Watson Doyle in the style of Ju Chao, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.

  Chapter 20: Statues also die

  Special Circumstances headquarters, Mikla metropolitan area, Confluence dimension

  Year 42 of the Confluence Republic (local time)

  Overnight, the Erd author wrote another chapter as well as an interlude. The chapter was about the SC board discussing their three cases for the first time, which was fun, and also provided some background info on the Special Circumstances section that was news to Charlotte. The interlude for its part indicated that the two communicating parties might be considering an alliance against Soth and his alien friends, which seemed promising. Unfortunately, it was wrapped in some horror story from Erd where people were burnt alive. Great work, Erd sims, now we really feel encouraged to make an extra effort to save your sorry asses.

  Charlotte Ritter: Good morning, everyone. I trust you have read the latest material from the Erd author?

  Bob Rife: Good morning. The most important thing to me was that we may have allies in our fight against Soth and his crew.

  Watson Doyle: Potentially. But we don’t know what motives these people have. If we wanted to, would we be able to contribute to the communication?

  Bob Rife: We could interfere in the simulation, although under normal circumstances that is very much frowned upon.

  Charlotte Ritter: It’s not the first thing we’ll do, obviously, but perhaps we can leave it as an option for the future. One of the communicating parties seem to talk via horror stories – will be interesting to see if the other party stays with the computers and natural philosophy. Does the choice reflect something about the people who are talking?

  Sophie Strange: Some kind of sick humor, perhaps. Or maybe just a willingness to look straight into the heart of darkness.

  Charlotte Ritter: Something like that. If we can figure out who these people are, I think that would help us a lot.

  Bob Rife: I think you’re right, but there’s not much to work with yet. Maybe as the conversation progresses we will learn more.

  Charlotte Ritter: Let’s hope so. Did anyone get any useful ideas last night?

  Watson Doyle: I tried to consider how we might deal with Soth. Since I know loop magic I tried to find relevant applications, but the problem with any direct attack is that he has lots of defenses and is probably too strong for us even if we pierce those defenses. And I guess he has contingencies if we cancel his pocket dimension. Then I tried to imagine a way to cleanse the Erd dimension from those shadows, but clearing them out building by building would require an army. So, basically I was just crossing things off the list.

  Bob Rife: I played with the idea of using the energy hoard to conjure up a sun in the sky, but the shadows would just hide until we ran dry. I hope it’s not just me thinking that Erd is central to everything that’s going on, though.

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  Charlotte Ritter: I agree with that, although I also agree with – I guess it was Salome who said it – that Soth is probably the weakest link here.

  Sophie Strange: Yeah.

  Charlotte Ritter: So, Watson, I think you are right that we can’t just attack him or his pocket. He’s prepared for that. But what if we alter his pocket in some subtle way?

  Watson Doyle: Something that is subtle enough not to trigger his contingency flows. Although we would have to keep it obfuscated. In order to alter his dimensional magic we probably have to understand it first, though. What do you think, Sophie?

  Sophie Strange: Most of it is still beyond me. In the book, he described his pocket as a four-dimensional space embedded in the unidimensional Thesaurus. I’ve never encountered something like that before – in a way it’s the opposite of what we would refer to as a manifold, which is a lower-dimensional space embedded in a higher-dimensional space.

  Bob Rife: To be honest, I have no idea what that means in practical terms. Do you think you will be able to manipulate his pocket?

  Sophie Strange: I guess so, eventually.

  Watson Doyle: What would happen to his body if we altered the pocket so it’s only two-dimensional?

  Sophie Strange: Uncharted territory as far as I’m concerned. But maybe his contingency flows would kick in?

  Charlotte Ritter: Removing dimensions is not very subtle, I guess. But, um, whoever is behind the Erd author basically handed Soth to us on a plate, right? I think that’s maybe true in two senses.

  Watson Doyle: What do you mean?

  Charlotte Ritter: He threw it right in our face. What is Soth most afraid of?

  Sophie Strange: Fuck! You’re a genius! He’s afraid of being trapped in time.

  Charlotte Ritter: Maybe we can make his fear come real?

  Bob Rife: Ok, please explain.

  Sophie Strange: We can manipulate the time aspect of his pocket. Stretch it out.

  Charlotte Ritter: Might work, right? We stretch it out to its maximum and beyond, so each second in his pocket –

  Sophie Strange: Is a million years in the Confluence.

  Bob Rife: My goodness. Wouldn’t he notice?

  Sophie Strange: Not unless he has a frame of reference. As long as he’s in his pocket, time is moving normally for him.

  Watson Doyle: But from our perspective he is basically frozen like a statue.

  Charlotte Ritter: A horrible fate, really. Like you go home to sleep one night and then when you wake up the next morning, thinking nothing special has happened, a million years have passed.

  Sophie Strange: All your family and friends are long gone – but Soth has no family and friends. According to the book, he’s estranged even from the other Elders, right?

  Bob Rife: Not a kind fate, but maybe one he deserves. Although some might say it’s not up to us to condemn him to eternal solitude.

  Sophie Strange: From his perspective, it’s not really that horrible. He’ll just be sitting there with his sunset and his grilled fish, enjoying a few minutes on his own, not knowing that in the meantime, several aeons have passed for the rest of us.

  Watson Doyle: This is it. If we can do it?

  Sophie Strange: We’ll have to master the time aspect of his magic, which he appears not to have mastered himself.

  Charlotte Ritter: But that’s because he’s afraid of messing around with it. Afraid of what might happen. If you can identify the strand that specifies the time aspect and understand how to manipulate it based on what it’s doing with the physical dimensions, maybe you don’t have the master the whole thing. And get the people at the Expedition headquarters to help you, obviously.

  Sophie Strange: Maybe you’re right.

  Charlotte Ritter: Then we collaborate on the flow, I do the altering and you direct it. We’ll practice it first, of course.

  Sophie Strange: Might work. What if it doesn’t?

  Charlotte Ritter: We’ll probably blow our advantage. So let’s not rush into it.

  Watson Doyle: We have to tell the board, of course.

  Charlotte Ritter: Of course. Maybe they will think of something that tears the whole thing apart. But it might work. Or what say you?

  Bob Rife: I don’t know, but I think it’s a great idea. I say we talk to the board immediately and get them to set up people to collaborate and experiment with.

  Charlotte Ritter: I’ll message them straight away. Ok?

  Watson Doyle: Go for it. If Sophie’s in?

  Sophie Strange: I love it. No guarantees I can get it to work, though. But if we get help…

  Charlotte Ritter: I imagine they’ll be happy to help us.

  Charlotte Ritter in the style of Mikalojus Konstantinas ?iurlionis, as interpreted by DALL-E in February 2025.