110 - Spline of Man
Year 19
The Dark Tower was ironically represented by a dot of pure white light, brighter than all the others on the map - the antithesis of the darkness in the Tower’s nature. Surrounding the stellar point of the Tower was a thin, spherical aura of whiteness, representing the universes at the core of the multiverse - ones where the rules of ka tended to take more physical meaning and where most of the physical manifestations of the Tower itself were found.
Beyond that were long, white strands of flowing energy, representing the Strands. There was a large ring of connections that went around the multiversal core, but not into it, like a roundabout. The multiversal highways did not want to contend with such extreme ka manifestations. Out of this roundabout sprang three major highways, chaining through the multiverse through polymer-like connections. The energy cost to move along these highways was exceptionally low and they were arranged in such a way that it would only take a few jumps to cross them while also having hundreds of ‘stopping’ points.
One highway led to the D-Sphere, one to the Q, and one to the E. There was a ‘partial’ highway that started to head to the Unrealities, but it broke off into the Great Void. The spheres also had direct highways from their edges to each other – E to D, D to Q, and Q to E, creating a vague triangle with concave edges.
Each sphere was a glowing swirl of sparks, each one given a particular color. Blue for E, Green for Q, and a pinkish-purple for D. The E sphere was easily dominant, containing more universes within than both the other spheres combined. Q was larger than D, but not as outrageously huge as the mammoth the E-Sphere.
The Unrealities were rather diminutive and pathetic compared to the full spheres, looking like a red golf ball compared to the E-Sphere’s basketball.
The D-Sphere’s colors bled off, mixing in a hazy swirl with both the E and Q spheres. The E-D section was just outside the main E-D highway, swirling together humanity and dreams to create the Cosmic Heavens while the Q-D blended together into the realms of Outer Existence – that of magic and power. Where E and Q should have blended there was only the darkness of the Great Void, broken only by the sharp contrast of the Unrealities.
Beyond this center there was a faint halo representing the Multiversal Edges – called The Expanse or Decaying Edges depending on which area one was in. Universes this far out seemed to be dead, dying, or have an excessive amount of space within them, effectively being of a much larger size than most worlds. There was very little in the way of advanced civilization out this far.
Sticking out from the calm aura of the Edges like a malignant tumor was the Beyond – a thorn that spiked out of the loose puff of the rest of the multiverse.
Class 2 societies were represented by glowing dots on the map, similar to the Tower’s representation, with Merodi Universalis having two spots – an orange-gold dot on the edges of both the E and Q spheres. They had other holdings, but they were so minimal as to not show up.
The Class 1s showed up as loose coloration added to the display, though even they looked small. The Great Will and True Abstracts occupied edges of the E-Sphere, with most of their territory in the Cosmic Heavens, though the Abstracts also occupied much of the D-Sphere. The Xeelee and Them were completely contained within the girth of the E-Sphere, while the Horrorterrors stayed almost completely in the Great Void, touching the E-Sphere and Unrealities with their elongated shape. The Celestialsapiens were half Q-Sphere, with the rest divided between the Strands and the Great Void while the Beyonders occupied the Q-Sphere and parts of the Multiversal Edges.
This was how most maps displayed the multiverse, including Merodi Universalis’. It was accurate for representing travel and proximity within the multiverse in most situations. However, there was a problem. That problem was that the Strands were not the only multiversal polymer structure that facilitated easy travel. There was another one that skirted the outer edges of the three main spheres, known as the Mihipte Spline.
It was a single chain polymer of universes that formed a ‘ring’ that snaked around the Multiverse like the surface of a brain coral, making the far edge of the E-Sphere only two jumps away from the far edge of the Q-Sphere and had the added quirk of making different ‘access points’ on the edge of the Q-Sphere dozens of jumps apart. It was a very useful structure for travel from distant locations, creating a dual culture. There was the central multiverse, which used the Strands, and the outer, which used the Spline. Merodi Universalis was decidedly a Strands universe, and the Strands were certainly more developed and variable compared to the Spline.
But the Spline was simpler. Like a modern subway system instead of a complex network of ancient Roman roads. The multiversal historians believed that the ancient Weavers built both structures with different intentions – which may explain why the Spline didn’t go to the Beyond or Unrealities. They might have simply not been around when the Spline was created.
Representing the Spline’s method of connecting distant areas became… confusing. Surrounding the multiversal display in a bunch of white lines with brighter points where Spline access universes sat worked well enough, but it shrouded the interior of the multiverse. Some multiversal models used the Dark Tower as one point, and the Spline as the other point, creating a bubble in the middle of ‘normal’ territories. However, this distorted the Spheres themselves, whose inter-universal relations were used more often. So every advanced map that followed the general Dark Tower Central model had a toggle option – show Spline highways.
There had been a few Class 1s who’d bothered to make highways from the Strands to the Spline, but these didn’t follow any rhyme or reason, making it a bit of a nightmare to plot a course from an inner universe through the Strands, to an access point, and then through the Spline to an outer universe.
Which was exactly what Corona was trying to do.
Even with all the programs and Raging Sight’s assistance, it was still a nightmare. They were already in the Strands and had no intention of going anywhere until they figured out the course to get there. And since they didn’t want to be on this ship for a week, it fell to Corona to find the right link.
The only problem was the access point between the Strands and the Spline they had chosen was a very old polymer of universes that hadn’t held together very well, losing its effectiveness as a highway and becoming a horrendous braid of knotted hairs. Whatever Class 1 that built that particular highway wasn’t around anymore and nobody else was picking up the slack.
She wished the Xeelee would give up their maps already, make it public knowledge. With full knowledge of the connections in an area Corona knew it was possible to make it from a universe to almost any other universe in the same Sphere in less than twenty jumps. With certain pathways linking directly from Sphere to Sphere, that meant at most forty jumps to anywhere within the three major Spheres. …If you bothered to calculate it out that far.
To be fair, she knew the Xeelee and other Class 1s just brute-forced their way through existence more often than not. There was a point at which ‘why not just bash through the wall?’ was a better option than disassembling it atom by atom. Corona and the rest of the Merodi weren’t at that point yet, so interdimensional course charting was still a major concern on the large-scale.
The Strands and the Spline were supposed to make it easy.
“Why couldn’t the Weavers have just weaved them together?” Corona muttered, zooming in once again on the decaying highway they would be using. They didn’t have a complete map of it – all highway polymers were made of thousands of universes that often shifted location. When they worked properly travel along them was a cinch. But this sack of ancient trash was a mess; the best course she had at the moment predicted an eight-day journey, speaking in metatime terms. She wasn’t about to just accept that as the best possible time.
The doors to the navigation room opened, revealing Jotaro and Pinkie, Pinkie riding along on the man’s back in her self-described ‘Pinkie-back ride’. Having someone else be her legs in times where there wasn’t anything important happening was a help to her, seeing as her senses tended to be dulled slightly during those moments.
The ‘importance’ must have kicked in the moment she arrived, because she hopped off his back and slid up to Corona. “Sooooo, the crew wants to know how their captain’s navigation is going!”
“Peachy,” Corona muttered, running more dimensional analysis on their data. She would have loved to send probes out to analyze the area but they would take just as long to get anything done as what she was doing now. No matter how much they manipulated time that’d still be a long period to make their mission wait.
