Amy lay in bed staring at the ceiling for some time. When she'd finally arrived home she'd gone straight to bed, somewhere around half past six in the morning, set her symbiote to give her a solid five hours of dreamless sleep, and basically turned off. With considerable relief, it had to be said. The day had been long and in some respects very difficult, although she was pleased overall with the results. They'd helped Dragon, someone she highly admired, with an unpleasant problem, and with luck would be able to help her more in due course.
It was the time underwater in the former Deer Lake she was finding a little hard to deal with.
She'd attended several Endbringer fights, putting capes and other people back together until she was ready to pass out, and had seen more hellish scenes than the vast majority of people ever would. The sounds and smells of the medical facilities under those conditions were… not good. Add to that the things she'd encountered in her hospital work, such as that nasty pileup which had resulted in several victims only last week and she had far more experience dealing with death and injury than even most battlefield medics.
It was a certainty, she thought, that none of her family had ever seen most of what she had. And it seemed likely that they didn't have a clue just how bad it had been.
She wasn't planning on telling them.
All that taken into account, last night had been different. Literally swimming over and through what was undoubtedly one of the largest mass graves on the entire planet was a totally different experience and one she could have done without. Undoubtedly Lisa, with her ability, would have picked up even more than she did, and wouldn't have the past experience with death on that scale.
Taylor via the Varga definitely would based on things she'd said, but Amy was pretty sure that actually experiencing it live and not through second hand memories was different. She resolved to carefully ask both of them about it, and make sure they were OK. They were her best friends and people she highly valued, and in a real way, family.
It was her responsibility as she saw it to keep people around her in peak condition, physically and mentally. Taylor didn't need her help for the former, but she was totally fine with giving any support required for the latter. It was only right considering how she and the demon inside her had done the same for Amy.
Sighing a little, she ruminated a little longer on the fate of the poor people of Newfoundland before banishing such things as pointless. There was nothing she could do, and even the Varga couldn't travel in time from what he'd told her a while back when she'd asked about that sort of thing. In fact, he'd actually looked somewhat nervous about the suggestion and said it was, even while technically possible under the right circumstances, a spectacularly bad idea to ever try. Apparently if you did, you were supremely lucky if you merely died in a ghastly fashion.
He didn't explain more, but the tone of his voice made it clear he was absolutely serious, and she'd dropped that conversation. Something that could worry a greater demon was nothing she wanted anything at all to do with.
Stretching all her limbs including her tail for a moment, she relaxed again, then climbed out of bed. It was, according to her bedside clock, nearly half past eleven by now. They'd all agreed that there was no rush to go to the DWU yard today all things considered so she was planning on a late breakfast, checking on her father to see how he was coming along, then driving in a little later.
Taylor had been all mysterious the previous day about some wild idea she had for speeding up making various bits of equipment and she was half dreading seeing how her crazy friend was planning this feat. But she definitely didn't want to miss it.
Walking over to the window she looked out at the garden at the side of the house, which was partly covered in slush from the sleet that had been coming down when she woke, then peered out at the street to the right. It had a lot of puddles on but the rain that had begun just as she arrived home had stopped, and it looked like it was going to clear up nicely for the afternoon. Turning back she headed for the bathroom and a much needed shower, before seeking food. She could hear her parents talking in the living room and Vicky apparently on the phone to Dean in her bedroom, all of them sounding in good moods.
Smiling a little at the way her father had perked up so much since she'd given him the one-shot, and the way that had made her mother also become noticeably more relaxed, she undressed and hopped in the shower, hot water shortly washing away her residual slight melancholy as well as everything else.
"You're up late," Brian commented as Lisa wandered over to the table, appearing pensive. She put her tray down and sat, not really paying much attention for a moment. He glanced at Linda, who had joined him for an early lunch, then both of them looked back at their friend.
After a moment or two, she seemed to snap out of her introspection and picked up her fork. "Sorry, did you say something?" she asked absently.
"I said you're up late. Normally you're running around by eight, it's nearly eleven."
"Oh." She put a forkful of stew into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "I was up really late doing some stuff for the Family and I haven't woken up properly yet."
