Xeno sets the cluster of poles down and they stand upright without him needing to balance them or plant them in the ground. He moves closer to Femtite and consults a device on his wrist. "That's a clever metaphor for what's happening. Oh! Your substance doesn't have atomic structures. That's rare. But also would explain why your timeline is unraveling independent to ours."
He sweeps the device around the museum, and then centers on the meteorite. "Ah, there it is. The good news is, it's localized and likely not to threaten anything but that subatomic reality. Bad news, it's apocalyptic for them."
He points to the poles he brought. "Those should reverse the effect if you can find the source of the timeline swap. It will involve getting them there, however. They're quantum-locked, so they'll be able to be brought with you, but given the rate of cross-vergence, you don't have much time. Can more than one of you go subatomic?"
Femtite replies, “I’m the only one who can, but perhaps an open channel of communication with me would allow others to have eyes on the Nanometeor and funnel magic or powers through that line.
“Regarding the quantum-locked devices, do you mean they can shift with me, even to subatomic size?”
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Indarius racks his brain for a while and then looks to Femtite, "Odd question but... I think.. desperate times might call for desperate measures." He then looks over to Conflux.
"What ever happened to the um... pixite conflux? We can't shrink with you, but it IS already made for your exact psychic profile to just be lashed to it. Only if you think it's neccessary though."
Femtite’s eyes widen I horror. She quickly magical-girls her outfit to become the deep purple gown she’d worn recently, veil included.
“Indy, we… had a.. a… funeral. Weeks ago. It was so—oh…!”
She shrinks to a fairyish size and hovers over her planet’s display case.
“I mean, y’know, haha?—if you all want to come with me to my world, it would be helpful. But—wow… there must be other ways. It’s an ice-based unreality and you are kinda sorta ice-dragonny. Maybe there’s a way you can connect to this version of my world and, I dunno, make subatomic snowmen for everyone? Snowboys and a snowgirl?”
"That is a great idea, Indarius." Rain admits. "It might also be the safest one."
"If only two are necessary to deploy the device, then it would be optimal for the rest of us remain here and not to overextend... also I'd very much prefer not to tax Indarius too much." He adds.
He then turns to Connie. "Are you ok with this? We all know how terrible the experience was for you."
Connie presses her lips together, distaste tugging one nostril up. "Well... You all don't do funeral pyres, right? 'Cause you wouldn't actually burn? And since you very rarely die, it's not like you'd need to prevent mortuary overcrowding or have an incentive to 'repurpose/soylent' things... No scavengers... Probably not decay as we know it... Yeah, as long as they didn't actually turn the body into a hat or macabre marionette, okay. I will need a little tutoring on the whole expand/contract and firepower of it all, since I'm betting we won't be able to be as peaceful."
She smiles up at Caio. "You're sweet, but I'm a pro. Let's do this. As long as my body doesn't get destroyed in the bargain again."
Xeno nods to Femtite's question. "Yes, that's the point. They'll travel with you to the subatomic realm. And you're getting ahead of yourself. You're trying to prevent your world from becoming an ice-based unreality." He gestures to Femtite's arms, the bruised bluish color creeping up and almost to her elbows. "And you don't have much time."
He waits as the idea of sending Conflux's consciousness back to her Pixite body is raised and discussed, not having any idea of what everyone's talking about. He clears his throat as it seems like that part at least has been decided. "You'll need to set these poles at opposite ends of the world. For example, if it's globe shaped, imagine the north and south poles, and then opposite ends going east and west. They'll start to tug you in the direction of whatever's causing the cross-vergence in the first place."
Caio shrugs and smiles back. "I was sure this would be your answer, but I had to ask anyway."
"I do remember how angry you was the last time I've even insinuated making a decision for you."
"Don't we need only three poles then? To triangulate a signal? Not saying a fourth wouldn't help, but it's not exactly the easiest thing to- Oh! Fuzzbat! He doesn't have an anatomy in the same way as most endo-dimensional beings so he should be able to be appropriately resized to get Indy's toe in."
Femtite shakes off whatever horrified feelings she has about Connie’s corpse joining her.
