Chapter delayed, I guess? Here's the addition to the previous one I talked about. (Patreon)

As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't posted a chapter so far this week. First I was anxious about a colonoscopy, and once I had it, it kind of wrecked me in a way I didn't expect. So I'm, uh, kinda coming back from that. 

I won't skip a whole week - I'll hopefully be done tomorrow. In the meanwhile, have the little segment returning to the present that'll be stuck on the current draft.

--

Anna already seemed to already be anticipating what Linos was about to say, stepping towards him and the logic bridge with a curled lip. I had some idea of what was coming myself, and I didn't like it one bit.

"I just finished checking the overview of the sanctuary," he said, his tone very serious. "While there's nothing overtly obvious - no collapsed buildings or tunnels or anything like that - there... Does seem to be some degree of damage to the structural integrity, at least here and in the visitor's bioenslocure." He swallowed the air. "I haven't pinned down all the details yet, but some of the damage isn't far from here--"

Anna didn't let him finish. She pushed his chair to the side as she touched the thing herself, closing her eyes.

"If... It's only minor damage, it should be okay, right?" Ptolema said anxiously.

No one spoke up to correct her, but it was self-evident that things weren't that simple. It looked like everyone in the room was holding their breath at once. In the corner of my eye, I saw Seth mouth most of the sentence 'we're so fucking dead' but quickly cut himself off when he realized I was looking.

Finally, Anna sighed deeply. Then, she strode back downstairs, lifted her scepter, and spoke some Divination incantations - I recognized one as a derivative of the Matter-Mapping Arcana, which was also the basis for a lot of diagnostic techniques. Then she fell silent, slowly tapping her foot against the floor rhythmically.

"What has happened?" Mehit asked from the top of the stairs, her tone tense-- As if it ever wasn't.

Anna didn't reply, facing the wall.

"Your ladyship," Kamrusepa interjected herself, her voice with an almost threatening edge to it.

From the side of her bunk, Ophelia glanced at her, then at Seth and Ptolema, with an uncomfortable, anxious look.

Anna grunted, then spoke slowly, the words carrying a labored calm that they normally didn't. "There is damage to the stonework that intersects with the runes," she said.

"D-Damage?" Theodoros asked, his face paling. Behind him, Linos took a deep, deep breath. "You mean--"

"It is not severe," she said. "Despite the idiotic architecture of this place, the sub-structure held relatively well; it's mostly intermittent micro-fissures, except for a relatively small area near the other side of the building." She narrowed her eyes. "However, as I'm sure you know, runework is delicate, and the engravings I created here are both complex and economically structured. There was a great deal I was expected to accomplish here. As a result, there are few redundancies."

Oh, gods.

This was it. This was when we learned there was no escape, and that we were doomed. I couldn't even say that I'd had a good run; it'd mostly been a complete disaster.

"What's broken?" Ezekiel asked darkly.

"Several systems have become disconnected from one another, from the administrative core, or from here," she said. "Most are inconsequential and minor - concerned with supplying power for one domestic or auxiliary purpose or another - or may even be to our advantage. Though I am uncertain if it will cause a backlash at the announted hour, the gravity regulation mechanism has become severed from the administrative center, and will likely remain as static this bioenclosure regardless of what commands are sent from the core. I believe the gas-based defenses may also have been impeded."

"My dad always used to say," Seth spoke, "that when you've gotta give a patient bad news, you should always try to find something good first."

"Let's let her take her time, master Ikkuret," Linos said carefully.

Seth looked like hell. Well, he'd already looked like hell, but now the muted relief acrosss his scarred features across his scarred features had given way to an exhausted dread. He came across as a man on the brink.

Fang, as usual, seemed less bothered. They stared into space, almost wearing an expression of amusement.

Anna narrowed her eyes. "...this facility," she said, "has been severed from the artificed intelligence chamber."

For a moment, there was an atmosphere of utter despair in the room. Seth dropped his head into his hands. Mehit's features tightened harshly, and her head slid back out of view. Several people looked as though they might burst into tears, probably including me.

"But as I said," Anna quickly interjected. "The damage is minor. A tiny disruption that has not damaged the runework in any meaningful sense, but will only interrupt the progress of the incantation. It could be easily repaired in only a few hours."

"We do not have a few hours," Kamrusepa stated bluntly. "It's only an hour now until the system starts turning off our life support, and that's if we can believe that what they've told us they have planned is all that will actually happen!"

"S-She's right," I said. "It doesn't matter how minor the damage is. If we pass four in the afternoon..."

We couldn't take the message at its word. Even if they'd been 'truthful' in a vague regard about the culprit's intention for us in the past, that could easily just have been setting us up for a later fall.

"Oh god. Oh god..." Ptolema said, gripping the sides of her head with rigid arms. "What are we gonna do?"

"Don't-- Don't despair yet, miss Rheeds," Linos said, though his heart wasn't exactly in it. "We still have our scepters. We can survive without air for a time, if needs must."

"We're almost outta eris!" She declared. "And what if it's harder to fix than it looks? Wh-- What if something else goes wrong, and there's no time left?" Her arms tightened further. "And, and--"

"Easy, Ema," Seth said, holding up a hand. "It's gonna be okay--"

"It's not gonna be okay!" She nearly shouted. "I don't wanna die in this creepy bubble!"

Seth took a deep breath, clenching his fist. The atmosphere in the room grew even more dire, and I found myself shaking softly. From the top of the stairs, I thought I heard a faint wheezing sound.

Was that Lilith... Laughing?

Anna looked towards the floor, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Miss Amtu," Kamrusepa spoke, insistently. Implicitly demanding a solution.

"I am thinking," Anna said, through gritted teeth. She exhaled sharply. "As I said. The damage is minor. Even if we cannot make the repairs, there should be a way to continue with the plan on schedule."

"What sort of way?" Mehit asked.

"We will need to take a risk," Anna said.

As things turned out, this was quite an understatement.