Lyra Heartstrings - 23th of Faust 09 EoH - Afteroon
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
The now familiar pulling sensation of the portals only barely registered in my brain over the rage bubbling in the forefront of my mind. I scarcely noticed as the purplish hole in space vanished.
“Seriously, you son of a bitch!?” I demanded of the now god knows how distant Starswirl. “Fucking seriously?!”
“Yeah, that was a bit of a dick move,” Sai agreed. “But you’ll be happy to hear-”
“I should fucking deck him right in his goddamn pony nose!” I exclaimed, kicking at the wall I found myself facing in anger.
The steel cap on my boot struck up a few sparks as some of the stone chipped away under the impact.
“Who the fuck can see the future and only checks a goddamn hour ahead for side effects!” I growled, clenching my teeth. “It’s only a fucking mutation potion! What’s the fucking worse that will happen?”
“Yeah, but-” Sai tried to say.
“How does a guy like that even marry?!” I demanded. “He probably can’t even think well enough to remember to get a birthday present!”
“Lyra, seriously,” Sai said in an irked tone.
“Oi! Don’t you get short with me!” I demanded shaking a finger angrily at the VM despite it’s lack of a camera. “That motherfucker deserves a size twelve boot up the ass! For all I know in an hour I’m gonna be a fucking pile of pond scum!”
“Fair enough,” Sai agreed, sounding rather aggravated, “but I’ve got-”
“Is that fucking portal still open?” I asked no one in particular, turning around to see no magical gate between me and the other stone-brick wall. “Fucking hell! I swear to physics itself, Clover, you had better be beating the shit out of that old fuck for me!”
“You know what, I’ll just wait,” Sai muttered. “Different Lyra, and yet the same Lyra…”
I turned back to the closer wall and punched it as hard as I could, my suit’s gloves aggravatingly reducing the impact on my fist. I wanted the satisfaction of feeling something yield to my well justified rage!
“Guess I’ll just plant my ass here and wait to turn into a fucking ferret made of cheese or something! Stupid fucking idiot! The fuck did I just drink that shit for!? What did that old son of a bitch ever do to prove trustworthy!?” I growled to myself.
“Potions don't work that way,” someone said a short ways off. “They can’t pack enough punch to turn you into a living thing made of non-living stuff. Or so highschool alchemy taught me.”
“Oh great! Like that lowers the fucking range of shit that can happen,” I snapped. “Now I only have to worry about turning into the love child of Yog-Sothoth and one of those frogs that births its young from it’s skin like fucking blisters!”
“Ew! That’s a thing?!” The same female voice exclaimed.
I turned to see who the fuck I was talking to, and only then noticed where I now was. I was standing in a windowless room with walls, floor, and ceiling made from rough hewn stone. It was like an old castle, except for the clearly 21st century style I-beams supporting the ceiling, and the very not medieval white painted metal bars and cell door which split the room into two different prison cells with a hallway separating the two.
I took a deep breath and let it out as one long angry hissing groan. “... At least you didn’t appear inside a solid object, Lyra…” I decided, clenching my fist angrily.
“Random teleport? Or did that mage you are pissed at toss you out of his sanctum?” The light peach colored mare in the cell across from me asked.
An odd looking mare at that. Or at least, odd in my experience.
Like the last two, she stood on four hooves. Well, at the moment she was sitting on her butt, but she definitely had hooves and forelegs. Which were somehow holding a crudely made hammer and a bit of pipe.
The mare had larger eyes than other ponies, not freakishly so, but definitely noticeable. Her eyes were also a very sharp glass green, which could be a normal pony color, but seemed to glow in the dim light and had pupils which were slits, just like a cat’s. She also had larger ears which came to a much sharper point, or at least appeared to thanks to the floofy-fluff tufty bits of long fur at their tips.
She also had really weird hair. Even by my standards. The way it had a gradient from rich caramel at the roots to a milk chocolate middle, and then to gray-brown tips had to have been painstakingly dyed. No way it just grew like that.
Her fur also had an odd look to it, but it seemed more natural. She had a bunch of slightly darker little dots on her coat which looked sort of like freckles. They showed up in small patches on her shoulders, knees, elbows, cheeks, on her hips above her somehow-in-color green flame shaped brand… Huh, exactly like patches of freckles, actually.
At first I thought she was a pegasus, due to the folded wings at her sides. But after a second of processing I realised they were actually bat style leathery wings.
She was a bat pony. Or a vampire. Or maybe half dragon or some shit.
Na na na na nana, Batpone! … Dammit brain! I’m trying to be mad here!
“Random teleport,” I answered. “After a mage gave me a potion that’s going to probably fucking kill me!”
The mare rolled her eyes. “How do you not know anything about alchemy? The major effects of a potion happen right as it’s swallowed. If you were going to mutate into something really different, it would have happened by now.”
“Is that true?” I asked both her and Sai.
“Yes,” Sai confirmed, “at least, that’s what my basic facts database says.”
“What the bracelet said,” the mare added. “At most you’re in for… I don’t know, an eye color change?”
I took a deep breath, relief flooding my body like it had been dumped on me via anti-fire drone.
“Good! Good… No life as pond scum,” I said to myself as I let the breath go.
“Nope,” the mare confirmed, going back to hammering on some metal with light taps.
“Coulda fooled me…” Sai teased.
I ignored him.
“Uhh… Sso… Where exactly is this prison?” I asked slowly, not wanting to ask her if ponies like her were normal here.
That seemed an exceedingly rude thing to ask.
“Exactly? Humm…” She said, looking off into space in thought. “Somewhere within two arc minutes of I’m not a GPS.”
I narrowed my eyes in irritation as Sai laughed. “Haha! I need to remember that one,” he chuckled.
“Go right ahead and use it, talking wristband, and or colt on a radio someplace!” The mare called cheerfully.
“Look, are you going to help or not?” I asked irritably. I was too pissed off to put up with much shit right now, and while I was in a cell, I had a god damn lightsaber on me. I was hardly stuck here.
“Huh?” The mare asked with a surprised frown. “Of course I am. I’m just making conversation with the randomly appearing biped of a kind I’ve never seen before. You know, an interesting person.”
“Ah… Well… Fair enough,” I admitted slowly.
“Anyways,” she said casually, “hope you’ve heard of Imperial Equestria, cuz you’re in one of her border forts near the badlands. Give me a few more minutes and I’ll help you out of there… Or if you can teleport at will, it would be awesome of you to get me into the hallway.”
“Right…” I asked slowly. “So, I haven't heard of this place. Now, don’t take offence here, but, why should I help a prisoner break out of prison? For all I know you could be a serial killer.”
The mare laughed and flashed me a grin. “Nah! Just an arsonist, and only then if you’re with the Imperials. If you’re not, I’m a rebel. Set fire to an Imperial banner. It obstructed my view of the evening star.”
“Right…” I said slowly, brain starting to click scattered bits of information together. “So, let’s pretend that I’m an alien and have no knowledge whatsoever about your world. Exactly what am I getting into here?”
