When does something go from bad to worse?
When do we determine others aren’t worth the trouble?
Unknown, 2024
***
Feeling a bit silly now, hm?.
I huff, but I can’t even pretend to be angry at my AI as I set Prism down on the ninth floor’s roof, a grin on my face.
‘Okay, to my credit, it was never like this with Freesia. That was fast and hard the whole way.’
I’m a little disappointed it didn’t take you longer to figure it out, but maybe it’s for the better.
I roll my eyes, then look off into the distance and mutter, “I need new glasses…”
Nyvi plops down into Prism’s arms as she responds, “You both need new things, perhaps we should do a group shopping session before we get moving again?”
I peek at Prism, who smiles and nods in agreement, then plop down beside the mermaid as the butterflies flutter around my chest. “Oookay. What are we looking at for points?”
Before either AI can say anything, Prism abruptly chimes, “U-Um about that… Maybe we should just combine our totals for now, f-for simplicity’s sake.”
Nyvi sighs, then murmurs, “Usually I would recommend against it, but this is a rather… peculiar case, so I think it’s prudent, at least for today.”
[“Ditto.”]
Seeing we’re all in accord, I then say, “Okay, for now, let’s get both of us some augs for convenience's sake. Any interesting catalogs we can choose from?”
Achys immediately declares, [“Ah, I have been wondering when this will come up. I have a question first, Emme, are you really going to keep your glasses instead of buying something less clunky?”]
I scoff, crossing my arms. “Do you want us to get you another body to play around in?”
[“... So, I would like to recommend the Class-I Modular Exterior Cybernetic Augmentations catalog. It contains many interesting items, most of which are designed to be easily removable and replaceable if need be. There is only one base model for each particular part you’d be augmenting, but then the customization after that is basically unmatched.”]
Prism shifts her position a bit, moving her fin into her lap, where she begins to fidget with it. “U-Um, that sounds good to me? How much are they?”
Nyvi pats Prism on the arm as she says, “One hundred for the catalog, fifty for each baseline set of visual aid. Do either of you have any preferences?”
Prism looks at me for anything, but I just shrug. The girl puffs her cheeks a bit as she begins to think about that question, which is just… Whew. I’m never going to make fun of Lissa for her flowery descriptions of emotions again, this is a bit wild.
“I-I um…” Prism coughs, slowing her speech afterwards. “Can the ones I get like… just look sorta as if they weren’t there when I don’t want them to?”
Achys bluntly responds, [“Easy, for an extra ten points.”]
Now, normally, I would make a snarky comment in this situation about how the points are a waste, considering glasses make the wearer more attractive, a topic that I would normally die on my little hill for. However, that’s not when the mermaid I admittedly have a quickly growing crush on, is looking up at me begging with sparkling eyes for me to okay her purchase. Four seconds later, and I’m biting my lower lip, both of us with our own brand new glasses in our hands, her pair disappearing upon touching her face. I put my own on, only to be immediately greeted by one of Achys’ tables.
Joint-Vanguard Point Update!
Starting Total:
2240 Points (2163 Prism+77 Emme)
Enemy Eliminated!
Model Twenty-Three A
Points Awarded:
660 Points, 2 Tokens
Catalogs Unlocked!
Class-I Modular Exterior Cybernetic Augmentations: 100 Points
New Purchase!
MECL Basic Frames x2: 110 Points
Total Cost:
220 Points
Final Total:
2680 Points, 2 Tokens
I blink, then grin. “I see we got the tokens back from that kill?”
I flinch as Nyvi’s voice suddenly appears within my head in response.
[“Indeed, you both did well on that,”] She snorts, then adds, [“Also, the glasses are vibrating your bones to produce sound, if you were curious.”]
I shake my head, muttering, “Future tech is weird to experience, sometimes.”
Prism clears her throat very deliberately, then begins to stammer when I look at her, “U-Um, we’ve actually been able to make use of that since before the protectors showed up. One of the really interesting items I had in my collection from my dives was a set of headphones that did something similar to play music. They were still ruined from the water, but it was still interesting.”
