Raising an eyebrow "That was far far too nonchalant.....Also. This ship is probably fater than however it is you were going to do." Zellgato replies.
”Wait, rewind that, please. Valkyrie - the hero with the hockey headgear? They have feathered wings? That seems to link well with the song in the DNA, doesn’t it? LC, ma’am, do we have contact information for this hero? That DNA encoding makes me think Unity’s nemesis was involved and the hero might have useful information.”
”Wait, rewind that, please. Valkyrie - the hero with the hockey headgear? They have feathered wings? That seems to link well with the song in the DNA, doesn’t it? LC, ma’am, do we have contact information for this hero? That DNA encoding makes me think Unity’s nemesis was involved and the hero might have useful information.”
L.C. shrugs.
"She's not one we've worked with," says Phade.
Ron follows-up, "Tasha Gentry had one interview with her. Audio only. Maybe Tasha knows how to contact her. The only sightings of her took place in Denmark though, so I'm guessing that's where you'd find her."
Nissa challenges the perceived schedule conflic. “We have a Time Ship. Can’t we do Tasha Live, then go to Europe, like minutes later? I mean, we’re not in the same time zone, so it’s not like Europeans are at work while we’re filming in Massachusetts. Important people only meet in late morning or early afternoon, not during lunch.
“I get that they’re about to start the apocalypse, but Dad, we gave our word. Three years of not being around, two weeks of mandated rest, and the day we’re too important is the day we break our word with the person in the best position to say we broke our word.
“And we need our word to be something people can count on—especially in situations like this one.
“Dad, let’s delegate, then head to Greece after the show.”
With or without Theo, Nissa doesn’t want to blow Tasha off. She knows enough about filming (from commercials and photo-shoots) to know it’s not just Tasha she’d be letting down. There’s a whole crew, specialized cameras to accommodate a tiny glowing body, and of course the audience.
If Tasha has empty chairs, she might get a back-up guest. But she’ll definitely fill the gap with her opinion on the ‘heroes’ that disappeared for three years, went on vacation, then got right back to ‘abandonment.’ It may be a cynical opinion, but Tasha’s ‘Nissa’s Daddy’ headline tells the Solarian all she needs to know: there will be a consequence for betraying the trust. (Nissa would even thinks it’s deserved, since she doesn’t believe ‘it must be us’ and ‘now.’)
Nissa challenges the perceived schedule conflic. “We have a Time Ship. Can’t we do Tasha Live, then go to Europe, like minutes later? I mean, we’re not in the same time zone, so it’s not like Europeans are at work while we’re filming in Massachusetts. Important people only meet in late morning or early afternoon, not during lunch.
“I get that they’re about to start the apocalypse, but Dad, we gave our word. Three years of not being around, two weeks of mandated rest, and the day we’re too important is the day we break our word with the person in the best position to say we broke our word.
“And we need our word to be something people can count on—especially in situations like this one.
“Dad, let’s delegate, then head to Greece after the show.”
With or without Theo, Nissa doesn’t want to blow Tasha off. She knows enough about filming (from commercials and photo-shoots) to know it’s not just Tasha she’d be letting down. There’s a whole crew, specialized cameras to accommodate a tiny glowing body, and of course the audience.
If Tasha has empty chairs, she might get a back-up guest. But she’ll definitely fill the gap with her opinion on the ‘heroes’ that disappeared for three years, went on vacation, then got right back to ‘abandonment.’ It may be a cynical opinion, but Tasha’s ‘Nissa’s Daddy’ headline tells the Solarian all she needs to know: there will be a consequence for betraying the trust. (Nissa would even thinks it’s deserved, since she doesn’t believe ‘it must be us’ and ‘now.’)
"I hate to state the obvious," says Gay Deceiver, clearly enjoying stating the obvious,"But, you have a time ship. You can be in two places at once. ... Wouldn't that be fun?"
“We can???” Realization dawns… it can be done without a temporal paradox if the selves don’t cross paths. “We can!!!”
"Korey the Godling shown me the event would take place in two weeks if not stopped." Theo stated, then looked to the TAROT director. "L.C. If you can work your administrative mojo, that would be fine. By as a Son of Zeus, I have not trouble kicking down doors and stopping sh|t the 'classical' way."
Theo then looked up at the newer version of Helios's ship. "The ship talks?! Neat! Hope you don't mind a little graffiti. I plan on leaving a message for my son."