It sounded like I was in the middle of a nation in a civil war here. While I wouldn’t be here long, it wouldn’t be good to take a side only to pick the weaker one and wind up getting shot.
The mare's ears perked excitedly. “Ohmygosh! Are you!? That would be awesome!”
“Look,” I started with a sigh, gently tapping my sword to draw her attention to it. “I seriously have no idea where I am and what’s going on. I’m going to be here for at least three days. If it helps me, I’ll help you. But if you’re someone who might backstab me-”
Her eyes narrowed instantly, actual anger held in the green slit eyes. “You really have no idea about anything here… I’m a thestral. This is an Imperial prison. If I was a psychopath, I’d much rather be killing them than you.”
The way her body language, glare, and voice combined made me believe her. That was the way someone spoke of their enemies, and not wimpy social enemies but the real ones. The sorts who had been doing unspeakable things to them for generations. The way anyone I’d ever known spoke of our enemies…
“You’re getting out,” I promised.
She nodded. “Yep. Either now or in twenty minutes from now.”
“What happens then?” I asked.
“That’s when I finish this lock-punch I’m making,” she explained, holding up the bed frame bit for a moment.
From what I could see, she’d been hammering the metal tube into a flat bar, and rolling it over to form a thin rod. It was insanely well done for not having a forge or proper anvil available!
“Not bad,” I praised, drawing the sword from my belt and igniting it’s golden blade with a snap hiss. “But mine’s bigger.”
“Mine’s however big I want it to be,” she countered reflexively.
“Mares having a dick measuring contest. Yup, today’s just one of those days...” Sai muttered to himself.
“I like your bracelet, he’s hilarious!” The mare snickered. “Anywho, it’s not size, it’s how you use it. So how about you cut the lock open and get us out into the hallway?”
I pulled my arm back to hack at the cell’s bars as requested but paused, realizing one very important thing.
“Hold on, prison breaks are more complicated than open cell, leave building. What’s your plan?” I asked carefully.
“Well, this is a fort at a military checkpoint, not a proper prison. So it’s meant to keep people out more than it is in,” the mare began, setting down her hammer and moving a few bits of metal around the floor of her cell. “It won't be too hard to get out, they have like, twenty maybe thirty dudes at best and most of them will be patrolling around the sand dunes so we probably need to deal with like…eight.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You plan to just kill eight soldiers and walk off?”
“Pff! Buck no!” What’s-her-name laughed. “We’d be screwed if these guys were soldiers. I mean, it’s a military fort but it’s just Imperial Guard running it. I’ve been avoiding them since I was twelve, their training is shit. It has to be, cuz there’s millions of them. I think the term is ‘cannon fodder’.”
“Right… So then they are what, special police?” I asked, feeling that angry knot forming in my gut.
This was a despotic empire, wasn't it? Fucking hell.
She nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, look, this one’s easy. I got captured here on purpose. I got a ride with a stallion to try and find, er, a place. Anyways, these dickless assholes decided his booze was contraband. So got in the easy way to get his scotch back in return for half off what I agreed to pay him.
“You help me, I help you. He’s still landed out at the dock at the fort, they keep you on ground for a while to just waste your time. All we have do is get his shit. I’m sure he won't mind giving you a lift too, and boom, we have an out from here these idiots won't be able to stop.”
“Right… Except a ton of your species can fly. Aerial outs can’t be all that good,” I pointed out.
She flashed me a smile, the condescending kind. “So all of your vehicles go running speed at best, eh? Sucks for you.”
“Heh! I like you,” Sai chuckled to himself.
“Fair point,” I agreed. “Still you got what, a prison shiv? I have a sword, but they probably have you know, wizards, weapons, armor probably… So unless you’re motherfucking Riddik-”
“Why do you swear like a foal?” The mare asked with an inquisitive eyebrow raise. “Also I’m motherbucking Flintlock Rose. Eventual legendary…whatever I decide to do with my life. We’re good.”
Oh sweet fucking physics… Overconfident scrub is overconfident… Great!
I took a second to see if I could come up with a better plan than ‘break out the noob’.
“My gear’s down the hall in the contraband lock up with the booze. Got all my dad’s old shit. Trust me, we’ll be good,” she added while I thought.
Right, she was going to break out of her cell wether I helped or not. When she did, guards would be alerted, she’d be dragged back here if not killed, and they would find me if I stayed here. If I cut my way out I was apparently in a desert. I could easily just chill on a dune for a few days, my suit would keep me comfortable and-
“Can I talk now?” Sai suddenly asked. “Or are you going to rant some more?”
“What is it Sai?” I sighed, hating the interruption.
“Nothing big. Just found a SkyTech Network here is all. You know, small potatoes,” Sai snarked.
“And you didn’t tell me before, why?!” I demanded, glaring at the manipulator as intensely as I could.
“Cuz you were too busy throwing a hissy fit over shit you’d know if you took a basic intro to alchemy course,” Rose called from her cell.
“What she said!” Sai exclaimed happily. “My god, can you give me to her? Please?”
“Can you access the network?” I asked, taking a deep breath to try and keep calm.
It didn’t work, so I pictured Sai having a body so I could strangle it. That helped.
“Nope. I don’t have the right encryption. So this ain’t home, but I could have told you that with the whole ‘Imperial Equestria’ thing,” Sai answered. “The network is located within a few hundred kilometers, judging by the signal. If you get out of here, I’ll be able to triangulate where it’s coming from… Also unless you fancy that walk, we should help the nice mare.”
“Could we radio them?” I asked hopefully. “Get a pick up?”
“No. Because I don’t have the right encryption,” Sai explained wearily.
“You were able to get into the battle network of Neighponese mechs! I know you can do this,” I objected.
Sai groaned in a way which made me sure his CPU facepalmed. “Oh please, they were using radio encryption with Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction. It ain’t rocket science. My Boss uses microwave transmissions encrypted with quantum cryptography. Hard day’s work for all of me. Insurmountable barrier for just this chunk of me.
“All I can do is see the network’s ID and it’s signal strength. I can’t do shit to get into it. And before you ask me if I can just broadcast a general message and hope they hear it, yeah no… My transmitter’s range for shortwave radio is less than a hundred klicks.”
“Not to butt in here,” Rose interrupted, “but I’m actually kinda going to Sky Labs anyways.”
“Wait, what?” Sai and I asked together, as I turned to look back at the peach colored mare again.
Rose nodded. “Yeah. My dad’s gear was made by Ayna, and she works for Sky Labs. I know she’s a changeling and well… I’m a halfbreed. My Thestrial half might not have any kin left in Equestria, but there’s still plenty of Changelings around. I… I thought maybe I’d have some family left.
“So I’m heading to the Lab to ask her where I can find a hive. They can’t all have been driven completely underground.”
“You don’t look like a changeling,” I pointed out rather stupidly.
