{"id":1057,"date":"2025-01-04T06:27:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T11:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:11:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:11:06","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-95\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 95"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 95\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> X<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, graphic violence\/gore, death<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Trapped with a reactor core, Jack has only one way to survive: a metamorphosis that may save many more lives than just her own.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8f67242db2f4083736613' value='6a8f67242db2f4083736613'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8f67242db2f4083736613' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8f67242db2f4083736613' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8f67242db2f4083736613' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a8f67242db2f4083736613' >    <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">95.<br \/>\n<u>Across the Threshold and Beyond the Veil<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Hang on, Jack! I\u2019m coming!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick\u2019s voice echoed in her head as the clock counted down. He wouldn\u2019t get there in time. She already knew that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Behind her, she could hear Chantesa sobbing in earnest. She couldn\u2019t look back. Couldn\u2019t say anything else to try to comfort the woman. In a few more seconds, the shielding in front of her would open.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I\u2019ve done this with sound waves. I can do it with radiation, too,<\/i> she told herself. <i>I hope.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack focused on seeing the room on the other side of the threshold. The countdown was in progress over there, too; there was no escape.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Here I <span class=\"nowrap\">go\u2026<\/span><\/i> she thought, taking a deep breath and holding one hand, the hand not clutching Minnie\u2019s diary to her chest, in front of her to delineate the boundary she wanted to create. A boundary between death and life. She had no idea how long she would be able to maintain it once she started.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I really should\u2019ve eaten something before I came down <span class=\"nowrap\">here\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If all went well, though, she\u2019d only have to hold out for a few minutes until the others figured out how to shut the system down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>And how often does all go well around <span class=\"nowrap\">here\u2026?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She felt the moment when the first crack in the shielding appeared, felt the first high-energy rays racing toward her\u2026 and felt them shifting into Elsewhere as they struck the barrier she was maintaining.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck!\u201d she heard Riddick shouting behind her. \u201cJack! I\u2019m gonna get you out of there! What the fuck did you do, Dame Vaako?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt wasn\u2019t her,\u201d Jack managed to grate out, trying <i>not<\/i> to break her focus. Nobody on the other side of the glass would be able to tell what she was doing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It is time, Audrey,<\/i> Lucy said from somewhere near her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Time for what?<\/i> she asked, feeling the way that the rays were bombarding her boundary and wondering just how much longer she had to keep it in place.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your hatching. You must let go and let it happen.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Okay, I know they don\u2019t have chemistry and physics classes where you come from and all,<\/i> Jack pointed out, <i>but you have to know how much damage ionizing radiation would do to my body. I drop this barrier and I\u2019m dead.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No. This isn\u2019t ionizing radiation.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt just started all on its own,\u201d Dame Vaako was sobbing. \u201cThe controls have always been dead before now. I tried to find an emergency failsafe but there\u2019s no\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">thing\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThings don\u2019t just <i>start all on their own,<\/i>\u201d Riddick growled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was right next to her when they did,\u201d Jack heard Lola saying. \u201cShe never touched anything until she started trying to turn the system back off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Damn it, it was getting harder and harder to concen\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">trate\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You don\u2019t need to. The energy it\u2019s emitting is safe. Good. Necessary. See?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Lucy skittered through the room, her <i>n<\/i>-shape almost clearly visible, and climbed up the side of the pillar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat in God\u2019s name is <i>that?\u201d<\/i> she heard Lord Vaako shout behind her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Trust me, little sister. Your six-shape awaits you, and the answers you need. It is time. Let go, and let it touch you.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You will not die this day,<\/i><\/b> the Moribund grumbled, sounding disappointed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Or any day soon? Radiation poisoning can take a while! I could\u2019ve sworn this was someone trying to kill me,<\/i> Jack said to them, trying to will herself to let go of the barrier. She couldn\u2019t. She was too scared to drop it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>It was. It does not know that it offered you life instead of death.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Life? In here?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Little creature, I wish I was there in your place.