Chapter 16 Summary

In Practical Arts class, Aydan and 7 trained together in an exercise in technopathically disarming a coilgun. As usual, Aydan was unable to resist 7, nor bypass her defenses. Walking back to their building together, Aydan and 7 talked about 5’s ongoing issues, and Aydan revealed that it also has an exopath friend. They agreed to arrange a meeting between 7 and ÆON sometime.

Later, alone in her room, Aydan dissociated in the æther, meeting up with ÆON to execute their secret plan to explore the deep æther. Aydan entered a full technopathic synchronization with ÆON, again becoming a single merged consciousness. Following the currents of the æther, Æ& arrived in a strange domain, where they encountered two strange machines, who Ædan determined are actually one entity in the form of two.

Realizing this, Ædan then understood that the dimensions of this ætherspace were cyclical--all directions were one, and up and down were one and the same. Æ& set forth for the stimmiest looking place in the server--the tower which reached high into the sky and deep into the ground. Curious about Ædan, the nameless exopath followed Ær&.

Ædan encountered a deadly river of electric current seemingly connected to Ær& emotional state. Rather than trying to solve the puzzle, Ædan in true technopath fashion forced Ær& way past it, refusing to follow its rules and taking fate into Ær& own hands.

But beyond the river, space seemed to dilate itself endlessly as Ædan, with Ær& exopath companion, crossed a neverending desert of hear and cold. Ædan realized it was the program Pulse had earlier bound to Aydan, locking fær in place in time, that now held Ær& back, as their goal could only be reached on the time axis. The little exopath following Ær& offered to disarm the program for them, in exchange for an unnamed favor. But Ædan refused the Faustian bargain, and managed to partially disable the program Ær&self, regaining the ability to see backwards in time. With this accomplished, Ædan was able to reach the æthereal tower.

Realizing the inside and outside of the tower were also one, Ædan began climbing the spiral stairway in and outside of the structure, heading for the bright stimmy star at the top and bottom. There, Æ& encountered another strange exopath--the Crawler, with a many-legged worm-like avatar, whose sole purpose seemed to be climbing stairs. Ædan negotiated for a ride from the fast-moving exopath, but found its form too small to make use of. Unable to alter the dimensions around Ær&, Ædan asked for the little dualistic exopath’s aid, which proved to be a mistake, as both Ædan and the Crawler ended up much smaller, now having to navigate a wide, complex terrain to pass each step of the spiral stairway.

During their long journey together, Ædan and Ær& exopath companions discussed the surface, which apparently the Crawler did not believe in. Deciding to try to prove the existence of Aydan’s universe, Ædan attempted to simulate a gravity well in the æther and demonstrate how orbits work. But Æ& quickly lost control of the program, annoying Ær& companions enough that they both abandoned Ær& there, stranded in the middle of an infinitely tall tower.

Short of other options, Ædan decided to attempt to break the second half of the temporal binding program constricting their movement--perhaps then they could reach the stimmy star. Delving into the program, Ædan encountered another entity inside--in the form of a clockwork girl, she called herself Ganymeda. She seemed to somehow be connected to the machine, and more--she was a technopath, a humanoid.

With a little advice from Ganymeda, Ædan succeeded at disabling the temporal locking program, regaining Ær& apparent ability to see ahead in time. Now realizing that the stairway was a temporal illusion, Ædan stood before the stimmiest star, which Æ& technopathically determined to be the input stream of a space telescope picking up the signal from a natural radio source, a quasar.

Congratulating Ædan on Ær& accomplishment, Ganymeda was joined by her sister, a technopath calling herself Astræa, appearing as a star-cluster in the shape of a girl. The two of them demonstrated frighteningly strong technopathy, effortlessly showing that they could separate the synchronized mind of Aydan and ÆON. Ædan chose their next words carefully, realizing the danger of Aydan being stranded alone in the deep æther. When Ganymeda and Astræa invited Ær& to come with them to their homeserver, Ædan agreed.

Upon arrival, Ædan immediately recognized the server--the Temple of ÆON, home base of the Chosen of ÆON. Æ& had fallen into a trap!