With Intelligence's micro-avatar leading the way, Josh and Sen walked up the stairway from the bridge to the overlooking command gallery. Their arms were piled to eye level with pieces of Dantor.

~Did you know that Intelligence was so... lethal?~ Josh asked mentally.

Sen simply nodded. ~All AIs are. Particularly when inhabiting a battle frame... But you are right. With its knowledge base encompassing more than two billion years of experience, Intelligence will be significantly more formidable than most. It has been around since before my grandfather Transcended to the Immortal Realms. I believe it assisted in the war against the Sky Commandant. He may even have created Intelligence... There is more to the story, but I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t pay close attention to the details when I was told about it...~

Josh gave out a small mental chuckle. ~Knowledge is power, Sen!~

~So I am learning, brother.~

The avatar led the way through the command gallery's main sitting room with a fluid grace that belied its mechanical origin. They were directed to a set of doors on the port side. The gallery only had one chair that looked more like a throne. It was placed at the center wall and overlooked the main viewport that stretched to the deck of the bridge below.

Josh tilted his chin toward the chair. ~We need two more of those. There is no way I'm making any more decisions alone after what just happened with Dantor!~

~...Agreed.~ Sen sighed.

The door to the nearest room bore a placard with Sen's name. It opened as Intelligence's avatar approached, and they went through. The room was spacious. The furnishings were minimalist but posh. This was only amplified by the fact that they had very little in the way of personal belongings.

And what we do actually own fits in our never-ending—at least so far—Aspect Focus. Josh absently patted the black leather bag he carried across his chest.

A bed with an arching canopy sat against the center of the back wall. A low-profile table two strides from the entry portal with three equally low and comfortable-looking chairs sitting around it. Josh thought he would be just as able to have a business meeting or sip razorwiski with any friends who possessed lead-lined GI tracts.

A full-length mirror was mounted on the wall next to a control panel that Josh had no idea what function it served. A set of paired synth-wood cabinet doors looked like they opened to a closet on the opposite wall. The last thing in the room was a door that likely led to the next adjacent room. Presumably his.

The avatar indicated with its hand. "Place Dantor's pieces on the table and have a seat, please."

They did. Intelligence ignored the limbs and picked up each part of its cylindrical Core in turn. The avatar’s hands glowed the same color as its eyes for a moment before it placed each down again. After a few minutes, Intelligence looked up. "It is as I thought. This was just a petty powerplay by one of the higher-ranking nobles under Kotei Stuado. Nothing more.” Intelligence nodded down to the metal rubble. “Put the pieces in your aspect focus. They will serve as adequate material to make your next swords from when we get to a suitable smithy."

The avatar leaned back in its chair and took a more relaxed pose while Josh and Sen gathered and stored Dantor. When Sen reached for its head. Intelligence stopped him.

"Leave the head. I'm going to return it to Lord Admiral Perala with your regards. It should make him think twice before doing this again."

Josh answered for them. "Err... Thanks, Intelligence... If you are okay with me asking... Why are you here? Who's running the Hegemon-4? And how did you know we would need you?"

The avatar held its hand up to its mouth in a polite way and stifled a small laugh. "'How did I know you would need me?'... Joshua Elias Tanner, you are a very driven, intelligent, and Karmically touched young human. When you put your mind to your actions, you are quite impressive for your limited experience and resources."

The avatar leaned into the table and spoke in a smaller voice. "That last question was not one of those moments." Intelligence straightened its posture and continued. "Your other questions deserve a response... and lead me to why I asked you both to come up here— But first things first.” Intelligence rolled its wrists inward and pointed all its fingers at its body. “This avatar is a focal representation of myself to assist organic lifeforms in adjusting to my continued presence.” Intelligence then made a show of holding its arms out and looking at them with its head tilted back. "It is the smallest avatar I have ever used... but has proven itself quite handy so far. I know you first met me housed in my Hegemon-4 avatar, and this mobile form is new to you. But for our purposes, nothing has really changed. When you need me, you can address the avatar or simply call out to me. I am now everywhere aboard this ship as I am on the Hegemons I serve. You, Joshua Elias Tanner, may find it easier to address the avatar when speaking with me. Given Senyak Marztanak's experiences as an Immortal, I am curious to see what he chooses— But that is off topic!"