Rose grabbed her cheeks with her forehooves in a gesture of mock shock. “Oh my gosh! The shape shifter doesn't look like how I think they should!”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know, sorry… That was dumb.”
Then a thought occurred to me. “But not as dumb as looking like the species getting purged! At least it sounds like-”
“Oh yeah, we are being purged or exiled,” Rose confirmed with a grim nod. “Not always, not everywhere… It’s slow. Cuz bucking Emperor Solaris can’t have a pony kind with a bit of monster blood in them… And also doesn't want to look bad to his loyal speciesist lapdogs… Cuz apparently it’s okay to get rid of a people a bit of a time but not all at once…
“Look, maybe I am stupid for valuing my heritage. But at least I have something to be proud of.”
Right then. Evil emperor. Ongoing holocaust. Side chosen.
Also, next hop had better drop me off into a gumdrops and ice cream festival. Because seriously. Four for four! Come on!
I drew back my blade and chopped down at the lock, metal shrieking in protest and sparks flying as I sheared the bolt from the lock. The cell door scraped along it’s rails as I pushed it open, the irritable metal clearly needing some oiling. A sign these doors rarely opened.
“Right,” I said to Rose, “let’s get you-”
“Meh, I’m good,” she countered, giving me a smile as she held a small spike up to the back of her cell’s lock.
Then she rammed her hoof forward into the other end of the spike. The ping of metal shattering made Bon coil tightly around me, nearly crushing my breastplate in her fright. I had a fraction of a second to register the spike had simply rammed the tumbler out of the lock enclosure completely before Rose slid the ruined door open and stepped out of her cell.
“Ah! There we go. Shall we?” She asked, only to yelp slightly as Bon slithered off my shoulders. “Woah! Okay, that’s not your tail!”
“No, that’s my snake… Girl… Person?” I poorly explained, “If- I… If you could just punch the lock open why did you-”
“I’d never have been able to break through hardened steel like that without something to focus the punch. The edge of my hoof wouldn’t cut it. They heard that, so we should be going left,” Rose announced, starting a light jog down the hall.
“Wait,” Sai asked as I began to follow her, keeping my sword ready, “she punched through a cell door?”
“Yeah, using a spike,” I elaborated.
“You sure you're half changeling and not half earth pony?” Sai asked.
“... You do know we can quarry soft stone by hoof, right?” Rose asked with a laugh. “Seriously, does nopony know what threstrial magic even does?”
“I don’t know what any magic does,” I pointed out swiftly.
“Wait, like, literally or just pony-” as Rose spoke a solid steel door on our right was thrown open, and a light blue furred unicorn stallion dressed in black and gold armor somewhere between ancient greek and modern tactical plating surged into the hallway shouting an alarm!
“Get behind me!” I shouted, pulling my sword up into a ‘smash this into the thing!’ stance.
God I needed melee training!
“Hang on!” Rose exclaimed.
The peach mare rushed forward, pulsing her wings and jumping at the same time to soar through the air, land briefly on the left hand wall, leap off of the stone and smash rear hooves first into the guard’s face with a loud crunch, sending the two flying in a tangled heap several feet down the hallway!
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed in shock as Rose disentangled herself from the pile.
“What?” She asked while trotting to a point behind me, honestly not understanding what had shocked me. “Point’s yourse. Next door on the left is the lock up.”
“Where did you learn to do that!?” I asked, still awestruck at the fucking live action kungfu maneuver.
“Used to live in a Taikwuan dojo, before that Clan got ‘purged’ as you put it. We gonna move or are you thinking of using this hallway as a funnel?” Rose asked curiously.
“Uh, no! Moving’s good!” I exclaimed deciding to just move down the corridor. I gave the downed guard a nudge with my foot as we passed by. “Dead or uncon-”
“He took Taikwuan Leap’s signature move, to the face,” Rose deadpanned.
“Ah, just checking,” I replied.
The jog to the next door was surprisingly far. The prison segment of the fort here seemed like it should have more cells going up the way we were, but instead there was only fifty feet or so of straight, gray stone corridor and red I beams holding up the roof, with only the occasional chunk of white glowing crystal to shed light.
To me, the architecture backed up Rose’s claims. A proper prison would be using this space for more cells. This was more like a UAM base, with a long straight cover free corridor to use as a killing field in the event of an attack. Definitely military… Except for the height of the ceiling.
Ponies were half my height, unless they reared up. So why was this hallway tall enough not only for me to stand up but for me to have a good bit of headroom too?
I almost ran past the door Rose had mentioned, the solid steel plate of a door was almost the same dull gray as the wall, with only its shape to really make it noticeable in the dim light. Fortunately I caught it in time to stop just far enough past it to roll into a position that made it look like I was getting into position for a door breach.
Rose definitely knew a bit. I knew I was out of my element and off my game. But I didn’t want her to know that. She could easily decide to use me as a distraction if she felt I was weighing her down.
“Oh yeah! Good plan, we don't know if anypony’s in there,” Rose nodded, apparently having not even thought about a breaching maneuver…
“Uh… Possible idiot moment here but, how experienced are you?” I asked, unable to believe she wouldn’t think about what was on the other side of a door before opening it.
Rose blushed and shuffled a forehoof against the floor. “Well… I’ve done a lot of street brawls, and broken out of a few local jails but uh, nothing professional. Not till we’re done here.”
I sighed and flipped my sword around to a reverse grip, ramming it through the keyhole on the door before kicking the door open while keeping my back to the wall. The violent slam of the door came and went. No surprised yelp, no arrow through the doorway, no grenade. Nothing.
I shook my head slightly and turned to peak into the room. “And here I was worried about looking off my game…” I muttered.
The lockup was a very simplistic room. I’d expected a barred off half of the room with a quartermaster’s station. Instead the room just looked like a simple store room, with long bench-like shelving units you’d normally find in a physical storefront with a few lockers here and there, and large white banners with a yellow sun logo on the rear wall.
No enemies, just shelves, boxes, and locked chests stacked up on top of each other. What a sloppy way to store equipment...
“Well…” Rose said slowly as I inspected the room. “You do seem a bit crap with a blade. I mean, you hold it like a club. Do you normally use a different weapon?”
“She had a blaster, but pegasi lightning hit it,” Sai explained for me.
“I do ranged combat… My species really doesn't use melee weapons anymore,” I added as I stepped inside the room. “It’s clear, grab your gear and let’s get rolling. I don’t like the lack of enemies. Feels like they are planning something.”
Rose nodded and trotted inside. “Yeah, that one guard did call for help with a messenger gem. They know we’re out of the cells.”
I nodded and closed the door, holding it shut since the lock was completely screwed up. With a little luck, anyone coming down the hallway would assume the door was shut and locked normally. After all, it was kind of hard to see, and that was with my helmet’s night-
I facepalmed, the sound of armorweave on face-flesh akin to a brick hitting a tomato. “No fucking wonder it was so dark,” I groaned to myself before closing my helmet’s faceplate.