Frowning, an furrowing his brow "I won't stop you. But that is the first step to abusing your time ship. Next thing you know you'll be replacing your past self who went on another jaunt. Then you'll run into people you will have met next Tuesday on the eve of the climatic battle, only you are the you who hasn't learned about the battle yet. Then you'll be stuck in the same day for 5 years trying to get the best outcome. And thats how you make a time controlling agency."
"My best suggestion is. If you two are opting to do that. Use the ship now to travel to the interview. You are less likely to die, than if you opt to go back for the interview post mission." pointing out the obvious order of operations for least likely death decimemberment and doom.
"That said. I can get dropped off with Unity, and if they're going Henri and Boss. We can try to get them to stop their process and be ready if things go side ways." leaving out the fact he's deplorable at interviews.
Nissa grins in embarrassment. “Uh, yeah, I think—because of the different time zones—we can do it all without existing in two places simultaneously.”
"Oh, come on!" grumbles Gay Deceiver, realizing Nissa might not be willing to use the time ship for its intended purpose.
L.C. is quite comfortable talking to the politicians, as is Phade. They want you there in any case though.
"The ship's name is Gay Deceiver. I'm sure she's figured out who The Olympian is from the newsfeeds. Tell me where and when to go, but I'm flying the ship."
He looks at Theo, "You can leave your son a note, but no graffiti. We can find a place to hide one that would survive the intervening years."
"The ship's name is Gay Deceiver. I'm sure she's figured out who The Olympian is from the newsfeeds. Tell me where and when to go, but I'm flying the ship."
He looks at Theo, "You can leave your son a note, but no graffiti. We can find a place to hide one that would survive the intervening years."
You know where would be the perfect place to hide the note? The same place where Henri? Legato? found the photo of the Divine Bastards, the 70s punk band signed to Atlantis Records. It was an odd little niche in the ship, but you know at least one of Theo's bastards is near there in 15 or so years.
L.C. says, "I'd like to remind everyone that Phade is the Director now. I'm Marshal, but that is a different role without jurisdiction over your world. I can help you find support from other TAROTs, but not direct you. Phade will be doing the official meetings in Greece. I'll be along as an advisor."
"The ship's name is Gay Deceiver. I'm sure she's figured out who The Olympian is from the newsfeeds. Tell me where and when to go, but I'm flying the ship."
Nissa shows Henri the message from Tasha, which tells where she needs to be and when.
“You’re captain of the ship, Henri. If there’s any way I can help the team with other stuff, I’d like to. But publicity matters. If I gotta go on Tasha alone, I’ll be the team’s face.”
She turns to Theo, “Do what you gotta do, Dad.”
"So, the plan is to leap ahead a bit and let you two do your interview, then come back to about now and fly over to Greece with Phade and L.C.?" Unity ask, for confirmation.
"That seems... a reasonable way to use our resources," they admit. "We do need to be careful not to be *seen* in two places at once..."
They freeze, a look of dawning horror on their faces.
"That can't be..." they murmur.
They shake their head. "No... but there are other ways of being in two places at once. Cloning would be very much his style. Or... worse ways of duplicating himself."
"So we might be dealing with more than one PhDestruction."
They growl deep in their chest.
"Thats my trick. Lets kill him" zellgato attempts at levity of a joke but failes to really transmit that and intead sounds fully like he wants to kill the guy for having more of himself.
"So... Stupid question if we intend to use the time ship. We set an alert for the next Chimera attack. When we get word of that. we jump to that moment." taking it further "Realistically, even if they attacked in two places at once. We could simultaneously "instantly" deploy a team at each. This does risk being weakened teams and the danger level rises. This lets Nissa stay here for Tasha, and if Phade is amicable, LC can stayhere and Phade can travel-Phade is a little more known in this world currently as BT's boss. Theo can come with us to Europe for his thing. Henri can fly him back or otherwise send him. While the rest of us on site start research and hunting. With the ability to pick us all up quickly"
"of course, this would require alerting Phade to this ship, and placing them in danger as LC would be otherwise. As well as running the risk of potraying BT as having teleporting tech or placing the concept thereof onto Teleport (man?)
Nissa is glad she’s not the only one wavering on using the Time Ship as a Tine Ship, but…
“Hoo, that’s more convoluted than an 1980s action movie with a 1990s Part 3 sequel.”
"From what I understand," says L.C. "You can go to Greece now and try to stop them from opening a gate to Tartarsauce, but, Tasha Gentry's show is in 11 hours. Gay Deceiver, how long would it take you to fly to Greece?"
