the world is just illusion trying to change you

My boiler exploded from the demands of prying Ya Yimawa's sharklike maw open with all my limbs until it cracked. Nothing I have ever encountered - from the inferno of Erebus to the radioactive wastes of Earth's devastated future - could rival the horror of what I saw inside that beast. How quickly, then, did the souls of its victims fly out to the freedom of their promised afterlives! Their gratefulness whispered as they vanished was more than worth the cost to this, my shredded chassis. Ama had worked her magic and destroyed its soulcage just as Dr. Beck's spirit escaped.

My last victim, Shiny Toy!

A sickening snap. Loss of connection to body. A fraction of a second in that primordial abyss before the monster discorporated, and my elevation dropped. I landed on the wreckage that was once my own abdomen, saving me the indignity of sinking into the polluted muck. Power supply was fading quickly. Last instructions to Ama.

Closing cranial display. Adjusting to internal perception. Standby...

I perceive myself as intact, but I am not actually whole again. This spherical chamber I am in, full of damaged machinery spewing steam and smoke, with pipes spiralling around the Sephiroth that glow brightly above me like a celestial chandalier, is not literally the inside of my skull. But it does give me an accurate representation of how tenuous my existance has now become.

The gyroscope rolls wildly. I hold on tightly as the craft tumbles over itself again and again. Through the twin portholes in the outline of my eyes I see I am rolling into the water, mingling with human bones and filth. This can only mean that the boxcar is sliding into the bay. The Revenge would have no choice but to cut the air vent. There is pounding outside the chamber, from all directions.

There is...a mob outside the portals? Impossible! How can this be?

Who are they?

I see Bloodwing, cursing me as a traitor as he strikes his sword against the glass. The same sword he used to pierce my reactor core.

I see Grandfather in the black uniform from his dystopia of New Erebus, his eyes glowing beneath his goggles as he patiently grinds an energy blade into the translucent barrier.

The gentleman in the drab gray uniform with the brass buttons? An agent of the Labs. Carrying a warrant for my family's capture.

The other eye - there is Doctor Mason in his labcoat, I see from the tic in his brow and the glow behind his goggles that he demands to perform more destructive experiments on me.

Koen in his sleek ebony fur bloodied at the tips, scraping his claws down the glass, eyes burning red as coals and hissing as he displays his vampiric fangs.

Behind him, a pale Aleister in his outdated and frayed coat, gesturing for me to inspect the new porcelain skull he will place me in. Complete with fangs for extracting blood...to deliver to him.

Behind them swarms of wasp drones and Qlippothic clones.

Why would my subconscious be attempting to torment me? Especially in a survival situation such as this?

A chemical readout develops on one corroded panel. The water in this flooding chamber is polluted...from Ya Yimawa. When his body dissolved, its conents mingled with these waters.

I am stewing in the gastric juices of a soul eater. Much like the jellyfish, the death of the creature does not render its venom inert. Despite the images beyond the eyes, it know the toxins have already made contact with my soul chip. If I am not rescued it will corrode the circuitry that defines my psyche, and my identity will...dissolve.

I have never seen fit to pray for aid from undetectable sources. But now, it is my only recourse, if only a distraction.

I can hear their voices now. My voice quavers.

The Lord is my...

The Revenge on Patrol

We have come to an agreement with Steelhead's Mayor, Totallunar Eclipse. In return for supplying the Bloodwing's Revenge with sunstones from the town's mines, we are assisting in the hunt for the murderous creature known as "Steal Head." Take comfort in the knowledge that in addition to the Steelhead militia, the Wulfenbach Jagerpatrol and the religious paramilitary known as the S.W.A.T. team, you will have three armed gynoids patrolling the streets.

Koen will fly sorties over the city in the Revenge scanning for anything unusual, and also pilot the ship in submersible mode, with the hope of catching the beast off guard as Dr. Beck did earier.

Xavael will be incognito among the populace and assist in the investigation.

Jeremiah will not be joining this operation. At the request of Koen's siblings, he will accompany them to Erebus. He fully intends to return to investigate the Illuminautilus sighting, but discovering the fate of the Wasp Queen and Bloodwing takes precedence.

We also wish to point out to residents that Velvel's Shanghai Bazaar has imported several crates of high-quality firearms and ammunition for your self-defense, available for reasonable prices.

I was created in Steelhead. It is my my birthplace. We shall help rid your town of this menace, my fellow citizens. Stay alert, and carry on.

don't hold back

With a violent jolt the Bloodwing's Revenge shifted from the smoggy night over Seraph City and emerged in the late-morning sky over the ocean of the Steamlands. From the cockpit I watched Nova's ship, the Sixes and Sevens, squeeze through non-Euclidian space with her Mythos artifact to emerge on my starboard side. I was still uneasy with her devotion to the Outer Gods, the Eye would surely mangled the mind of any untrained human who watched the ship arrive, much less travel through with it.

There was a burst of static and distortion on my Marconi transmitter. I saw a flying ironclad looming in the distance, its engines and still red-hot cannons cradling it in a white shroud of smoke that trailed in the breeze.

"This is Captain Hassanov of of Battlecruiser Hassanov. Unknown ship, please identify." I recognized Iason Hassanov's accent and deep calm voice very well.

"This is Captain Sakigake of the Sixes and Sevens to Hassanov, ready to assist. Over."

"Captain Qlippothic of the Bloodwing's Revenge, I confirm Captain Sakigake is an ally, over."