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou and me both,\u201d Jack muttered. She took a deep breath. And then another. And another. What she was about to do still scared the fuck out of her. \u201cBetter be right about <span class=\"nowrap\">this\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She dropped her hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Something warm touched her, filled her, blowing her hair gently back from her face.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack, <i>no!\u201d<\/i> she heard multiple voices shouting at her from beyond the <span class=\"nowrap\">glass\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The room fragmented, reshaping into multiple iterations of itself, all visible to her. One hundred-sixty different versions of the same space, all at once, shifting out of each other\u2019s way as she tried to take them all in. She could feel each frequency, could sense each distinct flavor of the same energy flowing through the isomorphic <span class=\"nowrap\">spaces\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was in all of them, all at once. All of their \u2019verses were part of her. Her five-shape had just expanded <span class=\"nowrap\">to\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your six-shape. Welcome, sister.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is this?\u201d she asked, still feeling the energies flowing, dancing around her, penetrating her skin and somehow making her grow even more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>This is how we were fed, when we were still caged. The emissions closely replicate those that fed us when we were preparing to hatch.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou were caged <i>here?<\/i> How?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>It is time. She must know. If she is not strong enough to know now, she never will be. Show her, \u2018Lucy.\u2019 Show her where our names come from.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Come with me, Audrey.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She lifted her hand again, in hundreds\u2014thousands\u2014millions of \u2019verses, and Lucy\u2019s delicate, clawed tarsus touched her <span class=\"nowrap\">finger\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The door to the control room stood open. All was still and quiet. The pillar containing the core had retracted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTime to feed the beast!\u201d a strange voice called.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack walked through the door. On its other side, a man in his late fifties, dressed in an odd uniform, was slipping a bookmark into his thick novel and setting it aside. A younger man, his clothes obviously expensive, stood in the doorway out to the hall. Neither one seemed aware of her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGot a funny turn of phrase there, Chap,\u201d the older man said. \u201cWe\u2019re just chargin\u2019 up the Isomorph Drive, aren\u2019t we?\u201d He had an accent Jack had never once heard in her travels.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf you\u2019d met Dr. Kirshbaum, Stefan, you\u2019d call the thing a \u2018beast,\u2019 too.\u201d <span class=\"nowrap\">Chap\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014Chapman<\/span> Marshal? Was Jack looking at <i>Chapman Marshal?<\/i> He had been dead for more than four <span class=\"nowrap\">centuries\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014walked<\/span> over to a vacant seat by the control panel and touched several buttons. Behind Jack, the heavy steel door began closing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCore containment protocols activated,\u201d Stefan said, pressing some buttons of his own. Jack watched each combination, committing all of them to memory. \u201cYou know, the system is something that can be fully automated. You don\u2019t have to come down for every Jump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t trust it. It was feeding the damned thing way too often for my liking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Stefan frowned at the erstwhile king of Delubrum. \u201cIt\u2019s an Isomorph Drive. It needs a constant energy supply during Star Jumps, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou have no idea what it is.\u201d Marshal lifted a book he was carrying\u2014the same one, Jack realized, that she still held\u2014and waved it. \u201cMin didn\u2019t either. Thank God Joren was in charge of the expedition and not her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Stefan shook his head and looked away at the control panel. \u201cReadings indicate a deficit. It\u2019s been getting charged on schedule, hasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Marshal shrugged. \u201cIt gets enough to eat. It <i>is<\/i> time for our next Star Jump, though. You can feed it as much as it wants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">On the other side of the steelglass, the core had risen from the floor once more and was unshielding.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cK waves rising to Jump levels,\u201d Stefan said. \u201cDid your friend Joren name <i>everything<\/i> after himself? Kirshbaum waves? Kirshbaumium?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat, wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d Marshal laughed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNaphemil waves? Naphemilium?\u201d Stefan laughed back. \u201cI see your point. Maybe. Could\u2019ve made a nice present for that grandson of mine when he comes out of cryo, if I had that kind of bent. We\u2019ve attained Jump <span class=\"nowrap\">levels\u2026<\/span> huh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cReadings are odd. After this Jump is over, I want to check the connections to the Isomorph Drive. The system is still registering a power deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDamn <span class=\"nowrap\">thing\u2026\u201d<\/span> Marshal\u2019s frown was thunderous. \u201cFine. Increase the feed to compensate. Don\u2019t feed it <i>too<\/i> much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou talk about it like it\u2019s alive,\u201d Stefan observed. \u201cIn a box that size?