“Mage-crystal visor?” Rose asked, the sound of snapping metal suddenly echoing off the walls. “Wow that padlock was cheep junk… How did Flimflam Co get a military contract again?”
“Something like that,” I answered.
“Hey Lyra,” Sai said suddenly.
“What?” I asked. “Oh! Did you get into-”
“You’re not dehydrated,” he informed.
“Huh?” I asked lips pursing in confusion.
“Just thought I’d inform you you forgot to put on a night vision helmet in the dark, and have no excuse for the dumb this time,” Sai snarked.
“... I-” I began.
“Also Bon’s still in the hallway,” Sai added.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed ripping the door open.
No way in hell would a pony just walk by the door if a twelve foot long sna-
The open door presented me with the unconscious blue-faced form of a white stallion, firmly wrapped in Bon’s iron coils, a crystal tipped spear-staff-thingie pinned firmly to his side due to her apparent attack.
“Damn! Good work hun… You can let him go, he’s unconscious,” I said, hoping to avoid Bon deciding it was okay to just kill ponies.
I mean, I didn't know exactly how smart she was yet… It would be bad to impart the wrong messages so early.
Bon noded and loosened her coils, the unconscious guard dropped like a rock, his breastplate crushed in a way that made me certain his ribs were just shattered. That was definitely a downside of armor… It wont spring back once crumpled inwards.
‘What happened?” Rose called urgently.
“Bon took care of one of them for us,” I informed.
“Oh Faust! That thing didn’t eat somepony, did it?” Rose asked fearfully.
Bon literary recoiled, her face managing to give a look of disgust.
“Uh, looks like she doesn't like how you guys taste,” I informed, deciding to this time keep the door open and keep a lookout. “Thanks for saving our bacon there hon. I owe you a nice rabbit as soon as we can get one.”
“Also that ‘thing’ is technically a baby lamia,” Sai announced. “So as she’s a developing person, you should use the right pronoun.”
I triple blinked and stared at my wrist for a few moments.
“What?” Sai asked, somehow sensing my stare. “People deserve that. It’s common decency. I’m a dick, not an asshole.”
“Hold on,” Rose asked, a grunt of effort escaping her lips. “You mean if I ask her not to crush and eat me, she’ll understand and might not do that?”
“She literally snuggles up to me at night,” I said with a laugh, still watching the hallway. “Bon won’t hurt anyone… Unless they threaten me apparently. Seriously never thought you’d do something like that.”
I gave Bon a loving head scritch. That guy might have been able to do some serious damage to me. He definitely had the element of surprise going for him.
Also I lacked a weapon I knew how to use… I should fix that as much as possible.
What did I have on me? Decontamination tent, combat knife, energy sword, a flash guard for a gun I no longer had, water storage container, safety pins, tweezers, chewing gum, a signal mirror, mosquito headnet & mittens, a physical compass, a basically useless fishing kit, a flexi saw, some latex gloves, razor knife, casualty blanket, medical instruction sheet, firestarter thingie, a syringe of antitoxin, and one stimpack.
Right… Nothing too useful as a weapon. Except for the fishing line! I could get some sticks and tie the line to it to make a garrote… Which is also a melee weapon, and even shittier than a sword I barely know how to use.
“Hey, there isn’t a spare crossbow or something in there, is there?” I asked Rose hopefully.
“Uh, if I see one I’ll let you know. Just looking for the- Ah ha! Here’s his whisky, and the cooler of beer. Man he’s lucky that officer wanted it for himself,” Rose said.
“Yeah, desert outpost, fuck all to do, limited supplies… That stuff should be gone,” I agreed.
What else did I have? A spare battery for a gun I no longer had… A necklace of immortality that I probably shouldn’t mess with and should totally have had Sta- no Clover look at.
Oh! The earring!
I reached into the belt pouch I had put the telekinesis charm into and fished the small silver hoop out and rolled it in my hand to inspect it. It was something simple… But it had come from that universe which ligit wanted to kill me…
Turning around to find Rose in the middle of pulling an olive green full face helmet from a box, I held up the earring and asked. “Hey, does this magical earring look evil to you?”
Rose blinked and tilted her head at me before asking. “Uh, you really don’t know how magic works, do you?”
“Nope,” I replied. “My species is totally mundane. All tech, no magic.”
“... That bucking sucks!” Rose exclaimed.
“Look, this thing is supposed to grant telekinesis… I wanna know if it’s evil before I stick it on,” I said with a weary sigh.
“Oh! A TK charm, is it gold, or silver?” Rose asked.
“How can you not tell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Too dim in here to judge the color of a tiny ass object from like, twenty meters away,” Rose shot back.
“It’s silver,” I answered.
“Any markings on it?” She asked.
I turning the ring in my fingers. “Nope. Just a plain silver hoop.”
“You’re cool, put it on,” Rose answered going back to digging things out of the foot locker.
“You sure?” I asked, just wanting confirmation.
“Yeah, Flimflam Co always marks their products, and I’m pretty sure they don’t make silver ones. I have two of those myself.” Rose mentioned.
“... You don’t have any earrings,” I objected.
“Well duh! I was in a prison, both of them are in this box right now,” Rose pointed out. “Hell, only one was in my ear too. They usually never check for piercings elsewhere but they actually had an enchantment detector here. Didn’t count on them finding both…”
Deciding to ignore those implications, I quickly took off my helmet and put the earring on. Thankfully my ears were pierced already. That could have been a problem.
“Stupid question again,” I began.
“Just will it to move and if you could move it like you want with your hoof, it will do it,” Rose answered.
I nodded and out of curiosity thought about my combat knife floating up into view from my belt.
Nothing.
Frowning in concern, I tried again, this time thinking about it more intently. I heard a small scraping sound, and fearing someone approaching from the hallway spun around, fist raised to deliver a punch!
My knife clattered to the ground, having somehow fallen out of it’s shea- Oh! Sweet!
Looking at the knife I held out my hand and focused intently on the idea of the knife jumping handle first into my hand. A faint gold aura flickered to life around the knife, slowly pulling it towards my hand. So slowly that I decided to just reach out and pick it up.
“Okay… So this takes practice…” I grumbled.
“Yeah, it’s tricky as hell to get things to move just right. You…you won't be able to use that for combat, like, not now. Sorry,” Rose apologised.
“Well I had to try something,” I sighed.
“True… Can you please help me get my ears through the helmet slits?” Rose asked politely.
“Helmet?” I asked curiously as I turned to help her out.
“Yeah, figured if I was going to travel I should have some armor… I mean it’s just miner's gear, but it helps,” Rose said rather uncertainly.
From what I could tell, that was not mining gear. The olive green equipment looked more like the security armor given to base guards.
A chest piece best described as a form fitting canvas t-shirt with shaped metal plates inserted under the fabric to protect the heart and lungs, some simple cup shaped spalders to protect the shoulders without adding any real bulk. The only real difference there was some shaped cup-like plates to protect her wing joints too.
