632- The assistantBen Nevis, Scotland
The cave beneath the highest mountain in the British Isles is much larger than Noriko imagined.
She’s illuminating it by generating spheres of pure fire, while the former goddess follows her.
<It’s much colder than I remember… ouch!> Vesta groans, stumbling and falling to the ground.
<Everything okay?> Noriko asks her.
<I hate shoes and walking. How do you stand using your feet so much? I didn’t even think feet could hurt!> Vesta complains, as Noriko helps her to get back up.
<You’re not going anywhere for a while, not until I’ve figured out a plan. And I have to be honest, I’m running pretty low on… has that thing always been here?> Noriko asks, pointing at something painted in white on the cave’s wall: her Ø symbol.
<It wasn’t here the last time I was. Did someone follow us?>
<I can’t think of anyone else who’d paint my symbol… or whatever this thing is supposed to be… in such a remote place.> Noriko adds, getting closer to something next to the symbol: a weird patch of a much more complicated image.
<It looks like one of those things people took pictures of with their phones? I could never understand how they worked.> Vesta admits.
<You mean a QR code? Nobody’s used one of those since I put the N-Phone on the market.> Noriko adds, staring intensely at the image. It seems to flicker.
<Did you see that?> she asks.
<Please remain calm.> a female voice says, coming out of nowhere.
<See what?> Vesta asks, ignoring the voice.
<You are about to witness a post-hypnotic mnemonic record. It is perfectly normal.>
<You’re also not hearing anything, I guess?> Noriko adds.
<Now that I’m no longer a goddess your senses are probably better than mine. Should I hear anything?> Vesta asks.
Right in front of her, Noriko can see a semi-transparent version of herself, standing with her hands inside the pockets of her green leather jacket.
<Only you can hear and see me. Excuse yourself to be alone and say the words “I’m alone now” out loud to continue this conversation.> the apparition adds.
<Vesta, would you mind going back to the cave’s entrance? Torn is due to come back soon, I’ll catch up in a minute.>
<That sounds like an excuse. You need to be alone because you’re doing a thing?> Vesta asks.
<I’m doing a thing.> Noriko nods.
<Then I’ll leave you to it. I just hope I don’t break an ankle or something.> Vesta leaves, walking away slowly enough to avoid tripping again.
Noriko inspects the apparition in front of her. It’s frozen and not blinking.
<I’m alone now.>
<Good. If you recognize me, please say yes. If not, say help.>
<Yes.>
<If you remember it, please say your first and last name. If you don’t…>
<Noriko Null.>
<To proceed, tell me the emergency 47-digit number you memorized. If not, say help.>
<Uhm, help?>
<Loading branch: short-term memory loss. Please state the last day you can fully remember. If not applicable, say skip.>
<Skip.>
<Loading branch: Nexus malfunction. What is the square root of 2,085,136 in hexadecimal?>
<I don’t know how that…>
<Answer took longer than 3 seconds. It was 1FD110, by the way. Has the Nexus been: A) rendered inert B) physically damaged C) taken over by an external force D) unknown?>
<I’m guessing both A and D. What’s going on? I don’t remember recording this… and wait a minute, how am I even seeing you!?>
<Panicked chat detected. Would you like a full explanation of how…>
<YES!!!>
The apparition starts moving again, pacing back and forth as she talks.
<You don’t remember this plan because I purposefully deleted it from my brain. I got tired of alternate personalities and previous Nexus hosts taking over, so I’ve come up with an emergency plan. The image you looked at triggered your mind to play this interactive guide. If I did my homework… and I did… this should be unreadable to anyone but me. Think of it as a QR code specifically targeting your brain waves.>
<I’m so f##king clever.> Noriko congratulates herself.
<Freaking clever, isn’t it? I couldn’t place these triggers just anywhere, obviously, but I did place them in all the places where you might conceivably have decided to hide in case of an emergency. I’ve compiled potential solutions to 347 different scenarios, so you might need to walk down the rest of the program for a while.>
<I never realized just how much I like to talk.> Noriko sighs.
The cave’s entrance
The portal opens right in front of the massive boulder that prevents anyone without divine strength from accessing the cave. Torn steps out of the pentagram together with Kayla Black, who is confused by what she sees.
She’s greeted by three different but identical Vestas.
<I have so many questions.> she admits.
<I have one. Are we absolutely sure she’s not being controlled by Abyss?> one Vesta asks.
<We are.> Torn vouches.
<Any clue why she hasn’t been affected?> Vesta wonders.
<I’m guessing whatever protected my brother also protected me. Speaking of Max, where is he?> Kayla wonders. Considering the rest of the Vanguard is here, she didn’t even consider the possibility of him being controlled.
<Sorry for you to learn it like this, but your brother was the first one to be possessed by Abyss. We had to knock him out.> Vesta informs her, moving aside to allow her to see Quantum.
He’s on the other side of the cave, laying unconscious on the lap of a Vesta duplicate.
<Is he okay? We have to wake him up!> Kayla says.
<Absolutely not. His powers are the whole reason we’re in this mess: under no circumstances we…> Vesta begins to explain.