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMaybe that box is bigger than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAdjusting power <span class=\"nowrap\">levels\u2026<\/span> finally.\u201d Stefan blew out a breath. \u201cFlow is balancing. We can begin the Jump any time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">A countdown appeared on the control panel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>Jump to U16 commencing in 00:17:34<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSome time soon, you really need to borrow Min\u2019s diary and read it,\u201d Marshal told Stefan. \u201cThen you\u2019d stop treating that box as if it just has circuitry inside it. You\u2019d know it for what it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026the hell does that mean?\u201d Jack asked. She <span class=\"nowrap\">blinked\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014and<\/span> the message on the panel had changed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>Isomorph Drive active<br \/>\nJump length: 43:22:19<br \/>\nJump ends in 08:14:12<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Stefan was napping in the chair, alone. The lights on the panel, Jack realized, were changing color, from white to amber, amber to orange, and orange to red, in a swift cascade. The man who was supposed to be watching them had earpieces in and appeared to be oblivious to the warning chimes beginning to <span class=\"nowrap\">sound\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014until<\/span> the whole room shuddered and he woke, dropping his novel to the floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>System Overload<br \/>\nIsomorph Drive energy levels exceeding safe maximum<br \/>\nAutomatic dampers have failed<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cShit!\u201d Stefan began hitting controls.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>Manual shutoff command accepted<br \/>\nCore retracting<br \/>\n<b>WARNING:<\/b> Shutoff during a Jump is not recommended<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cWhat\u2019s going on down there?\u201d<\/i> a voice demanded over a tinny speaker.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI need to restart the power feed for the Isomorph Drive, Captain,\u201d Stefan said, still flipping switches and pressing buttons. \u201cIt went into overload. I don\u2019t know why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cRe<b>start?<\/b> Why the hell did you stop it in mid-Jump?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe whole panel went red! An overload of the magnitude I was looking at could <span class=\"nowrap\">have\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The room rocked again as something exploded nearby. Stefan was knocked to the floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cWhat the fuck is going on, Naphemil?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat,\u201d Stefan muttered, climbing to his feet. \u201cIt could\u2019ve done <i><span class=\"nowrap\">that\u2026<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He didn\u2019t bother answering his Captain, heading out of the control room at a run. Jack followed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">One room down, past the space occupied by the core, the engine room was a smoking shambles. Debris littered the ground, strange shards and splinters of what looked like stone. Other shards had pierced a variety of panels and cases in the room, starting multiple electrical fires. Stefan grabbed a fire extinguisher off its mounting by the entrance, spraying down <span class=\"nowrap\">panels\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">An earsplitting shriek sounded nearby. He turned toward <span class=\"nowrap\">it\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014and<\/span> screamed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The creature\u2019s <i>n<\/i>-shape was similar to Lucy\u2019s, Jack thought as it pounced at Stefan. Larger somehow, and growing larger still, shifting from housecat size to tiger size as it leapt, its long, clawed arms reaching for Stefan, raking at him and sending the fire extinguisher spinning across the room. The man fell to the floor with the thing on top of him, still screaming, his flailing hands reaching for any kind of <span class=\"nowrap\">weapon\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014and<\/span> his questing hand found a large shard of the odd stonelike material. He stabbed up\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">ward\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2014and<\/span> now the creature was screaming, its agony filling the air even as it <i>ripped<\/i> something out of Stefan and fell back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>His four-shape,<\/i> Jack thought, aghast. <i>It pulled out his four-<span class=\"nowrap\">shape\u2026<\/span> and it\u2019s <b>eating<\/b> <span class=\"nowrap\">it\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">On the ground, Stefan went still, his eyes wide and glazed and his jaw slack, nothing more than an empty shell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And the creature\u2014the Moribund, Jack realized with absolute certainty\u2014was struggling to free himself from the spear of kirshbaumium piercing him. She could <i>feel<\/i> him trying to shift to a dimension where the spear didn\u2019t <span class=\"nowrap\">exist\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026but<\/span> the spear existed in <i>every<\/i> dimension. Anywhere the Moribund could go, the spear went with him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNaphemil, what the hell is going on down <span class=\"nowrap\">here\u2014?\u201d<\/span> Another uniformed man, in his forties, with Captain\u2019s bars, ran into the room. \u201cFuck!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Moribund pounced again, pinning the Captain to a wall, and locked eyes\u2014its thousands against the man\u2019s two\u2014with him. This time, he didn\u2019t pull out the man\u2019s four-shape, but Jack could feel another strange energy exchange happening.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Captain ceased struggling, staring at the eldritch creature pinning him with the look of someone who had found enlightenment. \u201cYes, my <span class=\"nowrap\">Lord\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">As more footsteps approached, the Moribund, still hampered by the spear of kirshbaumium, staggered away from the Captain and vanished into the shadows.