“Maybe I could help?” Pinkie suggested, putting her hooves on the table.
“Pinkie, this is a purely visu-”
Pinkie pointed at a small pink dot sitting outside the highway structure and grinned.
Corona knew what was coming. She plotted a course through the pink dot, finding that it connected only three universes away from where they were. A probe went through – and found another connection that made it nine-tenths of the way across the damaged highway.
Several thoughts went through Corona’s mind. She considered proper responses ‘how did you do that?’ was quickly tossed to the side as a stupid one, as was simply saying ‘huh, thanks’, though that latter rejection may have been because of her own internal, bubbling fury at her evident inadequacy.
“…Yay,” Corona eventually muttered, grinding her teeth.
“You’re welcome!” Pinkie said, giggling. “Now let’s finish plotting this course and get there in…” She pressed a button there was no way she could sense with her hoof, chuckling. “How long does that say?”
“Forty-seven minutes,” Corona said, grunting. “This is exactly what the Starcross Society did to us.”
“Heheh, yeah!” Pinkie said, leaping back onto Jotaro’s back. “Onward!”
Corona sighed, plugging the coordinates in and starting the travel program. She closed down the holograms of the multiverse and followed Jotaro and Pinkie back to the main lounge that also served as the luxurious ship’s bridge.
The ship was a small one – it only held six passengers, after all – generally used only for diplomatic missions and the like. Normally it would be piloted by one of Eve’s Division, but today was a special journey.
Corona stepped in front of the video game being played on the primary screen, raising an eyebrow.
“Wh- hey what gives!” Vriska blurted, throwing her controller down. “I almost had her!”
“No you didn’t,” Flutterfree said with a mischievous smile. “You were dead.”
“Was not!”
“Just keep telling yourself that!” Flutterfree giggled.
“Mhm Yeah.” Corona rolled her eyes. “We’ll be arriving in forty-six minutes, thanks to a lucky break.”
“Pinkie?” Nova asked, looking up from her screen.
“Pinkie.”
“I HAVE THE POWER!” Pinkie cackled, laughing maniacally. “Beware alllll my third eyes!”
“Yes, quite,” Corona said, adjusting her gloves. “Regardless, since a several-day trip is now going to take less than an hour, here’s a review of what we’re doing. Ahem.” She waved the game off the main screen and replaced it with a general map of the Q-Sphere. “It’s no secret that many of the magic systems in the Q-Sphere run off interdimensional power generally found in Outer Existence or the D-Sphere. A large chunk of those universes run on the magic provided by the Magic High Commission, a Class 2 society positioned at the Outer Existence-Q-Sphere boundary. Recently, magic systems in a few of our universes have begun experiencing hiccups, which required me to Shape the universes to use different magic systems. I, as the Research Division Second and expert on the Shaping Mechanism, am going to pay a personal visit to the MHC to figure out what is going on with the multiversal flow of their magic. You all are my bodyguards because you’ve been there before.”
“Star was great!” Pinkie said. “I wonder if she’s still acting queen…”
“The political situation in MHC is never stable,” Jotaro commented, folding his arms. “I doubt it.”
“In less than an hour we’ll find out what exactly is going on,” Corona said. “In the meantime… Just be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
Vriska summoned her infinite-sided die, grinning evilly. “I’m always ready.”
“You aren’t wasting your luck on video games, are you?”
“…I have the right to remain silent.”
Corona chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Of course you do. But remember, I can see into your head if I want.”
Vriska rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m fine.”
“Good.” Corona checked their location. Still within the last ten percent of the old highway. Most of the downtime was going to be there. “You know, if we ever get to the point where we can make this kind of engineering, let’s make our highways self-repairing, hm?”
Nova smirked. “What makes you think it’s not the self-repair systems that ended up ruining this road?”
Corona furrowed her brow. “…And we’ve hit the edge of our knowledge. The moment anyone actually understands the way universe polymers are created I’ll throw a party big enough to blow up a moon.”
“I’ll throw one large enough to blow up a planet!” Pinkie countered.
“You’ve thrown bigger,” Nova pointed out.
“Psh. It’s all for the sake of needless escalation.”
~~~
In Merodi Universalis, ponies saw alternate versions of themselves a lot more frequently than humans did. This was partially because the majority of Merodi Universalis holdings were in the Q-Sphere, specifically the area of the Q-Sphere absolutely dominated by versions of Equis, and they were regularly the most willing of all worlds to join the Merodi. It was a known curiosity that different versions of Equis almost always had the same ponies on them, while the many different versions of Earth had different populations, even if national leaders and entities tended to be the same. Earth Stand and most the other Earths followed this trend while Earth Vitis versions mirrored Equis worlds.
However, Earth Tau’ri did not. Earth Tau’ri was situated right in the middle of an area filled with alternate versions of Earth Tau’ri. The variety wasn’t as extensive as the Equis cluster, nor was it as large as the Equis cluster, but it was significant enough that Earth Tau’ri had encountered alternate versions of itself prior to meeting Equis Vitis and Eve.
So why were there not packs of Daniel Jackson running around? Sure, someone would occasionally see another Daniel in Merodi Universalis, but that wasn’t as common as seeing a pack of Pinkies prowling around looking for their next prank victim.
The answer was simple. Earth Tau’ri versions didn’t trust each other. When Earth Tau’ri was still a lone power, and just an ally of Equis Vitis, they avoided causing diplomatic incidents with versions of themselves due to past history. And by the time they actually joined Merodi Universalis, they had enough power to be threatening to other Earth Tau’ris, which would always be in the original’s shadow.
This hadn’t stopped a couple from joining up out of desperation to defeat an alien threat or some other compelling reason, but the majority didn’t have the allure of being a pioneer the original Earth Tau’ri had, so they avoided close relations. It was often thought that the Class 3 Society GateNet had come from these worlds, but in truth that network had been created largely by nonhuman races that occupied Stargate worlds as part of a trading union.
As a result, Daniel and O’Neill had never had to change their names. They were both by far the most well-known versions of themselves and there were maybe a dozen of them in all of Merodi Universalis. There had been no Esefem for them, no copy universe, and no tendency for either of them to leave their homes and join Merodi Universalis as an independent agent.
O’Neill usually thought it was nice to be able to keep his name.
Usually.
Today was one of the exceptions.
“O’Neill!”
“WHAT!?” Thirty-seven different O’Neill’s shouted back.
Yellow Diamond sighed, towering over all the miniscule humans. “Overhead O’Neill.”
“Here,” O’Neill said, wearing the black-and-gold uniform only he got to wear as Military Overhead. “What is it?”
“We have five more,” Yellow Diamond said, moving her foot to reveal five more people. Four of them were O’Neills – but the fifth wasn’t.
“That’s not me, Yellow,” O’Neill muttered, pushing himself to the front of the O’Neill crowd.
“What the hell is going on!?” one of the new O’Neill’s demanded.
“Dimensional Magnet,” O’Neill muttered.
“I know the magnets trick, you can’t pull that one over my eyes!”