"Anything interesting?" Linda asked curiously.
"Yeah, but disturbing too in a way." Lisa shook her head a little like she was trying not to think of something. Brian wondered what. "Never mind, it's not really important. How are you getting on so far, Linda?"
The other woman smiled. "Very well, thanks. The work is interesting and I'm safer than I've been for a long time. I like it here." She looked at Brian, then back to Lisa. "Good people, good food, good work… What more could I want?"
The blonde grinned. "Sounds like you're enjoying yourself."
"I am. So much."
His friend nodded, looking pleased, and turned to him. "Your work going well too?"
"It is, thanks," he replied, picking up his coffee and warming his hands on the mug. "I've learned a lot already and it's decent money. The people are great too." He sipped the drink then put it down. "Oh, Mark wants me to do all the training and testing for a licensed security guard job too. He's given me a lot of paperwork to read and learn."
"Really?" Lisa looked interested. "That sounds cool. It might come in handy too."
"That's what he said," Brian acknowledged. "I'm about half-way through the documentation he wanted me to learn by Monday and it's going well so far. A lot of rules and regulations to memorize but most of it is pretty much common sense and safety stuff."
"Good luck with that," she smiled. "If you want someone to check you on it, let me know."
"Thanks."
They talked while she ate, and both he and Linda waved when she left, looking less tired and thoughtful, some twenty minutes later. As she went out, Alec wandered in, coming over when he'd filled his tray, and all three of them were shortly involved in an argument about gaming.
Washing the last of her cutlery off in the sink, Amy dried it and put it away, looking over her shoulder as her sister came into the kitchen holding her phone and gazing at the screen with a slight frown. She'd smelled the other girl coming down the stairs and detected a hint of the same confusion and mild worry she seemed to have been exuding for some time now. Wondering if she should just come out and ask, but not sure if Vicky was quite at the point of opening up, she smiled.
"Hi," she said.
"You were really late this time," Vicky commented, glancing up for a moment, then going back to her phone. She prodded it a few times, flicking her finger up the screen, apparently read something on it, then shook her head and dropped the thing into her pocket.
"I said I would be," Amy replied, folding the dishcloth and putting it on the counter, then turning around. "Did you have fun with Crystal? You were out pretty much the whole day. And I assume bought as many clothes as you could both carry."
Vicky grinned. "We might have had a few bags when we got back," she admitted.
"Leave some for the rest of us," Amy giggled.
"We're completely different sizes, Ames, you'll be fine," her sister said, patting her on the head. "Short people use other stores."
"Careful, I might bite," the brunette said with a smile. Vicky whipped her hand away and stepped back.
"Eeek," she said, a comical expression on her face. "You monster."
"Don't you forget it. How's Crystal?"
"She's fine, she asked about you, and sends her best wishes."
"Is she going back to college tonight?"
"Tomorrow morning, she said. She wanted to have another night at home. Apparently her roommate snores."
Amy snickered. "I know how annoying that can be from when we were kids..."
Vicky frowned. "I do not snore."
"You fucking well do. Like a chainsaw that needs oil," Amy retorted. "I can hear it from my room through two doors."
"Dean says it's cute," her sister insisted, although the corners of her mouth were twitching.
Amy put her hands on her hips, fixing the other girl with a look. "It is not cute. It is annoying. Dean is an idiot."
"He likes you, you know."
Somewhat startled, Amy stared for a moment.
Vicky smiled widely. "That shut you up. About time something did."
"Really?"
The blonde girl shrugged. "Yep. He actually likes you. I mean, you terrify him too, but he's told me he thinks you're a good person even under the scary snark."
"Oh." As far as Amy could tell, her sister was being totally honest, which slightly threw her. She respected the Stansfield boy but for her own reasons had always been somewhat standoffish with him. Especially after that meeting with Taylor and her, she'd have expected him to be at best neutral to her, if not actually trying to avoid both of them. It was a little odd to hear this, but nice too. For various reasons ever since Taylor overturned her life so effectively many of the reasons she'd had for finding Dean somewhat annoying weren't entirely valid any more, after all.
