4:00

here. The faces, at least, are

4:02

very sharp and smooth, not pitted

4:04

or worn down like we might see

4:06

at lower altitudes. It's

4:09

also getting increasingly bright, Merlin

4:12

says, tapping the opacity control value

4:14

of the sloop up just a

4:16

little further, which seems

4:18

to imply that the shaft we're

4:21

passing through could just

4:23

be one extremely dense piece

4:25

of mica on its own.

4:28

Cleo and the granddaughter sit

4:30

still in their seats, gazing

4:33

at the celestial scene passing

4:35

outside. I would

4:37

have expected the storm to be blowing

4:39

up here as well to some degree,

4:41

but not unlike

4:43

the oasis, this passage is

4:45

uniquely calm. He taps a bank

4:48

of dials. It's still colder

4:50

than the thermocubocumeter can read

4:52

outside, but I think we're

4:54

okay. Right now, I'm

4:56

just trying to keep moving up the shaft

4:58

with as much lateral clearance as we can

5:01

manage. The singing

5:03

tone is playing through Daggle's

5:05

device, nestled now in Cleo's arms,

5:07

but it can also be heard

5:09

and felt through the walls of

5:12

the sloop itself. Wherever

5:14

this particular tone is coming from,

5:16

it is directly up

5:19

there, up this

5:21

crystal shaft. The passageway is

5:24

narrowing, narrowing, tighter

5:27

and tighter, winding

5:29

directly up, up

5:32

into the brilliant, flaring

5:34

light. The sloop continues

5:36

to ascend. Seeing

5:38

the way Dot is squinting, Cleo

5:41

offers her pink heart-shaped glasses

5:44

one more time. Dot at last accepts

5:46

them, much to Cleo's surprise. It

5:50

really is horrifically bright, and

5:52

Cleo seems to have acclimated to it

5:55

better than Dot has. Cleo's

5:57

baseline of comparison is merely the

5:59

twilight of the world. light, bioluminescence

6:01

of Ebon Reef, not a pitch-black,

6:03

dead, silent monastery for witches in

6:05

training. The granddaughter

6:07

gazes up the harsh

6:10

blue-white radiance, slightly warmed

6:12

and softened by the

6:14

pink heart glasses. It's

6:17

a good look. All black cape, hat,

6:19

and gloves, and the pink heart

6:21

shades. Thank you, Cleo. This

6:24

does help. No problem. So,

6:27

what do the mothers believe is

6:29

up here, Dot? What do you believe? The

6:32

mothers don't really concern themselves

6:34

with the upper run. At

6:38

least they have not before now, and

6:40

I'm not aware of any theories.

6:45

What about you? Gosh, I'm

6:47

not sure. People in

6:49

the baronies don't really spend a lot of time thinking about

6:51

stuff beyond the fold either. In

6:53

the Princess Shiny comics, there's a palace in

6:55

the firmament at the very top of the

6:58

cosmos. Wouldn't that be a surprise? Cleo

7:00

is chatting in her usual charming

7:02

way, but it is

7:04

starting to take on a slightly

7:07

nervous quality, as though she needs

7:09

the patter of mundane conversation to

7:11

soothe her to distract her from

7:14

the overwhelming comprehension of nearing what

7:16

could very well be the uppermost

7:18

extremity of the known fucking universe.

7:21

Mood. Merlin

7:24

is focused on his instruments

7:26

with a feverish intensity. At

7:29

this rate, I'm not inclined to

7:31

discount any theory, even

7:33

Princess Shiny's palace. Well,

7:35

it's not her palace. Not

7:37

until later in the series, anyway. I almost

7:39

brought one of the books with me. I wasn't sure how

7:42

long we'd be up here. If you're

7:44

interested, Merlin, I'd be happy to lend you one of the books when

7:46

we get back. But I'm way too

7:48

excited to read right now. Kind of

7:51

jittery. Actually full

7:53

on nervous. Scared, even. What

7:55

about you two? Ooh, this is

7:57

an interesting question for the granddaughter. They

8:00

sit in their chair, eyes lidded,

8:02

apparently totally tranquil. To

8:05

the best of anyone here's knowledge.

