Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 30B3 - : Faction leader summit

Xera tapped her foot, slightly impatient, as her Signers finished their morning routines. Just be nice, she thought, don’t warp them away without notice. Can’t rush them and be like that anymore.

She had almost ruined the situation with her Signers: Jace, in particular, thanks to her own manipulations and machinations. At least with him, now, she was forced to tell the truth. And, over the past week, she had been endeavoring to be less manipulative. But old habits die hard: especially habits grown from millions of years of practice. Doing whatever she deemed necessary, when she deemed it necessary.

The past few days she had been quite introspective and replayed through many of her compressed memories, focusing on past Signers. Ones that she had high hopes for. Ones that she hoped would be what she needed to help fix errors in The Cosmic System. Ones that either died or quit…and the ones that quit: well, she couldn’t very well let them go around with a large amount of knowledge regarding her and her activities.

I cannot mess that up with this group, she thought. Quinn as a coordinator is extremely valuable being System-side capable whilst I am forced to operate in my odd, outside-looking-in capacity. Greg, Priam, and Dee are an excellent team for dealing with situations…and Jace…I need him to accomplish my grand plan.

She had been able to send a handful of probes: microscopic ones that could begin gathering data: into the Astral Incursions that the trio of her Signers had sealed over the past few weeks. But Xera could not get the data from those probes until Troxanir was pushed out from his spot plugging up the singularity at the center of the universe. She had run the simulations: Dark Energy is what would be needed to push Troxanir out and dislodge him…but only after his avatar was defeated.

That’s how he interfaces, Xera thought, without the avatar, he cannot be a part of The Cosmic System. That part of him must die, and then pushing his true, Astral Demon form out from the singularity is: comparatively: a piece of cake. She chuckled at how naïve she had been, thinking that Star Father those millennia ago was a hope she clung to. A means to resolve her issues. But she was wrong. He may have been able to defeat the avatar, but that would only set Troxanir back for some time. Star Father would have never been able to dislodge the true mass that is his true, Astral Demon form.

Xera tapped her fingertips on the window, looking out over The Eternal City. Thoughts of her plans, visualizations of the layers of reality raced through her imagination. Down, she thought, down through the Astral Verge, finding our way to the Nethershift…beyond that, if Xero was right, then we will find the Soul Realm, and finally the Afterlives…or our universe’s assigned afterlife, if that is how it works.

She only had conjecture and speculation. That was one of the reasons for The Architect’s journey; to scout out not just the Astral Verge, but the Nethershift, the Soul Realm beyond that, and see if it was possible to travel to the afterlife whilst still alive. As long as we get a door to the Astral Verge we can control access to then I can send out all the probes I desire. Billions upon trillions upon quadrillions: I’ve got to get my forges working at max operating speed on the new designs.

Finally, her Signers had finished their morning activities, and she sent them a brief, thirty-second warning before she would warp them to her apartment for their meeting. Xera walked over to her fabricator and got several coffees and teas from Earth ready to go; as well as something that Dee’s species, the Plorp, would enjoy: a cube of a digestive enzyme that was as delicious to them as sugar was to the Human species.

After the time had elapsed, her Signers all appeared, warped through Khrox instantaneously. “Welcome. Please, sit. I have two items to discuss.”

The group each took seats, and Josie: Xera’s personal Wayfinder: floated around the room distributing the various beverages. Xera tapped a button on her wrist pad and the windows all turned black as the room manifested a holographic representation of their universe: a flat, spinning disc with the enormous singularity at the center. “As you all know, the Astral Verge lays underneath our universe. Well, underneath for our purposes to simplify things down.”

Quinn smiled, “Yeah, I saw your simulations. No offense to you guys,” she said as she looked to the other Signers, “But those models were…wow. I could barely comprehend them. Go with that sandwich analogy you used last time.”

Greg grumbled a little, and Priam outright stated, “I am quite intelligent! Show me these models!”

Xera indulged him, and he sat, reeling in place, as she had put up a simplified visual representation of the layout of the various components of reality. He shut his eyes and shook his head, which Xera took as a sign to turn off the feed.

