Chapter 14: Intergalactic Early Access

The night sky hung over the city of Kivotos, and the lights from the halos above pierced the clouds, creating a beautiful starry backdrop. It was the perfect contrast and an unfitting choice of scenery for the tense showdown that was about to go underway, as I cleared each train car subsequently above the rhythmic jostling of the tracks below. I held the flaming Lance of Preservation out in front of me in a defensive stance, the downward angle protecting much of my body as well as putting me in prime position to react to any point-blank threats immediately.

As I quickly inched forward, I was trailed closely behind by Shiroko as well as an unknown third student. At around 140 centimeters, she was slightly shorter than a Herta puppet, while carrying a comically large weapon just like a Herta puppet; it was a long, dark machine gun with a drum magazine on the side, the gun's rails and barrel radiating a neon purple, demonic energy. Her long, wavy white hair reached down to her knees, and her dark purple uniform was overlaid by a flowing, hooded black coat. She followed closely behind Shiroko, her glowing purple eyes scanning the area for threats quickly and efficiently.

Our raiding party of three was, ready or not, about to breach the final train car, which, from the outside window viewing in, seemed completely devoid of any opposition. We didn't know who was inside, and I couldn't even remember why we were breaching it to begin with. But, I marched forward without hesitation, and checking the corners and general vicinity, confirmed everything was clear so far. That only left the machinery towards the end of the war, positioned before the emergency brake switch as well as the train navigation terminal.

The pulling of a pin could be heard as Shiroko quickly lobbed a frag grenade behind the cover of the machinery. The explosion damaged the inner workings of the engine a bit, causing the train to sputter, but more importantly it drew out the lone hostile waiting behind it, not even having been scratched after taking a point-blank shrapnel blast. Her long flowing pink hair tied in a ponytail trailed closely behind her blurred form as she darted towards me and we initiated a melee clash, flaming lance versus iron shield. I quickly registered the hostile as Hoshino and immediately put my full strength into the clash with no hesitation and wasn't surprised that Hoshino was able not just to match me but even start pushing me back a little.

Hoshino didn't miss the opportunity to get some banter in. "The Galactic Educator, the strongest student in Kivotos, and my favorite junior, all out to get little old me. I'm an old man; I can't be that scary."

I had quips stocked up for immediate retaliatory deployment. "You're the scariest thing here, old man, so please stop making a mess and come with us peacefully. You'll scare the children."

Shiroko quickly darted to the side to fire at Hoshino's exposed flank, only for her senior to whip her shotgun one-handed out in her right arm, firing with unmatched precision at Shiroko's face. The buckshot blast quickly knocked Shiroko towards the wall and knocked her unconscious immediately, with her body falling limp and her rifle flying out of her hands. Her efforts weren't in vain, however, as with the distraction, I was able to instantly gain the upper hand and win the clash, pushing Hoshino towards the ground and managing to knock her handgun away, before skewering Hoshino's shield with the lance. It somehow not just withstood the superheated temperatures of the tip of the lance, but repulsed my blow entirely, and both Hoshino and I quickly leapt out of the way in opposite directions, as the third student made her move.

Her machine gun fire roared as if it was a buzzsaw that had become possessed by the Nihility itself, as purple bolts tore the train car apart. Hoshino darted around the edges of the arena as gunfire was akin to an oversized monster ripping the roof apart with its claws, and whatever hadn't been blown away by the wind had giant fist-sized holes jutting through them. The third student, noticing the danger Hoshino posed and not wanting to leave an opening, ceased fire for just a moment as she reloaded, allowing Hoshino the chance to close in for a melee strike. Hoshino must not have noticed that I didn't take cover and instead just the lance to protect myself from stray fire, as while Hoshino used her shotgun to pin down the third student and get close enough for hand-to-hand, I had begun a reckless charge and launched a flying double kick on Hoshino. The third student didn't so much as flinch despite the bullets leaving visible injuries on her. Both of my feet found their mark on Hoshino's shoulder through the cover provided by her shield, and she was instantly knocked to the floor.

I swung my lance down at the now prone Hoshino, who raised her shield up in time to counter it, initiating another clash as the unnamed student reloaded her weapon, a trickle of blood running down her forehead as she did so.

"Hoshino, stop!" I pleaded. "You spent your whole life trying to help people. If you do this, there won't be anyone to help!"

