11:30 PM | The Ninsirsir, Deck 2 | December 31st | 1608 COVENANT

  Before Lamu could ask her to elaborate, Nhi banished the data pertaining to the super-logic engine, replacing it with a static display of a different device. This one was stranger, though similarly massive - a criss-crossing web of metal edifices slowly convening on a single point, like the scaffolding for a pyramid that was never built.

  "You recognize this?" the woman asked.

  "Of course I do," Lamu replied. "It's the Apega. We were just talking about it a moment ago." A thought occurred to her, and she wrinkled her brow. "I'm surprised data survives on it that's so specific."

  "When the Order broke up, our people moved quickly to secure as much of their research as possible. The remaining higher-ranking members seemed to prioritize the details on their other project, as well as any information that connected them to the Brotherhood, when it came to scouring their records. This slipped through the cracks." She glanced at Lamu. "You know how it works?"

  "Only in the extreme broad strokes." She paused for a moment, contemplating how much her uncle or Durvasa had really told her. More than the thing itself, they'd always seemed fixated on the drama surrounding its construction. "It's a device to temporarily trap the entity they discovered within our reality. To compel it to follow their instructions."

  "That's part of it," Nhi said with a nod. She gestured at the top of the image, where there was a relatively smaller branching protrusion at the construction's apex. "Technically, it's three devices. You're talking about the big part, but there's also the, uh. Hell, what did they call it again? It's some old Viraaki term."

  "Nittaimalaru," Lamu answered. "It means 'everlasting flower'."

  "Fucking scholars, eh? Can never give anything a nice self-explanatory name." She shook her head. "Anyway, my layman's understanding is that it functions to bring the 'entity' - using your word there, since saying what they seemed to think it was makes me feel like I sound batshit - to the machine in the first place, sorta like bait for the trap. And then the third component, which is a whole other degree of size smaller and simpler, is what actually lets you communicate with the thing."

  "Third component?"

  "They never told you about it?" Nhi rose an eyebrow curiously. "It was the final one developed. It's about an arm's length, looks kind of phallic--"

  "You're talking about the device Fang brought on behalf of Neferuaten," Lamu realized. "No, my uncle never explained what exactly it was. Only that she believed it would allow the machine to function."

  "Huh." Nhi considered this for a moment, then smiled. "Well, it did! At least, according to the Order's records we managed to salvage. So far as could be discern from their end, it all just worked in a way that went way beyond their expectations even back when they'd still believed creating the interface would be simple. Apparently Neferuaten of Amat only intended to push them into delaying their plans to run some more tests over the course of a few months, with the hope of decades worth of experiments to follow if things seemed promising. But when they turned her down, she just went for broke and took a leap of faith straight to the final stage. The wording makes it sound like she was shocked she didn't somehow get everyone killed."

  "What evidence is there that it worked, specifically?" Lamu asked.

  "Well, the parts of their facility exclusive to the Nekrokos poofed out of reality completely, for one. The only thing left behind was the core components of the Ironworker installation itself, and the readings there showed that every single particle in the place suddenly got yoinked by their threads out of the plane to who-knows-where. So yeah, pretty fucking crazy."

  Lamu was a little floored. Why had her uncle never told her about this? More than that, why had no one in the Brotherhood? Had the council members kept it all entirely to themselves?

  Them doing so would make some sense, she supposed. Even compared to the Order's other works, the Apega project had been maniacally ambitious, but at the same time it could also be seen as a dead end, even more so in a case like this. She understood that █ █ █ █ █'s original endgame for it - at least as it had been pitched to the Brotherhood in return for their financing, from all she'd heard his true desires were quite a bit different - was that, at the appointed time, all members of the assimilation failure societies and (plus an assortment of sympathizers, loved ones, and individuals considered of great enough social or intellectual worth) would be gathered together around the Apega, with them all leaving the world behind cleanly.

  While it was a romantic notion, some saw it as a kind of retreat. After all, assimilation failures would continue to appear in the Remaining World, except now with no comrades, understanding of their situation, or hope for salvation. And this situation would be even worse. What good would it do people to know that some other version of them was - maybe - living a better life somewhere which could never be reached? It would be better for them not to know.

  But still, she felt a sting of betrayal that she hadn't been told. After everything that'd been done to her, the life she'd been forced to lead.