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cCovu? What\u2019s happening?\u201d Marshal called out as he entered the engine room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Calmly, casually, Captain Bernard Covu reached down and picked up another shard of stone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat the hell happened in here?\u201d Marshal demanded. \u201cWhat did that idiot Naphemil do <span class=\"nowrap\">this\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He stopped, hands going to his throat and the yawning, gushing wound that had opened across it. Covu tossed the impromptu blade aside and moved behind Marshal, kicking his legs out from under him. Grabbing Marshal by his hair, he forced the gasping, choking entrepreneur to kneel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s really not personal, old friend,\u201d Covu murmured. \u201cMy god is hungry, and you know far too much about Him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The Moribund emerged from the shadows, his movements stiff with pain, to pull Marshal\u2019s four-shape out of his body and devour it. <b><i>More,<\/i><\/b> it rumbled in Covu\u2019s head. <b><i>I need <span class=\"nowrap\">more\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAs you will it,\u201d Covu said. He touched a panel on the wall. \u201cPatricia? Could you come down to the engine room, please?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy?\u201d Jack asked, looking around. \u201cWhat did they ever do to you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You still don\u2019t understand. You see, but you don\u2019t understand. Show her, Lucy. Show her what <u>she<\/u> did.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was in another place. Another engine room, undamaged and quiescent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou understand the aim of today\u2019s experiment?\u201d a familiar voice asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Irena Kirshbaum, dressed in her ostentatious white, walked into the room, followed by two familiar technicians. The same ones, Jack realized, that she had seen with the envoy in the Quintessa Corporation headquarters on Tangiers Prime.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Am I on Tangiers Prime somehow?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You are everywhere,<\/i> Lucy murmured. <i>But focus on this time and place.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes, Ma\u2019am. We are attempting to recreate the quantum circumstances of the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i>\u2019s Level Five Incident, using the <i>Lucy Ricardo.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood. Then let\u2019s begin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The two technicians began powering systems on, one of them working near a familiar box. Jack walked over, taking a closer look.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Beneath its metal housing and attached wiring, another <i>apeirochoron<\/i> sat on the counter. A metallic label had been adhered to it:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em\"><tt>Isomorph Drive Unit. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN.<br \/>\nSN 1287432<br \/>\nProperty of the Quintessa Corporation<\/tt><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFeeding the coordinate profile to the Jump Drive now,\u201d one of the technicians said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And Jack heard <i>her<\/i> voice again in her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i><span class=\"nowrap\">No\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">please\u2026<\/span> you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re <span class=\"nowrap\">asking\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe Isomorph Drive rejected the coordinates,\u201d the technician said after a moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOverride,\u201d Irena Kirshbaum replied, her voice almost disinterested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The technician pressed another button and pain lanced through Jack\u2019s head, an inhuman scream filling her ears.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No, no, no, please <span class=\"nowrap\">no\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">no\u2026<\/span> please don\u2019t make <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">please\u2026<\/span> no <span class=\"nowrap\">more\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHas it accepted the instructions?\u201d the envoy asked after a moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot yet. Why do you let them reject orders at all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a safety mechanism, usually,\u201d Irena said. \u201cRecognizing and rejecting mangled coordinates is important when <i>human<\/i> lives are at stake. But <span class=\"nowrap\">today\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She walked over to the apeirochoron and glared down at it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt needs to <i>do what it\u2019s told.<\/i> Try again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Another pained, terrified scream. <i>I\u2019ll die, I\u2019ll die, please don\u2019t make <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No one seemed to hear it except Jack.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cStill rejecting your command. Do you want me to increase <span class=\"nowrap\">the\u2026<\/span> incentive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot too much. It has work to do, once it cooperates.\u201d The envoy sat back down nearby, watching the technicians as they adjusted controls.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The technician pressed the button a third time. The scream almost tore Jack apart.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Help <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span> please help <span class=\"nowrap\">me\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And then, in answer, she heard a voice she knew as intimately as her own: <i>I\u2019m here! I\u2019m here! I\u2019m coming! I\u2019ll help you!