8:12

They lie again. You know how it

8:14

is now. A

8:16

very significant portion of my training

8:18

has been to master

8:21

my emotions, my

8:24

thoughts. I

8:26

am at ease. Oh, of course you

8:28

would be. You are so cool. This

8:31

is so scary, and here you are, cool as

8:33

a crew crumper. I am so jealous of you

8:35

right now. Merlin takes

8:38

a moment to check in briefly with himself. He's

8:40

only been having coffee for the last several

8:43

days, but feels this

8:46

powerful thrill,

8:48

this excitement that has just

8:50

been building for days and

8:52

days, the closer and higher

8:54

they get. This new uncharted

8:56

territory. Well,

8:59

what he tells Cleo is, I'm

9:02

great. Better than great. I just

9:04

am terrific. I feel fine.

9:07

This must be really exciting for you. I mean,

9:09

it's exciting for me too. It's exciting for everyone.

9:13

Just three friends exploring the highest

9:15

known limit of reality, feeling totally

9:18

fine and totally normal. Ah, gotta

9:20

love it. Cleo is bouncing in

9:22

her seat, jiggling one of her legs with

9:24

a fidgety energy. And the granddaughter

9:26

is looking up quietly,

9:29

light, glaring off their

9:31

pink glasses, as

9:34

they fall, well, even more silent

9:36

than usual, which is saying something,

9:39

and murmur. What's that?

9:43

Huh? Cleo squints

9:45

upward. Oh,

9:47

it, um, it looks like...

9:50

It's an opening, Merlin

9:53

says. appears

10:00

to reach an end, a

10:02

hole, an aperture, into

10:05

a clearing? A

10:09

tantalizing open space,

10:11

a large void above.

10:14

But they can't really tell from down

10:17

here. They would have to go

10:19

up and see. Fascinating,

10:23

says Merlin, squinting intently at the

10:26

sight. If that is what I

10:28

think it is, it goes

10:30

against every trend we've been observing

10:32

so far. The

10:34

constant constricting of Mica, tightening,

10:36

closing in. He leans

10:38

to the umbilical speaking tube beside him.

10:41

We're getting close to the top of

10:43

the shaft. It looks like

10:45

there might be a larger open space

10:47

up there, bigger than anything we've encountered

10:49

for days. We're

10:52

going to take a look. Take it slow.

10:54

Dr. Rawfield comes back. That level of

10:56

brightness up there is going to take

10:58

its toll sooner or later. How

11:00

are we all doing? Any headaches?

11:02

Dizziness? Nausea? Well,

11:05

to be fair, they all three of them are

11:07

experiencing a slight headache and nausea to some degree.

11:09

I feel absolutely normal, Merlin

11:12

lies. He glances

11:14

intently at the other two

11:16

passengers. I believe

11:18

we're all good to continue,

11:20

yes? Oh, absolutely,

11:23

says Cleo. The granddaughter nods.

11:26

They continue to ascend. The

11:28

light around them, especially from the

11:30

opening right above, is no

11:32

longer just bright. That word doesn't

11:35

really suffice anymore. It's lost all

11:37

meaning. The Mica here seems

11:40

fresher, cleaner, sharper,

11:42

more luminous, making

11:44

Mica at lower altitudes seem

11:46

almost dull by comparison. The

11:49

little sloop winds higher, higher,

11:53

and increasingly through the

11:55

aperture above, they're seeing

11:57

what they're seeing. It's

12:01

insanely agonizingly bright,

12:05

but through the pinhole of the

12:07

opening it almost looks like... Am

12:10

I imagining things?

12:14

Is that...? Everyone

12:20

looks at each other in confusion. Whoever

12:23

was making the sound has

12:26

stopped making it. A

12:31

colossal silhouette moves over

12:33

the aperture above, blocking

12:35

the blinding light from

12:38

overhead, casting a

12:40

pillar of dust-speckled shadow down the

12:42

crevasse. Ugh, what

12:45

is that? Says Cleo,

12:47

looking upwards towards the shadow

12:49

above, black bruises blooming across

12:51

her face and neck. I

12:54

can't quite make it out, says

12:57

Merlin, inky fluid leaking from

12:59

his eyes. Shottamarian's voice

13:01

comes over the speaking tube. Oh

13:03

shit, oh shit, Artifice! Artifice, somebody support his

13:06

head, get Raphael. Doctor, will- I feel a

13:08

little bit funny, says Cleo.

