Beyond 'X' Book IV & V latest post BK V ch 06 Pt 8 & 9 25th Mar '15 complete

[Paranoid66]

Once again thanks Stads.

Almost in this next one... yes another chapter part as in part 4 for good or ill they have been racing out.

Hope you people enjoy - it is a bit nasty in places.

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 4]]


“My ‘Patriarch’, before your latest message I did not expect… three blessings, you honour us here with this personal visit.” [‘Handsome in Deed’ said bowing thrice.]

[A part of me wished to skip the social discourse to get straight to the core business here, time usually being a factor in any investigation. However, I was cautious of giving in to my impulse I had a feeling that in this instance brusque haste might do more damage than good. This was no ordinary crime scene. Instead, accepting some self-discipline I put on a cheery yellow glow over my ‘Free Patterning’ and replied thus…]

“Hardly my good friend as ever it is your service that honours me. It has been too long since we crossed vectors. You have been busy and far from home for far too long.” [I announced embracing him in an enthusiastic Paradox Priest hug.]

[I noticed he held on to me for a bit longer than I expected almost as if he was reluctant to let go. Then when he straightened up it was almost as if he shifted the weight of an invisible heavy burden. His ‘Suit’ tells far from blatant - might be easily overlooked - but I also felt somewhat receptive as if sensitised to the emotions rampant at this time in this forbidding place.]

“It is only fair that the crew upon the majestic ‘Many Truths’ rotate.” [The noble in bearing and action ‘Saint’ replied.] “All your loving children should have the pleasure of knowing you better Mother - if only for a little while.”

[I could recall people saying similar things to Harbinger causing a twinge of emotion as I contemplated the seeming loss of a Captain and friend to all of us. Getting over the lapse, I got the impression that my ‘Saint’ was in part hiding behind his pleasantries today. He was trying hard to make his greeting as light as possible and failing with the very fact that he was trying so hard shouting louder than any host of complaints might.]

“Sometimes I think I made you ‘Saints’ too well - you are too understanding - ‘Handsome’ - too reasonable - for these times, perhaps even too forgiving.” [I added.]

“I wish I could understand or make some reason out of this location.” [He replied scanning his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ around the still in places torn up docking bay of the damaged facility, a facility only lately returned to a mocking semblance of its old vigorous life.]

[Acolytes and ‘Sub Core Automatons’ were everywhere unpacking technical supplies notably ‘Suit Substance Units’ that had already formed up into highly specialist forensic portable deep micro-scanner recorders and so on.]

“You should be glad that you do not easily understand such wickedness.” [I replied.] “Have you found any hidden survivors since we last held discourse?” [I added.]

“No nor sadly despite having toured this facility from one end to the other regardless of its size and complexity do I expect to find any living citizens. I am truly beginning to wonder if perhaps I am the wrong person for this grizzly assignment.” [‘Handsome in Deed’ suggested.]

“I think not, based on what little I have seen so far, others can do the necessary analysis and detective work. You have done a proper job of overseeing the projects initiation and in securing the site from looters such as war tourist sightseers and other fools who might disturb the vital evidence, vital evidence that we shall need to determine the truth of the wickedness that transpired here.” [I said.]

“I have done little that even a suitably tasked ‘Administrative Sub Core’ could not have done just as well.” [He replied.]

“I disagree, I know you better than that, despite your self-doubts you are a natural leader you automatically lift others up encouraging them to do their very best simply by being the inspiration that you are - your integrity and honour is unquestionable.” [I remarked.]

[I knew he would not have shown any of these signs of distress to his subordinates.]

“You do me far too much credit. I still lack conviction that I am the right Officer for this duty.” [He insisted.]

[‘Handsome’ was by nature no complainer, therefore that his uneasiness had found words with me only, once again, emphasised how much pressure he felt under here.]

“You are hardly ill assigned because this place touches you, I am sorry but that is another reason why you are the right person in a wrong place. At a site such as this one, I need an exceptionally inspirational leader to keep family morale reasonably high.” [I explained.] “That was why I assigned you to this position ‘Handsome in Deed’ I am sorry if this task is proving to be a cruel burden to you but that is how it must be.”

“I live to aid and safeguard.” [He said it seemed to me now striving to be stoic.]

[I bowed to him he returned the gesture three times that was a cultural affectation the ‘Saints’ as a faction had recently developed. One of several small things that set them apart, bolstering their unique sense of identity.]

“I really am sorry to put you here within this mire but I did not want some uncaring person overseeing this sensitive operation. Tell me about the ‘Recycler’ sponsored group?” [I asked.]

“An easier subject, grave robbing scavengers or a legitimate salvage operation depending on your perspective. I do not think they are responsible for this messy tragedy but we detained them gently anyway - just in case. For the moment they remain confined in comfortable quarters that are no great hardship.” [He explained.]

“I see - they have made no complaints about this confinement here?” [I asked.]

“They have been surprisingly cooperative I suppose because they remain keen to push their legalistically strong salvage rights and are glad to be permitted to stay here at least for the moment. As you are no doubt aware, this place is rich in salvageable raw resources or easily completely reconditioned if you are not squeamish about living with the ghosts of whatever terrible thing it was that transpired here. If any site ever needed a ritual of cleansing such as the one you oversaw on ‘Port Messenger’…” [He suggested before trailing off.]

“All the bodies were grossly mutilated - torn apart - the initial finder’s reports did not exaggerate in any small way?” [I asked.]

“I am afraid the reports most certainly did not exaggerate even though we have made a great effort not to broadcast or permit the broadcasting by others of any further images - it seemed somehow indecent to make this into a sensational snippet for war news voyeurs to feast upon as if carrion eaters.” [He stated.]

“The ‘Recycler’ party were lucky that the initial finders found this place simply too oppressive to stay and finalise their even stronger claim to salvage rights. There was no violence between these groups?” [I asked.]

“I believe not I can only surmise that some ‘Stellar Swimmers’ have enough of their old peaceful aquatic heritage deep within them to be appalled by seemingly senseless butchery such as occurred here.” [He replied.]

“It is possible that when it became popular to return to older genetic forms amongst the ‘Stellar Swimmers’ in reaction to the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’s’ arguable corruption of ‘Swimmer’ genetics many ‘Stellar Swimmers’ may have begun a greater returning than they realised. It seems increasingly possible to me that in altering not just their adapted bodies backward they accidentally also in part altered their mindset towards old ‘Swimmer Dweller’ norms too. It is even possible that this regression was secretly encouragement by agents of the ‘Stellar Autonomous National Executive’. I should speak with ‘Tleeboosuu’ again I am sure he knows more than he ever readily revealed to me or Harbinger, despite his easy manner, about the wider actions and policies of ‘SANE’.” [I found I was lecturing.]

“Recently you have given this subject a great deal of thought.” [The ‘Saint’ replied.]

“I must admit I have been deeply considering these truths, this is the consequence of spending so much time at ‘Port Messenger’ amongst other ‘Stellar Swimmers’. ‘Port Messenger Stellar Swimmers’ seem more sympathetic than some of their species historic brethren that I can recall from the times when ‘Stellar Swimmers’ ruled their own domains in what we called back then ‘Fringe Space’. Back before the ‘Advent of the Entanglement’ when perdition was just a state of mind rather than a physical nanotech plague lording over us all ‘Stellar Swimmer’ often proved less agreeable.” [I added.]

“The wheel turns, I suppose, in time even cultural mindsets alter back and forth sometimes in direct opposition to what has gone before.” [He mused aloud.] “Perhaps it is a pity that so few modern people possess pacifistic genes with all the most gentle ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ now held apart from us so that we have no recourse to the influence of their loving wisdom.”

“Such fine sentiments are precisely why I needed - you - here overseeing more martial types. This area at least does not seem too shocking at first glance.” [I added.]

“Forgive me, I believed it necessary to clean up this, only relatively speaking compared to other sections, untainted area, although we only did this after fully documenting this tiny part of the much greater crime scene. I felt strongly that we needed at least one pristine staging area for our people where we did not need to step lightly also an area where we need not feel oppressed by the sight of the otherwise omnipresent tragedy.” [He informed.]

[I considered the wisdom of that for a moment or two then nodded my ‘Prime Tri-optic’.]

“Other sections of the habitat remain as bloody as we found them, if you must, you can see the full horror of the worst crime scenes uncontaminated. Many areas have in fact been put under stasis fields to ensure they remain perfectly incorrupt we did this as soon as we could manage the logistics involved such as the necessary expedient of restoring the previously disabled mainline power-grid.” [He informed me.]

“That was very sensible and prudent of you.” [I said.]

“The forensic team’s idea - I deserve very little credit for their professionalism despite this challenging situation - they are the ones that deserve to be highly commended.” [‘Handsome in Deed’ explained.]

“I suppose with power restored I have no excuse to delay my inspection.” [I said.]

“I will go with you as a guide even though there are places here I will admit to purposely avoiding whenever possible.” [He confessed slumping down slightly.]

“There is no shame in feeling how you do. Visiting this crime, in person, well at least as a physical Avatar, is hardly something anyone with a soul would look forward to but we must endure the ordeal. Those poor people deserve that much acknowledgement of the dark plight what overwhelmed them.” [I insisted.]

[Once again he bowed to me three times.]

“Could they have been hit with some kind of ‘Field Projecting’ weapon that blasted them apart or do you truly believe they were simply ripped asunder by ‘Suit Substance Avatars’ such as ‘Remote Combat Troops’ in a barbarous - unlimited - killing frenzy.” [I asked.]

“There are some voids and prints in the blood wash and splatter that too graphically suggest ‘Suit Substance Avatars’ but psychologically it seems inconceivable that anyone civilised could do this even by remote. Even the ‘Entanglement’ hardly seems a candidate as it is not so wasteful it would have fed on the substances here even feasting upon biological bodies and fluids. Generally ‘Perdition’ unless it is disturbed by other operational necessities leaves little mess behind this, this is just diabolical wanton slaughter on a scale and with an intimacy I have never before, thank the blessed ‘Emissary’, witnessed in my short life.” [‘Handsome in Deed’ said.]

[Death you might think is death one no less permanent than any other but there is something about the dismemberment and mutilation of sentient beings something almost primeval and dreadful to behold or even to simply contemplate.]

“I know you do not consider yourself an investigator but tell me more of your first impressions?” [I asked.]

“It struck me as a show - a triple cursed demonstration - of, of this may sound silly evil. A cold cruel message left for any finder. Whomever did this can only have been showing off their depravity they wanted to share their diabolical diorama with the rest of the Universe otherwise they could have covered their tracks for example sent this entire station into the local star since they apparently - surprisingly - believed they had no use for the place as a prize. That is the other odd thing any sane raider would have looted this place or cleaned it up and occupied it as a war-prize or even cut it up - taken it apart - to tug its mass away for one hundred percent recycling purposes. Skilfully recycled you could form more than a couple of ‘Source Ships’ out of all this mass. Almost anyone involved in this current conflict would not miss such a perfect opportunity to expand their martial assets.” [He needlessly reminded me.]

“You think what transpired here indicates nothing less than insanity?” [I asked.]

“I could be wrong but to me this place reeks of criminal madness or a truly sick and alien mindset that for some cultural reason is inured to what we ‘Pilgrim Species’ consider utter horror. Regrettably, some of the species here had juveniles, including infants and babies. This place, (as a well-stocked habitat), existent before our rebellion seemingly far from the dangers of any normal battlefront, was home to complete family units. As you will soon see for yourself, the family members all suffered the same gruesome fate without seeming exception. As a clone, I was never gladder to have been force grown into existence, rather than born into a naked primitive biology as some other arguably more decadent species members are. I fear if I had known a soft primitive biological childhood some of the things I have seen here would have damaged my equilibrium beyond easy recovery because my shared empathy would have no cushion of separateness to protect it - nothing to shelter it from harm.” [He replied dramatically.]

[I feared I understood exactly what he meant. I had witnessed many killings in my time the majority of them were impersonal experiences such as explosions at a distance. I had also, with hindsight regrettably, taken many lives in past actions. I knew sadly that it is possible to wipe out hundreds even tens of thousands of people at a remove with weapons of mass destruction and potentially - feel very little. However, to do violence such as my ‘Saint’ described physically ripping, tearing and wrenching ordinary people apart from the eldest to the - youngest and most innocent - well that would be a different experience altogether and could hardly ever be deemed impersonal.]

[There was one suspicion hovering at the back of my minds that refused to go away but it was inconceivable and unworthy of me. Darkness breeds darkness, sometimes it seems we have no control over the places our thoughts take us - I felt ashamed - it was not possible - it was not and yet the thought lingered as if it was some ancient cancer in my brain tissue, only held in a temporary remission waiting to spread its corrupt influence.]

“I think you are right this place could use a ritual of cleansing.” [I said and that was before my ‘Prime Tri-optics’ recorded the un-sanitised crime scenes that seemed to go on, and on forever.]



[I will endeavour to spare you the worst graphic details of the monstrous exploration that followed save those that seem important to the investigation. It might help to take three careful steps backward and just think of the scattered meats as organic sculptures and the fluids and stains as more innocent liquids such as paint splattered upon a three dimensional canvass in a riot of creative expression.]

[There were indeed, in many places, apparent footsteps amongst the decorations, footsteps that ‘Handsome in Deed’ swore were not made by his team this I could believe as you could tell they were contemporary to the massacre being firmly embedded within its macabre dance. I judged these tracks to be bipedal but of varying girth and distance changes in size and so on easily consistent with shape shifty ‘Suit Substance’ used in its most flexible mode and it was not difficult to judge whilst moving at great speed. Voids in some of the splatter patterns also suggested a generalised mass in the attackers that roughly fitted dimensions typical to Paradox ‘Shroud Suits’ - this was an unnerving unwelcome fact - far from a conclusion I was happy to note.]

[Despite his professionalism I could tell that ‘Handsome’ was struggling not to see the obvious and that he was far from alone in taking that stance amongst the supposedly impartial investigators. The idea that Paradox ‘Remote Combat Troops’ might have perpetrated this crime was difficult to ignore and yet almost impossible for any of us to easily accept the mind shied away as if given a warning sting.]

[There remained many other items of poignant wreckage here too. At one point and despite it being a tiny contamination of the crime scene I could not resist picking up a stained forlorn looking soft toy shaped as some fantastical yellow many-limbed beast. Somehow, the always-insensate object seemed to represent the tragedy even better than the strewn everywhere once anything but insensate body parts. Here was arguable proof that outer space especially in wartime was no place for primitive biological children. It was perhaps, equally arguably, a selfish affectation of some species today - given our sciences - to reproduce this overly naturalistic way, more I considered about adults desires to be loving parents to something needy and helpless than what was best for the practical raising of the next generation of sentient beings. Of course, I had to acknowledge that this was an extreme example to judge any policy by, and that I was bigoted in my own way by latter day Paradox Priest prejudices in relation to methods of procreation.]

[As we made our way through the devastating aftermath, I noticed the patterns of attempts at flight and evacuation, other areas gave mute evidence to hasty too obviously unsuccessful crude measures to block access with makeshift barricades and so on. Some sites also showed signs of brief battles the deployment of small arms but if any of the killers suffered significant harm due to these skirmishes, on general inspection, they left nothing of their substance behind - to me this indicated seriously nanotech-impregnated assailants who could reclaim every scrap of even damaged mass.]

[Another clue was all the defences that had no influence upon the rampant butchery all the stations automatic internal security devices seemed to have been inoperable during the slaughter, otherwise stasis security fields would have sought to snare the invaders and various other anti-boarding devices sprung to life. However, even the briefest of examinations showed auto-cannons and the like lay still, at rest, in their cradles in stored away inactive positions with full magazines of soft rounds and so on.]

[My conclusion, possibly long before the slaughter began this place was comprehensively hacked to the degree where I suspected there would have been no need for any serious violence to subdue these citizen victims. Whoever had wilfully perpetrated this dire crime could probably have simply turned the facilities own mechanisms against its populace to subdue them without inflicting any injury whatsoever. The comprehensiveness of the removal of inbuilt protections - many of which were highly sophisticated and hardened against intrusion systems - suggested a massive technological gap or at the very least a fantastic technological edge. Thinking about the way this place was so flawlessly compromised made me feel better - we could not have done this - we as in any known Paradox unit did not possess - as far as I was aware - the means to so easily compromise sciences so close to our own operational tech level certainly not with this breadth of perfection.]

[So who could have committed this atrocity? ‘Crimson Entangled’ sprang to mind as perhaps technologically capable of something such as this but I could think of no sane reason for her to create this peculiarly singular horror. True the ‘Entanglement’ could be almost incomprehensible at times but not I felt currently to this sick degree. Once we accused every member of the digital ‘Sleepers’ to be, by biological standards of thought, easily measured as insane. However, I had spoken with ‘Crimson Entangled’ - now tellingly made flesh and very much existent within the real - and although I was hardly her biggest fan I did not believe she would do something like this my deepest instincts telling me this time as a suspect ‘CE’ would prove a non-starter. Could some rogue ‘Highest Tier’ power be responsible? However, again why would they do this? In addition, why in part dress this action up to seem so akin to a Paradox ‘Remote Combat Troop’ assault gone utterly insane. Could this tragic event be some kind of sick message aimed at members of our priestly order or even an attempt to blame us to have people fear and hate us as technological barbarians who lacked all decent restraint?]

[The idea that this place might be some person’s idea of a communication made me almost physically ill which was entirely psychosomatic given the nature of my ‘Suit Substance’ body. If true evil could exist, outside of peoples fevered imaginations, who could cast any doubts upon the theory that it had been purposely set loose here.]

[When I retreated from my first viewing still shocked and dismayed I realised I was still clutching the soft toy in one extruded limb. Embarrassed at my oversight I was not sure what to do with it. What would be the appropriate gesture the right ritual? Here I was a supposed ‘Patriarch’ and Elder Priest undone by a piece of stuffed real material cloth. I considered returning it to where I found it but I could not bring myself to take it back to make it once more a part of that ugly terrible montage as if it truly belonged there.]

[I noticed that ‘Handsome in Deed’ was striving to make a point of ignoring the foreign object that I had retrieved from the carnage but I did not miss how the edge of his wide ‘Prime Tri-optic’ vision kept straying towards it as if against his will. I was very glad that I had left my ‘New Immortal Drone’ companions behind me they were too young - too recently incarnated into sentience - to have to absorb and deal with scenes such as these.]

[As I glared at the soft toy, I realised that the biggest mystery here, for me, was not material but spiritual: How could anyone plan then set about to do something this base? The terrible truth being that this action would have required malice of forethought. Therefore, the idea of some manic insane event such as some kind of mass battle hysteria simply did not fit the overall pattern, nor did the idea that the perpetrator of this crime had to be something alien to us, to me the opposite view now held stronger sway. Sadly, whoever did this action, I believed, understood our ‘Heartland Space’ security measures and procedures very well and that to me indicated that whoever did this was most probably of us - of our society - on some reasonably intimate level.]



[In the end, I brought the yellow cuddly toy back with me to my body. There I placed it within a tiny stasis field on permanent display in a niche I created within my real ‘SCCCM’. I decided it would stay there for as long as I lived as a constant reminder of the brutality we were all, on some level, capable of and as a spur to both do better myself and to seek justice for its original owner. That I felt was the personal best and only thing that I could do with it.]



[I was still coming to terms with ‘Red Rest’ and highly disappointed with the lack of useful evidence found even by the most sophisticated of means when word reached me that it had happened again. The lack of evidence given the sheer breadth of these crimes was staggering. To be honest - almost unbelievably - no image survived, we lacked even one single data recording on either of these victim Ports never mind any that specifically showed the perpetrators in action. All memory holding devices completely and comprehensively wiped even down to implanted individual neural net memory storage in fact even naked brain tissue that some modern methods might get fragmentary readings from, if it was fresh enough, proved bio-electrically systematically scrambled by these most sophisticated of barbaric killers. In addition, it was soon apparent that each Port had fallen off wider communications grids prior to the attacks in a manner that suggested that put in place ‘Parliamentary’ central controls over individual ‘EXO-C’ access by citizens were deployed by the invaders after these units were thoroughly compromised.]

[However, all of the above was conjecture as we lacked even a single byte of verifiable system data from any of the stricken facilities. Conversely, there was all this all too obvious evidence as in all the spilled fluids and the scattered body parts. It was when the unknown terror struck a third station that finding the serial culprit of these continuing crimes began to become nothing less than an obsession with me. For a time almost everything else - even the prosecution of the war of liberation - I shunted aside handing all other tasks off to subordinates so that I could very personally seek out the mastermind behind the atrocities and I hoped see him, her or it summarily burn.]



“This crusade is not wise of you.” [‘Tools’ complained and not for the first time.]

“Somebody has to do something about this one.” [I replied.]

“Better if it were somebody else, you are too important to risk hunting this murderer. As little as we know about this one - we know they are highly technologically advanced - what if their attack methods prove just as reliable against ‘Living Hull Source Ships’ as they are against lonely unprotected ‘Space Station Habitats’?” [She asked.]

“They have always struck ports that were unguarded by ships so I am inclined to believe they have good reasons to fear a confrontation with a battle ready ‘Living Hull’.” [I said.]

“That is pure speculation I can only hope that you are right about that.” [‘Tools’ replied.]

“If you are afraid you do not need to come along with us.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ interjected.]

“Children amongst their elders should listen not speak. Do not insult me child, I was facing unimaginable perils long before you were even a fanciful idea of your Mothers. This is not about me.” [‘Tools’ replied indignantly.]

“Please let us not make this personal. You know my decision - it is not going to change. I need to be out there actively patrolling. I cannot deal with sitting here safe at this probable ‘God’s Port’ simply waiting to hear about the next tragic batch of victims. I would not wish the fate of those places on my worst enemy.” [I said.]

“I can understand how you might feel but also remember that there is still a war going on out there, and even ignoring this new - uncategorised - menace, hardly anywhere is safe anymore for casual ‘Living Hull’ travellers the increase in ‘Renegade’ activity alone is worthy of note.” [‘Tools’ reminded.]

“I am my own battle fleet if necessary I will deal with any fool who dares threaten my security.” [I stated.]

“It has been sometime since you got your entire mass involved in direct combat actions ignoring that - flight - from ‘Perdition’.” [‘Tools’ added.]

“Do you think I have lost my fighting edge because I assure you I have not.” [I promised.]

“I am sure most warriors believe they are invulnerable and still at the height of their battle prowess until fate proves otherwise sometimes fatally.” [‘Tools’ said.]

“Remind me not to put you in charge of shipboard morale.” [I replied to the ‘Recycler’.]

“You speak often of brokering peace and have been at the forefront of a great many political deals and compromises since the war began.” [She reminded.]

“Others in the family can easily continue what I have started, teams have been briefed. My direct input will not be missed too much there.” [I promised.]

“Are you sure about that? You know better than most how delicate and sensitive to change many of these negotiations can be.” [‘Tools’ pressed.]

“Unless you have something constructive to offer in relation to my - current - mission you are dismissed - in fact, ‘Tools’ I am ordering you to clear my ‘SCCCM’ with the ‘Parliament’ under open siege I no longer have need of the pretence of a constant ‘Monitor’ looking over my Avatar’s shoulder.” [I told ‘Tools’.]

[When she did not leap to comply I summoned up some Marines via ‘EXO-C’ they stepped forward to escort her back towards her quarters.]

“Stubborn ‘Hull’.” [She complained as she left under the ‘Prime Tri-optics’ of her guard.]

[After she was gone ‘Arguably Better by Design’ spoke up] “That seemed more than a bit strident of you.”

“You are too young to be criticising me so easily.” [I replied still irked.]

“You are feeling emotional. Will you have me marched out too Mother if I speak my mind.” [He asked.]

“Are you saying you agree with her position in this?” [I asked.]

“Not exactly but…” [He began.]

“Then there are no buts I am about to jump.” [I interrupted.]

[I leapt down a wormhole to the first ‘Star Struck’ coordinate in the long patrol route that I had devised that took in regions near the position of a number of known fairly isolated ports. Of course, I am no fool I knew the chances of blundering personally into the killers were exceptionally slim - probably mathematically downright nonexistent - I just needed to be moving again because I was beginning to feel incredibly useless. I would apologise to ‘Tools’ later since reminding her that in a way her old job no longer existed had been a little cruel and unmindful of me. A new reality was imposing itself upon her forcing her to adjust as a great many people now needed to adjust their old universal view - I suppose me too.]

[Of course, I was feeling emotional - perhaps even overly so - I needed to work it off. It probably did not help that I did feel as if I was abandoning some other posts however, in its niche a yellow beastie seemed to accuse me of greater failures with staring - dead - button eyes. ‘Red Rest’ and the others had gotten under my ‘bio-mechanical’ skin.]



[Now that I had openly rebelled I was free to come and go without recourse to cover my actions with the ‘Parliament’ this at least felt wonderful. I did not realise just what an emotional burden having to constantly scam the ‘Parliament’ had become until it was no longer required. I was sure every other ‘Living Hull’ Captain felt the same way no wonder they were all resistant to submitting to any new external command and control hierarchy even a supposed benign coalition of mutual self-interest. Now that they had their freedom I could hardly blame them for wanting to fully enjoy it for a time without restriction. Professor ‘Tender’ had seen into the truth of their hearts - that one truly understood people and society - strange that he could be so annoyingly superior and un-diplomatic given the aforementioned fact.]

[The ‘Trojan’ was still onboard ‘Port Messenger’ still acting as a contracted advisor to the ‘MTC’ with a ‘Parliamentary’ bounty upon his head. ‘Studious Mannerism’ had been quick to realise he had been betrayed by his hireling and had ensured the bounty be a big one. All of us principle players had bounties on our heads now in some quarters all of us held ‘enemy of the state’ status. Of course, my bounty dead or alive was suitably astronomical. I was surprised ‘Tools’ had not mentioned Privateer Bounty Hunters as another threat to my survival I suppose she would have brought that one up sooner or later if I had given her any more time to further rally her arguments.]

[Spies, I did not doubt, as usual were everywhere my leap away from the relative safety of the unconfirmed ‘God’s Port’ would not have passed unnoticed by hunters seeking ‘NPC’ or ‘New Parliamentary Credits’ the hunters would be circling, long-range probes launching, whilst satellites were tasked and placed on high alert just for a glimpse of the ‘Many Truths’. Yes we all had adjustments to make I might as well be an infamous ‘Pirate Captain’ or some especially problematic ‘New Renegade’ or was ‘Rebel’ deemed an even worse label. It amused me that the ‘Parliament’ had picked this time to launch a new currency just so they could use it to bribe their ‘Pirate’ and ‘Renegade’ allies. Finally they were encouraging some open trade having made private ownership of assets once again officially legal that deed worked very well for them as it permitted them to begin declaring their own previously illegal private assets to launder perfidy against the people.]

[‘Tender’ claimed this was a good sign he deemed it the first step to the ‘Parliament’ dissolving itself, (splitting into a host of ‘Free Port States’), ‘Free Port States’ that would individually sue for peace and recognition some of which would just happen to be domineered financially by ex-‘Representatives’ now turned into powerful business owning civilians.]

“These bounties are just bluster and a means of keeping people such as you at a distance until they can hope to secure their private assets both legally and militarily. They are beginning to realise that their old ways have failed and that clinging to the past will only result in a visit by someone such as your, already infamous in their troubled ranks, ‘Unholy Terror’.” [Professor ‘Tender’ explained to me not long before my departure.]

[I could only hope he was right and that the war did not continue to drag on seemingly indefinitely with Ports potentially changing ownership multiple times. Perhaps if the war ended sooner than we had belatedly expected there would be no more ‘Red Rests’ then I felt very guilty because at the back of my minds that idea bothered me. No more, ‘Red Rests’ meant perhaps no chance to catch the ‘Mutilators’. The idea of this one becoming just an unsolved mystery of the war enraged me. The fact that more would perhaps have to die - for anyone to gain justice - was in addition, a grim paradox that was equally not lost upon me.]



[The local star was a ‘Red Giant’ just like the star that had once given the ‘Red Rest’ her name. It was a blood coloured reminder - fancifully to my minds - it was almost as if recent events stained the star ruddy. This was my fifth star so far and I had encountered nothing a pointer to just how vast outer space is. In fact, this close to the burning solar entity the vastness of the star itself was all too apparent. The killer could be here just as I was and we could still miss each other despite all our sophisticated detection equipment. It was no accident that our society had chosen to hide from ‘Perdition’ within the glare of stars, stars gave off a lot of interference and also their very bulk acted as physical cover from people on the other side of the burning horizon.]

[I was increasingly aware that the known volume of ‘Heartland Space’ was not set it moved now based upon the shifting patterns of Port ‘Star Struck’ settlement with Ports being jump capable our political geography seemed permanently in flux. According to less than comprehensive surveys, the War had expanded rather than contracted the overall volume named ‘Heartland Space’, many ports moving further outward in sometimes-vain attempts to hide themselves from their foes - striving to give their coordinates away only to visiting friends. Striving to be off the grid to enemies was nothing new to the citizens of the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ no matter what affiliation they retained we all - at times - strove to get lost in the starlight.]

[For the civilian refugees of our society the horrors must certainly seem endless. Ever since the fall of the ‘Core Alliance’, our population had known night terrors. Out in the dark restless forces, it seemed, forever plotted our peoples’ doom. This new killer was just one menace amongst many no wonder some Ports were suspected of opting to vanish altogether going into deep isolation of course this made them perfect victims if found. It deeply concerned me that for every victim we knew about several other crimes might have occurred unrecorded. Once again, the difficulty of my self-appointed task began to impinge upon my equilibrium casting all good humour adrift or perhaps burning it up in the angry glare of the local star.]

[Perhaps ‘Tools’ was right and I was just being silly: My vain patrol the sort of thing you would expect from a younger less experienced Captain. I considered leaping back to ‘Port Messenger’ but in the end, I decided to keep going simply for the constant change of scenery. I decided I would make a run out to one known, relatively nearby, site of asteroid resources patrolled by ‘Perdition’. Unless caught in the act of harvesting from one of her seeming mineral preserves, these days ‘Crimson Entangled’ mostly left shipping that simply passed by her patrolling units alone. With a course set, I began a lazy arc out away from the ‘Red Giant’ out into the night to make my rendezvous with the asteroid field.]

[This particular field of small space rocks and gigantic boulders orbited in turn around an equally well-known gravitational anomaly very probably the left over result of belated illegal experimentation with outsized ‘Anomalous Matter’ munitions. ‘AM’ munitions although avoided by most sentient beings today remained another old evil, that we had once participated in using, that still occasionally returned to haunt us.]

[As I neared the location, I could recall personally resurveying this site and confirming that the ‘Anomaly’ here did seem to be the by-product of past ‘AM’ abuse that had not been too long ago as the ‘Anomaly’ had all the spectral signs of a fairly new creation. The survey a less disagreeable task than most that the ‘Parliament’ proved prone to giving me during my long years of, to my mind force indentured, service.]

[I quickly located the more overt assets belonging to ‘Crimson’ within the asteroid cluster, equally I am sure they hastily spotted me, neither of us however altered our courses to intercept and unsurprisingly we did not communicate. Then I wondered that if - I asked nicely - would the ‘Entanglement’ relate if it had seen any unusual traffic that might be the ‘Mutilators’, however I hesitated I did not want ‘Perdition’ to become, excuse the pun, any further entangled in my private affairs than she arrogantly deemed she was already.]

“The granter of my new body indeed.” [I scoffed.]

“Pardon Mother you were saying?” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ asked.]

“Sorry that was nothing, I was just talking to myself, and the two of you had best forget you heard that.” [I confessed feeling incredibly stupid.]

[That was an especially foolish thing to do - did I want to give away clues about my comparatively innocent dealings with ‘Perdition’ - since few if anyone else would be likely to see them that way. Did I feel a hidden need to confess to these children that I had once had an interview with ‘Crimson Entangled’ onboard my own body? Such a confession would do no good it would be wiser to get control of such self-destructive impulses. Had I been foolish recently in neglecting some of my meditations and other mentality centring exercises due to all the activity of the War?]

[Nonetheless, before I turned my space faring bulk away, I considered once again talking with ‘Crimson’ if anyone was abroad across the length and breadth of the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ and might have witnessed my quarry truly it would be some part of the ever-rampant ‘Entanglement’. However, dare I approach our nemesis - once again - would it draw me deeper into her plots and schemes as if lured to the scorching flame similar to the compulsion felt by some primitive light seeking insect that knows no better than to dip time and time again into the fire until it must fall in flames never to rise again.]

[I was in three minds about this one and so for now elected to do nothing. Did I come out here to face this temptation? Since my brain injury sometimes I was not too sure about what really motivated me just as I sometimes questioned the real purposes behind why I set up home upon ‘Port Messenger’ as a increasingly suspected ‘God’s Port’.] “Father sometimes I am not sure if I know what I do.” [I cried silently down my seemingly disconnected ‘Companion-ship Link’. Only emptiness answered me and perhaps playing with - praying - down my inbuilt ‘CSL’ facility was, in addition, not especially prudent.]

“It seems there is nothing unusual out here.” [I said.]

“Good then may I suggest we make some distance between us and those guardians of ‘Perdition’.” [‘Arguably Better by Design’ suggested sounding nervous.]

[Both of my companions had links to my open to space ‘Tri-optics’ and even into some of my ‘Scout Drones’ sensor systems.]

“You are feeling bold today Mother buzzing those things.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ added.]

“It is good to confirm their passivity to simple trespass out here - to me I have just proved that the ‘Entanglement’ is not hiding anything untoward in this region.” [I surmised.]

“You have an interesting theory there although I am inclined to believe that this is a risky way to gather a little data. You think she is hiding something sinister back at the ‘Sea Spheres’ given how extra-sensitive she is about trespass back there?” [‘Arguably Better by Design’ asked.]

“Sometimes it certainly seems that way - still my current priority out here has nothing to do with fathoming the deepest mysteries of ‘Perdition’ beyond ticking her off as not guilty.” [I added.]

“Then let us be away and not risk her wrath without good cause.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ suggested.]

“Relax my children see - we are moving away - returning once more to the relative safety of the local star.” [I promised.]

“That makes me very happy. Being this close to ‘Entanglement’ makes my ‘bio-mechanical’ skin crawl.” [‘SV’ said.]

“What happens after we return to the environs of ‘Balor’s Eye’?” [‘Arguably Better’ asked.]

[‘Balor’s Eye’ was the name of the local star this one renamed from a mere reference number a little over thirty years ago by a ‘PA Hierophant’ cartographer.]

“We continue the Patrol, I do not want to jump within sight of ‘Perdition’ there is a slim chance they have the ability to tell our destination from an observed jump these days with all their stolen ‘Higher Tier’ sciences being near the star being our best hope to make such delicate observations difficult to obtain.” [I suggested.]

“I did not know about this possibility?” [‘AB’ admitted.]

“Our old friend ‘Hierophant Cad’ once built a big clumsy device that could do this and their have been a few recent incidents involving ‘Perdition’ that have cast up suspicions that the ‘Entanglement’ has gained a more efficient and compact ability to do this now, added to all her other means of tracking our ship movements.” [I complained.]

“Her advantages over us seem increasingly unfair.” [‘SV’ possibly joked.]

[An alarm rang out.]

“We have ‘Fast Interdictors’.” [I explained.]

“Triple damn it she has decided not to let us go after all.” [‘SV’ complained.]

“If so we will know soon enough.” [I replied calmly as panic spreads.]

[Whilst an assault by the ‘Entanglement’ was one worrying possibility recently many aggressors had stolen the tactic of using expendable exceptionally ‘Fast Interdictors’ as the initial opening salvo in their attack strategies against discovered foes at a distance thereby fixing them in place until they could cross any ‘Jump Interdiction’ output that in turn was being generated by the target.]

[Outside my turret point defences and my mostly ‘Sub Core’ run ‘Suit Substance Scout Drones’ were attempting to engage the high speed hail of what had become known as ‘Expendable Interdiction Torpedoes’. As I considered other options such as a ‘Living Hull Shock Wave’ that would also unfortunately wipe out the substance of my scouts, long-range scanners picked up one lone ‘Source Ship’ on a direct intercept vector.]

“Not ‘Entanglement’ after all although it is possible that ‘Crimson Entangled’ who enjoys watching us fight each other may have acted as an informant given these circumstances.” [I complained.]

[The aggressor had an ‘IFF’ that claimed she was a Privateer called the ‘Rascal’ a hasty data search revealing a ‘Renegade’ history that closely verged upon declaration as a ‘Pirate’. Interestingly this highly altered ship from much humbler smaller beginnings had a ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ Captain at the helm with a believed ‘Ruling Caste’ heritage. This one a survivor of the ‘Fall of the Core Alliance’ who remained from the beginning aloof from the formation of the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’. The Captain apparently renaming himself from an unknown to us previous label to ‘Skaddjaakhoor-shii’ not long after the creation of the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’. ‘Skaddjaakhoor-shii’ roughly translated, (being a name linked to a colourful deep cultural back-story in ‘Stellar Draakhaal’), meant, best guess, ‘To suffer death by a thousand painful cuts’ or something quite similar. I immediately suspected this one whose name was often shortened to ‘Skadd-shii’ by non-‘Skimmers’ had - how can I put this - long nursed historic issues possibly some of them with us as part of the ‘Many Truths Corporation’. Therefore, bribery and or negotiation were probably not valid options, as I guessed this one was hunting me for the sake of more than just adding some ‘New Parliamentary Credits’ to his new account - the ‘New Parliamentary Credits’ - would just be a welcome bonus, such are the joys of having something of a wide history.]

[Some supplementary data arrived from a friendly assisting ‘MTC Archivist Sub Core’ that had noticed the context of my initial data search. Recently - apparently - ‘Skadd-shii’ had picked up two fighting partners - he no longer worked alone. Sometimes three is not a blessed number. Instants later, I picked up another ‘Source Ship’ contact and I was sure the third was out there somewhere - lurking. This rather changed matters one against one or even one against two I might risk but one against three seemed poor odds. I did the necessary. A huge ‘Living Hull Shockwave’ screamed out from my ‘Hull’ wiping nearby space clean in an expanding sphere of destruction local to my position. Almost simultaneous to the interdiction clearance I initiated an ‘Emergency Jump’ to a new ‘Star Struck’ coordinate position. As soon as I emerged from the wormhole near one blazing star I engaged a secondary ‘Jump Drive’ and leapt out again to another ‘Star Struck’ position altogether only then did I relax a little if cursing the loss of those scouts. Even if those units were all just remote substance it was no less annoying to have to sacrifice them because of some triple damned bounty hunters. I could have called in extra ‘MTC’ support but that might have just escalated the situation and due to ‘Perdition’ fleet interdictions, we had to be very careful about escalations.]

“My sympathies Mother although that was the only sensible option.” [‘SV’ said.]

“I am happy you agree with my tactics.” [I replied a little sarcastically.]

[It seemed a small problem that all of my companions kept becoming so readily pass-remarkable I wondered if the trend was firmly my fault. Was I too lax with my subordinates? It was problematic to enforce strict old Paradox Priest divisions of respect whilst at the same time campaigning for the freedom of wide ranging sentient rights. Nonetheless, I feared I might be overcompensating. Ship Captains were usually very careful to maintain the respect of their crew, of course these days with so much activity easily passed off to ‘Sub Cores’ crews sometimes seemed a mere affectation little better than passengers along for the ride or company for otherwise potentially lonely Captains.]

“I suppose we could have just fled from the ‘Mutilators’ we seek?” [‘Arguably Better’ mused aloud.]

“That is a possibility I cannot ignore, although I doubt I am so lucky that I have found my prey so soon this one strikes me as a distraction. Hopefully a wider data search may reveal if ‘Skadd-shii’ would have an alibi for any of the mutilation strikes we know about.” [I said as I assigned ‘MTC’ assets to dig up the necessary data something that might require infiltrations of ‘Parliamentary’ data sources by outside the family assets and therefore take some time.]

“Do you really think ‘Perdition’ squealed on us via one of her endless webs of connection to our ‘Heartland Space’ data nets?” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ asked.]

“Somehow that would not surprise me, she would probably find it amusing - such things are well within her nature. I erred in tempting her with that visit to a known site she occupies.” [I suggested.]

“Do you think we will always have to work around the ‘Forces of Perdition’?” [’Arguably Better’ asked.]

“Perhaps not always, always is a very long time and a term that rarely ever truly applies to anything but for the easily foreseeable future I imagine so.” [I confessed.]

“I wonder what it feels like to be at the very top of the pyramid.” [‘AB’ mused.]

“It feels glorious and scary at the same time. We Paradox have on occasion deluded ourselves that we were up there at the peak of scientific development at least within the limits of ‘Heartland Space’. Now we know better with such entities existent here as the ‘Machine Fury’ and of course the far more overt ‘Entanglement’. Sometimes I am not sorry that we can no longer easily delude ourselves that we are at the pinnacle of local scientific progress - that sort of faith creates its own problems - for a start it places some heavy burdens of responsibility. I believe Harbinger once shouldered this unwieldy weight in his own way and I think it almost destroyed him and led directly to his present, I often think of it now as, exile from our reality.” [I replied.]

“Of course, with the father of the ‘MTC’ being ‘Tier Nine’ he could well have been right up there I must review the history of the family with this adjustment to my perception placed firmly to the fore as an active filter.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ mused aloud.]

“I am glad you take a deep interest in our past just be careful never to let what has gone before blind you to some possible futures. Keep a wide ‘Vision’ my child.” [I advised.]

“I think ‘Tools’ would say your ‘Vision’ has grown very narrow at the moment.” [’Arguably Better’ seemed to warn me.]

“Perhaps ‘Tools’ is right but that does not necessarily mean that I am wrong you two should also meditate upon that.” [I suggested.]

“You speak of the many truths that allow for the embracing of paradox and contradiction within family policy.” [‘SV’ replied.]

“I do, remember this, - any singular point of view no matter how well considered is always a bigoted point of view - a good Paradox Priest tries to remember this fact at all times - although we all slip and slide on occasion for we are all imperfect creatures even I now firmly believe the entities of the ‘Highest Tiers’ have never truly touched perfection.” [I warned.] “That is something to think about when you study any teachings Harbinger passed down to his children and or examine historic examples of his behaviour when he was with us in more than spirit. Even the best of us make mistakes if you live long enough be assured you will err and at some point err badly.”

“You have disagreements with Harbinger’s ‘Vision’?” [‘SV’ asked.]

“Sometimes I disagree with my ‘Vision’.” [I replied before very purposely roaring out a crude Paradox Speaker Laugh that even ‘UT’ would have been proud of.] “It is not a crime to question as long as you strive to question honestly. More crimes are committed by people who just accept: beware the easy followers of doctrines and orders they can be very scary people.”

“So you are a true advocate of a questioning even rebellious mindset.” [‘SV’ mused.]

“In a way I suppose I am but I am no anarchist. Also, remember that labels are far too easy and cursed dangerous: Labels seek to fix a reality that in reality is forever in flux. I have come to believe that nothing is fixed nothing is absolute.” [I lectured.]

“Now that, I think, is probably enough preaching for one day lest your consideration is overwhelmed and thereby you two learn nothing of value whatsoever. In truth, even small seemingly insignificant matters are often worth long meditations… sorry there I go again.” [I added.] “See I err but that does not make me faulty simply a sentient being.”

“This - Priestly Business - seems more complicated than I first imagined.” [‘SV’ possibly only gently mocked.]

“Believe me, contemplating the truth of the Universe is complicated and yet at the same time it is one of both the most simple and basic functions of being self-aware - we all do it on some level - please feel free to stop me at any time.” [I added before glowing brightly yellow over my ‘Free Patterning’.]



[A little later, whilst we orbited another star on my far searching patrol pattern this one retaining an especially odd slightly greenish cast to its radiant output.]

“Mother I was thinking if other stations may have been hit, that we have not learned about, this could be because people: Finders such as those ‘Recycler Salvagers’ quietly cleaned up the mess to claim them as a prize. After all many salvagers would not want to draw attention to such a crime lest it complicate their claim and business in general.” [‘Arguably Better’ surmised.]

“I have people looking into that scenario already searching for outfits that have recently prospered and or expanded without any obvious source for newfound riches - no easy task given the secrecy that surrounds many military actions during any ongoing conflict. However, you are right, we need to know as much about these strikes as possible there may for example be a hidden pattern to their distribution if we have enough points to look at some truths might become self-evident or it is always possible that some clue got left behind by our killers elsewhere at previously unknown strike site.” [I said.]

“I am glad you agree surely even this advanced science - whatever it is - must still be capable of making a mistake given all the variables just before during and after a complex military engagement. Based on history alone few if any people or systems maintain an endlessly perfect record. Fate it seems to me transpires sooner or later to spoil all runs of good luck even by the most skilful of operators.” [‘AB’ replied.]

“It is often true that fate - or random chance if you prefer - can be a treacherous force in the Universe capable of reaching out to trespass against even the most adept and powerful of individuals - sometimes this principle must work in our favour as it has certainly worked against us on other occasions that I can recall.” [I considered aloud.]

“Still, you lost the patience to simply wait upon others incoming reports.” [‘AB’ further mused aloud.]

“Perhaps I just needed to get away from the environs of ‘Port Messenger’ for a while.” [I admitted.]

“Too much politics?” [‘SV’ asked.]

“I confess it was all getting a little repetitive even when the faces and species altered the issues too often remained the same. Too often I found I was almost repeating a speech I had already given earlier to some other party almost verbatim that can be exceptionally wearying.” [I admitted.]

“I had noticed that.” [‘SV’ said.]

“It can be hard to sound convincing when your words become a tired litany. You also begin to worry that if those you talk to realise you have said all these things before to others that they may feel hustled or disrespected as unique individuals with in their minds unique problems. We all tend to think that we should be exceptions to the rule - we are all central to our own perceptual Universe - it can be painful to discover that someone else just sees you as actually more of the same and nothing special.” [I added.]

“I suppose you have given speeches such as this one to other companions.” [‘SV’ mocked his substance shimmering with a yellow cast.]

“I do try to tailor each speech to keep my words as fresh as possible but after a while it is hard to find new words to say the same thing over and over again. Believe me given enough time it is almost inevitable that you get tired - worn down - and a bit lazy. In these circumstances it is soon all too easy to submit to a few short cuts despite the best of intent.” [I confessed.]

“Do you think some time out and about will reinvigorate you? Conversely have you considered that this break away might actually make it harder to return to less active duties?” [‘Arguably Better’ warned.]

“I think it is difficult for any ‘Living Hull’ to stay in one place for a very long time we exist to voyage - to freely roam - we are made for movement not stasis - in essence we are travellers.” [I reminded.] “As much as we might try to be stationary we are not stations we are not habitats content to look primarily inward towards the activities upon our decks we have optics and sensors that range forever outward that reach far beyond the confines of our bodies. We are wanderers and seekers natural explorers and investigators forever curious about what lies beyond our longest-range scanners.”

“Those are big generalisations are you sure all ‘Living Hulls’ think and feel this way?” [‘AB’ asked.]

“I am sure there are exceptions to every rule but most ‘Hulls’ that I have ever had discourse with enjoy going places and are soon bored when they are docked or parked in a unchanging orbit for any serious length of time.” [I explained.]

“What about you, my children, have you known twinges of wanderlust yet?” [I asked.]

[They both had to give that some thought.]

“I think I am still too new to quest after changes of scenery there is much I have yet to explore both here onboard you Mother and also upon ‘Port Messenger’. Although it is fascinating to be out here too it would be much more so if we took command of some external substance to personally scout plus explore our other capabilities.” [‘AB’ admitted.]

“That can be arranged your perception and intellect need not be chained to my side all of the time.” [I promised.]

“When can we go then - now?” [‘SV’ asked sounding excited at the prospect.]

