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| Generated by Google Gemini Advanced text-to-image AI software, powered by Imagen 3 |
Mateo Matic came back into the world, and screamed. He screamed for a good
two minutes while his memories of the past that were taken from him flooded
back into his brain at once. They weren’t bad, per se, but the journey that
his past self took with Carlin and Aclima was anything but pleasant. Once he
arrived in Ferdiz, the locals welcomed him in, but were upset by his
insistence on exiting immediately. He had come for the wrong reasons. They
were there for enlightenment, and peace with one’s own past. He was there
for his future, and that was not the point of the Pilgrimage. Still, he was
apparently entitled to do whatever he wished with his life, as was Aclima,
who chose to leave as well. Though she did not allow the timonite extracted
from the ground to transport her elsewhere. She began the long walk back to
the border of the desert. This, they were far more accepting of.
Obviously, Mateo did make it back to Earth in the Third Rail, memories not
intact. He continued on with his life, trying to help his friends, and save
the worlds. He had many more adventures, traveling to other realities, and
other universes, eventually making his way all the way back here to close
his loop. The timonite was what erased his memories in the first place to
prevent a paradox, and now that such a thing was no longer a concern, he
could have them back. He recounted his experiences with the group, as did
Aclima, who had her own perspective, and was the only one who could tell
them about her experiences alone.
Carlin chose to stay behind in Ferdiz. He understood the assignment, and
Mateo and Aclima believed that finding peace in paradise was always his
intention. The war efforts to which he contributed in Stoutverse were
affecting him more than he let others realize. He spoke a little about it
during the Pilgrimage, but Mateo and Aclima did not relate this information
during their recap. Apparently, this was bound to happen one way or another.
Members of Carlin’s family had an incidental history of leaving the group,
and never seeing each other again. First Trina, then Alyssa, and now it was
his turn. Moray would be all right without them. He had his own path to
walk.
The Waycar was still here, and as he promised, Ramses stayed behind for a
year to keep an eye on Cassius and the crew. They spent most of their days
training for a war that would hopefully never come. Theirs was not a job of
violence, but of protection, yet they wanted to be prepared in case they
encountered opposition out there in the bulk. None of them knew for sure how
the Ochivari would react to their interference in their plans. They didn’t
cause trouble for the Verdemusians, so Ramses mostly worked in his lab on
the Vellani Ambassador. It was here that he fabricated their own version of
the quintessence consolidator and skeleton key, but he said it was even
better. Now they no longer needed the Waycar’s help for anything. He wasn’t
truly alone there, though. Over time, factions went their separate ways on
this planet. They weren’t hostile towards each other, but trade negotiations
were as tricky as they were necessary. Each micronation had control over at
least one resource that the others needed. The Ambassador was a good,
neutral location to hold these discussions. Ramses stayed out of it, though.
He didn’t even serve as host. Everything was their responsibility.
Since he and the rest of the team would eventually have to leave, he built
and deployed small reframe automators to the next star system over to gather
raw materials to build them a new permanent diplomacy orbiting station. This
way, everything they had for these purposes came from outside help, and no
one could argue greater rights to any of it. Maybe it wouldn’t work. Maybe
their conflicts would strengthen over time, and slowly erode the peace that
they still enjoyed. But at least Ramses had done everything he could to help
them. And that was kind of what they were out here doing, wasn’t it?
It was decided that both Team Matic and the Waycar would depart today, so in
celebration of this, the locals proposed a joint dinner for all executive
members in their new space station. The Alpha and Beta were there, as were
the respective leaders of the nations. Cassius represented the Waycar along
with Kineret and Hadron. Aclima had yet to officially accept the position of
his Deputy Sentry, though she was here in that capacity. Also present were
the four Staff Sergeants. They were eating and talking, and having a good
time. Mateo was particularly interested in learning more about the timonite
deposits, and how they came to be there. He was afraid to ask, though, so
Leona did it for him during a break in the discourse.
“Well, we don’t actually know how it happened,” Focus Janda Wilden answered.
