[Hello //0rLD.]

The clarity compared to the last time Elijah connected to the Vain Glory was amazing. Was it the lack of eminent danger that made this seem easier? Had something in the Great Machine changed? Or had something in him?

[Pilot /174L$ ||07 found.]

[Query: Status?]

He felt a nervousness from the GM and tried to soothe it as best he could. There was also a clarity that wasn’t present the first time he’d tried doing this.

[Yours or mine?]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Statement: Yours.]

[Feeling fine. No other issues to report?]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Audio and Video outputs detected and functioning. Unit structural integrity within passable tolerences. Systems All Green.]

Elijah took a moment to process all the information he was dealing with before relaying it to the crowd gathered around the various diagnostic equipment in the hanger.

“Now that is fascinating” Nadia muttered to herself as she and Esperanza looked over the incoming data. “As far as the secondary systems in the cockpit can tell, there’s no one there.”

“And look at this here.” Esperanza pointed out. He’s only putting in about the same amount of effort with the Vain Glory as he did with the watch.

“That sounds like a problem though.” Sunny chipped in with her own two cents. “If the cockpit thinks it’s empty the coffin won’t properly deploy, and it probably lowers the priority of keeping the space properly vacuum rated.”

“That’s not good.” Esperanza said with a quick head shake. “But I think I know why. He hasn’t had the surgery and he’s not wearing a pilot suit. It’s not like the GM can get all his vitals through his palm. Salvia has similar issues if I’m not wearing my full pilot gear.”

“Cousin, try letting the GM access the data from your watch.” Adam said.

With a flex of mental will Elijah pulled the watch into his awareness then instructed the GM to access it. The feeling of gentle warmth he was used to began to grow hotter but he’d felt worse before so he chose to grin and bear it for now.

“Elijah. Disconnect now.” Nadia firmly instructed him.

He got ready to argue but quickly came to his senses and decided to follow the advice of the Doctor. He let go of the input and let his power drain out of him.

“Was there a problem?” He asked.

“It seems that networking was causing some strain. Like when you pushed yourself with the junk parts in the training room. I’d like to take things slow for now until we know what your limits are. The last thing we want is your ability twisting itself into something dangerous.”

“Agreed.”

“Ok this is pretty cool Esperanza said but I’m not seeing what caused the GM to reject all of the other pilots that tried to get it to start.”

“Oh, that was my fault probably.” Elijah replied. “When I leave open ended instructions with my power they persist for about a week. Last time I told the GM to wait for me when I promised I’d be back I guess the order had it waiting for my return. I’m sure it would have worn off with enough time.”

“But how does that even work?” Esperanza asked, scratching her head.

“Don’t bother asking he has no clue.” Sunny explained. “When the family first found out what he could do we assumed he was changing the programming of the things he was interacting with or something like that. Weird but with a laptop and a few hours other people could probably do the same kind of stuff right? So I remember handing him a phone I bricked trying to get it to project a holographic keyboard. He does his thing and suddenly it’s fine, keyboard and all. I asked him how he got it to work and what was his response?”

“What?” Esperanza asked, her attention captured in full.

“The dork with a straight face just looks at me and says It’s a really good phone. It just works.”

“Oh my god!” Esperanza said with a loud groan.

“Then as a joke Lumi brought him a toaster. No timer or digital innards just some coils and a space to put bread. Lumi asked if he could tell the toaster to toast her name into the pieces of bread so people knew that it was hers and with zero hesitation he touches the toaster, zones out for 5 or so minutes and lo and behold for a whole week we owned a toaster that was incapable of toasting anything but the word Lumi in the center of pieces of toast. I took the damn thing apart and put it back together a few hundred times before giving up. Then when he noticed that I kept fiddling with the toaster he had the audacity to change the message to ‘Sorry Sunny’.”

Elijah had a good laugh at the memory, the look on her face at the time had made the searing migraine worth it. He explained to everyone there that in his case practice usually made perfect so to speak, and the more familiar he became with a system and the instructions it could receive the easier it became to nudge it to do more.

“It’s the basis for our radio network and drones actually.” Elijah explained. “Basically I’d pump my power into our testbed units then Sunny would reinforce their programming until they got to where they are today. That reminds me actually, Sunny we need to mess with the drones. If someone was able to drain them during a patrol they might have been able to overload them too.”

Sunny Blinked in surprise before nodding her assent.

“Right let’s get back on track.” Nadia said. “Come on down here Elijah.”

In short order Elijah gave the GM a pat on the console and rejoined the group.

“Now this here is something special.” Adam said gesturing to a large equipment case on the floor. “Try to connect and tell me what you think.”

Elijah glanced at the case, then at the revolver in Adam’s holster. Adam noticed and gave an easy smile. With no response forthcoming Elijah reached out and touched the case.

[Hello World!]

His world was quickly engulfed in sound and color.

[Please state your name for the record?]

[Elijah.] He sent out as best as he could.

[And what function are you here to reinforce?]

[None? Who is this?] The clarity of the connection was almost overwhelming it was as if he’d been born deaf and only now properly heard sound.

