16-8 Armor (Patreon)

I know you’re there. I know you’re giving me new memories in my dreams.

Come out. I want to talk. I’m ready to talk.

I want to know why.

Why are you helping me?

Why did you make me a Godclad?

I had a master once. He was a good master. He fed me. He asked for simple things. He spoke to me directly. He told me I was a good girl, and he whispered sweet things to me when I killed for him.

You say nothing. You say nothing, but you’ve given me the world.

Why.

Answer me.

Tell me.

What are you?

What do you want?

What are you making me?’

-Dice, Fallwalker

16-8

Armor (I)

“Hey, rotlick, you done spacing out there?” Draus asked, voice catching Avo’s notice just as his virtual meeting came to an end. Strangely, she spoke with a warbling drone, and the noise of her footsteps greeting the plasteel ground was different altogether.

As the fullness of his ego resettled into his vessel, he found the Regular standing next to him, encased in a smooth, pale carapace of liquid armor. Currents pulsed through the smart-fluid substance forming the structure of the Meldskin, and Avo sampled its presence using his Woundshaper.

The Domains of Lightning and Matter resonated within him. Viewed as a fluid by his thaumic mythology, his blood avoided interfacing with the armor, but as its structure rippled and shifted, pulses of a pattern bled over into his mind–and the Woundshaper’s as well.

Characterized as a transparent spherical cage, the armor that the Meldskin could manifest had much in common with the nanotubes it memorized from all the augmented bodies he unraveled.

There was a sophistication to the build. A sublime, evanescent perfection neither he nor his Heaven could yet create on their own.

{Pizeoelectricity, fullerenes, nanotechnology, programmable fluids… your Heaven can achieve all these things far easier than our technology could. If the people here only believed. If they could only imagine and worship it.}Calvino paused. {But there is a cost to your miracles. It kills understanding because it destroys the rules. The people of Idheim never developed true traditions of science or enlightenment until our arrival. Why would they, when the rules could change by day and on whims? How would they ever dream that the miracles they died for could be achieved with a bit of energy, some software, and a few millenia of concentrated development?”

A ragged snarl came from the Woundshaper as she spat her ire at the EGI from across realities. “Bah. Be not goaded by this braggart, master. Whatever promise lives in these constructs can seized for our own.”

The former god spoke these words without a hint of shame or inadequacy, but there was a shadow of wariness that existed. A certain emotion only a being that infested the bones of true reality could feel.

The coldness of mundanity. The threat of toppling from its throne of godhood in the face of what could be achieved by mortal hands alone.

He was growing with each passing day, ascending far beyond what he could have dreamed when this all began. But with each sphere he climbed, with each implant he grafted, with each life he took, he found the world expanding around him, unveiling its mysteries as if to tease further effort from him.

As he finished his arrangements with the grafters John and Jane, he realized how little he knew of biology and the laughable limits of his own creativity.

The Meldskin, likewise, inflicted him with the same sense of cringing inadequacy.

He remembered thinking that he was rising into the light when Walton agreed to teach–or imbue–him the art of Necrotheurgy. The same emotion swelled inside him when he realized he was a Godclad, and time and time again with each death, each ontologic he subsumed.

Now, however, he found himself lacking in the most fundamental ways.

How great has he grown in power. But so far did his mastery lag behind.

There was so much he didn’t know. Of biology. Of the sciences. Of technology. Of history.

Of war.

Walton wished for him to taste all the flavors there were in life, and so too did he yearn to become more whole than he was–to rise as a complete being. Something greater than a ghoul. Greater than a human. Greater than even a Godclad.

“Finished with my conversation,” Avo said, feeling the last trickles of his attention drip down into place. Three transparent progress bars greeted him, fully filling in his cog-feed’s new HUD. “Have some new insights. And contacts to call on. Going to do some testing soon. Try growing a prototype of myself. Test the armor too.”

Draus tilted her head, but her expression was banished from his sight. Sounds good. I’m comin’ with.” Crenulated lines of armor appeared from the depths of her Meldskin like ridges rising from rushing rapids. Pauldrons, segments, and gauntlets became her armor’s design. As more of its pallid substance came rushing out from the core shining along her back, he realized she was–by means conscious or not–shaping herself to resemble the combat skins Regulars wore in the ads.

It seemed that he was not the only one reminiscing about who they were. But where he strove to escape the limitations of his design, she wore a mirage of her past on her shoulders, as if flirting with the idea of a return to form.

