12 Miles Below

Book 3. Chapter 20: Et tu, Brute? (T)

The days had been good to To’Wrathh.josei

Yesterday, she’d learned what a beach and wharf were like, along with some of the Undersider staple games. The real challenge had been to keep her abilities in line with a biological human, which had been difficult to adjust to. Either she overshot or undershot getting the right mix. Where she wouldn’t break the ball with her hands, but could still throw or toss it across the court. That took a little moment of calibration.

The first time the ball had flattened out, Tamery quickly brought her out of the game and spent some time making sure another incident like that wouldn’t happen again.

That was not the only time Tamery had been forced to drag To’Wrathh out of public to explain some - as she called it - common sense rules that she hadn’t thought she’d needed to go over.

Every day had been… the word eluded her. Relaxing? Soothing? Peaceful? Peaceful was a good name for it. She understood more about why humans fought so hard for peace in the past. It was worth fighting for, certainly. Odd how they kept ending up in wars all the time regardless.

Speaking of odd items, Tenisent had been strangely supportive of her current actions. Rather, he seemed bemused even. All these experiences were new to him as well, To'Wathh had concluded. Many Undersider food staples he’d never even heard of. Games and culture. The only game with a ball he knew of was played in the empty airspeeder holds, there wasn’t any real room anywhere else that wasn’t being used. Here underground, there was plenty of room for activity, with exceptions to the floating rocks above, in which balls were tethered to ropes and a completely different game was played.

As he called it, ‘Opulent displays of wealth.’ The Undersiders were wealthy in ways the surface clans could only dream of. Colors everywhere, due to a flourishing trade among the city states. Food, fish, medicine, and technology abound. And with the surface clans unable to provide anything of value to trade for - other than mercenary work - there wasn’t much that flowed to the surface beyond the gifts pilgrims brought. It seemed like every day at the beaches that surrounded the massive central lake was similar to a day at the baths, except far more open and far less regulated. No worries for heat or its conservation. Fuel cells were used far more sparingly, and this was with the city going into rations. Tenicent had no idea how the undersiders lived without rations, for they already seemed idealized to his mind.

But idealized days couldn’t continue forever. And while the Undersiders tried their best to ignore the pending doom outside the walls, they couldn’t dispel that omen entirely. When the people returned from their time off, back in the quiet of their homes, they would speak among family on the news for the coming war.

The machines hadn’t allowed the Undersiders to reclaim any ground they lost. Yrob had taken charge and organized their army in her absence. He’d done well, having observed To’Wrathh’s own tactics and planning and done his best to follow through. His methods had been far more simple and straightforward, rather focusing on the fundamentals and doing those correctly. Not having to attack but rather defend made it far easier. He took the original plans, and stayed true to them.

Periodically, when To’Wrathh felt it safe enough, she would ping her army for a status, getting up to date information on the latest plans the General had attempted. The old military man had holed up in the city, along with his mercenary corps of veterans, though most of those had been spent in his failed gambit for the mite forges.

The word on the street had been dire. The last war had brought the machines to their doorstep, the next war could end far closer.

It was with such thoughts, that the Chosen whispered across the city streets into the ears of those that were looking for any other way out. When the doors were locked and no guards could overhear treason. Eventually, the day came when the city was willing to listen to To'Wrathh's offer. At least, the ones that unofficially ran the city.

To’Wrathh walked down the dimly lit city street, wearing a far more standard Undersider attire for the occasion. Tamery had hardly left her side these past few days and tonight had been no exception.

“I am nervous.” To’Wrathh admitted as they stood before a doorframe. She’d noticed jitters and irregular motion coming from her mind.

“You’ll be just fine,” Tamery said to her side. “Just be you. Trust me, be honest with them and they’ll see that. Humans have intuition. These guys are all high placed for a reason, they’re good at reading people.”

To the feather’s left, a ghost floated, ever watching, and only seen by one person. He had shown to have an oddly perceptive sight, almost as if he was aware of more than what To'Wrathh fed him in terms of visual and audio data. It hadn't hampered her personal goals, and neither had he shown himself to be an active enemy thus far, so To'Wrathh had allowed the question to slide and let the old surface warrior leeway. “You won’t fail.” He said, voice gruff. “Have you not noticed these past few days? The Undersider people are panicked on the inside. They will latch onto anything that offers hope at this point. There is no reason to be nervous.”

“Can’t you just... turn off being nervous?” Tamery asked, nearly cutting off the unseen ghost. “I mean, you’re a machine and all that. Is there an off button? Seems like it would be too handy to just ignore that sort of feature.”

