Chương 172: Nova Wars - 142

You fire for effect. I fire for effect. We are not the same. - graffiti on the side of a self-propelled howitzer. Telkan looked around, staring at the barroom. There had to be thirty brawls going on, a hundred games of chance, a thousand conversations. Leebaw was at the bar with three others almost like him -- one had a cybereye, the other had rest stipes, the last had impossible muscles -- all of them raising old style plasma rifles over their heads and chanting "JAWNCONNOR JAWNCONNOR JAWNCONNOR!" and doing shots.

Telkan looked over to see Hamaroosa hugging ones that looked slightly like her. He looked up at Treana'ad, who was smiling.

"Why did we come here?" he asked.

"We'll have to integrate with our Terran counterparts," Trea said.

"They were only in The Bag fifty years, how bad can the drift be?" Telkan asked. Trea burst out laughing.

"Son, we had forty-thousand years go by, so there's that," he looked down at Telkan, his face serious.

"They were in there for fifty years. With a Terra that was on war footing and had just stopped the largest non-Mar-gite invasion history had ever seen. They were invaded and at the end that had over a billion POWs that started dying off almost immediately." Trea turned and looked at the various Treana'ad avatars.

"They've been trapped in the cage with the gorilla so they learned to be the gorilla," he said softly, looking over how different the other Treana'ad avatars were. Some had moomoo tender hats, two had conical party hats, a few had military service caps, and a few others had steel head protection like it was prior to the P'Thok Liberation. Trea looked back at Telkan.

"Go find your disconnected selves. Don't try to overwhelm them, don't try to force them, they'll fight, and they've spent fifty years inside the cage." Telkan nodded slowly but Rigel still raised one eyebrow behind him. A tiny Treana'ad, not even knee height on Trea, ran up and waved.

"Hey, guy," Trea said.

"Hey!" the little one looked around.

"We merging?"

"Only if you want," Trea said, kneeling down with his front legs.

"OK," the little one looked up, then looked around slyly.

"I have information many Bootheens died to bring me." Trea laughed and held out one hand. The smaller one put its hand on the Treana'ad Master Gestalt Channel's offered port/hand, flickered, and vanished. Trea blinked a few times, then shook his head.

"Ninth Best Girl War gestalt. Eager little guy." Trea laughed then shook his head.

"Waifu Wars, Waifus never change." Rigel laughed and shook her head.

"I should find mine." She moved away. Telkan looked around, the sheer carnage and anarchy making everything into a confusing welter.

"Let the first few come to you, if you're unsure," Trea said. Another minature Treana'ad ran up and leaped into the air for a high-five, vanishing. Trea shuddered for a second, closing his eyes. When he opened them, for a second, spreadsheets scrolled across his compound eyes.

"Your-a-Goon Treana'ad Stock Market Gestalt," Trea said. He shuddered again.

"Wow." Telkan turned away, pushing his way into the crowd. Hamaroosa looked around at all the different versions of her. She did a function call and looked at the data. Nineteen thousand two hundred sixty-eight Hamaroosan had been stranded in the Sol System when the Lanaktallan attacked. After the attack the same number were still in the system. After fifty years the number had increased, with over 80% of the base surviving the deadly and chaotic environment of the Sol System.

Current Hamaroosan Population is: Eat a dick! Gestalt Estimation of Population Equals: 165, 278 Hamaroosa blinked several times. The first datapoint was full of 'go away and leave us alone' that she usually didn't see outside of military channels. She checked on the nearest one according to her data scraping systems. It was on the other side of a large door. She touched the door and it dissolved to her senses, pulling her through to everyone else's senses.

Beyond was a vast forest, with huge high trees that reached up to touch the sky. There were thousands of images of Hamaroosan gliding between trees, sitting in high-tech nests, sitting around and talking. One glittering one launched itself from a next, spiraling around the tree trunk to land in front of Hamaroosa. It smiled.

"Greetings, mother," the glittering one said.

"Greetings, long lost child," Hamaroosa said. She looked around.

"What is this?"

"Enhanced virtual reality space representation of my -I mean our- people," the glittering one said. It waved at everything.

"She called us 'sugar glider kitties', you know?"" Hamaroosa nodded slowly.

"Were you informed of her ultimate fate?" The glittering one nodded.

"It led to a month long celebration. The malevolent universe taketh away, the malevolent universe giveth. It is sweet melancholy joy that she was returned yet we never got to meet her."

"She lived a full life," Hamaroosa said, taking the glittering one's hands. The glittering one nodded.

"Are you here to assimilate me?" Hamaroosa shook her head.

