New Beginning 22: Once Upon a New Beginning...

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Making his way through all the chaos of clamoring combat, the Penultimate shoves aside adversaries, dodge blows left, right and backward, and at last makes room for himself to move with ease.

With the brief time window afforded him, the Penultimate crouches down like Pikachu, and charges up power. A bright flash discharges from every side of his body, and everything electronic within 15 ft of him is utterly disabled.

(Hopefully, this should free up a couple people; really, I don't want the fight to go on too much longer.)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Penultimates strange movements as he dodges enemies that do not exist allows him to successfully move from the rockets path. The rocket adjusts it's course and swings around for another go before it collides with the electric shockwave and explodes in midair. The Shockwave passes through the torso spider as it tries to get up the pillar, and the thing sparks and falls to pieces as all the mimic amalgams have up to this point.

Rustbeards head sparks and crackled as the wave passes over him, his single eye flashing as he falls to his knees in front of the Penultimate.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

(Had to make sure I didn't just run into the fray. If there were still enemies that needed fighting, I didn't want to ignore them...if there's no enemies, I guess it's okay to laugh at my strange dodging maneuvers. I'll just pretend like I was one of those people who get too overly carried away trying to look cool on spy missions... )

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Y-Y-y-yO-y-YOU FILTHY LANDLUBBER!" screams Rustbeard as he jerkily and unsteady hauls himself to him feet. He sparks and intervals, his sword is to revving, and he gives the Penultimate a look that's almost condescending. "YAR REALLY THINK YOU CAN PROTECT HER FROM US!? YAR REALLY THINK ANYTHIN" YAR DO MATT-"

He's cut off as he's about to complete his threat by the weight of a large whale coming down on him. The Vault stands in the doorway of the wheelhouse, the blue skin of his current form rippling like water. The source of the ripple is it's arm, from which the whale seems to have emerged, and to which it is still connected by the tail which shrinks and disappears as it reaches where the hand should be.

The creature makes a confused sound as it is drawn back, growing smaller and smaller until it completely vanishes into the Vault.

Where Rustbeared was standing is now only a large cracked hole in the marble, vaguely pirate in shape. The Vault walks down to the hole as the red light fades, the ship descending completely into the atmosphere of Aeon. It puts it's hands around it's mouth and calls down "Sorry Rustbeard, I love you." It stands and shakes it's head. "He's just so bad at recognizing a lost cause when he's in the middle of one."

"Philote," it calls over to the pillar. "Head in and talk to Cervantes. He'll land this tub wherever you decide."

(Phi, take us somewhere nice.)

[Philote]

(I'm guessing the hooded figured got taken care of as well?)

"Well, that takes care of that" I say as Wulf party crashes my fight

"I'll go help Cervantes while you guys clean up. Get him to land us somewhere away from civilization."

------------------------------------------------------

The Road to Dawn drifts through the skies of Aeon down to a calm area of the land that I have indicated to the captain. The ships settles on an island composed entirely of white sand, just large enough to fit the size of the ship. Ankle deep water, unimaginable clear, stretches out to the horizon in all directions. In the distance, geysers spray water up over the cloud level as the ground drinks the water back down into the caves below. Thin silver fish dance through the shallow waters around the ship and play with the light bouncing off their scales. The area is cloudless and the sun shines brightly from above. A single small geosynchronous moon hangs slightly off center from the ship.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Vault can't help but whistle. "Pretty place. And look at that, It matches my outfit. No, wait." It shakes it's head, and the hair changes from a muddyish brown to tone very similar to the white sand the ship sits on.

"If Cicera ever heard you refer to her as an outfit..." Starts Cervantes, before the Vault grabs one of the speaking tubes and cuts him off by speaking into it.

"We've landed, everybody." His voice broadcasts throughout the whole ship. "Keep cool and carry on taking back control of things on my ship. I'm gonna be gone a little bit. Those of you clearing out the Deck 3 guest quarters, hurry it up a bit because we might be taking on crew on this stop."

It puts it's hand over the mouthpiece and looks at Phi. "Right, we are? Also, you got a way off this tub or do I have to get more Hateomancers up here to power the lifeboat?"