I could care less about the bone rattling thingy, but Prism’s hobbies? That gets my interest.
“Oh? Do you collect stuff?”
Prism brightens significantly, then enthusiastically begins to gush:
“Yeah! I go on dives into the ruined cities along the coast, looking around the abandoned buildings for interesting stuff. It’s like Urbex, but with far less risk of getting stabbed by some random homeless guy.” Prism taps her chin, a little smile on her lips. “I mean, not that I really found anything valuable, as far as I know at least, but the relics are a fascinating look into our past!”
Prism takes a breath, looks at me, then flushes a bit as she drops her face into her hands.. “U-Um, well… W-We can talk more about this later, what else do we need?”
A tad disappointed I don’t get to see anymore of that for now, I mutter, “You lost your weapon, should we get you something nice in replacement?”
Prism groans in response, “I-I don’t need anything nice, I was just going to get another one. I sorta like that harpoon, it’s versatile.”
“Fair enough, maybe we should just save for a bit until we find something we really want…”
[“Ahem. Forgetting something?”]
“Oh right, and Achys needs a new body. I’m good if that's all we’re getting.”
Prism looks down at Nyvi for a second, probably conversing with her, then up at me with a nod.
New Purchase!
PLCP Harpoon MK-I: 100 Points
Replacement Achys Body: 250 Points
Total Cost:
350 Points
Final Total:
2330 Points, 2 Tokens
After an over the top kaching noise, the harpoon appears beside Prism without issue, but on the other hand… Well, the red flower appears again.
“The universe cries, the Antithesis slowly devouring it whole.”
The flower opens to reveal the curled up, small metallic silver jay, which slowly begins to spin.
“YET, THERE IS- GUH?!”
The bird is knocked from its place in the flower as Nyvi rams into it, sending the little drone spiraling through the water. The jay’s body flutters its wings to come to a stop, the bird’s feathers coming into existence as it does. Achys mutters, “Rude”, under her breath, then flutters through the water over to me. Nyvi just smirks, floating over to plop down onto her Vanguard’s head. I chuckle, then stand back up and thoughtlessly offer my hand to Prism after she puts her harpoon away.
I only realize I even made the small gesture when I see the girl staring blankly at my hand, but by then I can’t just take something like that back. My insides begin to curl in anxiety, at least until Prism shyly smiles as she slips her hand into mine. I momentarily pause, remarking at the warmth her touch brings, then pull her up from her coiled position. Eye to eye, we float there for a moment, our hands linked together, until the water around us tremble for a moment.
“What… was that?” I murmur, looking around for any other anomalies. “Prism, did you…?”
The mermaid nods, then points to the edge of the floor just a few feet away. Not bothering to comment on the fact that we are still sort of holding hands, we swim over, then peer down over the edge to see if anything had changed in the last few minutes. At first, I don't really notice anything out of the ordinary, beyond the already sort of absurd numbers of antithesis swarming…
Until the entire ocean around us trembles once more, sending a cloud of sand into the air, then again just a few moments later, and then repeating even more after that. This momentary shaking slowly begins to increase in frequency, soon becoming strong enough that I can feel it in my bones. Just as I open my mouth to ask the AI what is happening, it hits the crescendo.
One truly calamitous quake to rule them all.
Just the noise of the tremor is enough to make my ears ring; The shock-wave it causes, which makes the reef itself vibrate, almost sends Prism and I flying, but she manages to catch us in time, which allows us to witness the truth of the situation. There, upon the seafloor beneath the horde, the earth has cracked. Then, the tremors begin again, stronger and more constant this time. I think the thing our AI say in unison puts the reality of the situation best:
“Oh shit.”
The fissure in question stretches as far as the eye can see into the distance, I can barely see through the clouds of sand that the entirety of it has begun to form a shallow layer of bubbles along its edges, but that soon becomes far easier as a wall of foam emerges out into view.
“What-What the hell am I looking at?”