Intelligence put its hand under its chin and stared off to the side. "How interesting! If my main comp unit feels free to wander like that, I really must not have enough to do here!" Tilting its head, the avatar finished with a pleasant laugh and turned back to them. "On this ship and in this micro-unit, I am only a minute fraction of my complete self. I have minimal capabilities compared to my Hegemon copies." Intelligence nodded as if confirming something to itself, "This is due mainly to the limitations of the Brigantine's storage capacity, not this frame. I can and will follow you in this avatar when you outgrow this ship."

Intelligence looked slyly at them from under its brows. "But for now, I am more than enough to serve as seneschal of this humble vessel, guarantying you do not die from poor hygiene, starvation, mechanical failures, or solar collisions."

Josh and Sen each looked uncomfortably away. More than slightly embarrassed at the not-so-subtle reminder of their poor showing against the now-expunged Dantor-ZS.

"Concerning the Hegemon-4, I am still running her as I always have. I am merely a copy of myself—as all my redundancies have been since Zenyak created my original to serve as a comrade in arms during his final confrontation with the Sky Commandant a little over 1.15 billion cycles ago—"

Intelligence looked directly at Josh. "Approximately 2.9 billion earth years for you, Joshua. Since then, I have served as the superior AI over the two thousand and nine Hegemon Arks in this iteration." Intelligence waved its hand as if adding an insignificant but necessary point, "Along with several million lesser copies of myself at any given time." It held its palms inward, indicating itself as an example. "...As well as the same original and reproductions of myself in the infinite Hegemon Arks patrolling the almost infinite mortal iterations of the multiverse."

Intelligence held up its index finger, indicating they needed to keep that point in mind for what it was about to say. "Simplified, Zenyak's plan was to create a mortal entity capable of compiling and calculating trans-iterational data to understand iterational overflow, predict probability outcomes, and, as has occurred many times over the last billion cycles, accurately anticipate future occurrences in the present and surrounding iterations." Intelligence paused, letting the information sink in.

Perhaps seeing the appropriate level of awe on Sen's face, multiplied by the same level of bewilderment on Josh's face, Intelligence proceeded. "Obviously, this requires that the data I am collecting via my replicas be imparted from adjacent iterations into one of my centralized selves. I can and have made the necessary sacrifices to accomplish the trans-iterational data transfer myself on occasion. But it is very costly. So, usually, I only do so in times of earnest need. Most other times, more… capable parties provide the information for my calculations."

"The Clone?!" Josh said in a harsh whisper as he was putting pieces together for himself.

Intelligence smiled warmly at Josh as a teacher would when surprised by a slow student suddenly grasping a difficult concept. "Exactly so young Cultivator! I understand that the gathering occupies a significant portion of his efforts—"

But Sen was on his own learning tangent and almost choked at the pieces he was putting together. He jumped from his seat and pointed at the avatar while blinking at the staggering implications.

"You... You're a... a mortal Ethos Combi?"

The avatar's shoulders sank just a little, and an apologetic expression emerged on its face as it looked directly at Sen. "...Only in the most rudimentary of ways can I be compared to such wondrous existences and even the small amount I am capable of requires an abundance of help!"

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Shifting in his chair towards Sen. ~Ethos What?~

Sen held up a pausing hand. ~An Ethos Combi. It is the union of all existing information with an Immortal's spiritual Ka. Among other things, this symbiosis allows probability-based omniscience in mortal planes of existence. All Immortals have them. I'll tell you more later... But gods, I miss mine!~

Intelligence waved Sen back to a seated position and looked at them through its glowing blue/white eyes for a pregnant moment. "...I believe you both have at least grasped the concept of my primary function. I am telling you all these things because you must grasp the significance of Zenyak's design and plan for me to understand why I am here with you now. Your defeat of the undead Kyon Shi foiled, in part, a multiversal attempt of the Savoy to overthrow the Kaizuko via iterational overflow occurrence. Due to this, you both are now or will soon be identified as beings of interest in multiple iterations."

Josh's eyes were rolling around, trying to keep up with the significance and meaning of Intelligence's words. He hadn't been this lost since Sen had first mind-jacked him back at FSU. Finally giving up, he held up a hand. "I'm sorry, Intelligence... I'm lost… 'Iterational over-what' and 'Beings of interest' where?

Intelligence turned its head to Sen. "Have you shared nothing about the basics of the multiverse, its operational metatheory, and your places in it?"