O’Neill put a hand to the bridge of his knows. “For the love of Pete… Look, it’s actually called a Dimensional Magnet. It’s a device that draws alternate versions of one person to a particular place. I happened to be given one by one of Them – don’t ask – and now we’re here, sitting in my office, together. Kapeesh?”
“Kapeesh,” the new O’Neill responded, tipping his hat.
O’Neill continued on, arriving at the person who wasn’t him. The General looked up, raising his eyebrows. “Jotaro?”
The Jotaro in front of him was younger than the Jotaro O’Neill knew – somewhere in his twenties – and was wearing a black instead of white outfit. “You know a version of me?”
“Yeah, you’re the big guy with the punching ghost,” O’Neill said, summoning Crimson Sushi. “Helped me get this one.”
“Yare yare daze…” the Jotaro muttered. “I am not him. I am an interdimensional traveler from a cluster of Stand-based universes. You may call me Jove.”
“Huh. Calling yourself Jupiter. Good call. Really fits the whole ‘big guy’ thing.”
Jove raised an eyebrow.
“Anyway, why are you here and not, oh, another me?”
Jove summoned his stand – a white version of Star Platinum. “This is Star Platinum Over Heaven, with the ability to rewrite reality with a punch. When I saw the O’Neill I was talking to being taken away, I decided to switch places with him using that ability.”
“Was he your friend or something?”
“He was a sack of shit I thought was trying to escape the hellscape universe I was throwing him into.”
“Ah. You know, I don’t meet villain versions of myself too much. Even when I do go exploring the Tau’ri cluster.”
“He was an oddity, given what I’ve learned from these four.”
“Mhm. Do you have anywhere you need to be? We can probably get you into the general area.”
Jove shook his head. “I had just wrapped up. I’ll go wherever now.” He reached out with S.P.O.H. and tore a hole in reality with his fingers. Then he narrowed his eyes. “Something feels… weird.”
O’Neill held up a small white cube. “Dimensional Magnet, maybe?”
“No…” Jove punched it with his free fist, deactivating it with a quick reality rewrite. “No, it’s not that. Something else.”
O’Neill examined the deactivated device. “Huh. You just solved a lot of my problems. I should buy you lunch.”
“What about the rest of us!?” a Jessica O’Neill asked, hands on her hips. “I may know where my world is, but Jackaboy doesn’t!”
“Why did we decide on Jackaboy?” a young O’Neill asked.
“Youngest in the room,” an undead skeleton O’Neill explained.
“Also because it’s hilarious,” Overhead O’Neill added. “Don’t worry, we can still trace the portals all back. Jessica, you’re from GateNet, you should know what our nations are capable of.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I was just prodding the mindless sheep.”
“Oh, good one.”
“HEY!” the O’Neills shouted.
“All of you shut the hell up!” Jove shouted. “Something’s happening!”
Overhead O’Neill put a hand to his chin. “Hrm… is it… The work of an enemy Stand!?” He broke out into a stupid grin.
“Yare yare daze…”
And then Jove fell backward as if hit by a truck.
~~~
The nameless ship Corona and Pinkie’s Party were sitting in lurched as if it had been hit by a truck.
The ship, being a diplomatic vessel, had no weapons. Normally such a ship wouldn’t even be making such long a journey because of the tendency for unforeseen complications to crop up but the nature of the mission ensured it wouldn’t need weapons.
Because Corona was on board.
She instinctively plugged into the ship’s systems, using Raging Sights as a connection for all her thoughts. Time effectively slowed to a crawl as she took direct control of the situation with her magic.
First, she reinforced the shields with her personal threefold barrier spell, and then locked reality so the magic couldn’t just be edited out of existence in case the enemy could do that. Next, she checked to make sure everyone was okay. Nova and Flutterfree were dazed, Pinkie seemed surprised – she hadn’t seen this one coming – Vriska looked ticked, and Jotaro… was holding his head in pain. Nothing had hit him, what was wrong?
He seemed healthy though, so she returned her attention outside. The attack had come through a dimensional portal that had already closed. She had the coordinates, but they were useless to her since they were in the Spline. Anyone could be anywhere in an instant because of the ease of moving through the polymer. There were no further portals opening, and there had been no structural damage to the ship. The only effect of the attack was that the ship acted like a baseball that had hit a bat – it was flying off at high sped.
That shouldn’t be an issue, since they were in the Spline. Even if they crashed into something loose someone would see them and they could get a lift, easy.
She checked their trajectory. They were moving at about fifty percent lightspeed and were headed right for…
“Dammit,” Corona muttered. They were headed for one of the ancient structures that governed the Spline, maintaining itself as a highway even as the multiverse within grew larger and larger.
There was one rule for using the Spline. Don’t mess with the structures. You would live to regret it, every time.
They were going to trigger a Spline Safeguard response.
She wasn’t going to be able to pull up in time or initiate a safe teleport. They had less than a second before impact, and she was the only one with enough awareness to even think anything.
The ship approached the structures. They existed in three-dimensional space as far as Corona could tell – but she knew that was only because they were the ones in the universe right now. The Spline was adaptable, with most universes within naturally adjusting themselves for the senses of the traveler. It notably was unable to represent itself in a matter that was non-physical, but true energy beings rarely had issue with physical objects anyway.
The structure went off as far as the eye could see in every direction, in a shape that looked like multiple spheres layered on top of each other. Along the ‘surface’ of the twisting framework were thousands upon thousands of tremendous, skyscraper-like buildings. Corona knew they weren’t really buildings, rather processing centers for the Spline’s impossibly huge computer system. She found it odd that they took so many different shapes – rectangular prisms, double helixes, elongates spheres – but she knew the inner workings of the Spline were beyond her.
She wished she had some idea of where she could crash that would be the least important. But it all looked pretty much the same to her.
She diverted their course away from the area the attackers had sent them – if there was something specific the attackers wanted destroyed, she wasn’t going to let them have it.
The ship crashed into a cylindrical building. Despite the strength of the quasi-magical polymer it was made out of, the speed of the ship coupled with its shielding tore the thing in half, exposing what appeared to be a mixture of wires, crystals, and organic compounds alongside more incomprehensible and intangible workings. The ship continued on until it hit the ground, acting like a meteor and creating a crater. The metallic siding of the ground peeled up around the ship’s impact site, revealing a subterranean interior filled with similar material to the cylindrical building, except everything was much larger.
Red lights started blaring.
“NOVA!” Corona shouted - but it turned out she didn’t need to. Nova had already started warping time to give them time to discuss. Corona smiled and continued talking. “VRISKA! WE’RE TRIGGERING A SAFEGUARD RESPONSE!” Corona yelled, using all her power to create a shield – but she knew it wasn't going to be enough, even with Sai’s nanobots helping. “YOU’RE UP!”
Vriska readied her infinite-sided die, smirking. “I’m always in the mood for some overkill.” She stole a bit of luck from Flutterfree to restore what she had lost in the gaming – which wasn’t all that much. Corona teleported her outside.
The Safeguard of the Spline appeared in an instant – hundreds of humanoid robotic creatures appeared, each one resembling a hunched-over alabaster mannequin. They were all larger than Jotaro and had ‘-|-‘ symbols on their faces.
Just Exterminators. Nothing giving off the signature of an Agent. …Yet, Corona thought to herself.
