From The Air

Their congregation was separated, and each member broke off and entered a separate section within the stadium. The chamber arrangement revolved around following the numerical order of the rays, slotting their headmen and attending staff into assigned seating allocations without considering the possible divides that would form with time between neighbors in proximity of one another.

Because of this, the natural divides separated all rays from their blocs on at least one side. The longest interrupted stretches of those with similar objectives were the Fourth and Fifth, and more recently the Eighth and Ninth.

For reasons beyond what he was privy to, Ch-4 patted his back before exiting their ranks. She wore a sluggish smile, something that despite its nature, only served to raise his suspicions. She had already done the impossible once and placed the militarists on the defense of it.

He would be ready for the second time because there was no way that was all she held in reserve. If so, she wouldn't have wasted it for a moment reserved inside a small meet scheduled not even a week in advance. Something like this meet, however, with all the importance placed upon the subjects of discussion, would better fit the criteria.

Re-5 appeared alongside Ni-6, the two of them wearing schooled expressions and holding their heads high in greeting. After exchanging basic pleasantries, he watched as the two of them led away Pa-5, Ni-6 touching her shoulder. The two women, as subjects of discussion themselves, were at the bottom and center of the colosseum, where they would wait on benches until called to stand at a dais recently erected on that level.

He went in the opposite direction, going higher and passing the other levels inside the inner chamber until he was at the tallest dais there was. He was once again reminded of how lonely it was when he felt the presence of most of the chamber's eyes ascend to him.

There was nothing up here aside from him worth looking at, after all. The murals etched into the ceiling dome were gazed upon thousands of times, and were long ingrained in the memory of everyone present. But the gazes didn't distract him for long, as he found, to his dismay, that his dais was yet to see repairs come to its frame. It remained crushed and stuck at a height below his knees.

He sniffed. Another way the Fifth antagonized the First, and one he hadn't seen before. Then again, headmen didn't make it a habit of breaking their speaking podiums, so for a rare moment, he only had himself to blame for allowing them to try something new.

The bustle below continued for a minute longer until everyone present found their seats and established themselves with the people around them. The headmen listened to preliminary reports, while aides exchanged what they'd overheard and gleaned, and the assisting representatives continued to make themselves acquainted. Silence settled when he abandoned his seat. "Seeing as all members necessary to convene over subjects of interest are present, I call for today's meet to open."

The vote came and passed, and they entered themselves. In-3 was the first to speak. "Let us avoid unnecessary time expenditures, and discuss the most pressing matter first. We want to know everything about Fort Io. Everything."

It wasn't an unreasonable request. He started by summarizing some of the information in Re-5's report but only lingered long enough to offer a background to those who hadn't read it before the meet. Even now, he was sure some of those on screens and scrolling with fury were doing that. He transitioned into the next part, the one that would in all likelihood bring them the most trouble.

"The Nyx Breaker, while accomplishing its primary objective, was unable to gather data on the fall of the fort itself. Fortunate, then, that it did recover a survivor, one of the suicide runners Io's sitesman sent out minutes following the beginning of the siege." Calling the attack a siege was not the right word, but a skirmish didn't do it justice. All the forts, though smaller than the Last Light, were plenty large enough to be their own cities. For the Aud to completely overwhelm them in a short period, the only correct way to refer to that tragedy was "battle."

"She's an engineer," he said, "and the only eyewitness account the Directory has." He looked down, searching until he found her. They locked eyes, and he offered her an encouraging smile. Or what he hoped was one. "Serviceman Pa-5, please st--please rise, and give your account."

While the assembly within the chamber muttered and exchanged quiet remarks, she clicked her joystick. Her body, once slumped against a bench beside Re-5, lifted until she was at standing height. The two women exchanged glances--Re-5's a strained grimace, and hers…he couldn't tell. Empty? Exhausted?

Then she approached the dais and leaned into the vocoder. "It is--honor. It's an honor to share the same chamber as humanity's direct representatives." His hands spasmed, the old urge to clench as strong as ever. He resisted; aside from the small stutter at the start, nothing was amiss yet.

"The Aud came from the air."

Her opening statement sent the chamber into a frenzy. Oh, what a ruckus those six words kicked up! Half the chamber tried to calm the other half, which embroiled itself in shouting matches, accusations, lamentations, and all other manner of exclamations.

This only resulted in twice the original amount; accounting for the inner chamber's skill in making longer-lasting echoes than the greeting space, surprise greeted him when he retained his hearing three seconds into it.

But that hardly mattered to him. He saw the uproar startle Pa-5, and she tried to bring up her hands to cover her ears, head bending down in as best a fetal position as she could manage. But with one missing and the other one clenching the joystick, all she achieved was jamming it into the side of her head.

He swore he could hear her whimper despite the distance between them. Re-5 and Ni-6 were already on their feet and approached her with haste, each moving to cover one of her ears in her stead.

Seeing the sight warmed him, even if Re-5 was in it. But the fact it happened in the first place was inexcusable to him. He waited until he saw they insulated her ears from the ruckus, took a breath and filled his chest, then released it all in a single bellow. "QUIET!!!"

It eclipsed the entire chamber thrice over and dwarfed anything In-3 was capable of. That was what staying in the military longer than a single decade did. As the residual echoes of his outburst continued washing over the assembly, he glared down at as many as he could with one gaze.

A pity the Old Man's Blessing never blessed him with a pair of eyes in the back of his head, for he would know how to use them well now. "You are all the voice of the Directory! Act like it!"

At least a third of those present had the decency to look embarrassed for the sudden panic that gripped them. He returned his attention to the trio at the bottom of the colosseum. "I apologize for our abnormal disregard for decorum." He stressed the last words. "Are you able to continue your account, Pa-5?"

"...yes." A near-imperceptible shudder ran up what remained of her body. She took a breath, close enough to the dais' vocoder for it to broadcast to the rest of the chamber. She blanched, shuddering harder. Seconds later, she wore composure again. "Thank you for your patience, sir."

At his nod, she continued. "The siege was less a traditional charge and more of a carpet bombing maneuver. As far as I know, no Aud ever breached Fort Io's walls. They all came from above."

"Above where?" one of the assistant representatives asked.

A shrug would've been her immediate response, but here the act was discernable as disrespectful coming from a low-ranked serviceman like her. So, she answered, "I don't know."

The Sixth Headman entered himself into the dialogue. "Is it possible the Aud came from the Gaiss Hollow's ceiling?" Now all eyes were on him, prompting him to continue his interjection.

"As far as our records and science can prove--or rather, disprove, there exists no vertical limit to the Gaiss Hollow's internal volume. But this might not be the case; going off of what Serviceman Pa-5 revealed, could we speculate the Aud found a way to the ceiling, then maneuvered themselves into position above the fort? None of the forts have any infrastructure in place to protect their occupants against a threat from above."

"What are you saying?" The Fourth Headman's voice shook even as he scoffed. "That the Aud scaled their way up the Gaiss Hollow's walls and clung to the ceiling?"

The chamber fell silent at that, more devoid of noise than if death descended. The Aud scaled up the sides of the Gaiss Hollow…the Prime Beacon's tongue turned dry.

Did they?

What…?