13:11

Pink-like sweat beating on her

13:13

cheeks, like the stained

13:16

plasma of a fresh tattoo wound.

13:19

Little droplets lifting from her skin,

13:21

like the wax globs in a lava lamp,

13:24

rising into the air, evaporating

13:27

into dark mist, siphoning

13:30

up toward the silhouetted

13:32

shape. I do too,

13:36

says Merlin. Gazing

13:38

upward, a strange

13:41

expression on his seeping

13:43

face. The granddaughter

13:45

looks down at their gloved hand

13:47

to see black droplets oozing out

13:49

through the material

13:52

of their clothing, aerosolizing as

13:54

they rise. Oh

13:57

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about 40 gigabytes of detail. The

16:45

thing plummets straight down at

16:47

them like a skyscraper hurtling into

16:49

a train tunnel, dive bombing toward

16:51

them with merciless incalculable weight. Even

16:57

in his strange delirium, Merlin has just

16:59

enough presence of mind to slam the

17:01

control stick down. The sleep goes down

17:03

fast, very fast. Holy shit. But

17:05

Merlin's eyes are still on it.

17:08

A fast, twisting thing plummeting down

17:10

the shaft, driving straight at them

17:12

like a freight train, cracking the

17:14

shaft wide, tunneling towards them, burrowing

17:16

through them like that as though it

17:18

were silt. Wisps of darkness

17:20

whip from the black crystal surfaces

17:23

of the sloop, leaving bare white mica

17:25

spots like the dry ice of a

17:27

snow cone drained of syrup. The sloop

17:29

dives fast, tight and shadow closing in

17:32

almost upon them and then, whatever the

17:34

fuck it is, shears sideways into the

17:36

wall of the mica shaft with a

17:38

vast, seismic splintering of crystal. It

17:42

disappears, a rain of loose mica fragments

17:44

and dust showering down, pinging and glancing

17:47

off the sides of the sloop. Strange

17:49

silence. Bright light shines

17:52

again from above. The sloop

17:54

is still dropping fast. Hello? Come

17:57

in? Merlin is on the speaking tube.

17:59

Dark haze. A

20:02

sudden gush of dark mist from

20:04

their bodies, a sweating of inky

20:06

liquid dripping directly sideways out of

20:09

their skin to puddle, to cling

20:11

impossibly to the wall of the

20:14

sloop like ferrofluid drawn to a

20:16

powerful magnet outside. The dark mica

20:18

of the sloop itself is turning

20:21

increasingly white and opaque in splotchy

20:23

patches like frosted glass, its inky

20:26

impregnation of fold evaporating. The passengers

20:28

vision swims and begins to dim

20:30

and the granddaughter begins

20:33

to feel, well,

20:36

something they've been yearning for,

20:39

striving for, but

20:42

have never really known. Tranquility.

20:50

Quiet. A

20:53

growing silence, a

20:56

clearing of their thoughts, an

20:58

evaporation of emotion, a

21:01

sense of their messy flawed

21:03

humanity being scoured

21:05

out of them like

21:08

dirty dishes in hot soapy

21:10

water. This

21:12

is nice, says Cleo quietly,

21:15

smiling as she slumps out of her chair.

21:18

Wow. Yes it is.

21:21

Merlin agrees, vakenly, an eerie contentment

21:23

in his eyes, in his voice,

21:26

as he loses his grip on

21:28

the controls and collapses to the

21:30

floor. I should write this down.

21:34

Without Merlin at the helm, the

21:36

sloop lists into the mica wall

21:38

grinding to a standstill. The all-consuming

21:41

sound outside resonating within the walls

21:43

of mica is coming straight for

21:45

them. Enveloping summons,

21:48

an invitation, an

21:50

inevitability. Or,

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