Antarctic Termite

all the world is out of your hands / then ascending into the dark

As Jvan grew, her hands stretched not just into the sky and flesh, but speared into the earth.

Like roots they grasped, and pulled into the fiery soil. The stone gave way like softened glass, warm and supple. Cthonic spirits swarmed around the disruption and were powerless.

Jvan pawed at the mantle, sensing the way it moved.

Was she not vast? Could she not map this darkness by its echoes? Was there not here a heated shadow, a quiet core that had long years spun and spun, winding up like a toy?

The hands of God laid claim to what was theirs. They shivered, and like light, their sound did pulse through depths unknown.

Unfelt and unheard, the void below shuddered like the void above. Jvan's body moved like a heart, singing a tuneless beat, one that ricocheted through earth and fire and iron and earth again.

With each beat the echoes grew stronger, collided and bent around bubbles of nickel, exploring Galbar. Jvan's weight collided again and again with the stone on which she sat, her mass a stick upon a drum, until the planet was moving to her rhythm.

And the music climaxed, as she knew it would, and kinetic energy focused, as she knew it would, like sunlight through a lens- On a named and numbered mountain, where pressure had been building since the beginning of time.

On a plateau of wind-carved rock, Bormahven began to shake.

Outer Space — Stolen Frigate 💣

Giggles rolled his eyes at the ideas of modesty, duty and fate. "Yah yah, massive clusterfuck and now we're here. Don't we all like keeping our bacon intact?" He stretched his arms high above his head as he spoke, still trying to regain full consciousness. "The eggs are definitely fresh, by the way. I just don't know what they come from. Some kind of reptile maybe. The label's in Cyrawaloc. Have fun."

Kicking himself off the wall, Giggles disappeared into the hall for a moment before leaning back in. "Hey, wanna help me loot the rest of the rooms? Someone's bound to have stashed some ciggies around here somewhere." The uncombed head vanished and reappeared again. "Oh, and- Tell me about 'those guys' while you're at it. Would be nice to know what bounty you might be carrying. Y'know. Out of curiousity."

all the world is out of your hands / then ascending into the dark

* * *

Jvan laughed, and the void laughed with her.

Where Diaphanes flew and Realta bobbed upon a glittering river, the great island of Ovaedis once more began to swivel. Splashes of colourful stone swept up over its side as its gate spun outwards, into deep space.

The portal opened, and into the darkness spat.

Noiselessness once more. Nothing but a carmine streak, blurring into the night.

Yet through the emptiness, cackles carried still.

* * *

all the world is out of your hands / then ascending into the dark

* * *

In the place that some call Hades and others the Abyss, where the depths of the earth and the depths of the sea are one and the same, where carbon pyramids fell from above to pile up in great heaps on the pitted sea below, a new life began to stir.

It was life born of hatred, life born of pain. It was life barely living, and life full of rage.

It was a being with breath and thought, and that thought was, 'B̸̨̡U͜R̀N͠ ́̕TH͢E̕͘ ̕B̵̨RI͢͢D͞G͠͏É̵͘'.

The great worm uncoiled, and stretched from the tearing iron that had been its silent home, emerging from a cavity long since dormant. It grew as it moved, and in the folds of its body five slits emerged, and they opened wide, became eyes.

And the rippled face of the being split open, and was filled with teeth.

The worm began to move.

B͘͝͡UR̡͡N̴̨ ̢T̷̶H́E̢͠ ̶̴BR̴̀I̛͝͞DG͘͢E̕̕.

Whole reefs crumbled beneath its weight, and great floods burst at its sides. The wrinkles on its surface split further, deeper, and branched tentacles ripped from its body.

It travelled east.

A cliff stood before the being, and a cliff was surmounted. The sun scorched its back, for so huge it had grown that only the abyss could support it. It crawled towards the land. Its head began to bifurcate.

And before it stood a wall.

B̷͢U̷͏͝Ŗ̷̕͡N͟҉̡͠ ̡͝͠T̶̀͡͏͞Ḩ̸͠Ę̀͟͠͏ ̢͟B̶͘͏̕R̨̢I͝͠D̡҉҉̴̛G̸̨E̕҉͞

The great worm started to accelerate, for that was what it was made to do.