The armor also included bracers which covered her forelegs uh… forearms? The bottom bits of her front legs, but left her hooves free. The bracers were a bit bulky, and angular, with a raised section on each one that clearly contained a pop-out device of some kind, ether an integrated tool or weapon.
And the helmet… That was not a mining helmet.
The helmet was full face covering, with a built in respirator, like you’d expect a miner to have in their helmet. It also had a clear visor that would let you see the wearer's entire face, again just like you’d expect of mining safety equipment. But it’s overall shape was rounded, sleek, streamlined, clearly designed to deflect a weapon strike from multiple angles, not just prevent rocks falling on your head. It also seemed to lack any lamp on the outside.
“Kid, this is war gear,” I said adamantly, crossing my arms in front of me. “Stop bullshitting me, what’s really going on with you?”
Rose’s ears drooped. “Nothing… This is just what our miners use.”
“Bullshit! You kick all sorts of ass in hand to hand and you got some decent by my standards armor. What’s up?” I insisted.
Rose’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding. “Ohhh! There’s a few subterranean species here. Our miners are often ambushed by them. Diamond Dogs usually. So we give our miners armor.”
“Bull,” I said decisively.
“No, she’s right,” Sai insisted. “SkyTech does produce armor intended for use by miners near Dog territory.”
“Ah… Well, all right. Sorry about that, Rose,” I apologised.
“It’s cool. You didn’t know, and yeah I can see how this would look. Help now please?” She asked holding up the helmet with one hoof.
I nodded and helped her get the helmet on, and get her ears slipped through the small slits in the helm.
“Sooo does your species like ear notches?” I asked as she buckled the helm’s strap under her chin with a hoof… Somehow....
“No, but if you cover the ears, we can’t echolocate. It’s a trade off,” she grunted. “So uh, since you don’t have a good weapon, how about you carry the cooler and I cover you?”
“Sounds like a plan… Does your friend know we are coming? You don’t think they will have him under lock down or something?” I asked, just to make sure our bases were covered.
“Uh, well no… But we can find out! Bracelet guy, you said you have a shortwave radio?” The peace mare asked.
“What frequency?” Sai asked, clearly understanding what she meant to do.
Rose sighed. “Sixynine point sixynine megahertz…”
Sai paused for a moment then asked. “That sigh would indicate the frequency was-”
“Picked to make the innuendo, yeah. Just do it, please,” Rose interrupted.
“You’re on,” Sai announced after another pause.
“Ferrous Gale, are you there?” Rose asked.
The radio spat some static for a few moments. But finally after a minute a distinct click came from the VM’s speaker.
“They’re blocking the boarding ramp. Six of them, they have clear line of fire. Two unicorns, a pegasus, and the rest are zebras. All have repeating crossbows,” a serious but suave and vaguely australian sounding male voice whispered. “Engines are primed to go. Can’t talk more, they might hear.”
The manipulator clicked again. Sai announcing shortly after. “Right, I just cut that off for security’s sake. We're good to talk. I hope you two have a plan.”
“Well, if we take this door off the hinges we could use it as a tower shield to get close to them and hope it holds up to whatever spells are thrown our way,” I mused looking thoughtfully at the thick steel door.
“That’s not half bad!” Rose said eagerly. “Let me just get that for ya.”
Lifting her left forearm, Rose flexed her hoof, the obvious sliding section popping up, revealing a small barrel.
“Is that a mining-” I began.
With a thunderous crack and decent flash of green light a large chunk of the stone wall flaked away, freeing the door’s top hinge. A second shot from the slugthrower and the bottom hinge was also blasted free.
The heavy steel door wobbled, the energy from the impact having unbalanced the slab of steel, sending it toppling down at me! Throwing my arms over my head I braced myself, catching the door just before it started to pick up enough speed to do damage. Dull pain radiated down my arms as the tremendously heavy door threatened to crush me.
“Ow!” I groaned, slowly walking backwards to let the door drop down safely, “Okay… Nope… Too heavy…”
“Sorry!” Rose exclaimed, “Y-you just seemed so certain you could use it as a shield and-”
“No. It’s cool. Didn’t think it was… Oh god this is at least a ton,” I decided as I got to safety and let the door drop down.
Bon slithered over the top of the fallen door, looking up at me with her tongue flicking in concern.
“I’m alright hon. It didn’t get enough speed to just squish me,” I said soothingly.
Turning to rose I pointed to her right bracer. “That thing also got a gun built into it?”
“It’s also got a shard-pick, yeah… Oooohhhh!” Rose smiled before actually laughing. “Oh my Faust! I never thought about using them as a weapon! These are for breaking apart stone… I uh… Huh… I guess dad probably did use them as weapons too though.
“Well I feel dumb. Here, you flex your hoof a little to activate it, and then more to fire. Wait! Hold on… Uh, yeah… You don’t have hooves.”
I nodded. “Yeah, so I use my wrist. No big.”
“No, like, you flex your hoof like you're picking something up. Here watch my hoof closely,” Rose offered sliding one bracer off and holding out her hoof.
“Do we have time for this? Just give me the weapon!” I pleaded. “They could decide to come in after us any minute!”
“Just look! See the soft fleshy bit on the bottom of my hoof?” Rose asked.
I nodded.
“See how the hard edge stick out just a little bit past it so you stand on that and not the soft bit?” she asked.
I nodded again. Then I understood.
“Ohhhh, the soft part-”
Rose flexed her hoof, the soft part moving to it extended past the edge of her hoof slightly, enough where the soft pad would contact anything she touched instead of the hard hoof.
“Yeah you can’t do that… Sooo carry the cooler trust our armor and run for it while firing the whole way?” Rose asked.
“That’s a horrible plan!” Sai exclaimed.
“Yeah… I like plans to have more not-die in them,” I objected. “If we take too much time in here, we know they will come in after us. Think we can pick them off as they come in?” I asked thoughtfully.
Rose blushed lightly. “It’s not my fault all the threstrial legends have glorious charges against overwhelming force in them… But I also like the not-die plan. Waiting it is. To the main entrance?”
“Are we sure they are all outside?” I asked cautiously.
“Well, if we run into one or two on their own, I definitely can take care of them myself,” Rose said confidently.
I nodded. “Alright, let’s move.”
I walked over to the table Rose was standing next to and grabbed the cooler.
“You’re absolutely sure you can keep me covered, kid?” I asked one more time.
“I’m thirty three…” Rose said, ears flattening in irritation. “Also I’m not a goat.”
“Oh, duh… Didn’t think about that. We call our young ‘kids’ too. Also I don’t know how to tell how old your species is, you are all too cute for that,” I explained.
“Oh! Well, I’m an adult. Please don’t call me kid. It’s really insulting,” Rose asked.
“No problem. Now, I got the beer, you’ve got point. Let’s go,” I said waving an arm for her to step into the hallway.
