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“No time to delay, keep moving and get past the junction before them!” you sign, already turning to run ahead, shielding yourself from the sides.

You cross the corridor of light and run ahead into the darkness. In your peripherals you see them closing in on you from the sides.

“It’s them!” one of them shouts. You feel ripples in the æther as they activate their programs. Several projectiles impact your shield in the near-æther. Once the three of you pass, you turn to look at your enemy--four of them, invisible to the æther as you are but visible in the dim surface-light. From their uniforms--a mix of first and second years. You see the half-visible manifestations of guns in two of their hands, and in the others, spears of æthereal light.

One of the second-years speaks, “By order of the Admins, drop your technopathy and surrender yourselves, Sector NULL!”

“What?! We’re not Sector NULL, aren’t you?” you say.

“Don’t listen to her,” the other second-year says, “the Admin said they would try to deceive us.”

“Which Admin? We’re on an Admin’s orders too!” you say.

One of the first-years looks down at her terminal. “Order says we apprehend anyone we see here.”

“Have it your way, I don’t have time for this!” You manifest your laser in your avatar hand and fire back at them as they return fire, and keep moving backwards toward your goal. You feel the pressure of minds trying to circumvent your shield and instinctively push back on them, trying to outmaneuver them and overcome their defenses in turn, all while keeping up your physical movement--it quickly becomes mentally taxing.

Illusory copies of yourselves manifest around you, wrapped in Zeta’s pale aura, absorbing some of the enemy’s attacks.

“Their emotions show no signs of deceit!” Akiko signs with her surface hands, while her avatar hands lash at your pursuers with her æthereal cable whip, keeping them a few meters away. “They’re as confused as we are!”

“Try to calm them down!” you sign back, continuing your barrage of iridescent lasers.

“Shield yourself from CommTech!” one of the pursuing second-years says. “That one’s trying to manipulate our emotions!”

Building up over the clang of magnets slamming down to the metal, a strangely comforting sound starts to fill your hearing-space--not originating from the surface--music.

It seems harmless to you, but your enemies look about, searching for the source, their defenses fluctuating wildly. Seizing the opportunity, you manifest your theremin program and join the growing melody with a dissonant attack, shattering one of their shields. Akiko strikes at that one, defenseless, and brings her to her knees, clutching her head, screaming for the noise to stop.

A bright flash of light takes down another of them, a familiar burst--the resonance of the Star Arrow of the Sage of Stars. The remaining two turn to the corridors beside them as their assailants emerge from the light--on the left, Luka “PULSE,” her mirror sunglasses reflecting the light of the hallway, her theremin rod floating between her hands, and on the right, Deianira, with her æthereal longbow at the ready.

“You better get those two out of here before they asphyxiate,” Luka says to the remaining two.

“Who the fuck are you?! Who are you with?!”

“A messenger from the Stars,” Deianira says.

“You can wait to find out or you can drag your comrades somewhere with stable oxygen,” Pulse says.

“Fall back! Retreat!” the other one says, picking up the panicked girl and guiding her backwards, keeping up their shield against you. The other takes the unconscious one, easy to carry in this gravity.

You and Akiko and Zeta find yourselves staring across a dim corridor face to face with Luka and Deianira. All of you focus on your shields.

“The Chosen of ÆON has gotten involved, I expected as much,” you say.

“You’ve failed in your duty as Messenger,” Luka says.

“What’s that bitch saying Aydan?!” Akiko signs.

“Here, I’ll auto-transliterate,” you sign back.

“We’ve come to recover The One which you so carelessly lost control of,” Deianira says.

“What could I do against an Admin?!” you say.

“Don’t make excuses for your failure!” Luka says.

“We can fight about it later, I have to save ÆON! I’m the only one who knows Ær encryption key. Either help us or stay out of our way!” you say. “Or I could message your master and ask her opinion!”

Luka ends her song. “You’re right that there’s no time to lose. We’ll come with you and secure ÆON.”

“And run off with Ær yourself the moment you lay hands on Ær?” you say.

“Maybe, but we can either be rivals and allies or rivals and enemies, we aren’t going to just stand by and watch while our Goddess is in peril!” Deianira says.

You glance over at Akiko. She signs, “Their motives are completely opaque to me.”