"You lot aren't really getting the concept of 'time-ship', are you?" asks Gay Deceiver. After a pause, "Underwater, we could be there in 2 hours. In the air, 50 minutes, but you might want to alert this world's militaries so we don't get mistaken for missile of some sort."
"Alternatively, we could take our time. Literally," says the Gay Deceiver. "Seriously, please. I just want to serve my purpose!"
Nissa empathizes with the AI. (Maybe having a robotic daughter makes her think… and then there was her old friend, Uncanny Valerie.)
“Oh, you’re saying please.”
She turns to the others.
“I’m fine with doing things in chronological order, if anyone sees this use of time-travel as abusive. But some of us lost three years because we saved total strangers… and that messed up my life! Not just mine.
“A true abuse of the time ship would be to go back three years and get MY life back. In other words, if I did something selfish—a temporal trip that knowingly undoes Tasha’s success without me, Phade and L.C. climbing into ranks that maybe you two didn’t want—but certainly deserve. Undoing the personal cost to myself would undo several other things that happened over the last three years.
“And I’m sure Unity would love to kick PhDesctruction’s dad really hard in the testicles 40 weeks prior to his birth. There are lots of Go-Back-and-Kill-Hitler scenarios that we all know to be wrong—because of all the good we would undo, and the LIVES we would undo by undoing evil and death.
“Taking me and my Dad to a show 11 hours in the future, then back so we can get to Greece? That’s just Gay Deceiver proving herself to us. The future is an open book, and we’d just swap a couple pages. If anyone has a problem with that, then in order to not be hypocritical, we should send Gay Deceiver back to the future she was built in—which we can’t do, because we just met our children, or Utopian teens we’d inspired.”
Nissa is sure of it now: “As long as Dad and I are in Europe or off-world eleven hours from now, we won’t cause any kind of temporal paradox. We just need to keep a low profile so Tasha doesn’t ask us about Europe. Or we say we can’t comment on last night’s events because that mission is in-progress. But still, low-profile so she doesn’t ask us best.”
Theoi folds his arms. "Sounds good to me. Shall we have the interview in costume or normal clothes, you think?"
Nissa magical girls on a sundress—then changes to valkyrie armor—then changes again to what Tinkerbelle would wear—then again to a Grecian chiton—then again to a glittering golden gown with a side slit and bare back and shoulders.
She seems pleased by this choice. Daring, elegant, more timeless than retro. She accessorizes with laced-up golden goddess sandals and some golden jewelry on her wrists, neck, ears and in her hair, which fixes itself into a crown braid.
“I’m ready.”
"That's my little Spartan!" Theo said with pride. "My new armor must be ready by now. I'll go fetch it."
"I think we already agreed that would work," Unity say, a little mystified.
"Or perhaps that was just us, not the rest of 'us'," they joke.
"We *do* want to do everything in our power not to be seen in two places at the same time, though. Seeming like we have some kind of instantaneous teleportation ability wouldn't be bad. We can blame it on dimensional travel. But any clues we have access to time travel shouldn't be let out."
Theo's armour is ready. Dr. Winterdown, who nobody remembers being there, has finished the engraving of a blessing for the wearer on the inside of the breast plate. Written in ancient Greek, it reads, ....
”We… can avoid being seen in two places at once by not being in two places at once, though. No paradox if the travel is only spatial or into the future. If we hop to Greece now, even if Gay Deceiver is not ready to hop back for the interview, your wand will be - right?”
Nissa likes the idea of avoiding a Two Nissas situation. “Works for me, Henry!”
She also thinks what works way better is to just go to Greece now and then make it to Tasha on time (possibly using time-travel to ensure that), but she doesn’t want to hurt Gay Deceiver’s feelings.
Henri nods, sits in the captain’s chair, and concentrates.
”OK, Gay Deceiver, I am aware you are capable of doing this without me. As are my friends, I’m sure. But today, I am your pilot. We have seen many things, including creatures that could make themselves indistinguishable from someone else if they chose. So let’s add a key to the lock that is your programming. If I make a request to you, when I want it to become active, I will add, ‘I say this three times,’ so you know it is really me and not some imposter. What do you think of that idea? How will you respond to such a request?
Henri nods, sits in the captain’s chair, and concentrates.
”OK, Gay Deceiver, I am aware you are capable of doing this without me. As are my friends, I’m sure. But today, I am your pilot. We have seen many things, including creatures that could make themselves indistinguishable from someone else if they chose. So let’s add a key to the lock that is your programming. If I make a request to you, when I want it to become active, I will add, ‘I say this three times,’ so you know it is really me and not some imposter. What do you think of that idea? How will you respond to such a request?
