"Hey, you're living in your own Private Idaho
Where do I go from here to a better state than this?
Well
Don't be blind to the big surprise
Swimming round and round like the deadly hand
Of a radium clock
At the bottom
Of the pool"

-Private Idaho, B52s

Dirty Spades: Side C

A full-on downpour brought Nakajima Hive to a standstill. Caretaker robots took shelter in alcoves, in alleyways, or under the awnings of businesses long-shuttered. The streets seemed to have become rivers that carried whatever small debris the caretakers had missed. Elision tromped happily up these streets, running down the middle of the road and slamming his huge ceramite boot down into puddles, joyfully watching the backsplash. Fret clenched his organic eye shut as another spurt of muddy water splashed up against him. He didn't bother to complain about getting soaked either. He had to conserve his energy, as his stay in stasis had affected his internal power supply. The entire system would have to be ripped out and replaced, hopefully before he died. They soon reached the landing shuttles of the Clockwork Waltz. Elision walked past the guards, up the loading ramp, and once inside, gently removed Fret from his shoulders.

Up ahead in the cockpit, two faces and lasguns were pointed at them by his pilots. The guns were then lowered as they recognized their Meister. One pulled himself from the seat and came over, grabbing a medpack on the way. Elision set Fret down on a bench, then deposited his legs beside him. "Meister, what happened?"

"Sheen is a frakwit, that is what happened. He's an insecure slab of scrap and he would make a better coat rack." Fret hissed, then began searching the seat. "I need a power cable. Internals are shot."

Elision sat back on his heels as the pilot ran to find a cable. The man returned and gave Fret the business end. Fret lifted up a flap on his coat, then drove it home. The sudden rush was bit jarring, but welcome. For a moment he leaned back, letting his systems catch up and link with the shuttle. From there he was able to make a brief connection to his Spades then subsequently Morbid Overture and Aggravated Assault. Morbid Overture immediately requested diagnostics, then started making way toward his position once she saw them. ~Darlin, don't worry, I'll be fine.~

~You won't be fine until you are settled in my Command Throne.~

~It's so cute when a war engine of your size starts fussing over me. Make it look like you're on patrol or something. Sheen still thinks I'm in a stasis tank.~ Fret breathed deeply again. He wanted off the planet. He wanted his Spades rounded up, his Titans secure on the shuttles, and back up at home on the Clockwork Waltz in a re-gen bath. Using his connection to the shuttle, he checked their readiness to depart, and came across a strange message in the cogitator system.

Connection to M07R4H not found…

There should have been no connection to this M07R4H. If anything, the shuttles would be wondering why they couldn't find the Clockwork Waltz. Fret addressed his pilots. "When did this happen?"

"Almost immediately after we landed."

"And you didn't tell me then?"

"There was the plant Meister...and at the time we thought a system reboot would clear it. Not the first time the machine spirit of this shuttle has acted up."

Elision studied a screen next to him. +I had been wondering about that.+

Fret growled under his breath. ~Eli, I can't play along if I don't know the tune.~

~My memory is still hazy. I haven't been this sober in a long time. But I remember M07R4H. It's a central cogitator system that runs the entire planet. If M07R4H was taken down, then the entire world would be defenseless.~

~Except for things that ran off subroutines like the caretaker bots.~

~Yes.~

~The shuttles shouldn't have even been looking for a connection, except to the Waltz. Unless the Waltz has been compromised as well...and if it has, then Sheen and Klaxon aren't going anywhere either.~ Fret folded his arms. It was looking like he would have to keep his promise to this LaFolia person after all. He didn't want to and it wouldn't be the first promise that he had broken. Even if they did manage to make it back up to the Clockwork Waltz, they were still stuck here with his Navigator being dead. One thing was becoming clear, they weren't going anywhere until this M07R4H cogitator was up and running the planet again, or if he was able to convince the machines they didn't need M07R4H to function. It also bothered Fret that he didn't know what Klaxon was up to, or even if he trusted the Squat.

"Orders Meister?"

Fret thought for a moment, then said. "Keep the shuttles here. Me, Eli, the Warhounds, and probably a few Spades are going to make an expedition to the west. Depending on what we find there, will make or break this operation. If Klaxon wants back-up, help him out. Don't trust Sheen though. Bastard tried to kill me," he grabbed his severed legs then pulled up the hem of his robe to see the stumps. He had lost some fluids, but for the most part it was a clean cut just below the knee. He set his legs back down, then leaned back and rested his head on the bulwark of the shuttle, his fists tightened.

Elision noted a change in his bandmate. ~Fret?~

Fret gently unclenched his fists. ~I'm mad. I'm very very angry,~ he said in a strangely calm tone. ~I've been trying to be good. There haven't been any praises to Chaos Undivided on my vox since leaving Solinoidia, I've been making good business doing salvage operations, and I've been doing my absolute best to take of three, count them, THREE fraking Warhounds that would normally require a team of twenty adepts each. I don't know by what grace of which gods had enabled me to keep them running and battle ready. And despite all of this, I'm taken down by Sheen. I can't believe that I'm so fraking helpless without a noosphere. It pisses me off. You and I alone dismantled an entire Hive!~ he absently ran his hand over the skin of his face, then looked out the armorcrys window at the front. ~I let my guard down around Sheen. I let my guard down around Klaxon, and that's not going to happen again. I forgot that above anything else, I'm an Aristocrat. So...I'm going to do what I do best...I'm going to rip this world apart until I have what I want, and to do that, I need you to tell me everything you remember about this world Elision.~

Elision grinned, even though the lower half of his face was covered by the grill, his mirth still reached his eyes. Those black pupils burned with the anger and anticipation of a caged beast. Fret felt guilty for a moment. His bandmate had been behaving too, going against his nature on Frets behalf. If Elision was low on drugs, that meant that in addition to his bloodlust not being satisfied, he was going through withdraw as well. Fret would have to come up with something when they reached the Clockwork Waltz again. But there was much to do while still on the planet.

~Kobayashi Hive, where is it?~

~Why do you want to go to Kobayashi Hive?~ Elision asked, his dark eyes showing sudden interest.

This change in expression didn't escape Fret. ~I...uh, met someone when I was trapped in the Ouroboros. Her name is LaFolia, and she's stuck in stasis too. I said I would try to get her out if she would help us get off the planet.~

~LaFolia is alive?~ Elision placed his massive hands on Fret's shoulders. ~The Magos is alive?~

Fret had never felt so small around his bandmates, and at the moment he was feeling particularly vulnerable. ~Yeah, as far as I can tell...Wait? Do you know her?~

~Yes, she is my creator. The one who plucked me from these streets and enabled me to be what I am today...most of what I am today.~ Elison lifted his hands. ~Kobayashi Hive is in the middle of Biollante.~

~And Biollante is?~

Elision gestured out of the window at the jungle growth around them. ~All this. Biollante is a sentient predatory creature that takes the form of a gigantic plant. Although it would appear that she has broken from her containment in the Hive and spread across quite a distance.~

Fret glanced out of the open shuttle door. ~Is that why it attacked us on the way down?~

~No, I doubt Biollante knows we are here. It was a reflex, like scratching an itch.~ Elision's expression changed. ~If Magos LaFolia is truly alive, than I must go to her Fret. With or without you.~

