Raven Lunacy, Episode 40
The next few days are a bit strange. There's multiple reports of fighting from the city, the team plus Terra go out, and rather than going with them I volunteer to stay in the Tower, with Cyborg carrying my experimental team radio. The idea is that we test it out, and, if they need me I can be called in.
As it turns out, they don't. When they get there, to reported scenes of fighting, there's no one. Some blood, which Raven says is non-human, and Beast Boy's nose plus Robin's later tests agree. Signs of energy-weapon use, blackening, a small fire in one case. But, best guess was someone had swiftly but effectively cleaned-up the fight scene.
Reports suggested men in combat armour fighting things described as 'demons'. So, are our enemies fighting among themselves? Hard to know.
On the radio front, as I'd expected, lots of 'blind spots', communication black-outs, heavy interference. Without a lot of repeaters I couldn't see any choice except to use something enchanted. A pity, I'd really hoped to avoid that.
---
Sort of a minor detail, but I've taken the time to go over robo-Blackfire's scans. Really interesting. The living bits match the layout of those on my fleshed Geo-bot, except for an interesting node where the effector nerves interface. My psychic sight sees a bright area, there, and, UV exposure of the skin makes it brighter. Hmm.
There are some interesting differences in the scans of Starfire, not-corpse Blackfire, and robo-Blackfire. The genetics match, as expected, but there's some epigenetic changes in the non-robos. Might this be what the Psion 'enhancement' produces? Nurse seems to agree, but suggests tinkering with that sort of stuff can be... unwise.
I've achieved my aim, though. Written a manual for robo-Blackfire, stored it in a format that, according to Starfire, many alien races should be able to figure-out. Included a small box of spares, for the things most likely to fail, instructions on the manufacture of all the non-living parts. Some useful self-maintenance tools.
Funny thing, though. The chips that I described to Victor, that my father had designed, but I've not had any made in this world. Yet. The ones that allow my style of robot to work, indefinitely, without any external computing support. They're there, in robo-Blackfire. But, where did they come from?
Another minor detail, yes, it's in her manual, but, I wonder if Blackfire will learn to make use of the powerful radios in her head?
---
Now that I'm fitter I've been using my third eye, initially to carefully inspect the med-bay. I'd thought of going out, in my own time, poking around the city, seeing what I could see, but decided to start on a smaller scale. And, I wanted to spend more time with Nurf, when she didn't feel I was forced to be there. Being present if someone was brought-in injured, which fortunately didn't happen, was a pleasant side-effect.
Mostly things seemed OK, though I made a few changes, beefed-up the emergency drainage pumps, into the sump, in case the place became flooded for some reason. Ran some thorough tests on the air flush-and-replace system. Found and repaired some broken ceramic tiling. Nothing major. The Synthesiser was amazingly useful for doing repair work, for example making whole tiles out of broken fragments.
Something was niggling at me, though. I'd become quite familiar with Raven's wards, which protected the place. But, there were traces of her magic where I didn't expect it, in the actual medical hub. I think that the temporal acceleration magic had hidden it from me, before, but it felt like time magic, maybe mixed with something else that I didn't immediately recognise.
I asked Nurf, but she hadn't a clue. Then, with her permission, I took a closer look. Took her physical body along, as a guide, and partly as a test. Dimension walking, into the inside of her medical hub. Very carefully selecting dimensions, so I could see the insides, while not physically interacting with them. Tricky. I backed-off, tried a different route, several times.
I knew, in general terms, what I expected to find, as the hub was alch-tech. On the surface, everything looked good, when I checked the detail...
The original design had been for a core of three 'auto doc' units, integrated to work together, supported by five, more restricted, healing systems. And, paired support systems, with some secondary bits to do things like food synthesis.
However, there was now only one working auto doc, the others had been cannibalised for parts, and two working lesser healers. The support side, that was also barely working. Fortunately, all the power systems looked good, including one that I really didn't understand.
And, I don't have the skill to safely do repairs.
