I keep a bottle by my bed, it's a focus (part CV)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CIV.)

Emilly arrived on Tannhäuser Gate Station, moving quickly through the levels to the command deck, and the large dark screen there. She touched the control panel, authenticating herself even as she turned the screen on.

"STAN, please watch for presence of Hiro instance 2 on Gearhaven Prime. Interface at soonest opportunity to retrieve answer to question: What was Hiro trying to do before the time accident?"

She watched words in green and an odd, mid-tone grey scroll up the screen.

STAN:
Instances of Hiro in GH prime time/space reality bubble are:
His Grace, the Duke Hiro. Currently in recovery on the Space Frighter "Misunderestimated Cat" above the ocean of Tannhäuser Gate. Observing the Armada Remainder in Krakenstorm.

Instance 2: Back-up and recovery instance of his Grace post accident, aka Hiro in a Box [HIAB]. Location in Research Facility on Tannhäuser Gate Station.

She nodded. "Yes, currently." Then she thought. "Oh, on Tannhäuser? Then execute same instruction for Tannhäuser Gate Station: What was Hiro trying to achieve before the time accident?"

STAN:
STAN connect with HIAB:

His Grace was attempting to time travel beyond the document capabilities of the Grey Area.

Emilly tapped the nails of one hand against her bicep, thinking.

"Was there a specified reason given?"

STAN:
Motivation: To investigate the time line infestation at early stages of human evolution (Bronze Age Collapse).
His Grace: Suspects current adversary.
The Blight is same entity that attempted to slow evolution in early earth timelines.
At certain points in development in history: there is evidence of manipulation from time active forces. Manipulation appears to be directed at preventing, or pollution of, the thought forms prior to an evolutionary advance.

She looked down, thinking, then startled at the next voice she heard.

"Emilly?"

Odd little hitch in her breathing, even after all this time, even with the Duke back. "Hiro?" she finally asked.

"Emilly--STAN has networked with my inputs in the lab."

She took that in. "That's...good..." Did that mean he knows he's not the living Duke? She had no idea how to even frame such a question.

"Em--I was trying to get back before the Bronze Age Collapse. To test if the tech/Magick used is what we are seeing in both base reality and on the grid."

Emilly blinked again. What grid?

"My working hypothesis was the Ringmaster and the Black Pharoah, the Hydra, maybe even the Ṕ̵̡͎̘͔͍́͗̉̃͆̾̒̐i̸̛̲̪̣̻̔̀̀͆͌̓̎̉̋̇̌̂̀͌̍̒͛̓́̾̎͋̒͋͂̈́͐̈̊̈́͊̐͋͠ģ̶͈̺̜͎͕̥̥̘̫̱̻͕̞̩̼̰̦̞͇͇̳̜̩͒̂̒̈́̆̔̐̃̈̎̀͗̓́̾̂́̈̃̚͠͝͠f̶̡̢̛̙̳͉̯̻̮̺̬̙̬̣̼̞͍̤͎͈̣͎̱̗̱̹̤͇̳̈́͗̂̈́́͛̽͐̉͂̉̈́̌̅̈́́͊̈́͐̈͆̉̀̇͘͜͝͝͝͝ͅ@̴̨̧̨̨̛͎̘̱͍̤̹̫͇̮̲̞̪̯͈̺̙̫͍͎̗͓̹͎̥̥̩̠͉̾̈̈̀́́͗̊̋͌̈͛͒̉̅͒͗̒̀̽̎͒͐͝ͅͅ$̸̨̧̧̞̮̲̱̫̯̱̣̣̰͖͉̤͉̖̲̠̥̦̜̺̮̠̪̳͇̠̝̥̇͜͠ͅķ̷̡̲̪̪͎̦̹͖̤̯͉̝͕̫͖̯͔̯̳̟͕̟̠̲͓̓̍̉̂͗͌̀̓̚͜͝͝ͅẽ̶̛̛̛̪͓͆͗̅͑̓̈́͌͊̋́͛̑̎̀͛͊́̿͘̚̕͘͠͠͠͠r̶̢̛̛̬̰͚͍̲̗̺̙͈͎͔͆͊͂̈́̀͐̆̂̂̔̒̓̇̋͘͘̕͜͝"."

Emilly felt her eyes snap wide. The distortion on that word was difficult to hear. What did it mean? But he was continuing.

"--are avatars of something working to derail things...or influence things...But I hit a wall..."

"So...?"

"So, I had to improvise. And get the data back here so we could continue on..."

The voice trailed off.

"So you programmed outside the Gray Area's operational parameters?"

Some noise--static burst? Glitch in the system? Derisive snort? She had no idea.

"Enhanced the range of the singularity drive," he said then. "Used the Gate...but...something external stopped us. Tossed us light years away and 300 years too far in the future. The nature of that weaponized 'Time Wall' is what the back-ups were carrying. Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon are the onboard AI's of the Gray Area AND a back-up of my memories."

"So even if you had not pushed the ship, the ship was pushed. By the adversary, one assumes."

"Beta went with Bilqis, Delta was sent into Egypt, Gamma to Thule and Epsilon was at the first Hebrew Temple, hidden as the Seal of Solomon. Something is stopping time travel into early Bronze Age...or was..."

She nodded. "And may still be, depending."

"Emilly, our concern should be this timeline, now...The same forces that broke up Armada are looking for the probability tech...The same forces infecting the grid working to derail both a Dataist approach or a Techno-Humanist approach to growth."

The grid, again. She let it go.

"If we find any of the four AI's...they will have very different stories and paths. And different magic."

"We will, Hiro. We're concentrating on this timeline. We'll get to the others."

"Okay..."

Another burst of sound, this time more of a tonal pitch lowering to the subsonic, before disappearing. She saw words return to the screen.

STAN:
STAN disconnect from HIAB.

The screen went dark. Emilly shrugged. That seemed to be that.

She went back down to the hangar bay, and took a flier to the Red Queen's tower. She needed to think.

About a lot of things.

(Continued in part CVI.)