Part 2: Contact
“What do you mean you found…” Sarah was the first to break the silence. It wasn’t just the three of them that were watching Martin anymore. It seemed like all activity in the room had ceased. Even the other native that Sarah had briefly met was watching now. Apparently they all knew what Earth was, and how much it meant. “Show us!”
Martin approached the holotable, his horn glowing faintly. Something moved through the surface above it, and the starfield began to change. It zoomed in on the blue section, getting wider and wider until it filled the whole view.
“I know I should probably be waiting to tell this to Lucky and all. But she’ll be off salvaging the cylinder, and who knows when she’ll be back…” He positively bounced up and down on his hooves as he pointed. “It’s incredible just how sensitive Harmony’s observatories are. We’ve got gravimetric wave arrays as wide as the orbital period of…” He trailed off, shifting nervously. He seemed to realize that a crowd was gathering.
Every single pony in the room was crowding near Martin by then. And thanks to some lucky timing, Sarah had herself a front-row seat. It didn’t matter how important Discord’s mission was, not compared to this. Even if her first life hadn’t exactly treated her kindly, Sarah didn’t blame Earth for that, didn’t even really blame the people who lived there. They’d been as screwed as she was by the whole thing.
“Well, this right here is Sirius. I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just another class A… except we’ve got this one here. This is Barnard’s Star - amazing we can see it at this distance, faint as it is. But Harmony’s telescopes sure know what they’re doing.” He drew a few lines off from each of the stars, connected to an invisible point. “Referenced the positions of those stars with Forerunner’s Pathfinder database, and we have our home system.”
The space above the desk zoomed in again, until it looked like blobs of lumpy blackness. There were a few patches of space darker than others, but other than that—it looked like nothing to Sarah.
“Nothing there,” Perez muttered from behind them, his voice taking on a slight edge. “That’s not the news I need right now. Some space monster fucking gobbled up our home.”
“I thought that at first too.” Martin hardly seemed to hear any of the subtler signs. Certainly he didn’t react to the profanity. “Well, minus the monsters. Harmony doesn’t have records of what happened to this system. We weren’t actively monitoring at the time, since we were laying low. Just picked up what other places sent in.”
“Not we,” Perez growled. It actually sounded like a growl, too. “We weren’t here. These ponies and their magic ring were doing that. We aren’t them.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Martin waved a dismissive hoof. “Anyway, there was nothing in the historical record. It was… actually really odd. Almost looked like someone had gone in there and cut the data right out. Maybe we’re just not supposed to see it. But if that were true, I don’t know why Harmony would let me point all the telescopes at it. If we were still on Earth, the best we’d be able to do is use the star’s wobble to maybe guess about the presence of planets. Hope one of them is big enough to transit across its surface, which isn’t very likely with the size of the planet we’re interested in. We’d need a gigantic telescope, and that just isn’t—”
Someone cleared their throat from behind him. An unfamiliar pony pushed gently through the crowd. She was the same yellow and blue as several in the room, with one significant difference. She was an Alicorn. The second Sarah had met now. About the size of Flurry Heart, but she wore a little vest and flashes of light appeared dancing across her eyes every few moments. Contacts? “Forerunner told me,” she said, stepping up beside Martin and staring at the projection. “This is… You actually did it.”
Martin turned, nodding briefly to the Alicorn. “I did, Governor! Or Harmony and I did. She was so helpful, showing me how to use all the equipment. There’s this incredible way we can manipulate gravimetric waves—”
Lucky cleared her throat. “Why don’t you skip to the results, Martin. You can put your findings into the papers that get written about this. I’m sure you’ll be going down in history for it. Or… our history, anyway.”
“Well, first thing. What I’m about to show you is about eight thousand years out of date. There are apparently some ways the ancients knew about to cheat, but I don’t know any of them. All of these measurements came from instruments not that different from what we used to use. And it’s far away. Finding this lets me conclude with confidence we’re in the Perseus Arm. I can’t even speculate how we might get back there.”
“Spit it out.” Olivia’s voice, leaning over the couch from behind. “We’re very impressed, Martin. Everyone wants to know.”
Martin’s horn glowed again, and the blobs of shadow became awash with color. Most were blue, but a few thick blobs suggested objects. Sarah could recognize the outlines of several planets there.
Most interesting was the massive object in the center, so wide that it eclipsed most of the inner space of the system. It was almost as blue as the rest of the system, but not quite. A perfect sphere.
“This is a gravity map,” Martin said, triumphant. “No, I don’t know why we can’t see anything inside that shell.” His voice practically boiled over with excitement. “But it’s man-made, there’s no alternative. I also have no idea what it’s made of. Harmony has some speculation, but it says I’m not complex enough to understand. Except if I was I couldn’t come downstream and explain all this, so…”
“They could be alive,” Olivia muttered. She was the first who dared speak. “After all these years. They could be alive in there.”
“Well… maybe.” Martin’s voice was subdued. “There’s a lot here that doesn’t make sense. The really important thing is the missing energy. There’s a star in there, and that shell is only a degree or so warmer than background.”
“So they’re using it all,” someone said. “There’s nothing to radiate out.”
“Well… it doesn’t work like that,” Martin said. “Energy doesn’t get destroyed. If the sun is really in there, then the outside of the shell should be radiating all that energy out somehow. I don’t know how they could be masking it… and Harmony doesn’t either, or it won’t tell me.”
It looked like the governor was going to say something, but Martin cut her off. “No, no! This isn’t even the most interesting part! There is a warm patch in the system, right?” He zoomed back out, panning away from the large central sphere until he focused on something. It was minute compared to the sphere, minute compared to anything else in the system. That huge bloom of heat all concentrated down to a tiny ring around the outside of Neptune, and a single station located above it.
Sarah recognized it. She’d seen pictures of this station all over the world. It seemed like people would never shut up about the damn thing. And here it was, ten thousand years in the past, unimaginably distant.
