Midgard City, Antarctica
The ice sculpture at the center of the room looks exactly like the Lar Kylon, because it used to be him until fifteen minutes ago.
Doctor Catherine Kalama is shivering: Noriko Null opened the window and disengaged the environmental controls, meaning the rigid coldness of Antarctica is flowing inside.
Noriko is working frantically on a piece of machinery she jury-rigged on the fly: she has removed her belt, then connected its forcefield emitter to a few Nullbot spare parts, and now she’s plugging her N-Phone into that mismatched assembly.
Dr. Kalama has told her something about Vesta, but Noriko is not listening. She is conceding enough brainpower to breathing: the task at hand is taking full priority over everything.
<Nori, what’s going on?> Quantum asks, transforming into flesh and blood after coming through the window as pure light.
<NOT NOW!!!> Noriko screams at him, with an angry tone he’s heard her reserve towards gods and her own mother, with her silver eyes releasing some electricity.
<Dammit, you scrambled the whole stabilization matrix! Now I have to repair the code!> she complains, shoving him aside.
Utterly confused, Quantum looks at the doctor in the hopes of receiving some clarifications; the fact that Vesta is laying on the floor behind her, immobile and with her veins tainted with black, is not exactly encouraging.
<What the heck is happening here? And what’s up with the ice statue?>
<That’s not a statue, that’s Kylon. A goddess showed up and transformed him; Noriko called her Eresh something.>
<Ereshkigal? Is she here!?>
<No, she disappeared. Can you help me with Vesta? She’s not breathing! And I can’t get any response from her!>
<What did Noriko say?>
<Nothing! She started building… something! She hasn’t done anything but that until she yelled at you. Max, we have to do something about Vesta!>
<Yeah. Uhm, alright. Nori?> Quantum asks, making one step towards his friend.
<Not now!!!> Noriko yells again.
<Nori, listen to me. Vesta’s been hurt. She needs your help.>
<She’s immortal. She can wait. Kylon can’t.>
<Is that really… Kylon?> Quantum asks, looking at the statue of ice. For a moment he thought he was just trapped inside the ice, but at closer inspection the light is passing through it.
<Can’t talk. Just give me just. Thirty. Seconds.> she says, continuing writing something on her phone. Shortly, the mass of circuits on the floor generates the faint surface of light that, at least in the eyes of Quantum, is the unmistakable signature of a low-level forcefield.
<Matrix locked. Molecular structure stability at 100%.> is the announcement coming from the N-Phone, and that’s apparently all Noriko ever wished to hear.
<Oh thank God. What’s the mass percentage?>
<99.17% mass retainment prior to lock.>
<That’ll do for now.> Noriko breathes a sigh of relief, dropping the phone to the floor and allowing herself to lean against the nearest wall for support.
<Noriko, what about…> the doctor says, but she’s immediately interrupted.
<Yeah yeah, I know. Step aside.> Noriko replies, drawing her Genius Gun and pointing it at Vesta’s unconscious body.
<Uh, Nori, what are you doing?> Quantum asks, hearing the hum of the weapon powering up.
<Doctor, please cover your eyes and turn around if you don’t want your retinas to be obliterated.>
The woman doesn’t ask more questions: she barely has enough time to turn away from Vesta, and she immediately understands why she was asked to do so.
The Genius Gun releases a stream of pure photons so massive that the doctor feels like she has stared at the Sun for a couple of seconds.
Despite having her eyes closed and the light only touching her back.
<Geez, next time give ME some warning too!> Quantum complains, rubbing his eyes.
<Oh don’t be such a baby, it’s physically impossible to blind you.>
<It is!?> Quantum exclaims.
His attention is then diverted to Vesta suddenly coming to life, only to turn on her side and throw up pure darkness. The black mass drips on the floor and then evaporates into nothingness.
<Oh Gaea, that was absolutely disgusting.> Vesta says, wiping her mouth.
<You could’ve fixed her all this time!?> the doctor asks.
<Like I said, she could wait. And I couldn’t risk the light melting even a tiny amount of ice. Speaking of which, can someone please close the window?>
She doesn’t have to ask twice. Quantum immediately closes the window, and the doctor’s first action is to then check on Noriko herself.
She stood in the middle of Antarctic temperature for several minutes while sweating from intense work and nerves, and she doesn’t seem to be able to stop her fingers from twitching.
<All this to keep the ice intact? Couldn’t you teleport Kylon outside?> Vesta asks.
<This isn’t just ice. It’s every molecule from Kylon’s body transmuted into H2O: if any of it melts, even on the inside, it could have devastating effects on his body when he’s transmuted back into his original body. Even by turning my forcefield into a Stabilization Matrix, I only managed to keep 99.17% of his mass… the rest is already gone. I can only hope it’s enough.>
<I can’t help feeling I missed a few steps, Noriko. We were facing Ereshkigal’s assassin in the cemetery and you just… vanished?> Quantum asks.
<I connected my mind through the Ichor to talk with Ereshkigal directly. Implanting Ichor inside Ganos Lal’s body to control her duplicate? That was meant to assassinate Kylon and trick me into declaring war against her. She didn’t like that I figured it out so…>
<So she turned your boyfriend into ice!?> Vesta asks; sometimes she can still be surprised by how petty other gods can be.
<Can… can he be turned back?> Dr. Kalama asks.