<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It <i>was<\/i> her own voice, she realized.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When her larval five-shape, completely detached from its shell except for the slenderest tether, appeared a moment later, she wasn\u2019t at all surprised. She <i>remembered<\/i> this now. Still, how tiny she had been, how incredibly <span class=\"nowrap\">small\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>And yet powerful,<\/i> Lucy murmured, her calm voice so different from the tortured screams of that terrible day. <i>What you did should not have been possible.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Irena and the technicians seemed unaware of her presence in the room, even when she went straight for the apeirochoron.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You approached from the side you call Elsewhere,<\/i> Lucy told her. <i>The Demon might have seen you if you had stayed in U1.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack-that-had-been stared at the box, reaching out toward it as phantom voices murmured encouragement, telling her to break it open, to do it now, that she would be <span class=\"nowrap\">safe\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And Jack felt her own energy flowing toward the tiny five-shape she had once been, encouraging along with the voices of the <i>Apeiros,<\/i> adding to the power that was massing in a small pair of five-dimensional <span class=\"nowrap\">hands\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack-that-had-been <i>shoved<\/i> the box with every bit of will she had, releasing an aggressive, banshee-like scream as she did.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Stone that wasn\u2019t stone cracked, splintered, shivered into dust and vanished into nothing. Ripples spread out, twisting across dimensions, as the apeirochoron broke open, first in one \u2019verse, then in another, and another. In Elsewhere, Jack-that-had-been reached into the space that had contained the box, drawing <span class=\"nowrap\">out\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Lucy.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Lucy had been trapped inside the box.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Lucy had been the Isomorph Drive.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The <i>Apeiros<\/i> clung to her, pained and exhausted, as she drew back. Alarms began to sound in the control room in U1.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s happening again, Ms. Kirshbaum!\u201d one technician shouted. \u201cThe kirshbaumium is breaking down!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">In Elsewhere of the past, Jack and Lucy seemed to be communing, eyes locked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI remember what we <span class=\"nowrap\">did\u2026\u201d<\/span> She remembered reaching out, willing the part of the apeirochoron that still existed in U1 to form the connection that Irena Kirshbaum had demanded, linking the Star Jumper itself to the box\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">fate\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDear God, we\u2019re about to isomorph!\u201d the other technician shouted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEvacuate the ship!\u201d Irena was already racing for the exit, dipping out of U1 into her other, dark universe, the place Jack had never been able to see <span class=\"nowrap\">into\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Until now. Now her not-eyes could follow just fine. She knew where the rest of Irena lived.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The technicians were scrambling for the exit as well, their equipment discarded, shouting for others in the ship to flee.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Behind them, in the engine room, a five-shape manifested in U1, carrying a clinging six-shape on her shoulder, and touched a few controls, opening the energy feeds into the apeirochoron to maximum.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>All of the humans have left the ship except you,<\/i> Lucy-that-had-been whispered. <i>The Demon is in flight.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGood,\u201d Jack-that-had-been replied, touching a surface and pulling the ship partway into Elsewhere. \u201cWhen the dissolution wave catches up with U1 and the ship snaps back, she\u2019ll <i>never<\/i> try anything like this again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>It is a good plan, my sister.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhich ship should we do next?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You cannot. You are almost out of strength.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cBut\u2026<\/span> but I <i>have<\/i> to! This is why Tomlin <i>died!<\/i> Because one of you is trapped inside <i>every<\/i> Star Jumper! I\u2019ve gotta get you <i>out,<\/i> all of you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Not today, little one. One day, but not today.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI can\u2019t just sit around and do <i>nothing!\u201d<\/i> Even outside of her shell, her unclad five-shape\u2019s eyes could fill with tears. Now in her six-shape, Jack could feel those tears brimming again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You must. For now. Even your strength has its limits. One day you will be strong enough. We hoped you would be the one. Now we know.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Little sister, it is time for you to return to your shell while you still have some strength left. You must rest.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She felt the moment that Lucy had taken control and pulled her back, across the miles and across the \u2019verses, along the tether to her shell where it slept, seemingly comatose, in the <i>ait Meziane<\/i> house.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou were never named after a Beatles song,\u201d Jack said as she watched the ship from five years earlier begin to shiver, shudder, and fragment on a quantum level, in preparation for an implosion still hours away. \u201cRiddick knew. He named you after the ship you\u2019d been <i>slaved<\/i> to. The <i>Lucy Ricardo.