“You can’t honestly… You didn’t falsify this?” the governor asked. “That’s really…”
“Yep.” Martin nodded. “The Neptune Brain, first consensus node of the Forerunner Proxis network. I’d call it the most powerful supercomputer in the universe, but… that’s clearly not true, given where we are. That glow there, that’s the fusion reactor. Still quietly scooping hydrogen out of Neptune after all these years.”
“I don’t understand.” Deadlight rose from his seat, walking right up to the image and staring at it. “I thought the entire reason for the quarantine was the destruction of complex life. That shell… maybe the star within was destroyed somehow, and everyone in the interior is dead. But this. That’s intact. Are there people living there?”
“The foremost minds in computer science and electrical engineering,” Forerunner said. He gently pushed Deadlight aside with one hand, sliding the whole circle open until his humanoid synthsleeve was there beside them. He didn’t look at the projection—his equipment was producing it, after all. He was looking at them.
“There were quarters for a thousand biosleeves, or fifty thousand synthsleeves. An order of magnitude more intelsleeves. At least… that’s who was there when my records ended. I don’t have any record of this.” He reached out, running one finger around the edge of the shell, or at least where it was visible on the screen. Forerunner towered over them, expression stern and unyielding. “I have designs for cylinders and swarms. I don’t know what material that could be.”
“You have more records,” Lucky suggested. “Why can’t you… oh, right.” She sighed. “Our captor won’t let you.”
“For my own good, it says.” Forerunner didn’t sound resentful. “The ones who wiped out complex life didn’t ignore the danger that probes like me would undo their hard work. The network is corrupted at the level of the consensus nodes. If I fully update, as I would’ve done, I would eventually be driven to exterminate all local life. But if we had physical access to one… we might be able to propagate our own code. Replace the corrupt subroutines. Wake them all back up.”
Sarah rose, retreating a step from the fascinated group. She wasn’t the only one who looked lost. These ponies were talking about big things, bigger than she was. It sounded like important stuff that she would never need to do anything about. For her, it was enough to know that something of Earth had clearly survived. She could cross her fingers and believe that humanity was still alive in that great big ball, and sleep better tonight. The real Sarah would be there, as immortal now as the fake one. There would be no hard feelings.
They were still talking, mostly the governor, Martin, and Forerunner. But Sarah didn’t listen as she slipped away through the crowd. Whatever they were speculating about was nothing she would be assigned to do. Besides, she had a day off coming up. It would soon be time to leave these ponies behind, and earn her freedom.
“What do you mean I need a partner?”
Sarah smacked her hoof into the “door open” button a few more times, more out of spite than anything. But every switch was controlled by Forerunner, and Forerunner didn’t feel like opening it apparently. “I’m just going for a hike. I’m not going to hurt myself, or wander that far. I used to go hiking all the time.”
“That may be.” Forerunner’s voice came from the wall, infuriating in its impassivity. “But Pioneering Society policy does not allow single individuals to wander in territory classed as dangerous except as assigned for mission-critical purposes. I am not prepared to make an exception to this policy.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” she asked, as angry as she dared to sound. “I’m taking my hike somehow. After all the time I’ve spent in that damn classroom, I need it. For… productivity synthesis or… whatever it’s called. Something. For not going completely stir-crazy and blowing my brains out. Whatever that’s called.”
“Then I suggest you find someone willing to go with you,” Forerunner said. “You still won’t be permitted to leave the island, but otherwise you can feel free. Currently there are three members of the crew who might be willing. Olivia is at weather production, but she expressed a willingness to go diving with you. Maybe you could persuade her to change plans and make it hiking instead. Governor Lucky normally spends her days off with Flurry Heart, but the princess has not yet returned from Equestria and likely won’t for several more days. It’s possible she would want to see the island more closely.”
“Neither of those,” Sarah grunted, turning away from the locked door. She was already dressed in her sturdiest uniform, already wearing her computation surface and canteens. It was exactly what a pony who was going out on a long hike would wear. Certainly not a pony who intended to run away and not be made into a war-negotiator. “Who else?”
“The last one is your roommate. He tried to get out and explore the island too, at first. But he was stymied by the same requirement and never made further attempts to leave Othar. I don’t know how receptive he would be to taking a trip with you, but you aren’t any worse off by asking.”
Sarah rushed back to the elevator, and selected the first underground floor. As soon as the doors opened she practically fell into the car, kicking and squealing for a few seconds until she could right herself. James was a perfect mark. She had caught him looking at her over the last few days, whenever he thought that she hadn’t noticed. Not only that, but he was frightened enough to spend most of his days locked inside the room, even though there was a whole world that needed his linguistic talents. Walk to the volcano, ditch him outside it, and it’s a done deal.
It would be so simple.
The first part was. James spent his days off the same way he spent every day, flopping about their room and trying to make it as dirty as possible. He wanted her to believe that he had to think about her offer—but she could smell his eagerness. On the other side of the curtain, he started cleaning up before she even finished offering.
“Well, get yourself ready as quick as you can. We only have until sundown, and I already slept in.”
There would be enough time to walk to the volcano and back, but only if they hurried. And if it looked like she wouldn’t be able to get back in time, Forerunner would probably refuse her. Because it was just that awful.
A half hour later and she was standing on the surface for the first time that she wasn’t on assignment. Back with the jungle smells, and the constant calls of the cicadas. Sarah picked a direction, then set off at a brisk trot into the woods. She could see the massive caldera looming overhead, so she didn’t have to wonder at their destination.
“Uh… why don’t we use a trail? There’s that one to Olivia’s private beach, that’s supposed to be a fun walk.”