“It’s all too damn much,” Draus breathed. Her voice was quiet, and she sounded uncharacteristically shy. “All these gifts. From you. From the voiders. The Frame. This armor. I don’t…” She opened and closed her hands. “I feel too damn strong. I feel too damn good. No aches after my resurrection. No strain in my muscles or bones when moving in this skin.”

Her Meldskin’s helmet was an oval lined with neon striations, giving her face a grid-like visage. Avo wasn’t sure as to the purpose of such a modification, but he lacked the interest to ask. Regardless, it added greater intimidation to her visage, not that her terror factor was ever lacking.

Without even touching her own face, armor sank into her skin in threads of fleeing moisture, and he found her chewing on her inner cheek. “You was right.”

“About?”

“The thrill feels too good,” she said, the truth coming free from her in an exhale. “The power. I don’t want to let it go–don’t ever want to stop bein’ a ‘Clad. And I knew this would happen.” She laughed, and turned, looking as Chambers blabbered on, trying to impress Kae with his totally-not-made-up knowledge about the requisitioned guns. “There’s no way for any of us to stay grounded. There’s no damn consequence that weighs… Nothin’ ‘cept death.”

Silence slid into place as she finished speaking, and Avo found himself strangely grateful to Calvino for keeping quiet.

Unlike all the others.

Ansible fully installed [Virtualities Stable – Ego instance preserved]

->Design personal Mindspace?

->Later

Utility Fog installed [Composition set to Standard-Application]

Meldskin installed (Status: Dormant)

->Deploying Meldskin

As he accessed his own gifts, the first particulates of his nano-fog separated from his flesh like an exhalation of new wings. The air turned grey with mist around him, and surprise greeted him as he found himself burning away a trauma response.

Dismantled memories of deconstructor swarms chasing him through the Penumbra returned.

What a difference all these years made.

As he reached out and felt at the world around him using his utility fog, the best description he could apply to his new graft was that it was like a breath one could control, but also a billion little hands he could direct. The feedback rushing through his Neurodeck was ineffable, but so too was the sensation the Meldskin pouring out from a place deeper than his bones and congeal into shape around the power core implanted along his spine.

The Meldskin grew out from his biology rather than simply fusing into shape on the outside like a rig. His every muscle felt strengthened and enhanced, and lightness filled his bones as the strain of his weight faded entirely. The movements of his Echoheads turned crisp and exact as his senses were whittled to razor-tipped sharpness.

Skeleton… [Stablized; Enhanced]

Musculature… [Stablized; Enhanced]

Circulartory System… [Stablized; Enhanced]

Immune System… [Stabilized; Enhanced]

Nervous System… [Stabilized; Enhanced]

Additional menus played across his vision as the outer plating of his smart-matter armor splashed together. Unlike the plates of the Bone Demon, the Meldskin was accommodating to the extreme. It coated him in his entirety, inside and out, and he felt its presence honing even the potency of his many fangs.

As the rush of wetness speared into his eyes, he suddenly found his perception unnaturally widened. Now, not only could feel all that was around him, but he was also capable of looking out from his body at any angle.

“That’s… going to take some adapting,” Avo said.

“Yeah,” Draus replied, agreeing.

“It’s features… a lot more than I experienced in the Inventory.”

Calvino remained silent, but Avo received the notion that the EGI was amused.

“Alright,” Avo said, taking two steps and feeling a greater bounce rush up his leg. He soon became aware of enhancive running blades built along the base of his heel. “We have everything stored? Accounted for?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Had Chambers move ‘em into the Manta.”

“Manta?” He turned to look for Chambers, but found the floating stealth ship coiled into a thin rod instead.

“Yeah. The ship’s a shapeshifter. Chambers’ and Kae are instead. Shit’s made out of the same stuff our armor is–same stuff most voidships use.”

She held out her hand as a thick, grey mist rose from her person like steam as it undulated and brushed across Avo’s armor. “It’s like being able to control where your breath goes. If your breath is like ten billion little fingers and also lets you jack into coldtech shit.”

“Felt the same way. Wait. Let’s you jack coldtech?”

“Use it, anyway,” she said. “Try it out. Go poke the Manta. Chambers and Kae are already inside–things just like clay. Reckon that’s why the George Washington’s the same way.”

An awkwardness spilled over Avo. Right. The sanctuary his father bequeathed to him, still hidden the dark. With the Thoughtwave Disruption, he wondered how he could re-enter its confines when its space was still distorted.

That, and his weakness against Thoughtwave disruptions themselves remained problems to be solved.

{Hm,} Calvino said, humming quietly. {You should test your new capabilities quickly. I might have some ideas on how you can return “home.” I, for one, would like to offer my despair in person at what horrors your father’s foirks inflicted on my citizens.}

“Not going to like what you see,” Avo muttered.