Vriska finished throwing the infinite-sided die into the air. “Let’s roll.”
~~~
Nora leaned back in her chair, moaning. “Ugh, man, could our job be any more boring?”
Jotaro, known to his friends as Jojo, raised an incredulous eyebrow.
“It’s all ‘monitor this’ and ‘monitor that’ and ‘make sure the MITN nodes function properly’. You think working for the MORI Corporation would give you a little more, I dunno, action? We’re a multiversal society on the edge of the Spline that supposedly gets to see all sorts of giants pass through.”
“We do,” Jojo pointed out.
“Yeah, and when was the last time they were anything more than a blip on our radar?” A green light appeared on her monitor. “See, look, here’s one passing through the nearby Spline. Signature says… Merodi Universalis, low-Class 2. Nothing all that special, but they could stomp us out like flies. But do we get to talk to them? Do we get to see their impressive technology? No! All we get is a dot.” She folded her arms. “What I wouldn’t give to be part of something more exciting.”
Jojo furrowed his brow. “You might get what you want.” He pointed at the green blip. “It’s veered off course. Drastically.”
“What d-”
Jojo fell backward as if he had just been hit by something, dazed.
“Jojo!” Nora shouted, tearing her gaze from the screen and checking to see if he was okay. He still had a pulse, but his eyes had glazed over. She was vaguely aware of red lights starting to blare from the screen.
“Shit,” Nora muttered, glancing up at the screen. She decided the chaos happening in the Spline didn’t matter more than the safety of her friend. She put her small form under his arm and started dragging him out of the room. “HELP! I NEED TO GET HIM TO SICKBAY! ANYONE!?”
There was no response. She knew the observation room was largely soundproof, but she was having difficulty moving him. She reached for the door, opening it.
Jojo watched as the infinite-sided die flew into the air, flashing brightly. It returned to Vriska’s palm as it rolled the symbol of a ring with dozens of small jagged spikes coming out of it, with a swirl in the center.
A tremendous black sphere of energy resembling a black hole in appearance tore through the fabric of reality. Thousands of spikes erupted from its event horizon, stabbing Safeguard Exterminators through the chest and disintegrating them in an instant – clearly this darkness was more than they had bargained for from a single crashed ship.
“I can’t dial out!” Corona yelled in panic. “They picked up that we’re more than we seem!”
Vriska smirked. “I did go for overkill.”
“The Safeguard security system deters Class 1s from messing with the Spline! Now that we’ve shown greater power they’ll send larger forces!”
“…Fuck.”
“I can’t override the lock!” Nova panicked. “It’s… more complex than anything I’ve seen outside of the Green Sun!”
Jotaro groaned. “Yare yare daze…”
“You okay there Jove?” O’Neill asked, tapping the man on the side of the face. “What’s going on?”
“Ugh… I’m exploding,” Jove muttered, sitting up and holding his head.
“What? Exploding?” Nora asked, eyes wide. “Jojo, what’s wrong?”
A high commander charged through the door. “Nora, you’re supposed to alert us to these things before the automatic sy-” He took one look at her and Jojo and said no more. He moved past her and sat down at her console, trying to figure out what was going on in the Spline. “The Hell?”
Jotaro3 blinked, suddenly in the house he had given Jotaro4. He had cut his hands by dropping a mug of coffee. “Why does he like coffee so much?”
“Coffee?” O’Neill asked, blinking. “What in the…”
Jove grabbed O’Neill by the collar. “Call Nanoha!”
“I can’t call Nanoha!” Corona snapped. “All communications are jammed, remember!”
“Just shut up I need to think!”
“I’m not saying anything!” Nora said, having realized Jojo was physically fine and not in danger of dying. “Who are you talking to!?”
The commander glanced over his head, furrowing his brow. He reached for his earpiece. “Someone get Emile.”
“Emile…” Jojo muttered.
“What an interesting name,” Jotaro told himself, closing a book. “Curious, it’s oh so rarely that I share a mind with another, especially one similar to myself.”
“What in Azador…?”
“Precisely what I was thinking, but then again, we are the same. Although you are lesser.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You just told me to call Nanoha!” O’Neill blurted.
“That you did,” Nanoha said on the other line. “What’s the issue… not-Jotaro…?”
“Corona and the others are stuck in the Spline! They were pushed by an attacker! Help them!”
“We are them!” Vriska shouted.
“He’s not talking to us,” Flutterfree said. “He’s talking to someone else.”
“Maybe he can get in contact with a Governor!” Corona blurted. “Because I’m not! …Crap, the Agents just arrived.” The entire ship shook.
“Portal detected – Collection in nature!” Nova shouted. “Prepare for rescue!”
“BRACE FOR MOVEMENT!” Corona shouted, pushing her hands to the side.
“Governor…” Jotaro said.
“Jojo? What about the Governor?” Nora asked.
“Governor?” The commander said, looking at the two of them.
“Get the Governor. Help them,” Jojo said, coughing.
He realized he had said that to a cup of coffee as well. And Vriska, though Vriska wasn’t paying much attention as she flew through the sky. And he said it to O’Neill, who had no idea what was going on. And… several others… including himself…?
“Still hung up on that?” he told himself. “Don’t worry. We have time. Well, in this body, anyway.”
“What do you mean in this body!?”
“He’s definitely undergoing Transcendent Synchronization,” the commander said. “Jojo, why did you ram the Spline?”
“We were pushed!”
“I got that already!” Nanoha said. “I’m en route. ‘Wish’ on standby in case things go sideways.”
“Get here soon.”
“Frick!” Vriska shouted. On the main screen they saw the Collection’s portal vanish, cutting their rescue ship in half. “Jotaro, whatever you’re doing, do it fast!”
“I’m trying!”
“Listen, Jojo!” a voice came from a communicator. “This is Emile. We don’t have time – what do you need the Governor to do?”
“Corona! What do we need the Governor to do!?”
“Oh, your awareness is in the wrong area for that,” Jotaro told himself. “We need to force our thoughts over there – or you do. I’m not connected to the others.”
“Corona! What do we need the Governor to do!?”
“I just – we need him to get the attack to stand down! Explain it was all an accident!”
“Stand down! Explain it was an accident!”
“…He’s lost it,” Yellow Diamond said.
“Possibly,” Nanoha admitted. “The Spline doesn’t stand down. It only stops pursuit. I’ll try to get them out but if the Spline discovers I’m coming… it’ll produce a response even I won’t be able to counter. Now hold, I have to charge some magic.”
“Get them to stop pursuit! Let them escape!” Jove shouted.
“Got that, Emile?” the commander asked.
“I did. The Governor… says it will try. It’s spouting a lot about Shadow Accords and about the specific examples where that’s allowed. The Spline’s figuring out that something bigger than a simple attack is going on. We may have a problem soon.”
“Hang in there buddy,” Nora said.
“I am…” Jojo said.
“What the hell is that?” Nova blurted.
“Big Agent!” Corona shouted. “Bra-” The ship exploded. But they were dragged out of it by Pinkie before it was vaporized.
The Agent was a more slender version of all the Exterminators – and it was pointing a gun at them. It fired – and in an instant a beam of twisted spacetime was spread across reality. It bent physics around it with the intent to kill.