Achys, her voice filled with both awe and terror, responds, “The water is falling into the crack, but the heat within is enough to vaporize it into steam.”
I nervously scoff as I say, “What, like an underwater volcano?”
Nyvi quietly whispers, “Yes, but…”
Right on cue, the crack becomes alight in a dull, hellish, orange-red glow.
“Worse. This wasn’t natural.”
Prism gasps, clenching my hand as she asks, “W-What kind of Antithesis could even do this?”
The AI are silent for a moment, before Achys then calmly states:
“I’ve done the math, and it’s not good. Whatever this was slammed against the earth’s crust from within the mantle, and only models of forty or more can survive in temperatures of that level without assistance from their peers. It’s hard to say what exactly it is, from just this, but I know you two aren’t strong enough to fight against it.”
Nyvi breathes in, then says:
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, you two need to run. Models in the forties are among some of the strongest humanity have run into, usually requiring a team of the strongest your species have to defeat one. This isn’t a fight you can hope to win.”
Prism and I are quiet as we float there, watching the chaos below us, neither of us having bothered to separate our hands from the other during this entire ordeal. Her hand is so small within my grasp, and the warmth it gives me cannot be understated, but it also lets me tell she is trembling, but I can somehow tell it’s not from fear. Prism, her voice wavering, mutters under her breath:
“Is this… really where it ends? Can we truly do no more?”
Her words strike a chord within me, her resonant sorrow sending sparks falling throughout me, until one, just a singular fleck, lights a small flame of indignation that immediately envelops my whole. I take a deep breath, then squeeze Prism's hand to get her attention. After she turns to me, I take a deep breath, then let her hand go as I step out onto my little stage.
“To dream the impossible dream,” I quietly sing, “to fight the unbeatable foe.”
I take a glance down at the horde beneath us. “To bear with unbearable sorrow, and to run where the brave dare not go.”
“To right the unrightable wrong, and to love pure and chaste from afar.” Placing a hand on my heart, I begin following its beat to time my words.
“To try when your arms are too weary,” I stretch my free hand to the sky as I trill:
“To chase the unreachable star.”
I take a breath as I turn to Prism, a small smile upon my face.
“This is my quest, to follow that star.” I glance behind me at the crack. “No matter how hopeless, no matter how far.”
“To fight for the right, without question or pause,” I take a breath, looking straight into Prism’s emerald eyes. “To be willing to march, march into hell for that heavenly cause.”
“And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm, when I'm laid to my rest,” A wide smile on my face, I morosely render, “And the world will be better for this, for that one woman, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with her last ounce of courage, to chase the unreachable, the unreachable, the unreachable star.”
“And I’ll always dream, the impossible dream… Yes, and I’ll reach the unreachable star.” Finishing, I take a breath, then hold my hand out to Prism. “Will you chase it with me?”
Prism doesn’t even hesitate before putting her hand back into mine, a wide, hopeful smile on her face. Floating beside each other, our AIs sigh, before Nyvi mutters, “Achys, we brought this on ourselves.”
The bird chuckles before she responds, “Yeah, but you gotta love em’.”
After a moment of letting the little hope I managed to dredge up simmer, I mutter, “So, how much time do we have?”
Achys snorts, miming looking at a watch before she says, “Not enough for you to get strong enough to win, in any reality.”
Prism giggles at that, which sends my heart into a little tizzy. “Maybe not, but we can at least try to save some people.”
Nyvi hums, before she clarifies, “If you’re set on this course, you need points and information on who we need to save, neither of which you have enough of.”
I squeeze Prism’s hand, then ask, “I’ll get the former, you get the latter?”
Prism nods, then compounds, “You invest the points we have to get as much as possible, and I’ll figure out what we actually need to do to get them all out.”
I give her a thumbs up. “Sounds good to me.”
After my words, the conversation goes quiet. I hate to admit it after singing my heart out like that, but as I look down at the swaths of aliens beneath us, I hesitate to actually begin. Separating from this warmth I’ve finally found, to once again become alone, makes me feel like my heart is going to break again. I glance over at the Mermaid, finding her fidgeting in place.