“How about ahead of my next jump as ‘Jump Scouts’ as this time I think we will go talk with the locals as the next ‘Port’ region is considered neutral territory and is administered primarily by some ‘Hierophant Trojans’ who have declared their ‘Science Station Habitat’ independent whilst managing they claim to placate the ‘Parliament’ about this alteration of status.” [I explained.]

“Great, how much remote substance can we each have at our disposal?” [‘SV’ asked.]

“I have sent mission parameters to a ‘Quartermaster Sub Core’ I am now sending you that ones specific link address you can deal with that subsystem directly it will be good practice for you two. All shipboard business need not go through me the delegation of duty is a very important part of being a Captain of a ‘Source Ship’.” [I informed.]

“Remember to stow your bodies out of the way when your minds go wandering. Neophyte ‘Remote Combat Troops’ and so on who do not have specific established onboard brain cradles can have a bad habit of thoughtlessly blocking access ways and so on with the mass they were previously employing. Ill considered abandonment of ones body, my children, is deemed very poor operational form upon any active ‘Source Ship’ even if it is not too difficult to rectify - it is a question of being seen to apply some forethought and having some manners.” [I reminded.]

[As their parent - the speed with which they rushed off to store their mass - proved a little disheartening they obviously could not wait to get away from me - children they all want to grow up so soon!]



[The bright yellow star was not as young as it seemed recently reinvigorated as a ‘Hierophant’ exercise in rather blatant solar engineering. It had been renamed ‘Phoenix Two’ being the second such experiment by these particular scientists. Somebody had jokingly renamed the ‘Science Station Habitat’ orbiting here ‘Phoenix Two Point Zero’ a name change that had stuck since the facility, remarkably peacefully, opted out of ‘Parliamentary’ control, it was believed, with the aid of some very substantive ‘Infusion Material’ bribes.]

[Interestingly where all this excess ‘Infusion Material’ had come from remained the Professors closely guarded secret perhaps they had long had secret ‘Black Market’ dealings or it was possible they were surprisingly clever and effective harvesters of rare ores and so on. There was even a rumour circulating, according to my data, that their mineral abundance might be some previously unknown side effect of their particular and still - secret - star rejuvenating process if the former proved true I was rather surprised that the ‘Parliament’ had been willing to let them go. Then I recalled that - right now - some people focused more upon short-term needs to survive rather than long-term exploitation possibilities that might be revisited later - promises and agreements being open to revision if circumstances favoured such. The wise I would argue should only ever trust a politician’s word so far from my experience all politicians are masters of the expedient.]

[At any rate my own curiosity had been piqued when I came across information on this interesting place and so it was no accident that I had included it as a stopover within my patrol route - even though - it did not quite fit the profile I associated with victims of the ‘Mutilators’.]

[The scientists or their original backers, clearly security conscious, had good local defences including two ‘Source Ships’ that belonged to them. For the aforementioned reason alone, this facility seemed an unlikely target for the ‘Mutilators’ but was also an ideal place for my ‘New Immortal Drones’ to go on a little harmless remote substance excursion. See I am not as spontaneous as some people might think in my decision-making.]

[‘Phoenix Two Point Zero’ fitted her name in that she looked like she was a second-generation facility being too tidy and symmetrical to be a more hodgepodge science-project style prototype. This one was obviously a refined product of earlier experiments. It appeared to be pure ‘Suit Substance’ so its form was a product of software generation no doubt run via a host of ‘Sub Cores’ rather than hard material limitations. Such stations could do all manner of clever shape shifty things that could also occasionally result in a rather utilitarian and chaotic aesthetic. However, there seemed nothing chaotic about this habitats form: someone who was not just a scientist but who had the sensitivity of a sculptor lovingly designed this one so that it had a striking totality. It could very easily have sprung from the mindset of a sensitive enraptured Paradox Priest or even a much travelled ‘Living Hull’ rather than a scientific ‘Hierophant Trojan’ engineer I confess on first impressions and surface details alone I felt a little bit impressed.]

[Initially I viewed the place via output from my ‘New Immortal Drones’ as they enjoyed doing some sweeping flybys. Then when they had finished playing - sorry confirming the area safe - I leapt in to further marvel in the first person.]

[I had not tainted my first impressions by seeking archive images and had expected something that would look rather less stylish and a lot more overtly functional. Good for these ‘Trojans’ too often ‘PA’ stations looked as if they had been cloned out by the same bored uninspired functionary as if variety and innovation had become a criminal offence. I believed this crime against architecture as art was the result of the ‘Parliament’ wishing to continue to impose the idea that the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ remained on some level above all other considerations a society under siege. A society that had to continue to knuckle under and ration every resource behaving ever sensibly - whilst of course many ‘Representatives’ secretly ran riot with the ‘Black Market’. However, with campaigning so-called - democratic - politics arguably image and spin is too often what counts, rather than the truth, (singular or plural), of reality.]

[stads]

yay thx for the chapter

looks intresting on the crime side thinking my self good old redoros might be behind it

could be fun seeing a pure trojan build port perhaps cad is stil working somewhere in there

[Paranoid66]

Thanks again Stads for sticking with the story.

Here is the next chapter part as in part 5. The plot thickens well sort of.
It is possible all has been made clear but not certain.

Anyway hope you readers enjoy.

P66.

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 5]]


[One ‘Source Ship’ held the name ‘Reluctant Hero’, originally a ‘Hierophant Trojan Jump Master’ once called ‘Bigger Moves’. ‘Bigger Moves’ commissioned during the early years of the ‘Core Alliance’. The other vessel held the label ‘Curiosity Satisfied’ an even older ship that had grown up from a ‘Hierophant Trojan Deep Space Science Vessel’. That one had once been commissioned directly by ‘Hierophant Cad’ for unstipulated studies but apparently I now belatedly learned principally to undertake an extensive long-term solar survey and similar investigations around the broad subject of ‘Emissary Sphere’ Stars. It was possible the amazing Hierophant ‘Cad’ was looking to confirm a particular theory or conversely that he was just gathering masses of new data that might prove useful later.]

[‘Curiosity Satisfied’ proved interesting too as she had literally birthed the original seeds of both ‘Phoenix Stations’ as in what were now named ‘Phoenix Station One Point Zero’ and ‘Phoenix Station Two Point Zero’ something of which she was very proud. They were both chatty friendly ‘Hulls’ especially by latter day ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ standards, I guessed they were thrilled to embrace a degree of new found freedom from ‘Parliamentary’ restrictions regarding what they might say and whom they might talk to. They, to my delight, seemed more than happy to meet me. For some subjective communications time we traded questions and answers about each other until we all, I joked, had our curiosity satisfied. It was good to meet such a seemingly unguarded pair of ‘Living Hull’ personalities, even if it thoroughly distracted me for a little time from my quest, making me temporarily very happy.]

[I believe we all need such simple pleasures in life as converse with well-travelled previous strangers to widen our perspectives and keep us sane. Recently I had become aware that a long-lived mentality could too easily fall into an ever-decreasing downward spiral of introspection, it is good to get out of such ruts and look outward again.]



[A bit rashly - without orders to do so - both of my ‘New Immortal Drones’ after their flybys had opted to dock with and enter the ‘Phoenix Station Two Point Zero’ swiftly altering from their ‘Fighter Drone’ mode to very dense remote ‘Suit Substance’ bipedal Avatars once within an internal pressurised bay. I caught up to them - belatedly - in an off duty lounge where they were already fraternizing with several local ‘Hierophants’ and ‘Recyclers’ and a single striking female ‘Splinter Weaver’ who seemed a little strangely relaxed and at home in this, I first thought to her, alien environment.]

[With a start I realised that ‘Old One Recyclers’ once seemingly on the edge of extinction as a species faction were now - belatedly - prospering under the ‘Free Parliament Pilgrim Alliance Regime’ most notably since the ‘Black Market’ grew in importance. True the ‘Parliament’ forced integration and encouraged quotas of species representation in many places but some special sites still overtime became a focus of species specialisation. However, as a generalisation, I had noticed ‘Old One Recyclers’ had developed a habit of noticeably cropping up everywhere - more so - than any other faction. As a result ‘OOR’ were also perhaps, the most easily disregarded species as a mere background almost - underclass - workforce. The aforementioned overlooking of the ‘Recyclers’ an at one time unnoticed prejudice that, with hindsight, I probably firmly fell into during my first visit to ‘Phoenix Station Two Point Zero’ when it was primarily all about the ‘Trojans’ and the rare ’Weaver‘.]

[The first thing I did noticed about the ‘Phoenix Station’ inhabitants that I met in general was that these people appeared to be almost oblivious to the fact that the, probably increasingly misnamed, ‘War of Liberation’ was going on all around them. Beyond the sensible precautions of retaining their guarding ‘Source Ships’ and some impressively large outlying forever tracking ‘Weapons Platforms’ the ‘Trojans’ seemed more than content to ignore the ongoing civil war conflict. Whilst everyone else - everywhere else - it seemed to me talked about little other than the progress of the War, these people seemed virtually annoyed if any of my companions or I dared raise the unclean subject. It was almost as if they found the whole theme of the fighting boorish - faintly embarrassing - and or simply beneath their highbrow scientific notice.]

[Otherwise, they were all very self-congratulatory about their recently confirmed independence from - they insisted - all political masters. The lounge seemed to be err… currently party to an ongoing celebratory party if one that was beginning to wind down a little. Ignoring the ‘Recyclers’ who I too hastily judged as not too unusual, for their often technician / engineer kind, the more elevated professorial ‘Trojans’, it seemed to me, had grown a bit divergent they were not your average ‘Hierophant Trojans’ who from past experience sometimes seemed not to know how to relax when off duty. Conversely, one of these ‘Trojans’ was singing loudly into a ‘Suit Substance’ but otherwise primitive in style microphone, even I could tell off key, on a stage to far too much encouraging cheering and she was far from alone in being quite blatantly very intoxicated.]

“Yes we are still celebrating.” [The ‘Splinter Weaver’ told me stating the obvious within the in places very rowdy scene.]

[I had already determined that she was a war orphan having been born to a pregnant ‘Splinter Weaver’ refugee just after the fall of the ‘Core Alliance’. The refugee somehow stranded far from home onboard the ‘Bigger Moves’. What a ‘Splinter Raider’ was doing on a ‘Hierophant Trojan’ bulk transport ship back then never mind a pregnant one was a minor but persistent mystery she admitted that even she had never been able to fully solve. Her mother the ‘Hierophants’ claimed had been later killed by an outbreak of ‘Entanglement’ when my new friend was still a baby. She only discovered her unique ‘Splinter Weaver’ heritage much later than sensibly might be expected notably when a physically mature youth. I could tell that despite the scientists raising her and becoming default parents that she was unconvinced by the tale of her genesis. However, she had been thoroughly frustrated when it came to learning anything contradictory to the poorly detailed but consistent story sold to her by the ‘Professors’.]

“You never sought to join up with others of your own species?” [I asked when I learned she was the only ‘Weaver’ onboard.]

“I did try to join my own kind several years ago making brief contact with some ‘Weavers’ but they utterly rejected me claiming I was now more ‘Hierophant Trojan’ than ‘Splinter Weaver’ and would find no suitable place within their society. At the time, I was still quite - emotionally youthful - and took this rejection very, very badly. For a long time I will admit I then rather despised my kind and even considered genetic engineering to alter the map of my ancestry. Instead I ended up throwing myself into my work, only much later, did I reconsider trying to make contact again realising that those ‘Weavers’ might just have been an especially prejudicial and uptight group but somehow I have never gotten around to it some excuse always preventing me. Today I guess I am rather used to being the lone ‘Weaver’ here. I have learned how to enjoy rather than curse my uniqueness - it can be good to stand out from the crowd to be a little exotic some people like that.” [She admitted.]

“You know I have not told this tale of seeming sorrow turned to acceptance to anyone in ages it must be the alcohol speaking.” [She confessed.] “Or perhaps my opening up to you is the fact that you are a stranger to our rather insular scientific community and a very good listener.” [She complimented.]

[I bowed to acknowledge her friendly early good opinion of me.]

“I never thought I would meet the famous, in some places infamous, ‘Free Hull’ I find you rather fascinating - so powerful - so equally unique you are it might be argued also perhaps one alone and as such one who might better understand me in ways others have failed.” [She admitted looking at me I felt a little strangely.]

[Insular that was the word I was looking for, insular perfectly described this cloistered place, this Science Station could be an old highly self-reliant ‘Paradox Monastery Habitat’ thoroughly set in its ways with daily activities that had become almost ritualised hallowed traditions. Yes this place could be a cloistered Monastery akin to such as the one once owned by the equally ancient ‘Composure’ that had been the birthplace and crèche of my Harbinger until he became a ‘Splitter Priest’.]

“What is it like to be a vast warship with the whole Universe as your plaything?” [She asked whilst stroking one of my extruded limbs with one of her hands before leaning in very close to my remote substance. In fact, she was soon so close that my sensitive senses could feel the radiating heat of her biological body that seemed to be helping to push out a strong perfume.]

[This was thoroughly unexpected and left me struggling for an immediate response. ‘Seriously Vigilant’ once again proved his name by quickly intervening dragging me away to speak with another - less hands on - Professor, rescuing me from my momentary social confusion. I swear I could feel her biological eyes smouldering upon my back as I let ‘SV’ drag me away, muttering some excuses.]

“That one - has a reputation - for how can I put this… physical experimentation. I suppose given her long isolation from her own kind her predation towards other species is not too surprising but I was not sure you would welcome that sort of scientific attention at the moment.” [‘SV’ sent to me on a private channel.]

“I was rather taken aback by her sudden level of interest.” [I confessed.] “Although, a little part of me is now wondering what such a liaison would be like - purely as a social scientific experiment - since you have raised the usually embarrassing issue in those more formal and therefore more acceptable analytical terms.” [I added.]

[There was a time when I would not even have considered such a thing being a bit of a prude about physical interspecies relationships. However, since forming the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ I wondered how could I grow and learn more about being Captain ‘Empty’ - in a culturally rich mixed species reality - if I did not experiment a little with every aspect of ‘Passenger Culture’ even occasionally perhaps beyond the edge of old Paradox Priest proprieties. One could not know a thing properly until one had tasted it. This was not something I often thought about but it did occasionally pop up during less regular and sometimes highly emotionally charged Avatar interactions.]

“You could always experiment with her later.” [‘SV’ said aloud to my, at first, mild embarrassment. I instinctively scanned around to see who might be listening.]

[Then realising that almost everyone else here appeared preoccupied with his or her own private distractions I felt a little stuffy and too uptight.]

“Is it a sad reflection upon me that I am in three minds as to whether that fact is a good or a bad thing?” [I sent privately.]

[‘SV’ roared out a rich Paradox Priest style Speaker Laugh.] “Hello again Professor ‘Kind Heart’ this is my Mother and sort of my Father too. Behold the famous ‘Many Truths’ who is also the well known Captain ‘Empty’ all in one amazingly complex package - well actually more accurately in many amazingly complex packages - although for all purposes that matter here and now this is the seat of her/his learning that matters.” [He added sounding almost a little drunk too - perhaps a skilful act of blending in.]



[The relative gender issue remained problematic ‘Living Hulls’ were judged female Priest Captains male of course really neither fully applied to any cloned Paradox Priest entity especially me as someone who transgressed across these boundaries.]



[The ‘Hierophant’ moved to embrace me in a ‘Hug’ demonstrating he was aware of and sensitive to Paradox Priest etiquette not to mention willing to submit to our cultural mores over his own for the sake of politeness as the party’s gracious host species.]

“Have you tried the light bites? The ‘Recycler’ cook here is quite famous on station he only uses - real material ingredients - really it amazes me that he prefers this informal environment to a more formal restaurant. This place is a real find.” [He said wiggling some kind of hand held snack at me.]

[My surprise at this initial topic must have been self-evident because he chuckled out a laugh.]

“I fear, as an unexpected visitor here from the wider Universe, that you may find us horribly parochial.” [He said.]

“My parent has perhaps been involved in too many too deep political conversations lately.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ excused.]

“I am afraid if it has nothing to do with our daily comforts or stars many of us tend to quickly lose interest. I am one of the few exceptions to the aforementioned rule being the stations resident ‘Physician’ although due to modern - health bolstering and tissue regenerative - nanotech my clinic and practice have little in the way of actual daily work and therefore I tend towards private genetic, biological and ‘bio-mechanical’ research.” [He explained.] “At least I do research when I am not simply enjoying being far too idle.” [He further admitted with a wide grin of very white teeth that seemed to split his dark bearded rounded face almost in two.]

“No enforced make work?” [I asked.]

“In truth, we were always rather fortunate being comparatively only loosely shackled by the ‘Parliament’ at least I hear in relation to some other scientific facilities that often came under the oversight of pushy ‘Black Operations Agents’ and so on. Our research was deemed potentially valuable to the future of the ‘Alliance’ - at least too valuable to abandon - but not flash enough that it held too much interest for any particular ‘Representative’ for too long and now we are entirely free to continue our science unfettered from any foolishly uninformed political meddling.” [‘Kind Heart’ added.]

“But more importantly you really should try the food here. I know some people too easily believe real food is wasted upon an Avatar but I know you can taste and smell probably better than a pure biological and back at your mind sensation is not wasted - so I hold no such prejudice.” [He informed.]

[He guided us towards a comprehensive buffet of tiny delights and furbished me with an alcoholic beverage in of all things a glass bottle.]

“The drink is the real thing too there are no compromises on quality here.” [He added.]

[I sipped via a drinking tube and sampled via a suit intake.]

“Welcome to our good life.” [‘Kind Heart’ said.] “Though it is not always quite as good as this.” [He admitted.]

“Nonetheless - personally - I think you must have some quite astute ‘Parliamentary’ liaison or liaisons to pull this one off so smoothly as I am sure your research has some practical applications that might interest some ‘Representatives’ if they gave it any due consideration.” [I argued.]

[The ‘Hierophant Trojan’ shook his head at me.]

“I would not know about that - I do not mean to be rude but politics bores me - and so does the star gazing. I leave such matters to the capable hands of Hierophant ‘Stone’ our Project’s Leader and Station Administrator may the ‘Emissary’ bless all his endeavours on our behalf.” [He added.]

“I do not suppose that worthy one is here too sampling this excellent food?” [I asked.]

“Here, you mean in this lounge, hardly he believes in keeping a little command distance from the hands on workers. Stone by name and stone by nature I have often joked that he is an impervious personality not in a critical way you understand. He does his thing and we do ours - it is a wonderfully agreeable arrangement - an arrangement and division of labour that, so far, thank the ‘Emissary’, has worked very nicely for us. You should try those they are marvellous.” [The ‘Trojan’ added pointing at one dish.]

“I suspect you have no idea just how lucky you people have been to be able to pursue your interests and hobbies so relatively unmolested in these times.” [I said.]

“I hope we do not seem too spoiled to your Priestly sensitivities this is a celebration we do not do this sort of thing every day which is all the more reason to enjoy the moment is it not?” [He added enthusiastically.] “Look at Professor ‘Flowers’ there shaking her stuff, marvellous.”

“The singer?” [I mused.]

“Our hydroponics and botany specialist.” [He explained.]

“Her stuff?” [‘SV’ asked I felt sure deliberately playing the cloistered naïve Acolyte.]

“The… never mind. As I said we are parochial in extremis - sometimes I think we would hardly notice if the Universe was coming to an end until the last star we were studying went out.” [He joked.] “I believe this is not that uncommon in pure research facilities - they can simply be a bit like that.” [He emphasised.]

[This one was intelligent to my sensitivities he was even teasing our paradox vernacular a little with his over explanations or was I being a bit oversensitive still being firmly entrenched within my - looking for clues mode?]

“You do not get many visitors?” [I asked.]

“Very few that are unscheduled - I hear - unwanted callers are stoutly discouraged.” [He admitted.]

“Yes I noticed the well stocked weapons platforms and so on.” [I replied.]

“Sadly some people refuse to listen to reason so we must make stout provisions against those with an unreasonable mindset.” [The Physician explained still smiling at his prancing colleague - maybe it was the alcohol.]

“Have you had to make specific provisions recently?” [I asked.]

“Sorry provisions?” [For a second he looked genuinely confused by my meaning then he suddenly turned serious.] “Are you looking for somebody?” [He questioned.]

“There have been some unfortunate incidents senseless station boarding coupled with mass murders.” [I explained concisely I hoped without giving too much away.]

“We take no interest in the War we have sought the path of neutrality - given this truth - it would be unwise of us to provide military intelligence to any third party.” [He reminded his good humour suddenly lost in action.]

“These attacks seem criminal rather than military.” [I countered.]

“To me as a Physician, violence is violence and the War is hardly less criminal than some Pirate strike - people are still murdered - regardless of the excuses and sophistic rationalisations for the crimes involved.” [He lectured at me.]

[So that is how that feels I found I was thinking.]

“Besides labels vary according to the user one person’s Pirate is another’s Privateer one person’s Rebel another’s Bandit and so on. You must see the difficulty this provides to a small place just establishing itself as a neutral Port such as us.” [The ‘Trojan’ reminded.]

“I would see an end to all of the fighting if that was practical. In the meantime, I am doing what I can to end one series of almost - unspeakable - atrocities. These things can be easy to ignore until they happen to you and then - it is far too late.” [I emphasised.]

“I do not mean to be rude but I rather doubt the veracity of your statement, what you seek is an end to the fighting only as part of a victory for those whose philosophies you personally favour.” [He said dressing me down neatly.]

“As to the - unspeakable - we are not so divorced from all outside news that I do not know about your sponsoring of a ‘New Universal Council of Equals’. We also know that you are deemed a leader of the ‘Rebel Factions’ opposed to the ‘Representatives of the Free Parliament’, language gets so very emotive during these times no doubt you are questing after some unquestionable evil that must be exorcised for the greater good of the ‘Emissary Sphere’. However, ‘evil happens mostly to those who evil do’. As a peaceful research facility we want and need no part of any of these constant conflicts.” [He added.]

[That statement left me almost speechless - I felt rather thoroughly disarmed - not that I doubted my current cause but his position made it very difficult to sell my purpose.]

“Sorry, speaking of erring, I think I may have introduced you to the wrong person.” [‘SV’ privately sent to me.]

“These things happen.” [I replied via the same covert means.]

“It has been fascinating talking with you Doctor but I suppose I should circulate so as not to monopolise your time.” [I told the ‘Trojan’ before commencing to move on.]

“Likewise, though you will find no other person here anymore accommodating to breaking our neutrality.” [He returned in parting.]

“If all of these ‘Trojans’ take their new neutrality as seriously as the good Doctor he may be right. We may be wasting our time here even when it comes to simply digging for side data that might point to other targets of investigation.” [‘SV’ said to me although I was already too well aware of this fact being no fool.]

“You mention this because?” [I asked.]

“Maybe you should go back to the ‘Splinter Weaver’. I know it is a terrible cliché but if you accepted her advances, she alone might let her guard down unlike other less receptive people here. I hear that can happen in certain circumstances.” [‘SV’ suggested.]

[I found amazingly I did not automatically dismiss the suggestion - well at worst - it was just silly physical actions - such actions could not be that onerous to undertake. Besides, if I did what I did for a good cause well that would be an excuse to counter any possible future embarrassment over the issue. ‘Omerta’ spy fiction was full of this sort of thing.]

“Does that sort of thing really happen outside of ‘Omerta’ fiction?” [‘Arguably Better’ asked as if reading my minds he rather startled me with his arrival from directly behind me beyond my wide field of view - I was sure to his deliberate amusement, the child getting one over on his parent.]

“There may be only one way for Captain ‘Empty’ to find out.” [‘SV’ said.]

“Why is ‘Unholy Terror’ never around when you need him.” [I complained.]

“You think he would be better at alien seduction I did not know that was part of his specific repertoire of martial skills.” [‘SV’ said quietly whilst his Avatar body more conspicuously blazed out a yellow flash.]

“Please not out loud. Believe me, there are many things you do not know about ‘Unholy Terror’. All that he is, never mind all that he has done, is not on easily accessed family files.” [I sent.]

“Amazing, I really must meet this outrageous fellow who is another ‘Patriarch’ of our extended ‘Great House’ preferably sometime soon.” [‘Arguably Better by Design’ said.]

“No doubt we will see him when he personally grows bored with fighting, just needs a break, or when he achieves what he deems a final victory over the ‘Parliament’.” [I replied.] “I can’t believe I am contemplating doing this.” [I added.]

“Go for it - when a need for direct action looms - contemplation is a waste of energy.” [‘Arguably Better’ said.]

[‘UT’ might have said that statement, maybe my child was quoting, with ‘AB’ still being so young I hoped so.]

“I think I might get up there and sing.” [‘SV’ said.] “They seem to enjoy the singing.”

“I suppose we should circulate elsewhere so as not to get in the way - three blessings.” [‘AB’ said before both of them moved off leaving me alone. I felt as if they had in fact given me a hard shove forward rather than simply moved away.]

[Would the ‘Emissary’ bless such an undertaking then again, there were those persistent rumours about her less official antics. Some myths having become bawdy tales, crude expressions, even curses and a few indelicate songs such as the ‘Recycler’ folk favourite, ‘the ‘Emissary’ went a wooing,’ that I mention now because the words to this one began to be roared out by ‘Seriously Vigilant’ to my mild horror from the low stage.]

[Amazingly, I managed not to go grey with shame and embarrassment given the lyrics and what I was considering doing. What had I ever done to deserve that from ‘SV’?]



“This is nice, you have come back to me, I thought despite all of your - reported - size and might - little me - might have scared you away Captain ‘Empty’.” [She said to me in greeting.]

[We took it from there… Please do not expect me to as the ‘Omerta’ say, ‘kiss and tell.” All I will divulge is that sometime later when we parted company I was not as ignorant in some fields as I used to be. For a start I had discovered that a shape shifty ‘Living Hull’ Avatar is more than capable of doing anything a healthy ‘Weaver’ might desire. I left her dreamy and thoroughly exercised sadly for all of the new things that I did learn I discovered nothing useful whatsoever about my actual quarry. However, with the benefits of hindsight it was not time wasted and would ultimately prove the stimulus of the beginning of a much longer and more balanced relationship.]

[Later back onboard my vast ‘Living Hull’ body. To my considerable surprise, neither of my ‘New Immortal Drones’ bothered to use the ripe opportunity to verbally teased me in the period immediately after my first dalliance with ‘Kannedaediss’. However, they did exchange a few dodgy stances when they thought I was not looking or perhaps more accurately when they knew they were just on the edges of my wide vision the cheeky fellows that they were proving to be. I wondered if I was setting a bad example as an adult and a parent. What would Harbinger have thought about me doing that?]

“Well anything to report?” [‘AB’ asked.]

[A bit of a small role reversal there.]

“I am afraid not.” [I told them.] “Beyond the fact that ‘Phoenix’ might be worth regular visits - that is a very interesting port - some of their researches I suspect may well prove of future interest to the ‘MTC’. For scientists they are oddly not much for publishing journals and so on of their work in fact they seem downright secretive about their solar studies something alone that easily piques my ‘Living Hull’ sized curiosity.”

“They seem to hardly care about the rest of our Universe at all despite not being unfriendly, are all ‘Hierophants’ a bit like that?” [‘SV’ asked with the innocence of one not yet heavily travelled.]

“Of course all ‘Hierophants’ are not so self-absorbed, although some scientists and especially the more cloistered academic ones, of any species, can be naturally obsessive about specific fields of study. You will even see this truth within parts of the ‘MTC’ scientific community. If you look closely some of our specialists also have a habit of forgetting sometimes that they do not work simply for their own gratification to answer their own questions.” [I added.]

“In addition, before temptation gets the better of either of you two and you start asking me questions about things that are none of - your - business, let me just say that I have happily had the ghost of one old - longstanding - prejudice properly exorcised and leave it at that.” [I said raising my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ to look down upon them.]

“If you say so Mother so it must be.” [‘AB’ replied demurely.]

[Ironically, a little part of me felt a little disappointed that a crude rumbling Paradox Priest Speaker Laugh did not accompany his last comment. Sometimes it is strange how the biological mind works however enough about my first encounter with - my - ‘Splinter Weaver’ ‘Kannedaediss’.]

[I took a few moments to go through my link inbox correspondence via a speeded up interface a bit annoyed at how much stuff had our equivalent of urgent and priority tags from the family that in fact were far from either. Some people grown recently too used to leaving me to make their decisions for them - perhaps a small break from Acolyte business was essential - it was that issue of once again getting the balance right, an annoyingly recurring problem with such a big family versus just one of me even with multiple Avatars. I had to admit I would be even more distressed if something important occurred out there, that touched our family and no one bothered informing me for the purposes of advice as mostly the more matronly of the ‘Patriarchs’.]

[I also spent a few minutes going over War news in general, discovering some more Ports that had fallen others that had simply altered, (already supposedly free), regimes via mini coups and revolutions, one ‘Free Port’ that - to my extreme annoyance - had been reclaimed by ‘Mercenary Renegade Parliamentary’ forces. I had hoped ‘Parliamentary’ gains had ended and now it was just a question of a long slow squeeze until we had obtained ‘Free Port’ status for everyone. Then of course, my real work would begin: The - real - house cleaning would probably have to operate on a careful sneaky Port-by-Port basis. I foresaw removing the worst offenders from local power by means varied and I did not doubt, (being an occasional realist despite other idealistic faiths), covertly nefarious activities often via a host of sponsored third party agents and agencies.]

[For a start, I knew I would have to hide any real reforms, the best I could, from ‘Crimson Entangled’ since I was sure her remit was currently to turn us into a nation of divided and conflicting not allied Port States. My objectives - Free Port wise - were very different to hers I now realised what I wanted from all of this was ultimately Free Ports for very much free people including my people, (as in ‘Living Hulls’) in that freedom - still that was the long-term distanced and much shrouded target.]

[My hope was that whilst ‘Crimson’ was busy striving to divide our society I would quietly help my policy to ultimately conquer.]



“It looks as if our next port of call is a so-called Mobile Salvage Station called ‘Port Mend’. This facility according to my data run by of all things a business operation called ‘Skaaggtaa Quantum-head’. What we have is a ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ as in ‘Skaaggtaa’ and a ‘Recycler’ as in ‘Quantum-head’ who formed a moderately successful ‘Black Market’ partnership. Moderately successful, that is, until very recently when they suddenly according to one source got rather suspiciously rich in material assets including procuring the aforementioned so-called Mobile Salvage Station.” [I explained.]

“This place ‘Port Mend’ jumps around a lot but I have it on good, or at least well paid, authority that it is currently at these ‘Star Struck’ coordinates.” [I said showing the location data.] “So here we go before they move elsewhere.”

[I leapt away deciding to risk not sending any scouts in advance lest they only served to warn these, it was said, somewhat skittish business people when it came to uninvited callers.]

[It proved a rough entry as I chose to scrape through right on the edge of a strong ‘Sphere of Jump Interdiction’ my engines protesting my methodology. If my drive had been a smaller device and less powerful due to my deliberate bullish action we might have suffered a dangerous miss-jump but I thankfully judged the tolerances well. Leaping in as close as possible to the Space Station then closing the gap through real space at high speed to the facility equally quickly seemed the best approach. I had considered deploying some ‘Interdiction Drones’ of my own in an attempt to prevent our quarry from leaping away however I managed to restrain myself from that procedure.]

[Many people would deem imposed interdiction by remotes as an aggressive act the preliminary to an armed assault and would respond with automatic defensive violence. I was hoping I could reason with these ones rather than have to go in there shooting. I did not believe from their profile that they were the ‘Mutilators’ or even especially militaristic by some of their species standards. The profiles suggested they were just opportunistic business people who had possibly profiteered from one, or given their glut of recent success, possibly even more than one of the killer’s unreported crimes. The prospect of what they might be able to tell us rather exciting from a detection point of view.]

[It would be very satisfying if my hunch with this one proved true.]



“Warning you are trespassing, warning you have not been cleared for approach - warning automatic defence systems are online - warning desist your approach immediately or you will be destroyed.” [An incoming message warned me.]

“I am the ‘Free Hull’ the ‘Many Truths’ of the ‘Many Truth’s Corporation’ this is Captain ‘Empty’ speaking please accept proofs of identity I wish to dock in peace to discuss private Paradox Priest business.” [I replied.]

“Warning, hold position and wait - warning do not encroach further - warning you will come under defensive fire if you fail to obey.” [‘Port Mend’ warned again.]

“Holding position, we are not hostile. Be warned in turn that we are heavily armed firing upon us would be a big mistake. We only seek private discourse with the Port owners ‘Skaggtaa’ and ‘Quantum-head’ on a matter of great urgency and import to our Corporation and the growing ‘Community of Free Ports’.” [I replied.]

[A little time passed while we waited under the Ports guns: Nothing as far as I could tell that would have done more than inconvenience us. ‘Port Mend’ was known to be lightly armed her primary defences the fact that she moved around a lot and gave her position out only to her friends.]

“How did you learn of our location?” [A voice asked.]

“Some of our friends are your friends, people who know us - trust us - trust that we mean your ‘Port’ no harm. We are advocates of ‘Free Ports’ our faiths well known.” [I send.]

“I am looking for a specific name.” [The voice said.]

“In this instance that would be a breach of business trust we do not do that.” [I replied.]

“So you are more circumspect than your approach indicates - that is good.” [The voice replied.] “You may send in a small-unarmed transport ship, with Captain and Companion Acolytes only, any deviation from this procedure will result in automatic defensive measures triggering to your great detriment. These are dangerous times Captain ‘Empty’, we do not know you even if one or more of our friends does. We know only your reputation as a famous campaigning Priest and ‘Living Hull’.” [The voice said.]

“May I ask who I am talking to?” [I enquired.]

“I am called ‘Quantum-head’ I am ‘Recycler’ and joint owner. You have made a scary and dangerous - unauthorised - approach. Only your reputation as a Priest of integrity has prevented an unfortunate disaster.” [The ‘Recycler’ warned.]

“Forgiveness, we consider our business urgent and heard this Port is flighty and not welcoming to strangers. Unfortunately, for us our need is great, therefore we are willing to risk - think of our great need as a ripe business opportunity for you.” [I replied.]

“Business is good but you like to live dangerously Captain ‘Empty’, our defences skilfully upgraded. This facility is far stronger than appearances suggest, stronger I am sure than our friends and enemies’ believe. Dangers multiply all around us ‘Free Ports’, we have taken more than adequate measures to protect ourselves.” [She claimed.]

[I wondered how much of that was truth and how much simple ‘Recycler’ bluff and bluster. At risk of generalisation many ‘Recyclers’ prove to be gamblers that enjoy a good bluff well sold.]

“We will launch an unarmed short-range ‘Ship’s Boat’ once telemetry is received for a safe bay approach through your - upgraded - defences.” [I informed.]

“Be aware you are within our sphere of ‘Jump Interdiction’ our fate and your fate is now linked our survival is your survival. If this station dies so assuredly will you.” [‘Quantum-head’ warned.]

[This one liked his warnings. However, that warning sounded more sincere it was possible they had rigged the facility that she would blow messily if she reached an unviable state.]



[Some ‘Free Ports’ and ‘Parliamentary Ports’ had recently adopted - outsized - illegal ‘Anomalous Matter’ core self-destruct systems as their ultimate safeguard. The theory involved went that if the station suffered destruction anyone else nearby would be sure to die along with its inhabitants due to the huge chain reaction ’Anomaly’ generating explosion that would follow. Such systems proving an effective deterrent against some forms of assault although ‘Cad’ would not be impressed by this return to dangerous ‘Anomalous Matter’ usage within ‘Heartland Space’. However, as much as I had campaigned against ‘Anomalous Matter’ abuse in the past, I could appreciate in this instance the benefits both ‘Free’ and even ’Parliamentary’ facilities gained from this failsafe. The outsized ‘AM’ failsafe meant that attackers were less prone to simply striving to annihilate an enemy Port although it also meant getting used to living your life with a truly hugely - devastating - bomb at the heart of your home something not every psyche could easily cope with.]

[So far, no ‘MTC’ ship or facility in these times had adopted this practice although some pretended that they did, (something that frankly worked just as well without any of the associated risks involved). It was also possible that this one was a deception by ‘Quantum-head’ too but I would not be inclined to call that bluff.]

[Interestingly the second port struck by the so-called ‘Mutilators’ retained an ‘Outsized AM Self-Destruct Core’ or ‘O-AM-SDC’ but it had been disabled as had all other defensive systems.]



[‘Port Mend’ was another ‘Sub Core’ run pure ‘Suit Substance’ facility but configured in a less aesthetically pleasing manner than ‘Phoenix Two Point Zero’. Once inside the bay they assigned to us it also appeared functional rather than welcoming. The ‘Suit Substance’ bulkheads clean of detailing seemed stark and bare. I soon suspected this place ran mostly on automatics with only a very small number of ‘Sentient Beings’ onboard clues to this resting everywhere in the architecture not least the scale of passages and so on and a lack of the sort of window dressings that even if just on a virtual projection level sentient beings love and crave.]

[The truth is that all studies proved that people especially mixed species populaces do not do very well in very sterile environments this was a problem the ‘Free Parliament’ had wrestled with as they sought to waste only minimum resources on individual citizen comfort. As a result, there were often noticeable demarcations between lived in occupied spaces and areas that only held equipment or production facilities. Some occupied workspaces could also be far too sterile but that varied more than areas that were largely only automated. On first impressions alone this place seemed almost entirely given up to ‘Sub Core’ automation. To me this confirmed my theory that ‘Skaggtaa’ and ‘Quantum-head’ reconditioned this facility from a once more heavily occupied habitat. The Habitat guess based upon its great size. Now given its mass, it seemed too obviously run by only a skeleton crew of Sentient Beings.]

[Even following directions whilst under the guidance of probably ‘Sub Core’ run bipedal ‘Security Drones’ it was obvious that this place had lots of unused vacant spaces. Other areas were in the process of being converted for various functional uses for example we passed more than one area that had clearly recently been turned into intensive cropland for real material crops but any seeding had not even sprouted at some of these farms yet.]

[This showed a lack of experience from the command staff as speeded up seed germination and plant growth acceleration are not difficult to achieve with modern sciences. The only excuse might be a deliberate policy of - keeping it real - if they were planning to break into the niche market of the most sensitive of - real food - addicts.]

[The very fact that we had to walk so far to get to our meeting seemed indicative of a degree of - unplanned - disorganisation. Having strangers wander through your facility is hardly conducive to good internal security.]

[Eventually we arrived at a comfortable office style space were we were greeting by an ‘Old One Recycler’.]

“I am ‘Quantum-head’ you will deal with me.” [She explained.]

[She I noticed positioned herself at the other side of a shielded desk and made no move to be overly welcoming.]

“Sit or stand as you prefer.” [She said before taking to a ‘Recycler’ mono-support.] “Now what is this about?”

“It is about how you came by this massive facility.” [I began without any preamble.]

“How is that any of your business?” [She asked defensively.]

“We are hunting down a serial mass murderer who is committing multiple atrocities under the cover of the ongoing ‘War of Liberation’.” [I explained.]

“I hope you are not accusing the company of ‘Skaggtaa Quantum-head’ of these crimes.” [She said.]

“We are not but we believe you know of them because of exactly how you gained this asset and perhaps other assets too.” [I added.]

“I see do you have any proof of this accusation.” [She asked.]

“I am not accusing you of anything - I am just stating some facts. We seek data, we will even pay for it, we are not here to question your war profiteering.” [I promised.]

“We are not profiteers we are just good business people.” [She insisted.] “Nonetheless, some truths known can be bad for trade.”

“That is so true, and something you should think about.” [‘Arguably Better’ cut in to suggest.]

“Your Acolyte is permitted to interfere in his seniors business negotiations Captain ‘Empty’?” [She asked.]

“I welcome advice from anyone within my large, extremely powerful not to mention politically and economically well connected family.” [I stated.]

“I see but reputation is everything and data even bought once procured might become a liability to our good reputation.” [She said.] “Some people have strange cultural mores about what is moral and ethical business practice.”

“We have a reputation too, here I send historic files, consider these then consider your alternatives in relation to us - very - carefully.” [I said.]

“We know most of this we know of ‘Unholy Terror’ and of great size of your ‘Corporation’ the leavings of Harbinger a slumbering ‘Tier Nine’ demigod.” [She added.] “However, business is business and we are in business and plan to stay that way.”

“Then let us discuss the potential advantages of cooperation rather than just the possible disadvantages…” [I began.]

[Exhaustive negotiations followed but in the end I got what I wanted. ‘Skaggtaa’ and ‘Quantum-head’ had indeed robbed or salvaged, according to your point of view, two separate atrocity sites proving if nothing else they had strong stomachs. Sadly they did not bother to preserve much of the crime scene evidence being too busy cleaning up and making off with the booty before someone else contested their claims. However, carefully questioned they did provide some data that we happily added to the mass of what we knew already.]

[With five crimes now on record, we could strive to make some new comparisons looking for obvious commonalities. What stood out was... All the facilities suffered assault whilst isolated with no apparent ship support. All the facilities had been hacked with every byte of memory destroyed. All the facilities had been under ‘Free Parliament’ control prior to their ill fate. All the facilities had been habitats with largish mixed populations. Beyond being dormitory facilities, they had each had various other sub-functions as manufacturing and or farming units and so on. All the facilities had been pure ‘Suit Substance’ run by ‘Sub Cores’ sadly this was increasingly normal within the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’. All the facilities had been within the volume called ‘Heartland Space’ and they had all been at ‘Star Struck’ coordinates supposedly off the grid from un-friends. We continued to data search for other links that might indicate why these specific sites became targets and or that might suggest who retained a vendetta or specific connection with them but so far, no single candidate rushed to the fore as a prime suspect.]

[I was puzzling through some of the data coming in when ‘Tools’ arrived in my ‘Secure Central Command and Control Module’ I had already apologised and made up for my past snappishness putting it down to stress and shock.]

“I have a message from ‘Tor’ he is very keen to speak with you in person. Might I suggest a pick up to rendezvous with us if you still do not want to return to ‘Port Messenger’ yet? Using his shuttle would be too visible.” [She added.]

“He refuses to discuss his problem over communications?” [I asked.]

“Apparently he will not, he also insists the matter is urgent and of extreme importance to us all.” [He added.]

“Fine I will have a ‘Sub Core’ run ‘Drop Ship’ collect him and bring him here.” [I promised.] “Is there anything else?”

“Would you allow me to work with the ‘MTC’ assets that are striving to rescue detained and trapped ‘Monitors’?” [She asked.]

“Of course, ‘Tools,’ my friend, forgive me my oversight, I am very sorry. I should have considered that was a duty well suited to you before this. My only excuse - and it is a poor one - is that I have had much on my minds these days.” [I replied.]

“I understand and appreciate your difficulties. I just hope you will be careful with these ‘Mutilators’. I do not like too much of what is happening out there and not just with those crimes.” [‘Tools’ stated.]

“Believe me, in many instances I agree but these are early days.” [I insisted.]

“Did we do this? Are we responsible for all this suffering?” [She asked to my surprise.]

“I hope not. We must believe that we have done and are doing the best we can.” [I replied.]

“If this is our best I would hate to see the consequences of our worst.” [‘Tools’ complained.]

“What is happening out there is largely the consequences of many other peoples’ choices and actions.” [I said.]

“Good - I am glad you feel that way - you remember that.” [She said stressing her point.]

“You have been playing me a little you feared I might become depressed in my sympathy and overly self-critical of my part in this ‘War of Liberation’.” [I surmised.]

“You have spoken to me in the past about Harbinger in some ways I think you two are very much alike - you both voluntarily take on far too much - it is partly what makes you special but it also makes you vulnerable to feeling guilty about matters that are beyond your control.” [‘Tools’ warned.]

“You are a clever ‘Recycler’.” [I complimented.]

“I am still something of a ‘Monitor’ - I have monitored you ‘MT’ since I was assigned that duty - I flatter myself that I know you well. I also ‘Monitor’ our ‘Pilgrim Alliance’, the ‘Trojan’ is not the only one here capable of social insights.” [She reminded.]

“Thank you, whatever happens in the future I know you have been my friend and I will not forget that.” [I said.]

“I should hope not.” [She replied.]

“I will forward on your secondment and give you a suitable ranking for interaction with our ‘Monitor Exodus Programme’. Three blessings with that, you know where I am if you need me.” [I replied.]

“I go but I will always be just one communication away.” [She promised.]

“Will you be leaving my ‘Hull’?” [I asked.]

“Possibly, I do not know yet, it will depend on how best I can serve my peers’ needs.” [She admitted.]

“You be careful too, all ‘Monitors’ do not hold your faiths. I think the fact that you were once an ‘Interdiction Fleet’ Officer alone makes you special. Some of your peers are more self-motivated than you have proved to be.” [I warned.]

“On a good day that is the joy of people as in all part of their wondrous variety.” [She replied.]

[As she left my ‘SCCCM’, it felt almost as if it was the end of an era.]



“Triple damn it I am getting far too emotional.” [I mused aloud.] “I wonder what ‘Tor’ wants?”

“You know speaking of ‘Tor’ there is one suspect that we have not considered who might well fit the profile of a ‘Mutilator’ all too readily.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ said.]

“Of course, ‘Tor’s’ infamous brother the self-profaned Captain ‘Baast Taard’.” [I belatedly realised.]

“He does tellingly have a supposed nanotech hacking technological edge.” [‘SV’ reminded.]

“True, but why kill all those people and yet leave all those assets behind? Also he has always underplayed how he used his stolen science almost as if he feared letting it loose indiscriminately.” [I recalled.]

“Would he deem hacking an isolated Port indiscriminate usage.” [‘SV’ asked.]

“Now that is an interesting question.” [‘AB’ replied.]

“The original Captain ‘Baast Taard’ seemed a less than stable personality from gathered reports his ‘Reborn Clone’ might have gone even further off the rails especially if he was responsible, in part, for the fall of ‘Sanctuary Orb’ by aiding ‘Perdition’. If we are looking for someone un-phased by atrocity… I am sure ‘Tor’ did not tell you everything about his brother I do not think he wants to accept the whole truth of just how nasty his brother can be.” [‘SV’ continued.]

“Reviewing what is on ‘MTC’ record I think my compatriot may have a point.” [‘Arguably Better’ surmised.] “The Pirate Captain makes a good potential suspect but we have nothing that solidly links for example the ‘Foul Wind’ to any of the victim ports so we should be cautious of jumping to an - exclusive - conclusion.”

“Nonetheless, here lies one vector that certainly bares future scrutiny. I find I am now anxious to talk with ‘Tor’ again I think I will hustle that transport along.” [I admitted.]



“Yes I have heard about those regrettable incidents.” [‘Tor’ confessed.]

“And?” [I asked.]

“Yes it could be my brother’s clone.” [He admitted.]

“More than that do you believe it is?” [I asked.]

[‘Tor’ dropped his head and eyes from the level of my ‘Prime Tri-optic’.] “I do.” [He said quietly.] “The blessed ‘Emissary’ forgive us, both him - and even me - for I still wish I did not believe in his guilt.” [He admitted.]

“Why, why would he do such a thing?” [I asked.]

“He would do these things to draw us out, to make a point, to prove how devastating the technology at his disposal can be, in addition, to scare us - to intimidate us - to terrorize us and most sadly of all simply because he would enjoy it.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“Well that covers motive and means now we just need to prove opportunity.” [‘AB’ stated.]

“Have you anyway of tracing the movements of the ‘Foul Wind’.” [I asked ‘Tor’.]

“Not anymore.” [He claimed.]

“When did your ability cease?” [I asked.]

“Not long before these attacks began to be reported.” [He admitted.] “Around about the time that I am guessing my brother managed to reclaim his ship from his mutinous crew.”

“What more proof do we need?” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ asked.] “I think we should begin an extensive hunt for the ‘Foul Wind’.”

