Shadows in the Light [3 ABT]

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OOC: Yeah, I know this is my second solo rp happening right now, but I want Sins of the Father to be more of a narrative, long-form story while this can be more of a shorter-post, more frequently updating rp

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 “Welcome to our shining beacon in the darkness, the one and only FELLIS STATION! Out here in the Sorvens, it might seem a little empty, but know that your presence here is another pinprick of light in our cosmic family!” The welcome message blared through the lobby, ensuring everyone there could hear it. In the center a hologram displayed a cartoon star dancing with an equally cartoony Scytheros.
 At its base, the real High Lord stared up at it, shaking his head. Loud footsteps echoed behind him. Scytheros didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
 “You know, you Scytherians try to hard to be funny, and yet I never laugh.”
 “Well that’s just too bad, since you’re stuck with us!” Governor Lux appeared at the High Lord’s side, grinning. The two locked arms.
 “How’ve you been, Governor?”
 “Busy, busy, but alright. And how has your eminence fared in these times?”
 “Since when have you used a dictionary?” Lux chuckled.
 “You know, Scytheros, for someone who was just talking about how much you hate humor, you sure seem like a comedian to me.” This earned a slight smile from Scytheros. “Anyway, I’m sure you’d like to see the damn place, so if you’ll follow me
”

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 “You’ll notice, of course, the luxury of the lobby, as well as the first couple floors. This was designed to let our researches stay in comfort while they’re not working. I’m sure you know of the
 stresses that BrightSpace can enduse. Additionally, the station is designed to split into two parts. We figured that, should the technology start to pose a risk to our safety, it would be best to have the living quarters a healthy distance away.” Lux explained, pointing put some of the features in the halls.
 “And it would allow us to more easily quarentine–or destroy–the labs.”
 "You know us too well, Scytheros. I suppose I’d know you Avansi if I was named ‘Avanti’ "
 Scytheros chuckled. “You know Governor, it’s been a while since someone’s called us that.”
 “Well, it’s your name, ain’t it?”
 “It is, it was.”
 The two silently continued the tour.

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 After another hour of touring, the luxuries died out. Here was a place of muted grays and cold, steel walls. The affect of it was immediate. It seemed to say “leave your joys behind”. before them was the elevator, one of several that connected pleasure to science.
 “In the case of an emergency quarantine, we have the ability to shut off these elevators or, god forbid a rapid detachment is required, jettison them into space. This room and the others like it can be completely sealed off from the rest of the station.” Lux commented. He eyed the elevator with a growing anticipation.
 “No stations for military action?”
 “What, you expect a fight with BrightSpace?”
 “Don’t bet on the knife.”
 “TouchĂ©, they’ll be in place by the time we’re done touring the station. For the record, I still think this is highly unnecessary.”
 “Opinion noted. Continue with the tour, if you will. There are some things I’m eager to see.”
 “Oh, I know who you’re talking about. You’re going to love him; Hexadecimal did a great job with the kid
 heh.”

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Deeper in the station

All was still in the laboratory. All was silent. Ita’s eyes were locked with the robot seated no more than a yard away, waiting. Finaly, she broke the silence.
“Well, are you going to sit there all day, or play the damn game?” The robot’s head looked down, examining the board.
“Dr. Ita, is it not the point of this game to win?”
“It is
”
“Then if I can see no way forward that leads to victory, how am I supposed to play?”
“In that case, you either give up, or move the piece and give your opponent the middle finger on your way out.”
“Hrmm, I see
” he picked up the piece and played it, capturing three pieces in the process. Ita moved, finally ending the game.
“See, that wasn’t too bad, now was it? Good game.” The bot observed the board again.
“This ‘checkers’ is awfully strange. I think I’d like to try it again some time.”
“Yes yes yes, of course. For the meantime, I think it’s time for some actual science.”

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(OOC note: to any who know the AI as Father Time from me talking about him on the discord, I’ve changed it to Chronos)

“Ah, yes, the anomoly problem. It seems strange to me that you’d want to open one, considering the last one erased hundredsnof years worth of history.”
“It destroyed more than just history, Chronos, it destroyed an entire system, and people’s homes.”
“Homes can be rebuilt. The Vanti live long enough for it, and the Mandi die too soon to care.”
“And what of the others? Do they not matter?”
“If you’re asking me, Dr., no territory citizen with half a brain would want to live on the Vanti-Mand border.” Ita made to retort, but Chronos beat her to it. It was an annoying tendency of his. “Back to the matter, Colonus has the BrightSpace drives, why would High Lord Scytheros need anomalies?”
“We can enter and exit BrightSpace just fine, yes, but we’re locked out of the potential. It’s true that the anomoly ate away at Araknis’s star until it exploded in the smallest supernova on record, but there’s more to it than that.” Ita paused, looking back at the bot. “It’s energy, Chronos. BrightSpace turns practically everything into light, but that reaction, even if for the tiniest moment, turns anything it touches into pure energy. There had to be a way to harvest that.”
“And if we can’t?”
“The Scytheros will find anither way. The man’s on a warpath. Colonus needs progress, and it needs it fast.” Chronos was silent, audibly spinning gears in what she could only assume was a metaphir taken literally.
“We don’t have suffiecient data to open a wormwhole. I’m requesting a ship as I speak. I’ll leave the big man to you.” Ita nodded and turned to the elevator. He was comming down anyway, no reason to wait.

