Re: Aertherite- Industrial Pyrtherite Thaumic Fusion Mark Three

First of its kind to use a mixture of the two affinities, this engine driver relies on a controlled thaumic reaction between Aer and Pyr in their crytallized, or in the case of Pyr, in their extremely agitated state. So far, only one of it exists and has yet to be put through its paces. Such includes gross fraught weight, net fraught weight, speed and tolerances. Currently, the means with which to measure such values are unavailable, hopefully they have them at Kingsfell.

Provisional Captain's Log*

*Actual captain’s log will be recorded once the requisite recording artifacts are in place.

Wafting mist parted around the aerships gun-metal gray bow, and then through the front landing strut before passing the outrigger hull. Vortices of condensation wisped through the air, oftentimes clinging to the hull of the craft before cooling further and forming rivulets that dripped to the ground. Beneath the aft section, where a seafaring yacht would have its propellers, moisture laden air funneled into the mana engine, slipping between the blade fans of magical mana collecting metal.

The Mark Three was dorsally mounted, parallel to the keel and its intake began half-way through the length of the ship. Aesthetically, the resulting extrusion ran all the way to the stern and gave the appearance of an internally mounted, single turbo-fan engine peeking from the fuselage of an F-16.

Covering the intake was, of course, grilles to prevent anything from flying into it. While the fans were made of the sturdiest magical metal, scraping off minced avians after an engine stall was a morbid idea of a hobby its crew would not suffer.

The hum of the engine was a non-sequitur to the dawn break’s cacophony of diurnal creatures making their presence felt around the glade. It was yet dark out, perhaps, sometime before the sixth quart. Accentuating the gloom were the silhouettes of the trees surrounding the vessel and the slopes of the small woodland.

[ Magitech Aercrafter Level 15!]

[Artillery SkilI - Weapons Lock!]

While the engine hummed below above, Artie stirred awoken by the chime of the Psiphone lying on the bedside cabinet. He groaned, stretching out his body evoking euphoric tremors throughout his frame as his toes curled.

The coolness of the air made him want to go to sleep, unfortunately with the insistent chiming of the Psiphone it was not to be. Out of habit, he found himself tapping its crystal screen but the sound did not cease until he opened his eyes to glare at the gadget balefully, then he realized where he was.

Arthur encountered not his old phone but a palm sized magitech artifact. He wasn’t in his room at his uncles’ house either but in the berth laying on a six by four bed nestled in a nook. Surrounding him was the charcoal gray interior of a hull. He smacked his lips, moistening the cotton-mouth sensation before he regarded the space he’d slept in.

No bigger than a small cubicle ,the berth was a little cozy and minimalist in design. Overhanging cabinets rested above the recess of the bed. To his left was the hull's inner bulkhead , no window port or any other aperture to the outside save for a skylight― a pane of obsiderite hidden behind a grille.

Towards the foot of his bed was a partition that closed off the walk-in shower room and washroom. Beneath the bed were pull out cabinets for personal effects while the rest of the space was taken up by a rug carpet, a loveseat, a coffee table and a closet. Space wasn’t much, but he could squeeze another seat or so and still have enough space to do some stretches.

“Pa! you awake?” Arcis’ voice blared as if on a loudspeaker.

“Gah!,” Arthur started, as the remnants of sleep fled. He regarded the flashing crystal screen and the animation of the [Far Speak] rune bubbling to the surface as if in a pond and grumbled,” I’m up…, and isn’t there a receive button on this thing?”

“Did you forget who made the gadget?”

“What, so you’re a hacker now? Never mind, what'd you call me for?”

“Uhm, we're out of water,”

“Huh?”

“We used the reserve tanks to refill the water we lost in the leaks yesternight remember ?"

”Oh, I kinda forgot about that... Is there's no river, or spring nearby? The steam pump can fill her up right?”

“Nooo,” Arcis said , almost whiningly ,“ I'm in the shower with soap in my hair,”

”Uh, gimme a moment,” Arthur groaned, levering himself off the bed. He ran his hand across his face as if it would assuage the weariness in his bones. He was still getting accustomed to his new quarters. “And speaking of hacking, there's something we need to talk about—”

”Uuhm,” Arcis said as if she was mulling it over but after a beat she added, ”oke dokes,”

Arthur shook his head at that―the synth was already picking up on some Earth habits. Her diction wouldn't have sounded strange coming from some teenager he’d find anywhere back home.

