she were the polar opposite of the Matron of Terran Magic. She chuckled an inaudible laugh, as she looked at the man who was seemingly on top of the world curse its very existence.

“Doesn’t it frustrate you, Mr. Vaughn, how you can be in control of everything, and yet everything is out of your control. Or is it really out of your control? Perhaps there are… other methods you need to administer to truly take control of this world’s destiny. Yes… there is always another option… but do you have the fortitude to see it through? I most certainly hope you do, Mr. Vaughn… because if that is true, then you will be absolutely perfect for my plans…” the woman said in an inaudible to anyone else voice, her image fading from the mirror as fast as it appeared.

-= Back to the present time, on the way to old New Orleans =-

The blue Unicorn known as Blue Vague continued on his somber journey, as he used a small bit of Water Magic to propel himself through the mire of the polluted water. His horn was alight with the soft glow of his electric blue aura, helping his goggled eyes see through the murky depths, as his coat was lacquered with the Water-Mana enhanced Deep Diver spell, protecting him from water or chemical damage to his body and coat.

“Found anything interesting down there, Blue?” Richard asked, as he motored the dinghy along the route that Vague was forging, just so the Unicorn would have an easy enough escape route in case he needed it.

“Well, it’s interesting to me at least. Some of the roads that lead towards I guess the outer rim suburbs of New Orleans are still intact, even after all these years. I thought they would have eroded to nothing by now…” Vague replied over the radio in his re-breather.

“True. Looking on this pad, if this old map is accurate, we’re close to what used to be Kenner, LA,” Richard replied, as he overlaid the historical map of Louisiana on top of the current data being fed. “That, whatever, isn’t showing up yet, but can you still hear that little tune you said it was creating?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit louder and clearer now… it seems like it’s not quite all the way in the old city limits by any stretch, it shouldn’t be too longer until I get a visual. At least I hope it’s something I can see with the naked eye anyway,” Vague responded, as he continued to half-walk along the submerged road surface into what was left of the old town.

“Man, if only I had something to record this with…” Vague said, as he swam and trotted along the mud and asphalt that made up the shore-bed. “It’s like something right out of a movie. Though hopefully some giant mutant sea snake or fish isn’t gonna pop out and give me any trouble.”

“You have been hearing some of the warnings we’ve been getting from the Zebras right? They’re saying some of our own mythical creatures are preparing a return to their ancestral homeland sometime in the near future,” Richard said, the concern evident in his voice.

Said concern was matched by Vague. “The last thing we need are a bunch of so-called, or actual, monsters appearing out of nowhere to muddle this situation even more on this planet.”

“Wouldn’t that statement also apply to your current running mates?” Richard asked, with a bit of mirth.

Vague was silent for a few seconds, knowing full well what Richard was implying. “Yeah, I guess that’d apply to us, as well. Though I don’t think any but the most hard-up of hardliners would call us monsters…”

“Sometimes the most adorable package can hide a lethal weapon,” Richard replied.

“Are you going to stop being right any time soon?” Blue Vague responded, as he continued to test the mana around the area to see where that fissure was located.

“I would hope not, wouldn’t be becoming of the human member of the HEA Council to be acting in a wrong-headed manner, now would it?”

“No, no it wouldn’t,” Vague responded, as he zoomed on, and Richard followed him further south. “And regarding the original point: at this point I’d rather they show up sooner than later. At least let’s get all the players on the field so we can figure out what we might need to do to make this world work right.”

Vague continued on, until he reached what looked to be the outskirts of an old business district. Still hearing the resonant tone in his head…

Shoo-be-doo, shoo-shoo-be-doo~!

…and apparently getting slightly louder, which indicated his getting closer.

“I get the feeling this is supposed to be part of a larger song, this sting that I’m hearing…” Vague mused as he swam along the half-eroded and broken up streets of the abandoned and now sunken city.

“It sounds to me that someone or something is using that as an emergency beacon, but the only people who can hear it are people that could do anything about it. Which you’d qualify as, it seems,” Richard said, as the two of them reached the edge of the old New Orleans suburb proper.

As Vague kept his horn lit to keep track of the ‘beacon’, he began to pick up something else… something that began to grate on him quite significantly.

“I’m feeling something really strong and concentrated to our east, at least I think it’s our east. Anyway, it doesn’t feel like the fissure I was talking about earlier, and the fissure definitely doesn’t give me this deep sense of foreboding either…” Vague stated to Richard, as he took a few moments to orient himself in an alcove formed by a collapsed storefront.

