Taking a Ride
Millie and Cordelia were having the neural lace, nanobots, and onboard AI enhancements put in. I was concerned that Cordelia couldn't have it done because she's a dungeon core. But it seemed her avatar could still use the hardware upgrades, and it would benefit her total consciousness. When it came to her avatar, she was just like Millie because a dungeon core's avatar always takes its form from the dungeon master it's bonded to.
Honestly, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of Cordelia's consciousness being split into several pieces. But Gilda said her consciousness works in pretty much the same way. I would never have guessed that Gilda and the computer of the ship share the same consciousness. It turned out that the reason she was so mentally stressed during the attack was the other part of her mind was under attack from the magical computer virus. As a result, she was actually fighting on two fronts at the same time. Knowing that made me really understand what she meant when she was talking about multitasking.
Apparently, even my onboard AI was in constant communication with a fragment of her consciousness. That was how she knew what I was doing, even when she wasn't near me. This also meant the only time I was actually alone was when I was inside the dungeon core, and everything else was shut down.
Gilda seems to be fascinated by Cordelia. In some ways, they had a lot in common, with the difference being one was technology-based and the other magical. I didn't know this, but apparently, dungeon cores are the most feared monster in the galaxy, even more so than dragons. They may be weak offensively, but they're ridiculously hard to destroy and capable of summoning any other type of monster to serve them, given enough mana.
Once they both had the technological components fully integrated, they both would become even more powerful. As far as Gilda was aware, there had never been a dungeon core that had the technological upgrades. There hadn't been much research into giving these upgrades to monsters anyway because of the inherent risks. In this case, our situation was desperate enough to warrant extreme actions, and Cordelia was humanoid enough to give somewhat predictable results.
Gilda pushed for them to get the enhancements to help them fight, but I also suspected she wanted some way to be able to monitor them. Millie had no problems with it once she found out that we both had these enhancements already. Besides, many succubus refugees in the Alliance already had it done too. Cordelia took a bit more convincing, but she came around when she was told how much more powerful she could become. Part of me wondered if she really was serious about becoming the overlord of the galaxy. It seemed any promise of power was enough to entice her.
Until both of them had finished the procedure, they would be unconscious. Gilda suggested I load up on any information I thought might be helpful and go into a simulation to digest it all, taking advantage of the accelerated time. I decided to download as much information about space battles with the Demon Lords as I could. While I was doing that, Gilda made several additional course changes to try to buy us more time. Once I had downloaded so much information that I thought my brain would split open, she came back.
"Willie, I created a special simulation for you to relax in, based on your life on Earth. You will find your horse, cows, and pasture land waiting for you."
"Wow. Thank you, but shouldn't I be training?"
"Your mind has taken in a massive amount of new data. It will take some time for you to process that information, making it into something useful. Typically, I would say to relax quietly. However, in your case, I believe you would relax better while riding."
I really didn't know how to take this. We needed every advantage we could get, and here Gilda was worried about me relaxing?
"Um... are you just trying to get me out of the way?"
"Not at all. While your mind may be significantly less developed than mine, I greatly value your contribution. If we are to survive the attack that is sure to come, we need to have everybody operating at peak performance. You have demonstrated the ability to find unexpected solutions to problems. So I want to give your mind time and space to explore the problem someplace where you truly feel comfortable."
She said that last bit while touching my arm like she used to do. The suspicion that she was trying to manipulate me again flared up briefly. But this was something I believed we'd already settled, so I decided to let it go without comment. Maybe we might be able to get back to the comfort level we had with each other before, assuming we didn't die.
"Okay, sure. Can you spare a part of your consciousness to come with?"
She seemed to have expected that question because she just smiled as she replied.
"Yes, it would be my pleasure."
I really didn't know what was going on in her head, but if we were going to die soon, I at least wanted to go out as friends.
"I'm tired, so is it okay if I lie down in my bed and enter the simulation from there?"
"Yes, that would be fine. Actually, I think I will join you."
"In my bed?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"Uh... No, I guess not."
She had a really amused look on her face as she followed me into my room. After we both laid down, she held my hand, weaving her fingers between mine. I went to turn to face her, but she spoke before I could say anything.
"Begin simulation 001W."
The next thing I knew, we were lying on the ground in a pasture. The surrounding grass was cropped close to the ground by the grazing of cattle, and cow patties dotted the landscape. Gilda's nose wrinkled a bit at the smell. As I stood up, I heard the familiar sounds of gentle mooing nearby. When I looked behind me, I saw my horse and one other tied up to a tree. Everything felt so real that I had a sudden rush of nostalgia. If Gilda wasn't here and my brain wasn't crammed full of space battle information, I would've believed I was back home.
Gilda was in a cowgirl outfit, and damn... it looked good. I originally wasn't so sure about her new short hair, but paired with a hat, she looked even more sexy than usual. Maybe I was biased, but I'd always thought country girls looked the best. Gilda wore that outfit so well it was scary. She went to stand up, and out of habit, I offered her my hand, which she took with a smile.
"So, what do you think, Willie?"
"It's perfect... Everything is perfect."
"That is gratifying to hear. Would you like to ride for a while?"
"Do you know how?"
"Yes. I know how to ride fairly well."