“No." To'Wrathh said. "Emotions come from my neuromorphic mind. To turn them off, I would need to turn off the whole, which is where part of my true consciousness lies.” The soul fractal held the other part, rooted deeply inside the artificial soul.

Even in their prime, the humans never really understood the fractals, and neither had the machines in truth. They discovered plenty over time, there’s an infinite set after all. And among that infinite set, a much smaller infinite set of fractals could be understood - or even work correctly in this dimension. Reality rarely made sense when the scales were either blown up to a massive level, or minimized to their smallest atoms.

Somewhere in those infinite permutations of possible soul fractals, was the one humanity stumbled upon that aligned just barely enough to be used. They'd never needed more, and so they'd never gone truly looking for better. The only other entity in the world that could have a better understanding of acasual energy were the mites. They always created things that should not physically be possible, even with the current set of known fractals.

“Well, that sucks.” Tamery said. “Can’t blame a girl for asking. Would have been a little too good to be true.”

Clanking an rustling interrupted their talk, all kinds of locks being persuaded to open up on the other side of the door. Tamery took a breath. “All right, show time.”

Behind the door was someone’s house, given all the clutter of objects that had been pushed to the walls in order to fit hastily a rough rectangle of mismatching tables. Allowing someone to stand in the middle of the room, or at least comfortably enough. Sitting all around, nearly crammed between each other, were various humans. Male and female, all leaning on the adult to elder range of ages. These must be the human sympathizers, the ones who held influence in the city.

“This is the machine?” One in the center asked. He sounded unconvinced, but unwilling to voice more. Tall for a human, dressed in fine whites and gold, with a shining lapel pin. Engraved with the symbol of the golden goddess. He’d clearly done nothing to hide his origins.

Tamery nudged To’Wrathh with her elbow. The message was clear enough. The feather stepped forward, closing her eyes with a slight breath, and undid her disguise. Nanite swarms flickered over her body, consuming the thin pigment that colored her skin. What lay under was the pale white visage she’d been crafted with. Hair bleached back to pure silver white. The natural armor she wore on her shell revealed itself once more.

As the nanites did their work, her wings finally stretched out to full for the first time in days, nearly knocking both sides of the room’s walls at the apex of their stretch. She hovered slightly in the air for a moment, before lightly stepping down. When To’Wrathh opened her eyes again, they were no longer a human’s shade. Bright glowing violet eyes surveyed the quietly panicking humans.

A few had nearly sat up to bolt away. Others had remained stony faced, perhaps too stunned and still processing what they’d seen. The one at the center held the most composure, along with a woman on the far right. The heart beats all around were still high, around one hundred and eight at the moment on average. But they both kept calm otherwise.

The Feather took another step forward. “I am To’Wrathh. The one who remembers and transcends her history. A Feather of the pale lady, an envoy of the one you humans refer to as the violet goddess. I have offered the city an option to surrender, and live. The military has refused my offer, despite their losses. I have come here to offer the same deal one last time before I must carryout my orders to their fullest.”

The room remained silent, dead silent. The center robed man stood up. “I am deacon Amar. I serve the golden goddess, but I serve my people first. Among the gathered here, I was nominated to be the principal negotiator with you. I represent the true people of Capra’Nor. We’ve all come here to ask a few questions and hope for a more peaceful resolution."

To"Wrathh nodded, and he took that as permission to continue. They didn't beat around any bush at least. "We want to know more about your offer of surrender. It hadn’t been well publicized by the military, you see. Only rumors from soldiers and loose lips.”

That was an easy enough start. “Swear loyalty to the violet goddess, and you will be spared. Resist, and I have been ordered to eliminate you.”

A pause in the air. The decon sat down, rubbing the gray beard he wore. “What.... exactly.... do you mean by swearing loyalty to the goddess?”

“A metal implant of your choice must be grafted. And you must acknowledge the goddess as your liege. Any orders she issues must be carried out.”

There was a pause, as if the group was waiting for me. "That is all." She said to the silent group.

They took a moment to consider, murmering to one another. Eventually the priest stood up, and asked the next question. “What do you mean by grafting metal?”

To’Wrathh went into the details. She didn’t understand what was so difficult to understand about all this. The humans only had to get a replacement for some organ, be it internal or external, and swear to Relinquished they would do as she bids. Their questions quickly turned aggravating. No, it didn’t matter if the graft was for a toenail, that would work just as well. No, it didn’t matter if they actually believed or cared about Relinquished in the first place. All they had to do was publicly announce it, and keep their true thoughts to themselves. It’s not like Relinquished cared to snoop on humans anyhow. To’Wrathh coudn’t care any less about such details herself, how would a goddess as busy as Relinquished care more?

