Chapter XIV02.I.2025
The forest was obviously not meant to be travelled through, having large swaths of dense thorny undergrowth and stretches of mud, probably after a rain (is there rain on this space station? Tayne wouldn't be surpised). But even though Naia suggested multiple times to turn back or carry her through the air, Tayne persevered - since woo, adventure!
So one and a half hours later - with Tayne's new jeans up covered to the knees in spots of mud and plant juice - they only made it a little over halfway. Without encountering a single ancient ruin at that - almost like archons of the past properly knew their demolition. They did, however, stumble upon a brook to refill Tayne's water flask - further suggesting this place to have natural water circulation.
It took Tayne a bit to notice, but Naia became eerily silent and phased out at some point of the trip. They didn't pay attention to their path, instead blindly following Tayne phasing through trees and bushes, and even started to lose visual bodily shape a bit. Upon being asked, they said they're just distracted on catching up with Cosmarium stuff and news, but their voice was quite distressed. So Tayne declared a break at first opportunity, hoping it'll help them sort things out - whatever those things were.
They stopped by a small rock mound in a clearing. And while Naia meditated on the top of this mound sending their mind into the Cosmarium, Tayne was carving a hello on its side to archeologists of year one hundred thousand with a sharp metal edge of a cute star pendant she found a couple of days ago on the stuff exchange.
"Hey Tayne," - Naia abruptly resurfaced and sounded even more discerned, - "Komi's here already."
"Oh." - of course they were, what was she even thinking forgetting about the concept of time like this... - "I should've known we'll be late i'm very sorry..."
"First, no need for you to be sorry, second, that's like the least of our problems right now." - sighed Naia. - "They forwarded me department correspondence regarding the rescue mission - and there are weird complications. I hope we get it under control, but so far..."
The vessel that captured Caithe should've been safely disarmed, retaken and brought to Cosmos space in less then a day. That was the plan, at least. The pityful remainders of its crew weren't of any threat to a team of trained metacosmos users according to hierophant predictions, they weren't even able to move their own ship properly - the pace at which it was escaping was laughably slow. The plan was based extrapolating on all the information extracted from the intruders' realm and Tayne's witness testimony, and was double-checked by Wiktori and another hierophant Casede, specifically designed to simulate situations and predict outcomes.
But when the team actually got to it, the ship performed a move that couldn't have ever been foreseen, never noted in any databases: it leaped across many layers of the Metacosmos with ridiculous speed, towards its home universe - the scanners only captured a single greatly distorted frame of the ship booming through metaspace until it disappeared into deep layers beyond their reach, where the Starscape realm drifted to over the past days.
For several days the rescue team was pursuing the trail, unrolling a dark path behind them and maintaining constant communication - and only now were they approaching the destination, preparing to open the door to the hostile realm and let the Cosmos confront the intruders on their home turf to whatever scale it would see fit. And the Cosmos was scheming in preparation.
Meetings between department members and forum discussions on the Cosmarium were how it started, but the latter boiled intense enough to call for assembling a grandest great circle all of Cosmos had seen in *centuries* - ongoing around the clock to this moment with options to approach the intervention and strategies for each flying through the vacuum.
All that was explained to Tayne mid-flight - Naia picked her up and zoomed above the treetops in great hurry, covering their daughter from incoming wind with a protective barrier of arcane. She was barely even able to say hi to Komi before Naia pulled them into a conversation - and for the rest of the way to the planet on an inner space bus Tayne listened to their energetic, even heated at places discussion about the detalis of proposed strategies while absent-mindedly stimming with her pendants, juggling them around in zero gravity.
The new plan to rescue Caithe, as far as Tayne understood, was already agreed upon, with Komi and Naia both invited to lead the task force (which Naia was very joyous about). The issue at the table was more in the realm of what to do next, how should archons interact with their new siblings-in-sentience after such a rude first contact. And [given what Tayne already overheard about the scale of dystopia there from this conversation alone, she was very surprised at how... mild the proposed options were. A stealth mission sounded logical for the rescue part, but after that why not just purge every powerful bad guy in sight, assume direct control over the systems in place, disassemble them and save everyone?
"Egpryme Directive", - said Komi when Tayne voiced her concerns.
"You mean the one from ancient sci-fi shows? Something something revolution something something bottom-up societal change?"
Stars bless the spirits of pre-space age writers assuming Cosmos to be full of life at every corner...
"Yeah, the idea is old as time."
"I always thought it to be just a plot device," - admitted Tayne. - "If the Consent just conquested the alien tyranny and forced changes top-down, it wouldn't make for such an interesting story."
"It would certainly make for a way different story with way different morals," - Komi confirmed. - "But it's not just about the story. Jayne Egpryme was a real philosopher, and their ideas layed in our ancestors' alien contact policy since before they even went to space. Now with the Metacosmos we who worked with it simply adapted it back."
"Here's a thing though, Komi," - Naia rejoined the conversation, - "the policy you speak of is a suggestion, not a rule. And I'm certain this is one of those cases where we have to step out of following it. Not sure how much you've read on the Starscape already, but I started revising all data we have just a bit of time ago and... stars, I'm just not able to continue absorbing the details, it's too abhorrent! So I think Tayne is very righteously concerned - I also find the great circle too preoccupied with the ways of puppeteering, information-spreading and social conditioning. Why use a scalpel on bastards who deserve a sword?!"