  "Of course, we don't know for sure what happened after that. It's possible that whatever tricks the Order thought they could use to make the entity do what they wanted didn't work and they all got sent to super hell or something, but the situation being what it is, still kinda felt like our best bet." She dismissed the image with a casual wave of her hand. "So we rebuilt it."

  Lamu hesitated. "Where?"

  "On this ship." Nhi tapped the wall enthusiastically.

  "It wouldn't fit on this ship."

  Nhi laughed. "C'mon, Lilith, it's been 200 years! Technology has advanced a little bit since the Order was screwing around with all this in their basement." She made a pinching motion. "We miniaturized it. Whole thing's small enough to fit in a large room now."

  "What about the Ironworker observatory?"

  "Don't need it," she said casually. "A silver lining to the whole Tower-of-Asphodel-gonna-destroy-the-world thing is that we can tap into it to access a lot of processes we initially needed to find bespoke tools for. So now that whole part can be replaced by a logic bridge. Pretty slick, huh?"

  Lamu blinked a few times, struggling to accept where she felt like this was going.

  "You're not wrong that we're missing something, though," Nhi continued. "Truthfully, the Order only ever designed the machine to work once. I don't really get the specifics myself, but there's something about the connection this being makes to our world that makes what happened one-and-done. It's like, this thing-- It's outside of time, right? Like, think about that door." She pointed to the entrance of the room. "If you or I got up and walked through it, because we only exist in one moment at a time, we'd move from the states of 'on this couch' to 'walking over there', to 'passing through the door' to 'being out in the hall', which each state disappearing as the next happens. So if we wanted, we could turn around and walk back in. But if this thing were to do it, it would be more like it just... grew through space and time through the door, right? The path it took through it would just be the path it took, with the space it already took up meaning any further trips could never happen. So because the Order had it do this specific thing through this method, that's the only thing it can ever do, because that 'door' is now, uh, full." She raised her eyebrows. "That make sense?"

  "No," Lamu stated bluntly.

  "It doesn't matter," she replied, making a dismissive gesture. "Point is, we have an idea to work around that too. See, this thing not being able to understand time goes both ways. It can't act more than once, but it also perceives everything simultaneously. 'Now', and 'then' don't exist to it, only a set of familiar conditions." She leaned forward. "That's the real reason that you and your classmates are here."

  "...you're saying," she spoke slowly. "You think that by creating this link in the same way the Order did, and then having us all be physically present, you can just... what, trick this thing into thinking this is part of the conclave, and piggyback off their experiment?"

  "Something like that, yeah."

  Lamu took a breath. "Even disregarding the outlandish nature of all this, and the incredible recklessness of staking your lives on an endeavor with - at best - unverifiable results in lieu of seeking a more realistic solution to this crisis, I don't understand why you believe this would work," she said. "The Conclave happened within a very specific, controlled environment. And we were all much younger; many of those present aren't even..."

  "Aren't what?" Nhi asked, her smile growing crooked.

  "...my point is, regardless of how this being thinks, it seems extremely unlikely that a class reunion is going to be enough to 'trick' it. Or whatever word you want to use."

  "We've taken certain measures," Nhi answered vaguely. "But it's at least true we don't have everything in place yet. We're kinda playing it by ear, but at present this is only intended to be-- Well, you could think of it as a dress rehearsal, I guess." She paused for a beat. "I wasn't lying when I said that I wanted you to come here to confess all the secrets about the Order and the Brotherhood that you've been keeping. There are a lot of people here, tonight, that we need to bring to our side. And that requires them both understanding the threat facing us from all angles, and the history and credibility of our solution."

  "What credibility?" Lamu asked derisively, then stiffened her lip in irritation. "No, if the world is going to end regardless, what incentive do you expect me to have to go along with this? I'd rather have stayed in the Thyellikos."

  "I mean, you'll be saved too. Duh."

  Lamu's face hardened. "I'm not interested in aiding a tiny group of social elites in escaping the consequences of their own actions. I might not want to die, but if everything I know is going to be lost regardless-- Well, so be it."

  "Lilith. Lilithlilithlilith." Nhi clapped her hands together. "You're misunderstanding."

  "What exactly am I misunderstanding?"