‘No…This is home now,’ he thought, giving his berth once over before he walked out.

Pulling the predawn dew from the air was no sweat on Arthur's brow really. It was fascinating to watch as all the moisture in the air was funneled into globulous shapes before entering the water tanks. He would've liked to use Aqerite crystals for spontaneous water generation but out of all the crystals, it was right behind Tertherite in rarity. So while sitting cross-legged atop the deck, Arthur detachedly watched as bit by bit, the air around him was bled dry of its water. The fog cleared up at a speed visible to the eye giving him an unimpeded view of the glade.

Small critters scampering atop the trees a cross between a wisteria and a pine tree stopped to watch; most of them were the familiar winged squirrels. He sighed, reminiscing his first encounter with one of their ilk.

Arthur remembered something he used to do back in the other world whenever he saw picturesque vistas —photography. He was in one right then―the first rays of sun up cresting over the trees and the grassy knolls around the little woodland were scenic.

Taking out his Psiphone he tried taking the first picture on the artifact. Needless to say, the lack of buttons had him fumbling a while before he gave up and resigned to ask the resident magitech wizard.

As if on cue, the pitter patter of unshod feet alerted him to someone who could only have been the Synth girl. He waited, fiddling with the outline of the Psiphone whose screen was about a thumb span before a pair of cold hands embraced him from behind.

“Mornin’ Paps,” Arcis muttered as she placed her chin on his shoulder. Her wet hair tousled about against his shoulder. ‘Pa, Papa, Paps,’ Arthur rolled his eyes. ”Really Arcis? What's with the wet hair?”

“Ah, Sorry!” Arcis shrieked, jumping back as she watched the back of Arthur's shirt soak with water. She followed it up with a murmur of [Matter Transmutation] and Arthur felt her hand grow warm on his back before the water evaporated leaving it dry. Arthur raised a brow and shook his head wrly.

“It's nothing,” Arthur replied. “Now come about, we need to talk,”

Arcis walked around and sat down folding her feet under her. She fidgeted with her fingers, as she leaned her hands on her thighs. There was some silence as both cast about for things to say, occasionally sighing and staring at something in the forest around them.

“So—”

“Pa—”

““Ah””

““After you,”” they spoke over one another for the second time. Both man and girl chuckled.

“The other night…” Arthur began, with an exhale “ Well, it didn't really sink in how much you’ve changed. “ He looked at his adopted daughter with an inscrutable expression.

“ In no less than three months, you’ve become someone with your own sense of identity,” Arthur put across, with a thoughtful look.

“ I mean, I don't know the first thing about parenting…heck I don't know what to do with a preteen? Teenager? Forget about age, let's talk about your abilities. I could put my foot down and say no to something but I wouldn't have any way of enforcing it,” he added with a helpless look on his face.

“ I…ah,” Arcis started, “ I don’t know what to say Papa.” she said in a small voice. “ A single day does not go past that I don’t question my existence,” she added, rubbing at her elbows. She clenched and unclenched her fist before she let her hands flop on her lap. “ Do you fear me Papa?” Arcis said, looking at her father. “ Does the fact that I am not made of flesh and still unnerve you?”

“ No no no,” Arthur hastily responded, hands waving in a placating manner“ That’s not what I am getting at.”

“ Then what?” Arcis said.

‘Haaah,’ Arthur kneaded the bridge of his nose,’ went off on a tangent right there,’

“ Alright, alright…” Arthur said, putting his hands on his crossed legs. “ I am not really one to school you about the responsibility of being powerful and all that shebang. I am not a sociologist who’s going to delve into relation dynamics either―”

“ You’re still dancing around the issue Pa,” Arcis huffed, pouting her lips. “ If it's about your Psiphone, well…I have bad news,” she cringed.

Shoulder’s slouching, Arthur sighed despondently. Then raising his gaze to meet hers, he shrugged and said, “ Lay it on me.”

“ Uhm, I took a look,” Arcis winced, expecting Arthur to get angry after his earlier mention of hacking. When he didn't react, she went on, “ I took a look and somehow, it looks like the same thing is blocking me from accessing some of my own memories. Like some kind of limiter, failsafe or something I don’t know,”

“ Mmh?”

“ I also discovered I have two mana pools,” she raised her arms, pulsing her trace veins which lit up with a blue glow before dispelling them.

