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Part 7: Preliminary Test
The Grand Admiral	October 20, 2022 10:58 pm

The glow of radiant flickering blue light was everywhere. Every jar, every beaker, every single test tube large enough, and even a long row of clear glasses taken from the kitchen upstairs and covered with small tea saucers. But nowhere was the light brighter than in a pair of tall columns on either side of a lattice of metal and lights. The old portal looked completely different now—larger, more sturdy, and with the glowing columns attached, clearly poised for something extraordinary. Whether the extraordinary was destined to be in the positive…or in the exploding…remained to be seen. There was no doubt that the denizens of Lunaria had answered the call. Thousands of the strange little pebbles had been willingly donated to the experiment, the power-laden bugs contained within safely extracted and contained. It had been nonstop work for days, with little time for meals or even sleep. The Mad Scientist’s focus was akin to the old obsessions that had caused the initial rifts between him and Nicola. But there was a difference this time. With this, Nicola understood, and did everything in her power to help him—and keep him on his feet. This was not only the strive to complete the biggest experiment of his life, it was an atonement of sorts. Long had it weighed on his mind that it was his fault the original isopteron attack came down upon Lunaria. It was he that had recklessly experimented in that little shack in the Murky Forest. He had been forgiven, but the forgiveness was not enough in his mind. He strove now not only for the thrill of the experiment, but for the goal of eventual peace of mind and heart. Well…as much peace of mind and heart as an ever curious, ever active old scientist could have. On this evening, Lord Apollo and Lady Artemis once again returned to the laboratory, summoned by a message written so hastily it was barely legible. Two words, scrawled on a scrap piece of paper with scribbles of scratched out calculations scrawled across the back. It works!! If the laboratory was cluttered on their last visit, this time it was nigh impossible to navigate through. Even as graceful as they were, carefully maneuvering around tables and storage containers and equipment was a test of their abilities, and those that accompanied them didn’t even try, clustering by the door to watch from afar. When they finally reached the opposite side of the impossibly cluttered space, even Artemis had to pause. The structure looked…finished. Finally finished. After coming here so often and seeing only drawn plans, or skeleton constructs built and rebuilt over and over. The light from the tall columns echoed across rows of lights spanning the inner edge, wavering as Frederick fiddled obsessively with a panel of buttons to one side. On the other side, Nicola was carefully sliding another clear jar of glimmering digitized isopterons into a small opening. She closed the opening, waited for Frederick to push a combination of buttons, then opened it again and removed an empty jar. Next to her, the column briefly flickered with the entrance of several small beads of light, then they vanished into the dizzying, flashing whole. “So the process of harvesting their power does destroy them,” Artemis said quietly. “I wouldn’t say destroy, persay,” Nicola replied, shifting the heavy goggles over her eyes up onto her forehead. “More…disseminated.” Artemis twitched, growling slightly. Apollo looked equally confused, but he maintained his expression, giving Frederick only a polite questioning look. “I am preparing my summary reports,” Frederick called, thumbing over his shoulder to the only table in the room not covered in storage, which was laden with a library’s worth of papers and notebooks. “I think I may be able to offer some clarity, with a few more tests. Give me a few more days to work on that.” He straightened, grinning broadly. “There, all set. No need to add more, my dear. I think that is just enough to work with.” Nicola eyed the portal warily, but stepped back as he gestured her to move aside. At least after the first dramatic burst from Vyra cracking the first cocoon, there had not been any more explosive overreactions. She had kept that thought as a reassurance every time she had felt doubt or concern that something would go awry. But so far, everything seemed to be falling into place. “Behold, my Lord and Lady.” Frederick keyed in another sequence of buttons. The columns began to glow ever brighter, the swirling power within now beginning to spin and crackle. And that crackle jumped outward, arcing over the inner structure of the portal until it seemed the empty space had become a crackling screen of blue white energy. Frederick was barely visible in the glow as he raced to the other side, pressed one more button, and then pulled down hard on a lever. A loud buzzing noise echoed. The light in the core of the portal started to swirl. First slowly, then faster and faster. A dizzying, blinding blur. Then…the light began to shift. Turning from blinding white to warmer reds and golds. All that could see it stared. In wonder, in heartbreaking joy. It wasn’t a fuzzy, fragile image wavering like a candle in a gale. It was solid, and clear, and so, so close. Artemis started to step forward, utterly unconscious of the movement. Frederick jumped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, restraining her. “Not yet, Lady Artemis,” he said warningly. “I need more time to make sure the connection is completely stable. It will not be much longer, you have my word.” For once, she did not push away the unwelcome touch. She did not want to be restrained again. She wanted to reach out, to feel the soft earth of home under her paws, smell the familiar air. But instead she slowly sat back on her haunches, letting her wings fall to either side in sudden exhaustion. And she gritted her teeth, trying to hold back the tears burning in the corners of her eyes. “How long will it last?” she asked softly. “Readings are still stable,” Nicola reported. “I think we can get a good ten minutes out of this preliminary test.” Artemis nodded slowly, reaching out with a paw and pulling a small beaker containing four glimmering, glitching isopterons toward her. For a long moment she studied them, these things she so hated, and yet somehow now had a use she desperately needed. Then she put it back, and slumped onto the cool metal floor, her eyes glued to the glowing image of home in front of her. “Ten minutes,” she said. “I’ll take that.” Nobody said anything in that ten minutes. They simply settled down alongside the Lady of Solaria to watch the sun set in sister skies. And the portal continued to hum, the isopteron-born power pliant in its containment. So unlike what it had once been when wielded by the all-powerful Glitch Queen. The same Glitch Queen who, as the sun set once more over Lunaria, was making her way towards the mining cave, to the origins of the strange cocoons. The Mad Scientist had claimed he had enough to work with now, but that did not mean they had stopped being found. Vyra had been…nice. Helpful. Curious in her own right. But she had questions of her own that needed answering. Mainly, how her power, so much of which had been taken from her on her defeat, had chosen to reassert itself in bugs, of all things. It was time for a little experimentation of her own… To be concluded….

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