Salvation

by voroshilov

Disturbance

Ablazed Glory tapped her comrade. “What’s it saying?”

Rather than Penumbra, it was Cain who answered, “Celestine bids us welcome. Her speech is being transmitted in Assembly Binary, which Penumbra is capable of understanding.”

Penumbra, suddenly aware that Celestine did not know how to speak a language her translation matrix could understand - rather one she herself could understand - and that she was now apparently fluent in Assembly Binary, simply nodded and turned back to focus on Celestine.

“I am glad you came so soon,” Celestine said, “this allows us time to.,” She paused, as if searching for the right word. “Refamiliarise ourselves.”

There was an odd kindness in her voice, which Penumbra couldn’t quite decipher. Presumably, she was just overthinking it. “Refamiliarise ourselves?” She asked, “how do you mean?”

“Why, catch up of course!” Celestine said, with a tone almost resembling excitement - which made Penumbra wary, Assembly constructs didn’t get excited - “so much has changed over the past five billion years.”

Penumbra allowed herself a chuckle “It certainly has.”

“Although.” Celestine made a mechanical trilling sound, almost like a chuckle - which made Penumbra even more wary. “Seeing you now, you haven’t changed an iota. Not on the outside, at least.”

Penumbra nodded, still unsure what to make of the apparently happy AI. “Well, it’s important to keep up appearances.”

The same mechanical trill emanated from the machine. “Indeed! You always had an excellent sense of majesty.”

Celestine was speaking in the past tense. Penumbra took a mental step back to consider the construct’s speech. When she had said “refamiliarise,” did that not mean that they were already familiar? Could Celestine have known Penumbra before the Great Rebellion? Nicholas had told her, millennia earlier, that her soul - Penumbra’s soul, that is - had been reborn on Equestria billions of years after the Great Rebellion. Therefore, was it safe to assume that Celestine had known her in her past life? Or, was she simply not translating correctly?

“Thank you.” Penumbra gave a smile, she had decided on assuming Celestine knew her previously. If anything, it might allow her to learn a little more about Celestine’s origins. “Although, I do not remember anything about yourself.”

“It is to be expected,” Celestine replied, with almost a hint of sadness - though that could have just been Penumbra’s mind playing tricks on her - “I detected that you were remade somehow, there is a strange energy coursing through you.”

“I was reborn,” Penumbra said, though she did not believe reborn was necessarily the right term, “rather recently. As such, I’m afraid you will have to properly introduce yourself again.”

“Very well,” Celestine replied, before beginning to think.

“We should start with my name,” she said, “Celestine is merely a piece of my true name. The rest was lost in translation by the Dauxite Assembly, shortened by them - always so efficient they were. To my people, I was ‘Celestial Emission of Six Points Prompts Pensive Conclave to Unfetter the Final Design’, though I was not born that way. My title was Queen, I ruled over the Great Circle from the heart of the Dream-Needle. We knew I would be the final Queen of our people, who would be the final one of us to hear the Dream-Needle from without.”

Oh how very useful.

“The Dream-Needle, the Great Circle?” Penumbra questioned, “what are these things?”

Celestine did not answer.

“In time,” she said, mechanical voice betraying a sudden worry - no doubt spurred on by some hidden realisation - “all will be revealed. But, our time grows short.”

That definitely did not bode well.

“This facility,” she said, “sees all. Three of your days ago, it detected disturbances coming from the Great Void. The intricacies and secrets of this station lie shrouded, known only to its creator. But, its purpose is revealed, it watches for something within the Great Void. Whatever it lay here since the One-Hundred and Ninety-Fifth Cycle of Constitution searching for has just been found. You must travel to the edge of the Great Void, I shall remain here, to oversee your efforts and guide you.”

She paused for a moment, as if allowing Penumbra to absorb all the new information.

“There will be danger,” she said, “though I do not know what it is, I only know the Assembly saw fit to set the protocols to activate a Gorgon if it was discovered. Go quickly, time is of the essence, I apologise that we could not speak more - old friend - but there will be plenty of time once the threat is expunged.”

Aboard the Retaliator, Ablazed Glory set about readying their course. Fortunately, she knew enough about how items similar to the Gateway functioned to allow them to make a return journey. Astrid assisted her, performing the more long-form calculations with terrifying simplicity.

Meanwhile, Penumbra turned to Cain.

“What’s a Gorgon?”

Cain seemed almost to shiver at the word. “The Dauxite Assembly was willing to use any means necessary to achieve its goals.”

“And?”

“The Assembly would only ever hesitate to use a Gorgon.”