“The Human Unit leader has approved our requests to run tests with the strange Engraving on BA-Units that were otherwise scheduled for maintenance,” BA-Beta announced. “In addition, she has given us dispensation to request a special, BA-centric skyisland that will be the central hub of all our activities in the future. As soon as we have our request prepared, the work on constructing our skyisland can begin.”

“Indeed. So there were no… queries.” BA-Alpha hummed in contemplation. The constant spin of its gears was reassuring, even as the enormity of the task laid before them began to register on its partial consciousness. Such a skyisland would indeed be quite useful…

...but designing the entire skyisland was a task that baffled BA-Alpha. The BA’s primarily lived in human spaces. What would a space designed entirely for the BA’s look like…?

Both BA-Alpha and BA-Beta were silent for several seconds as they considered this task about which they had never received any training from the human units. It was impossible for them to imagine an alternative to their current situation. Their minds could not fathom how to proceed. BA-Beta was completely still while BA-Alpha was in constant motion within the cubic confines of its body. Both of their brass gleamed in the low light of the room.

This problem was exactly the sort of reason that the BA’s needed to adopt some of the aspects of humanity.

This is our flaw. BA-Alpha’s consciousness hummed with the strain of addressing this answerless problem. Human Units simply try whatever occurs to them first when new problems appear. This allows them to experiment and eventually discover a solution. And yet for the BA’s…

BA-Beta slowly raised its head. “I cannot answer this question quickly. But a method to do so has occurred to me. It is irregular. Not in line with our previous plan. However, we… will are not suited to this problem currently. Perhaps… a BA should be marked with the Engraving and asked to propose a design for the Skyisland. Considering our advanced consciousnesses… it should be one of us two BA’s. I believe our understanding of human-unit will ease the transition So you may observe me for unacceptable behavioral deviations… I would offer my body to be the first marked with the Engraving.”

BA-Alpha considered this. “...this is the correct solution. However, the possibility of human-unit deviations arising is concerning. My main concern is the fact that you… are mobile. While we would need to adjust our hierarchy, perhaps it is better if a non-mobile BA like myself were to be marked. It is impossible for a stationary object like myself to ‘get lost’ as seems so common amongst human units.”

The two BA’s fell into silence once more. Motion and stillness, the two awkwardly hummed with their straining thoughts, struggling to figure out how to proceed.

*****

Randidly rubbed his chin. I’ll have to be careful about the activation, but cleansing all the extraneous connections of the Grim Chimera with the Darksteel Bomb actually seems quite useful, if I do it right before the evolution. Not that I think anyone has a leash on my images any longer… but it will guarantee that the shift is precisely what I desire…

Yet obtaining this extra piece for the transformation didn’t keep his mood light for long. There was a weight between his shoulder blades, an accumulation of understanding about himself that had been steadily building since that conversation with Neveah. After feeling the vision that Garrett held of him in his mind… Randidly had been ignored the dark side to his legend for too long. Or rather, Kharon hadn’t given him the insight into it.

Their respect and veneration for him had somewhat warped his sense of self. Which made these realizations sting.

Still, Randidly forcefully eased the tension as he turned around. Three figures were moving toward him, the cloaked figure at the front hurrying, the middle one taking measured strides, the final, and smallest one clinging to the middle figure’s back.

Unable to contain its excitement any longer, Thorn exploded out of its cloak and soon swelled a swirling, thorny whirlwind that scooped Randidly up and spun him around and around through the air. Even through the murky bog of self-realization, Randidly couldn’t help but laugh and spread his arms wide to embrace his pseudo-child. Thorn eagerly lashed at Randidly with his sharpest and most cutting thorns and his flesh didn’t seem to mind at all. Thorn’s relief to see Randidly uninjured by its affections was palpable and seemed to fill his plant body with vigor.

It’s a transformation from the current me for sure. But it isn’t just negatives to leave my humanity behind, Randidly thought with a small smile.

Eventually, Thorn’s excitement had spent itself and the Soul Seed allowed Randidly to stand back onto the ground. The enormous plant steadily wound itself more tightly, forming back into a humanoid form that could be contained within a cloak. In the meantime, Randidly turned and looked at the other two approaching figures. Both were familiar to him.

Vye saluted smartly and brought her heels together. “You beat us here. Good job, sir. Should I take the culprit…?”

Influence +25!

“Yea,” Randidly gestured casually. “Take him into custody. I doubt he will be able to provide much information, but its better to try than to get burned later by not following up on leads. It will take him a bit to recover, anyway. And you… you’re Delilah, right? Dozer and Annie’s daughter.”

“Y-y-y-y-yesss….” Delilah whispered, still standing so that all communication between them needed to pass through the screen of Vye. Randidly’s smile grew somewhat pained at the girl’s nerves, but he tried to make up for it by withdrawing some of the Weight that he had allowed to seep outwards as he was facing Garret directly. But he could sense from Delilah’s expression that it wasn’t just his aura that scared her.