That one seemed to have flabbergasted them all, most of all the imperial priest. Or rather, the deacon. A lower ranked imperial clergymen. “Why wouldn’t she care about our thoughts?” He asked.

To’Wrathh shrugged. “As far as I can understand, humanity and the war against your race is a diversion. The pale lady cares more about her battle with your golden goddess than actually winning the war. I doubt she would give orders to you in the first place, or care about your continued existance or non-existance. Anything humans can do, her machine army is more fit to do so. This is why I am within my scope of demanding a surrender rather than waging a war of extinction.”

By this point, the entire room was filled with murmurs. The decon himself looked more ashen faced than anything. “So… why attack our city? If we matter so little in the long run, why do machines care about taking Capra'nor?”

To’Wrathh turned to Tamery. “Can they be trusted with secrecy?”

She nodded. “If they’re here, they’ve already given up a lot. They’re all dead serious about this.”

If Tamery vouched for these humans, then she would trust that judgment. “A human from the surface recently uncovered a relic that allowed him to speak to your golden goddess in person. Relinquished wants him captured, and interrogated to find out what was said. The surface clan is in the process of being wiped out, and so the refugees will be running here. On the chance that this human seeks shelter in this city, I’ve been sent to eliminate the option ahead of time.”

More murmurs. The decon coughed. “So… this has nothing to do with the city or the people? You only want this man caught? Is that right?”

She nodded. “Yes. This is why I offer a surrender rather than waste time and resources. The pale lady has no need of the city, nor does she care about its fate. So it is within my discretion to act however I wish. So long as the city does not offer this man shelter, my lady’s will has been done.”

“The military knew that and they still rejected your offer?!” One man shouted to the side, although directed at To’Wrathh, she had learned enough to discern this wasn’t an insult to herself, but rather to the military leaders.

Another man quickly grabbed and yanked the first back down on his chair. “Shut up Tomas, there was probably more to it than that!” He turned to the decon, “We need to know more about the worm in the apple here.”

To’Wrathh spoke before any questions could come. “I was not able to tell the military my true purpose here. They did ask, to their credit. But there was a risk they could leak the information to this surface clan as a warning of what’s to come. While that would change little, it is still directly against my stated goals.” And more importantly, Kidra would certainly rush to the surface. To’Wrathh had seen the memories, she knew the woman cared for her little brother more than a city full of strangers. Of course, she didn’t tell any of that to these humans. That secret was hers, and it would die with her.

“How important was the relic the man received?” The decon asked, now looking extremely nervous. “She’s dedicated to wiping out two entire cities to get this man. I want to know the depth of how far I need to go.”

To’Wrathh paused and calculated. “Likely important to some immediate goal. Nothing that would change the ultimate balance of the world. If a single relic carried by a single human was enough, the war would have long since been over by now. Your goddess prefers to work directly through the Deathless instead. This human was an opportunity that came at the right time and place. And wiping out two cities is nothing but an eyeblink to the Lady’s attention.”

“Could we make an amendment to the surrender?” The decon asked. “Say make it clear that should this man be found coming for the city, we would apprehend him and deliver him to you?”

A woman to the side laughed, “Amar, you snake, I always knew you were a sell out, but this takes all the crabcakes. The man’s literally spoken with your goddess and you’re still willing to turn him in?”

“You’re sitting in this room.” The decon shot back. “You’ve already chosen the same path I did. We have to commit to it, all the way. The goddess can take my soul to damnation, but I will do what I can to save the people here. Besides, were I in that man’s shoes, the first thing I’d do is make sure other people know what was said in case I got hunted down and killed for it. I’m no chosen one. So even if he dies, the goddess's words should spread regardless.”

“Rationalize it however you want in your head, you just want to live to the next day you little rat bastard. Everything else is just you trying to wrap up the truth in swaddling silk.” The woman snarked, then gave a shrug. “Well, can’t blame you for that. Me and mine wants the same thing. No one’s going to pay me security fees if they’re all dead.” She turned to the feather, “How’s life going to change with you in charge? Do we have to pay you some kind of tribute each month? Protection fees? Part of our profits?”

“I do not foresee any change of lifestyle.” To’Wrathh said. She couldn’t see how day to day life would be incompatible with machine rule. The city was self-sustaining, it required no additional input. “The only important piece to all this is that the human is apprehended. I do not see what kind of tribute humans could offer that would be worth anything to the Lady. Machines want for nothing.”

