We return to our band of rabble, heroes, and assorted sentients about the good ship DEE. 45 minutes have passed since the end of the previous session. Everyone on board the ship (which include Ariona Cassyon, Nikolai, Vitorrio Garibaldi, Meechum, Bryce Murphy, Trenton Vernor, Laiden Rahu, Fey Arius, Dr. Andrew Peters, and Noun and Pronoun, as well as William Moss and Harry Bryant) has been engaged in a discussion about what to do next. ‘‘(For more information, read the General Discussion message boards.)’’. On the Perseverance, Malcolm Biggs, Ridge, Admiral Rossner, and the ship Sarah also participate in this discussion while they beginning sweeping the city for any trace of the antimatter core.
Vernor asks to look at the Crown, as does Noun. Vernor shudders and says he doesn’t think they should use the Crown. He claims to have seen a vision of the crown turning into a fur cap and blood streaming from Ariona’s clenched hands. Pronoun claims that Ariona will lose control of the Crown within two days, but she says nothing. Noun watches her closely.
Dr. Peters offers to go with the group to talk to the Caretaker. A large debate ensues over his possible usefulness talking to the Caretaker versus the definite usefulness of a medical doctor with the groups still on Mars. Harry Bryant makes this moot by talking quietly to Ariona about the danger of trusting what may be a fake Crown, and then taking Bryce’s dog and mini-Vee and leaving for Earth.
Time is running out for this preparation, so a quick vote determines that the individuals who are worried about sending the one possible defense against Cain to see Cain lose out. The away team appears to be Nikolai, Ariona, Vitto, Fey, Rahu, Vernor, Dr. Peters, Noun and Pronoun, and Pete. DEE’s robot body is piloting the shuttle, but does not intend to leave the shuttle.
Bryce and Meechum/Divin remain on DEE. Ridge, Biggs, Rossner, and Sarah continue to search for the antimatter core.
The shuttle lands, and the party approaches Cain. (Vitto is inside Ariona, and Fey is small and invisible.) They see him, flanked by two zombies. “Where is the one who I spoke to?” he intones.
Ariona steps forward. “Um, the one you spoke to is the ship’s computer.” Cain rolls his eyes and looks disbelieving and exasperated.
DEE’s robot body steps off the shuttle, and explains that he can control this shell when off the ship.
At this point, Crazy Pete shouts, “They’re in the grass! They’re everywhere! Be on your guard!”
“You’re a random bunch of individuals, clearly not trained warriors. Why have you come here?”
“We have come here to parley with you,” says DEE.
Pronoun yells, “Oh, my God; robots!”
Vitto lifts Ariona off the ground, about 4 feet. She looks somewhat annoyed at this.
DEE explains that they are here to offer Cain what they wanted to give him earlier, but first he wishes to insure the colonists’ safety.
“Make sure you don’t ‘port any zombies; we don’t want to spread the taint!” yells Pete.
“Duly noted,” relies DEE.
DEE contacts the colonial forces and tells them to contact mystics on other planets to get the colonists away, but to leave the military hardware in case he needs to continue the fight with the undead later.
DEE explains to Cain that they want to see him merge with the entity Luna. This would vastly increase his personal power, and as Luna is not very fully formed as yet, it would be likely that Cain’s consciousness would supersede that of Luna.
Cain appears somewhat skeptical. “And what would you get out of this?”
DEE explains that the Caretaker has indicated that the entire universe as we know it might be in danger without this merger. Cain appears amazed and vastly skeptical that the Caretaker, a vastly powerful entity, would send this motley group to speak for him.
“Giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that this is what the Caretaker really believes, there is still no evidence that this is actually what is going to happen.”
Several people refute this, but Dr. Peters offers to show him a vision of what happened to Percepi. Cain points out that there is no way of proving that the vision is a true one. After all, he himself can create plenty of visions which appear real, but are not.
“But surely a being of your power would be able to divine whether or not it is a true vision,” suggests Ariona.
“Very good, wise one, but that is another trap,” sneers Cain. “Anyone who has been . . . asleep . . . for as long as I have would be susceptible to certain . . . techniques.” Cain then asks who can speak for the Caretaker.
“I can speak for the Caretaker,” says Moss.
“I can also speak for the Caretaker,” says Fey.
“I see that madmen are still accepted for their wisdom, no matter how many centuries pass,” says Cain.
”. . . Okay. . . .” says Moss.