Alright, let’s see what’s going on through these binoculars then… Richard thought to himself as he took them out and looked off to the east, in the direction where his map showed an old domed stadium stood. When he couldn’t see the stadium at first, he was greatly surprised; taken aback a few moments as he realized he was looking at a large bank of fog to his east.

A few swipes on his pad and looking with his natural vision, he realized he was looking at a fog bank – a completely unnatural fog bank. A few moments of fiddling with the binoculars to load in the fog filter, he took a look again. He promptly went from surprise right to concern by what he was seeing.

“Vague, we have a problem…” Richard started as he kept his eyes trained on the large object he was seeing through the filter. “There is a rather large and quite heavily armed boat near what is likely holding our mystery mana source. And three guesses as who the owners of said boat may be.”

“The SPH?” Vague replied with a severely agitated tone.

“Yeah, and I think I see some people diving into the water off the side of the boat. It wouldn’t surprise me if their thaumatic sensors got tripped by that fissure as well. Can’t really say if they are hearing it the way you are, though,” Richard continued to report.

“I doubt that, but what I do know is this: I’m keeping on this little mission of mine. There is a reason why my horn is picking that up as a musical sting and not just incoherent noise, and right now I want to know why,” Vague replied, as he continued on his way toward the old stadium.

A few minutes later, he reached the edge of the stadium that apparently held the fissure in question, and Vague smacked his forehead as he finally realized what stadium he was looking at.

I should have figured this out earlier, the stadium we’ve been heading toward is the Superdome II. I should have thought of that when we were heading to the east end of Kenner…

He continued on, taking some extra caution now to not expose himself unduly since he couldn’t tell if there were drones of any kind doing scouting for the SPH. He swam from car to car, to building to building, and eventually made it up to the edge of the walkways in front of the stadium, such that they still existed through all the moving water and corrosive chemicals in said water.

I heard grinding… not like someone with one of those big power saws like in the Armory… more like… Venome thought, as she could hear something grinding against metal through Vague’s earbud-protected ears.

Like a Water-Magic enhanced portable and miniature power-saw trying to cut through corroded, jammed metal? Torra completed for Venome, much to her consternation.

Yes like a miniature power-saw… she acceded, to a large smile by the giant turtle-like creature.

There is no telling what they might do if they can secure this area before we can figure out what the heck is making this sound in my horn; so we need to hurry up and get in there! Vague concluded, as he took off as fast as he could, hoping the sudden mana didn’t give him away.

Another minute or so of swimming in an arc later, Vague came upon the edge of the ‘Dome proper, looking for a nice and loose window so he could ease his more than three foot tall and eighty-plus pound frame in. Eventually he found pay dirt, as he concentrated used a mixture of Water and Explicit magic to create a seal around the corners of a 40 sq. ft. panel of plexi-glass. A few moments of pushing forward, and then gentle lowering, Vague was in the stadium without incident, and further in awe of what he saw.

“Alright, Richard. I’m inside the ‘Dome without incident, but I need you to keep the engine on that boat hot because those SPH Divers are in here too, and I might need a bailout in the next few minutes,” Vague said over his comm to the man in the dinghy now almost a half-mile away.

“I’ll hold here as long as I can, and it doesn’t seem like there are any other vehicles in the vicinity, either. You just make sure to keep yourself safe on your end,” Richard responded, as he kept his eyes trained on the bank of fog that was still east of where he was temporarily moored.

This is an impressive scene though… to see something with so much work put into its building still trying to hold firm despite the elements trying to reclaim it. Kind of a metaphor of humanity over all really… Torra-Borous remarked, as two entities of his (at least partial) creation continued to hang around his mind, assisting in any way they could.

As Vague traveled from concourse to tunnel to general walkway and back, he let his mind wander a bit. “I wonder what it was like before this building and this area was left for the ‘wild’ to reclaim? I know about all the parties and everything being thrown in and around the New Orleans general area, but I want to know how people felt in their everyday life. To live in an area where the thought of ‘today is the day I will have to leave permanently’ was always in the back of your mind.”

It couldn’t have been a good feeling… but that’s what you claimed this power for isn’t it? To minimize, if not eliminate, how many might these thoughts into the future… Torra-Borous replied to the rhetorical question.

Yeah, so let’s get in there and figure out what that fissure is and why it’s constantly singing… Venome added.

“Right, can’t get distracted…” Vague concluded as he reached the end of the tunnel, leading him to the stadium center.