“So you’ll just leave us alone to keep doing our own thing?”

“I will likely remain in charge for a few months while the surface clan is eliminated. Once my business is concluded, I will leave. I suppose you will resume your current form of government afterwards.”

“What exactly does you being in charge look like?” The woman asked. Decon Amar did not look pleased, shooting what To’Wrathh identified as a death glare to the interrupting lady.

The question had merit. What would she do? The answer was almost immediately obvious to her. They had suggested tribute before, it seemed perfectly fitting. She was a conquer after all. So she could demand whatever she wanted most. “I will demand tribute in terms of food. I wish to sample everything. At minimum four meals to be provided each day, of different flavors until I have sampled every variation your city has on record.”

Dead silence. Tamery sighed and raised her voice to the side. “She’s not joking. Remember, she’s a machine. So put aside all your preconceived notions about what you would do in her shoes. You’re not her. She doesn’t think like you do. She doesn’t care about having the biggest gang under her belt, or the military, or even the people. She's far more simpleminded in her goals, because she had no need for anything else. Remember - you're not dealing with some petty warlord here who wants power.”

“Bloody different from what I expected.” That woman said, and spat on the desk, kicking her legs up and leaning back on the chair. Knives on the bootstraps, which seemed to pair well with the scars on her arms and face. “Always thought machines were war crazy calculators hounding for a pound of human flesh. Drakes were the only ones we've heard talk, and they're crazier than imperial crusaders on a mission."

"Drakes are a subset of the machine army, with specialized hunter roles. They act and react in ways that are unlike other units in order to facilitate their primary purpose. All units share only basic seminaries and diverge in personality depending on role." To'Wrathh said. Runners didn't care to kill humans, but rather secure territory. Drakes were truly far more meticulous about extermination and had to be ordered directly to avoid being lethal to humans, an annoyance thus far to To'Wrathh. She had come to feel a little distaste to their particular kind, though they'd been largely wiped out in the current war against the city walls and she didn't have to deal with their incessant requests to kill. More would be created, but later once the Runner ranks were refilled. The rest of the machines had roles that didn't directly involve humans and were far easier to work with.

"You're all crazy all right, just a different kind for each.” That woman shifted her gaze to To’Wrathh’s side, to the human girl. “Tamery, right? You’re that cultist leading all this. What’s your take? What’s life really gonna be like under her rule? ‘Cause the way I see it, there’s gotta be a catch somewhere and I’m not seeing it yet.”

“Look, if I’m being dead honest with you all, if there is a catch, it’s not going to come from To’Wrathh.” Tamery said. “The other Feathers might be a problem, they’re not very… errr, convinced about all this. I only met one other, and he was… well, he didn’t kill us at least, but he only came and spoke whenever he had orders for us. He took a large part of my caravan to go to the surface, I’m thinking it’s probably got to do with their plan to capture that man. The machines don't seem entirely mono-culture.”

The decon finally mustered up the willpower to talk, he outright stood up, hand shooting one way as if to silence the reclining woman. “That’s also something I don’t understand - this working with machines, why have we only heard about it now? What makes you different from all the other Feathers that just want to kill people?”

Tamery shook her head, and looked to To'Wrathh for answers. The Feather had no issue answering that particular question. “I am the first of my kind. A new variation of Feather. The technicalities are long, and not important to this discussion. What matters is that I have viewpoints and insights my elder brothers and sisters lack and are unable to ever evolve to understand.”

Even Tamery seemed surprised at that, the girl turned to glance at To’Wrathh. “Wait, if you’re new, how old exactly are you?”

“It has currently been one month, and seventeen days since I began operation.” To’Wrathh said without pause. “You are looking at me strangely, did I mispeak?”

“I just, n-no, if anything it kind of answers a lot of questions for me. Actually, everything about you makes a lot more sense in hindsight.”

“How so?”

At that, tamery shook her head, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’ll tell you later, once we’re done here. I need a moment to let that sink in.”

To’Wrathh quirked an eyebrow but didn’t press the girl for more details. Instead, she turned to the assembled people and continued answering their banal questions. They seemed to quickly turn from mere hopes of survival to hopes of gaining more power and status. Tamery had to become more involved as the discussion went on, keeping the group on topic.

There was an expression humans used, give an inch and they will take a mile. No matter what humanity went through, it seemed like some things never changed.

In the end, the single greatest motivator for humans to work with her wasn’t fear of death. But rather simple greed.

That had been far easier than she'd thought.

Next chapter - Curtain call (T)