Lamu eyed the older woman with suspicion. "Try what? What are you planning to do."
Nhi considered the question for just a moment longer than Lamu would have liked, then spoke slowly. "There's a way I figure we might be able to get something out of him quickly," she explained. "Though it's... a bit of a shot in the dark. Might work, might not."
What was this woman talking about? Her tone was making it seem like she was going to torture him, but they didn't have for that either.
"We don't have time for this," Lamu said in agitation.
"Just a second," Nhi insisted, waving her off.
She retrieved her handbag - understated yet with subtle detail that meant it was probably made from cultured leather, Lamu wouldn't have been surprised if it cost her more than she used to make in a month - and withdrew a curious-looking device that resembled a portable logic engine, with a circular frame and a core of False Iron... except it was much larger than it ought to have been, and was attached via a thick wire to a separate device; a slender pane that seemed to be a visual interface, a rare sight in this day and age.
What the fuck was this? She worked in this exact field, and she'd never seen anything like it before.
Nhi approached the man on the ground, setting the device down for a moment and pulling out a little pocketbook from her jacket. "Phew, how were you supposed to use this thing again... Let's see." She hummed to herself. "Ah, yeah. That's right."
She flicked a switch on the side of the pane, causing it to display a large amount of text, then used a dial on the side to seemingly navigate through a series of options. Then, after a moment's pause, she took the man's hand and pressed it gently against the logic bridge.
"What the--" Gudrun spoke more loudly than she seemed to intend, her speech half-garbled, but quickly lowered her voice. "Lamlam, what the fuck is she doing. What is that shit."
"I don't know," Lamu replied tensely.
"Juuuust one moment..." Nhi said, looking down. More text was appearing on the glass. "Okay, let's see what we have."
"Nhi," Lamu said. "Please explain what's going on."
The woman didn't respond, quickly twisting the dial to signal some sort of request to the machine. She tutted rhythmically as she concentrated.
Lamu grew impatient, so she knelt down to take a look herself. The text (some of which already seemed to have been cut off) currently displayed went as followed:
SYSTEM: Waiting for logic link.
Link established.
OPERATION: [Shallow attunement]
SYSTEM: Beginning attunement process. Building model...
Attunement complete (476 nodes identified).
Operation failure; Patient neural activity low. Unable to perform live reading.
OPERATION: [Interpretation: Direct inquiry]
SYSTEM: Please state inquiry.
OPERATION: "what is the plan for today? third person answer"
SYSTEM: Interpreting...
Complete (91% confidence)
Today the patient will be taking part in an attempt to hijack the voidship Ninsirsir during its annual New Years party. They are assigned the Beta team, who have infiltrated the ranks of the low-level security staff over the past few years. For most of the day, they remained on post at the entrance to the lower decks, except for a brief meal break at 8PM in the crew quarters, where they noted a signal (a green napkin left on the table) to indicate there was no change of plan. At 11, they used their lavatory break to move to the third deck, then after receiving a general security alert from the bridge, moved to secure the third floor corridor. They then received orders to intercept security staff outside the...
"What the fuck is this," Gudrun remarked - having started reading too at some point - suddenly sounding wide awake again. "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck."
"I," Lamu gaped, her fingers clenching. "Nhi, is that device-- Are you reading his mind? Is that what this does?"
"Just a sec," the woman once again implored.
"Please explain," Lamu insisted. "How is this possible? This technology should not exist."
"Gonna do a couple things real quick." There was a sense that Nhi was not spiritually present, her brain's language center left with a cold sandwich and a set of hastily-scrawled instructions on the kitchen counter.
After securing the area, the patient is to leave their group and reinforce alpha team on the bridge, then await further instructions. However, an unexpected attack by a woman took place, which means some aspect of the plan has failed. He is awaiting orders from his superior, Gaius of Herelum. Ultimately, the operation is expected to conclude with negotiations to escape on board the upper deck shuttle at 5 AM, or failing that, suicide, though the patient is struggling to escape this eventuality.
"NHI," Lamu shouted, her affect completely cracking for a moment. Gudrun jumped slightly.
