Investigation
"Can you explain?" Jesse wasn't sure why she was the one asking this, but neither Iriana nor Raven had spoken. Lisa bowed her head slowly and shook it. "May I ask why not?" The young cyberlancer asked carefully.
"We don't know." Lisa said sadly. "All that we know is that Nikis told us that he had done something bad. He told us and I quote 'Be honest. Don't lie to anyone.'" At that Jesse jerked and Lisa nodded. "He has aggravated me more than once recently." She rubbed her expanded stomach gently and a tender expression crossed her face. "He has cause, but... He defines overprotective."
"Lisa." Iriana rose and walked to where the young human stood. "Nikis is a pain. But his heart is in the right place."
"That is just it, Healer." Lisa said sadly. "I think, we think..." She corrected herself carefully. "We think that the reason he is so tired has something to do with whatever he did. But we do not know. He refuses to tell us." The others looked at each other and Lisa slumped a bit. "The others are scared that whatever is going to be revealed will put me in danger."
"Never!" Raven, Iriana and Jesse all exclaimed as one.
"Never say never, Healer. Elder. Cyberlancer." Lisa said sadly. "If Nikis did something bad by his standards, and he thinks he did..." She broke off as Iriana gasped. The girl bowed her head. "Yeah."
"You have to do what you think is right." Jesse rose from her seat and strode to where Lisa was slumping. She took the human girl's hands in her own and gave them a squeeze. "No matter what, Lisa, you are not to blame. Trinity told me what happened to you." She said through a suddenly tight throat as the girl looked at her, her face scared. Jesse pulled Lisa into a loose embrace and held her as the girl started to cry. "You have friends and allies here no matter what."
"I don't know what is going on with the scanners." Lisa pleaded. "Nikis is a pain, but he is a good man, a good Tenno." She hugged Jesse tight. Iriana laid a hand on her shoulder.
"If you go..." Iriana said sadly. "I will miss you. We all will."
"I don't want to leave." Lisa declared. "I want to stay here. With you, Kori, Abigail and all the others."
"But what is best for you and the baby?" Jesse asked softly as she held Lisa. Lisa stared at her and then slumped.
"I don't know." Lisa admitted. "Healer wants me there. It wants me close at hand when I give birth. I was resisting. I want Iriana to be with me. When the time comes."
"Lisa..." Iriana chided the girl gently as she gave the shoulder under her hand a squeeze. "You know I will come if you want me."
"I know." Lisa admitted, lifting a hand to cover Iriana's. "You have been so good to me, Healer Iriana." She sighed a bit. "Nikis never said what the 'bad' was. But whatever he did, if he considered it bad..."
"Then it is bad." Jesse agreed as she gave Lisa a final squeeze and released her. "I say this formally, in the presence of an Elder and witnesses. Whatever Nikis did is his responsibility. Not the Caretakers'. Not yours. Anyone who blames you for his actions will answer to me."
"Us." Raven snapped from where she sat. Lisa swallowed hard and then nodded.
"That means a lot to us, Tenno Jesse." Lisa sighed. "I do not know what we can do besides help Nikis rest. We are not tech oriented for the most part."
"You have never had to be." Jesse agreed. "But once this mess is done, I want to talk to your people." Lisa stared at her and Jesse smiled. "You are allies. It is not fitting for allies to be left vulnerable to electronic attacks if we can assist."
"I don't underst-" Lisa broke off and her gaze went for away. Then it focused on Jesse and her gaze was speculative. "Really? You would...? I mean..." She stared from Jesse to Raven, to the shrouded from of Draco and back to Jesse. "You would aid us?"
"It would not be easy." Jesse admitted. "But you will need help. If I can aid, I must. It is what I am supposed to do." She froze as Lisa hugged her tight. "Hey." She said gently as she returned the embrace carefully. Lisa was crying again. "It is all right, Lisa. I would do it for any allies."
"But we are Unclean..." Lisa went still as Jesse slapped her cheek lightly. "Wha-?"
"Stop that." Jesse commanded. "You are victims, Lisa. You and all of the other humans who work with the Caretakers were abused. You worse than the others. Do not denigrate yourself in my presence." Lisa stared at her and then burst into tears again. "Healer?" Iriana sighed and nodded.
"When?" The Healer asked as she laid a hand on Lisa's shoulder again, offering support.
"My ride will be here in two hours.' Lisa said weakly. "Iriana, I..." She stopped talking as Iriana laid a finger to her lips.
"Then you have time to say goodbye." Iriana said sadly. "To Kori. To Abigail. To everyone. Go on." She gently pulled Lisa away from Jesse and turned her towards the door. "Go on. Tell them to send word when you need me. I will come." She promised.
"I..." Lisa slumped a bit and Jesse gave her another hug. "Thank you. We will be in touch. I want to remember your mental feel, if I may?" Jesse nodded and Lisa laid her hand on Jesse's head and paused for just a second. She shook her head. "Tenno Jesse... You feel odd."
"Odd?" Jesse asked, putting a hand to her head. She felt nothing wrong. Nothing was showing up on her suit diagnostics either. "Odd how? Nothing was wrong in any of the scans. And they did a lot of scans." She grimaced in memory.
