Chapter 98 - Arcana Nihila

Notes :

Sorry ! Uploaded chapter 97 again. I was trying to juggle a bunch of stuff with a session.

News that were lost with the previous post, I want to complete book 1 of The Dragon Imperium at some point and put it on RR.

Chapter 98

Starborn Mountains, Starfire Valley

Settlement of Astralis

"I'm sorry, you what?" Said Kalia.

"I, err..." Sapphiria sighed. They were alone in her office, with the mage-magistrate leaning against her desk. "I don't know how to use magic."

Kalia stared at her for several seconds. Like she was trying to guess if the AI was joking.

"You're...serious? You're serious, aren't you? This isn't a joke?"

"Nope."

"How...Sapphiria, how does any of your stuff work? How do you work?"

The AI held up her hand.

"Through physics? Just mundane electricity."

There was a silence. Then Kalia straightened up, pulled up her desk's chair, and dropped into it.

"Okay." Finally said the mage-magistrate. "Sapphi?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to admit something to you. When you gifted us your first things, I had Ramina take them apart to take a look at them. I'm sorry that I betrayed your trust like that. But I needed to know if they were a danger to my people. When she did that to the batteries, she-"

Sapphiria didn't even remember moving, she was just standing there one second and the next she was kneeling on the desk, holding Kalia's shoulders.

"SHE OPENED THE BATTERIES?!?"

"Yes, I'm sorry we betra-"

"I don't give a shit about that! Kalia, this is very fucking important! Did she remove the inner shielding? DID SHE?!?"

"No. No! She said there were warnings!"

Sapphiria closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, pushing away the emergency radiation poisoning protocols she and Cia had already started pulling out.

"Okay. Good. Good." She opened her eyes, and blushed slightly as she realized where she was. "Sorry, I'll get off." She gathered what shreds of her dignity were left as she hopped off, and immediately went to parade rest, before forcing herself to relax. "I panicked for a second. Those warnings are there for a reason. She could have died."

Horribly, too. The Navy knew the effects of radiation poisoning on squishies far too well. Hell, on machinery too. Despite popular depictions, electronics fared very badly in high radiation environments. It was just easier to shield an android by adding antirad plating than a squishie, who'd have to wear armor, or use cybernetics augments. That or some of the genemod packages the Federation still allowed into circulation.

The mage-magistrate slowly nodded.

"She'd figured as such. But her hypothesis was that this 'battery' of yours had Condensate in it."

Sapphiria blinked.

Condensate? Like the thing in her experimental sensor?

"...Right. So she thought I was hunting monsters?"

"No, she thought you could make it synthetically. And I almost went into a panic attack. Because someone who could do that would change the world forever." She met the AI's gaze. "But you're even more than that, aren't you? I thought synthetic condensate for artificers could topple the mage guilds. You. You can make magic obsolete."

Sapphiria didn't know what to do. What could she even say?

Magic could do things she couldn't. But she came from a space faring civilization. They were barely getting industrialized. For them magic was everything. Especially for the Magistracy. It powered their machinery. It gave them augments.

She could do both, without ever needing a mage or a mana crystal.

"Perhaps..." She finally said. "But perhaps it doesn't need to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"If you teach me magic. I could integrate it with my technology. Combine them. The best of both worlds. There's thing magic can do that my technology can't. And I'm sure the inverse is true."

Kalia stared at her.

"Some kind of...magitech?"

"Yes." Ah! Kalia had come up with the same term. Sapphiria felt a bit vindicated. And less silly. "Science is just finding the root cause of phenomena. Engineering is putting those phenomena to work."

"...And how do you plan to do that integration?"

"Well, that depends on what you can teach me."

Kalia looked at the ornate box containing the crystals, on her desk, then at Sapphiria.

"Why...do you want to use magic? I mean, if you don't have to? I'm not questioning you. I am just wondering."

"Because it's a resource. And I need to marshal every resource at my disposal."

Kalia slowly nodded.

"...Alright." She blinked. "Wait. If you don't have magic, your Federation..."

"Doesn't either." She coughed, as Kalia gave her a glance. "It is...part of the reason I was concerned about their arrival."

"...You're afraid they'll exploit us for our resources?"

"Such has been the fate of many colonies."

Moreover, she was worried about what would happen when it turned out that what was in the way of maximal exploitation was a bunch of primitives. Primitives that used slavery, one of the biggest anathemas of the Federation.

With just anti-gravity as the prize, the Federation might do something stupid.

With literal magic...

"I see." Kalia smiled. "Well, I don't want to spend my life mining mana for some distant overlords, however sexy their local representative might be."

It was a weak joke, but a joke nonetheless, and Sapphiria chuckled.

"Oh, so I'm still sexy?"

"You always were." Kalia stood up, and took a deep breath. "Okay. I need to pull out some manuals, and start with the basics."

"It can wait-"

"No. You said it yourself, we need every resource we can marshal. And right now, like ninety percent of our future combat potential is you." She smiled viciously. "Besides, if you were able to do this without magic? I want to see the kind of devastation you can unleash upon the Bane with it."

Sapphiria's smile matched the mage-magistrate's.

"I'd be more than happy to demonstrate that as well."

"Good. Stay here, I'll be right back."

Sapphiria watched as the mage-magistrate went into her dining room, then bedroom, shamelessly letting her gaze drift downwards, before calling out.

"You know, I've seen your bedroom before, right? I could just come with you."

"Yes, but if we're both there I worry that not a lot work will get done. If you catch my meaning."

