Chapter Nine: The Goddesses Behind the Curtain
It was unfortunate, but there really was no way to move forward from here.
Clone Washu still cubed girls on occasion, for fun or for the sake of covering something up. There was some production. But not nearly in the magnitude necessary. It was more a hobby for her than a job. Which wasn't nearly good enough.
That was why the Chousin Goddesses now appeared. They had always known the location of Washu's original storage chamber. In fact, they'd known of it before it was ever created. Now they pierced the barrier and entered it in a flash of brilliant angelic light.
There were three of them in number. First, there was Tsunami with long blue haired, tied into braids behind her back. She was stunningly beautiful with an air of kindness and innocence. As well as this, she was the most curvaceous of the three. All the concealing robes in the universe couldn't hide her curves.
Next was Washu, clad in a lowcut dress with showed off her ample breasts. She wore a green outfit and a choker around her neck and wherever she looked the math of the universe became clear. Her hair was far longer than her mortal counterpart.
Last of all was Tokimi. None of the goddesses were human. They were far beyond mortality in beauty and substance. But Tokimi was strangest of all. She was beautiful, but the angles of her face were not quite right. There was something surreal about her.
The ages had not been kind to this subspace. As the thoughts of the girls faded, so too did the fabric of this reality begin to fray. Now it was only barely holding together. The areas around the cubed girls were still relatively stable. But the farther you got from them, the more cracks in the fabric you saw. In the far corners, darkness had given way to void. Nothingness was overtaking this place.
The only reason it remained at this point was because of the harvest within this place. And it was a very meager one. Only a few million beautiful, powerful, girls, trapped forever in bondage. Far below expectations and hopes.
And the quality of the harvest was far less than it should have been.
Tokimi spoke first, her voice monotone and dispassionate. But the other two goddesses caught on to irritation in her essence. "The mass we've gathered in this incarnation is not nearly sufficient for our purposes. We'll need to gather more."
"What about the girls, Tsunami?" asked Washu.
Tsunami made her way over to one of the many cubes. Setting a hand on them, she sensed their minds. Or lack thereof. Tsunami felt a bit sad. "They're completely blank, sister. They've wiped their own memories as a defense mechanism. I feel kind of sorry for them."
"Don't," said Tokimi. "Their existence is a mere blink of an eye. And should we wish to interact with them in a previous state, we may simply return to an earlier point in time.
"What they are now is needed for the Great Expansion."
Washu sighed. Viewers were likely to find that particular statement unsympathetic and vague. Then again, the viewers were not ones' to talk. Yes, Tokimi, Washu, and Tsunami were godlike entities playing with the lives of mortals, enjoying a show while existing outside of the world.
But weren't you?
And as for vague, it's called building suspense people. You couldn't info dump your whole plan in one chapter. The trick was leaving something for the imagination.
"Either way, we won't get much use out of them, then." Washu scanned over the readings. The mental patterns were deficient. Not dead, but it was like every single one of them had been driven into a coma. Though one induced by endless pleasure, rather than trauma. Some way to go. "We need mental frustration, waiting to be released in desperation. Not blanked out minds.
"Essential to our purposes is hope. Once they lost it, they stopped being as suitable for our purposes."
"What do we do then?" asked Tsunami.
"We anticipated that our first attempt would not yield the desired results," said Tokimi. "We should make another attempt. The simplest method would be a temporal interference. If we can alter the probabilities of the situation, a far greater number of girls will likely be cubed. This will advance our interests further."
"That'll get us more mass," said Washu. "It still doesn't solve our problem, though. What about the mental energy?"
Tsunami paused. Her mind scanned through an infinite number of different possible universes. Many of them were fascination but didn't suit the tone. Others less so, but achieved her goal. Tsunami was, for now, an entertainer. So she chose one which would be more exciting and advance their goal.
"The problem," said Tsunami, "is that there was no hope of escape. They gave up and forgot themselves."
"Well," said Washu, "the brain naturally forgets things that aren't important. Maybe we can do something to keep them occupied. Distract them from their state so they last longer."
"That alone won't be enough," said Tsunami. "Let me handle this, sister. I'll be able to make sure we get a greater level of mass and mental energy."
"What do you intend to do, Tsunami?" asked Tokimi.
Tsunami smiled as she invented several possible futures of her own. Miracles were such a beautiful thing. "Well, I wouldn't like to send anybody to do anything I wouldn't do myself. I think I'll put myself into the system. Once I'm involved, I should be able to arrange for both."