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  "We're not just trying to save ourselves here. The Order had to work with a lot of limitations: Secrecy, eris scarcity, their need for the Ironworker facility and a contained environment operating at their specifications. We've already overcome a lot of those limitations, and if got the support we needed, I'm pretty sure we could make short of the rest, too." She held her forefingers together to point at Lamu. "We're the heirs of the Ironworkers, Lamu, if anybody has a right to claim that title. We're not gonna make the same mistake the Singularists did during the Final War. We want to save everyone, bring all of humanity to a better new home than this."

  Lamu stared at her, her agape mouth slowly shutting and curling into a frown.

  "Why the silent treatment?" Nhi asked.

  "It just doesn't seem realistic," Lamu replied. "None of this does."

  "Mmm." She nodded pensively, thinking to herself for a moment. "Well like. Obviously I can't force you to do anything, but I mean, you're here already, y'know? Even if you're right and this is all a delusional waste of time, it's not like I'm asking you to admit to much we haven't talked about already. And I bet you'd still rather be set up somewhere safe and comfortable, no matter what happens." Her smile faded a little. "I dunno if I can protect you if you decide to walk away from all this now, Lilith."

  Lamu stiffened. "You're threatening me."

  "I'm just being honest. I'm not the one running the show here." She glanced downward for a moment, then back up at her, brightening. "If you're really worried someone is gonna hurt you, I can put you on full guard for the rest of the night. Probably all you'll have to do is sit in your room, get escorted somewhere to talk a bit, and then get escorted back. That much would be easy, right?"

  "You're lying," Lamu replied. "Even if I don't understand the nature of this technology, it does not sense for you to all gather us in one place for nothing more than a 'dress rehearsal'. And you keep dodging my questions about the specifics of what's going to happen."

  Nhi scratched the side of her head. "I'm just trying not to freak you out with a bunch of bullshit going on in the background, Lilith."

  "I'm not a child."

  "Of course you're not!" she assured her. "I'm just, I'm asking you to trust me a little bit here. You don't know how hard it's been to bring all this together."

  Lamu narrowed her eyes. "What did you mean a minute ago, when you said we were already on our way?"

  "Oh, right!" Nhi laughed. "Shit, I totally forgot about that. Gods, at my age, it's like trying to hold water in a shallow pan, y'know?" She tapped the side of her head playfully.

  Lamu expression did not change.

  "So, like, I mentioned the interfacing component," Nhi began. "The way that works is-- Well, the specifics aren't super important, but basically you need a volunteer to be the one to talk to the entity. And like, obviously you wanna be a little precious with who that is, because you're kinda putting the entire endeavor in their hands, y'know? And there's also the issue that we might - again, since this thing has a fucky way of seeing time - end up confusing it by having whatever order we give it conflict with the one Neferuaten did, which we can guess from their old documentation but don't exactly know--"

  "Please get to the point," Lamu said.

  "Sorry, sorry." She laughed again. "So it's like. We've been doing a lot of tests, right. Even without committing and trapping the thing, you can still get your ducks in a row and assess the connection, that kinda thing. But this afternoon, everything suddenly stopped working."

  "...stopped working?"

  "Yeah. Like, we not only lost our readings on the being, the whole technology just fundamentally won't work any more. It's kinda sent a lot of people into a panic." She crossed her arms. "It's not just that, either. We haven't had the time to conduct any more sophisticated experiments and have had some trouble reaching any other researchers down on the bowl, but a whole bunch of incantations that we use to monitor interplanar phenomena have straight-up stopped working. It's kind of nuts." Her eyebrows quirked conspiratorially. "One of our guys has this theory. Say that we used this thing, that one of our guys screwed up and turned it on by mistake, or something. What would it actually feel like I wonde--"

  Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the hallway, followed by the sound of something slumping against the wall. A few seconds later, there were two more bangs, then a third bang from further in the distance. Then footsteps.

  Lamu and Nhi looked at one another.

  ??

  15 minutes earlier

  All this booze was dogshit! Gudrun had thought it was pretty good six hours ago when they'd first got here, but was before she'd moved up in the world. Now that she'd, like, become somebody - developed a taste for the finger things in life, so to speak - she realized it sucked ass and was probably for poor people. The wine smelled like vinegary fruit juice, and the whiskey had an aftertaste that reminded her of the watery stuff that rose to the top of a bowl of vanilla yoghurt if you left it in the sun. Zero flavor profile too. Gross!

