The Time We Lost [open, post-rebellion]

[morphitudinous]

Podded and popped again? Billy was less than enthusiastic, especially considering the circumstances. He'd been podded to hinder the engineers---of that, he was certain. He hadn't tried nearly hard enough to affirm his loyalty to the Daligig. Billy would really have to work on his ability to lie.

He'd shivered in the puddle of biostasis fluid, bogged down by worry and fear carried over from his last memory. What had happened, how long had he been gone? Weeks, months, years? Was there even a single familiar face still here?

At least one, his heart answered, though that little warmth in his chest couldn't tell him how he'd be received by her. He hoped there were more friends waiting. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to face them sooner or later (especially if she was telling people that he was awake---the last thing he wanted was anyone rushing down here to check), Billy rose to his feet and trode onward and upward.

Finally, he reached the traditional destination, the Observation Deck. As he gazed around at the strangely barren environment, that nagging sense of wrongness finally clicked in his mind. It felt wrong because it was empty. Where were the other popping crew members, where was the welcoming committee? A quick visual sweep across the room revealed no presence that caught his eye---was it his blind spot, were these new glasses not the right prescription strength? Or was everyone asleep, or...worse?

Billy knew by now that it was best to fight pre-emptive panic---his body needed the resources for when it was truly time to panic. He knew at least one person was alive. That was enough. So he settled on a small meat-chair, thinking of exactly what he'd say to the first person he saw. Where to begin? Apologies, questions...he had so many words in his head he worried he'd trip on them.

Comments

[morphitudinous]

Billy sat back and thought about that for a minute. It apparently wasn't too long after the battle had been won and everyone was free---and they'd said something about Stacy now having greater control too.

"If she is going to free anyone else we've lost, I think I'm the first. But I don't know if that's possible."

No, for now, it's just him. And it's a shame, because he misses those people too.

[anwei]

"Well, we've pretty well figured out that you were repodded for being part of the rebellion. Which means there should be nothing wrong with your avia, right? Maybe Stacy could fiddle around with her own settings, set them for 'People with perfectly healthy avia can come out now'."

Of course, that should mean there would be more people here, soon. She hoped so.

"We can hope that the other will return soon. They are all missed. You were missed especially," she said with another smile. Then her smile faded, and her fingertips darted to her lips.

"Oh dear. I just thought - about Engineering. I've degreased almost everything that got, um, greased. Sorry about that."

[morphitudinous]

"Degreased?" Billy raised an eyebrow. He wasn't angry, just...puzzled. The rest of the implications for their little crew could be figured out later. "What exactly did you do, and why? I'm sure it can be fixed, just give us time."

[anwei]

"Well," her eyes dart to the side, meaning one goes left and one goes right, which is just a little creepy but she turned them back to Billy's face, "I thought when fighting broke out that Neuropathy would be an obvious target. So it was me and Angie and Kaya against the Kessek, and at one point I asked Kaya to grease the floor and make them slip. That's what this is, grease."

She brushed her fingers to her face; they showed lighter against the shadow under her skin. "But Iive got almost all of it out, of me and off the floor." A grin like a bared knife. "And we served those Kessek out, for sure."

[morphitudinous]

Oh, that was greasing. Billy had a strange look on his face when imagining all that grease on their equipment---the idea bothered him at first, but her explanation made sense. He soon smiled.

"Believe me, if there's one thing I've learned about, it's extracting grease. I'll help. And that was inspired, by the way."

[anwei]

"I couldn't have done it without Kaya. She was a whirlwind. Or waterwind, I suppose is the better term. I just wished we could have returned Engineering to you in as good a shape it was when you left it."

There hadn't been that much collateral damage, really. Just some plasma bolts, and laser holes, and dents from throwing Kessek around, and maybe she should just try and fix those before Billy saw them.

[morphitudinous]

"That's definitely Kaya," Billy smiled. She was wonderful and clever and strong, as always.

"And you don't know how many messes I've made. At least you had a good reason to cause damage, I've thrown disgusting half-processed food around a bar because one of the screws wasn't tight enough1"

That wasn't one of his finer hours.

[anwei]

Anwei just smiled back. The fight would have been lost without her. All the fights would have been lost, without all of them. Even the Ghyyl.

"It must have been an exceptionally frustrating screw. I hope you screwed it properly."

Double entendre? What's that?

[morphitudinous]

"I did," Billy reassured her. "It's screwed very tightly."

He must have been too tired to catch it.

"So I'll help you all finish cleaning, and then I hope we'll be back in business. Do you know if Angie's all right?"

[anwei]

"I would expect nothing less from you than the highest standard of screwing," she deadpanned.

"I believe so, yes. She was Instanced of course, and her copies were fighting with us. She's a one-woman army when she wants to be."

[morphitudinous]

"I aim to please," Billy laughed. He relaxed against the couch, considerably less worried about their future.

"Good. It'll be a relief to have the lab back in working order again. Once the weapons and armor are safe, we can work on improvement projects again."

[anwei]

"And your aim is always true," she replied, with as good a bow as she could manage.

"I'm looking forward to it. The teleporters were a brilliant help during the fighting." For moving people, and sundry objects not for the public eye.