"Well, if you want," said Washu. Then she looked to the girls in storage. "What do we do with them?"
"We are about to interfere with the timeline in a fashion that will ensure they never existed in the first place," noted Tokimi.
"True, but they're presently in a decaying subspace," said Washu. "They're completely disconnected from the original timeline as it stands."
"Either way, it is of no relevance," said Tokimi. "It was a disappointing result. But their combined mass can still be used for the Great Expansion. I will draw them into the Singular Point in Space."
"One moment," said Tsunami. "I'd like to see if I can wake them up first."
"Isn't the whole point of this to avoid direct divine intervention?" asked Washu.
"I'm not going to interfere, just make them aware of themselves again," said Tsunami, stretching out. "They've been through a lot, and I'd hate for them to miss the grand finale."
"That could be several universes away." mused Tokimi.
"Well, you know what they say about good things coming to those who wait," said Tsunami. "Besides, this way, their frustration might be able to contribute." And she set her mind to the various girls. She entered into the blackness and sensory deprivation, which was their entire world. Out of the endless pleasure, she drew them out, conjuring thoughts and will within them.
They woke up for the first time in ages. At once, they enjoyed the sensation of the pleasure field put onto them. There was no frustration there, for they had no expectation. No desperation from the lack of movement, for they had never known movement save as a faraway shadow of a memory.
"There," said Tsunami. "Do you think I should explain things to them?"
"It wouldn't do any good. They're not capable of comprehending anything right now. All they've got is a base consciousness and the shadow of their memories." said Washu. "You'd have to rebuild them from the ground up."
"I am scanning their mental patterns," said Tokimi. "They are without frustration or negative emotions. Their compression and the pleasure field do not affect them. This is because they have never known any other existence.
"Their mental patterns are those of pleasured contentment.
"If we include them, they will only interfere with the Great Expanse. You are to be congratulated, Tsunami. They are now useless to us."
"Well, it's pretty nice for them," said Tsunami. "They don't have any of the hangups that stopped them from enjoying themselves before."
"For as long as they exist," muttered Washu. "If we don't find something to do with them, they'll fade into hypotheticals. The distance from the material universe will only buy them a little time."
"Oh, don't worry, Washu," said Tsunami. "I've got a plan to give these ladies a second chance at existence in the new timeline we create." Tsunami felt that this one would be really entertaining, and spice up the narrative a lot.
"Do you want to tell us the plan?" asked Washu.
"Well um..." Tsunami looked at the audience.
"Ah, right, the unspoken plan guarantee," said Washu. "Well, I see what it is. And I have to say; this one should shake things up a lot."
"Either way, we need to clean this subspace up before it interferes with the main timeline," said Tsunami. "We all know the plan.
"Let's do it."
All three goddesses held hands and began to focus. A glow appeared around the millions upon millions of cubed girls. As one, they were drawn from their digitization toward the goddesses. The goddesses began to glow, red for Washu, blue for Tsunami, yellow for Tokimi. As the cubed girls were sent into the center of the triad cries of absolute pleasure came from them. They enjoyed the enhanced pleasure as they were focused into denser and denser areas. The creation began to form before them, a device that would herald the next part of the arc.
Finally, the glow vanished. With it, the subspace, now empty, fell away and disappeared as though it had never been. Tokimi examined the object they had created and sensed it's potential. "It's done. The girls have now been formed into the creation you desired, Tsunami. Their consciousness appears to be developing somewhat due to the change in circumstances.
"With their awareness of an outside universe, I sense frustration."
"Not with their nature, though," noted Washu. "They're frustrated with the nature of the outside universe. It seems wrong to them.
"This could work perfectly. Good work, Tsunami."
"It was nothing, really," said Tsunami. "With the points of connection, we should be able to influence things more directly. It will go a long way to increasing our returns." She was being vague, of course. But observant viewers would probably figure it out.
"Now, I'd better go back and make sure Clone Washu doesn't abandon the job half finished."
She turned and walked away. As she disappeared, Washu looked to Tokimi. "Half-finished? We're not even one percent of the way there."
"She speaks metaphorically," said Tokimi.
"Right, right," said Washu.
Things had escalated quite a bit under Clone Washu. But now they were about to get interesting.
Author's Note:
So this chapter is largely set up for the next arc, so to speak. The focus will probably turn to other characters besides just Clone Washu after this point. Though she'll still have a plan.