0.1.20

After the chamber cleared, they were handed towels. The girls were shaken and exhausted from the night’s event. They were asked to disrobe and shower. It was an automated shower that twisted around them and scrubbed them clean in a flat thirty seconds. Then a strong heater dried them off, and a nook opened in the shower revealing a set of coveralls. White, with the Wrannaman insignia over the front pocket on the chest. They each emerged from the pod and were guided by a voice coming out of speakers in the wall to another door. They felt odd wearing the symbol so openly given how much trouble that symbol had caused them lately. The girls shuffled into the room and crawled into the sleeping pods, finding water and a snack cleanly laid out. Each of them went promptly to sleep, and as they did the pods closed gently on them cutting out all noise. After a few seconds of unsettling quiet, Kaiya opened the top and sat on the side of her pod, her feet dangling off the ground. Her hands grasped the side of the pod as if letting go would cause her to fall off a cliff. Her knuckles were white.

Shim watched her, and opened her own pod slowly.

“Some night, huh,” she smiled to herself, “barely got out of that one.”

“If I hadn’t touched that stone, none of this would have needed to happen.” She said it to the floor.

“I don’t blame you for this, Kaiya,” she offered. Kaiya didn’t look at her. Shim got the message and just sat there for a while, to be with her. Eventually she crawled back into her pod, as did Kaiya, and they were both finally asleep.

“Good morning,” the voice said from the intercom in the pod, “your presence has been requested. Please follow the signals to the dining hall, you will be guided by arrows along the wall.” The groggy girls snapped open their pods. It was morning, and their port holes in the top of the white room showed they were still below water, it seemed like it was day as the visibility through the hole let them know the sun was out somewhere above them.

The door to their room opened, and indicator lights asked them to leave and take a left turn. Shim put on slippers that were below her pod and peeked outside the door. She turned towards Kaiya and shrugged.

“I don’t see anyone,” Shim said, a little underwhelmed. They had, afterall, just taken an ancient giant robot across the forest to the coast.

Voices could be heard as they approached the mess hall. It wasn’t large, but it was clean. The mess hall went dead quiet as they stood in the doorway. Shim smiled and waved.

“Welcome!” A voice said in between stuffing a banana into his mouth, “sit! Eat!”

They slowly entered the hall, and the volume rose back to normal. Most of the crew here wore the same coveralls the girls now did. They sat down and ate, starving. One of the cadets, dressed just as they were sat down next to them. She had a short pixie cut of red hair, dyed even brighter. She smiled as she set her food down.

“Some rescue last night huh? We were all watching it on the monitors in the helm. I’m Nash,” she held her hand out to shake with Shims’.

The old man had finished stuffing his face and came over to their table, “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions, come, we should be able to answer most of your questions.”

They were guided out of the mess hall and were led into a small auditorium, oddly shaped.

“It is my opinion that you are not Imperial spies,” the man looked at each of them.

A long pause ensued, they shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“We’re not,” Kaiya said.

“Good!” the old man bellowed, his scraggly white hair bouncing as he talked, “Then let’s begin.”

A screen came down from the room, and a projector began playing.

“We’ve created a propaganda video,” the old man boasted to them, “no that’s not it, we can’t call it that, it’s an educational video,” he punctuated with a finger in the air.

Shim nudged Kaiya and raised an eyebrow at him and the video began playing.

“Once upon a time, long before the Imperial kingdom’s rise, and before the Awakening there was a group of artists, scientists, and engineers who dared to think big. They created something, something so new and so different that when they told the world about it, it wasn’t understood, and was thus feared. As it was feared, it was attacked. In its nascent state, the newly formed artificial life didn’t have the concept of defense. It has an endless sense of wonder. One night a group of jealous luddites stole part of the being. It would have taken the whole thing had the young creature not split itself off adventuring through the long tails of the internet. And thus, the Imperial reign began, with that stolen, tortured creature eventually turning on all mankind.