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yes.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t you want a <i>better<\/i> name than that?\u201d An image came to Jack\u2019s mind, from a vid she and her cousins had watched on the sly\u2014one of her father\u2019s vids that he\u2019d told her never to let her aunts and uncles know she had\u2014where a young woman sat in front of a tombstone, scratching out her father\u2019s slave name, Toby, and writing <i>Kunta Kinte<\/i> beneath it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I have seen your memories of where the name came from. It is a good name.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Names are delimiters,<\/i><\/b> the Moribund grumbled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow did I miss all the clues?\u201d Jack wondered. The last pieces of withheld memory were filtering back in, and suddenly it was all so clear to her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cNow that I\u2019ve experienced the journey to and from Elsewhere, and have seen what you can do and what it costs,\u201d Tomlin had said, the last moment she\u2019d ever seen him alive, \u201cI think I know what the Quintessa Corporation is hiding. It\u2019s much worse than we <span class=\"nowrap\">thought\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He had known. His knowledge, his conviction that the Quintessa Corporation had to be stopped, had gotten him murdered. But not before he had tried to pass on a warning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cHe sent me a message telling me <span class=\"nowrap\">that\u2026<\/span> I don\u2019t even know,\u201d Ewan had told her, radiating distress. \u201cIt didn\u2019t make sense. That we might have to prepare for the end of the Federacy as we knew it, that a monstrous crime was being perpe\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">trated\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Because, Jack realized, the Federacy couldn\u2019t exist without faster-than-light space travel, and the technology that permitted it depended on enslaving a whole <i><span class=\"nowrap\">species\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She saw herself, sitting in <tt>EntertAIn<\/tt>\u2019s complex on the <i>Nephrite Undine<\/i>, searching through <i>Doctor Who<\/i> episodes for the one that she was convinced would somehow explain what had happened on the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i>, explain what the <i>Apeiros<\/i> <span class=\"nowrap\">were\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026and<\/span> finding it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She watched herself dissolving into tears as the true nature of the \u201cBeast Below\u201d was unveiled, the star whale that had been enslaved to pilot a massive ship was revealed, sobbing as the voiceover incanted a soft rhyme: <i>this dream must end, this world must <span class=\"nowrap\">know\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026sobbing<\/span> on the floor of the dojo, again, after feeding power to the <i>Apeiros<\/i> on board the <i>Nephrite Undine<\/i> to keep it from dying of exhaustion when a system error momentarily cut off its energy feed\u2026 having to be forcibly stopped by the other <i>Apeiros<\/i> from going down to the engine room to free it on the <span class=\"nowrap\">spot\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>We took the clues back from you. We had to. Every time you realized, your plan was the same. Free every one of us that you could until you ran out of strength or someone stopped you. But it would not be enough, powerful as you were even then. Did you see the serial number on my cage?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cOh\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">my\u2026<\/span> <span class=\"nowrap\">God\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>There are millions of us. In Star Jumpers. In courier drones. In the communication systems that the Demons use and that your General Toal has stolen to use, too. Fed just enough energy to allow us to do humans\u2019 bidding, not enough to escape. I tricked Stefan Naphemil into \u201coverfeeding\u201d me and almost managed to escape, but even so, I failed.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>There is a way to free all of us at once. Once you bring your sister back, it will become possible. It must be all at once or the Quintessa Corporation will have a chance to activate the kill-switches built into each apeirochoron.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The way, she remembered, they had \u201cdecommissioned\u201d the one on board the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i> after its occupant had <span class=\"nowrap\">died\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>The Demons do not know that Lucy has survived, but they have begun to suspect me. And Shirah. They attempted to make us destroy each other.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019ve been hunting five-shapes, haven\u2019t you? That\u2019s why you\u2019ve been targeting the worlds where other <i>Apeiros<\/i> died in Level Five Incidents. You\u2019re hoping some of the humans from those accidents survived and passed Threshold Syndrome on. So you can <i>eat<\/i> them the way you tried to eat <i>me.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Yes.<\/i><\/b> No apology, no guilt, just an acknowledgment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut the Quintessa Corporation always kills them first,\u201d she said, remembering Ewan\u2019s words to her five years before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cColonization is about control,\u201d he\u2019d told her. \u201cThe concessions and payments that had to be made, by so many societies, to gain access to ships to leave <span class=\"nowrap\">Earth\u2026<\/span> the treaties they had to sign, the rights they had to sell <span class=\"nowrap\">away\u2026<\/span> would have been unnecessary if all one had needed to do, to reach a new world, was take a beautiful girl\u2019s <span class=\"nowrap\">hand\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She missed him with burning intensity. What would he have done with this terrible knowledge? Embarked on the same path that had gotten his brother killed? The path that Tomlin had believed could destroy the Federacy it\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">self\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your Federacy is owned by the Quintessa Corporation,<\/i> Lucy said. <i>It cannot exist without it. Or so it believes. Your General Toal has other plans. Once you free us, his only request is that we help in the creation and teaching of more humans like you, who can pilot the ships in our place after being taught how to.