Chapter 17: Revelation

Silas groaned, “…Damnit, Eira, You have no idea the waste you stepped in.”

“Yea, I don’t. I also don’t recall asking or being given a choice in the matter...” My voice was terse, but that was reality; from what I knew, Eira seemed to have done something stupid. Beyond just affecting those close to her, the ramifications reached across multiple dimensions into other worlds. Dragging who knew how many people into it. My dominant personality was one of those.

Silas grimaced and nodded, “Right. Sorry, you must realize it’s difficult for me to keep that in mind….”

Yea, I can understand that. It’s kind of hard for me too.

Surprisingly, being alone with him like this wasn’t making my personalities desynchronize. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt. Timothy would probably have been disgusted or, at the very least ambivalent. Eira obviously liked him; they had been a couple. The others were, more or less, lacking influence. But how did I feel? Well, conflicted.

It’s going to take some time for me to figure this out, but I think that I do like him still…

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, there was instantly a rejection.

But I’ve never liked a guy before. Or a girl, for that matter, if I remember to discount Timothy as not being me.

Once again, there was no desynchronization from that. Things would have been easier if there was; I could then do whatever kept me from spiraling out of control and be content that I was doing what I needed to.

“It’s fine. Things are… difficult for me, sorting out exactly how I feel.”

To my truthful answer, Silas gave a wry grin.

“Well, I don’t know everything, but I probably know more than most. We have some time before Adeline returns, and I know this room is secure.” A brief pause, then he continued, “You, Eira, was special. You’ve probably figured this out by now, but she wasn’t a demon. Reflectech wanted to make her one, artificially.”

“And you knew that?” The rest of that question regarding the fact that Silas still allowed Eira to accompany him, I left lingering.

Either he did not catch my subtext or did not care. He continued, “We knew they were after her, but not why. That place you saw, the world made out of mirrors, I’ve seen it as well. So had Eira. Normally, only demons can go there. So that’s probably got something to do with it.”

Leaning closer, I was curious about what he was getting at, “It sounds like you know what that place is from the way you talk about it.”

Silas frowned and shook his head, “Not really. I know where it is, I think. But nobody really knows what it is. There's a barrier between this world and all the others. Certain things will let you pierce that barrier for various effects; Reflectech is a pioneer of research in that field. Some people, like myself, are born with the ability to go there ourselves, and we draw our abilities from that connection.”

“Then, where does Eira come in?”

“She was able to visit but seemingly had no abilities of her own, an anomaly. Not the only one, but they are sporadic at best. It was… well, the only thing I ever noticed was that she smelled nice.”

Silas turned away as the words left his mouth to hide what was surely a tomato-red blush. For my part, I blinked slowly, taking in what he had said.

So, that place is like a space between worlds. Obviously, then, I would pass through it on my way… No, Timothy would have visited there when his psyche was pulled through to this body. Then, the mirrors… Eira, Timothy, and everyone else, reflections. So it’s like saying that the other side of a mirror is a reality entirely similar to his own. But the more mirrors you look through, the more distorted the reflection. So Eira and Timothy are the same person, just several mirrors removed from each other… I think I get it, but,

“Smelled?” I phrased my question carefully, though I had an inkling already as to what Silas had meant, just that his word choice was relatively poor.

He shook his head, covering his eyes with one hand, “I don’t really know. I’m a chimeric type, and one of the things that come with that is heightened senses, including smell. Eira was… you are unique. People often smell similar, depending on what they eat, but… Well, as far as I can tell, it was something to do with her connection to that place.”

I am, he says. Then, that means I still smelled the same way when he pulled me out of that transport. Then, does that mean that it was anything to do with her connection to that mirror place, or was it just their relationship…? I don’t think that’s a good thing to ask.

Instead, I went with another question entirely, “Then, what about the voice? The man in the mirror, as he called himself.”

Silas sighed, “As for that in particular, I don’t know. I’ve never met one by that name… But the voices themselves are Demons with a capital d or Angels. The true kind, like your archetype.” That was a bit of a bombshell, but he wasn’t finished yet, “They occasionally show up to a demon but never to chat. They’ll usually come with an offer of some sort and disappear just as fast.” Then, there was one more bombshell, “It was one of them who originally led me to meet you, to meet Eira.”

“…I see.” That was a big thing to digest, and it would take some time. For now, though, another question, “You said we can go there? I haven’t been back.”