“I don’t want fun,” Sarah called, not slowing down. She could hear the stallion hurrying to follow. For all that the real James probably wasn’t very athletic, these bodies were always in their prime. And he had months of preparation on her, so he wasn’t on the edge of tripping himself all the time. “I want to see the volcano. Don’t worry, it’s fucking extinct. But it’s the highest point on the island. Might as well take the difficulty all the way up.”
James groaned loudly. “I thought we would start with something easier this week. I brought lunch. We could… maybe eat it together.”
Sarah glanced over her shoulder at him. Hadn’t this stallion heard about all the ponies she’d been flirting with? But maybe he had, and he still thought he had a chance. Maybe he thought he could change her. Either way, he was in for a surprise. “That’s… We still can, James. We can have lunch at the top. If you can keep up.”
Poor kid actually grinned at her. “I… yeah, sure. Sounds like fun. I can do that.”
It didn’t look like he could, or at least not very easily. She had to slow her pace a little so as not to lose him. He’d really let himself atrophy over the last few months, and unicorns weren’t as athletic to begin with.
For a long time Sarah lost herself in the jungle. She’d never been able to spend much time in nature—vacations were a luxury for the rich and not-dying. But she’d always meant to, and now she was here, surrounded by impossibly gigantic flowers, in colors she couldn’t imagine had ever grown on Earth. Their perfumes mingled together with the oppressive heat.
“I wonder why there aren’t more animals,” James muttered. He walked beside her, though he looked like he was constantly out of breath. Speaking was obviously a strain for him. “Climate like this… should be birds everywhere, marsupials in the trees, that kind of thing.”
“There are bees,” Sarah pointed out. “Cicadas. Thousands of fucking gnats.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true…”
They reached the massive cone, which fortunately wasn’t so steep that Sarah couldn’t climb it. Though it wasn’t her she was worried about—poor James probably would’ve collapsed if she pushed him any harder. Sarah felt fantastic, even if the gnats were annoying and her sweat had stuck her uniform to her as tightly as spandex. I can tell you’re enjoying that, James. I bet that’s the real reason you’re walking behind me.
But so be it, if it helped her keep him going until the end. She would eat his stupid picnic, get him off guard. Then she’d glide right down to the bottom and vanish through Discord’s secret door.
They wouldn’t have to go all the way to the top, either. Sarah still remembered the map, in all its unconscious clarity. There was the canyon Discord had shown her, that would stop them from having to climb all the way there. She pointed to a trail cut into the side of the mountain, a series of tight switchbacks leading to the top of the canyon. It would be a gentle enough climb back down the other side, unless she jumped off. “There. Looks like a shortcut.”
“Really?” He hesitated, frowning up at it. “Doesn’t look natural. I didn’t think anyone went up here often enough to leave a trail this thick.”
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeell.” She didn’t slow down. Her wings shifted uncomfortably at her sides, as though she were constantly on the edge of spreading them and flying up to the top. But she didn’t, much as the instinct gnawed at her. I can’t do that yet, stupid. She would have to stay in Othar if she wanted more flying lessons. Stay here, and risk taking the chance that Forerunner would deploy her to some god-forsaken desert to translate for it.
But would that be so bad?
As they walked back and forth up the side of the volcano, Sarah found herself reflecting on that. Her greatest fear with the Pioneering Society had been being trapped here and discovered. But she wasn’t doing munitions anymore, so there was little chance of that.
Only less chance, she reminded herself. They still think I could do it. An emergency could happen tomorrow and they could assign me. Then her lie might very well get people killed. Much as she wanted immortality, she didn’t want to steal the lives of these others.
Nor did she want their cause to fail. They were fighting to end slavery!
As she neared the top, Sarah found herself having second thoughts. Maybe she should just turn around. Forget about Discord and his plan, let him find someone else.
Keep on walking, little imposter. Don’t think I’ll keep helping you if you don’t help me in return. If you want to keep this exploit you’ll do as you’re told.
Right, that was why. She was trapped. I haven’t heard you for days. I thought you forgot about me.
No, just distracted. There’s much to get ready down in the infrastructure. Murder one queen, and you wouldn’t believe how messy things get. But I think I’ve set up all the dominoes correctly now. You just have to get them to fall over our way.
“I didn’t really take you for the nature loving type,” James muttered, from a level below her. He was still watching her, though a little more subtly than he had been earlier. “Shouldn’t you be at the bar? I thought you’d be drinking your weekend away like Perez.”
She shook her head, trying to look as though she’d been paying close attention to him. “I, uh… don’t really drink. Just a little, when people serve me at parties. Alcohol makes you weak and stupid. That makes you vulnerable.”
“Oh.” He swallowed. “Well, I guess I can have the wine.”
I don’t understand why you don’t just do all this yourself. If you’re so powerful, what do you need me for?
But there was no response. If Discord was still watching her, he was doing so more subtly than before.
They reached the end of the trail not long after, and a good thing too. Her companion looked like he was about to give up and drop his saddlebags right there.
The top of the trail was flat, with stone carved away with chisels or some other manual tool. The space up here was open enough for perhaps ten ponies to stand comfortably, before the trail went over into the volcano.
It reminded Sarah of something out of a movie, with the winding path vanishing almost immediately into the canyon. Thick stone outcroppings concealed much of it, though it wasn’t much steeper on that side than the one they’d climbed.
She could see into the volcano itself, though. Its sides were steep enough that she wondered if they were really natural. The ground was flat, without any sign of markings or piles of supplies. I hope you really plan on helping me. If she ran away and got to the bottom, the best she could hope for would be Forerunner thinking she’d had a complete breakdown. At worst, maybe its testing would uncover her impersonation. And it would be into the recycler for her.
“Damn.” James stood beside her, though not close enough for Sarah to feel uncomfortable. “That’s… helluva drop. Wouldn’t want to slip.”
“Yeah.” She turned her back on it, sitting down on her haunches right on the edge. “Let’s see this lunch you brought. I didn’t know you could cook.”