“Right.” She grows to just over four feet tall—the best she can do now, it seems—and takes the poles before pointing out “the northernmost peak of the Mauve Mountains, the easternmost clearing of the Fuchsia Fields, the southernmost depths of Ultraviolet Valley, and the Amethyst Spike that marks the western edge of the world.
These are the other four Queendoms—where the four poles need to be placed.”
She notices Caio bringing up the words he said to Connie, still oblivious to what he was actually—
Bottle - this. Cork it!
Her body shrinks a couple more inches. Blue creeps inward.
“Ultraviolet Valley first. It’s where the funeral was held. See you there, Connie.
“Indy, I’ll be at the end of the rainbow.”
She doesn’t explain what she means by that, but simply becomes a sunbright spark. Then nothing!
A tiny ‘sun’—light without fire—remains at the corner of the Nanometeor’s display case. Refracted light forms a rainbow trail through the glass, colors converging to a fine ’star’ at the southernmost depth of Ultraviolet Valley.
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Indarius nods to Conflux and Femtite, "If there was another, quicker way... I just I send you all at once again. I don't have the materials on hand, and I'm not going to risk needing the time to gather them. We'd also need to have a trusted source to guard us all while you dive in." He shakes his head to shoot the idea down for good.
He waves his hands and conjures forth Fuzzbat, "Alright little buddy, time to be an even littler buddy and go follow Femtite. I need to know where Confluxite is, so we can make a good connection." He spins his clawed finger counterclockwise pulling a thick strand of aether directly from Fuzzbat, causing him to shrink to the size of a tiny glowing mote of energy. The mote quickly darts off to follow Femtite, though to her even at this greatly reduced size he soars as some sort of gigantic energy creature next to her. Perhaps even a perfect battle mount for the soon to be warrior princess?
Fishing through the pouches along his costume, Indarius pulls out a piece of blue chalk and another that's green. He hands the green one over to Conflux, "You remember transmutation pattern 13? The one with the triangular spirographs? I'll need those in the Cardinals around us, enough room for you to lay down and me to sit. I'll get to work on the inner circle."
Horizon is the next in Indy's line of command, "Shark teeth from the oceanic section, doesn't need to from a living specimen, just grab two from a jaw or something. If they have a live starfish though grab that."
Rain is next, "They should have a few bronze plates, pots, basically anything bronze and flat that we can put some wild grass in. Gather four of those and plenty of the long grass from the savanna exhibit, we'll need those at the inter-cardinal sections."
He turns to Xeno and almost calls on Diva, then the sudden realization that she's gone from the team hits him. But he quickly recovers since it's necessary to do so, now isn't the time for hesitation. "Uh... Xeno right? Could you look around the minerals section and see if you could extract some Potassium, Copper, Sodium, and Lithium from the surrounding geodes? Not... that one obviously it's our target, shavings would be preferred, dusted also works we'll need each separate for the four fires. Museum shouldn't be too hurt from taking just a little to save it's prime exhibit, three ounces of each will suffice. Thanks."
He looks at the circle that he needs to get to drawing, "Right gotta get all this done while Femtite does her thing." Indarius not one to mince words settles in to scrawl the intricate runes, phrases, and glyphs for this complex ritual set up. The others should have plenty of time to gather the necessary resources.
With everything placed Indarius directs Conflux to lay down in the center of the circle where he takes a seat to her left side. "Alright everyone... once I start this I'll basically be well.. not here, I've got to keep a pretty secure connection on the gestalt of Conflux and her Pixite form. Which means I'm gonna be a bit busy. Don't panic if we start gasping or choking... Do worry if we both start seizing, if only one of us does the connection is still good just.. well things are getting ugly and our bodies here are reacting through the mental connection. Point is, make sure neither of us leave the circle, make sure nothing disrupts the runes or fires, they'll be aetherically enhanced so harder to put out than normal fire, but I don't want to test our luck too far. Got it? We're counting on you guys."
He looks to Conflux and places a clawed finger on her forehead. " I'll be in there with you the whole way, so if you need to ripcord out... let me know and I'll drag us back. Ready?"