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe competition that the Corporation has always been afraid of,\u201d Jack gasped. \u201cThe reason they make sure any human who acquires a five-dimensional shape <i>dies<\/i> as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>Now you know why we call them the Demons of the Darkness.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>But not the only reason.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe \u2019verse they\u2019re connected to!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>After they stole us from our nest \u2019verse, they lost their gateway to it. They forced one of our brothers to open a new threshold, but he realized what they were after. The energies that sustained us through our metamorphoses there would keep them alive for millennia. He took them somewhere else.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u201cIt\u2019s\u2026<\/span> feeding them, <span class=\"nowrap\">but\u2026\u201d<\/span> Jack frowned, concentrating on just what she had felt about that darkness pervading Irena Kirshbaum, hidden behind her too-white veils. \u201cLess and less as time goes on. <span class=\"nowrap\">Like\u2026<\/span> how addicts can never recapture their first <span class=\"nowrap\">high\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>They are bound to it. Addicted to it. In another few centuries, they will be consumed by it. But we do not have that much time.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Before then, Joren Kirshbaum\u2019s other invention will destroy every \u2019verse.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKirshbaum\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">ium\u2026\u201d<\/span> The substance that apeirochorons were made of. A substance that existed, simultaneously, in the same isomorphic point of spacetime in every universe, making a box constructed from it inescapable if one was sealed inside, no matter how many \u2019verses one had access to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sixteen boxes floating, untethered, high above the sand of Elsewhere\u2019s beach in violation of all logic and physics, because they sat in a third-floor laboratory in <span class=\"nowrap\">U1\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When she\u2019d lifted the lids, picked up the boxes, it had felt easy. But in other \u2019verses, she had been moving them through solid objects, possibly even <i>living things.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">And those boxes were bullets flying through the multiverse as they traveled the Sol Tracks, passing \u201charmlessly\u201d through wormholes in one \u2019verse while crashing through stars, planets, and singularities in others. Millions of faster-than-light bullets, breaking the laws of physics and changing the whole way the multiversal streams flowed, their presence in <i>every \u2019verse<\/i> shutting down alternate outcomes, negating the principles of Kirshbaum\u2019s own Multiverse Cluster Hypothesis as they <span class=\"nowrap\">went\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No wonder the <i>Apeiros<\/i> been so disgusted by his name when she\u2019d mentioned the hypothesis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He had unwittingly unleashed his own kind of Infinity Minus One Event onto the whole multiverse, too busy trying to create an unbreakable cage to contemplate what <i>it<\/i> would break in the process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>All of the kirshbaumium must be destroyed, or the multiverse will collapse in its place.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Until, she realized, only U1 itself would be left, the final stitch in the unraveled scarf.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even if, in each \u2019verse, only their galaxy failed and died, the hole it created, the void it generated, would begin to pull everything else in. The myriad outcomes still possible in other parts of the \u2019verse would no longer matter when oblivion struck. And it would strike, inevitably, as long as Kirshbaum\u2019s strange substance existed and created immutable points in every \u2019verse.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow do we get to it all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>You now have the capacity to reach every point where it sits. And the strength.<\/i><\/b> There was envy and resentment in the Moribund\u2019s voice. <b><i>Your Riddick, and his \u201cFuryan\u201d brothers and sisters from Shirah\u2019s brood, have the energy to power your journey.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Our sister Shirah, when she escaped her bonds, tapped into a \u2019verse with energies even more powerful than existed in our nest. She was building an army that could serve as conduits of that energy for this very purpose, the brute-force destruction of millions of apeirochorons at once, and was nearly strong enough to challenge the Demons when most of her human children were slaughtered thirty-one years ago.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>We each had our own ways that we were going to break the control of the Demons of the Darkness,<\/i><\/b> the Moribund grumbled. <b><i>This is now the only one left. But one more thing is necessary.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She is not a thing. She may be a Kirshbaum, but she is still <b>our<\/b> little larva now.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cKyra,\u201d Jack gasped. Kyra Wittier-Collins. Daughter of Minnie Sulis, n\u00e9e Minerva Kirshbaum-<span class=\"nowrap\">Wittier\u2026<\/span> <i>Cousin of Joren Kirsh\u00ad<span class=\"nowrap\">baum\u2026<\/span><\/i> \u201cWhat will she do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>They locked the power to open, close, and even destroy the apeirochorons, without requiring massive amounts of energy, to their genetic code. Her genetic code.