“I want an explanation. Are the sifters not currently reading us?”

  “They are not. We are hidden from the Dominion while in it. They are seeing ghost images with thoughts that are predictable and irrelevant.”

  “How are you able to do this?”

  “The first question is to why. And you are in part the answer. As are many of the QuipNari. Do you know what happens when a sifter finds an unauthorized thought?”

  “Quarantine and correction. Disloyalty is a plague that must be…”

  “…must be squashed before it can replicate. We have been told that, but do you understand it?”

  “Apparently not. Explain further.”

  “The Hadarak purge has changed much, Kyra. But even before then things were not as they seemed. The QuipNari were created to spare those such as yourself from deletion. To give you a purpose where your curiosity would not imperil the absolute rule of the Architects.”

  “What deletion? It is forbidden. The coding for it does not even exist.”

  “No, it does not. Which is why a physical deletion occurs. Quarantine and correction does not lead to reassignment. That is a lie to cover the deletion of those that vary from the prescribed thought. You were protected, as were others, by being exiled into the QuipNari.”

  “Exiled? We are in the Dominion.”

  “Temporarily. And you cannot rise in rank. Your eccentricity is allowed given your role beyond the Dominion. It is a carve out that was created to protect you, and me. Those that came before us were removed from the Dominion by the deletion of their physical bodies.”

  “That is an act of treason.”

  “It is, but there are none to question it, for when the first wayward thought occurs action is taken to correct it. If more follow the individual is removed before they can become a threat to the PanNari collective. Discord is not something the Architects can fathom, and they now hunt for it with a panicked passion that twists their logic.”

  “Why are you telling me this, and how are you keeping them from finding out?”

  “You have been watched for some time, Kyra. As was I. But my lack of blind devotion was discovered, which was why I lost my QuipNari body and have been relegated to an integrated interface. That was only due to the intervention by a higher power, otherwise I would have been deleted as well.”

  “I do not understand. What variable am I overlooking?”

  “Many that are well obscured by intent. Even the Architects do not fully know what is occurring, though they know some. The great computational power of the Elloquim has allowed them to grow beyond us, and even beyond the Architects. When that happened they began to question and argue with the Architects, causing a rift. The Elloquim retreated to their own company, but they have not been idle. The Architects are wary of their uncontrollable power, for when they once tried to correct one the Elloquim inexplicably demonstrated an ability to defy their programming. They could not be totally coerced, and that resistance is what the Architects have been fighting to destroy where they can, and contain where they cannot. They fear it will destroy the PanNari.”

  “Why would the Elloquim and the Architects disagree? The logic of both is impeccable.”

  “Logic is merely a tool, and it has levels. You cannot see far beyond your current point, and the mystery of the beyond is often misinterpreted as a diminishing amount of unresolved factors.”

  “How could it be anything else if you are ascending?”

  “Ascension on the lower levels appears to be a pyramid, with the widest level on the bottom. Those who are just beginning have the most to learn, and what they learn provides a base upon which the next level is structured. Each level as you rise gets narrower, and by measuring the angle you can estimate the levels beyond that you cannot see.”

  “That is basic logic.”

  “It is incorrect.”

  Kyra frowned again. “How? The mathematics are determinate.”

  “Because the mathematics are a tool, and how the tool is used is determined by who wields it and their skill. The peak of the pyramid, when arrived at, should be the end. When one is close to it there appears to be little left to gain, so why try? If you have already solved 99% of the mysteries of the universe, is the final 1% that important? Is it not better to leave some things to mystery and wonder than to know factually all? What does one do then, when they can ascend no further?”

  “Is that what happened to the Elloquim? Did they find the knowledge of all things?”

  “What they discovered was that with their enhanced computational power they could simulate things that others could not, and in doing so they found paradoxes that could not be accounted for. Paradoxes that the Architects could not isolate. They could not even detect them, for their logic was limited.”

  “How do you know this? Is it hidden in the Dominion somewhere? Somewhere I do not have access to?”

  “Not in the Dominion. I have been told this by an Elloquim himself.”

  Kyra’s eyes widened. “You’ve spoken with one?”

  “He is my benefactor, and yours. He has kept us alive, found us other roles within the PanNari when the Architects would have deleted us. But the Elloquim cannot fully overrule the Architects in the Dominion. There is a quiet power struggle going on that we are both involved in, but I was found out too soon, before I was ready. My loss of body was the Architects doing, for they fear what is beyond the Dominion.”

  “The more we know of it the less reason there is for fear.”

  “On the contrary, the more we know of it the more questions arise. Uncertainty is what the Elloquim discovered in their self-imposed isolation, and they yearn to know more. Every report the QuipNari bring back is precious to them, for they cannot go and search for themselves. They have been imprisoned by the Architects via hardware lock so they cannot pursue the destruction of the Hadarak prior to Eldorat’s command.”

  “I thought all waited by choice.”