“I, uh… I can’t,” he admitted, walking a comfortable distance away and setting his saddlebags down. He removed a blanket from inside, along with packets of food. All with that infuriating magic of his.
Couldn’t you have had the computer implant a horn while you were at it? I want to be able to do magic like that.
This time Discord was listening. Because of course your crewmen are blind enough not to notice that. Oh, and the drones certainly are. They wouldn’t smell a dangerous intruder and tear you apart the instant you got close. It’s not like they’ve been at war with an alicorn for two thousand years or anything.
“What are you thinking about?” James asked, sitting down on the blanket and gesturing for her to join him. “You keep getting this weird look on your face. Like I farted or something… but I know I didn’t.”
“Oh, uh…” She looked quickly to one side. “I might be a little afraid of heights. Maybe the beach would’ve been better after all.”
“Oh.” There was nothing special about the meal, just a pair of identical food-packets. James ripped the warmers open, poured a little water in each, then set the packets inside. It wasn’t all that different from the technology that their soldiers had been using for centuries. “Well, next time. I’ve been waiting for someone who wanted to go out like this. But everyone else always has an agenda. They want to come and shoot shit, or race, or… well, something I don’t want to do. Having a checklist we have to fill just takes all the fun out of the trip. I’d rather just be enjoying the fact I’m alive.”
He took out a pair of glasses, and the plastic wine bottle. It looked the same as any other bottle meant to hold something carbonated, except for the grape icon on the label. She shrugged, and he poured.
She could probably use a little extra bravery right now, considering what she was about to do. Plunge into an alien world of blackness and desolation.
And bugs, offered the voice in her head. Don’t forget the bugs. More bugs than you’ve ever wanted to see in your life. You’ll love it.
“Amen to that,” Sarah answered. “It’s a miracle any of us are here. Probe the size of a football, drifting alone through the universe for bazillions of years… but here we are.”
James nodded. “It’s… amazing how much we’re willing to give up. Our friends, our families, everyone we ever met… it’s all gone. We’ll never see those people again. We don’t even get to be ourselves anymore.” He looked away from her. “I used to be. I was one of the first people made here. Generation one. Well, generation one that we know about. Can’t ever really know with the Forerunner. But there isn’t any evidence of other generations, so…”
It was time for Sarah to find the way to make her escape. When James was mostly distracted with his meal, and was too busy opening up to her to be paying attention to what she was actually doing.
Sarah rose, retreating suddenly from the picnic spread. It was now or never—if she hesitated even a moment, she might get second thoughts and turn back around. She couldn’t let herself give up.
“What are you… what are you doing?” James rose too, following her a few steps closer to the edge. “Sarah, you haven’t even eaten yours yet. And I don’t think we have time to go down there.”
“Probably not,” she admitted, voice wistful. “That’s life, I guess. No hard feelings, James. I’m sure you’ll get your shit together eventually. But I won’t be here to see it.” She turned away, spreading her wings for a glide. She could see the bottom. It would only be a few seconds away.
She tensed her legs to jump, but then something smacked into her. Something denser than she was, and heavier too.
It didn’t just take her to the ground, as frustrating as that might’ve been. She was on the edge of the trail down, after all, a trail steep enough that it could’ve easily tripped an unwary mountain goat.
“James, you fucking idiot!” she squealed impotently, shoving him off as best she could. But they were already rolling. She felt rough stone underneath her as she tumbled, bouncing with an impact that created a new bruise with every jolt.
“I’m not letting you kill yourself!” he screamed, his own voice almost lost in the jostling of the stone all around them. They smacked into one rock wall, then another. Sarah could barely see the world as it moved, it was turning over so fast. She might’ve puked from the nausea of it all, if she wasn’t already in so much pain.
“I’ve got fucking wings!” she screamed, trying to untangle herself from him. But she couldn’t—their suits had gotten knotted up somehow, and so they rolled and slid together.
The path around them darkened as they slid down somewhere wet and muddy, though not for very long. The path turned, but they were moving too fast to turn with it. Instead, they both tumbled out into empty air. This might not have been so bad for Sarah, except that she was completely tangled with an idiot and couldn’t get her wings free.
She screamed in terror, and James joined her. His own voice was barely much deeper than hers. She could take a little satisfaction from that, in the few seconds before she died.
Then they hit water, and she felt the wind driven from her lungs. She coughed and sputtered, squealing out into the void. It was black here—the sun was long gone from overhead, and so the crater was cast in shadow.
If it wasn’t for her new senses, she probably would’ve died. But Sarah could see with sound, and the water didn’t take that ability away completely. The surface was easy to find, and so she swam, kicking and dragging the idiot James up with her.
Somehow the stallion was still conscious when she reached the surface a second later, hacking lungfuls of icy water.
“I… didn’t need help…” she spluttered, shoving him away from her with her forelegs. Her jumpsuit had been scuffed, and it felt like the computation surface in her saddlebags had been crunched into many tiny pieces. Of course you fucked up all my stuff.
“What were you doing?” James asked, his horn coming to life with a faint blue glow a moment later. Bright enough to momentarily blind Sarah, and light up the surface of the black water all around them. “We came to see the volcano, not sacrifice yourself to Pele!”
He’s more right than he thinks, said a voice in her mind. Except for the sacrifice part. Swim to the shore on your left. The entrance is concealed behind a bolder there. Don’t worry, it’s hollow. You can move it.
“Shore… this way…” Sarah coughed, kicking her way over. James followed, doggy-paddling the way she did. So maybe he’d taken the time to learn how to use his body after all.
“If we weren’t enhanced… we’d both be dead,” he said. “God, I’m lucky I didn’t bash my horn into anything.”
“You’re fucking retarded is what you are,” Sarah spat, shaking herself out and searching for the boulder. “You should’ve just let me jump. I would’ve been fine. But that ‘rescue’ almost killed me. And now we’re at the bottom of a volcano.”