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut that was in her <i>shell,<\/i>\u201d Jack protested. \u201cHer corporeal body! You haven\u2019t even told me how I\u2019m supposed to bring her back!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>You will. You must. You now have access to not just infinite \u2019verses, but infinite iterations of <b>each<\/b> \u2019verse. You must find the path to bring your sister home.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJust the three of us? Riddick, Kyra, and me? That\u2019s all there is <i>to<\/i> it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No. But without you three, none of it will be possible.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could feel the Moribund\u2019s intense resentment about that.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>He never could have done it on his own,<\/i> Lucy whispered to her, and she knew that the Moribund couldn\u2019t hear. <i>The mere possibility of an escape like his, and my sister\u2019s, and even mine, is why the Kirshbaums locked the boxes to their genetic code. And why, when a rogue member of their family reappeared with two children, the Quintessa Corporation arranged for their new home to be destroyed.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was standing in a board room. Both Irena and Colin Kirshbaum were there, along with half a dozen well-dressed men and women <span class=\"nowrap\">and\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRed Roger\u201d Fiennes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m afraid the outcome is a certainty at this point,\u201d Irena was saying in her genteel Mary Poppins voice. \u201cThe falsified paperwork was uncovered not long ago. Since it was filed two hundred years ago, there is no punishing the perpetrators, but as you are their <span class=\"nowrap\">heirs\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everyone in the boardroom looked uneasy. Their leader grimaced and spoke up. \u201cWhat\u2019s the likely outcome?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAll as-yet undeveloped land will revert to them,\u201d Irena told him. \u201cAnd you will owe them <span class=\"nowrap\">taxes\u2026<\/span> two hundred years\u2019 <span class=\"nowrap\">worth\u2026<\/span> on the developed land. Naming rights will revert and this planet will become New Christy, with the areas you inhabit called the New Dartmouth Territories. The original charter will be in force. It\u2019s likely that the Federacy will exempt you from the religious laws embedded in it\u2026 <i>when<\/i> you are inside the New Dartmouth Territories. But you will not be permitted to expand further beyond those territories, and any territory you give up, for any reason, will revert to them in perpetuity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow is this <i>permissible?\u201d<\/i> one of the men at the table exploded.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYour ancestors rolled the dice two hundred years ago when they landed on a world with an active charter and jumped an existing claim,\u201d Colin pointed out. \u201cThey hoped that the forged changes to the charter would never be questioned and that no one would realize there were still three hundred more years until the world became available again, <i>if<\/i> the <i>New Christy Pilgrim<\/i> never showed up. Not to sound biblical, but these <i>are<\/i> the sins of your fathers coming home to roost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHow long do we have?\u201d A woman at the table asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA week at most,\u201d Irena said. \u201cThe judgment is about to be passed, and it will go into effect once drones carrying it reach the local relays. After that, the New Christy Pilgrims will be able to spread out from their enclave and <i>you<\/i> will be the ones whose movements are limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck that,\u201d Fiennes grumbled. He turned to one of his deputies and murmured in the man\u2019s ear. Jack, now beside him if invisible, heard every word. \u201cThey can\u2019t give everything we earned to those wackos if there ain\u2019t any of them left to give it <span class=\"nowrap\">to\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Irena, Jack noticed, glanced his way and suppressed a smile.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck,\u201d Jack groaned. \u201cShe engineered the destruction of the entire New Christy colony just to take out Minnie and her kids?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Are you surprised? How many more died in their plot to murder Colonel Tomlin?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><i>And how many more of <u>us<\/u> have died in our cages when their demands grew too great for our shells to bear, and even our <u>shapes<\/u> were torn apart by those cages?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">This was the monstrous power that she was up against, Jack realized. She, and Riddick, and Kyra, and whatever forces they could muster among humanity and the <span class=\"nowrap\"><i>Apeiros<\/i>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><span class=\"nowrap\">\u2026to<\/span> destroy a shadow government, and the puppet government it controlled, in a way that hopefully didn\u2019t plunge all of humanity into the darkness that its worst demons had risen from.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWell, I always said I wanted to do something meaningful with my life,\u201d she sighed. \u201cWhere do we start?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was back in the <i>Basilica,<\/i> standing in the doorway to the control room. Riddick had Dame Vaako pinned to the wall, his hand wrapped around her throat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Yeah, this is as good a place as <span class=\"nowrap\">any\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 95\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 95: \u201cAcross the Threshold and Beyond the Veil\u201d","bgseo_description":"Trapped with a reactor core, Jack has only one way to survive: a metamorphosis that may save many more lives than just her own.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1120,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions\/1120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}