Chapters
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Finally the terrible meeting was over, and Felicity could drift back into the foam between worlds. Whatever inscrutable plans had been made to fight the unknown dangers of the void were beyond her understanding, but in some ways that didn’t even matter. It felt like she’d died aboard the Alcyone with everypony else. Her body certainly had, or at least been left behind in the egg. Of course, that distinction mattered a whole lot less for a citizen, who wasn’t bound to the cycle of life and death and…-
84.8 K •
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Felicity drifted through the void.She couldn’t have said how long she floated there, with only her fears for company. In the infinite theater of her mind, she played back the siege that had taken the Alcyone, over and over again. Chorale’s desperate face, watching her with certainty of death that could not be escaped. It didn’t matter that Chorale had always been the one meant to protect them—Felicity felt that job ought to be hers, even for the computer.She failed. If she had a body to occupy, she…
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84.8 K •
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Felicity was asleep when the Alcyone started to shake. It only took her a few seconds to wake up, shrugging out her wings and hopping to alertness. Whatever she’d been dreaming faded away, and she was back at her desk.The Alcyone shook again, twisting violently to one side. A string of emergency warnings piped directly into her head joined the blaring sirens from outside it. “Battle stations! All hands, report to the bridge! Battle stations!”This planet doesn’t even have a space station. We sent a…
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84.8 K •
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“Captain Felicity.” Chorale’s voice was gentle in her ears, gentle enough that she might’ve missed it completely if she wasn’t already prepared for some disaster to come upon them. But being a citizen had imparted her with many enhancements, and one of those was incredibly light sleep.She sat up, shaking her head once to clear the bleariness away. “Go ahead, Chorale.” She was back in her quarters. She couldn’t have said exactly how she got there—maybe she had fallen asleep on duty at some…
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84.8 K •
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Felicity stood at the edge of the Alcyone, where the complex interplay of simulation fields and her implants fooled her senses into thinking she was looking out on the barren void of space. If she squinted just so, she could see one star that was brighter than all the others, its welcoming orange glow the herald of what they’d come to find.The planet of course would be far too small to see at this distance. But she wanted to keep looking, as though the familiar call of life would cry out to her through…
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84.8 K •
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Vera drifted.At first she hardly noticed anything was different—the water here was the perfect temperature, and there was no pesky brace or harness to weigh her down. The sound of distant surf was hardly unusual to her ears. It was the soothing sound of returning to shore after a long dive. Or just wading out into the surf and letting it carry her away from shore, where the world hadn't ended and her family weren't dead.She didn't really want to move, or even open her eyes. She was so unbelievably…-
21.7 K •
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Vera had a bad leg, not bad arms. She heaved herself out of the water, raising the safety-line with revenant care. Good thing too, the spool was just about out of cord. She flopped onto her chest on the rocky floor, which had mercifully worn smooth by the passage of water over it. She spat out the regulator, then took a few cautious breaths. The air was damp and strange, but she felt nothing unusual from it. "Is this safe to breathe?" she asked, glancing back down at the water's surface. "Cerulean?"The…
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21.7 K •
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Bennie and Roderick arrived at the dock early that morning, in that silly pink minivan covered with rust-spots. Vera watched them from the dock, leaning against the railing to help support her weight.She could've sworn that every time she saw that old beater Bennie found some way to make it crazier. Were those seats zebra-striped?Bennie practically leapt from the passenger-seat, crossing straight to her. "Hey Vera. How're you feeling?"They exchanged cheerful hugs. Her eyes settled on the fish that circled…
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21.7 K •
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It was possible, though it turned out to be less necessary than she might've expected. She gave the remedial dive that weekend, and two of her students had their ponies ask her for dive-computers of their own. That pattern repeated itself in the following weeks. And some of her more frequent customers already had Equestrian devices of their own that would serve the same purpose, even if they weren't exactly designed as dive-computers.Vera didn't just salvage the rest of the season, but things became even…
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21.7 K •
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"Sorry about your scooter," Cerulean said, apparently from just beside her. Vera turned, and the seapony was there on the deck, sprawled out in the sun like she was. She looked a little like a seal when she did it, the lively muscle of her body flattening out under the unexpected load of gravity. She could still see through the fish to her boat on the other side. It was easier to see through the illusion. "If it was connected, I could've warned you not to use it. But it was way too old to be integrated. I…
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21.7 K •
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