“And how is the special interview proceeding?” Ayaka asked, though she knew the process had likely been finished in seconds, or perhaps minutes. Comparing things didn’t take long, after all; not for quantum computers, anyway. The only limiting factor was that there were a lot of items to compare, which would take at least a little bit of time due to the quantity, if nothing else.{Due to the way Warrant Officer Lee was discovered and some anomalies in his scans, the interview will take extra time as the interviewer implements psychological testing measures to detect and prevent inaccuracies in the process or dishonesty on the part of the Warrant Officer,} the AI faithfully replied. The scope of the empire’s brain and memory scanning technologies had been hidden from it on a classified, encrypted server that it was unable to access in the normal course of things, so it naturally referred to the process as a “special interview”.“If you use all available computing resources in the Proxi
Everyone at the conference table seemed to be focused on a different part of what they had seen in the reconstruction of events. Their concerns were, for the most part, what one would expect from their fields of expertise.General Frances Robespierre, the commander of Task Force Proxima’s marine contingent, was stunned by the trees’ ability to create life, and on such a grand scale. Though there were only five new species—high elves, dark elves, fae, hill giants, and dwarves—multiple billions of each had been birthed and brought to full maturity in a much shorter time than any human could even give birth to full term infants. ‘Four months.... Four months!’ he thought. ‘It only took them four months to outnumber the entire human population, and that’s just their adults!’The thought of facing a potential enemy with that kind of ability to raise troops in that quantity was frightening, to say the least.Commander Bryce Harrison, the admiral’s personal awakener-cum-bodyguard was sitting
Ayaka was the first in the conference room to react to Joon-ho’s sudden collapse. “Proxima, dispatch RES-QR response to my location immediately!”Her words shook the rest of the attendees out of their stupor and a low hum of activity picked up in the background. Dr. Standing Bear muscled her way through the gawking civilians around her and rushed to the fallen awakener’s side. She pulled an instrument from the pocket of her traditional white coat and ran it over Joon-ho from head to toe.“I... what... how!?” she stuttered.“How what?” Ayaka practically snarled.“He’s suffering from mana deprivation. I don’t understand how that could be! We simply aren’t made to store mana—it flows through and enhances us, it isn’t something we require to function...” the petite Native American woman muttered, shock still clear on her features. Then her gaze sharpened and she continued, “The trees. The trees, Commander! They must’ve done something and I think I know what the source of the anomalies we
Elsewhere....Ayaka found herself standing in a bright white nothingness. If she didn’t feel a hard surface under her feet, she would have been incapable of telling up from down. But even with that as a reference point, she could see absolutely nothing anywhere around her.She looked down to see what she was standing on and a part of her mind absently noted that she was naked. For some reason, though, her nakedness didn’t bother her in the slightest. Her rational mind knew that it SHOULD be bothered, but for some reason she simply couldn’t muster up any fear, nervousness, or anxiety at all, despite everything that had happened over the past few days giving her plenty of reasons for those negative feelings to have latched on to and taken root in her psyche.Looking past the obvious, it soon became apparent that whatever it was she was standing on was so perfectly camouflaged with the glowing white mist that blocked her view in every other direction that she could see nothing. But the m
“Hello, Marco,” whatever was inhabiting Ayaka said in its distant, echoing voice.Fleet Admiral Bianchi simply stared back, irritation written across his face. “And who, or what, are you?” he said in an overly calm tone.“I am....” the being wearing Ayaka tilted her head as if listening to a distant sound. “He wakes.” She floated, still cross-legged in the air, to Joon-ho’s side.Joon-ho’s eyes fluttered, then snapped open and he sat up with a gasp. He looked around for a moment in wide-eyed panic, then, upon realizing where he was, visibly calmed himself. “So I’m not dead yet, am I?”“No, child. You’re still very much alive,” Ayaka’s passenger said, stroking Joon-ho’s hair. “And I am... glad, that you are.”Joon-ho looked at Ayaka for the first time since waking up—really looked—and out of all expectations, merely said, “I’m dreaming, aren’t I. Very funny, Proxima. I didn’t know you had it in you.”{Had what in me, Warrant Officer Lee?} the AI interjected.“Wait... this isn’t a dream
Admiral’s ready room, TFS Proxima.Fleet Admiral Bianchi dropped into the chair behind his desk, forgoing even his usual customary groan. “Commander Takahashi—”“Laifu, Marco. Commander Takahashi is... elsewhere, at the moment. She has much to learn and little time in which to learn it.”“Fine. Laifu, then. Explain yourself,” the admiral ordered.“I am life.”Admiral Bianchi was silent, waiting for Laifu to continue. The silence stretched for a full five minutes before he realized she had “explained” everything she meant to explain. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.“Exactly what I said, Marco. I am life.”The admiral had no idea what to say to that, so he just pinched the bridge of his nose. Headaches were coming faster and harder than he could deal with, apparently, and before one was resolved, another was already crowding in to take its place. “Let’s pretend for a moment that I have no idea what you mean by that. Explain it to me like I’m a five-year-old child.”Laifu tilted he
Fleet Admiral Bianchi wasn’t exactly sure he liked the thought of that level of existence being under his command.Laifu laughed again. “Don’t worry, Marco. Commander Takahashi is under your command. I... am not. I cannot be, for many reasons, foremost of which is that there are rules by which I MUST operate and things I am strictly forbidden from doing.”“Are you reading my mind?” The admiral’s eyes narrowed.“No, Marco. I don’t have to read your mind when your worries are written on your face.” Laifu gave him an encouraging smile.“So what are you forbidden from doing?” he asked, wanting to get an idea of what he could expect once Commander Takahashi was released and under control of her own body again.“I’m sorry, Marco. I can’t tell you the rules. All laws and rules have... loopholes, shall we say. But trust me, not telling you the rules is the best thing I can do for you.”“Why is that?”“Temptation, dear Marco. You would be tempted to find ways around them, and perhaps even succ
The next day, TFS Proxima, the SCIF.Fleet Admiral Bianchi had decided to gather a debriefing question list, considering Joon-ho was incapable of remaining in a mana void for any length of time, lest he risk collapse and death. Laifu had explained his situation the night before during their conversation before returning control of Ayaka’s body to her. It had been quite a surreal experience for the admiral, and he was still contemplating the ramifications of Ayaka’s new mana attunement. It wasn’t every day that you met one of the beings that governed all of existence, after all.“As you were,” he said to the rest of the people in the room, who had stood to attention as he’d entered. “Since Warrant Officer Lee is... otherwise occupied, my chief of staff will be collecting the questions your sections have for him.”Everyone at the table was silent.“None of you have any questions?” he asked.“No. We simply don’t know enough to know what we don’t know, Admiral,” Dr. Standing Bear finally