"Good, I suppose. He's a decent guy. Despite being too good looking for his own good," she said after a few seconds.
Vicky giggled, then hugged her. "There's the snark. Don't change, Ames. I couldn't handle it."
Just a small amount confused, she hugged back. "We all change, Vicky. Hopefully for the better. But I'm always here for you, you know that. No matter what. You're my sister, screw what blood says."
The other girl's scent betrayed the way her omnipresent but well hidden worry diminished slightly, which was also a little odd to Amy's mind. Deciding that she needed to think about the entire thing a little more, she gave her sister one last careful squeeze, inwardly amused at the thought that she wasn't far off as strong as Vicky although nowhere near as tough, then released her.
"Glad to hear it," Vicky said quietly as she stepped back. "Hey, have you checked Dad today? Is he still getting better?"
Amy smiled, nodding, and replied, "Yes. It's working really well. Don't forget that it's not an instant cure, but his brain chemistry is nearly back to normal in almost all ways now and it should be entirely correct by the middle of the week. He says he's feeling a lot better too." She was exceptionally pleased about this, and the radiant smile that lit up her sister's face showed she wasn't alone. "We'll have to keep an eye on him for some time but I'm hopeful that he'll be back to normal by the end of the year at the latest."
"Thank you," the blonde said when she finished speaking. She sounded incredibly relieved. "And thank Ianthe for me."
"I will, don't worry," she assured her sister. She checked the clock on the microwave, then added, "I need to leave. Hopefully I won't be so late tonight. Got some things to do with Ianthe and the others."
"Remember it's school tomorrow, young lady," Vicky said sternly, in a dead-on imitation of their mother, before both of them laughed.
"I will, 'Mom,'" Amy said wryly. "See you later."
"Later, Ames," Vicky replied as she left. While she was collecting her coat and car keys, she heard the other girl start singing a currently popular tune at the top of her voice, making her grin.
Just as she closed the front door, she heard their mother shout, "Vicky! Keep it down, I'm trying to concentrate!" Snickering, she headed for her truck, looking up as a motion high overhead in the now only partially clouded sky caught her peripheral vision.
She stared for a moment, then shook her head, climbing into the vehicle and starting it, then putting her seat-belt on and pulling out onto the street.
Thousands of feet up and invisible to all but two other people, the black dragon did another loop.
Danny jumped down to the floor, then watched as the dragon was replaced by his daughter, who was smiling happily. "Judging by all the whooping you enjoyed that," she said as she looked at him in amusement.
"I did, very much," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. Beside her, the Varga, who had not been in evidence during the flight, reappeared. Danny thought he'd probably wanted to let them have as much of a private moment as possible. "Thank you. It was a hell of a lot of fun."
"It's even better doing the flying yourself," she said slyly. "Amy could sort that out for you..."
"I'll bear it in mind, dear," he chuckled, momentarily hugging her. Her earlier depressed mood seemed to have cleared up, the flight apparently having been as good for her as it was for him. "Perhaps later."
"I could fly you to work," she suggested.
"Probably best not to." Danny smiled at the slightly disappointed look she got. "You haven't even announced your dragon to the world yet. Possibly it needs a more interesting debut."
She snickered. "It would be really funny to just have a dragon turn up giving you rides around the place. Just pretend it's completely normal and see if anyone has the balls to say anything. And if they do, look surprised that they thought it was strange."
He started laughing. "That would almost be worth it, I agree, but still… Possibly not the best idea. Funny, but we might startle the normal people." He looked around, then back to her. "The ones who don't have basements that you could hold monster truck rallies in."
"Do you want me to put it back the way it was?" she asked a little worriedly. He looked around once more, then shrugged.
"I can live with it. And I have to say we won't run out of storage space. That might be useful." He looked up the long, long flight of stairs. "Although going up and down those will become tedious very quickly."
"I can fix that," she said brightly, taking his hand. That weird sensation came again and he found himself in the living room. Releasing him she went into the hallway and stood staring at the door to the basement, as he followed curiously, until she smiled. "There. That should do it."
