SEELLY 08

Taylor pushed a button, cutting off the life feed from the lift. Silent, unfortunately. Between the reinforcements for the Central Dogma where Noelle was dreaming, general upgrades to the base, materials and instruments for Blasto to work with, supplies for Brocktom Bay residents and countless other things, installing dynamics to replace the ones destroyed by Shatterbird was a low priority. She was lucky to have video at all.

She was worried that the new girl, Sveta, would be bullied by Emma, tentacles or no tentacles. Taylor knew firsthand that words can hurt more than any physical wound.

But it looked like her worries were for naught. Emma and Sveta were getting along fine. Their antics reminded Taylor of a better time, when she was still friends with Emma, and a faint smile touched her lips.

It was a shame that she couldn't turn back the time. But she had to look forward, many things and people were now depending on her decisions. Taylor was acutely aware of the heavy burden of responsibilities on her shoulders.

Still, getting Emma as a pilot was a right move after all.

She recalled the first time they met after the Leviathan fight...

Emma was standing in an alley surrounded by black monoliths cutting her from all exits. They were murmuring something arcane, but too quiet for Emma to hear.

On top of the monolith in front of her marked with big white letters spelling "Sound Only 01" stood a tall woman. Sun was setting behind her back, obscuring her features.

In retrospect, Taylor mused, it was a pain to position her troops just right for Emma to take this route, trying to avoid them, and wait for just a right moment to appear. Still worth it, though.

"Do you know who I am?" asked Taylor in what she hoped was a regal tone.

"Y-you are the C-Conspiracy!" answered Emma. She was clearly scared but tried not to show it.

The answer gave Taylor pause. It was true, from a certain point of view. She was pulling the strings behind the scene, preventing her city from being condemned, arranging resources to be delivered and restoration works to be done. And she was plotting something big and secret that could change the world forever. She was not alone in this task, many people stood by her side, the Undersiders first among them, but she could see how an outside observer would think that she was the cornerstone of this business.

From that perspective, she could be called the conspiracy. If you counted the monoliths as separate entities, she was responsible for half of decision-making process, after all.

Taylor also realized that she didn't know her official cape name. Lisa said the Wards named her after the bank job, so it was probably something silly. And nowdays she didn't really have time for silly things. Too many responsibilities to juggle.

So she decided not to challenge Emma on that point and continued.

"Yes. I know of you, Emma Barnes. You posses some unique talents." Of being known to me enough to manipulate and expendable enough for me not to care, she didn't say. "Of which I have a need. I wish for you to join me. Should you accept the offer, you will be elevated above your peers, given control over a new powerful tinker weapon." Of course, the real control was in the hand of whoever was responsible for regulating the pressure inside the pilot capsule. "You will become untouchable. Fame and money are in the cards too."

"Ah..." Emma gulped. "It's an honor, but it's just so sudden... Could you give me more details?"

"The information is classified. I probably told you more than you strictly need to know already. The conspiracy runs deep."

"Can I think about it?" Emma said, glancing at monoliths nervously.

Taylor decided it was time to use heavy weapons.

"Greg already joined," she said.

"What?!" Emma shouted with indignation in her voice. "But he's useless! A pathetic excuse of a boy!"

"Well, yes. But the talents I seek are rare." She didn't socialize with many people. "You are clearly a superior option, of course, but if you are not interested..."

"I'll do it! Where to go?"

A monolith behind Emma fell flat on the ground. She jumped.

"Step on it," commanded Taylor.

Emma did so.

The flock of monoliths and the two riders flew into the sunset.

"Taylor, we have a problem."

Taylor's musing were interrupted by the appearance of a rather disheveled-looking Lisa.

"What is it?" Taylor quickly rose from her seat.

"Noelle." Taylor's blood froze. Countless horrible possibilities played in her mind. "I'll explain on the way. You'll better see it."

"Greg did what?!" Taylor's walk turned from nervously-energetic into agitated.

"He made his way to the Central Dogma and was captured by Noelle. She didn't wake up, thankfully," Lisa repeated herself.

"How did he even get there? We have all this security codes and clearance levels and guards and everything!"

"Well, you see..." Lisa hesitated which caused her to try and catch up with Taylor's long strides. "I was busy with managing the economic and political concerns, you were busy with the big picture stuff and the Lilith project, Brian was handling the troops, the Travelers led by Rachel were looking over the city... So it left Alec and Aisha in charge of the security."

Taylor stopped abruptly. Lisa narrowly avoided bumping into her.

"How we aren't dead yet?"

"They had guidelines," Lisa said. "I wrote them myself. Alec said they just figured that whoever has the access to Lilim should have access to Lilith, too. I think he just confused two names."

Taylor continued walking.

"And Greg what? Just went there and poked Noelle?"