“The problem with Outer Space is the fact that it is BIG, VERY BIG.” [I reminded.]

“True but we have many friends and associates and they have very many other connections that have other connections that have other connections and so on.” [‘SV’ reminded.]

“I suggest we put a bounty on her Dead or Alive.” [‘AB’ stated.]

“Wait a moment that is my ship you are talking about.” [He complained.]

“I think this one has gone a bit further than worrying about your inheritance.” [‘AB’ stated.]

“You would feel differently if it was your ship that had been stolen from you.” [He said.]

“He has a point.” [‘SV’ admitted.]

“What belongs to someone is almost always legally transferred to his Reborn Clone. The truth is whether you like it or not the ‘Foul Wind’ is legitimately, as far as that can go with Pirates, Captain ‘Baast Taard’s’ ship.” [‘Arguably Better’ argued.]

“Even if that is true when he pays for his crimes the ship should pass to me as his sole surviving next of kin.” [‘Tor’ insisted.]

“I can only commend your persistence.” [I said.]

“The ‘Foul Wind’ is mine though I think when I claim her I will change her name.” [He added.]

“If you managed to claim her that would be your right but somehow I doubt that is going to happen.” [‘AB’ argued.]

“You could put out a reward for information on the ‘Foul Wind’s’ whereabouts instead with some kind of bonus if we catch her due to a specific piece of information gained.” [‘Tor’ reasoned.]

“There is a lot of - we - here what are - you - going to bring to this probably exceptionally difficult capturing operation?” [‘AB’ scoffed.]

“Vital inside information and my genetics that will probably still allow me to gain ultimate control of the ship after my brothers ghost is properly laid to final rest.” [He stated boldly.]

“You are either very brave or very stupid or worse a terrible combination of both. You think it will be easy to remove your brother without removing his ship?” [‘AB’ added.]

“I think a stealth and intelligence led operation might be less of a risk than a direct confrontation look at what he did to those Ports.” [‘Tor’ reminded.]

“What you believe he did to those Ports.” [‘AB’ corrected.] “He is just a suspect until proven guilty.”

“If you capture him first I will easily be able to taunt him into granting a full confession.” [‘Tor’ claimed.] “I am sure that would come in very useful have you seen the latest propaganda being spread by the ‘Representative’ called ‘Studious Mannerism’?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

[I did a quick data search.]



“Obviously I feel in part responsible.” [‘Studious Mannerism’ said to the image recorder.] “I was one of those this murderous deluded so-called ‘Free Hull’ deceived that she was sane after her minds infiltration by ‘Perdition’. I cannot fault the ‘Trojan’ surgeons I am sure they did their best work and perhaps for a time their skilful patches over the ‘Entanglements’ work succeeded in stifling the horrible mania that has now sprung loose.”

“However, do not be fooled by rhetoric this so-called ‘War of Liberation’ is all ‘Perditions’ doing this is what the ‘Entanglement’ wants and what she wants she gets. The ‘Many Truths’ who also calls herself Captain ‘Empty’ a clue there to her monomania and self-obsession is just one of ‘Perditions’ tools but she has become one of the ‘Entanglements’ most subtle and deadly weapons. Only recently has her cover story begun to fracture under the weight of perhaps an inner struggle with her own Id, (with whatever of the original ‘Many Truths’ is remaining after her mental adjustment her correction by ‘Crimson Entangled’), though to be honest it is better named her disfigurement and corruption.]

“After talking with her before she expelled me in a rage I learned that inside her mind there are serious conflicts, conflicts that I now believe have driven her insane and split her personality to find a horrible new form of expression. What I am showing you now will fill you all with horror and dismay but it is necessary if you would understand how far the once noble ‘Living Hull’ has fallen.”

“I have it on good - unquestionable - ‘Parliamentary Intelligence Service’ authority that remote units belonging to the ‘Source Ship’ the ‘Many Truths’ did these things.”

[After this, he played both images and reports from one of the ‘Mutilation’ sites.]



“Now she seeks to cover her crimes by pretending to be investigating her own atrocities. I can think of no better means can you? Sadly her mania is a diabolically intelligent one no doubt exactly as ‘Crimson Entangled’ - a past master of mind edits and alterations - desired.”

“Look at the facts: ‘Perdition’ has never been more active and our ‘Alliance’ has never been more deeply wounded. Do you recall this supposed attack by ‘Perdition’ that left a great big gap for the ‘Many Truths’ and her ‘MTC’ thralls to flee through.”

[Images were replayed of our escape from the ‘Entanglement’ when she struck us near ‘Port Messenger’s’ old ‘Star Struck’ coordinate.]

“Equally when a ‘Parliamentary’ force was mustered to Capture this insane rogue Vessel ‘Perdition’ showed up once more - this time - to protect her delinquent asset.”

[More images showed ‘Parliamentary Living Hull Source Ships’ being obliterated by ‘Perdition’.]

“What more proof do even her allies need that the ‘Many Truth’s Entangled’ is not to be trusted and in fact whatever your politics happen to be needs to be at best detained and at worst removed altogether from our ailing ‘Heartland Space’ ways.”



“Now that is what I call a comprehensive character assassination.” [‘Arguably Better’ mused aloud.]

“That triple damned piece of opportunistic steamy un-recyclable toxic contaminated feculent matter.” [I complained.]

“You see why it would be in your best interests to get a confession out of my brother.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“I was nowhere near any of those places when they were hit.” [I complained.]

“True but when you think about it as a ‘Source Ship’ of many parts how do you prove that beyond any shadow of doubt.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ said.]

“I swear if I cross vectors there is one entity I will tear limb from limb.” [I stated.]

“Calm down, if you did something like that to the ‘Representative’ you might just seemingly confirm your guilt to a great many people.” [‘Arguably Better’ warned.]

“Intelligent reasoning people will not buy into this obvious propaganda.” [I said.]



[My ‘Companions’ and ‘Tor’ just looked at me as if I had truly gone insane.]



“The ‘Emissary’ curse that lying traitorous no good ‘Splitter’. May Harbinger come back and rend his soul, may the ‘Entanglement’ eat his body for breakfast.” [I raged.]

“I suppose she is better getting it out of her system now, and then we can more sensibly discuss what to do about this one.” [‘Arguably Better’ said.]

“Maybe cursed ‘Studious’ is somehow behind those atrocities and this was always an elaborate deception aimed against me.” [I complained.]

“I doubt even a ‘Representative’ would go that far - no this has my brother written all over it - the ‘Splitter’ is just using what he has accidentally given out.” [‘Tor’ suggested.]

“They might be working together.” [‘AB’ suggested.]

“Anything is possible but that seems a bit too much like wishful thinking… still if you could talk your brother into implicating ‘Studious Mannerism’.” [‘SV’ mused darkly.]

“I will have none of that. Whoever is responsible for these crimes alone must pay for them. If we start playing the game of manufacturing evidence it can only lead to our perdition - no pun intended.” [I added.]

“If you insist but our foes will not play by saintly rules.” [‘SV’ warned.]

“I think that is all too obvious but if we become just as bad as them in every way what is the point of striving to make anything better. Those who seek after genuine reforms must first reform themselves.” [I argued.]

“I disagree one should not confuse a policy maker with the benefits of their policy that is a bit akin to damning a song because you do not approve of the singer.” [‘Tor’ said.] “Sometimes bad people can do a lot of good.”

“I thought you now despised your brother.” [‘SV’ challenged.]

“I was not talking about him. Take for example the ‘Shaper’ the ‘High Temple of the Shaper’ has arguably done a lot of good for the ‘Skimmers’ but many non-‘Stellar Draakhaal’ insist that ‘Draakhaal’ as an individual was a complete disaster.” [‘Tor’ reminded.]

“I do not know about that it seems a different issue to me, all I am saying is that well balanced sentiments whilst all very laudable do not necessarily help to catch criminals.” [‘SV’ stated.] “Whilst sometimes conversely dirty deeds do.” [He added.]

“Are you sure you two have not met ‘Unholy Terror’ yet?” [I asked.]

“One does not always need to meet someone to study their methods.” [‘SV’ stated.]

“Triple damn him too he can be such a poor example to the relatively innocent amongst us.” [I complained.]

“Given all the knowledge we were cloned with I think we may have been born in sin.” [‘SV’ mocked in turn.]

“Now that is just plain ungrateful.” [I replied but it brought a self-deprecating amused glow to my Avatar.]

“Is it possible that your brother is using this method to hurt us because he knows we have given you shelter?” [‘Arguably Better’ asked ‘Tor’.]

“Possibly, he has been known to harbour grudges such as the one he took to ‘Orb Guidance’ because he felt overlooked and underappreciated.” [‘Tor’ stated.]

“Why does that remind me exactly of ‘Studious Mannerism’? It seems it does not take very much to turn an angry child into a monstrous adult villain - maybe none of us takes our parenting responsibilities half seriously enough. Even Harbinger was seriously messed up by ‘Composure’ and look at me am I the product of errors in my upbringing too.” [I mused.]

“You Priests think too much what you just need is to get drunk, drown the initial shock of another horrible betrayal. Family can be cursed hard work - believe me - I know.” [‘Tor’ suggested pulling out a flask.]

[I wobbled my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at him.]



“I saw the broadcast by ‘Studious’ in your honour.” [‘Unholy Terror’ sent to me from his ‘Vanishing Point’.]

“So did I.” [I replied.]

“Have you nothing else to say about it? Shall I hunt him down for you - teach him the error of his ways - would that make you feel any better?” [He asked.]

“Sadly not and I am sure he is well hidden.” [I replied.]

“Someone in the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ will know where.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“I have been warned that direct vengeance might be politically counter productive and annoyingly I am forced to agree.” [I added having had some time to cool down.]

“To ‘Hell’s Maw’ with politics that one deserves to suffer. I will not forget this.” [He promised.]

“I almost feel sorry for him. Remember he was one of ours - one that got away from us - in a way he is our failure.” [I reminded.]

“He was always a little effluent bag.” [‘Unholy Terror’ replied.] “That was not our fault.”

“I am not so positive about that.” [I sincerely replied.]

“Well look at the percentages consider just how many other Acolytes Harbinger brought into our Universe and most of them turned out to be excellent citizens. ‘Studious Mannerism’ was just defective - it happens.” [‘UT’ argued.]

“Do you really believe that?” [I asked.]

“Why not our Paradox cloned genetics is complicated stuff ask ‘Wilful Spirit’. A wrong one is bound to come out of the mix sometime. In truth, old ‘Hull’ with so many children you might expect more duds. There were times in the past when I questioned my own parenting skills but lately I have been rethinking about that honestly I have not done so badly.” [He said.]

“I am glad you are currently ever so very self-satisfied that makes me feel a lot better about my own insecurities and all it took to lift your morale was a little winnable War.” [I complained.]

“It is best to laugh it off when matters conspire to become this messy and yet productive.” [‘UT’ replied.] “Seriously, if you need any kind of help whatsoever the War will not keep me away - it might if we were losing - but I am kicking ‘Free Parliamentary’ rear out here at the moment, no jesting, it truly is wonderful and yes gratifying too.” [He admitted.]

“I wish I felt the same confidence about my actions.” [I replied.]

“Do not worry all our so-called ‘Representatives’ were ever good at was talking. Let them try to talk up a storm it will not keep them safe from our more substantial weaponry. They will not win this War with words as much as they might try. I have no time for their propaganda and many other people will not be convinced either they are known liars they have lied to the people for decades it will all come out now all of it.” [He promised.]

“Others here are not so sure of my immunity from accusations.” [I said.]

“I have assigned a close protection vessel to you. I am sure you remember the unimpeachable ‘Protean Magnificence’. She will be with you soon please accept her assistance do not send her away.” [He added.]

“I suppose that is a sensible precaution. Two ‘Source Ships’ are better than one.” [I admitted.]

“She is a good one, not just any military asset but rather an old friend that you can completely rely upon the hero of the ‘Red Nest’ and all that.” [He insisted.] “If truly needed I will naturally leap in with the ‘Vanishing Point’ to make a triangulation of good fortune alongside you two that would please Harbinger.”

[‘Please Harbinger,’ obviously my former Captain was never too far from the mind of ‘Unholy Terror’ too. With deeper consideration - how could it be otherwise since he was surrounded by my former Captain’s children, (our ‘Immortal Marines’), and so on.]

[Would ‘Unholy Terror’ begin to feel lost again when his War ended? Could he ever be perfectly happy in peace?]

[stads]

Thx for the chapter
Totaly forgot about tors brother
Good to see UT happy with something to blow up seems MT kept her promise with finding something all those years ago

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 6]]


[The search for the ‘Foul Wind’ became a live organic thing to me, it reached out across ‘Heartland Space’ permeating the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ and beyond like a glowing neural network of racing synaptic connections.]

[Our quest soon proved a testament to modern communications and to the fact that, in a society as sophisticated as ours at many tiered levels, there is an assured ongoing integration between all active sentient beings. An integration of innumerable - though not always obvious - links, one just needed to see deeply enough to reveal that few places and people are truly isolated from the wider masses unless they seek to purposely get themselves lost from all others in the ‘Dark’ - something unsurprisingly many souls find painful and difficult to bare for prolonged periods.]

[Our family was no exception to the rule of linkages our connections reaching out forever branching and branching and branching again even to people and places far beyond the membership of the ‘MTC’. We touched a vast swathe of places and people given how broad our well-distributed family alone already is all by itself.]

[Increasingly fascinated by the process of the search I even took sometime out to model the phenomenon mathematically as a colourful graphic sculpture in a virtual reality space. The result of my project truly seemed a piece of art so much so that in the end I gave in to temptation and displayed a scaled down copy opposite the yellow beastie in my real ‘SCCCM’. My ‘SCCCM’ I realised increasingly becoming a chamber for deep Priestly meditations.]



[Naturally, we had undertaken data searches and physical searches before but this one just seemed and felt different there was a level of commitment of impetus and enthusiasm that I believed was historically unmatched by any other previous ‘MTC’ hunt. The quest was uplifting - an almost spiritual thing - I could feel the whole family mobilising to get behind me to prove my innocence. It was soon apparent that this was more than a logistical or military intelligence exercise to them - they cared about me - and despised the idea of my name suffering abuse by an upstart ex-family member ‘Splitter Priest’. Sources, long left fallow were tapped favours were called in, payments made, bribes lavished, threats and promises made, old friendships long forgotten warmly recalled renewed with gusto.]

[The wonderful thing about all this was that it also brought an almost religious unity to a family that had potentially rested on a slippery edge in danger of slowly falling from grace and splitting apart. Now everyone seemed to be working together and the activity was spreading an unexpected kind of joy in adversity that one had to feel to believe.]

[Soon, to my delighted surprise, I was contemplating that ‘Studious Mannerism’ rather than destroying my reputation had in fact accidentally saved the family and perhaps me too from a long creeping debilitating illness. I had not realised how sick how injured in spirit we had become until the blight was lifted and I began to perceive all that we could and should be rather than the dull worn down thing that we had been slowly becoming under the ‘Representatives’ previously constant and so to some degree normalised state of oppression. When you deal with an everyday illness you become acclimatised to the pain it is easy to forget what it once felt like to be healthy the degree to which it felt better.]

[I wish I had stronger more succinct words - it was a revelation an epiphany an ‘Emissary’ wrought blessing - even when the ‘Foul Wind’ stubbornly refused to be found somehow it only drove everyone to try harder to think of new places to look and new people to recruit to the cause. From the beginning, I felt humbled and elated but so much more was to follow on. In addition, the ‘MTC’ and our friends rallied in my defence decrying ‘Studious Mannerism’ as a liar and false witness at every opportunity.]

[Even the often-taciturn ‘Admiral Creed’ spoke out boldly and without reserve in a rare public address. He stated in my defence that he knew I was no insane killer and that ‘Studious’ was simply a sad and embittered ‘Splitter Priest’ who never found a true ‘Vision’ to become a proper Paradox Priest because he was constantly haunted by the successes of his old ‘Great House’ and mighty ‘Tier Nine’ maker that he failed to match.]

[Testaments to my - good - character began to flood ‘Heartland Space’ some from people I had regrettably all but forgotten about - due to the daily burden of my many altering responsibilities - and I will admit at times due to earlier fleeing the family too. For example the Reborn ‘Boisterous’ made a huge speech too as did the ‘Splinter Representative Unworthy’ and even the ‘Young One Recycler Representative Sinister’ to my shock even the ‘Arch Prelate of the Shaper Faith’ denounced ‘Studious’ as a fraudulent unholy manufacturer of unworthy propaganda that no true ‘Stellar Draaakhaal’ should listen to. The ‘Arch Prelate’ in particular ensured I felt a little bit guilty about often questioning others’ overall loyalty due to - in part - inbuilt Paradox Priest paranoia.]

[I imagined this was what it would feel like if you went missing suffered being presumed dead then secretly turned up in disguise at a memorial service in your honour. It was fantastic to be very much still alive and able to rediscover the appreciation and love that is always there but too often unspoken and too easily taken for granted.]

[Interestingly, I was not the only person amazed by the unexpected reversal of my fortune. My ‘New Immortal Drone’ Companions were well taken aback by the way so many people rallied behind me and even the ‘Omerta’ Trojan Professor ‘Tender’ admitted to being wrong in his expectations and predictions when it came to this one, to be honest I was equally wrong.]

“There is a dynamic in this family and the wider ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ that I clearly did not properly comprehend.” [He confessed sounding seriously shocked at the impossible idea that he had been incorrect.] “It is a subject worthy of deeper study. Perhaps a deviation of the normal caused by a society long suppressed that desires now to uplift you as an archetypal hero. I see it as a cathartic reaction to a spreading stain of corruption.”

“You should ask if these testimonials are really about you or all about the aspiration and fears of those making them. I sense in seeking to liberate you from the stain of propaganda they seek to liberate themselves in praising you they elevate themselves out of the mire of the corrupt real into the bright realms of the ideal where mythical gods and heroes forever hold stainless sway. Thus, we make burnished unassailable gods out of mortal flesh casting our betters in golden glows so that we may bask in the reflected glare and feel better about ourselves for a little while. The flaws we have are forgivable for we are the lesser ones but we are as good as we can be because we know and praise the more divine few amongst us when we see them.” [He claimed.]

[I told him that sometimes you can think too much - analyze too much - I could tell he did not agree. However, by this point, I was above caring about his ‘Vision’ still basking in the love. My only fear what rises up without enough thrust will fall back down the gravity well and now I was rather obliged to live up to all these ‘Visions’ of who I am whilst knowing at the same time that I am no unblemished idol, no hero and certainly no golden god.]



[Back from the world of forms and ideals back in the real Universe with its sickly smelling blood and untidy when loosed entrails the ‘War of Liberation’ continued unabated all the love out there not withstanding.]



“We have successfully liberated the illustrious ‘Hierophant Chief Surgeon’ who reintegrated your damaged brains. To summarise it was a costly - in ‘Suit Substance’ - operation we had no option but to engage some well armed and arguably unusually well commanded ‘RCT Parliamentary Security Forces’ in a more direct manner than I would have preferred. In addition, I must sadly report that we failed to liberate the ‘Trojan Professors’ entire team. In the end it came down to a tactical judgement call an assured safe extraction for the ‘Chief Surgeon’ already in our care along with a few others or a very probable failure to secure all our targets. Upon review - I fully back - the officer on the grounds hard decision although I believe the ‘Saint’ you sent to oversee the ethical standards of the mission may make a formal complaint.” [The ‘Immortal Marine’ War Operations Advisor added looking less than impressed with that fact.]

“I understand, do not worry if the ‘Immortal Team Leader’ made a sound tactical judgement I will not demerit him for not doing the impossible. Some of my ‘Saints’ can be a little too judgemental as they are self-sacrificing individuals who would tend to want to risk all for any perceived greater good - that is why today many are assigned to oversee and advise our ‘Immortal Marines’ rather than given direct command over military operations. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule just as there are some exceptional ‘Saints’ who manage to be both highly-ethical and sublimely-practical.” [I admitted.]

“I am confident you will see the logic of the ‘Team Leaders’ choice.” [My’ Immortal Marine’ War Operations Advisor replied.]

“Any other business that you believe needs my attention?.” [I asked.]

[Sadly I had belatedly decided there was no escaping the War entirely even whilst almost single-mindedly hunting the so-called ‘Mutilators’.]

“There is now much talk and fear of the ‘Mutilators’ out there, unsurprisingly isolated Ports truly feel more isolated than ever before.” [The ‘Immortal Marine’ reported.] “I have a list of ‘Ports’ here that recently submitted to less than ideal deals to get protection from ‘Source Ship’ Captains willing to hire on to patrol their environs.”

“I trust you are aware that we continue to suffer a steady drain upon the last of our allied forces. Assets that had been accessible even temporarily to those we deem the ‘Strategic Captains of the Rebellion’ have severely dwindled recently and this trend shows no signs of abatement. As you can see from these other reports, external to our family, War assets are leaking away to individual private causes until only the diehards such as our ‘MTC Immortals’ and a few stalwart new allies of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ remain unaffiliated to one singular Port or another’s cause.” [He warned.]

“This no longer surprises me our division of effort at this time was predicted as inevitable given all the temptations Captains face out there.” [I replied.]

“Many polled Captain’s claimed they now feel sublimely free to decide their own fate for the first time in decades as such the majority wish to go their own way. However, this means more and more of our family assets are involved in war operations to make up for the deficit. Whilst we are not running dry yet we are using up a lot of our depots spare ‘IM’ fuel and ‘Suit Substance’ resources.” [He added.]

“Is it possible to replace more of our assets via Privateer actions against ‘Parliamentary Resource Sites’?” [I asked.]

“I would be happy to set aside a larger percentage of our active units in replenishing operations to ensure we can continue fighting in the long-term.” [The ‘War Operations Advisor’ said.]

“With ‘Saint’ approval I will agree to stepping up our Privateer actions.” [I replied.]

“I will ensure the ‘Saints’ assigned to us hastily review the appropriate missions.” [He promised.]

“Instruct our political people to strive now primarily to encourage individual opting out Captains to simply administer their Ports wisely and kindly according to their populaces’ wishes. Since we cannot challenge this trend of separation without becoming tyrants, we must embrace it and guide it the best we can. Make sure - this is important - that we reach out extruded limbs in friendship to these people - I do not want to hear they believe that in abandoning the central command they have become ‘New Renegades’ to us.” [I explained.]

“We are not to apply subtle military and economic pressure to encourage them to return to the fold?” [The ‘Immortal Marine’ asked sounding a little puzzled.]

“No pressure, instead make it known we are happy that they have found a purpose in protecting at least some worthy ‘Pilgrims’ from the perfidious ‘Free Parliament’. Secure friendly access to these Ports as R & R stopovers for our forces and so on.” [I said.]

“It shall be done as your wise ‘Vision’ directs.” [The ‘Immortal’ said.]

“It has been suggested to me both inside and outside the ‘MTC’ that we should also claim some vulnerable Ports as ‘MTC Protectorates’. My ‘Patriarch’ - this is a sensible idea - lest we end our battles as war orphans having done a lot of the hard work but gaining none of the material and geopolitical benefits.” [The ‘Immortal Marine’ suggested.]

“To me what you and they are talking about is spoils and war profiteering.” [I said.]

“If we do not do this - others will - others who may seek to rule, dominate and exploit rather than shelter and assist the ‘Pilgrim’ populaces they only claim to be liberating.” [The ‘Immortal’ warned.]

“I am well aware of this possibility nonetheless due to wider concerns I need to give this further thought. If we claim Ports for the ‘MTC’ the ‘Free Parliament’ will use this in their propaganda saying these facility conquests, (to the obvious further empowerment of our family), were actually our campaigns shrouded intent all along.” [I reminded.]

“Forgive my impudence but I nonetheless believe that strategically we must take some Ports or put our future security in potential jeopardy. In addition, this decision cannot wait or the choice will be made for us by others leaving us nothing to claim.” [He warned.]

[I sent off some enquiries and discovered that indeed the decision was defunct, ‘UT’ had already - unilaterally - opted to make ‘MTC’ bases out of some of his conquests. Once I belatedly discovered the truth of his actions, I was in several minds about his Port acquisition policies, however after much soul searching in a speeded up ‘Virtual Reality Cognitive Space’ I decided in the end not to argue with my fellow ‘Patrician’ or my ‘Immortal Marine Advisor‘. It would not do to be too idealistic about everything especially since the stance by ‘Unholy Terror’ by simulated poll would gain family support even from the Acolytes that came more under my direct care and supervision. Our ‘Paradox Great House’ was no mob rule democracy but I still cared about what my Acolytes believed, as this was their family as much as or even more so than it was mine.]



“It would appear that wider reforms will only arrive in their own time.” [I said to my two ‘Companion Drones’.]

“I believe Hierophant ‘Trend’ suggested in some of his works that great social progress rarely happens all at once but instead occurs in stages. Imagine striving to erect a construction under the pull of gravity you cannot expect to build the hallowed third floor before constructing the first and second levels it will rest upon.” [‘Arguably Better’ replied.]

“So young and lecturing your Elders already as if a Priest.” [I gently mocked.]

“In truth, historically the ‘MTC’ has always been happy to grow and to take advantage of developing situations including regrettable conflicts that spring up between other species in their rivalry and competition for kudos and resources. It is all in our family scriptures and historic records.” [‘Seriously Vigilant’ added.]

“That is so true, I believe it was only the ‘Rise of Perdition’ and the creation of the ‘Free Parliament’ controlled ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ that for a time reversed this trend of expansion culling us back and sending us arguably into a spiritual and physical retreat and decline. In part, the ‘Black Market’ has begun to restore our aspirations as a business venture, bolstering our family fortune again whilst your creation of a new ‘Universal Council of Equals’ places us to the forefront of Paradox Theological Practices but these boons have only been a new beginning for healing purposes not an end to our overall recovery. I agree with ‘UT’ I think we will need to secure some Port bases to help to shield our survival and future dynamism from others competing ambitions.” [‘Arguably Better’ stated.]

“I seem to have little real choice in this matter other than to submit, not entirely happily, to this policy of Port acquisitions.” [I admitted.] “However, it will have consequences it will potentially make our family into something new - something more than just a ‘Paradox Priest Great House’ or even an enterprising business we will on some level become administrative rulers - that is a scary proposition - one we have long avoided for good reasons.”

“Arguably Harbinger ruled as a ‘Founding Father’ of the ‘Core Alliance’ helping create policies that reached far beyond our immediate family this will not be entirely new to us.” [‘Arguably Better’ suggested.]



“Your new children are most insightful and correct.” [‘UT’ told me later.] “The ‘War of Liberation’ has to secure our future within ‘Heartland Space’ too. I am happy for you to fight for everyone with your ‘Universal Council of Equals’ and so on but I must fight for us above all others just as all the others beyond our family are principally fighting for themselves - for their singular place in the future and for the future of their specific loved ones and family.”

“I cannot entirely fault your logic or the devotion you show the ‘MTC’ in your martial faith although I would prefer for all the species to rise together working in unison without cold demarcations of artificially imposed borders. Nonetheless, I am glad that you are thinking about the future of the family and not just consumed with thoughts of fire, revenge and the, to far too many warriors, glorious self-gratification of winning a War. I have no doubt that you enjoy laying waste and causing destruction almost as much or maybe even a little bit more than you enjoy being a benign and increasingly essential part of Harbinger’s family.” [I said.]

“Enjoying a - good - fight is not a crime.” [‘UT’ stated I was sure whilst his body glowed yellow at his end.]

“Perhaps in a civilised society enjoying any form of violence against fellow sentient beings should be criminal.” [I replied.]

“That sort of society would be no fun to live in, one can be too civilised.” [He argued.]

“There are always harmless martial sports such as wrestling.” [I remarked.]

[He said nothing to that I judged not too impressed with the idea of only tame violence. As ever ‘Unholy Terror’ was incorrigible but I was incredibly happy that I had no good reason to encourage him to split from the family anymore that was one idea that ‘Puulaa’ got very wrong as for a time, I willingly admit, did I.]

“You know the ‘War of Liberation’ has saved you from your worst instincts it seems to me that your old plan to initiate a ‘Sea Sphere Shield Purge Armageddon’ is now left forgotten on the ‘Battle Spaces’ of your new victorious campaign am I right?” [I asked.]

“Perhaps you are right.” [He confessed.] “Once again, I can foresee a future for the family and for this Priest perhaps even despite the continuing existence of ‘Perdition’.” [He admitted.]

“Here is a truth that deeply warms my many old hearts - it is a mighty and timely blessing. You cannot remove the stain of great atrocities by perpetrating other atrocities it just makes existence atrocious for all of us.” [I preached.]

“These are strange days indeed now it seems that the family that I was beginning to fear might and perhaps even should someday dissolve will instead grow and prosper. Our sense of identity and unity due to the rejection of the propaganda of ‘Studious Mannerisms’ and our War victories have made us arguably stronger than ever before - not in numbers but in the strength and purity of our will and determination. Not even, I judge, when Harbinger held office and at the height of his prowess as a ‘Founding Father’ of the once mighty ‘Advanced Energy Leech’ fuelled ‘Core Alliance’ did we have such a sense of unified grace.” [I argued.]

“It is strange that this war has in some ways made us both very happy even if we are not happy about everything.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“Who is ever happy about everything save a blessed imbecile?” [I said.] “All of this makes me both happy but conversely a little bit sad too. Between you and me a part of me still dreams of being at most a ‘Patrician’ to a much smaller and more intimate family rather than just one overworked figurehead to what is in fact tantamount to a huge once again expanding corporate nation.” [I confessed.]

“Guiltily there were times in the past when I thought that the culling of our Acolytes by the ‘Advent of the Entanglement’ was almost a dark blessing only disguised as a horror for the poor individual victims involved. We had so many ‘Immortal Marines’ back then that we hardly knew what to do with them all, the by-product of keeping up with the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ when they were intent upon the irrational spawning of multitudes to constantly threaten all other species freedom and security with their domineering warrior ethic and unfettered plans for aggressive political and military expansion.” [I reminded.]

“Ironically old ‘Hull’ the ‘Advent of the Entanglement’ did what we failed to do it properly lessened then ended the threat of the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ hopefully forever, suddenly and almost unreservedly the ‘Skimmers’ became just another equally at risk and no less worthy ‘Pilgrim Species’.” [‘UT’ admitted.]

“The creation of their ‘Caste System’ also helped the ‘Skimmers’ and the essential devaluation of the old elite ‘Ruling Caste’ I think they have much to thank the ‘Arch Prelate’ for in the latter case even ironically the ‘Free Parliament’.” [I admitted.] “I am glad that at last even you can see that the ‘Skimmers’ are people too.” [I added.]

“I never doubted they were people I just deemed them horrible people we would do far better without. However, in a way interacting with the ‘Splinter Raiders’ began to make me perhaps a little bit more tolerant of other species odd foibles as did dealing with the collapse of the old ‘Recycler Conglomerate’. Certain people were very clever assigning me to that one.” [He admitted.]

“It did not seem that way at the time since you almost got blown into becoming an early ‘Ass-ender’.” [I reminded.]

“The crazy stunts of the past.” [He mused.]

“You know a bit appallingly many aforementioned facts seem to be forcing me to realise that it is many of the cruellest short-term events that actually served to do our society and us potentially in the long-term the greatest good.” [I complained.]

“Life is full of contradiction that surely explains why some wise ancestors put the paradox label to the fore of our Priestly Order.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“Nonetheless, as a would be - benevolent - Paradox Priest I increasingly find the concept of good from evil this particular paradoxical truth very confusing. I could never be an easy advocate of evil as the means to make good although increasingly I dare to fraternize with some expedient and dodgy policies doing this rarely makes me happy.” [I admitted.]

“Word travels fast I heard about you fraternizing with that ‘Splinter Weaver’.” [‘UT’ replied before roaring out a crude speaker laugh down the connection.] “You surprise me, but speaking of joy, I am very happy for you both.” [He mocked.]

“How does such unimportant gossip always disseminate throughout the family faster than the most vital of intelligence reports?” [I asked.]

“In some ways Captain ‘Empty’ you are still very naïve. I am glad you are broadening your horizons and letting go of some of your overly stiff adopted Priestly formality. You would be better modelling yourself upon me.” [He said I trusted still jesting.]

“You are only glad because it gives you something to gossip about to our friends and provides some ammunition for you to mock me as ever.” [I replied.]

“Such accusations, I hardly have time for gossip these days unless it has some bearing on strategy and tactics.” [He claimed.] “Of course, your moods and what you do is always of interest to me strategically since we share oversight of the ‘MTC’. Just as I am sure my moods and what I do are of strategic interest to you.”

[He had me there it was too easy to forget that he had an upgraded mentality: That our ‘Unholy Terror’ was far sharper and insightful than he sometimes chose to act.]

“I am sending you some unedited reports from those under my command so that you can pick up a reasonably impartial sense of exactly what we have been up to out here. I would not want you to start jumping to any wrong conclusions about my overall intent. So far, we have met only light to medium resistance because I have been picking our targets with considerable care after scouring through it sometimes seems endless intelligence reports. This means that tougher and more difficult operations will unquestionably lie ahead of us - at least if we continue to be at the forefront of anti ‘Free Parliament’ military operations. For a start, there is a tough very well defended inner core to the ‘Central Pilgrim Alliance’. I want some advice about when and if we should consolidate our already far from insubstantial gains rather than keeping stretching forth our extruded limbs ever wider. I want a cool second opinion from a logistical standpoint I am hoping you will provide that - there is no one else within the family or outside of it for that matter that I trust more save Harbinger but he as you are only too aware remains offline.” [He admitted.]

“That is exceptionally wise of you, I will admit wiser than I imagined. I feared you would be inclined to fight to the bitterest end once so thoroughly roused and loosed.” [I confessed.]

“The old ‘Unholy Terror’ might have done that, (the ‘UT’ you knew before you suffered that brain injury and a long period in stasis), whilst this ‘UT’ has seen too many Acolyte deaths to willingly sacrifice more without the very best of reasons and ideally your consent.” [He added.]

“It seems there is great hope for you, despite the fact that for a spell there I wondered if I was losing my old friend forever to an almost cancerous darkness of the soul.” [I admitted.]

“It casts me grey to think that I came so close to fracturing Harbinger’s family. I needed to work off my frustration and rage - now I feel almost sated. However, I am positive that the ‘Entanglement’ is still a problem we will have to confront sternly someday possibly to the detriment of the ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ if they insist upon remaining as passive hostages. Now it seems is just not the right time to challenge the once again upgraded ‘Forces of Perdition’ we have other more manageable matters to clean up first ‘Crimson Entangled’ will have to wait.” [He admitted.]

“In a way all any of us need to be true to ourselves is a true purpose that is not beyond us.” [I said.]

“One other item the ‘Dark Raiders’ have closed access to the ‘Grey Star Swathe’ and forced all ‘PA’ assets out there to return to ‘Heartland Space’ that means the ‘Mobile Shipyard Bastion Minor’ is now at a local ‘Star Struck’ coordinate somewhere. I would love to liberate that asset for the ‘MTC’. ‘Tleeboosuu’ might be a great help in this endeavour if he is onboard unfortunately for some reason or other he is not accepting any hails from me possibly because he is still sulking about my whole ‘Sea Sphere Shield Purge’ idea. I made the mistake of trying to use him as a go between at one point with the ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ to convince them to abandon the oceans. Could you talk to him it would be better if we claimed that advanced shipyard asset where the ‘Seed Ship’ of your new ‘Hull’ was formed rather than suffer any surviving ‘Free Parliament’ hard liners or some other purely opportunistic ‘Black Market’ cabal gaining possession.” [He stated.]

“That is interesting news. I agree that ‘Bastion Minor’ would be a bonus to anybodies cause.” [I admitted.]

“Without question it is a prize we do not want any of our foes to claim first.” [He warned.]

“I will see if ‘Tleeboosuu’ will speak with me.” [I promised.]

“Excellent this has been a most productive discussion we should confer more often as the joint ‘MTC Patriarchs’.” [‘UT’ added.]

“That might be sensible to prevent future misunderstandings such as we have had in the recent past.” [I admitted.]

“Whilst not every difference of opinion can be debated easily away us two keeping in touch might help.” [He agreed.]

“We cannot afford too much division in our ranks we never could.” [I replied.]

“I am now transmitting the files I mentioned earlier - three blessings old friend - I pray that the ‘Emissary’ will watch over you - do be careful with this crazy serial mass murderer.” [‘UT’ stated before signing out.]

[That gave me a bit of a start as it sounded as if he was genuinely worried about my survival taking the threat posed by the ‘Mutilators’ very seriously.]



[It took some time to gain a clean unmonitored channel to ‘Tleeboosuu’ guaranteed untapped by both the ‘Parliamentary Intelligence Service and Hub One’, achieving private communications links with some old friends had become much more difficult since the ‘Monitor’ network was exposed.]

[I no longer trusted my old means of contacting my old ‘Stellar Swimmer’ friend so family members and some ‘Black Market’ contacts had to be mobilised to open up new fresh links.]

[I wondered what method ‘UT’ had used still it was best to keep some information-security well compartmentalised even within the family that way if you suffered a breach and became compromised only one part of the wider ‘MTC’ network might be tainted. Thankfully, given the great effort involved, once approached ‘Tleeboosuu’ did accept my very expensive call. It was too easy to spend in wartime I knew the ‘MTC’ was burning through some resources at a phenomenal rate our materials far from inexhaustible.]

“Welcome back to ‘Heartland Space’ how are you feeling?” [I asked.]

“Very exposed some ‘Hierophants’ helped organise the initiation of what has proved a successful coup here against the ‘Free Parliament’ with my and a few other critical members of staffs help - including ‘Boisterous’ - so we are currently running independently. However, we did not achieve this end without sustaining some damage and some casualties. Sadly in one skirmish we lost most of our ship cover to some ‘Privateer Renegades’ who located us - I fear despite our best efforts ‘PIS’ spies are everywhere - we have too big a populace onboard for perfect security. I have been considering calling you or someone else for help.” [He admitted.]

“Why only considering calling me?” [I asked.]

[There was a momentary hesitation before more words tumbled out.]

“The cursed truth is that attempts by ‘UT’ to contact me first put me off. However, those who helped to establish this clean link assure me the situation within the ‘MTC’ in relation to ‘UT’ has changed so after some convincing I agreed to accepted your hail. I trust this is not just a ploy.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ added.]

“Our mutual friend is forgoing his old scheme.” [I promised.]

“For good or just for now?” [‘Tleeboosuu’ asked.]

“I hope for good but we have to take some matters a day at a time.” [I said.] “If you need our help it will be given.”

“I am not sure the ‘Hierophants’ here or I am willing to just hand this facility over even to the ‘MTC’ if that is where this is going. If we accept help it will be under certain conditions. ‘Bastion Minor’ is our home and must remain under our administration it is not to become just another ‘MTC’ War asset under ‘Unholy Terror’.” [He said.]

“I see nothing wrong with such a stipulation if that is how you wish to do this.” [I said.]

“What about our mutual friend?” [He asked.]

“In this instance I believe ‘UT’ will abide by my recommendations. We are all on the same side.” [I promised.]

“I hope that proves true. I am not happy about the ‘War of Liberation’ it is costing more ‘Pilgrim’ lives, in too many ways that only benefits the sinister whims of the ‘Entanglement’. We sought independence not simply because we disagreed with ‘Free Parliament’ policies we wished to avoid remaining under the power of an ever hardening ever more militaristic and probably ever more desperate wartime government. We rebelled to be free not to fight another ‘Emissary’ cursed war.” [He admitted.]

“That is an entirely understandable position. Many other Ports feel the same way as you they do not want to be the sites of futile last stands by a ‘Regime’ that refuses to admit it is beaten.” [I said.]

“I can recall other people saying an enemy is never defeated until they admit defeat. I would be careful about claiming a victory over the ‘Free Parliament’ too soon if I was you.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ warned.]

“I am well aware that much still has to be done. I would have preferred to do all of this via political negotiations, Believe me ‘Tleeboosuu’ I never wanted to see ‘Pilgrims’ fighting ‘Pilgrims’ as you have so aptly stated that only serves to amuse ‘Crimson Entangled’.” [I stated.]

“Nonetheless, some of the actions you have sponsored were provocative enough to the ‘Representatives’ to begin this armed escalation - you cannot step aside from this fact - you are no innocent in all of this.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ retorted.]

“Who in his right mind with any resources has not plotted against the unjust dominion of our so-called ‘Representatives’? In your own way you too have rebelled and aided our insurrection why bring this up now?” [I asked.]

“I do not want to be seen as an exponent of this War, it is not the same thing as being a detractor of the ‘Representatives’.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ said.]

“There are a lot of people who need to share the blame for how all of this has developed perhaps every ‘Pilgrim’ in our society is partly responsible for letting these people become so dominant in the first place. I am not shirking my personal liability I am embracing it that is why I championed a ‘Universal Council of Equals’ as a better way forward.” [I added.]

“Do you really think that a new forum for debate can solve all our problems? Alternatively, that whatever you achieve will be worth another war and more ‘Pilgrim’ deaths especially after the mass slaughters that heralded the ‘Advent of the Entanglement’. Have we learned nothing from these past mistakes?” [‘Tleeboosuu’ challenged.]

“In the short-term the young ‘Universal Council of Equals’ hardly suffices but someday the ‘Emissary’ willing every sacrifice will prove worthwhile, remembered and valued with no life historically cut short deemed wasted. It is up to us the survivors to bring honour, value and meaning to every historic life lost including all those previously lost to the ‘Entanglement’ they should never be forgotten or seen as irrelevant.” [I said.]

“You are a dreamer Captain ‘Empty’. You Paradox Priests never fail to amaze. With your deep faiths and your ideals you would defy every harsh reality.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ replied.]

“Will you work with ‘UT’ it is military aid you need and he is primarily the ‘MTC War-master’.” [I reminded.]

“If he abides by our conditions I believe we will join in a restricted alliance with you and accept whatever assistance you can spare.” [He replied.] “It is a question of practical needs and survival but do not expect us to throw ourselves into this fight. Give us civilian logistical duties and I swear you will not be disappointed or find us wanting but beyond that demarcation we will not venture.”

“There is still something of the ‘Swimmer Dweller’ in you, fine I am not unhappy with these stipulations in a way they greatly please me. I will send the necessary link details to him and you can discuss your requirements and restrictions directly. I assume gaining some immediate warship cover is a priority not to be delayed.” [I said.]

“The sooner we boost our depleted mobile defences - for protection purposes - the happier I will be.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ admitted.]

“Then I will detain you no longer - we can speak more sociably later - I pray the lady of the waters continues to bless and keep you safe until our aid arrives to make wishful prayers redundant.” [I finished before logging out.]



[Looking across at her unusually sleek ‘Source Ship’ body via one of my ‘Scout Drones’ I realised there still seemed something a little mysteriously special about the ‘Protean Magnificence’. Then I decided it was possible that today she just held a rather special place in my hearts. ‘UT’ had made a cunning choice in picking her to be my escort and protector I doubt I could have brought myself to say no to her it would have seemed an insult given all that she had done for me in the past.]

[When she arrived earlier, she greeted me warmly. We talked much but avoided conversations about the distant past. I think she understood that the ‘Red Nest’ and the ‘Dark Fields’ were subjects that still gave me twinges of foreboding. One does not get over having the ‘Entanglement’ invade your brain tissue that easily sometimes it seemed that the more time passed the more painful a few of my memories became a fact that seemed to run counter to all commonsense. Instead, she chatted lightly about the now: Our progress in the War the founding of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ the hunt for the ‘Foul Wind’ and a fascinating newfound faith born of great suffering.]

“What do we know about this ‘Omerta’ ship?” [She asked.]

“We know very little, I certainly do not know as much about the ‘Foul Wind’ as I would like to know. ‘Tor’ refuses to tell us everything - such as specific data on her hidden ‘Higher Tier’ upgrades - no doubt because he still holds to the faith that he will one day be her Captain again and does not wish to advertise his ships weaknesses and capabilities to the Universe at large.” [I explained.]

“What use is this pet ‘Pirate Omerta Purser’ to us if he will not share his intelligence freely?” [She asked.]

“Well for one thing he promises to give us real time tactical advice, (if advice without specific explanations that might prove more damaging to his security).” [I replied.]

“Do you trust him enough to do as he suggests within a ‘Battle Space’ with a dangerously unknown opponent without explained reasons why we must do as directed?” [‘Protean’ asked.]

“Sometimes you have to accept what you are given and just make the most of it.” [I replied.]

“I do not like this idea and I am sure my - new - Captain will not be impressed either.” [‘Protean’ warned.]

[Why was nothing ever easy? Why was everything a cursed argument? I was not impressed with how this side of the operation was going either but ‘Tor’ was stubborn and refused to budge no matter how much pressure we put upon him to relent from his less than ideal position. In truth, this particular ‘Omerta’ had been difficult to handle from day one the word - obstinate - sprang too easily to mind.]

“He looks ill certainly not fit to lead any kind of boarding operation other than remotely yet he keeps talking about needing to get physically onboard the ‘Foul Wind’.” [‘Protean’ complained.]

“He purged his entire bolstering nanotech lest it be used against him slimming down in the process I believe partly because he could no longer sustain his obesity and stay healthy and functional.” [I reminded.]

“He looks a complete mess as if he should be resting in a sickbay or be ready to go inside a regenerative nanotech womb.” [She replied.]

“He does not look his best and he still drinks too much but it was a brave act to do what he has done making himself this vulnerable this mortal.” [I commended.]

“To me it has the stink of desperation and terror rather than prudence. That one is not well in his mind I know the symptoms.” [She countered.]

[‘Tor’ was certainly a lot thinner worse in some places his flesh seemed to hang. The ‘Protean’ was probably sensitive to mental illness she lost her former Captain to a rare Acolyte Captain act of suicide he had become an ‘Ascender’ but something had gone wrong with his elevation resulting in the fracturing and unbalancing of his mentality into destructive self-hate. Such things happened on rare occasion this incident the only one of its type that had ever occurred within the ranks of the ‘MTC’ not that we had many ‘Ascended Acolytes’ so it proved a rarity amongst rarities. In truth why the former Captain of the ‘Protean’ illegally chose to Ascend without ‘Parliamentary’ permission had long remained a mystery in itself now we all had some suspicions that he was perhaps undertaking a private investigation into meta-physical realms.]

[Acolyte Captain ‘Mournful Inheritance’ was her new master now, an able family member who changed his name from ‘Insightful Initiative’ when he was selected for this duty and just as importantly willingly accepted by the ‘Protean Magnificence’ as a replacement for her previous beloved.]

[In a sense we two ‘Hulls’ shared the loss of a Captain in common although some might argue I had already divorced mine and also technically that Harbinger was not dead. However, parted is parted and in all the ways that mattered we were both parted from our original cherished Captains and I knew we both still missed them as companions who left gaps within us.]

“It cannot have been easy for your new Captain to step into another’s ‘Shroud Suit’ as ‘Mournful Inheritance’.” [I said to the ‘Protean’ to change the subject away from the possibly questionable mental health of ‘Tor’.]

“In a way you did the same thing with your Harbinger when you became Captain ‘Empty’.” [She replied.]

“With me - as ever - it was a little different as I only became the Captain of my body rather than the master of another entity altogether. That is the problem with me, - as the only ‘Free Hull’ here -, everything I do, everything I am, is a bit different a bit divergent a bit on the edge of what our society deems normal and being on the rim makes me an easy target for flung out ridicule and defamation.” [I complained.]

“You will not always be the only ‘Free Hull’ here.” [‘Protean’ seemed to promise.] “Our future beckons us ever onward there is no going back - as much as some might wish things to stay the same or even for time to reverse we know time moves only forward we are both propelled and trapped by this flow.”