<I’ve been transmuted into other stuff plenty of times and I always managed to get back to normal. Of course he can.> Quantum reassures her.
<You’re a special case, Max. Kylon doesn’t have your powers.> Noriko replies.
<Yeah but…>
<Outside of you, every other case of transmutation I’ve witnessed was reversed by the same god that initiated it.>
<Not just gods! There’s the fish guy with transmutation powers.> Quantum reminds her.
<Kestral is in the Aegian Galaxy right now; he’s not an easy man to contact. I’ll try my luck with gods first, starting with…> Noriko pauses to sneeze. Twice in a row.
<Well that’s just great. With my luck, this is gonna be pneumonia.> she complains, sniffing.
<Let me…> Doctor Kalama tries to assist her, but Noriko brusquely dismisses her.
<I don’t have time to worry for a cold, doc. I have to…> Noriko says, turning towards the ice statue. The situation seems to hit her only now.
<It’s pretty cold in here already.> she says with a sad tone.
<You okay, Noriko?> Vesta asks her.
<I may have gotten my boyfriend killed. Again. I never even called him that… you know what the last words I said to him are? “It’s pretty cold in here already”>.
<You’re still under shock. You’ll fix this, Noriko.> Vesta tries to reassure her, but as she gets closer to put her hand on her friend’s shoulders Noriko moves away.
<This has to stay between us. You hear me? Nobody out of this room must know that Kylon is… incapacitated.> Noriko orders.
<What? Why?> Quantum wonders.
<I’m the Co-Empress. I’m expected to retaliate against a personal attack. Which is exactly what Ereshkigal wants: she’s trying to convince the other Nine Gods that I can’t be trusted to keep the peace. And if the public knows I won’t retaliate against the goddess who might have murdered my boyfriend, I risk losing support of the gods that are on my side. Damn, Athena was right: Ereshkigal really is clever.>
<You want to keep this a secret!?> Quantum asks, pointing at the ice statue.
<Only until I’ve found a way to restore Kylon. Vesta, contact Athena and have her check on Kylon; she can transmute matter, she may be able to help.>
<Nori I’m not sure she…>
<I said call Athena! And don’t let anyone else get near Kylon while I’m gone!> Noriko shouts.
<Why, where are you going?> Quantum asks.
<I need a contingency plan to keep Kylon frozen, in case Athena can’t help. And I know the place where I can find the best freezing technology in the Galaxy.>
Boreas, 3.000 light-years from Earth
If Noriko considers her position as Co-Empress of Olympus to be a necessary evil, she downright hates being the Ice Queen of the Winter Kingdom.
She’s not happy to get back to the Winter Castle: in fact, she limits her visits as much as possible. Which might explain why, once the Portal Generator materializes her into the administrative office of the palace, she doesn’t recognize any of the Lar working there… she never bothered to memorize the planet’s census records. Even though it would’ve taken her less than a minute.
<Who are you people? Where’s the Lord Chamberlain?> she asks.
A relatively young Lar, appearing to be in mid-twenties but probably being over two centuries old, rushes towards Noriko and greets her with a curtsy.
<Your Majesty! We are honored to…>
<Cut it. Where’s Daivik?> she asks. She barely knew the Lar in charge of the castle’s day-to-day operations, but he was always the one available whenever she had to give an order to the staff.
<Lord Daivik has resigned from his position, Your Majesty. I am Vancil, his successor as your current Lord Chamberlain.>
<Resigned? Is he sick or something? He’s like in his 400s.>
<Haven’t you received the communiqués we transmitted? We sent regular updates on the protestors; most of your staff resigned.>
<I was kinda busy. What do you mean by “the protestors”?>
<Perhaps you should talk to the Minister of Planetary Affairs, Your Majesty…>
<I’m talking to you.>
<Well, after you… after Your Majesty repealed all laws restricting free speech, more and more people have been protesting. Including members of your own government and, I’m sad to say, most of your staff. But I remain loyal, I assure you!>
<What are they protesting, exactly? I freed you people from TWO dictators in a row and I’ve interfered as little as I could with your politics, what else do you want from me!?> Noriko shouts.
Like most Lar, Vancil has been educated to have a sacred terror of the current monarch; the fact that he’s in front of the Slayer of Gods, whose silver eyes are shining so much it hurts to look at her, make him particularly nervous.
<Well, the protests are about… your treatment of… your predecessor.>
<WHAT!?>
<They say Lady Tanaka… the former Ice Queen… has been treated unfairly and… they’re asking for her to be released from prison.>
The silver shine vanishes. Noriko bits her lower lip, then takes a couple of deep breaths.
<Vancil. I need to requisition a Level 7 Cryo-Chamber. Prepare it for shipment to Earth.>
<Yes, Your Majesty.>
<And lock up the Winter Castle. Nobody gets in, or out, until I say so. I don’t care if you have to sleep inside.>
<Will do, Your Majesty.>
<And a list of anyone who has set foot in the Winter Castle during the last six months. I want all of them to be put under house arrest, effective immediately.>
<Yes, Your Majesty. Under what charge?>
<They’re all suspected of High Treason.>
<I will instruct the Royal Police accordingly. Will there be anything else, Your Majesty?>
<Not for now. I’m going to have a word with my mother.> Noriko replies.
And if Vancil thought he knew what terror was, the sound of her voice changing is the scariest thing he’s ever heard.
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