"Did you know about this, Nurf?"
"Of course. I'm a medical technician, I can do basic repairs, swap modules around, but nothing lasts forever. The system works, and I'd hoped some of your salvage could be put to good use."
"Right. I'll have to do a thorough inventory. Consider what could be broken-down for parts. Pity, I like the Synthesiser, but if bits of it are needed for you..."
Nurf looks unhappy. "I hope that wont be needed. I could see how cheerful it made you. Can't you get parts elsewhere?"
"Hmm. I've seen no evidence this sort of technology is known in this world. And, I'm very reluctant to ask Raven for further help, given other choices. There's a feeling of... consequences in doing that. I can think of two other possibilities, though. I'll work on it." I look directly at her, in the strange dimension space we're in.
"Nurf? Do you feel OK?"
"I... I'm not in contact with my larger self, am I? I... live in that computing system, there. This is strange." She thinks for a few moments.
"Does this mean I can leave the med-bay? Wander around the Tower? Visit the outside world?"
"Yes. I'm pretty sure it does."
---
When we returned to the med-bay, physically, dimensionally, avatar Nurf, on the screen, was obviously worried. Remote Nurf, the metre-tall person who'd gone with me, was also concerned, but, she went and lay in a med-bed. After about ten minutes the avatar said they'd resynchronised. Something she thought they could probably do quicker in future, maybe even learn to do without a med-bed.
Remote Nurf got up, and, apparently they were firmly linked again. I got the impression they planned to see what distance limits applied.
I was, again, being niggled with something. I'd been distracted by the repair issues, but on some level I'd also been looking at the magic. Raven's magic. The time and other stuff. It was particularly strong in the single working auto doc.
The last time I'd felt anything like that was when Raven opened the dimensional gateway. In the wall of her 'training' (personal) room. Took Robin and I off to that strange training place...
---
I'd asked Raven. At our next training meet. In her room. About the strange magic. She seemed... pleased.
"Good! I'd wondered if you'd spot that. I'm guessing you'd like an explanation?"
"Please..."
She thinks for few moments.
"I searched, for a long time, for something which fitted our needs. Medical systems like that are often tied into the destiny of many beings, so, finding one that was 'free' was difficult. I could only find broken ones." She sighs.
"So, I looked really carefully at a broken one far isolated from any beings. Lost in 'deep space'. Then, I walked up and down that time-line, searching for... possibilities, it might be best to call them. Very few time-lines are 'pure', there are almost always choices, never taken, which boil-off, dissipate." She floats a goblet over, pours water into it from a jug, drinks. I suspect she uses the pause to ponder, a bit.
"Then, I interfered with destiny. Took some of those off-shoots, strengthened them, wove them back into the time-line. Ones that kept the medical system working, long after it would have failed. Why didn't I just go in, 'acquire' it, before the first major failure? My... instincts were that was a really bad idea. In magic, sometimes, you need to trust your instincts." And, she nods, firmly.
"It was a balancing act, I worked-out later, between attracting the wrong sort of attention and getting a working system. Best as I can figure-out, it all took me several months, of my time." She coughs into her fist.
"You'll recall, that, from watching the pony world, until you first enter a world never-visited before, you can wander, timelessly, up and down it's time-line." She looks at me.
"Thank you." She waves it off.
"It was an interesting and educational exercise. And, after all, I wasn't getting any older."
"On that subject, yes, thank you for explaining, but... Am
I getting any older?"
"No. You're not. Part of the conditions I set in your initial summoning. Though, I'd recommend anchoring that in your meta-psyche. I'll loan you a book."
"Thank you."
AN: Bit of a background, back-fill, episode. But, I thought it was fun!
AN: So, it's all in the genes, the DNA? Well... You might want to look at
epigenetics...
AN: I really don't know why I should be referencing
Bell's Theorem... (Actually, it's to do with ideas about reality being 'fuzzy'... And, maybe when someone gives you a list of alternatives, try saying 'all of the above'.)