“With no way out,” he muttered. “There’s no way we’ll find that little trail in a caldera this size. We’ll have to wait for Forerunner to miss us and start a search.”
Sarah examined the cliffs above them, searching for the trail. It was still sunny out, and the contrast when she looked up was blinding. Like the climate itself was conspiring to destroy her night-vision.
She rose to her hooves, testing each limb to make sure nothing was broken. Her wings still moved right, her legs still worked. It seemed like her pride was the only serious injury today. We’re lucky is what we are. Could’ve hit my head on a rock going down, and I’d be dead.
“I guess so,” she said, slinking slowly away from the light of his horn. She didn’t need it, so long as she kept making noise. Talking was the easiest, though the range was limited. She should be making higher-pitched noises if she wanted a clearer picture.
“Where are you going?” he asked, hurrying after her. “We shouldn’t move. Pioneering Society protocol is clear about what to do after an accident like this. We… we wait for rescue. Moving could make our injuries worse, or get us more lost.”
“It could,” Sarah agreed. “If I was hurt. I’m just banged up, that’s it. My head’s fine, I don’t feel like I’m bleeding… thank god they make these jumpsuits rip-proof.” There was the boulder, covered with dust and grime. It was considerably larger than she was, and looked like it was a hunk of solid rock. Not a chance in hell she would be able to move it, even if she were one of the earth ponies with their near-mythical strength.
She nudged the edge with one hoof, and the whole thing began to move. It slid and ground against the rock as it did so, like an unseen motor was pulling it.
Lights came on as it opened, white and even and illuminating the passage beyond. It was about the right height for a human to walk through it, if they didn’t mind stooping a little as they went. But it wasn’t that wide, just barely large enough for three ponies to walk abreast. There was writing on the walls, something about ‘Refitting Bypass.’ Whatever that meant.
There were two saddlebags resting just inside the doorway, as though they’d been set there by a particularly generous sprite. They were nothing like gear stolen from Othar—the stitching looked like it had been done by hand, and the fabric was ancient and cracked. Why are there two of them?
“Damn.” James stopped in the doorway, staring from her to the opening and back. “You knew this was here, didn’t you? You jumped down… Was this some kind of secret mission? But why would Gen3 send you here and make you take me along? You could’ve walked up here on your own…”
Sarah stepped forward into the opening, grinning over her shoulder at him. “Sorry kid, no hard feelings. I do have a secret mission. A secret mission to make some new friends for Othar. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take… but it’ll be dangerous, and you’re not invited.” Perfect time to close the door behind me, Discord…
But Discord didn’t respond, and the boulder remained securely in place. James followed her, stepping right into the spot the rock had occupied and glancing down the hallway. It stretched quickly downward and out of sight, even and unchanged except for the slope. “You mean you chose this on your own?” he asked, gazing down at the saddlebags. “Or… no, wait. You’re some kind of spy, aren’t you? You’re… betraying us. That’s how you learned Eoch so quickly…”
“No!” She stepped back, sliding the saddlebags along the ground. At least it was nice and smooth. “Nothing like that! I’m not ‘betraying’ anyone! I just don’t want to fight a war, okay? This is better. I can use my skills for something more peaceful.”
He followed her another step, into the brilliantly lit maintenance hallway. “Look, it’s dangerous. You’ll probably die if you come here. I’m, like… prepared or something. I don’t know the details. But apparently there’s a civilization living down here and they’ll kill people who aren’t prepared. If you try and follow me, they’ll murder you.”
James glanced back at the opening, and the last trace of daylight streaming in from the volcano high above. “I already died once. I’m practically immortal.” He turned his back, following another step. “But I won’t let you betray us. You’ve got two sets of supplies here, yeah? They don’t need me in Othar either. I’m G3’s fucking pet. There’s already two all-powerful princesses of me. The further I can get from that the better.”
Could she really send him away? Sarah’s throbbing bruises were a constant reminder of how stupid this kid had been. But at the same time, he’d been trying to save her.
More than that, his reason for getting away from the Pioneering Society wasn’t that different from her own. He’d been living in isolation there, wasting away.
“I’m not lying about how dangerous this is,” she said again. “The first one we meet might just kill you. I don’t have weapons.”
He shrugged. “Then that’s what happens. I don’t think it will, though. I survived one death. That basically means I’m unkillable.”
The massive boulder rumbled behind them. In less than three seconds, it had completely closed off the exit. Once it moved into place, a massive airlock-style door settled in behind it with a hiss, sealing them inside. The lights clicked, becoming a dim glow instead of the spotlights they’d been moments before.
Did you know this was going to happen, Discord?
This time he answered, voice amused. You didn’t think I only played with one piece at a time, did you? In death or life, I’ll find something to do with this one.
Oliva walked the halls of the Othar Weather Substation the same as any other day. In theory she should’ve been relaxing somewhere, but something always ended up dragging her back. She could take advantage of her backlog of days off when there weren’t production goals to meet.
It was nearly nightfall—nearly time for the night crew to switch in and keep things going until morning.
Everything was exactly as it should—Lightning Dust was in her office, the afternoon distribution team had returned, and the lightning-generator was running at speed.
This is why I retired. This kind of life. She could look out any of the cloud-windows and see the product of her work. Her factory kept Othar a tropical paradise, with enough water to keep the plants alive and enough variety to keep things from getting boring.
Plenty of the Equestrian workers didn’t even know that she wasn’t one of them. Every time new contractors arrived they wanted to know if she’d been trained in Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus.
She sauntered slowly along with the humming turbines of the cumulus accumulators, spinning clouds out of magic and stored water. They formed naturally too, of course, but not the kind they actually wanted for Othar. They just used the rainclouds the climate gave them as raw material.
