Chapter 170: Chapter 169: Evacuation Part 4

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll have my people running things, I just need your support due to the issue with numbers.”

“Of course not, this is a valuable lesson, my only condition is that you learn it well. One day, lives could be at risk and I’d like to know that you know what to do.”

“Well I best be heading back..”

Carl opened the portal back and stepped through, he knew SATS so well that it was probably the place he could portal to freely the easiest.

When he arrived, he opened the door and spoke to the Venus-corps guards that were standing outside. “Hey, this portal spot is live again. Please direct people here to ease traffic a little bit.”

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE SENT : I HAVE JUST CREATED ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THOUSAND SUITES THE SAME SIZE AS THE ONE ME AND MUM LEANNA USED TO LIVE IN. ]

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE RECEIVED : NO JOKE, THESE PLACES ARE BIGGER THAN THAT, THEY ARE MASSIVE. ]

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE SENT : I MEANT THE SAME LAYOUT. ]

Gillian went on to give them a brief description, when Alysse thought of a better idea.

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE RECEIVED : SENDING OVER SOME PROJECTION DRONES, GOING TO LIVE STREAM THE TRANSFERS HOUSING. THAT SHOULD HELP PEOPLE FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE ABOUT COMING, NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT WILL STOP THEM SPREADING ANY ANTI-US PROPAGANDA. ]

Everyone was amazed, it was no secret that Alysse was obsessed with her work and often worked for several days without sleep before passing out.

Carl, who had worked alongside her, knew that that didn’t mean mean on the same project. She may carry the title of engineer, but to her, engineering was an art and when her inspiration waived on her primary project, she would move onto another until it was restoked.

Everyone began airing a little bit of concern about her needing a break, but Carl recounted a memory about when he forced her to take a break not long after they met.

It was a messy situation to say the least, he fought her for three hours, she took the break, she came back more concerned with innovation and refinement than safe practice.

“…Anyway, they had to repair the entire workshop after she liquified the interior containment panels trying to make them malleable, that’s what led to her nanites I think.”

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KLAIRE: CARL, HOW ARE THE KIDS DOING? ALYSSE ISN’T THE ONLY ONE THAT PUSHES THEMSELF. ]

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE SENT FROM CARL : TIAMUTAEL IS AS HYPER-FOCUSED AS I GET, HIS SISTERS ARE KEEPING HIM FED, WATERED AND COMFORTABLE. ]

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM KLAIRE: OUR KIDS ARE JUST WEIRD, I CAN’T TELL WHO HAS WHO WRAPPED AROUND THEIR FINGERS… ]

Carl chuckled to himself, earning confused looks from some of those passing and he had to explain that his system has a messaging function and he wasn’t crazy, but just as he neared the point of having the adverse effect several drones began pouring through.

“How’s it going everyone! For those who don’t know me, I’m Gillian, Carl’s half-lycan sidekick! We understand that some of you might be feeling scared, confused, anxious and a menagerie of other emotions you probably can’t even identify.

To help with that, we’ve decided to livestream the entire transition process to help you feel a little more comfortable…”

Gillian introduced the group he was taking via shuttle to the residential towers.

“…Hey Carl! By the way, what do you think of “Horizon Spires” as a name for the residential area?…”

[ PRIVATE MESSAGE SENT FROM CARL : I THINK YOUR DUMB ARSE HAD A GOOD IDEA FOR ONCE. BE GOOD. ]

“…We have confirmation, so let’s get this stream started properly. Welcome to Horizon Spires everyone, for those who know Carl nipped back here, this is what he was throwing together…”

Carl watched the faces of everybody immediately become a little bit more excited, as good as Gillian’s nature made him with diplomacy, he also made for a naturally charismatic entertainer.

As another hour ticked by, the lines showed no sign of depletion though, which made Carl wonder exactly how long the committee would tolerate the imposition.

By way of indirect messages, with Tiamutael playing go between, Carl asked Illum if opening a few more portals would put the processors over capacity.

“He said, “Thanks to the efficiency of your people and the numbers I brought, we could handle twice as many portals, but do you have anyone else that can open them?”

“No, just myself…” Carl then did something that was pure impulsive theory. Reaching out with his senses, he identified where everyone was, then he opened an additional portal at every location. “…Okay, this isn’t fun, kinda hurts. feels like I’m being pulled in a dozen directions.”