Fret nodded, then collected his legs again. ~I just said we're going together. She promised me Titans, and a few upgrades to my current chassis. Even without those to bribe me, I want to get away from this Hive before Sheen realizes I'm gone. ~ The cut through his legs was too clean, and time was too short to fix them properly. Even with his skill-set, Fret was miserably low on resources. He tossed the legs aside to deal with later, then glanced back at Elision. ~I can't believe I'm about to ask this of you.~

~I don't mind carrying you around a little longer.~ Elision answered. ~LaFolia awaits, and I must go to her.~

~Then lets get this party started.~

Within the hour, Fret managed to round up a small convoy of his Spades along with Morbid Overture and Aggravated Assault. Neither Sheen or Klaxon attempted to contact them, and for the moment Fret was content to assume that their departure had gone unnoticed. He had detached from the shuttles power supply, and connected to Elision's power pack. They made for an odd sight of a Meister using a Noise Marine as a mount. To salvage some of their dignity, Fret called his Warhound over, and even with Morbid Overture kneeling, he still needed Elisions help to get into the Command Throne. Once seated, his mechadendrils found their appropriate ports, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the manifold closed around him...only for the Warhounds embrace to suddenly stop and forcefully eject his consciousness from her system.

+Who is Mercedes?+

Fret groaned audibly, both at the sudden nausea and his beloveds line of questioning. +A very, very, VERY, old flame.+

+And you still harbor feelings for this "Mercedes?"+

+Sweetheart, that was quite literally five thousand years ago. She's dead,+ even saying that brought a small ache to his heart. +She's very dead. I was at her deathbed, as a Servitor. A mindless mass of flesh and metal. I watched her and her husband grow old together, watched all their kids grow up, helped their kids grow up and frak, buried a few of them too. Now are you done? Or do you have a few past Princepts that you would like to me to bring up?+

The manifold closed around him again, but the embrace wasn't as sweet. It stopped again, but this time didn't eject him from the system halfway. +And you have a child?+

+OH FOR SHREDS SAKE!+

Elision scaled the side of the Warhound again. ~Everything good?~

Fret leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. ~Yes.~

Morbid Overture stood, closing her canopy and shaking Elision loose from her side. She again opened the Manifold for Fret, but he didn't join in. Instead he withdrew again and sat quietly. +I'm sorry. she whispered.

+I just need a minute Sweetheart. Its as new to me as it is to you.+ He calmed his mind again, then dove back into the Manifold. Once here, he and Morbid Overture shared in their senses and if they chose to, their memories as well. She started walking, following along behind the pair of Rhinos that the Spades had brought with them. Fret noted that her embrace was much more gentle this time, and he could sense her aggravation at herself for letting such petty and organic thoughts come between them. +No, please don't think that way. If anything I'm delighted that you can still feel an emotion like jealousy. Especially at times like this. Its easy to forget that you were organic once too. You haven't forgotten who you are.+

Thanks...Julian.

Fret wasn't sure how to feel about that. Julian as far as he was concerned, was dead. He died under the foot of a Knight named Golden Valor, and those that needed to be punished were punished. He had spent thousands of years with the name Fret, and had come to really like it. But to hear Morbid Overture whisper it, gave it some meaning. Like a sweet little secret between them.

+You know, I wasn't always called Morbid Overture.+

~Oh?~

Before I accomplished my Trials, and proved myself worthy, I was called Tsuren.

Fret let the word roll around in his mind before he voiced it out loud. He felt that same shiver move though her as the one that had gone through him. +Tsuren...that's a very lovely name.+

I suppose it's a good enough trade, right Fret?

That returned him to his good spirits. +We will have a lot to talk about when we get back to the Waltz. But for now, there's work to do.+

Klaxon stood staring at the pict screens and various other holos in the control room above the chamber that held Gods Will. Most of them still read that they were unable to connect to M07R4H, but he had managed to finagle a few into displaying more helpful information. The analog displays were more reliable than anything else he had available, it was a welcome bit of prudence in the design of the control room in the event that the central cogitator went down. The first thing he was able to determine, was that Gods Will was not running at full capacity. It wasn't anywhere near full capacity, but even the small percentage of power that it leaked was staggering. He was still unable to determine just how big Gods Will was. The radiation made auspex scans unreliable, but what little bit of information he could gather showed that the massive cavern before him only housed a small part of the beast. The rest was contained far below, possibly in another series of caves, or other structures.

The third and final aspect of Gods Wills containment, was the presence of a lot of water. The world itself was made up of a lot of water, so this wasn't terribly surprising, but Gods Wills resting place consisted of a source of seawater in constant flow around its body. He remembered the auspex readings they had taken in orbit. The world was drenched in radiation...except for this one area he now knew to be the resting place of Gods Will. By keeping a flow around its mass they were, in a sense, using Gods Wills to cleanse the world of radiation while giving it nourishment at the same time. This of course brought about another problem. In the event they somehow managed to get the creature loaded onto the Sunrise Samba without it waking up and killing them all, it would not survive transportation back to Mars without radioactive materiel to keep it happy. Likewise, the waste this thing would make would kill everyone on board. There was no room for error. Every calculation had to be precise and perfect.

Until Gods Will woke up and killed them all.

Klaxon began researching as best as he could without access to a noosphere, to see if there were other facilities like this one on the world that could be used as back-up locations. If there were, he could copy their layout and function and modify it to suit transportation needs. He didn't find any other back-up sites for Gods Will, but he did find something else of note. The energy created by Gods Will fed other locations, known to the research base as Biollante, Rhodan, and Ghidora. According to the records, they too were large monstrous creatures. The more he looked, the more he uncovered. It seemed that every city and hive on the planet had some resident monster they both protected and worshiped. Had all of these been removed from Terra? How had they escaped the wrath of the Emperor of Mankind?

In addition to the discovery of more monsters, the shuttles from the Halcyon, the Clockwork Waltz, and ones of Imperial make from the Torsion Tango had their cogitator systems locked up. Klaxon had a few shuttles that operated on a different machine language than that of the Imperial makes, and they had not been affected yet, although every now and then they tried to find the noosphere and were turned away. Perhaps the virus that had wiped out everyone didn't just affect the flesh. Perhaps it also affected the machine spirits as well. He could see evidence of that in both the Ramblers and the Dirty Spades. They moved slower and their augments were prone to locking up. If Sheen had been affected, he didn't let on.

Sheen's spirits had turned sour when he found that Fret had escaped from the stasis tank, and ordered patrols to keep an eye out for the little Heretech. Sheen had even accused Klaxon of helping Fret escape. Klaxon reminded Sheen that he had been at his side the entire time and had no reason to help Fret now that their deal had been made. Sheen had then commanded Klaxon to remain in the control room until he found a way to remove Gods Will and get it safely onto the Sunrise Samba. He had attempted to lock the door, only to find that there were no genuine locks. After looking at the holos and picts of the many monsters that this world held, Klaxon now understood why this world had no locks on the doors, an abundance of caretaker bots, and self-guiding Knights and Titans.

Humans died a lot here. Either from the radiation, or from the destruction caused by the monsters when they inevitably broke out of containment. The system had to keep going, the wheels had to keep turning. So doors remained unlocked, and chain of command was passed quickly to ensure the world still functioned. It was a machine, a beautiful complex machine that had no need for human intervention. Yet getting off this world, with or without its treasures was going to be difficult without M07R4H.