“Riiight…”

“ You can almost say…I am a dual core synth,” she grinned uneasily. “ But, I can't seem to access it either,”

“ Damn,” Arthur murmured with his palm on the lower half of his face.

“ What does this thing even run on?” Arthur asked, and resigned that he was not going to access anything on the artifact.

“ Erm, I think it runs on a fragment of my mind matrices,”

“ Huh?” Arthur gawped befuddled. “ In English?”

“ I think the me from before, used part of ourself, gah!” she smacked her forehead. “ I think it runs on a fragment of [Host-Mind]. It must have been done to bridge the gap between the smartphone and the telecry,”

“ So…magical software? Magisoft? Hah,” Arthur snorted.

“ Papa” Arcis facepalmed again.

“ What? It's my first dad joke…” Arthur grinned back. “ Please tell me it has an assistant function because I can’t even get it to take pictures… Si—”

“Psia,” Arcis butted in.

The Psiphone lit up and it spoke its impersonal voice. It reminded Arthur eerily of [Host-Mind], only, there was no sentient intelligence behind the inflections of the words.

“[Query]; how can I help you?”

“Ah,” Arthur hesitated, ” Play Fir—

”[Noted]; Playing Fireflies.”

And the music came out from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Pitch pure with no background noise whatsoever. Nostalgia hit him so hard he was trying to blink the tears from his eyes. Goosebumps prickled though his arms as he let out a cathartic exhale. It was akin to stepping back into a warm room, lingering familiar scents and ambience after being out in the cold a while

“How? “Arthur asked.

“ Telepsychic resonance,” Arcis grinned for all the world as her foster father would know what it was.

“ Limited precognition,” she pouted, fishing for the words with which to explain.

“Never mind,” Arthur waved it off. “ That's a win in my book,” he added, grinning. His hand hovered over Arcis’ head before she scrunched her eyes . Arthur let her have it.

”What else did your other self do that you can remember?”

“Er, don't freak out…”

“Please don't tell me you have an obnoxious evil clone incubating in a vat somewhere,” Arthur grimaced, as his petting halted. Arcis looked up from beneath his palm and scowled almost in mock outrage. However, seeing as Arthur had been serious about it, her features softened and she shook her head.

“I don't think so Papa; we don't have to worry on that front. Even without the level of computational abilities I had before I know that chances of an evil twin—” she airquoted,” are almost nil.”

”Hmm, not null ?” Arthur drew back his head, narrowing his eyes. He sniffed , looming over the girl as if unbelieving of what she'd claimed.

“I’m not lying I swear,” she puffed out her cheeks. Arthur pinched them, she playfully batted his hands away. “Okay, serious this time,” Arcis said as Arthur retracted his hand. The synth girl reached behind her back and retrieved a smooth round shaped pebble. Arthur's mana sense told him it was anything but that, even against Arcis chaotic aura, —he'd gotten good at distinguishing anything within arm’s reach.

”Meet Scuttle ,” Arcis mumbled, tapping the palm-sized silverish blue thing.

“Hmm?,” Arthur leaned in for a closer look, frowning incredulously— Five pairs of articulated appendages extended from its underbody with clicking sounds that he almost flinched away. Crustacean-like, it had four pairs of legs and what were one miniature pair of pincers; a pointed crystalline appendicle emanating from one of the pincers like a rune scribing pen.

The palm-size pebble had a singular body like a crab's carapace but no visible ocular parts.

“Scuttle is one of er, a dozen or so autonomous golem-drones,”

”What?!,” Arthur gawked. He was perturbed from realizing that those golem like critters were behind every nook and cranny inside the aership—his aership. And all this time they'd been staying out of sight like stowaway rats.

“Papa, easy...let me explain; they're not hostile,” she said, pointedly giving him the drone. Arthur relaxed and, haltingly extended his hand while the other put down the Psiphone on his lap; somehow it was on automatic shuffle having switched to To the Sky. He received the little drone . Its little articulated limbs were surprisingly dexterous and as he appraised it. Arthur was surprised that [Appraisal] revealed more than the subject's name and creator,

’Scuttle;

Semi autonomous drone

Magillium exoskeleton

1 of ??

Created by Hᛟᛋᛏ-mᛁᚾᛞ’

Magillium ? The same metal my Psiphone's made of huh?' Arthur frowned, Arcis gingerly took the almost inert drone that had gone still in Arthur's hands.