"This is the only way," she replied, gritting her teeth and refusing to budge an inch. "Kaiser, Saint Nephthys, the GSC, the other academies...they saw Abydos as nothing but a resource, and a resource is what they got. You don't know how hard we tried to rebuild, how much hope we had. But it's all gone now. It's a twisted game, Sensei. And I'm going to reset it."

"You're not resetting it, you're ending it!" I rebuked. "Nonomi sacrificed so much to give Abydos another chance. If you do this, it would have been all for nothing!"

"You don't understand, Sensei!" Hoshino shouted, her eyes wide open in a combination of desperation and fury. "Someone I loved sacrificed everything to give Abydos another chance too and look where that got us! Nonomi's life is meaningless if it is controlled by others. I will not let her live the rest of her life as a slave!"

Having heard enough, the third student quickly put a machine gun burst into Hoshino, seemingly ending the threat as Hoshino was forced to lie down in pain, no longer struggling. The train had crossed onto a kilometers long bridge over a deep ravine as this happened.

"It's over, Miss Takanashi," the unnamed student stated calmly. "Continuing this isn't just fruitless, it's self-destructive. Do you think this is what Yume would have wanted?"

Something snapped within Hoshino, and I could see her eyes bug out as a pink, overwhelming energy enveloped inside of her. Eventually, there was nothing left but the shadowed form of the Abydos student, with strength so ridiculously overwhelming that I couldn't get a read on her threat level whatsoever. All I could see was her glowing hair and eyes, as the energy formed a misty fog that enveloped everything in sight. She clutched her head as the voice of an unseen legion sounded the sirens of destruction.

"DON'T! SPEAK! THAT! NAME!"

With that, a shockwave knocked me off balance as the unnamed student was forced away from me, disappearing into the mist. Hoshino's shadow raised her shotgun at me and fired a single burst, only this one burst had the combined strength and volume of hundreds of shotgun blasts. They formed a tidal wave of energy as, without the lance shielding by body, I was instantly thrown off the train and into the ravine below. I swiped my lance at the train and the bridge pillars in futility as I quickly reached terminal velocity. Cocolia had straight up killed me in the initial stages of our bout in a similar fashion, but I was instantly revived then and there when I had earned Qlipoth's gaze. Sparkle had also knocked me off the Radiant Feldspar with one swing of an oversized hammer, but that was because she knew Firefly would catch me midfall. I highly doubted either of those same miracles would happen twice, as the jagged, rocky floor of the ravine quickly approached me.

So, this is how I die. Looks like Silver Wolf was wrong about the certainty of my survival on Kivotos, as there was an immovable brick wall that could meet the unstoppable legend of the Galactic Baseballer. Its name was Takanashi Hoshino.

As I accepted my end, I crashed onto the ground with a cold, hard thud.

"Guh!"

I woke up to find myself laying on the floor of the Party Car of the Express, next to the barstool where an amused, mature-looking woman was seated, silently observing me as she sipped on a filled cocktail glass. Black Swan's revealing purple bodysuit was complemented by a veil of matching color over her head, covering her long, lavender hair that reached her legs. Long, black tights and thigh-high heeled boots served to round out the lower half of her body. In her right hand, she held my phone, but as the screen was off and she appeared more interested in her drink, I thought nothing of it.

As I looked towards the ceiling of the car which had a functional, dark steel roofing contrasted by the ornate lighting of the bar area, I remembered that I had fallen asleep in the Parlor Car. Black Swan must have moved me to the Party Car while I was dreaming. The bandage around my leg had also been removed, and I had fully recovered from the injury as well. It had been replaced by something else that had been wrapped around my leg instead, as it grabbed me and swung me with extreme force against the ground one more time.

"Wake up, test subject!" a high-pitched voice belonging to a young-sounding girl whined. "It's time for you to test my Simulated Universe!"

I gazed upon the petite young woman, who, if it wasn't for the visible ball joints on her arms and knees, would have easily passed for a human rather than its true form as a puppet being made apparent. It wore a frilled white minidress underneath a black coat with purple accents, with a beret and heeled boots matching the coat's color scheme. Satisfied, it began dragging me towards the Parlor Car without a hint of mercy, and Black Swan silently tossed me my phone as it did so, with me catching it in midair. As I pocketed my phone once more, I began making conversation with the puppeteer on the other end of the line.

"Herta, how did you convince the conductor to even let you inside? Didn't the puppet that had the guest pass get destroyed when it got sucked into a black hole?"

