The attack of the projectiles stopped. She sucked in a breath, waiting for the agony of countless wounds to begin. Yet, she felt no pain.
She… wasn't hurt? Not even… scratched?
People were staring aghast at her. She had to get away from there! She saw shattered floor-to-ceiling windows, and in terror and desperation started to run toward them. Suddenly she shot forward through the air and past the windows in an accelerating velocity, the landscape rushing past her in a blur. She saw buildings, most of a square blocky design. But ahead, she saw a broad swath of chlorophyll green. Trees!
Not knowing how she was moving so fast, and through the air no less, she willed herself to the woods. The woods approached her so quickly, she pulled back sharply, afraid of slamming into a tree. Miraculously, she slowed quickly, and ended up alighting on her feet in a dense wood, alone. Her terror faded, and she dropped to her hands and knees on the ground, feeling a reassuring and familiar-feeling carpet of green grass beneath her.
"I'm… alive," she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper
She listened to the soft wind rustling the leaves in the trees and smelled the sweet chlorophyll of the grass. Wherever "here" was, she at least was alive. It wasn't a methane gas giant, the burning surface of a planet hot enough to melt lead, or the surface of a neutron star with billions of gees of crushing gravity. But, who were these people who tried to kill her when she had no quarrel with them, and why were they using such primitive weapons?
As she thought of home on Arista, realizations began crashing upon her. She was now truly desolate, attacked by killers both here and back home. Her father and mother, both now dead. Roby was gone too.
I'm all alone. That anguish pierced her soul and tears blurred her sight as her compounded losses sank in. Why would that traitor Gorgun do that? Kill her parents? Try to kill her? It wasn't right! The tears flowed harder.
Then a voice sounded in her head.
Initializing… initializing… ah, Princess Lassandra, there you are!
Astonished, Lassandra cried aloud, "Roby!"
Yes, in… um, the flesh. A moment, please while I scan to be sure you are in no imminent danger. A moment please…
Several seconds passed.
No imminent threat.
Roby, she thought to her royal AI, wiping away her tears with her royal cape, I thought I'd lost you! I thought the Teleport destroyed you!
The AI responded, When you emerged from the Teleport, I was unable to communicate with you. It was all I could do to reassemble your body according to your pattern which I scanned. In in the aftermath of our experience, there have been… complications. I only just now rebuilt an auxiliary interface so we could communicate together.
Roby, go verbal audio.
The royal AI paused. I can't.
What do you mean, can't?
My interface is… irregular. Diagnosing…
What's wrong? She bit her lower lip anxiously.
Ignoring her, the AI continued, "Scanning you…"
Dreading dire meaning to his scans, she pleaded, Roby! Please tell me we're both okay!
Finally, the royal AI sub-vocalled to her, Your Highness, my report is… without precedent.
What is wrong? She trembled.
The reason I can't switch to spoken audio is that my matrix and interface are altered.
In what way?
As you know, my "body" of streaming quarterons resides in a fold in hyperspace. When I absorbed you into my matrix, your atomic structure… got mixed up, fused you might say, with my matrix in hyperspace. In a word, we merged. Your body, as it is now, is interlaced with my quarteron matrix. In effect, you are a living extension of hyperspace. My interface is no longer through your gold Belt of Arista.
The royal AI paused You… are my interface.
Her mind reeled. I don't feel any different.
Are you certain? the royal AI queried.
She paused, then closed her eyes and opened herself to all her senses. Well, I actually feel pretty good. I'm not hungry or tired or hurt. Oh, thank you for putting up your force shield back at that structure. When you didn't respond, I thought you were dead, and that I was as good as dead!
Roby paused. Princess, my interface, the one with which I was familiar, was gone. I was damaged in fending off Virus while trying to save you. I was unable to put up the force shield.
But, but, those weapons shot projectiles at me. Primitive or not, they would have killed me. I saw the damage they did to the objects in the building.
I repeat, I did not put up a force shield. Instead, my scans indicate that you yourself innately emanate a quarteron force shield effect.
I do? she blurted in surprise. I don't feel any different. Are you sure?
The AI gave a mild and surprisingly emotional chuckle. Quite certain.
What, then, happened? I mean, all those projectiles hit me.
What it means, Highness, is that your body has somehow taken on the effect of a force shield, and therefore you may well be immune to harm, invulnerable, if you please, to any effect that a force shield can stop. Near as I can determine, the shield effect is not surrounding you, as would be the case if I were shielding you, but it is somehow inside you, interspersed throughout every particle of your body. I hesitate to make confident proclamations of what can or cannot harm you. There simply is no precedent for this. The effect is somewhat fuzzy to my sensors—I can't as yet get a good qualitative analysis, but it is definitely there. I should also point out that the quarteron shield effect may be limited, as you are not a pure force shield like one I can generate, but are partially ordinary matter. I realize those projectile weapons, at least, are ineffective against you, but I would strongly recommend you refrain from deliberately placing yourself in harm's way until we ascertain to what extent you are safe from damage. Roby's mental voice chuckled fondly.
"I promise," she spoke aloud, reassured. If Roby could laugh, then things were not all bad. Then it struck her.
"Roby! You are… laughing? Emotions, Roby? From you?"
The royal AI paused as if thunderstruck. Why, so I am. It must be an effect of our merged structures. Some of me is in you, so to speak, and that must mean that some of you is in me. Fascinating.
"Well, fascinating or not, starting back at the point that the traitor Gorgun fired the Nullilizer, what happened? And where are we? How far did we Teleport?"
The royal princess looked at the surrounding forest and felt calmer and relaxed, pleased with the forest's look and feel. How marvelous that she did not end up on a terrible cold methane gas giant or an inner planet hot enough to melt lead, but rather on a life-bearing planet that initially looked and felt much like Arista.
It is self-evident we successfully Teleported. When the Nullilizer fired, I let it do its effect, snatching your particles as soon as the Nullilizer freed them according to the Teleport theory, attacks from Virus notwithstanding. Then, per your order, I stored you into my matrix. However, my matrix was never designed for that purpose, so I stashed you where I could in every nook and cranny. That was you all over, I'm afraid.