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE RECEIVED : MY BRILLIANT GRANDSON, YOU ARE A MARVEL INDEED, BUT THIS IS RECKLESS. TO OPEN A PORTAL IS TO MAKE YOURSELF A PART OF THE SPACE ITSELF. YOU’LL RIP YOURSELF APART IF YOU KEEP THIS UP. ]

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE SENT : I’M GOOD, HURTS BUT NOT BAD. ]

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE RECEIVED : SQUIDGE IF HE STARTS BLEEDING, SHAKING OR DOING ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE A SYMPTOM OF SOMETHING WORSE, KNOCK HIM OUT IMMEDIATELY. ]

[ EMERGENCY MESSAGE RECEIVED : YOU GOT IT. ]

Carl looked towards where he could vaguely feel his bond with Squidge, but even that became hard to perceive when he was in poltergeist-mode.

“Don’t try it Dad, I’m more scared of Mums and Lillim than you.”

“Cheers Buddy, glad you have my best interests at heart.”

Carl chuckled, but it was bravado at best, he really was hurting and he had no idea how long it would hold.

Ten-minutes later and he couldn’t hide it anymore.

“Hello there, I think it would be best if you ended this show.” The voice was unknown, but radiated a strange familiarity.

Carl turned and saw that a strange man had arrived.

His body was perfectly average, while his form seemed not entirely solid. It wasn’t that he seemed incorporeal, or that he was changing shape, but more like he was seeing one of the thousand possible faces the figure could have worn.

“Kinda busy, sorry. Who are you?”

The people filing past them were a bit perplexed, but continued moving calmly.

“I am not anyone you know, but I’m here to help. We oddities should help each other a little at least.”

“Sorry. Not owing a favour I’m not sure I can repay.”

“It has been repaid already. I have been far too busy containing incursion gates the past millennia, I sense you are the one that will put an end to the madness, but if you die here because you’re too stubborn to close these gates I will be doomed for eternity.”

Suddenly, all but Carl’s original gate was blocked off, and forcibly closed when clear. In their place new portals were opened in the exact same positions and unblocked.

“How did yo-”

“I am naturally a part of all of space, I am an aspect of both Infinity and Nothingness.”

“Thank you… What’s your name?”

“I told you, I am space itself. This game my cousin created, it violates me, each incursion is like being impaled. My half brother is the one that gave him the means to do so, I have been abused and betrayed by family, but what you just successfully did… It was like you stepped into my prison and embraced me, so as I said, it is I repaying a debt.”

“Glad… I could… Help…” Carl grew shakey, the same way someone does after dropping a weight they had been struggling to hold.

“I apologise I can’t do more… Interfering too much would draw unwanted attention.”

“Trust me, this is plenty, I do have a question though. Who is your half-brother?”

“The aspect of Infinity, Mobius. One of the villains in this game.”

Carl grunted, then looked at Space. “Tiamutael, can you send me that book please?”

The next instant the book was resting on his head. “Thank you for your input Ki-ko and your efforts Tiamutael…” Carl, took the book from atop his head and approached Space as he threw up an impermeable barrier. “…Does this handwriting look familiar.”

Space glanced at it and showed a flicker of anger. “Yes, it is his, Mobius’. Where did you get this? He couldn’t have cared less about non-sentient creatures.”

“I am either the son, or a creation of Ishtar, Mobius sent me through a maelstrom of time whilst Margo killed Ishtar. I suppose this means he wasn’t trying to kill me, but then what the hell is he trying to achieve.”

Space examined the tome with rigorous scrutiny.

“Do you know anything else? Not about the situation exactly, but the timeline?”

“Margo said something about this all happening seven years early.”

The moment Carl answered, Space focused and aged the book seven years in an instant.

As the book aged, it changed. The cover wore away and revealed one hidden beneath the surface, the ink faded and new ink was penned.

“To My Darling Twins. It seems you have a message from Ishtar, but that is your private business. My business, is what Mobius is planning, there is no way he is still himself.”

“Samael has been rationing his old self, it’s possible he’s doing the same…” Carl stored the book in his armlet.

“You aren’t going to read it?”

The question weighed on Carl even worse than the exertion of holding several portals.

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