There was something wrong with the air. She felt it before she heard it—a slight energy against her skin, hair standing on end. What was it?
Then she heard the first explosion. The whole cloud began to rock, drifting slowly against the current. Several more explosions shook the air, before being joined by the sounds of Hurricane guns. Anti-air? Shit.
Othar was under attack.
Ponies all around dropped what they were doing and took cover, or else turned to stare out the windows, or screamed. Down on the island, Olivia could see occasional flashes of light. Forerunner was shooting at something. I should’ve just worn the fucking earpiece like he wanted.
Olivia didn’t think anymore, she just moved. “Everyone!” She lifted into the air, right above the assembly line. Not a good idea normally, since her magic and shed hair would destroy the quality of anything she flew over. But all that was now of secondary concern. “Listen up!”
The panic she’d felt bubbling up around the room began to fall away, and a dozen sets of eyes turned to face her. “I need four strong ponies up with me.” She pointed towards the door. “We’re going to barricade that, then find somewhere to hide.”
“Shouldn’t we get out?” asked a nervous voice from the crowd. “Sounds like something really bad is happening.”
“If we go out there…” How could she explain the danger of anti-aircraft guns to ponies? “The island has… big magic. Big scary magic that might hit us by mistake. But it knows this cloud is ours so it won’t hurt us here.”
“Oh.” That seemed to satisfy the contractors, because all those who had been going for the windows stopped what they were doing. She got her ponies, and they started knocking over shelves, pushing them in front of the front doors.
“Someone check on Lightning Dust,” she grunted, in the middle of what she was doing. “Maybe that armor Forerunner gave her can tell her what’s going on.”
A few moments later and the door was secure. The sound of gunfire was already fading off, though she could still see flashes of light from outside. “Can we get a bat near the window to tell us what’s going on?” she asked. “And someone shut down the line.”
“It looks like… a dragon raid,” said Moonbroch, one of her newest recruits. She was still nude, so probably she’d just arrived for night duty. “Stars above, there’s so many…”
Olivia glided across the room, dodging the still-moving machinery to join Moonbroch beside the window.
She hadn’t been using some strange native expression when she said it was a dragon raid.
They were dragons, though they made the one Olivia had killed in Dragon’s Folly look like a child. They were as long as strike-craft, sleek and scaly and spraying fire down on the island indiscriminately. “It’s a good thing nobody lives on the surface.” Olivia retreated from the window. “Kill the lights!” she instructed. “We’re going to get very quiet, and hopefully they won’t notice us. And someone give me your necklace.”
Moonbroch removed it without objection, and Olivia slid it onto her neck. “Sorry,” she said in Eoch. One of the things she could say with confidence. “I… give it back.”
These weren’t just any ponies—they were her weather crew. They obeyed orders almost as well as any of the units she’d commanded.
Unfortunately, most of the weather ponies weren’t even here. Olivia dared a glance out a different window, one that looked across the cloud to the dormitory. Built by Equestrian hooves to house Equestrian laborers. If a dozen ponies were closing up for the night shift, then twice as many were in there. Ponies she could not protect.
“This ocean, these clouds… I am on Europa again. This is a colony in revolt. First thing they do is come for us, you can count on it. And when they do, you will be wearing my gun.”
A scream shot through the building, ending with a gurgling gasp. Squall Line shot backwards out of the office, straight through the balcony, then down to the factory. Olivia caught a brief glimpse of a body burned and charred before he went straight through the floor.
Squall Line left the acrid stench of burning flesh in the air behind him as he fell, like a tank-mounted laser weapon had struck him in the face.
What the hell is going on in there?
“By the door!” Olivia called, pointing with one wing. “All of you, now!”
She lifted to the balcony with a flurry of wings, landing on the catwalk and creeping up towards Lightning Dust’s office. She didn’t dare look inside, just listened. Clouds might be magically strong enough to keep them aloft, but they were not magically soundproof.
“Tempest, if she says another word, kill her,” said a voice. Masculine, confident, and almost bored. “You’re the one I’m interested in. I need you to open your vault.”
Forerunner’s voice answered, sounding broken and distorted. “Your threats are a waste of time. I cannot be tortured, I cannot be manipulated, I cannot be intimidated.”
“Is that so? Stand back, kiddo.”
There was another flash of searing light. Olivia felt the warmth against her skin and shielded her face with one wing. Lasers could instantly blind any who looked at them unprotected.
Lightning Dust’s body went soaring through the air a second later, trailing energy around it. She’d been standing at a different angle, and instead of tumbling to the second floor she slid along the catwalk, almost right into Olivia’s hiding place.
She didn’t fall through it as Squall Line had, a charred corpse. And Olivia saw why. Instead of being burnt to a crisp, that thin undersuit had channeled the energy away from her. Her tail and mane came off in chunks, but no sooner had she fallen than she was already sitting up.
“No,” Olivia whispered, gesturing urgently.
Fortunately for Lightning Dust, she was paying attention. She slumped back down, steam still rising from her burned mane. It would probably look pretty convincing, though her jumpsuit wasn’t even scorched.
“Now, how about you open your vault, or I kill everyone in it? What you see is only a fraction of my power. You’ve already seen your weapons are nothing against my flagship. Do what I say, and the others will live.”
“These are not my servants,” said Forerunner’s voice, entirely unmoved. “Slaughter every one of them and my answer is the same. I will not permit you into my city.”
There was a roar of rage and frustration from inside the office. Another flash, and the sound of something snapping.
Forerunner’s voice sounded reedy and broken, very faint. “I cannot be tortured. The answer is still no.”
“What… are you?” The voice no longer sounded bored, but genuinely intrigued.
From the other side of the room, the front doors banged open. Ponies screamed, as dark figures rushed in. Birds and ponies and other things, wielding chains and manacles. They were screaming—screaming for Wayfinder to help them.
