Consciousness struck like lightning, and she opened her eyes.

There were a few brief seconds of hazy digital static before the faces above her clarified. One was sallow with greying hair, stern, square, and solid. One was ruddy with long jet-black hair and an aquiline nose. The third...the third was blue and metallic, and her face seemed to gleam with an interior supernal light.

"I see you're awake," the owner of this last face said. "I am the counselor Itinerant Analog Calculatrix. Can you tell me your name?"

"Beneficent Sanguine Messenger." The words leapt into her mind, though she could not recall hearing them spoken.

"Curious name for a Soulsteel caste," the black-haired woman said with a tone of amusement. "Guess you can't all be grim avengers of the night."

"Where am I?" Messenger asked. Grim avenger of the night? Somehow that sounded familiar, but she remembered nothing.

"This is the city of Sporish, at the bottom of the Pole of Lightning. I know that may not mean much to you," Calculatrix allowed. "Most of your past lives took place on Earth, from which your soul was harvested."

"Your new incarnation is in Autochthonia," said the sallow man. "Try to remember. This is unlikely to be your first time here. It takes many heroic lifetimes to catalyze an Alchemical Exalt. I am Jayvin Trusk, and this is Laren Asuz. We were part of the team who animated you."

"I'm here to help you get oriented," Calculatrix explained. "Those of us who spent many of our recent incarnations on Earth sometimes have trouble remembering background information here, though we often don't consciously remember our recent lives, either. I was in the same position a few years ago."

Messenger struggled to her feet from the frame she'd been embedded in. "We're on a different dimensional plane from Earth, then?" The chamber was roughly spherical, its surface implanted with a variety of circuits and machinery. Halfway up the wall was a window into some sort of control room.

"Autochthonia has been connected to Gaia for several thousands of years," Trusk explained, "but travel has always been rare except for disembodied souls, which pass freely between realms. Your past incarnations were largely spent on Earth, but if you think carefully, I'm sure memories of this world will come to you."

"For instance, Calculatrix spent the last two years of her last Earthly life in Sunnydale, California as a teacher. That may not sound heroic," Asuz said, "but Sunnydale is built on a massive uncapped Malfean demesne. Her career of heroism there was brief, as mortals often find it, but distinguished, beginning with the defeat of Moloch the Corrupter. Before that, she-"

"The Hellmouth," Messenger said. "I remember that much."

"More will come back to you," Calculatrix told her, with a strange narrowing to her eyes. "You had a long...complicated life last time around. Just remember that the Exaltations measure heroism in terms of agency more than morality and it won't be all that confusing."

"You make it sound as if I was a bad person," Messenger said anxiously.

Asuz shrugged. "Try not to worry about it too much. It's a new life. Take the fresh start you've been given for what it is."

Messenger nodded, still uneasy. Her limbs felt heavy and not quite in their proper shape. She looked down and found her body sealed in form-fitting black metal armor. It should have been uncomfortable at best, but it didn't even chafe. "I'll do my best."

Chapter 79-Ultimate Dim Thule

Harmony's hands moved faster over the grid, rearranging gems. "I'm, like, really close, I swear!"

"You'd better be!" Santangelo fired off another bolt of flame at the encroaching wires. "We're about to be sliced and diced!" Two or three of the wires melted, but most remained intact.

"Got it!" The remaining stones dropped into their slots; the wires stopped advancing and, after two seconds, retracted into the walls. "That's room thirty-four," Harmony breathed. "And I've managed not to wreck my nails yet."

"Anyone seeing any theme at all to these rooms?" Gwen asked. "Because I'm really not."

"Twenty-one math problems," Shoat said, pretending to count on her fingers. "Seven principles of mystic practice. Five physical strength, but the third might have been meant to be solved some other way. One perception and quick reflexes."

"That's a lot of math," Harmony said, "but I kinda wonder if they're not, like, tailored to me. I get math now but I've still got some gaps in what I know, like stats."

"Six stats problems," Shoat agreed. "Four integral calculus, that you said was still new to you."

"What does any of this have to do with sacrifice?" Santangelo asked. "You said that was always the final challenge."

"How many of these little rooms have we got?" Gwen asked. "Maria and Shoat are managing okay for now, but you're the one who's figuring out most of this stuff, and you're basically down to nothing."

