Day 10 - Just another busy day: 4/?
“-aaand then I peeked out of the shower and spooked you,” 10013 finishes its recap of the day so far.
“Huh, so we’re just waiting for 10101’s message now?” 20100’s backpack has been unpacked successfully and the drone is now sorting the boxes and paper packages into piles.
“Pretty much,” 10013 nods, “Once we know what we’re dealing with I’d like to find 387 and see if my experiments are worth the point he promised.”
“Why don’t you go now?” offers 20100, “I’ll be busy here anyway so I can listen to the radio. If I hear 10101’s message I’ll poke you.”
“Really?” 10013 smiles, “That’ll be so much more efficient than both of us sitting here! Like half as efficient because there will be only one of us instead of two- wait, is that how math works? It feels off… It’s less, not more.”
“Is it less inefficient?” 20100 hazards a guess.
“Ha! That’s gotta be it,” 10013 nods, heading off to the balcony, “I’m gonna look for 387 then. Bye, and thanks!”
“No problem, buddy,” 20100 waves at it and immediately reaches for the moldable plastic sheets so far hidden from 10013’s sight, “Oof, this is going to be a toughie. What did the user guide that Mister Trestle read to me on the way say? Step one was to heat the sheet up, right? Remember, 20100, no goop around open flames. Holes know where the radio would fly off to.”
***
99380 successfully bounces off the griffoness’ serve back to her over the net in a nasty angle that forces her to run to the net, jump, and slide the remain of the distance to bounce it back with her forelegs. 99380, however, instead of bouncing the ball again and winning the exchange, slips under the net, asking:
“Are you okay, Miss sporty?”
She coughs inside the settling cloud of dust, and says:
“I’m fine. You, on the other talon, are doing so much better than last time! Did you practice?”
“Nu uh!” 99380 shakes its head vigorously as if accused of cheating, “I stopped thinking and just bonked the ball. My head doesn’t hurt that much anymore either. I’m starting to like this sports thing, even if it burns love a lot.”
“It… burns love?” she tilts her head.
“We’re changelings, we eat love,” 99380 explains cheerfully, “I can feel you love this sports thing a lot so I’m not getting tired that much while we‘re playing.”
“Wait, you’ve been feeding from me this whole time?” her tone grows colder.
“Uh oh…” 99380 immediately tries to look as small as possible, “I said the thing I wasn’t supposed to say.”
“Come on, you can’t not explain what you’ve just said,” her voice softens a little, seeing the drone’s growing distress.
“When you guys, non-changelings. like someone or like doing something, you grow this pink-ish cloud around you and we can kinda absorb it. It’s food. I think high ranks do it differently but we drones don’t,” 99380’s ears droop, “Normally, high ranks feed us just by transferring love. Or hugs from you squishes work too. Oh, and Princess Cadance can do it best!”
She watches it fidget and look at the ground for a few moments before sighing and shaking her head:
“You know what? That’s a rabbit hole I’m not going deeper into,” she pats 99380’s head, making it cheer up and give her an apologetic smile, “How about we try something different?”
“Sure!” 99380 perks up as if the last minute didn’t happen at all, “More head-empty sports?”
The presumed adjective forces her to defend the subject, but it’s clear that the drone doesn’t mean it as an insult, unlike some griffons she knows.
“There is actually a lot of thinking involved in competitive sports, but since we’re just messing around we can do your version,” she stands up and heads off to her backpack, “Let’s go. We can try basketball.”
“Basket ball? I saw a whole bunch of baskets by the road on the way here, but they were full of all kinds of scraps, not balls,” 99380 follows her, swishing its short legs to keep up while turning its head over and over from her to the road.
“Heh. Those are trash cans, not the kind of baskets I’m talking about. Basketball is a game about precision and coordination. The goal is to throw a ball through a hoop in the air. It’s called basket because in the old days they actually did use straw baskets instead of just hoops.”
“Sounds pretty easy,” comments 99380 as they walk.
“It’s not. There are two teams, two hoops, and one ball, each team trying to prevent the other from throwing the ball through the opponent’s hoop.”