<We have to wake Quantum up. Hi Kayla.> Noriko interrupts her, greeting the lasts newcomer.
<What happened to your eyes?> Kayla asks, not used to seeing Noriko without her silver eyes; even in the barely illuminated cave, they would normally stand out.
<It’s a long story. I’ll get you up to speed.> the original Vesta tells her, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pulling her away to give the others space.
<Nori, we can’t wake him up. Abyss will immediately know we’re here.> Vesta reminds her.
<Not if you expose his brain to a massive magnetic field. That’s guaranteed to shut down the Nexus, I know from personal experience.>
<Abyss can possess him without the Nexus.> Torn adds.
<I don’t think so. Trust me.> Noriko insists.
<Nori… normally I would, but you know you’re not yourself right now. We can’t risk the fate of the planet on a hunch.> Vesta replies.
<It’s not just a hunch. The pre-recorded voice of myself in my head backs it up.>
Vesta and Torn exchange a look.
<Oh come on, like that is the weirdest thing you’ve ever heard!> Noriko protests, placing her hands on her hips and scolding them like children.
<Fair enough.> Torn reacts by raising an eyebrow.
<Nori, one of your other voices in your head is currently holding the planet hostage, so excuse me if I don’t entirely trust this new voice. You’ll have to give me something more.> Vesta adds.
<Okay, fine. I left secret messages for myself, in case I ever lost control of the Nexus again. And according to one of those, the only reason something could affect all of us in exactly the same way, despite the vastly different ways our powers work, is if we’re all caught in an entanglement wave.>
<Which is…?>
<Well the, uhm, the voice wasn’t programmed to go into that much detail. But I did ask it if the Nexus itself was part of the same thing, and the voice said Drylon devices can only be entangled with each other!> Noriko excitedly reveals.
<And you don’t know what the Hades that means either.> Vesta guesses.
<Well… no. But the voice was programmed to cover a scenario very similar to our situation: the Nexus taken over by an external force that cannot control the rest of the Vanguard.>
<Very specific.> Torn comments.
<I can be very thorough. And my old smart self suggests to awaken Quantum while disabling the Nexus, which sounds better than knocking him on the head every few minutes.>
<Let’s say that makes sense. How are we going to expose him to a magnetic field?>
<I can do that.> Kayla interjects, approaching the team with her fists glowing with energy.
Rigil Station
Alpha Centauri A, 4.37 light-years from Earth
When the capital of the Olympian Empire was moved to Midgard City, on the surface of Earth despite not being under any country’s jurisdiction, providing support became a priority.
The fleet of starships in Earth’s orbit are responsible for its main defense, but that’s hardly enough for a galactic capital.
Which is why the Olympian government commissioned the construction of Rigil Station, named after Rigil Kentaurus, the other name of the yellow star it orbits.
Kari Zel has never been her before, or more specifically she has no memory of it: one of her duplicates was on the station earlier, but vanished when she lost her powers.
Reaching Rigil Station by turning herself into tachyons was much easier than she anticipated: to her energy senses, the station is absolutely drowned in the exotic particles emitted by the fleet that surrounds it.
She definitely misses her Myridian duplication powers, but she has to admit that Quantum’s powers are absurdly convenient: it didn’t take her much to locate the command center, and only diplomacy urged her to knock on the door instead of simply appearing out of thin air.
She’s greeted by a massive Aurochian, a minotaur-looking behemoth of a man wearing a military uniform of the Olympian Navy.
<Lady Zel. I would have preferred to see you in better circumstances.> the minotaur tells her, inviting to sit in front of his desk. Given his massive size, Kari’s chair has to magnetically levitate off the ground to ensure they can look at each other properly.
<Captain Kamos. I thought you were still serving in the Athenian Federation.>
<It’s General Kamos now. I’ve been promoted for outstanding service in the War of the Six Empires; I was in charge of Earth’s defense.> he informs her.
<Then you’ll understand how important this is. Have you relayed my message?>
<Yes, Olympian High Command has agreed to put Earth under complete embargo, as per the instructions of the Mortal Empress. She is our Commander-In-Chief after all… to be honest I was skeptical of her decision to appoint the Vanguard as her direct representatives, but it seems to have paid off.>
<That’s a relief. Will they send more ships? No offense, but Rigil Station is not fully staffed yet, I’m not sure you have the resources to handle this.>
<The Empress must have thought as well, for summoning the N01.> General Kamos nods.
His words fill Kari with dread.
<The N01? You mean the Ragnarok? Please don’t tell me it’s anywhere close to Earth!>
<It is scheduled to reach it within the next four hours. Were you not aware? The Empress warned us about the N01-Ragnarok returning more than three months ago.>
<You have to stop that ship, General Kanos, no matter the cost!>
<That will… not be easy, Lady Zel. The N01-Ragnarok is the most powerful warship in the entire galactic fleet.> Kamos admits, leaning against his chair.
<That’s the least of our worries, General. Let’s just say the last war didn’t worry Noriko as much as what’s on that ship.> Kari says, keeping her mouth shut about the fact that Siduri is currently on that ship. And that if Abyss could get her hands on the stowaway from Heaven, she could become truly unstoppable.
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