Chapter Text
“So… Have you found anything yet?”
Kinger slowly looks up from the terminal he’d been working at, screen a shining beacon in the middle of the aquarium, even with the rainbow eyes of the abstractions circling us. It takes him a moment to respond, coming out of the flow of searching and comparing the contents of our files.
“Hi Pomni. I…can’t say I’ve found anything especially promising yet, no.”
I sigh. It’s been months now. Maybe there really isn’t a way to return abstractions to their original forms, as Caine seems to think, but I’m not about to give up yet. I don’t know most of them, but I know Jax, and…Jax didn’t seem to want to go at the end. If I can find any way, any way at all, I’ll take it.
“The main thing I’ve noticed isn’t really of much help,” Kinger continues, “While our files and processes are fairly stable, with changes happening regularly at discrete locations, theirs are wild and unruly. When I take snapshots of their data at two points in time, the data is more different than it is similar. And I’ve yet to find any kind of pattern that looks like it could be stabilized.”
His words are slow, contemplative. A twinge of sadness and resignation underlies it all. He glances up toward a lone abstraction which seems to spend much of its time circling him. So close, and yet…
“I have…an idea, if…if you wanted to try something new.”
Kinger looks back toward me, brows furrowing. “An idea? I… I haven’t been able to find anything, and Caine always treats them like a lost cause. I…don’t want you doing anything dangerous now, alright?”
Does he see the worry on my face? The fear? Because I’m surely feeling it. What I’m suggesting is dangerous and maybe a little reckless, but it feels completely worth it to me. I just don’t see another way to help.
And I’m not giving up this easily.
“I need your help, but…I want to go in again. I need to see if Jax is still in there in any way. Maybe I could get some idea that’ll help you figure things out, or change something from within? It’s…worth a shot, right?”
Kinger stares for a long moment before glancing back at the computer screen, at the text that represents Jax violently shuddering before us. Slowly he looks back over at me, a concerned look on his face.
“Pomni, are you sure about this?”
He isn’t shooting me down yet! “Yes! Yes, I feel like I can do…something in there. I just need your help to watch over both of us from…from the code end. I’m going to need Zooble too, so that I can get back out, and I’m sure the others will want to be around, just in case?” I shrug.
Kinger nods, still looking a little concerned, but thinking. “Pomni, I…don’t want to let my own wants put you in danger,” he starts, glancing up at the nearby abstraction, “but it sounds like you’re set on this, and I want to keep you as safe as I can.” He stops for several seconds before finishing his thought. “If keeping watch over you and telling Zooble when to pull you out will help keep you safe, I guess I’m on board.” He smiles at me ruefully.
I let out a held breath, which catches me by surprise. “Thank you. Thank you Kinger. Um, could you…go talk to the others with me as well?” I didn’t want to do that alone.
Kinger nods, makes sure that his bucket is on securely, and we head out to find the others.
We run into Ragatha first, and I explain my plan to her. Her face slides from curious to concerned quite quickly and sticks firmly in place.
“Pomni, are you really sure you want to do this? We have no idea if the abstractions even remember who they were, and it’s lucky that Zooble was there last time to pull you out. How do we know it’s not even worse and you’re going to start abstracting immediately when you go in there? I…I don’t want to lose you.”
Ragatha looks down at that last comment, and I know where she’s coming from. These last few months have been…lovely. I would be worried about her too if she decided to do something like this. I take a breath and reach out to hold her hand gently. She looks up, tears in her eyes.
“Hey. Hey, I understand. The pain isn’t fun and I don’t want to abstract either. It’s not something I intend to do. That’s why I asked Kinger to help. He’ll be watching to make sure that…my code (Fuck that’s weird to say) doesn’t become too chaotic. If anything looks wrong, Zooble will pull me out. Well, if they agree to this at least. We still need to ask, but I think they’ll be on board. And Caine should also be on hand to remove any glitches that are left on me.”
Kinger cuts in, “Like she said, I should be able to tell if she’s starting to glitch too much. We’ll keep her safe.”
I take a deep breath. “Point is? I’ll be back. I’m not leaving you, alright?”
