The Naked Weapon Pt. 03

"I still want to know how they knew we were coming," Tycho said, frowning as she knelt down. Her finger brushed the divot. "This wasn't something they threw together at the last second. They had to have waited until they knew that we knew the gate was here and thought investigating was a good idea..." Her brow furrowed.

"Maybe they had a precog warn them?" I suggested. "I have some precognative talent."

"No," Magnum said, shaking his head. "All our missions have randomizers worked into them."

"Zugawha?" I asked.

"Quantum computers that crunch our random values," Opal said, cheerfully. "The numbers are meaningless, and we assign them to minor details of the mission. Which box of hundred thousand rounds we bring for the Avenger. Which grenade cache we pick. What color we paint the armor. But because the computers do a few million fuzzy, randomized choices on the mission, it creates so much minor chaos that precogs just get headaches."

"Really?" I looked at Ali.

"That...explains a great deal of the frustration from the Court of Seers. Not that they ever explained why they had such trouble..." Ali scowled. "You know, I am glad of it now that I am fighting against them, but I'm retroactively QUITE annoyed at the Doyen Empire's institutionalized secrecy!"

Magnum chuckled.

"So, somehow, they knew that we were coming to investigate Event Horizon," Tycho said, rubbing her chin. "They removed the gate, to ensure we couldn't take advantage of it, acted like they thought we were normal infiltrators, then tried to kill us. Who wants to bet the shady motherfucker in the robes was behind it."

Everyone raised their hands.

"Did any of you get a good look at him?" Magnum asked, in the tone of voice where it was clear he already knew the answer. Ebony, Opal and Tycho all shook their heads. But then Opal bit her lip, reaching up to brush her hands through her hair. She, and the rest of the girls, had abandoned their slave girl attire. Which was only a good thing and was not bad in any way. Honest. Really! I meant that.

"I did get a sense of him," she said. "And he felt..." She paused. "Wrong."

"Define wrong, if possible." Magnum crossed his arms over his bare chest. Yeah, we were all naked now. The villages who we had freed (for the short term) were giving us space while they got together foodstuffs for a great big celebratory bash. I hoped against hope they weren't celebrating prematurely.

Opal sighed. "When I use my empathy on someone, it feels a bit like sliding my fingers along a bowl. I can feel the bumps, the contours, the forms of the bowl. Magnum feels like a clay bowl that's been smoothed out by its use...but its always warm." Magnum inclined his head, slightly. "And Pirate feels like one of those red plastic bowls from Walmart."

"Oi!" I cried out.

Opal laughed. "The bowl's only half of it, Pirate. The other half is what's in the bowl. That's the emotions that I feel." She sighed. Her face fell. "This mind? It felt like...like..."

"Plastic too?" I asked, still feeling a bit cross.

"A garbage disposal," Opal said.

We exchanged looks.

"I think I know where we can learn more," Ali said, quietly. "But it will require a few hoops to jump through."

"Oh?" Magnum asked.

Ali nodded. "I believe we'll need to go on a trip...to the Archives of the Abyss and speak to the Stygexians."

"Sounds fun," I said, cheerfully.

"It's not."

TO BE CONTINUED