”These little guys,” Arcis drew back Arthur's attention,” are responsible for the alterations that might have been done while I was under confinement. I don't know when their commands were imbued into them but all I know is, the Stormbreaker wouldn't have been flying so soon without them.”

A shadow of an expression passed Arthur's face so fast the synth almost missed it. ’Yeah, building the ship even with the golem turned out way too easy. If I had [Detect Flaw] I wouldn’t have been surprised if they patched them right up.’ Arthur made a mental note to relearn the skill if it was the last thing he did.

”They can do much more I think,” Arcis said, placing the little drone into the deck, it suddenly became animated, shaking itself like an insect before it scuttled across the deck. Umbra just happened to materialize in its path and yowled, jumping a foot in the air before she batted it away in umbrage.

Arthur and Arcis chuckled as the feline whuffed, eyeing the little golem spinning on its carapace-like exoskeleton. Its legs bent the other way and it continued moving as if nothing had happened.

“ But even I am still relearning some of the things I ought to be doing like second nature,” Arcis shrugged. “ Before you ask, yeah, I think I can sense them somehow, just like the golems we left back at the estate—” Arcis went on to explain that she hadn’t gotten around to perceiving what the little scuttle drones saw. She could only get vague impressions of what they were doing and where they were.

However they couldn’t go far from the ship because somehow, they were living off the tellusphere’s ambient mana, and as such, it was almost hardwired into them that whatever damage the aership would incur, within a reasonable threshold, the little drones would fix it. So out went Arthur’s dreams of upgrading the aership on the go.

“But, “ Arcis winced, “ you gotta stockpile some materials else they’ll start cannibalizing other parts of the ship to fix others.”

Finger’s splayed, Arthur rubbed at his face and groaned, “ Ugh, we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,”

“Is that music?” Elena said, interrupting Nora's survey of the surrounding forest. Elena pointed on the promenade deck, near the bow. “ Those two are more alike than they think.”

Nora hummed watching the father and daughter seated across from one another. They seemed to be sharing an inside joke. From where the three onlookers stood however, they couldn't catch a word of what was being said, neither did they understand the music. It seemed like an almost otherworldly language with impossible musical accompaniments; even Elena, who had a few song crystals in her stash had never heard of such melodies.

“Master Arthur and—” Elena hesitated,“Mistress Arcis?” she added. Unawares, she extended her hand to the nice smelling cup that Nevine was sipping from. Nevine raised a querying brow and extended the cup to her.

”Bleugh, so bitter... Nevine, what in the Pits is this? Its so atrocious,” Elena sputtered, wiping some of the dribbling beverage with the back of her palm.

”Ko'ffee..or whatever Master Sturmdrache calls it.” Nevine sniffed in contempt as he took back his cup.“ And what are you saying? This is the best stuff.”

“Hasn't anyone of you ever thought to ask where they are from? They both share the same habits and the way Master Sturmdrache took to Mistress Arcis; its like they came from the same city...town, village?” Elena asked, finger to her lips in thought. “Nora, what do you think?”

“I think when the time is right, they'll tell us,” Nora said.

` But after the last time I found Arthur in the Lab, he still hasn't explained what caused him to bleed from his nose. He almost became a different person after that; almost as if there's something urgent he has to do,’ she left unsaid. Nora didn't know if her trust in the man was misplaced. Perhaps she was supposed to push him to say something.

“Some things kept away from us are perhaps for our own protection,” Nevine added, shrugging as he slurped on his coffee. Nora nodded perfunctorily.

‘He never questioned why a healer has Shadow Porting abilities.’ She sighed. She didn't want to tell Arthur then use it to guilt trip him into telling her what he was so dodgy about. Try as he might, he really could not hide everything from her. Nora was not stupid to notice that underneath the tentative distance between Arcis and Arthur was an uncanny camaderie.

Beyond Arthur's having come to Alkerd through some sort of translocation magic, Nora had no more information to go on about his origins. Was he from Occidania after all? She seemed to think Arcis had the same origins as well. Be as it may, she was reading too much into it. That said, inasmuch as Arthur was rather unconventional in his common sense, he wasn't an unscrupulous person.

“Papa?”

”Hmm?”

“What's next?” Arcis asked.

Arthur tousled her hair,” Lot's of things Arcis... we're gonna have to have a meeting to take stock of stuff, inventory and all those tidbits. Then we're going to talk about what to do for our future.”