[morphitudinous]

"You can thank Ronnae and Celena for that more than me," Billy admitted with a soft smile. "But I'm glad we were able to help you."

Where were those two, anyway? A flicker of worry crossed Billy's face, but he forced it back.

"Anyway. I'm glad I'll be working with you again."

[anwei]

"You're always a help, whether you're awake with us or sleeping. You're what we're fighting for - because we're all fighting for each other."

Cliche, perhaps, but still a truth.

"And I with you. And now that the Daligig are gone, I can work on that Ninth Empire storage box of mine."

Something finally that she could point to and say, that is a thing only I can do, and that is why I am here.

[morphitudinous]

Billy had the social grace to look embarrassed but faintly pleased. Sometimes it was easy to forget how connected they all were to each other.

"Do you need any help with it?"

[anwei]

She scratched her head, feeling the roughness of heat-crinkled hair against her fingertips. "From the programming side, probably not. Living People code is designed to be difficult to modify - if you twist the wrong character thread, the whole thing falls apart."

She leaned forward a little, looking intent. "What you - and everyone - can help me with is when I start expanding and upgrading its programming to full sentience. Right now it isn't even a child-mind; it's more like a very intelligent rodent." With a foul mouth, she added to herself. "The more people it meets, the more different sorts of people, the more varied a personality-template it can form for itself." A blink. "And that's really what I want for it. For it to become a person, its own person."

[morphitudinous]

Billy was definitely interested. He leaned forward just a bit, eyes wide with the delight of a new discovery. It had been a while since he'd felt this way.

"Give me the word and I'll do it. There are so many things we can teach. Wow! To watch a structure like that develop, the creation of a person in real time...accelerated, possibly, but amazing."

[anwei]

"It's a miracle," she glowed. "It will be difficult - there are structures already in its mind that I can't modify or change, because I have no way of making it forget that I did those changes. I'll have to work around them until it has enough control to start self-modifying."

Her grin flashed from ear to ear for a second. "And once that begins, it's like - like seeing a crystal cathedral grow out of the ground in a breath, and touch the stars. So long as everything goes right."

It had to go right. She couldn't lose another AI under her hands, it didn't bear thinking about.

[morphitudinous]

Billy nodded, all eagerness and smiles. They could do this.

"Yes. I'm really excited to watch. But...crystal cathedrals? I've never seen one. What are they like?"

[anwei]

Anwei breathed out a sigh and her eyes went soft.

"Crystal cathedrals are ... well, they start with an architect who picks a site and lives on it for one year, just watching the weather and the angles of the sunlight and moonlight, and how the people and animals move, and how the plants grow. And sometimes after a full year the architect decides the site isn't right, and leaves.

"But if it is right, there will be maybe three years of moving in resources, and enriching the soil, and planning the paths around it, and doing long-range weather projections and so on.

"The crystal cathedrals aren't built, you see: they're grown. Living crystals that take silicon from the soil, biofilms that deposit translucent nacre behind them, all joining and combining and forming spires and stairs and halls of every color. No two are alike, because each one is grown to fix exactly where it is planted. It takes years to grow, with the architect there to feed one part and inhibit another, shaping it like bonsai.

"And when it's done, it takes your breath away. A building like a ghost of a million flowers: every level and layer of overlapping structure forming new symphonies of color as you look through them. Like the stained glass of Earth churches, but clearer, and every part of the cathedral is transparent at some level. And the crystals can vibrate, with light or motion. They can sing. They sing when the sun shines, and when the rains hit them, and when people walk through them. And when you sing, and the cathedral sings back...there is nothing like it in all the worlds."

Her eyes darkened. "I have never seen one in person," she admitted. "I've seen recordings, taken virtual walkthroughs...but I always put it off, saying, the cathedrals will always be there, won't they? I can go another time. But then there were no more cathedrals, and no more time."

[morphitudinous]

Billy's heart clenched painfully as he listened. The descriptions sounded entirely too familiar to him, close to a person he had lost long ago. But even without that thought clouding his emotions, he could see the beauty in it: something pure and wonderful, the fruit of so much hard work. He nodded.

"I think I know what you mean, at least a little. I never had the chance to know them, but...I feel the loss too. I wish I could go with you."

[anwei]

"Oh, you couldn't go with me," she said, a little too lightly. "My race is widely known as - spoilers, vandals. I knew I'd only be able to see a cathedral in the flesh if I went in disguise."

She rolled her eyes comically. "I can do a pretty good human imitation, these days. If you wouldn't mind a traveling companion who had to hide her true face."

[morphitudinous]

"Oh. Well...maybe we can travel together, someday. There are other places."

Billy watched her with strange interest. Sometimes it was easy to forget her differences. "Why would I mind? I know you."

[anwei]

"I'd like to see more of Earth. When I was there I was focused on other things, I only saw a little of Europe and the Eastern seaboard of your United States."

She coughed a little. "There are people who if they knew me would attack, at once. They might attack me just because of my species...And they might attack you, just for being with me. You would be safer if I masked."

An old pain, the deepest pain ever cut into her heart: someone being hurt because of her. She could still feel that scar tissue, all the way through her, like a piercing sword-blade that had rusted in her soul.