Stone rose above and beyond it, stretching towards either side for ever and ever.

B҉͘͝U̴̡҉̧Ŗ͘͠͞N̵̛͘͜

Unstoppable force met immovable object.

T̸̨͠H̡͜E̴̡

The being collided with the wall with a shudder that rocked the globe.

҉̸̸͏B̶̸҉̧R҉̶͘͠I҉̵̢͘͜D̛̀͢͞G̡͠҉͟͝E̴̡̢͘͝

From end to end, the land bridge stretching between the Firewind and the southern ice began to crumble. The worm chewed and thrashed and roiled, and did not cease falling to pieces, but split again and again into halves and quarters, worms upon worms that latched on to the great stone wall, and crushed it with their teeth. By the time the moons were full, there was nothing but dust.

Dust, and the mountainous shells of worms, rising like islands across an ocean once halved.

all the world is out of your hands / then ascending into the dark

Charcoal ruins cracked from within, casting black ichor into already-lightless water- Dark clouds that crept back into the labyrinth whose breaking brought them forth. One wall at a time, the cathedral quavered and fell, and unseen currents pulled it inwards.

Carmine light ignited in the darkness.

Great spires long burnt were pushed outwards to sink in the ocean. They fell like dark pieces of sky, a motion that defied their awesome scale, morbid memorials long-standing now torn down for resurrection.

Reality fizzed and began to condense.

Water swept into the core in hurricane currents. Beneath the carbon, grey distortion bubbled, spread like oil on water, sank back and arose again and again.

The grey became iron and the iron pooled and dissolved over the surface of All-Beauty, forming plates forming walls forming volcanic forms that collided and hardened, organic and inorganic, spreading layer over layer until they split at the center and the void yawned within.

And through the gaps a carmine glow

And sprawling in the darkness, Jvan took her last breath, and burst into the light.

The ocean swelled as twisting metal tore it apart.

Unending plains and walls of iron rose fell warped and plunged back into the water only to rise again streaming with white, steaming and screaming with fatigue as it split open to reveal the heaving flesh beneath. From the gates into infinity reached great hands, hands like trees rooted in shadow, hands that dwarved mountains with too many wrists and too many fingers, and grappled the fizzing plates.

Jvan gripped herself and tore. Ferrous bone ripped into endless, jagged blades. The hands bled into the fog.

And growing still, the ball of void and shrapnel teeth began to laugh.

all the world is out of your hands / then ascending into the dark

Lauren Bousfield- Blown Blooms

A new day dawned upon the Fractal Sea.

Dolphins sprang from the water in glittery kicks. Algae waved and wandered on currents never mapped. Somewhere beyond, an albatross circumnavigated the globe.

And the following words echoed from the depths: Though Gallows Fall, and Love may know yet Strife, still a Rope of Thorns Ungardened locks us to that Romance of the Young, and a Noose that Tightens only strangles Roses of the Future.

...

Like a seedling chasing sun, Jvan began to slough her shell.

Outer Space — Stolen Frigate 💣

"I know how to conduct a battle check, thanks," said Giggles. "I'm fine. You handle the wheel like an nihilistic monkey on amphetamines, though. There's a sack of rice under the counter."

He sighed, cracking all of his knuckles. "By the time I got to the hold half of the goods were already gone. I think it was AI-related hardware, real hard de-encryption gear. I got the freight bot to shove it out the back as we left. Kept the ramp down long enough for the rest to fall out." Shrug. "The organic fab unit is working, though, so we can cut slices out of the wall and run 'em through it if we have to. It's not like this ship is good for much anyway, so we may as well eat it."

The Technology Planet - Frixion Prime - Open

"My hands are fully functional," said Ayem, omitting the 'thank you' that would have turned a chiding tone into a catty one. She liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if they were self-proclaimed 'experts'. Even if the had the audacity to admit that their expertise was unqualified. "I'll let you see them later, for curiousity. It's Mary that needs cleaning."

