The Surface of Steinhull, The Steinhull ruins

Sinn'Are'Sen eyes the next radial passageway to the fourth ring passageway with suspicion. He takes a deep breath, lets it hiss out of his nose, and opens his psionic 'eyes' to examine the way forward. The familiar psychedelic skim of colors saturates Sinn's vision but the passageway appears as normal. Sinn stalks down it, wary for any sign of psionic phenomena but finding none. He steps into the fourth ring passageway and doubles over, slapping at his earpiece.

“SINN! DARA TONN TO SINN!”

“Sky and stars! No need to scream in my ear, I'm here.”

“I've been trying to reach you for the past two minutes with no success. Your audio and visual feeds went absolutely illogical. I'm not sure how else to describe it.”

“That is... I has my psionic senses up but saw and heard nothing out of the ordinary. Send the footage to my communicator so I can see it.”

“Complying, but brace yourself.”

Sin pulls out his communicator and opens the file Dara Tonn sent over. It is a two minute and ten second clip. The view is clearly from Sinn's earpiece camera. As he enters the radial passageway the light abruptly shifts between one step and the next. It had been the steady cone from just below the camera until that point. Thereafter it appeared to radiate from above and behind the point of view of the camera, causing Sinn to cast a shadow forward where the camera could see it. Sinn watches himself walk forward with his shadow always a quarter second or so behind where it should be. In addition to the sound of footsteps there is the steady scraping sound of metal on stone. Two minutes later everything reverts back to normal in the instant that Sinn crosses the threshold of the fourth ring passageway.

“Sky and stars...”

“You recognize this effect Sinn?”

“Reality Erosion. It's a fucking Reality Erosion. A place where, for unknown reasons, warpspace 'bleeds over' into normal space. In the Lore of the Empire, such locations are known as 'places where the Astral Veil wears thin'. There were whispers, not even rumors, that psions were immune to such effects but... I had psyniscience active and I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Felt nothing out of the ordinary until I heard you screaming in my ear.”

“How is that possible?”

“It's not according to the laws of reality as I understand them. But warpspace and warpjumping is a matter of faith, even for an AI like you, because the math just works even when the computations makes little sense.”

“Do you need to log this?”

“Yes. Moreover I need to send that footage and audio to the RPC as evidence.”

“Ready.

“Begin exploration log addendum.

“This exploration log addendum is hereby flagged, and will be transmitted as, a priority report to Republic Psionics Command.

“This is Sinn'Are'Sen of the Republic Scout Command. I have encountered a Reality Erosion. The nature of this reality erosion is, according to my training as a Republic psion, non-standard even by the nature of other documented Reality Erosion phenomena.

“This is the second radial passageway from the third ring passageway to the fourth ring passage of the Steinhull ruins that I have documented – see previous exploration log entries – and it appeared to both physical and psionic senses as no different then the dozen other normal passageway that I have traversed up to this point. When I traversed the passage in question I felt and sensed nothing amiss. It was only when I emerged into the fourth ring passageway that I received a communication from RSC-2W-0063. Per this transmission, my audio and video feeds had become, and I quote, 'illogical'. Said footage, plus five seconds of additional video and audio on either side, is attached to this report slash exploration log addendum.

“I have reviewed the footage myself and can attest that it makes absolutely no sense in the framework of the laws of reality. And yet RSC-2W-0063 captured a verified recording of it happening. This, combined with the fact that said Reality Erosion is not detectable by a Republic Psion from the inside or the outside is what renders this particular psionic phenomenon as non-standard.

“I have instructed RSC-2W-0063 to mark this location on the map of the Steinhull ruins, alongside all of the other psionic phenomena I have encounter thus far. I will be avoiding this passageway at all costs from this point forwards.

“Sinn'Are'Sen out.

“End exploration log addendum.”

“Clean Copy. Do you have a specific destination at the RPC that I should forward the priory report to?”

“I don't have any official contact or destination box, so we'll need to send a cover letter along to a personal contact and ask for the proper address code.”

“Affirmative. You did pass me a copy of your contact list, who do you wish to use?”

“Funi'Happ'Sen. I know he got a position at the RPC itself after graduation due to the Hang Fire Incident.”

“Affirmative. Contact code tests as still valid according to the Hyperpulse comm registry. Do you wish to record a audiovisual cover letter?”

“Negative, use speech to text please. 'begin' as the start word and 'Sinn'Are'Sen' as the end word. ”

“Ready to record when you are Sinn.”

“Begin.

“Hello Funi'Happ'Sen. I hate to drop this on you but I don't have the proper contact information to roue it where it needs to go. In my work for the RSC I have encountered a particular psionic phenomena that requires a priority report. You should recall the one from our time at Stormavsirkel together. I've attached a copy of the report and would appreciate it if you could send back where I should send any future reports of this nature.

“Signed Sinn'Are'Sen.”

“Clean copy. Sending it to your communicator for review.”

“I have it... looks correct to me. Send that on out and let me know if Funi'Happ'Sen replies.”

“Can do.”

“Alright, now I need to find a way back out of this ring passage. No point delving deeper only to find out that I'm trapped.”

The same day...

Republic world of Krigertenkere, RPC Site 12

Funi'Happ'Sen stares at the three messages on his display. The first is the auto-forwarded Steinhull expiration log update per the MtV-0001 monitoring protocols. The second is an auto forwarded priority alert message from the RSC to the RPC flagging the same log entry for review because of it's context. The third was a personal message from Sinn'Are'Sen with the same report as an attachment and asking where any such future reports should be sent.

Funi'Happ'Sen scrubs his scarred face in frustration. All reports of this type would end up on his desk anyways, but he couldn't just tell Sinn'Are'Sen to not worry or to send any reports directly. As with all bureaucrats faced with a problem for which there was no form or standard issue response: Funi'Happ'Sen sent a message to his boss.

“Boss, This report has put me in a quandary. Cracked Veil situation has been confirmed and, if current pattern is followed, will be leaked via the RSC to the public at large. However, subjects of MtV-0001 monitoring are not to be informed that they are being monitored. Therefore I am requesting instructions as to how to proceed in this matter.”

Six hours later Funi'Happ'Sen received his instructions. They were not what he expected.

“Tell Sinn'Are'Sen to send any further reports of this nature directly to you instead of flagging them as Priority reports. You are getting them anyway, so there is no reason to get them re-directed to where other eyes may see them. Good work.”

Funi'Happ'Sen rolls his eyes at the instructions, sends an acknowledgment to his boss, and starts to type up a response to Sinn'Are'Sen from his official terminal. It would therefore carry his work contact information for Sinn'Are'Sen to use.

“Greetings Sinn'Are'Sen. I'm actually working a project related to this matter. I know that you are required to log them for the RSC, but management here at the RPC has requested that you not flag them as priority reports to the RSC. Instead, just send anything of this nature directly to me and I'll see that it is handled appropriately.

“Funi'Happ'Sen out.”