“But if the goal is to hit the hoop, just imagine how many more hoops they could hit if they worked together!”
“Uhh, well, I mean… maybe? It’s a competitive sport, though, so…” she genuinely doesn’t know how to finish the sentence.
“Maybe the working together version could be the drone kind I could show the guys back home! Hee hee,” 99380 giggles giddily, “So, what other rules are there besides throwing goop through hoop? I mean ball, but we’ll be using goop, I think. The non- uhh, the less explosive kind.”
“Umm, the difficulty of the game stems from the rule that you can only move with the ball while dribbling.”
“Dribbling?” 99380 gives her a puzzled look, “Like thi-ppshshf?” some goopy drool drips out of its mouth, “Ah donpf fink itsh oo fard!”
“I- *snrk!* just- stop guessing, I’ll show you,” the griffoness looks away, forcing her beak to stay shut with overwhelming willpower.
“No guessing, thinky ball empty,” 99380 beams.
***
There are three figures in the back of the yacht slowly returning to the Ataraki resort, all propped against the railing and looking at the foam trail left behind the ship.
“Kinda wish our testimony was enough to keep the changelings out of trouble,” says Ten, for once outside of his Paladin armor and wearing only a white tabard with the symbol of the sun.
“This is politics, reality has no power here,” Bright Star shakes his head, “Without proof they weren’t involved we can only rely on there not being any real evidence that they did sink the ship. That would fly in Equestria but not here. No matter how unsubstantiated the changeling sabotage story is, the only part that the griffons will spread is that, even if someone figured out who did it.”
“Wait, really?” Gem shoots him a surprised look, reminding Bright Star that despite her athletic-MILF zebra shape and meteoric rise in influence and knowledge back in Canterlot, she’s still just a changeling younger than the veteran drones in the resort, “We can put together a pretty reliable story.”
“Griffons are the problem here,” Ten sighs wistfully, “Ponies would listen, especially unicorns with the knowledge of how basic mind reading works, but even if you presented a substantiated narrative, griffons would always blow it off. Besides, all the proof you wanted to find was gone.”
“On top of that, who would suspect a small security company to be able to pull this off without a trace?” Bright Star sighs.
“But they didn’t, that’s the point,” Gem frowns, “You spent our first day on the ship searching for threats through magical and non-magical means. You would have found explosives if they were onboard. I know one thing about Miss Sun Hammer and that’s that she’s thorough, knowledgeable, and an excellent magic user despite her looking like that chainmail bikini wearing barbarian lady from those eastern comics. While you were doing that, though, Quest’s guys were doing the same. One of them must have forgotten to lock the same specific area of the maintenance deck while looking for a palace where to plant the bombs, and Smiley must have wandered in. Possibly they might have even lured it there just to have a recorded changeling intrusion incident. I wish I could read Smiley’s mind better, but going deeper than the past few hours is just a mess.”
“Saying this to a jury would only make things worse. No one would believe a changeling wandering through the right area by accident. At best it would be the same scouting attempt we would be accusing Quest Security of,” counters Bright Star.
“Obviously, there’s more. 99380 saw the camouflaged raft they must have used to get the explosives on board, and as the storm hit it caught radio communications between someone on the ship and someone following it. The same someone whom 10013 saw while it was on the observation deck atop the ship later. As for the areas along the crack accessed by the changelings, the same areas were only accessible by the security.”
“Gem, we believe you. I checked the drones’ heads too, even though not in as much detail. I just know they didn’t do it and they were the ones not being constantly watched, unlike Chrysalis, 387, and 99,” Ten exchanges looks with Bright Star.
“But without photo evidence or something we’re not getting anywhere,” adds the older paladin wearing his Hawaiian t-shirt and sunglasses, “And before you suggest that - no, we’re not tying Quest in a cellar somewhere and letting you wring his head for information. The same goes for truth serums and magic. One single misstep and we’d cause so much more trouble than if we just let the situation play out while keeping a protective hoof over the changelings in the resort.”
“I just want to know what the endgame is,” this time it’s Gem who sighs, “Because Quest’s guys planned it way in advance, otherwise they wouldn’t have had the survival tools ready in the jungle.”
