Rowdy Dead Productions

By David C. Daoust

 

Dakota was not a careless person. She was not a cold, ice queen. Admittedly, through her life, she had not had a whole lot of success with relationships. Mainly because she was a bit smarter than most- okay a lot smarter, than just about everybody, but that couldn’t be helped. Her earliest attempt at acquiring someone’s affection, involved heaping a bit too much help onto a school assignment. Now, they passed, and he was eternally grateful for all she had done for him; it had actually helped him graduate on time. Yet, it was suddenly clear that his interest was not the same as hers. Suzanne was there when it really struck home; she was there to comfort her- most of all, to point out they were only fifteen. Just because Dakota was in the same college-level class as him, there was no reason to think this much older student would even see her that way. They agreed that maybe she wasn’t always so smart, and Suzanne agreed not to ruin him. Dakota was pretty sure she was kidding about that last part anyway.

After that, it was mostly just Suzanne and Dakota. She could blame her smarts, or she could blame Suzanne, being this pinnacle of all the Consortium holds dear- which added an intimidation factor that most people could not overcome- but between the two of them, they were just out looking for trouble. Guys would show up and go again, just like trouble. Didn’t matter to them, they had each other.

This was a different life, of two very different young girls, one that ended abruptly. Namely, when Suzanne talked Dakota into hacking the security grids in ‘Otomo Tower’. Her father was off-station, and Suzanne was sure he was hiding something. Dakota had put up a fight; she didn’t want Mr. Otomo mad at her, ever. Suzanne won out in the end, she always did. Dakota got them in the building, worst of all, Dakota found the files- the ones that listed what, exactly, Zeke Otomo was hiding from his daughter. He was dying. It was the end of their fun. Any more interest in the opposite sex, was squashed under all the studying she did, all to comfort Suzanne- and herself- as they watched Mr. Otomo slowly wither away…

Dakota doubled down on her studies, and found her calling, once she figured out Suzanne would be next. This was not a thing she was going to let happen. And she didn’t. ‘Dr. Sun’ cured it, wiped it out of existance; not another mottled died to it. Point here, is that finding a cure for Suzanne, had also wiped out any chance of finding someone for herself- or even thinking of building a family.

By the time she was free, she was just too awkward. The fun loving, trouble finding Dakota was gone. And Dr. Sun was a whole ‘nother animal. One that had no problem burying herself in work… or movies. Mostly movies.

What it was about Major that had captured her imagination, she didn’t know. Maybe just, that he was not anything like her. He knew stuff she never considered- or had training in areas she never saw as ‘practical’ or ‘useful’ in any way. That was before she’d found herself in situations where, maybe, knowing a thing or two about self-defense may help her out. She was looking to him to protect her, without even thinking about it.

Could she blame herself for what happened with the uber-brain? Could she blame her smarts, or her awkwardness? Screw that. She was what she was. When she saw that look on his face… she just couldn’t. She had too much to do. Too much to work on. She felt him standing there as she clicked data through a new algorithm, she was relieved when Vincent successfully stopped Dop from… being Dop. Embarrassed when it sunk in why he was there, But embarrassed or no, she was happy to bury herself in work.

She had plenty: There was a collapse– it may be imminent, for a long time she was not sure. There was the Hollow, who actually had demands of their own. There were still more to be liberated. And the Wards, while they weren’t exactly a burden, there were actually two other Hearths in two other City-stations, that made up the Lost Ark, that had no idea of their presence, or even what might have happened to Ergos; she could only imagine what they were going through.

All of them, were counting on her, to get them out of the Everywhere.

The more she reasoned it out and the more she poured over the work. It was clear. She was not going to have to stop the collapse, so much, as cause the collapse. All the collapses, ever– which was mind boggling.
There was no scientific reason, that these pockets should collapse on their own. She knew there wasn’t. Her earlier theories weren’t adding up. Yet it was happening. It was a cascade. A cascade of collapsing pockets, pushing the Ark from where they first entered the Everywhere- all the way through, to where they should, hopefully, exit.

Dakota could not believe it– she had to trigger the cascade. She had to cause the collapses. She had to break the chain. It was out there she knew- it was hard to picture, this unfathomable link, existing through each pocket- outside of time. It was a real, solid object. One cut, should collapse each pocket, forcing them to jump through to a new one; a new day, a new time period. Provided they had the energy… They would succeed in acquiring the right amount of energy each time, she knew, because they already did.

Ages to those on the Ark. But all in that one second for the chain… and whatever, or whoever, breaks it.

What could break the chain?

It hit her like a flash of insight. The Clean Blade. Clover had mentioned it in his bid for peace- she recognized it from her discoveries within the one mind. It was here, on this station. Within the Reliquary that holds many of the ancient artifacts, some dating back as far as earth. It was a massive blade, formed of an impossible anomaly, A ‘sword’ that was only ever wielded by a giant mech, known as a Galliant. Something Dakota had finally made sense of: When she was within the one mind, she had misconstrued the word Galliant with ‘Valliant’- she was picturing soldiers… that was probably poorly translated from ‘knights’. She was not picturing the massive humanoid machines that could actually lift the impressive weapon. She had chalked it up, to like, a language misinterpretation, thanks to the ages.

What could lift the sword?

Unfortunately, the famous Galliant itself rests within the hidden Reliquary on the fourth and final City-station, that was once attached to the Lost Ark,(before it was lost) but was now known as Dori 5- in the Onion. Notably, was, in fact, the very place this little adventure of hers started and it could not be further away.

She was not about to build a Galliant, the energy and materials involved. Would the arks even have the facilities for such a massive project? Probably. But the energy, they needed to conserve their energy. Dakota was toying with ridiculous ideas of a ‘tractor-beam’…

It was with these thoughts, that Doppel, who had fled after her little interlude with Major, for which Dakota did not think she would ever forgive her for, suddenly approached. She rest a small device in front of Dakota. The tiny ‘Chalice’ shaped device, that Dop had started working on the very moment she had free reign within the lab… this time when Dakota looked at it, a new understanding erupted from the darkest areas of her mind. The Chalice, it was more a beautiful work of art than just a device. Dakota, now, knew what it would do, but did not understand the whole of how it was accomplished.

Once Dakota had the device in hand, she was left with only one question, ‘How was she going to warn Ergos?’