OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 595

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(Sorry it’s a bit late. Badly distracted.)

The Dauntless

“So our perpetrator is in custody.”

“And several of her living victims have yet to wake.”

“To say nothing of the casualties.”

“Indeed.” Admiral Cistern notes before taking a deep breath. “Which means we need to focus on something that should have been done months ago. The supply.”

“We have been strangled in the red tape of transporting the substance to Cruel Space for mass disposal. The Primary Laneways are heavily regulated and an unknown Axiom resonant substance of unknown potency going through it within a lightyear of Centris is the kind of illegal that some judges will recommend just shooting the perpetrator to save the courts both time and money.” Miya replies.

“And I don’t think tagging the sorcerers in for disposal is wise either. They’ve been having horrifying psychological feedback from it and even if they’re stable know, they’ve only come into contact with tiny slivers and scraps. Nothing of any significant size, and all contact with the substance has resulted in violent responses.” Admiral Cistern says.

“And even worse we can no longer keep it on Centris. It has already been exposed to the public and it’s already been used against the public. It is now a crime to keep it on the world but equally so is a crime to transport it off due to the sheer unknown nature and volatility of it.”

“... We need a way to safely study it well away from the civilian population. So first step is to just get it right the hell off the planet and away from any casual or accidental contact.” Admiral Cistern notes.

“I highly doubt that our Kruga Criminal encountered the Blood Metal Accidentally.”

“She most certainly did not, however a drunken Adept could still in theory teleport to the main holding area. We need to take it out of range for any type of excuse or mistake. We need things to be so completely clear that approaching it is not only a deliberate act but an illegal one that we can legally open fire on anyone approaching the substance that we do not approve of.” Admiral Cistern says and she nods.

“A ship. Away from the world and in a position where any subversion of it will be immediately and unmistakably obvious.”

“The Star. We will need to do some tests to see if throwing blood metal into a star is hazardous. If it is then it’s a relatively isolated area away from the planet and it’s population we can use to keep it safely away from them. If it’s not hazerdous, then we can simply dispose of the threat.”

“But how do we test it without potentially risking the system? There is a potential, potentially a large one, that throwing this substance into the sun might effect the star, or spread it out through the system without a loss of potency. We need a star system without a population to test this in safely, but we’re not getting to one without using the Laneways. But we can’t use those with an unknown, Axiom resonant substance.”

“Then we need to remove it from the Axiom. I need you to speak to the regulatory board and float the idea of containment blocks. I am willing to put resources behind building large containers made of trytite and led and surrounded by numerous siphons to keep the Axiom levels minuscule within a hold bay. This should allow us to transport the substance without it interacting with the energy of the laneway.”

“But if it doesn’t work then the impossible amount of Axiom that IS the laneway will pour into and through the blood metal and there’s no telling what that much power flowing through this stuff will do. Even if it’s just the fear effect projected out to a larger scale than before, and that’s a big IF with how many terrible surprises this horrible stuff has given us, that’s still enough to potentially cause the kind of disaster that will be spoken of for millennia! At the speeds ships move at in those laneways even a single, simple accident can quickly accrue the kind of tonnage and speed to render garden worlds uninhabitable for generations.”

“Yes, I think anyone sane and sober can agree that the remains of starships hitting a populated world at several hundred times the speed of light is a situation we all are very interested in avoiding.”

“And a sudden wave of inexplicable terror while flying down a major laneway is just asking for the kind of horror show that gets into the history books.” Miya notes as she thinks. “I’ll start getting onto the backs of the commities. We need to know how this substance reacts in Axiom Lanes and we need to do this safe and smart.”

“Small amounts, tightly sealed to the point that you will need a hull cutter to reach it, in a cargo bay with no Axiom and maybe one gram to start with. We send out a warning, fly it into the Laneway, fire out a second warning after we depart it and turn back to see if there are any negative effects. There are a lot of unknowns and we need to cut them down to make this situation manageable.”

“We need to do this all yesterday too. I’ll get my men started on proper containment devices. You get talking to people. Meet up again in an hour and hopefully we’ll have some form of answer.”

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Protected CDIC Warehouse, Level 114, Balisong Spire, Centris)•-•-•

“Alright, moving patient in three. Two. One.” The Nurse says as she helps shift the wounded woman onto a gurney that is wheeled into a portal and into a proper hospital.

Ten. They lost ten of them. Maybe they were already dead before they arrived. Maybe not. Ten people had still died because some crazy gorilla woman wanted more crazy metal.

He watches the last of the triaged patients move through the portal and sighs. He looks back at the ten bodies being slowly identified and categorized by the hospital staff.

He sighs as he simply gathers himself and looks up and frowns. It’s that stupid Lopen from earlier.

“Wait! I got hit too, think that...” The Lopen asks as he brings his flying platform down.

“Hey! Back off kiddo, the metal here is extremely dangerous.” He calls out and the platform stops hovering just a bit above the area.

“But what the hell is going on?”

“You remember the blood metal announcement? Well here’s where it was stored. It’s going to be moved to another location and if you don’t back off you’re liable to be dodging plasma. There’s been so many deaths over this that we’re not willing to take risks.”