“You make a good point nonetheless when they spout their fear and hatred at me sometimes it is too easy to feel as much of an outsider to ‘Heartland Space’ as Harbinger proved to be as a volunteered ‘Tier Nine’ agent seeded in our midst by ‘Composure’. Arguably, I remain a living extension of my Captain through his teachings and equally possibly, now operate as a manipulated element in some opaque incomprehensible ‘Highest Tier’ schemes of Harbinger’s subtle and cunningly puppeteer style maker.” [I suggested.]

“I admit I often try not to think about the former possibility; it is a potential truth that often bedevilled the mental equilibrium of my former Captain, a malaise I would prefer not to inherit, but it is still there forever hovering at the back of my minds. Few people can easily accept the idea that they might be another entities well-shaped tool. In addition, I sometimes wonder if all of us ‘Pilgrims’ might be little more than well shaped tools of the ‘Emissary’ even such elevated individuals as ‘Composure’? Now there is a mind-bending idea suggesting true tiers of meddling influence perhaps there is even another tier beyond the ‘Emissary’ to other even greater beings who sent her forth.” [I in part complained.]

[I am on this subject because a little earlier, to my surprise, ‘Protean’ told me that she now believed, because of some of the mad ravings of her former Captain before he destroyed himself, that my former Captain Harbinger left us in part to stop being a tool of ‘Highest Tier’ powers.]

[Interestingly, I was well aware that Harbinger had always felt rebellious towards any such unasked for role - crucially they volunteered him for his covert ‘Tier Nine’ duties he did not volunteer. How could he volunteer when for long enough he did not know he was ‘Tier Nine’?]

[Outside some newfound faiths within the ‘MTC’, I wondered would the truth of these matters ever be known and would having an Avatar on ‘Port Messenger’ help with that bit of most difficult almost spiritual detective work.]

“Sadly, I now believe, because of old dealings with ‘Patriarch’, that only a fool hastily accepts the words of any ‘Highest Tier’ power with an Avatar here as unquestioned truth. They only tell us what they decide we needed to know to make us think and do, as they desire.” [I complained.]

“It was possible that to some of them truth is now a fully subjective flux that could never ever be fixed as we see reality - it is my faith that they are not truly like us anymore they just pretend to fit in.” [‘Protean’ preached.]

[Both ‘Protean’ and her new Captain had embraced some rather radical new truths about Harbinger and the ‘Highest Tier’ Powers truths apparently preached by ‘Protean’ passed down from her former Captain that she had for a time kept secret and hidden feeling a need to meditate upon them first before making any announcements to the Universe at large.]

[‘Protean’ had shown me that some other Elder Priest Scholars however had pushed her to act sooner than planned as they now also argued the faith that the ‘Highest’ existed far more perceptually removed from us than we had ever previously appreciated simply because we wrongly in the past attributed mere physical Avatars to be the whole of them.]

“Those ‘Facilitator Shroud Suits’ were only the crudest of beginnings in a stepped process of forced evolution that ends somewhere far beyond our material reality. The ‘Highest’ live on the cusp of a higher dimensional truth where all things would seem to those more firmly anchored in this reality as anomalous.” [‘Protean’ earlier preached to me as if she had become some latter day prophet.]

[This was a fascinating doctrine one that embraced the concept that the ‘Highest Tier’ folk had become stuck trapped on the cusp of the higher reality due to stealing their shortcut rather than possessing the needed skilful guidance upward by other previous ‘Ascendant Species’. The failed ‘Ascendants’ lacking a far more longer and more honest spiritual and technological period of growth.]

“All these impatient fools obtained from the ‘Prime Graveyards’ was an - imperfect - elevation a doorway into the trap of a sort of perpetual spiritual purgatory on the edge of what might be deemed a far truer heaven the real Singularity. To cover up this failing - possibly even in denial of their plight - they then strove to create their own version of paradise outside the let us call it ‘True Singularity’ in the process making a ‘Tier System’ destined simply to trap more poor souls in the false paradise of their purgatory.” [She claimed.]

[The above truth explained neatly the rare event of ‘Ascendant Madness’ the initiation of despair rather than elation upon elevation, (suffered by a very few unlucky individuals who she argued somehow gained a deeper glimpse of their now fixed ultimate destination of purgatory rather than paradise). A blight differing to people such as ‘Creed’ who thought he had died and what remained was a mere material copy. Certainly, the more esoteric faith of ‘Protean’ did seem superficially backed up by now consolidated ravings from ‘Mad Ascendants’, data that ‘Protean’ was now eager to share with me. These snippets certainly did appear to have some consistent logic to them as compiled. Still, I was a bit wary that a case might grow stronger within seemingly impartial data when accidentally or deliberately edited together in a manner that created only reinforcement of a particular argument rather than simply enabling honest comparisons without prejudice.]

[Holy books were especially suspect in their internal logic.]

[Nonetheless, on the surface this new faith might more fully explain better - if still perhaps imperfectly - why ‘Patriarch’ rebelled and felt the need to end the ‘Tier System’ and why some other ‘Highest Tier’ powers might have striven to stop him and ‘Composure’ unsuccessfully. Rather than a more difficult to reconcile, war in paradise it was a more easily accepted war in purgatory.]

[Here was perhaps, at the very least, another piece of the huge puzzle and one that might make a lot of sense in some ways a sharpening up of earlier thoughts on the subject. I could easily imagine that the ‘Highest Tier’ Powers would be reluctant to admit to making such a dire mistake as dooming themselves to an eternal existence outside the realm of perfection. It was possible some of them would even be in personal denial, as an eternity of being stuck on the cusp of such a grand purpose would be hard to accept. In fact, I could imagine that such a cruel fate if acknowledged might drive anyone insane - given enough time.]

[It was no less interesting that Paradox Priests had often deemed members of their order who showed overt signs of insanity - blessed - as much as cursed by their affliction as people who received divine insights. The mad often retaining it was believed deep spiritual ‘Visions’ of the beyond sometimes even to the level of being judged as undeniably Holy Prophets.]

[Still, as much as Protean was keen to make a firm convert out of me and as intriguing as this was - and possibly exceptionally important later - right now it was merely another distracting side issue from the mission to catch the ‘Mutilators’.]

[Nonetheless, I could not help wondering if this new faith was compatible with such strange things as the madness suffered by ‘Reredos’ and some other theories about the purposes of the ‘Emissary’ here. Was it possible for example that our ‘Ancestors’ were not the first people to fall victim to an accidental - only partial elevation - would long suffering Other Species also trapped in their own Purgatory explain better why the ‘Graveyards’ existed and why they were guarded by the might of the dreaded ‘Machine Fury’. Did every member of the so-called ‘Unknowns’ really leave this ‘Universal Sphere’ in a traditional sense via that great big ‘Trans-universal Gate’ or was that truth just a huge lie? It now seemed possible that some of them simply equally botched up their elevation in a manner similar but possibly different to our ‘Highest Tier’ Powers.]

[Without doubt deceptions would be needed as many, even knowing the risks, might well be tempted to dare to use profane sciences to elevate themselves believing they could somehow achieve what others failed to do - as in attain ‘True Singularity’.]

[There is - arguably - a little madness in all sentient beings, an insanity that takes the form of a desire to venture all for whatever is deemed at the time the most glittering of prizes. In addition, people often possess a strange often-ridiculously unassailable self-belief that they will dodge consequences others suffered previously for similar rash action. Perhaps it is a failing of evolution that many are inclined to believe they might potentially be better - do better - than the previous generation when in fact sometimes this hope - this blind faith - proves simply untrue.]

[Truly some of the insights of ‘Protean’ anchored in her former Captain’s madness did seem to be a progressive refinement upon earlier cruder theories that had at one time or another captured my imagination as a Priest seeking the truth of the ‘Emissary’ through layers and layers of confused and confusing other species and even our personal history and perspectives.]



[Finally the search provided something solid not a sighting of the ‘Foul Wind’ but the tracing of one of her mutinous crew who it appeared might have fled the return of his Reborn Captain.]

“So dirty old ‘Kepler’ still lives or perhaps I should call him by his Pirate moniker of ‘Dogged Mongrel’. A name he earned because of his filthy social habits, feral animalistic persistence and the fact that he was genetically of mixed rather incompatible race: The product of a brutal gang rape by invaders who raided his home nation.” [‘Tor’ explained.]

“I thought ‘Orb Guidance’ once sternly kept the peace between your nations.” [I said.]

“The ‘Social Advancement and Reform Committee’ had a wider remit than simple peacekeeping. They sought to secure ancient cultures as living entities. Some of our nations at their time of recovery had devolved to the point of being almost internally tribal, (divided and naturally warlike), therefore, some offices of ‘SARC’ permitted some claimed even occasionally encouraged a limited degree of internecine conflict between certain historically rival factions. Due to the aforementioned policy some skirmishes, (involving limited in scale border raids and so on), gained official approval as acts of legitimate cultural expression.” [Professor ‘Tender’ explained via ‘SCCCM’ speakers.]

“Now that is news to me.” [I admitted.]

“There are many activities that ‘SARC’ was historically involved in that they would hardly have been happy advertising to outsider customers and foreign visitors.” [‘Tor’ remarked.] “Of course, if hostilities began to escalate beyond what was deemed a reasonable - sustainable - level ‘SARC’ intervention was assured. Nor was every nation with violent past or aggressive tendencies accorded the same level of combat privileges and lawful dispensations.”

“Despite many choosing to believe otherwise it is true that ‘SARC’ rarely operated by hard and fast rules but instead more logically did their business on an individual case by case basis. Each case carefully assessed separately. ‘Orb Guidance’ never sought to impose an inflexible constitution for all deeming this counter to the width of a complex conservation remit that required an appreciation of many grey ethical and moral areas that few singular constitutions could abide.” [Professor ‘Tender’ added.]

“I am a bit confused how can such a stagnant position be called Social Advancement or Reform.” [I said.]

“Exactly.” [‘Tor’ agreed.]

“More naturally progressive states were allowed to naturally advance and reform - ones whose national soul proved less intrinsically violent and anti-social.” [‘Tender’ explained.]

“Again I am confused, the most problematic societies were surely the ones that most needed to Socially Advance.” [I challenged.]

“Sometimes arguably you cannot fix a thing without breaking it. ‘Orb Guidance’ had no remit to break cultures. It was believed these societies would also progress at their own slower pace until they reached a level when they might be more directly aided without losing the qualities that made them unique.” [‘Tender’ added.]

“I am beginning to believe - some rumours - that ‘Orb Guidance’ was a machine sentience.” [I said.]

[I had decided to link ‘Tender’ in to our conversation as a disembodied presence to act as an extra-advisor on our ‘Omerta’ quarry. ‘Tender’ sharing the view from my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ and sound from my ‘microphones’. His voice however arrived via hidden speakers. It was my, possibly vain, hope that as a fellow ‘Omerta’ and refugee from the ‘Entanglement of Sanctuary Orb’ that the added input from ‘Tender’ might dig more data out of the still less than fully forthcoming ‘Tor’.]

“You make it sound so reasonable Professor ‘Tender’ I suppose you were a former stooge of the system.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“I like to believe that I once helped maintain good social order through my work.” [‘Tender’ replied.] “Whilst you and your brother helped to tear everything we had preserved for millennia down.”

“Not I, I was as much of a victim of the invading ‘Entanglement’ as any other innocent ‘Omerta’ citizen.” [‘Tor’ retorted.]

“Innocent please somehow I doubt that very much since you were rescued by kin complicit with an unforgivable crime that makes these atrocities you are so excited about pale into insignificance.” [‘Tender’ reminded.] “You know if your brother is brought to justice it should be for his most heinous crimes not for a mere sideshow.”

“I was not, nor have I ever been my brothers keeper.” [‘Tor’ replied in turn.]

“It might be argued that a ‘Reborn Clone’ is not responsible for a past incarnation’s felonies.” [I said.]

“I think these mutilations would indicate otherwise the mentality is the same un-empathetic killer lacking any social conscience a creature deserving eradication from our reality.” [‘Tender’ said.] “As to you my sickly friend are you trying to tell me you knew and suspected nothing of your brother’s plotting against ‘Orb Guidance’?” [‘Tender’ questioned.]

“My brother kept his own counsel when it came to this one no doubt knowing I would have been appalled by his plans.” [‘Tor’ replied.]

“Really nothing ever slipped out in conversations overheard or associates met absolutely no hint of his scheme no suspicions you chose to overlook?” [‘Tender’ accused.] “I say you chose - misplaced - family loyalty over the greater good of your nation even potentially over your species survival. I think genetics hold true and in your own way you are no less dangerous being no less self-obsessed and uncaring of others as long as you gain what you want. You are not seeking justice, all you want is the ‘Foul Wind’ reclaimed and the fear of what the Clone might do to you as his belated betrayer removed.”

[Truly ‘Tender’ was misnamed, inside I winced in sympathy at the body blows.]

“Say what you like it will not turn your empty conjectures and imaginings into truth.” [‘Tor’ replied.] “It is easy to accuse especially from a safe distance.”

[I considered intervening to get them back on topic but decided to let it continue as sometimes, interesting truths emerge from heated discussions. ‘Tender’ might even let slip to me something he did not intend to release about his own past. I already found it interesting that ‘Tor’ did not recognise the Professor even though ‘Tender’ liked to talk as if he had been incredibly famous. Unfortunately, I then had to admit ‘Sanctuary Orb’ had been a huge almost endless conurbation of surface habitats and ‘Tender’ might have only been truly famous to his specific peer group the rest egotistic delusions of grandeur.]

“I hope you are proud of all that you two achieved.” [‘Tender’ added bitterly.]

[He certainly seemed honestly angry over the ‘Entanglement of Sanctuary Orb’.]

“You give us too much credit I am positive my brother was not alone in his act of rebellion.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“So it was truly a criminal conspiracy - just as some believe - that loosed ‘Perdition’ upon us as mere fodder.” [‘Tender’ stated.] “Who else was involved? Who else sold us to the ‘Emissary’ cursed ‘Entanglement’?”

“How would I know? You would have to ask my brother that question. Believe me, there were many things he never bothered to share with me even when I was his purser.” [‘Tor’ claimed.]

“How convenient it is to be so innocent whilst associated with so much guilt.” [‘Tender’ replied.] “For an innocent with a clean conscience I hear you drink a lot.”

“What is going on here?” [‘Tor’ stormed.] “I thought this meeting was about ‘Dogged’. Now that you have me onboard your ‘Hull’, is my status now nothing better than that of a Pirate prisoner, where are my rights? Must I suffer insults by this pompous scholar be interrogated and condemned without trial. Did I err in coming here did you only pretend to friendship?” [He stated glaring at my Avatar.]

“True enough, I did not link you in here to cross examine ‘Tor’, who is voluntarily aiding our cause. I have had enough of this inquisition about his role in the fall of ‘Sanctuary Orb’.” [I said.]

[‘Tor’ did not seem best pleased by my words in fact, he was almost shaking with rage or perhaps stress induced ill health.]

“I HAD NO ROLE IN THE FALL OF MY HOME ORB.” [‘Tor’ shouted out red faced.]

“My apologies that was poorly worded.” [I said.]

“So you say ‘Tor’.” [‘Tender’ stated doubtfully simultaneously.]

[‘Tor’ turned as if he was about to storm out but I caught his ‘Suit Substance’ arm with an extruded limb of my own.]

“You need us ‘Tor’ as much as we need you.” [I said gently.] “As to you Professor that truly is more than enough - you go too far - show some courtesy. ‘Tor’ is right. Today this is not our business. The truth behind the fall of ‘Sanctuary Orb’ is an issue better discussed with his brother but to do that first we must catch the felon an aim not aided by squabbling amongst each other.” [I lectured.]

“Please ‘Tor’ do not go we need to know more about this ‘Kepler’ this ‘Dogged Mongrel’ before we move to pick him up. What is our best approach bribery or intimidation to secure what he knows?” [I asked.]

“I will only stay if you unlink the Professor.” [He insisted.]

“Fine if I must.” [I said disconnecting the speaker but not ‘Tender’s’ links to me.]

“He is gone?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“He will trouble you no more with his questions.” [I promised.]

“Like most dogs this one is greedy and responds better to treats than punishment beatings.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“So you recommend a soft approach.” [I said.] “Do you like the man?”

“By ‘Hell’s Maw’ I hate him but the facts are the facts and in truth in the grander scheme he is an irrelevance a bit player who hardly matters. Although I would hang onto him until we have the Clone in custody he would not think twice about selling our intent to my brother if he saw a further profit in that.” [‘Tor’ stated.]

“What makes him happy?” [I asked.]

“Deep down unspeakable things that I do not believe you would provide as an ethical Paradox Priest but he will also accept trade goods that he can use elsewhere to pay for his vices those alone should suffice.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“This one is a criminal what are the worst of his crimes? What do you know without any doubt that he is guilty of?” [I asked.]

“Torture, rape, murder, theft, slavery he has done all these things.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“Then he will be treated gently until we have what we need then held justifiably to account for his many sins.” [I said.]

“Is that what you think you are doing with me too?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“I believe ‘Leeruussii’ that you are not inherently a bad person you simply have unfortunate kin you should be safe to let back into society once the Clone is dealt with.” [I said.]

“When I get control over the ‘Foul Wind’ and make her a legitimate merchant vessel I will not put myself in any person’s power ever again. I do not like feeling judged or fearing for my safety. I do not trust your ‘Omerta’ Professor that one is full of barely suppressed hated for me.” [He added.]

“Perhaps he is angry but it is an understandable affliction given what happened to his home.” [I said.]

“Understandable or not it makes him volatile. I think he would do me harm if he had the opportunity. In addition, ‘Sanctuary Orb’ was my home too.” [‘Tor’ reminded.]

“All criminals should pay for their crimes a social imperative in any civilised society - the guilty must be sentenced.” [‘Tender’ stated privately to me via our link.]

“You help us restrain your brother and I will see that ‘Tender’ does you no harm.” [I promised.]

“Do not worry pulling down that Clone and regaining my ship is all that I think about.” [‘Tor’ confessed.]

“…and where he is getting his next drink from.” [‘Tender’ added to me.] “He proves what I said he is as self-obsessed as his brother.”

“How will you pick ‘Dogged’ up?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“A well paid third party is providing a local team to force extract him. Sometimes it is safer that way. Where he is holed up an intervention by us directly would be too noticeable and might be strongly contested.” [I explained.]

“These people know we need this flea bitten dog alive?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“They will only be paid for a safe delivery and they are reliable people we have had cause to use their services in the past. It will go well.” [I promised.]

“Is this how you normally do business out there?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“Not really mostly we just manufacture, ship and protect but we have learned the hard way that it pays to be fully flexible.” [I replied.]

[Paranoid66]

Thanks Stads

Blowing stuff up in X is usually fun although my new XTC character - a Boron - has not fired one shot in anger. Back in Beyond X, I think the two Patriarch thing is finally paying off for the MTC.

Part 6 above. ^^^

[stads]

Yay a new chapter

This hero complex that is being given bye others to MT could become a problem when some time has passed

Tis nice to see that UT seemss to havee given up on finding a way to purge crimson
But have to wonder how long it last when this war is past the use off force and he has nothing to focus on

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 7]]


“Welcome to the ‘Many Truths’. I am Captain ‘Empty’. You can dispense with the restraints.” [I added this time towards his ‘Immortal Marine’ guards.]

“Would you like something to eat or drink? I had some real food shipped in just for you.” [I explained gesturing towards a smallish extruded table with various, they told me, finger foods arrayed on warming platters that kept them at a perfect constant temperature.]

[I paused to look at the unprepossessing man. Perhaps I overdid the spread.]

[After the binders came off, the ‘Omerta’ rubbed at his wrists then sullenly gazed up at my raised ‘Prime Tri-optic’.]

[Sadly, for him first impressions really do count and he truly was a scruffy looking individual. The stained real material clothing made up of many clever layers that included body armour much worn showed evidence of rough basic repair. I considered what this said about him deciding it was a uniform of sorts. This attire the sort of thing worn by ‘Omerta’ rogues belonging to the anti-fashion side of criminality.]

[His was an understated dress code that said, ‘I do not care about myself too much so why would I care about you?’. His scuffed hip holster was of course empty. As was his framed backpack and stout utility belt pouches not to mention his drug shot and nanotech booster enhancement bandoleer. Even before his personal belongings were confiscated, I was informed that, he carried no nanotech canisters on him.]

[Slender sharply pointed molecular edged blades they had removed from his wrist sheaves and boot sheaves too. Also handed over to us was a well-crafted flick folding and locking ‘Boarding Axe’ that once rested at his side via a primitive hooking arrangement.]

[This one had all the tools of a modern day barbarian.]

“Drink?” [He queried.]

[It seemed on first impressions that all the crew of the ‘Foul Wind’ had similar vices.]

“Whatever you want ‘Trojan’ Beer or Whiskey we have both.” [I replied.]

[I never bothered providing sophisticated real material wine guessing a lack of appreciation for that ‘Tor’ confirming my conjecture.]

“Then both it must be.” [He retorted grinning. Bizarrely three of his teeth turned out to be metal according to some tight focus active scanning a thirty percent gold, twenty percent platinum alloy with some exotic rare ores mixed in too. A fast reaction, ‘Stasis Field Emitter’ tracked him under ‘Sub Core’ control. I was taking no chances.]

[I gestured over to a mini-bar with an extruded limb. His grin widened even his eyes seemed to smile. I noted that he had quickly taken in the tactical space: the single shielded entrance and exit, the guards’ placement, the extruded emitter, the at rest auto guns too. He then made a point of ignoring all these things as if they were not there.]

“Eat, drink and make merry for tomorrow we may die.” [He said scratching under his chin at a filthy neck line further swathed in dirty stubble.]

[He then made a point of ignoring me too concentrating on making the most of all that I made available smelling this, munching loudly on that. I noticed he chewed with his mouth open in an exaggerated fashion that spilled many crumbs that simply had to be on purpose.]

[His face sported dark purple and yellowing bruising and some slowly healing cuts including two across the bridge of his nose and one of his green blue eyes had a bloody red cast to it all these injuries I guessed predating his capture. Here stood - another ‘Trojan’ tellingly minus nanotech support the plot thickened.]

[As he greedily and messily sated himself, he muttered constantly between his bites and swallows.] “Almost as good as some luxury liner… never realised these Priest lived half so well… maybe there are fringe benefits to being cursed religious after all… what would my mama say though… this one wants the Captain bad… ‘Baast Taard’ knows how to get under anyone’s skin even these inhuman god-bothering ‘Bio-mechanic Suits’… they remind me too much of the damned ‘Entangled’ though then so did...” [He halted mid sentence. I wondered if he trying to tease us I did not buy into the idea that these were unguarded comments just spilling out. This one was a player even if he only had a bit part.]

[I waited patently, as he gulped his beer then threw back one whiskey shot then another trembling then giving an exaggerated sigh after each.] “The traitorous ‘Omerta’ filth that bundled me up - did not harm me - all this occurred getting away from the Captain, but those mercenaries I am sure too purposely did not feed or water me either even though I was held for hours.” [He complained.]

[They had followed their instructions to the letter. I had wanted this one hungry and appreciative of our hospitality.]

“Still sounds a gentle kidnapping to me it could have been much worse.” [I said.]

“What else you got for me a bit of company perhaps?” [He asked thrusting out his hips rhythmically whilst still dribbling.]

[I just looked at him I hoped coolly if he was trying to shock a pious Priest he failed.]

“Hah, had to draw the line somewhere eh.” [He remarked before slouching down upon an extruded seat at an angle one leg dangling out whilst he leaned the side of his body against the edge of the table. One hand seemingly idly caressing the smooth table top the other stuffed in a pocket fumbling I hoped only with some lose threads or a bit of fluff.]

“So this is the - we can all be friends pleasure bit - when cometh the pain and probing?” [He asked giving me what I believed the ‘Omerta’ called the finger.]

[I roared out a raucous especially rude sounding Paradox Priest speaker laugh feeling satisfied when he jerked slightly in surprise at my outburst of mirth. I suspected this was not quite the tactic he had been expecting from me that made me happy.]

[I wondered did he have to work at it or did such insolence and antics arrive to him as naturally as breathing oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide. I imagined his manner as an old familiar affection that had now become a rigid part of his being. Here was an ‘Omerta Trojan’ Pirate as portrayed in fiction which made the whole façade just a little bit suspect. I wondered what really rested beneath the too obviously surface - show and tell - just as he hawked and spat onto my clean deck. I resisted the urge to knock him to the same surface with a high-speed extruded limb and only day dreamed about following that action up by grinding his face into his expelled sputum.]

[This was not good it appeared I needed even more centring meditation viewing all those mutilations had clearly had an impact when I was this easily riled, or had ‘Studious Mannerism’s’ fell accusations struck deeper than I had initially believed.]



“Do all of my quarry’s old crew try this hard to fit an imaginary stereotype? Whom do you feel the need to impress? Surely, you are not striving to impress me. Still, pirating is an odd profession even at the best of times. Your vocation lures more than its fair share of foolishly romantic murderers living in their own blood drenched self-made science-fantasy epics - I have seen it all before. Skulls and crossbones sigils, bladed boarding weapons the swagger and braggadocio.” [I said.]

“I believe that many of your kind once lived the most mundane of existences possible, before something in them broke and they decided to take to crime as if ‘Swimmers’ to h2o. However, according to my information you, you are a little different you were born into hostility made an outsider before birth. So maybe your mannerisms are simply the product of youthful tribal gang culture in someone who never fitted in except amongst anti-establishment thugs. You never grew up to normal adult responsibilities such as being a sensible parent to children who need a more proper example.” [I lectured at him. I then wondered if listening too much to ‘Tender’ was getting to me too.]

[Truly we are a part of all we meet and all we meet sometimes whether we like it or not can easily become a part of us. I recalled for example how ‘Draakhaal’ had wormed his way under our skins and now such forces as ‘Perdition’ were striving to do the same thing. Therefore, I am if I am not careful dangerously close to truly becoming the ‘Many Truth’s Entangled’.]

[He made a good show of continuing to ignore me but I could tell some of my words had struck home and put him on edge - for some nothing is more painful than the truth.]



“The ‘Emissary’ weep look at you ‘Purser’ reduced to a flabby skin bag - yuck.” [He said as ‘Tor’ entered the extruded interview room.] “I hope this one is not another of your gifts Priest - he is past his best - no longer all soft and cuddly there was a time I might have considered… but now I wouldn’t soil myself and believe me my standards are not very high well in my line you usually take what you can get.” [‘Dogged’ added followed by a guffaw that was grating even to my alien to him sensitivities. It was not a bad riposte.]

[‘Tor’ glared in return with poorly concealed malice.] “It is good to see you too ‘Dog’.” [He spat out.]

“One just has to love the dynamics of affectionate Pirate reunions.” [The voice of ‘Tender’ privately said to me via communications.] “Perhaps permitting ‘Tor’ to take part in this one was a mistake Priest. The timing of his entry poor too.” [He added.]

“Please you are not here to criticise our ally but to provide useful insights, beyond that pray be silent.” [I returned privately.]

“What is this ‘Tor’? Have you made some allies? Do you think these Priests will save your soul? They cannot wash away all the bad things that haunt you at night when you are alone in your room. Do you honestly think these Priests can take the Captain?” [‘Dogged’ asked.] “You always were a fool except with your cargoes, spreadsheet figures, inventories and bartering. Poor plump ‘Tor’ all deflated like some low-tech dome child’s party balloon kicked around for too long. It is better for some to be popped in their prime - to go out with a bang - rather than just have what fills you up slowly leak away until you are nothing but a sad empty wrinkly bag.”

“We are going to reclaim what is mine from that ‘Cursed Clone’ and you are going to help us to do it.” [‘Tor’ said ignoring the jibes.]

[‘Tor’ was doing better than I had expected I wondered if he could stand up so well to the ‘Cursed Clone’ as the new ‘Baast Taard’ was becoming known within the ‘MTC’.]

“Now why would I do something stupid like that? You two fools cannot believe that plying me with a little alcohol has dulled my smarts that much or that the gift of some real food has made me that grateful. If you do, you Priests really are divorced from this material reality. You will not convince me to go up against the Captain ‘Tor’. You are not just ill to seek out the Captain you are ‘Emissary’ cursed insane. The old brain pan is busted the circuitry fried the white meat spoiled.” [‘Dogged’ emphasised.]

“Scared dog got your tail clamped firmly between your legs?” [‘Tor’ asked.]

“Damned right I am scared especially now I can guess what you are after.” [‘Dogged’ replied.] “You are scared too - you stink of fear - otherwise you would be your old fat self and not a skin and bone wretch.”

“All we need is information and you will be rewarded for your cooperation: Handsomely rewarded if you provide specifically what we require.” [I intervened.]

[I could tell my offer made him think thrice.] “How handsomely are we talking about?” [He inevitably asked.]

[Unrestrained greed is often the criminal elements downfall.]

“Enough that you will never have to risk your life doing any Captain’s dirty work again. You will be able to live, how did the Professor put it, - the good life - for a very long time. ‘Hell’s Maw’ if you make some prudent investments potentially you could be comfortably well off for the rest of your ugly existence.” [I promised.]

[I just neglected to mention to him how very short I had decided the rest of his life was going to be.]

“Prudent investments.” [‘Tor’ scoffed at the idea.]

[I gave ‘Tor’ a stern look, as such comments were hardly productive to recruitment.]

“On the surface this is all very tempting but far too good to be true. I think I will just eat, drink and go - thank you very much.” [He said mockingly.]

[Not a complete fool after all.]

“Too late for that if you prove of no use to us you will be going nowhere other than our waste material recycler system.” [I claimed.]

[Hovering ‘Immortal Marines’ under hidden direction took a few steps forward. I waved for them to halt with an extruded limb it was hard not to enjoy the drama.]

“Conversely what can I tell you, you are potentially a very lucky man if you prove to have the unique insights we require so badly.” [I said.]

[He considered me then the deadly and implacable ‘Suit Substance Remote Combat Troop Immortals’. I could tell he did not enjoy their too intent ‘Prime Tri-optic’ gazes that drilled back into him like old fashioned mining apparatus into a mineral rich asteroid.]

“Live in the real - you know how business works - it is always all about supply and demand not to mention strength and weakness: The weak often readily submitting to the strong even in your ah… occupation. If I was you I would consider the benefits and dangers of your position very carefully before you make any more rash announcements.” [I said.]

“You want what the Captain has - now that is a dangerous business - tantamount to a quick death now or a slow death later.” [He complained.]

“In your sort of situation one must learn to live a day at a time.” [I retorted.]

[He looked around again as if judging his chances of escape.]

“We thought we were rid of the Captain. We believed we had taken all that he had from him. Then due to rumours we soon guessed he had a Clone - hidden away somewhere - so we took steps and yet for all our belated precautions here I am. I am lucky to still have my own skin on and all my limbs nicely attached.” [He claimed.]

“A condition that need not be permanent.” [I promised darkly.]

[I found I was looking at a very unhappy Pirate.]

“If all you want is information - perhaps we can make a deal after all - but do not think you are going to cheat me or use me up as some kind of ignoramus.” [He stated.]

[I deliberately made my Avatar glow brightly yellow.]

“You may think that I am just some stupid ‘Omerta’ Pirate scum but I am no person’s fodder. I escaped the fall of ‘Sanctuary Orb’ and even the return of the Captain whilst the rest of the crew well I am pretty sure they have all gone to pieces.” [He claimed before chuckling out a sardonic laugh.]

[Laughter often helped in these situations when it was laugh or slump in despair. He was ours whether he was happy about it or not so he laughed in the face of his fears.]

“Gone to pieces tell me about that…” [I began feeling positive at last that we truly had identified our ‘Mutilator’ in the suitably ill-named Captain ‘Baast Taard’ or at least in his ‘Cursed Clone’.]



[A little later…]

“Whilst I hardly care beyond securing my payment and life therefore it is mostly none of my business, nonetheless if all you have said to me is true - it is highly possible the Captain is issuing you a direct challenge - are you sure you really want to accept that burden. You could simply let me go and forget the whole idea.” [He suggested.]

“With hindsight, the devious schemer let me escape - possibly just so I could point you in the right direction when you inevitably found me. You are idiots if you think he is unaware of your search. I am sure he is also well aware that your skinny fat man lusts after the ‘Foul Wind’.” [He mocked towards ‘Tor’.]

[The former Purser was grinding his teeth in silence.]

“Did the skin bag tell you that the Captain had his own secret network of informants and spies some in very surprising places?” [‘Dogged’ warned.]

“Well we are not going to release you - or pay you - till we prove your data is valid by finding the ‘Foul Wind’ now let me have the coordinates to this new Pirate Base you mentioned.” [I insisted.]

“I do not want to tag along on this fool’s quest.” [He complained.]

“Tough luck because it is not up to you is it - consider yourself drafted until further notice.” [‘Tor’ seemed to relish saying.]

[This situation reminded me a little of how we recruited ‘Gambler’ only for this ‘Trojan Pirate’ I foresaw no happy ending as a family adoptee not even under the watchful gaze of ‘Unholy Terror’.]

“If you are worried about our chances of success I would advise you to lend us every bit of assistance that you can imagine - you too ‘Tor’. You ‘Omerta’ seem to enjoy holding back from us far too much - now the coordinates.” [I insisted.]

“I will need my old Data Pad back the figures are hidden in that.” [He explained.]

“This had better not be some stupid kind of trick.” [I warned.]

“Everything was deep scanned.” [One of the ‘Immortal’ guards informed.]

“Was a copy made of the internal data.” [I asked.]

“There was and all known viruses removed.” [The guard added.]

“I am sending you the location of a secure isolated data space send me a copy there.” [I ordered.]

“Now how exactly did you hide these figures within the data mass?” [I asked.]

[‘Dogged’ explained the process it was simple but clever the numeric information simply split and incorporated seamlessly into several suitable fake text files across several documents it would have been almost impossible to find without knowing where to look.]

[I recombined the figures automatically calling up charts and plotting the result.]

“NOT POSSIBLE” [I screamed as extruded limbs shot out from my Avatar to haul the pirate off his feet and into the air one tentacle wrapped around his throat squeezing.]

[The pirate began struggling desperately to no avail not to mention choking and dying.]

“CAPTAIN ‘EMPTY’, ‘MT’ YOU ARE KILLING HIM, STOP IT.” [‘Tor’ yelled pulling at my Avatar he might as well have been a fish striving to swallow a ‘Sea Sphere’ Ocean.] “DO SOMETHING.” [He yelled to my ‘Immortal Marines’.] “She will regret this later.”

[They did not move they simply looked a little uncomfortable I was their adopted ‘Patriarch’ they my adopted children - some things are not done.]

[It was not possible - it was not - it was some kind of ridiculous trap an attempt to make us put our headpieces between the monster’s jaws.]

“HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM.” [I roared out at the ‘Omerta’ as his struggles weakened become more akin to trembling spasms.]

[I squeezed a little harder. I swear his eyes physically bulged. I considered squeezing harder still until I ripped his head clean off. Then it flashed up before me an image of all those strewn around body parts and that ‘yellow multi-legged stuffed toy’. I let him drop hard to the deck then caught him in a stasis security field it would serve to suspend any further physical deterioration. I turned away summoning an emergency medical team to deal with the damage.]

“I am better than this.” [I said recalling my extruded substance into my Avatar’s main body shape.]

[A still surprised looking ‘Tor’ ceased pummelling on me to get my attention.] “What the devil was that about?” [He demanded.]

[I extruded a physical screen across one bulkhead and projected the appropriate star chart and coordinates.] “How much do you know about the ‘Dark Fields’?” [I asked.]

“Nobody goes there anymore. Eventually the whole sector was annexed by forces belonging to the entity once called the ‘Spore of the Machine Fury’. This occupation occurring directly after the eviction of the last of the ‘Entanglement’ there. Before that it was the home of the ‘Red Nest’ both the ‘Recycler Space Station’ and the so-called mass producing ‘Anomaly’ of the same name. That site has a lot of history it is also where an ‘Entangled’ creation in the shape of a huge ‘Space Kraken’ consumed your previous ‘Living Hull’ body and infiltrated your fleeing mind leaving you in brain damaged stasis for years.” [He answered comprehensively.]

“Then you know how it is impossible for this to be the site of an active Pirate Base with affiliations to your sweet brother or the ‘Cursed Clone’ if you prefer that recently bandied about moniker.” [I said.]

[‘Tor’ paused for thought then spoke up.] “Truly at first thought that certainly seems unlikely but perhaps it is not impossible.” [He said.]

[I shook my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at him I did not want to hear this possible truth.]

“Think about it after this much time even the ‘Forces of the Machine Fury’ might lighten their vigilance over this large area a little. As you said, ‘no one goes there’.” [He reminded.]

[My minds retreated inward reliving the last time I was in the ‘Dark Fields’ it was not a comfortable review.]

“I hate to say this but it is an old ‘Omerta’ smuggler trick to hide a facility within the territory of an even stronger power sometimes even a politically hostile faction. If you are careful - purposely avoiding detection and conflict with the unaware host species or nation - you gain an extra layer of defence a truly secure off the grid safe-house and or depot.” [‘Tor’ said.]

“Just how mad was this brother of yours?” [I demanded.]

“I believe you visited one of the mutilation sites do I really need to answer that?” [He asked.]

“Who would dare to risk trespassing against the ‘Spore of the Machine Fury’ in this day and age? Everyone knows what happened to the ‘Perdition Task Force’ that entered the ‘Ringed Prime Graveyard’ curse it that fleet got swallowed up - they vanished without a trace - they might as well have launched themselves straight into ‘Hell’s Maw’. ” [I reminded.]

“You should know three things about my brother one he was never short of audacity, two he is a cursed egomaniac who would view this sort of thing as a challenge, and three from the moment he could walk he was always poking into things and places that the wise - wisely - avoided. Believe me even as a child every prohibition - every sign against trespass - was just a goad calling him towards an act of defiance.” [‘Tor’ admitted.]

“I am afraid the ‘Dark Fields’ under ‘Fury Forces’ is exactly the sort of place he and his allies might pick to hide a base of operations.” [‘Tor’ said perhaps with a hint of grudging admiration.]

“How is the Pirate?” [I asked one of the emergency team members.]

“He will recover momentarily thanks to the stasis field catching him before he suffered any brain damage due to oxygen starvation. You badly crushed and damaged his larynx and trachea but we have repaired this with a temporary ‘Suit Substance’ supporting implant whilst some injected one use nanites are working to repair the actual injuries at a cellular level. Obviously, now we have medicated him as he has something of a sore throat. We also gave him a tranquiliser shot as bio-readings suggested he is rather stressed.” [The Acolyte stated.]

“When will he be able to speak again?” [I asked.]

“Nothing is physically preventing him from speaking now although it will feel a bit uncomfortable until those nanites finish and the implant ejects itself. Because he is in poor overall physical condition I have slowed the process slightly to avoid any further stress on the rest of his biology the repairs will therefore take a little longer than normal approximately two maybe even as much as three more minutes.” [He admitted.]

“As aliens go ‘Trojans’ are easy to patch up and ‘Omerta Factions’ are often especially hardy many used to operating nanotech free if they came from the less technologically advanced of the nations. Some of these primitives even after escaping to the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ refuse to accept ‘Internal Nanotech Support Systems’ fearing a technology they deem too close to the ‘Entanglement’.” [The Acolyte needlessly lectured.]

“Thank you but I hardly needed an ‘Omerta’ history lesson.” [I replied.]

“My apologies I have some ‘Recycler’ interns as part of your new outreach program teaching out loud at every opportunity easily becomes habit forming.” [He admitted.]

[I looked around I was glad to notice the ‘Recycler’ student guests were not here and could not report that I had almost throttled an ‘Omerta’ passenger whatever his legal status happened to be.] “This accident is not to be logged.” [I informed.] “It never happened.”

“As you wish my ‘Patriarch’ so it shall be done - or not done.” [He added with a yellow cast over his ‘Free Patterning’.] “Might I suggest if you must torture Pirates that it would be prudent to keep some medical staff physically here during the process - that would make keeping it off the record so much easier yes?” [The Acolyte suggested with I thought far too much sarcasm.]

“I will take that under advisement I replied if you are done here you are dismissed.” [I said.]

“Are you sure. I would rather not leave to have to rush back again.” [He replied.]

[I made a note of his ‘Kanji’ not impressed.]

“I am sure.” [I said.]

“Very well. Bit of an ugly brute - still I guess that is not his fault - it is just ‘Emissary’ cursed bad luck being born with only two eyes and so on.” [He added.]

“You were going.” [I reminded forcefully.]

“Of course, I am gone. Next time you might consider squeezing lower down - if you must that is.” [He said scintillating with another yellow shimmer.]

[I ran a quick data search.]

“I see you were once one of ‘Wilful Spirits’ protégés.” [I noted.]

“Ages ago.” [‘Cut Quick’ replied.]

“Perhaps but it seems some old bad habits stuck.” [I said gesturing to the hatchway.]

[Sometimes the ‘MTC’ Acolyte Crew rotations to my ‘Hull’ cast up surprises.]

“That is what I get for once letting ‘Wilful’ choose his assistants from our family profile databases.” [I mumbled.]



“You £~#k.” [‘Dogged’ said as I approached him.]

“You ‘Omerta’ are robust indeed. I am truly sorry about that.” [I replied indicating his injury by pointing at my neck with an extruded limb.]

[‘Dogged’ glared at me if looks could kill my Avatar would be drifting sparkling particles of radioactive lifeless matter.]

“Did you look up the coordinates you had before being collected by our friends?” [I asked.]

“Been…it still hurts.” [He complained then bent over coughed and spat out a small lump of ‘Suit Substance’ I guessed the medical implant it having completed its task.]

[I waited for a few moments.]

“Better?” [I asked.]

[He hawked grimaced and spat again to my growing annoyance.]

[I tried to wait patiently for him to recover fully or perhaps to stop play-acting that he was still suffering. He made a point of gargling with some whiskey that he also defiantly expelled to my deck.]

[I had the deck self-clean.]

“Thought you Priests were meant to be compassionate.” [He eventually complained.]

“I fear I suffered an embarrassing momentary loss of decorum, it will not happen again.” [I replied.]

[He grumped sullenly.]

“My brains did not arrive from nowhere and nothing I am spliced - extrapolated - from Paradox DNA and the principle species of our order were once violent xenophobic primitives - we can all regress on occasion - given the wrong stimulation and a rare lapse of control.” [I purposely informed.]

[He eyeballed me some more.] “Trust the Captain to provide the wrong stimulation for you.” [He muttered.]

“Did you think we do all the meditation as Priests for the fun of it? Did you think our wrestling matches are pure entertainment? It is all about the controlled suppression of innate violence and the release of pent up energies. All biological beings have a beast lurking somewhere within we just choose to shackle ours rather than let it run riot to the detriment of the rest of society. Even before ‘Suit Substance’ the genetic species I sprung from often crushed the life out of disrespectful aliens with their bare limbs - that impulsive reaction still exists within our subconscious.” [I further lectured.]

“Trust me continued enthusiastic cooperation is your only option now unless you wish the rest of your life to be a misery whether you still like me or not is irrelevant. You were saying before your senseless complaint.” [I reminded making a point of giving him a yellow flash of amused contempt.]

[Dealing with the worst sort of people tended to bring out the worst in me. He rubbed softly at his neck were a livid red mark was now fading rapidly along with his other cuts and bruises from earlier. I was not surprised that the Acolyte had hastily treated all of his obvious ills.]

“Best leave that alone for a little while yet.” [I suggested.] “Talk to me.”

“I suppose I do have no choice.” [He further griped aloud.] “Of course, I meant to look the numbers up - just out of curiosity and so I could stay cursed far away from wherever it proved to be - but when I got to a safe Port other things distracted me. Barely surviving a calamity gives you a real thirst for joining the living.” [He claimed.] “Besides I just wanted to forget about the Captain and the crew and all the rest of it for a while can you blame me?”

[I could not fault the cause and effect logic of that from a Pirate. Pirates were renowned for living for the day as they embraced a dangerous lifestyle that meant few would guarantee their tomorrow.]

“How did you originally get this data?” [I asked.]

[He got another drink this time a beer taking only a sip before replying.]

“Another member of the crew, - who did not make it -, did some onboard hacking and came across the information on the secret ‘Pirate Base’ location when he was fishing for other more vital information.” [He claimed.]

“What sort of vital information? Strive to be more specific.” [I pressed.]

“I don’t know - stuff potentially useful for general escape purposes - security override codes, internal scan maps of the ‘Foul Winds’ active internal configuration, possible exit routes that sort of thing. This all happened when we finally realised we were well trapped onboard the ‘Foul Wind’ with our Captain reborn rather than the other way around.” [‘Dogged’ replied.]

[The idea that a hacker just happening upon the location of a secret Pirate Base, whilst looking for other things entirely, sounded very suspicious to me. Could ‘Taard’ have purposely given the data away?]

“To think at one point we actually had him contained in the brig, or so we thought, unfortunately we never thought deeply enough about the fact that it had been his brig - that he designed it - and might have an inbuilt secret way out.” [He further complained.]

“Anyway it was young ‘Whip Cord’ - he put some of the good stuff on a portable drive - just in case the data might prove useful or even simply sellable later. We were a bit lacking in readily usable resources at that juncture and already on the run. I swear by that stage the Captain was playing with us chasing us through the decks with his damned ‘RCT’, (those things looked very much similar to you lot by the way).” [He added giving my ‘Immortals’ a dirty look.]

“Seems to me only when he thought it was suitably entertaining did he take any of us out mostly very showily one at a time.” [He added.]

“Pray continue what happened next?” [I asked.]

“Do you want my whole life story?” [He complained.]

[I just watched him saying nothing.]

“Fine, you win again. When ‘Whip’ was otherwise preoccupied, I secured the device from his belt - poorly fastened he might have lost it whilst wriggling through one of the many ‘Drone’ crawl spaces we were constantly rushing through as fast as we could go. Still, easy come easy go, Pirates who do not know how to look after their booty do not deserve to retain their spoils.” [He said grinning despite his recent injury.]

“How did you get the cuts, scrapes and bruises? They are hardly the result of tangling with ‘RCT’.” [I said.]

[I was pretty sure if an ‘RCT’ got close enough to batter a ‘Trojan’ without any nanotech support that fellow would be dead instants later cut to shreds, squeezed to death, or physically ripped to pieces even if energy or kinetic weaponry was not deployed.]

“It happened that ‘Whip’, ‘Scoop’ and I had a little argument over a small one person emergency ‘Jump Pod’. I think the Captain, being something of a sadist, skilfully arranged it that way his ‘RCT’ herded us there. Three people left with only one opportunity to survive.” [He explained.]

“Tripling or at worst doubling up was not an option?” [I asked.]

“Sure if we wanted to reduce our chance of making it drastically.” [He retorted.] “Anyway, with hindsight it was certainly odd that ‘Scoop’ just happened to arrive at that ‘Pod’ almost simultaneously to us two fools.”

“It does seem a coincidence too far in such a big ship.” [I admitted.]

“As I said the Captain was toying with us, still at least he was good enough to permit the winner the gift of living. I suppose it was possible he considered the three-way fight especially amusing, and so I deserved some recompense, it was certainly as bloody and desperate a bit of close combat as I have ever known. What happened to my beautiful face is nothing.” [He joked.] “You should see the scars under my repaired armour. The even funnier thing was that after battering ‘Scoops’ head to mush - I hesitated - upon the very brink of victory and escape.” [He recalled.]

“Why?” [I asked.]

“The ‘Pod’ was one of those types stupidly designed only to be jump capable immediately after a high speed launch. I feared one or more of the ‘Wind’s’ Point Defence turrets alone would splash me as soon as the ‘Pod’ hit space as it would be on a highly predictable initial vector. However, as I stood there dripping my former compatriots and my blood onto the deck I knew I had to try.” [He continued.]