“Okay. Wow. Yeah, no, I am not smart enough to get a little bit of understanding of what I just saw.”

Jace chuckled, “It’s okay. We just have to know that this is another part of reality. Another slice of it. And it connects to other universes.”

“Correct,” Xera stated. She zoomed in on the ‘funnel’ shape she had applied to the bottom of the singularity’s representation. “This is our passage to the Astral Verge. We know that the inhabitants of this place are called Astral Demons, and that they operate using something more ancient than The Cosmic System. Lower Tiers only level up within this Astral System based upon the number of Souls they accumulate and presumably consume to fuel their own growth. But, as they get to higher Tiers, they gain the capability to use Universal Matter instead of Souls: alongside Souls. A secondary form of currency.”

Dee frowned, “We knew that stuff already. Get to the good part. All that Essence our Wayfinders have been gathering!”

Xera smiled, “Always the eager one. Yes, based upon the gathered samples, I have concluded that Essence is what Astral Demons are made of. Just as everything in the universe: in any universe is made of Stardust, Essence is the equivalent for the Astral Verge. Troxanir’s avatar must be defeated, and then his Astral Demon form either pushed out of the singularity blocking our ‘funnel’, or be destroyed: if such a vast being can be destroyed. Only then can I get the data from my probes, send out even more probes, and truly set up a subroutine that lets us tap into the Astral System and use its power for ourselves.”

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“A way to get into their System,” Quinn stated, having worked with Xera on the models.

“Yes,” Xera replied. “But more than that: once I have access to the outside of our universe, and can be kept safe whilst out there: I can make necessary repairs to The Cosmic System.”

“What type of repairs?” Dee asked.

Xera frowned, “One of the biggest flaws: that people are locked to Civilian or Aspirant. I would love to give people the ability to choose at any point to go from Civilian to Aspirant. There are other items that I would like to fix that are more pressing: such as preventing any means of tearing the fabric between our universe and the Astral Verge, and enabling warp travel within our universe without having to go through that other layer of reality, to alleviate the requirement to use The Cosmic Corridor if a species was so inclined.”

And, she thought, I would finally be able to permanently alter our universe so it no longer continues to slowly expand and spread out. We can have stability and sustainability, versus a slow, inexorable tumble towards nothingness. No universal decay. Stability, kept in place forever. She cleared her throat, “Plus, if I can make these fixes: I won’t need Signers to fix problems that appear: I’ll have a workaround on the backend.”

Greg frowned, “Making you into a System Administrator of some type?”

He is a smart one, she thought, figuring out my intent from a seemingly innocuous phrase. I must choose my words carefully. She spoke in a measured, even tone as she replied. “I do not seek control. If I was an overseeing administrator, I could make certain Wayfinders sub-administrators; who better to entrust The Cosmic System to than those whose very existence depends on it? Give them a System that will persist for eternity, guaranteeing their own existence, and they will do whatever they see fit to keep the System working as it has been. But, you should never let AI have the final say on matters: that has been the end of many a civilization. You need someone above them, able to revoke permissions if necessary: that is what I intend to do.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy Greg, but Jace raised his hand politely, and she gestured to him. “Is your grand plan still the same? Funnel to Nethershift place, and then make a tunnel down to the afterlife? No limits between life and death?”

“That is the plan,” Xera replied.

“Why now?” Priam asked. “It looks like we are so far off from that. I mean, we have to beat Troxanir first, and Jace is a ways off from doing that. Let alone the rest of us. I mean, Greg is way far behind now! Almost 100,000 Stardust.”

Greg chuckled and shook his head, “Priam…I really don’t think that Jace is going to need us for that. It would be nice to help out…but facing a creature that controls the largest black hole in existence? If Jace’s Dark Energy stuff couldn’t affect us for even a second, we would probably die.”

“That is accurate,” Xera replied solemnly. “Jace is really the only one who can feasibly face off against Troxanir’s avatar near Oblivion’s Maw. But there are doubtless going to be other forces present. Which is what leads us to our current deal.” She tapped her wrist panel, and a series of faces appeared on screens. According to the displays, they were all muted and could not see into her room. Xera snapped her fingers, and Josie activated the Shadow Council protocol: shrouding everyone in the room in darkness that hid all but their silhouettes. Then, she turned on the cameras.