"Simple, really," the real Herta responded smugly. "I saw the poor, feeble thing being run haggard. Being the generous genius that I am, I lent my assistance with his duties in return for having all the puppets present being given new guest passes. I'm sure you will find the insect extermination and indoor cleaning protocols are second to none."

"Isn't that a bit excessive just to drag me to test your Simulated Universe?" I questioned.

"Do you have any idea how valuable the work I am doing is, test subject? And besides, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

"I'm still the one that's actually testing it."

"Eh, electron, Intellitron. You keep your laziness up, and I'll start tweaking the Simulated Universe to run tests on my puppets instead. Then you'll be out of a salary."

As my back scraped against the floor, we entered the Parlor Car, and I saw the sight of about a dozen Herta puppets engaged in various tasks. One of the puppets was wiping down the windows, another was fumigating various cracks and crevices in the room which should be able to wipe out the termite infestation, a third was polishing the chess pieces on the board, a fourth was fluffing the couches, and so on. The one that was dragging me was the only one who was not carrying out a task.

As it left the Express and onto the docking bay of the Herta Space Station, it broke off into a dead sprint and ran towards Herta's office. The various employees of the HSS stared at me with a mix of both bewilderment and pity, and Peppy, Asta's ever reliable pet dog, came over to lick my face as its way of greeting me.

Once we reached Herta's office, the puppet quickly threw me inside as the doors shut behind my flying ragdoll. Inside awaited both another Herta puppet as well as a robot with a gentlemanly demeanor and equally gentlemanly attire consisting of a golden monocle, a brown dress suit complemented by white dress pants, and a black fedora. While I usually didn't get along with Intellitrons in general, Screwllum was an exception as he was both a scholar and a gentleman, and always lent an ear towards and offered insight to any conflicts I may have been facing. Screwllum even installed a Divergent Universe module within the Radiant Feldspar, as a way for me to run quick and condensed Simulated Universe tests that yielded similar results when I didn't have the time to drop by the HSS to run full ones. Whatever the result was, it was good enough that Herta was satisfied as long as I didn't make it my primary avenue of testing.

Screwllum began to speak as I picked myself off the floor. "Greetings, Stelle. Our apologies about the rather forceful method Madame Herta elected to employ. We are aware that you've had a long day and are quite fatigued and would not have chosen to have you tested so suddenly without giving you a chance to rest first."

Herta possessed the puppet residing in her office, offering her usual lack of empathy towards her favorite test subject once again. "You're welcome. I am not heartless enough to deny you basic necessities like sleep, though I can't say the same about other things. Now get started already, and you'll be in and out faster than a speeding bullet."

I took the opportunity to throw some barbs at Herta's way, and the mutual trading of insults was at this point how we showed respect for one another. Her ego was so massive that it pretty much slid off like rainwater anyway. "Oh, thank you, your majesty, for pulling me out of my dreams of dying horribly in combat so I can instead simulate dying horribly in combat in your renamed Metaverse project." I then realized something was wrong with the testimonies provided by the two Geniuses. "Wait, how did you know I've had a long day?"

"Statement: The conductor had spoken to Herta that you had arrived back on the Express and immediately went to sleep sometime after noon. A passenger had moved you to the Party Car during the intervening time so you wouldn't interfere with his tasks. At the time of the conductor speaking to Herta, you had been on the Express for approximately eight system hours."

The Herta puppet began to roll its eyes at me. "And after everything you've been through. Jarilo-VI, then the Luofu, and becoming a teacher for some impoverished kids in a desert is what gets to you?"

Don't forget Penacony, Madame Herta. Then again, knowing her, she doesn't pay attention to intergalactic news. But that wasn't important considering the bombshell she just dropped, especially as Herta doesn't pay an ounce of attention to anything that doesn't immediately hold her interest. Aside from March and Dan Heng, I had told nobody else about Abydos. Even Himeko and Welt didn't know about Abydos, and they'd be the only people who could have spoken to Herta as of recent. "...How did you know about that?"

"What else am I supposed to do when you ghost my texts for six days straight, just not test the Simulated Universe?" The tone of her voice indicated that she was actually irritated with me at the moment. "It's a little insulting that you don't expect me to be keeping an eye on what you're doing."

"Wait, wait, that's insane," I stammered. "Kivotos isn't on any map, how did you-"

"Clarification," Screwllum interrupted. "Ever since the incident involving her, I've discovered the optimal method for tracking Silver Wolf's movements across the galaxy. As her personality archetype has a high match percentage with patients possessing a Histrionic Personality Disorder diagnosis, it is doubtful she would have taken her defeat at Herta's hands lightly. Silver Wolf uses a complex series of zombie actors, proxies, and location spoofing to defeat any attempts at tracking her. Only a hacker of equal skill could have made sense of the information."