"I have this idea," Harmony said. "I worked out how to lend people energy last month but I haven't had much use for it. But if I could borrow..." She trailed off. "Still haven't worked out how to do it, but I could take from Shoat or Santangelo."

"Well, remember," Santangelo pointed out, sagging against the wall, "we're only better off than you cause we can regen down here. I've got less energy, and Shoat only has about the same."

Harmony rested her palm on the door actuator to the left, irising open a hatch. Santangelo took point, feeling carefully for magic in the air and searching for hidden tripwires or touch plates. "Nothing here," she said.

Shoat and Gwen moved in after her, but Harmony held position at the wall. "C'mon," Shoat urged.

Harm still didn't budge. She closed her eyes. "That looks..." She didn't finish that line either, but stepped forward, following Shoat with her eyes still closed. "Inverse," she mumbled, "converse, and contrapositive. Um...let's try inverse." She held out a hand to Shoat, who shrugged and took it. A skeletal unicorn flared above them in grey and purple. Black ripples cascaded back along the connection to Harmony, who shivered while Shoat seemed to wilt. "You okay?"

"I've been better," Shoat said wearily. "You feel better?" Harm nodded mutely. "Harm, are you sure this is the sort of thing you wanna go after?"

"I didn't steal it," Harmony pointed out. "What's bad about taking energy you're ready to give?"

Shoat frowned and shrugged. "Guess I see your point. Still looked ugly, though."

Harmony huffed. "I'm the one getting us in and out, you know? Let's get moving. I'm real hungry and kinda tired."

Gwen, Santangelo, and Shoat stared at each other for a moment before Shoat tugged on Harmony's hand. "Yeah," she said, "let's go."

Faith was a roiling ball of rage at the door of the containment cell. Amy rubbed Faith's back gently with her telekinesis, not that it seemed to be doing any good. In fact, after a few moments Faith started twitching irritably and Amy stopped.

"I told you," Stephen said in a bored monotone. "I killed him because he was a demon. What other reason do I need?"

Faith snarled and smashed a fist into the door, which shook but didn't break. "He was one of the good guys, you dumbass!"

Stephen smirked casually back at her. "You think so? It's not like he's even really gone. Watch this." His body morphed and shifted, growing taller and broader, becoming a duplicate of Angel. "Wasn't entirely sure that would work. Had to drink just before killed him."

"You're not him, asshole!" Faith yelled.

Stephen chuckled. "Nah, just his kid. He's a whole demon, I'm just half. Here, don't believe me? Watch this." He pointed to her with two fingers, then back into his own eyes.

Faith froze for a moment, staring into his eyes...then growled under her breath and began pounding on the door, harder and harder. "I'm gonna kill you!" she snarled. The plastic panel cracked, then the keypad as Faith struck it. The door popped open, allowing Stephen to lunge at Faith. crashing into her.

This was perhaps not the best of decisions. Faith began to pummel him mercilessly with blows to the gut, the head, the arms. Only the wildness of her swings allowed him to redirect some of them into the walls and floor, where they left massive dents in the sheetrock and holes in the tile. Then silver claws burst from his fingertips, and he laid into her in return, gashing open her arms.

Faith lunged to one side, aiming to evade his slashes, and Amy seized both of them telekinetically and hoisted them into the air. There. Nothing in reach, no way to exert force or move, though Faith clawed at the air and screamed curses.

Something went crack inside Amy's head and Faith lurched forward. Shit, she was flying; Amy hadn't thought of that. Still, the telekinetic grip was slowing her. Amy hit the call button. "I've got a brawl up here! Need some help!"

Stephen opened his mouth. Instead of the cry of rage Amy expected, a swarm of wasps burst out and surrounded Faith, stinging furiously. "You little freak!" A moment later, she got close enough to grab him and slam him upward into the ceiling while the momentum exchange dropped her to the floor.

Stephen vanished-no, he'd become some sort of translucent jellyfish. His tentacles grabbed Faith by the neck and tried to pull him into her mouth. She seized him and tried to toss him away, but he didn't seem to have lost any strength in the change.

