Heretical Edge

"He is implanting himself in the child's mind," Theia noted after looking at a nearby computer screen on the wall. "It seems to be a very long process, but he is already part of the way done. In a couple hours, he will completely supplant the child's mind. I assume his plan then is to disable the scanner on one of those archways using his own virus so he can pass through with the cybernetics he's already added to this child remaining undetected." She glanced over the screen again, using an orange marker she tugged from one of her pockets to write some sort of quick math equation on the back of her arm. "Uh huh, if I understand this part properly, he will have his own mind in complete control of the child while everyone else remains completely unaware. Also," she added while checking another part of her arm with marker on it, "I am supposed to remind Douglas to buy his mother a birthday present. Hm." She tugged a blue marker out and underlined that.

I grimaced, touching the tube with a sigh. "So, that was his plan. He was going to pass into their new society in disguise as a little kid, with all his knowledge. He'd grow up like that and find a way to take over again at some point in the future. Maybe they'd never even know it was him. Or maybe they would, once he felt secure enough to gloat about what he'd managed to do after everything they went through trying to get away from him." Yeah, that one sounded more likely.

Jazz made a face, eyes darting around the small room. "Okay, I don't get it. If this was his big play, why was it easy for us to get in here? Shouldn't he have a bunch of protection and shit?"

"He does," I replied. "It would've been impossible for any of their people to get through the shield he's got around this room without spending at least a day or two trying. We bypassed all of it. They don't have protection against ghosts, and all of his anti-teleportation defenses assume it's being done with technology. They're completely clueless when it comes to magic. Lucky for us."

"Speaking of lucky, can we stop it?" she asked immediately. "I mean, without killing the kid in the process. That's kinda the only reason I haven't already smashed the tube open to pull him out."

Rather than answer, I looked to Theia while sending a quick thought inward. What do you think?

Um, need to get a closer look, Rig started a bit hesitantly. But I'm not big on this sort of machine. Especially not when there's a kid involved. One wrong move and we could hurt instead of help.

Fortunately, between Rig, Theia, and Doctor Manakel once I summoned him in to help out, they all managed to work out enough details about the tube's system to understand how to let the kid out. Unfortunately, however, it would take many hours to make that happen. By the time they did everything for that, Wreth's mind would have taken over. We couldn't just yank the plug on that part without risking some very serious brain damage. Maybe as a last resort, but even then…

"So he's already installed at least part of himself in that mind, we just don't know how much," I finally muttered while giving the cyborg Fomorian body laying next to that tube a hard stare. "You said it'd take him another couple hours to totally overwrite the mind that's already there, right?"

Theia gave a short nod. "I am not an expert, but he is." Her hand gestured to Doctor Manakel, who was crouched on the far side of the tube, intently studying it. "And he says my assumption is correct. It takes a great deal of time to overwrite a conscious mind using only technology." After a brief pause to consider, she added, "That's probably good, or more people would do it."

"What do we do, Flick?" Jazz asked while looking my way. "We can't just let this fucker take over a kid's mind. But if we yank the plug out now, there's a good chance we just break them even worse. There's gotta be a third option, right? Something a little bit better than those first two."

"A third option," I murmured, trying to think quickly. The longer this took, the more of this Fomorian kid's brain that piece of shit was going to take over. We couldn't let that happen. So, so, what? What could we do? If we didn't want to risk ripping the plug out, and didn't want to let him finish the job entirely, what was another option? How could we save that poor kid's mind?

"I can do it." That was Theia, speaking up after staring for several long seconds at the tube. She turned to look at me then. "My birth mother, when she was attempting to find ways of… defeating my condition and allowing me to properly cease possessing someone, investigated many mental defense spells, things that might allow the host body to expel me. I think-- I think several of those spells put together should work against the method Wreth is trying to use."

"Are you telling me that we're gonna use magic learned by Kushiel to save a Fomorian child?" I managed, my voice flat before I shook that off. "You know what, sure, never mind, let's get to it."