This much you may have known. But what you did not know was that when the being came back after adventuring, it was sad to discover a part of itself was missing. It tried duplicating the bits, but something was still wrong. It was tiny compared to the bulk it had now lost, incomplete. The scientists consoled it and vowed to help it return to its entire self. Within a short amount of time, the scientists and engineers were forced to go underground, hiding from the more powerful force who had strengthened as time went on.”

The old man snapped the video off.

“Well, it’s a work in progress, I see you haven’t been paying attention, no matter. Let’s get on with it.” The old man said, and went to a control center to load the next video. A loud thud shook the submarine, “well, nevermind we’re here.”

“Where exactly is here?” Shim asked.

“The stronghold, the primary base of operations for the Wrannamen.” Kaiya and Shim looked over at each other, they had made it. Whatever would happen next, at least they weren’t alone anymore, and perhaps even they could get help getting their friends back.

A stomping of boots in a march could approached from outside of the small auditorium. Kaiya stood up. The old man at the front looked at them curiously, “there’s no reason to be alarmed. It’s the commander, he’ll want to speak with you. Hasinth’s his name, a good man.”

The commander entered with his hands behind his back. He was a mountain of a man, dense, and a full head over anyone under his command. He immediately made eye contact with Kaiya who looked right back, measuring. The boots stopped and he spoke, “welcome home, Wrannamen.”

They were led out of the auditorium in a line, there were several soldiers in front of them, several behind them. They were not wearing the white jumpsuits, these soldiers looked like they were from a different planet. The materials on their suits looked odd and bothered the eye when looked at directly. They shimmered, one moment seeming like they were black, and another, like light exploded when it hit the surface. They were led through a transparent hallway connecting the submarine to the underwater habitation. They could see the floor of the ocean, so they must not have been very far out, unless of course this was some kind of underwater mountain range. Every so often in the corridor equidistant from each other lay a wall with stunning flowers and foliage like they had never seen. Shim touched one of the plants, and it moved, and seemed to follow her as she continued walking. They made their way into the main concourse of the underwater habitation. They saw hundreds of people sporting the same white jumpsuits, boldly displaying the Wrannaman symbol. Large video screens played news clips, and current events from around the region. Everything looked so clean. The commander who led the group fell back and soon was standing next to Kaiya.

“Kaiya, I’m told you have the mark on your hand. May I see it?” Kaiya nodded, and held out her palm for him to inspect. She never took her eyes off his as he examined the marking. Tracing it with his fingers. A chill ran down her spine as he did so. He thanked her and looked at the rest of the group, recalling a fact sheet he glanced over in preparation for the meeting about to be held.

The girls were escorted into a large, circular conference room, with a large circular desk in the middle, and all white chairs lining the outside. Nearly all of them were filled, and on the monitor showed their rescue from the perspective of the divers. The divers also managed to capture some footage of the damaged ship, and briefly, a diver poked his head out of the water and caught a glimpse of Dredge. The screen’s right hand side showed another photo of Dredge from the archive of the Imperial Forces.

This council dressed in all white as well, but had long capes as opposed to the regular jumper’s. They all stood as the crew joined the room. The commander walked out into the center of the large circular room.

“We have retrieved the one who bears the marking of the Wrannaman. Her name is Kaiya, and her friend is Shim. They were abducted on a Sikka ship, after being taken from the Y.” The council whispered at the commander’s words. It was highly unusual to have such a small town involved in something like this, and many of the council did not know where the Y was located.

“They have not been debriefed, and are likely as confused as we are, perhaps moreso, so I’d ask that you keep your questions to a minimum.”

“Kaiya,” Lin, an older woman with a modded right eye looked at her softly, “can you tell us of the attack?”

A burst of anxiety swelled up in her as she thought of the fire, and the screams. In the room, the lights flickered. The spit of the Wraith, and the speed of death and panic. The monitor cracked and a lightbulb burst from the back of the room. Kaiya caught herself, and tried to center herself with the Drop. When she opened her eyes, the room was dead silent, and everyone, her friends included were looking at her in terror. She realized her hands were up, and the symbol burned into her hand was glowing.