"Ahh, ehh-- Yeah, so, this is just a bit of a tech that's been floating around for a couple decades in certain circles," she offered with a noncommittal sheepishness. "Only a matter of time once we cracked AI strong enough to interpret thought, y'know-- We've built all our communications infrastructure on a technology that hooks right up to the brain. Like breaking into a barn, really."
"That's..." She was momentarily at a loss for words. She defaulted to saying the most obvious thing. "The Covenant strictly bans the development of any technology that controls or monitors the human mind."
She made a dismissive gesture. "Well, we were just talking about how people have got a little dismissive about that sort of thing, weren't we now?" She chuckled.
"This cannot exist," Lamu said. "I would have heard about it. Our office was involved in even classified state projects."
"Heh, well, this one might've been a layer or two above you." She put a finger to her lips and winked. "I can trust the two of you to be discreet, right?"
"Lamu this is scaring the shit out of me," Gudrun said, quietly but not realistically quietly enough that Nhi wouldn't hear it. "This bitch is a fuckin' spook. My dude, I've talked to actual ghosts less spookier. My gut is screaming that we kill her and get the hell out of here ASAP."
"I have a deal," Lamu replied through gritted teeth.
"Fuck your deal! Fuck deals generally! We're already near the border, we'll just fly out to the Triumvirate, they'll probably throw you a goddamn party!" She gestured at Nhi. "This is sicko shit, bro. She was probably gonna use that on you if you didn't play ball."
Lamu pursed her lips. She wanted to say that what Nhi expected from her clearly wasn't information, but... Was that even true? Just how much did she know? She was fiddling with the dial again.
OPERATION: "what organization is planning this/is the patient affiliated with"
SYSTEM: Interpreting...
Complete (97% confidence)
The patient is operating under the orders of the Silent Alliance of the Cross. They have been a member for 47 years. This plan was first brought to their attention 5 years ago.
Nhi let out a long sigh. "Dy-ing gods," she said musically. "Just once, I'd like something to happen that isn't totally predictable."
Lamu went rigid. So they are here. In force.
There was a sudden sense of doom that gripped her, in that moment, as if she felt the jaws of a great beast clamping down on her. A sense of inevitability, where some part of her knew that no matter what she did, what plan the three of them embarked upon, it would all be in vain. The arc of her life felt like it was coming to some final culmination, everything narrowing to a single point. Narrowing. Narrowing.
No. She couldn't let herself fall into that kind of thinking, not now.
"Who the fuck are the..." Gudrun paused for a moment to crane her neck to the side and vomit a little on the floor. She wiped her mouth with a pillow from the sofa. "Who the fuck are the Order of the Silent Cross? Is this like a cult? Is this cult shit?"
Nhi whistled. "Wow, you really didn't tell her anything, huh."
"I-- You wanted me to?"
"Nah, but I kinda of figured you'd spill the beans at least a little bit, since they're after you." This, of all things, got her to actually turn and look at Lamu for a moment. "Breeds loyalty to break the rules, y'know?"
"Are you saying it is cult shit?" Gudrun asked.
Lamu twitched sharply. She closed her eyes, taking a breath.
"Oh god. Oh god oh fuck." She ran a hand along her face. "I'm crashing out, dude."
"Gudrun--"
"Lamu, why didn't you tell me you had like, some whole fuckin' conspiracy on your ass?"
"I-- I thought it was implied! I stole data from the government!"
"I thought you just did that for money!"
"Why would I be delving for a living if I'd just betrayed my country for a payout?"
"I dunno, man! Maybe you did it for cheap! You have kinda a sucker energy sometimes!"
"A sucker energy? What are you trying to suggest?"
"Who are these assholes anyway?"
"I don't-- I don't even know how to even--"
"Girls," Nhi said, tapping the screen. "If you could cool it for a second?"
Lamu jerked her head in her direction. A little more text had appeared on the screen, which read:
OPERATION: "how many of them are on the ship"
SYSTEM: Interpreting...
Complete (72% confidence)
The patient does not know the details of the plan. He infers there are slightly under 40 allies on the ship, all arcanists, spread between the different groups on board.
OPERATION: "what is the current status of the shuttle"
SYSTEM: Interpreting...