At first, I wasn't sure if she was pulling my leg, but then she mounted her horse flawlessly. I was so happy to get back on a horse that I almost took off at a gallop, but she kept up with my pace easily. Still, I slowed down to a trot and leisurely let the horse follow some trails with minimal input from me. I knew this wasn't really my horse, but everything felt just as I remembered it.
I just rode in the saddle for a long time while thinking. I was processing the information I'd downloaded while moving in an absentminded way. Honestly, it wasn't looking good for us. Our spaceship now had some degree of magical protection from Cordelia, which is an advantage no Alliance ship has had in the past. The issue now was that she was limited by how much mana she had access to. With only two of us giving her mana, she had to use her dungeon functions sparingly. In an ideal world where she had plenty of mana, she could summon armies and create a massive battleship from nothing.
Gilda's ship had a lot of technological capabilities that could also be useful in a battle. In particular, I thought the ability to teleport was useful. My relocate spell was far inferior in terms of distance while requiring an unreasonably large amount of mana for what it did. According to Gilda, teleportation belonged to the school of space-time magic, which was also used inside Cordelia's core. She thought my Relocate skill was somehow different from regular teleportation due to how the system labeled it unknown and how much mana was used. Regardless, teleportation was an area where technology was still more powerful than magic due to the ease of producing large volumes of energy with technology versus magic.
Still, I couldn't count on technology for this battle. Apparently, the only time the Alliance succeeded in a space battle was when a pilot made the engine core self-destruct as their ship rammed a Demon Lord ship. For a second, I thought that wasn't necessarily a bad tactic for Gilda's people due to their immortality. They'd be perfect suicide bombers. Gilda let me know that it was an option of last resort due to the extreme resource loss, not to mention none of the rest of us were immortal.
If there was some way to convert the energy produced by Gilda's engine to mana, that would solve everything, but I had no idea how to do that. After riding a long time in silence, I mumbled out my frustration.
"If only we could swing by a planet and pick up some monsters to stuff in Cordelia's core. Then she could have all the mana she wanted."
I was just talking to myself, so I was surprised when Gilda spoke in response.
"There aren't any planets that have life, let alone magical life, near enough to make it before they are likely to catch up with us."
I knew that already. I was more wishing than anything.
"Yeah. Too bad we couldn't make tons of clones of me to provide her with mana."
"Yes, well, setting aside the ethical ramifications of cloning you, the resulting clones would not have mana anyway."
That line of thinking made me start thinking about mana. Only things that were part of the organic life cycle could use mana. So anything that was synthetically fabricated lacked magic. For some reason, I thought back to the wooden staffs I had destroyed when I was first learning how to pass my mana into objects.
"Hey, Gilda..."
"Yes?"
"Where did those staffs I used in combat training come from? They had mana, so they had to be organic instead of fabricated."
"Correct. Those were pulled out of the inventory of Earth's samples."
"I'm not following you. What inventory?"
"Part of the reason these ships were sent out was to collect data and samples of all lifeforms of each target planet in case of destruction by the Demon Lords."
"So, you have a bunch of dead animals and plants on the ship somewhere?"
"No. Part of my job was to collect and store living specimens in stasis. Most of the information you were learning about DNA was collected and analyzed as part of that project."
"Stasis... so they are frozen somewhere? How? I mean, the spaceship doesn't look big enough to do a Noah's Arc impersonation."
"The vessel's size isn't important. The same technique I used to reduce the size of Cordelia's core can be used on nearly anything. The resulting collection does not take up very much physical space at all."
"So you're saying there is a bunch of tiny frozen earth creatures on your ship?"
"Precisely."
"Well, how about that... I guess that makes you space-Noah."
She didn't seem to like that nickname much. Still, what a weird thing. I would have never guessed I was on a spaceship version of Noah's Ark. The sad thing was when we died, all those poor creatures were going to die with us.
Suddenly, a disturbing thought occurred to me.
"There're no humans in there, right? I mean, you guys weren't planning on pulling an Adam and Eve thing, right?"
She stayed silent for longer than I would have liked. When I looked back, her face had reverted to the emotionless mask. Finally, she answered with a somber tone.
"There are indeed humans among the samples."
"What! So I wasn't the only one you kidnapped?"
"The circumstances were somewhat different. For most lifeforms, the most efficient way to collect and transport them is as young. The human samples that are in stasis are what you would consider babies."
Oh. My. God. Just when I thought we were reconnecting, she let me know she was a fucking baby snatcher. I was only barely able to contain my rage as I replied.
"Before I go off on the deep end here, let me just ask, did the parents volunteer these kids to be space Adam and Eve?"
"In a sense, yes. These children were going to be late-term abortions. Instead of allowing them to be disposed of, I collected them safely as samples. This way, they would have some sort of future, even if they never know Earth."
I honestly didn't know how to answer that. I never would've considered the possibility of saving babies before they were aborted. I mean, if the parents wanted to terminate the pregnancy anyway, weren't those babies better off with Gilda? The whole thing felt like she was playing God again, but in this case, I kinda felt like maybe it was for the best. Some kids that were going to be killed anyway might just end up restarting the human race in the future.
Then I realized something. If we died, not only was Noah's Ark going to be destroyed, but we would also be letting these Adam and Eve kids die too. Something about that thought made me feel even more urgently the need to find a way out of this.
