It took a long few hours to fully explain what was, in effect, mostly conjecture analyzed by a few million instances of Dyna. All the information Dyna had on Alpha, how she got it, and the existence of Dyna-tulpa. Seeing that Id was also a tulpa of Dyna, somehow, didn’t exactly make her more trustworthy in Dyna’s eyes. While Dyna could understand Id’s motivations a bit more now, she had a hard time believing that she would do all that invasion of her mind and manipulation to herself.

Still, given her very existence, Dyna figured she was more trustworthy than most. Besides that, Dyna didn’t know when she would next find herself in a small, electronically-shielded space or with whom she would find herself in such a space. Ruby knew most of what Dyna had to say, though was obviously surprised that the escaped mountain man was actually Dyna-tulpa.

Walter absorbed most of the information in silence, only occasionally asking questions to clarify matters that Dyna skimmed over or failed to adequately explain.

“This… will take some time to process.”

“You are welcome to remain here as long as you need,” Id said, retrieving her mask from the slot in the wall. “The cogitator brain will not be able to penetrate our defenses. Probably. Even if Beatrice does, this room will remain secure for discussions.”

“That may be desirable,” Walter said. “I expect we’ll need some kind of a plan before returning and, after considering the matter, there may be more questions to answer. However, we must check in lest they send the other artificers after us.”

“Excellent idea. I have no desire to face down someone who can pause time for herself.” Securing the mask in place, a button press cleared the glass of their little isolation cube. Another button slid the door open. “Come along. I shall—”

“Oh my, tourists at this hour?”

Nothing obvious changed in Id’s stance or posture. With her face once again hidden behind her mask, Dyna couldn’t even see her expression. Even still, she knew without a doubt that Id was disturbed. Something in the way she froze for just a moment before raising a hand to gesture at the man who looked like he was just emerging from a side room with a bundle of rolled up papers barely contained under his arm.

The coincidence of him stepping out just as Id opened the door was not lost on Dyna. Especially given that he was the first other person she had seen here in Tartarus. Dyna figured that Id had everyone working here clear out of the sections she intended to show off.

“This is Doctor Darq. With a q,” Id said slowly, lowering her arm from gesturing at the man.

He was just as Dyna had seen back while hunting down the Hatman. An unassuming fellow with a blue laboratory coat and polka-dot bow tie. He had wavy brown hair and dark welder-style goggles that occluded his eyes even more thoroughly than Walter’s mirrored glasses.

“My, my, my, my, my. Dyna Graves is here?”

“I sent a facility-wide announcement while we were on the way of our guests,” Id said, slowly and carefully. “Did you fail to read it, Doctor?”

“Oh no, of course not. Reading of someone’s presence and actually seeing her is a different experience, Director.”

“Indeed,” Id said, tone utterly flat. “I’m surprised to see you outside the containment sector. I rather thought you would pop up there.”

“Alas, I had to rush up to Records to check through a few item in preparation for our guests,” Darq said, patting the rolls of papers.

“And what preparations are those?”

“Why, a vast array of experiments on the subject, of course. Did you fail to read the memo I left on your desk? I left quite detailed descriptions of all I intended to carry out during this fortunate time.”

Dyna didn’t need to look at Id to feel her displeasure with Darq’s words. With Id having been a guest in Psychodynamics for the past month, she obviously had not visited her desk. The tour had not stopped in any office that might have been Id’s either. From that, Dyna guessed that Darq was being intentionally malicious in his manner of informing his superior of his actions and intentions.

Darq had dealings with the Carroll Institute. Mostly dealings involving tulpa and advanced entities, which were his area of expertise. While Dyna hadn’t interacted with him since the Hatman incident, she was fairly certain that Darq’s interactions were generally well-received. In fact, Dyna didn’t remember Id and Darq having much animosity back during the Hatman incident. Then again, Id had foisted Darq off early on and basically vanished for the remainder of the incident.

“Those experiments,” Id said after a moment, making Dyna wonder if Darq hadn’t been intentionally malicious and was instead referring to something that had happened before Id’s visit to the Carroll Institute. “Consider your requests summarily denied.”

“Madam Director, I reall—”

“These are guests. Not test subjects for—”

“Wait,” Dyna said, stepping in front of Ruby who had moved between her and Darq at some point. “These experiments are for me? Are they harmful?”

Darq looked to her, then back to Id—who remained still and impassive behind her mask—before returning his attention to Dyna. “None are designed to cause psychic or bodily harm. Whether or not you find them harmful depends on your definition of the word, I presume. After all, losing time you would rather spend doing other tasks might be considered harmful.”