"Okay, that works. I'll respond with something like ... 'and, THUS it WILL BE DONE!' ... how about that? Too fancy?"
"That's perfect."
Aloud, he says, "Everyone please find your seats."
"Gay Deceiver, what do you need from me? We wish to travel forward in time nine hours in this same location or perhaps we should go underwater to as not to give away your unique abilities quite yet. This is a request for advice, not a command."
"I would suggest we simply dive beneath the surface, make the leap, and re-emerge. Ready to do so on your orders," says Gay Deceiver. "This is SO exciting!"
Tasha Gentry's show is in eleven hours. L.C. can arrange for transportation to the studio once the ship reappears in the future.
The Olympian, enters the Gay Deciever in his new Spartan 3000 armor, a new shield attached from his back and The Angel Sword hung from his hip. Punching his fist into his hand, Theo states, "Let's do this!!"
"urgh." is all he comments as he straps in, slightly shaking but otherwise prepped. "Glad I set my bank accounts to automatic payment and auto accural from my investments... he takes care to since his should pack that he brought to the front of his chest in his seat. Patting his supply bags.
"Nice gear Theo."
Nissa flutters up to L.C., resisting the temptation to give her a peck on the cheek since they’re not really there right now. Just the same, she smiles at her, grateful she’s helping with transportation.
“See you in nine hours!”
She sits on the shoulder of her Dad’s new armor. “Taking Ancient Greece to the 23rd century. I like it!”
"What do you mean?" says L.C. "I'm going with you."
Nissa’s aura (and gown!) pinken brightly at the thought of L.C. coming along.
"Gay Deceiver, make it so. I say this three times."
"And, thus, it will be done!" says Gay Deceiver.
Henri feels a rush as the nanites help Gay Deceiver find the intended place and time. Henri experiences a flash of everything and nothing as his mind extends into the Shuffle ahead of the ship, and, Henri is, for an instant, everywhere and nowhere.
The rest of you don't feel or see a thing.
"No, not like that," says Gay Deceiver sadly. "We're in the Shuffle."
Gay Deceiver's view screens show the swirling mass of motes that is the Shuffle. You can see vague shapes in the distance obscured by the ebb and flow of the motes.
It's very much like being in a snowstorm.
Nissa isn’t thinking of anything in the shuffle… except for how much she adores L.C. and how much she fears she will lose her and is L.C. better off without and will I be eternally loveless…?
Nissa isn’t thinking of anything in the shuffle… except for how much she adores L.C. and how much she fears she will lose her and is L.C. better off without and will I be eternally loveless…?
Nissa flits about the ship a lot, like a bird that’s out of its cage, but finds its house to be merely a bigger cage. After what seems like an entire looooong and fruitless day, she curls up in a cubby where no one will pay attention to her. If left alone, she will cry herself to sleep, or at least TRY to sleep off the incessant Intrusive Thoughts!
Unity sigh simultaneously from all three mouths.
"We should have asked about the chances of things going a bit wrong. We trust we won't show up three years in the future no matter what happens?"
The upcoming confrontation with PhDestruction is on their mind. They aren't... worried about it, precisely. They do feel like there's a possibility PhDestruction is anticipating them, but they feel like they and their friends can handle that. They have less of an idea for what to do if there truly are multiple of their nemesis.
Zellgato pops some music onto his earpieces. Closing his eyes settling his brain. Attempting to not review the last half decade of his life. Instead thinking about that fried chicken rice box he had on his shorter than planned vacation.
Instead it turns back to his last few years. The endless days.
The Olympian looks out the windows, and can understand the existential dread this place bring on people, but he's able to rise above.
Nissa and Zellgato flit around like hummingbirds.
Henri and Theo experience normal time pass, but it's not really normal. Time feels different when you're in a blizzard. Plus Nissa and Z are moving around superfast; well, when Nissa isn't crashed out in the fetal position.
Four hours into this blizzard of tiny motes of light, all of you can see something huge and white swim by. It looks a like a large fat mass of motes trailing tentacles of motes. The thing sucks in the little tiny bits of light that you know represent entire dimensions. The tentacles behind it drip these motes behind it.
Two hours later you see it swimming even closer. It has anatomy. It has an eye as big as your ship.
It's eye is examining your ship.
It swims past, but it may be coming around again.
What do you do?
It turns out that the downside of three interlinked minds is that you can debate ways to kill multiple copies of your creator back and forth with yourself for a very long time.