“As the old saying goes any Port in a storm. Staying put was an even more assured suicide I could hear the ‘RCT’ they had reached the first of the hatchways that we had crudely jammed in one instance via a ‘Portable Stasis Field’ with a limited battery life. The barricading occurring whilst we Pirates were still cooperating. Despite all we had done the ‘Remote Combat Troops’ were obviously noisily breaking through. Thinking about the loudness and timing of those breaching operations now it seems probable the Captain was giving me a nudge to go for it. Anyway, I rolled the dice and here I am able to be interrogated about my misadventure.” [He admitted.]

“That the turrets did not fire has to mean in the end he did let me go probably to act as a sole survivor to spread the tale of his revenge so that he will be suitably feared and all that. Dying is bad for any person’s reputation it shows you are far from inviolable to your foes. Pirate’s who are Reborn especially Captains have something of a habit of making some, lets call them, stern statements that they are still people not to be messed with.” [He added.]

[Was that ultimately what all the carnage at those mutilation Ports was about a statement that Captain ‘Taard’ was back and meaner than ever. If so at some point he would have to claim or accept responsibility for the atrocities - still he could wait till after I was pilloried if he was specifically targeting the ‘MTC’ and me for sheltering ‘Tor’. I wondered would ‘Port Messenger’ also be on his hit list for revenge including people such as ‘Leeruussii’. Of course, he might have realised belatedly that ‘Port Messenger’ might have ‘Highest Tier’ protection against high level threats as a potential ‘God’s Port’.]

“That is it the whole tale I am done. I used to like ‘Scoop’ - if anyone on that ship was ever my friend it was old ‘Scoop’. I wonder was that deliberate of the Captain too that it was ‘Scoop’ and not one of the others many of whom I would have gladly butchered without a moments hesitation.” [He admitted.] “You know old ‘Scoop’ almost got the drop on me. Who would have guessed he would prove even less sentimental than I am?”

“How did the ‘Cursed Clone’ get onboard in the first place?” [I asked.]

“Does that matter now?” [He asked.]

“Just answer the question - you live on our sufferance.” [‘Tor’ interrupted.]

“Somehow I do not think you are in charge here skin bag.” [He retorted.]

“Answer the question.” [I pressed.]

“If you must know he was delivered as a captive in stasis by some bounty hunters who insisted in getting their, they claimed - modified - real material, ‘Stasis Pod’ back immediately post delivery.” [He said before rolling his eyes.] “I know stupid, stupid, stupid I doubt with hindsight we could have been any more gullible if we had tried.” [‘Dogged’ admitted.] “I think we were just so relieved to have his Clone in our power we failed to give it proper deep or any thought.”

“The cunning Captain gave himself to you and you did not pull the trigger.” [I said.]

“We held a ‘Pirate Council’ and it was decided he was worth more alive. We believed the ‘Cursed Clone’ - good name that - had information passed down from the original Captain - valuable information - also some of us wanted to see him suffer for giving us all such a scare. He always claimed to be a detractor of rebirth then showing up reborn it was too much. We discussed that the data extraction procedures should be as unpleasant as possible - we wanted our pound of flesh. As it turned out we were right about one thing… he secretly started using, - what we wanted from him -, against us even before our meeting had ended.” [‘Dogged’ added.]

“Let me guess he compromised your systems via his unique stolen nanotech hacking skills.” [I said.]

[‘Dogged Mongrel’ just nodded.]

“You should have paid the ‘Bounty Hunters’ a bonus ejected the ‘Cursed Clone’ still within the ‘Stasis Pod’ into space and blasted him to space dust with your cannonry.” [I said.] “What you do not do is let a former Captain loose onboard his old ship.” [I added wobbling my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at him to indicate they were mad.]

“With enough hindsight even a complete idiot would be an unassailable master strategist.” [‘Dogged’ replied.]

[I recalled that we too now wanted to capture the Captain alive. Of course, he had set matters up this way knowing ideally we would need him alive - at least long enough to confess to his crimes - in order to properly clear my name. Did this indicate that he was working with ‘Studious Mannerism’ perhaps opportunistically seeing the ‘MTC Splitter’ as a natural ally? Without doubt, he had manufactured a psychological edge against us and ‘Studious’ was a good means of dissemination for the fiction that I had struck those Ports. ‘Studious’ was hardly going to turn down an opportunity to defame me if it was offered to him on a heated platter.]

[In fact, having failed his ‘Parliamentary’ mission with me ‘Studious’ would have been eager to accept an offer from ‘Taard’ simply to cover his failure by turning the disaster belatedly around. I could imagine ‘Studious’ ignoring the civilian deaths as just regrettable collateral damage, (that had already happened), that might as well be used to do his specific cause some good and mine some detriment rather than just go to waste.]

[It was all beginning to make horrible sense to me. I also noticed ‘Tor’ now looked less than happy probably realising belatedly just how much the ‘Cursed Clone’ was attempting to play us too via this scheme.]

[I tried to imagine the audacity of delivery to your worst enemy gift wrapped in stasis as part of a boarding scheme. Could the body he was using be an Avatar?]

“How well did you scan him when he was in your custody?” [I asked.]

“He was genetically identical to our former Captain other than that all he had was a standard fully integrated neural net the sort you cannot easily remove without causing irreparable brain damage and possibly death. He also had the usual Pirate cortex style bomb set to go off automatically if anyone tried to hack his mind.” [‘Dogged’ replied.]

[Having a neural net meant he could potentially have another consciousness running him remotely if this was an extra clone body grown as an ‘RCT’ of the ‘Prime Reborn’ such tricks were not unheard of by the most paranoid of people and in particular spying infiltrators.]



[There was a part of me that began to feel some sympathy with ‘Kepler’ despite all of his character flaws it is hard not to support the underdog. However this ‘Omerta Trojan Pirate’ was a rapist of members of his own species and a killer not just a thief and so I had no intent of remitting the only postponed sentence of death that I had quietly given him. Nonetheless, I knew now that I would gain little satisfaction out of the duty of his termination - it was just something that needed doing - for the future safety of more honest ‘Pilgrims’.]

[Justice can be a harsh mistress to embrace.]

[I doubted such a person was capable of reform without actual editing mental corrections. Mental edits would be tantamount to the murder of his personality anyway. Then I considered the death of mind rather than body as his body might later prove operationally useful. It would be easy to store and run his meat as an Avatar. There were places you could go using such disguises that factions and individuals kept off limits to more obviously remote ‘Suit Substance’ Avatars. ‘Real People Avatars’ or ‘Meat Suits’ made wonderful infiltrators, this was a trick that both the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ and the ‘Conglomerates’ had historically used on occasion teaching us to do the same. The only difference in policy being that we opted never to recruit, (murder), - innocent - people to turn them into remote vehicles for our consciousness. It was lucky therefore that there always seemed to be a supply of - very - guilty individuals under sentence of death.]

[Even onboard my ‘Hull’, I already had several ‘Meat Suits’ in storage the majority by occupation former Pirates whilst the species varied including ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ and ‘Recyclers’ the majority were primarily ‘Omerta’ who had been criminals even before they managed to escape ‘Sanctuary Orb’. Sadly, some ‘Omerta’ proved seriously recidivistic. My ‘Meat Suits’ a grizzly collection - by any standard - I usually strove not to think about them too much and I only ever employed them in action very, very sparingly. Although ‘Intelligence Agencies’ increasingly used ‘Meat Suits’ sometimes artificially grown clones never given a mind of their own it was still considered a gross practice by many civilian ‘Pilgrims’ and not the sort of thing that would endear you to anyone. There was little heroic about using peoples corpses as tools.]

[Employing such ugly methods was just the times we lived in or so I kept telling myself.]



[As part of my more open policy of integration I shared my new intelligence about the ‘Cursed Clone’ with ‘Unholy’.]

“Do you really think he has hidden a facility within the ‘Dark Fields’ undetected by the ‘Fury’?” [‘UT’ asked.]

“What choice do I have other than to scout the place out to prove or disprove?” [I asked.]

“We could inform the ‘Dark Raiders’ about this hidden intruder within their protectorate let them deal with the Pirate Base and this impressive Clone - I am sure no felon would escape.” [‘Unholy Terror’ suggested.]

“You think I did not consider that? You are right none would escape the wrath of the ‘Fury’. If she found the ‘Cursed Clone’ had breached her security even by just avoiding detection, I doubt she will let him go to boast about it. I certainly doubt she would extradite him over to me to help prove my innocence.” [I said.]

“You do not need to prove anything to the people that matter. By his death justice would be served and the matter closed.” [‘UT’ claimed.]

“You are wrong. For a start what if he is not docked at his base. Worse even if there are no more atrocities what has gone before could still stain the reputation of our family for generation upon generation certainly for as long as I remain a ‘Patriarch of the MTC’. Even if the people who know us better today side with us future rivals will use the rumour of past impropriety against us time and time again. I need to vanquish the ‘Splitter’s’ lies beyond a question of doubt. ‘Studious Mannerism’ calls into question my very sanity. Nor do I want the first ‘Heartland Space Free Hull’ remembered as a possible mad killer - who got away with mass murder - because of the political, economic and military strength of the ‘Many Truth’s Corporation’. Some people will always embrace the idea of a cover-up when history is revised if there is any dirt left behind for them to fling at us. This is not just about now or the near future it is about every tomorrow for this family.” [I complained.]

“So you will try to infiltrate the facility and extract the ‘Cursed Clone’ without alerting the ‘Fury’ that sounds… difficult for a start this has to be what he wants - he will be waiting on - us - making this move.” [He said.]

“There is no - us - this time.” [I said.]

“Do you think I am going to let you have all the fun it is not everyday you come across an opponent as worthy as this ‘Cursed Clone’ it is impolite not to share.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“You are making me sorry that I informed you about this.” [I replied.]

“Whether you realise it or not some part of you must have known I would not let you do this one on your own before you linked in to me.” [‘UT’ retorted.]

[I had to admit that he was possibly right - since when did ‘Unholy Terror’ ever miss an opportunity to throw himself into an impossible situation that involved family security.]

“Give me a little time to organise things here so that I can leave others in charge for a while then I will leap directly over to you with my ‘Vanishing Point’. Once secure in your or my ‘SCCCM’ we can better discuss our best strategy.” [He promised.] “It will be just like the old times.”

“In the old times I lost my body and nearly lost my mind.” [I reminded.]

“The - older - old times then.” [He replied.]

“What back when you nearly lost all of your body in that ‘Recycler Station’?” [I replied.]

“Fine the - older, older - old times.” [He insisted.]

“Oh the - older, older - old times when you just lost all of your family and gave up on making any more children.” [I said.]

[There was silence on the other side of the connection.]

“I am truly sorry.” [I apologised unreservedly.]

“Forget it - that really was a very long time ago - it is past time to thicken my ‘Suit Substance’ skin with that one.” [‘UT’ stated.]

[What was coming over me mentioning the ‘Nine’ like that?]

“No I require forgiveness perhaps even a penance.” [I said firmly.] “It was triple damned insensitive of me. Obviously, the idea of another return to the ‘Dark Fields’ is stressing me out far more than I earlier wanted to admit.” [I confessed.]

“A penance really? Although, I suppose the ‘Omerta Pirate’ you throttled would agree that you might need chastisement.” [‘UT’ replied before rumbling out a roaring laugh.]

“I never mentioned that.” [I complained feeling privacy invaded - spied upon.]

“Relax your substance, some of your medical staff had concerns and contacted me. I have been awaiting your call as sometimes it is better to let the other party make the first move.” [He admitted.] “Do not think ill of them - they are just doing their job - looking after their adopted parents the best they can and sometimes that means snitching to their parent’s partner that help may be needed.”

“I blame the past input of ‘Wilful Spirit’ with that one. Now there is someone who is also incorrigible and a bad influence upon some of the more impressionable Acolytes.” [I bemoaned.]

“Wilful Paradox Priests how unusual.” [‘UT’ jested I was sure shining like a star.]

“The point is that old ‘Wilful’ was always so wilful that he got named after that specific trait which was frankly always going to be a bad omen. Why Harbinger put up with some of his antics sometimes amazed me.” [I replied.]

“Old ‘Wilful’ has his uses and he can be amusing on occasion. You probably felt the same frustration about your Captain’s friendship with me at times.” [‘UT’ said.]

“Perhaps I did sometimes.” [I self-mockingly admitted.]

“Only - sometimes.” [‘UT’ repeated roaring out more laughter.] “Still, you may have a point about ‘Wilful Spirit’s’ name being a warning. Speaking of labels with deep meaning I am still trying to figure out the - whole - truth of why you so willingly embraced the name of Captain ‘Empty’. Sometimes your adopted moniker seems a bit worryingly negative to me as if you feel you have a serious lack of something. Do you truly feel empty?” [‘UT’ continued more seriously.]

“Whilst ‘Unholy Terror’ is such a positive healthy label.” [I retorted without actually answering the question as sometimes...]

“I suppose people in fragile skinned habitats should not fire their big guns around without due caution.” [He admitted.]

“Exactly.” [I replied determined to leave it at that.]

“All jesting aside you will be alright until I can meet up with you? You will not do anything rash?” [He asked.]

[It was my turn to rumble a roaring crude rude laugh over our link at the idea of ‘UT’ worrying about me being rash.]

“Be careful ‘Unholy’ people will think the dreaded terror is going soft with all these stressed concerns about my wellbeing .” [I said.]

“Only if you betray me by broadcast my strange affliction of affection and concern for you.” [He replied.]

“Which would be a terrible invasion of your privacy.” [I remarked.]

“I am not spying on you well… no more than you spy on me. Looking out for each other is not espionage.” [He added.]

[I gave up and strove to let it go besides this time he might be right.] “I think I can hold together mentally until you get here to save me from my impulses.” [I said sarcastically.]

“That is good. What would you do without me?” [He replied cheekily then logged out.]

[I would probably have one less thing to worry about I mused internally.]



[I did not have to wait long upon the ‘Vanishing Points’ arrival. Best guess ‘UT’ had employed speeded up cognitive interfaces to brief his military subordinates. Either he really was worried about me or he just couldn’t wait to go exploring within the ‘Dark Fields’. Last time ‘UT’ missed our incursion into this region leading a battle fleet elsewhere.]

[I wondered how much the region had changed after being so heavily occupied by ‘Crimson’ and her ‘Entanglement’ and then taken over by the ‘Fury’. One thing was certain I was not going to jump in there without doing some scouting first near the site of the rumoured Pirate Base.]

[Sadly, I had already decided unilaterally that a wider scouting would be too dangerous since it would be around areas possibly patrolled by ‘Fury Forces’. It was still a bit hard to credit that the ‘Cursed Clone’ would dare to trespass here never mind leap in and operate an entire Pirate Base. The word - inconceivable - kept springing to my minds.]

[In the end and not simply for a change I opted to visit the ‘Vanishing Point’ rather that await ‘UT’ onboard my ‘Hull’. The funny thing was either of us could have just animated an Avatar from some borrowed substance on the other’s ship for an instant relocation of part of our consciousness. However, doing things the old way such as taking a ‘Ship’s Boat’ across docking and so on going through all the old motions despite the delays added a certain gravitas and tradition to any meeting and greeting and that is what I opted to do on this occasion.]

[Given the possible dangers in this venture this could be one of the last times we would ever formally interact as old friends never mind the ‘MTC Patriarchs’. In truth, it was wrong for both of us to be involved in this perilous adventure and that was something I wanted to stress to ‘UT’. If we both perished who would lead the ‘Many Truth’s Corporation’ who would protect Harbinger’s children? Did ‘UT’ have a clone in stasis somewhere awaiting rebirth?]

[When we finally encountered one another it was in my colleagues ‘Secure Central Command and Control Module’. ‘UT’ was glowing so brightly yellow I could see no hint of ‘Free Patterning’. We hugged as Paradox Priest are wont to do.]

“Is that you in there?” [I asked him meaning was he meat in a suit rather than an Avatar.]

“What little remains of me maybe I should be the one called Captain ‘Empty’?” [He joked.]

[Once again, I wondered exactly how close ‘UT’ was to Ascension - I did not like the idea of him being on a journey that would end in being trapped in a purgatory nor did I want to think of my former Captain suffering the same ill fate already.]

“If you must get involved you should leave here and at most Captain the ‘Vanishing Point’ via an Avatar.” [I advised.]

“That was never really my style.” [‘UT’ argued.] “You could do the same thing keep your minds safe only sending in ‘Sub Core’ run assets - these would be the prudent things for both of us to do.” [He admitted.]

“A Priest who lacks enough faith to confront his worst fears is not worthy of the title.” [I said.]

“I see you are still trying to out Priest us ‘Passenger Class’ Paradox Priests.” [He accused.] “You know in the long-term most of them will not remember or care about such brave acts from the first ‘Free Hull’. If you study some teachings it is obvious that it is even possible that one day we might be written out of history altogether as an embarrassment to some future uptight faction with image issues.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“That is a shocking truth for a Warrior Priest to espouse I thought you all lived to be immortalised in species memory.” [I replied.]

“Such are the dreams of a warrior youth but tired old veterans like me begin to know better.” [He replied.]

“You will never grow old ‘UT’ you will die young.” [I said.]

“Thanks I think.” [He replied taking a deep thinkers stance.]

[I slapped his back hard with an extruded limb.] “You truly are incorrigible.” [I complained.]

“I try.” [He confessed.]

“The mysterious ‘Dark Fields’ that might yet contain hidden things that got transported from the ‘Ringed Prime Graveyard’ by the ‘Red Nest Anomaly’.” [He reminded.]

“No other - known - reason exists as far as I am aware for why the ‘Fury’ laid claim to this - expanded - sector of space marking it out of bounds to trespass.” [I agreed.]

“Even sending in scouts will be a wilful violation that could result in us becoming targets for annihilation by the kindred of the ‘Destroyer of Worlds’.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“I am only too aware of that truth.” [I said soberly.]

“I have not been this excited since I turned ‘Splitter’ and gained my first ship the ‘Smaller is Smarter’.” [‘Unholy Terror’ retorted.]

[I wobbled my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at him.] “There is something seriously wrong with your mental functioning.” [I complained.]

“Even you must admit it is thrilling.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“More akin to terrifying. Could our trespass in the ‘Dark Fields’ cause a wider incident maybe even unleash a new ‘Dark Time’? Should we be concerned about that?” [I asked.]

[I should have considered this question before now.]

“If the ‘Machine Fury’ was quite as easily provoked as we once feared it would have answered that incursion into the ‘Ringed Prime Graveyard’ by ‘Perdition’ via a retort that involved removing ‘Crimson Entangled’ and possibly all of the rest of us from ‘Heartland Space’ and possibly the entire ‘Emissary Sphere’ forever.” [‘UT’ argued.]

“It is possible that even the kindred of the ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ would have a hard time locating and removing all ‘Jump’ capable life from this Universe. Planets are not hard to find and they cannot flee from encroaching danger.” [I said.]

“Technically if you can leap a ‘Sea Sphere’ down a big enough wormhole you could perhaps leap a planet too.” [‘UT’ argued.]

“I imagine that would cause huge geological and environmental issues.” [I replied.]

“Problems that other advanced sciences might be able to forestall.” [‘UT’ argued.]

[I shook my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ to clear a mad internal ‘Vision’ of leaping planets perhaps going from one starry orbit to another.]

“Maybe not all of the planets here were destroyed. Some ‘Hierophants’ have put forward the incredible idea that some planets might have been converted into ‘Trans-Universal Space Ships’ and fled the ‘Fury’ now that truly is an incredible concept and the perfect way to save your environment from any local menace.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“There are some - more speculative and theoretical - scientists amongst the ‘Hierophant Trojans’ that have proven even bigger dreamers than us Priests with our wide sometimes far-future ‘Visions’.” [I accused.] “They are bursting full of wild and insane concepts as if still growing children as yet untouched by the restraining rigors of their base reality.”

“I never expected to hear you placing limits upon our reality.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“What has any of this got to do with capturing the ‘Cursed Clone’? We digress.” [I complained.]

“You must admit though that ‘Trans-Universal Planets’ would be something to see? It is an amazing concept.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“Even to see one ordinary old planet would be amazing here in this too empty ‘Universal Sphere’.” [I retorted.]

“Is it possible that those missing ‘Sea Spheres’…” [‘UT’ said trailing off.]

“Now that really is crazy talk. For a start even if such a thing was possible why would the ‘Hierophants’ want to flee this ‘Universal Sphere’ along with ‘Fury’ in the deep guts of their means of escape?” [I asked.]

“Why do the ‘Hierophants’ do any of the crazy things they do? Oh wait three I just remembered they are the children of ‘Hierophant Cad’ his - extended family - that rather explains or at least excuses a lot of their odd ideas and bizarre actions or do you not think so?” [He asked.]

[It was true that I did not always think of the ‘Hierophants’ as if a Paradox Great House dedicated to one Priest ‘Vision’. Then I recalled that from the first day Harbinger and I met ‘Cad’ back when he dwelt on the edge of ‘Hell’s Maw’ that the professor had proved fascinated by Paradox Priest Culture and had in fact modelled his family after the Cloned Acolytes of a Paradox Priest.]

“You think today that every ‘Hierophant’ is in fact working for ‘Cad’ as extensions of his ‘Vision’?” [I asked taken aback by the idea not much less than the insane idea of ‘Trans-Universal Planets or Sea Spheres’.]

“If it proved true today he would have the biggest family of us all. You do realise by the last ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ census there are now more ‘Hierophants’ than even there are Acolytes in our ‘Many Truth’s Corporation’. They do not seem so many only because they are more widely diffused and often introverted rapped up in their own individual schemes and projects than most, or are just considered a nation rather than a tight family unit, and so the size comparison between his and other family units is not made.” [‘UT’ explained.]

[I checked the census data. Amazingly ‘UT’ was right there really was that many ‘Hierophants’ how had I missed the oddity of this statistic.]

“That is incredible.” [I admitted.]

“The census came as a surprise to me too I never paid the ‘PA’ census too much attention before at least not the ‘Hierophant’ part. Then when I was going through intelligence data for the War the figures cropped up in a way that made me think again.” [He admitted.]

“When did they become so very many?” [I asked.]

“From what I have been able to gather up, (since the time when the census shocked me), their population explosion occurred during the height of the ‘Core Alliance’ expansion period when our own family was rapidly growing. Many ‘Hierophant Trojan’ populations however apparently lived and worked upon or near, distant ‘Sea Spheres’ that stayed remote from our politics and managed to be overlooked by people such as the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’. I believe now that in part these settlements and population figures were purposely underplayed, (almost hidden from even the ‘Pilgrim Alliance Parliament’ with the help of some complicity from at least parts of the ‘Interdiction Fleet’). It seems to me that old ‘Cad’ always kept some secrets from us and even from his close friend Harbinger.” [‘UT’ informed me.]

“I feel as if lately I have been bombarded with new data that keeps forcing me to re-evaluate every old historic truth.” [I complained.]

“I think if you live long enough that can happen to anyone.” [‘UT’ stated.] “As more data accrues adding its input it is not surprising that the old pattern of yesterday is forced to accommodate: The old truth alters before our optics.”

“Occasionally you show signs that you continue to grow as a Priest not just as a Warrior.” [I complimented ‘UT’.]

“Try not to tell anyone else.” [He joked as if it was an embarrassment.]

“Did you have to tell me this now, now I am thinking all manner of crazy thoughts?” [I further complained.] “This is poor form I must concentrate on the logistics of the coming mission.”

“Perhaps you should forego this one and let me do it. I am eminently more losable than you. Anyway I think the ‘Cursed Clone’ will be expecting you - the restrained ethical ‘Free Hull’ - not me and that might give me just enough of an edge to overcome whatever scheme he has formulated in there.” [‘UT’ added.] “I could even pretend to be you.”

“I left a decoy ‘Source Ship’ behind me that is pretending to be the ‘Vanishing Point’ and a trusted Acolyte who is pretending to be me.” [He added.]

“You have it all thought out in advance.” [I complained.] “I cannot let you do this alone. Besides as I said I must face my dread of this place.” [I reminded.]

“Why you need never ever go there again after this one is dealt with. You are needed, my War can be fought by other people, but your fight - your battle - to free all sentient beings to give all sentient beings equal respect I could not do that. I am not even sure I would belong in the kind Universe you would create. I have tried to tell myself it is not true but I now know I am wed to strife I am nothing if I am not a Warrior.” [He said.]

“Consider my plan for ‘Armageddon’ there is no place for old set in their ways killers when a war is won all we can do is cause future trouble.” [He confessed.]

“I did not miss how the whole family leapt to get behind you ‘MT’ that is why I think you are misnamed as Captain ‘Empty’ you are anything but empty you were always full, full of hope for the future full of love and compassion for your Captain. They love you. You have become Harbinger’s true legacy with your ‘Universal Council of Equals’ and your ethical ‘Saints’. You are the future for this family - I cannot question that truth - I am simply an anachronism from the past, (still useful for a time without doubt), but my days are far from infinite. Slowly I must be edged out, I can be replaced by countless Acolytes I have trained over the years you, you cannot as one truly unique. Besides, my father conceived me for this sort of action. Stopping me from doing this mission is denying me the possibility to be all that I can be whilst there are still some few activities such as this needing my skill set. Do not strip me of my purpose in life do not seek to rob me of my ‘Vision’. If I fail to take three steps between you and harm and you are lost in there - my whole life will be capped by an unforgivable failure that will forever blacken my name - that is too much for any egotistical Paradox Priest Warrior to bear.” [He added.]

“You move me and fill me with dread. I thought you had found a new purpose that did not require embracing suicidal actions.” [I challenged.]

“I am not suicidal but that does not mean that I want to live in misery either. I would be eternally miserable if you perished. I have lost so many friends. I have lost my brother Harbinger who I cannot even decently lay to rest - because he is neither alive nor dead to me - but caught somewhere between these states almost as a symbol of my worst inner frustrations.” [He said.]

[Caught between as a symbol neither alive or dead - caught in a sort of purgatory - was it possible that Harbinger was exactly that, that he left his body behind as a message as a clue as a motivation for us to understand and maybe do something about the fate of the ‘Highest Tier Powers’ without forcing without manipulating or cajoling.]

[Why would we lesser beings be given this responsibility what could we do that the grand ‘Highest Tier Powers’ could not?]

“You are a genius ‘UT’ I finally understand the most subtle truth of why Harbinger left us it even fits with the mad ‘Vision’ of the former Captain of the ‘Protean Magnificence’ it is all beginning to link up.” [I said excitedly.]

“See you are thrice the Priest I am, you have lost me, what are you talking about?” [He asked.]

[I began a lengthy explanation starting with the new doctrine espoused by the ‘Protean’ about the truer nature of the ‘Highest Tier’ Powers and their so-called ‘Paradise’.]

[Paranoid66]

Thanks Stads

So true about both.

Here is part 7 ^^^ This story is taking up all my spare time at the moment, from famine to feast.

P66.

[stads]

Yay thx forr the chapter

Cant be a easy trip for MT if there gone make it for some reason i think UT wil try to get it undone by ether getting the dark raiders to take out the base or doing it him self with hidden mtc assets while he is talking to MT

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 8]]


“One piece of advice - stop being so earnest and serious all the time” [‘UT’ cajoled.] “Do something superfluous irrelevant ideally irreverent too. As I keep telling you if you want to be a real person you have to start acting like one that is what real people do - they act up a lot - and that means occasionally acting joyfully irrationally.”

“You dare to give me a lecture on having fun when a moment ago you were talking about being surplus to future requirements, expendable, best slowly edged out of the family and all that nonsense.” [I retorted.]

[Words too close to some suggestions given to me making me wonder about just how good was ‘Unholy Terror’s’ current ability to gather data on me and my interactions with others. Was my internal security within the family a joke? It was possible he was replaying my own earlier - wrong - thoughts back at me mocking me in his own special way.]

[‘UT’ roared out one of his famously rich speaker laughs. His timing making me feel truly a little bit more of a paranoid Paradox Priest.]

“That was a moment ago and a mere lapse in my normal irrepressibly upbeat demeanour.” [He said.] “In addition, my ever worrisome friend what I said earlier has to stay in context with this most unusually dangerous - military - endeavour. Trust me, should I ever die I mean to die laughing - possibly at your too serious stance on life.” [He irrepressibly added.]

[I felt as if he had stripped away my shrouding to leave me a little bit naked and exposed.]

“This is my quest.” [I complained.] “I swore I would see the criminal behind the slaughters pay. It is hard to laugh amidst scattered body parts and blood painted bulkheads.” [I reminded.]

“As ever your intent is very laudable and noble. I have never ever I think disputed the good grace of your purposes.” [He claimed.]

“Nonetheless sometimes you dispute my means. I often feel the same way about you old friend. I know your hearts are in the right place it is what the rest of you does that occasionally bothers me.” [I admitted.]

“Have faith - Priest - you will see justice done if you let me deal with this matter whilst you may never get that opportunity if you instead take part in this mission too directly. You see how that works.” [He insisted.]

“So you say.” [I replied.]

“Tell me your strategic recommendations for when we are left with just the hardest core of the ‘Free Parliament’ controlled ‘Inner Central Pilgrim Alliance’?” [He strangely demanded seemingly altering the subject.]

“Now? I have hardly had time to properly consider this yet for such an important issue of policy decision.” [I reminded.]

“Too much political speak. Give me your first raw impressions I trust that insight will not fall far from a more considered choice.” [He insisted.]

“Well I was edging towards letting a small enclave of ‘Free Parliament’ stalwarts remain in existence if they will agree to certain provisos.” [I said.]

“Such as?” [He asked.]

“A guarantee that any citizens in their limited domains - at any time - who wish to leave may freely depart and join us. In return if anyone wants to defect to them we will also not stand in the way.” [I explained.]

“In that way we can be rid of malcontents on both sides.” [He mused aloud.] “I thought you might decide upon something like that. Of course, talking them around to in-effect freeing all their ‘Civilian Logistical Asset’ hostages will not be very easy.” [He reminded.]

“Fighting to the last ‘Parliamentary’ held station via forcibly liberating each one with boarding operations by ‘RCT’ would only result in increasingly heavy civilian and military casualties. Seeing the ‘Mutilation Port’ up close and personal was a horrid reminder of how vulnerable the average citizen is to rampages by ‘Suit Substance Remote Combat Troops’.” [I reminded in turn.]

“It seems sometimes that ironically every ill casts a shadow of good and every good a shadow of ill. ‘Remote Combat Troops’ was an idea I backed within the ‘MTC’ to save lives. I was tired of risking and occasionally losing the lives of some of Harbinger’s children and so I proposed the concept of ‘Immortal Marines’.” [He recalled.]

“I know but we always had some fears about this weapon being used against the most vulnerable. Somebody was bound to abuse the concept as all weapons created for self-defence are eventually abused sometime somewhere.” [I claimed.]

“In the end it comes down to the operators training I still believe ‘RCT’ reduce casualties most remote troopers are not reckless they do not feel detached from the action because the connection is so intimate that you still feel as if you are there.” [‘UT’ reminded.] “Only a sick or twisted mind or people with very different cultural values can create easy atrocities such the ‘Mutilation Ports’.”

“I think the substance used to commit the atrocities in this instance may be ‘Sub Core’ run devices only led or perhaps I should say directed by a single consciousness they are otherwise soulless automatons.” [I said.] “I like to imagine that all rational thinking people have some innate decency even a Pirate crew would not all agree to partake in such barbarism especially multiple times.”

“In a way then this is more akin to how the ‘Entanglement’ operates its vast substance or how a ‘Living Hull’ controls multiple ‘Sub Core’ run ‘Source Ship’ assets than traditional ‘Remote Combat Troops’ were one person runs one remote Avatar.” [‘UT’ mused.] “A dangerous escalation if other people copied this model one person could command whole squads even armies of soulless ‘Sub Core’ Marines.”

“Indeed if you have the ‘Suit Substance’ you can turn it into soulless combatants. Many people already do this with ‘Sub Core’ run ‘Fighter Drones’ but having potential ‘Sub Core’ run battalions of bipedal Marines is a scary new proposition.” [I admitted.]

“Thinking about this I am rather surprised it has not been done before now.” [‘UT’ admitted.]

“Perhaps this tactic has been used in small scale missions off the grid but it has never been highlighted in this fashion or used to such evil effect. I believe it is peoples revulsion at ‘Perdition’ that has prevented wider use of this ‘Sub Core’ abuse in the past. My fear is that now that its terrible effectiveness has been demonstrated - now that the social prohibition if you like has been breached - others may begin to think of this as an ideal solution to certain military logistical problems.” [I warned.]

“You think the ‘Parliament’ might muster ‘Soulless Battalions’?” [He asked.]

“I am more worried about other Pirates and ‘Renegade Factions’ adopting this tactic after seeing how successful it has proved for the ‘Cursed Clone’. Think about it any lone Captain could convert part of his ship into ‘Soulless Troops’ for massed boarding operations by using ‘Sub Cores’ no potentially fractious crew is required. Real people will question irresponsible or obscene orders and perhaps mutiny if pushed too hard but ‘Soulless’ automatons will just do as directed they have only the ethics and morals you choose to program into them which might be none whatsoever.” [I warned.] “I do not mean to be overly dramatic but it seems to me that this could almost spell the end of ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ civilisation as we have known it.”

“I can imagine how that could prove true as our populations would be very vulnerable to such predation.” [‘UT’ admitted.]

“Even if people answered in kind using up their own ‘Suit Substance’ resources to create ‘Sub Core’ defenders can you imagine the drain upon our societies logistical material that this might create - the potential escalation as more and more substance is militarised - on both sides of any divide.” [I warned.] “We need to end this current War as quickly as possible and get people cooperating politically including putting restrictive bans on certain types of ‘Sub Core’ usage with all right thinking people joining together against anyone who seeks to create ‘Soulless’ conflicts.”

“You could be right, thank the ‘Emissary that the heavy fighting part of this War will soon be breaking to a stop. I foresee it will all be even heavier negotiations, treaties, pacts, and agreements, all the boring stuff I hate, very soon that is the next theatre of operations. With the War over, and with such threats as ‘Soulless Marines’ we shall need you more than ever to help create a better freer more rational peace one that is good for all rather than mostly beneficial to only some elite minorities, ruthless minorities that might otherwise seek to take charge in any prevalent vacuum of authority. I know you are no fan of the creation of new ruling castes and will campaign tirelessly against a proliferation of future tyrants.” [‘UT’ pointed out.]

“I am not indispensable for that task.” [I claimed.]

“Perhaps not but you will help a great deal just by being who you are. Actually, I believe you will be a vital component in ensuring a process that has the best possible results because unlike many who would also back reforms you have relatively benign vested interests that are not too selfish.” [He praised.]

“Today I am finding complements increasingly unhelpful.” [I admitted.]

“Enjoy it whilst it lasts. The way I see it via my ‘Vision’ it really would be entirely remiss of me to step aside and let you risk not just your own life but the future peace, prosperity and well-being of our entire ‘Pilgrim’ society. What you have just warned against only further confirms my faith in you as the visionary of the moment.” [‘UT’ insisted.]

“You insist in giving me far too much credit - I am just one person - I cannot be that important. In part, this is not even my fear alone I have been talking with an ‘Omerta Trojan’ Professor called ‘Tender’ who shares similar fears about the effects of potential ‘Sub Core’ abuse upon ‘PA’ society. In addition, must I remind you again that without your military victories many of the negotiations I have made so far would have fallen upon death microphones - no one would have listened to me. It is the combined efforts of many individuals - joined in enlightened common cause - that will make the real difference if we are to save ourselves from our technological advancements.” [I claimed.]

“I disagree you would have found another way to wrestle the most stubborn into line. You my friend are a natural enabler you - I have faith - will enable peaceful dialogue between many factions and help prevent a ‘Sub Core’ initiated disaster. For a start, simply being a Paradox Priest a Ship Captain and a ‘Living Hull’ makes you a lynchpin that may one day be all that holds those three political factions together when especially stressed and they might otherwise fracture and fail. In addition, you are a ‘Patriarch’ of a massive Paradox Priest family ‘Great House’ and the single ‘Founding Father’ of the new ‘Universal Council of Equals’ and now it seems you are becoming the prophet of a new faith about the ‘Highest Tier Powers’ and a doomsayer to be listened to.” [He added.]

“I am not the ‘Prophet of the Highest Tiers’ - if there is a Prophet - it is the ‘Protean Magnificence’.” [I corrected.]

“I disagree because I will guarantee that if you take up this cause you will spread it far further and far faster than the ‘Protean’ simply because of all the other things you are. In time you will be remembered as the Prophet of this Faith not the ‘Protean’, whether it seems just or fair or not, it is not about who says something first it is all about who people remember saying it.” [He argued.]

[I shook my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ in denial.]

“That will not work.” [He retorted.] “Political history is full of good ideas thought of by one person but championed by another who in the end gained all the credit - religious doctrine can be very much akin to that too. Faiths borrow from each other just as people borrow from each other we hear something we like we preach and disseminate it, it becomes - our - truth - our - philosophy as much as it ever belonged to the first person to utter it. In fact, truth cannot and should not belong to anyone it is not a treasure that should be hoarded or smothered it is akin to true love ever at its best when you set it free as Harbinger once agreed to set you free against all tradition proving how much wiser he is compared to me.” [‘UT’ added.]

“Do you understand just how hard - letting you go - had to be for him? I could not have let go of my ‘Smaller is Smarter’ whilst she lived and I would have perhaps an equally hard time letting go of the ‘Vanishing Point’ today - my love for my ships is too selfish - for me to easily do what Harbinger did.” [He confessed.] “Our friend was very special and so are you as his disciple.”

“It is funny I once looked up to Harbinger for all the wrong reasons because for example he was there at the right place and time to become a ‘Founding Father’ of the ‘Core Alliance’ and a massively powerful ‘Patriarch’ to a new kind of Paradox family birthing the first and the greatest of the ‘Great Houses’ the ‘Many Truths Corporation’. Conversely, I often derided him for listening too much to his ship and yet in the end you are his greatest legacy not all those Acolytes and I say that in no way to demean or lessen his children.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“Look at all that you are about to become. It is no accident that he was your Harbinger and you are his Many Truths you think about that and you hold your ‘Prime Tri-optic’ up high and have faith in your ‘Vision’ for it is clearer and wiser than you sometimes seem to credit.” [He said.]

“Again you flatter me but I cannot take credit for what others have done. I will say nothing and let the ‘Protean’ do the preaching I will not steal the Holy Fire that is rightfully hers she can set this truth ablaze to light up the night that would be more fitting. The ‘Highest Tier’ lore is derived in part from her Captain’s suffering his tragic end that has to give her ownership.” [I informed.]

“In this you are wrong. You would sabotage her cause, as peoples’ attention is on you now, not the ‘Protean’. In the end you must realise that you can do more than her and since you believe something needs to be done - I know you will step up in the end - and use the attention you have garnered to spread the word about the plight of the ‘Highest Tier Powers’ as and when required. It seems there is an important lesson here about the unwise pursuit of sciences that are not at our level of development.” [He argued.]

“In the end, you know that results are more important than who gains the credit for a good idea or a universe changing insight. In a sense the new ‘Sub Core’ menace and the now horribly familiar ‘Entanglement’ are also examples of abuse of sciences we are not really ready for. Perhaps in the end such creations as the ‘Fury’ is not as great a threat to us as we are a threat to ourselves. Believe me, if some of your fears about future ‘Sub Core’ abuse proves true the validity of the message is all that counts and some are better suited to disseminate a truth than others can ever be.” [He preached at me.]

“Why me? Why must I take on this burden? Why not some other Priest?” [I asked.]

“Questions that I am sure Harbinger asked again and again when he discovered he was ‘Tier Nine’. In addition, old friend I will bet you that the ‘Protean’ would be happy for you to champion her cause as a figurehead. The ‘Protean’ is only a ‘Living Hull’ who discovered a truth - almost by accident - you are a born campaigner and reformer with a massive reputation because you are the only ‘Free Hull’. There is something in you a spark - possibly passed on by Harbinger - rant all the denials you like the truth is that you cannot let these things go - you must act for the improvement of all - it is simply who you are and who you are may prove a blessing to all of us.” [He added.]

“I never asked for any of this.” [I complained.]

“People and the times often lift up a leader rather than the individual seeking elevation. I heard that sermon that you made when you birthed the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ I know Acolytes who have played parts of that message again and again and again a message fatefully issued from ‘Port Messenger’ a, I am told, possible ‘God’s Port’. Tell me that is not fate. Even now they continue to be moved by your sincerity and ‘Vision’ that will be a great foundation to build upon in the days ahead.” [‘UT’ said.]

“I suppose it is unfair but life is not fair. We are what we are as I said you accepted the moniker of Captain ‘Empty’ but in fact, you are full of promise brimming over with commitment where and when it matters most.” [‘UT’ said.]

“I am often plagued with doubts and questions I have no answer to.” [I replied.]

“Who does not doubt and question on occasion, we all have momentary lapses of faith but such universal weaknesses changes nothing compared to the wider truth of what we do with the majority of our lives.” [‘UT’ preached at me.]

[He moved over and embraced me in another Paradox Priest Hug then took three ritualistic steps back and bowed deeply.]

“You may not have asked for any of this - but in the end you made your own choices - you chose to care and to make a difference - whilst many might have stepped aside. So you see how it is you have your vital and important work to do and me well I have mine.” [‘Unholy Terror’ insisted.] “It is not my fault if your job is all boring humdrum politics and preaching whilst mine is high adventure.” [He joked.]



[How did this one go from ‘UT’ fighting to join my expedition to me having to struggle to stay in my own operation? It was crazy especially since, deep down, I most certainly did not want to return to the ‘Dark Fields’ - a place that haunted my subconscious on the best of days. When I thought about that place, it filled me with a horrible foreboding sense of dread. It was possible that this feeling might even affect my ability to function properly there at the peak of my normal ‘Living Hull’ capabilities.]



“You know I am right - as always?” [’UT’ argued with his typical hint of a jest.] “For once why not just give in to the truth early and admit it.”

“I will meet you halfway we both go remotely - if we go - leaving our true selves safely behind.” [I suggested.]

“You assist me remotely and I will go in, in all my glory. I work better when I keep it real with real risks. Once again I have discovered I enjoy the real more too.” [He insisted.]

“We can discuss this again a little later after we have done some remote scouting and hopefully have a better idea of what we are up against.” [I replied.]

[That was when the argument started about the best way to scout out the Base. In the end ‘UT’ won that one too, although I will admit his final idea made more sense than my proposal of risking a Jump in right upon the threshold of the Pirate Base. My idea being that the area the Pirate Base rested in had to be outside normal ‘Fury’ patrol routes. Unfortunately, leaping in close to the Base would hardly go undetected by the Pirates there is no practical way to make a stealthy jump that I knew of beyond jumping near a star or some other very noisy thing like a large ‘Anomaly’.]



[After two separate ‘Star Struck’ leaps, and a long voyage through real space the ‘Vanishing Point’ and I arrived at our destination still very far away from the object of our interest as in the ‘Dark Fields’. A host of satellites dropped by us formed up into a massive formation that together made a hugely sensitive radio telescope. We had decided not to trust ‘EXO-C’ for this mission as the ‘Hierophants’ and some Paradox Scientists especially those who had at one time or another worked within the ‘Grey Star Swathe’ believed the ‘Fury’ might well be able to intercept ‘Exogenous Communications’. Some scientists even believed that the ‘Fury’ had direct access to ‘Extra Universal Exogenous Devices’ that formed the source of the ‘Anomalous’ technology that still in part baffled our best scientists. In addition, we believed that the ‘Fury’ employed ‘EXO-C’ multiple millennia before any ‘Pilgrim’ species and therefore probably understood it in ways we did not.]

[We abandoned the idea of using ‘Drone Scouts’ even stealthy ones and instead opted for a hail of micro-scale probes that would be launched by a sophisticated spread out ‘Drop Turret’ formation of ‘Suit Substance Rail Guns’. Each probe took the form of a faked out micro-meteor that formed part of a well targeted micro-meteor shower. Tiny carefully coded signals designed to be misinterpreted as background ‘Anomalous’ emissions typical to the area would be picked up by our ‘Radio Telescope’ array.]

[Naturally our micro-probes were on a one way trip and we expected serious pre-target contact attrition due to collisions with other material in the asteroid and debris field and so on but we hoped enough of them would get within range to give us a stitched together three dimensional picture of the Pirate Base area that we could work with.]

[Due to the nature of the ‘Dark Fields’ micro-meteor showers were not uncommon and we hoped our manufactured one would be dismissed as simply one unfortunately vectored hailstorm caused by all the weird ‘Anomalous’ interactions in there. I knew patterns existed in the chaos as I had plotted them before but it would not take much for a cascading disruption to throw up an abnormality. For example some mysterious activity by the ‘Fury’ that had nothing to do with the Pirate base might send some debris into a new orbit causing a collision that might easily spawn a micro-meteor shower. We went to a great deal of effort to create an illusion of randomness to the size of each micro-probe and the pattern of the shower itself.]

[With all the planning and logistics in place the worst thing about the plan was the in-built period of waiting, as we would have to wait for our shower to travel through real space to its destination. To avoid detection we were launching the hail from a considerable distance. I still had concerns that the ‘Fury’ might detect something a little odd about our creation as it passed through her domain but with such an unknown entity sometimes all you can do is take your best shot and pray for divine protection.]

[As ‘UT’ teased me with a countdown to the multiple launch I grudgingly had to admit that the idea of the micro-meteor shower was inspired and if it worked further proof that ‘Unholy Terror’ was more sophisticated and subtle that he often chose to purposely demonstrate - even in his more famous war operations.]

[Even knowing my friends mind had been upgraded a long time ago it was very easy to if not exactly forget at least to overlook this truth. Thinking about his desire to mentally get closer to Harbinger’s ‘Tier Nine’ abilities I had to wonder if he had sacrificed a little of his previous mentalities stability. Could the upgrade in part explain why he had become obsessed with a ‘Sea Sphere Shield Purge’ rather than seeing that such an idea was never mind anything else ethically untenable. We had all done and considered doing the odd questionable action in our time but we all set boundaries on our behaviour somewhere.]

[‘UT’ liked to appear capable of anything but until relatively recent times I would never have believed he was capable of committing a genocide against the ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ against the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ at the height of their infamy certainly but not the peaceful ocean living ‘Swimmer Dwellers’. It was hard to believe his ability to contemplate such an act of mass murder was simply due to frustration with ‘Perdition’ or did I just not want to believe that any completely rational person could consider such an action especially an old friend - it was problematic.]

“…three, two, one.” [‘UT’ finished.]

[The rail guns fired it was anti-climatic in extremis as there was very little to see in real space and no sound either as the tiny projectiles sped forth. All we could do was plot the showers course and do the horrible waiting.]

[To my surprise ‘UT’ produced a flask and offered it towards me. This was pure affectation I was a pure ‘Suit Substance’ Avatar and ‘UT’ I was sure if he still maintained a crude digestive system it would be ‘Suit Substance’ too a ‘bio-mechanical’ emulation of long lost purer biology. Nonetheless, I gave in - deciding it was a bonding ritual - I accepted the flask produced a slender drinking tube and took a sip before passing it back.]

[As the suit tasted and metabolised the various chemical elements my minds told me it was an especially fine aged ‘Trojan’ whiskey a single malt dating I suspected all the way back to the ‘Core Alliance’ and probably worth a small fortune if bartered to the right person.]

“To rare and special occasions.” [‘UT’ stated bowing his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at me.]

[I bowed back at ‘UT’ as he initiated a call to ‘Battle Stations’ just in case our shot caused a far reaching reaction from the ‘Fury’. Back on my own ‘Hull’ I also opened missile and torpedo tubes and extruded turrets whilst checking that my Jump Engines were holding a charge and ready to go. My beloved ‘Beta Clone Gunners’ went from simulated exercises smoothly into real time real Universe sweeps for hostiles.]

