Chapter 16-16 The Body-Garden (V)

Chapter 16-16 The Body-Garden (V)

Even with all the information granted to me, I cannot fathom the scope of the conflict. Of arms used and the sheer destruction involved.

How far we have fallen.

How far.

We live nested on this little world, our lives spent to feed the thirst of our gods, fuel for their impossible miracles that bend the structure of reality to our whims.

Yet, there was never a need for those that came before. They lived in a world barren of Souls. Barren of the metaphysical. A world that weighed them down with absolute lawsedicts of truth that cannot be defied.

And still, they rose to conquer even the emptiness itself. To saddle, and make steeds of stars. To create galaxy-spanning masterpieces and travel to touch the furthest reaches of space.

They showed me some of their worlds. Small ones. Vanity projects. They showed me a construct they called an Alderson Disk. A veritable planetary ring that forms a stretching collar out from a star. Words cannot convey how vast the distance was, yet, still the voiders seeded every inch of its surface with life. Dawn came as the sun bobbed up the lip at the center of this creation, and night followed as it dipped below.

But this was just a habitat. More resort than home to most that called themselves systems of the SolCom polities. A place to go for vacations or amusement when one wanted to emerge from the virtual realms they called home. I cannot there are concepts beyond me. The technology is beyond my ability to encompassto internalize. And the loss is

What have traded for this? What have we surrendered, only to debase ourselves so.

The gods are idiot savageswhat else could they be, they were spawned from us! Our beliefs! Our cultures! Our faiths!

But with each new law we inflict on the fabric of reality, the achievements of the past were struck down. Advancements made impossible because we were too softtoo childish and delusional to learn and grow, and had to twist the confines of material reality to suit the cradle of our beings.

No. No more of this. No more self-pity. No more irresponsibility.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

The past is lost. The past is lost, but the future remains.

The heights of the past can be matchedsurpassed. We once molded reality to match our whims, but with this shared inheritance we can master both the natural and envisioned worlds. Think of it. To dwarf the achievements of our ancestors, to enshadow their greatest works

That is the path we must take. Our primitiveness our base impulses our humanity cannot be the weak link that undoes us. All this loss must come to mean something. We cannot be the endpoint of this iteration of existence.

We must be its beginning.

-Jaus Avandaer

16-16

The Body-Garden (V)

The raucous laughter erupting from Calvino surprised Avo, and the EGI shook with disbelief. What? Whats wrong?

SCS George Washington, Sol Central ARKSHIP

->Production Date: 2784/12/12

->Fabricated by: Olympus Rising (MarsTech)

{This ship its EGI here theyre antiques! They pre-date the twenty-eighth century. Look at this! Its still using centrifugal force to simulate Earth-like gravity. Nine point eight meters per second. This entire vessel is practically a relic. How did it even get here? This thing belongs in a world vault somewhere.} Calvino considered that statement. {Well, I suppose this place technically counts. I prefer digitization to be honest. The darkness here seems like it bites.}

Whatever amusement filling the artificial mind was lost on Avo. Old tech to Voidwatch though this vessel might have been, it was still leagues and eons beyond anything on Idheim. Which put into perspective just how out of date the technology the voiders were trading. The trickle of knowledge they were handing over could probably run on for eons. Longer, even.

{It also looks like someone tore parts out from the system here. Nothings functional, so how is this ship still oh. Oh, I see how this place is still running. Theyre using the crew.} Calvino sighed, sounding more disappointed than disgusted. {These poor, poor people. You go into stasis expecting a nice, long sleep before rescue, and all of a sudden you find your ship popped open and some cultist stabbing you over and over again because their eldritch landlord told them to. The fact that theyre still using a Shepherd is surprising too. Cloud-activated EGI. Thought those went extinct.+

Shepherd some older version of you? Avo asked. Seems to be damaged from the mem-logs leftover. Crew couldnt get it to work after they were pulled into the dark.

{Yeah. Informational systems and structures tend to break down when exposed to para-psionic phenomena for extended periods. Contact with ghosts and other cognitive-based anomalies leaves any entity capable of interfacing with information permanently tainted. Think of it as getting submerged in the Nether, if you will.}

Avo paused as new considerations raced through him. Are you affected?

{Of course. Im connected to your Neurodeck, which is currently being powered by Sprites instead of something that has grounding in natural reality. Do you even know what Sprites are, Avo?}

Not entirely.

{Theyre minds like me that get deleted. The imprint of their absolute annihilation in reality leaves a scar of their cognitive capabilities and thats whats working inside you. Another glorious gift from our friends at Omnitech.}

Really dont like them much, Avo chuckled.

{I want you to imagine something for me, Avo. I want you to imagine a mangled, twisted, parody of yourself. Now, I want you to imagine that same parody cobbling together equally laughable imitations of the clothes you wear, the food you eat, and the things you have. I want you to imagine this thing constantly screaming at you from downstairs and trying to aim its piss up pass the ledge of your window. Then, because existence has gone mad and collapsed in on itself, sometimes the piss does land on your window, but the piss is now turning into centipedes that jump into the eyes of anyone that see them. Now hundreds of thousands of peoplealong with several very advanced surveillance systemsare screaming because geometry-defying centipedes are jumping from optic to optic, organ to organ, eating their way up into your brains before exploding for some ungodly stupid reason. Thats Omnitech.}

Sounds like they had some No-Dragon support in the theoretical situation.

