Нова Проспект / Nova Prospect: Shapeshifter (Эредин)

Shapeshifter (Eredin)

Camrad_RIP 23.03.24 в 14:48

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Camrad_RIP 23.03.24 в 17:05

//"Excluded, my King," Ge'els spat out the ceremonial address like a piece of rotten apple.

Camrad_RIP 23.03.24 в 17:05

The audacity of the refusal foreshadowed a far more imminent split in Tir na Lia than Eredin had hoped.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 15:01

//"We can't imprison more Aen Elle in an iron cage," Ge'els continued. Morning rays fell on a breakfast of dried figs and baked apples pedantically laid out on a golden saucer. - "The decision of the Council is unanimous."

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 15:02

Eredin drummed his fingers on the transparent table in the room that had once served as Soochong's office. Fingerprints remained on the flawlessly smooth surface.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 15:03

//"We are under siege, Ge'els, the extent of which you have hardly seen," Eredin replied slowly, stressing each word. - War is out of the question. The Dh'oine will die, not by our hand, but with its help. Our job is not to die with them.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:05

The numbers on the black screen flashed, and 10:33 turned into 10:34. Screaming lines appeared and disappeared in the background: The numbers on the black screen flashed, and 10:33 turned into 10:34. Screaming lines appeared and disappeared in the background: (TAI YONG MEDICAL MARKET CRASH EMERGENCY STATE IN HENGSHA)

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:05

//"Is war out of the question? - Ge'els shrugged. - Perhaps. Your ambition was far greater - the destruction of an entire world. And for that, you abused the subtle matter of the universe. Did you not ask the Council's opinion when you did such a sacrilege?"

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:33

What does someone who has never held anything heavier than a brush and a palette of paints in his entire life think of himself?

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:33

//"Enough, Ge'els," Eredin crossed his arms over his chest and continued: - "The judgment of a man sitting in the rear is always more prudent than that made in battle. I have no time for ethical discourse. I have at least a dozen wounded in my care and bodies I would rather bury on our soil.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:34

Sharp even for Aen Elle, the counselor's ears flattened against his skull, and he abruptly pulled back the hem of his emerald-embroidered domestic garment.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:34

//"We will do our best," Ge'els paused, taking a tassel of grapes from his saucer, "to help you solve the riddle of the barrier holding you back. But there is nothing more we can do."

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:35

A cold rage, fueled by hunger, came to his throat, especially when Eredin noticed the mother-of-pearl harp on which, judging by the carved stool and the notes spread on the pedestal, he had recently been playing. When he returned, the first thing he would do would be to restore order in his own country.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:38

//"Believe me, Ge'els," he warned, "very soon it won't be you judging my decisions, but me judging yours, and in a much less formal setting.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:39

There was no place for cowards in his country. Eredin leaned back in the wide leather chair, signing his sentence in his mind. Even through the scent of tanned leather, a rotten odor wafted into the room, the nature of which he preferred not to think about.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:48

//"And I hope - consider it the advice of a friend, not a subject - that the voice of reason will overpower the voice of pride," Ge'els replied, not at all embarrassed by the threat. - For the sake of all of us. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:48

There was no wish on the High Speech that signified a great dislike for his interlocutor. Eredin nodded, signaling that the conversation was over, and Ge'els silently complied, disappearing from his mind.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:49

Hopes for reinforcements dissipated like smoke.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:49

The realization was creeping up on Eredin like an assassin from an alley, slow but inexorable. They were in a fatal minority, one in a hundred - it only took one glance through the frost-covered window to see that. Their prisoners are a bargaining chip, and the Spiral Gate is an unreliable ally.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:51

//"I repeat: we are ready for peace talks. If you release the building and the hostages immediately, we guarantee your safety," a mechanical voice reminded him for the dozenth time in common.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:54

And yet they want negotiations, preferring to trap them rather than attack them head-on. What drives them? Fear of the Abyss? Prudence? Cunning? A lottery that Eredin had not the slightest desire to participate in.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 14:55

Eredin took in his hand the apple that Soochong had saved for his afternoon snack. The green sphere seemed almost waxy in the artificial light. He could only pick up the Sumimoto Agricultural Holding emblem glued to the peel with his fingernail the second time. There was nothing in this world that didn't carry a stigma.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 15:21

There's nothing worse than sitting around waiting for someone to try to kill you, except to endure a splinter in your foot. Maybe we should back off and wait it out. But where?