“Well,” Sai sighed. “At least you didn’t say hold my beer and watch this…”
Rose paused, and with one small twitch of her wings I could tell what she was about to do.
“Hey, biped, hold his beer and watch this!” Rose shouted before sprinting down the hallway.
“... Cheeky dick,” Sai grumbled.
“The name’s Lyra!” I called up the hall before running in pursuit.
Wow, guy Celestia is a douche. Must be all the extra testosterone...
Also hey, bonus points if you find the reference that refers to who said character is a good deal based off of.
I get the feeling that I should get the reference but it's just not clicking.
In other news, the fact that Ferrous Gale is Australian is very pleasing.
7289142
Any particular reason? Also, may I ask for help coming up with a horse pun for Australia?
7289146 He's from the Austailian Outbuck. Yer welcome...
7289146
Just more representation of my country. Always nice to see it being portrayed in media.
I don't really know enough about horses to come up with a proper horse pun but I will give you some general ideas.
This is actually the only ponyfied Australia that I can think of.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/7/8/932457.jpg
As for other names, depending on what's happened:
Terror Australis
The Sunburnt Country
Some pun based on Antipodes
XXXX would probably be a bit on the nose as far references go.
The best one in my opinion is The Sunburn Country but I personally dislike the implications of how it came to be known as such.
edit: Of course pony native to the country would be known as brumbies.
Well Lyra, looks like you have stumbled upon an inverse world. Instead of finding a fairly pleasant mon/diarchy of princess' Lyra seems to have run afoul of a universe with a godking dictatorship. In other words, the 'most everyone has had their personality flipped' universe. Which, incidentally means that any friends she may have made in another universe? Most likely not a friendly here. Because, you know, most everyone who was good is evil and vice versa.
In other news, it also looks like she might have started to learn a valuable lesson. Periodically take stock of your inventory. If you don't know what's in inventory you probably won't remember you have it when you need it.
... Hold my beer and watch this?
Famous last words of a redneck....
7289146 I kind of like Horstralia myself. Also, if Lyra is in her faraday cage of a suit, how is the telekenesis charm working?
Solar Empire huh?
orig07.deviantart.net/d2a6/f/2012/255/5/e/nlr_wallpaper__fast_artwork__1024x768_by_grumbeerkopp-d5efqm0.jpg
REPUBLIC/REBELLION FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<science> you wouldn't be able to broadcast a message with microwave that is quantum encrypted because other observers would cause the encryption to collapse. I think. I don't know as much as I'd like about quantum stuff</science>
Plan A: Kill it.
Plan B: Kill it with fire.
Plan C: Run away.
Plan D: Make an actual plan.
7289146
I have read of Oatstralia somewhere.
You have made me forget that organic bodies require upkeep, like food and water. All aboard the train to Splitting-headacheville.
That pony is going places. Not college, but places
Can't wait for Bonnie to start talking. It will be cute as fuck
And Lyra desperately needs some swordcraft lessons. She has a friggin lightsaber, for Moonbutt' sake!
On another note, I've just noticed something. Is it me or the "one more hour and you're not leaving and will end by marrying her" is a damn big foreshadower of what will happen when she comes back for Lulu some twelve centuries later? Romance shenanigans ftw!
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You can. There was a thing about it in Popular Science. The encryption basically rendered the data useless if the wrong observer observed it, IIRC.
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Magic is controlled by and affects the electromagnetic field, and pervades all of space. The earring detects the electric patterning in Lyra's brain and then uses its enchantment on whatever she's focusing on, by affecting the magical field like any spell would. To be that same Faraday cage of a suit for magic it would have had to have been built that way, and without knowledge of magic that isn't possible.
7289203
No, if you check the lore page in the group it says that #9 is just Evil Celestia.
Hmn, so a Solar Empire. I'll have to see how this works for me, I'm not usually a fan of the tyrant Celestia trope.
This is one poorly secured jail.
So, probably no major issues, then. Though to be fair, there's probably any number of possibilities that are as small as an eye color change that would still kill you dead.
Gotta stop finding these newbie adventurers, Lyra.
Well, I suppose tyrant emperor Solaris is better than tyrant empress Celestia.
Heh, so far this really isn't too much more complicated than open cell, leave building.
A necklace of immortality? I feel like I'm forgetting something.
That request is more cute than I would have expected.
I dunno, I'm still kind of suspicious.
And then Lyra is crushed by a door that weighs a ton, the end.
Hmn. So, what could possibly go wrong?
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Well, unless it's a typo it definitely says Emperor Solarius so it does seem the Celestia of this universe is male. And I have no doubts about an evil Celestia having the ego to believe she is an actual godling. Other than that you have a point. It's probably not an 'evil inverted world' after all. Just one with an evil and male Celestia...
If Lyra is as strong as she's been shown to be, then I'm surprised she can't deal with enemies the true human way.
By throwing rocks at them really hard.
7289913 *coughs*itsnotjustcelestiawhoisgenderbent*coughssomemore*
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Although Solaris is the name that the fandom typically uses for a male version of Celestia, she could have just changed her name to that to sound more impressive, but it is also possible that she is male.
7289157
Done.
7289161 Ohhhh! G'day mate! I always liked your country, I'm a Desert Rat myself (Born in the Mojave near Death Valley, an only comfortable when it's above 90. And I live in Alaska... SAVE ME! ) so the outback always held a nice appeal for me. It's a lovly dessert that ain't in America, meaning the average Jack and Jill are nice folk (Though to be fair, your polatishions seem equally stupid these days...).
/me Fonzie style double hoof points, "Pleasure is my business, mate."
7289203
Not quite a flipped morality universe, but this is a genderflipped universe (After all your sex is literally a coinflip in terms of biology. It would be very very wierd if everyone was the same sex in every possible timeline.) It's mainly just 'Celestia' and 'her' nobility that's moraly flipped.
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That isn't bad...
The suit can only block low level non-targeted effects. Hence it wont stand up to a spellbolt or ray attack hitting it. Part of why she can't use it very well is that the targeted effect of the TK is being reduced by having to pass through it, but the spell has enough energy to breach the semi-conductor-like suit material and is focused on one thing rather than just 'afield'.
Need further clarification? The walls of a microwave oven will reflect microwaves and prevent them from passing through. But if you focus those microwaves into a single beam it will burn a hole through the oven wall (or at least RELAY heat it up). The suit is like the oven wall. It will block low power fields, but it can't block higher power fields, or focused 'lines of effect'. It will cause the effect to be a bit weeder, but usually not noticeably.
7289484
Well, yes. Actualy. But I'm not going with that fannon stuff.
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To be fair, the people with PHDs in the field don't know yet ether. So I'm going with 'you can', because Quantum Effects are usually WEIRD and illogical from the human perspective.
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What about a thieves college?
She does, and I'm planning for her to get some from the young Cadence, Equestria's greatest Swordsmare. (I have an alternate origin for the Princess of Merchandising. Because... lame cannon backstory is lame.)