  Was there any going back from this? She was gonna have to make sure that dude they'd met at dinner - what was his name, Mark or some shit? - called her back and set her up someplace, 'cause this was definitely gonna turn into an expensive hobby. She'd put her logic engine on record mode, so she could probably blackmail him with that story about killing a guy if push came to shove, but her gut told her that wasn't the best angle. Like, all these rich assholes knew each other! Squeezing the first one you got was like cashing out at your first win at a card table; real sub energy.

  No, she needed to be taking the long view, getting introductions. Maybe in a few years she'd be at one of the front tables instead! They probably had even better drinks there.

  She sighed. She'd really been hoping to find something decent before she went after Lamu - just to keep her from getting sober during the meeting, she always sobered up way too fast - but this clearly wasn't happening, and she wouldn't wanna come across as unprofessional after she'd done her such a solid bringing her here. She rose to her feet with a sigh, did a quick stretch, and left.

  The corridors had emptied out pretty quickly since they'd got back a few minutes ago in a way she thought was kinda weird, but was probably no big deal. She'd caught the name of the lounge the meeting was happening and the map of the ship was easy to remember, so she figured she'd head straight there. So she took the elevator up to the deck 3, but when she tried to get off, some fucko in the servants uniform stopped her.

  "My apologies, miss," he said as he ushered this Viraaki-looking bitch into the elevator she'd just left. "We're only allowing outbound transit from this floor presently. The new years ceremony has been moved to deck 4; we're redirecting all guests there."

  "Oh." Gudrun's thoughts were a little cloudy, so it took her a second to parse this. "Like. 'cause that dude got stabbed?"

  "Uh, yes," the butler dude said. "We've moving chairs and the bar in right now, so it should be more than comfortable."

  "Cool," she said. "I got a friend I gotta meet on this floor though."

  "My apologies, ma'am, but you'll have to--"

  "She's in one of the, like, weird lounges you've got?" Gudrun said. "Not the one with the cocaine though. One of the other ones. I'm just gonna go get her, we'll head up when she's done."

  "I'm afraid you can't--"

  "It's cool dude, I'll just be a hot minute, no worries dude."

  The guy sorta moved towards her like he might try to stop her but she just kept walking and he didn't do shit. That was how most people were. Gudrun knew the world was full of little rules - legal, social, guild policy, whatever - that nobody really cared about, and that you could just kinda break whenever you wanted so long as you didn't act guilty or like it was a big deal. It was kinda like a superpower, although not as cool as the kinda superpowers she wished she had. She'd probably get, like, super speed? That was what it was all about. She was pretty sure she could take over a country if she was like, maybe 200% faster.

  Anyway, she went down the hall for a bit, but then she checked her pockets idly and realized she didn't have her logic engine! For a sec she thought that maybe she'd left it in her and Lamu's room, but no, she never took it out, so it had to be back in the dining room. She made a quick diversion towards one of the doors.

  There was another guy there, but this one wasn't a servant. Instead he was military, in a black-and-silver uniform and a red cloak. He has a scepter at his waist, and he stopped her in a somewhat more serious way.

  "Ma'am, please step back," he said. "The ballroom is off-limits."

  "Yeah, I just need to get my logic engine, I forgot it in there when you kicked us all out. I'll be like 15 seconds."

  "I'm sorry, but we're treating the entire area as a crime scene," he told her. "You'll be able to collect your belongings later."

  "You'll like, let us in back later, you mean?"

  "They'll collected at reception for you to pick up."

  Gudrun frowned. "Dude, that's no good. What if somebody else takes it? I got some confidential data on that shit, man, I'm an important lady. Heads could roll, and not in a fun way."

  "You need to move along," he replied stoically.

  "Can't you like, go in there and grab it for me real quick? I'll wait here."

  "I'm afraid I can't."

  "Hey-- Hey. C'mon buddy. Work with me here." She gave him the puppy dog eyes. "I gotta call my mom when the clock rolls over, y'know? It's like, a tradition. She'll think something's wrong if you fuck me with this."

  The man peered at her. "I'm sure you can ask someone else to lend you theirs, or use one of the public bridges."

