Author: Lurina

057: Cut-Out Face (𒐀) - The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere | Royal Road

Research Tower | 6:52 AM | Third Day

There was, in that moment, a distinct and highly-visible divide within the ranks of our group, between those who had noticed the giant bloody death crack in the floor, and those who had not. Theo, for example, was evidently aware, and was staring at it with the same wide-eyed combination of dread and bafflement as I was, along with a few others including Ran.

Linos the Deceiver, however, seemed thus far blissfully oblivious.

"Anna!" He called out in reply, with obvious relief. "Thank goodness. You have no idea how glad I am to see you-- I was starting to worry no one else on the council was left."

"The world has not afforded me such mercy yet, I'm afraid," she spoke up in reply, her voice carrying surprisingly well.

"Is there anyone with you?"

"The Neuromancer is, yes," she said, in reference to Zeno. "And one of the servants. Both are currently preoccupied with obtaining a hard copy of our research for the evacuation effort-- Or something of the sort. I don't recall the specifics. As for the boy he was keeping with him, he was with me until a short time ago, when he departed for the lavatory. Have no fear; he is veiled, so there will be no incidents."

Linos frowned. "Why didn't you stay together? it's dangerous--" He hesitated, stopping for a moment and biting his lip. "No, I'm getting ahead of myself. Do you know what's going on? Did you see the message sent over the logic bridge?"

"You mean the declaration of intent to murder us," she said. "And yes, we all did. Though that's hardly the main point of concern at present." She pointed towards the aforementioned pit.

Linos's gaze turned along with the rest who still hadn't picked up on it. Upon which most everyone's expressions matched.

"Gods above," Kamrusepa remarked, with incredulity. "What happened?"

"I... Am uncertain, for now," she said, hesitance in her tone. "Judging by the nature of the damage, one can surmise it came from below, but we were not present when whatever took place occurred. Durvasa, however, was in the tower control office across from where you are presently standing, and had spoken to us shortly prior... And there has been no sign of him since."

Linos rubbed his eyes. "Him too..." He let out a long sigh. "But you haven't confirmed anything?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "That was only ten, perhaps fifteen minutes ago, and we couldn't surmise an obvious trail-- The blood stops once it descends to the lower level, so we'd planned to investigate further while traveling to the administrative center underground."

"Sounds like they left him for dead," Seth said darkly, and quiet enough so only our group could hear. "Kinda brutal."

Ptolema frowned at him. "Don't say weird stuff like that right now... That's not what anybody needs."

He shook his head. "Trying to pretend people can act decent in a situation like this... It just feels pathetic, after what happened to Bard."

"I-I understand," Linos spoke to Anna, ignoring the conversation happening behind him. "We were headed for the administrative center, too."

"I expected as much," she said. "Well, with Zeno, we shall have the three of us, which should give us unfettered access to the system." She hesitated, then spoke in a vaguely sardonic, hesitant tone I hadn't heard from her before. "Though, I'm not sure the system will accept my presence, as things are now."

I frowned. What was she talking about?

Ran glanced at me, and her eyes widened for a moment, like she seemed to have suddenly realized something. She leaned over to speak to me, but before that, I'd decided to take off my glasses to get a better look at Anna from where she was standing. Enough things had seemed subtly off enough that it merited closer attention.

It was at this point that the other shoe dropped, and I couldn't help but audibly gasp in surprise.

"N-No way," I said. "She's--"

..Gods, I can't help but feel kind of stupid doing this.

I mean, you were there, Su.

Tch... Well, whatever. Let's just get on with it.

Okay. So it's like I said. I went to the toilet and... Calmed down a little bit from the awkward shit in our conversation, then went back to check on you. You were still sitting there, but were staring at the glass for some reason, your face all pushed up against it like a kid at a logic game store.

I think I saw a monster.

A monster. It was out in the water, standing in the surface. It was pale, and had a long beak like a bird--

Su, you can't do this shit. If I can't get two sentences in without you interrupting me to say you saw a fucking space creature hanging out on the ocean floor, then this isn't going to work. Let's just... Stay focused on getting the facts out, right?