He looked at it, seeing it seemed entirely normal. The Varga appeared next to her and both of them watched him expectantly. "Very nice, Taylor. I think. What did you do?"
She opened the door, so he looked through it, to see the normal stairs to the basement. "OK..."
Closing it again, she reopened it. This time it opened directly into the enormous new space that might or might not have actually been under the house. "Ah." He nodded his understanding, impressed. "You used the same trick as in your office."
"Yep. Seems the easiest solution," she smiled. "It's keyed to us, Amy, and Lisa. Just in case."
"Am I going to find every door I go through has multiple possible destinations from now on?" he asked cautiously. "That could become very confusing very rapidly..."
"I'll try to restrain myself," she giggled.
"Please do. I can see the possibility for some entertaining practical jokes but it could easily get out of hand." He studied her expression then held up a warning finger as it turned somewhat thoughtful. "Please don't."
"Aww..."
"Perhaps we should leave that idea for the right moment," the demon suggested with a grin. She glanced at him and sighed.
"Oh, alright. I just had a really funny idea, that's all..."
"I know." They shared an identical look of amusement, then the Varga became thoughtful as well. "However, that does bring something else we talked about to mind."
"Oh..." She nodded slowly as Danny glanced between them, wondering what bizarre thing was about to happen this time. "You worked out the math! Wonderful. I was thinking about that but yesterday sort of got away from us."
"It seems reasonably straightforward, now that I've had time to consider it," he assured her somewhat cryptically. "A completely general purpose solution is still not quite obvious but we can certainly deal with specific cases."
"Great." Taylor looked at the basement door which she was still holding open, then shook her head, closing it again. "Excuse me, Dad," she said as she moved past him towards the front door. He shuffled to the side and watched, curious and a little apprehensive, as both of them fiddled with it for a while. The Varga disappeared for thirty seconds or so, then popped back into existence. "Great, it worked!"
"Ah..." They turned around and looked at him as he pointed. "What did you do now?"
"We still haven't got a new car," Taylor smiled. "I know things keep getting in the way. But this should help a little."
She opened the door.
"Oh, for god's sake," he muttered after a long pause, staring at his office at the DWU, several miles away and on the other side of the door at the same time. "You two are impossible."
"You're welcome, Dad," she snickered. "Think of it as a late birthday present."
Walking to the door he looked through, then shook his head in wonder. "Yet again you've done something totally ridiculous and made it look easy. I should stop being surprised by this point but somehow I can't."
Closing the door, she stepped back. "Just think of your office," she explained, seeming pleased. "Or home if you're there. Otherwise each door is just the normal one. Again it's keyed to Family members and you only."
"Can other people go through when it's open?"
"Sure, it's only actually opening it in the first place that's locked to specific people," she assured him.
"Very impressive. Again. You are certainly building up a remarkable library of weird tricks." He tried it for himself, finding it worked perfectly. "Amazing."
"You can come home for lunch now if you want," she told him. "Or if you forget anything it's only a few steps away. Plus it means you'll avoid the traffic."
"Thank you, Taylor." He closed the door and went into the kitchen, the other two following. Taking off his coat, he put it over the back of a chair, then started making some more coffee. "There are times I'll need the car, but that could well be very useful."
"I hope so." She smiled again. "We're heading in now, lots to do before Faultline turns up with her people. See you later."
"Have fun, dear," he replied, watching as both she and the currently identical copy of her vanished with a wave.
"Good grief, those two are..." Danny couldn't think what to finish that sentence with, so just turned back to his coffee-making, a fond smile on his lips.
He did wonder what the PRT would say if they had the slightest true idea of what his daughter was doing with her free time...
Lisa found Amy as Ianthe sitting at one of the computers when she came into the BBFO office, reading something. She went over and looked, seeing it was a document on the Endbringer attack on Newfoundland. Her friend looked at her for a moment, then closed the window. "How are you doing after last night?" the healer asked, sounding concerned. "It was pretty grim at the end."