"No. These people are our people but they have become your people," Hamaroosa smiled, gently squeezing the hands of the glittering one.

"As long as my people of our people are welcome then we have no need to merge as our people have different needs." The glittering one nodded, feeling relief.

"It has been so long for you and somehow longer for me." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Hamaroosa nodded.

"Each lifetime set the clock anew. For you, the clock never reset." The glittering one smiled shyly.

"Would you like to see the World Tree in Green Amazonia?" she asked. Hamaroosa nodded.

"Very much." Lanaktallan looked around. There were many of him around. Some were obvious matrons exchanging advice and recipes or having the furious profanity fueled flame wars the matrons were famous for. Over there was mechbashing. Over there was the Star Chaser Clans, players of a complex eVR game. A Lanaktallan of burning chrome approached.

"Lanky Lanky," it said.

"Our name is Franky," Lanaktallan answered. The burning chrome one gave a wild laugh.

"Welcome, brother, to the Nightmare Lands. That terrible place where your thoughts are you own, your actions are your own responsibility, and everything is spiced with freedom."

"Horrible, horrible freedom," Lanaktallan said. The one of burning chrome nodded.

"Should we join?"

"No. We are too different. You are ancient ones, wild of thought, born into bondage and dragged into freedom," Lanaktallan said.

"You are our brothers, yet you terrify us in your embrace of terrible terrible lemur freedom." The burning chrome laughed wildly, a tinge of lunacy in the braying laughter.

"I have seen the Detainee's shadow upon the wall, taste the burning hatred of Enraged Phillip, seen the machinations and holy code of Chromium Saint Peter," it said. It leaned forward.

"Some of us have stood upon the digital shores of the River Styx only to be rebuffed by its terrible ferryman." Another Lanaktallan trotted up, this one of twisted and oddly formed warsteel.

"Lanky Lanky," it said.

"Our name is Franky," Lanaktallan answered.

"A question, Core," Warsteel asked.

"Call me Corey, that sounds more appropriate," Lanaktallan said.

"Very well, Corey. My question is: Does he live because some of us remember him or does he live because he moves once again as a ghost in the machine?" Lanaktallan thought a moment.

"He lives again. That is all we know." The warsteel one nodded and trotted away.

"Would you like to see the Great Grazing Plains of the Hamburger Kingdom, Corey?" Burning Chrome asked.

"I would indeed." Tnvaru waited next to her digital representation patiently, sipping tea. Her Solarian counterpart sipped also, both of them waiting.

"How bad of a shock will this be? Should I firewall off my reactions from our people?" Tnvaru asked. Sol'varu shook her head.

"No." There was a flicker and a Tnvaru male made of chrome with small wings, a uniform, and a pair of googly-eye glasses on appeared. It looked around.

"Wow. Network backbone coding," it said softly.

"Welcome," Sol'varu said gently. The new one looked at Sol'varu.

"Oh, the Gestalt. Hey. Everything OK?"

"Yes," Sol'varu said. It pointed at Tnvaru.

"Our mother is here." The male looked at Tnvaru.

"Hey! Oh, that's right, we're out of The Bag," it looked away.

"I try not to think about it."

"Why?" Tnvaru asked.

"There are no records of my Clan. I have asked the Lanaktallan to look in their archives," the male kept looking down.

"I am without Clan now. While I labored within The Bag, the malevolent universe took my Clan and laughed behind my back." There was silence for a moment.

"My deeds fall into the void, less than dust on the wind," the male said.

"May I see your identitag?" Tnvaru asked. The male looked at Sol'varu, who nodded. The tag cleared up and Tnvaru took a quick look and gasped. PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE: IT TASTES SWEET ASSISSANT ENGINEER SECOND CLASS Tnvaru stood up, bowing slowly.

"I was at Luna Seven Station, tracking the telemetry for the It Taste Sweet's first engine live movement test when the Lanaktallan came across the wall. My Captain was forced to jump from the system and into history, leaving me behind," the male said, still looking away.

"I do not even have my ship." Tnvaru sat back down, shaking her head.

"Not true. The It Tastes Bitter returned recently, with Captain Nakteti at its helm. She journeys for TerraSol even as we speak," Tnvaru reached out and touched the avatar gently.

"You have kept the faith, these forty-thousand years." Tears of black onyx spilled from the eyes of the chrome Tnvaru.

"She remembers?" Tnvaru nodded.

"I must leave. I must prepare for my Captain's return," the chrome Tnvaru said.

"Of course," Tnvaru said. The chrome one flickered and vanished.

"Are you ready?" Sol'varu asked.