Sen sank inward and turned pink again. "Forgiveness, Intelligence... Damni and my Combi were always there to tutor me on mortal-multiversal physics and implications... I'm unsure if I understand them correctly, let alone being able to explain them... " Sen trailed off into inaudibility.

Intelligence's avatar closed its blazing ultraviolet eyes, possibly asking Reality for the strength to continue in the face of absurdity... Two beats later, it turned to Joshua and proceeded in its normal chipper androgynous tone.

"...Okay, Joshua. You understand that this universe is just one copy, one iteration among a near infinite number of others that share many similarities and related differences?"

Joshua considered the question seriously before responding. "…The multiverse theory of the universe. Yes, I do understand that. Zenyak bringing me to another... this iteration... is why I’m not with Sophie."

"My condolences for the separation from your progeny.” Intelligence nodded once in sympathy for Josh, then continued.

“As for the existence of a multiverse—it is not a theory, at least not in the mortal realms in any case. In the mortal realms, iterations are isolated and only impact each other via ancillary and largely theoretical Karmic interactions. The most common of these is called the theory of iterational overflow via majority weight of occurrence. The theory postulates that an iteration you are interested in—Let's call it Prime—can and will be affected by all the iterations surrounding it in the metaphysical space we call a cuboid."

Intelligence held out its metal-plas hand, and a transparent cube of golden light appeared over it.

"Prime."

Then, twenty-six red cubes of equal size encapsulated it by attaching one at a time to one of its sides or corners. The cubes all bore a centralized white number from one-twenty-six.

"A complete cuboid. Are you with me so far?" Intelligence peered at them with raised eyebrows.

"Ya. So far."

Josh sat on the edge of his seat and followed Intelligence's words with clear eyes. Even Sen nodded, clearly looking to compare what he knew, or thought he knew, with what Intelligence was sharing.

"Good. Normal overflow theory holds: If an event occurs—for example, two spirit beings forming a union. If that even occurs fourteen out of a cuboid’s twenty-seven iterations—a simple majority of the iterations of that cuboid—then the event’s probability of occurrence in the remaining iterations of the cuboid nears 100 percent. This is the fundamental Karmic weight of causality at work. Simply said, ‘Majority rules!’ as those from the United States of America in your cluster iterational cuboids are fond of saying."

The red cubes marked 1-14 changed to white with a red number and began flashing. Then, the remaining cubes in the cuboid randomly switched from red to white over several seconds until the entire cuboid was white.

"Are you both still with me?" Intelligence asked again. Josh and Sen both nodded again. Their heads bobbing up and down in unison.

Intelligence lowered its hand, and the example cuboid disappeared.

"Good. There are almost as many caveats to the theory for accurate probability calculations as there are iterations in the multiverse. However, none of the exceptions are important for you to understand what I am telling you now."

Intelligence held its hand up again, and another cuboid appeared. Seven of the cubes were black, and nine were white. The remainder were red.

"In this cuboid, Prime is a parallel iteration to our own. We can think of our iteration as parallel iteration twenty-three in this cuboid." Intelligence lowered its hand, and a red cube on the lower right-hand portion of the cuboid, numbered 23 began blinking.

"There we are. This blinking iteration represents us. As you can see, the probability model demonstrates three iterational states involving the conflict between the Kaizuko and the Savoy. The white iterations are dominated by the Kaizuko. The black are where the Savoy dominate. The remaining red iterations indicate where open war has yet to be declared. Our iteration is presently red. Open war has not yet begun between the two factions. However, even without open war, prior to your actions against Kyon Shi, probability models predicted that the Kaizuko would be eliminated as an influencing force and 23 would become black—"

Josh held up his hand, and the avatar nodded for Josh to ask his question. "Intelligence, I think I am grasping the metaphysics, so far... But why are the Kaizuko and the Savoy fighting in the first place?"

A wistful expression overcame the avatar's face and it stepped onto its back foot at the surprise question. Then Intelligence smiled with an understanding expression. "Joshua... sometimes I forget how young you truly are... As a universal constant, sapient entities fight and attempt to control more of everything than their fellow sapient entities... If a group has more of a desired resource... They must be better than those with less... The only option for the betterment of those with less is to get a greater amount of this resource than the first group. The path to achieving this usually involves forcefully taking it. If you believed the British or Mongols had a monopoly on imperialism, then allow me to be the first to disabuse you of such notions. As for which particular resource led to any one conflict... ‘The why of the conflict’, is not important for our purposes."

