บท 23: One of our oracles is missing
Women working in the Oracle Palace consider themselves fortunate. Unlike their mothers and sisters, they are not forced to give birth every ten months; unlike the males, they are not required to serve as guards or soldiers.
Women used to work only as maids in the Palace, but the recent increase of demand for warriors has led to a shortage of male administrators; this means that the Oracle Palace is the only place on Myridia where a woman can make a career. One day there might even be a female Oracle, as it's whispered already happens on many worlds.
The major problem is staying alive when Talas Khanos pays a visit.
The main gate opens without anyone touching it. A freakishly tall man inspects the scene: a dozen handmaidens, all duplicates of the same young girl, are covering the floor with rose petals.
Khanos walks forward, stepping over the petals humming a cheerful tune; nobody else dares to make the slightest sound.
<Nice crop, this year> he comments, telekinetically lifting one of the duplicates off the ground enough to look her in the eye. Despite being over seven feet tall, Khanos isn't very imposing: in the low gravity of his world, his muscles are somewhat underdeveloped. But there's something sinister in his purple eyes.
<What's your name, dear?>
<Reilen Lal> she answers, shaking in fear.
<You're a fine specimen, Lal. Or is it Reilen? I can never remember how you people use your names. How old are you?>
<I'm eighteen, Oracle Khanos.>
<Wrong. You're only two minutes old> he answers, ripping her left arm out of the shoulder. She has less than half a second to scream, before her body disappears with a popping sound.
<Ah, I never get tired of that sound.>
Reilen Lal isn't hurt like her duplicate, but that doesn't make watching Khanos dismember her any easier. The giant then looks at her, breaking one of her ribs with his mind.
As she kneels in pain, all of her duplicates do the same in an almost instantaneous reaction.
<Remarkable. I simply must ask Drevel to spare more specimen; your people make test subjects obsolete. Speaking of which, where is Oracle Drevel Viz?>
Nabric Ges is lifted off the ground by an invisible hand. Khanos telekinetically squeezes his kidneys for maximum pain; since this is just a duplicate, he can't hit him or he will just pop out of existence.
<What do you mean you lost him!?> – Khanos asks angrily.
<The Oracle…doesn't tell me...where he goes> Nabric answers through the pain.
Khanos looks the guard into the eye: he won't break easily. He quickly regains his composure.
<Have you ever heard of the Lampyrians?>
The bricks of the wall disassemble themselves, opening a door where there isn't one. Khanos floats through it, carrying Nabric with him in the same fashion. As he talks, he passes through several rooms of the Palace; the walls close themselves behind him.
<Blue skinned all-female species from Aphrodite's Queendom. Most of the galaxy sees them as cheap prostitutes, but after vivisecting a few of them I reverse-engineered their reproductive system. You see, Lampyrian lifespan is fifty times shorter than a human's. That means they rarely live longer than a year, but they can also give birth five days after conception. I devised a way to push it to five seconds before I was old enough to grow a beard. Isn't biology a wonderful thing?>
Now they have reached the prison. Nabric is wondering why Khanos is here…he's already received his share of test subjects for the year.
<That's when I was approached by Demeter herself. She'd grown tired of Myridia…your people aren't particularly efficient. Yes, one of you can spawn ten thousand soldiers in the blink of an eye, but the duplicates are remarkably fragile…one good hit and you disappear. Not to mention it takes many years to grow a new soldier; replenishing Demeter's army takes time. That's why I created the Many.>
The Many is kept in custody inside a glass cylinder full of water. Her body continuously spawns more copies to break out of it, but since there isn't enough space for them she has to reabsorb them. The cycle gives the container a pulsating appearance.
<Look at her. She can reproduce in half a second. She doesn't require food, water, air: she can extract energy from almost anything. She doesn't need clothing, housing, sex, human interaction. Infinitely superior to any mortal lifeform; drop one of her on a planet, and she will replace the entire population with other Many. The ultimate invasive species.>
Nabric doesn't really understand any of this. He's just a duplicate, created by the original Nabric as soon as he left the Palace with Null.