Ragatha takes a moment, nods and wipes her tears away with a hand. “I…alright. As long as everyone is there to help.” She looks me in the eye again, “No unreasonable heroics though, alright?”
I nod back to her, a bit of warmth filling my chest as my eyes mist over. “No unreasonable heroics.”
She smiles and keeps a hold on my hand as we walk off to find the others.
We find Zooble and Gangle sitting in the living room…err…the area with all the couches. It needed a proper name, you know? It looks like they’re being all cute and flirty as usual. Gangle’s body is looped around Zooble’s in places and…I don’t see the end of one of her ribbons… I glance over at Ragatha, and she’s staring resolutely off to the side, not making eye contact with anyone else as her face blazes.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” I ask, grinning from ear to ear.
“N-Noth…uh,” she slaps her cheek with her other hand to try to clear her head before yelling ahead, “Zooble! Gangle!”
The two of them look up from one another and Gangle hurriedly untangles herself, clearly embarrassed as she looks away. Zooble looks unphased, and starts to wave for a second before tilting their head to the side. “You three look like you’re on a mission. What’s going on?”
How’d they realize that?
“Pomni has a rather reckless idea, so we’re here to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.”
C’mon Ragatha, don’t lead with that. I want to get them on our side! Gangle has recomposed herself and is looking up at this point, so I make my attempt.
“I…want to see if we can help Jax and the others. Starting with Jax, because well… Jax abstracted the most recently and the two of us have at least some sort of connection. That and I have an idea of what I can expect to be in there. In…in Jax. I want to go back in.”
Kinger steps forward. “I should be able to tell if she’s starting to glitch too much, but we need someone to pull her back out.”
“That’s where you come in. If…if you’re okay with it that is.” I take a deep breath before continuing. “I know it’s painful to be in there at all, but that’s why I have to go back in. Jax didn’t want to abstract. Not at the end there. And if I don’t try, I’ll never know if I could save the others from abstraction. We…we have to try, right?”
Zooble takes a moment to think, glancing off to the side. Gangle is the first to respond. “Who…who says he’s not just going to be the same when he gets back? Are you sure he won’t just attack you in there?” she asks.
I’m a little taken aback by Gangle’s response, but…he did hurt Gangle a lot after all. And Gangle didn’t see Jax at the very end either. “I…from what I saw, Jax shouldn’t…” Can’t get it completely out. Jax wasn’t completely welcoming when I went in. Sure, a lot of it was understandable after everything, but…
“I…I don’t want to be bullied by him again.”
Yeah, understandable. I steel myself. “Gangle, so, I think Jax is changing, and whatever happens…I’ll take responsibility if Jax tries to bully you again. It wasn’t okay then, and it won’t be okay when Jax is back with us.” Absolutely true. I’m the one taking this on, so it’ll be my responsibility if Jax causes problems. Not the smartest promise to make, but…
Zooble stares at me hard. “Pomni, look, we all miss some of the others. I still remember Kaufmo…” They sigh. “This is just the first step, right? If we get Jax back, we might be able to get everyone else?”
I breathe in and nod, trying to look as resolute as I can.
“Good. This place could do with being a little more lively.” They look back at Gangle and smile reassuringly before looking to me again, “I’ll help rein Jax in if you need it. You shouldn’t have to shoulder that burden alone.”
Relief washes over me fully this time. That’s…everyone on board? Will we actually be able to manage this?
“WHAT’S EVERYONE DOING OVER HERE?”
An excited shout comes from behind me. Ragatha topples forward in surprise, her hand still firmly in mine. There’s no time to brace. I feel myself falling forward, the floor racing up toward my face…only to halt mere inches from the surface.
Zooble sounds rather exasperated, “Damn it Caine! Don’t just pop in and yell like that!”
“But you said not to arrive unannounced! I announced myself nice and loudly this ti-”
I wrap Ragatha up in my arms just before we both flop the rest of the way to the floor, trying to cushion her. Zooble corrects Caine for yet another silly mistake. I lie there for a minute wondering what I’ve signed myself up for. With all the chaos that goes on around here, will we really be able to do this? And is it really a good idea to bring Jax back?
Ragatha pulls me closer and I stop thinking so hard, if only for a moment.