And Klaxon would bet every last bolt on the 'Tango that was exactly what Fret had in mind. Ha'king was nearly useless without the noosphere, and if the little scrap-shunt was going to have his revenge on Sheen, then he would need it working. Klaxon sat down and stared at the dials on the wall, then removed a flask from a side pouch and took a deep drink. He only had to wait, and Fret would do most of the heavy work for him. He hoped that the Heretech would forgive him. Business was Business.

Fret and the Dirty Spades made good time through the strange jungle. The canopy higher up was the thickest, yet underneath all of the massive vines and bright red blooms was the nearly untouched soil. The radiation was also lower down here. They traveled along rockcrete roads that coiled through the undergrowth, and were maintained by another fleet of caretaker bots. Massive branches extended overhead, each one large enough for a pair of Rhinos to drive along side by side. Some of them did have small habs built up along them at intersections, or other signs that humans had once dwelled here. There was a kind of perpetual twilight on the road, sunlight rarely broke through the thick canopy, and the giant insects they encountered were not interested in the convoy. They had been traveling nearly uninterrupted for an entire twenty-four hour cycle, when Morbid Overture roused Fret from sleep.

Movement at the side of the road.

~On it.~ Fret felt the Manifold embrace him, then performed an auspex sweep. There was something there, stalking them. Something large. He toggled the vox. "Okay, everyone stay sharp. We're detecting movement at the sides of the road. Ready weapons but do not fire unless the order is given."

His Spades replied with their affirmatives and Fret relaxed in the command throne for a moment before blinking and raised himself up again. Something was off. ~Wait, where is Double A?~

Morbid Overture displayed a small cursor on the interface, indicating the other Warhounds location. Fret followed the cursor and looked straight up. Aggravated Assault was running along one of the massive branch-like vines, then jumped to another and began running along that one as well. Fret watched as the Warhound approached a huge trunk-like vine, easily twelve meters in diameter, and jumped, digging his claw-like feet into the bark. It then shuffled around the trunk, keeping steady. ~Well shred me...~ Fret had been wondering about the odd make and pattern of Aggravated Assault, as well as its habit of finding higher places to look down from. Double A seemed to be a cross between the common Mars pattern, and the Lucius pattern. Its right "arm" was smaller and lacked the more powerful weaponry of a common Mars pattern. The left side was like a Lucius pattern, with heavy armor protecting the swivel joints on the "arm" and a range of powerful plasma weapons. This Titan had been designed to climb, and fight in conditions such as these. It hung on the side of the trunk, locked in place with those massive legs, covering the convoy until they passed, whereupon it jumped and ran to the next perch. ~Learn something new everyday...~

The auspex began to show more forms running alongside them just beyond the road, but there was still no visual confirmation. Fret began to wonder if they had stumbled upon a nest of insects, when the twilight before them was broken by sunlight. The convoy had broken through the cover of the undergrowth and emerged into a large clearing. The road widened here, and the remains of habs could be seen overcome by small vines and red blooms. They still couldn't see the sky through the dappled canopy of leaves, but there was enough light to get a good look around. At the opposite side of the clearing, was a large building that served as a gateway. Elision tapped Morbid Overture's leg to draw Frets attention.

~We're here.~

~This is is Kobayashi Hive?~

~On the other side of the guard house.~

Fret referenced the auspex again, and all of the icons that had been tracking them were now gone, either retreated or never there to begin with. Aggravated Assault was still there, just inside the tree line, perched high and covering them. Fret gave the Warhound orders to notify him immediately if their stalkers made another appearance. For now he studied the guard house, trying to find something that looked like a welcome arch, or other method to get the Rhinos and Warhounds through to the hidden Hive. He urged Morbid Overture forward to get a better look. They advanced on the structure, and Fret couldn't shake the feeling that something was...off. It looked like any other Imperial building in the Gothic style. Arches, high windows, a cluster of towers that probably housed all manner of ordinance or offices. More than likely both. The whole building was covered in vines and undergrowth. Fret found the gate toward the center of the structure. It was a large archway that was big enough for a Warhound to walk through. Morbid Overture crept up cautiously, all the while keeping an eye on the auspex and the weapons mounted on various points of the structure.

They stopped at the gate, and Fret looked in to see if passage to the other side was clear or if they would have to blast their way through. There was only darkness, no light, and no returns on the auspex. There was a sudden rumble from within the guard house, and a metallic face, large enough to engulf the entire archway, came from the dark. Fret shouted in surprise and Morbid Overture backpedaled. The earth shook and the guard house in its entirety began to lift from the ground. Metal screamed and air pistons hissed as vines snapped and clumps of dirt fell away. Fret turned Morbid Overture around and went back to the safety of the convoy. Weapons were drawn and fixed on the gate as the guard house continued to rise up on massive legs. It finally stopped, the parapets just breaking through the canopy and sending down a rain of red petals from the disturbed blooms of Biollante.

For a long moment Fret held his breath, looking up at the Imperator Titan before him. There were precious few of these god-machines left, and even less that were as big as this one. If it had wanted him dead, it would have had its way with him by now. Clumps of dirt, disturbed dead leaves, and the rain of red petals continued. Fret keyed the vox, finding his voice, yet whispering in the sudden silence, as if the Imperator Titan before him would hear. ~Elision...you never said it was a literal GUARD HOUSE.~

Elision's only response was a low, deep chuckle.

~Imma toss you out of an airlock when we get back to the Waltz.~ Fret silently praised his Dirty Spades for keeping their wits, and their weapon discipline. The Imperator Titan didn't seem to notice them, no weapons locks, or even a cursory auspex scan. Morbid Overture drew his attention.

+Look at his weapon arms.+

Fret turned his attention to the Titan of Titans, and saw that its "arms" were missing all weaponry. Instead long limbs hung at its side, bare and exposed. As he watched, one of the arms lifted via a series of pulleys and hissing of air pistons, then bent gently at an elbow joint, crane-like. It reached out and brushed a cluster of vines near the canopy, then pulled away. A large insect, easily the size of a Leman Russ tank sat perched on the armature, its shell refracting the dappled sunlight in a prismatic display of color. The Titan drew its arm closer, the metallic face and unblinking blue optics seemed to admire the insect before it flew away, spreading thin glass-like wings and disappearing into the canopy.

For several long moments, Fret sat within his Warhound, breathing heavily. Morbid Overture administered a few sedatives to bring his pulse down to normal, and he noted offhand that she kept other measures ready. The Imperator Titan extended another of its long crane-like arms and as it teased another jewel-like insect from the canopy, Fret whispered into the vox, giving orders to his Dirty Spades and his Warhounds. "Do not fire on the Titan, do not anger the Titan, but everyone keep a soft weapons lock on its left knee. Do not fire unless given the command." A soft weapons lock essentially meant pointing the business end of their weapons at the Titan but without making a formal target lock on the auspex. He knew that they didn't stand a chance against the Titan, even with out without its primary "arm" mounted weapons, but maybe all of them shooting together could blow out its knee and topple it giving them enough time to retreat. Either way, it was best not to draw its attention.