"Pretty much." Lisa nodded, though Taylor couldn't see it, hurrying ahead.

"So, let me get this straight: we know has Noelle with Greg inside, spawning his evil geeky clones and filling her chamber, right? Or did they break free already?"

"Actually, it's not that bad," said Lisa. "Whatever the clones did, they disturbed Noelle enough for her to vomit Greg back. He managed to make his way to the doors, get out and activate the emergency lockout."

"Shouldn't I be altered of it?"

"No sound." shrugged Lisa.

The dynamics suddenly became a higher priority.

"And the guards?"

"Didn't have the clearance to get near the Central Dogma."

"OK..." Taylor tried to think. "Are we sure the real Greg is out? Not one of the clones?"

"Yes. He has no weird skin texture or tumors on his body, as clones do. Alec checked."

"Where is he now, anyway?" Taylor asked with a malice in her voice.

"In a hospital wing. Clones did a number on him," answered Lisa. "Mr. Pitter handles him now."

"OK," Taylor said again. "So, we are dealing with a chamber filled with... How many clones are there?"

"Two dozens or so," said Lisa.

"With two dozens or so clones. Chamber is still closed? What about Noelle?"

"Chamber is closed." Nodded Lisa. "Noelle is still sleeping. The suit works pretty well, if nothing else."

"Well, that's not too bad, I suppose..."

They entered a lift and spend a long ride in a nervous silence.

Soon after that, they arrived to the Central Dogma where they found by Alec, Aisha and Evil Dinah peering through the intercom to what was happening inside. A few guards were standing nearby, prepared to shoot at the first sight of danger.

Taylor pushed them aside and looked herself. Two dozens clones were running around, beating the padded walls. A few sit in the corner, conversing quietly. All of them kept away from Noelle, however. Taylor frowned.

"So. We have an emergency here," said Alec. "What do we do now?"

Taylor glared at him.

"If you didn't fuck up the security..."

"Hey!" Alec waved his hands. "It was Aisha's idea! Simplifying protocols and stuff."

"Who?" asked Taylor.

"Ah..." Alec looked around. The glares of Lisa and Taylor were distinctly unsympathetic. Evil Dinah was busy cheering on one of the clones holding another by the neck and painfully rubbing a fist in his head.

"Don't try to distract me!" said Taylor. "It's your fault! Well, your and Greg, but he is already in the hospital. You are not, for now."

"Let's concentrate on the situation at hand," said Lisa stepping between Taylor and Alec. "We can assign the blame later. What do we do?"

Taylor pondered the situation.

"We still have the napalm dispensers in the chamber, right?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Lisa. "They are aimed at Noelle, however. We could stir the aim a bit, but that would still damage her. Or at least the suit, which is worse."

"The probability of your violent death is seventy-three point zero two three five percents with change if you use the napalm," said Evil Dinah distractedly.

"Yes," said Taylor. "But we could change the napalm for water, right? Let's drown the fuckers."

"Doable." Lisa nodded. "And it won't damage Noelle. She doesn't actually need to breath, and the suit is durable enough."

The next hour was spend in a blurry of activity. Eventually Taylor excused herself, leaving things in Lisa and her mercenary subordinates' hands to attend to her own duties concerning the details of her organization and the Protectorate's cooperation.

"Well, what's the situation?" A few hours later, Taylor made her way to the Central Dogma where Lisa was still standing, giving orders to the troops and monitoring the proceedings.

"The chamber is filled with water now," answered Lisa. "Most clones are dead, but a few appear to have gills."

"What," said Taylor.

"Peculiarities of the cloning process, I think." Lisa shrugged. "You know that a human embryo has gills for some time before they disappear. There are even people born with them. I think something like that happened there, biological development taking a different turn."

"But... aren't such gills just a deformity?" asked Taylor trying to wrap her mind around it. "They don't actually work, right? There is not enough oxygen in water for humans to survive."

"Well, yes," said Lisa. "But it's not like superpowers don't defy common sense on a daily basis anyway."

Taylor was silent for a moment.

She made her way to the screen and looked inside the chamber. A dozen or so clones were swimming in the water, surrounded by bodies of their dead brethren, but looking oddly at peace. None went near Noelle, preferring to dive and rise or making circles around each other or dead bodies.

"So," said Taylor at last. "What are the odds they would disturb Noelle?"

"Zero point zero zero two seven six percents with change," answered Evil Dinah.

Taylor nodded.

"I can live with those odds."

"Yes," agreed Evil Dinah. "The odds of Trickster discovering it are forty-five point nine four one percents with change."

Taylor sighed.

"I guess we should attach a water tank to the door and lure them out."

"I am on it already," said Lisa. "The question is what should we do with them afterwards."

"I don't know." Taylor shrugged. "Just store them out of the way somewhere."