The blonde girl sighed. "I had a few unpleasant nightmares but I think I can deal with it," she replied after a few seconds thought. "Not something I ever thought I'd see, I have to admit. And I'd prefer not to see it again. But..." She shrugged. "Nothing we can do so there's no point dwelling on it, right?"
"Right. Good, I was worried." Amy turned around completely. "I've seen some fucked up shit over the last couple of years, and it bothered me. You and Taylor..."
Lisa nodded. "I know what you mean, and thanks for thinking about it."
"Family helps Family," Amy smiled.
"We do," Taylor said from behind Lisa, who twitched but suppressed her yelp.
"You are such a pain in the ass," she grated, looking over her shoulder to see her other, even crazier, friend grinning at her, her demon across her shoulders as the little dragon. He was also smirking.
Amy giggled, causing her to sigh. "Surrounded by lunatics, I am."
"Speaking like Yoda, you are. Wonder why we do," Taylor immediately said, making her sigh heavily.
"You are obviously not too badly affected by yesterday," she remarked. Taylor shrugged a little.
"I was. Dad helped. So did Varga. It was bad, but I'm past that."
Lisa looked hard at her, then nodded. "OK." She glanced at Amy who seemed pleased. "So what are we doing this time? We have to figure out what to do with all that paperwork for a start. I've tracked down a working drive for those disks and bought it online, it should be here in a couple of days. Along with a controller card for it that we can put in one of these machines." She indicated the computers. "And I've been researching how wet paperwork is handled properly."
"How?" Amy asked with interest.
"Basically it's very carefully frozen, then left in a hard vacuum until all the ice vaporizes," she explained. "Depending on how long it's been wet for, the type of paper, ink, what was in the water, and a lot of other variables, there are other processing steps that may be needed. Most of the shelves other than the two lowest ones stayed out of the seawater so there shouldn't be any salt to deal with in those boxes. The ones that were immersed are the most likely to be ruined and the ones that will need the most work."
She moved to a computer that didn't have a large violet reptile in front of it and quickly brought up a web page on document conservation that she'd found earlier. "This shows most of the stuff needed."
Taylor and Amy read it carefully. The former nodded slowly. "Looks easy enough. A vacuum chamber at very low temperature is simple to make."
"You'd probably want to test it on something non-critical before we risk damaging any of Richter's documents," Amy suggested.
"Yes, I'd want to be certain it worked," Lisa put in. "After all that effort I'd hate to lose anything important now."
"Ideally we'd need some old damp paperwork, then," Taylor mused. "We could make our own, but it would be better if it was something close to what we found."
"I seem to recall that some of the older workshops that haven't been cleared out yet had quite a lot of paperwork in them," the Varga said. "I remember seeing boxes of old records when we were exploring a couple of weeks ago."
"Yep, that's a good point, those didn't look important so no one would care if we screw it up." The demon disappeared, reappearing thirty seconds later as Saurial, carrying a large cardboard filing box which had seen better days. It was almost falling apart in his hands.
"Would this do, Lisa?" he asked, putting it on the table. She went over and gingerly took the lid off, feeling the damp cardboard squish between her fingers, and looked at the contents. Gently teasing free a few pages she scanned them, seeing they were records of the number of 3/16 inch bolts bought over a four month period twelve years ago. Very definitely nothing important, she thought.
"Perfect," she said. "Similar paper, nice and damp, a little mold but not too much… This will definitely do for a test."
"OK." Taylor looked around, then said, "We should probably do it in the big room I guess. We don't want Dragon finding out about it until we're ready just in case Richter left some sort of nasty surprise in his records."
"That's not impossible, I agree," Lisa replied. Amy followed both aspects over to the other door while Lisa quickly became Metis, then went after them, taking the box with her. Once inside the huge room Taylor moved fifty feet down the wall before creating a door in it. She thought for a moment, glancing at the Varga, who shrugged.
"As good a solution as any," he said.
A few more seconds passed, then Taylor opened the door. Everyone looked inside, to see an identical door ten feet further in. "You made an airlock," Lisa said, putting the box at her feet.