Elision, meanwhile, casually broke away from the convoy and passed right between the Imperator Titans' legs.

This did not go unnoticed by Fret or the Spades, and they began to act quickly, following behind the Noise Marine. Morbid Overture and Aggravated Assault kept their weapons trained on the Titan while the convoy cleared the ground underneath the massive construct. Fret ordered Aggravated Assault to remain near the Imperator and then urged Morbid Overture after the convoy, all the while keeping a soft weapons lock on it.

Once clear of the Titan, they began to move at speed along smooth roads bordered by even more red blooms and overhanging vines laden with flowering moss. The effect was a tunnel of sorts, leading them on toward presumably Kobayashi Hive. The roads here weren't as well maintained, but were still passable. At the end of the arbor-way, the convoy passed through a thick curtain of flowering moss and into the light. Fret felt his breath catch for the second time that day and even Morbid Overture herself came to a dead stop in sheer awe.

Kobayashi Hive had been built into a large impact crater with steep sides. Water poured in at several points along the sides of the crater, feeding numerous lakes and ponds scattered around the bottom. In the center of the crater grew a massive plant-like structure, rising high above the edge and topped with a single large red rose that at first glance, had to be at least one hundred meters in diameter. Four to six larger, incredibly thick trunk-like vines stretched along the base of the crater, each sprouting smaller vines that fed from the lakes. Nestled between the many, incredibly large vines were glass-like structures. Some low to the ground, some were higher, but none of them grew taller than the center stalk. Everywhere the now-familiar red roses grew, some of which were larger than the habs themselves, while most were smaller. But all of them faced the dominant center stalk, each paying obeisance to their queen. It was an unusual layout for a Hive, where true to the word they tended to be masses of structures so dense they all merged into one horrible human-infested unit. Kobayashi Hive was a garden city, a spread of green and red among which were scattered greenhouse-like habs, as if someone had carelessly dropped a handful of diamonds in a flower bed.

A hand suddenly covered Frets eyes and for a moment he panicked within the cockpit of the Morbid Overture. Panic turned to curses when he realized that Elision had climbed up on Morbid Overture's hull and placed a hand over one of her external sensors. Elision leaned toward the optical sensor, his gruesome mug taking up most of Fret's view and he pointed to the center tower-like stalk. ~This is Biollante. The central pillar of Kobayashi Hive.~

~Please get off my face Elision,~ Fret fussed. Elision chuckled and shifted his position on the Warhounds hull. Morbid Overture made a few cursory scans of the center stalk before one image caught Fret's interest. ~Are those teeth in the middle of the bloom?~

~Yes,~ Elision answered. ~One of many weapons in her arsenal. Biollante is formidable warrior.~

Fret urged Morbid Overture to keep walking. Silently hoping that he would never have to see what else a gigantic plant plucked straight from Nurgle's Garden was capable of. The thought then occurred to him that he had no idea where in this Hive LaFolia could be hiding. It would take weeks to search every hab and tower, not to mention the very real risk of pissing off the plant. He didn't want to wander around aimlessly either. ~So any idea where we should start looking for this LaFolia?~ he asked his bandmate.

~I know where she is.~ Elision pointed toward the base of Biollante's center stalk. ~Head that way, toward the larger circular greenhouse.~

Fret ordered his Dirty Spades to do just that. Over the next few hours, they navigated overgrown boulevards, stepped over vines and removed the carcasses of caretaker bots from their path. When they finally arrived at their destination, Elision slid from Morbid Overture's hull and landed roughly on the ground. The greenhouse in question was a civilian structure, and much too small to bring the Warhounds into. Fret gave his Spades orders to secure the area before assigning a few chosen members to accompany him on a search party. +Sorry Darlin, this is where we part ways for now,+ he said before climbing out of Morbid Overture's command throne. Elision helped him onto his shoulders again and for a moment they stood looking up at the glass structure..

Fret made a few scans of his auspex before plugging back into Elisions power pack. ~So...its just wide open. No locks on the doors, no sentry automations, nothing?~

~No need for them.~ Elision started walking toward the glass doors and hooked a handle with one of his power-armored fingers and pulled it open. For a moment Fret was struck by just how...civilian everything seemed. He had been surrounded by military-grade hardware his entire life, his friends were clothed in power armor, his vehicle of choice was typically a Rhino or some other armored unit when he wasn't cruising around in Morbid Overture. But to see Elision, one of the most fearsome Noise Marines in the galaxy, pull open a fragile glass door with just his pinky finger, was a strange and novel delight.

Frets thoughts then turned to the task at hand, it was too easy to get distracted and lost in unexpected details. Even if LaFolia turned out to be a data ghost, if he could somehow get the cogitator M07R4H up and running, if then they could leave the planet, and once safe on the Clockwork Waltz, somehow make their escape without a navigator.

There was an uncomfortable amount of "somehows" and "ifs" in his plan.

Elision stepped through the door and into a large glass lobby, Fret ducked through the doorframe, then peeked over his bandmates shoulder to scan the area. The floor was made of glass blocks, the walls were frosted glass, and everywhere the vines and red blooms of Biollante had invaded. Elision made his way to the back wall of the lobby where a bank of elevators stood waiting. They, like the rest of the lobby, were made of glass but upon closer inspection Fret noted that they were actually constructed of dense and thick armorcrys. The kind that would normally be found on starships. Elision boarded an elevator with Fret and his chosen Spades followed. ~Are you going to tell me where we're going, or are you just going to let me guess?~ Fret asked, ducking to avoid the ceiling.

~If I tell you, you'll try to leave.~ Elision shut the doors before Fret could react. The elevator started downward. Interior lights slowly grew brighter as the glass box descended past more traces of Biollante, blooms and leaves brushed against the armorcrys before the elevator gently slowed. Fret watched the lower edges of the room as water began creeping up the sides of the glass panels.

~Oh no, oh no frak no!~ Fret spun around, checking the numerous joints and panels for any signs of weakness. The only thing stopping him from full-on panic was the presence of his Spades and he couldn't afford to lose face in front of them. The elevator continued its decent, the water rising up the outside of the armorcrys, until the entire room was under water. Fret leaned in against Elision, checking the ceiling, his auspex on high alert for any sign of structural compromise in the elevator car turned diving bell. ~You knew, you knew we were going to be going underwater and you didn't even give me the chance to sedate myself for it!~ Fret hissed under his breath.

Elision simply reached out and put his hand on what remained of Frets leg to steady and calm him. ~Relax. Look.~

Fret followed Elisions gaze past their reflections to the outside of the armorcrys windows. Floating in the clear water were thousands of flat saucer-like structures, linked together by chains or transport tubes. Kobayashi Hive wasn't the crater full of greenhouses and red blooms, it was down here, an underwater Hive that could rival any other on the surface he had seen on other worlds. His fear of water was replaced by the wonder he felt upon gazing at such a feat of engineering. Yet even as he looked, some of the saucers were damaged, transport tubes had been shattered and broken. The virus bomb had reached even this depth. The virus itself had decayed on the surface, but what about under the water? Would it have been preserved after all these millennia? And as pretty as the sight was, would they even be able to reach LaFolia?