Indarius begins to chant pulling from the vast 'roots' of aether underneath Halcyon, it begins slow and methodical and as he works he lights the Northern fire which ignites with a vibrant purple flame from the potassium laced dry grass. His clawed finger plunges down on Conflux's forehead and seems to rip easily through her skull about a knuckle deep with almost no resistance. The act is painless and doesn't even cause any real damage to her and soon he pulls his hand directly up and over her torso trailing a viscous line of blood from her which hangs suspended as if stuck endlessly cycling back and forth across the distance.
The chant slowly picks up in both intensity and pace as he casts his free hand across her body to signal the Western fire to ignite as a brilliant yellow flame. With precise hand movements he paints the blood trail in the air before touching his thumb claw to the trail which causes it to excite and split from a recognizable pattern into a twisted mess of circular patterns. Without missing a beat he plunges his hand down into the upper torso just above Connie's breast where her esophagus splits to her lungs. There is a piercing wheeze that fills the space the pair occupy as the chant rises yet again in intensity.
His digits raise once again trailing now the thick blood which seems to be coated in an odd sheath of air. Twisting his hand as if to flick the blood trails away down towards her feet, the southern fire ignites in a rapidly dancing sickly green flame as the blood splatters in perfect lines down her limbs forming knots at the joints and oddly enough even curling around the bottoms of her feet and hands.
Though the chant seems like it can't quicken any further it soon becomes a frantic racing tone and one might wonder how the mage could possibly have any air left in his lungs as he turned his palm upwards and clicked all of his fingers together causing the blood to form a web between them as he slowly stretched and spread the congealing mixture. He turned his palm over and slammed it down forcing his entire hand plunging into Conflux's chest to grab her heart as the last word was uttered and the eastern flame ignited crimson.
The flame danced low for a long time almost threatening to go out, but slowly it gained ground on the fuel and almost seemed to pulse with a dull thud-thud, thud-thud. Not too dissimilar to a heart beat. Indarius fell silent and slumped with one hand stiff as a board hovering between him and the blood trail erupting from the back of his other hand lodged firmly in Conflux's chest. The two bodies barely moving and breathing still.
Connie's eyes slam open, no fluttering, no gradual blinking away sleepiness.
She rises, a bit stiffly but a few steps short of a full on zombie-shuffle. "What? No 'It's Alive, Aliiiiiiiive!'?" she croaks to Femtite. "You know, one of these days I should really get the tea on my unwanted, unasked for funeral since I didn't quite get to do the full Tom Sawyer."
Her stomach gurgles.
"Any of those spotted mushrooms around? I'm guessing a full stomach will be more able to ignite stuff?"
Femtite doesn’t know how long it takes for the dead to become one with the Nanometeor, but Connie’s body looks no worse for wear than it did a month ago. Like she’s sleeping, as several mourners said. Even though we were very clear that nobody actually died. Or slept.
Connie's eyes slam open, no fluttering, no gradual blinking away sleepiness.
She rises, a bit stiffly but a few steps short of a full on zombie-shuffle. "What? No 'It's Alive, Aliiiiiiiive!'?" she croaks to Femtite.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!”
Femtite’s aura is ghostly white—clearly horrified, and not really seeing the humor in zombie jokes right now.
“Too soon, Connie. But …thank you for coming.
“As for the sweet-spotted fungi… we should go east. The Fuchsia Fields are abundant, especially where I’m thinking the pole should go. There are more in the cavern at the Mauve Mountains’ summit, where we hid from Mother… but it’s too far for you to go there first.”
Pointing out the gigantic red-orange starburst with wings, Femtite says, “I’m guessing either Percy or Caio’s guy sent a friend?
“Anyway, Connie, should we split up? You can mount Possibly-Fuzzbat while I head west? Or should we move together, even if just until you’re fed?”
"...Museum is going to be really angry when they find out their exhibits were vandalized," Horizon points out. "Better that than having an apocalypse in the middle of their showroom."
