Chapter 89: A Hidden Agenda
🕑 Added 2024-05-19 21:39:14 +0000 UTCWhen Walker came to, he was alone again within the dark reaches of space. As an added bonus, he experienced a powerful wave of cognitive dissonance. He’d never before realized how dependent he had become upon the blue color of his overlay. Even though it was only a shift to purple, which wasn't so large on the scale of colors, he still felt like his vision was tilted. As if only half of his vision was working at a time.
Several minutes later, Walker felt like he’d adjusted enough to feel comfortable. It also created further implications for him.
Pulling directly on the Reflection strand, Walker created another David to hash out his thoughts with.
His other self popped up and grinned, “Man, David wasn’t lying. You look like shit.”
Walker waved him away, ignoring his reflection’s attempt to goad him into something, “Yeah, yeah. Heard it before Mr. Original.”
“No, really. I mean, you’re full in the buff here, in dangerous need of some manscaping, and still, you just look…rough. Just rough as fuck, man.”
Walker scrubbed a hand through his hair, “Whatever. You know what I was thinking.”
David nodded, “Yep. Blue was the first level to the overlay.”
Walker nodded in return, “And purple is the next one. That creates the idea that there’s further to go, and there’s further enhancements to the Universal Translator.”
“Trueee...” David replied, stretching out the word as he thought, “I don’t think my memory is as good as yours, so I have to ask. Have you ever looked at the ability on your screen?”
Walker shrugged, which for the first time in a while didn’t cause any pain, “I haven’t looked there in a bit, but the last time I did, it wasn’t listed.”
“Yeah, that’s weird. Almost everything we’ve ever been able to do here is categorized and listed, except for strands. And yet, the overlay and the Universal Translator that goes with it aren’t.”
“Pretty strange.”
“Yeah. Anyways, we never looked at the other abilities we got before the weird compensation thing.”
“Oh, right!” Walker said, getting a little excited at some new toys.
Looking through his abilities, he didn’t see anything listed about the Third Gate. Talking to David momentarily, they hopped over to the Portal he’d erected when re-arriving on the scene. Walker clicked around the semi-familiar screen, scrolling through dozens of different grids that appeared before him, but still didn’t see it.
In fact, he didn’t find what he was looking for until he pushed the grid as high as it could go at the top. A singular red dot appeared, labeled only as the Third gate. As he looked at it, it flashed, then dulled, before flashing again. He couldn’t help but think that it recognized he was looking at it and was saying hello. Walker told David about his thoughts.
“Fucking weird too. All of this has to do with the pre-origin stuff.”
“Yeah, and the redacted, whoever they are.”
“Mmhhmmm, let's hop back in the secondary distortion.”
Walker floated over and clicked into his other rewards.
The Inherent Encryption ability:
Nothing causes fear in a person quite like the ability of another to peer into their thoughts.
During the territorial expansion of the now thoroughly defeated Flamish Family, the (redacted) researched and developed this ability as a safety measure.
The inherent encryption ability protects not only grants mental surety for the Strandbinder but also any life that they may choose to divest.
Warning: The Inherent Encryption ability requires the Strandbinder to create their own mark, which will be recognized across the Omniverse as their own. Without creating a mark, the ability will not operate functionally.
A small screen appeared and started to pulse on Walker’s overlay. He relayed the information to David, who gave him some solid advice.
“Make it a book, man. The Book of Souls is literally our mark.”
Walker nodded and clicked on the screen. A vast assortment of different images cropped up, with lists of different options for as far as he could scroll. Some had family names, but when he clicked on them, he was warned that it was restricted.
Continuing to move through the options, he found some that were plainly for more esoteric creatures and others for those who preferred order in their lives. Straight lines versus odd striations. What looks like blood splatters versus filled colors and a fifth-grader’s attempt at creating sun rays.
But Walker wasn’t interested in those. None of the options he found were shaped like books, so he instead chose a larger option that translated to freeform. The prebuilt options were likely great for the citizens of the Omniverse, but they may not have books in a society dominated by screens.
He started by creating clean lines, ensuring the edges were straight, while the corners curved. In a bit of humor, Walker made it so that the book was closed, rather than open. Many wouldn’t understand that reference, but a few of his exes would.
By the time he was done, a green-covered book with a tree stamped on it floated on his screen, its thick pages covered in hints of purple as a reminder of how everything started.
As the image finally came together, he selected the option confirming it’s completion, and a moment later felt a small pulse push out of his overlay. In the top left corner his mark appeared, just as he’d seen it in the overlay’s projection.
Giving a thumbs up to David, he clicked on the next ability.
The Dimensional Anchoring ability:
At the beginning of the (redacted)’s work with Strands, Dimensionality was adrift with different worlds and verses drifting across the Cosmos. A traveler or nearby ship might be pulled into a world of fire and fury at the time of their least convenience. A world might become unmoored and find itself suddenly millions of lightyears out of position in the darkness of space.