The diving bell descended past a few of the saucers, then entered the topside of another into an airlock. Fret remained still as the airlock closed and the water drained away. The door buzzed and opened once the docking area was free of water. Before them was another heavy door with a single thick armorcrys window, Elision peeked through, then placed his hand on the door and felt the vibrations of the area beyond before opening the airlock. Fret winced as the stale air washed over him carrying with it the scent of decay and septic growth that only stagnant water could provide. Yet even down here, Biollante permeated everything. Her leaves and red blooms drew energy from the artificial light sources, providing oxygen and purifying the standing water. Elision and Fret stepped out into a large terminal with many derelict fountains and other long-deactivated civilian features. In one corner, Biollante's vines had overcome a caretaker bot that sat at an information counter. The pair of Aristocrats passed the counter and into one of the transport tubes beyond. Fret once again drew closer to Elision upon seeing the thin lines of water leaking in at the joints in the tube.

The search party formed up around them, changing out their weapons from bolts to close combat. It wouldn't do them any good to start blasting holes in the fragile walls. Elision walked along confidently, passing under another airlock doorway. As the Noise Marine went through the doorframe, he reached up and gave the area just above a gentle tap, almost as if he were tagging it. Fret looked up as he passed underneath and saw that area had a small dent in it, as if made by countless other passes through the same doorway. Now that Fret thought about it, that had always been one of Elisions quirks. He tapped doorframes before going through, for what purpose, Fret couldn't guess.

They went through more abandoned areas, places that were once hubs of the social fabric of the Hive that were now empty, save for a few piles of components that had once been adepts, but by now all organic material had rotted away leaving only machinery behind. Biollante, as if sensing the demise of the residents of her Hive, had curled a vine around their remains and left red blooms to mark their passing. The Spades kept track of their progress, taking notes of areas to return to for potential looting later. The whole planet was a treasure trove, what was one more pile of archeotech? Elision would sometimes pause and look around at an area, savoring a few memories before continuing on. They were on a steady path downward, in some cases they had to back-track when their way was flooded out or a transport tube had been compromised. They passed by residential areas, shopping districts, even a few industrial facilities before they reached the bottom of the crater. It was here they encountered their first locked door.

Elision gave the door frame a tap, and the sound opposite resonated back. Fret nodded, suddenly understanding. Elision was raised here, he tapped doorframes to see if the hall beyond was flooded out or not, a neat little trick the residents here probably developed for when other mechanical means of detection had failed or were unavailable. ~So...if this is your homeworld Eli, then where is your Chapter? What were you called? The Angry Lizards?~

~No Chapter, no name.~ Elision's big fingers tapped in a code at the rune panel. ~If LaFolia wishes, perhaps she will explain.~ They heard the lock disengage and the door slowly rolled open. The room beyond was an unexpected delight. It was large, easily the size of one of the saucers on the chains above, but without walls or other barriers. The domed ceiling was made of interlocking sheets of armorcrys, giving a view of Kobayashi Hive floating above while the interior was filled with a variety of overgrown plants. Biollante was represented here in the form of small red blooms that had sprouted on nearly every surface. Elision took point and started walking through the underwater garden on overgrown paths. There were still rooms here, but instead of using walls, different plants created borders between them. Elision and Fret eventually passed through a tunnel of vines and onto a circular stage or sorts, and in the middle was a stasis pod.

~Oh fraking finally.~ Fret sighed then urged Elision over to the pod. It was made of copper and still meticulously maintained. Just the pod itself would have made the trip down here worth it. He was half tempted to evict its current occupant and just head up with the equipment. But he still hadn't found the central cogitator for MO7R4H, and it would be easier to ask than wander around aimlessly. He peered in through the viewing porthole and felt his temper soften. There was someone in there alright, and to put it lightly, she was stunning. It was hard to tell how much was organic and how much was mechanical, but she knew how the human female was supposed to look and manipulated that to its fullest. Her skin was dark, with glitter-like flecks of gold or bronze along her cheeks, her lips were soft and full, and her hair was made of fine golden-colored threads. Nesting among the threads were mechadendrils that had been decorated with brass and bronze leaves. Her cheeks were high and sharp, giving her features a severe and strict appearance.

At Fret's motion Elision stepped away from the pod, a heavy sigh falling from the Meister. ~Well Elision, go on.~

~I'm not waking her up.~

~Is that her or not?~

Elision folded his arms. ~Yes, and she would not be pleased with my current state.~

One of the Spades came forward. +I'll do it boss. With a kiss right?+

Fret folded his own arms in thought as his Spades shared a laugh. +You know, that's not a bad idea. You go ahead and wake her up. The more meat and circuits I have between me and potential psychopaths, the better.+ From his vantage point near the stasis pod, he could see other halls leading downward. What else was in this hidden garden? The Meister looked away from the pod and gave Elision a tap on his shoulder plate. ~Can we go over there, I want to take a look.~

~No.~

Fret looked his bandmate over. "No" was not a word Elision had ever used around him. ~You know whats down there don't you?~

~I do.~

~And you're protecting it from me.~

~Until LaFolia awakens, yes.~

~Must be something really really good then.~ The Dirty Spades were really trying to take him up on the offer to awaken the woman themselves, and were studying the control runes intently. Stasis pods were not simple devices, depending on the age of the pod, it could take anywhere from minutes to days to properly bring the person within out of stasis...that was if they survived the initial process and didn't die. Fret had mixed luck with the devices, and now that he thought about it, the fact that Elision had brought him out intact from the stasis pod in Nakajima Hive sent a shiver down what was left of his spine. +Alright Eli, set me down, the rest of you move.+ Fret stumbled over on his stumps and rested his hand on the pod, then extended a mechadendril and felt it slide into an interface port. He made an instant connection with the cogitator and after a moment of searching he was able to initiate the awakening sequence. He removed his mechadendril and stumbled back, he could tell from the smoothness of the interface that this was going to be one of the faster ones. The hatch on LaFolia's pod opened and chilled vapor with a hint of ammonia hissed into the room. The hatch slid forward, and more vapor spilled over the sides from within, Fret shuffled backwards and his Spades formed up around him.

When the vapor dissipated, LaFolia in her full glory lay on a bed of white satin, wearing a tight, curve-hugging body glove that left no room for imagination. Her eyes opened and Fret noted the tell-tale green flicker across her iris' indicating the awakening of the machine within her. She lifted one hand slowly, testing her motor skills and probably initiating a calibration procedure as she did so. Her hand rested on the side of the stasis pod. She grabbed one of the support rails and used this to pull herself to a sitting position. She turned her head and looked over at the disorganized rabble and smiled sweetly, her pict-green eyes glowing warmly. +I thought I'd never clamber from the Ouroboros' deepwoods. Tell me, is the one called Fret here?+

The Spades parted like a group of scholam juvies, all pointing at their Meister who was now seated on the floor. +That would be me.+

+Can you lend a branch? I'm not sure my roots are stable enough just ye...+ Her eyes widened and she gasped suddenly. +Elision?+

+Magos.+

LaFolia swung her feet out of the stasis pod, stepped over Fret and moved fairly quickly for someone just out of stasis. She stopped just short of Elision +Is it you? Bloom in the orchard, it is you. Oh what notches are on you?+ She lifted her hand and touched his scarred cheek. +What are foliage you wearing? What is this bright-bark armor? Why do you have a guitar?+ LaFolia stepped back and took him in.

