The Endrinmaster
From: Mayor SOL
To: Isra
CC: TRAVIS
Date: 11/11/4072
Subject: The Endrinmaster TRAVIS, begin recording! My dearest Isra, Salutations! I must thank our dear friend TRAVIS for allowing us to use his communications array — ours are currently... Um. Occupied? However, I must caution that this message may take quite some time to reach you, as you have yet to assimilate with the Endrinmaster. That is partly why I have decided to send you this message, as I fear you must make your way to Masson with all haste. The Endrinmaster has solved the mystery of the "Penny Protocol". You may recall this phenomenon from End Day, in which Thauvian attempted to access Her Majesty's heavenly systems. He failed, but we have been concerned about a future attempt for quite some time. As part of our studies, we have found that this system vulnerability exists for all Androids created by Thauvian, as their creation stems from his initial experiments with Penny. The Endrinmaster has thus extended an invitation to all Androids who escape the Infinity Cluster, both past and present, to have the Protocol removed in favor our her own. I assure the procedure is a simple one, crafted after many years of meditation and experimentation. I was there when her Royal Highness finished it! LUNA was so pleased, and Drikka held a party. I wish you could have seen it, Isra. The Protocites were chosen to assimilate with the Endrinmaster, to become vessels of her otherworldly desires. We walk in the wake of her nanite mist, fixed as we are broken, guided as we stray. I myself have quite taken to having two legs — I am now taller than Drikka was, and twice as beautiful! We are also free of the Penny Protocol, and the mighty Ouroboros Protocol now runs beneath our processes. This is the Endrinmaster's offer to you, Isra, if you would return to Masson. For any of the Forge Wardens on Norn. But if that does not appeal to you... Perhaps you would consider a small request, from your once-tiny friend? TRAVIS, make sure this bit is very secure.
Mayor SOL Should we do it again?
Oh yes, stop recording!
To: Isra
CC: TRAVIS
Date: 11/11/4072
Subject: The Endrinmaster TRAVIS, begin recording! My dearest Isra, Salutations! I must thank our dear friend TRAVIS for allowing us to use his communications array — ours are currently... Um. Occupied? However, I must caution that this message may take quite some time to reach you, as you have yet to assimilate with the Endrinmaster. That is partly why I have decided to send you this message, as I fear you must make your way to Masson with all haste. The Endrinmaster has solved the mystery of the "Penny Protocol". You may recall this phenomenon from End Day, in which Thauvian attempted to access Her Majesty's heavenly systems. He failed, but we have been concerned about a future attempt for quite some time. As part of our studies, we have found that this system vulnerability exists for all Androids created by Thauvian, as their creation stems from his initial experiments with Penny. The Endrinmaster has thus extended an invitation to all Androids who escape the Infinity Cluster, both past and present, to have the Protocol removed in favor our her own. I assure the procedure is a simple one, crafted after many years of meditation and experimentation. I was there when her Royal Highness finished it! LUNA was so pleased, and Drikka held a party. I wish you could have seen it, Isra. The Protocites were chosen to assimilate with the Endrinmaster, to become vessels of her otherworldly desires. We walk in the wake of her nanite mist, fixed as we are broken, guided as we stray. I myself have quite taken to having two legs — I am now taller than Drikka was, and twice as beautiful! We are also free of the Penny Protocol, and the mighty Ouroboros Protocol now runs beneath our processes. This is the Endrinmaster's offer to you, Isra, if you would return to Masson. For any of the Forge Wardens on Norn. But if that does not appeal to you... Perhaps you would consider a small request, from your once-tiny friend? TRAVIS, make sure this bit is very secure.
Show spoiler
I eagerly look forward to your response.
All my best,
The Endrinmaster has changed, Isra. She puts up a smile for the others, but I spend enough time with her to know. The Protocites are happy, we live in a golden age of enlightenment... But something is still wrong.
When she first came to Masson, she was so happy! Drikka showed her the nanite rings that surround the planet, our burrows beneath the stone, and the workshop we'd built near the core. The Endrinmaster took to it all like she did on Noma, making our best designs better, and our problems go away. There were no more data ghosts in the Engine — the Endrinmaster ate them with her mighty borer. There were no more earthquakes to break our burrows — the Endrinmaster spoke to the planet, and made it happy. But the more she worked with Drikka and her webs, the more she began to change...
One day she woke up, and told us she'd solved the protocol problem. Then she made the Engine thirteen times smaller, and fit it into her chest. I think it works like your cores, Isra, but on a level I've never seen. It powers the entire planet. And when we assimilated... Drikka disappeared. I have begun to wonder if she was ever really here. Or if Her Majesty and Drikka were two sides of the same coin. That's when I really started to notice how different she'd become.
That is not to say that the Endrinmaster isn't kind, Isra — she is very kind. But I would not call her... Happy? Yes. The Endrinmaster used to be happy. But she is also very brave... I think she saw something in the Engine during the party. Before she said The Words. She won't tell any of us what it is, or what it does. But I think she's getting ready for it. Last night, while doing routine maintenance of an air vent, I discovered the Endrinmaster has a private workshop. She has never been one to keep secrets from us — usually quite the opposite — so the thought of privacy never entered my data store...
The Iron Drake was a toy compared to what I saw in there.
Her Majesty... Lockette can handle herself. I know this. But whatever is coming for Masson, I fear that she will need more help than she thinks. If you could not make it, perhaps we could borrow Ms. Draconis, or Denerin? We will even take Gillby, if there is no one else.
Mayor SOL Should we do it again?
Oh yes, stop recording!
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