Complete (89% confidence)
The escape shuttle is currently expected to be locked down by a small team of four arcanists from team delta while they wait to be relieved from the lower decks.
Lamu stiffened, her existential horror at what Nhi was doing and her annoyance at Gudrun giving way to deeper fear. "They've already locked it down. It's too late."
"Nah, I wouldn't count us out just yet," Nhi said, sitting up. "There are a lot of arcanists among the guests up there. I reckon these jokers decided to do this right at the run-up to midnight for a reason. They're probably relying on everybody paying too much attention to the ceremony to worry about what's happening until they've already got control of the defenses." She gestured at the ceiling. "We get on this fast, and four arcanists won't be enough to stop us. I mean, your friend apparently took out two by herself-- How the hell did you pull that off, incidentally?"
"Dude, you can't ask me shit when you're still in middle of probing this guy's brain, what the fuck, we're not past that!"
"Alright, alright." Nhi held up a hand defensively. "Didn't mean to stir your pot. Lemme just ask him one more question, here..."
OPERATION: "how many more people will be available/near the third deck main corridor"
SYSTEM: Interpreting...
Complete (68% confidence)
Counting the guards around and remaining in the ballroom, a total of six are likely to be immediately available.
Nhi nodded approvingly. "Alright, that's workable." She packed up the device, the screen shutting down automatically. "Now we have some idea of what to expect, we can move faster. You know any stealth incantations? Or things that can work that way in a pinch?"
She frowned. "You want me to out myself as an arcanist?"
"I mean," Nhi let out a chuckle, "the horse has kinda bolted a bit at this stage, don't you think? Think of it as a way to signal where your loyalties lie, if you want."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lamu asked. "Are you saying you'd honor my amnesty so long as I'd cooperate with this, even if-- If what you wanted to accomplish here never came to fruition?"
"Eh, I mean, that's up to me," Nhi said vaguely. "We still don't know the state of things. We still don't know what everyone wants." She tilted her head. "But I dunno. It kinda seems like your best bet as things stand, don't you think?"
Lamu wanted to scream. She wanted to strangle Nhi with her telepathy device that belonged in science fiction and blow a hole in the side of the ship.
"...fine," she said tersely. It was more important to keep things moving - no matter how vague Nhi's promises, she could be assured of her fate if the Brotherhood got its hand on her. "I know the Light-Warping Arcana enough to cast it off by heart, but only enough to make a vague camouflage that displays what's on the opposite side of us. It wouldn't hold up under any scrutiny, even visually."
"Better than nothing!" The woman chirped back. "We're only going half way down to the next hall. The Cream Lounge is near the left door to the ballroom, but not so close it'll be a problem unless they're really looking." She tutted. "Of course, they did just lose three of their guys, so-- Y'know, we'll play it by ear. Put a shield up too."
"Wh-- What about your fuckin' amnesia invisibility power you apparently have?" Gudrun said, for once seeming unhappy about how quickly things were decided.
"Few limitations on that, I'm afraid." She tapped her nose. "Like I said, it only counts if I'm not doing anything. This may well count as doing something, I'd imagine!"
Gudrun bulged her eyes at Lamu in a frustrated, urging expression she couldn't quite divine the intent of, then shook her head and picked up her gun, which they'd left lying on the table.
Half a minute later, and they were off. Lamu couldn't believe it, but despite the obvious evidence of a fight right outside the room to anyone taking so much as even a modestly good look - bloodstains on the carpet, shards of metal from a scepter they hadn't been able to clear up in time, literal bullet holes - somehow there was no one here. Far from being searched, the entire hall was eerily silent save for some distant and bombastic band music coming from the floor overhead.
What the hell was going on here? They had to be in communication, but it really was like they'd forgotten they were even here. Or they were afraid of coming close, for some reason-- But if that were the case, it made no sense why they'd have gone after the two of them to begin with.
Even assuming Nhi's insane theory about them already having been somehow absorbed by the entity wasn't true, something deeply strange was going on here. Lamu slipped in a cast of the Anomaly-Divining Arcana before while they'd been talking - thank goodness they hadn't checked her bags for the hidden pouches of eris she'd brought along - and there wasn't anything remarkable about Nhi in that sense. So either there was something genuinely supernatural afoot, which she did not believe, or...
