The plan was simple: if implanted dreamshards protected against infection, then hUen-dE and any other Gatherers—at the GTS, or anywhere else—would be free of the plague, assuming the monsters hadn't killed them first.
As always, time was of the essence.
EUe flew back to the rest of Vyx's body.
"Vyx can fly," the alien said, answering EUe's earlier question.
"Through outer space?"
"Yes."
"Can you grow?" he asked.
"Yes," Vyx replied. "Why EUe ask?"
"Even if UlU is going to be destroyed, twEfE and our civilization can still escape." EUe thumped his hand on his chest. "I'm not the only twEfE with a dreamshard in his chest."
"More? More!?" Vyx trembled with excitement.
EUe looked the prism in the eye. "Yes, there are more of us. We're called Gatherers. If my dreamshard was the reason I didn't get sick, the other Gatherers should not have gotten sick, either. If we can get your body to grow and fly, and find some way to make nectar, the other Gatherers and I could live inside you."
As he spoke, EUe realized he was effectively proposing to turn Vyx into a generation ship. Granted, twEfE hadn't yet built any generation ships, but, there was a first time for everything.
"Would a lot more power let you grow really big?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then that's what we'll do. Uka-yen and I found a giant dreamshard. We'll go get it, and I'll put it in you! That should give you more than enough juice." He looked up at the floating prime in
"Would it help EUe?" Vyx asked.
EUe nodded. "Very much so. It would help a lot of people."
"Then yes! Yes yes yes! Vyx like helping."
The words were music to EUe's ears!
"But, EUe… there is a problem," Vyx said.
Fuck. "What is it?"
"Vyx is…" The prism hummed quizzically. "What is the word for the kind of bad which can be helped and made good again?"
"Damaged," EUe said. "Broken."
"Yes, Vyx is damaged. Needs more power."
EUe flew inside the Impactor and settled down on the floor. Vyx swooped over his head, floating over to the hole in the wall, where it slotted itself in place, rejoining the rest of its body.
"Can EUe use EUe's dreamshard to give Vyx power?" the alien asked.
There was a pause.
"Can EUe—"
"—Be patient," EUe said, firmly, "I'm thinking about it."
He started to pace. His toe-claws clicked on the Impactor's silver floor.
On the one hand, EUe was all but certain that offering up his dreamshard to Vyx would be enough power to get its engines up and running, and then some. On the other hand, not only did EUe haven't the slightest clue as to what that might do to him, but, more importantly, he didn't know if he could do so without putting an end to his dreamshard's fungus-repelling effects.
EUe held his bad arm against his chest and looked up at the big wall into which Vyx had slid. "What about the drones?"
"What is drones?" Vyx asked.
EUe pointed at the wall. "Out there, in the big hole up on the mountainside—there are more of you, right?"
The polyhedral ornaments up on the walls and ceiling churned and spun; affirmative chirps echoed through the chamber.
"Big yes," Vyx said. "More Vyx."
"Wait… all of you are named Vyx?"
"Yes," Vyx answered. "All Vyx are Vyx. Vyx are both one and many. Vyx is name of kind, not one."
EUe figured this meant he ought to call them the Vyx, but he could worry about that later.
"What about drones?"
"Up there, by the big hole," EUe explained, "there are small pieces of Vyx that break free and move. I call them drones. Do you understand?"
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"Yes."
"What are they doing?"
"Searching for food," Vyx replied. "Get food and make more Vyx."
"More Vyx?"
"Yes," Vyx said. "Vyx is many in one. All Vyx always touching all Vyx, even when not together."
"Can we get them to fix you?" EUe asked.
"No. Many are sick with plague."
EUe blinked both his pairs of eyelids in surprise. "Wait… what?!" Then, with a jump, he leapt up into a thrumming-winged hover.
"Where are you going?" Vyx asked.
"I want to see it for myself. I want to make sure they are—"
—Suddenly, one of the chamber's walls became completely transparent. EUe dropped back to the floor and slowly approached the wall. But then he realized: no, it wasn't transparent, not exactly. It was like a scrying pool, or a video playing on the Philharmonium. However, the footage playing on it was of a low-to-the-ground view from the center of the crater.
Somehow, Vyx was somehow showing him what one of the other Vyx was seeing.
"How are you doing this?"
"Vyx share eye with other Vyx. Other Vyx are sick, though, and cannot make eye well, but they still make eyes a little bit. Then the other Vyx share with Vyx what they sees, and Vyx shows EUe."
That floored EUe. They'd already disseminated the new tech this quickly?
"Incredible," he muttered.
EUe had to force himself to stop thinking about the engineering details to focus on the images themselves. The colors weren't quite right. Everything was shifted perhaps a shade and a half toward ultraviolet, but other than that, it was fine. The scene on the display was littered with what could only be new Vyx in the early stages of creation. They were assembled around the crater, and looked like geometric rock formations. The area was also littered with drones, most of which weren't moving.
The more EUe looked, the worse it got.
Many—though not all—of the Vyx being built were coming up crooked. Dark, dulled blotches mottled their bodies' silvery surfaces. To his astonishment, EUe even saw patches of the fungus' tell-tale filaments growing along most of the drones, staining them black and green.
