§
Although this world of magic is quite alien to me, mathematics are what they are. The essential concepts of algorithm and logic remain the same. Before Senhion’s body transformed into mine, I already had a good grasp of how to deal with this strangely unscientific world.
Or rather, I say so, but I had what Robert Stewart would call ‘cheats’, Fan Li’s thoughtful contributions, to help me get through the parts I would otherwise be unable to overcome.
The basics of operating the mental interface would not be different, after all. The humans of my world and the humans of Huade are roughly the same creatures, products of parallel evolution converging upon the same form by the cosmological influence of what the Immortals call the “Human Clade”. So the electronics in my skull which were designed for interface with cybernetic systems, once molded to fit this universe’s logic and augmented with modifications of Fan Li’s design, could now access the magical constructs of Tiana’s world.
Frankly, the hellspawn girl’s cell bars seemed fragile to me, and the solution that my tactical comp chose as the most expedient method was to use the strength of my Augmented Human body to tear it open. Of course, I am wise enough not to follow the ‘most expedient’ strategies that it proposes first. The tactical comp always begins with unrealistic choices, because they tend to be the most realistic in an emergency.
“What the heck? Now you’re a man?” Falerè asked.
My eyes clicked in the direction of the baffled fairy momentarily, then returned to the magic tool generating the field, an ornate stone embedded in the bars. I responded to her question while I selected the functions necessary to make mental contact with the system.
“Daq R’mion. Augmented human. Power systems technician. This equipment is a bit unfamiliar, so please stay quiet so I can concentrate.”
“What are you doing?” she demanded, but I was already holding up my hand, sending forth the formation of Will and Spirit which Fan Li had constructed for me. This was one of those cheats. After all, some things in this world ran too far outside the common sense of my world of science and technology for me to comfortably grasp and use.
Even though my mentor educated me in ancient arts of spirituality, to master myself and interact with the Normal Humans around me, my mind had a hard-wired nature, optimized for technical work, that required me to see the world in a framework of physics and numbers. The parts of my task here that relied on the magical and spiritual required too much adjustment on my part for me to work smoothly. So she equipped my autonomous subsystems with routines for acts such as this connection I was making now, to replace the short range wireless interface I would normally employ.
I entered the device. With no security or firewall, it was child’s play. The ‘magical formations’ of Tiana’s world may be completely alien to me in their nature and construction, but they are essentially complex programs. That is how Heaven’s creators made Tiana’s kind reliant upon mortals in order to cast magic spells. They designed their brains to be physically incapable of developing the type of memory required to store those programs. Only by connecting with a mortal to establish network access to such memories could their spells function.
Finding the same species of code written in the magic stone forming the core of this device, I had to wonder if a similar stone could be used to give Tiana access to a spell via a similar connection. But I had no time to think about such an invention. I had to rewrite the code inside.
Falerè went to a two-handed grip on her spear. “Look, I know Lady Serera told me to trust you, but I can see you tampering with the security mechanisms. Please explain yourself!”
I spared her another brief glance, while my tactical comp served up a threat analysis, then returned my eyes to the field generator while replying. “Simply making some modifications necessary in order to allow my confederates to provide the aid which the girl inside requires.”
She seemed to be trying to decide whether she should stop me, so I added, “Before you become violent, I should educate you about myself. Although I am a power systems technician by assignment, the Corporation designed my primary physical architecture with an eye toward employing me in a secondary role as a reserve security and defense asset for the colony. When they built me, they selected a combat-type chassis and other battle-optimized equipment appropriate to that role. I have calculated that I would be approximately your equal in a fight.”
I dropped my hand, having completed the task. The field generator now featured an interrupt mechanism that would shut down upon the activation of a special talisman. I turned to the magic lock securing the prison cell.
“I have no actual desire to fight you, Captain,” I added as I began the second half of my job. “I consider you an ally.”
Hacking into the lock was also disappointingly easy. Tiana had already noticed many other advancements in Pendorian technology; perhaps I needed to encourage some understanding of basic system security among her magic tool artisans? Certainly, their technology had the potential for developing to the level at which networking and the associated vulnerabilities might appear in the not-to-distant future.
“I don’t want to fight you, either,” the fairy muttered. “So could you please ask first, before doing stuff like this?”
I almost stopped what I was doing, suddenly realizing she had a point and growing conscious that I had been somewhat rude, just going straight to work like that. Social interaction has always been difficult for me, after all. But, recalling a saying from Robert’s world about hanging for stealing a sheep being no different than hanging for stealing a lamb, I decided to finish my work.