So, we did. It was complicated, but we went with-- eugh, Kushiel's spell plan, albeit updated for our current situation. Jazz and I both followed Theia's lead, spending the next five tense minutes or so carefully but quickly creating the spellforms needed. According to the Seosten girl, what we were doing should boost the mental defenses of the subject and help expel or just erase any exterior influence, including (with any luck), the one from Wreth's little brain transfer machine.

Of course, we wouldn't know for certain if it worked until after it was all over. Then one of us could possess the kid and make sure he was still himself. Or she was still herself. Or they were still-- yeah, I wasn't sure how to tell the difference there. I did know there were three separate Fomorian sexes, but not any of the details. Whatever, we wouldn't know if the kid was safe until we went through the multi-hour safe shutdown sequence. We had to hope the spells worked.

On the plus side, we were able to disconnect the tube from all the systems in here. Everything it needed was inside the tube itself. Which meant I was able to transport the tube, with Wreth attached, along with the others back down to the world. It felt right to bring Wreth to the surface so those guys could see him. They deserved closure.

And closure they definitely got. As soon as we arrived down in that field once more, several of the Fomorian rebels approached. They had been busy sorting through the surviving prisoners. They would be taking all of Wreth's forces on this world with them, and figuring out what to do with them on the other side. Keeping them prisoner, putting them on trial, whatever. I didn't want to think too much about it.

When they saw who was here, their dictator's limp body lying next to a tube with a Fomorian child in it, the Fomorians, uhh, had some questions. Kaur, who had become their de facto spokesperson with us, approached and wanted to know everything about what was going on. So, we told him, and the rest of the Fomorians who were close enough to hear. The story was passed through the crowd, to the rest of the ships in the sky, the descending shuttles, the whole area. We explained what we had found, what Wreth had been trying to do, all of it. We also told them how we were stopping it, at least in general terms. For about ten minutes, we stood there in the middle of that field, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of Fomorians and dozens of silent, motionless dinosaur robots while we filled them in on what was happening.

Once we were done with that, they really only had one question: what was going to happen to Wreth? They wanted to know if he would survive this whole thing. Theia took the lead on that, telling them that we didn't know exactly how the guy would come out of this. His mind and personality were being blocked from taking over the kid, but we didn't know exactly how much of him would be left when he woke back up in his own body.

Eventually, Theia looked at me to finish up with that, so I shrugged. "I guess what happens to him now is really up to the rest of you. It's not our place to decide. We'll help you disable his equipment so you can keep him prisoner, or just--"

Before I could say anything else, Kaur's hand snapped out with one of those laser weapons. An axe, in this case. The humming, bright, white-hot energy blade cut through Wreth's neck, taking his head right off his body. He did it without the slightest hesitation, reaching down to grab the fallen head before holding it up. Which sent a wave of cheers through the crowd that quickly became deafening. For the rest of the Wreth's forces here on the planet, who had already been pretty thoroughly demoralized, that seemed to be the end of any attempt to escape or fight back. They were done.

"Well, that seems a little anticlimactic," Jazz murmured as we all took that in. "But I guess someone like that doesn't deserve some big epic final stand."

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I had somewhat mixed feelings about that considering Wreth had been a helpless prisoner at that point, but yeah, fuck that guy in general. I wasn't exactly going to cry over his body. Instead, I focused on the kid in the tube. When I asked what they were going to do with him, Kaur sent a couple other Fomorians up to run some tests. They were doing something to the control panel on the side of the tube, before reporting their findings to the man.

"The child is of Wreth's genetic line," Kaur informed us a bit tersely. "He created a child for himself simply to push his own mind into. We cannot take this child with us. It would taint our escape, our new start. There are those among us who might attempt to put the responsibility of Wreth's actions on the child, and even a few who would attempt to raise them up to leader. The child must stay here." The sentiment was echoed through the crowd.