Silas nodded, “Aye, we can. It’s actually rather easy to do. Whenever an interstellar shift makes a reflection jump, most crew would perceive the trip as instantaneous, but it isn’t. It takes time, depending on the distance, though orders of magnitude less than traveling at sublight. Most people don’t perceive that time. Demons are different; we perceive the passage of time and that space between worlds.” He caught sight of my expression then and misinterpreted it, “Uhm, I’m not an engineer, so I can’t really describe the actual process….”

So they use some sort of warp drive… and he said “interstellar” just now… I feel like the scope of this world just changed quite a bit. …I accepted that the city was somehow in space, but now it might not even be in the solar system…

I waved my hands to assure him that wasn’t the problem, “…No, that’s not it. I don’t think I would understand a proper technical explanation anyways, just that… Silas, how far from Earth is Corgas? Uhm, the star might be named Sol?”

Silas shook his head apologetically, “You said that name earlier, but I don’t know. Humanity came from Earth, but it’s just another planet; I don’t know where it is or how far.”

‘Just another planet’? How many planets do you need before the homeworld is ‘just another…?’

Science fiction that I was familiar with from my previous life made it out that Earth was important and would one day be the seat of power in a galactic government. Even in scenarios where people weren’t unified, Earth and Sol were still essential players, and everyone knew where they were.

No, that’s still fiction… isn’t it equally possible that Earth and Sol would lose their prominence after the initial waves of colonization? They would only really have a population advantage, which would eventually fade. The dependency for support wouldn’t last more than a generation or two before the colonies became self-sufficient… But then, the time scale…

“Then, Silas, what year is it? Uh, Earth year, if you can.” My self-appraisal listed my age in years instead of the full cycles before I knew about them. So, while that was yet another thing I didn’t quite understand the mechanism behind, it stood as evidence that the concept was not completely foreign.

After a few moments of seemingly doing nothing, Silas nodded, “By the Earth calendar, it would be early August 3902.”

3902!? So, nearly two thousand years… Then time travel?

No, reflections.

Distortions.

The shock of the revelation was causing me to desync again, something that could not be allowed. I screwed my eyes shut and focused on controlling my breathing. From there, I began to try and come to terms with reality.

One thousand, eight hundred, and eighty years. Plus or minus six months. Time is moving faster than, or in addition to crossing the world barrier, I also traveled through time.

No.

Deep breaths.

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Reflections. A mirror reflects things; the more times an image is reflected, the more it distorts. Hence the various differences, like Eira being a woman and Timothy being a man. So then, if I consider that the mirror, in this case, isn’t a physical object but rather a feature of reality, could it also distort time? That would explain why this world is so far ahead.

There was also what the man in the mirror had said about “how I perceived things,” which lent further credence to my new theory. If the mirrors and reflections were more of a metaphor than a literalization, then it became easier to accept. Of course, that raised questions of its own. But, before that, another just occurred to me.

“…Sorry about that. I told you earlier how sometimes I fall out of sync with myself… Realizing that I jumped from 2022 into 3902 on top of some other stuff was a bit much. You mentioned that it was best for Adeline not to know some of this. Why? I won’t tell her. I want to know the reasoning; it would seem like people involved would be better off knowing the full story.”

He glanced at the doorway, likely confirming that Adeline was still absent, before continuing, “In short, for her safety. People who learn too much about demons and that place tend to wind up dead, usually in impossible ways.”

Frowning, I shot him a look, “You’re serious?”

“Unfortunately, I am; my best guess? It would be the denizens of that place pulling strings to keep things secret. Or once you learn enough about it to really understand or even begin to understand, you go crazy, and the knowledge kills you. Like many things, I don’t know.”

Ok… Weird. …But I don’t think Silas would be telling me something that outlandish to fuck with me; he’s being serious. …This would also explain the cult-like behavior of the cult. It’s safe to assume that they were working for Reflectech at this point. If knowing too much is enough to cause death, then keeping information compartmentalized is an obvious step. And having Michael, a demon, in a leadership position would provide them a decent way to bring everything together…

“…Then, how do I know what’s safe to discuss and what isn’t?”

Infuriatingly, he shrugged, “General knowledge is safe… though I can see the problem with saying that to you. …It’s probably a good idea not to talk about anything unless with another demon. Speaking of that, Adeline is waiting to come back inside.”

…Great, another landmine. Though maybe this one is useful? If just learning about certain things is enough to kill people, I could accomplish my given task by disseminating information and letting the cognito hazard do all the work.