+It's been a very long time Magos.+

Fret coughed to get their attention. +This is sweet and all, but I'm here on business. Are you LaFolia?+ as if he needed to ask after hearing that strange dialect and slang.

+Yes,+ she turned to face Fret, then knelt down to his level. +Archmagos Biologis LaFolia. And you are Fret, the Scavenger….and a Squat?+ She looked Elision over again, as if seeking confirmation, her internal augments scanning and documenting as she went. +How… By what brambles do you know Elision?+

~A what?~ Fret spat.

+We are bandmates.+ Elision said quickly, scooping Fret up off the floor and returning him to his shoulders before the Meister could unleash a string of insults at LaFolia. +Much has changed since I was in your care.+

~Throw her back in Eli! A Squat? A Squat? This scrapshunt, slag-sucking, bearing busting, lump of-!~ Fret was cut off as Elision's massive hand covered his mouth and wrapped most of the way around his head. Elision then squeezed slightly, emphasizing that it was better for Fret to remain quiet.

+What notched your Squat friend's trunk so?+ LaFolia asked.

Elision gave Fret a little squeeze again before answering. +He is not a Squat, and had taken damage to his legs.+

LaFolia covered her mouth with a delicate hand. +Oh! I'm sorry, and that's right. We'd agreed that in exchange for pulling me free from the Ouroboros' brambles, you wanted an upgrade and claim to the orchard of Titans in Kobayashi Hive. Both blooms in reach provided we can get M07R4H back up upon the canopy.+

Elision shot Fret a glance over his shoulder and Fret relented. The Noise Marine then let go of his head. ~How come you don't talk like that?~ Fret asked his bandmate. Elision shrugged his shoulders, jostling the Meister around. Fret then grumbled his next statement at LaFolia in Binary, +Those Titans and the upgrades are the only reason why I'm down at the bottom of this floral cesspool.+

LaFolia suddenly grinned slyly. +Oh I'm bloom sure I can change your mind.+ Before Fret could inquire as to what she meant, she sat down, half-leaning on the stasis pod, and retrieved a white robe from within. She wrapped it around her person, covering her curves and the body glove much to the Spades dismay. She then sauntered over to Elision and looped her arm around his, as if she were meeting with a grisly date for the evening. To Frets surprise, Elision extended his elbow in a gentlemanly manner. +Now, Salvage Master Fret, I believe that we started up the wrong branch. Shall we try making this climb on more equal footing?+

Fret bit back a remark. He wasn't going to get anywhere with her or off the planet unless he learned to shut up and play along. +Okay, so this M07R4H. Where is it? What is it? And how do you think I can help?+

+As I'm sure you've gathered, M07R4H is the central cogitator that runs this world. It had a central glade that was located at the southern pole of the planet, but it's safe to assume that it had been well and truly pruned. Thankfully each Hive has a back-up unit within its deeproots. We simply need to activate the back-up to awaken M07R4H again. In hindsight perhaps it was foolish of us to have so much hanging from a single bough. When the world was pruned by virus bombs, M07R4H was the first glade to be notched. That, and the destruction of some of the levels of this very hive lead me to believe that there were thorns both within and without.+

It took Fret a moment to dissect what she had said, but he was getting better at it. +Who attacked? Why would they attack? Were they trying to kill the Guardians? This Gods Will or Gojira as you call it eats radiation, did they think a virus would kill it?+ Fret asked.

Elision then spoke up. +Imperials. They were trying to kill me, and erase all evidence of Magos LaFolia's work.+

+But you were off-planet at the time.+ LaFolia sighed. Frets features began to tense up and she raised a hand. +It will be easier to show you than speak of the glade. This way. We will need to travel through the archives to reach the orchard of back-up cogitators anyway.+ She led the way to the hall that Fret had seen earlier. Fret left orders for his Spades to remain near the stasis pod until he called for them. He could use the back-up, but at the same time, he knew that they had sticky fingers and curious minds.

Elision fell into step beside LaFolia, with a pride to his posture that Fret hadn't seen before. The hall was darkened, short, and ended in a large round door much like the others in the hive. Elision reached up and tapped the doorframe, then when the sound came back hollow, LaFolia tapped in a passcode on the rune panel. They stepped into a strange warehouse, large black blocks that were reminiscent of filing cabinets stretched away into the distance. Fret scanned one with his augment and saw that they were refrigerated drawers. LaFolia and Elision continued down the corridor, bordered by more of the strange cabinets before they came to a cleared out area. It was here that Fret felt his breath catch in his throat. Here he saw no less than twenty processing tanks. Clear glass tubes filled with some kind of of liquid and equipped with life support systems. And within each tank was the corpse of a Space Marine. All had some kind of physical deformity, over-sized hands or feet, or one side of their body was larger than the other. The most distressing deformity was the overwhelming ratio of swollen heads, their eyes bulging from their sockets, or craniums split down the middle. Two of them had familiar reddish-colored stalks exploding from their skulls, the same deformity that had claimed his Navigator, Boltons life.

~Wait,~ Fret gasped. He tugged on Elision's ear, controlling him as if he were a grox. Elision paused, allowing Fret to take a closer look at the specimens. Each one had a tattooed number on their arm or leg, and each one had a crease in the middle of their forehead, well, the ones that still had foreheads. The crease was an eyelid. Fret backed away from the glass, the pieces falling into place. +You...you were developing Navigator Space Marines?+

LaFolia nodded. +I was. And Elision here is my first successful prototype.+

Fret looked upon his bandmate with new respect...and fear. +So, the Navigator clans of Terra caught wind of it, and put an end to it.+

LaFolia folded her arms and looked away. +My work was sanctioned by the Emperor himself. I'd never met the man, he was already nestled in the glade of the Golden Throne long before I had been born. But the sanctions still stood. I wasn't the only one planting the seeds for safer space travel, but all others who tried were culled under mysterious circumstances. I thought that in these deepwoods so far away, no one, not even the Navigators would discover my orchard. The Emperor knew that the Navigator houses would have the Imperium in a stranglebarb unless something was done. I know not what other research glades into long-distance space travel were being grown, but anything that threatened the political power of the Navigators was met with misfortune and pruned from history.+

Fret looked up at the nearest tank. +Ya know, I thought you were a bit of a flighty bitch before, but I kinda like you now. It takes some massive balls to take on the entirety of the Navigators.+ He tried one of the refrigerated drawers as Elision walked close to a cabinet. Inside were twelve canisters, he pulled one out and held it in disbelief. +Is this what I think it is?+

+It is, now put it back.+ LaFolia breathed.

Instead Fret gestured to the room behind him. +You mean to tell me, that this entire storage facility, every last one of those drawers contains Space Marine Geneseed? Do you have any idea how much this one canister is worth? Let alone this whole room?+

LaFolia's demeanor changed. +They are not for tree-down sale,+ she spat. +And they are far from fine blossoms, they are samples only. Each one defective.+

+Sister, it doesn't matter how defective they are, I can find buyers that won't care! These are tailor made for psykers! I could have...entire worlds in the Eye of Terror throwing me anything I want for just this drawer!+

+This was not part of the bloomin' bargain.+ LaFolia hissed.