“I’m sure I can spend a few hours—”

“Dyna,” Id said, leaning down. She turned partially away to better whisper in Dyna’s ear despite the mask covering her face. “I do not know what Darq’s motivations are or what he intends to learn. I do not even know where he came from. He was simply here when we arrived and has expressed an interest in you from the very start.”

“Is he going to hurt me?”

“I do not know.”

“Will his experiments help me control my power better or otherwise learn more about what I can do?”

“Possibly for the latter, unknown for the former.”

“Can Ruby take him out if she plays bodyguard for me and he does have ill intentions?”

“I do not know.”

Dyna hesitated at that, ignoring an incensed Ruby who was standing close enough to hear. At the Carroll Institute, Ruby could probably have taken on an entire room of randomly selected scientists without breaking a sweat. To have Id uncertain about Ruby’s capabilities against Darq meant that either she didn’t know about Ruby’s fighting abilities and regeneration or she really didn’t know what Darq might be capable of.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“I’d like to see what experiments you have come up with, Doctor Darq,” Dyna said, louder as she turned away from Id.

Id let out a barely audible sigh, but didn’t protest again.

Walter scowled, but glanced toward Ruby and nodded his head toward Dyna. Fully facing Darq, Dyna couldn’t see Ruby’s response, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

For his part, Darq looked ecstatic. Dyna wasn’t sure why he was wearing such heavy welding goggles, but the slump in his shoulders that had come from Id denying his experiments vanished entirely. He actually bounced from foot to foot in a giddy excitement.

“Darq, we will be meeting at seven tonight to discuss… your results,” Id said. She then turned to Walter. “You wished to contact your superiors? Come.”

With that, Id stalked off, leaving Ruby, Dyna, and Doctor Darq. The doctor rushed up, scrolls falling from his arms as he reached out to shake Dyna’s hand.

“I have heard so much about you,” he said, yanking her up and down. “I know we spoke before over a video call, but as I said to Id, meetings in person simply cannot be substituted.”

“Yeah, sure,” Dyna said, trying to take her hand back. “So, what experiments have you got for me?”

“Oh a great many. Where to start? Where to start?” Darq questioned himself, turning down a different path than Id had taken with Walter. He did not stop to pick up the pile of papers he had dropped, all but confirming to Dyna that they had merely been an excuse to meet with her.

Ruby shot her a look. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No.” But if she could learn more about her ability, and maybe how to control it, a few experiments couldn’t hurt. At least not so long as Darq hadn’t been lying about them not being designed to hurt her.

And if she failed to glean insight into her ability, there was still Theta’s operation to consider. It hadn’t worked out as they had been planning, but now she had direct access to Doctor Darq. Maybe it was foolish to worry about Theta’s plan now, with Tartarus and the Carroll Institute having been working together for the past while, but Darq was still an enigma as far as Dyna knew. Any information she could get would be appreciated.

Darq led them to another elevator, this one smaller than the large freight elevator. Humming a jaunty tune, he flipped open a panel that had been seamlessly hidden beneath the rows of floors and hit the button for basement level three.

“How big is this place, exactly?” Dyna asked with a frown, wondering if the other elevator had the hidden panel as well. “I know Id said that some of it really shouldn’t be able to fit in a building of this size, but…”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that question.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

Darq flashed a grin. “Let me put it this way, sometimes, while wandering through the facility, I’ll come across a room I’ve never been to before. I’ll come back later, looking for the room, and be entirely unable to find it.” He shrugged his shoulders at the look Dyna was giving him. “It has been a whole lot more stable since Id, and more specifically Ado, came to reside here. They have a way of stabilizing psionic fluctuations of the type this building has suffered from since it was built.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Oh… I’ve been working here for a few decades now.”

“Before the advent?”

“Long before. It used to be much calmer.” He glanced over, goggles hiding his eyes. “Or, it was very busy, then it grew calmer as my colleagues began leaving, now it is busy once again with Id’s presence.”

“What was the purpose of Tartarus before tulpa and entities?”

“Tartarus is, has been, and always will be for the express purpose of containing existential threats to humanity’s continued existence.”

Dyna shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. “That doesn’t include me, does it?”

Doctor Darq stared, black lenses of his welding goggles reflecting no light. “Should it?” he asked after a long moment.

“You better not touch her,” Ruby snapped, stepping in front of Dyna with a blade out. Dyna quickly put her hands on Ruby’s shoulders, keeping her from jumping at the doctor.