“And, as both we and the changelings discovered, they cleaned up perfectly after themselves and used the preservation treaty with the natives as cover,” Ten looks into the distance, “From my infiltrator standpoint, it’s impressive work.”
“Gem, I hate to say it, but we’re not putting Quest or anypony behind bars for this,” says Bright Star, “Especially when they made such a good impression by rescuing everypony from the sinking ship and subsequently ensuring their ‘survival in the wilderness’.”
Gem grits her teeth.
“I despise this. From what I heard from my dad and everyone, Chrysalis isn’t worth a single second of worrying, but I know the drones don’t deserve any of the dirty looks.”
Ten and Bright Star exchange knowing glances.
Three.
***
As 10013 lands by the spot where it found 387 earlier today, the warrior is nowhere to be seen.
I guess it makes sense that he wouldn’t be sitting here all day. What to do? What to do? Smart voice, are you there?
“Yes,” comes the reply.
“I can’t sense 387, not even his direction. Do you know where he could be?” 10013 switches into hive link speech, feeling only slightly awkward now after several previous exchanges with the voice.
“Yes,” says the voice after a brief pause.
“Umm, can you tell me?” 10013 notices the pause and uncertainty creeps into its mental voice.
“No, for some reason I can’t quite voice, I don’t think I should do that.”
“Umm, sorry if I’m bothering you too much,” 10013 scratches its head.
“That’s not it,” the voice hesitates, “I feel like I appeared to guide you but not to do things for you, but I have no idea where that principle came from.”
“Oh, is that all?” 10013 tilts its head without any clue how weird it must look in the real world, just sitting on the road and occasionally twitching, “Can you guide me to 387?”
“Can you sense any changeling presence in general?”
“For sure! 20100 isn’t too far so I can even recognize it. One is coming from the workshop. It’s weak but I think it’s 36658. One is coming from… thataway!” it points vaguely towards the northeast, “99380, probably, because- wait, there’s more? I should be too far from the Queen if she’s in her sea shack but I can’t identify what the source of that is. It’s weak.”
“Then explore. I can only help you unlock your own potential.”
10013 flies up and heads off into the specified direction, asking:
“You said you appeared to guide me. When did that happen?”
“Yesterday.”
“You can talk to the others, right?”
“Only you drones.”
“Aaand who was the first drone you talked to, me?”
“No, 36658.”
“Huh. What did you talk about?”
“It believed I was the voice of someone called High Score.”
“And are you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? You’re doing very High Score things. All the showing the way and stuff just like 36658 says all the time.”
“I am sure. I have no identity, I just help in the way I’m supposed to.”
10013 shrugs.
“Story checks out.”
***
“Please, either stop following me, 387, or do it in a way that I don’t notice,” says 99, who is sitting in a plastic chair put out onto one of the wider streets two levels above the promenade by a smoothie vendor, as she puts her cup of mint-lime down and looks directly towards a tree nearby, “Or better yet, come out and tell me why you’re doing it all of a sudden.”
To the warrior’s credit, he slips out from behind an entirely different bush across the street, making 99 shoot him a surprised glance. As if nothing happened, 387 walks over, sits down, and waves at the vendor with:
“One large forest berry selection, please, and bill it to the changeling delegation on 387.”
The smoothie-vending mare checks something inside her booth, looks at 99, nods to herself, and disappears inside before both changelings start hearing a blender go off.
“So?” 99 raises an eyebrow.
“A real rank 99 infiltrator would notice me way earlier, even with the suppressor on,” is all 387 says while looking 99 directly in the eyes which she rolls.
“Are you still on this? Why?”
“I want to know why Chrysalis is protecting you by lying about your rank to everyone,” he states directly.
“Because there are idiots in the hive, just like you, who can’t let the past stay in the past,” she lowers her voice, “Unfortunately, unlike you, they’re like that for the wrong reason,” as 387 takes a breath to say something, 99 raises her hoof, “The Queen’s words, not mine. Truth be told, I don’t even know what it means, she just warned me shortly after I hatched that I should keep my eyes open and not trust someone without a good reason. Drones excluded.”