"My love, nobody's saying they don't deserve a sword," - objected Komi, - "but we have to be careful in its deployment to avoid hurting those we're trying to save. And what I've been meaning to say just a bit ago to you Naia is that pushing top-down control can and will cause uncontrollable side effects. Yes we can take out the top dogs easily but the system is deep and wide - dozens of planets, hundreds of cities - and if we don't want to play by its rules..."
"...which stars forbid we do..."
"...then all those will be left highly unstable. Regional brawls, forces trying to claim power, misunderstandings, grudges, hatred towards us and each other. This kind of turbulence easily becomes generational and throws wrenches into all further attempts at integration so we'll have to micromanage the cleanup for decades if not centuries for the violence not to continue as soon as we drop control. We'll be viewed as conquerors, not saviours, whereas if we start bottom-up..."
"...will we though?" - objected Naia. - "I think you're failing to consider just how vast of a leverage we possess - technology, information, raw power for stars' sake. I'd predict that, given sufficient preparation, we'll be able to erase all aspects of the emperor's rule from all relevant planets and cities in about an hour flat. Jayne Egpryme in their time couldn't even have dreamed of such might. Who will we be after that if not saviours?"
"Fair point, but now it's you who fails to consider that a society like Starscape will not be immediately ready for its shackles to be broken like that. We need the aliens to be inclined to accept the changes we bring, which requires entirely new ways of collective conscience, which need to be brought up first. So we'll have to assume control one way or another even in your scenario, or the suddenly freed aliens will just start needlessly hurting themselves..."
"...so? Presume we take that control, kick out the gang of thieves and only then start doing all the information-sharing work to shape this collective conscience. But now everyone is already safe from the horrors of their previous masters! Where's the problem exactly?"
"The problem is in how much cultural identity such a colonization will purge," - sighed Komi. - "Darling, I agree that the idea is tempting, but there's value in my opinion in a civilization eradicating its tyrants itself, establishing the better systems itself, with guidance and all theoretical knowledge we possess but in their own unique way, keeping its identity with everything good it has. Your way we'll end up effectively erasing their civilization and replacing it with ours. Not very responsible for the power we wield."
"Oh yeah?" - Naia now spoke in harsh temper, almost recoiling from the idea, - "and what's of more value in your opinion - this nebulous concept of "civilization identity" or, mhm, i don't know, well-being of of actual living sophonts? Who might I remind you are exploited and crushed by the powerful in thousands as we speak? Who live under a system that rivals and in many aspects trumps the horridness of that which our ancestors' ancestors fought to bring down before the Fringe? Komi, my dear, I understand your concerns, but please wake up!"
Tayne quietly hugged Naia from the back, struggling against the belts. Oh stars she didn't mean to heat up the discussion...
"I have to admit, i haven't actually read that deeply into the files," - sighed Komi, - "and I'm sorry that you had to experience it. It's just... i don't have a thousand subthreads in my conscience and i was more preoccupied with getting to know how things are going with our Caithe. Forgive me my ignorance."
"Nah, it's completely understandable and not your fault," - Naia backed down, lowering their voice. - "But I'm worried that not reading deeply into the files might be the reason most of the Circle has similar arguments. You know, we tend to really take for granted just how much our civilization, our ancestors achieved over the millenia and as such when presented with something so perverted and backwards as Starscape... i think we aren't even able to grasp the full extent of how awful things are. And I don't even think it's safe for our sanity to try. There's this large archive of documentation we ripped called the Registry, and if you go deep into it, there are subsections that just... their their of daily genocide of their own people fueled by nothing but greed and desire to stay in power, and it's tracing hundreds of years back. It broke me, it honestly broke me and that's *me*, imagine what it'll do to a person not prepared like we were."
"Well, I'd say you should share this idea regardless. Maybe it'll change things for the better, there's still ample time." - assured Komi. - "I'm sure even the bottom-up revolutionary approach can be executed much more boldly and quickly if everyone understood the urgency you're speaking of, and that might just be the compromise. So if you'd want to voice your concerns at the Circle..."
"Oh, darling, I absolutely will." - firmly declared Naia as the bus was entering atmosphere. - "In fact, we can all go there as soon as we touch the ground... if you'd like?"
"I've been thinking more along the lines of offload my stuff and get some lunch first," - admitted Komi, - "but all things considered... there should be food around the Circle and the bags can chill in eigenspace for some hours more, not that it matters"
Komi had this really cool resting place in mind they found for the three while on the train, and they were going to suggest them all detour there first and take a small breather... but their dear wife seemed just too stressed and dead-set on the task to allow themselves distractions from their overclocked thoughts. Fair enough. And now, getting their confirmation, Naia phased out again - probably composing a fifty-page pamphlet in their head declaring their opinion on the situation...
"Hey Tayne, what do you think of heading directly to the gathering, you have any other plans?" - Komi made sure to check in. - "It's in a park and folks write they're having pretty good pancakes around!"