Anyway. You didn't mention that at the time, and just told me you were really sorry for having screwed everything up, and then when I said not to worry about it, you shook your head and told me I 'didn't understand'. When I tried to ask what the hell you were talking about, you stared into space for a second, then said not to worry about it and that your thoughts had just got tied in knots for a second. I thought that was really weird, but it was already pretty close to when the conference was gonna restart, I just told you we needed to get going. So we did.

We met up with the others, filed back in to our seats, and Hamilcar gave this awkward speech where he apologized for the interruption without saying any specific about why it it actually happened, then basically did the exact same thing once the link to the audience was re-established, except that he also told them about the threatening message and how he intended to 'remain defiant', or some shit.

After that, they rushed us right back into the swing of things with the presentations. Lilith's went the best, Seth's maybe the worst, yours and Theo's were kinda in the middle-- Look, I'm not going to go over all that. There's a recording if you really care, but nothing went drastically wrong in the way Kam's did, and you seemed relieved enough with how it happened at the time. So you probably don't need to worry about it.

Whatever. The important part here is that Fang didn't have a presentation after all. After your turn, Linos gave a quick closing speech about the 'promise of the next generation' and that a lot of other organizations who've expressed interest in collaboration with the order should expect to hear from them soon, and then that was it. They shut down the link.

But instead of things ending there, Hamilcar got up again to address all of us again.

Do you know what the time was when any of this happened, by the way...?

God, Su-- I just told you not to do this. I don't know - it was about seven? Let's say seven.

"...children," he said, sounding pretty wary. "Thank you all for your efforts today in the face of the many complications which have beset us. Despite all that has occurred, I feel we can declare this event at a least a partial success, which is of great relief to me. Though our peers may think us ramshackle, for our very first appearance of this nature, I believe it will be soon forgiven in light of this display of talent." He paused. "Originally, I'd hope to conclude this with a more comprehensive post-mortem discussion, and to give you all some time to ask more in-depth questions regarding our evaluation of your projects... However, we have decided instead to delay that for the time being, and instead extend our trust to you."

This was obviously a load of shit, so I glanced over to Fang real quick to confirm their reaction. In contrast to the rest of us, they seemed completely unsurprised, which meant that whatever they'd done had probably forced his hand into this somehow.

"There's still time to reconsider this, Hamilcar," Durvasa said.

Zeno rolled his eyes. "We just reached a decision about this, doctor. It's a little shameless of you to try and get it reversed unilaterally at the last moment."

The other man frowned, looking pissed off.

Hamilcar shook his head. "No, it's better this way. If indeed this does mean what it seems, then I believe it should be witnessed, especially by them. Even if we may appear foolish." He regarded both of the seating stands. "If you would please step down and prepare to follow me, we shall bring this event to its conclusions."

"What's this about?" Mehit asked as everyone else started standing up. She seemed kinda agitated.

"We're going to be visiting one of the order's more private projects, miss Eshkalon," Linos said, looking at her reassuringly. "Don't worry. It's all quite safe, I assure you."

"Rather an odd thing to feel the need to specify in this context," Kam mumbled.

"No kidding..." Ptolema said.

"Still, I can't help but be excited," the former said, one of her creepy grins spreading out on her face. "Even if the circumstances are very suspect, is seems as though whatever Fang brought with them is forcing them to pull back the curtain on some of their more secretive research. I, for one, am eager to see what comes of it."

"I wonder how that could've happened...?" Ophelia asked, her brow all twisted up. "You don't think it could be blackmail, do you?"

"I, uh... I have a hunch it might be more direct than that," you said, staring at the floor like a weirdo. "That it might be that their project itself has... Changed things. Solved a problem they were having."

"That's rather specific for a hunch, Su," Kam said.

You scratched the back of your head, making an awkward face.

I frowned a bit, then gave a look to Sacnicte. "Do you know what this is about?"