Well, Sapphiria couldn't dispute that.

Kalia was back a few minutes later, holding a small pile of books, which she unceremoniously dumped on the desk.

"Alright. Let's start with the basics. You know what a crystal is. Do you know what runes are?"

"I have...examples."

Kalia smiled.

"But no formal knowledge?" Sapphiria shook her head. "Right. Then, let us begin."

*****

"And that's the basic rune forms." Said Kalia as she set the book down, before pushing it towards Sapphiria. "You'll have to memorize them before we go further, but-"

"I already have."

Kalia blinked, before meeting her gaze.

"I'm sorry, you what?"

"I already have memorized them." Sapphiria tapped the side of her skull. "Golem, remember? Perfect recall." Well, not perfect. Just very, very good. Not even Federation datastorage could fully resist entropy, and she still had active and storage memories, like humans did. You couldn't keep everything you knew in active memory after all. Too expensive, unless you were in a naval command fleet dreadnought or commanding a superfortress.

"...Oh. Uh. Well that kind of derails my plans."

"It's okay. This is plenty. And I'll be glad to check the book in full." Said Sapphiria with a smile, as she tapped the cover. "Besides, it's getting late."

"You could stay."

The AI smiled.

"You basically didn't sleep last night. And if I do stay, you won't get much tonight either." She leaned over the desk, and kiss her girlfriend on the forehad. "Your wellbeing is my foremost priority."

Kalia chuckled.

"That does sound like something a golem would say."

"Hey, I gotta play to the stereotypes from time to time. Maybe I'll beep, clank, or say 'does not compute' for kicks."

The mage-magistrate snorted.

"Of course." Her face softened, and she smiled, grabbing Sapphiria's hand and squeezing it. "Stay safe, alright?"

Sapphiria, brought by an impulse she didn't fully understand, grabbed Kalia's hand back, and raised it to her lips, laying a delicate kiss upon it.

"You too." She smiled, and left, leaving behind a flustered squishie.

*****

"Welcome home." Said Cia as Sapphiria came to a halt. She could, and probably should, have taken a minecart, but she wanted to run today. She didn't get to do so nearly as much on the surface now, what with the snowpiercer being much more efficient conveyance.

"Heya. Good to be back. And I bring knowledge!" She lifted the book up. "Let's get it scanned."

"Yes ma'am."

It was only a few seconds to slot it into the minilab, as it would do it the quickest and with the most precision, and Sapphiria blinked as she saw the small machine by the side of the pod.

"What's that?"

"A small cryostorage units for samples. Survey protocol suggested it to halt the decay of the monster tendril."

"Did it work?"

"Affirmative."

"Good initiative. Status report."

"Third smelter will begin operations by tomorrow afternoon. Second howitzer gun has finished production, and half of the parts have been shipped to the workshop for transport to the outpost. Three new nickelbots are also assembled and ready for battle. This includes a machinegun unit."

"Good." Very good even. Given how clear it was just how deadly her howitzer was, she'd started shifting production to more infantry.

At the end of the day, the negotiations with the Hand might fail, or the Nineteenth could overrun them, and she'd rather have a snowball's chance in hell of holding the pass, even if it was a very low possibility.

"Any news on the recon?" Asked the AI.

"Affirmative. As per your instructions, I have begun manufacturing extra sensors for the communications tower and a small drone kit for automated launch and recovery of airborne reconnaissance at the outpost."

Sapphiria nodded. The tower already had a sensor package, but it was pretty basic, and she'd only had one drone at the outpost, whose 'recovery' was just landing near a battery and having a junkbot jack it in. It sufficed for now, but it would fall apart before long. It was cheap, easy to use, and relatively durable, but everything required maintenance, sooner or later.

"Good. How are we doing in terms of power?"

"Since the colonists no longer require extra colonial batteries, production has been diverted to the outpost and other ventures."

"And the reactors you proposed?"

"I have drawn up several plans for manufacturing MOX fuel and prepared the reactor schematics for review. I have also prepared solutions for dealing with the waste, but they are..."

"Basic?"

"Yes. Very much so. Pre-interplanetary age level of basic. Put it in a container with rad shielding for handling, then bury it, preferably in concrete."

Which was indeed how humanity had done it, before both advanced reprocessing of radioactive materials and safe, surefire ways of chucking waste into the sun became widespread.

Though, the radioactive waste of the twentieth and early twenty first century had their uses. During the Terran Hegemony Wars, many dirty bombs had been built using spent reactor fuel for example.

Though that wasn't really useful there. She doubted skeletons would be overly bothered by radiation, and she wasn't willing to risk making a mistake and poisoning the squishies to check. She was already playing with fire with her batteries, as Kalia had just so kindly reminded her.

Which reminded her.

"I've also been informed that Ramina has been digging into our tech, but unwilling to brave our warning symbols. It might be worth being a bit...more generous with those around highly sensitive equipment. I intend to tell her everything eventually, and I'm sure Kalia will keep a tighter leash on her now, but better safe than sorry."

"That is contrary to protocol. Overuse of warning symbols, especially where not necessary, may lead to them being ignored."

"See it as extra protection. You saw how she reacted to the autocannon. Do you think you can trust her to be sensible around technology and not lick a live wire or something?"

There was a short silence.

"...Instructions understood, will more broadly deploy warning sigils."

"Good." Sapphiria smiled as the book popped out of the minilab. "And now, time to compare all these runes to what we've seen so far."