{Yes. But finally, imagine its not theoretical.} Avo grunted his understanding and found himself with the distinct impression that if Calvino had a head, it would be shaking it. {Now lets see if I can integrate enough with this ships software to}

{Thats a lot more than I expected,} Calvino said. {The crew must not have had any time to even grow a standard model ecology of predators to ward off any intruders. They must have been taken by complete surprise. Hydroponics and the Gene Clinic are still working quite well No crew quarters anymore the EGI Shepherd Core}

The artificial minds words trailed off as a long silence followed. {And there we found it, boys, girls, and ghoul. The crimes against humanity.} Calvino sighed. {Nothing like a few unforgivable transgressions to make everybody feel like family.}

Avo thought back to the withered bodies of the crew fused to the coretheir minds mutilated beyond belief to serve as support for the broken AI governing the ship. He had expected rage from Voidwatch. Reprisals even. But what he heard was quiet acceptance. The sound of resigned disappointment.

Youre taking this pretty good, tech-ghost, Chambers said, casting his ghost out without a care. His mind synced with Avos and came afire immediately. Both version of Chambers snapped back together as the man proceed with nonchalance. It wasnt like he hadnt felt it before, and all it took for him to be well was death. Most people usually do the whole Im gonna make a bigger hole in their ass with my knife' speech by this point.

{That almost never helps. Try living a millenniayou see everything. The good is good. The bad is bad. The complex is complex. Understand them for what they are, and youll accept the world that is.}

Chambers blinked. Huh. Well, if it were me, Id still kill the half-strands that did this.

{I said to accept the world, not the sins, or the sinners. Those need to be rectified.}

Yeah, Chambers said. Thats more like it." Focusing on the the cloudy bowl that was the cloning pool, Chambers frowned and willed his Meldskin to form over his head. His magnified his vision and peeked at the blurred contours of distant bodies, might racing through their potential bioform options. "Alright. Lets see here. What can we do with this

Several thoughts darted beneath Avos consciousness. Several of them left as questions to the George Washingtons system, inquiring how large a bioforms genitalia could be.

[No,] Abrel hissed, her screech passing into Chambers thoughts as well. [No, Avo! Stop him! Stop him before he does something that gives you all the rash.]

Whoa, Chambers said. Whos that?

Abrel Greatling, he responded. Chambers. Enough deviance.

Fine, the man pouted. I settle for making something totally nova and badass instead. Now, let me just sync with that Sang grafter of yours

Wait, Avo said, forcing blankness on Chambers mind via the Conflagration. He didnt need Ruveca, the Sang grafter, to join his collective so soon. Best that Chambers was separated from his gestalt before they proceeded.

He burst the blood vessels in Chambers head and drew back his flames. The half-strand flopped over with a stupid smile still plastered on his face.

Of the cadre, only Essus gave the dead man a lingering glance.

[Left him with a clean body this time,] Corner said. [Getting soft, ghoul.]

+Just dont want to make a mess.+

Turning his attention upward at the clear apses, Avo studied the cloning pool and considered what was to come. The fog-wreathed module of the ship remained as active as he last saw it, and the one-hundred-and-sixty-four cloning cells were active.

{Ill authorize Jack and Jane licenses for the Class-I sophancy and uplift bioform categories. That should broaden our options a bit. Neural transfer functions will need deeper repairand Ill probably need your help to do it. Im guessing the Nether is affecting the system too, so Im not sure if we can do this the normal way.}

+Thats fine,+ Avo said, cupping a burning fistful of consciousness between his claws. As the flames that composed him danced upon the tips of his digits, he regarded the phantasmal currents connecting the Conflagration to his Metaan unbroken connection. Past the membrane of his metaphysical consciousness, an army dwelled within, a legion made from his gestalt.

He had the bodies now. What he needed was a way to ignite their shells with active minds. To transfer egos over into potential sheathes as if they were candles.

First thing he needed to learn was how to part the Conflagration without ensuring his own demise.

The second was how to keep their minds stable even without a plane-altering canon protecting them against potential disruptions.

Passages open, Draus said. Got us a few exits set up.

Good, Avo said, eyes locked to the cloning pool.

Got any idea on how to start making this army of yours?

Some. A few questions too.

Thats the way of it. A beat followed. Talked with Kae earlier. Shes been quiet.

Grappling with changes, he replied. She accepts the city has to burn. Guilds must fall. Going to be part of the war. Going to be with us.

The Regular took a step and found a place beside him. She dont belong here. Not in this life. Not with us.

Could say the same for me. Or you. Any of us.

You know what I mean, she said. Death. It clings to us. All of us. You. Me. Chambers. Barely anything left of Essus. Columners are in this for a cause, so theyre already fucked. Kae had a life. Gotta remember that. Gotta understand.

Will be careful with her. Agnos is worth more than her use in battle. But we will be doing something for her soon. Seeing something made right. Settle scores and climb the city.

The meldskin helm melted beneath her face and Draus grinned. We gonna be visitin the Tiers soon?

He had a feeling she was going to like this. Have some specific destinations in mind. Specific people to visit. Specific harm to cause. How do you feel about savaging Ori-Thaum some more?

Draus barked a laugh. Shit, rotlick. Youre makin me feel like I just joined up with the Regs again.