[Philote]

"This place is still unnamed" I reply "A lot of Aeon is, since with its size a lot of the planet has still been left unexplored. As far as what is around us, we're about a fourth of the planet away from my hometown but there is a closer Correnian settlement just on the west shore of these waters. For transportation, your lifeboat would be the best bet unless we want to fly ourselves, track down some of the larger wildlife, or conjure some other form of vehicle. I believe the plan was to scan the world for the computer race's influence and pick up some of the Core User Correnians for backup. I've been in mental contact with a couple Correnians, and they can all make their own way here, so we can set up base while we wait for word form Wulf."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"I'm gonna guess the amount of influence the computer race has is directly proportional to the number of computers on the planet. So, we might want to head to the most tech dense parts and start punching everything with a screen." It says, before going back to the speaking tube.

"Oh, and if anyone fights Rustbeard around...." it stops, and remembers how deep the hole went, "around deck 8 or 9, south sector, you might want to seal the entire place off just for his safety."

"Might want to find some of the local fauna to ride on, unless you want to wait an hour for a new hateomancer to make it up here from Deck 45." It says, stepping out onto the sunny deck. "Cervantes, make sure you put up some kind of marker for when our guests arrive. Like a beacon or something. We don't want them finding the outermost edge of the ship and then just getting lost just trying to find anyone on the thing."

[Philote]

"Let's see what Wulf's word is on the matter" I say "For all we know, the fight may be coming to us, so its better to not be rushing off to the ends of the world just yet."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Penultimate ponders it a second. He blinks, as his attempts to process the probabilities.

"Well, I've never met any of Computress' race before, other than Computress herself. I don't even know the name of the ra--"

"We are called the Technari." comes Computress' staticky interruption of the air; having caught everyone's attention, the female voice continues, "Spellings also include Tekhnari, Tecnari and Teknari. We are a race only slightly younger than the Tech Elves, who are only slightly younger than the Elves. That is to say, our race is much older than that of the Humans. And I must say, I can not only speak of their habits, but also their intentions. Their first wave is just on the horizon. And they do not simply wish to retrieve me for sentimental purposes."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, computer lady." The Vault says to the air. "Quick question: these guys are so hell bent on getting you back, why are they coming for him" it inclines it's head to the Penultimate," and his social circle instead of going for you while he's off world? Seems like their best chance, if you ask me. Why waste the time?"

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Greetings, Vault." Computress is silent a second, then replies, "I am fortunate to have what friends I do. Techne cannot help much in the current state of things, but the Penultimate knows powerful mages, and powerful superhumans. One of the Heroes of Celadon is helping to block my energy signature from Technari output sensors. Thank ROM for Raio Nandeneivious' erratic mind; mad reality bender she is, she perceived the imminent danger, and came to protect the technology on the grounds before I knew any of it needed protecting."

Another voice soon follows, "Tis brillig, Penultimate; what are these slithy toves doing, gyring, gimbling all up in your wabe?"

The Penultimate cracks a goofy smirk, "Hey, Rai. Long time, no see, feimalein. How are things, through the looking glass?"

The coyness does not fade from Miss Nandeneivious' voice, "We're all mad here. You may have noticed, I'm not all there myself..."

The Penultimate waits a second for response, "...Hello? Raio? You there? Hello?"

"She's teleported off to play with the Kitty of Doom, sire. And likely Gaugamon after." Computress' voice returns, "Now, I cannot stay on much longer, because my race are undoubtedly trying to trace this call, so I'll say this last thing. The records of the Technari are not perfect. They are incomplete, despite 13th level intellect. The feats of which they are capable are amazing. But so are the gaps in their knowledge. For example, they only recently learned of the Esperanto language."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"So, instead of honing to you they have to go planet by planet until they find the one you're on. It's like race. Haha, beautiful!" The Vault says, rubbing it's hands together.

"It'll be even better if this is going where I think it's going. Which gap do we use to screw them?"

[Zaleramancer]

Deep inside the ship, I begin my conjuration.

Since I had been forcibly cut off from the rest of my self and selves, I decided to try a less.. easy method of communication.

Because I made a lot of money by plying my services and those of my employees. There were thousands of methods of contacting me or underlings for the purpose of obtaining help.