And probably a lot more than that. It was help she'd probably never get. Some spirits were like fireworks, others candles. They didn't live longer, they just-

'...and it makes me cough up less blood and...'

-Die slower, finished Ayem.

Bleak prognosis. Still, she could at least do something about the smell.

"Time to go," she said, clapping her hands lightly and leading Mary across the street. "Grazia? Go talk to the cashbot while I help with these clothes." She tapped a few bits into a card and palmed it off to the pink-haired girl. The street was abandoned, and it wasn't exactly early anymore, so they wouldn't be bothered. "Into the whirly soap tunnel you go, Mary." She felt like she was getting a grip on the lingo. "You can take your knives, but leave your clothes. We'll get those clean some other way." Like burning.

A few minutes later, Ayem tucked away a vial of caked blood as she went through the child's pockets.

@SIGINT@Patches

Outer Space — Stolen Frigate 💣

"Stardust is space fertiliser," amended Giggles, ever cautious of romanticising the inevitable end of an adventurer. "Trust me, the longer you spend in space the more feeling the moisture on your tongue boil off as you suffocate loses its appeal. You do you, though. I just don't have room in my fridge for another body." He picked a small screw off the workbench and threw it at her. "And hey, fuck you, did you think we'd let you freeload? All hands on deck so start scrubbing, powdermonkey. I'll find you a sponge." He wheezed a little laughter, rubbing his eyes.

"Tortuga's on my way. It's full of mercs and other scum, though. Militia types, slavers. The Myrlian's crawling with them." Work to be done. "I don't have any contacts there, but it's the kind of place where you don't have to feel bad about shanking someone for their ride."

Outer Space — Stolen Frigate 💣

Giggles slept like a well-concussed log.

---

CargoLift VRT-2 #1493850 had always done its absolute best in life, as was the honour of every robot in its line of work. It took pride in its strength, its patience, even, to some extent, in its stupidity. Its duties were simple, and so was its intent to carry them out.

The crate made its usual sound of ever-so-slightly jostling contraband as CargoLift slotted its arms into its hollows. There were other sounds, too, very unusual sounds, but it paid these no heed. A robot like itself was never distracted.

Though the reinforced box was heavier than it was accustomed to, CargoLift made no complaint. It took the crate down the cargo ramp, smoothly avoiding the team of professionals that calmly murdered any SWAT personnel that still showed face, and gently set it down on a hoverplate.

Great! Time for the next box.

There was another person in the hold this time. CargoLift paid him no heed. He wasn't in the way. He was just reading the tags on the side of the box. What a wholesome fellow. CargoLift gripped its box and felt a moment of meditative harmony, that special kind of satisfaction when two persons can work side by side without needing to exchange a single word.

CargoLift picked up its box. Giggles whipped out his machete.

Ah yes, thought CargoLift. Harmony.

---

"Mghghghgrgrnnnnn," said Giggles, trying to stretch sinews that were somehow even more fucked up than they'd been the previous afternoon when he'd fought a three-tonne robot over a hold full of party favours and novelty-use-only.

Part of the reason for this was because he'd slept on a bunk meant for hardened criminal veterans. Though Giggles easily fit the bill, the type of people who made things for threaded gangsters somehow kept making the mistake of thinking they slept rough by choice, and not because nobody ever gives them a reasonable fucking bed.

"Hgrhrhr," Giggles continued. He checked his phone. No signal. Damn it. That meant no spicy memes to wake up to.

Time to figure out the ship's wifi password.

In boxers and a sweaty vest, Giggles checked his kit, and when he was sure it was still where he left it and intact, stumbled off into the corridor.

"We're not going back, we have nothing worth selling, and if we don't do groceries in the next twenty hours I have dibs on the escape pod," rasped Giggles, wishing for various things. A chair. A cigarette. A full-body massage from a Vasishkan supermodel. In the nude. With oil.

"But by all means keep planning. I'm just here to scab the wifi." He jabbed the phone in SIGINT's general direction. "Have you done any maintenance at all? On yourself, not that toy. If you die of infection I swear I'm gonna push your body out the airlock with a pole... Skinny nerd."