Then, before I even realize what is happening, Prism shifts upwards and kisses me on the cheek.
Gaping, I watch as the immensely flushed mermaid pulls a bit away from me, hesitates for a moment, then gives me a shy little wave goodbye before she pulls her cloak over herself and vanishes. A little in shock, I slowly reach up to touch the lingering remnants of her lips, a giddy disbelief swirling within me. I dopily grin, then crack my knuckles as I shoot out above the seafloor, my dogs following right behind me.
You’re so easy.
‘Shut it, bird.’ I chuckle, then end up frowning in thought as I scan the movement in the dust clouds below. ‘Yeah, going down there seems like a terrible idea. I need some sort of consistent ranged weapon, that isn't drones. Any ideas?’
I don’t know, cannons?
I blink.
‘That sounds sick.’
Figures. How big do you want them?
I shrug, then clarify, ‘As big as I can get, I guess.’
Haaah… Okay, how about this? If you upgrade your Gravitational Wave Manipulators catalog to Class-II, you can get a platform that will hold up almost any toy you may desire, no matter their size. Then, we can get the Class-I Heavy Artillery Emplacements Catalog, from which you’ll be able to have a wide assortment of some of the largest sticks any species has ever created.
‘Such as?’
Since we’re underwater, I have to recommend the ASQB MK-I Subaquatic-Naval Gun, a weapon originally designed for naval ships that fires specialized explosive shells from its four individual barrels. It would be two thousand two hundred points and your token for it all, which is most of your points, and it would cost fourty points per salvo fired, but you’d make those points back fast with the situation that we are in.
‘It’s expensive but… Prism said I should invest right?’ I can’t help but grin. ‘Hell yeah, I’m in.’
Marvelous.
Catalogs Unlocked!
Class-II Gravitational Wave Manipulators: 1500 Points, 1 token
Class-I Heavy Artillery Emplacements: 100 Points
New Purchase!
GW Recoilless Emplacement Platform: 200 Points
ASQB MK-I Subaquatic-Naval Gun: 400 Points
SHE Shells: 40 Points
Total Cost:
2240 Points, 1 Token
Final Total:
90 Points, 1 Token
The humongous cannon that appears above me is almost exactly the kind of thing you would expect to see on a battleship or something, a flat rectangular steel box with four individual cylindrical barrels sticking out of its side. The platform it’s placed upon, held in place by four chunky metal claws, is sort of similar to the bottom half of a really big hover car, but it seems to be segmented in a way that would indicate it could grow or shrink depending on the weapon that is placed upon it. The entire thing is more than twice my height, so at least twelve feet tall, and I sort of can’t help but compare its size to about half of one of the huge steel storage containers the ships at the wet-docks would carry.
I swim up to take a seat on top of my new toy as a aiming reticle appears upon my hud. It’s funny, I’ve never fired a normal gun before, yet here I am aiming a fucking cannon. Taking a deep breath, I float up, then after I move the crosshair to the middle of a larger pack, I scream:
“FIRE!”
Steam and thunder burst from the barrels of the gun, sending four glowing shells flying through the deep, which upon impact, burst into huge spheres of foam. I whistle as the cannon beneath me makes a loud clunk, tossing the leftover parts of the shells carelessly out into the water beneath us.
Well, you made enough points with that shot for about five more, but you also have incoming.
I look down to see a huge group of aquatic models heading straight for us, so I reach down to take my crowbar off my… belt? Tendril? Not really sure how to explain it. My dogs move to get in front of me, growling with their lil' teethies exposed. I grin, then ask:
“Achys, my girls, you four ready for a drawn out fight?”
Don’t worry about the cannon, I’ll keep it firing.
I nod, then press the button on the side of my crowbar, extending it to twice the length. I point down at our approaching foes, then grin as I shout something I’ve always kind of wanted to say.
“LEAVE NO SURVIVORS!!”