Intelligence shook its head from side to side to make its point. Josh puckered his face up, making it evident to Intelligence that his human nature required a basic pedestrian overview of the conflict before his mind could overcome the metaphysical hurdles.

Intelligence stooped over the table and placed its weight on both hands, palm down as it conceded. "Very well, Joshua... Suffice it to say that Dod Stal, the AI entity leading the Savoy, desires cuboidal dominion over the Kaizuko to achieve what you might describe as 'permanence.' He is an AI mechanical being and cannot advance himself through the Cultivation of Essence to achieve Immortal status. Nor can he produce his own progeny to succeed himself in perpetuity. Moreover, as you can see, simply dominating a group in your own iteration is no guarantee that you will always be dominant.” Intelligence stood straight and raised a single brow, “However, by achieving weight overflow through majority occurrence and dominating his cuboid... Dod Stal begins to achieve a status very much like permanence, doesn't he?"

Josh's puckered face cleared up, and Intelligence smiled at the apparent light bulbs going on inside of his head.

The avatar continued. "...But, to get started in a metaphysical takeover, Dod Stal needs to control the iterations comprising his cuboid. And he has begun to do so. The Dod Stal from Prime in this cuboid contracted with the Savoy of our iteration to wipe out the Kaizuko's power base."

Intelligence looked at Josh and Sen, pausing for them to ask any other questions. Neither did. The avatar sat. "Making power moves at the iterational level was a bold move for the Savoy at their current iterational strength. Alteration of a cuboid's power structure is usually only undertaken by Cultivators at the Dodecahedron level or greater.”

Intelligence rocked its head back and forth on its shoulders as if reconsidering its last statement. Then conceded, "...But Dod Stal, a mechanical AI locked at peak tetrahedral strength—and a creation child– a construct of Masamune– the multiverse's greatest mortal proponent of AI mechanical beings, is a particular case to be certain. And, for the Savoy, it was an overall sound strategic move. Compared to the Prime iteration before us, ours is deficient in Essence. This results in the strength of our iterational combat forces being generally weaker, making it relatively easier to change than other iterations in the cuboid.

Intelligence looked at Josh and Sen’s heads nodding in agreement before moving forward. “Given our weaker Cultivational status, our iteration is an excellent place to start shifting the cuboid in his favor. Then you two came along and prevented the removal of the Cultivationaly-stagnant Kotei Stuado and his Kaizuko. New probability models predict that Kotei will pursue Tetrahedral Core formation soon. He will seek alliances with more powerful groups and engage in an all-out war against the Savoy in the next two Ka nexus cycles.”

Intelligence’s avatar smiled directly at Josh and Sen. “...These results are an utter failure from any point of view of Dod Stal in any iteration. Certainly, the local manifestation of the being will feel… annoyed." Intelligence stopped clearly expecting comments and questions. This time, Josh was willing to bite.

"So, this is why we are 'Multiversal beings of interest?' And when Dod Stal tries again... He will likely move to take us off the board first."

"Exactly so.” Intelligence tilted his head before continuing, “...and not just him. You will be noticed by any beings paying attention to Multiversal events in this and neighboring cuboids. Such beings exist. And they are all quite powerful compared with your and Senyak's current abilities.”

Josh couldn’t help but shift his eyes from side to side as if these powerful threats were going to jump out at him from the corners of the bedroom. Intelligence held up its hands to calm him.

“I’m sorry for my alarming message. I assure you... This will take time to happen. I doubt if even the Prime iteration’s Dod Stal has learned that his coup attempt has failed. But he will find out eventually."

Intelligence paused and looked them both in the eyes with its radiant optics. Clearly making sure they had heard and understood. "...And when inter-iterational challenges come for you, we need to be ready."

Josh’s thoughts burst out without any thought. "What can we do? We're here in the kiddie pool of iterations."

"Joshua Elias Tanner, you and Senyak are in a kiddie pool wearing water wings, wet suits, and aqualungs with multiple world-class lifeguards who also happen to be swimming gold medalists... I trust that I don’t need to continue expanding upon the metaphor? Good. Yet still, you find ways to threaten your existence... But your duties haven't changed. Have they, Senyak?" Intelligence's burning eyes looked up piercingly at Sen.

Sen heard and understood. He answered in a determined voice.

"We need to grow stronger, brother... Much, much stronger."