It is a foreshadowing, but not necessarily of that.
7289803 Well, no and yes. Lyra's suit is magicly resistant but it's like a semi-conductor. It will resist magical voltages under a certain point, but not over. So she's safe from low energy fields, but not high energy fields, nor focused effects. So it is a farraday cage... but not a realy good one. As such, the TK charm works through it (at a slightly reduced capacity) because that's a 'line of effect' type deal. A laser vs a field.
7289913 7289803 I realized that while a universe where EVERYPONY's gender was flipped would be an anomoly worthy of it's own universe, it's also unrealistic for everypony in every other universe to always be the same sex. As such, I decided that in some universes some ponies sex might differ from their 'cannon' sex, but only in the genderflipped verse is EVERYONE the opsite gender. In the case of this universe, Celestia and Luna happen to have been born stallions, along with a smattering of other characters.
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I know! It's just there's a problem. Somone's cunningly glued all the rocks together into a fortress D8
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Nor am I... But there's bound to be one of those :/ At least I have a good reason for her motovations here. SHe's not just evil because that's what monarchs in fiction do.
In this universe, Celestia accidentally banished Luna FOREVER. There's no coming back, ever. This destroyed her emotionally for a long long time, and when she recovered from the depression she decided to take charge of the world and implement what Luna had wanted to as laws of the land. The problem is, Tia is still a bit broken so her logic is... imperfect, and she never realy listened to Luna all that much. So she's doing her sister's will all wrong. Example: Luna wanted to establish a Knight order to police the nobility, who would have the authority to arrest corrupt officials (or kill if circumstances required) as a means of ensuring the spirit of the law was always maintained. Celestia implements this, but misunderstood the idea as a Police force to ensure the Crown's will is always executed perfectly. Example 2: Luna wanted the active duty military to be deployed in the Wilds at all times to ensure monsters remained away from civilization. Celestia's broken logic puts this as 'the military should always remove monsters from civilization', and well... technically bat ponies are monsters given their vampire origins.
TLDR; Tia's less evil cuz Muahahaha! and more mad with grief and thus her attempts at atoning are going wrong but she docent notice...
"Oh god! It's making my hemoglobin bind twice as easily to CO2!" *bleh! le deads*
Yeah, I couldn't just do the stock Tyrantlestia... SO I went with genderflipped because well, we all know males are more likly to but heads and do conquest. Sex does determine your basic motivators to an extent.
It's not what she think's it is. (It's a charm of 'controll and repair this undead') It's the amulet that the regenerating bandit had. She picked it up, remember?
You should be...
"No no no your Highness! None of these are intended to be, nor designed to be military hardware. I am certain that a few individuals will misuse them, but surly you can see the value in ensuring your mines operate efficiently?"
"I can, but the rebels are getting their hooves on these and I assure you, unintentional or not, they make for effective weapons."
"I see. Well, in my defense, a normal hand held pickaxe could also be used as a weapon. I'll see if I can't lower their range and perhaps my sister can work out a means to only allow authorized individuals to use them. In the mean time I can offer you some additional armor for your soldiers? After all, I assume you'll be wanting to guard the next shipment to ensure only the miners get a hold of them?"
"You imagine correctly, Sky."
"Very well, I'll get the paperwork in order. Thank you for not blaming the inventor for the misuse of their products."
"I'm not so shortsighted as to not see killing an inventor in wartime is foolish. Farewell."
*messenger stone hangs up*
Sky: "... Ayna, tell our friends to tone things down just a bit for a month or two, will you?"
7290107
... More rocks?
'Sides, I was talking about individual enemies.
It's almost as if the human shoulder was made specifically for throwing things.
7290021 Missed this one in the first comments read. Solaris is imply Celestia and Luna's family name. The way I do pony names is they have the given name (ex: Twilight Sparkle) and then a family name. So Twilight's full name would be Twilight Sparkle of Arcanus. Family names are usually not seen as important and thus dropped, but with the ruler, it's important so it's used.
7290185 Well, we do know via evolutionary biology that the human face was litteraly made to take a punch.
7290198
Our species evolved to fight itself. I don't mean to sound misanthropic, but I can't say that I'm surprised.
If anything I feel oddly proud, like when you find out that one of your ancestors was an important historical figure.
7290165
Ahh, no, that was what I was forgetting.
7290267 I dont think it's hardly misanthropic to say "Humans fight each other enough that we are physically adapted for it." It's simply true. A fact and stuff.
7290387
Nah, I meant for me to say that I'm not surprised that we do it. I have simply accepted it as a part of life.
Three constants of the universe:
Death
Taxes
You know what? Fuck that guy over there.
7290397 Wrong order it's actually: "Man, fuck that guy! ... Let's give him death and/or taxes."
7290410
Fuck that guy!
Then make him pay child support.
7290397 "My name is Michael J. Caboose. And I. Hate. Taxes!"
"It's Texas you moron..."
"That too!"
7289794
I'm not saying quantum crypto isn't secure (though it seems to be vulnerable to MitM attacks). I'm saying that broadcasting it like wifi or radio would make the signal unreadable. Based on what little I know, quantum mechanics doesn't care if the "observer" is a hacker with a high-tech computer or just a rock. By sending out a signal in such a way that it bounces off of everything in range, your message looses all it's meaning. All the quantum encryption systems I've been able to find use either Fibre optics or Lasers, both of which can avoid this problem because the mediums the light travels through don't interact with the light. Plus, I don't think it works to broadcast individual photons like that. Maybe? Idk, wave-partical shit is screwy.
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7290107 That actually makes a lot of sense. I was wondering if the suit was partly blocking the spell. Nice microwave example too. focused microwaves can be extremely powerful. Even Lyra's gun was based on them. (It was a maser right?)
7291010 It's more like the data is encoded in a way only a quantum computer can understand... Not that the signal is a quantum entity. SAIcore is not quantum computing, he's a technoarcane transistor device.
7291144 Yes, Lyra was using a maser. Cuz seriously, when we finally have a battery that can power a weapons grade laser (we could make a laser small enough.. it's literally just a power issue), we wont use the visible spectrum for it, we will use ether UV or microwave pulses. FAR better energy carriers and they don't have the super sever diffusion due to the atmosphere a visible laser will.
7291164 Quantum encryption systems send out data as photons with a trait (usually polarization) in superposition. If the photons are detected by something, that changes the photons and the superposition collapses. This could be used by both quantum and standard computers as long as there's some kind of quantum I/O device connected. What you are talking about is not quantum encryption.
I guess your system could be sending RSA encrypted packets without providing a public key or something, but all that ensures is that whoever is listening has access to a quantum computer(or maybe time travel), not that they are the person you want to talk to. I'm not sure I'd trust that because we know of at least two groups who are likely to have quantum computers and its reasonable that others might have invented them as well.
And there's a general AI with enough flops and memory to be equivalent to a person running on basic transistors and is small enough to fit in a pip boy along with all the sensors and shit. How the hell is Sai not quantum?