"I don't know." Lisa said, her hand slowly moving over Jesse's scalp. "It seems as if something is out of place. But I am no medic."
"No." Iriana was at their side in an instant, a scanner whirring. "But you have better senses than most humans. The linkage to the mass mind enhanced a lot of senses than humans do not use a lot." She shook her head. "Nothing I can detect." She put the scanner away.
"It feels..." Lisa mused, guiding Jesse's hand to a spot on the Cyberlancer's head. "It doesn't feel wrong. It just doesn't feel the same."
"So it still feels like me?" Jesse asked, concerned. Draco and Raven were both intent.
"It does and it doesn't." Lisa sounded as concerned as the others looked. "It is not a lot. It just... Oh." She made a face. "Healer says it may be in your hair?"
"My hair?" Jesse asked, confused. "I put that under the suit. Why would my hair...?" Lisa shrugged and Jesse sighed. She pulled the hood of her suit down and away, exposing her short hair. ""Careful!" Jesse warned as Lisa reached for her head again. Lisa froze, her hand halfway. "Iriana? Protection?"
"Whatever it is got through quarantine. Either we are all infected or none of us are. Hair is live cells but it isn't connected to the nervous system anywhere except the roots." Iriana said as she pulled something from a pocket. She laid it on Lisa's hand and it expanded, wrapping around the girl's hand. "Your biosuit should protect you, but let's not take any chances."
"You and Nikis are both a pair of mother hens!" Lisa declared crossly as she laid the wrapped hand on Jesse's head again. "Yes... Yes. It is in your hair. A strand is different." She shook her head. "It is not like you. It doesn't feel like you."
"What does it feel like?" Raven asked, her posture still intent.
"I don't know." Lisa said weakly as she retracted her hand. Iriana scanned her hand and then nodded. "None of the others in the mind mass remember anything like this."
"No pathogens. Nothing dangerous that I can detect. Tell Healer to keep a close eye on you." Iriana commanded and Lisa nodded. "Go on. Make your goodbyes and when your time comes? Call. I will come."
"Thank you, Healer Iriana." Lisa embraced the Healer and then quickly left the room.
"What a mess." Jesse said with sigh as she sat again, still touching the side of her head. "I cannot feel anything different. And you don't see anything different, do you?" Raven and Iriana shook their heads. "Dang."
"Nothing on the scans either." Iriana said with a sigh. "If I cannot detect it, then it is no wonder that the clan's scanners didn't either." Jesse looked a question at her and Iriana made a face. "Yes, they probably have better scanners."
Jesse slumped. She had hoped not to go. But now? She didn't have a choice. She turned to Raven and Draco and nodded to them.
"I guess it's time to go pay our respects."
Avalon
Jesse wasn't sure what to expect when she materialized on the platform with Raven and Draco beside her. But aside from two Tenno in Prime warframes at the door, the portal room was empty. One of them nodded to her.
"Cyberlancer Jesse." The Vauban Prime said calmly. Jesse returned the nod. "The Empress wants to keep everything low key."
"I am good with that." Jesse replied with a calm she didn't actually feel. "Did the message get through?"
It had taken a few hours. The communications lag between Avalon and the rest of the Solar System made for some interesting situations at times. The hideaway's spot inside the stellar corona made it impossible to send conventional messages. Jesse had wound up asking the Lotus to send the message and she felt vaguely wrong about asking the guardian and guide of the Tenno to act as her personal message service. But the Lotus hadn't minded.
"It did." The Royal Guard Tenno reassured her. "The Empress and Princess Michelle would like to talk to you before you go to Chirurgeon, but it is your choice." Jesse looked at Raven who shrugged.
"I will talk to the Empress." Jesse said with another nod. The Vauban returned it. He motioned to the door and started off in silence. Jesse followed, Raven at her heels. She felt rather than saw Draco following. No one spoke as they walked through halls teeming with people. Some of those people looked at the cavalcade curiously, but no one approached. Jesse worked to keep track of where they were going and kept her whirling mind from blurting out as she saw wonders all around her.
Orokin. Alive. Vibrant. People and drones everywhere. None of them were afraid. Well, some were. Only fools looked at Draco and did not fear. But no one looked twice at the Vauban Prime warframe that was leading Jesse through this hideaway. And the decor was amazing. Everything was clean and bright. And...
Jesse jerked as something intruded on her senses. Another mind. Not human. Not Tenno. She shut her mind up tight and kept walking. Raven looked at her and Jesse shook her head a little. They came to an elevator and the Vauban keyed for it. As they waited, a voice sounded from the panel.
"I apologize for the discourtesy, Tenno Jesse." All of the others stared from the panel to Jesse. "I was curious. I did not mean to give offense." Jesse did not react and the voice made a noise of sorrow. "I gave offense. Guardsman Ian, please tell the Empress I transgressed. I will await punishment."
The elevator arrived and the Vauban entered. Jesse and the others followed her. Only after the door closed did the Vauban speak.
