Plt retracted her siphon so hard that it painfully hit the roof of her oral cavity. The detector was buzzing. After working in the control room for 8.1 half-lives of hydrogen-3 the detector was indicating an unscheduled transfer for the first time. The fault lights on the direction finder were blinking out an error code. Instinctively her antennae retracted to the protective grooves on her head. She jumped up from her saddle to reach for the controls of the direction finder with all four hands.
"Stop, you fool!" her half-sister and colleague Slk yelled. Plt shouted back "But it is in overload! I can lower the sensitivity." Slk spat back "Sure you can. And that will mess up the recording. If we have a usable analysis of an incompletely resolved event after running things by the book, we may be demoted for bad performance. If you mess up the recording and we don't locate the primary source, we will be reprimanded. Do you want that?". Plt's antennae sought to press through the grooves into her braincase. A reprimand had to be avoided at all cost. Slk was right. Plt deliberately took several steps back.
Slk's stinger extended and retracted in a quick rhythm. She stilled her antenna in an effort to synchronize her ganglia despite the frustration. "You had a point" she admitted to her half-sister. "The overload was even worse than I feared." Plt waved her antennae soothingly and said "Then we use that. Whoever triggered the transfer had no idea of the mechanics. Look in how many reality streams it triggered. We can claim cause to recommend an activation of the mass breach protocol." Slk cleaned her tongue with her lower mandibular apparatus in an effort to surpress terror while her communication membranes formed a reply "That would mean a counterintervention by contracted agents. Do you know what the will do to the budget?". Plt maliciously formed a bubble with the content of her venom bladder before sucking it back and replying "Yes, it will wreck the budget. But it will come out of the operation budget, not the detection budget. Screw those floating lights!".
The sisters exchanged sugary liquid in the pattern of joy.
"Very well, we have a pact ready to sign" I say and continue "Just to recapitulate, step by step, one last time: I sign it electronically in my neural mesh implant. The transfer will begin immediately to an equivalent location in the other world. You will guide me through the power acquisition process. After that I'll get my target. Once question though. We are on the third floor. Shall I go to ground level first?"
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The hum from the balls of light I have been negotiating with once again forms into words "The spell will adapt for the ground level and even slightly correct for the concentration of mana on your destination point. All is said. Proceed when you are ready.".
I give the prepared command to my neural mesh implant. The transfer begins quicker than I have to time to perceive. The room is gone. As they had promised the world has burst into a display of colors. They have started invading my soul. I try to keep my mind clear.
A booming voice announces "FIRE". As agreed I go through my associations with fire. Physically speaking a flame is a hot plasma driven by an exothermic reaction like an oxidation. A process that liberates useful energy. I can feel my sould adapting to grasping the concept of fire as a physical phenomenon. It think about cultural associations of fire. Temperament, destruction, runaway destruction, ashes left behind, the spark of life ...
"SPACE". It shouldn't surprise me. I have put this list onto a virtual tablet. It still does. The transfer is a little rough. Very well, space. A concept that governs distance. My soul follows the reasoning. In fact this very experience proves the existence of a multiverse which travel is possible.
"LIFE". Beautifully timed. I get used to this process. Cells dividing. Cells growing. Metabolism. Biochemistry. Reproduction. Living matter producing other living matter. Living matter producing substances. Order from chaos. Youth and age. Disease and health. Evolution.
"PERCEPTION". That is an interesting abstraction. The obvious one of light and sound being manipulated. Smells and tastes. Learning. Answers to questions. Giving answers to questions. Lies, deceptions and illusions.
"AIR". A mixture of gases. Movement of those gases. Movement through those gases. Gases becoming liquid. Weather.
"DECAY". At first glance the act of falling apart and succumbing to the sands of time to finally vanish. Scientifically speaking so much more. Entropy and its influence on how systems act. The lifetime of states. Transits to states of lower energy. Metaphorically speaking the arrow of time.
"SPELL". My big gamble. Magic implies spells. Algorithms to shape reality. How they extend through space and time. How the are manipulated. Created, stopped, started and destroyed. Change themselves. Come to answers. How they defend their user ...
The colors stop moving. Or am I stopping my movement? The voice whispers "Recording your purpose so that they don't understand. Your neural implant mesh will reset now." Is that even the same voice? I reach for a solution. My soul freezes up. It so cold. Darkness.