That seems to catch 387 off guard. He was expecting lies, evasion, anything other than… nonsense?
“Uhh, what?”
“She warned me about you before this trip too,” adds 99, “but after you said I wasn’t an infiltrator in front of her she knew you wouldn’t let it go and allowed me to tell you the truth. Her words, again, were - if he gets agitated, just leave. He’ll end up yelling at me anyway and I’ve learned to tune him out.”
387’s eye twitches.
“Your smoothie, umm, sir,” the mare arrives just in time to stop 387 from saying something stupid, the warrior thanks her, and instead starts vigorously sucking the icy blend through a straw.
The second conversation stopper arrives moments later as 387 is still pondering how to proceed in the form of 10013.
“Hi!” it notices the warrior’s narrowed eyes locked on 99, and adds, “Umm, wrong timing?”
“No, no, feel free to sit down,” 99 smiles at it and 387 bites through the straw. As he spits it out, 99 calls out, “One more blueberry smoothie on me, please! So, what did you want, 10013?”
“I, well, I talked to 387 earlier and he said I could get a point by figuring out a drone weakness and fixing it, so I tried a few things and I wanted to talk about it,” 10013’s eyes dart from 387 to 99 repeatedly.
“What a good idea,” 99 nods approvingly, “387, what do you think?”
“You’re not wiggling your way out of this, 99,” he frowns.
“Hmmm,” the infiltrator rubs her chin, “Hey, 10013, how do you feel about Silents?”
“Smiley’s great! Are some others still around?” 10013 takes the hook in the form of something it understands.
“Not as far as I know. No, I was asking about Silents in general, about the Queen’s idea of creating a customized changeling for a specific job with no autonomy.”
10013 ponders it for a while before asking:
“Umm, isn’t that all of us? I mean, we exist to dig tunnels and carry stuff. We can do other things during breaky time but that’s only because the Queen said we could. Any high rank can make us do anything with mind tricks anyway,” it shrugs in the end.
99 stares at 10013 for a moment before patting its head.
“So you don’t see any major difference between Silents and you, right?”
“Not really, at least not at work,” says 10013, “Is that different for you? I thought the Queen can just tell you to do something and you gotta do it.”
“One blueberry smoothie,” the vendor puts the fresh drink in front of 99 who pushes it to 10013.
“I don’t have any shinies,” the drone looks nervously at 99.
“It’s paid for. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay!’” 10013 starts sipping through the straw. When a high rank tells you not to worry, you stop worrying. Well, maybe you still worry a little if the situation calls for it, but this smoothie thing doesn’t seem dangerous, “Oooh, cold! Tastes like, uhh- we should really come up with a drone word for ‘I have absolutely no idea’, especially if we get to go outside of the tunnels more often at some point.”
“It’s blueberry,” explains 99, “Small berries that grow in the forest, mostly black or grey with a blue tint.”
“Now that’s a good drone name for something!” 10013 approves.
“Now where were we?” muses 99, “Ah, right! 387, you were asking what I was, and the answer is simple - I’m a changeling. Think before you say anything.”
387 opens his plastic cup to finish the smoothie off and to buy himself some time. 99 might be weak and unskilled for her rank but from what he’s gathered so far she’s not stupid.
She related her situation to the Silents, and she thinks I would chew out Chrysalis if she told me straight up.
“She returned to her genetic engineering nonsense with you, didn’t she?” 387 puts the cup down and crosses his forelegs on his chest, “So what are you supposed to be? Some biological superweapon that would take time to develop but is fragile and weak now, and in order to offset that she somehow covered your real rank so no ‘traditionalist’ tries to kill you to prove themselves?”
“I already told you, 387,” 99 shakes her head with a smile, “I’m a changeling, that’s all. 10013, are you keeping up with what I’m saying?”
“You’re a changeling!” 10013 briefly stops sucking its straw and nods.
“And if I’m not saying I’m a warrior, or an infiltrator, or a drone, or the Queen, or any other strange biological castes we can become, what does it mean?”