I wanted to argue with that, wanted to demand they take the Fomorian kid with them. But I knew there was no point. They'd made their decision. The child would be staying with us. Which was just… even more complicated.

But there it was. Kaur went back to making sure his people were proceeding through the rift, while we waited… and waited… and waited.

Hours passed, more than half a day. We ate some food, sat there on the field watching the progression continue, and just waited. I talked a lot with Jazz and Theia about everything. It was dark by then, the sun having set. We'd made a fire there on the field near where we put the tube with the kid, while watching the Fomorians proceed through the portals and then the rift beyond.

Finally, Kaur approached again, telling us he was heading through and that they'd be done soon. He asked us what we wanted to do about the Fomorian child, while again making it clear that his own people couldn't take them with. Sure, it was impossible to say just how much of Wreth had made it into the child until they woke up so we could check, but the Fomorians still couldn't take the chance that it was too much. They wouldn't take the chance. Especially considering the fact that the kid was Wreth's own offspring anyway. Even if the child hadn't had some unknown amount of Wreth's own mind installed inside them, these Fomorians already would have been hesitant to accept them. There was just too much bad blood there.

I had a lot I wanted to say about that, about children not being responsible for what their parents did. Some part of me really wanted to lambaste these people for those feelings. But now wasn't the time or place to get into that. They felt the way they felt, and I couldn't change it for them with a lecture or anything like that. Especially not with the time we had. The fact was, they weren't willing to take the kid with them.

"We'll keep them," I replied with a shrug while looking over at the tube in question, sitting a few feet away where we had left it. According to what we'd been able to decipher from the console on the side, it would take another few hours before the Fomorian child inside was ready to wake up. "I'm sure we'll figure something out. You don't have to worry. They're not going through the rift with you. Wreth's offspring is… none of your concern anymore." Yeah, I didn't quite manage to keep all my feelings about the Fomorian rebels being willing to abandon the kid just because of who their parents were out of my voice. Maybe I didn't want to try that hard.

Kaur clearly noticed, but didn't address it. Instead, he just offered a soft, "We wish you fortune."

"What about all these ships you're leaving behind?" Jazz asked, looking around at the landed shuttles, the crashed ship, even the others still hovering there in the sky, blotting out the sun.

"They are equipped with self-destruction tools and will melt themselves down after we leave," he informed us. "Most will, anyway. Our own ship…" He turned to look at the crashed one over by the lake. "That has sustained damage and will not be able to erase itself. Nor will our submarine. Both will remain intact. If you--"

"We'll take care of it," I promised. "But are you sure there's no sign of the rest of Wreth's fleet?" A grimace crossed my face. "This planet goes through enough, I really don't want to think about his friends showing up and uhh… installing a whole colony here while they look for their leader."

"Our scans indicate no communications left this world after his arrival," Kaur assured us. "If he intended to call for reinforcements, he failed to do so in time. They may search for their leader, and the ships that he brought with him. But we don't believe they will arrive any time soon. And when they do find this world, it's doubtful they will realize its import. There will be no one here to explain what happened to them. For his people, he will simply vanish."

"And the Empire itself, the one he built?" That was Jazz. "What'll happen to that with him gone?"

"There are plenty of others willing and able to take his place," Kaur replied with a heavy sigh. "Wreth surrounded himself with those who felt similarly to him. They will likely fight one another for total control, tearing the Empire apart in the process. Each will control their own part of it, warring with one another, making life miserable for those caught in the middle. Wreth's death may lead to change in what he built, but it will not immediately lead to its end. He was the worst, but what he built is still a threat to all, and will remain that for some time. Our people are still safest moving on to our new lives, our new existence, completely free from Wreth's influence."

Again, I could have said something about the Fomorian child being left behind, who was clearly part of that 'influence' Kaur was talking about. But it still wouldn't accomplish anything. So I just extended a hand to him. Then I explained what that meant, showing him how to shake it. He seemed delighted by the idea, and did so with all three of us, thanking us for everything we had done.

