12 Miles Below

“Food was quite excellent. Though I am still unsure why you refused to eat the exoskeleton of the dax-isopod strains. It is entirely compatible with human digestion, and a superb source of carbon and nitrogen.” Wrath said, walking next to me.

My house guards escorted us both with straight backs, all having a pistol and a hand on those carbon fiber blades I’d made.

House guards typically numbered high and were the backbone of a House's martial strength. They were all excellent soldiers, and Kidra had implemented training orders to build up sword skills from the moment she'd asked me to research into figuring out how occult blades worked. Now they're all carrying occult blades. Pretty soon we’d have enough armors for all of them to wear those too.

Kidra, Father and Shadowsong remained behind to discuss head of house items, so it was just a nice long relaxing stroll home for Wrath and I, with Cathida muted ahead of time.

“We do eat bug shells.” I said, “Just not directly like that, you barbarian.”

“But you do eat them directly.” Wrath insisted. “I watched you eat other insects without deshelling them.”

“All of those are bite sized, I’m not going to chomp down on pure chitin. Plus it tastes like nothing, gets stuck all over the teeth, and you’d need to wash it down after each bite. No thank you, hard pass.” I said. “Shells of that size are just ground up into flour and reused for other things. Easy and normal.”

“I suppose that is an acceptable use of resources.” Wrath conceded. “Your cultural norms are quite peculiar compared to Undersiders.”

“We can stop by the library, have you read a few books about the clan’s history and culture. That could get you up to speed, and I’m sure the guards won’t mind the detour.”

To that, the sergeant at the lead gave a short nod. They weren’t here on any kind of time crunch. Plus Wrath was still Deathless to them right now, only a few people in the clan knew her true nature.

She hummed for a moment, thinking. “I found the most valuable knowledge has been firsthand experience. Directly immersing myself in this clan’s culture is more appealing to me.”

She wanted to learn the clan culture by going in blind. Okay. Let it be said I tried to do the right thing, and I’ve got witnesses all around me who knew I’d tried to offer Wrath an honest solution.

So now that that’s out of the way, time to do the fun thing. “Well, since you’re Deathless, you can probably get away with just about any don’t-do’s. Lucky you. I say go for it, I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

Wrath’s eyes narrowed for a moment, glancing at me with a skeptical eyebrow. “I am aware that this is what you call ‘bait’ - and it will not work on me. Kidra has warned me to expect such things from you.”

Nearly had her eating a plate in front of the clan lord, so perhaps Kidra’s lessons hadn’t yet sunk in.

“Bait? Me? Possibly. But I’m sure someone wise and clever like yourself won’t make too many mistakes.”

Feathers could detect lies in voice patterns, or at least within a percentage. “I highly doubt I will make as many mistakes as you predict. I am a fast learner.” She seemed quite smug, brushing her wings back into position.

Also never let it be said I let easy wins fly by my nose. “Wanna bet?” I asked.

She did.

Unfortunately for my aspirations, the moment we walked into Winterscar estate, the servants had already been given instructions. Including “Whatever Keith is up to, don’t let him.”

The world is just out to get me sometimes. Not that causing trouble was my first priority.

I went straight for my sanctum, and double checked I had all my traps still in place while Wrath took a tour of the estate grounds. Most of the Winterscar knights were keeping patrol of the sector, and they did stop me for full identification to make absolutely sure I was who I said I was. So security was still good.

Reached the spot I'd hid the chest, opened up the whole contraption and pried the lid up.

Inside my little treasure trove, Tsuya’s mite seeker remained exactly the same as it had all those months ago when I’d taken it out of a dead crusader’s remains. Was slightly afraid it had been swiped at some point, but my security was good enough.

And now Abraxas wanted this.

Trusting him completely sounded like an excellent way to dig my own grave. Maybe he wanted us alive long enough to get his hands on it.

Wrath still had to meet the goddess at some point, I think I’ll be asking her what the heck this thing is supposed to be used for exactly and why the mites want it. Who knows, maybe she even knew Abraxas.

Either way, the mite seeker was still in my possession, and none of the decoys looked like they'd been touched either.