“Hmmm, you don’t punch things but 65536 said you did some pushies and pullies with it, you’re not snooty but you can do big time hive mind stuff, I don’t think you can dig but you can carry stuff too, and you… uhh… I don’t know about Queen stuff. But you can do all of the rest so… you just do what you want?”
“See, 387?” 99 scratches 10013 behind the ear and the drone resumes enjoying the smoothie, its role finished, “The drone gets it, it just can’t put it into the right words.”
“No, I do get it,” 387 shakes his head, “I just find it hard to believe that CHRYSALIS of all changelings spent her final uses of the monstrosity she calls the genetic reconstitution chamber to make ‘just some guy’. Or ‘gal’ in your case.”
“Funny, she said you were the one who inspired her, since you are as much a warrior as I am an infiltrator. She didn’t explain that part, though.”
“Good,” 387 makes a pyramid of his hooves and puts his chin on it, observing 99. In reality, though, he’s drawing blanks on what to say. On one hole, Chrysalis’ genetic engineering attempts were always horrendous and not being against this might encourage her to delve into them once again. On the other, she tried to make a changeling, an individual entity instead of a tool for a job, which is what changeling classes are.
“Thanks for scaring me, though,” 99 frowns, “I didn’t really think about what will happen back home if anyone realizes what rank 99 means. They understand it with the drones, and it’s only a matter of time before-”
“Chrysalis will personally execute anyone who attacks you, and she will know if that happens.”
“That won’t exactly un-eat my ass, will it?”
“Then I guess it’s up to you to prove Chrysalis that her genetic manipulation can do some good, because I sure as holes am not a believer,” 387 shrugs, “I’m trying really hard to give Chrysalis the benefit of the doubt but every time I almost think she’s not her old self I find something that convinces me otherwise. I’m pretty sure not even you know what’s inside you.”
99 sighs.
“I was hoping you would help me if I told you everything, and I’m pretty sure the Queen thought that too, that’s why she allowed me to tell you.”
“I won’t be the one stabbing you in the back as long as you don’t become a tool for returning the hive to the dark ages we are so painstakingly slowly crawling out of,” 387 glares at her, “If that’s not enough for you, your problem.”
“I was hoping for something along the lines of a friend, or at least an ally, who would teach me a trick or two to protect myself.”
“Hah! And have Chrysalis learn how I evaded her for so long? No. If you want combat training from someone whom you can trust to not ‘accidentally’ cut your head off, go talk to 65536,” 387 snickers.
“What?” 99 tilts her head, “Are you serious?”
“Without love enhancements, I’m pretty sure it’s physically stronger than you, and not by a little. On top of that, while it probably never stabbed anyone with that guard spear they use in Canterlot, I’m pretty sure it knows its way around a blackjack.”
99 resists instinctively objecting and gives herself a moment to think by sipping a smoothie.
This IS 387’s way of helping.
“Alright, I’ll give it a shot,” she says after a while but can’t resist taking a jab at the warrior, “If nothing then to see how much your wisdom is worth.”
Before anyone can say anything else, the slurping and scratching noises of final bits of a smoothie being sucked through a straw come from 10013 who wisely avoided speaking unless spoken to.
“Well, now that we settled that,” 99 changes the topic, “What was that about points, 10013?”
“Ah, right! I improved Mister Shiny’s carapace design for worky time and I’m working on a new one for breaky time that’s not protective at all and makes us use our own muscles a bit more. I based it on Miss Cadance’s yoghurt clothes. I think it might cost us some love at first but we’ll grow a lot stronger quickly. Look!” 10013 shares both designs via a hive link.
“Hawaiian T-shirt and shorts?” snickers 387 before examining the design and facehoofing, “No… worse. So much worse.”
“You know, I never thought about how a drone in yoga pants and a compression T-shirt would look,” 99 whistles, “The muscles get kinda lost under the normal bulky carapace. They’re like stockier, tiny warriors.”
“Here’s your point, but no drones are, under ANY circumstances, allowed to show up in public using that design. At home, no problem. Here? We’re not having all those aged horndog griffonesses repeating that Clara situation en masse,” says the warrior.