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The elevator silently slid open, its thick metal doors disappearing into the walls. Governor Lux stepped out first.
“Chronos, Dr. Ita,” he said, nodding his head at them, “may I formally introduce High Lord Scytheros.” Scytheros followed him out of the elevator, shaking his head.
“Lux, I am ever amazed that you survived my father’s reign.”
“What, like he would ever kill me?” Scytheros just stared at him. “Right?” Lux repeated, less confident now. Scytheros clasped his shoulder and turned to Dr. Ita.
“Doctor, Chronos, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you”.

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“The pleasure is all mine, my lord” Ita said, bowing down. She’d never met Scytheros of course, but she knew much about him. She was surprised, however, to find that his friendship with Governor Lux wasn’t over exaggerated. Ita tried to immagine the two back on Scytheros, visiting the sights. There had been that rumored sighting at the muppet zoo

“High Lord Scytheros, in order to get a jump start on our research, it would be practical to be able to observe BrightSpace from the inside.”
“If that’s what you need to do, then by all means, do it.”
“There’s a little more to it than that
” Ita started, less certain than Chronos. Scytheros cocked her head at her.
“Well, what is it?”
“Just scanning BrightSpace isn’t going to be enough, my Lord, we barely understand it how it is. We need to observe BrightSpaces’s interaction with our universe.” Chronos began, looking at Ita.
“You mean letting it dissintigrate our ships.”
“Yes, my Lord, big ships.” Syctheros turned away, talking with Lux in a hushed voice. Finally, the governor pitched in.
“Well, you have any volenteers?”
“About that, Governor. You could go without one of the reserve fleets, right?” Governor Lux burst out laughing.
“See Scytheros, I told you you were going to like him!” Scytheros just shook his head.
“Very well, use the fleet. But after this, I think it would be pragmatic for us to discuss reasonal expectations going forward. Come now governor, I believe you were going to show me the rest of the science wing?”
“Yes, of course. I think the panic room would be a good place to visit next.”
“Yes
 I think that would be wise
”

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3 months later


Dr. Ita sat with her head on her arms, wishing she could be anywhere else at that moment. When she was selected to head the BrightSpace project all she’d thought about was the breakthroughs and enhanced understanding of the multiverse humanity had found itself in.
She had no idea how boring it’d be.
“Dr., you simply must see this! It’s incredible!”
“Chronos, I’m biological, remember? I take one look out thar window and I can kiss my eyes goodbye.”
“Ah, yes, of course. I’ll have to describe it to you later.”
“So, that’s the fourth ship we’ve sent screaming into oblivion. Tell me we’ve made some progress.” Chronos activated the “blinds” and turned his robotic body to face the doctor.
“Oh yes, plenty of progress! No matter the size of the ship, the conversion into light seems to happen at a constant rate. So constant in fact, that I’d almost say it’s organized!”
“So we can tell how fast this is happening?”
“Indeed. In our dimension, judging from the Araknis data, it seems to convert like a faulty equilibrium. Theoretically there should be a point in which the conversion stops, but the sides are unbalanced. Our matter, energy, all that jazz shifts to the other side-into light.”
“Alright, good, good. So if we can figure out how to spark the reaction in our universe
”
“Presto change-o, we got a wormhole.”
“Perfect. How does that help us?”
"I told you, it’s an equilibrium. That means at some point anything not sucked into lightbulb land over here will shift back to the other side. "
“Ok, so if we play our cards right we can get some energy from it. There are easier ways to do that.” Ita sighed. Chronos picked up a pad from his desk and passed it to the good doctor, who perked up as she saw the words appear. “Tell me you’re not serious.”
“Unfortunately, I am. Excuse me doctor, I need to go prepare an official report before we continue with our efforts.” Ita watched him as he left the room, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

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(OOC: I’ve been thinking it over, and I might drop this as a narrative rp and change it to a more event-based one. Ex. I probably won’t talk about the nitty-gritty of opening the first artificial anomalies that much, but the first observed instance of BrightSpace ghosts will have much more time allocated to it than it otherwise would have)

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