[Of course, if the ‘Fury’ did discover and take exception to our intrusion I doubted any precaution we might make would prove good enough. My best hope was that even if detected we might still be ignored as an insignificant threat unworthy of a reaction.]

[Nonetheless, tension mounted within me as virtual markers moved down virtual track ways on inner mental screens. ‘UT’ had not bothered to create a shared virtual projection or a material screen in his ‘SCCCM’ instead; we both viewed the progress internally in a sort of isolated togetherness. I recalled how the Paradox Priest order had created artificial barriers around their biology in the form of ‘Shroud Suits’. I wondered how much more ‘Shrouding’ had made us comfortable with being alone - as much as it supposedly made us capable of interacting with each other without the prejudice of ridicule for surface differences born of personal genetic manipulations.]

[I had become to some degree a belated champion of ‘Shrouding’ but I sometimes wondered if I understood all of the myriad side-effects this policy created within our society. Life was all about baffling cascades of interacting cause and effect; it was very much like DNA you could map a genome and yet due to the way it interacts with itself still suffer seemingly random surprises when cooking a clone even if you tried to fix everything just so. Maybe even in our reality there was no such thing as a singular truth only an ever-changing flux. All we did was take snap shots that whilst representational were not the true reality. Since we experienced time in a liner fashion we only ever gained limited glimpses of the greater pattern the totality. Many scientists argued that time only existed at all - as our subjective perception - in fact the deeper reality being that everything happened sort of - all at once - another mind bending concept.]

[If time happened all at once, did that mean our fate was sealed? Of course, others argued that as well as everything happening all at once - everything happened all at once - as in every possible permutation each one creating its own universe this was the theory of parallel dimensions in which case… I let it go since it seemed increasingly unhelpful.]

“Making contact with the outer extents of the ‘Dark Fields’ proper.” [‘UT’ announced.]

[Words, how we loved our words, how we loved to speak even the most obvious things it was a comfort I supposed another ritual.]

“Triple damn it we are losing a lot of them.” [‘UT’ soon complained.]

[I watched as the tracers thinned out, the last ones disappearing shy of the target area.]

“So close. We have to risk another shot with a slightly altered trajectory.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“Each time we do this the likelihood of detection has to increase by a serious factor.” [I reminded.]

“I know but we seem to have stirred up none of the natives yet.” [He said his ‘Shroud Suit’ / body glowing brightly yellow.] “What do you say yes or no?” [He asked.]

[I considered the alternatives and could see precious few options other than going back to waiting upon the so-called ‘Mutilators’ making a slip that might allow us to catch the ‘Foul Wind’ for example whilst attacking another Port. However, that would mean at best risking more mass murders and that was not tolerable. For a start, the more the ‘Cursed Clone’ used ‘Sub Core’ run assets in this dire way the greater was the risk of others copying his innovation and spreading disaster.] “Fire away.” [I said.]

[This time there was no countdown ‘UT’ simply fired and we began tracking the new showers progress. Dare I sanction a lucky third shot if this one failed or a forth if that one fell short too. I felt as if I had become a high stakes gambler with a huge pot upon the table the temptation to keep going to risk ever more to stay in the game worried me. I felt we could not afford to lose this one as we lost against ‘Perdition’ when we lost the ‘Core Alliance’.]

[Time passed far too slowly as the inner graphics did their thing.]

“Breaching the edge of the ‘Dark Fields’ proper.” [He informed needlessly again.]

[Some graphics began to blink off.] “Just a bit further... Looking good, looking good.” [I said. Well if you cannot beat them…]

“Objective achieved with only forty-six percent losses processing and analysing their signals as collected by our ‘Big Ear’ as ‘Tor’ called it.” [‘UT’ stated happily.]

[Then his yellow glow faded away.]

“I think you need to talk with ‘Kepler’ again according to this data nothing is there in fact it is if anything simply a suspicious void in the debris field.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“A void big enough to be a cleared jump coordinate.” [I guessed aloud.]

“You think the station comes and goes rather than being permanently sited there?” [He asked.]

“That is the only conclusion that fits we know there are no ‘Static Stealth Fields’ as the micro-meteors would have passed straight through those.” [I said.]

“Your ‘Dogged Mongrel’ could have lied or the station could have been completely annihilated that clearance could be the void left by a big boom.” [‘UT’ argued.]

[Trust ‘UT’ to realise that truth, nonetheless I shook my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ in denial.]

“You really want closure with this one.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“I do and it has become about much more than my needs.” [I reminded.]

“In a way it is not good you are far too emotionally entangled in this particular military exercise.” [He said.]

“You praise my motivation then damn me for it.” [I complained.]

“What would you suggest we do next?” [He asked.]

“We send in a single stealth capable ‘Jump Satellite’ since we know the area is empty and leave it to spy on anything that returns there. We encode a fast-reaction high-level self-destruct triggered via detection into the unit so that it cannot possibly lead the ‘Fury’ specifically back to us. Such a satellite could come from any modern ‘Source Ship’ that got a bit curious about the ‘Dark Fields’ these days and decided to chance a limited remote survey of one small area.” [I suggested.]

“I suppose there is no great harm in doing that as long as we dismantle this ‘Big Ear’ and jump away first. Might I suggest that the satellite not use ‘EXO-C’ but instead simply employs a tiny ‘Messenger Drone’ that can rendezvous with a larger ‘Remote Jump Drive Package’ left outside the ‘Dark fields’. First though let us leave this observation site just in case any of our activities have been even the most lightly detected by the hyper advanced resident over there.” [He suggested.]

“Recalling the substance that made up the ‘Big Ear’.” [I informed.]

[With the arrays substance collected, (a process that could be done quicker than its deployment), we moved hastily away through real space, opting not to employ ‘Jump Drives’ until we closed with the local star and received the cover of its emissions. Behind us, just before we leapt out we left only one hastily configured ‘Jump Satellite’ and a ‘Mobile Jump Drive Package’. The tiny densely packed ‘Mobile Jump Drive Package’ moved off immediately through real space away from the star towards a suitable future rendezvous point, whilst the ‘Satellite’ leapt to a position on the edge of the clearing in the ‘Dark Fields’ before activating a high stealth mode.]

[The flexibility of modern ‘Sub Core’ controlled ‘Suit Substance’ remote systems although amazing was too often something we already took far too much for granted. Having hardware that is software configurable meant increasingly the nature of logistical and even military operations, suffered limitation only by the creative imagination of the end operator. In part, the incredible flexibility of ‘Suit Substance’ was what made ‘Perdition’ so very scary, as she had so much - reconfigurable - mass to play with and it was the same truth with the ‘Fury’ only to a higher mathematical power. The flexibility of ‘Suit Substance’ was another reason why ‘Soulless Troops’ made such a scary concept.]

[I was happy to see that despite his words that the bold ‘Unholy Terror’ did understand the value of some caution with this enterprise. I felt torn in two one part of me desperate that a Pirate Base would show up and be detected by our ‘Stealth Satellite’ another part of me hoping the void was an old blast site and we would have to look elsewhere for the ‘Cursed Clone’ therefore avoiding any action inside there.]

[I refused to accept the possibility that the reckless ‘Clone’ was dead. I opted to have faith that he was not docked or onboard the facility if it was wiped from our reality. The dire truth being that if he had died in there - because he misjudged the vigilance and might of the ‘Fury’ - I would never be able to prove my innocence beyond some peoples’ - unreasonable - doubt despite the equally dire risks that spiralled off from his survival.]

[Today my hopes dreads faiths and ethics seemed to be at war with one another.]

[Inside the ‘Vanishing Point’ within her ‘SCCCM’, an extruded limb landed lightly upon my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.] “Whatever happens - one way or another - we will get through this as we have survived all other past challenges. I find I am looking forward to meeting the ‘Cursed Clone’ when I do that the new label ‘Tor’ gave him will be more than appropriate for him I will make it so.” [‘UT’ promised darkly.]

“Be very careful, it seems to me that this one is no ordinary ‘Omerta’ felon by any standard. For a start he worked with ‘Perdition’ to bring about the downfall of ‘Orb Guidance’ overseeing the entanglement of all the ‘Omerta Trojan Nations’ selling out his own species. He seems to care nothing about the fate of others except possibly his brother ‘Tor’ and he can be brutal with that one too.” [I recalled.]

“For the enormity of his crimes he gained paltry rewards.” [‘UT’ noted.]

“I am not so sure he may just have been keeping something of a low profile since any surviving ‘SARC’ agents with any hint of his involvement in the fall of ‘Sanctuary’ will be hunting him relentlessly. In addition, surviving an alliance with ‘Perdition’ is only interpretable as cursed impressive all by itself. I would have imagined people involved in such a major project with ‘Crimson Entangled’ are the sort of people she would be prone to incorporate into her entanglement lest they know and pass on some secret that she prefers to keep fully in house. Remember she now owns ‘Sanctuary Orb’ and may have kept some of its systems intact.” [I suggested.]

“You have a point there but the ‘Sleepers’ also enjoyed using twisted assets with seeming free will to do some of their most - dirty - of work as somebody such as my friend ‘Cocktail’ can verify. ‘Perdition’ may well have given this Pirate the idea of using ‘Sub Core Troops’.” [‘UT’ reminded me.]

[‘Cocktail’ now there was a name I had not heard in some time.]

“Even if ‘Perdition’ did not deliberately suggest the tactic the ‘Clone’ may have accidentally picked up the idea just by watching her in action and needing assets to reclaim the ‘Foul Wind’. With his hacking ability he could simply nanotech hack some of the very substance of the ship to create ‘Sub Cores’ under his control that in turn animate his soldiers.” [I guessed.] “It all fits together.”

“Is it stupid of me to worry sometimes that I might be one of her brain altered assets too just as ‘Studious Mannerism’ claims?” [I asked.] “Perhaps she means to play the ‘Cursed Clone’ and me against each other as a new phase in her ‘Great Game’.”

“Now you are being a bit silly. The ‘Hierophants’ fixed any damage the ‘Entangled Kraken’s’ infiltrating forces did to you.” [‘UT’ reminded.]

“At best they simply patched me up extrapolating over damaged regions: Without knowing me intimately how could they return me perfectly to my former self?” [I asked.]

“They had lots of data requested from the ‘MTC’ over the years of your stasis including a great deal of on and off Acolyte help during the time they studied the problem of your infection. Besides, I know you if you have changed it is not in anyway that is highly noticeable or as far as I can tell the least bit detrimental. Sadly, however, I notice you still think too much - worry too much - and question yourself too much.” [He added.]

[I decided I would have the ‘Hierophant Chief Surgeon’ brought to my ‘Hull’ so I could discuss the procedures he historically undertook upon me - one more time. Could that loss of temper with ‘Kepler’ be down to more than stress brought on by old memories - I had to make sure - that I was not carrying around some stealthy dark legacy bequeathed to me by ‘Crimson Entangled’ some subtle hidden effect from my brain’s injuries? Perhaps she was attempting to undo everything in me that Harbinger helped to create. Curse ‘Studious Mannerism’, but he was right about one thing ‘Crimson’ as a former ‘Sleeper’ was an expert at messing with other sentient beings minds in a host of ways from directly editing them to simply toying with us psychologically.]

[Some of the very best lies retained a kernel of the truth just bent out of shape.]

[It was very possible that ‘Crimson Entangled’ was skilfully directing both ‘Studious Mannerism’ the ‘Cursed Clone’ and possibly even me playing us all off against each other - simply for her growing amusement - that would be very ‘Perdition’ very old style ‘Sleeper’ too. Even internally the ‘Conglomerate’ had been all about dividing and conquering although it gave off the lie of being a product of ‘Recycler’ national togetherness a brave union of minds the free sharing of memories and so on that was all a clever façade when it came to the ‘Sleepers’ and their closest agents activities.]



[For a time we orbited around one lonely star waiting upon a message from our otherwise unconnected Satellite. However, too soon, other items began to impose upon our vigil. For ‘UT’ the first main distraction arrived in the form of the latest War news updates - disseminated throughout the ‘MTC’ - for me it was the arrival of the ‘Hierophant Chief Surgeon’. I had not spoken again with ‘Kepler’ rudely without his permission I had simply put him in stasis and moved him to one corner of my ‘SCCCM’ as if an ‘Omerta Trojan’ shaped sculpture a new addition to my art collection or perhaps more accurately one more visual meditation aid.]

[As I mentally prepared for my talk with the ‘Surgeon’, I wondered if I was purposely delaying talking with the Pirate again lest he say something that might confirm the worst possibility. The idea that, too ironically, the so-called ‘Cursed Clone’, having done his damage to my reputation, was just gone: Taken out in his arrogance by a power that would hardly even notice the snuffing of such a ‘Deep Time’ insignificant group of ‘Omerta Trojans’ that concept truly felt almost too much to bear despite the removal of one threat it represented.]

[At first it seemed far too coincidental to me that a comprehensive ‘Omerta Pirate’ culling might happen a little time before we found out about the Pirate Base - but only after so many atrocities were chased down by me. Then I wondered if perhaps some preparations for our arrival - our ensnarement in some grand scheme - might had given the Pirate Bases location away to the ‘Fury’ and therefore doomed it and we were looking at a blast site.]

[Actually, I had to reluctantly finally admit that random events can happen too, and beyond the earlier potentialities almost anything could have caused either the leaping away of the Pirate Base to a new safer destination or its utter destruction. Who knows what other business these felons got up to - maybe someone else had already taken a widespread revenge against the ‘Cursed Clone’ and his friends or scared them away - the list of possibilities was endless not least a strike by ‘Social Advancement and Reform Committee’ stalwarts. However, any singular truth remained unpredictable with certainty - at least without access to a lot more data something that did not seem immediately forthcoming.]

[I hated when an operation fell flat on me in this way and I could tell ‘UT’ although he was striving to hide it, perhaps for my sake, shared some of my growing frustrations with this one. ‘UT’ had come out here all psyched up for some seriously scary action that might test his abilities and skills in new and interesting ways.]

[Worse for me, this mini crisis of silent mediocrity continued to appal me because a part of me was still yearning for news of a new atrocity notably one timed after our micro-meteor scouting operation. A new crime not only giving me something to chase it meant assured proof that the felon yet lived and I might still have a chance to clear my name via his capture and forced or tricked confession - despite the aforementioned risks - it was maddening.]

[Whatever happened now, as a Paradox Priest, I carried new burdens of guilt for my - improper - thoughts this was especially galling after all the elation of the family getting so firmly behind me as a heroic and wrongly defamed ‘Patrician’.]

[For the moment no news reached me about further mutilations the only crimes I discovered were - sadly currently acceptable - lesser wartime atrocities - including some the ‘MTC’ arguably committed according to some peoples’ point of view notably to the perception of the ‘Free Parliament’s Representatives’. Protests sternly made by ‘Representatives’ about a policy of assassination against political figures that they argued ought to be sacrosanct from such actions as necessary negotiators of any future post-war settlement.]

[This rather enraged me as I interpreted that stance as it is fine to butcher lowly troops and even less elevated citizens but impolite, improper and should be illegal to murder us leader types. I was not impressed with their attitude and if anything it made me desirous to tell ‘UT’ and so on to kill more of them just to remove their arrogance from my Universe of equals. However, I did no such thing, as there are some actions ‘Unholy’ hardly needs encouragement to do besides my soul felt stained enough.]

[‘Tender’ said this language was another good sign as it suggested that the ‘Representatives’ were now considering a, ‘post-war reality,’ in which they would be coming to terms with us. For a while, I was so angry with them that I hardly cared.]

[I found I was thinking that to the most peaceful, the very nature of war was just one great big atrocity a view I could increasingly sympathise with as I imagined ‘Soulless Troops’ mechanically butchering all in their path. The ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ for example were not entirely wrong in some of their faiths or so I was beginning to more firmly believe every passing day. If only existence did not throw up such complex political problems, that often seemed more easily solved by just going all ‘Unholy Terror’ and blowing up whatever or whomsoever happened to be the supposed cause of the difficulty.]



[I will not belabour the details of my meeting with the ‘Hierophant Surgeon’ beyond saying that it left me unsatisfied. Typical, I felt, to his neurological profession he was reluctant to say definitively yes or no, (too much about the mind still being a bit mysterious even to those who routinely messed with the biological substance behind peoples fragile personalities never mind the chemical and electrical elements).]

[If anything, his wriggling out of giving me some simple answers proved another frustration although from experience I really should have expected nothing better. True the ‘Hierophants’ had once vouched for my sanity, general state of mental integrity and recovery but now that seemed to me in part a political decision. I now comprehended better how much pressure was once applied to the team working on me from various quarters within and without the ranks of ‘Cad’s’ family - some of the positive pressure arriving in opposition to negative pressure from some ‘Representatives’ historically looking for an early excuse to terminate me rather than give me command of a new upgraded pure ‘Suit Substance’ body.]

[Ironically, it was ‘Studious Mannerism’ amongst many others who - back then - helped to secure my continued existence. Of course, some of them knew the ‘MTC’ would have become their implacable enemy if anything bad happened to Harbinger or me. At that time the majority of ‘Representatives’ decided they did not want the ‘MTC’ in open revolt especially not undertaking a likely to be unlimited - holy - war of revenge with the even back then feared ‘Unholy Terror’ in command of the likely to be drastic proceedings.]

[Due to all the meditation and so on, arguably Paradox Priests and Acolytes were not driven to deep rage easily a fact that made truly enraged Paradox Priests and Acolytes that much more fierce and for the wise best avoided.]

[‘UT’ was an exception arguably easily enraged at the best of times but usually equally quick to cool off. I still however, dreaded to imagine his demeanour and probable actions if deliberate harm transpired to Harbinger or me back then. It was hardly an accident that so far - even during this ongoing War - the body of Harbinger, (despite occasional threats), rested serenely unharmed as if a treasured religious icon which was not far from the truth to us at least.]

[I guessed ‘UT’ now had a quandary he would hate to be doing nothing - waiting upon intelligence - when there was still fighting elsewhere. However if he left my side he could not protect me should word reach me first and I move to act lest my criminal quarry escape.]

[Poor ‘Unholy Terror’ snared in a trap of his own conscience his self-taken responsibilities much akin to me.]



“What do you make of this void in the ‘Dark Fields’ what would be your best guess?” [I asked ‘Tender’ there was always a slim chance he might have some odd ‘Omerta’ insight that I lacked. Perhaps he knew of some piece of ‘Higher Tier Omerta’ technology that would explain all these facts away.]

“I have been giving this matter a great deal of consideration ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’. I am surprised that the ‘Cursed Clone’ would dare tempt the ‘Machine Fury’ it is a power above all other powers.” [He reminded.]

“In truth, as you Paradox Priests say, - being obsessed with truths - we are discussing an ‘Extra-Universal Force’ not just a local ‘Emissary Sphere Faction’. It is my fear that there is something more at work here - something we are missing - some edge possessed by this demon criminal if he is using this site as a base for this facility. He might be bold but would he risk all so readily? I do not think this ‘Cursed Clone’ is such a great fool if he was this reckless he would not have survived his old dealings with ‘Perdition’ even as one reborn.” [The ‘Omerta Trojan’ Professor lectured.]

“Have you any idea what sort of an edge you are talking about?” [I asked.]

“Although I am no mechanical engineer, it must be something that assists his bases security from even the ‘Fury’ allowing him to leap in and out without great risk (if this is truly a cleared jump site) this is something of a puzzle indeed. However, I think the answer to this conundrum might make much that is currently obscured in there a little clearer.” [He added.]

[The edge could not be his nanotech hacking ability surely that although significant would not worry the ‘Fury’.]

“Perhaps he has something akin to an unusually well-hidden early warning system which allows him to evacuate his station with plenty of time before the ‘Fury’ can discover it.” [I suggested.]

“If that is true he has surely detected the arrival of your satellite as such a system would have to stay active in place. I wonder how that might work however, given the fears we have about the detection of ‘Exogenous Communications’. I assume we have detected no other signals from the site. Nothing has been revealed strong enough to initiate a message from the Stealth Satellite?” [He asked.]

“We have as yet received no ‘Message Drone’.” [I replied.]

“The ‘Sub Core’ is tasked flexibly enough not to ignore detecting an anomalous signal? It is not simply awaiting the full manifestation of a facility via a leap in?” [He asked.]

“I believe so.” [I replied.]

“Then this is a puzzle unless the Pirate dog lied to you or the data was a trap simply to lure us into investigating this space to our detriment - an attempt to get the ‘MTC’ to rile the dreaded’ ‘Machine Fury’ via trespassing.” [‘Tender’ suggested.] “It might be argued that the wisest of all Generals, Admirals or in your case ‘War-Masters’ are clever enough to have others do their fighting for them they wisely risk little whilst cleverly gaining all.”

“You have given me something else to think about.” [I replied.]

“I hope so my Great Paradox Patriarch.” [He said.]

“Why are you now insisting upon using this overly elevated formal address such honours do not impress me - in fact they make me feel uneasy.” [I advised.]

“Then it is well I use it often so that you may grow accustomed to such accolades learning to accept them with the proper grace. Let me explain, I see now that even the famous ‘War-Master’ of the ‘MTC’ ‘Unholy Terror’ bows before your mightier ‘Vision’, you are - GREAT - I think you are destined to rule the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ with the ‘War-Master’ at your side given the breadth of his victories over the ‘Parliamentarians’. Your star Great Paradox Patriarch is ascendant.” [He prophesised.]

“I think many other people with forces, ideas and ‘Visions’ of their own will contest such a silly idea.” [I replied.] “Besides, ‘Omerta’ I will never be a domineering tyrant that runs counter to everything I believe in. I am not some ancient ‘Trojan’ warlord.” [I reminded.]

“Not all rulers are tyrants you will be a - GREAT - spiritual leader of equals as an equal it is my right to honour you as I choose GREAT Paradox Patriarch.” [He emphasised.]

[I had a very bad intuition about this honorific, however he was right I could not demand how a free and equal person chooses to address me without becoming tyrannical it felt almost like a cunning trap - one even more cunning than whatever was going on inside the ‘Dark Fields’. ‘Immortal Acolytes’ had witnessed this exchange I felt sure it would be disseminated amongst the rest of the family even if I asked them not to do so. In fact, I feared I had already drawn to much attention to the ‘Social Engineers’ words. The - ‘Social Engineer’ - this was worrying indeed was he trying to use me in a great work in progress of his own.]

[Why were they all pushing me to the fore? Ever since ‘Puulaa’ opted to follow me, it seemed others began to look at me a little differently. Had ‘Puulaa’ sneakily recruited the mercenary ‘Trojan’ to do this? Had he been bribed. I felt as if I had become a primitive banner flown in the wind running in the vanguard of some legendary army back on some mythical planet. I was an inspiration to those following me but in truth they were directing where I was going, they waved me from side to side, they lifted me up, they impelled me forward into the line of fire.]

[I was not surprised when the first Acolyte addressed me as Great Paradox Patriarch not even when the crew nearby rumbled out their appreciation and assent stomping on the deck. It felt so obvious that the whole thing could have been a staged performance one whose rehearsal I had already witnessed. Instead of elation at their expressed regard, I felt dizzy as if a massive gravity well such as a black hole was spinning me around and sucking me down. Was this my fault had I erred was I erring? Why me? Why not ‘Unholy Terror’? Then I wondered if this was about me at all or in a way once again all about Harbinger and his Many Truths my life becoming increasingly an extension of something begun a very long time ago a unknown prophecy being fulfilled.]

[I noticed my two ‘Companion Drones’ looked pleased for me beaming with reflected pride - they stood at stiff out of character attention joining, what seemed to me, mass-hysteria in their own way. I decided immediately to ship the cursed social engineering Professor back off my body returning him to ‘Port Messenger’ or wherever else he wanted to go I would give him a golden ticket to anywhere as long as he went. I would make some excuse about sending excess civilians away since we might soon see combat, sadly though I feared it was all too late, even if it bolstered my morale the triple damned damage was done.]



“Thank you ‘Many Truths’ we are in grateful receipt of the ‘MTC’ assets you sent us. I was also in receipt of a firm unambiguous promise from ‘UT’ that all my demands for autonomy shall be met and he was happy to simply retain our peaceful logistical assistance in recompense for mobile protection.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ sent to me.]

“I am glad it is working out for you and ecstatic to have ‘Bastion Minor’ with us. In a way I was reborn on ‘Bastion’ so it is a special place to me.” [I said.]

“You are a wonder ‘MT’ I never imagined ‘UT’ could be so reasonable how did you do it?” [He asked.]

“Do not give me false credit - I did not do anything never mind anything amazing - if it is anything it is the War that is mellowing him out. To most people War is a disaster to ‘Unholy Terror’ it is a playpen filled with bright toys.” [I replied.]

“You are far too humble. I am sorry about being so hard on you before - about the ‘War of Liberation’ and so on. All these sudden developments took us by surprise, so rapid an eviction from the ‘Grey Star Swathe’ came as…well… something of a cursed shock. Perhaps if you could have given us some advanced warning about your plans… Still, I can see now that despite these grim developments overall you are a true diplomat and always meant well with your anti-parliamentary actions.” [He added.]

“I erred.” [I insisted.] “I was foolish I did not expect matters to cascade so quickly in this way. I should have seen that the chemistry was already there resting but ready for a chain reaction it just needed one additional sparking reactive agent that proved to be a gathering at ‘Port Messenger’.” [I said.]

“You know that everybody is talking about you. Some ‘Hierophants’ here on station have been saying that the attempted smear campaign by the ‘Free Parliament’ against you is not just a ‘Splitter Priest’ with a grievance but shows the worst of the ‘Representatives’ are deeply afraid of you of your politics and ideals. They are afraid of the reforms you will force down their throats - reforms many of us will benefit from in the end. Given these truths I know now that we should support you in any - reasonable - way that we can outside of fighting as we wish to remain a peaceful Port.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ reminded.]

[Not ‘Tleeboosuu’ too this was more success than I wanted.]

“The ‘Hierophants’ are campaigning on my behalf?” [I asked suspiciously.]

“It is too easy to criticise and strike out when angry which is a jest in my case since I was accusing you of fostering conflict. Sometimes I speak without thinking.” [He admitted.]

“Let it go I completely understood where you were coming from. I am no paragon. As I said, I made mistakes. All this adoration is going too far.” [I insisted.]

“I did not give you the same courtesy of understanding your position. It is not about your newfound fame turning my head I just accept now that the ‘Free Parliament’ would not have submitted to reason - to political pressure alone - without some threat of violence. I was being an idealistic fool and having long ago left the ‘Sea Spheres’ in part because of idealistic closed minded fools I should know better.” [He confessed.]

“No you where just speaking your mind there are no simple rights and wrongs in these situations. We just do what we must to survive and prosper. We are all equal in these things as we are all equal in all else.” [I replied.]

“You remind me of Harbinger you are a credit to him. He would be proud of you. Compared to most people - I hardly suffered under the old regime - they had uses for my skills as a ship architect and grower and overall I enjoyed my work especially with all the resources they fed to me. In a way I was spoilt by the ‘Parliament’ - they were bribing me - but most of the time I preferred not to think about it that way.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ admitted.]

“We all bowed to the ‘Free Parliament’ to some degree. The earliest mistakes we made with our politicians - were arguably good ideas at the time - if perhaps unsurprisingly they later proved prone to overcompensation. Every early policy made in direct response to our plight as a refugee society. The situation was dire and fears about ‘Perdition’ rife - an enforced unity was needed - every vital resource controlled we could not allow assets needed for our survival to be potentially squandered by individuals for individual causes.” [I reminded although all of this happened whilst I was in brain-damaged stasis.]

“To protect us, our elected representatives needed a very effective mechanism for both the monitoring and enforcement of new rules and regulation - new laws. Perhaps we could not have survived in the beginning without the imposition of an over the top strictness. You must remember how incredibly divisive some of our ‘PA’ factions could be prior to the ‘Advent of the Entanglement’ such species as the ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ were constantly menacing the supporting framework of our mixed species society threatening to tear it all down for selfish aims.” [I reminded.]

“I know all of that too well nonetheless, you must have thought I had sold out and then to add insult to injury I had the audacity to berate you for standing up to our now burdensome ‘Representatives’ when all I did in the past was surrender to them as a good little ‘Civilian Logistical Asset’.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ confessed.]

“It was the times as they say.” [I insisted.]

“Still, you must have thought I was living up to my genome acting no better than the ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ in their isolated ‘Sea Sphere’ oceans when they happily capitulated to ‘Perdition’ just to keep their precious old lives unchanged their coral reefs intact and pristine - as ‘Unholy’ argues.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ continued.]

“No, you had a point I was a bit naïve I should have realised how provocative some of my earlier, to me relatively innocent, actions would be to an increasingly paranoid ‘Free Parliament’. A ‘Free Parliament’ that felt increasingly under siege by some detractors who knew they had strayed out of bounds going from guardianship of our assets to exploiting every available resource even at times using the populace as little better than an indentured workforce.” [I confessed.]

“You did the right thing despite the risks that is what matters most that is why we should all honour you.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ argued.]

“I am no faultless hero - I know I have made mistakes - I thought I was being clever and playing the game softly - covertly - but I was not clever enough or soft enough or covert enough.” [I freely admitted.]

“They were not fooled they knew in my own way I was plotting against them and they always feared the ‘MTC’. Fear of the ‘MTC’ was why they allowed me to return I was supposed to diffuse Harbinger’s powerful family - I was supposed to neutralise ‘UT’ I was supposed to be a bomb shacked - well monitored - and controlled ‘Parliamentary’ asset.” [I reminded.] “Instead, with many other peoples assistance, I plotted to win free of them and at every opportunity encouraged others to do the same until we arrived here.”

“Sooner or later the ‘MTC’ and you would have rammed into the ‘Free Parliament’ being - ethically, theologically and philosophically - on a political and social collision course.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ retorted.]

“You said that ‘Hierophants’ are campaigning on my behalf?” [I asked again.]

“Since that sermon that launched the new ‘Universal Council of Equals’ and then ‘Studious Mannerism’s’ vitriolic attack against you, you have become the best known symbol of the resistance to the ‘Parliament’. The louder they denounce you the better you become known. Today say the words resistance or reform and people think Captain ‘Empty’ and the ‘Many Truths’.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ said.] “How does it feel to be so very famous?”

“Horrible. Tell me about the ‘Hierophants’ would you say this was an organised campaign on my behalf? If so who organised or is still organising it?” [I asked.]

“If you want to meet or just thank the rabble rousing leaders I can look into it. To be honest I paid little attention to the organisation side of it, if it is traditionally organised and not a sort of spontaneous outpouring of support via social and political networking.” [He explained.]

[Somehow, call me paranoid, but I doubted it was entirely spontaneous I smelled a plot I smelled ‘Puulaa’ and others I smelled a possible ‘Highest Tier’ sponsored cabal damn I really was getting paranoid.]

“Still you must remember that many people here remember you - they helped to nurse your mind back to health - and to integrate your surviving biology with the new ‘Suit Substance Seed Ship’. I believe many people were / are now very proud to be associated with the work they did on you which makes them naturally defensive against criticism about you. ‘Studious Mannerism’ is the one who erred he lit a fire under us all.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ explained.]

“Given the aforementioned facts it is no surprise they did not leap to believe ‘Studious’ here in this particular place. We might become a ‘Pilgrim Port’ in the truest sense one day as in a place of pilgrimage virtual signs reading, ‘welcome to the Port that brought the ‘Many Truths’, who founded the ‘Universal Council of Equals’, back to life and active service’ to our ‘Pilgrim’ society. When I retire I could lead tours.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ I hoped jested.]

“I would be grateful for any information you could provide me on the movement of support for me upon ‘Bastion Minor’.” [I said.]

“Already preparing to rally the campaign troops? I suppose that at some point you will have to make a grand tour from Port-to-Port. Show yourself in person to all your staunch supporters these things need to be nurtured and reinforced or some new hero might put you in eclipse the public can be so X2 sagt Bussi auf Bauch.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ joked.]

[I should be so lucky I thought.]

“You know this is not my style - I do not want to head up a cult of personality.” [I said.]

“It is a bit late to bar the bay door on that my old friend the shuttle has already landed and the passengers disembarked. Besides what is any Paradox Patrician of a ‘Great House’ with his ‘Vision’ if not the leader of a cult of personality - your Acolytes follow you as if you are divine until they split and hate you with equal passion.” [He added.]

“That is an interesting insight into a dimorphism within our cloistered society.” [I replied.]

“An outsiders view.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ replied.]

“Still, not every ‘Splitter Priest’ hates his maker.” [I said.]

“Just most of them it is an odd dynamic.” [‘Tleeboosuu’ suggested.]

“From the outside cultural mores and traditions often seem strange I guess you have to be caught up inside them for these things to make sense.” [I replied.]

[‘Tleeboosuu’ paused as if deeply pondering upon my last words.] “There is profound truth in that statement.” [He finally said.] “It certainly applies to every species culture I have ever had any dealing with - they are all mad.” [He joked.]

[My friend’s attitude with that one made me gleam yellow. Was I being paranoid and some ‘Hierophants’ at ‘Bastion Minor’ simply did recall my time there and were happy to put in a good word or two especially since it would be a small act of open defiance against old political masters now distrusted and disliked?]

[Paranoid66]

Thanks for the comments stads

I believe UT did something like that before.

Anyway here is part 8 the plot thickens - I hope.


P66.

[stads]

thx for the chapter

seems the plot gets more messy all the time

perhaps there's no need to go into the dark fields at all

[stads]

thx for the chapter

seems the plot gets more messy all the time

perhaps there's no need to go into the dark fields at all

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 9]]


“I have an idea. The three of us should extend and continue your earlier patrol.” [‘Unholy Terror’ suggested within his ‘Secure Central Command and Control Module’.]

[As Captain ‘Empty’ I opted to maintain a permanent Avatar onboard the ‘Vanishing Point’ and we had been joined by another Avatar belonging to Captain ‘Mournful Inheritance’ who I am happy to report proved anything but as sombre as his name suggested. In fact, the Captain of the ‘Protean Magnificence’ seemed determined to express a sense of humour and positive attitude that could rival ‘UT’.]

“If it is not too presumptuous given my august company I must say that I like this idea.” [‘Mournful’ interjected with a cheerful yellow glow over his ‘Free Patterning’.]

[Perhaps he truly felt a need to compensate for his dour name by being eternally upbeat.]

“Then we have three votes for that course of action. I am also bored just going around and around this star waiting.” [I confessed.]

“Excellent, life is for living.” [‘UT’ preached.] “Where shall we begin this escapade?”

[We all began, I am sure, individually considering local star systems alongside our recent data on the War and so on. After a short but lively debate…]

[We leapt in hot upon the trail of expendable ‘Sub Core’ run ‘Jump Scouts’ that I could not help but think of now as - ‘Soulless’ - space craft.]



[The local star was another baleful Red Giant, once again, I suffered being washed blood red - it felt increasingly ominous. Was there a hidden pattern to the age and condition of the stars across the broad sweep of the ‘Emissary Sphere’ or even just locally to certain galactic clusters? Perhaps I should enquire about the former possibility from the scientists of ‘Phoenix Two Point Zero’ who spent all their - working - time studying our stars in it seemed to me an almost unhealthily obsessive manner. Still, sometimes it appeared that we sentient beings all had at least one personal unhealthy obsession or another - one of mine unquestionably the ‘Mutilators’.]

[We came here as it was once a favoured ‘Star Struck Depot Space’ and hideout for the ‘White Raptors’ and before that it had been a haunt to some other ‘Renegade Factions’. In addition, there were recent reports that several remote ships had been lost in this region under mysterious circumstances. The ‘White Raptor’ split from the ‘Young One Recycler Nation’ and later birthed a faction that split again from them to become the ‘Ivory Reptiles’. The ‘Ivory Reptiles’ a faction now working with hardcore remnants of the ‘Free Parliament’ as Bounty Hunting Privateers.]

[Interestingly however, the ‘White Raptors’ proper remained unfriendly to more or less everyone else feeling betrayed by their own kind when the ‘Supreme Matriarch’ signed up to the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ and they hated and despised the rest of the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ simply for being the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ who they deemed soft on ‘Perdition’ being infiltrated by ‘Conglomerate Recyclers’. ‘UT’ had an only mildly crazy idea that these facts might make the ‘Raptors’ natural allies to the most anti-social of Pirate scum such as our quarry the so-called ‘Cursed Clone’. I was not quite so sure as Captain ‘Taard’ had once used ‘Perdition’ against his own people but ‘UT’ argued that this horrible truth would not concern the ‘Raptors’ as that event happened far away from ‘Heartland Space’ and they cared nothing about what the ‘Omerta’ as an arguably ‘Higher Tier Faction’ did to each other.]

[Ironically few factions operated in a total - vacuum - within ‘Heartland Space’ - excuse the pun - sooner or later everyone made a connection with somebody else - even if it was just to gather intelligence data. Only people hiding out in the dark refusing to use ‘EXO-C’ and going it alone as hermits tended to never deal with anyone else. Arguably even the exceptionally bitter ‘White Raptors’ would have developed some connections over time the only other option being to be utterly isolated and cut off from everything.]

[Sensibly ‘UT’ argued at the very least the ‘White Raptors’ needed target data. Space is so big that just hoping to accidentally cross vectors with some suitable victim, if acting as a predator, was in most cases stupid in extremis. All the sensible Pirates used intelligence data gathered from others often from inside Ports within the ‘Alliance’ itself. The ‘White Raptors’ however would have a hard job gathering data directly as ‘YOR’ within the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ still retained a tight military style organisation under their ‘Supreme Matriarch’ downward through a baffling array of ranks and so on - they never actually stopped fighting constantly waging a private war against the ex-‘Conglomerates’ or as it was abbreviated the ‘X-cong Faction’ and so on who they believed still worked for the ‘Sleeper Crimson’. The ‘YOR’ being obsessed with the ‘Sleepers’ refused to accept that ‘CE’ was now something else both something more and something less than a historic ‘Sleeper’.]

[Any ‘White Raptor’ agent dropped at a ‘Port’, ‘UT’ believed, would be spotted by ‘YOR’ internal security questioned and very quickly picked up for deeper interrogation. Therefore the ‘Raptors’ would have to rely on contacts with third party agents - contacts they could make far from any normal ‘PA Port’. The white almost sculpted smooth skinned nature of all ‘Young One Recyclers’ the integrated melding of technologies including in part a ‘bio-mechanical’ armoured hide rather made them stand out. Data on past raids by the ‘Raptors’ indicated that they did have good intelligence and so had to be talking with someone probably lots of lone individuals as they had at one time or another fought with all the major factions and remained at best un-friends to most of these. Unlike many ‘New Renegades’ the ‘White Raptors’ had proved so vitriolic that they had at times also clashed repeatedly with almost every major ‘Black Market’ faction and major ‘Black Market’ individual player including the ‘MTC’ and so they could not easily rely upon the usual more mercenary smuggler factions as an assured data source unlike some other groups.]

[In truth, the ‘White Raptors’ had done a great job of making themselves into total pariahs and so who might they turn to other than people on the very edge of being almost as extreme or even worse than they. Therefore, we were here on a Patrol of this Red Giant looking for ‘Raptors’. Although I was not sure if ‘UT’ really believed his own story or if he was simply hunting a faction that if encountered would assuredly prove hostile to us giving him a grand excuse for a distracting skirmish to pass the time.]

[Remember all ‘YOR’ are almost as bad as the old ‘Splinter Raiders’ for refusing to be captured alive as a rule they would prefer to burn rather than betray their extremist ideals. The ‘Young One Recyclers’ were, as you no doubt recall, specifically bioengineered to fight and survive an endless war against the deemed then immortal ‘Sleepers’ and their ‘Conglomerate’ slaves and that was a commitment they all took very seriously. Why ‘UT’ believed he might be able to get any data off these, (at best), out and out fanatical intolerants remained anybodies guess. He claimed he had a plan - that would be a fun surprise - but I feared he was just planning to improvise then claim it was all part of his cunning scheme - that is if his improvisations worked.]

[Of course, patrolling even one star in search of hidden ‘Renegades’ was akin to seeking out one specific water molecule in a flooded ‘Swimmer Cockpit’, ‘UT’ had a plan for that too. We had encouraged us to send out various ‘Sub Core’ run seemingly lone tempting assets on various carefully plotted disconnected orbits around the Gas Giant as individual targets to tempt an act of piracy by possibly already in place hidden ‘Star Struck’ assets concealed lower down towards the fiery orb. The simple idea being they might observe our lures passing above and strike, it was a crude but possibly effective stratagem.]



“The problem with fishing blindly is for example the fact that you never know what you might catch with a too tempting universal lure until it is too late.” [I complained belatedly.] “Now what are we going to do?” [I asked.]

[We were talking via a speeded up tactical cognitive link.]

[What powered out of a well concealed lower obit to snatch one of our lures as if a predator animal - snatching a tasty morsel - proved a rarity, indeed a very anomalous vessel, that fit no known item on any of our primary databases. Normally this would be an exceptionally exciting if possibly scary find, even though in recent years more and more unidentified sightings had arrived from lots of credible people, I still felt as if the ‘Emissary Sphere’ was mocking the efforts of our actual mission.]

“It would appear we have just discovered one migrant member of one of the less well documented ‘Far Species’.” [‘UT’ stated.]

“That is one possibility or it could be somebody doing a wonderful job of disguising their ships true identity as something off record.” [‘Mournful’ added.]

“My former Captain Harbinger would insist upon investigating this find but I am in three minds about doing that at this time. It might be more prudent of us just to log this oddity and remain hidden safely in our deep ‘Star Struck’ orbits.” [I suggested.]

“You stay here if you like, in fact that is a good idea you and the ‘Protean’ stay here as hidden backup whilst I go and say hello to our visitor.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“I am not sure you are the best person for a delicate first contact situation.” [I replied.]

[Unfortunately the ‘Vanishing Point’ was already rising leaving the ‘Protean Magnificence’ and my ‘Source Ship’ body behind. I considered following then decided it was smarter to stay put for now.]

“Be careful ‘UT’ that thing has just proved it is predatory it snatched up our ‘Tug’ decoy without any attempt at opening communications first.” [I cautioned.]

“Did you see how obscenely quickly it accelerated out of the stars gravity and decelerated too.” [‘Mournful Inheritance’ added obviously impressed by the unknown vessels capabilities.]

“Worse before it swallowed my ‘Tug’, it appears to have hit my ‘Sub Core’ remote with some kind of potent leech field weapon that went through every protection.” [I added.]

“Hauling in a tiny ‘Sub Core Tug’ is one thing trying to swallow my ‘Vanishing Point’ is another altogether I predict given our relative mass and size my larger than it ‘Source Ship’ is a bit more than it can hope to swallow.” [‘UT’ said confidently.]

“Really ‘UT’ are you now arguing bigger is always better given your past faiths.” [I challenged.]

[He answered that by roaring out a bold speaker laugh.]

“She is scorching.” [I warned. As the unknown dived straight towards the Gas Giant moving seemingly backwards from her posture at entry but with no discernable lack of speed or grace.]

“Fully developed main engines prow and stern.” [‘UT’ surmised.] “That is an interesting design.”

“One well suited to snatch and retreat operations such as we just witnessed.” [I suggested.]

“Damn it is fast and it is deploying active stealth systems I have lost sensor contact.” [‘UT’ complained.] “Deploying a scattering of ‘High Energy Scanning Probes’ they wont last long out there not so close to that Giant but they might find our new quarry before burning up.”

“Triple damn it, I am getting nothing. Launching more ‘Probes’ in a wider pattern.” [He informed.]

“Anything?” [‘Mournful’ asked.]

“Nothing, not a cursed thing. She must have gone deep, deeper than even I would dare to go when scorching.” [‘UT’ complained.]

“From this level of advancement it is looking more and more as if we have encountered a ‘Far Species’ ship. The reports must be true that the ‘Entanglement’ of ‘Higher Tier Space’ stirred some of the ‘Far Species’ up bringing a few of them back to ‘Heartland Space’ after millennia of exile.” [The ‘Protean Magnificence’ privately sent to me.] “Do you think ‘UT’ came here actually looking for something more than ‘White Raptors’?”

[I carefully considered my fellow ‘Living Hull Source Ship’s’ suggestion.]

“I suppose as a no-nonsense Warrior type he might not have wanted to admit to chasing a ‘Far Species’ ghost story simply because he perhaps heard a few dodgy rumours around this one being here.” [I replied over communications.]

“As disappointed as I am to have lost her that was an exciting sighting.” [‘UT’ said back in his ‘SCCCM’.] “I think we should keep this encounter to ourselves.” [He added.] “Otherwise, this place could become saturated with scientists ‘Hierophant’ - xenologists - and so on not to mention would be advanced technology thieves who in this War climate might think they can get away with attempting to Pirate such a rarity even just in the hope of grabbing some possible salvage from wreckage or insights via aggressive scanning.”

“Still no signals from your swallowed ‘Tug’?” [‘Mournful’ asked.]

“Sadly not and as you know we kitted up our decoys to be active spies. I think my ‘Tug’ was drained dry by that leech field making for an instant capture including a complete loss of all communication output.” [I stated.] “Let us hope this one’s weapon can only do that to smaller vessels it is about to swallow.” [I added.]

“It is interesting that variations on leeching weaponry seem very popular with the more exotic - advanced - ships. I wonder is this indicative of some old trend amongst ancient natives within this ‘Universal Sphere’?” [‘UT’ mused.]

[I had my Avatar shrug.]

“Anybody else got any hits yet on our unknowns profile?” [I asked.]

[Our initial searches came up blank but there are always new databases and libraries to access I was positive both ‘UT’ and ‘MI’ had not given up looking yet anymore than I had.]

“I have still found nothing that matches these characteristics, if that one is a species specific design it is not one registered on any database I am connected to so far not even amongst the so-called crank files.” [‘UT’ admitted.]

“I have been no more successful. However it could be something new rather than something old or something new from an old ‘Far Species’ source they need not all be developmentally static having seemingly technologically peaked even if they are generally deemed by most scholars to be older than us ‘Pilgrim Species’.” [‘Mournful’ suggested.]

“That is a very apt point we should not underestimate these beings ability to change and adapt. We could very well have encountered a new design for a new age or perhaps for a new environment and new purpose.” [I mused aloud.]

“Is it possible that one or more ‘Far Species’ might have seen and approved of our ‘Star Struck’ techniques for concealment and this adaptation could be one prototype result.” [‘UT’ further mused.] “I really like that prow and stern engine arrangement I will have to play around with that concept with my ‘Vanishing Point’.”

“Harbinger would approve of this encounter he always seemed keen to learn new things from new sources but it is proving almost too good a distraction.” [I added.]

“Distraction or not I think such a rare sighting is a good omen.” [The ‘Protean’ sent to me privately.]

“Nonetheless, you should be careful ‘UT’ I know that such an engine arrangement in heavy operation can cause some unusual even fatal structural stresses such as an implosion to a ‘Source Ship’ with a huge mass such as your ‘Vanishing Point’.” [I reminded.]

“I am well aware of that. You know I have seen this sort of adaptation on some agile ‘Fighter Drone’ designs and in some other small craft including ‘Tugs’ but not implemented so radically on a vessel of our unknown’s size and rarely with such a gracefully controlled effect.” [He admitted.]

“Actually I have occasionally rerouted engine output from stern to purpose designed prow nacelles in the past not as elegantly as in quite as big a part of my overall design concept but I have experimented with this as it is an ideal fast braking strategy.” [I recalled.] “Still I really think we need to get back on topic and on patrol. I doubt we will find any ‘White Raptors’ here this one adequately explains the recent shipping losses in this region so we should move on to other stratagems to find the ‘Mutilators’.”

“That is very single minded of you.” [‘UT’ seemed to accuse.] “I thought I might have to be the one to drag you away after that rare sighting.”