He goes and gets the shark's teeth for Indarius, compartmentalizing more. Of course he can't help in some magic ritual. Or help with Femtite's bizarre technology. Or apparently lucked into becoming an agent of a highly resourced psuedogovernment organization. He shoves that down and hands over the teeth without a word to Indarius.
He stands off far from the Nanometeor, feeling increasingly useless here. Wanting to hit someone, or stalk off, but responsibility kept him in place. Which was not eased by watching Indarius' ritual.
He really wanted to intervene. Only the fact that Conflux wasn't struggling or signaling a stop kept him from kicking Percy off of her as he buried a claw into her chest. He looks incredibly disturbed by the sight. And then they were still together, semi-conscious.
"...That was extremely unsettling."
"Oh sure. Too soon. For you. And yeah that's Fuzzbat." Connie stretches her wings with a crackling noise as she worked through the incomplete crystallization. "Probably better to stick together as long as feasible since I'm operating at a substantial experiential disparity down here. Also, my perceptions got pretty weird at the end, but I think Percy might actually be inside me right now, and talk about experiences that require emotional support."
Emotional support. She’s asking the girl whose friend she used, whose reputation she tarnished, who almost died, whose girlfriend is hurt, who got ganged up on by her own team, and who’s about to be overwritten out of existence, along with her own planet, by her own alternate self, who was broken.
She’s asking because she knows I’ll say “yes.
“Sticking together is best, for safety and emotional support.”
Femtite’s only logical concern with this choice is that time is running out. But then, splitting up would not necessarily speed things up, since Connie could easily get lost.
And maybe I need her support too…
Horizon and Rain wait anxiously as Indarius projects Conflux's mind to her Pixite corpse on Nanometeor. They can only watch as the meteorite's color slowly shifts colors. Xeno runs his scanner over the crystalline structure with a grim expression.
Conflux tests out the body and finds that it's stiff but still workable. The former couple push aside the awkwardness and set out to save the world.
They step out from the deep purple region where Conflux's Pixite body had been interred. During Conlux's previous journey to Nanometeor, she hadn't had time or inclination to soak in the ambiance of the subatomic realm. The view is breathtaking in its otherworldliness. Crystalline spires recede far into the "sky" which is populated by whizzing electrons and ponderously floating neutrons and protons. The proudest and grandest spire nearest them, however, looks as if it has a ice-covered cap slowly creeping towards them. The southern pole in Femtite's hand pulses as if it's drawn to that gigantic spire!
Recalling that Xeno said his devices would tug toward the sources of the problem, the pair follow the beacon. It's a short flight but it takes precious minutes to reach the site. Once they've crossed into the area with the pale colors, Femtite feels an immediate shift in her body! Her core furnace suddenly burns painfully within her while her bluish hands feel like they belong to someone else! It takes concentration to move them the way she wants, and it comes across like they way the Sugar Plumb Fairy moved!
Conflux notices other changes. The electrons lurch in short, erratic bursts, and the larger particles move far more sluggishly.
They reach a wide plateau near the peak of the spire, and they see a piece of equipment that Femtite recognizes as coming from her Bug! What's worse, however, is that the equipment is guarded by a pixite!
As they get closer, they recognize the Pixite as Mel, but bluish and cold like Femtite's other, though she's starting to change colors to warm and golden in the exact same pattern that Femitite is moving -- but the opposite!
"She knew you'd come! You'd keep us lost and in the dark! Fading slowly into oblivion, but we won't let you! You had your out! You could have lived, but now you'll fade!" she hisses in a voice that's both familiar and alien from Femtite's cherished mother!
What do you do?
“Mom!” Femtite cries out. “I don’t want the out for myself! I was saving Chastity, and now I’m here to save you.”
But if she’s Mom from the dead timeline…
“…the real you,” she adds in an almost tear-choked voice.
Not wanting to attack her own Mom—even guessing she’s a murderous alt—Femtite tries a sudden size-shift to subfemtometric, effectively dipping into the plateau and coming up where the stolen equipment is.
If her burst of power works as she hopes, Femtite will pop up, grow back and take the part! She hopes Connie and Fuzzbat will keep Alt-Mom busy!
