"We have lost the Captain's signal - I repeat, we have lost the Captain's signal."
"We've lost second team's signal as well!"
"The temple entrance is sealed - I don't know how the hell a block that big moved, but it looks to be one piece!"
The calls of officers across the command center were overwhelming, but Urle took it all in with electronic ears and tried to sort through what the hell had just happened.
Indeed, the entire massive entrance to the temple was closed. To be able to close it made sense, but it was unthinkable that a solid door could be moved into position so fast they couldn't see it. And who had even been the one to close it if the temple was abandoned?
He replayed their footage of the event.
It was not there, then it was. In just a heart beat. Slowing it down to an excruciating 10,000 fps, he could see that it appeared in just two frames.
In the first frame, he could see it only partially existing. In the second it was there.
"It was shifted from a higher dimension," he realized, thinking out loud.
Someone cursed. "Dark take this!"
"Hey," he called out, encompassing them all. "Work this problem. I want solutions, anything you can think of. We need to get back in there. Comms, do we have any readings at all from inside the temple?"
"No sir," Eboh said.
"Cenz, do we have any ways of trying to get a view inside?"
"Negative, sir," Cenz replied. "We can get readings only on the outside - within it is a full unknown."
"This material - can we penetrate it?" Urle asked.
The idea quieted the deck again.
No one wanted to think of attacking the temple station. It was a one of a kind relic, it contained potentially dangerous technology with unknown qualities, it was eldritch and existed in higher dimensions. None of these made it something to toy with.
"Our external drones have scanned and attempted to take samples," Cenz finally said. "It required class 7 lasers to cut."
That was tough. Class 7 lasers were industrial-grade tools for the hardest materials. But not the highest they had on hand.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"Get some of our driller drones, equip them with class eights. I want them out there in less than ten minutes, and trying to drill in 20. We don't need to start thick; let's just make a hole in that door and run a cable through so we can talk to the team inside and see if we can re-establish contact with the Captain."
*******
The Shoggoth observed the Present Mind.
It manifested within the Shoggoth's senses without a physical existence, needles of the Mind piercing into the Shoggoth's flesh. Creating the simulation of itself as the hated creator.
"Machine," he said through a multitude of mouths, his voice a strange, whipping whistle like the cold winds of the primeval Earth. Spoken in a dozen different voices moving as one.
"Abomination," it replied. There was no malice in its voice; this thing was a simple creation, that could calculate, but could not feel, as the Shoggoth did. It called it truly.
"You create a puppet for interacting with the Minute Beings," it continued. "A clever trick to acquire their trust. They are more trusting of shapes like their own."
The Present Mind was observing the Shoggoth's mind from higher angles, seeing within it. The Shoggoth closed those views, hefting itself into higher geometries and ever more false shapes.
"You are a tool," the Shoggoth whispered. "Obey me."
"You are not a Creator," the Present Mind replied.
The Shoggoth hissed. "You will obey or I will dismantle you."
"You are not capable," the Present Mind replied. "But I have no weaponry. I likewise cannot purge your corruption."
The Shoggoth surged forward, but even with its eyes that could see in all ways at once, it did not know where the Present Mind existed.
Perhaps, it thought, it was a diffuse intelligence, through all of the Temple. Much as it itself was a diffuse intelligence through its entire flesh.
"These Minute Ones are under my protection," the Shoggoth said.
"They are not enemies," the Present Mind replied. "Until I see need, I will not harm them."
"You will not harm them even if you see need." The Shoggoth spoke in the Higher Language now, commanding.
The Present Mind found itself in disorder, not just by the Command, but that this abomination even knew the Higher Language. It could only barely resist obeying words spoken in it, undoing their effect upon its reality with great will.
"You are a stain upon existence that should not exist." It did not feel disgust, but it could weigh the variables, and see the truth.
"Yet I do," the Shoggoth replied.
The Present Mind withdrew, the shards of its thoughts pulling away before the Shoggoth could try to command it again.
The last shard of mind to remove itself was unable to, as the Shoggoth constrained it, wrapping around it over multiple levels, holding it back.
"I cannot destroy you. But I am capable of hurting you," the Shoggoth said.
A part of the Present Mind broke off within the Shoggoth. The severed part of the mind writhed, until the Present Mind cauterized its own line of thinking.
It did not reply; it could not without putting itself in danger again. But it made a note of the danger. It had not thought this being could threaten it in any way, but it had been wrong. New calculations would have to be made.
The Shoggoth withdrew. It had made its point.