"Beats me," she said, with a shrug. "Haven't I said that they barely tell me anything?"

There was something about the relaxed smile she was giving that made me feel like she probably did know more than she was letting on.

We lined up along with the guys, and then the entire group followed Hamilcar over to the belltower and down the stairs, back into the underground. You don't need me to tell you this, but twenty people is more than can comfortably travel around down there, and so it ended up being a pretty claustrophic experience. Everyone was talking, too, both among the younger and older group, making the atmosphere pretty suffocating. Kamrusepa was trying to get Fang to open up about what was going on while they teased her, Bardiya, Theo and Seth were talking to each other about their presentations...

At some point, Neferuaten dipped away from the head of the group to talk to us again, near the back.

"The two of you did very well today," she said, with a smile. "I think everyone was quite impressed."

"T-Thank you, grandmaster," you said, holding your arms to your chest.

Neferuaten gave you a nod, then turned in my direction. "You especially were a surprise, miss Hoa-Trinh. Considering your rank in the class, I don't think anyone expected such a show-stealing performance."

"I'd live in a mansion if I had luxury credit for every time someone has prefaced a statement with something like 'considering your rank in the class', ma'am," I said.

She chuckled. "Forgive me, that was rather condescending. To be clear, it was extremely impressive regardless of the circumstances. I didn't think anyone in your class would attempt to approach the problem of associative-collapse dementia, even in a palliative context."

"It wasn't anything particularly complicated," I said. "I saw the research that came out from Qatt the other month about how memories being stimulated an hour after the initial experience improved retention and overall cognitive function, so I thought I'd make a simple artifice to do that. Nothing complicated."

"Perhaps, but in my experience, the wisest are those who are able to see the simple and obvious where others cannot," she said. "But you don't seem the type to appreciate flattery too much, miss Hoa-Trinh."

"I guess not," I said, narrowing my eyes.

She clasped her hands together as we walked. "In any event, I feel a little foolish for having acted so coy earlier, since it looks like quite a few things are going to be coming out sooner than I'd expected. I thought they'd at least put it off until the next morning, but Hamilcar still surprises me at times with his borderline masochistic impulse to rip the bandage off."

"Uh-huh," I said, and then repeated the question I'd asked Sacnicte. "What's this about?"

"Immortality, of course," she said, looking amused.

I stared at her for a second.

"...I'm just teasing, miss Hoa-Trinh," she said. "To rephrase, this is about a great many things. But most vitally, you could say that it is to serve as a demonstration of the failings of some of our membership. It's why they're so peeved about the whole affair, as it presently stands."

"You mean, this is about something they couldn't get to work," you said. "And Fang has brought something which changes that."

She raised an eyebrow. "You seem two steps ahead right now, Utsushikome-- Though you're not quite hitting the mark just yet." She hummed an annoying few notes. "But I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now. Not when we're so close to the moment of truth."

We went further down those halls then we had the other day, taking inward turns at every junction, until we eventually passed through a heavy door with an arcane lock and arrived at what seemed to be an elevator. It was wrought of metal bars in fancy, impractical designs, to the point that it looked like a square birdcage more than anything else. You would've thought something like that would've only had capacity for a dozen people, but it was actually stupidly large, and getting a better look at the floor and mechanical components, looked like it was designed to bear a lot of weight.

My first thought upon seeing it was that it was probably for more than just people - heavy equipment, maybe. There was also no hole in the ceiling to accommodate it going up, which meant this probably led to the place Neferuaten had told us about.

"I should ask," Hamilcar said. "Is anyone here frightened of heights?"

Seth sucked in some air through his teeth. "Not hard to work out where this is going."

"Um... I have a little trouble with them..." Ophelia said, warily.

Hamilcar thought about this for a second, then nodded. "That being so, I would advise staying near the middle of the group. You may find this somewhat distressing in the latter half."

"How far down are we to go, pray tell?" Kam asked curiously, as we all shuffled into the elevator one after another. "One would expect we were about as low as can be gone, at present."