“How much of it will you tell them?”

“Apart from the fact that we'll be keeping eyes and ears out for people who had a translocation accident like mine? A little. It's better to err on the side of caution; too much information cannot be a good thing”

”Mmh,”

“And if scrying magic works the way I think it does, it'll be a little easier I think. We just have to find the spell matrix for it or an artifact. If they're on Eryth, we have to get to them before someone else does.”

“And the dwarves?”

”We have to stay one, ...no two steps ahead of them. ” Arthur said. The sunlight was now pouring over the small clearing, kissing his cheek with warmth. The rest of the morning's grogginess had gone too but the rumbling of his stomach brought him to the present.

“There's so many things I'm going to have to write them down somewhere,” he scratched the back of his neck.

“Like a captain's log?” Arcis inquired curiously scrunching her brow she played with the locks of her hair.

“Huh?” Arthur said with a one-arched brow.

“You're the ship's captain dummy,” Arcis huffed. “We need roles too, else you'll be spreading yourself thin trying to do everything at once.”

“That's a good idea I think…” Arthur said, stretching his arms where the warmth was slowly seeping into his skin.

“Dibs on engineering and navigation,” Arcis grinned toothily, “ Oh please say yes…”

“Speaking of engineering, how much do you know about the tellusphere?”

“Hmm, not a lot I think,” Arcis turned thoughtful.“ Just that, the Stormbreaker’s mana load is too small at the moment. The last time we activated it, it shorted out the mana conduits,” Arcis cringed, recalling the silver that had bled from various parts of the ship after the deep wurm incident. She had to scrape it off and use it elsewhere—she was just waiting to reveal them after that.

“Ugh...figures,” Arthur said. “Thought we'd use it as an auxiliary form of propulsion.”

“Yeah, we're going to have to match its output to the ship's needs.”

“Hmm?”

“Think internal space expansion, arcane weapons and defensive wards; we have more than enough mana to power a small town.” Arcis said with fervent enthusiasm.

“Wait wait wait…”Arthur forestalled the girl. “We're not going to create anything that's strong enough to level a small aerland.”

“Awh,” Arcis sulked.

“The other part I agree with, we need good defenses ,” ‘Like [Aegis of the Slyph Queen]’ Arthur thought.

“We could ask Elder Volemhir,” Arcis put out.

Arthur's eye twitched. ”Not the scatterbrained grandpa. Don't want to owe that old fogey another favor”

“What about a trade?”

“I doubt we have something that he wants,” Arthur narrowed his eyes. “ And how did you get in touch with him anyway? Can he track us? Scry us?”

“Pshaw!” Arcis flicked her wrist,” I can change my mana signature at will. Besides, he thinks I'm using your telecry. Not sure he knows that I've been using my skill.”

“What's the range of [Message] and [Far Speak]?”

A faraway look overtook Arcis as she thought about it. Arthur thought it a quirk of her using her heritage abilities as a synth and when she came to she said,” I'm not sure there's an upper limit. It seems to fluctuate depending on ambient mana density, the originators’ and the receivers’ mana pools.”

“Have you tried [Mapping]? That skill had to have carried over right?”

“I'm still analyzing its matrix.” Arcis said, shaking her head. “ Something's missing and I don't know what,”

“Alright then...what do we have to trade though?”

“Spellcrafting and magitech of course?” Arcis attention perked up. “We should tell him how we used the steam engine; steam driver is what he calls it though.”

“I think he's figured out the motive part of it,” Arthur said, forestalling that line of thought.“ Besides I don't think machinery will fly with the sylvani. The only people interested are the ones we are running away from.”

“ Gah...alright; that's a dead end. I'll think of something…”

“Back to the tellusphere, you said something about shorting out the mana conduits…”

“Yea...turns out silver can only take so much magic,” Arcis spoke, as she tapped her chin contemplatively.

’So that's where the silver went?’ Arthur came to a realization. Over time he'd thought that the missing quantities were because the logistics of moving large materials meant that some got lost along the way. But to discover it was his daughter's covert use to embed her own designs inside the aership—' Just how much did she add to the Stormbreaker’ His stomach grumbled again.

”Ah, all this thinking is getting me hungry,” Arthur said. He got up from sitting on the deck and limbered up before calling out to Arcis,“ Let's go have that breakfast meeting.”