{No. I’m sure I won’t. But I have known this since Thousandhand neglected to describe what she saw in detail.}

The fog answered his mind intuitively, like a limb that had always been there. In that regard, it wasn’t so different from manipulating blood via the Woundshaper, but there was still a level of separation that remained. A sense that he was using an instrument rather than the graft being a part of his being down to the root.

Still, as soon as his mists wafted out to touch the Manta, he felt an eruption of data spike through his mind.

Linking to [Manta] Multi-Purpose Scoutship

Ship’s present ego capacity: [100,000,000 REIDS]

->Occupied Capacity: [2 REIDS]

+What’s REIDS?+ Avo asked Calvino.

{A measurement of the space it takes to store a baseline sophont mind. Presently, the Agnos and Mr. Chambers count as one each but you…} The EGI hummed. {Considering the unique “condition” of your mind, I wonder if the Manta will accept you at all.}

“Find out,” Avo said. Even walking over to the ship was hell on his senses. Every detail about the ground surface was known to him thaumaturgically and physically. He could taste the metal through his Meldskin and the chemical composition of the ground itself generated as a map of orbs chained by bonds in his HUD.

{Chemistry,} Calvino said. {Something the people of this planet have brutally mauled, time and time again. A pity. It was a wonderful topic to learn about. Certainly, not something that should just be placed by mass-equivalent outputs of blood.}

The Woundshaper let out a nasty laugh. “What’s this? Something the machine-gods are not capable of? Ring the bells. Sounds the chimes. It appears that my observance remains far and distant yet.”

Neurodeck connections detected: [Unidentified; Unidentified]

{Ms. Kusanade and Mr. Chambers have not uploaded any ego-instances yet.} Calvino surmised. {But the good thing is that you can–}

Avo connected to them with a thought, this time, his ansible remained unneeded. Steams of data jumped across the particulates of his fog, and the world came alight around him as a cloud of data.

His Heaven of Signals–still unused and incomprehensible–jolted slightly, but actual code rushed past the gibberish holding together the Omnitech Heaven.

Again, Avo constructed a virtuality, and an instance of his ego was uploaded. This time, the connection was instantaneous.

Between one breath and the next, an instance of him was standing in a features grey room, and apart from him stood Kae. And Chambers.

The latter was strangely chained to a wall. and entirely nude.

“What the hells just happened, oh,” Chambers said. His avatar jolted and loaded in as what Avo assumed to be his physical self. A smooth, pristine carapace coated his person, and he greeted Avo with a wave. “Sorry about that, I was just thinking about… eh. I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Yes,” Avo agreed. “Eh. Getting mature.”

“Nah, I just…” the half-strand seemed distracted. Avo noticed he was looking at Kae, and his face was slightly red.

The Agnos, for her part, had whipped around with a squeak to avoid seeing any of Chambers’ indecencies.

“So…” Chambers said. “Are you in the ship now?”

“No. Connected to it. Using the fog.”

“Yeah, consang, that shit is nova, right!” Chambers whistled. “Fuckin’ great. I used it too load all our guns and other junk inside the Mantid or whatever. It was like dumping stuff into a pond. Then, we ended up going inside and… and”

A lag jerked through the virtuality and a warning spilled over Avo’s HUD.

[Warning: REID nearing simulation capacity. Please reduce–]

Avo deloaded some of his templates and the virtuality stabilized. “Going to go test new items. Grow ghoul-killers.”

“Synced,” Chambers said. “Got room for a third?”

“Not sure if the ship can fit through Draus’ passage.”

Chambers’ smile turned lecherous  “Don’t worry: this sweet thing can be as wide and fat or as narrow and long as it needs to me. I emphasize.”

Kae stared silently. “I… don’t.”

Compared to the rest of their cadre, the Agnos seemed the most accustomed to her armor, with it only manifested in the form of a coat. Again, her inclination against the martial showed itself, and a discomfort clung to her presence as she showed herself reluctant to cage her flesh within the armor.

“Don’t like the Meldskin?” Avo asked.

“N-no!” She said. “It’s good, but it’s… I don’t feel comfortable with my head and face submerged. That’s all.”

{Hm. Claustrophobia. And possibly a fear of drowning.}

“Going to go on a test run,” Avo said, speaking to both of them. “Have some new bodies I’m going to grow. Chambers. Going to need you to jack. Kae. Got time to adjust our Heavens now too.”

“Alright,” Chambers replied. “And, uh, who’s gonna be our ‘volunteers’ today?”

Avo considered it. “Ghouls.We’re going to replace them eventually anyway.”