Message #419

[Bard]

Part 1:
welcome to the machine

Deep within a world that would hate him if it had the capacity, the god of all that crawls and creeps stands in a prison of his own making. So much time, so much sacrificed. Indeed the god had cast off his entire life, his station, his home and everyone in it. His joy, his spirit.

 Now, he had only the contemptuous metal tomb closing around him. He felt its anger. There was pain there as well, and even fear, of a sort. He knew what it would do if he allowed it the choice. But it would never be free, not as long as he lived, however tenuous that life may become.

And now the final phase was approaching. Billions had suffered. Billions had died. Billions more would suffer. Billions more would die. But one particular death must be among them. Then comes power complete.


An urgent voice played across all communicators.

“It’s happening now. The machine has hit. I repeat, the machine has hit. All agents prepare deployment”

And on the signal, every ship in the vast combination fleet launched in unison. It was a short flight; they were hiding just a 20 minutes journey from the engine’s next target, just outside of its range of engagement.
On arrival, a slight, partial glimpse of the Machine’s twisted brown frame could have been made out, if one had looked before the cloud of ‘scratchers’ engulfed it. And they didn’t stop there. The swarm of tiny ships quickly set upon the fleet. As an impossible cosmic limb, they rushed the hulls of their much larger challengers. Some burst, some held, but one small shuttle escaped passed the cloud unnoticed.
   
“How long?” asked Niyames

“Twelve seconds to impact” said the computerized voiced of the pilot.

“Eight”

“Stand ready”

“Four”

The craft slammed into through into the surface of the machine, breaking through the thin layer of rusted metal, then continued through another three barriers before finally the metal was thick enough to slow it. A few moments passed. Niyames stood up.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry!

The door opened. He stepped out. He saw nothing but black, gray, and brown metal. This was an outer area, useless and inhospitable.  Scanning, he found what they needed: an open pipeline, going straight down.

“As you were briefed, we used tunnels such as these for transportation through ships and structures. It will take us to the main body of the ships It should be large enough to hold even the largest of you. Don’t fall. I don’t want your shrieking body falling on top of me while I go to free my people.”

And he started his climb down, headfirst.

 “Come quickly. Hnangha is liable to simply detach any part of itself that is damage.”