Corona wasn’t having any of this. In the instant after it fired, she did a reverse reality edit, negating the attack. If she hadn’t done that, none of them would have continued to exist – including the entire front half of the Collection ‘rescue party’.
And then the TSAB opened their portal.
“Chances are good there’s going to be a complication,” Jotaro told himself.
Jotaro threw the book to the ground. “I want some answers!”
“Welcome to the Everyman. This part of you, anyway.”
“The Everyman!?” Corona shouted. “Oh no, this is going to be a huge mess…”
The new Agent turned its sights on the black-spike-thing the infinite-sided die had created while the Exterminators charged the newly arrived TSAB evacuation ship. They tried to close the TSAB’s portal – but it was held open by Nanoha personally. “AAAAAAAA!” She screamed, the TSAB ship dragging the Collection ship remnant and Corona’s group back through the portal.
She dropped her energy – but the portal remained open. “Close it!”
“They’re keeping it open!” Pinkie shouted.
The Exterminators and Agents moved to pursue them through the portal.
“Stop them!” Jotaro shouted.
“The Governor is working on it!” Emile called back. “…Kinda.”
“Kinda!?” Jojo blurted.
“Kinda,” Emile confirmed.
“Kinda…” Jotaro4 stared at the coffee stains all over him. “Yare yare daze…”
He saw the Safeguards stop pursuing the TSAB through the portal. The portal closed, leaving three TSAB ships, half a Collection ship, and Corona’s group alone.
“Oh thank goodness,” Flutterfree said.
“Now maybe we can figure out what the fuck just happened!” Vriska blurted, waving her arms around. “What was that?”
“They left the universe,” Nora said, sitting at what had been Jojo’s terminal. “I have the coordinates. A few jumps through the Spline will get us there.”
“The Safeguard hasn’t dispelled,” the commander said.
“They aren’t attacking our MTTN node,” Nora said. “We can go.”
“We?”
“You’ll want to take Jojo and I’m not letting you take him without me.”
“…Fine. Guess you’ll get to meet a Governor.”
“Thanks,” Jojo said, standing up.
“I guess,” O’Neill responded, leaning back. “Good work people.”
“We didn’t really do anything,” Jessica pointed out.
“I choose to believe we were absolutely instrumental in the salvage of this operation.”
“Now that the situation is over with, perhaps you could focus your attention on me?” Jotaro asked himself.
Jotaro tried – and found that the other minds moved to the background now that lives weren’t in danger. “What is going on!?”
“Your minds of several different versions of yourself are becoming one. There’s your body that’s a lone interdimensional explorer, the one that’s part of Merodi Universalis, the two that are in the MORI corporation, and then this one, which was part of the Everyman. You have others, you just haven’t wrested control of them because of the… drastic nature of your acclimation. Had you not been connected to me you likely would have passed out and been completely useless.”
“How could we communicate? Everything was jammed.”
“You can’t jam the Dark Tower no matter how much you want to. Beings with shared minds akin to yours and mine cannot be severed by traditional means.”
“So I’m part of your network now?”
“Not quite. Your appearance here has given this body a split personality. One tapped into me, the Everyman. The other tapped into you, the Every-Jotaro. Or, well, only a few dozen of them.”
Jotaro grabbed his head. “Great… How am I going to keep track of it all?”
“Seeing as your connection is a different sort than mine, you cannot just have everything run on nigh-autonomous autopilot. I would suggest talking to Emile. He has a condition identical to yours, and the way the MORI Corporation operates will be of great assistance to you.”
“Then that’s where I’m focusing.”
“I’ll keep this body warm. Do be warned, leaving focus off all the others completely can be dangerous.”
Jotaro made a humph. Then he focused his mind on Jojo, noticing he was walking alongside Nora. “I’ll need to see Emile,” he said.
“You’ll have plenty of opportunity,” the commander said. “Emile73, 74 and 76 will be joining us.”
“Good…” Jojo said. “Now… I think I’ll let myself lose consciousness here, alright?”
Nora slung his arm over her shoulder. “Sure thing, big guy. We can carry you.”
“We can no-”
And Jojo went elsewhere.
~~~
A couple minutes later, the universe was a little more crowded, containing three TSAB ships, half a Collection ship, a contingent of seven miniscule MORI ships, and the current pride of the Merodi fleet, the Austraeoh. O’Neill had flown it out here the moment things had calmed down just so he could be there personally with Jove. Yellow Diamond and Renee could take care of the other O’Neills. Probably.
The universe they were in was not part of the Spline – but it had clearly been influenced by the Spline. They could see flashing images passing by in the distance, the blue sky marred with images of the Spline’s structure, the Safeguard entities, and occasionally flashes of a deep azure blue. They had detected the universe was actively moving through the Sea, which was deemed a good thing since it was harder to find those sorts of universes and many powers there were likely to be uncomfortable in a TSAB-constructed universe.
They had decided to meet on the MORI Corporation’s ship because, simply put, they were the ones who needed to feel the safest. They were the lowest-level society involved.
They also had a Spline Governor on board. Which was… interesting and unexpected. Apparently it had helped them with their use of the Spline several years ago.
The Governor was made of the same alabaster material as the Exterminators and Agents, but of a much different design. Its body had spiked, armless shoulders and worm-like arms that extended from the Governor’s hips. It too had a symbol on its face, a ‘+|+’ inscription.
It was able to talk and would have been non-threatening if several people here hadn’t just been facing down about a hundred smaller versions of it.
It sat at the end of the round, black table furthest from the door. The other guests at the table were O’Neill, Corona, Pinkie, Morty from the Collection, Nanoha, Vita, and the MORI Corporation’s own individuals – commander ‘Thompson’ and Emile.
Emile existed in two bodies at once – one sitting at the table, the other standing near the Governor with a black button in his hands. Both of them had warm smiles that seemed slightly off for some unknown reason. The third was elsewhere in the ship, tending to more general matters.
Jove, Jojo, and Jotaro were standing in a corner, identical serious expressions on their faces. Their ‘attention’ was focused through all three sets of their eyes at the meeting – the collective definitely wanted to hear what was about to be said.
“So, here’s what happened,” O’Neill said. “Corona and her crew were on a mission to the Magic High Commission to discuss the recent magical fluctuations. They were pushed by an unknown entity into the Spline’s physical structure, triggering a Safeguard response and, somewhere along the line, turning Jotaro into a being undergoing ‘Transcendent Synchronization’. Care to explain?”
Both Emiles nodded at once – they started talking together, but the one away from the Governor became the only one talking after half a sentence. “Transcendent Synchronization is when the minds of several individuals that can be considered ‘alternates’ link together to form a single consciousness. This extends to clones and direct duplicates as well as multiversal copies. I myself am one of them, every Emile in several dozen universes shares my thoughts and perceptions. Jotaro has undergone something similar.”
“Clones?” O’Neill said, raising an eyebrow.
Emile nodded, a slightly nervous expression appearing on his features. “Clones. MORI corporation sometimes makes use of... ‘forks’ to make sure nobody is expended in the line of duty. There will always be an Emile, even if one is lost in a combat mission. All versions of me on this ship are forks of one Emile, though not all versions of my consciousness are contained within the Forks. It’s why we have numbers at the end of our names. Of course this was my choice, I was not forced to be cloned, and the decision is… somewhat controversial.”