Immediately after coming up with it, I discarded the idea. It was likely that any such information was either extremely specific, or needed external context to be dangerous. If just learning about something like the mirror space was enough to trigger the killswitch, then there would probably be outbreaks all the time. Silas was, in all likelihood, extremely overly cautious about just how dangerous such knowledge was. A fair response, indeed, but also a bit overdramatic.

“Well, there is some other stuff I’d like to ask, but we can discuss it later. Adeline, you can come in!”

At my shout, the door hissed open, and Adeline came in, balancing a tray with three glasses of what looked like water, “I figured I would bring back something to drink; sorry, the machine was broken.”

Good, I would rather have water than whatever juice or soda was on tap… Unless what I saw in the commissary was particularly foul. But water is safe.

I received the glass from her and took a sip, only to immediately gag on the bitter fluid. After placing the glass aside, I turned to Adeline, who was grinning ruefully at me, “You said that was water….”

She fired back with a deadpan, “Yea, purified, recycled, artificial water.”

“This doesn’t taste anything like the water I bought at the commissary, hell, even the sludge is probably more palatable…”

“It is; why do you think everyone drinks it? ‘s ‘cause it tastes better.” Adeline shrugged while sipping from her cup before twitching, “‘Course, you could always get an augment that lets you turn your sense of taste off.”

Ok, purified water didn’t taste this bad two thousand years ago.

Silas seemed to pick up on that minor quandary and explained, “Uh, you were probably drinking “real” water that the company was importing or recently manufactured water. The shit Adeline brought has been purified and recycled dozens or even hundreds of times; you’re tasting the chemicals.”

Gingerly, I set my cup aside, then scooted it a decent distance away, “I’ve never had filtered water that tasted that bad.”

Silas shrugged, but it didn’t look like he would explain further. Or he missed the question, “so why does this?”

That said, if all the recycled water tastes like that, no wonder the “fresh” water was so expensive. 10 credits was probably a rather extreme markup, even considering the cost of importing it from off station… off city… elsewhere.

“Well, I suppose it’s finally time I asked; what now? I’m not sure I’ll be able to help with much until Adeline figures out that thing in my head,” A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of that device jacked into my brain, influencing my thoughts, “And I do intend to help… Not just because you two saved me, but because… Because I feel I’m supposed to. Call it Eira influencing me or whatever, but it is what it is.”

Perhaps surprisingly, it was Adeline who agreed most readily. Silas’ reaction was more reticent, as though he was hesitant to involve me, likely stemming from guilt over what happened to Eira.

“Sure, though it might take a bit for me to come up with something; being the only tech means I have a lot of work to do….”

“…Are you sure? We just got you out; wouldn’t you want to get away?”

Adeline smacked Silas lightly on the back of his head, “What do you mean? I thought you intended to bring her back.”

Ok, that’s news to me. But, according to those memories, Silas didn’t want Eira to come in the first place.

Rolling his head, Silas cracked his neck a half dozen times, “Bring her back, but you heard her; Eira’s gone.”

Adeline went to say something in response, then fell silent.

…I’m not, no, she’s not gone…

That said, there wasn’t an answer to that. Clearly, he had been and still was, suppressing plenty of confused feelings of his own.

It might not be a good idea for me to stick around after all.

But where else would we go?

And now you’re all bothering me again.

“I’m staying. Even if I were to leave, I’d still have that thing in my head. There’s no way Reflectech would let me just walk away. So I’m going to stay for myself, and the two of you.” After pausing for a moment, I added, “Like I said, Eira might be gone, but she influences me by more than a small amount.”

I didn’t think that Silas would refuse, but I also did not want him to be reluctant toward my participation. To that end, I was not above pulling at his heartstrings. At least, that's what I told myself. But, truthfully, I couldn't shake the feeling that I didn't want him to be hung up about this. That I wanted him to accept it willingly.

"And I'm lost in a strange world. I don't know anything about this place other than what I've been able to pick up in the past few cycles, hardly enough to go on. I could go off on my own and try to stay safe. But, honest to God would probably be safer with someone I know I can trust within easy reach." Tilting my head slightly, I waited for Silas' response.

"Damnit, fine. This is exactly what happened before, but I'll go along with it again…." Saying that he stood, "Adeline, I'm going to scope out the house and grab a few things. Once you're sure she's good to move, bring her to the safe house."

That said, he departed. Adeline folded her arms in front of her chest and leveled a tense stare at me, “For insisting that Eira only influences, that was… I’m unsure how I feel about how you manipulated him by using my friend’s body. But, on the other hand, the way you spoke, your body language… No, never mind. We can probably get out of here in an hour.”