He didn't answer. Instead, once we were all inside, he pulled a lever - which seemed to be the sole method of controlling the thing - and a gaslamp ignited just over our head. Then, we began to descend. The pace was slow (again, more like something you'd expect with industrial equipment then for something intended for regular use) and for the time being, we were surrounded by walls of stone in every direction.

"I must ask you children something," Hamilcar said, as we kept going down and down. I was starting to get a little pissed off that he kept calling us kids, but whatever. "Tell me. In all earnestness, what do you think of our goal, here? Please, feel no need to moderate your tone."

Kam was quick to speak up, as you'd expect. "Oh, it's unquestionably noble, sir!" she said. "I've been a supporter of the order for-- Well, as long as I can sincerely remember!"

He nodded, but said nothing further, leaving the silence filled by the sounds of machines. There was a sense of expectation in his manner which made it pretty clear he was expecting to hear more than just that.

"...to be more specific," Kam continued once she'd picked up on that thread, "I hold the sincere belief that radical approaches to human longevity, with the eventual goal of indefinite extension, is the rational next step in evolution for our species, both biologically and culturally. I believe it will usher in an age of unprecedented humanitarianism and economic prosperity."

"Hm." Hamilcar seemed a little more satisfied with that. "And the rest of you?"

Nobody other than her really looked excited to go along with this. Weirdly, none of the other council people interjected at all to offer there own commentary. It was like they were respecting some sacred ritual... Well, maybe not. Neferuaten seemed kind of amused, and Zeno didn't exactly look restrained, either, wearing what I was pretty sure was a look that implied disinterest to what was currently happening, but extreme anticipation of whatever was going to happen afterwards. He looked like somebody in the last 10 minutes of a 6 hour wait for dinner.

"Honestly... I've never really thought about it much," Seth said after like, half a minute. "I guess you don't really have to when you're young, y'know? That's a luxury you have."

"Yeah," Ptolema said. "That's kinda how I feel about it, too."

"Like-- I mean, my gut reaction is that it's obviously a good thing," he continued. "My dad always used to say that the goal for a doctor is always the same: To keep the guy alive for at least one more day. So it feels like just taking that to its logical conclusion." He rubbed the side of his neck. "But that's just, like... Some shit I'm slamming together out of vague biases, y'know? I don't know anything about the societal or cultural implications or whatever."

The texture of the stone the elevator was going through changed, starting to look like raw rock instead of cut out by people.

"Uh... I guess if I'm really honest about it, I just find it kinda scary," Ptolema said. "I mean, passing things down from one generation to the next is how things have worked since people were livin' in caves. If that didn't happen anymore... How would the world even work? Would every group of kids just have less stuff than the other before them forever? What'd happen when we ran out of space?" She scrunched up her face. "It just seems like there's no reason to rock the boat to me."

"'No reason to rock the boat'," Kam echoed in a shitty tone, rolling her eyes in the way she always does. "You could just as easily use such reasoning to justify letting a plague 'run it's course', Ptolema."

"I mean! That's different," she complained. "That's people dying before their time."

Kam made a bitchy snort noise. "What on earth does 'before their time' even mean? Whether one lives for five minutes or a thousand years, death is death. Nonexistence. People's 'time' is just a vague designation our culture has invented for how long it's appropriate to exist, completely unmoored from anything rational."

"Is dying really that bad, though?" Ptolema said. I was kind of relieved she didn't even really try to engage with her argument, and just cut right to the core of their disagreement.

Kam looked at her like she'd just said the dumbest thing physically possible. "Of course it is! It is, quantifiably the worst thing that can happen to someones existence!"

"I mean, you're not around before you're born, and that's fine," Ptolema said defensively. "There's no pain or anything. It's just... Whatever."

Kam frowned. "Ptolema--"

"Please, while your passions are completely understandable, I'd ask that you don't argue among yourselves," Hamilcar said, cutting her off. "I would rather focus on hearing everyone's perspectives, in this moment."

Kam's lips went tight. She clicked her tongue. "...as you say, grandmaster. My sincere apologies."

