Chapter 636: The Cavern of Stars (1/2)
”Precursor leadership, Lanaktallan, Mantid, and Atrekna, all believed in the same thing: They could not fail, they could only be failed.” - Vu'uklu'u, cohost of the Sol-Net TalkStream ”Face Smashing Opinions” and author of The Madness of the Lemurs: A Study of Terran Descent Humanity
It was called, by the being who created it, the Cavern of Night Stars.
A hollowed out area in the very bedrock, twelve miles long, two miles wide, a mile deep. It was almost completely dark inside, without a single strong light source. Hanging in mid-air were rivers of jewels, suspended by the psionic construct carefully built within the cavern. Each jewel had been wrested from the Mad Lemur Tomb World, purified, then exposed only to the light of a single star in the night sky before being carefully placed in the cavern. The jewels gleamed and twinkled with the same colors as they shone with in the night sky.
Each jewel represented a single stellar mass in the Cygnus-Orion Galactic Arm Spur.
The far wall, which held a single block of hand polished onyx, rippled like water for a moment before a figure drifted through, suspended on a platform of shining purple phasic energy.
The figure was dressed opulently. White lace and chiffon, a long strip of embroidered, bejeweled, and decorated fabric making a train drifting behind them. An ornate headdress and a full facial veil. Long gloves with jewels and freshwater pearls.
The platform dimmed and the figure landed on the ground with its own feet, clad in elegant shoes with long heels. It moved forward as the onyx wall rippled again.
Dalvanak the Defiled One was followed by a full dozen of Atrekna, all dressed in elegant finery wrested from the Mad Lemur Tomb World at great risk. All had cast the spells of might, wisdom, courage, and cunning to fool the Tomb Guardians in the great treasure vaults. Had all gathered the icons and relics necessary to fool the Tomb Guardians from the vast fields of the Defiled Dead and the Hungry Dead.
Some were dressed in wedding dresses, others in tuxedos, still others in ornate ball gowns, prom dresses, and cotillion gowns. Gems, mother of pearl, warsteel/gold alloy, and more glimmered and sparkled on the dozen following Dalvanak. Each one had an ornate satchel on a decorated shoulder strap. The satchels held carved and graven icons of the tiny biting insects they all submitted to as well as small globes containing those insects.
The Cult of the Malevolent Universe, the Cult of the Defiled One.
Dalvanak led the group deep into the cavern, all of them walking on their own feet instead of floating on disks of phasic energy.
When he, and he was a he because he had decided he was a he, stopped he motioned at the others, which gathered around him in a circle.
Forming something of Dalvanak's own genius.
A ”Speaker's Circle”, which allowed each Atrekna to use their largely atrophied power of speech rather than open their minds to one another. This allowed each Atrekna to think their own thoughts, come to their own conclusions, without being subtly influenced by more powerful Atrekna.
He pointed up at a single gem, which glimmered with psychic energy. A touch of his psionic powers and the gem glowed, tiny little sparks jumping off of it to represent the planets around the stellar mass the gem represented.
As the others watched, thirty lines of psychic power shot from the gem, touching five other gems. Each of those gems shot out five beams, connecting them to five others, which shot out five more beams. It repeated until there was the central hub, connected to thirty systems, which were connected to five layers of five expansions.
Dalvanak cleared his throat, a painful thing to do, but life in the Malevolent Universe was pain, and motioned at the large interconnected system.
”Behold, the 'Spoked Offensive', the grand victorious stroke by the Ancient Ones that will deliver to them the dominance of the galactic stub, followed by the galaxy, followed by the universe,” Dalvanak sneered.
One of the others, a she, for she had decided she was a she after hours of contemplation, shook her head, making her fabulous set of a dozen 'neck ties' she had tied around her forehead to hold her veil in place, swing and sparkle in the dim light.
”A mere hundred thousand stellar systems,” she scoffed, pointing at the gems. ”Compared to the billion of stellar systems in this galactic arm spur of a galaxy of trillions of stars.”
Dalvanak nodded. ”Yes.”
He waved his hand. ”Each system is responsible for temporally replicating the invasion force for the next systems.”
”Diminishing returns,” scoffed another, who was male due to the fact a dark moon had risen over his fortress where it was hidden on a barren and bleak world. When the sun rose, he would be female, this he had determined through careful meditation.