  "I don't have her number memorized. C'mon dude, have some empathy. I'm just trying to talk to my mom. Just a daughter trying to comfort her lonely mom on new years eve. Why wouldn't you wanna help with that? Do you hate women? I'm getting kinda a woman hater vibe from you right now, no offense."

  "Ma'am, do you need me to escort you back to the elevator?" His eyes were hard.

  Gudrun paused for a couple seconds. This situation was starting to feel weird. Like, sure, this guy was military, so it made sense he'd have some balls. But weren't most of the people at this event huge fucking deals? Sure, Gudrun was kinda the exception (for now), but this guy wouldn't know that off the top of his head. He should have been more worried about offending her.

  "What's your name, huh? Maybe I'll report this. Rudeness to guests. You don't know who you're inconveniencing here, pal. I got friends in places you can't even conceptualize."

  He remained silent.

  "How come you're being so precious about this, anyway?" she asked, with a gesture behind him. "The part of the room behind the door you're guarding is way away from the stage. Nowhere near where that kid did his moves on that sarcophagus-looking motherfucker. I remember 'cause this was where we came in."

  Again, he remained silent.

  She glanced at his forehead, which bore a silver circlet. "So you're one of those new arcanists who have to use the cute little circlets? The little pretty-princess crowns?" She cooed. "I used to work with this guy like that. I never asked him since I didn't wanna be a cunt, but like, it's gotta feel shitty to know you didn't make the grade not to be shafted forever with the safety seat magic, right? The strap-on magic." She tilted her head. "You gotta feel kinda cucked sometimes. I mean maybe you're cool with it, maybe you have enough of a rich inner life or some shit that you're zen about the whole 24/7 low-key public humiliation thing, I mean some people are into that even. I'd feel cucked though. No offense bro. I mean I do sympathize, like, I feel like they could at least give you a more manly one, maybe like with some little spiky shit on there. But I guess at that point it's basically a call between light sissification and wearing a dunce cap, so you might as well commit to the fucking bit, right? Yeah, probably for the best."

  Once again, he remained silent. It was getting a little boring.

  Something else was off, too. When they'd been led out of the ballroom, a lotta people - especially the ones near the front, for whom it was more convenient - had gone into the big lounge or bar area instead, and if they'd decided to clear out the whole deck, the only way out of those places should have been back into the ballroom and then out here. But this hall was already completely barren. It was only her, this dude, and a few other staff members. Could they really all be out already? It was sus.

  She figured she'd just ask. "So what happened to those guys who went into the big side rooms? You kick them out too? Must have been pissed off, since they'd only just gone in."

  He was silent, but twitched slightly.

  Oh, yep, she thought. Yep yep yep.

  She sighed. "Well, guess I'll go back, then," she said with faux-resignation, then as soon as she soon as she began to turn sharply accelerated the motion, ducked, and went for the door handle. As she'd expected, the stupid motherfuckers hadn't actually bothered to lock it.

  Even so, she only managed to see inside for a moment before the guy got her by the side of her arm. (She felt the little 'oomph' as his flesh touched hers - he was using a barrier, couple inches off the skin, growing and molding at deliberate contact.) She caught a glimpse, though, of a couple people being being dragged out of the bathrooms.

  The man pulled her back sharply, sliding his hand down and holding her wrist in (what he probably considered) a vicegrip. His eyes had gone wide as hell; not so stoic now! Didn't want this kinda trouble!

  He breathed in sharply. "You're going to need to come with m--"

  Gudrun raised her voice as loud as she possibly could, loud enough to carry to the elevator. "OH WOW! YOU GUYS ARE DOING A MUTINY, HUH? THAT'S CR--"

  Panicking, the man reached around Gudrun's neck and clapped a hand over her mouth, inadvertently pulling her closer in the process. Classic amateur move. In response, she bit it so he couldn't get away, then used her right hand - currently pressed against the side of his waist and already holding her pistol - to shoot him up through his chest and head.

  Then, still holding the body, she ran at full tilt for the Obsidian Lounge.

  https://topwebfiction.com/listings/the-flower-that-bloomed-nowhere/ It gives me exposure I don't really get on royalroad due to being so off-genre, and only takes a moment. Also, if you spot any typos, there is a google doc where you can note them. Thanks!