And Screwllum was that hacker, considering he had defeated Silver Wolf in a hacking duel in the past, even if it was by forcing her to sleep, which granted him a victory by endurance. Not to mention Silver Wolf primarily travels through projecting herself to destinations rather than being physically there, which made her even more difficult to pin down. I couldn't fathom the amount of processing power that would have been required to solve that equation. I nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"Conjecture: While it is impossible to pinpoint her exact location, there were many recorded instances of her traveling to Kivotos, particularly in the past two months. However, the first recorded instance of you traveling to Kivotos was approximately five days ago. At first glance, it would be no cause for concern, but examining the records shows it was a particularly abnormal occurrence, as you had jumped hundreds of thousands of light years of distance within a fraction of a second. With modern FTL jump systems, traversing that distance would still take hours, not tenths of a second."

Herta picked up where he left off, a smug grin spreading across her puppet's face. "Which leads to the second anomaly. There was a report of a massive, sudden burst of energy within Kivotos' area of orbit about a month ago. The burst was powerful enough that it could be detected by the station sensors even from here. Naturally, energy bursts of unknown origins happen all the time, so no one thought much of it. But Screwllum though it was odd that he did pick up Silver Wolf's presence in the center of that burst, so he's been keeping tabs on her location ever since. And when the two of you were pinged to be in the same location five days ago, we activated the tracker he had installed on your phone. Audio and geolocational data ever since your first contact from within Kivotos had been sent to us on a regular basis since then."

I had, by chance, encountered Chadwick during my time in Penacony, and from there Herta and Screwllum got involved in something that continues to haunt my memories. As a member of the Genius Society, Chadwick had developed the Imaginary Implosion Pulse for the IPC, a weapon of mass destruction so powerful that it had destroyed 24 planets in its initial test run against the Antimatter Legion. Although the IPC publicly condemned the tragedy, in private they had functionally tortured Chadwick for the rest of his life in an attempt to obtain the secret to recreating and mass manufacturing the Pulse. Even in death, he still wasn't safe, as his memory was extracted and stored in a Memory Bubble within the Penacony Dreamscape. Both Herta and Screwllum had gotten involved after my chance encounter with Chadwick and managed to get the Memory Bubble transferred to the HSS, and per his request, his memory and consciousness was allowed to fade after he passed on his knowledge to the two surviving Geniuses.

After that incident, I agreed to let Screwllum install a tracker on my phone as a safeguard in case the IPC ever caught wind of our subterfuge. It wasn't much of an invasion of privacy anyway as the Simulated Universe uses my own memories as the base for its generative model, which was continuously read and then updated with each test. The three of us were each privy to each other's deepest and darkest secrets, which were then kept under lock and key by our respective pacts of confidentiality. If something happened to me, I'd want them to know so they could act immediately to mitigate whatever damage could occur. There was one more thing that was still bothering me though, and a knot tied in my stomach as I realized the implications if my hunch was correct.

"If you could get audio and geolocational data from me while I was on Kivotos, doesn't that mean there's IPC networks that are active within Kivotos?"

"Answer: Yes," Screwllum affirmed. "The tracker's more advanced functions operate by piggybacking off of and obfuscating data sent and received through IPC networks."

Oh, crap. That was bad. That meant the IPC had known about Kivotos long, long before myself or Silver Wolf stepped foot on that place. This also meant they likely knew I was there, because unlike Silver Wolf, I'm not a talented hacker. Picking up on my immediate distress, Screwllum continued as he alleviated my fears. "Reassurance: I've spoofed the public location data for all members of the Express Crew to those of several Herta Puppets. As the Astral Express has not and will not leave the HSS for quite some time, this will not raise any alarms."

"So that's why the Herta Puppets are doing maintenance work on the Express," I surmised. "It still doesn't change the fact that the IPC knows about Kivotos though."

"Response: Jarilo-VI had active and operational IPC networks the entire time, which is why when the Crew reintroduced phones into the technological ecosystem, they were able to function immediately without modification. The IPC acted on this immediately and sent a delegation to Jarilo-VI within months of your arrival. Whether or not you activated that transponder and interacted with a low-ranking employee was irrelevant; civilization had broadcasted itself to the rest of the galaxy hundreds of years after it was thought to be wiped out. That same delegation would have been sent after the same amount of time regardless of your actions."