Or there was something about herself that Nhi was keeping under wraps. Something that limited the ways in which people were willing to confront her. But only sometimes.
"Okay so. So," Gudrun interrupted her train of thought. "What is like, the actual plan here. Like we go up to the top deck. Middle of the party. How're we gonna get everyone to pay attention to us in a way that won't just end up with them running around screaming when like, they're probably all really into the party. And also zooted out their entire skulls."
"You're pretty drunk yourself, and you seem capable of appreciating the situation," Nhi answered with a smile.
"I'm faking it 'till I'm making it here old lady, trust me," Gudrun replied gutturally. "Plus like, I've had training for this sort of thing? The most training you freaks probably have is how to cut around the bones whenever you're eating fish that's a little too fresh for market if you catch my drift."
"Gudrun," Lamu warned her.
"What? They're all pedos! That's not even, like, controversial!"
"Gudrun, be quiet!" Lamu urged, gesturing ahead.
Someone had come around the corner; one of the serving staff, a Saoic woman with long black hair and sharp eyes. She turned in their direction, her face grave.
Lamu put her hands on both of the other women's shoulders, tightening her lips to the point of cartoonishness in the hopes this would convey the imperative for silence. She wasn't experienced enough with the Light-Warping Arcana to make any on-the spot changes, but she could at least reorient the illusion by reorienting what it was concealing, making it just a little bit more convincing to the untrained eye.
...but this wasn't an untrained eye, was it? They'd been planning this for years. At bare minimum, if she suspected something, she'd easily be able to confirm it by walking down the hallway.
Except that's not what happened. After a moment, an odd look overtook the woman - realization, the kind of face her mother used to make whenever she realized that Lamu had destroyed some trinket she'd given her. Or maybe that was interpreting it more dramatically. Her mouth opened slightly, in the way it might on someone consumed by a tricky puzzle.
Lamu was convinced she'd noticed them... but then her eyes flicked to the side. Her visage became almost disinterested, put off... and then she left.
"Huh," Nhi said softly. "Wasn't sure that was gonna happen."
"What did just happen?" Lamu asked.
"In a minute," Nhi said dismissively, then kept moving.
They moved into the next hall. As predicted, there were a couple of the enemy standing a ways off at the entrance to the ballroom - the one opposite Gudrun had, presumably, committed murder in front of - talking to one another; an Uan man and an extremely tall woman whose back was turned. The one they'd just seen was there, too, but she was passing them by at a brisk yet professional pace, bound in the direction of the bridge.
Two doors down and they came to the Cream Lounge. Nhi slid the door just a little open - Lamu tried her best to angle the illusion just slightly in a way that might disguise it, but had no way of knowing whether it was working or not - and they entered, locking the door behind them. The interior could not have been more different than the Obsidian Lounge. Instead of black, everything was white-- Well, cream, as the name would indicate. The sofas were fluffed and plush instead of smooth and sleek (and broad enough, Lamu noted with a measure of distaste, to accommodate uses other than merely sitting), and rather than being claustrophobic, a large window at the side gave a view of the Empyrean, the trail of False Stars ascending from the Mimikos, now distant enough that it appeared narrower than Lamu's waist viewed through the glass. There was also an abundance of luxuries; drink, echo games, and on the table in the middle...
"Oh wait, shit!" Gudrun exclaimed, stepping towards the trove. "This was the drug room, wasn't it?!"
"That's right!" Nhi said warmly. She headed towards the far left corner of the room. "Gimme a second to work here."
"Fuck yeah," Gudrun said, reaching down. "They've got smart coke tailored for every seed in here! You're not gonna get that in a distribution center!"
"I-- You're already drunk!"
"Dude, that is exactly why I need cocaine this very second," she said tiredly as she went under the table to explore the bowels of the cabinet, as if giving a lesson to a child. "I am completely fucked, and it'll cancel that out. This shit-- It's like rock-paper-scissors."
"That's not even close to correct! Both raise your blood pressure!"