“... and if I want to get scanned or use that portal to head to the hospital?”

“And what about your vehicle?”

“It has an autopilot. It takes the automatic drone lanes to head home.” The Reporter says and The Medic sighs before nodding.

“Alright, get down here. You weren’t anywhere near as bad as these poor women, but we’ve saved all we can. If you’re still in danger, then we’ll keep you alive. Lord knows I could do with stealing another person from the reaper.”

“How many died?” The Reporter asks as he lands and inputs a few commands into his platform. The stairs descend and he walks down. A few moments later the stairs raise and the platform rises up and away. The Medic steps over and scans him.

“Ten. Which is far too many.” The Medic says.

“What killed them?”

“Their faces were burnt off. Some bled out. Others were killed by the shock or the thermal transfer cooking their brains. Suffocation was the biggest one. It is very hard to breathe without a face.” The Medic says. “... You’re... stable thanks to the totem. But you NEED to get to the hospital. Unless you’re skilled at self healing techniques then you’re going to have a very long, painful and drawn out healing process.”

“Here, let me...” A nurse says rushing up and The Medic holds out his scanner for her to examine.

“Oh dear. This way young man, you’ll have a touch of a wait as we work to fully stabilize all those poor women, but we should have you right as rain in short order.”

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (CDIC Detainment Centre, Level 148, Balisong Spire, Centris)•-•-•

Harold hums as he taps his sword against his neck while watching them fully stabilize and restrain Ycand.

They then lower a device to her head and activate it. “A dream imager? Those things aren’t admissible in any court I know of.”

“No they’re not, but if they lead us to something that is solid evidence then it’s worth it.” The Security Officer with him says and he nods as things start setting up small alarms and then it projects an image of...

“Why is it circulating colours like that?”

“It’s trying to match the actual colour but...”

The image is of a pair of furious eyes with fire pouring out of them. The eyes and fire are shifting in colour and surrounded by gnashing teeth in midair. The fire also suddenly transforms into clear red or blue streaks as it hits one of three sets of markings. Two of the sets are a pair of red swooshes, one on top of the other and the last set is a blue diamond. There is a vague silhouette of a face contorted in fury around the eyes that are spilling out torrents of fire, but the literally burning eyes and slathering jaws grab the most attention.

The Security Officer is now staring at Harold.

“Hey, I can’t help how people look at me.” He says.

“So you have zero explanation for that... nightmare?” The Officer asks and Harold shrugs.

“Bunch of flying teeth and a man scowling isn’t all that scary.” He dismisses. Then he holds up a hand in a claw like pose to simulate teeth and makes a growling noise as he scowls at her.

“Okay that’s a far off image from THAT.” She protests pointing to the dream imager before the picture suddenly starts moving. The jaws biting at and drawing blood from the sides of the scowling face and the teeth getting painted red before flaking away as more and more and more mouths join in.

“What the hell is with that?”

“Hargath.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“There’s another type of energy. My eyes are in it’s colour but no one can process it so they just look white. Not even I can see it properly, well actually I can see it. Sort of. But like everyone else, I can’t process the information I’m getting. But anyways, the Astral Hargath are multi-dimensional and... that’s what they look like on the other side. They’re also really, really bitey on that side. If I did more than skim it lightly they’d have torn chunks out of me.”

“No wonder she screamed at the end.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Are there any of them here? Now? Ready to eat us?”

“Yes.”

“What do you mean yes?”

“I mean yes, there are Astral Hargath near us in The Other Direction and if we move that way, they will eat us.”

“That’s horrifying!”

“It’s completely normal. It’s like this literally everywhere.”

“Even here?” She demands.

“Yes.”

“Here?” She asks holding out her hands in between them as if gripping a loaf of bread from each end.

“Three.”

“What?”

“There are three of them in the space between your hands.”

“Oh sweet goddess that’s horrific.”

“Okay take a breath and calm down will you? Unless you start accessing Other Direction Energy then they can’t hurt you. If you’re not in their dimension then you’re not in biting range.”

“No wonder she freaked out so bad! She saw the endless tide of sharp toothed horrors that wish to devour us all.”

“Okay dial back the drama will you? If you’re going to be that level of over the top it’s just going to make things weird and way more stressful than it has to be.” Harold says.

“Can anything withstand them?”

“The Primals do so casually.” He says and she pauses. Then stares at him again.

“Oh... right. Saint Redblade. Of course a holy man wouldn’t fear all devouring demons from beyond.”

“Down with the drama.”

“I think I need to go to the temple and make an offering after this.”

“You’re a Koiran, why would... it... oh brother.”

“I must make amends for doubting...” She begins to say before Harold raps her in the top of her head.

“Okay stop! If I have any authority you recognize then I order you to stop this inane train of thought and think about anything else. There is nothing to be worried about, nothing to panic about. You are fine, this is fine and we just have to watch over an unconscious criminal. Okay?”

“Yes holy one.”

“Best I’ll get I suppose.”

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