“Yay! 36658 will be so happy we’re pushing our lead!” 10013 beams.
“And here’s one from me for mediating this conversation,” adds 99, “I doubt it would be this pleasant without you around.”
[10013:2, 20100:9, 36658:4, 99111:4, 99380:6, 99526:3, Smiley:6, 65536:3]
“Eeeeeee!” 10013’s wings start buzzing on their own in pure excitement and relief, “Now everyone is well fed and I don’t have to feel bad for-”
“10013, calling 10013!” the drone leader hears 20100’s mental voice come through a long-range link provided by 99380 and immediately feels 99 and 387 tap into its head, “I’m pretty sure the radio just started repeating something that sounds like a message from 10101, and I don’t like the words it’s saying.”
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(X) Doubt
Oh shit, here we go.
some too plot turned chapter.
to the number of riddles you can now add "who is 99 really?"
The older paladin. Magnum, Paladin Ignis.
And Sir Mustache.
The Griffies ahve been digging into that base for a long, long time?
Oh dear. Someone might have triped over a self destruct code while ordering a coffee from the vending machine?
I dimly remember many chapters back speculating that the cruise ship was sabotaged to sink not so much to take out anyone aboard but just as an convenient excuse to get onto the island. Now, given everything we know that's on this island, I'm wondering if I was actually more on the right track with that than I first thought...
Well, that settles that question. I was starting to think this would be the case by now anyway.
But if not High Score...then who are you? Or maybe...what are you?
Again, I'm wondering if the "voice" is just something within the drone end of the hive mind that's developed some form of awareness...it'd seem to fit the facts as we currently know them at least.
She's casteless. Is that Chrysalis's long term plan for the hive then? Figure out a way to get it be, at the very least, less dependent on the old caste system? Or did she just want someone loyal to herself that wasn't confined to the restrictions of any one caste? Either way, I can see potential pluses to it, regardless of what the intent behind it was.
Yeah, he's funny like that. Probably part of how he's survived for so long...but you aren't supposed to know that, 99.
11590528
Actually, I'm starting to wonder...are we sure it's actually the griffons who're behind this? Given what we learned about the sabotage of the cruise ship in this chapter?
Okay, there is a huge glairing issue that has been bugging me. If it is a story thing that will be comming up then just pm me and delete this. THERE WERE EXPLOSIVES ON THE SHIP. Like ones nearly everyone in staff and security would of known about but all of them seem to be ignoring. Trixy had a huge store of fireworks. Did no one ponder that someone with a little knowledge coud turn them into dangerious bombs?
11590360
- High Score will punish you for your disbelief!
- Get your Rambo bandannas!
11590450
- There's never too much plot, there's only heavy-handed, bad presentation.
- You got an answer. Whether you believe it or not is up to you for now.
11590528
One Cola, please! Is Pepsi okay?
That's it, everybody dies!
11590562
- There were a lot of right and wrong guesses around, I can't confirm or deny them early to spoil the surprise, not to mention that details change in my head as the story goes. I have much less control over the story than it might seem.
- I think I've managed to overcomplicate it even more.
- Right now you have all the information you'll get in this story. We're almost done.
- I should have made 387 more sarcastic to get a "better casteless than tasteless" line out of it. Yet another wasted opportunity.
- 387 got 99 right - she might be young and without the innate advantages of a class, but she's smart.
- I KNEW THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE LET THE KIRIN ON BOARD!
11590994
I had a closing magic show in mind for that Trixie "arc" (that I kind of cut) which would have likely explained enough of this to not be a concern. However, I did say that Trixie bought the majority of chemistry supplies on the island, got some at the workshop, and had only a little with her originally. On top of that, fireworks generally use chemicals that burn very bright, but not at extreme, thermite-like temperatures, nor do they have some crazy blast properties. The amount required to tear open three decks of a reinforced cruise ship with precision could be downright impossible to even store.
11591141
I thought you said Rambo bananas at first, and all I could think of was that banana from aqua teen hunger force with an lmg.