Book 5 Chapter 20 - The Lady of the Arc (Notes)

(This might be a repost but I'm just getting my ducks in order for the 'workflow'. Prepare for a spam of posts because I wasn't able to get them uploaded during the week. the housing crisis hit a very good friend of mine and needed help moving so I've been waiting until after the move to post everything. stay safe everyone ~Squiggles)

Jasmine stands atop Rynards back surrounded by her entourage and soldiers, they make their way into enemy territory.

It's hot, humid and smells terrible.

There is talk amongst themselves. Xant and Itsuki comment about the ship being the same as the station, a living entity.

Xant comments that’s probably where the smell is coming from. If the ship had been stiffed for so long a lot of its organs had been stagnant, even rotting from the inside. Jasmine’s grief bomb likely woke it up, triggered the defences (the monsters) and then during the power ballad either woke it up entirely or it finished booting its systems.

jasmine asks why the rajavan lady didn’t keep the ship running after it was stiffed.

Xant is quiet for a moment.

Sayings that the Rajavan is the ship. While they typically don't have individually formed personalities, it's got the characteristics of human genealogy, and the brain quirks are a package deal, it's possibly as human as her or the others…

Itsuki mentions that human genealogy is right and points out that the insides are noticeable organic, vertebrae, ribs, and bone structure of living things hold up the structure of the enormous ship. Itsuki starts naming bones, it's very human.

they reach a door, steel moulded with images of clouds and sunbeams with an inscription across the arc.

“Stairway to heaven,”

The doors open at the ‘password’ and it's even creepier inside. The elegance of the yacht is nothing compared to the inside of the ship, so many styles mashed together, art deco, Greco/roman, Indian, Meso-American various Chinese dynasties. It's beautiful but hollow, an imitation of human culture, none of the statues have faces.

Council forces didn't make it to this part of the ship so it remains untouched, as the soldiers mill in and they decide their next move another door opens.

Humanoids in the dark suits appear, they have their heads bowed and through subtle freq, beckon them to follow.

Jasmine tells Letu to find where the monsters are coming from,

They make their way up to the bridge, and on the way they see remnants of Council workers, dead and being hauled away by more faceless thrawls.

The bridge is an opulent imitation of a ‘starship’ bridge. (like if you smooshed a Star Trek bridge with an opera theatre) and from the floor acends ‘the lady’.

Nerve tendrils connect her to the floor, she is beautiful by human standards (sans nose, six black/gold eyes, blue skin), dressed in long flowing silks, posing like a Hindu goddess and has a glowing, golden halo crown.

She is absolutely terrifying.

Her voice echos with several tones and freq pulses, while she stands before them the pulses come from below their feet.

She welcomes them, the humans and those who have been ‘blessed’ and bows.

Jasmine confronts her, and the lady obliges her questions.

The Rajava had genetically altered themselves to be machines, to be all knowing and all solving to create their utopia. And after many calculations they decided to solve the ultimate problem.

What to do about the heat death of the universe. If they could solve that in every other problem was moot. So they began designing civilization to solve that problem, the Zenthi translator device was supposed to help progress but instead caused chaos, diverging resources for ‘unnessicary means’ the war was started to return to form.

The war was costly and delaying the solution, and just when they thought the problem solved. The arvas showed up.

The swarm was too large and fast for the Rajavans to calculate, so, they did what was necessary and incorporated them into their genepool.

And then the great pains began, they had lost empathy and sympathy during the pervious thousand years and relearned to feel. The passions of the arvas overtook them, the guilt over the trillions who had suffered under their rule, caused them to give up on the solution, they imploded and fled in exile, they did not deserve to live amongst those who had fought to keep their individuality and their emotions intact.

They sailed aimlessly through the galaxy for over a century, cut off from various cells.

And then, salvation.

An untouched planet teeming with life, alone in a sparse galaxy.

At first they just watched from a distance, and then, curiosity prompted them to incorporate the new life.

And their eyes were opened.

Emotions now held more intensity, interpretation, imagination, dreams… they were finally complete, no longer living machines chained with guilt, but a new species wanting redemption. They owe humanity a huge debt, and they will pay that debt with creating a new utopia. Humanity dreams of the stars and they shall receive them.

The lady then continues her monolgue about how wonderful humans are, their brains robust yet malleable, the various mental and genetic anomalies that produce unique Freq pulses and of course, they gave the Rajavans the great gift of life after death.

The humans are now all on edge, the lady, obliviously continues, death is nothing to worry about, that they now can simply escape into dreams. The recorded pulses can be put into new vessels to continue on and interpret the messages from beyond. Reality is theirs to bend to their will and the galaxy shall be remolded-(some more other off the wall crazy conspiracy stuff, i’ll have to go digging on the internet…)

Jasmine screams for her to ‘stop’.

That they are insane, and haven't learned anything at all… they still think they have the authority to decide for everyone else.

The lady’s features turn dark, repeating Jasmine saying ‘stop’.

“I know your voice,” Tendrils come down and grab her, scanning the code on the sign of her head, “ YOU ARE THE CALAMITY”