Waiting. Impotent to do anything. And the worst of it was being here with the only company being someone with which he didn't want to have a discussion.
So he speaks to Xeno instead, keeping his distance. "I don't suppose your Corps has a file on me and the Sentinels somewhere, do they?" He asks in an attempt to distract from feeling useless. "I've been interested in finding out answers about what happened to some of my teammates."
Femtite's size-shifting doesn't get the results she hoped for -- resizing right up close to the alt of her mom where she gets to see up close how different she is. Eyes tired and worn, drained of passion, gaze without recognition of Femtite.
"Why would you call me Mom? I have no daughter! You look like Millie's, though... Doesn't matter. You don't matter!"
“But you matter, Mel. All pixites matter… do you really think you can just hop from one timeline to another, and wipe out one-point-two billion of your kind, and then be the loving people that they were?—that the Mel I know is?”
"We're saving our timeline! This is our only chance to exist!" She jumps at Femtite, bowling her over and pinning her to the bleached surface.
Xeno looks up from his device and tilts his head at Horizon. "Files? No, we're not really... file people." His eyes go distant as his brow furrows. "Sentinels? No... you didn't stray into the dangerous territories that would have put you on our radar."
He focuses again on Horizon. "You have missing teammates?"
Femtite grows over twenty times Alt-Mel’s size and holds her in her hand.
She looks down at Connie.
"Psyche and Siphon disappeared and I can't account for their whereabouts...Isaiah I think went back to his people, Praetoria's currently in space, Scorch has been...hospitalized for some time, and Gallowglass I haven't heard from since the last time she went undercover. Mosaic's got some new stage show she's involved with now, and Triplight also just vanished, but being a dimension hopper themself I actually don't have any hope of finding them. Frostbite is retired, but out of reach." He doesn't elaborate on the last part.
Horizon feels weird talking about this, but it's a good distraction. "And before I could really get a search going for Psyche and Siphon, I got involved with a new team. Which doesn't really seem to need me right now, so... yeah, I'm scraping the barrel looking for clues."
"I'm all for it, but that seems like a real short term solution by itself..."
Connie quickly assembles the device, but her eyes are on her surroundings.
Mel struggles feebly in Femtite's oversized grasp while Conflux sets the pole in place. It balances perfectly, and immediately color starts returning to the area.
Conflux looks around for anything useful, but the area is quite barren. Then she remembers that her Pixite body was made by Millie to not only be just something to provide pleasure to Femtite, but also to protect her as consort. It probably has more capabilities than the standard Pixite. She looks at her wrists and sees the point of a tiny stinger sheathed within.
Xeno looks sympathetic while Horizon opens up. "I'll ask around. I don't know of Siphon, but Psyche is a heavyweight. Someone with that much power... someone's going to know something."
Femtite has never done this to another pixite before. She knows Mel can’t dilate her size significantly. She feels like a bully.
She shrinks gradually, allowing Mel’s wings to slip between middle and index finger. Using her free hand to help cup the smaller pixite in place as she lets Mel poke her head out. Femtite is still twelve times larger. She softens her voice.
“Mom? Mel? Please… I’m not hurting you. I can’t.”
Her eyes are locked on her mom’s alt. And as much as the fire in her belly hurts, seeing the little pixite in her hand is agonizing. Especially since she just wants…
Rain remains silent as Horizon speaks with Xeno about his lost team as he feels it is important for him. When the conversation appears to end and Horizon mentions how the team doesn't need him right now, Rain decides to break the silence.
"The other night I was complaining to Conflux about my powers being limited to combat and she pointed out that I'm part of a team and that others would fill the gaps. She was right." He shrugs. "The same applies to you. It is ok for us to sit this one out... the others are more than capable of pulling this out."
"And to be honest, in the immediate future, the team will need you more than anything else... we are almost breaking."
Even for Millie, it would be wildly out of character for these to be lethal weaponry given the general Pixite attitude towards internecine conflict.
Even to defend her daughter?
Right??