+Oh? And you're going to stop me?+ Fret took another one out of the drawer and tucked it under his arm.

+I won't, but Elision will.+ LaFolia breathed.

Before he could select another, Fret felt Elision's massive hand grab the back of his overalls and lift him from his shoulders, then pluck the canisters of geneseed from his grasp, as one would a child that refused to return an item. Elision turned Fret in his grasp so that the Meister was looking into the Noise Marines very angry and very scarred face. ~Bandmates aren't food.~

As valuable as they were, the geneseed was a part of Elision, and since Elision was a bandmate, the geneseed and their potential were an extension of him. Fret relaxed in Elision's grip and returned the canisters to the drawer. ~Bandmates aren't food.~

Elision set him back on his shoulders, leaving Fret feeling like a kitten that had just been scolded. Fret pouted, looking back at the hall of horrors. Elision tapped another doorframe then followed LaFolia through.

It was the biggest Data Pool that Fret had ever seen. It went beyond data pool straight to Data Lake or even Ocean. Fret and Elision followed LaFolia past the storage lockers of the Space Marine experiments, then down more tunnels and halls until they emerged onto a walkway bordered by armorcrys and stone. Beyond the clear panes was a blue lake that emitted ethereal light. It was in a cavern similar to the one Gods Will was kept in, but the stone overhead had been smoothed and then plated over to preserve the sanctity of the Data Pool. As Fret watched, golden flecks akin to glitter or shrapnel rose to the surface of the pool, only to sink down again at the mercy of some unseen current.

He didn't know how deep they had gone below the crater into Biollante's root system, only that this location made sense in many ways. If M07R4H was some super-cogitator, then it would need to be kept in a cool place. The poles of a world made for ideal locations, but if those were unavailable, underground facilities like this one were a good alternate. LaFolia paused before another round door, which Elision tapped the frame of before opening it and going in. They entered into a large round room which gave a commanding view of the cavern beyond. In the middle of the room was a regen pool, and the familiar control altars to manage such a large system. Out in the Data Pool, a large structure hung from the roof of the cavern, many pipes and tubes extended from it to the Pool below, drawing up data streams and processing them before releasing them to parts unknown. Or it would once it was activated.

+Go on and set me down Elision. This could get awkward.+

Elision set his bandmate down on the floor and Fret struggled to rise up on the stumps of his legs. For the moment he disconnected from Elision's power pack and used his damaged internal supply. He waddled over to one of the control altars and rested his hand on the runes and toggles there. The unit was deactivated, shut down until it was needed. Fret tottered around the room again before looking at the regen pool. +Okay LaFolia, I give up. Where's the activation rune?+

LaFolia folded her arms over her stomach thoughtfully. +I don't know. This wasn't my orchard to manage.+

Fret pointed at the regen pool. +I'm not jumping in that thing until I know what I'm up against here. If this pool even has the smallest fraction of the power of the fraking data ocean out there, it will fry every last one of my circuits before moving to grey matter. Elision? Any suggestions?+

+I can hear no energy moving in this room. No electricity, no power.+

Fret made another lap around the room, searching for anything that looked like a power source. LaFolia joined him to help translate some of the characters that were not part of the Imperial lexicon. Their second lap revealed nothing, and Fret sat back and leaned against one of control altars. He looked up at the ceiling of the room, studying the array of holo lens projectors and other bobbles that came with a control room of this caliber. He gaze went to the Data Pool and noticed an inscription painted over the windows. +Hey LaFolia, what's that?+

+Hmmm? Oh. It's a local poem. The original language was lost to the falling flowers of time, but I can tell you the Imperial translation of it.+ She then read it aloud. "Mothra oh Mothra, If we were to call for help, over time, over sea, like a wave, you'd come."

+Is there more to it? It sounds kinda familiar.+ Fret asked.

+Supposedly there was a song that went with it, but it's no fruit on my boughs.+

Fret turned the words over in his mind. "Mothra, oh Mothra..." He suddenly knew where he had heard this song before. When he was staring into the Warp next to Boltons body, and that gigantic…MOTH came up out of the darkness. As the memory came, he began humming. He was never the best singer, his voice was too blown and abused for that, but he could hum a tune at least. Both Elision and LaFolia turned toward him as he began to hum the song as he had heard it.

The notes came easily to him, aided by both physical and mechanical memory, as well as his experience around Noise Marines and the language of Solresol. He tapped out the beat on his kneecap and closed his eyes. He finished the last note and as it faded, he felt the world around him shift. He opened his eyes and he was no longer sitting in the control room. He was standing, his body made whole again, on the surface of the Data Pool. He looked over his shoulder at the control room. Through the windows he could see LaFolia and Elision kneeling next to his body trying to shake him awake. Elision looked up out over the Data Pool and for a moment, he and Fret locked eyes with each other.

Fret had become a data ghost, and Elision, the experimental Navigator Space Marine, had seen him. No wonder he had been able to find him in the noosphere so easily.

"Hello?"

Fret turned toward the voice, as he did so, the control room and cavern faded, leaving him standing in a field of undulating blue light that rose around his ankles in a mist. Before him was Mercedes, no wait, two Mercedes. They stood side-by side, perfectly matching each other, yet mirrored. +This is unfair.+ Fret mumbled.

"We chose a form that would be more pleasing to you, and not upsetting," the one on the left spoke. "We are the voice of Mothra."

Fret studied the pair. "Okay...so what are you? A firewall? Or maybe even banned Artificial Intelligence?"

"We are neither. We have been known by many names, perhaps the term 'Cosmos' is more suited for this purpose," the one on the right spoke. "We speak to Humanity on behalf of Mothra, and to Mothra on behalf of Humanity."

"Translating system then. Alright, throw it at me, how to do I get this thing back up and running?"

The Cosmos shook their heads, causing their mechadentrites to sway gently. "There is no system. Mothra is in much pain, and we cannot help her. But you can."

"That's kinda what I'm trying to do, so you two better start explaining how Mothra and M07R4H are related."

The Cosmos looked at each other then the Mercedes on the left spoke again. "Long ago, Mothra and other Guardians were removed from Earth,"

"-Also known as Terra," Right Mercedes interjected.

"Yes, Terra. They were removed from Terra and placed here. However during the journey, Mothra's life cycle was interrupted. Mothra is a being of rebirth and renewal. She goes from an egg stage, to a larval stage, and then finally her celestial moth-like stage before dying and becoming an egg once again."

"When she was moved from Terra, she was in her celestial stage and died along the way. But instead of letting her body return to that of an egg, the humans cut up her remains and used it to make these machines. She is trapped between life and death."

Fret folded his arms and looked downward at the blue mist. He had seen a gigantic blue moth in the Warp. It was this Guardians spirit that had been trapped and smeared across the galaxy. "This world has come to rely off these machines that Mothra's body parts inhabit."

"Mothra knows this. Mothra wishes to protect this world, and those upon it, even if it causes her suffering. But she cannot do it from here. You were chosen because Mothra has looked into your heart, and seen that you have found peace between your flesh and machine halves, and thus maintain your humanity."

"That's touching, but what can I do?"

The Cosmos then gestured up into a black expanse over their heads. "Please move Mothra to the sky!" The blackness above became dotted with stars, and between them satellites began to appear. "From there she can oversee the safety of this world and finally be reborn."