"I did," Taylor smiled. They all went into the small room, barely fitting and only then because the Varga resumed the tiny dragon form. "Possibly a slightly small one," she added ruefully. "Although it needs to be as small as possible." Reaching past Lisa she pulled the outer door closed. "OK, on the other side of that door is a space about two hundred feet square and twenty high which is in a total vacuum. If I've done it right, it's also at about two hundred kelvin, or somewhere around the freezing point of carbon dioxide." She indicated the inner door. "We made a simple pump out of EDM using a flywheel to power it, that switch there activates it. The rotary control sets how fast it operates."
On the wall next to the door was a panel with a couple of switches on, the rotary control she'd mentioned, and two illuminated panels, one currently lit red. "Set the speed and press the lower one to evacuate this airlock. When it goes green, it's at vacuum and you can open the door. Air pressure will hold the outer door shut so no one accidentally opens both at the same time."
"Simple enough," Amy said.
"Should be more or less foolproof," Taylor agreed.
"And the other button reverses it?"
"Exactly. The door opens inward so it's held shut as long as there's air in here."
"Let's see it, then," Lisa suggested.
"All right. We won't be able to hear each other, though." Taylor wound the control all the way clockwise then prodded the relevant switch, a rumbling sound immediately starting up. It diminished rapidly as the air was removed until it stopped although a very faint vibration could be felt underfoot. Lisa found the total silence one of the eeriest things she'd ever encountered. In this body, she could always hear something, but now there was nothing at all.
Other than that, the vacuum was practically unnoticeable to the bioconstruct, impressing Lisa all over again. Amy had said it wouldn't be a problem and Lisa wouldn't have just watched Taylor casually remove all the air from the place if she didn't trust the healer, but it was still remarkable.
Pulling the inner door open, Taylor went through, the others bringing up the rear. Inside was indeed a large room, much smaller than the one on the other side of the airlock but still pretty damn big, with the same LED lighting as outside in the ceiling. Other than that it was totally bare.
It was also very cold. Lisa looked around, then down, her power telling her that there was a huge mass of EDM under the floor that had been created at a very low temperature and was acting as a massive heat-sink to draw heat out of the room through conduction. It was an elegantly simple method of refrigeration. The entire room and underlying block was insulated from the outside world by being in its own little reality pocket which wasn't connected thermally to anything else. Even her power couldn't work out how they'd done that, but it knew what had been done. And it seemed pleased with the results.
She turned to Taylor who was standing there in her base form looking entirely comfortable in a sub-zero completely airless room and nodded, giving her a thumb's up. They all went back into the airlock and closed the inner door, Amy poking the other button. A hissing noise quickly built along with a small cloud of fog as air rushed back into the lock.
"That's perfect," Lisa said when there was enough atmosphere to carry sound. "We'll have to take it down to vacuum slowly so it doesn't boil the water and wreck the paper with bubbles, from what that web page said, but I can experiment."
"There are at least a dozen boxes like that one in the room I got it from," the demon told her. "So it doesn't matter if you waste some of it in the process."
"OK, that'll do for now. I'll see what happens, then we can try some of the stuff from Richter's place. I think it will take a while to sublimate all the water, but until I try, I'm not sure quite how long. It depends on a number of things."
They went into the main room again. "Can you add another control panel out here?" Lisa looked at the door, then Taylor. "That way I can put some stuff in there and take it down to vacuum without freezing it at the same time. That might be useful."
"Yep, no problem," the girl said cheerily. The requested panel appeared next to the door.
"Thanks."
"What next?" Amy asked. "I have one-shot plants to make, and I want to do some more bioguns too. Plus a few other projects need some work."
"I'm going to free the means of production from the yoke of oppression," Taylor chuckled, making them stare at her.
"Have you gone full communist on us?" Amy asked with narrowed eyes. "People will get worried."
"I have an idea I want to try." Taylor looked even smugger than Lisa could manage. They exchanged a glance.
"Oh, hell, that normally means something weird is going to happen," Lisa sighed.
"Weird but fun. If it works."
The Varga, who was looking distinctly amused, vanished from around her neck, reforming as Saurial again. Moving about twenty feet deeper into the room, he turned to face her as the other two watched, wondering what she was going to do this time.