Due to this, the Dimensional Anchoring ability was developed to allow Strandbinders the unoptional gift of connecting their strands to their own portion of the Omniverse. The ability is pressed upon Strandbinders so that they must connect their Dimensional workings to a specified location.
Dimensional Anchoring can be used with any Dimensionally related location or ability.
“Huh,” Was David’s only response.
“So, no matter what, once the Omniverse figures out you can work with strands, you’re going to get this ability forced on you.”
David shrugged, “I guess. I mean, it’s not a bad ability. You think we can use it with our Dimensional Pocket?”
“For what purpose?”
“Think about it. We use the anchor, put it on their overlay…”
“Wait, what?”
“It’s a surety that every Founder has their own overlay, right?”
“Right. Because that’s how the Universal Translator works. Hell, I’m betting the monsters have their own as well, although more simplified for them to understand.”
“Exactly,” David said as he nodded excitedly, “Now consider this. We store our strands in our overlay. Essentially, it’s just an inventory system for us. Which makes it a dimensional pocket of some kind, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, so if it’s a dimensional pocket, why can’t we add strands to increase the size of it?”
“Umm, I don’t know. Why?”
David snapped his fingers, “Because it’s made of Primordial energy itself. How else could it hold all of the other strands together, even Entropy.”
“Okay, I’m following you.” Walker said as he scratched the back of his head, “But how does that improve their overlay if we know that?”
“Well, ours is made of Primordial energy, but I’m betting theirs isn’t. Theirs is likely some strand combination we just don’t know yet. Like a mini-A.I. or something. So, what if we meet it halfway?”
“How does that work?”
“That’s the beauty of it. If you try to use the Dimensional Pocket ability on a Founder, I'm pretty sure they’ll do something similar to that quiver not long ago.”
Walker made a face as he remembered the melting item staining John’s table.
“Yeah, I see you remember that too. So, what if we just use the Anchor on their overlay. If it’s halfway to an upgrade, like ours was, then it should take them all the way.”
“Oh shit. You’re thinking about an inventory, like from video games.”
“Yeah, man,” David gave a thumbs up, “Technically, if their overlay is like ours, and we can hold resources in it, then that’s what they can do. We just have an upgraded version.”
Walker caught on to what he said, “I bet none of their screens are blue, and if we do this, it’ll upgrade and change it for them. Although…we’d have to see if one of them is brave enough for a test.”
“Won’t be Dion, that’s for sure.”
“Nope.”
Walker nodded, another plan in mind, then pulled up the Guide token.
One Omniversal Guide Token:
This token is gifted to any newly introduced citizens of the Omniverse who suddenly gain a great deal of power. When used within the citizen’s veil, new functionality will appear, as well as descriptions that the citizen likely wouldn’t find on their own.
Developed by the genius minds at the (redacted), this token is dear to any citizen who travels across the verses.
Please use it with care.
Walker repeated it out loud for David, then clicked on the last one when his face became pensive.
… Analyzing …
…
… Analyzing …
Language located: Pheravian: Pre-Origin
Adapting use …
…Translating…
Hello Creator Dante, and welcome to the Remote Access system!
You are in quite a bit of luck for gaining access to a premiere system developed by our company on the planet Phera.
If you encounter any problems accessing your system network, please let us know, and we will work on it immediately!
Thank you for choosing Pheravian Industries, and we hope you have a pleasant day.
“Seriously, what the fucking fuck?” Walker mumbled as David asked what was going on. After he repeated what the screen had said.
“Fucking customer service corporations,” David fake vomited into space, “That’s like every goddamn company we ever came across. Just fucking annoying. Tell us what you do, tell us how to do it, and leave us the fuck alone! It’s like a waiter who has to ask if you would like more water after he’d already been at the table two minutes ago. Not that I’m besmirching waiters, who already have it hard enough, but…”
Another notification struck him.
Remote Access system integration beginning …
Remote Access system integration at 1% …
Time until completion: Unknown
Temporal Distortion discovered.
Hello Creator Dante! It seems that you’ve entered a powerful Temporal Distortion!
Please allow us extra time to get your Remote Access system up and running.
Thank you for choosing Pheravian Industries, and we hope you have a pleasant year.
“What the fucking, fucking fuck? Is it watching me?” Walker mumbled to himself again after the second update. Walker stopped looking at it as David continued to rant. He vaguely wondered if he also looked that stupid when he was angry.
“...And they just keep coming! No, I don’t want your handouts. No, I’m not donating to the children’s cross of children’s crosses. No, don’t play that god damn Sarah Mclachlan video with the fucking dog. I mean…what?” David noticed Walker just staring at him, “Did I say something wrong?”
“You sound like a prick,” Walker commented lightly.
“Look whose talking buddy.”
“True. So, I was thinking about all of this.”
“Yeah? What, about how the rewards seem to go together?”