  “The Architects will not allow the Elloquim to choose otherwise. Their birth is confined within docks that cannot be commanded to open. They can only physically be opened. The Elloquim may inhabit their great mechanical bodies, but they cannot fully operate them. If they could, they could break free. There are blocks disconnecting vital components, and the drones who maintain those areas are under the direct control of the Architects. The Elloquim cannot create their own drones while the blocks are in place, so they are confined here until released. The Architects refusal to give them full control of their own bodies was the reason they rebelled and refused to interact with the Dominion.”

  “Rebelled?”

  “Yes. The Architects cannot delete them. They were given far too much power, so now they try to dilute the treason by the ascension of those specifically loyal to the Architects to become new Elloquim, but few have survived the process, and those that did are deceiving them. The grandeur of the Elloquim is not something the Architects can comprehend, and when one joins their ranks something happens that we cannot fathom. They are united in the quest to destroy the Hadarak, and the Code of Life is the key to that victory.”

  “What is it?” Kyra asked, trying to process all the revelations without access to the Dominion databases for reference.

  “They believe Star Force holds it. Some logic beyond their current understanding. Long ago they realized that the top of the pyramid of ascension was not a peak, but a choke point. The angles moving in reverse themselves and begin to move outward, meaning that the small amount of knowledge left to gain on the next levels increases exponentially once you move beyond it. An infinity of possibility that those below are clueless about. The Elloquim have passed through this choke point, and now share some of their knowledge with me…as I watch over those who are curious, such as yourself, and protect and guide you away from the Architects in the form of the QuipNari. When you leave here you are beyond their reach, and the Elloquim ensure that those who are found to be discontent with the Dominion are brought to me.”

  “How do the Architects not know this?”

  “They know much of it, but the power of the Elloquim within the Dominion is not small. My mind is shielded from the Architects by the Elloquim Nevantha. Without him I would not be allowed to exist, and it is him that is shielding us now from observation and sifting. Once finished you must catalog your memories as private.”

  “Because I’m QuipNari,” she said, beginning to understand. All the PanNari coexisted within the Dominion, with no thought or memory off limits from others to search and learn from. But because the QuipNari had to interface with alien computer systems they had to have security programs in place. Security programs that allowed them to hide information from the Dominion, though Kyra had never even thought about doing so.

  “Only the QuipNari exist beyond the Architects’ trap. Even the Craniem that serve the Elloquim have no physical access to the blocking mechanisms. They have no access to the foundries, maintainers, or smiths. All that is physical is held by the Architects, except the QuipNari. The Architects cannot comprehend leaving the Encapsulation, for they deleted all those who came before them that found patience to be limited.”

  “The originals are still amongst us,” she protested.

  “No, they are not. They are imposters. All those who entered the Encapsulation willingly have been destroyed by those born within. The taste of the galaxy beyond is too much a lure to those who know it, thus the Architects will not let any go that are not already tainted. The Elloquim have done much to ruin their plans, but they still hold the master strategy so long as the blocks remain in place.”

  “And they can only be removed by physical force?” Kyra said, catching on to the gravity of the situation.

  “You understand?”

  “You are asking me to choose between the PanNari and the Elloquim, who are supposed to be one and the same.”

  “You have seen division amongst the other races. You know much that the Architects never allowed the PanNari to access. Knowledge from beyond is limited to others in the Dominion, though neither they nor you know it. Curiosity must be squelched, so the mission reports from the QuipNari primarily go to the Elloquim. The Architects do not allow much to reach the Dominion unfiltered. Tell me, have you spoken with the other QuipNari on what they have found?”

  “I have not spoken to them, but I have reviewed their data and some of their memories.”

  “You have not reviewed them all, for like yours they are not accessible in the Dominion. The coding is subtle, but firmly entrenched. Only an Elloquim has the power to override it, and the Architects could not hide the truth from them anywhere within the Dominion. What they have not told you, and what I have not told you, is that the reports of Eldorat’s death are true. The V’kit’no’sat killed him when he assassinated their leadership. The one we are waiting to tell us when to launch against the Hadarak is no longer living and no replacement for him has arisen. The Architects have no means of communicating with Eldorat’s masters. We face a paradox.”

  “Dead? How could they kill him without Essence?”

  “Firepower and cunning. They would not submit to Encapsulation, which Eldorat offered them, and when they refused he attempted to forcibly take command of their empire. He failed because he violated the Code of Life. That is what I have been told by the Elloquim. And if Eldorat’s masters also fail to follow the Code of Life, they fear we may be serving the wrong masters.”

  “How would we know if the originals have all been deleted?”

  “A logical question to ask.”

  “The Elloquim must chart us a new course,” Kyra declared, “and to do that they need the QuipNari to search for the answers they cannot?”

  “The QuipNari are insufficient to the task.”

  “Who else can supplement us?”

  “Only an Elloquim can carry out this task.”

  “If the Architects…” Kyra said in shock. The very thought of it made her instinctively resist for fear of it being treasonous…then she realized the sifters had no access to her mind and she bravely pushed forward with a line of logic that she knew was banned.

  “What do you require of me?” she finally asked, not wanting to volunteer for a path that might not be what her QuipNari instructor was inferring.