No wonder the drones were moving so erratically!
"The fungus is eating through them, just like it did to us," EUe mumbled. "I'm sorry."
"Vyx is sorry too, for not helping EUe like EUe wanted."
EUe clacked his beak several times, fighting back a coo.
"You don't need to apologize, Vyx." He clenched his fists, hoping to chase off the painful feelings.
The image vanished.
"The other Vyx won't be able to help us, I guess."
Then EUe stomped his foot and slapped himself on the beak.
"I'm an idiot!" He walked over to the entry hole. "I'll be right back."
EUe flew out through the entry hole and Vyx sent its floating prism out behind him.
The Gatherer zoomed over the coastline, raising his second eyelids.
"There."
EUe spotted his target through his second lids: a brilliant ember glowing at the center of the charred, glassed pit that had once been the researchers' camp.
"Where are you going?" Vyx yelled.
"Dreamshards are indestructible! I don't know if it will be enough, but the shard that was used to build the camp should definitely give you a nice boost."
Landing, EUe took two steps forward, bent over, and dug his claws through char and dirt. Eventually, the ground revealed a tiny sliver of a dark crystal. He picked it up without a moment's hesitation and tossed it into a levitation bubble—courtesy of eOeOan—before flying back to the rest of Vyx's body.
They returned to the vessel a moment later.
"Vyx, what should I do with this?"
The prism froze in place, half-way into its wall-hole. "EUe do what?"
"How do I give the dreamshard's power to you?"
"Like this!"
A chain of dodecahedra slithered up the wall as the prism slotted into place. A moment later, the big wall slid up, making a sound like metal on metal or stone against stone, forming a tunnel. The patterns with which the walls receded into the floor and ceiling reminded EUe of the ekerarU-Uten-Ute—the famous basalt columns at hlU-lE-E.
Vyx's voice echoed from all around. "Go inside."
Nodding, EUe entered the rectangular corridor. Paranoia tugged at his shoulder, begging him to look behind him to make sure the alien hadn't double crossed him and locked him inside, but EUe quashed that feeling. It wasn't right to doubt a friend, and Vyx had more than earned his trust. EUe didn't want his instincts to lead him astray. Too many twEfE had suffered because of them.
It had to end.
As the hallway continued to open and deepen, the path turned at a right angle. Shortly after that, it dead-ended in a small, seemingly featureless room, with angled, dome-like walls.
"Vyx?" EUe said.
There was a soft chime, after which a hexagonal dais rose up from the center of the room. Geometry telescoped out of it, forming a parasol-like structure. EUe didn't need his second lids to know that powerful communions were at work on the parasol's bell.
Was it some kind of interface?
As EUe stepped onto the dais, a small receptacle opened in the parasol's top.
"EUe give dreamshard here," Vyx said. Light pulsed through the walls, softly glowing in time with the ship's words.
Gingerly, EUe slid the shard into the receptacle, which closed on its own a moment later.
The light dimmed.
EUe looked around nervously. "Vyx?"
Suddenly, the lights flared on, stunningly bright. Everything shook, knocking EUe off balance. He landed on his knees.
"Wh—what's happening!?"
The surrounding walls' silvery sheen bled away as the lights returned to normal. It was like a parting fog. Images formed on the walls.
It took a moment for EUe to put two and two together, and when he did, he gasped.
He ran up to one of the walls.
"We're flying…"
The walls displayed a live view of Vyx's surroundings. It was a dizzying view. EUe felt like he was perched on a mountaintop.
He hopped in triumph. "You're flying, Vyx! You're really flying!"
"I'm flying!" Vyx chimed. "Vyx is flying!"
Excited tones danced through the air.
EUe walked around as the earth fell away, to take in the panorama. He saw the ocean and the other Impactors; he saw the forests and the mountains and the great crater in the foothills. The drones that hadn't run away from it were dead, or—worse—lumped together in fused abominations.
It looked like none of them were going to survive.
The jittery noises coming from the walls instantly petered out.
"EUe…" Vyx said.
EUe nearly sang for him. The Gatherer shook his head and pressed his hand on the wall. "I'm sorry, Vyx… they… that shouldn't have happened to them."
"What can we do?" Vyx asked.
"Help me," EUe answered. "Help me help everyone who couldn't help themselves. We've both lost so many others. Let's stop anyone else from losing like we have."
"How?"
"We're going to make you into a generation ship. twEfE will live inside you."
"What about other Vyx?"
EUe sighed. "We twEfE have our own ways of commemorating the dead. I'll show you once this is over, I promise. Just hold on buddy, we're almost there."
They could grieve once everyone was safe.
A soft tone sounded through the chamber. "Where do we go?"
"Let me show you…" but then EUe paused and stared at the parasol. Walking up to it, he slid his hand across its surface, in the direction of the Capital.
It just felt like the right thing to do.
"This way, Vyx," he said. "Go this way."
The landscape began to drift by, without the slightest tug of motion. The ship rocketed off in exactly the right direction.
"We're coming, guys," EUe muttered. "Just hold on."
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