But Olivia kept flat to the catwalk, unmoving. I can’t fight an army. We’ve been outclassed—we need to escape and regroup. If I die helping you now I won’t be able to help you later.
Despite everything she’d said about retiring, her instincts were as pragmatic as ever.
“I am Alpha and Omega. Before your life was dreamed of the ancients spoke me into being—when they one day rise to cut free of this universe and close the loop of entropy forever, I will be the sword in their hand. I-if you… s-surrender… we will recognize your autonomy. There is no need for—”
Another flash of light blasted out of the office, and another pony corpse went tumbling. The Forerunner’s monstrous cyborg was apparently no more resistant to that attack than Squall Line had been. He left another hole in the cloud on his way down.
“And now he’s dead. Too bad. Round up these slaves as quick as you can and get back aboard the Stormbreaker. Don’t bother hunting down stragglers—we want them to see what we’re about to do to their vault.”
“Yes, my king. It will be done.”
Olivia dove behind Lightning Dust, ignoring the awful smell, trying to make herself look as much like a charred corpse as she could. She didn’t move, didn’t turn around, barely even dared to breathe as someone walked along the catwalk overhead.
“You ponies will be silent,” the figure commanded, and Olivia’s necklace translated. “Listen carefully. The Storm King has graciously permitted you all to live. Submit to your chains, and you will join us on the Stormbreaker, alive and healthy. Fight, and we will leave you here to burn with this island. Not one pony will be left alive when we are done here. Equestria must see the power the Storm King wields, and this island will be the demonstration of his wrath. Submit or be destroyed.”
The sound of resistance faded. Things stopped breaking, ponies stopped struggling. Olivia held perfectly still, silent as the speaker walked away.
When it had fallen quiet in the factory, all except for the dull throbbing of broken machinery, Lightning Dust finally looked at her. “Why are you of all ponies not resisting them? He was right there! We could’ve stopped this!”
“I doubt it,” Olivia whispered back. She didn’t dare move yet—even if the guards and ponies had gone, there was a chance someone might still be watching the room, just in case. “Lightning, you were in there with Forerunner. If he didn’t fight, we couldn’t win. I think he might’ve been… buying time? But I don’t know why.”
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What the fuck....
So the Storm King is sticking his nose into things huh? Well that might make things more difficult than they need to be considering Sarah's mission and the liberation thing going on...
And a little insight into James' dilemma. What do you do when two copies of you have already hit the upper tiers of power and accomplishment?
Holy crap, I guess Tempest Shadow is going to be a thing too hopefully.
Oooh... Storm King has just made the WORST kind of enemy. Humans are VERY Good at waging war.
Dammit. Does this mean I need to see the movie to understand this fic from now on too? The only context I have for the Storm King is that he exists and was the bad guy in the movie; I don't know how he was defeated (don't tell me) or much else about him.
Dammit, I thought epilogues were for wrapping up cliffhangers, not making new ones.
8948797
I doubt you need any knowledge. He's the bad guy in the movie and... that's it. You basically don't learn any more about him than that. He's the bad guy. You're good.
Ok.
Huh....
Wtf?
Not sure how to feel about this chapter.
Ah, I was waiting for this, was nervous I wouldn't get my fix this week.
Well was not expecting the movie to crossover. Is it at all likely that the storm king bit off more then he can chew?
8948752
We practically invented it as a concept( or at least the idea of industrialized warfare)
8948797
Well.... You should see the movie anyways.
8948797
You don't need to see the movie. The characters of the story didn't see it, so you can learn whatever you need as they figure it out.
well shiiiiiiiiiit
better bring that hellamurdercarrier back around.
did not see this coming though
8948831
hmmm does harmony allow for low yield clean fusion bombs now?
I hope the humans of Othar feeds the Storm King lead.
100% chance another Forerunner bot shows up and starts saying the exact same speech, word for word, to the Storm King. Forerunner just keeps on reappearing in different robotic bodies, over, and over, and over.
So it's two factions that have the same idea.
Both want to make an impression on Equestria, Othar wants to show them that they are able to handle them self by stomping some slavers.
Some other slavers want to make an impression on Equestria by stomping Othar.
Lets see how this turns out, maybe some unicorn will switch sides after realizing that Othar would be able to restore certain body parts, or its just like lots of shooting.
8949071
"Storm King, I've come to bargain!"
Considering second James' (Melody) sexual preferences changed when she became a mare, it's entirely possible Sarah could end up liking both sexes. After all, she admits to finding ponies extremely sexy (even some of the males), which obviously means her instincts were changed quite a bit...
I'm obviously reaching here, because I ship male James and Sarah so hard.
8949407
I'll admit that took me a moment to get, but cleverly done.
I dunno if you can call this epilogue. Maybe a chapter forward denoting this as a separate book as part of the same series. Othar: Contact.
8949616
The author's notes before the epilogue chapters started made it clear that they were going to be their own narrative. I guess I might be able to mark it clearer somehow.
8948752
And he's convinced Othar is just a 'vault.' If only he knew, that he's only looking at the tip of the iceberg.
If Forerunner was not concerned about risking the city, he could well 'open the vault' and watch impassively, as a literal horde of combat drones spills out, and rips the Storm King and his goons to bloody shreds, and i would just point, and laugh.
What I want to know, is why none of the Human Tech is working against the Storm King? I mean maybe Equestrian Tech, I can understand. But humans are THOUSANDS and HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of years far more advance in Tech then ANY being in Equestria, and that includes the Storm King. And Remember, Harmony imposed a VERY strict Tech level limit on the races, and anyone that got too advanced were wipe out imediently and instantly.
Especially with Celestia Monitoring the entire Zone, and keeping everything basic and in the medieval era in terms of Tech.
There is no logical way for the Storm King to exist. Nor for any Tech he is using to exist. Even if he came from a place that has the knowledge to make all those things, it would take time, and resources, to make all those Tech.