“Woah… this is… damn this is crazy…” Vague thought aloud, as he looked over the railing to the second deck where he exited from. He saw a giant swirl of royal blue mana, and completely clear water in the center of the stadium; the presence of the fissure destroying pollutants that had leeched or been carried by currents near it. On top of that, the fissure looked like a degraded version of the Aurora Barrier; swirling blues along with hints of pinks and browns – reminding the Unicorn of a coral reef in some respect.

“I wonder if this is how Ethan felt when he saw the actual Aurora Barrier form during that recon flight back when…” he wondered, as he looked over the edge of the concrete ‘rim’ of the deck.

The Unicorn could see the two SPH divers apparently discussing what they were looking at, and started to wonder what he should do about this fissure himself. That was until an unknown voice spoke to him: If you align your heart with the rhythm of the magic, the way to your answer will be opened…

Vague thought on the issue for a few moments, until he was stricken with an idea; and immediately retreated into the tunnel to enter a meditative state.

--- --

“Wait, Vague, what are you doing here?” Venome asked; as she saw the figure that represented Vague’s full consciousness enter the mind-scape that she and Torra-Borous current occupied.

“I have an idea for what do to do about this fissure issue,” Vague responded, as he waved a hoof and created a diagram of himself and the fissure, both of which looked to be pulsing in two different frequencies. “Right now the frequency of that fissure is what is causing the resonance in my horn, and why we keep hearing that musical sting repeating when I focus on it. But then again you heard what that voice just told all of us, right?”

“Yeah, but I found it a little vague myself, Vague,” Venome responded, still not quite getting what Vague was working toward, but Torra-Borous did figure it out.

“You must mean attuning your natural magical frequency to the fissure, and using it like you would Porta-Crystal. But you have to know that attuning to something that raw would require your undivided attention, right?” the turtle-like creature figured, and then asked.

“Exactly, and that’s what I need you two for. I want you two to engage the two divers, because I also need physical proximity. I tried to attune to the fissure when I first started meditating, but the fissure is actually quite small, despite how big it apparently looks; and I don’t think I have the fifteen minutes to sit here and do it undetected with how weak my connection is now, especially if they have a thaumatic sensor down here with them,” Vague started, much to the surprise of his two fellow travellers. “So I need you to handle casting beyond what I am doing to attune to the fissure, TOrra-Borous. And Venome, I need you to handle moving my body, since you have some experience with it, for what it’s worth.”

Venome thought to object, but eventually saw the logic in the plan. Torra-Borous agreed as well, as the two of them made to leave the mind-scape for the ‘active area’ of Vague’s psyche. Vague remained in the mind-scape, as he walked up to the image he created, and began to focus on it, his aura wrapping around him and interacting with the image, trying to straighten out the wild conflagration of mana into a stable portal shape.

--- --

“Alright… Torra, before we get started, can you cast a camouflage spell? If they see it’s clearly a Pony doing all of this, they’ll probably call some kind of torpedo strike or whatever else. But I think if we can scoot around here near that thing and be on our way before long,” Venome asked, her voice now sounding like Vague’s, except with the slightest of higher pitches.

“Give me a few moments… alright, we’re good to go. So what should we do to keep them occupied enough but not wanting to call down reinforcements?” Torra asked of his partner.

Venome thought for a few moments, before she came to a conclusion. “Exploding water! Make it seem like that fissure is making the water ‘unstable’ and prone to explode for no apparent reason.”

“Sound like a plan, Miss Venome,” Torra replied, as Venome moved them down to field level and slowly toward the fissure itself.

“Alright, so what exactly are we going to do about this thaumatic… whatever this is? It’s not registering like Pony Magic, thank God. But it’s not really Human Magic either…” one of the divers said through his radio to his partner.

“Hard to say… I think we need more analysts down here. We should probably work on securing the area and then getting a full thauma-research team down here to examine this,” the second diver responded, as he began to punch in exact coordinates so that a fleet could get down and prevent any of the HEA from taking the area.

Just as he was, he felt a small explosion at his back, causing him to lose his concentration.

“What the hell was that?” the second diver asked the first.

“What was what?” the first diver replied interrogatively, before he felt an explosion disorient him.

Just keep the blasts in the open water, the last thing we need is any debris fallin’ on our heads, Venome told Torra-Borous, as they danced around in an arc behind the fissure, from the perspective of the divers; and more importantly, out of their direct line of sight.

---

“Just a few more moments, almost got this portal open all the way…” Vague said, as he continued to manipulate the image, which was about halfway to forming a normalized magical portal.