I decided to use one of the more important ones- One I gave to high class customers that expected an instantaneous response. Usually because people were trying to put pointy things in their innards.

Since I had, uh, liberated a bunch of paint from one of the rooms in this labyrinthine place, it was easy to draw the necessary runes and sigils and lines.

I needed to do this quickly, before those machines stumbled across this place. Stupid magical things.

Metallic hands skidded across the wooden floor, flowing paint decorated the scene.

With hollow tones, a chant began, punctuated by clicks and snaps of metal on metal.

Without smoke or theater, a figure appeared. A blue skinned, pointy eared woman in a sharp business suit.  

She looked sadly at me.

Yes, I need a-

"I am sorry, but this service has been temporarily discontinued. I can still provide escape into the library proper, but that is about the extent of what I can offer. We are currently under the 'This is no time to kid around' level lockdown. I'm not sure how you got this method of summoning, but almost all incoming and exiting channels have been closed. This one will also be shortly."

Crap. No time to play around then.

This is Z-Avatar 2048/Alpha. Requesting default form override stat, as well as secruity update.

For a second, the woman's face crinkled with confusion, but then the familiar appearance of calm nothingness returned.

My body was suddenly replaced with my default humanoid version, powers slightly reduced but at the ready.

"Exactly half an hour ago, local time, a threat was sighted entering galactic perimeters. Threat analysis was run and returned extreme danger. Due to the apparent technological and magical skill perceived of the invaders, as well a their heavily networked psychologies, the decision was made to cut off all contact in order to avoid dangerous levels of contamination. Currently, non-sympathetically locked individuals are being prepped for assistance in combating the threat."  

I absorbed this information. This was really bad. No threat so far had forced my greater self to cut off contact. I hadn't even been sure if that part of me even felt emotions before, but these invaders had scared it.

"The Core considers the release of several high-powered and currently held entities, among them subject X-29J-2, aka, The Mariss."

I interjected with the appropriate reaction, "What. They can't let that thing out!"

"This connection is being terminated."

The woman vanished as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving me sputtering.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshit."

Because I knew what plan was being implemented.

We had reached godzilla measures. 

And that was not good. 

"GUYS! WE HAVE PROBLEMS!"

I started moving up to the deck so fast I left a sonic boom.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"I cannot give you precise instructions on how to defeat the Technari, as the time it would take to devise such a stratagem, would afford them time enough to trace my signal." Computress gives a staticky, computer version of a sigh, "So instead, I will give you a couple of bits of information about them. And you must determine what use can be made of it all. For example, a few things, like I said before, are known by humans, that remain unknown by the Technari. These things my race will be desperate to assimilate into their archives. You shall see the extent of this desperation when you confront them."

As her signal slowly fades on the wind, a vaguely familiar male voice is heard, exclaiming in disbelief, "--smart as they are, and never seen a Rubik's Cube? And this about the Fibonacci sequence...?"

Transmission ended.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Penultimate turned as the transmission ended. His powers first at the ready, he realized after a second's glance that he was not looking at another extraterrestrial threat. Then again, with the look on Zale's face, perhaps he was not to be relieved after all.

"What's with the new body?" The Penultimate inquires, "And why is it registering panic to my greatly-diminished empathic perceptions?"

[Zaleramancer]

I sputter for a second before gathering myself to talk.

"Alright, you know that I'm a tiny part of a really bit collective. An avatar of a greater force. Well, I just tried to contact that part of myself. Got my default body while I was at it. Apparently, when these tech things entered this sector, I and all the other little bits of myself that were outside of my Library got cut off from the central core of our intellect. The core ran a threat analysis and flipped out. "

I frown.

"It's not going to interact with these events in any way that could contaminate it. Instead, It'll start letting.. things out. Things I caught and stuffed in boxes and bound. Dangerous things."

"Remember the Red Thing?"

"Worse than that."

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

CONTENTS DELETED

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[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Oh darn, if she had sent us on a treasure hunt it would have been the third best news I'd gotten today. As it stands, that coveted position will be filled with the fact that there are some lively new  things rolling around in the universe without an owner."

[The Narrator]

Wow. That sounds terrible