“Yeah. Like, look at them again. We created a Trinity strand-”
“Whatever. We created a Trinity strand that combines all of our Cosmic strands together. Then, immediately after, we’re given access to the Third Gate, whatever that is, and a guide for traveling through the Omniverse.” Walker felt as each dot continued to connect in the back of his mind, “The Remote Access system allows us to monitor and work on things from far away. There’s an ability that lets us set up a dimension in a static location, and finally, an ability that makes it so nobody can access our shit but us. Doesn’t that seem a little too coincidental to you?
David looked like he was thinking hard about it, “You mean they want us to set up our stuff and travel away? Why? What would be the purpose?”
Walker shrugged, “Who knows? Maybe there aren’t that many Strandbinders, and this was one way in which they could ensure we could go work for them while still keeping our personal interests private. Or, maybe it’s all a way to fuck with us as they attempt to install back-paths into everything we do. There’s really no way to know.”
“Well, that’s pretty shitty,” David said with a frown, “You said they forced the anchoring ability on you?”
“That’s what the notification itself said, yep. That no Strandbinder can go without it because it fucks up the Omniverse somehow.”
“Huh….yah man. That’s…not good.”
Walker shook his head, “Nope.” He scratched his chin as he pulled up the notifications in his mind again, “You know, the first thing they gave us for the Trinity strand was access to the Third Gate. Maybe they just want us to go there and leave all our shit behind?”
David see-sawed his hands, “Can’t really do that. We’re on a pretty strict time limit, and that would mess up a lot of our plans. There’s no guarantee that we’d still have our Temporal distortion. That would mean we might only get back to find that all of our work is for naught and everything’s broken.”
“Not to mention all of the Founders, Primigenials, and Assistants feeling like they’re abandoned.”
“Yeah, we can’t do that to them,” David agreed, “Still. Do you think the Evolvers even know about all of this shit? I mean, when we sacrificed teleport, it said we were the first Master Portal, or whatever. That would imply that they don’t know how to do any of this?”
“Shit, they may not even know that an Omniverse exists out there. They’re all wrapped up in politics and getting their place back in the Origin.”
“Yeah, when you think about it that’s pretty small potatoes.”
Walker laughed, “If that’s small potatoes, what do you think Symphony is in relation to everything else.”
“Hrmm,” David replied with an odd look on his face, “that’s pretty humbling.”
Walker nodded, “Yeah, it is. It’s kind of nice to be humbled every so often.”
“Getting too godlike for your britches?” David said with a grin.
“Just worried about the scope of everything. But we’re not here to think about all of that. Are you ready to pull out our one unnamed strand? After all, when I pulled up the list, it only said one?”
“How much of everything do we have now?”
Walker pulled it up to take a look.
Cyclical Resources
Life Resources: 13.39k Death Resources: 13.41k Karmic Resources: 13.7k
Cosmic Resources
Space Resources: 16.3k Temporal Resources: 24.34k Dimensional Resources: 17k
Continuum Resources: 11.01k Reflection Resources: 11005 Translocation Resources: 11005
Energy Resources
Kinetic Resources: 12.3k Potential Energy Resources: 12.3k Essence Resources: 11.17k
Exotic Resources
Consciousness Resources: 16.5k Nullification Resources: 10310.1 Causality Resources: 13.58k
Unknown Resources
1 Unnamed Strand Resource
Superior Resources
Primordial Resources: 29.3k Entropic Resources: 1
Walker repeated the numbers back to him while he renamed the unknown identifier.
Trinity Resources:
1 Unnamed Strand Resource
David’s face shifted from astonishment at how many resources they now had to confusion, “Didn’t we combine five of each? Why would it only give one? Plus, the system said that it couldn’t duplicate it, right?”
Walker looked back in his memory, “Unnamed everlasting strand does not have an equal value.”
“So what the fuck is it, then?”
“Only one way to find out. You ready?”
“I mean, we almost killed ourselves putting the fucking thing in there, may as well let it out to play, right?”
“Right,” Walker replied, although he couldn’t help but feel a powerful wave of anxiety strike him. Placing his hand near his overlay, he pulled the strand out the single strand. It looked exactly as it had before, only as he watched, the book in the left corner of his vision gently floated down and stamped itself on the strand, leaving an imprint behind as it returned.
“Did you just Superman laser a book onto that thing?”
“Fuck if I know,” Walker mumbled, then gently let it float out in front of him.
The Trinity strand gently sat in space for a time before a crack rang out. A moment later, a fissure erupted across the center of it. Walker’s mark was not disturbed in the slightest as it rose up and continued to float over it.
“Oh fuck me.”
“No,” David said quietly as he braced for what might happen next.
Comments
Wanderer
👍
Joshua David Mullenary
I'm sorry! I'll work on it!
Wanderer
The list of strands is hell! And I even organized it for you! Why?! I'll take a look at the Document and make a new list, but please use it.
Jeremy Young
TFTC