---

It seems like Master almost has the portal open… the fissure is starting to look less wild and a little more like the Aurora Barrier does… though not quite… Torra reported to Venome.

“Alright then, one last big burst to chase them off!” Venome shouted, as Torra complied.

“This fissure must be unstable, it’s like this entire area is littered with invisible mines,” the first diver shouted to his partner.

“That’s gonna make this whole place unstable, this stadium isn’t designed for sudden shocks like that,” the second diver replied, as they continued to try and avoid the ‘mines’ that Venome and Torra were laying all over their side of the stadium.

---

“THERE! Venome, go through the fissure!” Vague shouted, as the image of the fissure was now completely morphed into an ovoid, cerulean-colored magical portal with pink and stone gray swirls.

I hope you enjoy what you find… It’ll be nice to talk to another kind after so long by ourselves… Vague heard the new voice say, as she faded as quickly as she ‘appeared’.

“I hope I do too…” Vague replied, as he rejoined the two of his creations at the front of his consciousness.

---

So ready to see what’s on the other side of this thing, Torra? Venome asked, as she receded back to a secondary position as Vague took control of his body and his casting again.

May as well, being this deep into the operation as it is. Would not feel proper to leave now… Torra-Borous replied.

“Then away we go,” Vague said as he went into the now formed portal in realspace.

=== --- ===

“Whoa what’s going on?” Venome said, as she clung around Vague’s neck, before realizing she was separate from him again.

“The Space Between Worlds, Miss Venome. A place beyond normal time and space that separates different realities, be they Physical or Astral, from each other. Think of it like ‘hyperspace’ in some of the movies Master Vague watched before,” Torra said, as the two Ponies rode on the back of his massive turtle shell, as the three of them headed to the end-point of the portal.

“If it makes you feel any better Venome, I’m still not used to it either. It’s why I kinda check out whenever I teleport between Earth and Equus,” Vague replied, as he put on his best poker face to stave off the same kind of anxiety Venome was showing.

“Hopefully it doesn’t last too much longer,” Venome whined, before they saw a blue light with pink and gray-ish fringe begin to appear in the center of their collective perspective.

“It shouldn’t!” Vague said, as Torra carried the two Ponies past the breach of the other end of the portal.

---

“Hello? Helllllooooooooo,” a young sounding female voice called to Vague, sounding younger than Pinkie Pie, but still older than Sweetie Belle.

“Huh? What’s going on,” Vague said, as he groggily sat up on his haunches, looking around, feeling his entire body surrounded by what felt like water on one hoof, but on the other, also felt like he was moving through normal atmosphere.

He looked around, and saw strange things, houses made of coral, sandstone, and obsidian. A volcano erupting in the background with a field of what looked like tube worms all around the base. And coral… a positively massive reef of coral that went at least 10 different ‘rows’ deep; altogether forming a high bank, almost like a stadium’s seating bowl.

“Did we just land in a seascape or something?” Venome said, as she was in her own Astral Body again, groggily walking and sitting herself next to Vague.

“It seems that way, though I’m not sure what calls this place ‘home’. Though it is clear from how everything is arranged into distinct patterns and intelligently constructed, something smart lives here. And I’d wager quite a number of somethings,” Torra-borous said, as he swam and hovered next to the pair of Ponies.

“Well I already see one odd thing, you're maybe 20% as big as you usually are, Torra,” Vague chuckled, as the combination sea-turtle-and-aquatic-snake creature was now only as big as two adult Ponies instead of ten, or roughly the size of Luna.

“Yes, I notice that now. The sudden change in perspective is mildly unsettling, but I will manage,” Torra replied, as he noticed something, and something as large as he was, along with several others approached their position.

“Shoo-be-doo, shoo-shoo-be-doo~” the group of five sang in harmony, as they looked at the stunned faces on the three figures before them.

“You know, it was once that Land-Ponies called upon us Sea-Ponies with this tune. And now, it was you who answered our call, and we now would like to welcome you all... to the Sea-Pony Reserve!” the eldest looking figure said, with a melodic flourish.

What in the blue hell? Vague thought to himself, as he looked on as confused as ever at the five figures ‘hovering’ in the water before him.

********* === ***********

Author's Note:

[1] the Gunboat is a misnomer, as the boat is basically a very large speedboat that’s designed to combat near-surface marine and coastal targets; instead of bombarding coastal targets like a real gunboat

[2] Roughly the size of a current-day Pringles can.

[3] Global Credit is a universal currency meant to ease international transactions.

Comments

[Waterpicker]

yay new chapter!