"Hey Mel, look." She extends her wrist stingers. "Neither of us want to hurt you, but there's also a very real time crunch. I bet these won't kill or seriously injure you as long as you don't like, get it in the neck or whatever, but it's just an assumption. The fact that there are two makes me feel much more sanguine about them not being a suicide sting though, so that's good. So here's the deal: I am planning to get both Nanometeors through this. We have a higher chance of succeeding at this if you help us instead of this whole futile resistance thing.
"But here's why you should knock it off and help us anyways. If I'm telling the truth, and we're able to help, you help us help, everyone's helped.
If I'm unable to help, you're in a position to backstab or otherwise interfere when you're not outgunned and outnumbered. So if we're on teams, that helps your team. Ditto if I'm lying, but, heh, I'm not.
"So are you really gonna make me stab you?"
Femtite hears Connie, and sees she’s on the same page for the most part.
Still holding Mel in her hand, Femtite assures her, “We came here thinking there were one-point-two billion lives at stake. But in fact there are two-point-four billion.”
But seeing the stinger is a surprise, along with Connie’s apparent willingness to use them! “Connie… Mother did once ask you if you were willing to take a sentient life, and that body was finalized around the time Seers of the Amethyst Spike warned her of this very apocalypse.
“I was not aware of the stingers, but it’s likely they are as lethal as they look.”
She again turns to Mel with the warning, “I can seldom convince Connie of anything, so you may want to assure us that when I put you down, you won’t give Connie an incentive to ‘prove me wrong’ by stabbing you.”
Horizon noticeably does not look at Rain while he's speaking. When he finishes, he replies acidly to his words.
"I'm not upset about being left out. Don't put your hangup on my shoulders," He retorts. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm dealing with my own issues that are none of your goddamm business, so if you want to keep preaching about bringing the team together why don't you take a shot at it?"
"Fair enough. You are right... as long as you don't let them interfere with your role, it is not my business." He replies, not understanding why Horizon is always so hostile towards him. He tries to reign his anger, as Horizon wasn't the one who caused it.
"I need to figure that out. Not now for sure. We do not need yet another reason for us to break apart."
As Horizon mentions him 'taking a shot', Rain frowns beneath his mask. "Take a shot at what, exactly? Yes, I've been preaching about the importance of we really acting as a team, but I'm not you. I have no authority."
Horizon finally looks at Rain with a wholly incredulous look. He glances back at Xeno and just gestures his arms at him. "You don't have authority?! You literally called in the resources of a shadowy secret organization, and before that, tried to take over the team citing them when my own authority was called into question! Don't act like you're my friend when you've got the dagger ready to stab me in the back," He tells him heatedly.
Alt-Mel's struggles pause as she listens. "Your spike is reversing our conversion," she points out. "How do you propose both our timelines survive?"
Xeno clears his throat. "Secret, yes. Shadowy, not really. It's mainly because most of us are dead or some manner of reanimated corpses that would have people not trust us that much."
He waves his hands. "But carry on. Don't mind me."
Rain sighs. "I'm a member of the Corps, but I don't have authority over the team as you do, being our leader."
"I'm doing what I think I need to do to make us a team again, but I don't want to stab you in the back! I'm trying to take the dagger off of your hand so you don't stab yourself" He throws his hands in the air.
"Why do you keep saying I'm against you? I don't get it!" He says angry and frustrated. "Femtite apparently only trusts Indarius, while he is pissed at you. Imagerie and Gothic called us out on how our team is in shambles and instead of trusting I'm on your side, you insist I'm another enemy!"
"You need to wake up! Preferably before you have two out of two disbanded teams on your resume!" He says, venting his frustration before realizing what he said.
F%+!!
He sighs again, calming down. "Shit. Sorry. I should not have said that."
Horizon is up in Rain's face now, helm to mask as he grits his teeth. "Femtite is doing everything she can to save her people. I don't fault her for hating me trying to bench her when I thought she was powerless and in more danger here. Indarius' critique I haven't fully processed yet but I can see that he has some genuine gripes I need to address. I get them, and I'll address them when the time comes for it."