He was the leader of one of the smallest micronations called Extrema. They
were a group of scientists and researchers who were dedicating their lives
to reestablishing a connection to Extremus. They were apparently cut off
from it decades ago. Everyone in Extrema had their own title, which were all
just terms that exemplified what a good scientist needed, like Reflection,
Tenacity, and Curiosity. “This planet had to have unusual temporal
properties from the very beginning, or what happened here would be happening
everywhere. But at some point, presumably due to all the temporal
manipulation that was going on during the early days of settlement, a grass
evolved called timogramen. It was a precursor to the timonite that you are
already familiar with. At first, the settlers used it for their own needs,
to power some of their technologies. Understanding the conditions of it,
among other factors, was actually required for using the Nexus that once
stood here, as well as other time travel technologies and powers.
“Over the years, the timogramen spread to become an invasive species. The
more timogramen there was, the harder it was to do the simplest of things
here, like teleporting. It was threatening to take over the whole world. So
our ancestors gathered every last blade, and every last seed, and flew it to
the Alhadabara Desert. They burned it. They burned it all up, thinking that
they would be rid of it forever. But the ash seeped into the soil, and
mineralized as it sunk deeper into the crust. At the same time, life sprung
where once there was none. Thus, the Ferdiz, and the timonite veins below
it.”
“Fascinating,” Mateo said. “And the timonite, do you use it in your
research?”
“None of us has been able to make the journey across the Alhadabara,” Janda
replied. “It sounds too hard. We’re intellectuals, so we’re not exactly
built for it.”
“We would love a sample,” his right-hand man added, though they couldn’t
recall his name. “It wouldn’t guarantee results, but studying it would
certainly provide us some much-needed insight. Before Omega disappeared, he
apparently cleared most of the central archives that were stored in various
places in this system.”
Aclima reached into her bag that was hanging on her chair, and removed a
fist-sized timonite stone. She set it on the table, and used her index
finger to scoot it towards the Extremans.
“Where did you get that?” Leona questioned.
“The Ferdizites gave me one too,” Aclima answered. “I didn’t ask for it, but
I think maybe they knew that someone here would need it. I’m guessing that
they use the timonite at their disposal to see the future, or just to keep
tabs on the rest of the world, and maybe beyond.”
“Hold on,” Alpha Merchant said, hovering his hand over the crystalline stone
when Janda reached for it. “There are procedures here for this sort of
thing. You can’t just take power, even when an external force gives it to
you. We did not come here for diplomacy, so a discussion will have to be
scheduled.”
“It’s a gift to us,” Janda contended. “There. Discussion over.”
“That is not how this works.”
“We are no threat to you,” Janda argued. “We are only a handful of
self-sufficient people, and we do not rely on trade from others. We have not
asked for anything since we asked to secede. We are entitled to this.”
“I will not have it,” Leif insisted. “We talk first. That is our way. If you
disagree with my decision, you are welcome to challenge my position as
Alpha.”
Janda shrunk into himself, implying that a challenge was as physical as it
would be for a fictional werewolf pack, or something dumb like that.
Aclima picked the timonite back up. “I’m not giving it to Verdemus. I’m
giving it to Janda. He may do with it as he wishes.”
“Please respect our customs, visitor.”
“You will show respect,” Alpha Vernon demanded, standing up. While Alpha
Leif Merchant was in charge of the population of the whole planet besides
Ferdiz, his claim to this right was in perpetual challenge by the leader of
the second-largest nation of Vaskovia. This was why the leader of that
nation also called himself an Alpha, and it led to a lot of tension between
them on a personal level, as well as a diplomatic one. “Aclima of Ferdiz has
made the Pilgrimage...twice. She is superior to all of us.”
“Not everyone sees it that way,” Alpha Merchant spits. “You may sit back
down,” he said, as if it had been his decision for Vernon to stand in the
first place.
Either way, Vernon was the loser of this argument. If he sat back down, he
would be admitting his own subservience to Leif. But if he remained
standing, he would stand out like a fool. He chose the latter.