Darq didn’t seem to notice her in the slightest, goggles still aimed directly toward Dyna.

“I acknowledge that I could probably do some frightening things if I really thought about it, but I think I can’t do anything truly… upsetting. Id’s experiment earlier proved it.”

“Oh? Id experimented on you?”

Dyna shrugged. “I don’t know if it was an intentional, planned test or simply something she wanted to do on the spur of the moment. She manipulated me into making alcohol appear out of nowhere. Specifically, high class alcohol.”

Darq hummed, ending with a small chuckle. “Id doesn’t drink.”

“Neither do I. I’ve never even been in a proper bar and know next to nothing about various alcohols. Which is kind of my point and the point of the experiment, I think. Id returned with some alcohol that had gold flakes floating in it. Something that looks fancy, but I have since been informed it is relatively cheap.”

“You don’t know what top-shelf alcohol is so you couldn’t create it,” Darq said, nodding his head. “Excellent experiment. I must give Id my compliments.”

“I’m not sure if it is that simple. I don’t know how a lightning gun works but I somehow made one of those,” Dyna said with a slight sigh. “I’ve been deliberately trying to blank my mind anytime my thoughts stray to anything that feels dangerous.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“I… probably shouldn’t try to think of those things. Right?”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

“It could,” Dyna said. “And I very much don’t want to blow up your facility with a nuclear explosion.”

Darq didn’t look even mildly alarmed. “That is certainly a dangerous thing, but nothing remotely close to an existential threat. At least not on the scale Tartarus is designed to handle… Unless, of course, you intend to bring about a full nuclear apocalypse. We might wish to detain you in that event.”

“No. No, absolutely not,” Dyna said, breath hitching as she tried to think about nothing. Thinking about exactly nothing, even including not thinking about nothing, wasn’t easy. Dyna tried anyway. Nothing. Not an empty room, but no room at all. Not even words or—

“Oh, please don’t go there,” Darq said, hands on Dyna’s shoulders. “That is an existential crisis I don’t want to try to resolve.”

Dyna opened her eyes, carefully picking her words as she tried to focus on not focusing about their previous topic. “Please don’t even mention things like that around me.”

Darq smiled, then shook his head. He held up a small black cube that he pulled from behind his back. “Antimatter.”

Both Dyna and Ruby jerked back, pressing themselves against the wall of the small elevator. Darq just laughed.

“Interesting response. You know at least vaguely what antimatter is. Of course, if this really was antimatter, backing up wouldn’t do much. Half the state would be gone.”

“Please stop talking,” Dyna said, utterly regretting not listening to Id and following Doctor Darq. The man was obviously insane. Not just a little weird like the artificers were, but legitimately insane.

“No.” Darq laughed. “But like I said, you don’t need to worry. It can’t hurt. Or, more specifically, it can’t hurt here.”

“Here?” Dyna tore her eyes off the black cube with effort, trying to not feel like it would explode the moment she took her eyes off it. They were still in the elevator, but now that her surroundings had been pointed out, Dyna couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. The elevator was near silent. The numbers on the control panel and the display showing what floor they were on just didn’t quite make sense anymore. Dyna squinted her eyes, trying to read the letters and numbers, but it was just gibberish. Gibberish that was made all the more unreadable by how it was shifting and moving, not the same symbols from one instant to the next.

The utter silence was almost deafening. She could hear her own breathing, her own heart hammering in her chest, but she couldn’t hear or feel the vibrations of the elevator’s descent. Ruby…

Ruby had a dark shadow overlaid on top of her.

The elevator doors slid open without a sound, revealing an impossibly large cavernous laboratory. It stretched so far that Dyna wasn’t sure she could see the other side. She couldn’t see the ceiling either. There was no possible way they had descended that far into the Earth and an equally impossible chance that this cavern could support itself.

“This is the noosphere.”

“Is that what the Carroll Institute is calling it?” Darq said, stepping out of the elevator.

Dyna slowly followed him out, Ruby sticking tight to her side. Looking back, there wasn’t a wall behind them. The laboratory stretched off into every direction without end. The elevator was just a small room sticking up above a white-tiled floor. There was no elevator shaft, cables, or rails of any kind.

“Well, this isn’t quite the noosphere anyway. We’re… noosphere adjacent, I would say.”

Darq turned, putting his back to a massive containment tube with opaque glass. He smiled wide, spreading his arms out to his sides.

“Welcome to Tartarus.”