“Right. Jotaro became several people,” O’Neill summarized. “At this point, Corona and Vriska engaged the Safeguard in combat, letting the security system know they had underestimated the power level of the ‘threat’. At about this point, the Collection came in. Why?”
Morty coughed. “We have a few ships that patrol the Spline looking for people to help. We didn’t know it was you, and we didn’t realize so many resources were going to be devoted to removing you. So we lost half our ship.” He clearly wasn’t happy about this – but from his expression he blamed himself more than anyone else involved.
“Right. At this point the Safeguard sent in some custom-built Agents to fight the ‘invasion’ with smarter autonomous intelligence. Corona was able to deflect one of their attacks, barely.”
“I’m impressed she was even able to do that,” Commander Thompson chimed in. “Those things wiped out an army once. Almost like it never existed.”
“It was a reality warper,” Corona said. “We’re very lucky that happens to be the type of magic I specialize in.”
O’Neill continued. “Then the TSAB shows up after I finally get something useful out of Jove and call in the cavalry. They have enough power to force the portal open for long enough to get everyone out. But we would have been pursued were it not for… this Governor that was summoned by Emile.”
The Governor spoke with a monotone voice that had no trace of being synthetic. “A plea for peace and acceptance from a concerned Governor unit prevents all pursuit out of the Spline at all but the highest levels. The difficulty was getting the area of the Spline to consider me a ‘concerned’ Governor.”
“Why can’t you just order them to stand down?” Corona asked.
“It is written in the Shadow Accords, section 78-C.”
“And what is that?”
“Insufficient permissions.”
Pinkie chuckled. “He’s an ancient machine just like the rest of the Spline. Don’t think you can weasel information out of him.”
Nanoha nodded. “People have been trying for a lot longer than any of us have been around. It’s one of the great mysteries of the multiverse. Clearly the Spline and Strands were created by the same society – likely the Weavers – but only the Spline has these defenses against tampering due to the ‘Shadow Accords’, while the Strands aren’t guarded at all. Or have much in the way of physical backbone, for that matter.”
“Hence the mess there,” Pinkie said. “It’s all a big hodgepodge of mixed everything!”
“It must be nice to be around the Strands,” the seated Emile said, leaning back. “All we’ve got out here is the Spline, and we can’t even travel that far along it because of our limited technology.”
“You just saved us, you’re in for a reward,” Corona said. “Magic-based dimensional travel technology is probably on the table. I’m sure Eve’ll allow that.”
Commander Thompson sat up straight upon hearing this, suddenly a lot more interested. “Just for making a call?”
“And bothering to help explain a few things,” Corona added.
“Regardless,” O’Neill said, starting anew. “The TSAB fled here to this mobile universe and then we decided to use it as a meeting place. Everyone showed up, and here we are. MORI, are you unaware of anyone at this table?”
Both Emiles shook their heads. “It would be hard not to know of the TSAB, and the recent waves the Merodi have made did make it to our ears. We know of the Collection because they bailed us out a time or two when we couldn’t do anything ourselves. Thanks, by the way.”
“You’re welcome,” Morty said, forcing a smile.
“Then we need to move on to mysteries. First: who the hell shoved us!? Second: why hasn’t the Safeguard been recalled!?”
“Safeguard has not been recalled due to my interference,” the Governor said. “They are merely not pursuing. They are certainly ready to start at a moment’s notice. If a Merodi, TSAB, or Collection ship appears, they will drive it away.”
Nanoha tapped Raising Heart with her finger. “Delay all TSAB Spline travel. Emergency authorization.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Any way to shut that off?” O’Neill asked.
“In three megaseconds, local time, the threat will have been deemed to have passed. Since this is the first infraction for the Merodi, there will not be any retribution. The Collection is already on the Safeguard’s ‘high priority’ list and will actively be hunted due to repeated infractions.”
“Try to help a bunch of idiots and you get branded,” Morty said. “We’re usually able to be in and out before they generate a full response to us – but you’d already raised the level considerably. We just didn’t notice until it was too late.”
“How are you not all dead?” the Emile’s asked, gawking.
“They can’t find our universe,” Morty said with a smile. “Nobody can, not anymore.”
Corona had flashbacks to the pain they’d gone through to find the Collector.
“What about the TSAB?” Nanoha asked.
“The TSAB has provided assistance in the past,” the Governor explained. “Your standing will be altered to 832X, but you are not a threat. You won’t have the surveillance all Merodi ships will have.”
“Great. Eyeballs fixed onto us at all times,” O’Neill muttered. “Any threat?”
“Psychic inversion.”
“…Explain?”
“Insufficient permissions.”
O’Neill turned to Nanoha.
“It means your psychics might have their heads implode. I expect it’s only under extreme circumstances.”
“No oculi or Sapphires in the Spline anymore, got it,” O’Neill said.
“So, back to the actual big question,” Corona said. “Who attacked us?”
“It was the Combine,” Vita muttered, speaking up for the first time.
Corona blinked. “Really?”
“Your data didn’t recognize it, but when we ran it through our devices they figured it out. That was an obfuscated Combine portal.”
Nanoha smiled sadly. “They don’t like you.”
“No, really?” Pinkie said, chuckling. “It’s not like we blew up their Green Sun or anything.”
“Not at all.”
“Still seems fishy,” Corona said. “Sure, they have beef with us, but there’s other ways they can attack us without going for full-out-war, which we know they don’t want because it would interfere with their other plans. Why wait for us to enter the Spline in a specific way?”
“Opportunist?” Morty suggested. “They saw an opening and took it, thinking there was no way you could escape?”
“Maybe…” Corona said. “I still don’t like it…”
~~~
Jotaro – all three of him – stopped listening to the meeting. He’d heard all he thought he needed to hear. He considered focusing on ‘Jojo’ and going to talk to the third Emile, but that would probably be redundant since Jotaro had figured out, more or less, how to shift perceptions from body to body. He was not able to control multiple bodies at a time easily, but he had no intention of staying like this long enough to need that.
“You think you can be cured?” he asked himself – through the body he shared with the Everyman.
“Easily,” Jotaro said. “We have access to Psychic surgery.”
“It might have to be done on every one of you at once.”
“Doable. But I have too many conflicting desires like this. Part of me is heavily devoted to the Merodi and that version’s family, but another is a drifter who can alter reality with a punch. Still another wants nothing more than to walk up to Nora and ask her out – which the numerous married versions of us find appalling. The fact that we are married to different people has been…” He couldn’t find the words to describe it. Every Jotaro went “yare yare daze…”
The Everyman found this amusing. “Struggling with inconsistency, I see. You should learn to do what I do, accept that you don’t have to be consistent. Leave each body to its own thing.”
“Or undo this through psychic surgery.”
“Fine, if that’s what you want,” the Everyman said, shrugging. “I suppose some versions of me would want to do that if they thought about it. This version isn’t going to go broadcasting it to them, though.”
“Hm…”
“You are interfering with my love for books in this world. You’ve already thrown three to the ground in anger. Those have great sentimental value, you know.”