"Yes, I remember you Nova. Welcome back, all of you. Misson Status: Wasp fleet destroyed. Some survivors left in field, estimate two, maybe three hundred. Wasp Queen still in field, chasing Bloodwing and...angelic companion. Wasp portal still exists, but no further movements to or from. Hassanov pulling back for refueling and rearmaments. Good luck, Over."

I pressed the communicator one last time as Koen prepared himself to jump from the ship with the Regent's staff. "Roger that, Hassanov. Thank you for your help. Over and out."

I made eye contact through her porthole as we hovered. I gave the hand signal, and her saucer craft silently raced off in a flash towards the Wasp Queen.

I engaged the engines and accelerated upwards towards the portal. "Koen! Prepare to jump in twenty seconds!"

"Gotcha, Sis!"

there's a big black sky over my town

The longer I stay in this divergent future, the more I feel that something is wrong here. As I gaze down at this version of Seraph City, the Sephiroth...I cannot calculate it. But there is disharmony.

Of course my thoughts wander to my doomed double of this world. Did you submit to Father's deranged experiments willingly? Were you coerced? Modified?

Did you feel regrets wash over you as your the shells of your spirit burst one by one? You achieved free will, and you dedicated your life selflessly to protect the Steamlands. Nearly all were grateful. Nearly.

The slap of her gloved hand across my cheek possibly broke her hand. But the damage to me, while hidden, was strong.

"Stay away from my fiance!" she screamed. But it was he who had fawned for my attention with trinkets and verses. It was he was deceptive, and not only to me. But she did not care.

"Stay away!" She sneered at the engine and twin smokestacks fastened to my back that allowed me to move. "Look at you!" She pointed with a trembling hand. "You're not even a REAL woman!"

"But at least, Lady ________, I know how to act like one."

My fists wrapped around the railing of the deck of the Revenge so tightly that I nearly bent the metal.

I have found love in the timeless oases, but as replenishing - as nurturing as it was...the infinite desert is that more punishing when your heart is iron.

I glance at Nova and Six through the portholes of their vessel. I quickly look away. I take the stairs below deck.

Of course I'll help my family. Of course I'll help my friends.

I see the glow of my eyes reflected back at me as I read the letter of marque framed on the wall.

Ash can dedicate his life to self-sacrifice if he wishes. He may just grow out of it as I have.

But a pirate takes what she needs.



*My thanks to Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega for finding this musical selection.

The briefing

Koen finally wandered back to the shipyard where Nova, Six and I were cleaning up after upgrading the Bloodwing's Revenge>. I was closing the panels on the engine core when the Time Window powered up by itself. I was ready to run a diagnostic when Koen jumped below deck. His expression was more somber than I had expected.

"Hey Qli. There's someone I want you to meet."

Clawed feet dusted with gray steadily descended by half-steps, aided by the balance of a staff. I was going to warn him about the rotten fourth stair, but he leaned his staff forward an extra step and gingerly hopped over it without my prompting. Once he reached the floorboards, he slowly spread his crimson wings. Could this really be the Koen I know? The crimson wings of his station weighed heavily upon him. Youthful impertinence was replaced by quiet sorrow. My sensors shuddered from the power radiating from him. This Koen was Regent of House Bloodwing!

"Hello Qlippothic. I like what you've done with the old bird. Please, no need to kneel."

He handed me his staff.

"I built this to destroy the hellgate. Koen has to drive the blade in the side of the portal to disperse the energy into the Void."

"Understood, Regent."

After he departed, Nova activated the Eye of Y__ S______ in the Sixes and Sevens and I connected my Galvanic Tesseractor to the Time Window and slipped between times back to the Steamlands.

Rebuilding the Bloodwing's Revenge!

It seemed a bit absurd at times. I was working as hard as possible to preserve the original elements of the ship while Nova and Six were relentlessly replacing its 17th century clockwork systems with 20th century innovations.

Luckily I found a hidden drawer in Aleister Mason's writing desk which contained a privateer's letter of marque from George Washington himself, authorizing the Bloodwing's Revenge to "assail all foes of Liberty and the Republic on the high seas and in the open skies." Another correspondence granted our former captain the land that became the Mason plantation in Baltimore. It seems the first President knew of Aleister's immortality, since both contracts have no end date.

Now where has Koen wandered off to?

yesterday's news

I looked up from the faded headline towards the alley where the little "blind" girl had escaped. In the shadows, I saw her small luminescent green eyes blinking at me as she ripped away her soiled newsgirl apron, flooding the alley with the light from her gaslamp heart.

"Wren."

Before I formulate whether I should thank her or punish her, she darted down the alley and out of view. Her glow faded and winked out with the sound of clattering manhole cover.

Do not envy the time traveler, Dear Reader. It is a terrible burden with moral dilemmas behind every turn.

Do not ask me of the details of that newspaper. I scanned it completely, then set it aflame with my furnace. As the ashes floated into the wind, I systematically erased the details from my memory.

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR BLOODWING AND JEREMIAH MASON...

STOCK MARKET PLUMMETS AS...

DR. DARIEN MASON BUILDS...

Relations between Steelhead and New Babbage continue to deteriorate as...

Except the data of immediate importance upon my return, of course.

...the weakened hive was finally repelled by the combined efforts of...

...the hydrogen-powered airships were especially vulnerable to...

I be ethical, but I'm not stupid.