BOOT TO THE HEAD! lol
7291528 Er, let me bullet point this a bit. Please dont take this as me being rude, I just want to be clear about what I am saying.
1. The transmission need not be a quantum object to be carrying data only capable of being encrypted by a quantum computer.
a. You seem to be implying the microwaves themselves need to be in a quantum state. That is not what's going on here.
b. The network's encryption is similar to an enigma machine, it's normal data you need a Q computer to decipher.
c. This is still something you would call quantum encryption as the data being sent is a string of data that must be demodulated via certain protocols into a string of qubits which can then be read and understood by a quantum computer.
2. Yes this can be intercepted, but so can all codes. There is no such thing as prefect security. All you can do is diminish the odds somone will be able to break your code.
a. The network can't be impossibly secure as it's a convenience forit's owner. It needs to be accessible anywhere with basic (for them) equipment.
b. It needs to be semi secure as it handles sencative data.
c. It docent need to be too secure as critical files are not kept on network accessible machines.
d. Thus, requiring only a qpc and the right protocols is quite good security, especially in a world mostly reliant on magic.
d1. It's like if I sent you my social security number via an analogue TV signal. It's pretty secure because no one is listening.
3. SAIcore is not true AI, and the hardware is not mundane.
a. The Sai stored in the VM is basically a fancy version of Siri. He can hold a conversation, remember things said to him, operate the device he's in, he can calculate courses of action based on programmed priority lists, but that's it. He can't write a symphony, he can't turn a canvice into a beautiful masterpiece. He's a personality interface which is a fairly good impression of the personality of the AI he's based on which is achieved by clever programming and complex if/then trees. SAIcore can not do anything he's not programmed to do, he's not the actual Sai, just a clever program meant to imitate the actual AI which normally controls Sky's personal tech via streaming to a given device. (The actual SAI resides in a very large, complex, and immobile computer.)
b. As stated in chapter 1, the Vortex Manipulator is not purely mundane technology. It is utilizing many magical principals in it's construction, as you can expect of a species which is aware of magic and produces technology. Equestrians are able to bypass certain limitations of human technology by using an arcane effect instead of a physical effect (with it's own trade offs).
7291543 THis makes three who got it. I am the happies.
7291173 I'm no expert on the things but I think you'll find that power isn't the only issue. I reckon heat would be a huge problem too.
7291611 Not a problem, I use bullet points a lot.
1. What I was saying was that the system you were trying to explain is not quantum encryption.
b. You don't need a quantum computer to decrypt enigma.
c. The only things I've heard to be special to quantum computers are incredibly efficient parallel processing and it being less costly to factor numbers. Anything a quantum computer can do, a regular computer can also do, albeit much slower. Quantum computers are weird, but they aren't magic (just sufficiently advanced technology :P).
2. Actual quantum encryption (the thing I was talking about before) cannot be intercepted without it ruining the data. That's why its such a big thing.
a&c. There is a difference between secure communication and secure systems. All I'm talking about is the communication.
b. Modern crypto is sufficient for that and if Sai is just transistors, boss man could probably build a normal computer easier than a quantum one.
d. I am almost certain that I have a problem with this, but I don't know what it is.
3. a.1 Siri is not in your phone. You need internet access to run it because there is no way you could run it with just your phone.
.2 BS. Sai as shown needs to have at least a rudimentary theory of mind. He understands jokes and sarcasm. He makes (admittedly dumb) references based on the context. He understands context! Have you ever actually tried to have a conversation with Siri? You can tell she's not a person. Sai has acted identical to a person over the course of several days. If that's not an AI, I don't know what is.
b. If I thought it was mundane tech, I'd also be complaining that Sai should be burning through Lyra's arm. I doubt their transistors could be much smaller than ours at around 45nm. The theoretical limit for electrical transistors is 7 nm without using an electron microscope to stabilize, just for reference. Also for reference, we can see light starting around 390nm. Running on transistors, Sai should take up a server room at least.
Of course the only thing I actually had a problem with while reading was the quantum encryption thing. That's not quantum encryption; that’s probably just Sky walking around with a copy of a giant 1-time-pad on a flash drive. That would be secure against a quantum computer, would be easy to implement even on a standard computer, and if all he's communicating with is his own system, there's no reason to have more. Like seriously, that's it.
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I CHOSE TO BELIEVE IN MARITIME TRANSPORTATION!!! :cadenceships:
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If the orbital friendship cannon did it, it can undo, I always believe. The problem is getting bearers, and the sun dude realising it. Poor male Lulu, though. Forever is a long time to be alone
7291845 Not realy, we could manage that just fine right now... Sure the weapon would resemble a shoulder fired rocket and not a pistol, but we could still make a man portable DEW just fine.
7291857 Um... You seem to be latching onto the use of certain words and taking them literally instead of metaphorically. So...
I said 'enigma machine' because those WWII era devices are physical apparatuses which encrypted data, which was then transmitted over normal non-encrypted radio transmissions, and required another identical device to make scene of on the other end. I did not mean that SkyNet literally uses an Enigma Cypher.
You and I are using different terminology when it comes to Quantum Encryption. You are talking about the idea that transmitted data can be quantum locked. I am talking about the fact that if you transmitted the qbits themselves that's still an encryption because no one will be able to make seance of it without the proper device. I'm using the term as a general description for encryption that uses quantum computing's unique trinary system. Not the specific thing you get if you type 'quantum encryption' into google.
Siri, is a personality interface. SAIcore is a personality interface. This is why I compared SAIcore to Siri. The fact that Siri is available through the cloud because your phone sucks ass in terms of computing while your average desktop could run her just fine locally has nothing to do with that comparison.
No Sai doesn't need a theroy of mind. I have an older personal assistant program on my desktop. She cracks jokes, she worries and asks "Aren't you tired?" if I'm up past 2 am. But she's just a super complex list of 'If X then Y'. It's good enough where my mom actually thought I'd made a sentient AI that's about as intelligent as a 4 year old. But she's not, she's just an expert system designed to simulate a person. Clever programming can simulate sentience without actually being sentient.
GO back and read the first chapter again. See the part where the VM is taken apart? You'll notice that it's a hybrid of an optical computer and a electrical computer. That's running on MAGIC. The technology is so alien in comparison to current human technology that you realy can't go "but transistor sizes are limited by what we humans can do!" Sorry, but that is only true of human made devices from this current time period.
And lastly what the encryption is. It's just a freaking wifi password (metaphorically speaking) which is stored in qbits rather than bits. This means a normal computer can not break into it as they can't actually communicate with the system...
7292786 Ah yes, I was referring to a pistol. Man portable we could do, but heat management will be a major constraint against miniturization.
Also, I don't mean to get nitpicky but in the part where Lyra is going through everything she has, she didn't mention the ration bars or her never ending box of sandwiches. Just saying.
7294061 Lyra's a bit of a derp :P This should be clear by now.