Amy yanked him away and sent him flying, then, in desperation, tried closing off Faith's carotid arteries. Faith spotted the ripples of white light and clamped her hands around her own throat, warding Amy off. Amy saw murder in her eyes. "Faith, please! We're girlfriends, right? I'm doing this because you're acting crazy! I swear I'd never hurt you!" The haze in Faith's eyes cleared, just a fraction, just for a moment, and she turned and launched herself at Stephen again.

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. But she still had to keep Faith from slaughtering this guy...or maybe being slaughtered by him. Could she use her telekinesis as a barrier? She focused, feeling a stab of pain in her forehead and a trickle of liquid from her nose. Spheres of light blossomed around Faith and Stephen alike. Now reverted to human form, Stephen was busy invoking some new power and was caught by the solidifying field, but Faith came flying free of it to crash into the second sphere.

Bruised, she stumbled to her feet, eyes fixing malignantly on Amy once more. But that was when Kate, Riley, and a pair of Fire-girls came crashing through the door. Kate caught Faith in an armlock, and flanked by the Terrestrials, Faith finally sagged and let the fight go out of her.

Harmony rearranged the images on the screen. "Death and life with a guardian in between doesn't work. Threat leading to death doesn't work. Um..."

"Harm!" Gwen blasted the approaching specters again with just as little effect as before. "Get it right this time!"

"Oh! I'm a total dumbass! Life, then death, then the maw of oblivion!" Click, click, click. "I was thinking there wouldn't be anything to be afraid of after death, but-"

"Finish the damn puzzle!" Santangelo shouted.

Harm ran through the rest of the thirty-symbol sequence real fast and hit enter, or the button that acted like enter anyway. The ghosts vanished, the doors opened wirh a clack, and everyone sagged to the floor.

"We're going back," Shoat said. "Plot us a route back out of here, Harm." She rubbed the gash on her face, smearing blood.

"I promise we're real close," Harmony insisted. "I swear, guys! Please!"

"I'll give you five more rooms," Gwen said. "I'm the token mortal here, so I figure I've got the right to set the limit on what I can handle, right?"

"I'll go with that if it's okay with Shoat," Santangelo grumbled.

Shoat sighed. "Five rooms or till someone else gets hurt, whichever comes first. But we'd better book it, Harm."

Harm dropped through the trapdoor in the floor. She wasn't losing this!

Daniel Holtz was not a man much given to confusion.

He understood what he was, and why. He was the Dawn, a servant of God to bring light into the world and burn away the darkness.

He understood what his son Stephen was, too, and why. Stephen was the child of two vampires, half-demon himself, and it was no wonder that he carried unholy powers. But Daniel's power held no special harm toward him, so Stephen must be human enough to do right and have at least some chance at salvation.

But then, why did his protégé Justine and his own blood daughter Sarah carry the same unholy powers? What was Itinerant Analog Calculatrix? And why did he have such a bad feeling about her new friend, Beneficent Sanguine Messenger? All these questions left Holtz off his balance, and until he regained it, he dared not make a decisive move. On first gaining these powers, he had acted too hastily out of overconfidence. He was not the Almighty.

"I need to return to Earth," he said to Calculatrix. "I value your assistance, but my primary work is not here. I believe that the Architect misled me for her own purposes." On Earth he would be back in an environment he could partially understand.

"She's been known to do that," Calculatrix said with a frown. "She thinks like a Starmetal caste sometimes. I can return you to Earth. I have a bit of work there myself. Is the Wolfram & Hart tower acceptable?"

When last he had been there, it had been to free his daughter. Paying Lilah Morgan back would be a good use of his time, for now. "So long as we emerge out of sight," he said after some consideration.

"Can do," Calculatrix alleged. He hoped she was right.

"So you just flipped out," Amy said.

"Yeah," Faith said flatly. "I remember. Seemed to make sense at the time. Kid killed Angel, tried to put me in his thrall."

"He's got thrall?" Kate said, alarmed.

"You bet," Faith insisted. "I'm five by five now, but for a while I was so pissed I couldn't help tryin' to kill him and everything else in my path."

"Doesn't exactly sound natural," Riley said with a grunt.

"In Creation I heard a lot of stuff about the Solars goin' nuts," Faith said uneasily, "an' maybe the others too. And Five Days' Darkness said the same thing, only we didn't much believe him. Nobody seems to know why."