The baths were my next target. Every few weeks, they’d be closed down for a few hours and left open only to Retainers. It was a traditional nod of respect to large returning expeditions, who wanted to spend time around peers instead of being surrounded by all the different castes mixed together.

Not optimal bath usage, but some allowances get made.

In this case, since we were the returning expedition with the most armors ever recorded, the clan seemed to universally agree to leave the baths to us that very hour. Gossip traveled quickly, and even quicker if it’s news like this.

Knowing there were two new Deathless walking around also made the splash, and even the Retainer houses all had an unworded agreement to leave the baths to only the elite of the clan.

Who all happened to be people that knew exactly who Wrath was, because they’re in Atius’s inner loop.

Basically if we didn’t take a soak now while we had the chance, any other time it would be in public. So Kidra couldn’t really contend against it.

The clan lord made a quick decree just to make it official, and had his Chenobi make sure the room was swept clean of any evesdroppers. Easy task, the baths were sealed already by default in order to retain heat better. Soundproofing was built-in. All the tiles might make it look like it was old and worn down, but under those tiles was very real and very well designed walls.

With the stupid amounts of armors the clan was still in the process of distributing, it wasn’t hard to have a few knights walk around and run active scanning to make sure the place was clear and free.

Wrath was still surrounded by good influences like the house servants, so they didn’t let her go off unprepared. And by the time we made it to the baths, Kidra was there already, waiting.

She took Wrath under her wing, all while shooting me a glare that told me if I tried anything at all, I was going further down her scraplist.

Wrath herself hadn’t quite understood the appeal of sitting in hot water for extended periods of time. Undersiders took showers mostly, done to keep clean. If they planned to stay in the water for long, it was inside their giant lake.

On my end, I don’t see the appeal in sitting in cold water for extended periods of time. Or sharing that same water with a ton of animals, some of which had teeth and claws.

No thank you, agree to disagree.

I went straight into the changing rooms. Like usual, the smell of warm soap was the first to hit. But this time around there weren’t any kids shouting or sounds of feet running on the ground. Just the snips of scissors the barbers used, and a light background drone of discussion.

Got my hair done, lone beard hairs trimmed out, then went to get cleaned up before walking out of the grooming hall and into the baths themselves.

As usual, the place never failed to impress on the sheer size. Rest of the clan was always cramped, even in the estates that could afford the best. But the Baths was the one place clans made exceptions for.

Wrath and the others exited their side of the changing rooms. My sister’s handiwork was evident, since Wrath was actually well dressed up.

Interesting to see just how far Wrath had taken the ‘looking human’ aspect.

She’d told me before that she’d modified her throat to have vocal cords instead of a speaker. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see she could make the rest of her skin look normal. Still had wings though, that part she’d never give up.

Father on the other hand, hadn’t changed anything at all. And he had no skin under the armor, so he’d skipped out completely on the baths and marched straight to the house grounds.

There’d be a shitshow to pay in the future for having House Winterscar house both Deathless. But Wrath didn’t care to live anywhere else, and Father planned to make most of his time spent sparring anyhow. Politics wasn’t something he cared about. And now that he was considered a lone Deathless, he was effectively free of politics completely, save for the few knights who already knew or had enough inner knowledge and could add a few numbers together.

Several of the more famous clan knight I’d expect to see in the baths weren’t here, and given their singular passion, I had a hunch they were of the same exact mind Father was. Likely on the very same sparring ground too.

The clan’s most infamous knight was now available to spar against, never needed sleep or rest in between sets, and only a few people knew about him.

So the baths were a lot emptier than normal, and of the people here, hardly anyone gave it a second look when Wrath marched up and sat down in my circle. Most had spent time with her already in the airspeeder or underground in her city.

“I've adjusted my skin sensors to be more human-like. I am hoping to understand the appeal of taking a bath now.” She said, dipping a toe into the water.

“I talked her into it.” Kidra said, taking her own seat and letting the water go up to her shoulders. Hair bundled up to keep it safe from the water.

Wrath didn’t care to bundle up her hair like the rest of the women usually did. And when she entered, it spread out from her like a spiderweb.