Cain suggests that the party should cooperate with Cain now. Surely, if the fate of all humanity rests on this, it would be a small price to pay, yes? Specifically, Cain would agree to the merger, if the party would agree to be loyal to Cain instead of the Caretaker.
Rahu asks if there’s anything specific Cain wants, or just general servitude. Cain says, no, general servitude would be fine for now. He seems quite genuine about this.
“At the completion of the ritual, we would be happy to provide you with our service,” suggests DEE.
Cain claims that that’s another trick, but DEE says that the mortals here might not believe that it would be in their own best interests to serve him yet. DEE, however, would be happy to serve Cain now, as he believes himself immune to most of the mental manipulations that Cain could perform.
“You have no reason to have your convictions tested, then, automaton. These mortals do.”
Fey notes that there is a chance that Cain is in fact a part of this dark force, so she does not want to make the problem worse by following him now. Cain points out in return that if he is cursed to feed on humanity for all eternity, humanity’s destruction could hardly benefit him.
Among other things, Cain is glad that Emmanuel’s merging came about, for now Cain is his own. The thought is also posed, however, that since Emmanuel picked Cain to succeed him, perhaps his goals and reactions might be somewhat in the same vein as Emmanuel’s.
“What exactly would this servitude to you entail?” asks Ariona, but is ignored.
“Who else do you bring to the parley?!” Cain demands.
“To the parley, no one. However, there are other operatives working to neutralize the antimatter core,” replies DEE.
“Well, call them off, or this parley is at an end!”
“It may be too late. I will attempt to communicate with them.”
“What exactly would this servitude to you entail?” asks Ariona again, but is ignored again.
Unfortunately, it is too late. “This meeting has ENDED!” shouts Cain.
“I am still attempting to communicate with them,” says DEE. . . .
Cain turns into a cloud of mist.
A couple of groups of small robots begin converging on the party. They swarm Pete.
Ariona draws her rifle.
Vernor shoots one of the robots off of Pete. Rahu knocks one off with kinetics. Nikolai disintegrates one.
The two lesser undead also turn into mist.
Moss causes the rest to crunch, throwing them away from his body. He then moves towards to the mist, but halts on a dime partway there.
It is now evident that the mechanisms were not entirely robotic; they appear to have rotting flesh grafted to them as well.
DEE announces that the core has been returned.
DEE continues, “Dr. Moss, please return to the group.”
“What have you done with her?! Where’s Everlily Nyx?!” Moss thunders.
“She is . . . in a place where I know she will be of use to me,” Cain replies smugly. “Those are my terms,” he continues.
“And I’ve asked you multiple times what this entails!” replies Ariona.
“I am going to be a god. As a god, I am going to need worshippers. Since I am not a god yet, I do not require worship yet. Now, if you truly believe that my ascension, as you have dubbed it, would be best for humanity, PROVE IT! Renounce your loyalties to the Caretaker and SERVE ME NOW, and I will go forward with this ritual.”
Several people, most noteably Fey, reply heatedly that they have no reason to trust Cain as he is now.
Dr. Peters points out that if they weren’t showing their faith in the ritual right now, they wouldn’t be here. They’d hardly be dealing with Cain as he is now if they didn’t have faith in this ritual.
“Pete? You were there the first time, can you describe what happened?” asks Ariona.
“Well, I’m not really smart enough to understand the ritual in my current form, but it would remove the taint from him.”
“PETE! Is there anyway we can have Moss back?!” Vitto demands. “Moss knows the ritual better; he could describe it better!”
Moss clarifies, “It would just make him not undead anymore. But it still leaves everything else intact; that’s VERY, VERY important and I’m not sure why.”
There are a lot more suggestions about the power of the moon, and how great it would be for Cain to merge with it, with him arguing that he would have to give up a significant part of his power BEFORE gaining the hypothetical more power he would get by merging.
“If we agreed to serve you, would we become . . . like Nyx?” asks Ariona.
“To a certain extent. More was required for Nyx to make her useful.”
“All right. If you want to . . . share with us your taint, and then the taint is removed from you, would it be removed from us as well, or would we continue to be tainted?” asks Ariona.
“This is a really bad idea. I don’t want this to happen. Please let’s not sell our souls to Cain,” is heard through the telepathic link with Dr. Peters.
It slowly, piece by piece, comes together that Cain wishes a successor . . . or several.