“Tch.”
“Hmph.”
“Fine, I’ll send my focus elsewhere if you can help me out. There’s still something going on with the Spline. You’re an entity with access to extensive amounts of information. If I’m connected to you, you can let me know what you do.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Why would the Combine attack us then and there in that specific way?”
“You think it’s fishy too?”
“You do. We’re both thinking it.”
Jotaro nodded, “I have enough intellectual curiosity here to go on. Aherm. So, the Combine attacked. This is generally not what they would do, not to a society of your level anyway. Too cautious, and while they do get angry petty revenge isn’t exacted unless it is thought through.”
“So they must have been sure we would die.”
“Had the fluke of existence not made you Transcendent, you would have.”
“What exactly made me Transcendent?”
“The place you hit,” the Everyman said.
“And how do you know that?”
“One of my versions is a Spline Governor. It’s curious having a part of you that shrouds vast sections of its mind from the rest, but it doesn’t succeed fully. The Everyman’s desire to remain as secret as possible overrules the coding in the Governor to inform the Spline Safeguard of its condition. It’s a game of chess.”
“…You know what the Shadow Accords are.”
“In bits and pieces. The Weavers were truly ancient. One of the two first Class 1 societies – counting in Dark Tower time. Pre-Tower there could have been more; we have no way to know. It’s not like the Tower has the ability to see before it was built.”
“Get to the point.”
“The Shadow Accords are a set of accords created as the Weavers realized they were falling. They would not be around to maintain their structures, and the new force of ka was too much for them to counter on such a large scale. Projections suggested the Strands would be able to evolve with the multiverse, but the Spline would be spread so thin and break with enough time. So the Shadow Accords were put in place to ensure the Spline would continue to operate without any supervision. The actual workings of the Shadow Accords are hidden to me, but the legalese would likely be boring and inscrutable anyway.”
“Hmm…” Jotaro put a hand to his chin.
“What are we thinking, my other self?”
“What are the chances we hit the exact spot that would cause this?”
“Million to one, less. Since you diverted course it was impossible for the Combine to have predicted it. They’re just a Class 2 anyway, they’d have no idea about the finer workings of the Spline.”
“So it was just ka?”
“It would seem that way.”
“But we do have a way to check…” Jotaro shifted his perceptions back to the three in the meeting room. “Check the ka.”
Everyone stared at him.
“Check the ka when we crashed,” all three said at once. “We need to know if my mind was fused together by sheer narrative chance, or if something else was going on.”
Corona brought up the scans of the incident, paying special attention to the ka. “…What I wouldn’t give to have Starbeat here.”
“You’ve got the next best thing,” Nanoha said. “Raising Heart, ka analysis.”
Raising Heart beeped. “Complete! Largely inconclusive.”
“We don’t need anything specific. Did they crash there by chance?”
“Negative.”
The room fell silent.
“So there was some kind of intent?” Nanoha asked to clarify.
“Affirmative.”
“The Combine couldn’t do that,” O’Neill said. “Right?”
“We can’t do that,” Nanoha said. “We have no idea how most of the Spline operates, much less would we be able to throw a ship into part of the Spline and predict where you would dodge. Even if we devoted all our resources to it. We’d need a Prophet to do it.”
“If it was just a Prophet, it would appear as a standard million-to-one chance,” Morty pointed out. “And if it was an intentional Prophet, well, your ka scans should be able to pick up that easily.”
“What would even have the power to do that? And why?” the Emiles asked.
“Unknown,” the Governor said. “All records of Class 1 entities do not indicate they would attempt interference with the Spline with this much accuracy.”
“As for why…” O’Neill brought up an image of the Safeguard Exterminators and Agents that were still active. “That sure looks like one tasty army.”
“Right, let’s go through options,” Corona said. “Abstracts and Great Will are out, they don’t care about this sort of thing. Beyonders?”
“The Beyonders tried to claim part of the Spline for their own a century ago,” Nanoha said. “They haven’t even been in the Spline since. They know when they’ve been beaten.”
“Right… Celestialsapiens would be detectable… Them would never risk their own skins for anything – perhaps the Combine were just one of Them’s puppets?”
“Possibly, but what use would Them have for an army?” O’Neill asked.
“Right… Horrorterrors also have no use for an army of beings unlike them, and given what we know of them it doesn’t seem right. The Xeelee?”
“The Xeelee use the Spline more than anyone else, they probably would have tried something before now,” Emile said. “…What? We see a lot of them pass by.”
“And that’s all the Class 1 civilizations,” Morty said. “They don’t have enough reason to do anything.”
“Scientific study isn’t beyond the Horrorterrors,” O’Neill pointed out. “They are curious.”
“And have suffered embarrassing losses lately.”
“That could mean they’re desperate.”
“The current number of Safeguard entities would not be of any large-scale use,” the Governor pointed out. “They would be adequate for defending a handful of universes, perhaps a few more if their technology could be replicated. If the Class 1s wanted an army, they would have sought many more Safeguard units than are currently active.”
Pinkie slammed her hooves on the table. “I know who it is.”
“Who!?” Everyone asked.
“Nanoha, have the TSAB scan the motion of this universe. How are we moving? The pattern?”
Nanoha made the order. A few seconds later, the data came back. “…We are moving within the Spline in a perfect circle. This universe has become nested within the Spline’s existence.”
“And we can’t detect it,” the Governor said.
“Scan for connected universes,” Pinkie said. “And see if they’re following us.”
Nanoha did. “Pinkie, you’re right, there are several other universes moving in tandem with us…”
Pinkie nodded slowly. “Guys? We’re inside White Nettle. The last Downstreamer. She wants the army to protect her jellyfish-universe body.”
The Governor stood bolt upright. “Action must be taken to remedy this immediately.”
“Send information back to the Spline,” Emile said.
“I cannot. I have been removed from the primary network. I thought it was just a trait of this universe when I arrived.”
The Jotaros raised their eyebrows. “Then how did you know the Spline couldn’t detect this universe?”
“If they could, this area would already have been sterilized and subsequently cauterized.”
“Then we just leave and tell the Spline what’s going on,” Corona said.
Nanoha nodded. “Large portal, MORI Corporation space. Engage for all present.”
The portal opened.
None of the ships moved through it.
“What’s happening?” Morty demanded. “Why is no one moving?!”
A small white spark appeared in the center of the table, disrupting the display of the ships. It formed into an androgynous humanoid with paper coming out of her back, eyes pulsing with black energy. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice you in here until now. This is why I need some quality automated defenses.”
“Nova, get in here,” Corona called through the intercom.
“I’m already talking to her. She’s upset, and confused,” Nettle said, glaring. “And I’m just plain upset. Why do you want to protect the Spline? It’s just an ancient machine left by a race that doesn’t exist anymore.”
“The Agents and Governors are conscious,” the Emiles said.
“And if they never leave the Spline they are held in ultimate, unending, regimented control,” Nettle muttered. “It sucks. They’ll be better served policing something that actually matters.”
“The Spline matters!” Corona blurted. “So many people use it!”
“The Spline can recover from a lost universe. I should know. The Downstreamers removed several to make the Beyond inaccessible.” Nettle smirked, folding her arms. “What? We had the entire multiverse under our control. The Spline was part of it.”