"If you truly seek my honest opinion," Bardiya said, going next, "Then though I do not object to the concept in its fundamental premise, I can best describe my outlook by saying that it is putting the cart before the horse. Our society is riddled with death and suffering that is entirely preventable, either as the product of systemic negligence or outright selfishness and malice. Were we to achieve immortality in our current world, all it would lead to would be the creation of an oligarchy in a state of complete social alienation from a mortal underclass, as Ptolema hypothesized a moment ago."

"And what would need to change, for you to become a supporter?" Zeno asked suddenly, seeming to break the unspoken taboo.

"Healthcare, at the very least, would need to be distributed based entirely upon need, and not via wealth or influence," he answered. "Though I doubt that such a thing could be accomplished without a more fundamental change to the social order."

"In other words, you want a fantasy to come true." Zeno sniggered a bit. "So often I see your generation create impossible qualifications for social change before you believe any revolution in technology might be morally pursued. How many people have said such things through the ages, I wonder..."

"Zeno," Hamilcar said, like he was reprimanding a naughty kid.

"Yes, yes," he answered back, waving his hand dismissively.

"Miss Eshkalon, mister Melanthos, miss Fusai," Hamilcar continued. "I would be especially interested in hearing your opinions, since you have personal connections to our order."

I wondered for a second what the hell he thought he was gonna get out of Lilith, since 1) It's Lilith, and 2) She was his niece, and if there was an answer, he probably already knew it. But I was kinda surprised when she gave a pretty complicated answer. "I d-don't disagree with trying to make people live for more time. I think that's good. People should be as free as possible. It's important." She repeated the word 'important' a few times under her breath. "But. Trying to make humans live forever is like trying to give a fish wings. They're not designed for it at all-- Suicides are nearly half of all deaths now. It'd be better to create something better to succeed us. Something without those flaws..."

Mehit stared at her, worried, for a good few seconds. Some of the others looked pretty taken aback, too, but I guess nobody knew what to say.

Hamilcar nodded slightly (which seemed like a pretty understated reaction considering), then looked to Theo.

He frowned, scratching the back of his head. "Well, ah. Obviously it's something I've spoken with my father about, but I don't have any exceptionally strong opinions on the subject... I suppose I would say that my outlook is similar to Bardiya's, but perhaps more moderate. I think the main issue would the management of culture-- I think there's wisdom in the notion that progress is made one funeral at a time, even though I know Kamrusepa hates that saying. There would probably need to be changes in allowing people to retain positions of influence... Though I'm not sure how practical that would be, in reality."

He nodded again. "And you, miss--"

"Uh, p-personally, though, I would like to live forever," Theo added. "Just to clarify that, I mean."

Linos glanced up and gave him a tired, worried look.

"...thank you, mister Melanthos," Hamilcar said slowly. "As I was saying. And you, miss Fusai?"

"Oh..." You brushed one of your braids out of your face. "Well... I agree with longevity science in concept, I suppose. I think a world where people could live for as long as they liked would be nice, and I certainly think there are methods that could probably extend life by another few hundred years." You drew out the moment. "I suppose I'm skeptical if immortality is really possible, though. I mean... When you get down to it, no one has any idea about how to solve the most fundamental problems. Dementia, late-life cellular dysfunction, accidental death..."

"You're pessimistic about the prospects, not the cause," Hamilcar stated.

You scratched at your head. "Well... It's not as if I'm excited about it," you said. "But I suppose it's like Seth said. I'm young, so it's not really something I have to think about."

"I think it's a very noble pursuit, personally," Ezekiel said, trying his damnedest to sound professional. "Humanity has wasted too many years constrained by outdated ethical mores on the topic. Now that the law has changed, it's only a matter of time until that perspective becomes the mainstream."

Kam bit her lip, looking pissed. She was probably tensing every muscle in her body trying to stop herself from calling him out as a fraud with no real beliefs that weren't Iconist trash.

"That leaves only two," Hamilcar stated, and turned towards Fang. "What's your opinion, Acolyte?"