“You do not know what this ritual entails,” Pete says.
“True. But neither do you, in your current state,” Cain replies.
”. . . I have no witty comeback for that,” Pete declares.
Cain continues to argue that having successors would be the best way to ensure his goals, and even if his transformation would cause them to go against him, that does not matter. It will still be entertaining in his next form. After all, he can only be as great as his greatest enemy.
Fey basically says at this point that it’s all just a game to Cain, and she loathes him.
Cain roars, “Enough! I could take some of you, and do this ritual, in which case both sides win, or I could take YOU ALL BY FORCE!”
“You DON’T want to do that!” replies Moss.
Cain demands to know who will accede to his requests. Slowly, Vitto, Noun and Pronoun, Ariona, and Vernor agree. Ariona gives her rifle to Nikolai, saying that he should hold on to this now.
“I would have HIM,” he proclaims, pointing at Nikolai. “The same way that you would have Moss. There is much potential in him.”
Some doubt is expressed about his ability to “have” Nikolai, but Cain replies that though he can not transform him, there are ways of binding him.
Meanwhile, DEE lets some people know that this needs to be decided within 15 minutes, or “bad things will happen.”
Ariona replies through the computer link that it should also be noted that even if they receive the taint, it is possible it could be removed later. Moss would be the best one to ask, but they can’t ask him right now. DEE replies that someone on him might be better equipped to answer that question, and consults with Divin. Divin says he is holding off the taint, and is hopeful that later he might be able to remove it.
“Well, okay,” Nikolai replies. “I can’t say that I’m real thrilled about this, but if that’s the way it has to be, okay.” Ariona takes back the gun.
DEE says he wants to remove the antimatter core first, and Cain replies that he will show them the core, but he wants to transform one before the core is actually removed. Specifically, he wants Nikolai first.
Nikolai goes over to Cain, and the antimatter core appears with a large zombie next to it. The zombie draws a dagger and holds it up to his own arm.
DEE’s droid approaches Nikolai and requests that certain objects be removed to the ship first. Meanwhile, the zombie approaches Nikolai, cuts his arm, and growls, “Drink.”
DEE stops Cain. “Your terms have been agreed upon, but the time frame must be slowed.”
“I defer to you, master,” is Cain’s only response as he looks at the zombie.
“You wish to remove threatening objects; very well,” growls the zombie.
Nikolai backs away from the zombie, shuddering and retching, and unclips the scabbard from his belt. He begins handing it to DEE.
Moss yells, “CUT HIM!!!” A giant magical effect happens; all wounds anyone has close immediately as a major wave of positive energy washes over everyone within a 100-ft. radius. All non-major undead nearby collapse as Nikolai draws the sword. It glows with black energy.
With a single swipe, Nikolai severs the hand of the zombie referred to as “master.” It collapses, and “Cain” appears to be horribly stunned.
Vitto charges “Cain” and stabs him with his soul-knife; DEE picks up the severed hand. Dr. Peters uses a healing effect, which causes “Cain” to turn into mist. He then begins to move (float?) quickly away from the party.
Pete charges over to the large zombie and shifts back into William Moss. Blue ichor drips from all of his orifices.
Vitto asks if there is anything they can do for Moss, and he says to find out what happened to Nyx. DEE knows where she is, and is calculating getting her back right now. Vitto then asks if there is anything else they can do, and Moss replies, “Stay on guard for the end of the ritual.”
DEE asks, “Stay on guard for what?”
“For me,” Moss replies.
Dark energy coalesces around Cain, then shoots towards William Moss. Cain appears freed of the energy, as Moss collapses. The dark energy suffuses Moss, as boils and blisters appear all over his body.
Dr. Peters uses a magical healing effect on Moss, which seems to cause more lesions to appear on him. Nikolai touches him with the sword, causing his skin to sizzle and Moss to scream horribly. Dr. Peters then settles for tranquilizing Moss to within an inch of his tortured life.
At this point, DEE speaks to the group in the forest. “I am going to take Cain back to Earth. Those who wish to accompany me, and have been with me in the past, please board the ship. Time is of some concern.”
Moss is left with Peters, who is probably best suited to attempting to help him. Ariona claims that she believes that Moss may be experiencing a large amount of backlash right now. Any magical effect may make things worse right now, so BE CAREFUL.
Ariona, Nikolai, and Vitto then board the shuttle, with DEE’s robot body carrying Cain.