She gave a minor head tilt, gathered it up from the water and tied it up in a ponytail. It looked like she’d just walked out of a hair master’s seat. Not surprised, I’d bet her hair was stronger than steel and would still look silky smooth even after having mud thrown on it. At this point, I think she was just showing off.

“The architecture is fascinating.” Wrath said, looking around her. “Almost every other location I’ve seen thus far has been designed to minimize the space taken. This structure seems to be the opposite.”

Half submerged benches were scattered around like usual, with smaller islands blocked off by smaller hedges of plants. Flower pedals often floated around the water, depending on the season.

“I would very much enjoy bringing Tamery here with me.” She finished.

“Your second in command down in the city?” I asked. “How’d you befriend her anyhow?”

“She had skills that I required and others lacked. I needed to speak to her often, and during that time, she made an effort to connect with me.”

“She’s rather timid until you speak of a topic she cares for.” Kidra said. “I am still surprised she managed to keep you hidden for so long within the city when I focused on finding you.”

“She was better acquainted with the Undersider culture and territory. Part of the skills she had that others did not.” Wrath said.

I hadn’t met her a great amount of times before, but I do remember her being pretty protective of Wrath. She was more an ambassador or negotiator for Wrath, helping her make deals with the local Undersider politics. General Zaang and her made a pretty good administrative team for Wrath.

Or rather, a pretty good common-sense team. Wrath alone could crunch through hundreds of numbers in seconds, so she’d never needed a Logi to work with. Or the undersider version of a Logi.

Last I’d seen of her, she was running off with Yrob, that machine screamer who liked to cook. Get the feeling it wasn’t the last time I’d see those two, but unless she found a way to come up to the clan, there’s almost no chance we’d find her again when we dove down underground. There were a few different cities that everyone fled to, and from those cities the refugees might have filtered further away.

Talk meandered around different topics, but there was still a sword hanging over us all. Specifically Tsuya.

“Well, let’s think of it this way. Good news: We now knew exactly what Tsuya was using to clean up the surface.” I said. “Bad news: Absolutely nothing we could do against three orbital fortresses that could glass anything that looks up the wrong way. Unless you happen to have ideas?”

Wrath shook her head. “There are no known records of combat or defenses I can reuse. The closest resemblance can be traced back to earlier human eras when surface-to-space missiles were utilized.”

“At the very least those weapons are technically on our side.” Kidra said. “I find it comforting in a way. Humanity isn’t without its own ways to stay alive. And clearly it had worked since Relinquished still didn’t know the surface existed, even with her direct underlings knowing all about it.”

“But what exactly could tip Relinquished off in the first place?” I asked.

“There may be some answers to be found by searching the negative data rather than positives.” Wrath said.

“As in check what Tsuya doesn’t want to happen against what she doesn’t seem to care about.” I hummed. “Well, thinking about it like a Reacher would, she likely only had one chance to get the geass in. So it had to be something that could both resist that era’s current events, and also be flexible enough to handle future events. Also there had to be a limit to how much it could do, otherwise why not implant the compulsion to self-destruct?”

“There may be some part of that." Wrath said. "From the historical archives, it seems Relinquish's mental decline isn't a speculation. There are clear marks of degradation in her sanity and focus. If Tsuya wasn't able to end her in one hit, I believe she opted to slowly cripple her."

Kidra nodded along, thinking. "And Tsuya would know that keeping something this large hidden from absolutely everyone for all time isn’t feasible.”

Humans themselves would start searching for each other, and develop trade routes. Not to mention Feathers had centuries to figure out a solution and none of it has worked yet. “Maybe any kind of report from a third party is something the geass covers?” I asked, putting down the rest of my theory plot points together. “Like if it’s not her own discovery, the geass kicks in? How’s it look anyhow when that happens?”

“She experiences a memory wipe.” Wrath said. “I’ve made that mistake once before, when I tracked you and Kidra back to your clan and informed her of it. It will be as if she never heard the information in the first place. Each memory wipe also causes her to grow more frustrated. To’Aacar insinuated that going far enough will end up with torture. He was willing to stay silent and wait to see me attacked, however he also expected her anger to be indiscriminate, and he would be caught as well.”

“Self-sabotage.” Kidra hummed. “That follows the mental decline compulsion. How badly do Feathers want to have the surface eliminated?”