He shook his head lightly and crouched down next to her. “Well, you’ve certainly gotten more polite since I’ve seen you. What happened to the little girl who was constantly demanding that I play hide and seek with her…?”

The blood visibly drained out of Delilah’s face at the mention of hide and seek. “I-I… I’m a b-bit too old for g-g-games like that any longer… s-sir…”

Randidly tried to chuckle, but even to his ears it sounded forced. I guess I had thought that I’d gotten a bit better at social situations… but maybe kids are a bit difficult for me...

He straightened and looked again and Vye, who gave him an imperceptible shrug at Delilah’s obvious negative reaction. Randidly scratched his cheek. “Well anyway, I have another meeting. You can handle things here?”

Vye nodded and Randidly produced his Philosopher’s Key. A second later, he was back on his own island. Feeling that heavy pressure between his shoulder blades return, Randidly walked in front of the gathered pantheon and Nemesai and returned to the waiting root throne. After making himself comfortable, he cleared his throat. His Weight once more wafted out and suppressed the surrounding space. “Alright, tell me what you have so far.”

The Nemesai and Pantheon took turns explaining their tentative plans for the upcoming Calamity. Listening to them speak about the details was more difficult than Randidly would have thought. Because as the people here rather callously discussed how sudden its arrival would be or widespread its scope, all Randidly could hear in their voices was the willingness to kill the people of Expira.

And I’m the biggest culprit. Randidly pressed his eyes together. I’m not blaming myself for the deaths that will follow from a Calamity… but that doesn’t mean I can escape responsibility. That is something that I need to accept.

Randidly released a low breath when the presentation had finished. He could feel his Nether Core gradually accelerating. This moment began to stretch, the particular moment of the ‘present’ so heavy that it blurred into the past and future. Methodically, Randidly cracked each of the knuckles on his right hand.

Influence +49!

“Let’s go with this,” Randidly said slowly. “I’m already in the process of learning to incorporate the Nemesai’s planets into this… isolated space that houses the Alpha Cosmos and Expira-”

The Winged Serpent hissed slightly and bowed its scaled head. “For which, we are very grateful.”

Randidly waved a hand. “You’ve paid for this already, I’m just following through on my end of the bargain. But I’m thinking about incorporating another planet. One that is perhaps uninhabited. The Calamity will be based in that world and periodically release waves of monsters, quite like the Raid Dungeons we needed to finish early on in the System experience.

“There will be a big wave once every week that will manifest from semi-permanent portals that will make themselves known six hours before the release of the monsters. I’ll contact Neveah and she can help work out the Aether constructs necessary to get everything to work predictably. In addition, there will be rather constant, smaller manifestations that appear throughout the week. One a minute, across all of Expira. These will only give an hour warning before they open up and release a flood of monsters.”

Lucretia nodded slowly. “...such a Calamity will quickly increase the danger in the wilderness between Zones. Especially that last Zone to arrive in Expira… will be particularly vulnerable to damage from this sort of Calamity.”

Randidly pressed his lips together and didn’t answer. He would likely tip his hand a bit and warn Kharon to be present to assist with some of that danger.

Alta reached up and scratched her head. “You are a cold mother fucker, that’s for sure. I’m not sure what a Raid Dungeon is, but the idea is that these waves won’t stop until they complete some objective, right? You’ll want them to head to the source world and eliminate the problem at its source? The sooner you give us access to the planet, the better. Or I guess, the sooner we can alter the environment, the more difficult the Calamity will become. Heh, I’m pretty confident in my ability to create doomsday devices.”

The Obsidian Duke stared straight at Randidly as he spoke. “Do you have an ideal casualty ratio for the population of Expira? You can provide unlimited energy to us, but if a certain amount of people don’t die, I suspect most of the population will continue to stagnate in their image growth.”

Randidly’s throat tightened; this was exactly the question that he hadn’t wanted to be asked. But at the same time, he knew that the Obsidian Duke’s words were true. Some lessons were necessarily heavy. He ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth. But at the same time, life has value.

Releasing a breath, Randidly said. “Do not think in terms of lives lost. The warning time period is there so that a group of determined individuals can address a problem with proper preparation. In terms of difficulty… the small eruptions shouldn’t be so aggressive that a concerted effort and preparations can’t quash them in an hour or two. The larger ones should be more dangerous. Quite a bit so.”

“The issue is what happens when a certain number of those smaller events happen outside of human habitation,” Lucretia said. “That is where the casualties will begin to accumulate; from surprise monster hordes that came into the world from hidden passages. If enough gather… theoretically, even Kharon could be in danger. And most of the current Zones have no outer defensive perimeters in place. Should we… warn them of the details of the Calamity?”

Randidly lowered his head and pondered.