<I don't know…where the Oracle is…>
<Drevel Viz called me to say he captured someone trying to smuggle the Many on this planet. A girl with strange eyes. I don't like people stealing from me, Nabric. Which is why, unless you tell me where your original body is hiding the girl, I will hold Myridia responsible for the theft. One hundred people will die each hour until I find her.>
<You wouldn't do it> Nabric comments, calling his bluff – The Myridian people are personal property of Demeter. She values our lives.
<You are severely overstating your price. Where is the girl with silver eyes?>
Noriko's makeshift laboratory is fairly impressive, given what she has to work with. She had to manufacture everything: from the magnifying glasses to see the finest details of her newest invention, to the electric welder, to the bicycles that Nabric's duplicates are using to power the welder.
<That looks like some fairly impressive technology> the original tries to compliment.
<Hardly. This is supposed to be the power regulator, but at best it's a steampunk microprocessor.>
She takes off the glasses and wipes the sweat off her forehead, showing off her latest creation.
It's a gun. The body is in brass, the holster is covered in leather, and the whole thing looks more like a glorified paint gun than a serious weapon. The weirdest part is the muzzle: it incorporates the godstone that she removed from the Oracle. The one that granted him telekinetic abilities.
<This little jewel resonates with brain activity, turning thoughts into pure kinetic energy. I theorize the Heart of the Universe works in a similar fashion; this technology might be an attempt to reverse engineer it. Unfortunately, this means it only works if the user's nervous system has been specifically attuned to the godstone.>
<I know you're talking Myridian now, but I have no idea what you just said> Nabric admits.
<The godstone needs to be physically connected to a human nervous system to work. Since I'm not keen to surgically connect alien technology to my own skull, I'm gonna trick it. Make it think it's attached to a brain. A brain with much more electrical activity, and therefore more power. Or, to make it short…>
Noriko stands up, pulling back the gun's hammer. It makes a reassuring clicking sound.
<I call this the Genius Gun, Mark I. Now step back, please.>
<Why?>
<I need to charge it> Noriko answers, her eyes lighting up.
It's not the usual silver shine. Her eyes are now bleeding electricity and information.
People in Deka aren't used to new faces. Even though five thousand people live there, the same faces are everywhere: people send their own duplicates to run errands, use them to repair buildings or just to walk around. The result is that, no matter where you look, you end up meeting the same people over and over again.
Kari has created a dozen duplicates to help her new friends to stand out a little less, but it's easier said than done. Vesta's statuesque body can turn heads on any planet. Torn is covering his red skin as much as he can, but that only ends up making him stand out even more. But it's Max's own skin color that attracts the most attention; none of these people has ever seen an African-American.
<I think I just tripled this planet's black population> he comments.
<That would still leave it at zero> Torn says.
<It was a joke, Torn> Vesta clarifies.
<Unless the joke is that he can't count, I don't get it.>
<How are we ever gonna find Nori in a place like this?> she adds.
<Most of these people are duplicates. They disappear if you hit them> Torn answers.
<And that helps us how?> Vesta asks.
<Your friend will be easier to find if we knock everybody else unconscious> he answers.
<You are NOT going to punch everyone in the city> Kari clarifies.
<Remind me again why we brought mister space samurai with us?> Max asks.
<He asked. I'm not gonna die again just to settle an argument> Vesta shrugs.
<You said your friend took the Many back to Myridia. We have a score to settle> Torn answers.
One of Kari's duplicates holds his arm, smiling cheerfully.
<I heard what you said to the Old Man! You said we need you. That's sweet!>
Kari's duplicate disappears painlessly when Torn suddenly jabs her in the stomach with an energy dagger. The crowd doesn't even seem to notice.
<I am NOT "sweet". You amateurs wouldn't survive ten minutes in a fight with an Oracle. Unless we're subtle, they'll start another Harvest right away.>
<"Subtle"? You wanted to punch the whole city five minutes ago!> Max protests.
<I still want to do that. What's your point?>
<Guys, I think I found her> Kari says, standing on the shoulders of one of her duplicates and pointing at one of the skyscrapers.
She just saw a bright flash of light. After that, something inside the building explodes, blasting away the wall.
<Of course. If you want Noriko, just follow the explosions> Vesta comments.
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