By David C. Daoust
Suzanne Otomo was on a Holostage of her own- flipping through the available feeds. Each, thanks to the small camera built into her agents’ armor. Her agents rarely knew when, exactly, she was going to be present– which she liked, kept her employees on their toes. They were less likely to be slacking off, if she may be watching at any given moment.
She found very few agents within the Otomo Cruiser, she flipped from one to the next. They were all active- word had already reached them before she had made it to her position. They knew their jobs, why they were there– despite this, Suzanne felt impatient. Restlessly she flipped back, from those stationed on her cruiser, to the men falling back, from positions within the city, to reinforce them.
Each in turn had a view of the swarm of Wraiths headed for her ship. It was as though her men were chasing a storm, doubtful they would catch it in time… and if they did… It did not lessen the strain on her patients.
All she could do was wait.
Suzanne’s holostage was not originally in this room. She had had it moved there, in the middle of HQ, surrounded by the legion of officers that were busy around her. All so she could have a working setup she was accustomed to. This was because Holostages weren’t really a thing the Red Faction used, considering the way they worked. Their officers tended to sit around a holotable, which was pretty much a massive conference table, while sending there consciousness out to separate bodies. Occasionally flitting back to either converse with others that, also, flitted back- or acquire data from the massive table in front of them. Suzanne had witnessed this activity in the past, even before they were all trapped within the Everywhere together; she was, after all, a Seaguard Agent.
The Red Faction’s Officer holotable was actually in the room, as well. As were all the empty bot bodies that had stationed themselves there, once the centipede’s construction had been completed, and they shifted their consciousness to it. These bot bodies had not moved since. Suzanne was not privy to why, but once they joined together in that machine, the bodies sat there like statues ever since. She imagined there was a thin layer of dust collecting on them.
With those thoughts, she flipped feeds to Ivan and his roving band of data spheres. At first, she could not figure out what she was looking at- this was normal, the massive machine tended to get itself in all kinds of strange positions just trying to navigate the immense city. Looking over a giant centipede’s shoulder wasn’t easy. Finally, she figured it out- they were clinging to the side of a tower, the massive body wrapped around it, legs clanking as they repositioned themselves every few moments- They seemed to be checking each window in turn.
She opened communications- thought about what she wanted to say. Suzanne Otomo was drawing a blank– The Red Faction was foreign to her; their ideas did not mesh with the way she envisioned life. She’d found a bridge in the Everywhere. The time she spent there, alone- changed her. She had, after all, been born into wealth and privilege. Not only that her family was rich… also, that she was mottled… and also, a woman; all things the Trade Consortium cherished over all. Here, in the Everywhere, she found herself alone, in a city that did not know she was there. Suzanne got a glimpse of the other side of reality. Whatever it was about that glimpse, made this mass of intellectual bots, vying for the equality of all beings, seem like, maybe, they weren’t as wrong as they seemed… she doubted she would ever say that aloud. Suzanne cringed a little, closed the comm, choosing to just let them be…
Suddenly, Dakota was standing next to her, which at the very least snapped her out of her musings. Instinctively Suzanne flipped the holo-feed back to one of the agents on her ship, subconsciously hiding her ability to view Ivan, as though it may tell tale of her thoughts. Her guilt bewildered her.
Dakota had clearly hacked into her holostage, sending the life-sized image of herself into the current hologram with Suzanne. This was not a normal function of a holostage, but Suzanne was used to Dakota doing weird shit with technology. The tiny blonde was fully animate, and seemed to have some information.
“Suzanne!” Dakota said with some urgency, “Call it off, get your army guys to stand down…”
“There is a swarm of Wraith’s headed for my ship… my ship,” Suzanne argued, with way too much emphasis on her ship.
Having crossed the threshold onto Dakota’s holostage, which she was obviously broadcasting from, Suzanne was surprised to see the small form of a floating child appear next to Dakota.
“This is my friend, Clover,” Dakota introduced, “We want to end this nonsense.”
Clover seemed to be amazed at his surroundings, pretty much ignored the intro.
“Listen… Ergos is gone,” Dakota explained, hurriedly, “He has been for a while… the little guys did not attach us to the uber brain… Well, I mean, they did, but it was under Ergos orders… And he’s gone.”
“Okay Dakota… I get it,” Suzanne put her hands up to stop her, “But how are we going to get the Wraiths to stand down?”
Dakota suddenly blanched, “Wait what’s happening?”
“I don’t know, Dakota,” Suzanne said as she watched her sister suddenly react to information that was clearly not being streamed into the hologram with Suzanne- something Dakota was reading off the holograms within her own stage…”
“Oh, I think they are coming…” Dakota said cryptically.
“Who? The Wraiths?” Suzanne asked, as she flipped her own feed to an agent she thought may have eyes on the swarm.
“No, the uh… the new guys…” Dakota said but before Suzanne could register how unhelpful it was, she had something to react to as well. Little by little dark flecks appeared, swirling tightly, they seemed to grow in size, until they started to latch together… Like a puzzle coming together on its own, a figure started to form… Notably, it was hollow, all the way up until it sealed itself closed… a dark metal form stood before them all.
Suzanne, body taut and ready to strike, was amazed.
Suzanne’s holostage was suddenly crowded, between her holographic sister with her new friend, come to visit, and the weird hollow man, that was now physically on the stage with her, Suzanne was not sure what was coming next.
“I have stopped the Scions in their tracks,” the being announced to everyone, in perfect common, “It should buy us the time we need to talk…”
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