Leif smirked. “He is wrong,” he said to Aclima. “You may take back the rock,
if you like, but I cannot authorize a gift to an individual, or a single
nation, of this magnitude. My rule over all is the only thing keeping us
from the brink of war. You must understand that. And you must respect
it...Aclima of Ferdiz.”
“She is not Aclima of Ferdiz,” Cassius said, also standing now. “She is
Deputy Sentry for the Bulkverse Traveler Waycar. You will show
respect to us, and our ways, or you will find yourself on the
wrong end of an Ochivar wing. The stone goes to Mister Wilden. I have
spoken.”
Leif seethed. “That rock is not going back down to my planet. I will not
have it!”
“Fine,” Janda said. “Then we’ll move permanently to the moon of Jaunemus.
That’s where the Nexus was. We were considering doing that anyway. But know
this, Alpha...when we make contact with Extremus, we will be laying out the
truth of what’s become of our government. We will not show you loyalty.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Leif responded, digging into his position.
Aclima handed Janda the stone.
“Wonderful!” Ramses exclaimed. “That’s done. Let’s get back to the meal. I
believe it’s time for dessert? Who wants sand cake?”
They continued to eat, and enjoy each other’s company, albeit with a few
more awkward silences than before. The benefit of there being more than one
micronation was that they could serve as buffers. It wasn’t just two polar
opposites who had to get along with each other. They had things in common
with a few others, who had things in common with each other, who had things
in common with the other end of the spectrum. After it was over, and people
started leaving, Aclima pulled Leona to the side. When Mateo started to
follow, she didn’t ask him not to.
“What is it?” Leona asked.
“I’ve spent more time with Matt than anyone else here,” Aclima began. She
looked over at him. “I told you and Carlin things that I’ve never told
anyone. I don’t...feel anything for the Waycar.”
“I can see that,” Mateo acknowledged.
“Well, I was wondering...” Aclima started to say.
Leona smiled, which was enough to get Aclima to trail off. “You would be
alone a lot of the time. There’s a reason that the six of us have stayed
together for so long, and haven’t really added anyone else in the long-term.
We bring people on sometimes, but they always leave, because they have to.”
“I can go into stasis during your interim periods,” Aclima offered. “It’ll
be like I’m one of the gang.”
“We’ve tried that,” Mateo told her. “It’s not a good long-term solution
either. Besides, I need you on the Waycar. With Carlin out of the running,
we need someone there that we trust. Because we all know that we can’t trust
Cassius. He’s not evil, but...”
“You can trust me? I’m a hybrid.”
“You’re a person,” Mateo clarified. “And like you were saying, we’ve been
through a lot together. I remember it now. I know it’s gonna be tough, so
what you should do is find someone else there; someone you can confide in.
You’ll be able to see it in their eyes. They won’t be enamored with Cassius
either, and you can bond from that.”
Leona opened one of her arm compartments, and took out a communication disc.
“These don’t have unlimited range, but if you’re ever in the neighborhood
again, you can talk to us. There are others on the network who aren’t on our
pattern, so you can talk to them too. I’ll get you a directory.”
Aclima looked honored as she was accepting the disc. “Thank you.”
Mateo nodded, and then just decided to go in for the hug. Leona did not
partake.
They said their goodbyes, and then joined in on all the other goodbyes. They
made sure to stick around to watch the Waycar disappear before they launched
the Vellani Ambassador into orbit. They didn’t know where they were going to
go now but they would discuss it on their own, probably next year.
“I assumed we were returning to the Goldilocks Corridor,” Ramses said,
confused. “We’re pretty close to it now. We’ll be there by tomorrow, even if
we only use the reframe engine.”
“What would we use if not the reframe engine?” Leona questioned.
“What do you think I’ve been doing all year? And what do you think
quintessence is? It’s a doorway to the whole universe. I can get us anywhere
in spacetime near instantaneously now.”
“You can?” Leona was shocked.
Ramses smiled brightly. “Yeah. Wanna test it out?”
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