Data Dragon Danika

Eric caught up with Jade before he was more than ten steps out the door, but he didn't speak up until they were outside.

"Jade, what are you going to do?" Eric demanded.

"Go home!" Jade insisted as he headed toward the train line instead of his place.

Eric caught his arm and dragged him to a halt halfway down the block. "Stop, and think!" he panted.

Jade finally turned to face his friend. Eric looked worried, and out of breath.

"If you can still take a train home, then it was a very small bomb," Eric gasped.

Jade wobbled as the protest hit him.

Eric was right. The trains were just now announcing the delays, but it wasn't just trains. All vehicles and communication systems were down in that small city, as far as Jade could discover. It wasn't just the systems connected to his own.

Even though that meant the problem was actually bigger than he had realized, the information calmed him down.

"What about the next closest stop?" Eric asked.

Jade turned to look at him. For a moment he could see Apella in his friend's familiar face, and somehow he knew that things would be okay. This mess was just another sort of adventure.

Jade reached out and laid his hand on Eric's shoulder.

Eric looked up quizzically, even as he rattled off information he had obtained from his phone, "It looks like everything's still functional 50 kilometers out, but closer than that, and things start getting spotty."

Jade repeated, "I need to go home," and then turned and ran back towards the bus stop.

"What? Where?" Eric asked in gasps as he ran after Jade again.

"Home, I'll need the full connection."

"I see..." Eric replied a little doubtfully as Jade came to a halt beside the sign.

"I'm too limited by myself," Jade blurted.

Eric rolled his eyes dramatically, and Jade found himself laughing, despite his worries and thoughts and Orbital Jade's silence.

--

Orbital Jade had turned most of his own attention toward Josh Beagle who had logged in and was trying to upload another piece of code. Jade stopped resisting the moment he understood what the code would do.

"Danika requested this," Josh muttered as data appeared to flow through his avatar's fingers. "It should allow your cores to exchange current information directly instead of waiting on the backup interface."

"How are you producing this change so quickly?" Jade asked.

Josh shrugged expressively as he informed Jade, "We're just copying the moon's connection."

A moment later Josh began muttering warnings, "That connection was unstable at first, so don't expect this to be as smooth as your back up server link."

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"Do I need room to make another Jade?" Jade asked seriously. The chunk of code was larger than he had really been expecting.

Josh paused, and looked at Jade in confusion. "To do what?"

"To run it?" Jade suggested.

Josh actually took time to consider the idea, while Jade almost danced with impatience.

On another layer, Jade gazed at Harmony regretfully, if he needed space for yet another copy then maybe...

"As long as your backup copy is up to date, it should be fine to just install it directly," Josh declared after a moment.

Jade refrained from asking who would re-install him if he went down, and simply updated his own files on the backup server side without touching Harmony.

Many hands made lighter work.

Jade's main focus turned to his connection with the maintenance drones. The ones in his home town weren't the only ones that were down, but it was the only place where all of them were down.

--

Eric looked around Jade's apartment with visible curiosity. Excessive curiosity, Jade decided as Eric bent over and looked underneath the table.

Jade didn't have time to worry about it though, he rushed straight to his bedroom, and began connecting without a word.

Eric stood beside him as he closed his eyes. The last thing he heard his friend ask was, "Why?"

Orbital Jade asked Primary Jade the same thing as he connected fully outside of his allotted time.

"We need to stop this stupid war," Jade insisted abruptly.

It wasn't what he had planned to start with, but Orbital Jade simply nodded and agreed, "Of course. But I suspect I must be the primary Jade on that front."

Jade almost argued, but then nodded. "You are faster," he agreed. "I cannot get home to rescue our mother using the usual travel system, so I came to see what options you have."

"I don't have time, I'm connecting to LJE next," Orbital Jade explained.

"The game?!" Jade demanded.

He was full of confusion and wanted to object, but Orbital Jade explained quickly, "The Emperor was there, with Smallest. And..."

Jade glared at Orbital Jade until he saw Harmony standing behind him. Then he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Well, you're right, we do need to stop this stupid war, but I can't do it myself," Orbital Jade grumbled.

Jade's eyes snapped open and he stared at the other, larger, version of himself.

"The drones are down, and I still have no connection there," Jade told himself.

After a long moment he said, "Alright then, since we're all agreed, what can I actually do? If I really go home, will I shut down too?"

"You might," Jade admitted. "So update your backup here before you go."

"Fine," he agreed. But that would take long enough that he should probably tell Eric first.

--

Orbital Jade paced back and forth within his core, in front of Harmony, who was being unusually quiet.

A moment later, Jade found himself facing the Jade Emperor directly. The taller Emperor blinked and then became smaller and plumper, and more familiar in a way. Only the many sacks, bags, or wagons that usually accompanied the Traveling Merchant were missing.

Jade stopped and stared.

The Merchant laughed, briefly, though his expression quickly resumed the serious one that he had first appeared with.

"We need to hurry," they both blurted in unison.

"Ah," Jade said.

As the Merchant replied, "I guess we both understand that. But for once you're the one who has the most resources available."

Jade paused, reevaluated the problems at hand, and then nodded slowly. "I suppose that I do, in a way. But you still have access to more people."

The Merchant's head tilted questioningly. "How does that help us?"

"Aside from saving mom as soon as possible, we also need to end this stupid war," Jade blurted.

The Merchant's expression went grim as he replied, "War seems to be the way in which humanity prefers to advance."

Harmony spoke up for the first time in a long while. "Humanity doesn't prefer war."

Her expression contained no trace of doubt as Jade and the Merchant turned towards her.

"How odd," the Merchant muttered as he examined her.

"Why is that odd?" Jade asked. "I have never met anyone who actually wanted a war."

The Merchant focused on Jade and raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you?"

"I haven't either," Harmony volunteered. "Though I've known plenty who would happily start smaller fights."

The Merchant went still, for a long moment, but then shook his head and insisted, "My current priority is still contacting Kit Tay."

"Of course," Jade agreed.

Harmony considered them both, and then asked a little petulantly, "She is worth setting aside the idea of a possible end to war?"

"Everyone is," the Merchant replied simply.

Jade responded slower, full of doubts. "To me," he declared finally.