“They’re Feathers, of course they want the surface wiped out.” I said, but she waved a hand at me.

“Consider the possibility that this isn’t strictly true. From what I’ve seen and heard of Feathers, they don’t seem to have the same single minded focus Relinquished does. I’ve wondered why for some time now. If what Wrath said is accurate, then I don’t think it’s a coincidence Feathers seem to be indifferent to humanity. I think it’s a result.”

Wrath gave a slight head tilt, considering the question. “Goals and aspirations change from Feather to Feather, however I do not personally know any that genuinely wanted humanity itself destroyed. Although, I have not met many Feathers.”

“You got more to that theory.” I said, looking at Kidra.

“I do. I think it's a pseudo natural selection. Feathers that keep trying to have the surface exposed, eventually get dealt with by Relinquished herself in those fits of anger. The ones left alive are those who don’t care to push Relinquished about that subject.”

Wrath hummed. “That theory is logically sound. But what of Feathers who choose to expose the surface from a less direct manner? To'Aacar warned me before I endangered myself.”

“Perhaps this is why Tsuya chooses to eliminate any Feather or machine sightings on the surface.” Kidra said. “Killing Feathers spotted on the surface is likely more a ‘just in case’ measure come to think of it. And the surface remains undiscovered, so this method works.”

“We also got to factor in humans.” I said, sitting up a bit. “My internet idea I had way back was clearly something Tsuya kept an eye out and eliminated if she saw it happen. Any kind of wired connection between underground and the surface doesn’t exist right now, which means Tsuya has her hands all over that.”

“If she is behind the clans, and our culture, it would explain the traditions of sealing off any entrances to the underground once a clan moves into a shelter.” Kidra said. “There’s still a good zone of habitable territory that could be inhabited without drawing machines, and that tract of land goes unused. I’ve always thought it was wasteful.”

“Not to mention she outright bombed an entire site I was in, just because it was connected to the underground.” I said, nodding.

“You did turn it on.” Kidra said.

“Skipping past that point, there’s definitely something dangerous with having a wired connection to the underground. So if I were a Feather trying to get the surface noticed by Relinquished, I’d be building that connection.”

“Assuming Feathers even know that this could be a weak point, a giant orbital gun pointed at the earth is clearly a solution to that problem.” Kidra said. “If she sees machines sulking on the surface, she’ll destroy them.”

“There is a vulnerability to all this.” Wrath said. “I was able to walk on the surface by using a relic armor to hide my features. The orbital fortresses must rely mostly on visual scanners, or not be equipped with anything that could penetrate deeper into a structure or armor.”

“So how does Tsuya keep Feathers from sneaking on the surface? Because she must have figured something out by now.” I asked.

“Perhaps she has another set of defenses? She needs to be able to tell when a surface clan attempts to make a wired connection after all, as you've mentioned. As for Feathers, they will not attempt to disguise themselves.” Wrath said. “They are far too proud to pretend to be human.”

“You did.” Kidra said. “You hid inside the city and orchestrated a full revolt.”

Wrath frowned for a moment, before nodding. “That's correct. Then, I believe her current strategy will only be viable until another deviant Feather appears. One who isn’t affected by pride and powerful enough to hold off Tsuya’s backup plan.”

“If I were in her situation and had only one chance to implant a non-fatal compulsion in my enemy, then I would also have a whole system setup as redundancy." Kidra said. "There must be ways to recover from a breakpoint like that."

I gave a shrug. "What I’ve seen, it feels more like she’s running ragged trying to put out fires. Lasering things out of existence, blowing up sites, tossing random surface scavengers an occult book as a thank-you for grabbing stranded gear, it all seems like last-second planning to me.”

“The war has been going on for thousands of years. Things had to unravel sooner or later.” Kidra said. “We might be seeing the frayed end of what was once something perfectly woven.”

"But what are the chances it happens in our lifetimes?" I asked. "It's been a few thousand years, and everything's still working."

Kidra motioned to Wrath. "And what are the chances that we discover the first Feather to be friendly to humans in our lifetime?"

She blinked back.

All right, maybe we do live in interesting times.