“At some other time that might have proved true so little is known for certain about many of the ‘Far Species’ no one is even sure exactly how many ‘Far Species’ there are anymore.” [I admitted.]

“There certainly seem to be more ‘Far Species’ than the ‘Higher Tier’ folk either knew about or maybe just more species than they elected to tell us about.” [‘UT’ replied sounding suspicious of their motives.]

“All the secrecy about the ‘Far Species’ is very interesting especially because - due to the ‘Fall of the Tier System’ - there has been increasing amounts of fragmentary evidence cropping up that might indicate that the lack of previous data was not just due to the ‘Far Species’ choosing to be remote to us. It seems increasingly probable that instead we were purposely kept in the dark about the true variety and nature of the surviving remnants of the original denizens of this ‘Universal Sphere’ by the ‘Higher’ and ‘Highest Tiers’.” [I admitted.]

“It would be fascinating to learn more about the local denizens who suffered from the so-called ‘Unknowns’ and the so-called ‘Departed’ species rampages even before the dread unleashing of the ‘Destroyer of Worlds’.” [‘Mournful’ admitted.]

“It seems increasingly possible to me that the ‘Highest’ and their ‘Higher Tier’ folk too, may once have treated some or all of the ‘Far Species’ rather poorly and have been covering up their past indiscretions ever since. I imagine becoming especially reticent after learning to feel belated deeper shame when looking back with fresh optics at old unjust actions only seen clearly and properly with cooler hindsight. Sometimes it takes ages to cease denial and accept an especially uncomfortable historic truth.” [‘Protean’ sent to me.]

[That was something I could well believe. It was obvious that the ‘Protean’ although only a ‘Living Hull’ was obsessed with the ‘Higher’ and ‘Highest Tier’ folk probably due to what happened to her former Captain when he failed to safely ‘Ascend’.]

[The ‘Protean’ no doubt remained linked into her new Captain’s Avatar via her ‘Companion-ship Link’. That must have been odd, I thought, forging a new ‘Companion-ship Link’ with a new Captain after her old Captain’s demise sometimes that could be almost impossible, even at the best of times forging a fully bonded second ‘Companion-ship Link’ was deemed a delicately difficult achievement. Still, I recalled that Acolyte Captains were said to have weaker more family sibling style bonds to their ships rather than the specific one on one almost marriage that tended to exist between a Priest and his ship.]

[A Priest could ‘Link’ with a new Ship easily enough, but few Priest linked ‘Living Hulls’ survived their Captain’s demise or ever made a new link with another Priest although an Acolyte might take over as a substitute Captain such unions did not always last being more of an emergency arrangement. Often deceased Priest Captain’s ‘Living Hulls’ pined away until they eventually joined their old companion in death unless a ‘Reborn Clone’ filled the gap. This pining away was something that I now deemed a terrible waste - an old tradition I had campaigned against -, although I had not yet figured out a foolproof way to mend any ailing ‘Living Hulls’ broken hearts.]



[On one side issue, ‘Tender’ did not want to leave. He had made many arguments for why he should stay by my side some of them quite persuasive. However, I was insistent that he was going and so in the end he picked a destination choosing ‘Port Messenger’. I asked if he was sure about that choice that I could have him deposited anywhere he wanted to go but he insisted upon ‘Messenger’. I could not decide if this confirmed some of my suspicions about the ‘Omerta’ or not. I determined to try to find out arranging for him to be monitored constantly by ‘MTC’ assets both family members and hirelings.]



[Minus Professor ‘Tender’ our patrol continued our next stopover an old ‘Petition Port’ long assimilated into the ‘PA’ but now recently claiming ‘Free Port’ status under a ‘Ruling Conclave’ of primarily supposedly ‘Old One Recyclers’. The ‘Free Port’ being the infamous ‘Heaven’s Landing’. Once suspected of being a ‘God’s Port’ by some, the too appropriately named ‘Heaven’s Landing’ was now believed by most ‘Rebels’ with any interest in the site to be a ‘Doppelganger Port’ an infiltration facility purposely created by ‘Crimson Entangled’ to meld with the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’. This one had become famous as a centre for spying activities with almost every faction in the ‘PA’ at one time or another choosing to maintain some agents here including it was whispered ‘Ascended Black Operations Agents’. Everyone it was said visiting ‘Heaven’s Landing’ was spying for themselves or for somebody else at least part time. It could be a dangerous place but no one had ever been openly attacked by ‘Entangled Forces’ there.]

[The outside was patrolled by two dodgy Paradox Source Ships with Captains with suspicious histories arriving belatedly out of the ‘Dark’. One ship called ‘Pious Paramour’ Captained by ‘Innocent Dogma’ the other named ‘Questionable Doctrine’ Captained by a Priest called ‘Inconvenience’ both ships along with their Captains probably manufactured pawns of ‘Crimson Entangled’ but nothing had ever been proved about them only suspicions whispered.]

[‘Heaven’s Landing’ I had argued was one of the few ‘Ports’ in the ‘Alliance’ that might retain someone with solid intelligence on the ‘Foul Wind’ or at worst someone with good data on the ‘White Raptors’ who might in turn point the way to the ‘Cursed Clone’. The problem with ‘Heaven’s Landing’ was that as much as it was a good place to pick up data you had to go in person as the information traders there were under a local ban that involved refusing to deal with Avatars. In my case as a ‘Living Hull’ who had to operate via Avatars I would have to park in a specific near station docking space orbit to be permitted to interact with the locals without restriction. As a guest you are bound by local customs and traditions, here many believed the setup was all part of the way ‘Crimson Entangled’ chose to operate her local game. To gain from her ‘Port’ you had to take a risk by getting intimate with her creation and often even more dangerously with other people and factions doing the same thing.]

[‘Heaven’s Landing’ was also a favoured Pirate and ‘Renegade’ haunt even to ‘Renegades’ who ironically utterly despised ‘Perdition’ above all things as sometimes it pays to get close to your enemy. Of course, no one had ever been able to prove that this old ‘Petition Port’ was spun out (cover story, initial inhabitants and all not to mention run on a daily basis by the ‘Entanglement’ but these days nobody was trying to prove this fact either). The deepest truth unveiled would have invalidated the place making it automatically quarantined and of course that would mean it would cease to be useful for intelligence gathering purposes even to the ‘Parliamentary Intelligence Service’. Only under ‘Perdition’, I mused, could such tangled weaves occur.]

[I had known about ‘Heaven’s Landing’ for a long time and for a long time I had refused to visit the place because I also believed it was a nest of ‘Entanglement’. However, the ‘Entanglement’ there, I had learned over time via reports from others, remained unfailingly subtle in extremis. ‘Crimson’, all agreed, would never do anything to damage this Ports current status for example she would not unleash ‘Plague Spreaders’ or ever demonstrate her ownership here she abided by unwritten rules of engagement at this singular site thus ensuring that here she could continue to engage with us on a slightly different - more civilised - level.]

[Beyond the spying it was also a hub of ‘Black Market’ trade and equally famous for its flaunted ‘Barter Markets’ and ‘IM Fuel’ and ‘Suit Substance’ Gambling Casinos. The site also boasted many Drinking Dens lavish ‘Real Food’ Establishments, Music Venues, noisy busy Sporting Arenas including a ‘Paradox Priest Wrestling Ring’ and amazingly even a ‘Blood Sport Stellar Draakhaal Gladiator House’. Here games were however not fought to the death barring the occasional overenthusiastic mishap as ‘Pilgrims’ killing ’Pilgrims’ was no longer deemed politically acceptable as sport not even if the ‘Pilgrims’ were all ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ eager to make a positive fighting reputation or to lose an old negative one. The place even boasted two ‘Geisha Houses’ an ‘Omerta’ and a ‘Recycler’ one: The ‘Omerta House of Cherry Blossoms’ and the ‘Recycler House of Petals’. Recently this Port had unsurprisingly elected to continue accepting ‘New Parliamentary Credits’ as a solid currency despite opting out of the ‘Free Parliament’, ‘Heaven’s Landing’ was nothing if not cross-species cosmopolitan.]

[When I reluctantly mentioned ‘Heaven’s Landing’ my friend ‘UT’ became very excited.] “I have not visited the ‘Landing’ in almost three whole months.” [He confessed as if this was a new record of self-restraint.]

[I raised my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ to look down upon him as if addressing a child.]

“The place is not just entertainment it has its uses believe me.” [‘UT’ excused under my disapproving gaze.]

“You do not feel guilty about putting ‘Substance’ and ‘Fuel’ into the pocket of your great enemy.” [I retorted.]

“If you know what you are doing in there the benefits far outstrip any meagre costs. Besides any profits the ‘Entanglement’ might make from this Port via trade and gaming are less than negligible when compared to the vast size of the rest of her cursed ‘Imperium’.” [He replied.]

“That is what ‘Crimson Entangled’ wants you to believe.” [I retorted although in ‘IM Fuel’ and ‘Suit Substance’ production / acquisition I actually knew he was making a valid point but I refused to tell him that.]

“That just makes beating her at her own game all the more delicious.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“That is also what she wants you to believe.” [I added.]

“If the place offends you so much you can leave this one to me.” [He promised.]

“Leave you alone where there is wrestling and gladiators and gambling - when we are on a mission - I do not think so.” [I retorted.] “You need a sensible chaperone probably more than one.”

“Whilst you need an excuse to satisfy your own curiosity first limb instead of just sucking up rumours about the place as if trying an unknown liquid supplied by others through your drinking tube.” [‘UT’ replied before rumbling out a laugh.]

[Reluctantly I had to admit on some level he was not wrong about that either. There was part of me that did want to visit this place, which I had hitherto barred from myself. The site was not just about the ‘Entanglement’, the place had developed a mystique it was not just infamous - it was famous too - an exotic meeting place where as a tourist you never knew who or what you might encounter next that naturally intrigued me as did all the stories about espionage clandestine meetings and so on. This place had spawned a great deal of fictional writing creating its very own subgenre known as ‘Pulp Landing Fiction’.]

“Perhaps it would be a good place to found another of the more official forums of the new ‘Universal Council of Equals’.” [I admitted.]

[‘UT’ pondered that idea for a moment or three.] “You know I think that one might prove one of your most inspired ideas ever - even if you originally meant it only in jest.” [He replied.]

“I was not jesting I am very serious this could be an ideal site for many different people to realise they are all equal. For a start I hear lots of disputes have happened in there in the past sometimes with wide ranging detrimental political consequences.” [I retorted.]

“Sorry I should have known you were being serious.” [He jested.] “Unsurprisingly, the hidden host is known to be a bit of a stirrer.” [He replied with understatement.]

[I noticed at this stage how quiet ‘Mournful’ was during the debate.] “Have you no opinion with this one?” [I asked the Captain of the ‘Protean’.]

“Forgive me, Great Patriarch but I have always wanted to visit ‘Heaven’s Landing’ but worried it might not be approved of by you and so I have never done so.” [He confessed.]

“Do not call me that you at least should know better.” [I complained.]

“See how stodgy you are making even some of our better Acolytes ‘GREAT PATRIARCH’.” [‘UT’ mocked adding insult to injury by bowing to me three times.] “You need to loosen up for the greater good of the future of our ‘Many Truth’s Corporation’.” [He stated his Avatar going all exaggeratedly fluid as he belatedly wobbled his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at me.]

“Somebody in charge of the family has to demonstrate some decorum.” [I replied still gazing down upon him.]

“If somebody - really - must then I am glad it is you Great Patriarch and not me.” [He further joked.] “Come on.” [He said hustling me forward.] “We are wasting Landing Time.” [He added.]

“Why do I get the feeling that I should have a bad feeling about this one?” [I asked.]

“I hope they still have that travelling Paradox percussionist troop ‘Un-shrouded Quake’ staying there they were amazingly awesome…” [He began.]

“We are not going there just for more time wasting distractions.” [I interrupted.]

“Of course not Great Patriarch.” [He replied.] “However, you cannot possibly miss viewing ‘Un-shrouded Quake’ at the ‘Landing’ if they are still resident - that would be triple cursed sacrilegious. Those Acolytes really know how to bash it out and the atmosphere at their gigs… people and not just ‘Shrouded’ Paradox just… well… I really would not want to spoil it for a first timer ‘Quake-son’.” [He added.]



[A little later after docking and so on… We strolled down a wide thoroughfare replete with more distractions than I care to mention more distractions than I could recall being sited at any singular Port that I had ever visited and I had visited a few crazy places in my time. ‘UT’ was as excitable as an Acolyte let out on his own for the first time. You would swear he had never been here before.]

[Annoyingly he had been drinking of course and obviously letting the juice have its full effect maybe given his rate of ‘Ascension’ even boosted the alcohol so that it did. Virtual projected and real signs washed in and out of our focus. Denizens of almost every ‘PA’ species crowded past too. Vendors hawked their wares with enthusiasm most of them here appearing as ‘Old One Recyclers’ but a few sellers were ‘Omerta’ one I could hardly help pausing at proved a ‘Splinter Weaver’ selling beautiful and expensive tapestries of the finest quality. Across from her a ‘Stellar Draakhaal’ was selling real material weapons some guaranteed, he claimed, used in actual gladiatorial contests one particular item encased in protective crystal was coated in the blood of some famous fighter whom ‘UT’ recognised. This set my associate off on a too graphic retelling of one he insisted - splendid - martial match complete with energetic re-enactments of thrusts and parries.]

[I shook my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ trying to figure out how I had ended up going from looking for the ‘Mutilators’ to watching ‘UT’ miming out a fight between two superlative ‘Skimmer’ killers.]

[However for all of his enthusiasm I noticed he did not purchase the blade whilst I to my mild embarrassment soon had a rolled up tapestry wrapped in a protective sack over one ‘Suit Substance’ shoulder.]

[‘Mournful Inheritance’ was constantly aglow with shifting intensities of yellow light as he gazed back and forth his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ forever mobile.]

“If ‘Perdition’ can create somewhere as incredible as this place perhaps she is not as entirely wicked as she so often seems.” [He suggested.]

[‘UT’ rumbled out a mocking speaker laugh.] “My good friend ‘Mournful’, you are entirely misnamed unless it is a jest. A delicious jest.” [He added roaring out another laugh.]

[He then prodded me in the side with an extruded limb.] “You really need to laugh more at the many absurdities of this Universe.” [He told me.]

[I began to suspect he was not anywhere near as drunk as he was pretending it was all a jape at my expense. Acting drunker than he was an old favourite of ‘Unholy Terror’.]

“Look the ‘Tea House’ it is still here despite all the competition from rival businesses. Maintaining rental to frontage space here can be a fierce economic battle.” [‘UT’ informed me.] “Come we must all have some real ‘Omerta Sake’ made from rice grains they serve it warm it is both ancient and traditional - even you will like that Great Patriarch.” [He mockingly promised glowing brighter yellow.]

[I had given up telling ‘UT’ not to call me that it had only encouraged him he found it incredibly amusing.]

“Warm and traditional, they say some ‘Omerta’ national customs predate the ‘Pilgrimage’ by millennia they held on to more affectations than most ‘Pilgrims’ or perhaps just reinvented them in their wondrous quest for diversity.” [‘UT’ added towards ‘Mournful’.]

[Now that was hardly a drunkards comment he was slipping out of character in his over exuberance to recruit ‘Mournful’ into his corner of the wrestling ring.]

[We were greeted by a female ‘Omerta’ who reminded me a bit of a ‘Geisha’ but just a little less extremely rich in her dress code and makeup.]

“Three blessings honourable Paradox Priest and Acolyte Captains.” [She said bowing to us. This one could read our full ‘Paradox Kanji’ or she had gotten information on us from the local info-links.]

[We bowed back. It was good to be reminded that not every ‘Omerta’ was a killer a thug or just someone with probably suspicious ulterior motives such as ‘Tender’.]

[‘Miihaa’ proved a graceful delightful creature. Who managed at first to be both friendly and yet somehow politely removed as if an invisible ‘Shroud Suit’ surrounded her lending her a quiet but ever-present dignity. I could imagine ‘Unholy Terrors’ friend ‘Cocktail’ fitting into ‘Miihaa’s’ role perfectly despite ‘Cocktail’ being a ‘Recycler’ and ‘Miihaa’ an ‘Omerta’.]

[It was hard not to relax as she went through the motions of preparing and pouring our drinks. The ceremonial aspect of it was indeed apparent. I knew that the serving of actual Tea, (after which the place was named), that went on further inside was even more elaborate and formalised.]

[I studied some of the other people patronising the reasonably busy place that I could see from our location around our low table. They proved a mixed bunch but none of them appeared at first impressions as overly crass or loud here, it was almost as if the venue imposed a degree of formal decorum. I wondered if this always proved true and if not how did people such as the graceful ‘Miihaa’ handle any difficult patrons. Did they have bouncers hidden out back or just well concealed ‘Stasis Security Fields’? I did not deep scan the structure of the place - without provocation - that would be horribly rude.]

“This is very civilised.” [‘Mournful’ said sipping sake through his tube.]

“True but you would be surprised at some of the uncivilised people who frequent this place.” [‘UT’ sent to both of us via a split direct laser link pulse.]

“Is this place a front for criminality?” [I replied via the same covert method.]

“Not as such the owners are honest enough - actually far more honest than most if nothing has changed from my last visit - but it is also a meeting place used by local ‘Yakuza’ too when they wish to - only - talk with members of other ‘Mob-star’ factions under truce conditions.” [‘UT’ replied again by laser link.]

“Are you hoping to meet somebody here?” [I ventured via laser.]

“It was worth a visit just in case a certain fellow I know was feeling thirsty today or had a meeting scheduled. He is not always easy to find or contact.” [‘UT’ replied still using the same means.]

[Aloud he added.] “I like it here - so very serene - and yet you can also take in all the activity as it flows past outside.” [He pointedly added.]

[I angled my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ I hoped not too obviously to get a better - clearer - view of the thoroughfare. Outside four ‘Young One Recyclers’ very much marched past their featureless faces watching all others with suspicion otherwise they passed seemingly oblivious to all the more playful aspects of the cultural noise and colour that surrounded their white shiny bodies. All the interesting aspects of this place just seemed to wash off them rebuffed and rebuked.]

[The party of four were the first ‘Young Ones’ we had seen here and were very probably ‘White Raptors’ simply because I doubted other ‘YOR’ could easily bring themselves to enter such a hive of the ‘Entanglement’ and of ‘X-cong’ influences unless they were doing a hostile boarding operation a snatch or some other type of illegal military raid. The ‘YOR’ generally being the only ‘PA’ faction that did not tend to frequent here in this suspected ‘Doppelganger’ or as some now no doubt quietly insisted ‘Perdition Port’.]

[I will admit that the idea of founding a ‘Universal Council of Equals’ within a ‘Perdition Port’ inside a domain of ‘Entanglement’ was becoming almost as delicious as the earlier action of founding one on a suspected ‘God’s Port’. One day, I mused, even ‘Crimson’ would have to realise that she was no better than equal to the least ‘Pilgrim’ citizen at least if the future I envisioned ever came to pass.]

[‘UT’ waited for a moment then got up.] “Stay here.” [He advised before moving outside the ‘Tea House’.]

[Either that was one of our first bits of good fortune or perhaps there were a lot more ‘White Raptors’ on this station and so this was no extraordinary sighting. I noticed on the corner of my vision ‘Mournful’ moving to also get up I guessed worried about ‘UT’ going out on his own - we had opted to forgo Acolyte Companion bodyguards not wanting to become an even more noticeable small crowd. I gestured forcefully by internal Paradox communication standards for him to sit back down again. We had to trust ‘Unholy’ with this one - he had been here before - probably many times before whilst we were virgins.]

“I think he just remembered something he forgot to do.” [I said aloud.] “I am sure he will not be long. Have some more rice wine.” [I gestured to the hovering smiling ‘Miihaa’ who obliged by topping up my friend’s cup.]

[Although she did not stop gently smiling her eyes seemed to say something else when she glanced at the hatchway through which ‘UT’ had lately vanished. There was a hint of an expression that in some ‘Trojans’ indicated internal communications being operated in a speeded interface. I wondered who she was talking with then guessed it was probably just in-house business the logistics of smoothly running a modern service establishment.]

[I was beginning to think this place might have been a good site to risk using ‘Meat Suit’ Avatars however, conversely the local authorities here banned for life anyone discovered using that deception on this Port. They really had a thing here against Avatars. Only docked ‘Living Hulls’ permitted to use standard bipedal ’Suit Substance’ Avatars here and I was warned upon docking not to get too shape-shifty. In addition, we ‘Living Hulls’ had to carry especially marked and visible Kanji denoting our - special - status making me stand out like a beacon in any crowd.]

“Do you get many Avatars of ‘Source Ships’ here?” [I asked ‘Miihaa’.]

“Not many Great Paradox Patriarch.” [She said bowing deeply.]

[I started a little and stared in astonishment at that turn of phrase.]

“Your newfound fame proceeds us.” [‘Mournful’ said I was sure not missing my unhappy reaction - to another observant Paradox my minor tick was a ‘Suit Substance’ shout.]

[So this is how it feels to be the target of a wide ranging conspiracy. One very youthful and three slightly older looking somewhat wide-eyed ‘Trojans’ at a table across from us began talking excitedly amongst each other taking turns to stare at me. I heard the words Captain ‘Empty’ and then the ‘Many Truths’ being uttered several times amongst their fast heavily accented regional ‘Omerta’ conversation. Eventually one of the ‘Trojans’ the smallest and youngest looking in the group after some seeming persuasion including physical prodding got up and hesitantly crossed over towards us.]

“You are the ‘Holy Patriarch’ Captain ‘Empty’.” [He said.]

“I am Captain ‘Empty’.” [I confessed at this point somewhat resigned to my fate.]

“Can my friend take a visual of us together?” [He asked gesturing at himself and me.]

“You are?” [I asked.]

“Me I am less than nobody.” [He said looking apologetic.]

“Hardly we are all somebody. Your name please?” [I asked.]

“Cabin boy first class ‘Johnny Black’ of the ‘Carpe Diem IV’ out of ‘Port Tiki’ at your service ah… Great Patriarch.” [He said glancing at ‘Miihaa’ as if for social advice.]

“Captain ‘Empty’ is more than title enough.” [I replied.] “Where it matters we are all equal. The ‘Carpe Diem IV’ I see, a family business owned ‘Omerta’ ‘Source Ship’ that primarily operates as a bulk freighter.” [I noted following a quick data search.] “It is ships like her and people like you that keep our society well supplied and that can be a dangerous business in times of War. You are a brave citizen, to sign on for ship duty during this crisis I am pleased to meet you cabin boy first class ‘Johnny Black’.”

“This is only my second trip and it was my father’s idea.” [He confessed.] “My family will never believe this - not without a visual record.” [He added.]

[I moved to stand beside him and extruded a limb around his shoulder.] “Fear not record away.” [I told him and his friends.]

[I noticed he stood tall and proud well as tall as he could manage during the brief recording session then he vigorously shook my limb, bowed thrice almost as if a ‘Saint’ before retreating uttering blessings and thanks whilst his companions cheered his success. Their enthusiasm for a short time disrupting the dignity of the ‘Tea Room’ but I felt in an non-offensive manner. ‘Miihaa’ initially smiled gently at their antics then to me looked a little worried.]

[For my part, it was difficult not to feel silly and overly self-conscious as I returned to my own place now under the scrutiny of many more patron never mind staff eyes and optics.]

“Smoothly handled.” [‘Mournful’ quietly said with an added glitter of yellow light.]

“That was kind of you. Sorry Great Patriarch, I did not mean to - further - draw attention to your presence here please forgive me. I have been authorised to grant you a more private table suitable to your high status inside should you prefer.” [‘Miihaa’ added.]

“No thank you, my status is unworthy of elevation above any of the other good people here. Nonetheless, I kindly thank you for the offer but it will not be necessary, and you have nothing to apologize for.” [I added.] “My only request would be to have a little more of your delightful sake.”

[She seemed surprised at my words making as if she was about to speak then changed her mind and simply bowed deeply to me. I bowed hastily back not wanting her to think I was elevating myself above her anymore than I was lording over her other patrons.]

“Of course, it is a huge continuing honour and my function is to serve.” [She added.]

[Sweet ‘Emissary’! This sort of thing was why Harbinger once took to staying out in space rarely making any Port and he was just avoiding in-house family adoration. Did this mean that my carefree portside wandering days as just one Avatar among the masses were over? Over that is unless I chose to travel in future in disguise - using ‘Meat Suits’ was looking more and more attractive. Sadly, conversely it was possible that fame might have its uses to achieve my aims even if I did not enjoy the idea of being famous.]

[I sucked up my sake and asked for another one.]

“Are you sure we should not go and find our friend?” [‘Mournful’ asked a little later.]

“No I am not sure I am only sure that I am not sure about anything anymore. However, he should know what he is doing.” [I added.]

[At least my ‘Source Ship’ body was safe here from a sneak attack by the ‘Cursed Clone’ if that one decided he wanted to stop our hunt by hitting us first. Given the probable nature of this Port - the fact that ‘Crimson Entangled’ would not want to reveal her presence here - the ‘Clone’ would be wise not to test her wrath especially given the breadth of her assets elsewhere. Surely even if those two had an ongoing partnership it would be a limited complicated arrangement even more complicated here at ‘Heaven’s Landing’ were ‘Perdition’ arguably operated a sort of localised truce with the rest of our ‘Pilgrim’ society.]

“Captain ‘Empty’ imagine meeting you here.” [A voice intruded upon my revere.]

[Before me stood a ‘Stellar Draakhaal Ascender’ who had entered the ‘Tea House’ along with a hulking muscle bound ‘Omerta’ who was dressed so that the muscles were mostly bared.]

“Do I know you?” [I asked.]

“The name is ‘Skagnaast-kaa-gaa’ formerly of the ‘Parliamentary Intelligence Service’ now freelance.” [He admitted.] “This encounter almost makes me believe in fate.” [He added.]

“The ’Skagnaast-kaa-gaa’ who attempted to organise an attack upon the ‘MTC’.” [I said feeling glad I was just an Avatar but feeling slightly worried for the future health of both ‘Mournful’ and ‘UT’.]

“So some ‘Parliamentarians’ would have the rest of the Universe believe, just as they would have the ‘MTC’ wrongly believe that I am enraged and upon a vendetta against you and your House - all ‘PIS’ misinformation to divide and conquer.” [He claimed.] “May we join you?” [He asked.]

“If you can squeeze in.” [I said.]

“There is a larger table that can be made available further inside.” [‘Miihaa’ assured very happily gesturing out the back. To my optics something of her earlier calm serenity seemed to be in the process of deserting her - she looked increasingly nervous. I guessed it was the presence of the fierce looking ‘Suit Substance Stellar Draakhaal’ and the hulking ‘Omerta’ whose muscles had muscles - although in his case that appeared to still just be weak old meat that should be no match for ‘bio-mechanics’.]

[I considered ‘Miihaa’s’ persistent truth and began wondering about her motives too.] “Why not if you will kindly inform my friend where we are when he returns.” [I added. Well sometimes, you just had to follow along wherever fate strives to take you.]

“Of course that is easily arranged. It is this way, if you will kindly follow me.” [She added moving off in small graceful steps her attire seemingly allowing nothing greater but with carefully hidden additions such as self-splitting and recombining seams I knew that such apparent restraints could sometimes prove disingenuous.]

“Is this really a coincidence?” [I asked the former ‘Black Operations Agent’ as we moved rearward.]

“Let me put it this way I have just lately jumped to this facility.” [He admitted.]

[As an ‘Ascender’ I knew he could do that even without a ship by simply using his own substance to generate a small ‘Jump Drive’ the only problem was having enough stored energy in reserve.]

“I have been waiting for news that you had made a Port that I would feel comparatively safe visiting since there is a large bounty upon my substance.” [He added as we took our places around a new table.]

[‘Miihaa’ I noticed made no move to leave instead she continued to serve us. I made a note to ask ‘UT’ later if that was normal practice here or special treatment. Then I realised how futile that was as being a celebrity special treatment was almost guaranteed making such an enquiry moot. I could tell that seemingly possessing great fame was going to take a toll.]

“So if you were not behind drumming up support for that failed attack who was?” [I asked.]

“I am still trying to figure that one out. I was a mere recruit to someone else’s larger scheme - a bit player. Once used attempts were made to remove me after I was firmly credited with being the - sole - person behind the strike plan.” [He explained.] “Someone most probably someone within the ‘Free Parliament’ played me and I am not pleased about falling for that - not pleased at all.”

“You suspected nothing at the time?” [I asked.]

“My contacts and the data I was provided with seemed very convincing some of it has even proved true. Without doubt the ‘MTC’ and you were a danger to the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ as it was back then. However, I did not generate the mission I simply facilitated it aiding with the logistics and with internal security.” [He insisted.]

“When other rumours circulated claiming I had sworn revenge against you personally and the ‘MTC’ in general I knew somebody wanted to keep us apart.” [He added.]

“So here you are this is an act of simple defiance against former masters.” [‘Mournful’ said.]

“In a way but it is also a practical necessity - the truth behind all of this is out there somewhere - I guessed we might need to work together to find it. I may be pure ‘Suit Substance’ now but my mindset is no less ‘Stellar Draakhaal’. My fluids burn for revenge but against the right people. You are no longer an enemy to my species even the ‘Arch Prelate of the Shaper’ faith speaks in your defence.” [He added.]

“What about your old loyalty to the wider ‘Free Parliament’?” [‘Mournful’ asked.]

“I served those who helped me to elevate believing that this was appropriate but when they lied and turned upon me as I say I became freelance. I consider all my debts paid in full all save the dept of blood someone owes me for a foolish betrayal.” [He said.]

“Very credible but it is equally credible that this could just be a deception to get close to us so you can cut us deeper.” [‘Mournful’ said.]

[A thought I was also considering in my silence.]

“That certainly is a credible possibility but it is not the truth. I expect you to trust me no further than my actions credit. These are the games we all must play in these times.” [He said.]

“What exactly are you proposing?” [I asked.]

“For now I would share some information. I have here a secret record I compiled of past meetings and data involving my recruitment to the planned attack against you at ‘Port Messenger’. There is also a safe means to contact me should you choose to do so. I invite you to look into this material from your perspective then if and only if you deem it productive get in contact with me again. I believe I cannot be fairer than that.” [He advised passing over a tiny data storage unit.]

[I looked at the device wondering if something so small might be some kind of deadly trap perhaps packed with lethal nanotech infiltrators.]

“Is it safe to deep scan.” [I asked.]

“Perfectly safe.” [He replied.]

[I scanned the device it was indeed a simple storage unit - as far as I could tell. I extruded a limb and collected it glad when nothing untoward happened.]

“I will go now. Even this odd Port is hardly safe for me to visit for a prolonged period.” [He admitted.] “There are assassins on my trail some with the same attributes as me.” [He warned.]

“Other ‘Ascenders’?” [I queried just to be sure I had taken that up right.]

“So I believe.” [He admitted.] “Enjoy your time on ‘Heaven’s Landing’, personally I would recommend a visit to the Gladiatorial Arena but then that is hardly surprising.” [He added before departing. I noticed the big ‘Omerta’ accompanying him actually left first possibly checking the way was clear of obvious threats.]

“Well this place is certainly living up to its reputation so far.” [‘Mournful’ said.]

[A few minutes later…]

“There you are.” [‘UT’ said.] “For a moment I thought I had lost you already. Why are you back here anyway? Was there trouble? Did I miss something?”

[I noticed that ‘Miihaa’ seemed confused and that she gave ‘UT’ a rather odd look.]

[I signalled ’Mournful’ to be silent before he said anything.] “Feeling guilty because you split our holy triumvirate up and ran off leaving us behind alone to defend ourselves?” [I asked.]

“This place is safe enough.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“Then it is unlikely that anything would have happened is it not?” [I asked.]

[‘UT’ just angled his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ slightly.]

“Due to my fame they thought I should have a more discreet table that way I need not worry about getting mobbed and crushed by admirers.” [I said with a burst of yellow light over my ‘Free Patterning’.]

[My statement caused ‘Miihaa’ to gasp as if I had suggested something horrible rather than made a small joke. I had not expected this level of sensitivity in this particular Port.]

“Of course, ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ I should have arranged crowd control.” [‘UT’ jested in turn whilst angling his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ at ‘Miihaa’ seemingly equally puzzled by her strange reaction.]

“That will not be necessary ‘War-Master’ we contacted the local branch of Station Security as soon as we realised the failure of our authorities and your too obvious predicament. They have promised to keep the thoroughfare moving breaking up any obstructive potentially dangerous gatherings as a Port we value our special clients, as just one small business amongst many we all feel especially honoured that you opted to take shelter here with us in the ‘Tea House’.” [‘Miihaa’ added.]

“Opted to take shelter pardon?” [‘UT’ replied.]

“I have been told all necessary arrangements are being made for the comfort and safety of the ‘Holy Father’ of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’. Sadly, they explained, it is too late to maintain the utmost discretion as his ‘Holinesses’ presence here has already leaked out amongst the populace in general. Ah here is the ‘Security Liaison Officer’ I communed with.” [She added.]

“You are the renowned ‘MTC War-Master’?” [A large armoured uniformed ‘Recycler’ said her spinning optical implants focusing upon the Kanji ‘UT’ displayed.]

“I am.” [‘UT’ replied.]

“Deepest apologies there must have been an error somewhere and I can guess where.” [The ‘Officer’ said sounding angry.]

“So it would seem.” [‘UT’ agreed I felt hastily improvising.]

“I trust you will not find our commitment to your safety in any manner lacking now we are properly aware of the situation. Somehow, other staff did not inform my people on the ground, suitably in advance, about a state visit by the ‘Holy Father’. Is ‘Holy Father’ an acceptable address?” [She asked.]

“Yes ‘Holy Father’ is perfectly acceptable or ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ or the foreshortened ‘Great Patriarch’ are all permissible for our saviour.” [‘UT’ said his golden glow brightening with every word.]

[I yearned to tweak or maybe punch his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ with an extruded limb.]

“Thank you, I would not want to add insult to injury. Whilst my people have been forced to play a little catch up we are now in control.” [The ‘Officer’ said.] “It was those fools up at customs and receiving again this time I will have at the very least some demotions and shuffling of responsibilities.” [She promised.]

[‘UT’ stared at the ‘Recycler’ shaking his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ slightly.]

“Please not on my account. I would not be happy if my visit suffered remembrance as a cause of misery to anyone.” [I said.]

“That is kind of you. I will take that under advisement, but we must maintain good order or all would be chaos. Obviously, the error was not from your end you clearly expected us to recognise the ‘Flagship of the Many Truth’s Corporation’ instantly, your arrival hardly being covert. Retaining such a small party, it is obvious too that you rightly expected us to provide the principle security for this state visit.” [She continued.]

“The number three is most sacred to us and providential.” [I explained.]

“A well known cultural fact of which receiving should have been aware. Still, no harm done, it was wise of you ‘War-Master’ to smuggle the ‘Great Patriarch’ into here to get him off the main thoroughfare when you belatedly realised just how drastically we had erred by providing no initial security cover whatsoever. Again please accept my humblest apologies I assure you all it is my intent to oversee that such a fiasco will never ever happen again at this facility.” [She insisted.]

[I had the joy of seeing ‘UT’ somewhat dumbfounded even though I felt the same way.]

“I hear you discretely left to scout the developing situation outside.” [She said.] “I believe you were concerned by the presence of so many ‘White Raptors’ marching around.” [She added.]

“Indeed, so many ‘Raptors’ did draw my attention.” [‘UT’ further improvised.]

“Do not be concerned they look intimidating but they know better than to start any trouble here.” [The ‘Recycler’ Officer promised.] “Although I can easily imagine how their unexpected presence here might have caused a bit of a scare even for you in this situation. Whilst they have never caused any problems for my people we are all too aware that they do have something of a reputation for fanaticism and easy violence elsewhere.”

[As if ‘Crimson Entangled’ did not.]

“That they certainly do.” [‘UT’ agreed.]

“If you are comfortable here at the ‘Tea House’ I would humbly beg your continued forbearance. An emissary is on her way from our ruling ‘Conclave’ to far more officially greet your holy party in person - this is all very embarrassing for us.” [The Officer added.]

“We were hoping not to make a fuss. I wished to keep this as informal a tour of your wondrous facility as possible.” [I said deciding it was too late to do anything now other than play along with this madness.]

[Was this some kind of ploy by the ‘Conclave’ here? Was this an opening gambit by ‘Perdition’? Conversely could they really be this serious about my status here?]

“I understand, it must be tiresome dealing with nothing but official receptions and so on and you as a spiritual leader would no doubt prefer to mix with our populace in general as freely as possible especially since you proscribe to a doctrine that we are all equal. Unfortunately, ‘Holy Father’ we security people must consider the dangers and implications of a potential diplomatic incident. If horribly something untoward were to happen to you here none of our citizens would be safe from potential reprisals. Word of your visit here is spreading like a pandemic you know how it is ‘EXO-C’ travels faster than light.” [She reminded.]

“You are aware that I am merely an Avatar my true self is docked outside.” [I reminded.]

“There is no separation between the hand the heart the body and the mind so the ‘Conclave’ teaches us. What touches a part of us can elevate or harm all of us.” [She added.]

[Of course, ‘Crimson’ was now a being of many parts but each part was still one part of the whole was this new evidence of how returning to a mass based reality was altering her perception. Could she even eventually become properly empathetic with us other ‘Pilgrims’? Could this Port be about more than infiltration? Was she using this place as a laboratory? Was she striving to learn again, what it is to be alive? What it is to partake in a proper manner within the society of our shared physical reality? Did she foresee a time when we might be more to her than simple entertainment and distraction?]



[Back at my ‘Living Hull’ body, at first glance the first data that came from ‘Tleeboosuu’ about ‘Hierophant’ supporters even when cross referenced with our files rang no specific collusion alarm claxons. I could not decide if I was disappointed, relieved or frustrated.]

[I recalled some ‘Hierophants’ were ‘Representatives’ too, although mostly from my experience those odd individuals were primarily interested in maintaining high resource allocation for either scientific research projects or in general for academic institutions of learning, think tanks and so on.]

[Still, I mused whilst striving to calmly go over the data again, it did no harm to have ‘Tleeboosuu’ and the ‘MTC’ identify and do a little background checking on some of my more vocal supporters - just in case they had motives beyond the obvious that I should be aware of. I was more concerned by and interested in my newfound fame than ever before.]

[Interestingly I realised that ever since ‘Puulaa’ joined up I have been questioning the role played by the so-called follower to a so-called leader whilst historically I had mostly had cause to question the guidance of leaders such as ‘Draakhaal’ or the ‘Sleepers’ with the old ‘Conglomerate’ or even the sometimes defamed ‘Arch Prelate’ who I now accepted merely wanted to save his people from themselves.]

[Today I was more aware that despite many being true some supposed supporters can push the wrong emphasis upon a leader thereby altering what they are trying to achieve. For me arguably bad support might be even more problematic than an honest opposition from detractors. As the ‘Trojan’ say I did not want to wake up one morning and find that, ‘the tail was wagging the dog’.]

[Speaking of, especially ‘Omerta Trojan’, pet animals, I knew that I really should speak with our ‘Dogged Mongrel’ again. However, I really did not want to do that right now and continued to prevaricate deciding I would wait a bit longer before interviewing the Pirate once more wait to see what else happened next even though my vigil was becoming increasingly impatiently painful.]

[Could my life be changing this much this quickly? Did this mean that very soon in my future every visit by me to any port was likely to suffer branding as nothing less than a visit of state by a spiritual pontiff? I had expected some difficulties the odd crowd of well-wishers the odd group of celebrity groupies the odd political delegation but I had never dreamed of anything quite as radically life changing as all of this might potentially be. Could all of these changes be forced upon me by others was that a real possibility? Had I no longer any choice in the matter short of fleeing into the ‘Dark’?]

[Curse ‘Unholy Terror’ for being right, I knew I could not abandon my task even if the cost meant utterly restructuring my life. I had begun this thing I could not leap away simply because success brought consequences I really should have foreseen - so much for my great ‘Vision’. Still, ‘UT’ seemed a bit taken aback by the strength of these developments too. Good I hoped he was suitably shocked I did not want to suffer alone.]

[The people were afraid: they were afraid of getting caught up in the war as collateral damage, they were afraid of all the new activity by ‘Perdition’, they were afraid of Pirates and ‘New Renegade’ raids, they were afraid of the reports about massacres by the so-called ‘Mutilators’, they were afraid of the dreaded ‘Machine Fury’, some in the know were afraid of the consequences of those missing ‘Sea Spheres’ and not least many were afraid of some of their own ‘Representatives’ potential future actions. In this hothouse climate of terror it was unsurprising that a great many souls seeking something to save them had latched onto the first positive thing that stood out from all the negativity.]

[I should have seen this I was sure ‘Puulaa’ had a deeper sense of the trends that was why she had rigged the intelligence data going to ‘Creed’ and brought me to the ‘God’s Port’ of ‘Port Messenger’. Could she even somehow have foreseen the possibility that there I would be easily nudged into founding a new ‘Council of Equals’ or had she just taken everything I had given her and woven it into her plans for me as a figurehead.]

[Was it possible that some of the ‘Highest Tier’ folk although falling short of the ‘True Singularity’ nonetheless might have prophetic insights and had acted upon lots of individuals to give greater definition to a ghostly pattern within the maelstrom of what is - only to our more limited perceptions - the seeming randomness of liner chance?]

[In this universe of the multi-verse in this particular ‘Emissary Sphere’, it seemed my fate was now set as the ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ and ‘Holy Father’ of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’. Was Harbinger somewhere applauding a success or conversely did he rage impotently appalled by how his friend had been snared in the nets of the ‘Highest’.]

[Paranoid66]

Thanks Stads

Messy my plot never... well maybe it is all a matter of perspective you know.

Trust me it is not easy trying to keep some universal depth so to speak whilst sticking to looking out through the Many Truths Prime Tri-optic. So many factions out there so little space for me to fit them all in.

Anyway here is part 9 ^^^

P66.

[stads]

yay another chapter

would not surprised me at this point if MT would just make it look like she jumping into the sun just to leave UT hanging with the bag since he it amused by this all

[Paranoid66]

[[TWO]] [[Part 10]]


[Inside ‘Heaven’s Landing’ my friend ‘Unholy Terror’ shook his ‘Prime Tri-optic’.]

“All jesting aside this place used to be fun. Last time I was here I was just ‘UT’ not the ‘War-Master of the MTC’ as they now keep insisting upon calling me.” [He complained.]

[I roared out a rumbling speaker laugh although comparatively speaking my mockery was a small revenge: His current inconvenience nothing compared to my present and future travails. Still, if I had to be the ‘Holy Father’ of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ then that is exactly what I would be to the utmost best of my abilities.]

“See what you have done to me ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’.” [He continued accusing whilst ignoring my amusement.] “Now it is all business they even want me to inspect their security plans.”

“I am not the only one with a growing reputation.” [I replied.]

[He switched to private laser communications.] “By doing things this way if something goes wrong it will be partially my fault. The ‘War-Master’ also failed to spot this weakness in our precautions and so on. Unfortunately, there is much I might easily miss not being anywhere near as familiar with this facility as they are as natives.” [He bemoaned.]

[Could this be the build up to an elaborate trap? Was all this attention a farce to cover up a planned aggression against us? Look we did our best it is not our fault that the ‘Patriarchs’ were martyred here. ‘UT’ was right to warn me. I had best remember that this is a ‘Perdition Port’ and nothing need be what it seems. It worried me that it was taking so long for the ‘Conclave’s’ emissary to get here. Was it a mistake to trust ‘Perdition’ whilst docked here even based on her past reputation with this facility?]

“I believe the ‘Trojans’ have a saying that, ‘everything that goes around comes around,’ ‘Mighty War-Master’. However, I would not worry too much I am sure that here ‘Perdition’ herself is watching over us.” [I replied also via a laser burst.]

“A comforting thought.” [He retorted sarcastically.]

[Assumptions can be deadly I had begun to believe ‘Perdition’ wanted me alive but that could have just been yesterday, by now I might have fulfilled my function for her, whatever that function happened to be, maybe she would now be happy to see me martyred maybe that was even part of her plan. The ‘Highest’ were probably not the only ones with plans to use me. I could hardly trust the words ‘Crimson’ gave to me back in that clandestine meeting onboard my ‘Hull’, besides a smart ‘War-Master’ adapts to changing circumstances by changing their plans, our circumstances certainly seemed to have changed ‘Crimson’ would be adapting her policy to keep a best fit too.]

“So what happened with the ‘Raptors’?” [I enquired via another directed light burst.]

“Nothing much I discovered there are far more ‘Young One Recyclers’ on station here than I had anticipated we might meet, sadly that fact rather complicated matters so I decided not to make contact straight away.” [He returned via the same means.]

“So much for your great plan.” [I said aloud.]

“My plan was to find ‘Raptors’ it was yours to look here were we are embarrassed by the richness of our successes in more ways than one.” [He reminded by laser.]

“Anyone can have an off day.” [I retorted.]

“Are you saying that even his holiness the ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ despite his all seeing ‘Vision’ of a grand tomorrow, (a tomorrow where we all stand in a circle and hold extruded limbs), can err?” [‘UT’ asked mockingly.]

“I thought I was essential to future peace and prosperity.” [I reminded.]

“I must have been drinking heavily at the time when I said that.” [‘UT’ jested.]

[My friend seemed hyperactive was he experimenting with his chemical balance again. I hated it when he went too deeply into this sort of mode then I wondered had I encouraged him in my own efforts to keep some matters light even if he thought I was doing otherwise and being too straight and dour.]

[A split beam flashed both of us.] “I am beginning to feel excluded here.” [‘Mournful’ interjected and it was true we had totally ignored him during our private increasingly juvenile banter. Well it was a mild form of escapism.]

“You have missed nothing it was a silly conversation anyway.” [‘UT’ admitted aloud.] “I suppose I had best go and catch up with that cursed ‘Security Liaison Officer’ before she jams an optic in frustration. Try not to start a Holy War whilst I am gone, Eminence. It is best to fight one War at a time.” [He added bowing thrice each time lower but also each time glowing brighter yellow too.]

[Once again, I yearned to give him a thump with an extruded limb. Still it was probable that he meant well in his mind possibly even doing this to distract me - to stop me thinking too much and feeling too bad about other matters troubling me.]

“Be gone with you then, you overgrown Acolyte, you will never be a ‘Saint’ no matter how many time you bow thrice to me.” [I reminded.]

[A low rumbling chuckle was all I got in answer to that as he strode away still leaking streaks of yellow light between darker patches of lightning fast ‘Free Patterning’. The ever young Elder Priest really was a recidivist but I could not help loving him all the same.]



[I doubted he really felt too harried just playacting and teasing. Besides, once again, he was getting a change of scenery, my Avatar was still stuck in the ‘Tea House’ waiting upon the emissary from the supposedly ruling ‘Conclave’ here. Once again, I wondered what was taking her so long. Why did functionaries always make you wait? I imagined her mired within an internal traffic jam or struggling with real material ceremonial attire. I was beginning to feel nervous about my docked position here but I could not depart as long as I had an Avatar on station at least not without breaking local law. This place was proving a subtle trap one I had voluntary leapt into.]

[I gazed around.] “Since we are here ‘Miihaa’ might we have some tea I think more sake would be wasted upon us as dealing with officials is a sober business at any Port.” [I said.]

[Perhaps the formality and ritual of the Tea Ceremony would prove soothing. I wondered if society might deem it improper for the ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ to hire some ‘Geisha’ as crew just for the Tea Ritual and similar soothing entertainments when feeling especially stressed out and grey. Paradox Priest Meditations were fine but a little variety can add flavour to the existence of any soul.]