"Oh! Huh." They held their hands behind their head, leaning back. "Honestly? I don't really have much of an opinion on this kinda stuff. Like, the research? All really impressive. But I don't think about when I'm gonna die." They smiled. "Gotta live in the moment, y'know?"

Hamilcar nodded. The air in the elevator felt like it was changing. Getting... Hotter, which felt like it sure as hell shouldn't have been happening. He looked to Ophelia, who flinched at the attention.

"Oh..." She said, and looked away hesitantly. "I'm sorry, is it alright if I, ah, decline to answer...? I don't want to create an awkward atmosphere..."

"There's no reason to be concerned," Hamilcar said, his tone utterly plain. "As I said. Please, speak your mind."

She shifted around like a cat on a hot floor, clearly unhappy. "Really, I'd rather not. If you don't mind..."

It wasn't really surprising, considering how much she hates talking, and especially arguing, about her religious beliefs. And she'd probably be right in thinking that saying that people shouldn't wanna put off death too much because it keeps them from their heavenly reward would go down like a cup of cold shit with the crowd.

Fortunately for her, Hamilcar seemed to accept it. "Very well," he said. "Thank you all. I wanted to ask because what you are about to witness... It may very well challenge the beliefs you hold on the matter." He hesitated. "In truth, the order has made a significant--"

"Aren't you forgetting something, Hamil?" Neferuaten asked, with a smug little smirk.

He stopped, looking to her in conclusion. She inclined her head towards me.

I felt a little pissed off at her. I know I'm the odd one out in the class in pretty much every sense, but it was pretty weird that he forgot about me... But it wasn't like I was really eager to try and give my own opinion on such a stupid topic and make it sound half way passionate. I know you liked that lady a lot, but--

...sorry. I shouldn't.

"...oh," he said, seeming more thrown off then you'd think. "Y... Yes, of course-- Pardon me. Miss Hoa-Trinh, what is your perspective."

I sighed. "Well--"

And then, suddenly, the walls around the elevator fell away, and we were in an open area, light coming from all sides. It was a struggle to even identify the nature of the space. There were visible walls very, very far away, making it feel kinda like a cave... Except that they looked too smooth, so they were probably man made, even if the scale for something like that was insane to think about. More fucked-up, though, was the complete lack of a visible floor. It was just blackness stretching out forever. Like we'd reached the bottom of the Lower Planes, and were face-first with the Abyss itself.

As soon as we arrived, a wave of heat hit me, enough to make me start sweating, along with comparatively intense light that was almost blinding for a second, coming mostly from below.

I looked down, and then up. And I saw it.

...honestly, I'm not good with this kind of thing. You'd think if you read enough novels, you could describe anything, y'know?

But maybe nobody could fully describe the sight in that godforsaken place.

Coming from a single point in the ceiling, were a network of... Well, I guess the best thing to call them would be 'roots', although that doesn't feel exactly right. They were metal - that much was obvious - and clearly man made, and were organized pseudo-symmetrically, bending at hard angles. In fact, maybe a better comparison would be a spider's web. There were only nine, at the very top, but they divided over and over again, spreading out in every direction and what I'd guess to be a square quarter-mile. ... And all of them were covered in not just in what turned out to be runes, but visible veins of red-white energy, cutting through the darkness like a hot knife.

They cascaded upon themselves, the pattern getting more and more complex until it - at a sudden point far beneath us - it turned inward on itself eventually starting to form an elegant spiral, and finally convening back into one unified structure. A pillar, narrowing the further it went, until it jutted sharply to the side at the last moment and came to a point like a needle.

And all around, the air was warped in a way that produced a multi-colored aurora, encircling us as we descended to the core of the structure.

"Ah, forgive me... We've arrived." Hamilcar said quietly. "...members of the Exemplary Acolyte's Class, I present to you what was our order's Great Work, and that which we have wrought in defiance of the gods." He turned around, facing us for the first time since we entered the elevator. "And the sword with which we once intended to cut our mortality down."