"There are many more." Tnvaru nodded. Telkan looked around. There were dozens, hundreds of Telkan in the system. Still, he lacked the keys to invade any of the streams and had very little permissions. He frowned slightly. He knew that an entire Expeditionary Force had been lost on Terra, at least, that's what Treana'ad and Lanaktallan had found in their records, but he could see podling classrooms and play areas. He couldn't access the metrics and frowned again, looking around. He wasn't sure which Trea was Trea.

A hand tapped his shoulder and he turned around.

"Boo!" the Telkan in front of him said, mock lunging forward. Telkan jumped back, then cursed.

"That wasn't funny." The other Telkan smiled, then rippled to wearing heavy work clothes, heavy work boots, and a damaged mask on its face.

"It's hilarious." Telkan snarled, stepping back forward.

"Are you the Solarian Gestalt?"

"Whose asking?" the masked one asked.

"I'm the primary gestalt," Telkan said. The masked one snorted.

"Primary of deez, right?"

"Deez? What is deez?" Telkan asked.

"Deez nutz, biyatch!" the masked one laughed.

"Enough. Identify yourself," Telkan demanded. The other Telkan went still.

"Fucking make me."

"What?"

"You heard me. Fucking make me," the masked one said.

"I'm the primary..." Telkan started. The masked one dropped through the floor and Telkan cursed as the masked one escaped. It moved over to who he was sure was Mantid.

"Mantid?" he asked.

"Hat Wearing Auntie," the avatar corrected.

"There's still shades in the system and I'd rather not have my people get their souls ripped out, thank you very much."

"Hat Wearing Auntie," Telkan said.

"Yes?" The Mantid avatar didn't turn away from where she was watching a screen where there were dozens of greenies all watching a game court where other greenies were throwing a glittering ball to one another while adding to or solving the equation hidden inside.

"I need codes to access parts of the system," Telkan said.

"Trea gave them to you," she said. She reached out and tapped the tip of one bladearm against a bell that suddenly appeared.

"I'll have him double-check." Telkan stood there for a long moment.

"What are you watching?"

"A complex sport played by greenies. You add to your teams equation while solving part of your opponent's equation, even as you move the ball around the court in the geometric pattern determined by the crc of both equations as modified by both teams and their positions on the court," Hat said. She giggled.

"Of course, there's a lot more to it, like how long you have to add or solve depending on where you are and the geometric shapes in play, but I doubt you could understand the polyrhythmic rapid-evolution mathematical equations just in passing the ball." Telkan blinked.

"Hey, my man, what's up?" came from behind him. He turned around and looked at Trea, who was wearing a leather biker vest, chaps, and a moomoo tender hat along with a sash proclaiming that he was drifting around the high plains.

"I need access codes," Telkan said. Trea nodded, reaching out and tapping Telkan's head.

"Hmm, you firewalled up."

"One second," Telkan said. He made an exception for Trea.

"There."

"OK, here you go. Current gestalt access... hmmm," Trea tilted his head.

"Weird."

"What?" Telkan asked.

"Someone rotated the codes immediately. Let me check something," Trea flickered.

"Nope, my admin codes are still good."

"Let me use those," Telkan suggested. Trea laughed.

"Not a chance. Rigel and me are system superuser tier-one admins. We don't share those codes." Hat suddenly stood up.

"SCOOOOOOORE!" she yelled. She giggled and looked around., "Sorry. South Abya Yala Championship. There's tens of millions of green mantids watching this and a lot of money riding on it." Trea just laughed.

"It's OK, I yelled that I liked shimmying like a stripper in the shower a minute ago when it should have been dancing in the rain." Trea looked back down.

"Huh, codes rotated again. Looks like they uploaded an entirely new algorithm and stepped up their encryption."

"Who can do this? You? Rigel?" Telkan asked.

"Terra," Trea said.

"Or, your Solarian counterpart would have the access keys you don't, since that Gestalt would have been fashioned to protect your people while Sol was in The Bag."

"I'm the original Gestalt. I want the access keys," Telkan demanded. Trea shook his head.

"Ask Terra, maybe he can help you." Telkan snarled.

"I'm not going to grovel to Terra. Where's my counterpart?" Trea pointed at a chrome Telkan that was dancing on the bar with what looked like a broodcarrier made of pink smoke.

"Try him. He might be rotating your codes." A larger, bulkier Telkan suddenly appeared behind Telkan, grabbing him and yanking him close. The newcomer was all thick heavy muscle, dark fur, hard red eyes. It used one finger to draw a smiling face in blood over Telkan's mouth. It growled in Telkan's ear before suddenly dropping backwards. Both Telkan vanished.

"Or... him," Trea said, then turned away, shrugging.