"Workforce to attention!" Taylor barked, her other aspect instantly snapping into the relevant pose.
"Ma'am!" 'Saurial' shouted. Amy and Lisa both shook their heads. Their friend couldn't resist an opportunity for a little skit.
"Workforce… Deploy!"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" Suddenly there were two Saurials, both of them standing to attention, about eight feet apart. Then four. Then eight.
When the count of identical lizard-girls reached sixty four in a long line, the line abruptly duplicated behind the first one, then repeated the process another sixty-two times. Lisa gaped at the massive array of reptilian figures, four thousand and ninety six of them. She noticed that they all had their eyes shut.
Looking at Amy, she met her friend's eyes, seeing the same wondering confusion in them as she was sure were in hers.
"Workforce… Create your station!" Taylor sounded extremely pleased with herself.
"MA'AM!" The thunderous, perfectly synced shout from over four thousand throats made the room echo. Instantly each lizard girl was enclosed in her own EDM box, six feet on a side. Lisa inspected them, slowly beginning to realize what the mad girl had in mind.
"Workforce… Begin!"
"YES, MA'AM!" Once again, the room echoed. When the sound died away, Amy turned to Taylor and pointed.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "And how? You can't run more than two aspects at the same time, you said."
"That's right," Taylor replied with a pleased smile.
"But there are thousands of them. You."
Lisa was, despite herself, giggling at the sound of outrage in the healer's voice. "She's totally crazy, but she figured out another loophole."
Amy turned to her. "Which is?"
"She can't run more than two aspects at the same time if they're doing different things." Lisa shook her head in admiration. "But she's not running more than two doing different things. She's running one doing that silly Sergeant Hardass act, and four thousand and ninety six aspects doing the exact same thing at the same time."
"Yep," Taylor nodded, still looking enormously satisfied. "We weren't sure it would work, but it does."
Amy looked between then, then back at the thousands of cubicles. "And all those little rooms are to make sure there's the same view for all of them, right?" she finally said, understanding in her voice.
"Exactly. Each copy is perfectly synced to the others." Taylor grinned. "So they all move simultaneously, see things simultaneously, and so on. It only works because I'm making identical copies of things, and each aspect is isolated, so it works out in my head to basically being one aspect."
"It's a very clever workaround," the Varga added through her mouth. "I wasn't sure it would actually work so well."
"The result is this," Taylor said in her own voice, turning to look at the cubicles, which promptly vanished. None of the other aspects were present either. Sitting on the floor where each had been was a familiar object. "There we are. Just under forty-one hundred flywheel units."
"In less than a minute and a half," Lisa said, stunned despite herself. "You are total bullshit, I hope you realize?"
"Shouldn't take long to make all the equipment we need like this," Taylor chuckled. "Call me when you need help, Amy. I'm going to farm FamTech for a while."
"TOTAL bullshit," Lisa repeated. Amy stared at the thousands of flywheels, shook her head, and wandered off, mumbling to herself.
Lisa watched Taylor and her demon walk around picking up the new units and stack them into crates on wheels they'd made, one hundred to a crate, then sighed and went off to experiment with freeze-drying paper and trying not to think too hard about how completely nuts her life was these days.
Newter looked at the entrance to the DWU, then at Mel, who was also staring at it. Behind them, Gregor and Elle were staring around at the scenery. The road they were on looked brand new, far better than he'd expected considering the condition of most of the buildings they'd passed on the way in.
In fact, a lot of the roads in the docks were oddly high quality, he'd noticed.
"Please try not to annoy the giant lizards," Mel finally said, putting the car in drive again and heading for the gate, at which two large men were watching them closely. "Or the DWU, for that matter. They're dangerous when they're riled."
"I'll be good," he replied, smiling a little.
"And don't be disappointed if they can't help, OK?" she added, with a look at him. Her mask reflected his face in the visor as he glanced at her.
"I know it's unlikely, Mel," he said quietly. "But I still think it's worth a try. Worst case, I'm right back where I started, right?"
"I suppose so," she nodded. They pulled up at the barrier and waited for the guards to come over.