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 15:21

Eredin sank his teeth gingerly into the white pulp. He had never fled from anyone before. Maybe only once. But that had been an opponent that dh'oine would have dreamed of in a nightmare.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 15:58

The apple tasted like an unripe melon, contrary to all laws of nature. The juice splashed onto the papers scattered on the table: drawings of bones, skulls, and numbered pieces of paper. Out of the corner of his eye, Eredin saw something familiar in the pile, and his gaze lingered on a pamphlet with a man looking down at him through glasses on his nose with a mixture of concern and fatherly condescension.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 15:59

Beneath the portrait was inscribed in large, bulky, gnome-like ideograms: William Taggart, "On Being Human. Washington, Detroit, London, Geneva, Warsaw, Moscow, Shanghai, Tokyo." Each of the titles was signed with a date.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:00

Warsaw and Shanghai. Eredin walked over to the relief globe on the mahogany pedestal. Eredin shook his head as he found the cities on the map and zoomed in, the world here at least forty thousand miles in circumference. Big enough, but not so big that it wouldn't die of a multibillion disease.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:09

But this scale didn't stop Tai Yun Medical from capturing them in one city, and torturing them thousands of miles away. The hovering machine he had to fly crossed vast distances in a matter of hours. The game of hide-and-seek would become a humiliating but short-lived farce.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:01

Damn.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:06

"Damn it!" Eredin growled, spinning the globe. Continents and oceans swirled before his eyes.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:09

His scolding was answered by a low, vibrating hum that might have been a car noise if it hadn't been for a distinct, deliberate note, a rhythm like a prayer or a song. Eredin listened, frozen, but the sound echoed through the building and disappeared.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:10

Any decision, no matter how risky, must be made as soon as possible - otherwise there is no need to make it at all.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:40

Eredin pushed open the door and slid across the marble floor, which was covered in ice. The crimson streaks on it showed the amount of blood that had been spilled here. The smell of death hung in the air like the stench of rot in a swamp.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:41

He found the mage interrogating one of the prisoners, in one of the many identical rooms with massive tables, gray chairs, and a black rectangle instead of a wall. It also held a supply of colorful sweet concoctions that even a mare wouldn't drink, and bags of nuts.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:41

Finding neither armor nor staff, Karantir donned a medical robe with blobs embroidered, tying his hair into a ponytail. The clothes of the short dh'oine made him look like an orphan who had long since grown out of his rags.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:39

The captive was a russet-haired girl, distinguished from the others by the glimmer of intelligence in her eyes. Scared out of her wits, she babbled like an infant, spilling everything she knew and didn't know. Women, especially human women, had never been tortured in Eredin's memory; it was harder to silence them than to loosen their tongues.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:40

"I apologize for the intrusion, Caranthir," Eredin said, tapping on the doorjamb. The girl jumped in her seat and fell silent.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:13

//"Give me a few moments," Сaranthir raised his hand warningly. Eredin nodded, sitting across from the girl, and picked up the sheet on which the words were written in flawless elven script.

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:10

++"Trade guilds, i.e. corporations. Sumimoto, Tai Yun Medical, Steiner-Bisley, Picus. Capitalism. Democracy. Augmentations. Freedom of speech. Mass Media."

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:12

"In addition to muscle, brain matter, and skin," Caranthir continued his interrogation, "you took semen samples. Why?"

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:11

Eredin tore himself away from the sheet and looked at the captive, though something in Karanthir's tone told him that the action was devoid of any eroticism. The girl shifted her horrified gaze from Caranthir to Eredin and back again before answering:

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:11

"Hybriden", and as if justifying herself, she explained: "Die Bestätigung, dass ihr genetisch mit Menschen kompatibel seid. Das mussten wir herausfinden."

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:44

If she thinks she's speaking in the universal, she's sorely mistaken.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:10

The girl was fiddling with a dainty pendant, fingering the chain with manicured fingers. Even though she had a black eye, she was quite pretty for a human female - delicate features, graceful ankles, and no iron save for a flashing earpiece. Eredin smiled slightly at her, but she stared back at her reflection on the table, her head slumped against her shoulders.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:10

Shyness suits women.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:07

"And by what method exactly did you wish to create them?" - Caranthir leaned over the captive.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:08

"IVF", the girl blurted out and immediately corrected herself: "In-vitro-Fertilisation. Es ist... es ist, wenn ein Kind in einem Reagenzglas erzeugt wird....."

Camrad_RIP 25.03.24 в 16:46

Caranthir frowned. As much as he liked to talk to others as if they were unintelligent children, he didn't like to be addressed that way.

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:07

//"I am aware of that," he interrupted her. - How did you manage to keep the seed and ovocyte outside the body? Freezing causes them to break down."

Camrad_RIP 24.03.24 в 20:06