Dalvanak nodded. ”I have determined the reason for the diminishing returns.”
The others leaned forward slightly to signify their eagerness for the information and knowledge.
”This universe used chronotron particles rather than strings,” Dalvanak said. The others nodded, they too had managed to grasp the subtle yet powerful distinction. ”The chronotrons at the point of replication must be matched to the chronotrons at the point of destination,” the others all nodded as Dalvanak sipped a drink snatched from the Mad Lemur Tomb World. Flavored liquid in a foil pouch with a straw that was designed to bend toward the top. Dalvanak put the foil pouch back in his satchel and continued speaking. ”However, the chronotrons at the replication point become exhausted until they reach a certain low energy level.”
The others looked at one another, then at Dalvanak.
”The exhausted replication point chronotrons break into temporal genesis particles, which then pop, to use the technical term I have developed, into full chronotrons, each pop releasing a cascade of temporal energy,” Dalvanak said.
”Once the temporal energy cascade becomes strong enough, it would prevent the replication point from being used, as well as all replication points prior in the temporal matrix,” another stated.
Dalvanak nodded.
A fifth stepped forward and Dalvanak made a motion, a formal motion to ”Yield the Speaker's Square” to the fifth one, a she, who had decided she was a she after escaping a Mad Lemur ambush.
”The strategy depends upon being able to move enough forces into the next system to seize control of it rapidly enough that the Mad Lemurs and their inheritors cannot mount an effective defense before more reinforcements are temporally replicated or temporally shifted into the system,” she said.
”Affirmative,” Dalvanak said.
”Does their grand plan take into account the Mad Lemur's ability for asymmetric resistance levels?” she asked.
”Negative,” Dalvanak stated.
”Does it take into account that each stellar sinking sends up a signal that propagates faster than light and has a visibility index relative to the distance between the system and the observation point, which will alert the Mad Lemurs and the Inheritors of Madness of the stellar mass being sunk?” She asked.
”Negative,” Dalvanak said.
”Does it take into account that, by my estimates and computations, which I will make available to any who wish to examine my methods, that in some cases the signal that the system is being sunk will be detectable at a distance of hundreds or thousands of light years days, weeks, even months prior to the stellar system sinking?” she asked.
”Negative.”
”So, it merely assumes that the Spoked Offensive will be successful, it does not assume that the Mad Lemurs and the Inheritors of Madness will be able to mount any type of effective defense?” she asked, stepping back.
Dalvanak stepped forward, putting his 'juice box' away, taking possession of the Speaker's Square. ”Affirmative. The Ancient Ones have determined that this offensive will be too wide spread, too rapid, for the Mad Lemurs and the Inheritors of Madness to effectively resist,” he stated.
Dalvanak stepped back as another stepped forward, this one wearing an impressive full head covering fashioned after a fearsome reptile with fanged jaws and burning red eyes.
”And what of the Mad Lemur Extinction Weapon Systems?” it asked, fire flickering in the jaws of the full head covering mask. ”Have any been eliminated or do they still do the bidding of the ghosts of the Mad Lemurs and destroy all they find?”
”They do as they will and leave naught but destroyed Atrekna plans in their wake,” Dalvanak stated.
The dragon-headed Atrekna nodded slowly, folding his hands inside the sleeves of his marvelous gown, and stepped back.
Another stepped forward, this one wearing a mask made from the decorative skull of a Mad Lemur, with fabulous colors on it and gems around the eye sockets. It projected prismatic colors that whirled and danced in hypnotic patterns around the sides of its head. It had not decided what it was, feeling that whatever it was lay deeper in meditations.
”You have shown us the plans of the Ancient Ones, do you have the intelligence sources to show us the truth?” it asked, using the language of the People of the Decorative Skulls. The other Atrekna did not mind that they had to use the universal translators they had wrested from the Tomb World.
Many thought the language went well with the skull decor that the Atrekna wearing the mask preferred.
”As of merely hours ago,” Dalvanak stated. ”I have been watching carefully. Our organization has many who have infiltrated the ranks of the Leadership Convention and are willing to pass us information through secure channels.”
The others all inhaled respectively as Dalvanak raised his maimed hand. It was an action they had observed the Mad Lemurs and the Inheritors of Madness performing and they had discovered that emulating it increased their intellect and perception of revealed knowledge.