Everyone glanced to the Governor.
“Insufficient Permissions,” it responded.
White Nettle smirked. “Access code D-Yen-Ampersand-Sigma-Aleph-Kappa-Nira-Tez’le’thu-N-8-8-Brien-Sanar. Personal imprint authenticate.”
“Increased security temporarily granted.”
The MORI Corporation citizens stared at the Governor in disbelief.
“She speaks partial truth. The Downstreamers were granted high informational access and allowed to interact with deep systems. This grant was revoked upon the creation of the Beyond.”
“But we’ve apparently maintained our security clearance!”
“Partially.”
“Eh, good enough. Hey, mind telling them what happened to the Downstreamers?”
“Insufficient Permissions.”
“Bah, whatever,” Nettle said. “When I take control of this part of the Spline I can pry the information out myself. And be able to stop things like you from living inside me without my knowledge. Do you have any idea how many universes are in this tentacle? A lot. It’s a lot.”
“Yeah, no,” Corona said. “We’ll stop you.”
“How?” Nettle asked. “Nobody here could escape the seal I’ve put around this universe. Even I can’t communicate with the rest of my body right now.”
The three Jotaros grabbed their hats. “Yare yare daze...”
Nettle looked to them. “What?”
“You just slipped up. Governor, get ready to move.”
Nettle raised an eyebrow. “How did I slip up, exactly, Jojojojojojo?”
Jove took a few steps forward. “You revealed that communication to this universe was blocked because you’re keeping us in. If you suddenly weren’t here, you’d have to open it up again to get in.”
“Pfft, I’m not opening this seal up unless this part of me opens it from the inside. I’m not stupid.”
“Yes you are. STAR PLATINUM OVER HEAVEN!”
The Star Platinum with the power to rewrite reality with a punch touched the little body of Nettle. He reshaped reality – ordering that not only would Nettle vanish, but she would also drop the lock on the universe.
It would only work for a second before the larger mind of Nettle noticed. But it was enough for the Governor to teleport away using its superior technology.
The other ships tried to move as well – but they only made it about a foot. Nettle appeared in front of them again. “I forgot you could do that! You’re all going to pay for th-”
And then everything was Spline Exterminators and Agents. Nettle’s small body vanished again as she devoted all of her resources to escaping the wrath of the Spline.
This allowed the small group of ships to slip out of Nettle’s tentacle universe and back into MORI Corporation space.
The Emiles and commander Thompson’s communicators started flashing red – as far as their sensors back home could tell them, the Spline was basically exploding.
There was panic in the MORI Corporation – but it would eventually settle down as the Safeguard left the universe to pursue White Nettle.
They would not catch her. Safeguard was not intended to operate in her universe and White Nettle knew more tricks than even the Collection for hiding her position.
But she would not be getting any army to defend herself automatically today.
Corona let out a sigh of relief. “Well, looks like we’re good now. Who’s up for going to the Magic High Commission?”
All three Jotaros let out an “A-hem!?”
“Riiiight after we fix you up. Nanoha, do you mind?”
~~~
Jotaro looked at Jove.
Jove looked at Jotaro.
“I’m glad I got to be you,” Jove said. “I thought my family life was always doomed.”
“You left too early,” Jotaro countered.
“I’ve read the manga. It doesn’t really get better.”
“Yare yare daze…”
Jove shook his head. “It sounds so wrong...”
“…coming from someone else.”
Jove looked at Jotaro’s slight smirk. “You’ve loosened up.”
“It comes from having stability.”
“I’ll think about it.”
They both knew the conversation was over. Without even a wave, the two parted ways. Jotaro noticed ‘Jojo’ talking to Nora. She let out a squee and pulled him into a hug. The man must have finally asked.
Good, Jotaro thought. He pulled out his phone. “Jotaro to the Austraeoh. Beam me up, O’Neill”
He was beamed to the bridge where Pinkie’s Party, Corona, and O’Neill stood.
Nova was talking about White Nettle. “…I’m not exactly sure she’s evil. After all, the intent was to have Jotaro bail us out of the situation. She just would have gotten an army out of the deal if it worked properly.”
“Half a Collection ship was destroyed,” Vriska countered.
“…Yeah. I don’t know if that was part of the plan though.” Nova sighed. “I think she just needs to get to know some people, you know? She’s very lonely.”
“And crazy,” Vriska said.
“Lonely and crazy is a recipe for redemption,” Flutterfree said. “…But it won’t happen today. If it happens.”
Nova nodded. “Yeah…”
Pinkie hugged her – though she didn’t quite make it feel natural for Nova. “We’ll encounter her again. You can bet on it.”
“I have no doubt about that.”
Pinkie nodded. “But for now, let’s go to the Magic High Commision!”
“Uh, Pinkie?” Vriska said, folding her arms. “We can’t use the Spline right now. They’re still on ‘alert’ for us.”
“The TSAB has graciously extended an invitation to follow their fleet,” O’Neill said. Pinkie nodded in conformation.
“They can’t use the Spline either.”
“Ah, but they can go across the multiverse with brute force in… a little over a week, assuming nothing goes wrong.”
Corona let out a pained groan.
Jotaro clutched at his hat. “Yare yare daze…”
They began their long journey again.
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What sort of black hole? A classical black sphere sucking things in, a realistic black hole, or sumthin' else?
Hey, that is Combine terminology 🤔
I think sumthin' is missing here
I'd like to actually see the reaction/fallout to Star's choice to destroy magic in her corner of the multiverse. I'm sure there were more deaths than just the magic high commission and whatever lived in the magic dimension.
I really can't place the high commition as a class two, perhaps class 3, anyway, pinky talks as if she never the high magic commition's source material, and how eventually all magic gets destroid and at least two world merge, I wonder if after that the class 2 society falls? Or perhaps there are other version where star decides not to destroy magic, anyway, wonderful chapter here :D.
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*cough cough* This chapter was written over a year ago before Star Vs ended, so all info about the Magic High Commission should be considered AU. It might still work, it might now, for all we know the destruction of magic could be the problem they're going to investigate. Shrug.
-Gm, master of shrug.
Was the description of the map at the beginning based off of the image map that I saw on google images? They look somewhat similar, and the description of colors on certain spheres was also similar.
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Affirmative.
-GM, master of positive identifications.
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There's always League of Sweetie Belles, though it needs to be pony
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You could always write a sidestory.
Welp, it's past time I play catch-up. Fascinating bit with the Jojovermind. I can't help but wonder if Heir of Blood Jotaro can harness S.P.O.H. now.
And that's saying nothing of all the other little details that bear consideration. I get the feeling this won't be the last time someone tries to reticulate the Spline.
I am so very confused.
What is she talking about? I don't recall the Starcross Society showing up and outperforming the Merodi in a showy manner.
Also, I just read part 1 of the Mori Corporation last week, so that was cool timing. They are definitely lower on the multiversal totem pole. Probably a higher class 4, maybe a low end 3.
Man, these last few chapters have been getting really out there into the high level multiversal stuff. My head's starting to hurt.
...My brain tastes of n-th dimensional geometry...
Good lore dump, though.