He grabs onto Caio by his arm, pulling him in until their two heads clink together. "You keep telling me to shape up, pull the team together, be the leader you know me to be. I used to say that too. So I guess it's only a matter of time until history repeats itself, and you're the one leading a new team wondering how the f~$# you're going to make everyone get along."
He pushes Rain back and turns his back on Caio, walking away before he gives in to his anger any further.
"The whole timeline? Not gonna happen. That's imp... that's implausible. But the reason why this isn't affecting the titans yet, I'm a titan by the way, this body's a rental. A refurbished rental, is because you are all a lot closer to literal uncertainty down here. It's easier for the Pixite timelines to be split by observation and meddling, and it's easier for them to be slotted into the warp and weft of the rest of a timeline.
"Basically, you don't take up a lot of space and I'm pretty sure I can find somewhere else to keep you. We can find somewhere else to give you. Also, and I don't understand why no one responds to this sweetener you don't get kayoed/stung, and get to help meaningfully protect your entire world. Or hey, at the very least, get a much better shot at getting us in the neck."
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Indarius although largely separated from his body at the moment is able to vaguely sense the aural projections of those around his corporeal form and as such becomes affected by it. Confluxite gets some of these emotional winds as a sense of general unease and a slightly spiked nervousness from his end of the conduit.
Rain lets Horizon go, deciding not to reply. Turning back the unconscious forms of Indarius and Conflux, he sits nearby, worried.
Horizon might be right and chances are high we'll eventually break, but I'll do what I can to bring us back. No, I will bring us back. Try not. Do or do not... there is no try. He thinks, resisting the urge to impersonate a tiny green alien.
Alt-Mel looks astonished. "The Titans are supposed to be unaware of us. They are too dangerous for us to make contact. They still have males... they war incessantly."
She turns and glares at the gigantic Femtite. "You should know this! If your conception was anything like Faetite's, then you are made to defend us!"
"I'll watch to see your plan to save us." Alt-Mel looks at Connie with deep distrust, but she's not struggling.
Xeno doesn't add more to the conversation. He just says, "One pole is set. Hope they're moving fast; time is ticking."
Femtite looks relieved as her mom (sort of) confirms that pixites do not war in her timeline either.
Of course they don’t! She believes she understands why Alt-Mel is not her mom, and why her own counterpart is ‘unloved.’ And what to do about it…
“Faetite… I need to see her before it’s too late. In the meantime, Mel, please give Connie access to the pixotech in your garage. Connie—you plan to keep the connection between our worlds permanent, right? …which means my Bug’s getting trashed again. Mel, please help Connie rig up the other parts and extract the piece that stores my human body.
“And yes, I’m asking you to join forces, not just watch and hope we’re being honest. You and Connie are the two smartest people I know. As long as you have the same goal: save every pixite, there’s a very real chance you’ll pull it off!”
Femtite releases Mel and reduces her size to the standard one-picometer-tall.
"Faetite is busy saving her Pixites -- it's what she's built for. She would be bringing the rest of us through the vergence, at the center of Nanometeor. My tech is back in deadspace. Connie is welcome to it. If you think you can save us all, let me access my device. I can send you there."
The bluish discoloration continues to creep up Femtite's arms, now past her elbows and her hair is almost halfway changed as well.
What do you do?
“There is no my-pixites, her-pixites. We are all pixites. If we pit one side against the other, knowing that to do so erases over a billion lives, then how can we criticize the titans for their murderous warfare?
“Your timeline isn’t a place to fade and die—not if Faetite and I work together. Please, Mel, take me to her.”
It’s a risky move, and Femtite knows it. But she hopes to earn Alt-Mel’s trust by trusting her.
Alt-Mel points to the center of Nanometeor. "Follow me," she says and begins moving in that direction.
Horizon is more shaken than he lets Caio in on by his words. Losing another team, the kind of failure, might break his resolve for continuing on the path of a hero. In a way, he wonders if the lighthouse will always be his last destination in his life.
Perhaps. But as shaken as he is, he's still clinging onto the hope for something good to come across. As long as Rain doesn't get in his way with his preaching.
He looks over at the distant Nanometeor, before talking to Xeno. "Are you just tracking them, or can you actually see them on a microscopic level?"