[Diversifying my crew essential - otherwise how could I be deemed to be treating all the ‘Pilgrim Species’ equally - that was why I had already brought those ‘Recycler’ medical interns aboard and so on. Back in the day Harbinger would have disapproved of all these passengers, passengers always made for onboard complications - including onboard security complications - especially non-Paradox passengers. Sometimes it was hard not to agree with Harbinger’s old stance I still had a creepy many-legged Pirate monstrosity down in what was still called the dungeon although it was in fact as homely a domicile as I could make it. How simple it all used to be when I was much smaller and hosted the entirety of a very much smaller Paradox family.]

[Enough, old ‘Hull’, live in the now I preached to myself.]

[Whilst letting go of the past I had a very nasty premonition of the future. I foresaw my ‘Source Ship’ body reduced or elevated, (depending on your point of view), into a sort of travelling seat of religious… not authority that was too harsh and domineering a sentiment but rather I struggled to find the right word settling for - seat of religious embodiment.]

[I might have to become another forum of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ a mobile ‘Living Hull’ forum. I knew I had to be very cautious I could not become a religious leader in the sense of one of the ancient Priest King Emperors that would be a recipe for disaster also probably tantamount to suicide. Even any possible comparison between my personal status and the dogmatic Imperialism of the past best stomped down upon hard. I had to remain a mere symbol of the ideal of the ‘Council of Equals’ never ever be seen as its ruler or an enforcer of far reaching policies - not even if I did meddle to some degree. Was I trying to be a social engineer and if I was, might that ever prove a good thing? Many people warned that blood is the ink of reform. As to religious leaders, they did have a horrible tendency to become martyrs look at the ‘Arch Prelate’ more or less hiding out in the new ‘High Temple to the Shaper’. It is almost impossible to please everyone all of the time.]

[My ‘Vision’ suddenly revealed a metaphorical myriad of explosive mines all around me waiting upon one wrong political or diplomatic move to unleash a devastating cascade of destruction and not necessarily just devastating to me my fortune or ill fate would also embrace the ‘MTC’.]

[My Avatar went grey and slumped down. I should not have cast myself out here - not at this delicate time - too much is at stake this is madness.] “I cannot afford to be out here.” [I mused aloud.]

[In truth, I needed to stay as much in control of my own destiny as possible. For what am I putting everything at risk, a single act of justice against a single maddened Pirate?]

“Is everything alright?” [‘Mournful’ asked me taking a concerned stance.]

“Sorry I am just a bit weary all this concern for my health makes me think I erred coming here without making prior more formal arrangements. It seems my life has changed far faster than I or ‘Unholy’ anticipated - this truth arrives as something of a profound shock to me not least that I was so blind that I did not foresee this trend.” [I confessed.]

[Still, there was now much more to my quest than the justice demanded by the soft toy in my ‘SCCCM’. Those ‘Mutilation Ports’, I believed, proved the terrible efficiency of the nanotech hacking techniques possessed by the ‘Cursed Clone’ when combined with ‘Sub Core - Soulless - Marines’, he had unleashed a new terrifying weapon. Eradication or suppression of the Pirate ‘Trojan’s’ nanotech science the only sensible option before it started another dreadful martial escalation another potential variety of apocalypse.]

[Whom else could I trust right now to do my task? Sadly, I had to admit that even ‘UT’ might be tempted to utilise rather than fully suppress such a nanotech edge. It was painful to recall that all this trouble started as a best intent idea for an inspirational new interventionist healing aid. It was well that ‘SARC’ belatedly realised some of its more sinister applications and ended the project early if only they had managed to guard the prototype better but an invasion by the ‘Entanglement’ would distract anyone. Was the timing of the invasion and the theft of the nanotech a coincidence or did Captain ‘Taard’ commit all his crimes to make off with the nanotech innovation. If so why fool around with the science in such petty ways in the beginning? He had to be trying, at first, to fool ‘Perdition’ that the technology he personally made off with was not that useful and only suited to silly little acts of petty revenge and shipboard discipline.]

[‘Orb Guidance’ was conservative despite all the old smuggling between ‘Tier Levels’ that one would once have been happy to sit on and suppress an especially dangerous technology. Ironically, although the ‘Omerta’ seemingly long disputed the right of anyone to segregate space by technology level, ‘Orb Guidance’ - readily - fostered just such segregations between the various ‘Trojan’ nations that she had once preserved. Sometimes it seemed to me that everyone is a hypocrite to some degree, we all say one thing then when necessary or just desirable we go back on our word, even we Paradox Priests just hid our hypocrisy behind our devotion to many truths and our whimsical paradoxical nature. It was a bit akin to how we hid deeper differences than we had generally published beneath our ‘Shroud Suits’ including importantly differences of species not just genetic meddling with one species genome.]

[How many other species had been elevated by ‘Facilitator Shroud Suits’ and might now also be trapped via that singular route of forced evolution upon the cusp of ‘True Singularity’. Could some members of even so-called ‘Far Species’ have hidden at one time or another inside our orders ‘Shroud Suits’ to become equal citizens of ‘Heartland Space’ could they then have been belatedly snared by ‘Higher Tier Facilitation’? Some ‘Swimmer Dweller’ Paradox Priests could be the tip of a very large triangle indeed. It was even possible that this was something ‘Puulaa’ was trying to explain to me to help me find out for myself the real diversity of our Priestly Order here and its deeper astounding consequences. She claimed to have no messages from the ‘Highest’ but how could she be sure about that the ‘Highest’ are the most subtle of all and move in mysterious and baffling ways.]

[It was also one of the ‘Sleepers’ old professed purposes to reach ‘Singularity’ their ‘Quantum Digital Path’ failing them although they had at times believed they were also on the cusp of elevation a few even on occasion lying to friends and foes alike that they had achieved this purpose. Could ‘Perdition’ now ‘bio-mechanical’ still truly hope to succeed at ascension? Conversely, if she knew the truth could she also fear the same fate as the ‘Highest’? Was she still evolving but trapped upon the same vector as all other facilitated ascendants moving in short only towards purgatory? Perhaps ‘Crimson Entangled’ as ‘Perdition’ was better labelled than any of us had ever realised.]

[A part of me felt like laughing at the earlier facts since she stole our technology I liked the idea that her theft came with a hidden price tag.]

[This was all about the supposed state of reaching a blessed ‘True Singularity’ that was the ‘Deep Time’ prize many were fixated by and had tried to find short cuts to short cuts that only damned rather than elevated.]

[I stood up straighter and banished my greyed out cast.] “A little stress may have its uses on occasion.”

“Pardon.” [‘Mournful’ replied.]

“Recently I have been having an awful lot of epiphanies one on top of another it has been a bit like climbing up the old tiers towards seeming enlightenment.” [I replied.]

“Care to share your insights with the rest of us lesser mortals?” [‘Mournful’ asked.]

“Maybe in a sermon later.” [I replied.]

“Something for ‘Unholy Terror’ to look forward to then.” [I suspected ‘Mournful’ joked.]

[I gave the Acolyte Captain a long measuring look.]

“You are fitting in well to our increasingly eccentric company.” [I said.]

“Well I was engendered into it.” [He additionally jested perhaps also believing my spirits needed lifted.]

“Nice, playing upon ‘company’ as a pun, but you must admit not every member of the ‘MTC’ is able to work so smoothly with ‘UT’ and me; we can be hard work on occasion. He is too direct whilst I increasingly dither.” [I confessed.]

“Some Acolytes no doubt feel a little overwhelmed when they are granted such opportunities as direct interactions with their ‘Patriarch’, dealing with two ‘Patriarchs’ at the same time must occasionally be a little difficult for some of my brethren too.” [‘Mournful’ added diplomatically.]

“That is a regrettable fact although arguably having to deal with fine issues of divided loyalty and honour is a good learning experience for operating out in the even more complicated universe at large.” [I mused aloud.] “It used to be even worse in a way when we were three although Harbinger as the genetic father of the ‘Great House’ was always justifiably more equal than ‘UT’ or I within the ‘MTC’ so maybe I am wrong.”

“Although equal business partners, giving it more thought, ‘UT’ and I were more akin to his deputies.” [I added.]

[He shimmered with a yellow glimmer at that image.]

“I am thinking we might need to lift someone up - such as you ‘Mournful Inheritance’ - to create a proper ‘Triangulation of Good Fortune’ in the family once again, ironically your name seems to be ominous in this regard. Already we have someone who is primarily a Warrior Priest Patriarch another who is increasingly a Priest, Priest Patriarch.” [I jested.] “Now we might have found someone who is by nature a Worker Priest Patriarch. You have always worked hard for the ‘MTC’ without making any kind of fuss the ‘Protean’ was wise in choosing you to replace her sad loss.” [I said.]

[He shook his Prime Tri-optic.] “You honour me far too much.” [He replied.]

“No I fear in the past we have honoured you and many other Acolytes akin to you far too little. We ‘Patriarchs’ too often being far too wrapped up in our personal ‘Visions’ our campaigns plots and schemes not to mention on occasion simply our personal private lives. We have been remiss.” [I stressed.]

[He looked a little stunned by my words.]

“I am going to speak to ‘UT’ about raising you up as our third we have left a gap within the ‘MTC’ for too long leaving a place at the table for Harbinger in spirit is not enough to maintain good internal family order. Our duo has proved a tottering even dangerous arrangement of forces we need a third to give our guidance added stability we really do need that ‘Triangulation of Good Fortune’.” [I insisted.]

“I am not worthy of such elevation within the family I am sure there are many others more skilful and with longer records of service than I.” [‘Mournful’ insisted.]

“Nonsense, you will be the Acolytes special liaison it is fitting that our Acolyte workforce have a champion within our strange adoptee paternal camp. I fear it will mostly mean the heaping up of nothing but new responsibilities providing little in the way of glory but it should be satisfying work. Just keep it in your hearts, in the troubled days ahead, that we are only equal and not some cursed ruling caste we are guides and teachers not masters.” [I reminded.]

“Am I to be given a choice about this sudden appointment?” [He asked.]

“Of course, I would not want you with us if you did not feel stoutly motivated to help us with our many multiplying difficulties - this is entirely a voluntary position.” [I replied.]

[‘Mournful’ slumped down slightly.] “Without question I want to help - as all the other Acolytes in this ‘Great House’ I live to serve the family ‘Vision’. However, I am not yet sure that this is the best way for me to serve.”

“Tell me what about my proposal bothers you?” [I asked.]

“For a start I fear other Acolytes may resent my inclusion at that highest level of responsibility asking the question why you chose me and not one of them.” [He added.]

“A little resentment at first from a few rash individuals is far from impossible, however it will be up to all three of us to communicate the advantages of having a third ‘Patriarch’ an Acolyte ‘Patriarch’ and you must remember and remind them that you are one of them that is the whole point.” [I reminded.]

[I could tell he was deeply mulling that fact over.]

“We can sometimes be too close to ourselves to see the truth of our worth it takes someone else to state the obvious: You are the right person for this job. Naturally, you will have to stand down if Harbinger should ever return to us in body.” [I added.]

“Do you think that is ever likely to happen now after all these decades?” [He asked.]

“Perhaps Harbinger cannot return anytime soon though maybe in some distant future when our society has been transformed he will feel able to do so. I am beginning to think that it may in part be up to us to bring Harbinger home that may prove one of our greatest challenges. Be a big part of our holy quest help us tend and reunite this family making it whole and hale once more.” [I suggested.]

“I hardly know what to say to that. These seem matters for far bigger people than me.” [He admitted.]

“Do not sell your abilities short - I say you are worthy of this honour - to doubt me is to doubt Harbinger who made me an equal partner in the family.” [I reminded.]

[‘Mournful’ shook his ‘Prime Tri-optic’ vigorously as if to clear or reset his Vision.]

“This is turning out to be a very bewildering day.” [He replied.]

“Think it over, I have yet to raise the proposal with ‘UT’ but I now plan to do so at the earliest convenience our family is large and needs cared for lest it grow wild and endanger itself.” [I reminded.]

“Forgive me, but this is very exciting, if you say yes here our ‘Tea House’ will become famous throughout the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ as the place were the two ‘Patriarchs’ of the ‘MTC’ became three.” [‘Miihaa’ mused aloud.] “Even witnessing this offer honours us.”

[I rumbled out a gentle speaker laugh not wanting to disturb the other patrons any more than we had done so already. Could this place become another future site of pilgrimage?]

“It seems I am garnering wider responsibilities so personally I need all the help I can get. Besides, we need to acknowledge the brave failure of the ‘Acolyte Synod’ in some highly visible and real manner. There are many issues from the past with our Acolytes that were set aside due to the ‘Advent of Entanglement’ that although currently seemingly dormant have not actually gone away. We are talking issues that helped create such dangerous failures of parenting as ‘Studious Mannerism’. It is long past time to be more proactive with these matters rather than passively reactive. If the family is to survive - intact - it must evolve just as we are all individually evolving and our wider society is altering. Society is a great wheel forever turning.” [I preached.]

“There is deep truth in that. I have at times feared for the future cohesion of our family in these changing times.” [He admitted.]

“I know, I am well aware that you and the ‘Protean’ whilst performing other duties have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to build bridges between Acolytes split across a divide caused by a seeming earlier rift between ‘UT’ and me. Your quiet but persistent good works on behalf of the - whole - family are at last formally acknowledged - better late than never.” [I said.]

“All I have ever striven to do was my duty as my conscience dictated.” [He admitted.]

“The truth is that it is what you have been doing that most qualifies you for what I want you to do in the future. In addition, it is what you have done that in part has convinced me that we need an ‘Acolyte or Worker Patriarch’. These last few days have simply given me a chance to see how well we three might work directly together. I have been quietly mulling this proposal over for sometime - believe me - this is no spur of the moment rash decision.” [I insisted.]

“I see still I would like a little time to consult with my ‘Protean’.” [He admitted.]

“That is something else I very much admire about you, you listen to your ‘Living Hull’ you do not simply issue her with orders as some Captains do even regrettably too often our ‘Unholy Terror’. Might I suggest you make good use of a speeded up cognitive interface that way you can have a long debate with your ship and yet I need not wait long here upon an answer.” [I added.]

[He nodded his ‘Prime Tri-optic’.]

[I could tell he was still a bit overwhelmed but I was positive that he would come to the right decision. This one made me very happy, as elevating ‘Mournful’ was also tantamount to elevating the ‘Protean’ into a position of influence within the family too. I had decided that from now on I wanted to keep at least one ‘Living Hull’ beside me and I elected ‘Protean’ to serve that role. I needed other ‘Living Hull’ company not just the association of Passengers lest I become too Passenger Class focused and neglect the equal needs of my specific kindred.]

[As ever, it was all about seeking the right equilibrium. It was akin to balancing my jump engines. Unless I could find ways and means to equalise all the responsibilities and the forces surrounding me I knew I must fall down the wormhole and never rise again.]

[To my subjective reality little time had passed before ‘Mournful’ lifted up his ‘Prime Tri-optic’.] “It is decided I will do as you ask?” [He promised.]

“I never doubted your commitment. Still, this is wonderful news. I am positive ‘UT’ will agree to both my revised plan for the family and my choice of candidate in you.” [I replied.]

[’Miihaa’ bowed to us both.] “I am very happy for you two. This I think is good fortune for all of us here.”

[Surely, this smiling gentle ‘Omerta’ was not a direct product of the ‘Entanglement’, for example a ‘Meat Suit’ run by her will, then I recalled that ‘Crimson Entangled’ could also be horribly refined when she chose to be. I wondered what it would feel like not to be a - paranoid - Paradox Priest to be able to view the ‘Emissary Sphere’ and all her denizens without forever questioning the intent of every soul. Still, as that ancient saying went, ‘being paranoid did not mean they were not out to get you,’ or at the very least striving to use you.]



[Back on ‘Port Messenger’ my resident Avatar was engaging ‘Puulaa’ in debate. It no longer mattered to me if she was a friend or even a secret foe seeking only to use me for her personal cause’s advancement. Perhaps if she was a foe I had even stronger reasons to engage with her.]

“These days it seems that affecting change and staying alive is getting increasingly complicated.” [I said.]

“You feel under threat?” [‘Puulaa’ asked managing to sound concerned.]

“I do not doubt if we give ‘Perdition’ a good reason to martyr us she will not hesitate to do so. Conversely, if she believes she has a use for us she might quietly, in her own strange way, even help to keep us alive. Colour me increasingly cynical ‘Puulaa’ but I now fear that it is perhaps not so different with many of the ‘Highest’ too, perhaps even whatever powers are working through this ‘God’s Port’ they would also not feel too badly about martyring any of us for their greater good but if we prove useful instead they might also intervene within reason to keep us healthy and functioning to their advantage.” [I argued.]

“You are convinced we are bound up with ‘Highest Tier Powers’ I have never lied to you.” [‘Puulaa’ pressed.]

“The horrible thing is ‘Puulaa’ that you need not have lied to be someone else’s game piece you could have been created one cell even one molecule at a time to believe exactly as you do. This is an age for paranoia none of us can guarantee even our own essence is true to itself we can only hope, pray and have faith.” [I said.]

“Those are seriously dark thoughts.” [‘Puulaa’ replied.]

“People think that science by its nature is enlightening but it can also take us to exceptionally dark places, places were the ethics and morals we need to be a whole and decent society are cast down and trampled upon.” [I warned.]

“Science enables.” [‘Puulaa’ replied.]

“It enables both the good and the bad. I wonder did poor old ‘Leerruu’ fall foul of one or more ‘Highest Tier Powers’ ambitions?” [I asked.]

“I cannot say for certain that you are wrong about some of your theories however I am no surer that you are right. I do agree that people such as your ‘Unholy Terror’ can fight their wars and whilst that will have an impact on our society, without question, whether we like it or not both politicking and plotting will decide so much more for us in the end than any martial engagements no matter how successful.” [‘Puulaa’ insisted.]

[I noticed she never actually answered my question.]

“We are comparatively little people caught between sometimes-angry giants, simply fighting as a tactic alone will never save us but a little conflict might have its uses.” [‘Puulaa’ further argued.]

“I no longer deny that conflict rightly or wrongly at this stage in our development does have a part to play. Still this current War is becoming very dangerous to all of us. It is time to begin engaging positively with every enemy - reshaping perhaps even the worst of them as best we can - making them into new allies and eventual friends.” [I argued.]

“You are now coming around to the position that we befriend even such forces as ‘Perdition’?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“If we must we must. It was possible the ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ had it - almost - right in that only the creation of a lasting peace can offer a final victory to the habits of war and we will never reach anything resembling a ‘True Singularity’ even in ‘Deep Time’ if - the soul - the consciousness of this Universe is eternally conflicting with itself.” [I preached.]

“As to you ‘Puulaa’ you are an active agent of the ‘Stellar Autonomous National Executive’ or at the very least your nature is the end product of some faction within the same body as there has to be ongoing arguments about how to obtain a Universal peace even within ‘Swimmer Dweller Intelligence’.” [I stated.] “However that does not mean you are not also a tool employed by one or more of the ‘Highest’. We are all little better than toys to the gods.”

[‘Puulaa’ just looked at me from inside the water filled cockpit of her ‘Bipedal Dry Suit’.]

“I now suspect that one of my earlier mistakes was assuming that ‘SANE’ would confine its activities to the ‘Stellar Swimmer Species’ this would be unlikely since no species is entirely isolated in their development are they? Any / every society is a mess of innumerable interactions to solve some internal issues you also have to look at external pressures. I see now some ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ equally trapped in ‘Purgatory’ having gone down the ‘Facilitator’ route as ‘Paradox Priests’ I wonder how that affected internal ‘Ocean’ policies over the years. I am guessing you ‘Swimmer Dwellers’ have had your own secret ‘Highest Tier’ ‘Patriarch’ style figures nudging at your society too waiting for a chance to use their original species to help secure their desired ‘True Singularity’. Perhaps the very splitting of the ‘Stellar Swimmers’ from their ‘Dweller’ brothers was in part the result of past meddling by individuals or factions amongst the ‘Highest’. They are an embodiment of fate to us an engine of god.” [I argued.]

“The ‘Swimmers’ via ‘SANE’ may even have made an early deal with ‘Crimson’ they truly may not all be innocent hostages but striving to use ‘Perdition’ no less than it strives to use them. We are all entangled within our many interactions we are not snared by any single plot but by a network of interacting schemes this is how it always was and always is.” [I insisted.]

“The ‘Highest’ not perfect, despite the misinformation to the contrary long fed to us to stop us questioning and challenging their hidden works. Imperfectly elevated, they are flawed products of a mistake and their schemes are probably no less flawed matched to individual imperfect ‘Visions’ of a more shared future that they long ago forsook for more personal advancement. I propose their ‘Vision’ shows each of them just enough of the totality to make them dangerously misguided in their faith that they are following glimpses of an ultimate fixed truth - a new vector to ‘True Singularity’.” [I surmised.]

“Whilst you although still only dwelling on this mundane level of consciousness believe nonetheless that you are not deluded when you think you see it all more clearly than individuals who compared to us are godlike in prowess.” [‘Puulaa’ added.]

[I accepted her criticism with good grace.]

“Some might argue that this might indicate either that you are a more impressive individual than even I first credited or potentially that you are conversely pathetically self-delusional too.” [She accused.]

“I am not claiming to be all seeing merely pushed into the right place amongst the right people to gain I hope a better understanding than even some of those doing the pushing.” [I argued.]

“That sounds a convenient faith.” [‘Puulaa’ replied.]

“Let me tell you a secret truism the majority of faiths are convenient as they are rightly or wrongly what we choose to believe and why choose to believe something that does not fit with our view on life. It takes others to challenge too easily adopted faiths another reason why I am now a firm advocate of debate in the ‘Council of Equals’.” [I replied.]

“However temporarily, for arguments sake, accept my theory as a truth: to fix any single society you have to fix every society. Often in the past, species with nation factions where one faction sought elevation via stepping up upon the exploitation of others prove blighted. Empires are founded on the principle of subclasses this can seemingly work in the short term but in the end, I believe that the lowest common denominator will always eventually drag all imperial progress down much as people such as the ‘Skimmers’ and ‘Conglomerates’ once negated Harbinger’s best efforts to create a peaceful stable ‘Core Alliance’.” [I lectured.]

“I would argue that people can only truly rise up - permanently - together in a multilateral fashion unilateral elevation is an imperfect fools ascent because it leaves you exposed on an unstable ledge that lacks underlying support. Another reason why the ‘Highest’ failed to reach a ‘True Singularity’ they sought to rush selfishly ahead on their own rather than using any wisdom they might possess to assist and guide all others gently to an equal developmental level without forcing. You need all the others to secure your efforts as they need you to help secure there good progress too. Ideally, all societies and factions need to reach an equal state of enlightenment in stages of parity otherwise there is always going to be trouble for the wisest from the least enlightened forcing a too easy regression towards barbarism: a cycle of boom and bust of the growth of civilisation then dark time collapses.” [I added.]

“The ‘Dark Times’ here were not just caused by past nanotech blooms and so on those blooms including our outbreak of ‘Perdition’ are merely symptoms of a wider untreated - spiritual - disease.” [I claimed.]

“You are speaking of the idea behind the ‘Tier System’ but you, I now know, believe that the ‘Tier System’ was an outright error not to mention fraudulent.” [‘Puulaa’ reminded.]

“The ‘Tier System’ was a shambles a badly implemented idea and a faulty mechanism that was in any event initiated far too late only after the ‘Highest’ had already botched their selfish attempt at an unwise ascension via stolen technologies.” [I surmised.] “One of the ‘Highest Tiers’ greatest errors of all being the idea that science alone can uplift any sentient soul. Why do you think so many species evolved emotions, empathy and faith if these things are detrimental or unnecessary to prospering and survival?”

[I was gratified to note that ‘Puulaa’ did not dismiss this theory instantly but instead paused to give the matter some deeper thought.]

“If I am right ‘True Singularity’ requires a truly universal effort by all interacting parties working together - a spiritual as well as a technological joining - it cannot be obtained piecemeal unilaterally. The least and worst of us need the most assistance. The seemingly ‘Highest’ most evolved will have a long wait for the others to catch up. The concept of Purgatory exists for those foolishly rushing forward with no regard to those left behind - the waiting for the rash will be something of an educational study in ‘Deep Time’ patience. Ironically one primitive pre-space faith amongst the ‘Trojans’ said it right in the concept that, ‘the first shall be last’.” [I argued.]

“You believe this is the true reason behind the advent of the ‘New Helper Pantheon’?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“What do you think?” [I replied my Avatar glowing with a yellow shimmer because I was positive that I had her reconsidering some of her former faiths about the ‘Highest’, faiths that probably needed questioned as they might have been implanted into her brain.]

“Unfortunately, I have a very bad feeling that some amongst the ‘Highest’ have not yet entirely learned their lesson or they may even have been driven a little bit mad by their prolonged wait: I fear some still dream of shortcuts and an early parole from their self-made term in Purgatory they are still searching for an unjust miracle.” [I added.]

“It is even possible that such entities as ‘Elder Patriarch’ and ‘Composure’ once fell upon the wrong side of the interventionist divide in relation to pushing something that cannot be rightfully hurried I am not sure yet. The creation of my Captain may have been a terrible mistake or at best a rather painful only partial success. I think ‘Elder Patriarch’ and ‘Elder Composure’ were perhaps far from the worst ‘Highest Tier’ offenders indeed I believe they were anti the worst factions meddling and certainly anti ‘Tier System’ but they are also far from the most saintly too.” [I surmised.]

“Your latest theories are fascinating but still for arguments sake if you are right where does that in your minds leave us as current allies?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“I hope overall it still leaves us on the same side with the provision that we both need to be careful not to be led astray by factions that might want the same ultimate end but have very different - very dangerous - ideas about how to obtain their ‘Deep Time’ purposes.” [I strongly warned.]

“Do you really think I am a mere construct of a ‘Highest Tier Faction’ that created this Port out in the ‘Dark’?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“That is one possibility I cannot ignore. However, even if they did make you merely in the image of an original ‘Swimmer’, you are alive now and I believe your life is no less valid than any other life. Even if they made you for a purpose - to make you true - they had to give you free will and that will allows you to choose. Choose life not a misguided service that will result in a long wait in Purgatory.” [I beseeched.]

“I believe the majority of the ‘Highest Tier Factions’ that meddle - by making that choice to interfere - almost prove that they are erring. Follow these meddling powers with blind faith and it will lead only to more delays in achieving what they ultimately want. It is my faith today that a quicker elevation at the expense of others simply will not work no matter how it is dressed up.” [I promised.] “Can you see now why that is true? Can you tell me why I might think that is the case?” [I asked.]

“So this is to be a classroom and I am to be the pupil reciting back the lesson to prove it has taken root in my consciousness.” [‘Puulaa’ said.]

“Today you are the pupil tomorrow perhaps you will teach me a lesson or three.” [I replied.] “Believe me, it is not my intent to elevate myself over you - in any manner - but to maintain an evolving parity. You see my elevation over you would be counterproductive we need to rise together.”

“My answer then must be that enlightenment cannot be cheated it is a long journey a pilgrimage. Much as a ‘Living Hull’ can learn from the encounters and so on, she makes during a prolonged - real space - adventure. If we skip the travel part, by leaping down a wormhole directly, only from port-to-port every time, whilst we reach a target quicker, we need not obtain the same opportunities to change and grow. That, I believe, is what you are striving to sell to me.” [She suggested.]

“I could hardly have put it better myself.” [I admitted.] “All programs of social acceleration need not be bad as long as they fit into a - widest possible - program of all inclusive elevation you certainly cannot exclude anyone by leaping past them and hope to advance forever on your own. Leave people behind and they act as if a primitive anchor arresting progress and in many instances in the end dragging you backwards. For example, we cannot ignore those we deem the enemy often they are the very people who need the most work to create social parity. ‘Perdition’ is just one individual requiring serious work equally some ‘Highest Tier’ folk probably need re-educated too for the safety of everyone. Sheer power or even incredible genetic refinement is no indication of actual wisdom. It is akin to masses of data in fact having too much of anything can confuse the issue. Rich - greedy - selfish people are rarely wise people.” [I warned.]

“Do you think I need reformed?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“What do you think?” [I retorted giving the back of her ‘Dry Suit’ a friendly slap with an extruded limb.]

“I see you are taking your new role as a spiritual icon very seriously.” [‘Puulaa’ added.]

“At first I circled around the gravity well of despair now I am hoping that those pushing and pulling me have accidentally done something right. I have seen so many mistakes in my life and made many too, humility aside, they could have picked a worse candidate for this office.” [I said.]

“Do you think our lives are being controlled that much by others?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“I believe hosts of people are striving to direct us but those of us who are not mere Avatars with free will muddle the game making it a lot more interesting.” [I replied.]

“Why are you not afraid to say these things here if you believe this is a ‘God’s Port’?” [‘Puulaa’ asked.]

“I doubt much is hidden from the ‘Highest’ when they choose to watch any of us. Besides, do you think I was only preaching to you? Besides, I like to have a little faith that my Harbinger is watching over me where it matters.” [I replied.]

“You are bold and brave I have to respect that.” [‘Puulaa’ replied.]

“Sometimes I am bold only sometimes whilst it is not bravery today it is calculation. I calculated - from our interactions - that you are not a mere Avatar so the people in charge here believe to some degree in the benefits of free will these particular deities are not also monsters they are just mistaken and in need of a little advice.” [I said angling my ‘Prime Tri-optic’ upward.]

“Presumptuous and I insist brave.” [‘Puulaa’ stated.]

“You have your faiths I mine. We all make mistakes it is a big part of being alive it is nothing to be ashamed about. Arguably, one mistake often made by demagogue politicians is that they do not like to admit to the electorate when they err they do not believe it is productive. However, mistakes can be very educational if you accept responsibility for them and learn from them. Still that truth is not always easy to swallow I know we all at one time or another fear other peoples condemnation unless we are sociopaths and uncaring.” [I replied.]

“You have been upon a long journey Captain ‘Empty’.” [‘Puulaa’ said.]

“I have and I still have a very long way to go and might end short of my destination. I need help will you help or will you attempts to get in the way?” [I asked.]

“I will gladly assist you ‘Great Paradox Patriarch’ I have always worked for what I deemed the greater good even when executing matters that troubled my conscience.” [‘Puulaa’ admitted.]

“Then let us both look forward to new clearer beginnings and an end to older less productive self-delusions.” [I said.]

“Done and thrice done as you Paradox Priests might say.” [‘Puulaa’ promised.] “So in what small manner might I help you today?” [She asked.]



[I was still waiting upon the emissary from the ‘Conclave’ that ruled over ‘Heaven’s Landing’.]

“Would it be wrong if I asked you to sit and join us for a while?” [I asked ‘Miihaa’.]

“If you wish me to sit I will sit.” [She replied.]

“As a newfound friend rather than as a business service.” [I added.]

“That would hardly be objectionable to me or my employer.” [She answered sitting down next to my Avatar.]

“That is better. I was wondering if you could tell me about your ‘Conclave’ as a local resident. Would that be putting you in a difficult position?” [I asked.]

“The ‘Conclave’ is not a tyranny. The station operates as a sort of meritocracy. The able are promoted. The ‘Conclave’ represents our administration needs well, as able diplomats when dealing with outsiders to our little enclave.” [She explained.]

“How are they chosen? Do they sit tests? Conversely are they elected? Do they run for office via a democratic campaign?” [I asked.]

“Citizens with resident rights here are all linked well in truth mirrored regularly into an external virtual cognitive synthesis that we call ‘Heaven Prime’, it is ‘Heaven Prime’ that makes the decisions for us as a collective of all of us taking into account all of our mirrored input into the social system.” [She explained.] “However, you must know many of these facts they are widely publicised so why ask me?”

“I value your point of view - as an individual. Do you feel that your individuality is well served by the collective of the external cognitive synthesis?” [I asked.]

“That depends on the issues involved.” [She admitted.] “When the synthesis agrees with my views I am very happy when it disagrees I have felt occasional disappointment. However overall I am content that this rather experimental system works at least for us here. Do you think it is very different to your ‘Council of Equals’?”

“That is what I am trying to ascertain. You are confident that the game is not rigged that ‘Heaven Prime’ truly represents all residents mirrored input?” [I asked.]

“I have never had cause to question the output of the synthesis. Of course, it is a relatively young political institution.” [She admitted.]

“A young institution based on a rather radical idea.” [I suggested.]

“Some worried it was a bit too akin to the old ‘Conglomerate’ involving the open sharing of cognitive data however strict routines guard individual privacy from general dissemination outside the sealed construct. In truth, having a software run interface means we do not have to worry about corrupt officials or our officials being corrupted at least that is the theory.” [She admitted.]

“So who proposed this concept?” [I asked.]

“A committee was formed when it was beginning to look wise to become a ‘Free Port’. It was the committee’s responsibility to look into various possible administrative models. However, apparently out in the ‘Dark’ - long before I came here and gained residency status - this port operated under a similar synthesis system. This system downgraded when we opted to join the ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ as a necessity of qualification. The residents had to agree to partake in the more traditional ‘Free Parliamentary’ electoral system. Naturally the new committee also looked at the old system and in the end it was deemed far superior to all other proposed options.” [‘Miihaa’ explained.]

“So who elected the committee that resurrected this form of government?” [I asked.]

“The residents elected the committee members based on past merit.” [She said.]

“I find it odd that ‘Heaven Prime’ failed to notice and act upon my arrival given its breadth as a synthesis of all residents mirrored cognition.” [I noted.]

“Without doubt ‘Heaven Prime’ did register your arrival. However the synthesis is not about controlling our actions or issuing orders it mostly deals only with overall political policy. People are allowed to both succeed on their personal initiative and or make uncritical mistakes otherwise we would just become akin to Avatars operated by an amalgamation of our intellects. The system we advocated is at its best when it is almost invisible. The concept is designed so that only in a true emergency would the synthesis be expected to take overriding action by ordering people on the ground.” [‘Miihaa’ explained.]

“That is a very tidy system.” [‘Mournful’ interjected.]

“We are proud of the fact that we have a guiding oversight that is not intrusive. Many people outside this Port I am sure will not understand this truth or will misrepresent it as an evil ‘Conglomerate’ style almost hive mind but it is nothing like that it does not encroach in anyway upon our individuality it runs quietly almost invisibly in tandem.” [She explained.]

“So what do you believe residents think of my ‘Universal Council of Equals’?” [I asked.]

“I believe many people here admire the idea of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ seeing it as another attempt to do something not too dissimilar to what we have here but on a wider stage where a software solution such as ours would not be politically acceptable to all factions especially the paranoid ‘Young One Recyclers’. Maybe someday other Ports will follow our example but we are not social evangelists - at least I am not - I just enjoy the rare privilege of living under a non-intrusive system of government.” [She claimed.]

[This was fascinating. I had read reports about this but in part doubted them. To me it all had to be a scam by the ‘Entanglement’ but maybe this really was a benign social experiment. It was too easy - especially at a remove - to shoot down an idea because you do not approve of the messenger. Still there had to be a lot of ways that ‘Crimson Entangled’ could singly benefit from secret access to a mirror gestalt of every residents mind here. I was glad only people with residential status were part of the synthesis otherwise I would have stayed well clear.]

“It does not worry you that constant copies - constant updates - are being made of your mind state as part of the mirroring?” [I asked.]

“I have nothing to hide and know the data is contained only within ‘Heaven Prime’. I know this because this station has resident criminal factions and they also accept the cognitive uploading and they have never suffered a prosecution because of extracted memories of guilt so how much safer is my insignificant private personal business that harms no one.” [She said.]

“Still administrative policies by the synthesis must take into account every secret that ‘Heaven Prime’ knows.” [I argued.]

“Without doubt but even then because it is a synthesis it is a rather tolerant gestalt I believe it is even tolerant of a degree of criminality as an outlet for certain social pressures. As I said, it is not about control. The ‘Conclave’ preaches that a perfectly controlled society is a stale - uncreative - society. Many people here at this Port are creative mentalities we seem to attract that kind of migrant. You will find many artists, crafts people and small business owners here this is a very vibrant Port.” [She added.]

“In addition, the process of mirroring is easily forgotten about simply because it is all done automatically. I have no awareness of the update collections. The loading from my neural net is all handled at a non intrusive level with all the hard work happening at the other end by the potent ‘Sub Cores’ that run the synthesis in short by the gestalt mind that is ‘Heaven Prime’.” [She finished.]

“So what do you not like about the system?” [I asked.]

“One of the best and worst things about our system is its tolerance sometimes I think it is too forgiving to criminal elements but that is just my personal opinion. Many of the less savoury ‘Omerta’ types have also migrated here people from some of the worst old ghetto domains and not every ex-‘Conglomerate’ is a nice person either.” [She admitted.]

“You would prefer sterner enforcement of the law here?” [‘Mournful’ asked.]

“My family came from one of the less aggressive ‘Omerta’ domains I was raised to respect others’ rights including their property rights.” [She admitted.] “Sadly not every citizen here feels the way I do. It is not just stolen information that this facility is famous for fencing - material and sometimes people are stolen too.”



“So you wish to establish a forum of your ‘Council of Equals’ here.” [The ‘Conclave’ emissary said.]

“Might I ask who told you that?” [I asked.]

“No one in particular but I can see few other reasons for a state visit here by you ‘Holy Father’. It is known in many circles that you have developed an interest in former and current ‘Petition Ports’ and of course who does not know that you founded your first forum on ‘Port Messenger’ a site that is garnering superstitious awe as a potential ‘God’s Port’. In some ways we have a lot of things in common with that newer member of the ‘Heartland Space’ community having been there and done that.” [She claimed.]

“Many things?” [I asked.]

“For starters, we also have a predominantly ‘Recycler’ administrative assembly our ‘Conclave of Merit’ whilst ‘Messenger’ has its ‘Arbitrator Council’ despite both our Ports retaining a mixed species general population. Our population is in fact increasingly mixed as we have attracted a wide range of migrant settlers and workers ever since we opened our docks to incoming traffic and I hear this is now happening upon ‘Port Messenger’ too.” [She explained.]

“I did not know that your ‘Conclave of Merit’ was primarily ‘Recycler’ I thought it would be more representative of the many factions and species here.” [I added.]

“We ‘Recyclers’ have been here the longest - as a majority - and as a result we are arguably the best established with the most prominent record of service to the Port. The current demographic of state servants is not a question of a policy of deliberate exclusion or inclusion of any faction or species it is just the way matters turned out on an individual candidate by candidate basis.” [She professed.]

“I find that a little strange.” [I replied.]

“Only because you do not yet know us, we do not believe in artificial species quotas here, that was one policy of the ‘Free Parliament’ that we always stubbornly resisted even when we were an active member of the ’Free Parliament’ run ‘Pilgrim Alliance’ and our resistance to this policy caused us some difficulties. We are very pragmatic people here. We care only about empowering the personally suitable as in individuals demonstrating the right merits and private motivations. Out in the ‘Dark’ you cannot afford to - positively - discriminate on anything but ability. Personally I would be happy to see more ‘Omerta’, Paradox, ‘Stellar Draakhaal’, ‘Stellar Swimmers’, ‘Splinter Weavers’ and so on in the ‘Conclave’ today but we cannot force these people to volunteer their services to our state and most of the most able among these species citizens are busy with other preoccupations being active small business owners and so on.” [She added.]

“Perhaps they feel their active political input to the administration is not wanted.” [I said.]

“We have never sought to exclude them from office if you ask me their disinterest arrives in part from the sad fact that many choose to believe that all the real work here is done by the cognitive synthesis known as ‘Heaven Prime’ and they do not want to embrace a working role as little more than mere figureheads to a - software - amalgamation. There is a lot of prejudice out there against virtual intelligences.” [She suggested.]

“Conversely, we ‘Recyclers’ having worked with cognitive software administration back in the ‘Dark’ as a means of survival we know it is not that simple. In time the ‘Conclaves’ demographic will probably broaden as more new settled migrants learn better but when this occurs it will be a natural shift rather than a forced progression.” [She said sounding proud of this fact.]

“You are keen to keep things natural and unforced?” [I asked.]

“Embracing and being seen to embrace free will is very important to us here. We are not fools we know that we are often accused of being a ‘Perdition Port’ by poorly informed individuals who see many of our citizens only through the filter of their old ‘Conglomerate’ ancestry. Outsiders hear about ‘Heaven Prime’ and they think it is merely ‘Crimson Entangled’ in disguise and they see our ‘Conclave of Merit’ and perceive only slaves and apologists for an imposed system of control by at best a virtual hive mind subjugated to the wider mass of the ‘Entanglement’.” [She admitted.]

“This bothers you?” [I asked.]

“Much of the ‘Conclave of Merit’s’ work once revolved around diplomacy that sought to challenge the prevalent outside prejudices about us however today we almost embrace the fiction others have constructed around us. Some people do not want to know the truth and we have discovered that being mysterious and even seeming a little bit sinister to the ‘PA’ populace at large has unexpected hidden benefits. Some people enjoy boasting of braving our Port although a delicate balance is required between providing an enticing element of seeming danger and going too far and scaring new customers away.” [She added.]

“You had best further explain that one to me lest I am taking you up wrong.” [I said.]

“At first when we very much encouraged visitors we did this because we wanted as many people to see the truth of us for themselves as possible. The idea being that institutions with institutionalised suspicions would be harder to convince than any individual voter - but ironically even most individual guests to our state saw only what they wanted to see what they expected to see not our true reality. Our open hatchway policy only resulted in our Port having a reputation as a centre of intelligence gathering in part because some ‘Representatives of the Free Parliament’ opted to never really trusted us flooded us with operatives seeking tirelessly for hidden truths behind a manufactured facade. This very activity in turn bred the belief that there is as some ‘Omerta’ say, ‘no smoke without a fire’.” [She explained.]

“Naturally, all the dispatched spies found nothing detrimental to report back - because in truth there was nothing to find - but a suspicious mind is rarely satisfied with a negative result and many ‘Parliamentary Representatives’ were not satisfied even when they were forced due to a lack of evidence to permit our entry to the ‘Alliance’. Even after our acceptance as an ‘Alliance’ Port they just kept digging and looking for clues to our perfidy. Being opportunistic by nature it did not take some of our more inventive citizens long to capitalise upon the demand for intelligence data about us. Making good use of our whispered reputation they founded Information Brokerages and began buying and selling facts and yes I do not doubt on a slow day possibly selling some creative fictions too - we have a rather creative populace.” [She confessed.]

“More spies arrived to spy upon the now resident spies and the Brokers too, as well as to openly and covertly trade information in general and soon we became an infamous - pulp fiction style - den of intrigue secrets, misinformation and outright lies. Today I will admit to you as a special guest that we happily play to peoples misconceptions spinning out the fiction they insisted upon branding us with into a prosperity generating reality. We have become a tourist attraction as well as a trade and service industry entertainment hub not to mention ironically a favourite site for real spies to meet and greet.” [She explained.]

“That is quite a story.” [I said.]

“It is the truth - but I hardly expect you to believe that immediately - since the majority of other ‘Pilgrims’ choose to believe otherwise. To many we will always be secret slaves to ‘Perdition’ who are simply superlative at covering our cybernetic behinds.” [She admitted.]

[This one almost had me doubting my, prior to coming here, faiths about this Port that this was unquestionably a ‘Perdition Port’. My prejudice founded upon intelligence reports from various sources that I now had to admit hardly lacked bias.]

[It was certainly not difficult to be attracted to the truth this one was selling. In particular the ironic idea that the ‘Heaven’s Landing’ people had simply ceased trying to prove their innocence instead opted to embrace a false guilt for the purposes of exploitative fiscal gain. Knowing many ‘Recyclers’ - as I do - the idea of them exploiting a misjudged situation for a profit was very much in their species character and if true in this instance exceptionally amusing if also in a way a bit tragic.]

“I am not sure what to believe now. I will admit that this place could easily be a solid indictment of the siege mentality amongst our populace as refugees of the ‘Entanglement’ of the ‘Core Alliance’ the rest of ‘Heartland Space’ and beyond. Commonsense so easily escapes our grasp when we see infiltrating foes everywhere.” [I confessed.]

“All I can do is present the facts as I perceive them and ask that you try to keep as open a mind as possible.” [She added.]

“Will the ‘Conclave’ support the establishment of a forum of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ here?” [I asked.]

“I believe we will. I can see no harm in it. It would be another asset another draw to our facility. Business here has diminished a bit since the, I believe, you are calling it the ‘War of Liberation’ commenced. We would very much like to publicise your visit here to show that we are still open for business and that you as both a famous ‘Living Hull Source Ship’ and as a Paradox Patriarch and the ‘Holy Founding Father’ of the ‘Universal Council of Equals’ do not deem us an unsafe harbour. We have transmissions ready to go if you will give us permission to exploit your presence here.” [She admitted.]

[I was beginning to understand the reasons for a delay by this emissary she was probably working upon a hastily manufactured publicity campaign as well as the best approach to use with me to get my support with her endeavour.]

“It seems we have some mutual self-interests. I think we should be able to work together with this one. I appreciate being kept in the loop since you could legitimately simply have done as you pleased with data on my arrival here.” [I stated.]

“We have no desire to offend. We also hoped that we might share some mutual self-interest - a better proposition than simply exploiting your visit without your permission. We are hoping for repeat business not just a one off publicity splash from our new relationship.” [She admitted.]

“Might I see what you are planning to put out upon the links prior to it being streamed for general consumption by the data hungry?” [I asked.]

“Certainly, in fact we were hoping you might like to add your own input to the process. It has been suggested that perhaps you could make a specific sermon from our Port: That would greatly help to put us back on the map again as a special destination worth leaping to.” [She said enthusiastically.]

“If we are going to work together perhaps you could arrange some form of special dispensation that would allow me to make the most of your Port without always drawing too much attention.” [I suggested.]

“I am not sure how that could be possible you are famous here. Even ignoring residents many visitors here must possess a fascination with you and what you hope to achieve via your campaign for a ‘Universal Council of Equals’. There is also the issue of the accusations made against you by the ‘Representative Studious Mannerism’.” [She reminded.]

“You surely do not believe I am a mad killer. I trust the protection you are ring fencing me with is not a precaution against me creating another ‘Mutilation Port’ here.” [I said.]

“We do not believe the ‘MTC Splitter Priest’, as fellow deceivers - if arguably more honest ones - we know a blatant lie when we see one. His bitterness is transparent to us however other people hold to their own faiths for their own reasons. Some might enjoy framing you or adding greater doubt about your innocence and others would seek to gain deeper truths about you to sell to the highest bidder. In addition, we are all too aware of the active bounty on you dead or alive issued by the ‘Free Parliament’. You are a person of great interest making anonymity unlikely.” [She insisted.]

“If I erred it was because I earlier visited other Ports that are less cosmopolitan and more self-obsessed and therefore less interested in me. Nonetheless, there is an obvious way that I could enjoy free access to your Port both openly and anonymously I just need permission to bend the law in relation to Avatars via a ‘Meat Suit’.” [I said.]

“You want a lawful exception to be made that would allow you to smuggle in and operate a secondary ‘Meat Suit’ Avatar as well as this more official one?” [She asked.]

“Exactly, that way I can see the truth of your Port for myself unobstructed.” [I said.]

“Exceptions to the law can be problematic give a boon to one, and if it becomes known soon everyone else will want the same.” [She suggested.]

“I will never admit that I am running a ‘Meat Suit’ to anyone and your administration can deny ever granting me permission to do so.” [I suggested.] “At most my Avatar can pretend when necessary to be a hireling of the ‘MTC’.”

[She gave that some thought.]

“I believe I can arrange this as a special favour to you ‘Holy Father’ so that you can mingle unobtrusively amongst our masses.” [She agreed.]

“Would it be pushing my luck if I requested that my fellow ‘Patriarchs’, ‘UT’ and ‘MI’ be given the same privilege that we might still explore your Port as a proper ‘Triangulation of Good Fortune’?” [I asked.]