Fret studied the path of the satellites and recognized them from earlier scans. "The Orbital Defense System…" he had done similar maneuvers in the past, it was tedious but not difficult. Any adept could pull it off, why hadn't someone attempted it yet? He then remembered that the planet had been virus-bombed to the Warp and back, and those that had organic components had tucked themselves away in stasis pods. "Okay, this isn't going to be easy, mainly because a few key satellites have been destroyed and I need to physically get up there to fix and then establish a connection to down here...and even then its probably best to leave the bulk of M07R4H's processing power on the planets surface so the caretaker bots can keep doing their job and fix anything that gets broken. But I can give it access to the satellites..."

"Thank you very much! As a token of Mothra's gratitude, she will supply you with tools that you may keep after your task is completed. Please come forward and take our hands."

There were other body parts that Fret would have much rather given a squeeze to on the twin version of his first love, but he settled for stepping forward and taking their hands. They were warm and soft, exactly how he remembered. The physical contact was more for symbolic reasons, but it did the trick. He could feel his heart begin to pound, and the pain in his chest grew. ~Not now…!~ He tried to pull away, but the Cosmos calmly held tight. He had been a fool, got sucked into this mess, let his greed get the better of him when he should have just grabbed the first handful of caretaker bots and ran back to the shuttles while they still worked and-

The pain was suddenly gone, and so were the Cosmos.

~Did I die?~

Blackness, like the Warp, and then a large wing came into view. Vivid blues, golds, and greens swept over him. No, not dead. He was in the noosphere. He recognized the markers and his systems responded accordingly. He righted himself and began setting up his defenses, this was not a good place to be exposed. The wing passing overhead began to spread golden powder, it fell in a sheet of light and covered Fret before becoming absorbed into his "skin." Fret relaxed and felt like a part of himself had become freed. He checked his noosphere connection and noted that one small thing had changed, that had very big potential.

He had been granted Admin status.

He now had full control of the noosphere, everything here was at his beck and call, the Data Pool, the many connections around the planet, they were all his and only a thought away. Yet even with the new power he had been granted, there should have been all manner of things trying to stop him, firewalls, passwords, and so many others he couldn't think of them all. But this noosphere was completely pure. Everything was exposed. Subroutines, addresses, files, programs, names, speeds….everything. Fret at first let out a sound, not quite a laugh, or a shout, it was somewhere caught in between. This was the holiest of Archeotech, a myth among the Archmagos and Forgemasters of Mars. This was Sourcecode, the beginning of all things. This is what humanity carried to the stars to establish their new worlds, and here, on this planet of monsters and radiation, the Emperor had hidden one of the treasures of Mars...no not just Mars, the entirety of the Mechanicum. With Sourcecode, no machine, no cogitator, nothing was out of his grasp.

And here he was, Fret, a Hackster, a Meister, former servitor and follower of Chaos Undivided, grabbing it with his metaphysical hands.

So this moth wanted to go to space? He would do that for her, it was a small task that he would gladly perform for this fee. Fret righted himself and stood in the blackness of the noosphere around him. All of that and more would come, but first he had some redecorating to do.

LaFolia watched the regen pool bubble as its occupant finally came around. She had asked Elision to help her get Fret into the pool so she could supply him further processing power to get M07R4H running again. It hadn't been a moment too soon. He had a heart attack just before they dropped him in. Exactly one minute and twenty-four seconds had passed before the cogitator systems around her began to whir to life. Darkened screens and holos lit up and LaFolia felt an odd nostalgia at witnessing the room fill with information. At first she thought that Fret would come climbing out of the pool, but instead he sank back down.

+LaFolia?+ came Frets voice from a vox horn close to her.

+Are you alright?+

+Never been better. I have a request to make. I've got my work cut out for me here, so I'm going to be under for a bit. Can you work on my body?+

+Of course. A few system upgrades shouldn't be diffi-+

+Well actually, I've been checking inventory, and I've decided that I want a whole new one instead. Could you be a dear and go grab this model for me?+ The holo beside her lit up and LaFolia grinned.

+From root to foliage, it'd make you quite the enticing bloom.+

+Save it sweetbush. I've already got a woman with a bigger booty than yours.+

+Oh?+ LaFolia laughed, half flirtatious, and half teasing. +I would like to meet her.+

+You will. As soon as we get topside, you will,+ Fret then paused for a moment and asked. +But seriously...this thing called Ghidora just broke out of its containment, its the one area of the planet I can't access. How dangerous is it?+

+How dangerous? Let's just say that its best we remain hidden in these deepwoods until it decides the brambles aren't worth the thorns.+

Klaxon had been listening to his Ramblers report on their private vox line when the cogitators in the control room began to boot up. The Squat stood up and tapped the dust from his hands and went to the nearest one. "I knew you could do it Fret." He began tapping in requests for information and status reports. The screen suddenly locked up and he cursed.

+Get your mittens off that console and let me work.+ Fret's voice came over the vox. +There, connectivity is re-established, and I'm locking it down on you again+

"Fret, we're supposed to be a team here."

+A team? Where the frak were you when Sheen tossed me into the stasis pod? I didn't see you come running around the corner to help.+

"How was I supposed to know?" Klaxon shot back. "Sheen is an idiot, we both know this. We get Gods Will into that ship of his, loot this world, then leave. That was the plan!"

Fret grumbled over the vox. +We can't.+

"Can't what? Having doubts Worrier?"

The holo before Klaxon began to display images of Gods Will and the other Guardians. +Gods Will was put here by the Emperor himself. It's a big dangerous problem, and taking it back to Terra or Mars is a bad idea. Normally I would be all for watching someone else carry through with a bad idea, but my name is tied to this one and I already have enough bounties on my head. Either way, if you and the Ramblers want to live, you need to get out there and come to Kobayashi Hive. Its safer here.+

"I'm not going to let your fears affect me Fret."

+You're starting to sound like Sheen, what deal did you make with him?+

"That's not important." Klaxon cracked his knuckles, then began his attempt to override Fret's commands. Fret growled again and then flashed another image on the holo before Klaxon, and this time the Squat did pause. The very shape and structure of the creature displayed awoke some deeper instinct in his soul. Large leather wings extended from a serpentine gold-scaled body, topped by three long necks each with a fearsome serpent-like head. The word came to his lips before he could censor it. "Drakkon."

+This one, class, is called Ghidora. The last time this beast was measured, it stood at one hundred and seventy-five meters tall, with a wing span of two hundred meters. I don't know about you, but I didn't bring anything big enough to even put a dent in this thing. Oh, and it and Gods Will are sworn enemies. It broke out of containment and is heading your way to kill Gods Will. It don't think its going to be gentle about it. Now that I've done my part, its up to you to either die at the frakwits side, or gather your Ramblers and get the frak out of there. I've already commanded my Spades to move.+

The screen went back to its normal information display, and Klaxon cursed. He took one look back at Gods Will, sleeping soundly in the cavern below, then gathered his equipment. He toggled his personal vox and spoke into it. "Klaxon to Ramblers, drop whatever it is you're doing, grab only what you can carry, we are pulling out. I repeat, we are pulling out." The Ramblers didn't ask questions, and when the Boss spoke, they listened.