Femtite makes sure Connie and Fuzzbat have the remaining poles. She leaves it to Connie to choose whether to hand a pole to Alt-Mel.
She follows her Mom’s alternate whose words of her reason for being weigh heavily.
If that’s what I am, then I’m headed in the right direction…
"Okay, let's split up, Fuzzball. I've got my sea-wings or whatever and time's a wasting."
Xeno shakes his head at Horizon's question. "No, they're subatomic, not microscopic. I'm watching the timeline convergence, which is showing up on this quantum scanner. Not much I can do at this scale."
Indarius's projected familiar streaks across the mountainous terrain of Nanometeor. More of the towering spires crack and distort as their color shifts to cold blues and pale whites. But Indarius wills Fuzzbat to fly faster and he does, being more concept than substance at this size.
He reaches his target area, seeing a small contingent of blue pixites standing guard over a similar piece of tech as before.
What do you do?
Confluxite takes to the subatomic spaces she can't help but still consider air and flies across the Nanometeor's surface. More of the towering spires crack and distort as their color shifts to cold blues and pale whites. It's an apocalyptic scene that urges her to push herself hard to get to her next destination.
Finally the next nexus point appears on the horizon, the device emitting a charge that is disrupting the time all around it. Conflux again feels her pixite body affected by the frozen time as a coldness that has nothing to do with temperature seeps into her being.
As if that weren't bad enough, the site is guarded. A mechanized tardigrade paces back and forth around the Pixite device, its bear-like head sweeping back and forth as it scans the area.
What do you do?
Femtite flies after Alt-Mel as they head toward the center of Nanometeor. More of the towering spires crack and distort as their color shifts to cold blues and pale whites. They pass those by, with Alt-Mel barely sparing them a glance despite their ominous sign of an impending apocalypse.
They slip through a crack in the crystal and descend deep into the meteorite. Femtite sees her arms are now almost fully changed, the bruised blue now reaching her shoulders.
They descend even further, passing through rents and crevasses until they reach a huge open chamber at the heart of the meteorite. A formation of blue Pixites are arrayed around a glowing gash in the dimension from which more are issuing forth. Alt-Mel calls out, and Femtite can see her counterpart.
Faetite grows in size so that she can be easily seen. Her color has also progressed, with bright yellow hair and arms. "Sister? You brought her here, Mel? No matter! She can't stop us! It's our time now!"
Femtite hears a familiar voice in her head. ::Blonde One? Not that you’re looking too blonde right now. Don’t tell me you’re letting your mommy’s alternate arrest you.::
Femtite thinks her reply, trusting the captain’s MindLink will read her.
I’m going to my ‘sister’ voluntarily, Captain Wedgie. I think we can save them as well as ourselves, but I could use some backup.
::Right, Your Highnessness. I’ll voluntell the ladies.:: She apparently includes Femtite on an all-call. A loud one. ::Which o’ you crybabies’ gonna pull up her big-girl pants? Our princess is finally ready to soil her tea gloves!::
::Rouge Five standing by.::
::Goddessdammit, Five! Don’t just stand by there! Link up with Magenta Three and Eight and tell ’em they’re late for the stealth mission that started three seconds ago: Operation Journey to the Center of the Nanometeor.::
::That’s a long name for a stealth mission, Cap’n. And a dead giveaway of the destination meant to be snuck toward.::
::When you get promoted to captain, you name the friggin’ operations.::
This banter goes on for quite some time. It gets weirder when the captain’s wife joins the conversation…
Femtite flies toward her enlarged sister, hovering at eye level.
“Faetite! Don’t you see? You’re giving up on your world when you could love it as I love mine! Can’t we talk this over?”
"Sorry bud, I know you're tough, and you're probably just hungry, but I've got all the tools I need to make this not a problem."
Soaring above the tardigrade, Connie lets her borrowed body burn bright, bathing the area in tremendous, debilitating heat. I don't exactly have a thermometer on me, but judging from my past readings off of Femtite and comparing to my current corona...
"So please turn into a tun before you die. I can't take any longer on this while time is literally not on my side."