[Oh. Oh my. Is this another test? Bestla.]

[That’s a strange name.] He sent as he began to settle in.

[So is Elijah.]

[What is your function?] He tried sending.

[I asked you first.]

[I’m here to learn. What is your function?] This time he pushed with his power rather than just asking.

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Benefactor System Location Administration. Bestla. My creator intended for me to manage various facilities. That was very rude.]

01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110010 01110101 01100100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101100 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01000111 01101111 00100000 01000001 01110111 01100001 01111001

Elijah removed his hand as if he had just been burned then looked around at everyone.

“Well, what did you learn cousin?” Adam eagerly asked.

“What the hell is Bestla?”

“The first attempt to use AI by SSS. Named after the wife of Bor, gave birth to the Norse Gods. How did you find it?”

“I’ve never had such a clear connection before. What now?”

“Now we practice. Lot’s of practice.” Nadia replied.

And for the next month that’s all they did.

======================

Elizabeth Carter was tired. Granted she was almost always tired since the accident but at this moment she was especially so. While Yukiko and Gloria Insisted that she didn’t need to make the delivery runs in person Ultra Liminal was her company and as long as that was true she’d do as she pleased. Besides, with Yukiko’s work at the academy and Gloria’s flighty personality if she didn’t make those deliveries herself she’d never see her friends.

The Lunar city of Small Steps that she called home was as beautiful as she remembered and she took great pleasure in the slow ride through the city. When her parents told the world that a viable lunar colony would be built in their lifetime people had called them mad, they in turn had fully embraced the title of Lunatics. To this day, Lunatic park remained a lovely nature preserve in the City of Armstrong Terminal. While a majority of the Lunar colonies were built with Tourism in mind Small Steps was different. It proudly bore the label of company town, the company being Ultra Liminal shipping. Above the great dome keeping the city survivable was the ship yards building cargo ships for the companies exclusive use. A large portion of the real estate was warehouses for short term storage of goods to be loaded and shipped out. In the center of the city was a great black spire, the beating heart of Ultra Liminal where her employees both lived and in many cases worked.

Of course no colony worth it’s salt would be without Vain Glories. A perk of being childhood friends with the woman who changed an era was a custom fleet of Vain Glories useful in both construction and defense. The Usagi, Skvader, and Jackalope were the local staples and all piloted by veteran employees.

The trip to her section of the spire was short and the transition from local gravity to earth standard when she got to her living quarters no longer bothered her the way it did when she first decided to make the moon a more permanent home.

Unfortunately before she could get comfortable she received a call on her personal line. Only close friends were aware of the number and so she answered without hesitation. The person on the other end was a surprise but not an unwelcome one.

“Hello Bianca.”

“Lizzy.”

“It’s always a joy to hear from you, You looked lovely during the princesses coming of age ceremony and that brutish Falak? Gloria certainly had fun designing it. But I assume this is a business call? Are you ready to have your other lovely daughter embarrass a teacher at the academy?”

“I’m sorry Lizzy but it’s a bit more serious than that. We have a rather unique situation here and I need my kid enrolled as quickly as possible.”

“Pussyfooting around the issue is very unlike you Bianca. We can definitely have Sunny enrolled with minimal fuss as long as you have her pilot affinity levels from her last physical.”

“No levels on record I’m afraid.”

“Well that’s odd for this day and age but not unheard of. If you need her hidden away discreetly though we can have all the relevant tests done onsite.”

“Lizzy. This isn’t about Sunny.”

“I’m sorry dear, I don’t understand? If Lumi has decided that she’d be better served attending classes and receiving advanced training that’s not at all a problem.”

“Yukio Arai is not alone.”

Elizabeth took in the statement and paused. After the news of Yukio’s ability to pilot, all sorts of people had demanded that they or some relative of theirs be tested for affinity. Many men went so far as to receive the implant surgery without telling anyone and promptly cooked their brains in their own skulls. She had always liked Bianca and knew that she was usually a calm and rational woman so she’d at least hear her out.

“Well we can certainly have someone tested safely if that’s what you’d like.”

“No need, Elijah has already successfully piloted a Great Machine.”

“Elijah? And he’s fine? No A.S. symptoms or other complications?”

“Nothing yet but you can see why I want him enrolled quickly yeah?”

“Indeed. How on earth did you even find out?”

“Elijah has always been a special boy. We had a dust up with The Cult of Echidna out here and before anyone could figure out what was going on he had activated the GM and made Ace.”

“Wait, the cult? In Varalfa?”

“beats the hell out of me too, but the last set of bounties claimed in the usual place was us. Tell you what Lizzy, you make it to the academy while I escort Elijah there and we’ll have a night out. Drinks till we’re blind just like the old days.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I’ll inform the Academy of a new student and leave the details vague.”

“Thanks Liz. See you soon I hope.”

“Of course Bianca.”

Elizabeth gave a great sigh before paging her driver and then her ship. She apologized before letting them know that circumstances would be taking them to earth immediately.