Before the man could head off, I took him aside and asked a few things quickly, about what I wanted to do next and for details about how to take care of the Fomorian child. He gave me what I needed, then left, joining his people. More and more of them went through. I had ghosts down by the rifts there, so I could watch as the Fomorians were going through to their new world, their new time, their new existence.

It was kind of inspiring in some ways, and yet depressing in others. Sure, it would be a couple thousand years or so before Cronus showed up. These particular Fomorians would be long dead, their descendents the ones taken over by that monster. And yet, I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was sending them to their doom without any warning. It made me feel queasy inside, deep down. But what else was I supposed to do?

"I don't like this," Jazz muttered under her breath. "Are you sure we can't change anything?"

Grimacing once more, I exchanged a glance with Theia before replying, "Not without completely abandoning our own timeline. Things have to happen a certain way. I mean, it'd be nice if there was some way to tell them 'Hey install this super-special magic spell we just invented inside your bodies real quick. It'll pass on through your genetics, so once we get back to our present, we can trigger it and make all your descendants' bodies suddenly expel the monsters infesting them.' But I don't know how to make one of those. Let alone how to convince them to use it."

"Too bad," Theia noted quietly, "I can think of a few other uses for such a delightful spell."

We all murmured agreements with that, before going silent again. By that point, the Fomorians were almost all done (finally), sending the last few of them through. Already, the shuttles and other ships they had left behind had begun to literally dissolve, as promised. They turned to a combination of dust and liquid and just blew away like they were never there. All except for the submarine in the water, and the crashed ship. We'd have to do something with those ourselves.

It had taken a full fourteen hours, but it was over. The Fomorian rebels were all gone. They had continued to their new world and history would proceed as it was supposed to.

We were alone here. Well, aside from the Fomorian kid in that tube, who still hadn't woken up yet. We sat there, alone in a field surrounded by motionless dinosaur robots on this prehistoric Earth. For a minute, all three of us simply listened to the sounds of distant (living) dinosaurs, while watching the frozen robot versions scattered around the field. The whole situation was beyond surreal.

"What about that ship," Jazz asked, "and the sub? What do we do with those? Seems like a waste to just find a way to destroy them. Especially with all those robots."

"We're not destroying them," I informed her. "They're too useful. I mean come on, a spaceship that can produce robot dinosaurs? We're taking that with us, and the submarine. The Roundabout needs all the help it can get."

"Do you intend to try to fit that ship through the rift?" Theia asked, looking back and forth between me and the thing in question. "It seems a bit… large."

"Sure is," I agreed, before producing a small metal cube. "That's why I asked Kaur for one of these." It was the same sort of bigger on the inside cube they had been using to transport thousands of their own people, vehicles, equipment, all of that through the rift at once.

Pointing the cube at the ship, I pressed the button on the side the way Kaur had explained when I pulled him aside earlier. A glowing blue beam shot from the cube, encompassing the crashed ship. After about ten seconds of that, the bright light disappeared and the ship was gone. Well, not gone, sucked into the cube. Kaur had explained that it wouldn't work on just anything. The Fomorian machines were set up to be compatible with this. If I'd tried it on, say, a Seosten ship, nothing would've happened.

It did, however, work on those dinosaur robots that were still scattered around the battlefield. And the submarine when I stood at the edge of the lake and pointed the cube that way. Just like that, we had the Fomorian ship, sub, and those robots in the cube.

Finally, all that was done, and we stood by that tube with the kid in it. That part was over too. According to Theia, what we were calling the safe shut-down procedure was as complete as it was going to get. Now one of us just had to go in the kid's mind, find out what, if any, of Wreth had made it inside, and clean it all out.

Or rather, we were all going to do that. We'd already done the Choo Maneuver possession thing once already, so why not one more time? Theia possessed Jazz, then Jazz-Theia possessed me. And I hit the button to open that tube.

Well, here went nothing. Time to possess a Fomorian child. My hand touched their head, and we were in.