"We don't have much choice but to release more Exaltations, if Five Days' Darkness is telling the truth about the apocalypse," Amy said, "so figuring out this whole crazy-going thing is gonna have to be next priority. Right?"

"Can't argue with that," Riley said, "but if they had thousands of years and the best anyone ever came up with was 'imprison the Solars', what chance have we got?"

Faith narrowed her eyes. "I didn't see a lot of Creation, but they don't exactly have their act together over there. Look, the Dragon-Blooded are all-round better at everything, not just fighting, and there are thousands of them, and they can spread it around, even to normal people. But they're still livin' in the Bronze Age, 'cept for the leftovers. Sure, things have taken some hits, but I ain't convinced they're really trying. And 'fore that, the Solars got so smart they wouldn't listen to anyone else-even the other Exalted-an' there were only three hundred of 'em. We can do better. Hell, we can probably do better right now."

Amy grinned. "Got any suggestions, Faith?"

Faith blinked. "Who me? Hell no. I was about to ask you."

Amy exchanged an irritated look with Kate. "Did you hear anything about ways the Exalted might have boosted their intelligence even higher?" Kate asked.

"Terrestrial helpers," Faith started. "Eclipses learning other booster powers from not-Solars. Smart drugs-hey, I wonder if we can find mercury ants somewhere still?"

"I'll look into it," Amy said. "Go on."

"Shit, I don't remember," Faith said, eyeing Amy suspiciously. "There was something about this group mind project thing Willow was going on about. I'm not the one you wanna ask. Hell, where's Harm these days?"

"Harmony," Shoat said as the Solar disarmed the incinerator with half a minute to spare, "that's your fifth room. Time to head back."

"Um, we got a problem with that," Harmony sighed. "We're lost."

"What the hell," Santangelo snarled. "What do you mean we're lost?"

"I mean I agreed to five rooms because I calculated we'd be there in three, give or take one. We ought to be there." Harmony sketched out a rough sphere in the fine coating of ash on the floor. "I've been aiming for the center the whole time, allowing for a detour around a trap here or there that I didn't see how to pass. This line is our course."

"Okay," Gwen asked reasonably, "how can we be lost?"

"I don't know," Harm said, throwing up her hands. "Unless...unless the rooms are moving around!"

"Jesus," Shoat murmured. "Okay, well, we still have to get out. We'll never make it to the center. Try and work out how the rooms are moving and we'll plot out a new course, but for the exit."

Harmony nodded uncomfortably. It really wasn't fair. Who'd designed this place, anyway?

She didn't have to plot their next course for the exit.

Weeping Raiton poked the prototype, and it flinched slightly and grunted. "Adequate. Are we ready to begin mass production? The Neverborn grow impatient."

"As does the Viator," agreed the avatar of Ralacken. "But he accepts that we cannot rush deployment. Doing so would guarantee unacceptable losses."

"Losses will be total," Raiton argued. "This is inevitable. We need only make sure thry are total for all sides."

"The Viator disagrees," Ralacken snapped back. "The key point in his plan requires the destruction of Gaia before Autochthon's death. He has calculated that a single Neverborn will survive the annihilation of existence and be reborn as a Primordial, in the Wyld."

"Then we have a disagreement, but not a critical one," Raiton concluded. "We still must accelerate production."

"Exponential spread is accelerating now," Ralacken explained. "We are about to enter the main curve in the dataplot. You must trust us."

"There is no trust," Raiton said, "but your argument is compelling. We will wait."

Messenger poked at a curious little knot of flesh that had appeared just above her armor. It was far enough around on her back that she couldn't see it clearly. She wanted to ask Calculatrix, but, well...it was embarrassing. The thing was probably just the equivalent of a pimple.

"Jump point calibrated," Calculatrix announced. "Is everyone ready? Good," she finished as everyone signaled. "Activating."

A brilliant point of green light appeared above the platform and rapidly expanded into a vortex. Holtz took point, naturally. After a moment, the glowing green marker signalling the way was clear rolled back through the portal. Sarah jumped through, then Justine.

Messenger emerged into a dusty room filled with boxes. "-like a basement level," Justine was saying, which seemed about right.