It was completed quickly, and I ended the connection. My task here was done, but I decided to do one more thing. I turned toward the fairy and folded my arms behind my back.
“Captain Falerè, you are right. I was rude to go directly to work without explaining, and I apologize.”
She blinked in surprise. “Well… yes you were. Please consider my position before doing whatever you want, okay?”
I nodded. “I shall.”
“So what did you do?”
“I gave this equipment a temporary restraining mechanism,” I stated plainly. “You can rest assured that nobody other than Lady Tiana’s confederates will be able to access it. The security for the mechanism is hardware-locked.”
“Eh?” she asked, her brow bunching into a tight knot.
I realized she had no idea what I meant, but she would see it in action shortly, anyhow, so I did not try to explain further. Instead, I added, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Captain. I shall take my leave now.”
“Huh,” was her perplexed reply. I left it at that and turned matters back over to Lhan.
§
A second later, I again faced the fairy captain. She was scowling fiercely at me, with both her hands still gripping her spear in front of her, and I pulled back slightly. I don’t know why, but I found myself again ducking my head and clapping my hands together.
“I’m sorry!”
After a few seconds, the fairy captain answered, sounding a little annoyed, “Is that some sort of habit? Apologizing when you don’t need to?”
“But…”
“Stop it,” she ordered. “This time you’re apologizing for what somebody else did, despite the fact he already apologized for it himself. And raise your head.”
“It’s… I actually mean sorry for all of us causing you trouble, though.”
She bowed her head with her hand on her brow and gave a deep sigh. “You really do remind me of my granddaughter.”
Then she straightened once more and set the butt of her spear on the floor.
“Enough,” she declared. “Although you claim to all have the same soul, so I’m not exactly sure what’s true. But it’s clear that you all have different personalities. You, at least, have caused me very little trouble.”
I stood straight once more, then looked at the talisman in my hand. It had strange characters written on it. They were something that Fan Li called ‘mysterious runes’.
[Are you guys expecting me to go into the cell with this?]
[That was the point of this exercise,] Fan Li answered. [All you need to do is comfort the girl. We will take care of the other matters.]
[There’s something else?] That surprised me.
[Although comforting a stricken Servant is certainly important, it isn’t worth the effort we’re going through. You just worry about your part. Time to go, Lhan.]
“Then,” I told Falerè, “I’m going to go in there now, okay?”
“What?” Falerè yelped, but I simply walked up to the cell door and held up the talisman with my fingertips. The skill of inserting my spiritual energy into it was unfamiliar, but I had learned it from Fan Li’s lessons. The talisman burned up in an instant, and the cell door popped open.
“Hey! Be careful!”
“Mistress, no! I’m a danger to you!” the hellspawn girl begged, her yellow-green skin lost a lot of its color, going closer to gray as I walked up to her.
I shook my head as I squatted down to caress her hair.
“I’m not your mistress,” I told her. I had to work around the curly horns, but other than those, her head and hair were perfectly human. And she was trembling.
[Tell her to hold still,] Fan Li told me. [And keep your hand on her. Talk to her to keep her calm.]
“Just stay like this,” I told her, resting my hand on her shoulder. I wiped tears off her cheeks with my other hand and asked, “Why do you say you’re a danger?”
“The lord used me to attack you, don’t you remember?” she cried.
[We won’t let that happen again,] the Elder told her. [Calm yourself and let me check you.]
I don’t understand the things she was checking, but I could feel her spiritual sense bathing Shindzha. Apparently, this was the real reason she had to get me into the cell and touch the girl. But it didn’t matter. I could still do my part to help the girl stay calm. I patted her back and let them work, while thinking about what to say to her.
“Well he hasn’t attacked yet,” I pointed out. “Maybe your mistress’s physical body has to be present. Or maybe whatever trick he used was only good for one time.”
[It was a proxy that he somehow hid in her,] Fan Li explained. [Tell her that it is gone. Tiana destroyed it.]
“My friend says that your mistress already destroyed the thing he hid inside you. You aren’t a danger to her anymore.”
It didn’t seem to decrease her anguish at all. “Are you sure?”
“I trust what my friend tells me,” I told her. “Would I be in here if I didn’t?”
Those weird yellowish eyes stared at me like she was trying to detect a lie.
[I am confident that you have no more surprises hidden inside you, Shindzha,] came the Elder’s spiritual voice. [You are no longer a danger to anyone.]
“Mistress, I… I’m still afraid,” she insisted, her eyes filling with tears again. “Why don’t you just kill me? It would be safer for you!”
[Because I have a job for you,] the Elder answered firmly. [As we speak, my friends are traveling into danger. You are going to help me protect them.]