Clearing her throat and turning to face the windows that doubled as their camera feed, Xera addressed the various faction leaders. “Thank you all for attending this meeting. Quick role call for those unaware of the others: these are my Signers. The Dark Between Stars. I am X.”

“Star Father,” the imposing, gold skinned man in the business suit replied. “Leader of the Star Council.”

“Tyul,” the red-feathered bird-man replied. “Second in command, and soon-to-be leader of the Nebula Alliance.”

This drew some looks of curiosity from those gathered, and yet the introductions continued as a bee-person replied with their buzzing voice. “Zzorth of the Hive, leader of the Pulsar Coalition.”

Lastly was a figure whose face was shifting. Her body seemed to constantly shift ever-so-slightly, and her features were always indistinct. Her voice was thousands layered on top of each other. “The Negotiator; I speak on behalf of all active members of the Planetary Independence Pact.”

Xera smiled, “We are here to discuss plans for an upcoming mission. Deckard Stonewall, current leader of the Nebula Alliance, has been working alongside the Black Hole Conclave towards efforts building a Penrose Ringworld around Oblivion’s Maw. If this were to happen, Troxanir would have a means to enter The Cosmic Corridor.”

Her saying this elicited looks of shock, dismay, anger, and confusion from the various arrayed faces. She could also hear a little bit of muttering from her Signers behind her, but raising her hand for silence, she continued. “Deckard must be eliminated, and I have my Signers preparing to do just that. I ask that you all stay out of it. Teresii will become a…heated location for a while, and I ask that you do not respond to any pleas of help. Tyul?”

The bird man nodded, “I can’t believe that Deckard actually approved that transaction. That led me to a whole history of transactions he’s had with Troxanir through shell identities and false records - using Nebula Alliance resources, no less. An absolute betrayal of trust and good business decorum. I have already readied means for X’s team to infiltrate. Others in the Nebula Alliance upper echelons are of a like mind with me on this: but Deckard will doubtless try to call in favors to save his hide. Just stay out of it.”

Star Father chuckled and grinned, his warm smile always making Xera feel comforted. “I do not mind staying out of our rival’s business while they destroy their own leadership. Especially if it harms Troxanir’s efforts. The Star Council will remain as we have been: cold and distant.”

Zzorth nodded, and her buzzing voice almost sent tickles down Xera’s spine. “Troxanir’s defeat is all that matters. If removing this Deckard causes him difficulties, then the Pulsar Coalition will keep our distance, as well.”

Xera looked at The Negotiator, the inscrutable woman that even she had barely any information on. A private Broker, just like Quinn’s Class, who made all the right connections and built a power base by being the go-between from Ascendants who chose to return to their home world and become the local administrator. “I cannot guarantee anything from the members I represent. They each have their own whims and wants, and I only provide assurances that I will endeavor to identify those with ties to Deckard Stonewall, and push them to remain neutral.”

As expected, Xera thought as she nodded tersely. “Tyul, is our timeline still good?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. Thank you for attending this meeting.” Xera tapped her wrist pad, and all of the screens shut off. The Shadow Council protocol lifted, and all of her Signers looked at her as the room brightened, the windows opening to reveal the glowing skies of Khrox. “I figured,” she said softly, “That you should know the type of work I do behind the scenes. Getting this meeting together took a lot of favors from each faction leader. Well, save for Tyul: but he was already planning a coup against Deckard. This way, he keeps his hands clean, and we guarantee an unseen threat hits Deckard when he is least prepared.”

“You mentioned a timeline,” Greg said as he crossed his arms. “How long?”

Xera grinned, “Two days. You will not be going to Teresii via The Cosmic Corridor.” This earned eyebrow raises from all but Quinn and Dee, who were already aware of the plan having helped coordinate it.

Dee excitedly spoke, “We’re going to steal a spaceship!”