"Relax, I'll grab some weed as a palate cleanser to even that out." She was now so deep in that her voice echoed, a subterranean explorer. "It's, y'know, it's like the Saoics say. Internal alchemy, harmonizing opposing forces. I'm building my golden core right now, it's gonna be dope." She snorted. "Shit, I didn't even mean to do that."
"That's completely different from what you were just saying a second ago!"
A few meters away, Nhi had begun knocking her fist against the side of the wall, leaning the side of her head close. After doing this five or six times, she nodded to herself. "I think I can hear the music a little closer from this spot." She looked over her shoulder. "If, uh, one of you two wouldn't mind cracking this open?"
Lamu turned, trying to forget Gudrun existed for a moment. "We need to use force?"
Nhi chuckled. "I said that there were things the redesign had overlooked, not that it had secret passages."
She frowned, but approached. She didn't want to waste any more of her packaged eris, so she just took her pistol - they'd salvaged a couple from Nhi's guards - and set it to a focused and low setting before carving a roughly person-sized hole in the wall, standing back so she didn't get hit by the chips of wood in the process.
Gudrun emerged just as she was finished, carrying a goblin's pouch of who-knows what, and removed the vestige that remained. Behind was an extremely tight, unappealing metal tunnel and ladder, shrouded in darkness.
Intrusive thoughts rung out in her mind at the visual of it, deep grey-brown against off-white, jagged, upsetting. She couldn't look at it; it gave her a headache.
"We're gonna need you at the top, Lilith. Someone has to break through the other side quietly, and however tough she is, I dunno if your friend can pull that off." She craned her neck. "Probably wanna summon up a light for us too."
A subtle blink of confusion from Gudrun, though she didn't say anything.
"Fine," Lamu said tensely. "Fine. But I'm going to run out of eris at this rate. I didn't bring much."
Nhi smiled. "Don't worry. Once we get to the top, I'll have you covered."
Lamu did not like extreme physical exertion, and really did not like tight spaces. This was among the worst she had encountered. Even if the passage was relatively short - an ascent of five meters at most, less than she'd imagined - not only was it so tight that she felt the walls press against her shoulders and chest despite being relatively slight of build, but it was also bitterly cold. It made sense, she supposed: They were in the Empyrean, far from the two lamps. All that wasn't heated directly would freeze. Climbing ladders was an experience that always shocked her with its difficulty, but in this case it felt as though the metal was taking a toll of flesh for every foot they climbed.
"Stay calm," she muttered to herself, as the world grew more rigid. "One task. One task..."
She was vaguely aware of Nhi and Gudrun saying something beneath her, but wasn't able to retain it. Soon, they reached the top of the shaft, which terminated in quaintly patterned grey-red stone that wouldn't have been out of place in a country villa, sticking out strongly against the utilitarian metal. It reminded her of the house she'd had with her family, painful warm feelings amidst choreographed movements. Ugly. She didn't even care about the eris any more, wiping it out without a second thought with the Matter-Annihilating Arcana.
Light struck her, along with suddenly much louder music. A grand theme of patriotic nostalgia, one of those songs that people always mistook for a national anthem that wasn't actually a national anthem. Distant conversation, too, stronger than what the tenor had been in the ballroom.
"Get up there!" Gudrun cried. "Get your butt out of my face!"
Lamu complied, getting her bearings. They'd come out at some lower-elevation section of the top deck than had been visible earlier; glass overlooking the Empyrean flanked them in all directions, but no one was around, and the area they were in seemed to be more designed to evoke a grove than a garden. Cherry trees had been installed in stone planters overlooking a little stone path that was the precisely engineered amount of cute that could be achieved before it started to feel like farce.
A set of steps, one of several spread across the area, ascended towards the deck's center a couple trees ahead.
Gudrun breathed a sharp sigh as she made it to the top, her pale face flushed. Despite her nonchalance, she was obviously still very far from peak condition. "Gimmie-- Gimmie a hand."
With a hesitant frown, Lamu pulled her up. She was sweating like a dog.
Nhi hopped up on her own despite her age. "Phew! That was a workout." She put her hands on her hips. "So this is where it comes out, eh? I was a little worried we'd end up in the big lavatory."
"How much time do we have?" Lamu asked.
Nhi checked her logic engine, smiling softly.
"Five minutes," she said.