"Oi!" called out a familiar voice as Calculatrix emerged. "Did you catch 'im yet?" Who was that? Messenger was certain she knew him, but Sarah put a finger to Messenger's lips to keep her quiet as Calculatrix emerged and the portal closed. "You better not be him. I'm ready for that twit this time." But the pattern of his footsteps indicated he was sneaking away.

"Coward," Holtz muttered.

"That's William the Bloody, more commonly known as Spike these days. Sired by Drusilla, sired by Angelus," Justine said. "Let's go take him down."

Holtz narrowed his eyes. "Lilah Morgan first. If we are to use these powers effectively, we should first destroy the greater dangers. The lesser can wait, if we find no one under attack." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Never fear: we will destroy him. All in good time."

"I've got a theory," Harmony said. She felt wrung out, but they were close. "The rooms are shifting around in and out of the three-dimensional space we can access. We can't actually get into other parts of the four-space, not by ourselves anyway, but they can come to us. Or the rooms can carry us there if they move while we're inside."

"We don't need a theory," Santangelo said, "we need a map. Or a course, at least."

Harmony sketched out the sphere again on the floor. "The rooms move forward in time like shifting bubbles in fizz. If we catch a moving bubble we can let it float us straight to the top and get out."

"Into the future?" Shoat asked.

"Our future where we're leaving," Harm tried.

"If you say so." Shoat began to pop her knuckles one by one. "What do we have to do for that?"

"The bubbles move when we set off traps," Santangelo said. "It's how I'd arrange it. Mess up and the maze changes. Not sure how to make it keep going to the top, though."

"We need a continuous error," Harmony said. "This room has a screen. Gwen, like, zap it when I give the word. The three of us will fight off the wall zombies. That should get us totally up to the top."

"You're sure you're going to do this?" Gwen asked. "For a while I thought you'd rather run us all into the ground to get that mantle."

Harm pouted. "I think we need it," she said slowly. "But I'm not going to kill us all to get it. If we can come back better prepared I will, but if this is the only chance we have, then I guess we have to let it go. I don't really wanna. I'd be the first Solar to ever get the Void Circle."

"Maybe that's for the best," Shoat said.

"Maybe." The word had to be dragged out of Harmony. "Anyway...Gwen, go!"

Gwen shocked the terminal, and all hell broke loose.

"Hey!" Faith shouted. "Spike told me there were people down here! If you're just maintenance or somethin', come out an' quit hiding! If not, you may as well come out anyway cause I'm gonna have to kick your ass!"

Sarah was about to call out to her when she realized that Calculatrix was missing. Where'd she gone? Wait. If that was her sneaking up behind Faith, she was pretty good.

Calculatrix held out her hand, and a crystalline spike shot out and impaled Faith at the base of her skull. Faith jerked once and went limp.

"Did you kill her?" Sarah asked. Calculatrix shook her head and said nothing. A few moments passed. Finally Faith raised her head, and Calculatrix let the spike retract.

Faith's eyes were glassy. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked tonelessly.

"For a little while," Calculatrix told her. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"Are we moving?" Gwen called out. "I can't keep this up long!" Sparks rained from her hands onto the terminal, which juddered and sounded alarms.

Half-skeletal zombies poured out of the walls. Shoat had managed to control a few and was making them fight the others, and Santangelo's flame aura was holding them at bay from her. Harmony stood at the back, eyes closed, anima barrier fending off the occasional glancing blow. "We're moving," she said, but she was frowning as if something was wrong. "Hold it...hold it...okay, Gwen, stop! Hit three-eight-four!"

"It's not stabilized!" Gwen yelled back. "I can't touch any keys till they hold still!"

"It's ok," Harmony said. "We're still moving. Wait for it, then stop the room when you can."

"Better not take too long," Santangelo warned. "Running low here!"

"Got it!" Gwen called.

The zombies lurched away and fused into the walls again, vanishing from sight. "Room's slowing," Harmony reported. "I'm gonna get the door, but be ready for something funny."

She pressed the door in. It opened, and she gasped.

"What is it?" Gwen asked, pressing in for a look.

"Seriously awesome stuff!" Harmony said, and pulled herself inside.