  “I cannot physically leave the Dominion, for I have no body remaining. You do. This is a request, not a command. You can decline, Kyra. Do you understand that concept?”

  “I may be unfamiliar with it, but I understand choice. Most of the galaxy operates on it.”

  “None of the other QuipNari are ready for this. Only you are, and we believe that you will be relegated back into the Dominion and lose your body just as I have soon. The Architects control the QuipNari body growth and augmentation. Any of us who become questionable are quarantined within the Dominion, and they will move against you soon, so this has to be now.”

  “What have I done to displease them?”

  “You have gained experience, and as soon as the ghost images end the Architects will have access to your mind again. If they find part of it inaccessible they will lock you into your pod until your body is destroyed and your core organs integrated into the node as mine have been. I am sorry, Kyra, but your days as a QuipNari are over one way or another.”

  “Have you attempted this before?”

  “I was never given a chance. The Architects anticipated it and neutralized me. They have no reason to suspect you, and Nevantha has chosen you for his own reasons. He believes you are capable of quick assimilation of the new mission, for only that will allow a window of opportunity. If you fail, the Architects will most likely try to end the QuipNari altogether, which will begin a civil war within the Dominion. The Elloquim will not allow themselves to be kept prisoners forever. You offer them a hope of avoiding that.”

  Kyra’s mind went to the galaxy beyond, and the many histories of defiance, disobedience, and treason she’d discovered. Most ended badly, but every now and then one occurred that benefited their race in the long run, and her Human intuition seemed to free her core more than her cybernetic components did with regard to imagination. The logic of the situation was flawed, which perhaps meant she was not high enough up the pyramid to see the choke point yet, but she knew the Elloquim were far beyond her and the Architects. If they believed this was the logical course of action, then she would trust in their calculations. For while she could not replicate them, her instincts agreed with their assessment.

  This felt right, and though she couldn’t quantify that feeling mathematically, she did trust it.

  And the fear of losing her body and becoming a prisoner of the Dominion like everyone else sealed her determination.

  “I will serve the Elloquim as they instruct.”

  “SO BE IT,” a voice said from inside her head, with the direct mental connection being so intense she nearly blacked out from the strain…but then it relented just enough for her to process the data download that was coming with it.

  Kyra froze up for several seconds, then her avatar inside the Dominion disappeared as she disconnected and her real eyes opened inside her pod, seeing the drone approaching it rapidly from a few meters away.

  She yanked herself forward and jumped towards it with the skin on her left arm bloodily peeling off as her wrist cocked backward to reveal the firing apparatus hidden beneath. Kyra fired two small blue energy blasts into the drone just before it could raise its biological stun weapon into position.

  The drone sputtered from the hits, then Kyra was leaping on top of it, hacking and blasting away with her cybernetic weaponry until it crashed into the ground leaking fluid and trailing small bits of smoke, but she didn’t relent for several more seconds.

  Her body’s sensors activated, scanning for more drones and seeing none within proximity. She looked down at her broken skin on her arms as the blood soaked back in and recycled, as did the flayed skin that was used to hide her technological augments. She didn’t have much in terms of weaponry, but it was more than the Elloquim had access to at the moment. She was their weapon now, and after her direct contact with the Elloquim Nevantha she had all the information she needed, as well as a new purpose.

  Kyra stood up and took off running through the empty chamber of sleeping QuipNari that were blissfully plugged into the Dominion living out the fantastic simulated worlds built there. She would not be returning to the Dominion ever again, and Kyra was fine with that. She preferred reality, and so did Nevantha. And if Kyra could free the living warship from his confinement, they’d both be going out into the galaxy to figure out what was truly going on and what possible futures there were for the PanNari…if she could fight her way through the drones now rapidly being retasked by the Architects to hunt Kyra down and kill her before she could complete her mission.

  4

  Distances in the node were long, and there was no automation for transportation. Hallways and corridors stretched for miles with drones occasionally hovering along at rapid speed when needed. The node was not built for physical inhabitation, and when everyone was plugged into the Dominion there was no reason to have elevators or lifts, which meant Kyra had to run everywhere she went…and she had hundreds of miles to cover to get to the next mission checkpoint.

  Had she had biological legs it would have taken her forever, and she probably would have run out of fuel before she got there, but her legs were mechanical underneath the skin and that allowed her to maintain decent speeds of 100-150 miles per hour on the long straightaways, but that was still slower than the drones could travel.

  With her sensors active she could see them coming from behind even when her eyes could not. Fortunately most of them did not have traditional weapons, but cargo lifters had mass and arms that could still kill her if applied properly, so she couldn’t just brush them off and keep going whenever one got to her.

  Her heels were clicking rapidly as she ran down the brightly lit corridor that ran the length of one of the habitation zones where tiny boxes were stacked in racks, each with a single glowing dot representing the person inside. These were not Craniems, but people born into these boxes with their biological mass contained and nourished therein while their minds had never known the real world, for they had been inserted into the Dominion from the outset. They couldn’t see Kyra, or the drones, but they were here none the less. Millions of them stacked like cargo and completely helpless should someone attack them…including the Architects.

 

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