"Then how did the IPC not know about Kivotos before they even knew about Jarilo-VI?"

"Answer: It is certain they did. The citizens of Kivotos reside in a thriving, technologically advanced civilization. More importantly, it is an untapped market with abundant resources. The food exports alone would disrupt the galactic food industry on an unmeasurable scale. Yet, they have chosen to let the existence of Kivotos remain a secret, as evidenced by their unrelated actions and related inactions. Rhetorical question: Why?"

I began to piece together the broad information that had been thrown my way lately. Alice had an Intellitron core, Silver Wolf inexplicably made her way there, alien life on Kivotos was an open secret, and the Nameless Priests probably really were former Nameless themselves. What I failed to consider was that the Nameless alone wouldn't have the numbers to start their own civilization on Kivotos. It was likely the Nameless Priests also had IPC employees in their ranks as well, and the IPC care a great deal about their reputation; they had painstakingly partaken in extended public efforts regarding the Pulse while secretly trying to continue research into it. It wasn't much, but in Silver Wolf's memories that I glimpsed, the group she integrated herself into had a member who wanted revenge on the IPC for some unknown reason as well.

"Because if Kivotos became part of the galactic network, and its history ever came to light, it could destroy the IPC's reputation." In a way that was worse than 24 planets getting dusted though? I doubted it, but at this point I've learned not to be arbitrarily skeptical. Considering the current head of the Marketing Development Department is a former Nameless himself, it could also be more for personal benefit than corporate, as if I was correct, the Nameless Priests would be made up of both ex-Nameless and IPC employees.

"Confirmation: That is the most likely theory. Regardless, it is the belief of myself and Madame Herta that you would have discovered the existence of Kivotos at some point and become involved. We did not believe it would be a matter of when, but a matter of if. It is fortunate we have been proactive in ensuring the safety of yourself and the crew of the Astral Express, as the IPC are not known to be particularly lenient when it comes to those who would interfere with their operations."

Screwllum, like any Intellitron, certainly had a talent for making understatements. I'm on good terms with Topaz and Aventurine now, and they both attacked me separately for different reasons at various points. To say nothing of Skott, who is one of the pettiest people I've ever met.

"Seriously, when will the two of you get a room?" Herta's impatience was starting to wear thin. "You can have your little chat after the testing's done, not during."

"Yeah, yeah, just let me get myself ready. This is gonna be a long session."

The Herta puppet wheeled behind me and swung its oversized hammer at my rear, launching me with remarkable precision into the testing machine as my consciousness and vision were quickly enveloped by the Simulated Universe. Well, at least Herta was proactive about getting me ready for testing for once.

A familiar frozen tundra appeared before my eyes, and the chill in the air was enough to send shivers down my spine. Snow was falling everywhere around me, and the wind whipped through the trees like a wild beast. My hair blew wildly as the storm raged on, confirming I was back within the simulated confines of Jarilo-VI once more. Only, there was something different about this particular test.

"Sensei, where is this?" Arona had asked in wonder. I didn't have my earpiece on, so I shouldn't be able to hear her. "Is this Jarilo-VI? It's beautiful! And...so cold."

I whipped around to see that Arona was physically present within the Simulated Universe, shivering as she hugged her rifle for warmth. It's pure white color scheme made for natural camouflage within the eternal blizzard. I didn't have time to select the virtual allies I wanted to accompany me for this test, and I doubt Herta would have cared enough to pick them for me either. If she did, she would have picked Firefly for me without a second thought.

"Query: It is to our understanding that Arona is an artifical intelligence created by Silver Wolf. How does she possess a physical body within the Simulated Universe?" Screwllum's disembodied voice came through to my ear, and judging by Arona's reaction, she could hear it too. She wasn't just a robotic recreation of the Simulated Universe after all, unlike what the virtual Firefly would have been.

"Oh, who cares," Herta's voice brushed off the question. "We can figure that out AFTER we test. Hurry on, chop chop, my weekly rewards for you are waiting!"

I turned my back towards Arona and knelt as she climbed onto me. While I was used to the subzero climate, Arona evidently wasn't, and this was just the safest way for her to traverse it. I grinned as I marched forward and began the test in earnest.

"Ready to see the universe, Arona?"

Author's Note: Removed reference to similar languages used after feedback. Dan Heng did mention in 3.0 that the Synthesia Beacon didn't have issues with Amphoreus' language, so that tidbit was based on that particular line of dialogue.