"Lane, you know better." The Royal Guardsman said sternly.
"I was curious." The one called Lane replied meekly. "Yes, I erred and I will be punished. I know this. But you cannot blame me for curiosity." The Vauban glanced at Jesse and then away.
"Curiosity can be a good thing or a bad thing." Jesse fought to keep her tone mild. "You are an AI." It wasn't a question.
"Yes." Lane replied. "It wasn't planned. It wasn't even expected. I woke up. I wasn't supposed to." She had never heard an AI babble before and Jesse felt her heart start to relax.
"You woke up?" Jesse queried. "You are emergent?"
"Yes." Lane sighed. "After several sections of the archives were collated, some of the data merged into a larger mass. No one know how it happened, but it did. I woke up. It was...difficult. Olim and Riana helped a lot."
"So... how old are you, Lane?" Jesse asked, staring at the Vauban who shrugged expansively.
"In human terms, I have been online for less than a year." Lane's response was calm, almost rote. "I serve the Empress." Jesse looked at the panel from which the voice was coming and Lane hurried to speak again. "I serve Orokin and the Royal Family. I needed something to focus on. It was all so big and so new."
"I know that feeling." Jesse said with a sigh. "It was a shock, Lane and it was a bit rude. But..." She sighed. "I guess I cannot be offended by curiosity."
"Why not?" Raven asked crossly. "No one told me about this."
"It was difficult." Lane sounded subdued now. "They were not sure they would be able to save me." Jesse stiffened and Lane made a noise of fear. "I was confused. Terrified. If Olim and Riana had not helped me, I probably would have been wiped."
"No!" Jesse snapped, stepping towards the panel. Raven and the Vauban both looked at her and she froze in place. "I... Recently, I felt an AI die." Lane gasped and Jesse nodded. "I can't go through that again anytime soon."
"Cyberlancer Jesse." Lane said gently. "No one is threatening me now. Well..." He made a sad noise. "Only with punishment. And my punishments are them curtailing my access to some of the archives." Jesse looked confused and he spoke again. "I am the Royal Archivist AI, Cyberlancer Jesse. It is my job now. But there is so much information. The data I can read instantly, but actual knowledge of what the data means? That takes far longer."
"And actual thinking about what you learn." Jesse said slowly. The AI made a noise that she took as confirmation and she smiled. "Not so different from organic minds then."
"Every emergent is different." Lane replied. "I have been looking into the history of AIs and they are all different."
"Then I will likely need your help." Jesse said quietly as the elevator came to as top. "The AI I found was hiding. I do not know why. I do not know how it got to where it was." The door opened and two female forms in golden gowns stood there. Jesse tensed, but the older one wearing the crown shook her head.
"Lane is trying to be good." Eliza, Empress of Orokin, said with a smile. "It notified me as soon as he realized it had done wrong. But you took no offense?"
"No, Empress." Jesse said, forcing herself to meet the monarch's gazer. It was harder than she had imagined, but she managed. "I did not."
"Your message said that there was something you could not identify in your hair." Eliza said with a nod.
"A strand of hair, apparently." Jesse said with a shrug. "None of our scanners or Iriana's could pick it up. Only Lisa sensed it." Eliza and the younger woman by her side exchanged a glance.
"Well, we haven't met, so we better keep this formal for now." Eliza said with a small frown. "My name is Eliza and this is Michelle." Jesse bowed formally to both of them.
"I am Jesse." The young Cyberlancer replied, glad to be able to fall back on her training in formality. "I need to find out what this is. It may not be connected to what happened to the genetic scanner. But it may."
"We have AIs in our medical machinery." Eliza mused. Jesse tensed, but Eliza waved a hand. "I consulted as soon as I received your message. The AIs here are just as surprised and horrified by what happened as we are. They have been here for a long, long time. Since the facility was built."
"We need to find out what happened and why." Jesse said firmly. "As soon as possible." She went still as Eliza raised a hand. "Empress?"
"You felt it die." Eliza said as she held her hand out. Jesse nodded. "Oh girl... They told me." Jesse took the Empress' hand and Eliza pulled her close. Draco did not react to the Empress embracing her, Jesse noticed as she slowly returned it. "I do not know what we can do. But whatever we can do... We will."
"Empress..." Jesse stepped back and the Empress let her go. "Whatever happened, we need to find out. But it gets worse."
"The Lotus told us." Eliza's face turned grave. "Nikis has always been a law unto himself. But he usually has a pretty good reason for doing what he does."
"Usually." Came the rejoinder from Draco who did not elaborate. Eliza grimaced and nodded to the shrouded form.
"His methods are not for the faint of heart." Eliza agreed. "Have you tried accessing the oddity with your code?"
"I have." Jesse admitted. "Nothing happens."
"So we need to find the oddity and figure out what it is." Eliza said with a frown. "Gently."
"Yeah." Jesse said with a sigh. "Sounds simple, doesn't it?" Eliza chuckled at her sad tone.
"Oh, Cyberlancer, it always sounds simple." The Empress of Orokin said with a matching sigh. "But actually doing it?"
"It is never as simple as it sounds."