So I have to ask for the Author, to explain clearly where the heck did the Storm King came from, and got this Tech that is so good even Forerunner couldn't fight against it will the full super advanced Human Arsonal. Cause I am calling total bullshit.
Because Forerunner wants to hear Tempest Shadow sings the song ( Open up your eyes ) .
8949788
I don't want to answer any questions that the story itself will provide. Unfortunately you'll have to wait for next week for most of that. I'll point out a few things to give you something to think about until then, though.
1. The technology that Harmony didn't allow was spaceflight. So long as a civilization didn't have manned spacecraft, it seemed to leave it alone. The pony society Deadlight came from had genetic engineering and firearms and aircraft and many other things, perhaps similar in tech to Earth when James Irwin was scanned, and it was left alone until Discord launched a spacecraft with a pony in it, prompting Harmony to destroy the civilization.
2. As of about a year ago in-universe and thanks accomplishments of Lucky and the others, no tech limits have been enforced. The quarantine is over.
As for where the storm king came from, what he could possibly be attacking with, all those things are questions the story will answer, so I'll leave it at that for now.
8948800
8948808
Starscribe has made it clear several times that this epilogue is basically a final story arc, and is presented this way as an alternative to publishing a sequel.
8949788
Harmony only really forbade the ponies from piloted spaceflight. Any other technology was okay so long as you didn't leave the ring. The issue was that Harmony glassed the populated segments of the ring whenever the ponies violated that prohibition, resetting their technology.
It was Celestia that kept the ponies practically medieval out of fear of Harmony resetting them.
8948752
The problem is that humans are not very good at playing silly-buggers with thermodynamics - and magic is. Soldiers working with tanks have to keep well clear of them, not because they might get crushed, but because simply standing next to a big enough BFG will harm you, to say nothing of being within a few meters of what that BFG hits. The Stormking can dump as much energy into a target as he wants though, and not have to worry about splashback or secondary effects. And attack in ways Forerunner cannot.
There's also collateral. Maybe Forerunner has a 10MT anti-ship weapon with Twilight's name on it (you know, just in case) but that will wreck the island too, and kill everyone still outside.
Unlike the characters in the movie, Forerunner is also not dumb###-retarded, and understands the value of keeping an eye on your neighbours; as mine-canaries if nothing else. He probably has some knowledge of the Stormking's past actions, and modus operandi, and how much damage killing him is worth.
8949071
Aww yes. I wanna see Storm King freaked out by Forerunner's Ultron speech.
8949662 I’m at the opposite end of that bench to be honest. I found it annoying how the ponies were given an automatic one up to whatever technology the humans brought to the table. Made it feel like they were being driven by the plot and not driving it by their choices and actions.
This story is awesome, and I'm both fearful and confused for the use of the word epilogue. Is the story ending? I mean, Lucky's arch is over, that's for sure. But this looks like it's going to last
8949819
Or heating up the space laser cannon.
8950912
I've thought about calling these later chapters "part 2" or something. What's left is much shorter than what has gone by so far, but I do anticipate at least two more months worth of chapters before this after-story is resolved.
Oh hell yes!
finally some action!!! Xd
Oh wow, I never thought you'd introduce the storm king, this just got super awesome! And best of all, TEMPEST!!!!!!!
Can't wait for next chapter!
Huh, the storm king you say? Well, I'm curious to see if you can make the storm king more threatening than he was in the movie, I simply could not take him even the least bit seriously there. Hoping to see a more effective version here, even if I hope he ultimately poses little serious threat once forerunner and othar bring forces to bear.
8949634
Ah more like a a penny dreadful then?
8951032
That's nice to know. Thanks!
Storm King really this want to be. he is a total wast of space.
in the end he will crumble and just fall apart.
Well, the Storm King just made the worst enemy possible.
I'm just waiting for the full might of Othar to squash him like the rat he is!
I was right, this story is nowhere near over.
Well now. This is an unexpected wrinkle. And given Twilight's experiences, I doubt the Storm Fleet will enter Canterlot airspace on a day when the entire Guard's been given paid leave. I have a number of questions here, and I look forward to seeing you answer them.
Also, it's a very good thing Harmony blocked those further upgrades. Yikes.
8954679
Yes... something that gets called a planetary pacifier ought to make his little airships look like log rafts. And they're about to hit serious white water.
Well... That was a rather abrupt end to the chapter. Still, it was a great one.
This sort of thinking is exactly why Harmony and Celestia were doing what they were doing. The very first thing Forerunner and friends thought of after seeing potential life or activity out there is to go knock on doors.
The thrilling adventures of Sarah and James, sounds fun.
Huh, the Storm King. Not the attack I was expecting.
This getting better and better
Can we have Skystar in here please, i mean the hippogryphs sure would not be on the good side of mr Storm King here, and an on the run princess be an interesting spice here ( Flurry isn't run away, well not any more that is )
8951439
I agreed, can't wait to see Tempest in action.
WAIt WhAt, the forerunner prove has the sice of a football? i thought it was like the sice of a space capsule at least whit a couple of "firs time land" drones or something with more replication and or construction capability
Ah, I suspected this. (and theorized it a few chapters before, too. Happy to see that Harmony had a reason.)
Heeey! I see it's time for the movie!
That's going to be an interesting chain of events.
Well shit. This is happening.
Hi Tempest.
You don’t know why? Here, I’ll Tell you. BUYING TIME FOR THE EMPEROR’S SOUL OF COURSE!!! BRING THE PLANETARY PACIFIERS AND RAIN DOWN THE WRATH OF HUMANITY UNTO THE SHOULDERS OF THE STORM KING! BURN HIS ARMY TO ASHES BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Save Tempest though.
Maybe I like the idea of a massive flying ship almost starship sized with starship class weapons a little too much.